Measures Of Integration Research Articles

Integration Discourses, the Purification of Gender and Interventions in Family Migrations

ABSTRACT In a critique of integration, Schinkel (2018) highlights the purification of class and race which evacuates explanatory variables from studies of integration as a concept and practice. Surprisingly gendered purification is left out. This article argues that a range of gender issues presenting migrant women, especially from Muslim countries, as being deficient in modernity and contributing to poor social reproduction through their family practices and transnational ties, were at the forefront of political calls for intervention in family lives and the implementation of integration measures in the past two decades. In part this reflects an attempt to alter the class composition of family migrants and bring them closer to middle-class norms and values. Such reductionist and homogenizing representations continue despite the complexity of contemporary family migrations and practices, reinforcing the continuing purification and simplification of categories of analysis in discussions of racialized gender and classed integration in European societies.

FortressEurope integrating through division: an actantial narrative analysis

ABSTRACT We examine how the EU integration is narrated in news about asylum seekers. While extant research has examined representations of refugees in media, little attention has been paid to how the EU integration is imagined in such representations. Narration is of key importance to the ongoing EU integration and its contestation. The area of migration and asylum-seeking, in particular, generates terse conflicts between integration measures and individual member states over authority and power. As the EU attempted to coordinate a response to asylum seeking in 2015, ’media became the locus for institutional and intergovernmental clashes’ (Maricut-Akbik, 2020, p.1). We demonstrate the differences and entanglements between ideological ideas in the representation of governments’ and the EU’s debate about the refugee distribution schema by newspapers in Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK, each differently positioned in respect to the EU and the asylum seekers. Further, we demonstrate the utility of Greimas’ (1983) actantial schema to explicating ideological motivators in news narratives shaped by different state interests. We compare and tease out finer ideational points in representation of relations between governments and the EU as well as among the governments themselves and the ideological views informing these representations.

Development of indicators for integrated antenatal care service provision: a feasibility study in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal and Sierra Leone

ObjectivesWhile service integration has gained prominence as an objective of many global initiatives, there is no widely recognised single definition of integration nor a clear understanding of how programmes are...

Developmental changes in audiotactile event perception

The fission and fusion illusions provide measures of multisensory integration. The sound-induced tap fission illusion occurs when a tap is paired with two distractor sounds, resulting in the perception of two taps; the sound-induced tap fusion illusion occurs when two taps are paired with a single sound, resulting in the perception of a single tap. Using these illusions, we measured integration in three groups of children (9-, 11-, and 13-year-olds) and compared them with a group of adults. Based on accuracy, we derived a measure of magnitude of illusion and used a signal detection analysis to estimate perceptual discriminability and decisional criterion. All age groups showed a significant fission illusion, whereas only the three groups of children showed a significant fusion illusion. When compared with adults, the 9-year-olds showed larger fission and fusion illusions (i.e., reduced discriminability and greater bias), whereas the 11-year-olds were adult-like for fission but showed some differences for fusion: significantly worse discriminability and marginally greater magnitude and criterion. The 13-year-olds were adult-like on all measures. Based on the pattern of data, we speculate that the developmental trajectories for fission and fusion differ. We discuss these developmental results in the context of three non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks: sensory dominance, maximum likelihood estimation, and causal inference.

Tactile sensorimotor training does not alter short- and long-latency afferent inhibition.

Sensorimotor integration refers to the process of combining incoming sensory information with outgoing motor commands to control movement. Short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI), and long-latency afferent inhibition (LAI) are neurophysiological measures of sensorimotor integration collected using transcranial magnetic stimulation. No studies to date have investigated the influence of tactile discrimination training on these measures. This study aimed to determine whether SAI and LAI are modulated following training on a custom-designed tactile discrimination maze task. Participants performed a 'high difficulty' and 'low difficulty' maze training condition on separate visits. On an additional visit, no maze training was performed to serve as a control condition. Despite evidence of performance improvements during training, there were no significant changes in SAI or LAI following training in either condition. The total number of errors during maze training was significantly greater in the high-difficulty condition compared with the low-difficulty condition. These findings suggest that sensorimotor maze training for 30 min is insufficient to modify the magnitude of SAI and LAI.

