Justice perceptions of sanctions for unemployed welfare recipients.

Institutions of the welfare state are supposed to function in accordance with normative principles of redistributive justice, which should guide not only the allocation but also the withdrawal of resources. Our study examines justice assessments of sanctions for unemployed individuals receiving welfare benefits, a much-discussed variant of benefit withdrawal. We present results from a factorial survey that asked German citizens to indicate which sanction they would perceive as just under different scenarios. In particular, we look at different kinds of deviant behavior on the part of the unemployed job seeker, which allows for a broad picture concerning potential sanction-triggering events. The findings show that the extent of sanctions perceived as just varies considerably across scenarios. Respondents would impose more sanctions on men, repeaters, and young people. Moreover, they have a clear picture of the severity of the deviant behavior.

COVID-19, normative attitudes and pluralistic ignorance in employer-employee relationships.

Employment relationships are embedded in a network of social norms that provide an implicit framework for desired behaviour, especially if contractual solutions are weak. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about major changes that have led to situations, such as the scope of short-time work or home-based work in a firm. Against this backdrop, our study addresses three questions: first, are there social norms dealing with these changes; second, are there differences in attitudes between employees and supervisors (misalignment); and third, are there differences between respondents' average attitudes and the attitudes expected to exist in the population (pluralistic ignorance). We find that for the assignment of short-time work and of work at home, there are shared normative attitudes with only small differences between supervisors and nonsupervisors. Moreover, there is evidence for pluralistic ignorance; asked for the perceived opinion of others, respondents over- or underestimated the consensus in the (survey) population. Such pluralistic ignorance can contribute to the upholding of a norm even if individuals do not support the norm, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the quality of the employment relationship and the functioning of the organization. Our results show that, especially in times of change, social norms should be considered for the analysis of labour markets.

[Care preferences and spatial mobility : Factors influencing care-related willingness to move of elderly people in partnerships in a rural area]. / Pflegepräferenzen und regionale Mobilität : Einflussfaktoren auf die pflegebezogene Umzugsneigung älterer Menschen in Partnerschaften im ländlichen Raum.

The availability of local support and care infrastructures at the place of residence is an important issue for the elderly living in rural areas. Spatial mobility can be seen as a strategy to cope with a lack of local care facilities. This study analyzes the preferences of older people living in long-term relationships concerning support and care arrangements. Furthermore, it is analyzed how far and under which circumstances older couples are willing to relocate their place of residence in response to regional care infrastructures. Using a quasi-experimental survey design, inhabitants of a small rural community aged over 50 years were interviewed and confronted with descriptions of fictitious situations with randomized options for moving residence. A Tobit model estimation method is applied to examine the determinants of older couples' care-related willingness to move their residence.The results show that most people prefer either the support of their own partner or outpatient care. Residential care is especially preferred by people aged 75 years and above, whereas new forms of support, such as senior cooperatives, are evaluated as attractive especially by younger age groups. Thus, information and advisory campaigns should address the target group in question even at an early stage in older peoples' life course. Care-related willingness to move home of couples aged 50 years and more is significantly determined by local provision of support and care infrastructures. The expansion of any care infrastructure at older peoples' place of residence can significantly reduce their willingness to move. In particular an increased availability of outpatient care is associated with a comparatively large reduction in couples' likelihood to move. In this way local commitment to rural areas can be sustained and rural depopulation can be prevented. At an alternative place of residence assisted living and residential care in particular can significantly enhance the willingness to relocate and can thus generate incentives to move for older couples.

Overcoming nontechnical barriers to the implementation of sustainable solutions in industry.

Maintaining sustainable practices will require a concert of efforts including industry-wide cooperation, governmental openness, and education reform.

Hydroformylation of 1-hexene in supercritical carbon dioxide: characterization, activity, and regioselectivity studies.

The hydroformylation of alkenes is a major commercial process used for the production of oxygenated organic compounds. When the hydroformylation reaction is performed using a homogeneous catalyst, an organic or aqueous solvent is employed, and a significant effort must be expended to recover the catalyst so it can be recycled. Development of a selective heterogeneous catalyst would allow simplification of the process design in an integrated system that minimizes waste generation. Recent studies have shown that supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a reaction solvent offers optimal environmental performance and presents advantages for ease of product separation. In particular, we have considered the conversion of 1-hexene to heptanal using rhodium- and platinum-phosphine catalysts tethered to supports insoluble in scCO2 to demonstrate the advantages and to understand the limitations of a solid-catalyzed process. One of the historical limitations of supported catalysts is the inability to control product regioselectivity. To address this concern, we have developed tethered catalysts with phosphinated silica and controlled pore size MCM-41 and MCM-20 supports that provide improved regioselectivity and conversion relative to their nonporous equivalents. Platinum catalysts supported on MCM-type supports were the most regioselective whereas the analogous rhodium catalysts were the most active for hydroformylation of 1-hexene in scCO2.