scholarly journals ACTITUDES LINGÜÍSTICAS Y COMPETENCIAS LINGÜÍSTICAS. UN ANÁLISIS DE SU INCIDENCIA EN LOS ESCOLARES DE CATALUÑA

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 379
Author(s):  
Clara Sansó ◽  
Simona Popa ◽  
José Luis Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Migratory Movements

Abstract.LANGUAGE ATTITUDES AND LANGUAGE COMPETENCES. AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR EFFECT ON STUDENTS IN CATALONIAThe migratory movements which occurred in the last decade placed Catalonia among the Spanish Autonomous Communities with the highest number of immigrant population, fact that had a significant impact on the education system. The studies conducted so far on this phenomenon highlight the little, or lack of, knowledge of the languages ??of the schools with which the immigrant students incorporate. Consequently, this reveals one of the current challenges of the education system: to promote equal opportunities for autochthonous and immigrant students. An equity in which linguistic knowledge is a key element, but no less important, are the language attitudes that those students have toward the main vehicular languages ??of the school. In this sense, our study aims to analyze the influence of Catalan and Castilian competences on language attitudes and if these relationships are conditioned by the origin of the participants. Our sample consisted of 673 autochthonous and 500 immigrants students enrolled in 10 center of Compulsory Secondary Education in Catalonia. Overall, the results reveal a positive relationship between language competences and language attitudes. However, in the case of autochthonous students a negative relationship between Catalan competences and attitudes toward Castilian was noticed, as a result of the negative association between attitudes toward Castilian and attitudes toward Catalan. Consequently, these results suggest the need to integrate language attitudes in the development of educational policies due to the effect they have on the construction of linguistic knowledge and vice versa.Keywords: Language competences, language attitudes, immigration, origin, Catalonia.Resumen.Los movimientos migratorios acontecidos en la última década sitúan a Cataluña a la cabeza de las comunidades autónomas españolas en cuanto a acogida de población inmigrante, hecho que ha repercutido de manera significativa en el sistema educativo. Las investigaciones desarrolladas hasta el momento sobre este fenómeno destacan el escaso o nulo conocimiento de las lenguas de la escuela con las que se incorpora este colectivo, lo que ha evidenciado uno de los principales retos en el sistema educativo: potenciar la igualdad de oportunidades entre el alumnado autóctono e inmigrante. Una equidad en la que, si el conocimiento lingüístico parte como elemento fundamental, no menos importantes son las actitudes lingüísticas que tiene dicho alumnado hacia las principales lenguas vehiculares de la escuela. En este sentido, nuestro trabajo tiene como principal objetivo analizar si las competencias lingüísticas catalana y castellana influyen en las actitudes lingüísticas y si, además, estas relaciones están condicionadas por el origen de los sujetos. Para ello contamos con 673 estudiantes autóctonos y 500 inmigrantes, matriculados en 10 institutos de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria de Cataluña. A nivel general, los resultados determinan una relación positiva entre competencias y actitudes lingüísticas. En todo caso, cabría destacar la relación negativa entre la competencia lingüística catalana y las actitudes hacia el castellano, que establece el alumnado autóctono, como consecuencia de la asociación negativa entre las actitudes hacia el castellano y las actitudes hacia el catalán. Consecuentemente, dichos resultados sugieren la necesidad de integrar las actitudes lingüísticas en el desarrollo de políticas educativas, por la influencia que éstas tienen en la construcción del conocimiento lingüístico y viceversa.Palabras Clave: Competencias lingüísticas, actitudes lingüísticas, inmigración, origen, Cataluña

scholarly journals Perfiles del alumnado de origen extranjero en centros con elevada presencia de escolares inmigrantes en el País Vasco

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eider Alkorta ◽  
Julia Shershneva
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
School Segregation ◽  
Socioeconomic Conditions ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Pais Vasco ◽  
Linguistic Models