El arraigo social como alternativa legal para los solicitantes de asilo de larga duración en la Unión Europea

This article analyzes the application of a regularization mechanism for immigrants, typical of Spanish law and directly linked to integration measures, as a possible legal solution for thousands of asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected or remain unresolved in any of the European Union Member States. The revision of the regulations and directives of the Common European Asylum System reform focuses on the extension of integration measures to these people. The article provides a new approach to the figure of social ties in the field of applicants for international protection, concluding that if such a mechanism were incorporated into the planned reforms, this would give them the possibility to renounce their immigration status and opt for an administrative residence and work authorization, causing a huge impact on the entire system.

Children or productive adults? Infantilisation and exploitation of refugees in Germany and Austria

ABSTRACT The persisting poor labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers is puzzling, especially given host states’ declared desirability of refugees and asylum seekers being employed. Existing research on the determinants of refugees’ lack of labour market integration has analysed possible factors such as refugee health and education as well as host countries’ policies and discrimination. Based on original ethnographic data generated in Berlin and Vienna in 2019, I argue that the poor labour market integration can be better understood when we consider colliding perceptions, called scripts, of refugees and asylum seekers: At the same time that they are constructed as potentially useful labour, they are also constructed as helpless children who can never quite be ready for the labour market. I present each script’s ascriptions and prescriptions towards refugees and asylum seekers, show how these are enacted by the people subjected to them and analyse how disruptions occur when there are simultaneous, contradictory demands. Policy implications are that the host society’s perceptions do matter and that integration measures must be reviewed with regard to their potentially infantilising tendencies.

Selective attention decoding in bimodal cochlear implant users.

The growing group of cochlear implant (CI) users includes subjects with preserved acoustic hearing on the opposite side to the CI. The use of both listening sides results in improved speech perception in comparison to listening with one side alone. However, large variability in the measured benefit is observed. It is possible that this variability is associated with the integration of speech across electric and acoustic stimulation modalities. However, there is a lack of established methods to assess speech integration between electric and acoustic stimulation and consequently to adequately program the devices. Moreover, existing methods do not provide information about the underlying physiological mechanisms of this integration or are based on simple stimuli that are difficult to relate to speech integration. Electroencephalography (EEG) to continuous speech is promising as an objective measure of speech perception, however, its application in CIs is challenging because it is influenced by the electrical artifact introduced by these devices. For this reason, the main goal of this work is to investigate a possible electrophysiological measure of speech integration between electric and acoustic stimulation in bimodal CI users. For this purpose, a selective attention decoding paradigm has been designed and validated in bimodal CI users. The current study included behavioral and electrophysiological measures. The behavioral measure consisted of a speech understanding test, where subjects repeated words to a target speaker in the presence of a competing voice listening with the CI side (CIS) only, with the acoustic side (AS) only or with both listening sides (CIS+AS). Electrophysiological measures included cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) and selective attention decoding through EEG. CAEPs were recorded to broadband stimuli to confirm the feasibility to record cortical responses with CIS only, AS only, and CIS+AS listening modes. In the selective attention decoding paradigm a co-located target and a competing speech stream were presented to the subjects using the three listening modes (CIS only, AS only, and CIS+AS). The main hypothesis of the current study is that selective attention can be decoded in CI users despite the presence of CI electrical artifact. If selective attention decoding improves combining electric and acoustic stimulation with respect to electric stimulation alone, the hypothesis can be confirmed. No significant difference in behavioral speech understanding performance when listening with CIS+AS and AS only was found, mainly due to the ceiling effect observed with these two listening modes. The main finding of the current study is the possibility to decode selective attention in CI users even if continuous artifact is present. Moreover, an amplitude reduction of the forward transfer response function (TRF) of selective attention decoding was observed when listening with CIS+AS compared to AS only. Further studies to validate selective attention decoding as an electrophysiological measure of electric acoustic speech integration are required.

Sizing up the crowd: Assessing spatial integration difficulties in body size judgements across eating disorder symptomatology.

