Social Tipping Interventions Can Promote the Diffusion or Decay of Sustainable Consumption Norms in the Field. Evidence from a Quasi‐Experimental Intervention Study

The diffusion of environmentally sustainable consumption patterns is crucial for reaching net carbon neutrality. As a promising policy tool for reaching this goal, scholars have put forward social tipping interventions (SOTIs). “Social tipping” refers to the phenomenon that a small initial change in a parameter of a social system can create abrupt, nonlinear change via self-reinforcing feedback. If this reduces the burden on the environment, it is of potential interest for environmental policy. SOTIs are attempts to create social tipping intentionally. SOTIs produce rapid norm changes in laboratory experiments. However, little is known about the potential of SOTIs in the field. This research reports on a field intervention promoting the consumption of hot beverages in reusable mugs instead of one-way cups, conducted at Swiss university cafeterias (N = 162,523 consumption decisions). Two SOTIs involved an appeal promoting sustainable consumption with regular feedback about the current prevalence of sustainable consumption. Two control treatments involved either the same appeal without feedback or no intervention. This research offers three key findings. First, SOTIs involving regular normative feedback can transform sustainable consumption from a minority behavior into a social norm within weeks. Second, tipping points in real-world environmental dilemmas may exceed the values found in recent laboratory experiments (≥50% vs. ≥25%). Third, SOTIs can also promote the decay of sustainable consumption. By implication, the risk-free use of SOTIs requires deeper insights into the boundary conditions of these dynamics

The Logic of Relative Frustration: Boudon's Competition Model and Experimental Evidence

An improvement in the availability of opportunities for actors in a social system (e.g. a society or a firm) can coincide with a growing rate of frustrated individuals. For instance, uprisings have repeatedly been preceded by forms of political liberalization that have provided greater opportunities (the so-called Tocqueville paradox). In organizations, satisfaction with regard to promotion opportunities can be negatively associated with objective chances of promotion. Raymond Boudon has proposed a game-theoretic competition model, which specifies the micro-mechanisms that produce these puzzling phenomena at the aggregate level and clarifies the conditions under which they emerge. We conducted three laboratory experiments to test the model's predictions, making our study the first empirical test of Boudon's model. The results are mixed: when opportunities increased, the rate of the relatively frustrated losers in the group remained constant, or increased only slightly. However, when applying another aggregation rule, which accounts for all social comparison processes and does not merely focus on the losers, an increase in relative frustration under improved conditions was observed. Our results imply that under specific conditions, there is a trade-off between opportunities and social mobility, on the one hand, and social inequality and relative frustration, on the othe

Focal random selection closes the gender gap in competitiveness

Gender differences in choosing to enter competitions are an important cause of the leaky pipeline for women in leadership roles and represent a considerable waste of human resources. We used an incentivized laboratory experiment to evaluate whether the introduction of random elements alters the gender gap in competitiveness. We found that focal random selection from a preselected pool removes the difference in competitiveness between men and women and does not dilute the qualifications of the entrants. The percentage of women who took part in competitions was nearly triple, and that of high-ability women double, with focal random selection compared to selection in pure performance competitions. In contrast, the behavior of men remained largely unchanged. Focal random selection closes the gender gap in competitiveness and can substantially enlarge the pool of high-performing women who apply for top jobs

Pre-existing fairness concerns restrict the cultural evolution and generalization of inequitable norms in children

Many social exchanges produce benefits that would not exist otherwise, but anticipating conflicts about how to distribute these benefits can derail exchange and destroy the gains. Coordination norms can solve this problem by providing a shared understanding of how to distribute benefits, but such norms can also perpetuate group- level inequality. To examine how inequitable norms evolve culturally and whether they generalize from one setting to another, we conducted an incentivized lab-in-the-field experiment among kindergarten (5–6) and second-grade (8–9) children living in Switzerland (4′228 decisions collected from 326 children). In Part 1, we created two arbitrarily marked groups, triangles and circles. We randomly and repeatedly formed pairs with one triangle and one circle, and players in a pair played a simple bargaining game in which failure to agree destroyed the gains from social exchange. At the beginning of Part 1 we suggested a specific way to play the game. In symmetric treatments, this suggestion did not imply inequality between the groups, while in asymmetric treatments it did. Part 2 of the experiment addressed the generalization of norms. Retaining their group affili- ations from Part 1, each child had to distribute resources between an in-group member and an out-group member. Children of both age groups in symmetric treatments used our suggestions about how to play the game to coordinate in Part 1. In asymmetric treatments, children followed our suggestions less consistently, which reduced coordination but moderated inequality. In Part 2, older children did not generalize privilege from Part 1. Rather, they compensated the underprivileged. Younger children neither generalized privilege nor compensated the underprivileged

