Economic conditions and perceptions of immigrants as an economic threat in Europe: Temporal dynamics and mediating processes

2021 ◽  
pp. 002071522199352
Author(s):  
Boris Heizmann ◽  
Nora Huth
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
Party Positions

This article addresses the extent to which economic downturns influence the perception of immigrants as an economic threat and through which channels this occurs. Our primary objective is an investigation of the specific mechanisms that connect economic conditions to the perception of immigrants as a threat. We therefore also contribute to theoretical discussions based on group threat and realistic group conflict theory by exposing the dominant source of competition relevant to these relationships. Furthermore, we investigate whether people react more sensitive to short-term economic dynamics within countries than to the long-term economic circumstances. Our database comprises all waves of the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2017. The macro-economic indicators we use include GDP per capita, unemployment, and national debt levels, covering the most salient economic dimensions. We furthermore control for the country’s migration situation and aggregate party positions toward cultural diversity. Our results show that the dynamic short-term developments of the economy and migration within countries are of greater relevance for perceived immigrant threat than the long-term situation. In contrast, the long-term political climate appears to be more important than short-term changes in the aggregate party positions. Further mediation analyses show that objective economic conditions influence anti-immigrant attitudes primarily through individual perceptions of the country’s economic performance and that unemployment rates are of primary importance.

What money can’t buy: an argument against paying people to get vaccinated

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2021-107235
Author(s):  
Nancy S Jecker
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Healthy Communities ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
Mutant Strains ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Better Than

This paper considers the proposal to pay people to get vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first section introduces arguments against the proposal, including less intrusive alternatives, unequal effects on populations and economic conditions that render payment more difficult to refuse. The second section considers arguments favouring payment, including arguments appealing to health equity, consistency, being worth the cost, respect for autonomy, good citizenship, the ends justifying the means and the threat of mutant strains. The third section spotlights long-term and short-term best practices that can build trust and reduce ‘vaccine hesitancy’ better than payment. The paper concludes that people who, for a variety of reasons, are reluctant to vaccinate should be treated like adults, not children. Despite the urgency of getting shots into arms, we should set our sights on the long-term goals of strong relationships and healthy communities.

scholarly journals The Dimension of Time in Host-Microbiome Interactions

mSystems ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia T. Uhr ◽  
Lenka Dohnalová ◽  
Christoph A. Thaiss
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
Intestinal Microbiome ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Intestinal Microbial Community ◽  
Intermediate States ◽  
Different Time Scales

ABSTRACT The intestinal microbiota contains trillions of commensal microorganisms that shape multiple aspects of host physiology and disease. In contrast to the host’s genome, the microbiome is amenable to change over the course of an organism’s lifetime, providing an opportunity to therapeutically modulate the microbiome’s impact on human pathophysiology. In this Perspective, we highlight environmental factors that regulate the temporal dynamics of the intestinal microbiome, with a particular focus on the different time scales at which they act. We propose that the identification of transient and intermediate states of microbiome responses to perturbations is essential for understanding the rules that govern the behavior of this ecosystem. The delineation of microbiome dynamics is also helpful for distinguishing cause and effect in microbiome responses to environmental stimuli. Understanding the dimension of time in host-microbiome interactions is therefore critical for therapeutic strategies that aim at short-term or long-term engineering of the intestinal microbial community.

scholarly journals Why cannot long-term cascade be predicted? Exploring temporal dynamics in information diffusion processes

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 202245
Author(s):  
Ren-Meng Cao ◽  
Xiao Fan Liu ◽  
Xiao-Ke Xu
Keyword(s):  
Information Diffusion ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Diffusion Processes ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Information Cascade ◽  
Term Prediction ◽  
Diffusion Dynamics

Predicting information cascade plays a crucial role in various applications such as advertising campaigns, emergency management and infodemic controlling. However, predicting the scale of an information cascade in the long-term could be difficult. In this study, we take Weibo, a Twitter-like online social platform, as an example, exhaustively extract predictive features from the data, and use a conventional machine learning algorithm to predict the information cascade scales. Specifically, we compare the predictive power (and the loss of it) of different categories of features in short-term and long-term prediction tasks. Among the features that describe the user following network, retweeting network, tweet content and early diffusion dynamics, we find that early diffusion dynamics are the most predictive ones in short-term prediction tasks but lose most of their predictive power in long-term tasks. In-depth analyses reveal two possible causes of such failure: the bursty nature of information diffusion and feature temporal drift over time. Our findings further enhance the comprehension of the information diffusion process and may assist in the control of such a process.

