Culture and genomic analysis of Symbiopectobacterium purcellii, gen.nov. sp. nov., isolated from the leafhopper Empoasca decipiens

Bacterial endosymbionts are found in multiple arthropod species, where they play crucial roles as nutritional symbionts, defensive symbionts or reproductive parasites. Recent work has highlighted a new clade of heritable microbes within the gammaproteobacteria that enter into both obligate and facultative symbioses, with an obligately required unculturable symbiont recently given the name Cand. Symbiopectobacterium. In this study, we describe a culturable rod shaped non-flagellated bacterial symbiont from this clade isolated from the leafhopper Empoasca decipiens. The symbiont is related to the transovarially-transmitted 'BEV' bacterium that was first isolated from the leafhopper Euscelidius variegatus by Alexander Purcell, and we therefore name the symbiont Symbiopectobacterium purcellii sp. nov. gen. nov. We further report the closed genome sequence for S. purcellii. The genome is atypical for a heritable microbe, being large in size, without profound AT bias and with little evidence of pseudogenization. The genome is predicted to encode Type II, III and VI secretion systems and associated effectors and a non-ribosomal peptide synthase array likely to produce bioactive small molecules. Predicted metabolism is more complete than for other symbionts in the Symbiopectobacterium clade, and the microbe is predicted to synthesize a range of B vitamins. However, Biolog plate analysis indicate metabolism is depauperate compared to the sister clade, represented by Pectobacterium carotovorum. A quorum-sensing pathway related to that of Pectobacterium spp. (containing an overlapping expI-expR1 pair in opposite directions and a "solo" expR2) is evidenced, and LC-MS/MS analysis reveals the presence of 3-hydroxy-C10-HSL as the sole N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) in our strain. This AHL profile is profoundly divergent from that of other Erwinia and Pectobacterium spp., which produce mostly 3-oxo-C6- and 3-oxo-C8-HSL and could aid group identification. Thus, this microbe denotes one that has lost certain pathways associated with a saprophytic lifestyle but represents an important baseline against which to compare other members of the genus Symbiopectobacterium that show more profound integration into host biology.

Migrants’ Social Integration and Its Relevance for National Identification: An Empirical Comparison Across Three Social Spheres

A key element of migrants’ well-being is their emotional integration, that is, the extent to which they perceive themselves as members of society and their identification with the country they are living in. To foster this sense of belonging, many integration programs aim to increase the migrants’ social integration, for example, by organizing events for migrants to meet natives in various settings. The validity of this strategy is supported by decades of international research. It remains unclear, however, which aspects of social integration are most relevant for national identification. Multiple theories concerned with contact and group identification support the assumption that contact to natives should foster a sense of belonging and national identification. However, for a contact situation to bear this potential, a certain set of criteria, including aspects like direct personal contact, a similar social status, and the presence of egalitarian norms, needs to be fulfilled. It is expected that these characteristics are more likely to be fulfilled within family and friendship settings than in contact situations within the employment context. Hence, I expect contact to natives within the network of friends and family to be more greatly associated with migrants’ national identification. I analyzed data from a 2013 cooperation between the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), that is, the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample, as well as the 2014 wave of the SOEP. The subsample used included 2,780 first- and second-generation migrants living in Germany. The results indicate that not all kinds of contact are equally linked to national identification. In contrast to expectations, in neither the cross-sectional models nor the lagged models was living together with native family members significantly linked to national identification. Similarly, the association between having predominantly native co-workers and national identification was insignificant when controlling for migrant-specific characteristics. Only the relation with having predominantly native friends was significant and positive across all models. This as well as a comparison of the associations lead to the conclusion that when it comes to migrants’ national identification native friends might be the most relevant form of contact to natives.

