Urban Inequality and Political Recruitment Networks

This paper provides evidence of segregation-generated differences in political recruitment networks. By taking explicit account of social-geographical differentiation in the urban landscape, we evaluate—in prior work largely neglected—contextual effects on requests for participation. Consistent with previous research, we find that those activists who try to convince others to participate in political life systematically use a set of selection criteria when deciding whom to approach. However, using recent data based on a sample of inhabitants of Swedish cities and properties of their neighborhoods, we also show that the degree of (aggregate-level) social exclusion negatively influences (individual-level) recruitment efforts. This contextual effect stems both from the disproportional population composition as such in residential areas, and from recruiters’ rational avoidance of areas marked by high levels of social exclusion. We conclude that these logics jointly reinforce urban inequalities regarding the chances for ordinary citizens to be invited to political life.political recruitment; political recruiters; contextual effects; Civic Voluntarism Model; statistical discrimination

Dynamic features of successive upwelling events in the Baltic Sea - a numerical case study

Coastal upwelling often reveals itself during the thermal stratification season as an abrupt sea surface temperature (SST) drop. Its intensity depends not only on the magnitude of an upwelling-favourable wind impulse but also on the temperature stratification of the water column during the initial stage of the event. When a "chain" of upwelling events is taking place, one event may play a part in forming the initial stratification for the next one; consequently, SST may drop significantly even with a reduced wind impulse. Two upwelling events were simulated on the Polish coast in August 1996 using a three-dimensional, baroclinic prognostic model. The model results proved to be in good agreement with in situ observations and satellite data. Comparison of the simulated upwelling events show that the first one required a wind impulse of 28000 kg m-1 s-1 to reach its mature, full form, whereas an impulse of only 7500 kg m-1 s-1 was sufficient to bring about a significant drop in SST at the end of the second event. In practical applications like operational modelling, the initial stratification conditions prior to an upwelling event should be described with care in order to be able to simulate the coming event with very good accuracy

Upwelling in the Baltic Sea - a review

Upwelling is a typical phenomenon of the Baltic Sea. Because the Baltic Sea is a semi- enclosed basin, winds from favorable directions blowing predominately parallel to the coast cause upwelling leading to vertical displacement of the water body and mixing. During the thermal stratified period, upwelling can lead to a strong sea-surface temperature drop of more than 10 °C changing drastically the thermal balance and stability conditions at the sea-surface. Upwelling can play a key role in replenishing the euphotic zone with the nutritional components necessary for biological productivity when the surface layer is depleted of nutrients. Consequently, it has been found out that in such areas where upwelling lifts phosphorus-rich deep water to the surface, the N/P ratio becomes low which favors the blooming of nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae. The rapid temperature decrease during such events was recognized and documented a long time ago when temperature measurements became available. Thus, the study of the upwelling process has a long tradition. However, although the importance of upwelling has generally been accepted for the Baltic Sea, no general review of upwelling exists. The objective of this paper is a comprehensive review of the upwelling process, its dynamics and reflections to ecosystem processes in the Baltic Sea using all relevant literature which will help to close the gaps of present knowledge and some recommendations for future work are outlined accordingly

Descending commuter

The task is to produce a suitable option for those who go mountain hiking and want the thrill to ride down the hills. The product should be lightweight and foldable, and easy to bring along for a bus ride or other types of public transportation. The final product is a downhill scooter, where the neck is foldable. The deck of the scooter is a sandwich structure where the core is made of aluminum 5052 honeycomb structure. The face of the sandwich structure is made of an epoxy/carbon fiber composite, along with the handle and the handlebar. The wheel fork and the neck is made out of aluminum 6063 T6. Dimensions such as thickness has been computed, and tested by Solidworks simulations. The handlebar of the scooter has adjustable height, and the max bar height is set at 120 mm. The deck of the scooter has a length of 600 mm, and the total mass of the product is 2,449 kg

Recent Change - Marine Circulation and Stratification

This chapter describes recent change in the circulation and stratification of the Baltic Sea. A recent warming trend in sea-surface waters has been clearly demonstrated by in situ measurements, remote sensing data and numerical models. Trends in sea-surface temperature (SST) for the past three to four decades based on remote sensing data generally agree with trends determined from in situ observations. Models suggest the current warming within the Baltic Sea lies within the range experienced during the past 500 years. The salinity and stratification of the deep waters are strongly linked to the major inflows of North Sea water that occur sporadically and bring high-saline water into the deep layers of the Baltic Sea. The major inflows normally occur during winter and spring and bring cold oxygen-rich waters into the deep basins. Since 1996, large inflows have also occurred during summer, bringing in warm low-oxygen water

