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Inhaltsverzeichnis über die Bände 1-51: Nach Autorschaft
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If Rivers Have Rights, do Fish Have Rights Too? Examining the Relationship Between Rights of Nature and Animal Rights
No full textThis article examines the intersection of the Rights of Nature (RoN) and animal rights, two increasingly influential paradigms in both academic discourse and judicial practice. While RoN has gained global recognition, with various jurisdictions attributing legal personality and/or rights to natural entities, the inclusion of individual wild animals remains contested. Animal rights scholars have expressed concerns that RoN might sacrifice individual animals too easily, potentially leading to a form of “environmental fascism”. Proponents of rights of nature, in turn, question the adequacy of animal rights as this framework tends to privilege sentient animals over non-sentient entities, potentially endangering the ecological equilibrium. It remains therefore particularly unclear whether and to what extent the recognition of rights of nature implies the recognition of individual animal rights. This article examines the relationship between the two, taking account of the existing case law in different jurisdictions. It argues that, despite some degree of theoretical divergence between RoN and animal rights, the two paradigms can (and should) be reconciled in legal practice, meaning that, if rivers have rights, fish have rights too.This article examines the intersection of the Rights of Nature (RoN) and animal rights, two increasingly influential paradigms in both academic discourse and judicial practice. While RoN has gained global recognition, with various jurisdictions attributing legal personality and/or rights to natural entities, the inclusion of individual wild animals remains contested. Animal rights scholars have expressed concerns that RoN might sacrifice individual animals too easily, potentially leading to a form of “environmental fascism”. Proponents of rights of nature, in turn, question the adequacy of animal rights as this framework tends to privilege sentient animals over non-sentient entities, potentially endangering the ecological equilibrium. It remains therefore particularly unclear whether and to what extent the recognition of rights of nature implies the recognition of individual animal rights. This article examines the relationship between the two, taking account of the existing case law in different jurisdictions. It argues that, despite some degree of theoretical divergence between RoN and animal rights, the two paradigms can (and should) be reconciled in legal practice, meaning that, if rivers have rights, fish have rights too
Rethinking Stigma Assessment: A Pre-Registered Multi-Group Study on Alternative Item Wordings
No full textTraditional stigma scales that measure agreement with negative stereotypes have been found to potentially reinforce indicators of stigmatisation. This study examines alternative stigma item wordings using a 3 (wording: original, positively rephrased, semantic differential) × 3 (target stigma: obesity, schizophrenia, sexually transmitted diseases) between-subject design (N = 1,428). Wording types are evaluated based on their effects on stigma indicators as well as on participants’ perceptions regarding quality, clarity, and validity. The findings do not provide unequivocal support for our hypotheses favouring alternative item wordings. Only the positively rephrased items showed a measurable benefit in reducing desired social distance, primarily among participants with limited prior experience with the stigmatised group. Although further validation is needed, adapting item wordings to emphasise positive language may be a promising approach to reducing stigmatising effects of measurement. The findings can inform the development of more sensitive and effective tools for assessing public stigma
What does the public want their local government to hear? A data-driven case study of public comments across the state of Michigan
No full textCity council meetings are vital sites for civic participation where the public can speak directly to their local government. By addressing city officials and calling on them to take action, public commenters can potentially influence policy decisions spanning a broad range of concerns, from housing, to sustainability, to social justice. Yet studies of these meetings have often been limited by the availability of large-scale, geographically-diverse data. Relying on local governments’ increasing use of YouTube and other technologies to archive their public meetings, we propose a framework that characterizes comments along two dimensions: local concerns (e.g., housing, election administration), and societal concerns (e.g., functional democracy, anti-racism). Based on a large record of public comments we collect from 15 cities in Michigan, we produce data-driven taxonomies of the local concerns and societal concerns that these comments cover, and employ machine learning methods to scalably apply our taxonomies across the entire dataset. We then demonstrate how our framework allows us to examine the salient local concerns and societal concerns that arise in our data, as well as how these aspects interact
Google or Call Mom? A Diary Study on the Health Information-Seeking Behaviour Among International Students
