The public face of interest group lobbying on immigration: Who responds to and who ignores what they say

A main avenue for influencing public policy available to unions and business is public opinion campaigning. As groups with substantial credibility in the minds of the public, unions and employers have the potential to move immigration attitudes and, thereby, have a long-term indirect influence on immigration policy. The article asks, first, who is (not) convinced by arguments from business or labour leaders and second, what messages are most convincing. We present the results of a survey experiment in three very different immigration regimes and interest group environments (Canada, the UK and Germany). The results suggest that the net effects of public arguments are small, but vary widely across demographic groups.

Choice, control and person-centredness in day centres for older people

Background Day centres are a substantial element of community-based support for older people in many countries. However, assumptions that they are an outdated or costly service model have resulted in many centre closures in England. The perspectives of 42 people attending, providing, making referrals to or purchasing places at four diverse day centres for older people were collected in interviews. Using these data, we explore day centres’ relevance to social workers’ efforts to promote person-centred support for older people enabling them to maintain or improve their well-being. These are explored from the perspectives of choice, control and person-centredness and local authority responsibilities for shaping the care market under the Care Act 2014. Findings Attenders highly valued centres’ congregate nature and the continuity they offered which contributed to the development of person-centred relationships. Attenders exercised choice in attending day centres. Social work staff were more positive about day centres’ relevance to personalisation than those responsible for making decisions about the shape of local care services. Applications With social isolation recognised as a serious risk of old age, the value of togetherness in group environments may need highlighting. Enactment of personalisation policies need not necessarily lead to individualisation; day centres may be community-based assets for some. Those shaping the care market may be encouraged to acknowledge wider outcomes, and frontline social workers may benefit from hearing positive experiences that may help in the development of effective care plans for older people who would like to benefit from day centre participation.

Haste or Waste? Peer Pressure and Productivity in the Emergency Department

Motivated by wide cross-sectional variations in intensity of care that are unrelated to quality of care, researchers and policymakers commonly claim that healthcare providers waste considerable resources, engaging in so-called “flat-of-the-curve” medicine. A key yet elusive prediction of this hypothesis is that providers ought to be able to cut back on care without sacrificing quality. This article examines the effects of a particular form of provider cutbacks—those generated by physicians working in high-pressure peer group environments. Using expansive, time-stamped discharge data from 137 hospital-based emergency departments, I document that physicians systematically alter their pace and intensity of care across frequently shuffled peer groups. Peer groups that induce a physician to work faster also induce her to order fewer tests and spend less money. Contrary to the flat-of-the-curve hypothesis, these cutbacks lead to large reductions in quality of care. This evidence, paired with the fact that slower physicians do not produce better average outcomes, suggests that cross-physician differences in resource utilization reflect substantial differences in physician productivity within a hospital.

MUSE-ALMA haloes V: physical properties and environment of z ≤ 1.4 H i quasar absorbers

ABSTRACT We present results of the MUSE-ALMA haloes, an ongoing study of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of low-redshift galaxies (z ≤ 1.4), currently comprising 14 strong H i absorbers in 5 quasar fields. We detect 43 galaxies associated with absorbers down to star formation rate (SFR) limits of 0.01–0.1 M⊙ yr−1, found within impact parameters (b) of 250 kpc from the quasar sightline. Excluding the targeted absorbers, we report a high detection rate of 89 per cent and find that most absorption systems are associated with pairs or groups of galaxies (3–11 members). We note that galaxies with the smallest impact parameters are not necessarily the closest to the absorbing gas in velocity space. Using a multiwavelength data set (UVES/HIRES, HST, MUSE), we combine metal and H i column densities, allowing for derivation of the lower limits of neutral gas metallicity as well as emission-line diagnostics (SFR, metallicities) of the ionized gas in the galaxies. We find that groups of associated galaxies follow the canonical relations of N(H i)–b and Wr(2796)–b, defining a region in parameter space below which no absorbers are detected. The metallicity of the ISM of associated galaxies, when measured, is higher than the metallicity limits of the absorber. In summary, our findings suggest that the physical properties of the CGM of complex group environments would benefit from associating the kinematics of individual absorbing components with each galaxy member.

