The National Immigrant Survey of Spain. A new data source for migration studies in Europe

Spain has recently become the destination for large numbers of international migrants and now ranks as a key focal point for international migration in Europe. Currently, approximately one in ten residents in Spain are foreigners, up more than tenfold from figures holding at the outset of this century. Migration has now become a major social and political issue in the country. In order to provide reliable data about migrants in Spain for researchers and policy makers, acting on a proposal of a research team working within the context of the Population and Society Research Network (GEPS), the Spanish Statistical Office has recently carried out an extremely ambitious survey of foreign-born persons currently living in Spain. In the course of the survey, nearly 15,500 persons were interviewed regarding a large array of issues pertaining to their migration experience. Important documentation, including the project report, the methodological specifications of the survey, and the anonymized micro data have recently been made available to the scientific community and to policy makers at the website of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística. The purpose of this paper is to describe this data source, its content, its methodological underpinnings, and the way the fieldwork and data cleaning were carried out. Examples of preliminary results will be presented so as to underscore the potential this survey affords for researchers everywhere.immigrant survey, international migration, migrant strategies, migration data set, migration studies, migratory networks, Spain

Internal Migration Patterns of Foreign-Born Immigrants in a Country of Recent Mass Immigration: Evidence from New Micro Data for Spain

This paper extends the literature on the internal migration patterns of the foreign-born by analyzing the situation in Spain, a country affected by recent but very significant migratory flows. We utilize a standard theoretical framework in order to assess the relative importance of human capital, economic, and social capital indicators. To this end, we take advantage of a new micro database, the National Immigrant Survey (Encuesta National de Inmigrantes – ENI-2007). Our findings suggest that the main theories explaining internal migration patterns of the foreign-born are at least partly true. Evidence is presented in support of the importance of education and knowledge of the native language, income, and networks based on the sharing of social capital among family members, though less so for those based on friends and acquaintances. Spanish citizenship and employment status seem to be less important in explaining the propensity to move within the country. We argue that the lack of significance of some indicators is due mainly to the fact that Spain has become a major destination only very recently as well as to the way different immigrant groups tend to implement strategies for promotion and integration

Measurement of the Ratio of b Quark Production Cross Sections in Antiproton-Proton Collisions at 630 GeV and 1800 GeV

We report a measurement of the ratio of the bottom quark production cross section in antiproton-proton collisions at 630 GeV to 1800 GeV using bottom quarks with transverse momenta greater than 10.75 GeV identified through their semileptonic decays and long lifetimes. The measured ratio sigma(630)/sigma(1800) = 0.171 +/- .024 +/- .012 is in good agreement with next-to-leading order (NLO) quantum chromodynamics (QCD)

MIBiG 4.0 : advancing biosynthetic gene cluster curation through global collaboration

Specialized or secondary metabolites are small molecules of biological origin, often showing potent biological activities with applications in agriculture, engineering and medicine. Usually, the biosynthesis of these natural products is governed by sets of co-regulated and physically clustered genes known as biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). To share information about BGCs in a standardized and machine-readable way, the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG) data standard and repository was initiated in 2015. Since its conception, MIBiG has been regularly updated to expand data coverage and remain up to date with innovations in natural product research. Here, we describe MIBiG version 4.0, an extensive update to the data repository and the underlying data standard. In a massive community annotation effort, 267 contributors performed 8304 edits, creating 557 new entries and modifying 590 existing entries, resulting in a new total of 3059 curated entries in MIBiG. Particular attention was paid to ensuring high data quality, with automated data validation using a newly developed custom submission portal prototype, paired with a novel peer-reviewing model. MIBiG 4.0 also takes steps towards a rolling release model and a broader involvement of the scientific community. MIBiG 4.0 is accessible online at https://mibig.secondarymetabolites.org/