Body size judgements are frequently biased, or inaccurate, and these errors are further exaggerated for individuals with eating disorders. Within the eating disorder literature, it has been suggested that exaggerated errors in body size judgements are due to difficulties with integration. Across two experiments, we developed a novel integration task, named the Ebbinghaus Illusion for Bodies in Virtual Reality (VR), to assess whether nearby bodies influence the perceived size of a single body. VR was used to simulate the appearance of a small crowd around a central target body. In Experiment 1 (N = 412), participants were required to judge the size of a central female target within a crowd. Experiment 1 revealed an Ebbinghaus Illusion, in which a central female appeared larger when surrounded by small distractors, but comparatively smaller when surrounded by large distractors. In other words, the findings of Experiment 1 demonstrate that surrounding crowd information is integrated when judging an individual's body size; a novel measure of spatial integration (i.e., an Ebbinghaus Illusion for Bodies in VR). In Experiment 2 (N = 96), female participants were selected based on high (n = 43) and low (n = 53) eating disorder symptomatology. We examined whether the magnitude of this illusion would differ amongst those with elevated versus low eating disorder symptomatology, in accordance with weak central coherence theory, with the high symptomatology group displaying less spatial integration relative to the low group. The results of Experiment 2 similarly found an Ebbinghaus Illusion for Bodies in VR. However, illusion magnitude did not vary across high and low symptomatology groups. Overall, these findings demonstrate that surrounding crowd information is integrated when judging individual body size; however, those with elevated eating disorder symptomatology did not show any integration deficit on this broader measure of spatial integration.

Prioritizing factors for the sustainable growth of Vietnam's solar photovoltaic power market

This study investigates the factors that affect the investment environment of the renewable energy industry in emerging countries, and quantifies them to derive relative priorities, drawing on the Vietnamese solar market as a critical case. Vietnam's solar photovoltaic (PV) market was exposed to various adverse policy situations during 2017–2019. The priorities of the determinant factors were derived using analytic hierarchy process analysis, based on a survey of 20 energy experts. The priority of the factors in Level 1 include, in descending order, policies, legal framework, profitability, ease of access to finance, infrastructure, and external factors. The top five of the 29 important factors in Level 2 are level of policy implementation, policy consistency (predictability), feed-in-tariff price, incentives and subsidies for foreign (direct) investment in solar PV, fruitage remittance, and transmission/distribution lines. We demonstrate that the active establishment and implementation of policies is crucial for the development of the renewable energy market. The improvement of the grid infrastructure and measures for system integration should be supported in accordance with solar power deployment. Therefore, actively engaging the interests of various stakeholders comprehensively and in a balanced manner during policymaking can be decisive in supporting stable market growth, facilitated by partnerships between local developers and international investors.

Labour market integration of disability insurance benefit applicants in Switzerland

The increased labour market participation of individuals with disabilities remains a key policy priority for European governments. This study therefore aimed to examine factors promoting the labour market integration of disability insurance benefit (DB) applicants and those entitled to integration and occupational measures in Switzerland. A novel dataset was created via linking the 2018 Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) to administrative register data (2000-2017). Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the associations between demographic, socioeconomic, health, and regional characteristics and economic activity in working-age DB applicants (N=9,309) and those entitled to integration and occupational measures (N=5,753). Being male, living with an employed partner, having upper secondary or tertiary education, and being able to participate in the SLFS in the language of the language region of residence were associated with higher odds of economic activity. Higher odds of economic activity were also found for those not reporting long-term health-related activity limitations or chronic morbidity and for younger age groups. Individuals residing in the Lake Geneva Region and Ticino were less likely to be economically active relative to their counterparts living in Espace Mittelland. Most importantly, the results imply that education beyond the lower secondary level as well as language proficiency are essential for the economic activity of DB applicants and those entitled to integration and occupational measures.

Multimodal multilayer network centrality relates to executive functioning.

Executive functioning (EF) is a higher order cognitive process that is thought to depend on a network organization facilitating integration across subnetworks, in the context of which the central role of the fronto-parietal network (FPN) has been described across imaging and neurophysiological modalities. However, the potentially complementary unimodal information on the relevance of the FPN for EF has not yet been integrated. We employ a multilayer framework to allow for integration of different modalities into one 'network of networks.' We used diffusion MRI, resting-state functional MRI, MEG, and neuropsychological data obtained from 33 healthy adults to construct modality-specific single-layer networks as well as a single multilayer network per participant. We computed single-layer and multilayer eigenvector centrality of the FPN as a measure of integration in this network and examined their associations with EF. We found that higher multilayer FPN centrality, but not single-layer FPN centrality, was related to better EF. We did not find a statistically significant change in explained variance in EF when using the multilayer approach as compared to the single-layer measures. Overall, our results show the importance of FPN integration for EF and underline the promise of the multilayer framework toward better understanding cognitive functioning.