scholarly journals Exogenous shocks and citizens’ satisfaction with governmental policies: can empirical evidence from the 2008 financial crisis help us understand better the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takis Venetoklis
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Term Effect ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Exogenous Shocks ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
The Government ◽  
Term Performance

AbstractI examine to what extend the financial crisis of 2008 affected levels of individual satisfaction with governments in general and three policy areas in particular; the economy, health services and education. I use data from the European Social Survey (9 rounds, 2002-2018, 14 countries, approx.195000 observations). Running Interrupted Time Series regressions I find that, on aggregate, there was a decrease of satisfaction with the government and the economy immediately after the crisis, but an increase for health and educational services. Longer term, satisfaction gradually increased for all the four indicators examined. In separate regressions for each country, a consistent pattern of behavior emerges. Where the short-term effect on satisfaction was negative, the long-term effect was positive, and vice versa. The switch, from short-term negative to long-term positive effect, could be attributed to the successful efforts of governments to correct the immediate adverse effects of the crisis. On the contrary, some individuals seeing the problems other countries faced, applauded their own government’s short term performance in handling the crisis. With the passing of time however, they gradually became more critical. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to implement policies reviving the economy and improving services in health and the education sectors, amongst others. Results of this study may be used when measuring and evaluating the effects of the current pandemic.

scholarly journals The Effects of Corporate Financing Decisions on Firm Value in Bursa Malaysia

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaleeda ◽  
Md. Aminul Islam ◽  
Tunku Salha Tunku Ahmad ◽  
Anas Najeeb Mosa Ghazalat
Keyword(s):  
Firm Value ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Free Cash Flow ◽  
Debt Maturity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Corporate Financing ◽  
Financing Decisions ◽  
Total Debt ◽  
The Cost

The primary objective of shareholders and financial managers is generally stated to be the maximization of shareholders’ wealth by increasing the firm value. This research was undertaken to investigate the effect of corporate financing decisions on firm value       . The research has been carried out using the panel data procedure for a sample of 256 firms from 9 sectors listed on Bursa Malaysia during the period 2000-2015. The study uses Tobin’s Q representing firm value for the dependent variable. The corporate financing was measured by leverage (short-term debt to total assets, long-term debt to total assets, total debt to total assets and total debt to total equity) and debt maturity (long-term debt to total debt). Short-term debt to total assets and long-term debt to total assets has a positive significant relationship to firm value. This finding is consistent with the view that leverage and dividends mitigate agency costs of free cash flow problems, therefore, increasing firm value. Total debt to total assets affects firm value negatively. This proves that although there are benefits of debts, there is also the cost of debts. The cost of debt financing arises from the increase in the probability of bankruptcy. Firm value does not depend on the length of debt maturity.

Immunosuppression

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Gabardi ◽  
Miae Kim
Keyword(s):  
Renal Transplantation ◽  
Allograft Rejection ◽  
Immunosuppressive Agents ◽  
Graft Loss ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Key Words Immunosuppression ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Donor Characteristics

The primary objective of clinical immunosuppression following renal transplantation is to prevent rejection while limiting the toxicities of the immunosuppressive agents. A balance between over- and underimmunosuppression can be difficult to accomplish and has significant ramifications if not achieved. The major sequelae of underimmunosuppression are cellular and antibody-mediated allograft rejection, whereas overimmunosuppression can give rise to complications such as infection and malignancy. Local protocols and national/international guidelines have been established to aid in the streamlining of immunosuppressive regimens; however, the development of the most appropriate immunosuppressive therapy in an individual transplant recipient is highly dependent on a practitioner’s experience, preexisting medical conditions/medications, and donor characteristics. Despite the success seen by our individualized immunosuppressive regimens in improving short-term outcomes, late graft loss and the morbidity associated with long-term immunosuppression remain major concerns. To improve outcomes in renal transplantation, it is imperative that clinicians be aware of the specific advantages and disadvantages of the available immunosuppressants, as well as the potential for adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interactions commonly seen with these agents.  This review contains 5 figures, 5 tables and 92 references Key Words: immunosuppression, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, renal transplantation

Early Medieval Great Hall Complexes in England: Temporality and Site Biographies

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 50-67
Author(s):  
Christopher Scull ◽  
Gabor Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Elite Identity ◽  
Site History

This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixth- to eighth-century great hall complexes in England. The major interpretative issues and constraints imposed by the data are considered, and the sites are then subject to comparative analysis across long-term and short-term temporal scales. The former highlights persistence of antecedent activity and centrality, the latter the ways in which the built environment was perceived in the past, structured social action, and was a medium for the construction and consolidation of elite identity and authority. Within the broad similarity that defines the site-type there is evidence for considerable diversity and complexity of site history and afterlife.

