Migrants' Social Positioning Strategies in Transnational Social Spaces

This article examines the nexus of spatial and social mobility by focusing on how migrants in Germany use cultural, economic and moral boundaries to position themselves socially in transnational social spaces. It is based on a mixed-methods approach, drawing on qualitative interviews and panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey. By focusing on how people from different origins and classes use different sets of symbolic boundaries to give meaning to their social mobility trajectories, we link subjective positioning strategies with structural features of people’s mobility experience. We find that people use a class-specific boundary pattern, which has strong transnational features, because migrants tend to mix symbolic and material markers of status hierarchies relevant to both their origin and destination countries. We identify three different types of boundary patterns, which exemplify different ways in which objective structure and subjectively experienced inequalities influence migrants’ social positioning strategies in transnational spaces. These different types also exemplify how migrants’ habitus influences their social positioning strategies, depending on their mobility and social trajectory in transnational spaces

Introduction: Migration and Unequal Positions in a Transnational Perspective

How does spatial mobility influence social mobility and vice versa? Often, the ‘objective’ structural positions on the one hand, and the ‘subjective’ definition of social positions on the other hand, are not considered together. Yet this is necessary in order to gauge the consequences of mobility trajectories reaching across borders. This framing editorial asks how we can study the interplay of perceptions of one’s own social position and one’s objective social position to better understand how spatial mobility influences social mobility and vice versa. In short, this means an exploration of the nexus of spatial mobility and social mobility. Exploring that nexus requires attention to objective social positions, subjective social positioning strategies, transnational approaches to the study of social positions and self-positioning, and social boundary theory. Overall, the complexity of the nexus between social and spatial mobilities calls for a multifaceted research approach that covers various levels of analysis. Some of the contributions feature a mixed-methods approach that allows drawing a multifaceted picture of the interrelation between the perceptions of social positions and their structural features

Prozesse subjektiver Statusverortung in transnationalen Räumen

Die transnationale Forschung hat gezeigt, dass Migrant/innen aufgrund transnationaler Habitus (Kelly, Luis 2006) im Gastland und im Heimatland gleichzeitig divergierende soziale Positionen einnehmen können, und somit sogenannte Statusparadoxe hervorrufen (Nieswand 2011). Es ist allerdings wenig darüber bekannt, nach welchen Kriterien Migrant/innen selbst soziale Positionen in unterschiedlichen Lebenslagen und nationalen Kontexten unterscheiden und so ihre eigene Statusmobilität im transnationalen Raum erleben. In diesem Beitrag möchten wir deshalb verdeutlichen, wie Migrant/innen in Deutschland ihre Statusmobilität im transnationalen Raum durch Zuhilfenahme symbolischer Grenzziehungen (Sachweh 2013) auf verschiedenen Ebene ( sozioökonomisch, kulturell und moralisch) beschreiben und analysieren. Diese subjektiven Bewertungen der sozialen Position zeigen unter anderem auf, wie multiple Dimensionen der sozialen Ungleichheit in unterschiedlichen Migrationskontexten wirken können und somit Entscheidungen zur weiteren Mobilität im Leben der Menschen mitbestimmen. Dazu stellen wir Daten aus dem laufenden DFG Projekt „Transnationale Mobilität und soziale Positionierungen in der europäischen Union (2016–2019) vor, welches auf einem methodenpluralem Forschungsdesign basiert. Die ersten Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Migrant/innen symbolische Grenzen bei der Beurteilung ihres sozialen Status berücksichtigen, diese aber über ihren Lebenslauf hinweg als dynamisch betrachten. Unsere Daten weisen darauf hin, dass neben unterschiedlichen Mobilitätsverläufen auch der nationale Kontext, in denen die Personen aufgewachsen sind, zeitlebens stark für die Beurteilung der eigenen Statusentwicklung ausschlaggebend sind. Weiterhin zeichnet sich ab, dass mobile Menschen nicht nur nationale und transnationale, sondern auch temporäre Rahmen, wie zum Beispiel bestimmte Lebensphasen, als Grundlage für symbolische Grenzziehungen zur Status-Selbstverortung nutzen.&nbsp

Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Resolve Lipid Load in High Fat Diet-Induced Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in Mice by Mitochondria Donation

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) increasingly emerge as an option to ameliorate non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a serious disease, which untreated may progress to liver cirrhosis and cancer. Before clinical translation, the mode of action of MSC needs to be established. Here, we established NASH in an immune-deficient mouse model by feeding a high fat diet. Human bone-marrow-derived MSC were delivered to the liver via intrasplenic transplantation. As verified by biochemical and image analyses, human mesenchymal stromal cells improved high-fat-diet-induced NASH in the mouse liver by decreasing hepatic lipid content and inflammation, as well as by restoring tissue homeostasis. MSC-mediated changes in gene expression indicated the switch from lipid storage to lipid utilization. It was obvious that host mouse hepatocytes harbored human mitochondria. Thus, it is feasible that resolution of NASH in mouse livers involved the donation of human mitochondria to the mouse hepatocytes. Therefore, human MSC might provide oxidative capacity for lipid breakdown followed by restoration of metabolic and tissue homeostasis

Accounting for information: Information and knowledge in the annual reports of FTSE 100 companies

The purpose of this study was to assess the ways in which a sample group of companies discuss information and knowledge. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses were used to survey the way that companies present and value information and knowledge, based on the annual reports of the FTSE 100, the United Kingdom's largest publicly-listed companies. A novel content analysis approach is used, based on a set of categories proposed by Oppenheim, Stenson and Wilson. Many of the companies analysed made explicit the importance of information and knowledge, through either discussion in the text of the annual report or through an attempt to assign a monetary value to information assets. Where the importance of information and knowledge was not made explicit, the study revealed links between successful performance and effective use of information assets. Different categories of information assets were identified within the annual reports. Conclusions drawn from the analysis include that information and knowledge are demonstrably important to FTSE 100 companies, although the specific term “knowledge” does not appear to have a special significance in the companies’ lexicon; and that certain sectors, such as General Financial, General Retail, Travel & Leisure, Mining, Aerospace & Defence and Software & Computer Services, mention information and knowledge more than others

advancing the evidence base for public policies impacting on dietary behaviour physical activity and sedentary behaviour in europe the policy evaluation network promoting a multidisciplinary approach

Abstract Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of global mortality. As the social and economic costs of NCDs have escalated, action is needed to tackle important causes of many NCD's: low physical activity levels and unhealthy dietary behaviours. As these behaviours are driven by upstream factors, successful policy interventions are required that encourage healthy dietary behaviours, improve physical activity levels and reduce sedentary behaviours of entire populations. However, to date, no systematic research on the implementation and evaluation of policy interventions related to these health behaviours has been conducted across Europe. Consequently, no information on the merit, gaps, worth or utility of cross-European policy interventions is available, and no guidance or recommendations on how to enhance this knowledge across European countries exists. As part of the Joint Programming Initiative "A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life" (JPI HDHL), 28 research institutes from seven European countries and New Zealand have combined their expertise to form the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN). PEN's aim is to advance tools to identify, evaluate, implement and benchmark policies designed to directly or indirectly target dietary behaviours, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour in Europe, as well as to understand how these policies increase or decrease health inequalities. Using well-defined evaluation principles and methods, PEN will examine the content, implementation and impact of policies addressing dietary behaviour, physical activity levels and sedentary behaviour across Europe. It will realise the first steps in a bespoke health policy monitoring and surveillance system for Europe, and refine our knowledge of appropriate research designs and methods for the quantification of policy impact. It will contribute to our understanding of how to achieve successful transnational policy implementation and monitoring of these policies in different cultural, demographic or socioeconomic settings. PEN will consider equity and diversity aspects to ensure that policy actions are inclusive and culturally sensitive. Finally, based on three policy cases, PEN will illustrate how best to evaluate the implementation and impact of such policies in order to yield healthy diets and activity patterns that result in healthier lives for all European citizens

System size and centrality dependence of the balance function in A + A collisions at sqrt s NN = 17.2 GeV