ПІСЛЯДИПЛОМНА ОСВІТА В НЕФРОЛОГІЇ ТА ДИТЯЧІЙ НЕФРОЛОГІЇ

The article considers the modern state of training and further postgraduate education of pediatric nephrologists and nephrologists in Ukraine. The author analyzes problems of training and postgraduate education over the 25 years of the department’s functioning with an emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic and martial law, compares them with world approaches, and highlight discussion issues. Emphasis is placed on modern challenges of postgraduate education in pediatric nephrology and nephrology, needs in the relevant field are identified, and solutions and possible integration measures into world standards are outlined.

Mathematical Aspects of <i>SU</i> (2) and <i>SO</i>(3,R) Derived from Two-Mode Realization in Coordinate-Invariant Form

Some mathematical aspects of the Lie groups SU (2) and in realization by two pairs of boson annihilation and creation operators and in the parametrization by the vector parameter instead of the Euler angles and the vector parameter c of Fyodorov are developed. The one-dimensional root scheme of SU (2) is embedded in two-dimensional root schemes of some higher Lie groups, in particular, in inhomogeneous Lie groups and is represented in text and figures. The two-dimensional fundamental representation of SU (2) is calculated and from it the composition law for the product of two transformations and the most important decompositions of general transformations in special ones are derived. Then the transition from representation of SU (2) to of is made where in addition to the parametrization by vector the convenient parametrization by vector c is considered and the connections are established. The measures for invariant integration are derived for and for SU (2) . The relations between 3D-rotations of a unit sphere to fractional linear transformations of a plane by stereographic projection are discussed. All derivations and representations are tried to make in coordinate-invariant way.

Регіональна кластеризація з урахуванням підприємств життєзабезпечення міст

The publication examines the problems of housing and communal services, which consist in the unprofitable operation of housing and communal services enterprises, significant amounts of receivables and payables, outdated equipment and lack of finance for their modernization, etc. Potential participants and directions of socioeconomic development in the form of a «Regional Cluster of Urban Life Support Enterprises» are formed. The authors propose to integrate urban life support enterprises into a corporation of utilities of water supply, sewerage and heat supply, which will consist of combining: the enterprises from other sectors; the areas of intellectual development, the enterprises for diversification of services; the regional water refinement complexes; the grouped water supply enterprises; and a municipal information and analytical enterprise. It is noted that in the developed countries of the European Union there is a significant number (more than 2 thousand) of quite similar clusters, and up to 100 countries have programs for creating clusters today. Strategic ways for further work on the formation of such cluster formations for urban life support enterprises of Ukrainian cities have been elaborated. These include: 1. Identification of strategic directions of reform and development. 2. Innovative development of management processes. 3. Innovative development of management technology. 4. Innovative development of the enterprise management system. 5. Development of methods of information and analytical support of enterprise management. 6. Proposal of innovative methods and measures for diversification and integration of activities. 7. Proposal of restructuring models. 8. Proposal of models of the public-private reform. 9. Proposal of models of socioeconomic and intellectual clusters as a strategy for innovative development of both the enterprise and the region. 10. Proposal of individual innovative projects (measures) in the sphere of production and commerce to improve financial and economic sustainability and production-economic reliability.

Directed Functional Brain Connectivity is Altered in Sub-threshold Amyloid-β Accumulation in Cognitively Normal Individuals.