Familia y sociedad: el legado de la historia en el mundo contemporáneo

En este trabajo el autor subraya las grandes diferencias en los sistemas familiares y en la fuerza de los vínculos de parentesco existentes en el continente europeo. Identifica la existencia en el norte del continente de una familia relativamente débil, donde el individuo tiende a recibir prioridad sobre el grupo familiar, frente al sur de Europa, caracterizado por una familia fuerte, donde el grupo familiar tiende a tener protagonismo sobre el individuo. Estas diferencias tienen profundas raíces históricas y siguen vigentes en la actualidad, a pesar de los cambios sociales y económicos tan profundos ocurridos en los últimos años. Las formas básicas de organización de la familia tienen implicaciones para la naturaleza de la sociedad y es preciso tenerlas en cuenta a la hora de implementar ciertas políticas sociales.Europako kontinentean aurkitzen diren familia-sistemen arteko desberdintasun handiak eta ahaidetasunezko loturek duten indarra azpimarratzen ditu lanaren egileak. Kontinenteko iparraldean ahul samar aurkitzen du familia, beraren baitan norbanakoak familia-multzoaren gaineko lehentasuna izan ohi baitu; horren aurrean, familiaren sendotasuna ezaugarri duen Europako hegoaldekoa jartzen du, non familia-multzoak protagonismoa duen, norbanakoak baino areago. Desberdintasun horiek erro historiko sakonak dituzte eta gaur egun ere bizirik diraute, azken urteotan gertaturiko gizarte eta ekonomia aldaketa sakonak gora-behera. Familia-antolaketaren funtsezko moldeek ondorioak ekarri ohi dituzte gizartearen izaerarentzat eta kontuan hartu beharrekoak dira zenbait gizarte-politikari ekiterakoan.L'auteur souligne dans ce travail les grandes diff é rences dans les systèmes familiaux et dans la force des liens de parenté existant sur le continent européen. Il identifie l'existence dans le nord du continent d'une famille relativement faible, où c'est l'individu qui est prioritaire par rapport à la famille, contrairement au sud de l'Europe, caractérisé par une famille forte, où le groupe familial est prioritaire par rapport à l'individu. Ces diff é rences ont de profondes racines historiques et sont toujours en vigueur actuellement, malgré les profonds changements sociaux et économiques qui ont eu lieu ces dern i è res années. Les formes d'organisation familiale ont des répercussions sur la nature de la société et il faut les prendre en compte au moment d'implanter certaines politiques sociales.In this work the author underlines the considerable diff e rences in the family systems and in the force of existing kinship links in the European continent. He identifies the existence in the north of the continent of relatively weak family links, where it is the individual who tends to receive priority over the family group, while in the south of Euro p e , characterized by strong family links, the family group tends to have preponderance over the individual. These diff e rences are deeply rooted in history and still exist at present, in spite of the deep social and economic changes which have taken place over the past few years. The basic forms of family organization have implications in the nature of society and it is necessary to bear them in mind when implementing certain social policies

En busca de las características heredadas de las poblaciones del pasado. Crónica de un éxito a medias / Searching inherited characters from past populations. Chronic of an incomplete success

Se informa sobre los resultados de la reunión internacional Inherited Characteristics of Human Populations in the Past (Menorca, 2005) que atrajo investigadores de diversas especialidades, desde la historia hasta la demografía o la genética, interesados por la contribución potencial de bases de datos históricas. Se presentaron distintos aspectos de esta cuestión en Canadá, Estados Unidos, Suecia, Bélgica, Holanda y España. Se utilizaron bases de datos sobre trayectorias de individuos y familias por más de una generación. La diversidad de bases fue muy grande, abarcando desde las de los mormones en Utah o los quebecois en Montreal, hasta las más recientes como las relativas a España (Aranjuez), Bélgica (Sart) o Suecia (Scania). Hubo trabajos sobre salud de las poblaciones, estatura entre grupos de hermanos, nupcialidad y procesos reproductivos, utilizando técnicas estadísticas multivariadas (proportional hazards models). El principal problema fue la relativa incapacidad de identificar el origen preciso de características heredadas ya que, sin descartar explicaciones genético-biológicas, determinados comportamientos resultarían de factores sociales y económicos, heredados por procesos de aprendizaje en la familia. Aunque estos resultados mixtos eran en principio desconcertantes, sobre todo para interesados en la genética de los comportamientos, lo que se desprendía de ellos era fiel a la realidad compleja de las poblaciones históricas. Se aportarán ejemplos de los trabajos, y en particular, del presentado por mi equipo de investigación en torno a los procesos reproductivos de la población de Aranjuez (España) entre 1871 y 196