Determinants of self-employment among Polish and Romanian immigrants in Germany

This empirical study investigates the determinants of self-employment propensity of Polish and Romanian immigrants in Germany. The German economy is an important object of analysis, as it is the most important destination for international migrants in the European Union. In the paper, we use the recently collected M sample of the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine which personal, country of birth-specific socio-economic and cultural factors influence the self-employment propensity of immigrants. The results of binominal logit regression show that the Central European migrants exhibit different self-employment propensity than migrants from former Yugoslavia, Russian and Kazakhstan, Turkey and Italy, with the self-employment aversion especially strong among Romanians. These differences remain substantial even after controlling for social and human capital endowment of the individuals. This study offers important policy recommendations, showing the potential obstacles in encouraging entrepreneurial activity of immigrants. This topic is becoming increasingly important with the current migration crisis in the EU, caused by intensive inflow of asylum-seeking foreigners in 2015

Pomiar adaptacji imigrantów z wykorzystaniem subiektywnego dobrostanu na przykładzie krajów Europy

Adaptacja społeczno-ekonomiczna imigrantów w Europie jest tematem, nad którym pochylają się zarówno eksperci, jak i decydenci polityczni. W literaturze przedmiotu sugeruje się bardziej zróżnicowane i inkluzyjne podejście do wskaźników mierzących adaptację cudzoziemców w kraju przyjmującym, oprócz tradycyjnego stosowania takich wskaźników, jak zatrudnienie na pełny etat czy poziom dochodów. Badanie omawiane w artykule odpowiada na to zapotrzebowanie, uwzględniając subiektywny dobrostan (ang. subjective wellbeing - SWB) jednostek, w tym ocenę satysfakcji z życia. Głównym celem badania jest empiryczna ocena adaptacji społeczno-ekonomicznej pierwszego pokolenia imigrantów oraz osób z pochodzeniem imigranckim (tj. mających co najmniej jednego rodzica imigranta) w krajach europejskich. Przeanalizowano determinanty SWB na podstawie danych z Europejskiego Sondażu Społecznego przeprowadzonego w 2018 r. w 29 krajach Europy na populacji w wieku powyżej 15 lat. Opracowano model uwzględniający przynależność do wyznania religijnego i stopień religijności badanych osób jako dodatkową miarę tożsamości kulturowej, a obecność na rynku pracy, wykształcenie, stan cywilny i niepełnosprawność jako zmienne kontrolne. Posłużono się metodą najmniejszych kwadratów, powszechnie stosowaną w takich analizach. Wyniki badania wskazują, że status imigranta w pierwszym pokoleniu nie wpływa bezpośrednio na SWB, czyli że poziom satysfakcji z życia osób urodzonych za granicą i członków lokalnej społeczności jest podobny. Natomiast istotna jest przynależność imigrantów do wyznania religijnego: najmniej zadowoleni z życia są muzułmanie, jednak satysfakcja z życia w tej grupie znacząco wzrasta w przypadku imigrantów w drugim pokoleniu, tj. osób mających co najmniej jednego rodzica urodzonego za granicą. Z badania wynika, że pokolenie muzułmanów urodzonych w europejskich krajach przyjmujących czuje się lepiej przystosowane do warunków społeczno-ekonomicznych niż pokolenie ich rodziców i niż muzułmanie bez rodowodu imigranckiego.The socio-economic adaptation of immigrants in Europe is the source of great concern both to experts and policy-makers. The literature on migration suggests there should be a more diversified and inclusive application of indexes that measure foreigners’ adaptation to the host country in addition to the traditional use of e.g. full-time employment or income level. Our study answers this call by taking into account the subjective wellbeing (SWB) of individuals (life satisfaction scores) while researching the socio-economic adaptation of immigrants in Europe. The main aim of the study is to empirically assess the socio-economic adaptation of firstgeneration immigrants and persons with immigrant background (i.e. those who have at least one immigrant parent) in European states. To this end, we analyse the determinants of the SWB based on the data from the European Social Survey conducted in 2018 in 29 European countries on the population aged 15+. In our model, we use the religious affiliation and religiosity of individuals as an additional measure of cultural identity. We also take into account control variables such as labour market participation, education, marital status and disability. We apply Ordinary Least Squares regression, a method commonly used in analyses of this type. We find that the first-generation immigrant status does not impact directly on the SWB, i.e. the life satisfaction scores of foreign-born persons are similar to those of the local community. What has a more significant influence is the immigrnats’ religious affiliation: Muslims are the religious group dissatisfied with life to the largest extent. Yet, their life satisfaction increases considerably among the second-generation immigrants, i.e. persons who have at least one foreign-born parent. Therefore, our results confirm that the new generation of Muslims with immigrant background born in European host countries feel better adapted to the socioeconomic conditions than their parents’ generation or native Muslims