Persistent Educational Inequalities in West Germany, East Germany, and Switzerland: A Cohort Analysis with Respect to Social Origin and Gender

Eine Kernfrage bildungssoziologischer Debatten ist, inwieweit über die Bildungsexpansion herkunfts- und geschlechtsspezifische Bildungsungleichheiten abgebaut werden konnten. Mit neueren Daten und im Rahmen eines Vergleichs der Entwicklungen in drei verschiedenen Untersuchungsgebieten – in Westdeutschland, Ostdeutschland und der Schweiz – wird unser Beitrag dieser Problematik nachgehen. Betrachtet werden kohortenspezifische Unterschiede (Geburtskohorten 1925 bis 1974) in der Bildungsbeteiligung zwischen sozialen Herkunftsschichten und zwischen den Geschlechtern. Eine komparative Perspektive ermöglicht die Betrachtung bildungssystemspezifischer Merkmale, welche die gesellschaftliche Entwicklung des Bildungsniveaus und das Ausmaß an Bildungsungleichheiten beeinflussen. Als Datengrundlage dienen das Schweizer Haushalt-Panel (SHP) und das Sozioökonomische Panel (SOEP). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass in der Schweiz die stärkste Verbesserung der Bildungschancen der Arbeiterschicht stattgefundenhat, während in der ehemaligen DDR am frühesten Geschlechterunterschiede im Bildungserwerb eingeebnet werden konnten – wobei in den jüngeren Kohorten der ostdeutschen Teilstichprobe neue Bildungsungleichheiten zu Ungunsten von Männern auftreten.A key question in current debates in the sociology of education is to what extent educational inequalities with regard to social origin and gender are being reduced by the expansion of educational systems. We explore this question by using a new set of data with which developments in Switzerland,West Germany, and East Germany can be comparatively analyzed. Using the birth cohorts 1925–1974 we look at cohort-specific differences in educational participation between social strata and between men and women. We focus comparatively on those characteristics of the educational system which influence the educational levels and educational inequalities across society. Our analyses are based on two equivalent samples: the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Results show that the strongest improvement in educational opportunities among working class children has been achieved in Switzerland, whereas East Germany has been most progressive in abolishing gender inequalities, but is seeing an increase in gender inequalities to the disadvantage of males among the youngest cohorts

Undetectable levels of N6-methyl adenine in mouse DNA: Cloning and analysis of PRED28, a gene coding for a putative mammalian DNA adenine methyltransferase.

International audienceThree methylated bases, 5-methylcytosine, N4-methylcytosine and N6-methyladenine (m6A), can be found in DNA. However, to date, only 5-methylcytosine has been detected in mammalian genomes. To reinvestigate the presence of m6A in mammalian DNA, we used a highly sensitive method capable of detecting one N6-methyldeoxyadenosine per million nucleosides. Our results suggest that the total mouse genome contains, if any, less than 10(3) m6A. Experiments were next performed on PRED28, a putative mammalian N6-DNA methyltransferase. The murine PRED28 encodes two alternatively spliced RNA. However, although recombinant PRED28 proteins are found in the nucleus, no evidence for an adenine-methyltransferase activity was detected

Numerical modeling of 1-D transient poroelastic waves in the low-frequency range

Propagation of transient mechanical waves in porous media is numerically investigated in 1D. The framework is the linear Biot's model with frequency-independant coefficients. The coexistence of a propagating fast wave and a diffusive slow wave makes numerical modeling tricky. A method combining three numerical tools is proposed: a fourth-order ADER scheme with time-splitting to deal with the time-marching, a space-time mesh refinement to account for the small-scale evolution of the slow wave, and an interface method to enforce the jump conditions at interfaces. Comparisons with analytical solutions confirm the validity of this approach.Comment: submitted to the Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics (2008

SOx trapping performances of cuo based silica mesoporous adsorbents for desulfurization of industrial flue gas stream

In the present work, CuO/SBA-15 SOx regenerable adsorbents were elaborated. Synthesis conditions were controlled in order to obtain highly dispersed Cu2+ species assumed to be Cu-O-Si species. Materials were evaluated as SOx adsorbents through multicycle adsorption/regeneration experiments. Their performances decrease along cycles due to copper species sintering and there is an optimal copper loading for a maximal SOx adsorption efficiency. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

SOx trapping performances of cuo based silica mesoporous adsorbents for desulfurization of industrial flue gas stream

In the present work, CuO/SBA-15 SOx regenerable adsorbents were elaborated. Synthesis conditions were controlled in order to obtain highly dispersed Cu2+ species assumed to be Cu-O-Si species. Materials were evaluated as SOx adsorbents through multicycle adsorption/regeneration experiments. Their performances decrease along cycles due to copper species sintering and there is an optimal copper loading for a maximal SOx adsorption efficiency. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract