The Effects of Mobility on Neighbourhood Social Ties

This research examines the strength of people's ties with close neighbours and the sensitivity thereof to changes in residential mobility, access to modes of public and private transport, and changes in the availability of modern communications technologies using the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP). All forms of mobility have increased over time and are negatively associated with visiting neighbours. With further increases in mobility, close neighbours may become less relevant. Nevertheless, presently the incidence of visits with neighbours is sizeable; in contrast to the frequent assertion in the literature that the neighbourhood is of no importance.Neighbourhood, Social interactions, Mobility, Transport, Internet, Family ties

Income Comparisons among Neighbours and Life Satisfaction in East and West Germany

A series of studies have suggested that changes in others' income may be perceived differently in post-transition and capitalist societies. This paper draws on the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) matched with micro-marketing indicators of population characteristics in very tightly drawn neighbourhoods to investigate whether reactions to changes in their neighbours' income divide the German nation. We find that the neighbourhood income effect for West Germany is negative (which is in line with the "relative income" hypothesis) and slightly more marked in neighbourhoods that may be assumed to be places where social interactions between neighbours take place. In contrast, the coefficients on neighbourhood income in East Germany are positive (which is consistent with the 'signalling' hypothesis), but statistically not significant. This suggests not only that there is a divide between East and West Germany, but also that neighbours may not be a relevant comparison group in societies that have comparatively low levels of neighbouring.Comparison income, Reference group, Life Satisfaction, Neighbourhood effects

Keeping Up With the Schmidts: An Empirical Test of Relative Deprivation Theory in the Neighbourhood Context

We test empirically whether people’s life satisfaction depends on their relative income position in the neighbourhood, drawing on a unique dataset, the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) matched with micro-marketing indicators of population characteristics. Relative deprivation theory suggests that individuals are happier the better their relative income position in the neighbourhood is. To test this theory we estimate micro-economic happiness models for the years 1994 and 1999 with controls for own income and for neighbourhood income at the zip-code level (roughly 9,000 people). There exist no negative and no statistically significant associations between neighbourhood income and life satisfaction, which refutes relative deprivation theory. If anything, we find positive associations between neighbourhood income and happiness in all cross-sectional models and this is robust to a number of robustness tests, including adding in more controls for neighbourhood quality, changing the outcome variable, and interacting neighbourhood income with indicators that proxy the extent to which individuals may be assumed to interact with their neighbours. We argue that the scale at which we measure neighbourhood characteristics may be too large still to identify the comparison effect sought after.Life satisfaction, Neighbourhood effects, Comparison income, Reference group

Keeping up with the Schmidts: An Empirical Test of Relative Deprivation Theory in the Neighbourhood Context

We test empirically whether people's life satisfaction depends on their relative income position in the neighbourhood, drawing on a unique dataset, the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) matched with micro-marketing indicators of population characteristics. Relative deprivation theory suggests that individuals are happier the better their relative income position in the neighbourhood is. To test this theory we estimate micro-economic happiness models for the years 1994 and 1999 with controls for own income and for neighbourhood income at the zip-code level (roughly 9,000 people). There exist no negative and no statistically significant associations between neighbourhood income and life satisfaction, which refutes relative deprivation theory. If anything, we find positive associations between neighbourhood income and happiness in all cross-sectional models and this is robust to a number of robustness tests, including adding in more controls for neighbourhood quality, changing the outcome variable, and interacting neighbourhood income with indicators that proxy the extent to which individuals may be assumed to interact with their neighbours. We argue that the scale at which we measure neighbourhood characteristics may be too large still to identify the comparison effect sought after.Life satisfaction, neighbourhood effects, comparison income, reference group

Real and virtual photon structure from dijet events

Jet production in $ep$ collisions is sensitive to the partonic structure of photon. The latest measurements of dijet production from the H1 experiment provide new results of the gluon density of real photons at low $x$ and, for the first time, on the partonic density of virtual photons. Properties of the photon remnant were measured as a function of the hard scale defined by the $p_T$ of the jets. The comparison of dijet cross sections with the NLO QCD calculation shows the non-triviality of the concept of virtual photon structure.Comment: 4 pages, Latex with 4 ps figures, references for section 5 updated, Talk presented at DIS99 Workshop at Zeuthen, April 199

Seed Mass and Morphology in Outcrossing and Selfing Species of Clarkia (Onagraceae): An SEM Study

Seeds from three pairs of outcrossing-selfing sister taxa from the genus Clarkia (farewell-to-spring, Onagraceae)—Clarkia unguiculata, Clarkia exilis, Clarkia xantiana ssp. xantiana and ssp. parviflora, and Clarkia concinna ssp. concinna and ssp. automixa—were studied to assess the effects of contrasting mating systems on seed mass and seed morphology. For each outcrossing-selfing comparison, the seed mass of the selfing taxon was less than that of the outcrossing taxon. Seed mass typically differed significantly among populations within a taxon. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the seeds from all these taxa share several characteristics: a bullet to shield shape, a reticulate exotesta pattern, presence of crystals in the seed coat, and a seed coat that varies in thickness over the length of the seed. No morphological feature reliably distinguished seeds of outcrossing taxa from those of selfing taxa. The lack of morphological differences in conjunction with the consistent differences in seed mass between selfing and outcrossing seeds in these taxa supports the hypothesis that evolutionary forces have acted only on seed mass and not on seed morphology

The Influence of Organizational Climate on the Use and Quality of Evidence-Based Practices in School Mental Health

Organizational climate is defined as the reflection of workers’ perceptions of, and emotional responses to, the characteristics of their work environment (Glisson & James, 2002). While previous research explored the importance of organization climate for the adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in mental health settings, there is a dearth of organizational climate focused research in school mental health settings (SMH). The current study examines the influence of organizational climate on two separate dependent variables: the extent to which EBPs were used and the quality of clinician delivery for the evidence-based practices used in a quality improvement intervention for SMH practitioners. After controlling for study condition and relevant demographic variables, results of a hierarchal multiple regression analysis indicate a non-significant difference in organizational climate’s ability to predict levels of using EBPS. Subsequent analyses indicated that, regardless of study condition and relevant demographic variables, organizational climate, specifically job satisfaction and autonomy, predicted the quality of clinician delivery of EBPs. Results emphasize the impact of organizational climate on the delivery and quality of EBPs in SMH settings. Future investigation is needed to determine effective frameworks that result in the increase of SMH clinician ratings of organizational climate

Plato\u27s Critique of Scientific Management in Charmides

I discover resources in Plato’s Charmides for a critique of management as a form of knowledge. After interpreting in a practical register Critias’ idea of a science that would comprehend all sciences without understanding any of their objects (166c – 175a), I argue that the paradoxes with which Socrates confronts this idea can be overcome. With reference to F.W. Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management, I show how this overcoming depends upon transforming productive activity so that it no longer requires the knowledge of products that characterizes techne. As Socrates foresaw, a science that has all ways of working as its object must have somehow expropriated work of its own proper object

Taking the Strict Account of Techne Seriously: An Interpretive Direction in Plato\u27s Republic

I argue that the strict account of techne agreed to by Socrates and Thrasymachus in Republic I provides a useful framework for addressing a central question of the dialogue as a whole: how philosophy might belong to the polis. This view depends upon three positions: 1) that Plato invites us to interpret the relationship between techne and polis outside the terms of the city-soul analogy, 2) that the strict account contributes to a compelling description of vocational work, and 3) that this description determines what Socrates means by a true polis, and thus frames the problem of philosophy’s political inclusion