33 research outputs found
Tacit knowledge and volunteers' empowerment in the fair trade sector
No full textThis paper presents the outcome of a fieldwork carried out in France, Italy, Malta and Spain, with the aim of providing evidence about the main features characterizing fair trade organizations and the individuals (in particular volunteers) involved in them. The case studies have been selected taking into consideration both the areas where Fair Trade has deeper roots (as in some French, Italian and Spanish regions) and is more developed, and the areas where the sector is younger, more politically oriented (like Malta and South of Italy). It turns out that Fair Trade mainly attracts women and young people, but by different degrees, leading towards a classification of potential volunteers. However, there are some skills that emerge across all the groups, such as relational tem-working skills
Fair Trade: the creation of new knowledge in a sector characterized by positive externalities in both developing and industrialized countries
No full textThe authors define Fair Trade sector and competences from an economic
perspective. The competence is the result of a process of elaboration, exploitation
and use of individual and social resources. This result depends on the
capabilities to transform such resources in functionings.
The individual has material and immaterial resources at disposal, which
include personal characteristics of the worker, background, ability, interests,
behaviour and the specific functional connection between the individual and
the resources. The paper draws on motivations and values, which support the
activity of the individual in the Fair Trade Organization (FTO). The tasks performed
in the FTO puts in evidence experiences of informal learning through
learning-by-doing, learning-by-interacting, learning-by-using. In synthesis,
applying this approach, it is possible to give evidence that the acquisition of
competences also depends on motivation, behaviour, time and quality of time
spent in FTO and on the kind of structure where the volunteer works
Fair Trade: the Creation of New Knowledge in a Sector Characterized by Positive Externalities in both Developing and Industrialized Countries
No full textThe authors define Fair Trade sector and competences from an economic perspective. The competence is the result of a process of elaboration, exploitation and use of individual and social resources. This result depends on the capabilities to transform such resources in functionings. The individual has material and immaterial resources at disposal, which include personal characteristics of the worker, background, ability, interests, behaviour and the specific functional connection between the individual and the resources. The paper draws on motivations and values, which support the activity of the individual in the Fair Trade Organization (FTO). The tasks performed in the FTO puts in evidence experiences of informal learning through learning-by-doing, learning-by-interacting, learning-by-using. In synthesis, applying this approach, it is possible to give evidence that the acquisition of competences also depends on motivation, behaviour, time and quality of time spent in FTO and on the kind of structure where the volunteer works
Europe: the role of capabilities and human capital
No full textThe paper presents some significant results of the YOUTH project (Young in
Occupations and Unemployment: THinking of their better integration in the
labour market), promoted by the European Commission – DG Employment.
The paper assumes that flexicurity is very important for young workers,
because they are (as new entrants in the labour market and as workers with
peculiar qualitative structural characteristics) particularly exposed to risks of
unemployment, “atypical” employment and precariousness trap.
In this framework, we perform a principal component and a cluster analyses
to classify the EU Member States in accordance with the degree of achievement
of flexicurity for young people. The analysis use a set of indicators wider than
that identified in the four flexicurity pillars proposed by the EC and includes
flexibility and security components more targeted to young people needs.
In particular, we use further human capital indicators and some measures of
combination security and young people autonomy, that we propose as indicators
of individuals’ “real opportunities”, strictly tied to the concept of “capabilities”
Temporary employment and labour productivity: the influence of the perceived probability of entering a stable job
No full textLe tecnologie assistive per le persone con demenza e i loro caregiver, indicazioni per future pandemie
No full textClustering of concurrent flood risks via Hazard Scenarios
No full textThe study of multiple effects of a number of variables, and the assessment of the corresponding environmental risks, may require the adoption of suitable multivariate models when the variables at play are dependent, as it often happens in environmental studies. In this work, the flood risks in a given region are investigated, in order to identify specific spatial sub-regions (clusters) where the floods show a similar behavior with respect to suitable multivariate) criteria. The reason of the work is three-fold, and the outcomes have deep implications in the hydrological practice: (i) such a regionalization (as it is called in hydrology) may provide useful indications for deciding which gauge stations have a similar (stochastic) behavior; (ii) the spatial clustering may represent a valuable tool for investigating ungauged basins present in a given ‘‘homogeneous’’ Region; (iii) the estimate of extreme design values may be improved by using all the observations collected in a cluster (instead of only single-station data). For this purpose, a Copulabased Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering algorithm – a key tool in geosciences for the analysis of the dependence information – is proposed. The procedure is illustrated via a case study involving the Po river basin, the largest Italian one. A comparison with a previous attempt to cluster the gauge stations present in the same spatial region is also carried out. The sub-regions picked out by the clustering procedure outlined here agree with previous results obtained via heuristic hydrological and meteorological reasonings, and identify spatial areas characterized by similar flood regimes
A semi–parametric approach in the estimation of the structural risk in environmental applications
No full textIn environmental applications, the estimation of the structural risk is crucial. A statistical model for the behavior of the input variables is generally required, possibly accounting for different dependence structures among such variables. Copulas represent a suitable tool for dealing with natural extremes and non-linear dependencies. Two semi-parametric procedures for the approximation of, respectively, Extreme Value and Archimedean copulas, are proposed in order to provide a model for the estimation of the structural risk. The approximating techniques are evaluated by Monte Carlo tests, and illustrated via a case study concerning a preliminary rubble mound breakwater design