En los últimos años han aumentado los estudios relacionados con el fenómeno de la concentración escolar a nivel europeo. El sistema educativo vasco tampoco es ajeno a estas dinámicas, aunque la literatura existente al respecto es bastante escasa. Este artículo tiene como objetivo describir los perfiles de las familias de origen extranjero que afirman que sus descendientes están matriculados en centros con elevada presencia de escolares inmigrantes. Para ello, hemos analizado las condiciones socioeconómicas de las familias inmigrantes, así como otros factores que pueden incidir en el fenómeno de la segregación escolar. En este sentido, el estudio vuelve a corroborar que las condiciones socioeconómicas inciden en el fenómeno de la segregación, pero, a su vez, apunta la necesidad de atender al conjunto de los factores que pueden influir en la misma. Así, se han detectado diferencias significativas en función del origen de las familias, poniendo de relieve la heterogeneidad del colectivo inmigrante, así como la necesidad de analizar la influencia que el sistema de modelos lingüísticos de la CAE tiene en la concentración escolar del alumnado inmigrante.In recent years, studies related to the phenomenon of school concentration in Europe have increased. The education system of the Basque Country has also these dynamics, although the literature on this subject is quite scarce. The aim of the article is to describe the profiles of foreign students’ families who consider that their children are studying in schools with a high presence of immigrants. To that end, we have analyzed the socioeconomic conditions of immigrant families, as well as other factors that may affect the phenomenon of school segregation. In this sense, our study corroborates that socioeconomic conditions affect the phenomenon of school segregation, but, in turn, points out the need to take into account other factors that may influence it. Thus, significant differences have been detected according to the origin of the families, highlighting the heterogeneity of the immigrant collective, as well as the need to analyze the influence that the system of linguistic models of the Basque Country has on immigrant students’ school concentration.

scholarly journals INMIGRACIÓN Y ESCUELA EN CONTEXTOS PLURILINGÜES. EL CASO DE CATALUÑA Y ANDORRA

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Ángel Huguet ◽  
Clara Sansó ◽  
Txema Días-Torrent ◽  
José Luis Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Migratory Movements

Abstract.IMMIGRATION AND SCHOOL IN MULTILINGUAL CONTEXTS. THE CASE OF CATALONIA AND ANDORRAThe social changes in recent years have particularly affected Catalonia and Andorra. Both contexts, despite sharing the same interest in consolidating Catalan, manage differently the role of this language at education and institutional levels. Whereas in Catalonia, Catalan shares official status with Castilian, Andorra is the only country in the world where it is the official language. Anyway, both the geographical proximity to Spain and France, and the continuous migratory movements have led to the present reality in which this language coexists with Castilian, French and Portuguese. Specifically, official data from the Government of Andorra reveals that more than half of the population is of foreign origin, figures which correlate with the number of immigrant students. Similarly, Catalonia is the Spanish Autonomous Community with the highest number of immigrants, a fact that is highly reflected linguistically and culturally in schools, just as in the case of Andorra. These two territories also share the peculiarity of relying on education systems where besides Catalan, other vehicular languages ??are present. In this sense, while Catalonia promotes the bilingual education Catalan-Castilian, there are schools in Andorra which belong to three different educational systems: French, Spanish and Andorran, where the main language of instruction is the corresponding official language of each country. Within this background frame, to the extent to which students’ language attitudes are significant for language learning and self-identifications, this communication contextualized the social and educational realities of Catalonia and Andorra, two contexts where various studies focused on the analysis of the language attitudes of native and immigrant students were developed.Keywords: Immigration, plurilingualism, Catalonia, Andorra, bilingual education.Resumen.Los cambios sociales acontecidos en los últimos años han afectado de manera singular a Cataluña y Andorra. Ambos contextos, a pesar de compartir el mismo interés por consolidar la lengua catalana, gestionan de manera diferente el papel de dicha lengua a nivel educativo e institucional. Mientras que en Cataluña el catalán comparte cooficialidad con el castellano, el Principado de Andorra es el único país del mundo donde es la lengua oficial. En todo caso, la proximidad geográfica con España y Francia, junto con los continuos movimientos migratorios, ha llevado a dicha lengua a convivir con el castellano, el francés y el portugués. Concretamente, los datos oficiales del Govern d’Andorra determinan que más de la mitad de la población es de origen extranjero, cifras que se correlacionan, aproximadamente, con un el número de escolares inmigrantes. Por su parte, Cataluña es las Comunidad Autónoma española con el mayor número de extranjeros de toda España, peculiaridad que, tal y como sucede en el caso andorrano, se refleja lingüística y culturalmente en las escuelas de manera destacada. Dos territorios que, además, tienen la singularidad de ampararse en unos sistemas educativos donde además del catalán coexisten otras lenguas vehiculares. En este sentido, mientras que Cataluña fomenta la educación bilingüe catalán-castellano, en Andorra existen escuelas pertenecientes a tres sistemas educativos diferentes: el francés, el español y el andorrano, donde en cada uno de ellos la principal lengua de instrucción es la correspondiente a la oficial de cada país. Con este marco de fondo, en la medida en que las actitudes lingüísticas de los escolares son significativas en relación al aprendizaje lingüístico y las autoidentificaciones, la presente comunicación contextualiza las realidades sociales y educativas de Cataluña y Andorra, dos contextos donde se han desarrollado diversas investigaciones centradas en el análisis de las actitudes lingüísticas del alumnado autóctono e inmigrante.Palabras Clave: Inmigración, plurilingüismo, Cataluña, Principado de Andorra, Educación bilingüe.