Several studies have shown that amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition below the clinically relevant cut-off levels is associated with subtle changes in cognitive function and increases the risk of developing future Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although functional MRI is sensitive to early alterations occurring during AD, sub-threshold changes in Aβ levels have not been linked to functional connectivity measures. This study aimed to apply directed functional connectivity to identify early changes in network function in cognitively unimpaired participants who, at baseline, exhibit Aβ accumulation below the clinically relevant threshold. To this end, we analyzed baseline functional MRI data from 113 cognitively unimpaired participants of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort who underwent at least one 18F-florbetapir-PET after the baseline scan. Using the longitudinal PET data, we classified these participants as Aβ negative (Aβ-) non-accumulators (n = 46) and Aβ- accumulators (n = 31). We also included 36 individuals who were amyloid-positive (Aβ+) at baseline and continued to accumulate Aβ (Aβ+ accumulators). For each participant, we calculated whole-brain directed functional connectivity networks using our own anti-symmetric correlation method and evaluated their global and nodal properties using measures of network segregation (clustering coefficient) and integration (global efficiency). When compared to Aβ- non-accumulators, the Aβ- accumulators showed lower global clustering coefficient. Moreover, the Aβ+ accumulator group exhibited reduced global efficiency and clustering coefficient, which at the nodal level mainly affected the superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and caudate nucleus. In Aβ- accumulators, global measures were associated with lower baseline regional PET uptake values, as well as higher scores on the Modified Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite. Our findings indicate that directed connectivity network properties are sensitive to subtle changes occurring in individuals who have not yet reached the threshold for Aβ positivity, which makes them a potentially viable marker to detect negative downstream effects of very early Aβ pathology.

Stand by Me: Social Ties and Health in Real-Time.

Sociological research has documented myriad associations between individuals' overall social connectedness and health, but rarely considers the shorter-term dynamics of social life that may underlie these associations. We examine how being with others ("social accompaniment") is associated with momentary experiences of symptoms, drawing smartphone-based ecological momentary assessments (N=12,720) collected from 342 older adults from the Chicago Health and Activity in Real Time study. We find that patterns of social accompaniment are distinct from global measures of social integration such as network size. Older adults who are in the company of a friend or neighbor are significantly less likely to experience momentary fatigue and stress, even after accounting for overall measures of social integration. These results suggest that social accompaniment has unique implications for short-term health outcomes. New theoretical perspectives and empirical analyses are needed to better understand the dynamic nature of everyday social accompaniment and its longer-term implications for well-being.

Integration of automated information systems and architectural solutions in industrial enterprises

The global aluminum industry faces challenges like price fluctuations and environmental regulations. To overcome these, it must adopt Automated Information Systems (AIS) to streamline data handling and improve decision-making. However, AIS implementation requires system integration, workforce training, and robust security measures. In summary, AIS adoption is crucial for the aluminum industry's efficiency and sustainability in a changing global landscape

Anatomical connectivity in children with developmental dyscalculia: A graph theory study.

Current theories postulate that numerical processing depends upon a brain circuit formed by regions and their connections; specialized in the representation and manipulation of the numerical properties of stimuli. It has been suggested that the damage of these network may cause Developmental Dyscalculia (DD): a persistent neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly interferes with academic performance and daily life activities that require mastery of mathematical notions and operations. However, most of the studies on the brain foundations of DD have focused on regions of interest associated with numerical processing, and have not addressed numerical cognition as a complex network phenomenon. The present study explored DD using a Graph Theory network approach. We studied the association between topological measures of integration and segregation of information processing in the brain proposed by Graph Theory; and individual variability in numerical performance in a group of 11 school-aged children with DD (5 of which presented with comorbidity with Developmental Dyslexia, the specific learning disorder for reading) and 17 typically developing peers. A statistically significant correlation was found between the Weber fraction (a measure of numerical representations' precision) and the Clustering Index (a measure of segregation of information processing) in the whole sample. The DD group showed significantly lower Characteristic Path Length (average shortest path length among all pairs of regions in the brain network) compared to controls. Also, differences in critical regions for the brain network performance (hubs) were found between groups. The presence of limbic hubs characterized the DD brain network while right Temporal and Frontal hubs found in controls were absent in the DD group. Our results suggest that the DD may be associated with alterations in anatomical brain connectivity that hinder the capacity to integrate and segregate numerical information.

Reconceptualizing ERP Integration: A Module Level Perspective

The concept of ERP integration has received significant a significant amount of attention in research because of its potential for affecting organizational outcomes. Although the importance of ERP integration has been established, the development of an instrument to measure this construct has not been reported in the literature. Based on a domain definition grounded in the literature, a reliable and valid measure of integration in an ERP context at the module level is proposed. The results show a 3-dimension construct for assessing ERP module integration, derived from a sample of 68 ERP module implementations. The evidence suggests that ERP module integration is formed by the system, business process, and user dimensions. Further, the link between ERP module integration and business process performance is assessed. Evidence of reliability and validity are presented for the hypothesized measurement models as well as implications of the results for research and practice.