Hierarchical Long-Term and Short-Term Production Optimization

SPE Journal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (01) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.M.. M. van Essen ◽  
P.M.J.. M.J. Van den Hof ◽  
J.D.. D. Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Optimization Problem ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Production Optimization ◽  
Cycle Performance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Secondary Objective ◽  
Life Cycle Optimization ◽  
Term Performance

Summary Model-based dynamic optimization of oil production has a significant potential to improve economic life-cycle performance, as has been shown in various studies. However, within these studies, short-term operational objectives are generally neglected. As a result, the optimized injection and production rates often result in a considerable decrease in short-term production performance. In reality, however, it is often these short-term objectives that dictate the course of the operational strategy. Incorporating short-term goals into the life-cycle optimization problem, therefore, is an essential step in model-based life-cycle optimization. We propose a hierarchical optimization structure with multiple objectives. Within this framework, the life-cycle performance in terms of net present value (NPV) serves as the primary objective and shortterm operational performance is the secondary objective, such that optimality of the primary objective constrains the secondary optimization problem. This requires that optimality of the primary objective does not fix all degrees of freedom (DOF) of the decision variable space. Fortunately, the life-cycle optimization problem is generally ill-posed and contains many more decision variables than necessary. We present a method that identifies the redundant DOF in the life-cycle optimization problem, which can subsequently be used in the secondary optimization problem. In our study, we used a 3D reservoir in a fluvial depositional environment with a production life of 7 years. The primary objective is undiscounted NPV, while the secondary objective is aimed at maximizing shortterm production. The optimal life-cycle waterflooding strategy that includes short-term performance is compared to the optimal strategy that disregards short-term performance. The experiment shows a very large increase in short-term production, boosting first-year production by a factor of 2, without significantly compromising optimality of the primary objective, showing a slight drop in NPV of only -0.3%. Our method to determine the redundant DOF in the primary objective function relies on the computation of the Hessian matrix of the objective function with respect to the control variables. Although theoretically rigorous, this method is computationally infeasible for realistically sized problems. Therefore, we also developed a second, more pragmatic, method relying on an alternating sequence of optimizing the primary-and secondary-objective functions. Subsequently, we demonstrated that both methods lead to nearly identical results, which offers scope for application of hierarchical long-term and short-term production optimization to realistically sized flooding-optimization problems.

Lifting capital controls underpins Iceland’s growth

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Capital Controls ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Small Economy ◽  
Economic Balance ◽  
The Eu

Subject Iceland‘s macroeconomic outlook. Significance Iceland at the turn of the year took several steps towards lifting its capital controls on households and businesses. The authorities had worried that this would create an outflow of capital, destabilising the economy through a weakened krona and rising inflation. However, positive economic conditions have reversed the problem at least in the short run, with the main worries being an even stronger krona which could threaten export and tourism industries. Impacts High expected GDP growth and interest rates might be tempting for foreign investors looking for short-term gains. Fresh elections are possible if the Independence Party fails to form a government. The largest challenge for Iceland will be to find long-term economic balance as a small economy outside the EU.

scholarly journals Preferences for consensus and majoritarian democracy: long- and short-term influences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Mónica Ferrín ◽  
Enrique Hernández
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Ideal Model ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Consensus Democracy ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Majoritarian Democracy ◽  
Institutional Learning ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract This article analyzes individuals’ preferences for a consensus or a majoritarian type of democracy. We theorize that variation in these preferences is a function of both institutional learning (long term) and individuals’ position as a political minority or majority (short term). First, as a result of institutional learning, we expect that individuals living in democracies characterized by coalition governments will favor consensus democracy. Conversely, those living in countries characterized by single-party executives will favor majoritarian democracy. Second, we expect that individuals’ position as an electoral minority or majority will affect these beliefs. Those who vote for small parties will favor a consensus democracy, while those who vote for large parties will support a majoritarian system. However, whether institutional learning or individuals’ position as a political minority or majority prevail in influencing these preferences about the ideal model of democracy will be a function of the democratic trajectory of each country. We test these arguments drawing on data from the European Social Survey.

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