The adaptation and well-being of adolescent immigrants in Greek schools: A multilevel, longitudinal study of risks and resources

This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.This study examined growth patterns in adaptation of immigrant youth from a risk and resilience perspective. Students from first- and second-generation immigrant families living in Greece and their nonimmigrant classmates (N= 1,057) were assessed over the first 3 years of secondary school (ages 13–15). Three-level hierarchical linear models were used to disentangle individual and classroom-level effects on initial level and change in academic achievement, conduct, peer popularity, and psychological well-being. At the individual level, adaptation was more related to self-efficacy and parental school involvement (resources) than immigrant status and social adversity (risks). Only for academic achievement did risks explain variance when resources were controlled. Parental school involvement moderated the effect of immigrant status for initial level and growth in achievement. For all students, achievement and conduct worsened over time. At the classroom level, socioeconomic and ethnic composition of the classroom moderated the effects of self-efficacy and immigrant status on academic achievement and peer popularity, respectively. Second-generation immigrants were more popular than first-generation immigrants, but showed a larger decrease over time in school achievement. Results support a developmental, differentiated, and contextualized approach to the study of immigrant youth adaptation.Peer Reviewe

Wild and cultivated plants used in traditional alcoholic beverages in Italy: an ethnobotanical review

This study aims to gather, analyze, and discuss the ethnobotanical information regarding wild and cultivated plants used in traditional alcoholic beverages in Italy. The online literature search allowed data collection from 161 articles concerning the use of wild and cultivated plants in Italy for liqueurs preparation. Overall, we identified 130 taxa belonging to 35 families, among them Rosaceae is the most cited (21.4%) followed by Asteraceae (14.3%), Lamiaceae (12.7%), Apiaceae and Pinaceae (5.6% each). Tuscany (N=49), Friuli Venezia Giulia (N=46) and Lombardy (N=36) show the largest number of species used in a single region. The common use of liqueurs as aperitif and digestive is also discussed. This work increases the ethnobotanical data of traditional alcoholic beverages from Italy, till now not well explored. This study can be the basis for future research on the supposed bioactivity and toxicity of alcoholic beverages

Distribution of Oolitic Sediment Along a Beach-to-Offshore Transect, Pigeon Cay, Cat Island, Bahamas: New Insights Into Modern Ooid Formation

Ooids are a common component of ancient carbonate rocks, but their origin and distribution in Holocene deposits and modem carbonate sands are not fully understood. Even though ooids are well documented from several localities in the Bahamian Archipelago, their occurrence on Cat Island has not been previously studied in detail. In this study we examined the composition and texture of beach sand and six sediment samples collected from the sea floor at approximately 50-meter intervals along an estimated 300 m transect at Pigeon Cay, Cat Island

Transcriptomic analysis of the response of Acropora millepora to hypo-osmotic stress provides insights into DMSP biosynthesis by corals

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is a small sulphur compound which is produced in prodigious amounts in the oceans and plays a pivotal role in the marine sulfur cycle. Until recently, DMSP was believed to be synthesized exclusively by photosynthetic organisms; however we now know that corals and specific bacteria can also produce this compound. Corals are major sources of DMSP, but the molecular basis for its biosynthesis is unknown in these organisms. Results: Here we used salinity stress, which is known to trigger DMSP production in other organisms, in conjunction with transcriptomics to identify coral genes likely to be involved in DMSP biosynthesis. We focused specifically on both adults and juveniles of the coral Acropora millepora: after 24 h of exposure to hyposaline conditions, DMSP concentrations increased significantly by 2.6 fold in adult corals and 1.2 fold in juveniles. Concomitantly, candidate genes enabling each of the necessary steps leading to DMSP production were up-regulated. Conclusions: The data presented strongly suggest that corals use an algal-like pathway to generate DMSP from methionine, and are able to rapidly change expression of the corresponding genes in response to environmental stress. However, our data also indicate that DMSP is unlikely to function primarily as an osmolyte in corals, instead potentially serving as a scavenger of ROS and as a molecular sink for excess methionine produced as a consequence of proteolysis and osmolyte catabolism in corals under hypo-osmotic conditions

PdI2 as a simple and efficient catalyst for the hydroamination of arylacetylenes with anilines

The hydroamination reaction is a convenient alternative strategy for the formation of C– N bonds. Herein, we report a new versatile and convenient protocol for the hydroamination of arylacetylenes with anilines using palladium iodide in the absence of any added ligand as catalyst. Mild conditions, excellent regio-and stereoselectivity, and high functional group tolerance are the main features of this methodology. A subsequent reduction step gives access to a wide variety of secondary aromatic amines

Pd-Catalysed oxidative carbonylation of α-amino amides to hydantoins under mild conditions

The first example of palladium-catalysed oxidative carbonylation of unprotected α-amino amides to hydantoins is described here. The selective synthesis of the target compounds was achieved under mild conditions (1 atm of CO), without ligands and bases. The catalytic system overrode the common reaction pathway that usually leads instead to the formation of symmetrical ureas

