Search results for "Reference"

Modelling distribution and habitat preferences of vulnerable species

2011

Interspecific Social Learning: Novel Preference Can Be Acquired from a Competing Species

2007

SummaryNongenetic transmission of behavioral traits via social learning allows local traditions in humans, and, controversially, in other animals [1–4]. Social learning is usually studied as an intraspecific phenomenon (but see [5–7]). However, other species with some overlap in ecology can be more than merely potential competitors: prior settlement and longer residence can render them preferable sources of information [8]. Socially induced acquisition of choices or preferences capitalizes upon the knowledge of presumably better-informed individuals [9] and should be adaptive under many natural circumstances [10, 11]. Here we show with a field experiment that females of two migrant flycatch…

Colour reverse learning and animal personalities: the advantage of behavioural diversity assessed with agent-based simulations

2012

Foraging bees use colour cues to help identify rewarding from unrewarding flowers, but as conditions change, bees may require behavioural flexibility to reverse their learnt preferences. Perceptually similar colours are learnt slowly by honeybees and thus potentially pose a difficult task to reverse-learn. Free-flying honeybees (N = 32) were trained to learn a fine colour discrimination task that could be resolved at ca. 70% accuracy following extended differential conditioning, and were then tested for their ability to reverse-learn this visual problem multiple times. Subsequent analyses identified three different strategies: ‘Deliberative-decisive’ bees that could, after sev…

Rail freight transport and demand requirements : an analysis of attribute cut-offs through a stated preference experiment

2014

This paper analyses the choice between road and rail in Spain where rail market share for freight is still residual. Discrete choice models are estimated with data obtained through a two-phase fieldwork, thus allowing us to carry out a stated preference efficient design for each interviewee. We analyse the existence of attribute cut-offs and the presence of a segment of the population with a zero value of frequency. Our results show that ignoring the existence of cut-offs and segments of the population with polarised valuations can lead to erroneous conclusions in terms of the possibilities of rail for absorbing significant quota.

Innovations in savings and credit groups: evidence from Kenya

2007

Accepted version of an article published in the journal : Small Enterprise Development Copyright Practical Action Publishing: http://practicalaction.org/publishing/sed_journal This article reports from a church based Savings and Credit Groups (SCG) project in Kenya called Tuinuane. The project builds upon the Worth program of PACT, but has added some interesting and innovative features allowing country-wide outreach: 1) It piggybacks on a church. 2) Field officers have been avoided. Instead group leaders are screened and trained through a detailed implementation plan. 3) It makes active use of mobile phones in planning, monitoring and follow-up efforts. The attachment to the church as well …

Choices and Enrollments in French Secondary and Higher Education: Repercussions for Second-Generation Immigrants

2013

En ligne sur http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/670729?uid=16804784&uid=3738016&uid=2129&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=67&uid=16735408&uid=62&uid=5909928&sid=21102655856551; International audience; In France, the proportion of second-generation immigrants enrolling in tertiary education has increased as education has undergone a process of "democratization." This article analyzes their postsecondary choices, access to tertiary programs, dropout, and transition to the labor market, compared to those of students of French origin. Youths of Portuguese origin are more likely to enter vocational higher programs concordant with their preferences and have better chances of completing a tertia…

Vulnerability, Freedom of Choice and Structural Global Injustices: The “Consent” to Exploitation of Migrant Women Workers

2019

This chapter analyzes the philosophical implications related to the “position of vulnerability” defined by the Directive 2011/36/EU on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims as “a situation in which the person concerned has no real or acceptable alternative but to submit to the abuse involved” (art. 2.2). In particular, the chapter focuses on the “choice” made by migrant women employed in care and domestic work and in the agricultural sector in Italy. The Italian labor market is marked by the exploitation of migrant women, especially women from Romania, due to social, economic and legal factors that will be considered from a gender perspective. Women…

The EU-Africa Trade Agreements

2021

This chapter scrutinizes the successive rounds of EU-Africa agreements and the four-tier preference system of the European Union for developing countries, with special attention to the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA). Full EPAs and interim EPAs are reviewed in terms of the resulting country configurations in Africa and their impact on the officially intended consolidation of African regional communities. The analysis concludes that the artificial EPA configurations do not correspond to any existing REC in Africa. If they last, they will have a very critical effect on Africa’s regional economic integration, all the more as they start to be emulated in other trade agreements between Afr…

Dealing with preference uncertainty in contingent willingness to pay for a nature protection program: A new approach

2013

In this paper, we propose an alternative preference uncertainty measurement approach where respondents have the option to indicate their willingness to pay (WTP) for a nature protection program either as exact values or intervals from a payment card, depending on whether they are uncertain about their valuation. On the basis of their responses, we then estimate their degree of uncertainty. New within this study is that the respondent's degree of uncertainty is "revealed", while it is "stated" in those using existing measurement methods. Three statistical models are used to explore the sources of respondent uncertainty. We also present a simple way of calculating the uncertainty adjusted mea…

A multiple criteria decision model for analyzing and choosing among different development patterns for the Helsinki cargo harbor

1999

Abstract This paper describes a real application of a multicriteria approach to choosing among different options for developing the Helsinki harbor. In addition to the environmental impact assessment procedure, an analysis of the alternatives using the SMAA-method (Stochastic Multiobjective Acceptability Analysis) is carried out. The method applied here has been developed for situations in which the use of decision-makers’ preference information is not possible. Instead, the problem is described by typical weight vectors leading to each solution, taking into account the evident uncertainty embedded in the criteria values.