Electric charge correlations were studied for p+p, C+C, Si+Si and centrality selected Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt s_NN = 17.2$ GeV with the NA49 large acceptance detector at the CERN-SPS. In particular, long range pseudo-rapidity correlations of oppositely charged particles were measured using the Balance Function method. The width of the Balance Function decreases with increasing system size and centrality of the reactions. This decrease could be related to an increasing delay of hadronization in central Pb+Pb collisions

Health and survival of young children in southern Tanzania

With a view to developing health systems strategies to improve reach to high-risk groups, we present information on health and survival from household and health facility perspectives in five districts of southern Tanzania. We documented availability of health workers, vaccines, drugs, supplies and services essential for child health through a survey of all health facilities in the area. We did a representative cluster sample survey of 21,600 households using a modular questionnaire including household assets, birth histories, and antenatal care in currently pregnant women. In a subsample of households we asked about health of all children under two years, including breastfeeding, mosquito net use, vaccination, vitamin A, and care-seeking for recent illness, and measured haemoglobin and malaria parasitaemia. In the health facility survey, a prescriber or nurse was present on the day of the survey in about 40% of 114 dispensaries. Less than half of health facilities had all seven 'essential oral treatments', and water was available in only 22%. In the household survey, antenatal attendance (88%) and DPT-HepB3 vaccine coverage in children (81%) were high. Neonatal and infant mortality were 43.2 and 76.4 per 1000 live births respectively. Infant mortality was 40% higher for teenage mothers than older women (RR 1.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1 - 1.7), and 20% higher for mothers with no formal education than those who had been to school (RR 1.2, CI 1.0 - 1.4). The benefits of education on survival were apparently restricted to post-neonatal infants. There was no evidence of inequality in infant mortality by socio-economic status. Vaccine coverage, net use, anaemia and parasitaemia were inequitable: the least poor had a consistent advantage over children from the poorest families. Infant mortality was higher in families living over 5 km from their nearest health facility compared to those living closer (RR 1.25, CI 1.0 - 1.5): 75% of households live within this distance. Relatively short distances to health facilities, high antenatal and vaccine coverage show that peripheral health facilities have huge potential to make a difference to health and survival at household level in rural Tanzania, even with current human resources

Geophysical monitoring and reactive transport modeling of ureolytically-driven calcium carbonate precipitation

Ureolytically-driven calcium carbonate precipitation is the basis for a promising in-situ remediation method for sequestration of divalent radionuclide and trace metal ions. It has also been proposed for use in geotechnical engineering for soil strengthening applications. Monitoring the occurrence, spatial distribution, and temporal evolution of calcium carbonate precipitation in the subsurface is critical for evaluating the performance of this technology and for developing the predictive models needed for engineering application. In this study, we conducted laboratory column experiments using natural sediment and groundwater to evaluate the utility of geophysical (complex resistivity and seismic) sensing methods, dynamic synchrotron x-ray computed tomography (micro-CT), and reactive transport modeling for tracking ureolytically-driven calcium carbonate precipitation processes under site relevant conditions. Reactive transport modeling with TOUGHREACT successfully simulated the changes of the major chemical components during urea hydrolysis. Even at the relatively low level of urea hydrolysis observed in the experiments, the simulations predicted an enhanced calcium carbonate precipitation rate that was 3-4 times greater than the baseline level. Reactive transport modeling results, geophysical monitoring data and micro-CT imaging correlated well with reaction processes validated by geochemical data. In particular, increases in ionic strength of the pore fluid during urea hydrolysis predicted by geochemical modeling were successfully captured by electrical conductivity measurements and confirmed by geochemical data. The low level of urea hydrolysis and calcium carbonate precipitation suggested by the model and geochemical data was corroborated by minor changes in seismic P-wave velocity measurements and micro-CT imaging; the latter provided direct evidence of sparsely distributed calcium carbonate precipitation. Ion exchange processes promoted through NH4+ production during urea hydrolysis were incorporated in the model and captured critical changes in the major metal species. The electrical phase increases were potentially due to ion exchange processes that modified charge structure at mineral/water interfaces. Our study revealed the potential of geophysical monitoring for geochemical changes during urea hydrolysis and the advantages of combining multiple approaches to understand complex biogeochemical processes in the subsurface