The abortion debate in American Christianity: church authority structures, denominational responses, and the stances of the affiliated

With religion serving an important role in shaping individuals’ stances on moral issues, the question of how religion impacts major social and political issues is of undeniable consequence. This paper explores both the response of Christian denominations in the USA to the evolving social dialog on abortion and the stances of affiliated members in relation to those denominational stances. For the first aspect, the organizational and authority structures of the denominations in question were examined to see if they play a role in how denominations responded to this social issue. For the second aspect, General Social Survey data were used to examine the general stances on abortion of the religiously affiliated belonging to specific polities over the past half-century. Polities were selected due to their similar organizational structures, as this granted insight into possible organizational influence at the individual level. This research highlights both the dissimilarities between similarly structured religious organizations and the general mindsets of the congregations on abortion as well as how the varying organizational structures in question exhibit inherent differences between one another yet have relative stability in their positions on abortion over time

Contacts between Natives and Migrants in Germany: Perceptions of the Native Population since 1980 and an Examination of the Contact Hypotheses

For decades, migration to Germany has been a relevant social phenomenon resulting in an increasing share of foreigners and Germans with migration background in the German populace. Additionally, since 2015, Germany has experienced a substantial increase in the immigration of people seeking refuge and asylum from civil war, economic and environmental catastrophes, and other adverse living conditions. These developments can be assumed to have led to an increase in intergroup contact between Germans and foreigners. We investigate this phenomenon in a multifaceted fashion by combining a social indicator and monitoring approach using repeated cross-sections over time with a new panel approach using a short-time panel to study causal relations. As a first step, we descriptively analyze the development of intergroup contact experiences of the German population with foreigners in various areas of life using data from the ALLBUS survey collected over 36 years between 1980 and 2016. Specifically, we detail the diverging contact experiences of participants with and without migration background as well as participants in the former Eastern and Western part of Germany. In a second step, based on Allport’s intergroup contact theory that contact with outgroup members may improve attitudes towards these outgroups and other related findings, we examine the longitudinal processes between positive intergroup contact with foreigners and attitudes towards foreigners using four waves of the GESIS Panel collected over approximately one and a half years. We apply special rigor to these analyses by differentiating stable differences in intergroup contact experiences and attitudes between participants from within-person processes and discussing the implications of this differentiation

ALLBUS-Bibliographie: (32. Fassung, Stand: März 2018)

Die Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS) dient der Erhebung aktueller Daten über Einstellungen, Verhaltensweisen und Sozialstruktur der Bevölkerung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Seit 1980 wird alle zwei Jahre ein repräsentativer Querschnitt der Bevölkerung mit einem teils stetigen, teils variablen Fragenprogramm befragt. Die Daten stehen unmittelbar nach ihrer benutzergerechten Aufbereitung und Dokumentation gegen Ende des betreffenden Erhebungsjahres allen Interessenten für Forschung und Lehre zur Verfügung. Der ALLBUS ist ein Vorhaben von GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, das in Kooperation mit einem wissenschaftlichen Beirat, dem ALLBUS-Ausschuss, realisiert wird. Die Arbeitsgruppe ALLBUS in der Abteilung Dauerbeobachtung der Gesellschaft ist für das Forschungsprogramm und das Gesamtdesign des ALLBUS zuständig. Sie bereitet in enger Zusammenarbeit mit dem ALLBUS-Ausschuss die Studien vor und führt sie zusammen mit einem privaten Umfrageinstitut durch. Die Aufbereitung und Kumulation von Datensätzen, die Datendokumentation, der Datenvertrieb und die Archivierung erfolgen durch die Abteilung Datenarchiv für Sozialwissenschaften. Die ALLBUS-Bibliographie dokumentiert Arbeiten mit ALLBUS-Daten, die in Büchern oder Fachzeitschriften veröffentlicht sind oder als "graue Literatur" (in Form von Arbeitsberichten, Vortragsmanuskripten, Diplom-, Magister-, Master- und Bachelorarbeiten usw.) vorliegen. Berücksichtigt werden auch Veröffentlichungen, die auf Daten der ISSP-Plus-Studie (ZA-Nr.2003) beruhen, in der u.a. Items des ALLBUS 1988 repliziert wurden. Die vorliegende 32. Fassung der ALLBUS-Bibliographie enthält 2933 Arbeiten, 135 mehr als die letzte Ausgabe von 2017. Mit Erscheinen der 32. Auflage werden die bibliographischen Angaben der jeweils neu aufgenommenen Arbeiten auch in unserem Internetangebot dokumentiert

ECOSTRESS: NASA's next generation mission to measure evapotranspiration from the International Space Station

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station ECOSTRESS) was launched to the International Space Station on June 29, 2018. The primary science focus of ECOSTRESS is centered on evapotranspiration (ET), which is produced as level‐3 (L3) latent heat flux (LE) data products. These data are generated from the level‐2 land surface temperature and emissivity product (L2_LSTE), in conjunction with ancillary surface and atmospheric data. Here, we provide the first validation (Stage 1, preliminary) of the global ECOSTRESS clear‐sky ET product (L3_ET_PT‐JPL, version 6.0) against LE measurements at 82 eddy covariance sites around the world. Overall, the ECOSTRESS ET product performs well against the site measurements (clear‐sky instantaneous/time of overpass: r2 = 0.88; overall bias = 8%; normalized RMSE = 6%). ET uncertainty was generally consistent across climate zones, biome types, and times of day (ECOSTRESS samples the diurnal cycle), though temperate sites are over‐represented. The 70 m high spatial resolution of ECOSTRESS improved correlations by 85%, and RMSE by 62%, relative to 1 km pixels. This paper serves as a reference for the ECOSTRESS L3 ET accuracy and Stage 1 validation status for subsequent science that follows using these data

Forest-atmosphere BVOC exchange in diverse and structurally complex canopies:1-D modeling of a mid-successional forest in northern Michigan

Foliar emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) important precursors of tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosols vary widely by vegetation type. Modeling studies to date typically represent the canopy as a single dominant tree type or a blend of tree types, yet many forests are diverse with trees of varying height. To assess the sensitivity of biogenic emissions to tree height variation, we compare two 1-D canopy model simulations in which BVOC emission potentials are homogeneous or heterogeneous with canopy depth. The heterogeneous canopy emulates the mid-successional forest at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS). In this case, high-isoprene-emitting foliage (e.g., aspen and oak) is constrained to the upper canopy, where higher sunlight availability increases the light-dependent isoprene emission, leading to 34% more isoprene and its oxidation products as compared to the homogeneous simulation. Isoprene declines from aspen mortality are 10% larger when heterogeneity is considered. Overall, our results highlight the importance of adequately representing complexities of forest canopy structure when simulating light-dependent BVOC emissions and chemistry. Published by Elsevier Ltd