The transfers game: A comparative analysis of the mechanical effect of lower preference votes in STV systems

Debates about electoral reform revolve around giving voters more choice. Consequently, reformers often favor adopting the single transferable vote, a candidate-based system that allows voters to rank order candidates. Nonetheless, studies about whether lower preferences (transfers) influence STV election outcomes remain scant. To address this gap, our comparative multivariate approach tests transfers' impact on election results in Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. We find that, on average, transfers are pivotal in the election of about one in 10 elected candidates. Hence, their impact is the exception rather than the norm. We show that when lower preferences are decisive at the candidate level, they benefit smaller and moderate parties and non-incumbents and, in Malta and Ireland, female candidates. Our results have implications for understanding the extent to which multiple preferences influence election outcomes and for debates on electoral reform

Aligned Across Difference: Structural Injustice, Sex Work, and Human Trafficking

Feminist scholars and activists engage in meaningful, contentious debates about the relationships among sex, gender, power, and society. One of the most recent iterations of these arguments reinscribes the pleasure of sex positivity and danger of patriarchal exploitation onto new subjects: sex work and human trafficking. This paper brings together two separate empirically based research projects, one working with sex workers and the other working with members of the anti-trafficking community. As scholars working across these topics, we provide new normative propositions that may bridge these different approaches to resilience, survival, danger, and risk. We find that the real threat identified by our participants was the wide reach of the carceral state onto migrating, working, and trafficked bodies. Our projects find unexpected commonality in shared perceptions of pleasure, agency, and danger among sex workers, human trafficking survivors, and service providers working with trafficked persons. Current debates ignore the lived experiences of our participants, who attempt to find pleasure in context-specific agency and survival, and who locate danger in the looming forces of the security state, criminality, and structural inequalities

In Search of the Best Response Scale in a Mixed-mode Survey (Web and Mail): Evidence from MTMM Experiments in the GESIS Panel

Mixed-mode surveys allow researchers to combine the advantages of multiple modes, for example, the low cost of the web mode with the higher coverage of offline modes. One drawback of combining modes is that there might be systematic differences in measurement across modes. Thus, it would be useful to know which measurement methods work best in all employed modes. This study sets out to find a method that results in the highest measurement quality across self-administered web mode questionnaires (web mode) and self-administered paper questionnaires sent out by mail (mail mode). Two Multitrait-Multimethod (MTMM) experiments employing questions on environmental attitudes and supernatural beliefs were implemented in the GESIS Panel, a probability-based panel in Germany. The experiments were designed to estimate the measurement quality of three different response scales: A seven-point fully labelled scale, a 101-point numerical openended scale and an eleven-point partially labelled scale. Our results show that the elevenpoint partially labelled scale consistently leads to the highest measurement quality across both modes. We thus recommend using eleven-point partially labelled scales when measuring attitudes or beliefs in mixed-mode surveys combining web and mail mode

Land application of sewage sludge (biosolids) in Australia: risks to the environment and food crops

Australia is a large exporter of agricultural products, with producers responsible for a range of quality assurance programs to ensure that food crops are free from various contaminants of detriment to human health. Large volumes of treated sewage sludge (biosolids), although low by world standards, are increasingly being recycled to land, primarily to replace plant nutrients and to improve soil properties; they are used in agriculture, forestry, and composted. The Australian National Biosolids Research Program (NBRP) has linked researchers to a collective goal to investigate nutrients and benchmark safe concentrations of metals nationally using a common methodology, with various other research programs conducted in a number of states specific to regional problems and priorities. The use of biosolids in Australia is strictly regulated by state guidelines, some of which are under review following recent research outcomes. Communication and research between the water industry, regulators and researchers specific to the regulation of biosolids is further enhanced by the Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP).This paper summarises the major issues and constraints related to biosolids use in Australia using specific case examples from Western Australia, a member of the Australian NBRP, and highlights several research projects conducted over the last decade to ensure that biosolids are used beneficially and safely in the environment. Attention is given to research relating to plant nutrient uptake, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus (including that of reduced phosphorus uptake in alum sludge-amended soil); the risk of heavy metal uptake by plants, specifically cadmium, copper and zinc; the risk of pathogen contamination in soil and grain products; change to soil pH (particularly following lime-amended biosolids); and the monitoring of faecal contamination by biosolids in waterbodies using DNA techniques. Examples of products that are currently produced in Western Australia from sewage sludge include mesophilic anaerobically digested and dewatered biosolids cake, lime-amended biosolids, alum sludge and compost

A Prototype Comparison of Human Trafficking Warning Signs: U.S. Midwest Frontline Workers’ Perceptions

Guided by the cognitive prototype approach, this article examines the prototype structure of the frontline workers’ perceptions concerning warning sign indicators in human trafficking. Online survey responses across a range of workplace sectors were analyzed using multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) for three groups. These groups were based on respondents’ self-reported human trafficking experiences: no witness (no encounter of human trafficking), sex trafficking witness, and labor trafficking witness. The MG-CFA analysis revealed a three-factor structure – physical condition, reproductive health, and personal risk – representing the participants’ perceptions of the warning signs. Further analysis showed group-level mean (latent intercept) and variance differences between the prototype structures of the three witness groups. The final structural model results indicate that these group-level prototype differences can be explained by two organizational resource variables: identification protocol and training. The results are discussed in light of the current empirical literature on human trafficking identification, stereotypical frames of victimhood, and policy practices

