Search results for " Collection"
showing 10 items of 710 documents
Production risk, risk aversion and the determination of risk attitudes among Spanish rice producers
2011
Agricultural production is subject to risk and the attitudes of producers toward risk will influence input choices insofar as these affect production risk. Risk attitudes in turn may be affected by certain socioeconomic characteristics of producers. Using 2004 survey data from a cross-section of 130 Spanish rice farms, we estimate risk-aversion coefficients of farmers and investigate the influence of a series of socioeconomic variables on their risk attitudes. Our results show that farmers exhibit risk-averse behavior and that risk attitudes are related to a series of socioeconomic characteristics. In particular, the belief that the farm will continue after the producer retires is found to …
TEMPORARY CONTRACTS, EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION AND SKILL: AN APPLICATION TO SPAIN*
2011
In this paper we explain the different conversion patterns of temporary contracts by the impact of employment protection in combination with differences in productivity between workers. We use longitudinal survey data from individuals to estimate a competing risks model with multispells for Spain. The model includes correlated unobserved determinants in the transition rates to deal with selectivity. We find that workers with higher levels of education have a stronger probability of finding a permanent job. In contrast, low-educated workers have a stronger probability of ending in unemployment or another temporary contract. Furthermore, we show the importance of employment protection in affe…
Why Do People Dislike Low-Wage Trade Competition with Posted Workers in the Service Sector?
2013
AbstractThe issue of low-wage competition in services trade involving posted workers is controversial in the EU. Using Swedish survey data, people's attitudes are found to be more negative to such trade than to goods trade. The differences depend on both a preference for favouring social groups to which individuals belong (the domestic population) and altruistic justice concerns for foreign workers. In small-group experiments, we find a tendency for people to adjust their evaluations of various aspects of trade to their general attitude. This tendency is stronger for those opposed to than those in favour of low-wage trade competition. This may indicate that the former group forms its attitu…
Discrimination by microcredit officers: Theory and evidence on disability in Uganda
2015
This paper studies the relationship between a microfinance institution (MFI) and its loan officers when officers discriminate against a particular group of micro-entrepreneurs. Using survey data from Uganda, we provide evidence that loan officers are more biased than other employees against disabled micro-entrepreneurs. In line with the evidence, we build an agency model of a non-profit MFI and a biased loan officer in charge of granting loans. Since incentive schemes are costly and the MFI's budget is limited, the MFI faces a trade-off between combating discrimination and granting loans. We show that the optimal incentive premium is a non-decreasing function of the MFI's budget. Moreover, …
Motivations, adoption and impact of voluntary environmental certification in the Italian Forest based industry: The case of the FSC standard
2017
Abstract Over the past few years several private voluntary schemes have been developed worldwide to address the environmental issues in the forest based industry. Using survey data, this study analyse the main factors motivating companies operating in the Italian forest based industry to implement FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) standard, as a tool to promote responsible forest management and traceability of derived products, and the impact of this standard on the economic and organisational results. The findings provide evidences that signalling mechanisms drive the entrepreneurs towards the adoption of FSC certification, followed by moral and ethical reasons. In terms of impact, emerges …
Associations between structures, processes and outcomes in inter-municipal cooperation in out-of-hours services in Norway: A survey study
2020
Abstract Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) has gained widespread recognition as a beneficial strategy for improving efficiency and quality in the provision of out-of-hours emergency care services (OOH services). Little attention, however, has been given to the additional costs of cooperation and the relational processes through which benefits and costs are likely to result. Based on survey data from 266 (77%) Norwegian municipalities involved in IMC in OOH services in 2015, this study aimed to investigate how the structure (governance form, complexity and stability) and quality (trust and consensus) of cooperation processes interact to influence the perceived outcomes (benefits and costs) o…
Immigration, Transition to Parenthood, and Parenting
2018
This chapter adopts a life-course perspective to show how transitioning to parenthood and parenting practices are negotiated and adjusted under the influence of both migrants’ childhoods and migration contexts. The method used for data collection was life-story interviews. For purposes of this study, were selected nine participants, exclusively women. Some mechanisms of parenting formation and transformation were identified by using both inductive and deductive procedures for data analyses. These methods elicited novel information on how women change during migrations with respect to child-rearing and familial patterns. The empirical data suggest that self-change in the case of young migran…
Novel Energy Efficient Schemes for Wireless Sensor Networks Utilizing Mobile Sensors
2022
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) facilitate many applications in different fields and are well-known in both academic and industrial areas. The networks mainly include sensors, networking parts and a data processing center to collect data for a variety of purposes. However, the energy consumption problem in the networks is always a critical problem that many researchers are looking for good solutions. In this paper, we propose a data collection method that uses mobile sensors attached with bigger energy storages to collect data from static sensors. In addition, we propose a hybrid energy harvesting scheme to harvest energy from ambient environments to support static sensors to prolong the ne…
Is naturalistic driving research possible with highly instrumented cars? Lessons learnt in three research centres.
2011
This paper provides an overview of the experiences using Highly Instrumented Cars (HICs) in three research Centres across Europe; Spain, the UK and Greece. The data collection capability of each car is described and an overview presented relating to the relationship between the level of instrumentation and the research possible. A discussion then follows which considers the advantages and disadvantages of using HICs for ND research. This includes the obtrusive nature of the data collection equipment, the cost of equipping the vehicles with sophisticated Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) and the challenges for data storage and analysis particularly with respect to video data. It is concluded th…
Municipal waste management in Sicily: practices and challenges.
2006
There are numerous problems yet to be solved in waste management and although efforts towards waste recovery and recycling have been made, landfills are still the most common method used in the EU and many other industrialised countries. Thermal disposal, particularly incineration, is a tested and viable alternative. In 2004, only 11% of the annual waste production of Italy was incinerated. Sicily, with over five million inhabitants, is the second largest region in Italy where waste management is now a critical problem. The use of landfills can no longer be considered a satisfactory environmental solution; therefore, new methods have to be chosen and waste-toenergy plants could provide an a…