No full textThe number of students studying abroad has increased considerably in recent years. International students often face barriers to accessing health information, affecting their mental and physical well-being. Using a repertoire-based approach, this study extends previous research that mainly focused on individual sources, online information, or specific contexts. By expanding the media repertoire approach to include an interpersonal dimension and analysing the combination of search modes, intermediaries, channels, and sources, the study provides a comprehensive examination of international students’ health information-seeking patterns in Germany, covering a wider range of topics. A two-week online diary study with 15 participants generated 102 search situations. Using a multilevel latent class analysis, the study is the first to examine health information repertoire types among international students, identifying Online Information Seekers and Online and Interpersonal Information Seekers. The findings reveal that online information is frequently used across a wide range of search purposes. Even for more serious health topics, participants relied more on lay information from the internet or trusted individuals than on health professionals. Among Online Information Seekers, the exclusive reliance on online sources warrants critical consideration, as it may reflect barriers to accessing health information and services. The study offers practical implications for target group–oriented health communication, considering varying sources and language preferences, including the introduction of dedicated health officers at universities
Navigating a narrow one-way street: A mixed-methods study on the perceived working conditions, job satisfaction, and career perspectives of early-career scholars in communication science
No full textResearch on the working conditions of early-career communication scholars in Switzerland remains scarce despite growing public attention to their precarious situation. Drawing on Herzberg’s two-factor theory of job satisfaction and social cognitive career theory, we explore (1) the experienced working conditions of early-career scholars at Swiss higher education institutions, (2) job (dis)satisfaction, (3) career perspectives, (4) gender differences, and (5) potential improvements and responsible actors. To this end, we used a mixed-methods design that combined focus group discussions with a quantitative survey. While the respondents highly valued flexibility in work, many respondents reported excessive workloads associated with pressure and stress. Job dissatisfaction was fueled by concerns about their professional and personal futures, which stemmed from nonpermanent contracts and limited career prospects. Factors such as personal relationships and exchanges with colleagues and superiors contributed to job satisfaction. The respondents viewed the university, professors, and political institutions as the most responsible for addressing working conditions, and they wished to see differentiated job profiles, improved family planning conditions, and more full-time and permanent positions. These empirical insights contribute to the discussion about and improvement of the situation of early-career scholars
The relationship between social media use and perceived social support, loneliness, and emotional connection across 7 countries
No full textSocial media plays a central role in shaping interpersonal connections, yet its association with socioemotional well-being remains widely debated. This study examines the relationship between social media use, loneliness, emotional connection, and perceived social support across seven diverse countries using data from the 2022 Gallup/Meta State of Social Connections Survey. To address inconsistencies in prior research, we employ Specification Curve Analysis (SCA) to assess how different measurements and analytical choices shape how these relationships are reported. Findings suggest limited and context-dependent relationships, with social media use showing a small but positive association with emotional connection and perceived social support, while its link to loneliness remains weak. These results highlight the contextual and methodological complexities of studying social media’s association with socioemotional well-being and emphasize the need for diverse measures and expanded analyticalapproaches to fully capture these multifaceted relationships, ultimately enhancing our understanding of how digital platforms use intersects with human well-being
The Legal Protection of Animals in Sporting Events and the Case of the ‘Horse Athlete’ in Italian Law
No full textThe participation of animals in sporting activities varies across legal systems: while some jurisdictions permit competitions between animals, others impose significant restrictions. Yet even where limitations exist, a form of cooperative sport involving both humans and animals persists. In such contexts, the animal cannot be regarded as a mere tool or instrument, comparable to sporting equipment, but must be recognised as a living being capable of experiencing pain, fatigue, and risk. As early as 1965, the Brambell Report in the United Kingdom articulated the principle of the five freedoms as a foundation for animal welfare. Today, Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union acknowledges animals as sentient beings, providing a normative basis for their legal protection in sport. Over the past decades, several EU Member States have constitutionalised animal protection – sometimes expressly grounded in the recognition of sentience. In Italy, the notion of the “animal athlete” has recently entered the legislative domain, offering a new framework for the legal safeguarding of animals involved in sport. While such recognition is consistent with that State’s constitutional principles, it also prompts reflection on the enduring categorisation of the sporting animal as a res, and the potential reconfiguration of this traditional legal status.The participation of animals in sporting activities