Evaluating the Effect of Chemical Digestion Treatments on Polystyrene Microplastics: Recommended Updates to Chemical Digestion Protocols

Establishing the toxicity and exposure consequences of microplastics (MPs) on marine organisms relies on the nondestructive isolation of plastics from biological matrices. MPs are commonly extracted from these matrices by chemical digestion using alkali (e.g., potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH)), oxidative (e.g., hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)) and/or acidic (e.g., nitric acid (HNO3)) reagents. Although these digestion conditions can be highly effective for MP extraction, they can also react with the plastics. This can attribute an inaccurate representation of plastic contamination by altering MP visual characteristics (size, shape, color), thereby impeding identification and potentially returning erroneous numbers of ingested particles. In this study, the degradative impacts are assessed of the routinely applied digestion reagents (i) KOH, (ii) NaOH, (iii) H2O2, and (iv)HNO3 on polystyrene (PS) based MPs sized between 200 μm and 5 mm. Degradation of the PS MPs is evaluated using FT-IR, gel permeation chromatography, NMR, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and microscopy. These studies reveal HNO3 to be the most destructive for PS MPs, while the alkali and oxidative reagents result in negligible changes in plastic properties. These results are recommended to be used as a guideline to update current protocols to ensure the nondestructive treatment of MPs

Unraveling loss mechanisms arising from energy-level misalignment between metal halide perovskites and hole transport layers

Metal halide perovskites are promising light absorbers for multijunction photovoltaic applications because of their remarkable bandgap tunability, achieved through compositional mixing on the halide site. However, poor energy-level alignment at the interface between wide-bandgap mixed-halide perovskites and charge-extraction layers still causes significant losses in solar-cell performance. Here, the origin of such losses is investigated, focusing on the energy-level misalignment between the valence band maximum and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) for a commonly employed combination, FA0.83Cs0.17Pb(I1-xBrx)3 with bromide content x ranging from 0 to 1, and poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] (PTAA). A combination of time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy and numerical modeling of charge-carrier dynamics reveals that open-circuit voltage (VOC) losses associated with a rising energy-level misalignment derive from increasing accumulation of holes in the HOMO of PTAA, which then subsequently recombine non-radiatively across the interface via interfacial defects. Simulations assuming an ideal choice of hole-transport material to pair with FA0.83Cs0.17Pb(I1-xBrx)3 show that such VOC losses originating from energy-level misalignment can be reduced by up to 70 mV. These findings highlight the urgent need for tailored charge-extraction materials exhibiting improved energy-level alignment with wide-bandgap mixed-halide perovskites to enable solar cells with improved power conversion efficiencies

Resilience during a Great Economic Recession: Social and Personal Resources for Youth’s Positive Adaptation in the School Context

Introduction Greece was hit particularly hard by the latest economic recession. Method Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined whether and how psychosocial resources promoted and/or protected youth's school adjustment (academic achievement, school engagement, and conduct) and psychological well-being (absence of emotional symptoms) during the economic crisis. We focused on three family resources (family economic well-being, parental education, and school involvement) and one personal resource (self-efficacy). Data were collected with multiple methods and informants. We compared two cohorts of adolescents, closely matched through Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting, who lived in the same neighborhoods, one before (2005; N = 1057; age M = 12.7 years) and the other during (2013; N = 1052; age M = 12.6 years) the economic recession. Results Variable- and person-focused analyses revealed that in the context of the economic recession parental education and parental school involvement promoted and/or protected youth's school adjustment, and families' economic wellbeing was linked to both externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Another key finding is that youth who exhibited positive adaptation during the economic crisis were equally well adjusted as youth who were well adjusted before the economic crisis, even though they had fewer resources. Finally, youth with more adequate psychosocial resources were able to keep the same high level of adaptation during the crisis as well-adjusted youth had before the crisis. The findings were robust regarding variations in gender and immigrant status. Conclusion The results suggest that psychosocial resources are important in understanding the diversity in youth's school adjustment and well-being during a major economic crisis

7.000 AÑOS DE HISTORIA EN EL FIN DEL MUNDO

Se ha propuesto que las migraciones podrían expli-car cambios culturales identificados en el registro ar-queológico de Patagonia Austral, como el desarrollo de estrategias de aprovechamiento de recursos marinos y modificaciones en las herramientas utilizadas. El análisis del genoma de individuos de origen arqueológico revela una continuidad genética durante 6.600 años y sugiere que los movimientos poblacionales no explican la apari-ción de la adaptación marina, adquirida por desarrollo local o por transmisión cultural. Sin embargo, dos even-tos de migración posteriores estarían correlacionados con cambios vinculados a tecnologías líticas. Además, se observa que ocurrieron procesos de mestizaje entre grupos vecinos hace 1.500 años