Resource Discovery in a Changing Content World

Discovery services have evolved to include not just books and articles, but databases, website content, research guides, digital and audiovisual collections, and unique local collections that are all important for their users to be able to find. Search and ranking remain at the core of discovery, but advanced tools such as recommendation, virtual browse, ‘look inside‘, and the use of artificial intelligence are also becoming more prevalent. This group of panelists discussed how content in their discovery systems can change based on the context of the user, using as examples Primo and Blacklight, and how content is populated, discovered and requested by users through differing customizations and workflows. The session also explored what tools are available today or may become available in the coming years that may be used to highlight different collections and material types in a library discovery system. As this topic impacts many stakeholders—libraries who need to make content discoverable and satisfy the needs of their users, content providers who want to make sure that their content is visible and used, and discovery providers who need to develop their systems to support the changing needs—the panelists posed questions to the audience to encourage conversation around the challenges they face with making their unique content collections discoverable and to share solutions

Frontline Workers’ Perceptions of Human Trafficking: Warning Signs and Risks in the Midwest

Research on human trafficking in the U.S. has centered overwhelmingly on coastal regions, border states, and urban hubs. In an attempt to understand perceptions of exploitation and human trafficking more broadly, this paper focuses on frontline workers in the Midwest. Service providers in the legal/law enforcement, medical, non-profit, social service, and foster care sectors often encounter exploited or trafficked persons in their work. Their perceptions offer a unique insight into how trafficking may manifest and how frontline workers interface with vulnerable, exploited, or trafficked persons seeking resources or assistance. Using survey data from 667 participants across two Midwestern states, we find important similarities in perceived trafficking warning signs and risk factors, as well as differences in how these providers can address their clients’ immediate needs. We present these findings through both descriptive statistical summaries of questions regarding micro-level and macro-level trafficking factors and qualitative data from a set of open-ended survey questions. Results indicate the need for better site-specific policy to address the nuances of anti-trafficking work across the Midwest

An Analysis of Deaf Students’ Spelling Skills during a Year Long Instructional Writing Approach

Numerous studies have shown that spelling presents unique challenges for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) and most do not develop age appropriate spelling skills. However, it is critical that these skills are acquired in order to use written language for academic or vocational purposes. Spelling errors from the writing samples of 29 middle school students in a state school for the Deaf were analyzed to examine changes over time. Samples were gathered before, during, and after a year-long writing intervention using Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI). When using SIWI, students are exposed to proper spelling during guided writing instruction; however, spelling is not a specific focus of each lesson. In this study, a linguistic analysis of spelling errors was used to assess each child’s understanding of the phonological, morphological, orthographic, semantic and visual imagery rules that apply to written words. No significant improvements in spelling were noted and the results indicate that spelling should be targeted during writing lessons. The results provide important information on the acquisition of spelling skills with this unique population and the use of narrative samples to assess spelling

Subjektives Lernzeiterleben und kollektive Zeitpraktiken in der Erwachsenbildung: zur empirischen Rekonstruktion von Zeitmodalitäten in Lern- und Bildungsprozessen

Education and learning processes cannot be separated from time and temporality. Although current educational research recognizes this, there are still desiderata, especially combining theoretical approaches to qualitative empirical methodological approaches. Therefore, in a current research project we use qualitative-reconstructive methods to investigate the relationship between institutionalized time structures, collective time practices, and subjective experiences of time in the context of paid educational leaves. In this article, we first examine relationships between time and adult education, contextualized to the programmatics of lifelong learning. We then introduce the methodological design of our research project, which combines approaches of qualitative classroom research and biographical (adult) educational research. The analysis interweaves participant observations of courses and narrative interviews with participants, using the documentary method. Using a selected course as an example, we show how this multi-methodological and multi-perspective approach makes it possible to elaborate the complex relationships between collective time practices and subjective experiences of learning time. We focus on structuring the time within the course in contrast to learning time beyond the course and show how different the participants perceive and shape the latter. As conclusion, we elaborate on methodological follow-up questions on temporality that could derive from our current research experiences.Lern- und Bildungsprozesse sind unlösbar mit Zeitlichkeit verbunden. In der aktuellen erziehungswissenschaftlichen Forschung wird dies erkannt, es bleiben aber Desiderata insbesondere in der Verbindung bildungstheoretischer Überlegungen mit qualitativer empirischer Forschung. Deshalb untersuchen wir in einem aktuellen Forschungsprojekt mittels qualitativ-rekonstruktiver Verfahren den Zusammenhang zwischen institutionalisierten Zeitstrukturen, kollektiven Zeitpraktiken und subjektivem Lernzeiterleben in Bildungsurlaubsveranstaltungen. Im Beitrag besprechen wir zunächst grundlegend das Verhältnis von Zeit und Erwachsenenbildung und betten unseren Untersuchungsgegenstand in den Kontext der Programmatik lebenslangen Lernens ein. Auf dieser Grundlage stellen wir das methodische Design unseres Forschungsprojekts vor, bei dem wir auf eine Verbindung von qualitativer Kursforschung einerseits und erwachsenenbildungswissenschaftlicher Biografieforschung andererseits setzen und in diesem Rahmen teilnehmende Beobachtungen von Kursen und narrative Interviews mit Teilnehmenden auf Grundlage der dokumentarischen Methode analytisch verschränken. Anhand eines ausgewählten Falles zeigen wir auf, wie es durch diesen multimethodischen und multiperspektivischen Zugang möglich wird, die komplexen Verhältnisse zwischen kollektiven Zeitpraktiken und subjektivem Lernzeiterleben herauszuarbeiten. Dabei fokussieren wir die praktische Strukturierung der Kurszeit im Unterschied zur Lernzeit jenseits des Kurses und zeigen für letztere auf, wie unterschiedlich die Teilnehmenden diese wahrnehmen und ausgestalten. In einer abschließenden Reflexion verweisen wir auf methodische Anschlussfragen, die sich aus der bisherigen Forschungspraxis ableiten lassen