varies across legal systems: while some jurisdictions permit competitions between animals, others impose significant restrictions. Yet even where limitations exist, a form of cooperative sport involving both humans and animals persists. In such contexts, the animal cannot be regarded as a mere tool or instrument, comparable to sporting equipment, but must be recognised as a living being capable of experiencing pain, fatigue, and risk. As early as 1965, the Brambell Report in the United Kingdom articulated the principle of the five freedoms as a foundation for animal welfare. Today, Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union acknowledges animals as sentient beings, providing a normative basis for their legal protection in sport. Over the past decades, several EU Member States have constitutionalised animal protection – sometimes expressly grounded in the recognition of sentience. In Italy, the notion of the “animal athlete” has recently entered the legislative domain, offering a new framework for the legal safeguarding of animals involved in sport. While such recognition is consistent with that State’s constitutional principles, it also prompts reflection on the enduring categorisation of the sporting animal as a res, and the potential reconfiguration of this traditional legal status
Topic Classification of News Articles from URLs Alone
No full textThis paper presents a novel approach to classifying news articles by topic using only their URLs, addressing growing challenges in accessing article text due to paywalls and scraping restrictions. By fine-tuning a DistilBERT transformer model on URL data alone, I demonstrate topic classification performance that matches or exceeds traditional approaches requiring article text. Across three benchmark datasets spanning multiple languages and over 660,000 articles from more than 11,000 news domains, this URL-based topic classifier achieved superior F1 scores compared to both conventional machine learning methods and existing URL-based techniques. While this method requires more computational resources than simpler topic classification approaches, it dramatically reduces data collection requirements, offering researchers a practical alternative when text access is limited. These findings suggest that news article URLs contain richer semantic information than previously recognized, opening new possibilities for large-scale news content analysis in increasingly restrictive digital environments
Reasons to Reduce Surplus Animals in Research (in Switzerland) – Or Why the Killing and Death of Animals and Potentially Standard Husbandry Conditions Should be Classified as Harms
No full textIn Switzerland, approximately 1.2 million animals are used annually for scientific purposes. This number includes animals directly involved in experiments as well as those excluded due to factors like genotype, sex, or age —so-called “surplus animals”. While ethical debates in animal research have focused largely on the pain and suffering caused by procedures such as surgeries or injections, much less attention has been paid to moral issues raised bysurplus animals. These animals are typically housed under standard laboratory conditions and killed when deemed unnecessary. Although the Swiss Animal Welfare Act aims to protect the dignity and welfare of all sentient animals, standardhousing conditions and the killing by (legally) accepted methods are not considered a harm.In this paper, we argue that this oversight leads to an underestimation of the harms involved in animal research. We make three claims: (i) the death of research animals — whether used in experiments or not — should be recognized as a non-sentientist harm; (ii) since standard killing methods often cause pain or distress, the killing of (surplus) animals should be considered a sentientist harm; and (iii) standard housing conditions in research facilities frustrate animal interests and potentially negatively impact animal welfare and thus should be reassessed with regards to their potential sentientist and non-sentientist harms. Since surplus animals are affected by various harms, moral and legal consideration should be given to their housing and killing in research.In Switzerland, approximately 1.2 million animals are used annually for scientific purposes. This number includes animals directly involved in experiments as well as those excluded due to factors like genotype, sex, or age —so-called “surplus animals”. While ethical debates in animal research have focused largely on the pain and suffering caused by procedures such as surgeries or injections, much less attention has been paid to moral issues raised bysurplus animals. These animals are typically housed under standard laboratory conditions and killed when deemed unnecessary. Although the Swiss Animal Welfare Act aims to protect the dignity and welfare of all sentient animals, standardhousing conditions and the killing by (legally) accepted methods are not considered a harm.In this paper, we argue that this oversight leads to an underestimation of the harms involved in animal research. We make three claims: (i) the death of research animals — whether used in experiments or not — should be recognized as a non-sentientist harm; (ii) since standard killing methods often cause pain or distress, the killing of (surplus) animals should be considered a sentientist harm; and (iii) standard housing conditions in research facilities frustrate animal interests and potentially negatively impact animal welfare and thus should be reassessed with regards to their potential sentientist and non-sentientist harms. Since surplus animals are affected by various harms, moral and legal consideration should be given to their housing and killing in research