Estatutos y competencias después de la STC 31/2010, de 28 de junio

2011 ◽  
pp. 139-165
Author(s):  
Hèctor LÓPEZ BOFILL
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Formal Concept ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Autonomous Community ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
General Material ◽  
Definition Of

LABURPENA: Eskumenak banatzeko sistemari dagokionez, ekainaren 28ko 31/2010 Epaiak, Kataluniako Autonomia Estatutuari buruzkoak, estatutu-arauek Estatuaren eta autonomia erkidegoaren arteko eskumen-egitura modulatzeko aukera bertan behera uzten du, nahiz eta sistema konstituzionalak estatutuen xedapenei nolabaiteko protagonismo teorikoa ematen dien konstituzionaltasunaren blokea egituratzean eta eskumenak hartzean. Hala, 31/2010 Ebazpenak erakusten duenez, Auzitegi Konstituzionalak kategoria orokorren gaineko interpretazioaren monopolioa berresten du, eskumenen definizio funtzionala egiterakoan (egileak eskumen-egituraren «hiperkonstituzionalizazioa» deitzen dio fenomeno horri). Gainera, autonomia erkidegoei aitortutako eskumenen esklusibotasun-kontzeptua lausotzen du, Estatuaren oinarrizko legeriaren kontzeptu orokor material eta formalari uko egiten dio, eta autonomia-erakunde horien eskumen betearazleen irismena mugatzen du. RESUMEN: En lo referido al sistema de distribución de competencias, la Sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional 31/2010, de 28 de junio, sobre el Estatuto de Autonomía de Cataluña, cierra la posibilidad de que las normas estatutarias modulen la estructura competencial entre el Estado y la Comunidad Autónoma pese al teórico protagonismo que el sistema constitucional confiere a las disposiciones estatutarias en la articulación del bloque de la constitucionalidad y en la asunción de competencias. En la doctrina emanada de la resolución 31/2010, el Tribunal Constitucional refuerza su monopolio interpretativo sobre categorías generales en la definición funcional de competencias (la llamada por el autor «hiperconstitucionalización» de la estructura competencial) diluyendo el concepto de exclusividad aplicado a las competencias reconocidas a las Comunidades Autónomas, renunciando a un concepto general material-formal de legislación básica estatal y restringiendo el alcance de las competencias ejecutivas de los mismos entes autonómicos. ABSTRACT: As far as the allocation of powers is concerned, the 31/2010 ruling by the constitutional Court, from June 28th, about the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, opens the door to the possibility that the Statute norms modulate the competences framework between the State and the Autonomous Community despite the theoretical prominence awarded to the Statute provisions for the articulation of the block of constitutionality and the assumption of competences. As the doctrine from the 31/2010 ruling by the Constitutional Court states, the Constitutional Court enhances its interpretative monopoly on the general categories regarding the functional definition of competences (the so called by the author hiperconstitutionalization of the competences framework) wakening down the concept of exclusivity applied to the competences recognized to the Autonomous Communities, renouncing to a general material-formal concept for the State basic legislation and restricting the scope of the executive competences of the Autonomous entities.

