Being black,foreign and woman: African immigrant identities in the United States

This paper contextualizes racial and ethnic identities in shaping African women’s work lives in the USA. While the literature on black immigrant groups has posited that ethnic identities are often deployed to shield black immigrants from racism, my findings indicate that for a group of African women, their racial and ethnic identities are viewed as potential sources of discrimination. As black immigrant women from middle-class backgrounds in their home countries, they also articulate experiences with racism and downward social and occupational mobility. Accounting for how race and ethnicity intersect in the lives of black immigrant groups can nuance our understanding of racial identities and highlight diversity in experiences among national and regional groups. Focusing on particular health-care settings further suggests the importance of professional contexts in shaping the identity formations of recent black immigrants.     

Ethnic and civic dealings with newcomers: naturalization policies and practices in twenty-six immigration countries

Over the last decade or so, the comparative study of nationalism has produced a large number of cogent critiques of classifying nations according to how ethnic or civic they are. In fact, these critiques have been so convincing that many scholars today seem to agree that any mention of the words ‘ethnic’ and ‘civic’ is unwarranted. This is unfortunate, because the distinction still offers a useful heuristic device to compare and classify different nation-building practices. This article analyses naturalization policies in twenty-six Western immigrant-receiving democracies in order to show that the distinction constitutes a valuable analytical tool to explore how different countries deal with newcomers. The naturalization policy index developed in this article proves to have a high degree of face validity, to be a good predictor of actual naturalization practices, and to match up well with previous classifications of ethnic and civic nation-building practices.     

Sub-state nationalism in Spain: primers and triggers of identity politics in Catalonia and the Basque Country

This article builds on recent attempts to explain divergent uses of sub-state nationalism to push for policies of assimilation or multiculturalism and drive popular support for independence. It analyses the dynamics of discourses and policies in Spain before, during and after peak times of identity politics to provide a more nuanced understanding of the conditions leading to the activation of identity-driven policies. Substantive ethnographic evidence is presented to explain recent alterations to national discourses of identity, surprising reversals of immigration policies, and the modulation of Catalan and Basque independence movements. The main finding is that both identity discourses and resulting policies depend on the affinity for identity politics at the sub-state level, and this affinity is in large part primed by the popular perception of how secure sub-state national identity is against the ‘official’ state narrative.     

Electrotonic and action potentials in the Venus flytrap

The electrical phenomena and morphing structures in the Venus flytrap have attracted researchers since the nineteenth century. We have observed that mechanical stimulation of trigger hairs on the lobes of the Venus flytrap induces electrotonic potentials in the lower leaf. Electrostimulation of electrical circuits in the Venus flytrap can induce electrotonic potentials propagating along the upper and lower leaves. The instantaneous increase or decrease in voltage of stimulating potential generates a nonlinear electrical response in plant tissues. Any electrostimulation that is not instantaneous, such as sinusoidal or triangular functions, results in linear responses in the form of small electrotonic potentials. The amplitude and sign of electrotonic potentials depend on the polarity and the amplitude of the applied voltage. Electrical stimulation of the lower leaf induces electrical signals, which resemble action potentials, in the trap between the lobes and the midrib. The trap closes if the stimulating voltage is above the threshold level of 4.4 V. Electrical responses in the Venus flytrap were analyzed and reproduced in the discrete electrical circuit. The information gained from this study can be used to elucidate the coupling of intracellular and intercellular communications in the form of electrical signals within plants.     

Responses of epidermal cell turgor pressure and photosynthetic activity of leaves of the atmospheric epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides (Bromeliaceae) after exposure to high humidity

It has been well-established that many epiphytic bromeliads of the atmospheric-type morphology, i.e., with leaf surfaces completely covered by large, overlapping, multicellular trichomes, are capable of absorbing water vapor from the atmosphere when air humidity increases. It is much less clear, however, whether this absorption of water vapor can hydrate the living cells of the leaves and, as a consequence, enhance physiological processes in such cells. The goal of this research was to determine if the absorption of atmospheric water vapor by the atmospheric epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides results in an increase in turgor pressure in leaf epidermal cells that subtend the large trichomes, and, by using chlorophyll fluorescence techniques, to determine if the absorption of atmospheric water vapor by leaves of this epiphyte results in increased photosynthetic activity. Results of measurements on living cells of attached leaves of this epiphytic bromeliad, using a pressure probe and of whole-shoot fluorescence imaging analyses clearly illustrated that the turgor pressure of leaf epidermal cells did not increase, and the photosynthetic activity of leaves did not increase, following exposure of the leaves to high humidity air. These results experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, that the absorption of water vapor following increases in atmospheric humidity in atmospheric epiphytic bromeliads is mostly likely a physical phenomenon resulting from hydration of non-living leaf structures, e.g., trichomes, and has no physiological significance for the plant's living tissues.     