FUNCTIONS OF THE ETHNIC LANGUAGE IN THE MARI DIASPORA OF THE MOSCOW REGION

В статье приводятся результаты социолингвистического обследования, проведенного автором в марийской диаспоре московского региона с целью выявления и описания функционирования этнического языка. Один из аспектов исследования посвящен установлению функций, которые закреплены за этническим языком в условиях диаспорного проживания группы. Несмотря на незначительную степень использования марийского в московском регионе (ввиду повсеместной распространенности и доминирования русского языка) и тяготение к его употреблению в семейно-бытовой, дружеской, иногда — профессиональной сферах общения, марийский язык, тем не менее, выполняет в диаспоре ряд важных функций. В ходе обследования автором были определены следующие функции: коммуникативная, фатическая (контактоустанавливающая), функция тайного языка (используемая в общественном пространстве между носителями марийского языка, а также в семейно-бытовой сфере между некоторыми членами семьи), эмоциональная (на каком языке опрошенным доводится думать, видеть сны, ругаться, шутить), а также сакральная (язык обращения к божественным силам, а также язык религии и религиозных отправлений) и символическая (язык как символ групповой идентификации). В результате обследования было установлено распределение функций марийского языка по поколениям; в отношении набора функций языка у респондентов в выборке был выявлен ряд закономерностей, связанных, с одной стороны, со степенью владения ими марийским языком, с другой стороны, с принадлежностью тому или иному поколению диаспоры. Кроме того, были выделены факторы, препятствующие использованию марийского в той или иной функции. The article presents the results of a sociolinguistic survey conducted by the author in the Mari diaspora of the Moscow region aimed at identifying and describing the functioning of the ethnic language. One of the aspects of the study is devoted to the establishment of the functions, assigned to the ethnic language in the conditions of the diaspora residence of an ethnic group. Despite the insignificant degree of the Mari language use in the Moscow region (due to the ubiquity and dominance of the Russian language there) and its use mainly in family, household, friendly, sometimes professional communications, the Mari language, however, performs several important functions in the diaspora. The survey results revealed the following functions: communicative, phatic (contact-establishing), the function of a secret language (used in a public space between Mari speakers or in the home communication between some family members), emotional (which language the respondents are likely to think, dream, swear, joke in), sacred (the language of appeal to the divine powers, the language of religion and religious practices) and symbolic (language used as a symbol of group identification). As a result of the survey, the distribution of functions of the Mari language by generations was established, as well as some patterns, majorly related to the proficiency levels in the Mari language and the respondents’ belonging to the first or the second diaspora generation. Factors preventing the use of Mari in some functions mentioned above have been equally singled out.

The Cassandra Experience: A Mixed Methods Study on the Intragroup Cognitive Dissonance of Italian Expatriates During the First Wave of COVID-19

In March 2020, Italy was the first European country to be hit severely by the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to put in place moderate-high containment measures. 594 Italian expatriates participated in a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey focusing on the period that goes from the beginning of March 2020 to the beginning of April 2020. The survey aimed to describe the experiences of participants when it comes to conflicting beliefs and behavior with the Italian or host country communities in relation to COVID-19, using the Intragroup Cognitive Dissonance (ICD) framework. We explored: (1) COVID-19 risk perception (assessed for themselves, the Italian community, and the host country community); (2) COVID-19 risk meta-perception (participants’ perception of the Italian and host country communities’ risk perception); (3) intensity of emotions (assessed for themselves); (4) national group identification (assessed for themselves in relation to the Italian and host country communities) before and after the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy. An inductive thematic analysis of three open-ended questions allowed an in-depth understanding of the experiences of Italian expatriates. Results describe the ICD of participants with the Italian or host country communities, expressed as a difference between COVID-19 risk-perception and risk meta-perception. ICD predicts that when a dissonance of beliefs and behavior is experienced within an individual’s group, a shift in identification with another more consonant group will happen, if identity enhancing strategies with the dissonant group are unsuccessful. Our findings showed that when the ICD was experienced with the host country community, this was solved through a disidentification strategy and mediated by negative emotions. Identity enhancing strategies with the host country community were unsuccessfully enacted as described by the qualitative answers of participants referring to episodes of racism, ridicule, and to a Cassandra experience: predicting a catastrophic future without being believed. Unexpectedly, participants experiencing the ICD with the Italian community did not enact a disidentification strategy. An increase in virtual contacts, enhanced sense of belonging, a stronger identification baseline, and different features of the two ICDs can be responsible for these results. This study sheds light on the relevance of ICD in natural settings and on international communities, during global crises.