scholarly journals El sistema español de jerarquía lingüística. Desarrollo autonómico del artículo 3 de la Constitución: lengua del Estado, lenguas cooficiales, otras lenguas españolas y modalidades lingüísticas. Teoría y praxis. // The Spanish system of language hierarchy. Autonomic development of article 3 of the Constitution: State language, co-official languages, other Spanish languages and language modalities. Theory and praxis.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (100) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Vicenta Tasa Fuster
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Linguistic Rights ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Special Respect ◽  
The Right ◽  
Official Recognition

Resumen:Este trabajo pretende dar una visión general del reconocimiento de la diversidad lingüística española que se deriva de la Constitución. Nos referimos exclusivamente a las lenguas autóctonas históricamente habladas en España; teniendo en cuenta, además, que una misma lengua puede recibir diversas denominaciones populares y oficiales.Partiendo de estas premisas, el trabajo estudia el reconocimiento que hace la Constitución Española de la diversidad lingüística en España en su artículo 3. Se subraya en el estudio que, en dicho artículo de la Constitución se establece que el castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado y que todos los españoles tienen el deber de conocerla y el derecho a usarla (art. 3.1), que las otras lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas comunidades autónomas, en función de la regulación que hagan sus estatutos (art. 3.2) y que España considera que la riqueza de las diferentes modalidades lingüísticas esun patrimonio cultural que deberá tener un respeto y una protección especiales (art. 3.3).El contenido de la Constitución, la jurisprudencia constitucional de las últimas cuatro décadas y los estatutos de autonomía y legislación lingüística autonómica, han asentado un reconocimiento de la diversidad lingüística española y de los derechos lingüísticos concretos de los hablantes de las distintas lenguas españolas fundamentado en el principio de jerarquía lingüística y no en los de seguridad lingüística e igualdad de derechos lingüísticos. El principio de jerarquía lingüística presupone considerar que existen unas lenguas que deben tener un reconocimiento legal y oficial superior a otras. Y, lo que es lo mismo, que los derechos lingüísticos de sus hablantes no tienen el mismo grado de reconocimiento. Llegándose a dar el caso que, en España, una misma lengua pueda llegar a tener diferentes niveles de reconocimiento legal-oficial y un número aún mayor de políticas lingüísticas que traten de convertir en una realidad substantiva todos o una parte de los derechos lingüísticos reconocidos formalmente a los hablantes de una lengua diferente del castellano en una comunidad autónoma.Así las cosas, se constata que legalmente una lengua (castellano) tiene una situación de preeminencia legal-oficial, seis lenguas españolas (catalán, gallego, vasco, occitano, aragonés y asturleonés) tienen algún tipo de reconocimiento oficial en parte del territorio en el que son habladas de manera autóctona, una lengua tiene reconocimiento político (tamazight), otra tiene un reconocimiento administrativo menor en Cataluña (caló), y tres lenguas autóctonas no tienen el más mínimo reconocimiento legal, político o administrativo (árabe, haquetia yportugués). El trabajo estudia detalladamente y de manera global la estructuración de la jerarquía lingüística en la legislación española derivadade la Constitución y concluye con una descripción de los seis niveles de jerarquía lingüística y de derechos lingüísticos que existen en España. Se defiende, finalmente, un cambio sistema lingüístico legalconstitucional que respete los principios de seguridad lingüística y el principio de igualdad de derechos lingüísticos de todos los ciudadanos españoles. Summary:1. Introduction. The Constitution and the Spanish languages. 2.Language in the statutes of monolingual communities. 3. Linguisticdiversity in multilingual communities with a single official language.4. Communities with co-officiality. 5. Final considerations: a hierarchicalrecognition. 6. Bibliography cited. Abstract:This paper is an overview of the recognition of the Spanish linguistic diversity derived from the Constitution. We refer exclusively to the native languages historically spoken in Spain; about that is important to know that the same language can receive diverse popular and official denominations.With these premises, the work studies the recognition in the article 3 of the Spanish Constitution of the linguistic diversity in Spain. It is emphasized in the study that this article establishes that the Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State and that all Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it (article 3.1), that the other Spanish languages would be official in the respective autonomous communities, depending on the regulation made by their statutes of autonomy (article 3.2 ), and that Spain considers the richness of the different linguistic modalities a cultural heritage that must have special respect and protection (article 3.3).The content of the Constitution, the constitutional jurisprudence of the last four decades and the statutes of autonomy and autonomous linguistic legislation, have established a recognition of the Spanish linguistic diversity and of the specific linguistic rights of the speakers of the different Spanish languages based on the principle of linguistic hierarchy and not in those of linguistic security and equality of linguistic rights. The principle of linguistic hierarchy considers that there are some languages that have to have a legal and official recognitionsuperior to others. And, what is the same, that the linguistic rights of its speakers do not have the same degree of recognition. In Spain, the same language may have different levels of legal-official recognition and a lot of linguistic policies in the autonomous communities that try to be reality all or part of the linguistic rights formally recognized to speakers of a language other than Castilian. So it is verified that legally a language (Castilian) has a situation oflegal-official preeminence, six Spanish languages (Catalan, Galician, Basque, Occitan, Aragonese and Asturian) have some type of official recognition in part of the territory where are spoken, one language has political recognition (Tamazight), another has a lower administrative recognition in Catalonia (Caló), and three indigenous languages do not have the least legal, political or administrative recognition (Arabic, Hachetia and Portuguese).The paper studies in detail the structure of the linguistic hierarchy in Spanish legislation derived from the Constitution and concludes with a description of the six levels of linguistic hierarchy and of linguistic rights that exist in Spain. Finally, it defends a legal-constitutional linguistic system that respects the principles of linguistic security and of equality of linguistic rights of all Spanish citizens.

