Center-based care and parenting activities

We estimate the effects of center-based care on parenting activities with children using data from time diaries and a family survey for Germany. Our estimates imply that usage of center-based care reduces the amount of time that a parent spends with their enrolled child, but only small negative effects on the amount of time spent on parenting activities. Correspondingly, center-based care increases parenting activities as a share of time spent with the child. Our estimates of direct (center hours) and indirect effects (evening and weekend) are more pronounced for parents in households where the mother has lower educational attainment

Maternal life satisfaction and child development from toddlerhood to adolescence

In this paper we analyse the association between maternal well-being and child development at different ages. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) which captures maternal life satisfaction and numerous cognitive and non-cognitive child development outcomes. We identify a strong positive association between mothers' life satisfaction and their children's development when these are toddlers (2-3 years, VAB scores), of primary school age (5-10 years, SEB scores and Big 5) and in adolescence (11-14 years, life satisfaction, school grades and self-reported Big 5). This relationship holds when we control for a wide range of potentially confounding factors, including maternal education, employment, household income and maternal personality traits. We confirm our main findings with an IV estimation where we instrument contemporaneous maternal life satisfaction with that measured pre-birth and with a value-added model as some child outcomes are observed twice at different ages. Our findings suggest that mothers' life satisfaction is beneficial for their children's development at all ages and that it is fruitful for policy makers to identify measures through which maternal well-being can be raised

The playground effect: how augmented reality drives creative customer engagement

Across various customer experiences, Augmented Reality (AR) is emerging as a strategic experience design tool. This study contributes to an emerging body of research on the use of AR in the early stages of customers’ purchase journeys. Extending previous research, we propose that AR enables a unique form of customer creativity that is distinct from prior conceptualizations of creativity through its association with customer engagement. Specifically, we propose a sequential process of creative customer engagement, in which AR-enabled customer creativity stems from heightened customer engagement and, in turn, offers a source of intrinsic satisfaction for customers. In an experiment with a customer-facing AR application, we empirically demonstrate this sequential mediation process connecting the use of AR with customer engagement, customer creativity, and anticipated satisfaction. We also identify an important boundary condition based on a customer’s assessment orientation, suggesting a novel behavioral effect in the context of regulatory mode theory

Frequency-Specific Effects in Infant Electroencephalograms Do Not Require Entrained Neural Oscillations: A Commentary on Köster et al. (2019)

First paragraph: In our current efforts to understand how psychological phenomena arise from brain activity, neural oscillations have taken center stage. A wide range of findings has linked modulations of oscillatory power, phase, and frequency to various cognitive functions, such as attention, language, and memory (Wang, 2010). Exciting new research has recently focused on the developmental origins and trajectories of neural oscillations—how does the neural oscillatory landscape emerge over development (Schaworonkow & Voytek, 2021), and how do the relationships between oscillations and cognitive function in the adult brain come about

Hiking trails shift plant species' realized climatic niches and locally increase species richness

Aim The presence and use of trails may change plant species' realized climatic niches via modified abiotic and biotic conditions including propagule transport, allowing competition-pressed alpine species to expand their rear edges towards warmer locations and lowland species to extend their leading edges towards cooler locations. We investigated whether mountain trails indeed act as corridors for colonization and shift species' realized climatic niches, resulting in higher species richness in trailsides. Location Dovrefjell and Abisko area in the Scandes mountains of Norway and Sweden. Methods We surveyed plant community composition and disturbances along 16 hiking trails in summer 2018 (Dovrefjell) and 2019 (Abisko). We linked changes in species' realized climatic niches to their climatic optimum and variation in species richness to climate, trail effects and resident plant community characteristics. Results Plant species richness was on average 24% greater in trailside than in interior vegetation plots. Proximity to trails accounted for 9% and climatic harshness for 55% of variation in species richness explained in our model. Trailsides increased in richness, especially in relatively species-poor sites and close to introduction points (each accounting for 24% of variation in our model of species gains). Shifts in rear edges and optima of realized climatic niches along trails related to species' undisturbed climatic optimum, with alpine species being more likely to move into warmer locations. While some disturbance-associated species shifted their leading edges towards colder locations, contrary to expectations this was not the case for lowland species. Overall, shifts in climatic niches resulted in more species' niches overlapping in trailsides than in the interior vegetation. Main conclusion Trails can locally increase species richness by creating opportunities for colonizing species and weaker competitors. Because of prevailing disturbance, they may even provide opportunities for persistence and downward expansion of alpine species, aiding conservation efforts

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km² resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e., offset) between in-situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km² pixels (summarized from 8500 unique temperature sensors) across all the world’s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in-situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications.publishedVersio