Beneficial effect of voluntary exercise on experimental colitis in mice fed a high-fat diet : the role of irisin, adiponectin and proinflammatory biomarkers

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders exhibited by two major phenotypic forms: Crohn‘s disease and ulcerative colitis. Although the aetiology of IBD is unknown, several factors coming from the adipose tissue and skeletal muscles, such as cytokines, adipokines and myokines, were suggested in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis; however, it has not been extensively studied whether voluntary exercise can ameliorate that disorder. We explored the effect of moderate exercise (i.e., voluntary wheel running) on the disease activity index (DAI), colonic blood flow (CBF), plasma irisin and adiponectin levels and real-time PCR expression of proinflammatory markers in mesenteric fat in mice with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) colitis fed a high-fat diet (HFD) compared to those on a standard chow diet (SD). Macroscopic and microscopic colitis in sedentary SD mice was accompanied by a significant fall in CBF, some increase in colonic tissue weight and a significant increase in the plasma levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-6, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) and IL-13 (p < 0.05). In sedentary HFD mice, colonic lesions were aggravated, colonic tissue weight increased and the plasma TNF-α, IL-6, MCP-1, IL-1β and leptin levels significantly increased. Simultaneously, a significant decrease in the plasma irisin and adiponectin levels was observed in comparison with SD mice (p < 0.05). Exercise significantly decreased macroscopic and microscopic colitis, substantially increased CBF and attenuated the plasma TNF-α, IL-6, MCP-1, IL-1β and leptin levels while raising the plasma irisin and the plasma and WAT concentrations of adiponectin in HFD mice (p < 0.05). We conclude that: (1) experimental colitis is exacerbated in HFD mice, possibly due to a fall in colonic microcirculation and an increase in the plasma and mesenteric fat content of proinflammatory biomarkers; and (2) voluntary physical activity can attenuate the severity of colonic damage in mice fed a HFD through the release of protective irisin and restoration of plasma adiponectin

Migração internacional e desenvolvimento econômico

O Brasil é um país com uma longa tradição imigratória, porém a emigração internacional é um fenômeno recente. A inversão migratória começou na década de 1980, quando a saída de brasileiros para o exterior evoluiu de maneira considerável. Esse processo foi continuado nas décadas seguintes, convertendo um típico país de imigração numa nação de emigração. Assim, surgiu a diáspora brasileira, estimada atualmente em 3,7 milhões de pessoas. A diáspora constitui um grande desafio para o país, especialmente em relação às consequências econômicas da emigração, visto que esses movimentos deverão ainda se intensificar. O presente trabalho tem como principal objetivo descrever as vinculações entre a emigração e desenvolvimento econômico de país de origem. Ao apresentar teorias de migração internacional, procede-se a uma análise dos estudos que analisam as consequências econômicas da emigração. A apresentação dessa contribuição teorética e empírica na área da economia de migração é necessária na compreensão do problema brasileiro. O autor formula uma hipótese de que no atual quadro emigratório a economia brasileira deve se beneficiar dos movimentos internacionais.Brazil is a country of a long immigration history, however its emigration experience is a recent issue. The migration transition started in the 1980s, when the first wave of migration was initiated. This process is continued in the next decades: therefore, the traditional nation of immigration was transformed in the nation of emigration. Brazilian Diaspora is now estimated in ca. 3,7 million and constitutes an important area of interest for the scholars and policy-makers interested in development policy. This article focuses on the relationship between migration and development from the perspective of the sending country. The author argues that in the Brazilian case, the impact of migration on the national economy should be beneficial, especially when analyzing the effects of remittances on the mezzo (i.e. regional) level

Investigating neighbourhood concentration of immigrants in Poland: explorative evidence from Kraków

Aim. This study contributes to research on new immigrant destinations in CEE by investigating the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants in Poland. We focus on Kraków – the second largest city – for which we have built a unique register-based dataset containing geocoded individual level data. To our knowledge, it is the first high-quality dataset of this type, prepared and used for research purposes in Poland. We use it to describe immigrants’ spatial allocation at a relatively early stage of immigration using the kNN approach. Results and conclusions. We find that whereas foreigners compose around 4.2% of city population, 50% of the city inhabitants live in the 200 kNNs with a share of foreigners below 2.2%. The DI for the immigrants is 0.45. Yet, a relatively high concentration could be seen among foreigners from Asia and America. However, immigrants from Ukraine and other Eastern European, non-EU countries are much more evenly spread around the city