Empathy, Altruism, and Group Identification

This paper investigates the role of group identification in empathic emotion and its behavioral consequences. Our central idea is that group identification is the key to understanding the process in which empathic emotion causes helping behavior. Empathic emotion causes helping behavior because it involves group identification, which motivates helping behavior toward other members. This paper focuses on a hypothesis, which we call “self-other merging hypothesis (SMH),” according to which empathy-induced helping behavior is due to the “merging” between the helping agent and the helped agent. We argue that SMH should be interpreted in terms of group identification. The group identification interpretation of SMH is both behaviorally adequate (i.e., successfully predicts and explains the helping behavior in the experimental settings) and psychologically plausible (i.e., does not posit psychologically unrealistic beliefs, desires, etc.). Empathy-induced helping behavior, according to the group identification interpretation of the SMH, does not fit comfortably into the traditional egoism/altruism dichotomy. We thus propose a new taxonomy according to which empathy-induced helping behavior is both altruistic at the individual level and egoistic at the group level.

Competing social identities and intergroup discrimination: Evidence from a framed field experiment with high school students in Vietnam

We conducted a framed field experiment to explore a situation where individuals have potentially competing social identities to understand how group identification and socialisation affect in-group favouritism and out-group discrimination. The Dictator Game and the Trust Game were conducted in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on two groups of high school students with different backgrounds, i.e., French bilingual and monolingual (Vietnamese) students. We find strong evidence for the presence of these two phenomena: our micro-analysis of within- and between-school effects show that bilingual students exhibit higher discriminatory behaviour toward non-bilinguals within the same school than toward other bilinguals from a different school, implying that group identity is a key factor in the explanation of intergroup cooperation and competition.

Wildcat or Lion? Inequality, Agency, and the New Chinese Working Class

<p>The study of Chinese labour politics has returned to the centre of scholarly interest as China has increasingly become involved in global production and trade. As the incidence of labour dispute and workers’ strikes continued to soar, ubiquitous cases of labour rights abuse have been widely reported by international media and academics. The literature of Marxist international political economy has long predicted the insurgency of the Chinese working class resulting from rising inequality, global capital movement and labour division. In contrast, traditional Chinese labour studies are inconclusive as to whether the Chinese working class has gained enough class consciousness to become a cohesive agent for social and political change. This research examines how rising economic, social and political inequalities have impacted on the Chinese working class’s agency. The research shifts the focus from top-down structural analysis to workers’ agency itself, with an emphasis on their cognitive strength. The research was undertaken via a two-case comparative study of the Chinese working class in four megacities and four smaller cities. Data came mostly from statistics and field interviews. This two-case comparative study concludes that, overall, the Chinese working class had a weak behavioural strength, as manifested by inconsistent wildcat-style strikes, which had no clear political strategies. This research also concludes that the working class’s cognitive agency is weak and conservative, as manifested by a weak class identification, their poor understanding of democracy, their low willingness to participate in collective action, and their weak sense of class solidarity. I argue that inequalities and capital movement do not have a simple and unidirectional relationship with the working class’s collective agency. On the one hand, inequalities and capital movement can arouse the working class’s behavioural strength quickly. On the other hand, workers’ cognitive strength is more inert and does not correspond neatly to these two factors. The research findings show that the megacities are more economically developed, with higher inequalities, but with considerably weaker and more conservative working class agency; whereas the smaller cities are less economically developed, with lower inequalities, but with less weak and conservative working class agency. The addition of cognitive strength as a new dimension of working class study provides a pluralist analytical framework for the study of Chinese labour. The new Chinese working class are better educated and more individualised with three main characteristics - occupation-based, precarious, and conservative - which distinguish them from the older generations of workers who had a clear group identification, such as the SOE workers in the 1990s, and the rural migrant workers in the 2000s. These theoretical and empirical findings open up possibilities of new strategies for effective labour organisation that should be considered by labour NGOs, civil society and the government. These players not only need to manage the working class action carefully, but also need to better understand the workers’ complex cognitive situations.</p>