Are circular migrants different? Integration, wellbeing, and intention to stay of first-time and circular migrants

Con datos tomados del proyecto PIONEUR sobre la migración interna en la Unión Europea, definiremos (una forma débil) de migrantes circulares como el colectivo de aquellos migrantes que ya habían experimentado una estancia prolongada en el país de residencia (en lo sucesivo abreviado a PDR) antes de su traslado definitivo. A continuación, se ofrecerá una descripción de este colectivo junto con sus características sociodemográficas y se emplearán análisis de regresión (multinivel) para determinar si la migración circular explica las diferencias en algunas variables dependientes (como el dominio del idioma, el apego al PDR) que arrojan esos migrantes teniendo en cuenta las características sociodemográficas. De este modo, la migración circular estaría relacionada con un mayor contacto con la cultura del PDR y con una decisión consciente de regresar al país.Using data from the PIONEUR project on intra-European migration, (a weak form of) circular migrants will be defined by the group of migrants who experienced a prolonged sojourn in the country of residence (in the following abbreviated as CoR) already before the final move. Then this group will be described along socio-demographic characteristics and (multilevel) regression analysis will be used to determine whether circular migration explains differences in some outcome variables (such as language proficiency, attachment to the CoR), net of the socio-demographic characteristics these migrants have. Circular migration would then be related to additional exposure to the culture of the CoR and a conscious decision to re-enter the country.Presentado en el Seminario Internacional Migraciones Circulares, el retorno como estrategia de desarrollo en los países de Origen, celebrado en Alicante, del 6 al 8 de octubre de 2010, organizado por el Instituto Interuniversitario de Desarrollo Social y Paz, con la colaboración del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Ref. CSO2009-07331-E) y de la Conselleria d’Educació de la Generalitat Valenciana (Ref. AORG/2010/124)

Quantitative analysis of Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K transcripts in postmortem premotor cortex fails to confirm elevated expression of HERV-K RNA in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Over the past two decades a number of studies have demonstrated activity of the retroviral enzyme reverse transcriptase in the serum of patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Known human exogenous retroviruses such as HIV-1 have been eliminated as possible sources of this activity and investigators have therefore considered the possibility that human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) might be involved. HERV-K (HML-2) is the most recent retroviral candidate to be proposed following the observation of elevated HERV-K expression in cortical and spinal neurons of ALS patients and the demonstration of HERV-K envelope protein neurotoxicity in vitro and in transgenic mice. This retroviral hypothesis is an attractive one, not least because it raises the possibility that ALS might become treatable using antiretroviral drugs. In the present study we have attempted independent confirmation of the observation that HERV-K RNA levels are elevated in ALS brain. Total RNA was extracted from the postmortem premotor cortex of 34 patients with ALS and 23 controls. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) was performed according to the MIQE guidelines using HERV-K gag, pol and env primer sets. Data was analysed by the 2-∆∆Ct method with normalisation against two reference genes, GAPDH and XPNPEP1. Geometric mean HERV-K RNA expression levels in the premotor cortex of ALS patients were not found to be different from the expression levels in non-ALS controls. Our findings do not confirm the recently reported association between elevated cortical HERV-K RNA levels and ALS, and thus raise doubts about the role of this endogenous retrovirus in ALS pathogenesis. The results of this study may have implications for ongoing clinical trials aiming to suppress HERV-K activity with antiretroviral drugs

Gertrude Robinson Correspondence

Entries include brief biographical information, a typed biography, years of typed and handwritten letters on plain and graph paper stationery, expressive accounts of time spent at her summer home on Orr\u27s Island, Maine, a typed plain postcard explaining that she had written a recent book draft after a New York bus accident, correspondence concerning her work with Books Across the Sea aiding the visiting Cornish historian Rowse in research with Day of the English-Speaking Union, and a typed letter from the Tompkins Square House on Community Service Center stationery from Bollettino providing information on Robinson\u27s recent passing

Populism and health policy: three international case studies of right-wing populist policy frames

Over the past decade, some of the world's most stable parliamentary democracies have witnessed a revival in right‐wing populist political parties, movements and leaders. Although there is a growing body of theoretical and empirical literature documenting the rise of populism, there has been very little exploration of the implications for health policy of this important political development. In this article, we draw from three illustrative international cases, originating from the USA, the UK and Italy, to explore the ways in which right‐wing populism influences health policy: the election of President Trump in the United States (and subsequent healthcare reforms), the United Kingdom's vote to withdraw from the European Union (Brexit), and how this has played out in the context of the UK National Health Service, and the rise of a politically aligned anti‐vaccination movement in Italy. Drawing on the work of the influential socio‐political theorist Ernesto Laclau, we interpret populism as a performative political act, predicated on drawing logics of equivalence (and difference) between different actors. We use this theoretical framing to explore the ways in which the recent upsurge in right‐wing populism creates a specific set of barriers and challenges for access to healthcare and the health of populations

In medium T-matrix for superfluid nuclear matter

We study a generalized ladder resummation in the superfluid phase of the nuclear matter. The approach is based on a conserving generalization of the usual T-matrix approximation including also anomalous self-energies and propagators. The approximation here discussed is a generalization of the usual mean-field BCS approach and of the in medium T-matrix approximation in the normal phase. The numerical results in this work are obtained in the quasi-particle approximation. Properties of the resulting self-energy, superfluid gap and spectral functions are studied.Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures, Introduction rewritten, Refs. adde

Tunnelling defect nanoclusters in hcp 4He crystals: alternative to supersolidity

A simple model based on the concept of resonant tunnelling clusters of lattice defects is used to explain the low temperature anomalies of hcp 4He crystals (mass decoupling from a torsional oscillator, shear modulus anomaly, dissipation peaks, heat capacity peak). Mass decoupling is a result of an internal Josephson effect: mass supercurrent inside phase coherent tunnelling clusters. Quantitative results are in reasonable agreement with experiments.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Integrating group Delphi, fuzzy logic and expert systems for marketing strategy development:the hybridisation and its effectiveness

A hybrid approach for integrating group Delphi, fuzzy logic and expert systems for developing marketing strategies is proposed in this paper. Within this approach, the group Delphi method is employed to help groups of managers undertake SWOT analysis. Fuzzy logic is applied to fuzzify the results of SWOT analysis. Expert systems are utilised to formulate marketing strategies based upon the fuzzified strategic inputs. In addition, guidelines are also provided to help users link the hybrid approach with managerial judgement and intuition. The effectiveness of the hybrid approach has been validated with MBA and MA marketing students. It is concluded that the hybrid approach is more effective in terms of decision confidence, group consensus, helping to understand strategic factors, helping strategic thinking, and coupling analysis with judgement, etc

On a class of stationary loops on SO(n) and the existence of multiple twisting solutions to a nonlinear elliptic system subject to a hard incompressibility constraint

For full abstract please refer to http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13661-018-1047-