Determinants of self-employment among Polish and Romanian immigrants in Germany

This empirical study investigates the determinants of self-employment propensity of Polish and Romanian immigrants in Germany. The German economy is an important object of analysis, as it is the most important destination for international migrants in the European Union. In the paper, we use the recently collected M sample of the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine which personal, country of birth-specific socio-economic and cultural factors influence the self-employment propensity of immigrants. The results of binominal logit regression show that the Central European migrants exhibit different self-employment propensity than migrants from former Yugoslavia, Russian and Kazakhstan, Turkey and Italy, with the self-employment aversion especially strong among Romanians. These differences remain substantial even after controlling for social and human capital endowment of the individuals. This study offers important policy recommendations, showing the potential obstacles in encouraging entrepreneurial activity of immigrants. This topic is becoming increasingly important with the current migration crisis in the EU, caused by intensive inflow of asylum-seeking foreigners in 2015

Moderate exercise training attenuates the severity of experimental rodent colitis : the importance of crosstalk between adipose tissue and skeletal muscles

Although progress has been recently made in understanding of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), their etiology is unknown apart from several factors from adipose tissue and skeletal muscles such as cytokines, adipokines, and myokines were implicated in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis. We studied the effect high-fat diet (HFD; cholesterol up to 70%), low-fat diet (LFD; cholesterol up to 10%), and the normal diet (total fat up to 5%) in rats with TNBS colitis forced to treadmill running exercise (5 days/week) for 6 weeks. In nonexercising HFD rats, the area of colonic damage, colonic tissue weight, the plasma IL-1β, TNF-α, TWEAK, and leptin levels, and the expression of IL-1β-, TNF-α-, and Hif1α mRNAs were significantly increased and a significant fall in plasma adiponectin and irisin levels was observed as compared to LFD rats. In HFD animals, the exercise significantly accelerated the healing of colitis, raised the plasma levels of IL-6 and irisin, downregulated the expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, and Hif1α, and significantly decreased the plasma IL-1β, TNF α, TWEAK, and leptin levels. We conclude that HFD delays the healing of colitis in trained rats via decrease in CBF and plasma IL-1β, TNF-α, TWEAK, and leptin levels and the release of protective irisin

The use of 90Y-PET imaging in evaluation of 90Y-microspheres distribution in the liver: initial results

BACKGROUND: Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) with 90Y-microspheres infusion into the hepatic artery is a novel method for palliative treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancer. The post-procedural 90Y dose estimation in the liver is very difficult because direct measurement of b particles is not possible with SPECT/CT. New methods are needed to assess the 90Y-microspheres liver distribution. In the present paper we evaluate the 90Y-PET for these purposes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A GE Discovery ST PET/CT scanner with a copper ring protected the gantry was used for images acquisition. For SPECT/CT imaging, a GE Infinia VCHWK4 with HEPG collimators was used. The liver 90Y-microspheres (SIR-Spheres, SIRTEX, Australia) dose distribution after selective internal radiotherapy treatment was evaluated in three patients (9 lesions in total). The activity of 90Y-microspheres delivered into the liver ranged from 1.0 GBq to 2.2 GBq. The correlations between liver lesions detected with 90Y-PET, 99mTc-MAA and 90-bremsstrahlung were investigated and compared with CT images obtained before and after the procedure. RESULTS: The mean T/N ratio was 2.7 in 99mTc-MAA, 2.3 in 90Y-bremsstrahlung and 3.6 in 90Y-PET. The mean 90Y absorbed dose in tumor was 133 Gy, 112 Gy, and 187 Gy, respectively. The mean liver tissue radiation was 15.5 Gy. According to RECIST criteria, one PR (mCRC) and two SD were observed (mCRC and PC). Time to progression was 217 and 117 days in two patients with mCRC and 214 days in the patient with PC. CONCLUSIONS: 90Y-PET/CT images give crucial information regarding 90Y-microspheres distribution and dosimetry and may serve as a predictor of efficiency of radioembolisation

What the self-selection of Ukrainian refugees means for support in host countries

Refugee populations are rarely a perfect representation of the makeup of the country they have fled from. This is because refugees are often ‘self-selected’ in the sense that certain types of people are more likely to choose to leave or to have the opportunities to do so. Drawing on new survey evidence, Judith Kohlenberger, Konrad Pędziwiatr, Bernhard Rengs, Bernhard Riederer, Ingrid Setz, Isabella Buber-Ennser, Jan Brzozowski and Olena Nahorniuk provide a detailed overview of the key characteristics of Ukrainian refugees in Austria and Poland