How the communicative development inventories can contribute to clinical assessments of children with speech and language disorders

IntroductionThe purpose of the present study was to investigate whether information from the Swedish version of the Communicative Development Inventories III (SCDI-III) is informative to the Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) when examining children with suspected speech and language disorders at a SLP unit.MethodParents to 50 children (25 girls, 25 boys, age 30–80 months) that had been referred to the local SLP unit completed the SCDI-III. Nine children came from multilingual families and 41 children came from monolingual, Swedish speaking homes. The children were diagnosed as having developmental speech disorders (12) or developmental language disorders (33). Five children were not diagnosed with any disorder.ResultsThe results showed that the referred children performed significantly lower on scales for word production, grammar, and metalinguistic awareness, compared to a subset from the norms with a similar age and gender composition. Most children fell below the 10th percentile on word production and grammatical constructions. The intercorrelation between the three scales were in general substantial. Comparisons of children’s performance on the vocabulary and grammar scales of SCDI-III, and the medical records revealed 18 cases of discordance that would have motivated further examination. The parents rated sometimes their child’s vocabulary and grammar skills as higher and sometime as lower to the medical records.DiscussionLimitations due to attrition and sample size were discussed. It was concluded that the SCDI-III can provide valuable information to the examination at the SLP clinic in addition to parent interviews, observations of children, and various tests, and that the potential for adapted versions would be particularly high for examinations of multilingual children

An overview of methods to evaluate uncertainty of deterministic models in decision support

There is an increasing need for environmental management advice that is wide-scoped, covering various interlinked policies, and realistic about the uncertainties related to the possible management actions. To achieve this, efficient decision support integrates the results of pre-existing models. Many environmental models are deterministic, but the uncertainty of their outcomes needs to be estimated when they are utilized for decision support. We review various methods that have been or could be applied to evaluate the uncertainty related to deterministic models' outputs. We cover expert judgement, model emulation, sensitivity analysis, temporal and spatial variability in the model outputs, the use of multiple models, and statistical approaches, and evaluate when these methods are appropriate and what must be taken into account when utilizing them. The best way to evaluate the uncertainty depends on the definitions of the source models and the amount and quality of information available to the modeller.Peer reviewe

Yliopiston ja elinkeinoelämän muuttuva suhde Diskurssianalyyttinen tutkimus Aalto-yliopiston yritysyhteistyösuhteista

Tavoitteet Tutkielman tavoitteena on analysoida Aalto-yliopistossa korkeakoulujen yhdistymisen jälkeen käytyä keskustelua yritysyhteistyöstä. Tutkimuksessa eritellään diskursseja, joita yritysyhteistyöstä puhuttaessa käytetään ja pyritään hahmottamaan, millaista käsitystä ja roolia yhteistyöstä keskustelun perusteella rakennetaan. Tutkimuksen mielenkiinto kohdistetaan diskurssien lisäksi yliopistojen kehityskaareen, joka on johtanut tiivistyvään yhteistyöhön elinkeinoelämän kanssa. Tutkimusaineisto ja -menetelmät Tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään muuttuvan yliopiston käsitettä, jonka avulla pyritään hahmottamaan yliopistojen ja elinkeinoelämän muuttuvaa suhdetta. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen diskurssianalyysi. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu helmi-maaliskuussa 2010 Aalto-yliopistossa tehdystä 10 haastattelusta ja yliopiston strategiatekstistä. Tutkimuksessani kontekstina toimii yliopistojen muuttuva toimintaympäristö. Kontekstitekijöiden kautta pyrin ymmärtämään, miksi määrätynlaiset diskurssit nousevat esille ja mitä se kertoo yliopistojen ja yritysten välisestä yhteistyöstä. Tulokset Tutkimuksen perusteella löydettiin neljä diskurssia, jotka korostavat pragmaattista käsitystä yliopistojen tehtävästä. Tavoitteina, odotuksina ja toiveina rakentuva diskurssien yliopistoihanne nojaa yhä vahvemmin vuorovaikutukseen elinkeinoelämän kanssa. Tulosten perusteella Aalto-yliopisto pyrkii ulos perinteisenä pidetystä ajatusmallista, jonka mukaan yliopisto ei ole alisteinen millekään ulkopuoliselle taholle