Nexus Between FDI, Agriculture, and Rural Development: Evidence from Asian Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-319
Author(s):  
Sujan Chandra Paul ◽  
Nusrat Jahan ◽  
Ashim Kumar Nandi ◽  
Md Asiqur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Asian Countries

The aim of this study is explore the effect of foreign direct investment on agriculture and rural development. For this, panel data of 46 countries from Asia were accumulated for the time frame 1991–2018. The models OLS, POLS, 2SLS, and GMM are employed in this study. The study reveals that there is a favorable association between foreign direct investment and agricultural land as percentage of total land using the models OLS, POLS, 2SLS. In stark contrast, value added for agriculture, forestry, and fishing has an unfavorable association with foreign direct investment in all models employed in the study. Furthermore, female employment in agriculture has a negative association with foreign direct investment in OLS, 2SLS and GMM models, whereas male employment in agriculture has a negative association with foreign direct investment in the POLS model only. Land under cereal production has a favorable association with foreign direct investment in all models except POLS, and permanent cropland has a favorable association with foreign direct investment in all models except GMM. In addition, rural population has a positive relationship with foreign direct investment in OLS, POLS and 2SLS and a negative relationship with foreign direct investment in GMM.

The Demobilizing Potential of Conflict for Web and Mobile Political Participation

2019 ◽  
pp. 1342-1361
Author(s):  
Francis Dalisay ◽  
Matthew J. Kushin ◽  
Masahiro Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Political Expression ◽  
Negative Link ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Online Political Participation

In this chapter, we expand the idea that conflict avoidance (CA) inhibits online political participation. We specifically propose that CA has a direct negative link with traditional online political participation and online political expression, and an indirect negative link with these two forms of participation when mediated by political interest and internal political efficacy. We test our propositions through analyzing data from a survey of young adult college students residing in a battleground state in the U.S. Midwest conducted during the weeks prior to the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Our results showed that CA has a direct negative association with both traditional online political participation and online political expression. CA also has a negative relationship with political interest and internal political efficacy, which in turn, are positively linked with traditional online political participation and online political expression. We discussed implications.

