Transnational migrations in an anthropo-demographic view: A bridge between qualitative and quantitative approaches

The present study focuses on transnational migrations from Morocco and Tunisia to the city of Parma (Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy) between 1989 and 2000. The main goal is to link the analytical depth of qualitative investigations (basically based on retrospective biographical narration) to the synthetic power of quantitative sociodemographic analyses, able to describe the characteristics of immigrations in a given area. The focus is on the evaluation of the role that migrations have in the life-course of individuals and communities and the anthropological demography provides us an integrated approach of micro and macro levels, magnifying the potentialities of the single components and methodologies. On the one hand, the annual surveys of Parma's Registry Office (1989/2000) allowed us to observe the migrant population during the decade. From 1989 to 2000, 9754 foreigners acquire their residence in the municipality: 20% are Tunisians (1276 people, of which 1068 men and 208 women) and about 9% are Moroccans (652 people, of which 451 men and 201 women). On the other hand, 34 life-histories of people from Morocco and Tunisia (18 males and 16 females) describe the native family, the individual life-courses (nuptial and procreative history) of other family members as well as the personal narration of one's own migratory experience. Such histories stand out as significant evidences of the many possible migratory trajectories of Moroccan and Tunisian native. The complexity of family migratory dynamics is therefore investigated, even determining its evolution throughout the last decade. We wish to thank the Fyssen Foundation, thanks to which the post doctoral studies of Dott.ssa Pellegrino are carried out.     

Invisible Elites? Authority and the Dream

This paper seeks to develop a perspective on the dynamic interplay between dreaming, culture and identity. A spectrum of examples show that dream imagery has had and still has today tremendous cultural significance across a whole array of historical, religious and contemporary political and personal contexts. The visionary dream is shown to have underpinned the charter myths of both Israel and Serbia/Kosovo as well as having been the generative source of a core body of hierarchically organised spiritual knowledge in Islamic societies, possibly including the Taliban. Annunciation and calling dreams are commonplace in shamanic and some other societies and individuals can have dreams that prefigure aspects of their developing personal myths. The power and politics of dreaming is further exemplified in the author's example from his dreamwork group that suggest we can dream within the cultural and oppressive stereotypes of our gendered and racist time. Our experience of reality is presented as being dynamically co-created out of both the normative events of everyday life as well as from the human experience of the dream in its powerful and politically evocative forms.     

Temperature change effects on marine fish range shifts: A meta-analysis of ecological and methodological predictors

The current effects of global warming on marine ecosystems are predicted to increase, with species responding by changing their spatial distributions. Marine ectotherms such as fish experience elevated distribution shifts, as temperature plays a key role in physiological functions and delineating population ranges through thermal constraints. Distributional response predictions necessary for population management have been complicated by high heterogeneity in magnitude and direction of movements, which may be explained by both biological as well as methodological study differences. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive synthesis of the interacting ecological factors influencing fish distributions in response to climate change and the confounding methodological factors that can affect their estimation. In this study we analyzed published studies meeting criteria of reporting range shift responses to global warming in 115 taxa spanning all major oceanic regions, totaling 595 three-dimensional population responses (latitudinal, longitudinal, and depth), with temperature identified as a significant driver. We found that latitudinal shifts were the fastest in non-exploited, tropical populations, and inversely correlated with depth shifts which, in turn, dominated at the trailing edges of population ranges. While poleward responses increased with rate of temperature change and latitude, niche was a key factor in predicting both depth (18% of variation) and latitudinal responses (13%), with methodological predictors explaining between 10% and 28% of the observed variance in marine fish responses to temperature change. Finally, we found strong geographical publication bias and limited taxonomical scope, highlighting the need for more representative and standardized research in order to address heterogeneity in distribution responses and improve predictions in face of changing climate.     

The role of theology in current evolutionary reasoning

A remarkable but little studied aspect of current evolutionary theory is the use by many biologists and philosophers of theological arguments for evolution. These can be classed under two heads: imperfection arguments, in which some organic design is held to be inconsistent with God's perfection and wisdom, and homology arguments, in which some pattern of similarity is held to be inconsistent with God's freedom as an artificer. Evolutionists have long contended that the organic world falls short of what one might expect from an omnipotent and benevolent creator. Yet many of the same scientists who argue theologically for evolution are committed to the philosophical doctrine of methodological naturalism, which maintains that theology has no place in science. Furthermore, the arguments themselves are problematical, employing concepts that cannot perform the work required of them, or resting on unsupported conjectures about suboptimality. Evolutionary theorists should reconsider both the arguments and the influence of Darwinian theological metaphysics on their understanding of evolution.     

Application typologies for life cycle assessment

Different lists of application areas for life cycle assessment are reviewed together with some suggestions for a typology of these application areas. It is concluded that the scope of a life cycle assessment is determined by the area of validity of the decision with respect to time, space, and interest groups affected. On this basis, six application areas are distinguished. It is further concluded that the application area has limited influence on the inventory analysis and impact assessment phases, although these may be influenced significantly by the decision-maker and the complexity of the trade-offs between the involved environmental impacts. The reporting format for a life cycle assessment depends on the socio-economic importance of the decision, the intended audience, and the time available for decision making.