I don´t fit, so I blame you? - Influence of Regulatory Focus and Fit on Emotion Generation and Regulation in Single- and Group-Context

Person-environment-interactions play a main role in the process of emotional experience. While Regulatory Focus Theory has been adopted to illustrate how some goal-oriented parts of this process might shape by proposing a regulatory fit between individual and environmental characteristics, whether this fit not only implies feeling “right” but feeling “good” or at least cope better, has not been tested empirically. In this study, we extend earlier research on the influence of regulatory fit to the generation and regulation of emotions. We additionally emphasize the role of the context, by integrating current work on group-based emotion regulation in comparing single- and group-environments. We used a within-subjects design, with 2 (situational focus) x 2 (single/group environment) levels. Thirty-two male football players participated in one football-specific task per level. Emotional experience and cognitive regulation strategies were measured after each. Multilevel regression showed, that a regulatory fit predicted more passive-negative emotions in both and more active-negative emotions in the group-environments. The Regulatory fit predicted stronger use of functional regulation strategies in the single- but less in the group-environment. Group-membership predicted stronger use of group-based regulation strategies and weaker use of other strategies – thus indicating further constraints and new ways to cope. We discuss the counter-intuitive results regarding emotional experience in the light of the athletic context as well as theoretical accounts of regulatory fit and its role in moderating motivational intensity and value assignment. Results regarding influence of group-membership are integrated into current research and we highlight directions for future research.

Predicted MOND velocity dispersions for a catalog of ultra-diffuse galaxies in group environments

The possibility that ultra-diffuse galaxies are lacking dark matter has recently stimulated interest to check the validity of modified Newton dynamics (MOND) predictions on the scale of such galaxies. It has been shown that the external field effect (EFE) induced by the close-by galaxy can suppress the velocity dispersion of these systems, so that they appear almost dark matter free in the Newtonian context. Here, following up on this, we are making a priori predictions for the velocity dispersion of 22 ultra-diffuse galaxies in the nearby Universe. This sample can be used to test MOND and the EFE with future follow-up measurements. We have constructed a catalog of nearby ultra-diffuse galaxies in galaxy group environments, and set upper and lower limits for the possible velocity dispersion allowed in MOND, taking into account possible variations in the mass-to-light ratio of the dwarf and in the distance to the galaxy group. The prediction for the velocity dispersion is made as a function of the three dimensional separation of the dwarf to its host. In 17 out of 22 cases, the EFE plays a crucial role in the prediction.

Acculturation and Intergroup Communication

Acculturation is the process of bidirectional change that occurs when two ethnolinguistic groups come in sustained contact with one another. Acculturation usually occurs between groups of unequal power, status, and demographic background. At stake for the unity of multilingual states are intergroup relations between language minorities and majorities that yield harmonious to conflictual outcomes. The Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM) is adapted to intergroup relations between language communities in four parts. The first part of the model provides an overview of the ethnolinguistic vitality framework accounting for the strength of minority/majority language communities as they struggle to gain the institutional support they need to develop as distinctive and thriving language communities. The second part of the IAM offers an analysis of the pluralist, civic, assimilationist, and exclusionist ideologies that underpin language policies regulating the co-existence of minority/majority language communities. The third part examines the acculturation orientations endorsed by majority and minority language group speakers. The fourth part of the IAM proposes that the interaction of majority and minority acculturation orientations yield intergroup communication outcomes that may range from harmonious, problematic, to conflictual. Taken together, the IAM model offers a conceptual tool for analyzing the fate of linguistic minorities as they seek to survive in the dominant majority group environments of post-modern globalizing states.