scholarly journals Occupational exposure to foreigners and attitudes towards equal opportunities

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Pecoraro ◽  
Didier Ruedin
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Occupational Level ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Job Prospects

Abstract We examine the relationship between attitudes to foreigners and the share of foreigners at the occupational level. Using a question on equal opportunities for foreigners from the Swiss Household Panel, ordered probit regression models show a negative association between the share of foreigners in one’s occupation and positive attitudes to foreigners: workers seem to react to competition with foreigners. When we add the occupational unemployment rate, objective pressures in the labour market appear as relevant as contact at the occupational level. Further controlling for occupational heterogeneity establishes that both factors—particularly objective pressures—are probably accounted for by sorting on job quality. We also show that the association between the occupational share of foreigners and attitudes decreases for workers with better job prospects. This implies that workers welcome foreigners to overcome labour market shortages.

scholarly journals Pass in language, maths... and TV

Comunicar ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (31) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
Tania Jiménez-Palacio ◽  
María José Revuelta-Bayod
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Education System ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Alternative Teaching ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The Social ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Medios De Comunicacion

A new debate has arrived to the Education System. It deals with the need of an alternative teaching, an education that exceeds the academic traditions and studies the social relations, such as the relationship between media and society. Citizens must access an audiovisual teaching, because it is important to unders-tand how television, radio stations, newspapers, etc., work when they inform us, show us the culture or even build our dreams. People must know about the media’s economic and political interests, and also how the audience could make use of communication mass media.En el sistema educativo se ha abierto un debate acerca de la importancia de alfabetizar en otros sentidos que sobrepasan la tradición académica y que se adentran en el análisis de relaciones sociales contextualizadas, como puede ser la relación medios de comunicación-sociedad. Las autoras defienden que es importante que los ciudadanos accedan a una alfabetización audiovisual que les permita contar con recursos para entender el funcionamiento de los medios informativos y culturales como fabricantes de sueños, conocer sus intereses como empresas y poderes fácticos que son, captar sus estrategias de manipulación y persuasión, y comprender cómo nosotros, receptores, podemos utilizarlos.

scholarly journals Association between Relative Amounts of White Blood Cell Counts: a Case of Distribution Dependent Correlations

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 01-06
Author(s):  
Arne Høstmark
Keyword(s):  
White Blood Cells ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Computer Experiments ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Random Numbers ◽  
Cell Counts ◽  
White Blood Cell Counts ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

We previously observed a positive association between relative amounts of particular body fatty acids, provided they had low-numbers relative to sum of the remaining ones. Additionally, theoretical considerations and computer experiments suggested that, with two high-number variables relative to one with much lower numbers, we should expect a negative relationship between relative amounts of the high-number variables. Moreover, the correlation outcomes with true values could be well reproduced using random numbers, provided that the numbers had the true ranges (distributions). This finding led to the concept of Distribution Dependent Correlations. Since counts of segmented neutrophil leukocytes (N) and lymphocytes (L) are normally much higher than sum of the remaining (R) white blood cells (WBC), it was suggested that %N might possibly be negatively associated with %L. In the present work, random numbers were sampled in lieu of reported WBC subgroup values, but using the measured mean ± SD values. The results demonstrate that relative amounts of random number “N” and “L” were indeed inversely related in both sexes: Spearman’s rho = -0.9, p <0.001, n = 200, as observed using within-person data, and between-person data as well. Furthermore, an alteration in distributions (variability) of the WBC subgroup changed the correlation outcome, as evaluated by scatterplots and correlation coefficients. Decreasing (increasing) values of %R improved (made poorer) the negative association between %N and %L. Thus, the observed negative association between %N and %L seems to be a case of Distribution Dependent Correlations. Hypothetically, by directing WBC subgroup counts to particular places on the scale, a powerful tool is available to govern the associations between relative amounts of WBC subgroups.

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