1,721,019 research outputs found
Seasonality, productivity shocks, and sectoral comovements in a real business cycle model for Italy
No full textMultidimensional nation wellbeing, more equal yet more polarized: An analysis of the progress of human development since 1990
No full textMounting concern regarding inadequacies of per capita GDP or GNI as a source of nation wellbeing classification and comparison lead to the employment of multidimensional approaches with attendant concerns regarding their arbitrary and complex nature. Here, based upon commonalities in multidimensional behavior of nations, feasible, less arbitrary, classification methodologies and techniques for assessing wellbeing within and between groups are proposed. Implementation in a three dimensional study of 164 countries from 1990 to 2014 in a Human Development Index (HDI) framework reveals substantive multi-dimensional growth in a slowly evolving, relatively immobile three group world exhibiting simultaneous increases in equality and polarization with a growing Lower HD class and shrinking Middle and High HD classes
Le indagini statistiche e le fonti amministrative: confronto e verifica della qualità delle informazioni
No full textNel caso di archivi amministrativi, un aspetto particolarmente rilevante riguarda la definizione del dato amministrativo, che spesso non è di facile lettura e non è rispondente a definizioni e classificazioni utilizzate nella statistica ufficiale. Sempre citando Giovannini (2006), “l’uso di concetti, definizioni e classificazioni standardizzate accresce la coerenza delle informazioni provenienti da varie fonti, mentre l’esistenza di modifiche di carattere metodologico può impedire la comparabilità nel tempo delle serie storiche riferite alla medesima grandezza” (p.190).
Un esempio a questo riguardo è la differente definizione di occupazione, così come può essere desunta dagli archivi dell’Istituto Nazionale di Previdenza Sociale (Inps) e quella invece adottata dall’Istat in ottemperanza ai relativi regolamenti comunitari.
D’altro canto, le informazioni statistiche sul mercato del lavoro in Italia, e in particolare sull’occupazione, possono essere desunte da diverse fonti e da una molteplicità di soggetti (Istat e altri enti del Sistan, Inps, Ministero del Lavoro, Ministero dell’Economia, Regioni, ...). L’atteggiamento dell’utilizzatore di fronte ad una gamma di informazioni così diversificata può essere di due tipi: si può scegliere a priori una fonte informativa, aderendo alle definizioni ed ai criteri in essa adottati, garantendo comparabilità limitata, nel tempo e nello spazio; in alternativa, si può tentare di ricostruire un quadro di comparazioni temporali, settoriali e territoriali, al fine di pervenire ad una più completa valutazione della situazione e dell’evoluzione dell’occupazione in Italia. Seguendo la logica dell’utilizzatore, questo secondo approccio è senza dubbio quello più utile e fecondo, ma è necessario allora evidenziare i punti di forza e le criticità che derivano dal ricorso a fonti diverse.
Queste motivazioni portano dunque alla definizione degli obiettivi dell’indagine, ossia evidenziare i punti di forza e di criticità che gli archivi amministrativi dimostrano di avere se confrontati con consolidate rilevazioni statistiche, partendo da un caso specifico, il confronto tra i dati relativi all’occupazione provenienti dagli archivi dell’Inps e dall’indagine sulle forze di lavoro condotta dall’Istat
A measurement scale for material deprivation: A model-based approach
No full textThe prevailing practice of defining classes of material deprivation based on the raw sum of a relatively small number of binary items has obvious advantages in terms of communication and ease of use. Do two people with the same raw score always have the same level of deprivation? This paper examines the methodological foundations of the raw score, comparing classical test theory with model-based test theory such as Rasch measurement and item response theories. After discussing the merits and limitations of the different approaches, the paper legitimizes the raw score when the assumptions of the Rasch model are met. Based on the analytical procedure of the Rasch model and using the pre-Covid data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions, the paper also suggests how to develop a European scale for measuring material deprivation that ensures comparability across European countries
Effect of L-carnitine administration on the seminal characteristics of oligoasthenospermic stallions
No full textThe effect of orally administered L-carnitine on the quality of semen obtained from stallions with different semen qualities was investigated. Four stallions with proven fertility (high motility group, HM) and with normal seminal characteristics (> 50% progressive motility and > 80 x 10(6) spermatozoa/ml), and four questionable breeders (low motility group, LM) with < 50% of sperm progressive motility and < 80 x 106 spermatozoa/ml, received p.o. 20 g Of L-carnitine for 60 days. Blood and semen samples were collected before treatment (TO) and after 30 (T1) and 60 days (T2). Semen evaluation were performed on five consecutive daily ejaculates (n = 120 ejaculates) and conventional semen analysis was carried out on each ejaculate, both at collection and after refrigeration for 24, 48, and 72 h. Furthermore L-carnitine, acetylcarnitine, pyruvate, and lactate concentrations, and carnitine acetyltransferase activity (CAT) were determined both in raw semen and seminal plasma. There were an increase in progressive motile spermatozoa only in the LM group (26.8 +/- 12.9, 39.1 +/- 15.5, and 48.8 +/- 8.6 for T0, T1, and T2, respectively). Free seminal plasma carnitine concentration was higher in the LM group compared to the HM one. Both pyruvate and lactate were higher in the LM group. Raw semen and seminal plasma carnitine and acetylcarnitine levels correlate positively with both sperm concentration and progressive motility; moreover, acetylcarnitine content was positively correlated with total motile morphologically normal spermatozoa. In conclusion, oral administration Of L-carnitine to stallions with questionable seminal characteristics may improve spermatozoa kinetics and morphological characteristics; whereas, it seem to be ineffective in normospermic animals. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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