Fauna of bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus Latreille) in the mainland part of Arkhangelsk Region,NW Russia

The focus of this study is to present bumblebee fauna of Arkhangelsk Region (north-western Russia). This research is based on the museum collections and materials collected by the authors. Collecting localities and data of faunistic records are given in the species list. We include 34 species in the fauna of bumblebees of Arkhangelsk Region. The regional fauna is dominated by Transpalaearctic species. Bumblebee fauna in the study region has low specificity. The recent distribution of bumblebee species in the study region is a result of post-glacial immigration.     

Just like the USA? Critical notes on Alba and Foner’s cross-Atlantic research agenda

ABSTRACT

A critical review of Alba and Foner's Strangers No More (2015 Foner, Nancy. 2015. “Is Islam in Western Europe Like Race in the United States?” Sociological Forum 30 (4): 885–899. [Google Scholar]) which focuses on questioning their comparative assimilation of European cases of immigrant integration to the North American, specifically U.S., experience. While this may work in terms of how national immigrant integration has mitigated over time racial discrimination for older, post-colonial migrants, it misrepresents the complex differentiations involved in the super-diversity of recent ‘new’ migrations within and to Europe. In particular, the variety of types and origins of recent migration is lost in their understanding of the U.K. case, with problems linked to their interpretation of data about minorities and foreigners in the country.     

The consumption of out-of-home highbrow leisure by ethnicity and national origin: attendance at museums and live theatres in Houston

Dynamics of compensation for the deprivations of segregation and discrimination, and the support of multiculturalism derived from ethnic cohesion explain the consumption of out-of-home highbrow leisure events by minority/ethnic individuals, immigrants, and their descendants as efforts toward their integration and assimilation in metropolitan areas. Using data from the Houston Area Survey, I examine whether there are any significant ethnic disparities in the attendance at museums and live theatres, which represent a relevant dimension of out-of-home highbrow leisure in Houston. I found that the odds of frequently attending museums and live theatres are lower for Anglos compared with non-Anglos, and higher for US-born individuals with at least one foreign parent compared with US-born individuals with US-born parents. These findings reveal that the audiences of museums and live theatres in Houston are already characterized by a noteworthy ethnic diversity.     

Leaf decomposition and nutrient release of dominant species in the forest and lake in the Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve,China

AimsLitter decomposition is an important ecological process in nutrient cycling and productivity of ecosystems. Our objective is to quantify the differences of litter decomposition and nutrient release (N and P) under the forest and in an alpine lake among the dominant tree species in the Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve.
Methods Fresh leaf litters of Abies ernestii, Pinus tabulaeformis, Betula albo-sinensis, and Salix cupularis were collected and placed in bags under the forest and in an alpine lake for a year.
Important findings The mass remaining ratio (MR) of the leaf litters was well predicted with Olson’s decay model (r > 0.93, p < 0.01). The time for 99% decomposition was the shortest for S. cupularis (6.80 a), followed by B. albo-sinensis (10.34 a), A. ernestii (18.88 a), and P. tabulaeformis (27.21 a). These values were 1.48-, 1.55-, 1.80-, and 1.65-folds of the corresponding values in the lake, respectively. Both MR and nitrogen remaining ratio (NR) had significantly negative correlations with the leaf initial N concentration, but significantly positive correlations with the initial C:N. The nutrient release was significantly different among the four species and between the two sites (i.e., forest and alpine lake). The N release of S. cupularis was consistent between forest and the lake (i.e. directly released in the beginning of decomposition), while other species had an obvious N enrichment process before it released. The release of P among was similar among the four species and between the two sites, with a release—enrichment—release pattern. Overall, the leaf litter decomposition appeared as an intricate process that was affected by the litter chemistry and and the environment. The fast litter decomposition in the lake may have a profound influence on the water quanlity in the Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve.     

Low‐Temperature Growth of Hard Carbon with Graphite Crystal for Sodium‐Ion Storage with High Initial Coulombic Efficiency: A General Method

Practical application of hard carbon materials in sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) is largely limited by their low initial coulombic efficiency (ICE), which may be improved by increasing the graphitization degree. However, biomass‐derived hard carbon is usually nongraphitizable and extremely difficult to graphitize by direct heating even at 3000 °C. Herein, a general strategy is reported for fabricating hard carbon materials with graphite crystals at 1300 °C promoted by external graphite that serves as a crystal template for the growth of graphite crystals. The graphite crystals enable the contacted pseudographitic domains with a high‐level ordered structure, large domain size, and low defects, leading to an enhanced ICE. The obtained hard carbon materials with graphite crystals, using the carbonized eggshell membranes, and sucrose‐derived microsphere as precursors, achieve very high ICE of 89% and 91% with reversible capacity of 310 and 301 mA h g^?1, respectively. Therefore, using external graphite to promote high‐level ordering pseudographitic domains at low temperature is quite useful to improve ICE for SIB applications.