Effects of ground surface permeability on the growth of urban linden trees

Street trees are an important part of urban vegetation due to their provisioning of different types of ecosystem services such as local climate regulation and contribution to aesthetical and recreational values. In order to provide these services, urban trees need to endure many stress factors not present in natural environments, such as the widespread use of impervious surfaces in the vicinity of street trees. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of this potential stress factor on urban tree growth. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate how ground surface permeability affects stem and current-year shoot growth of linden (Tilia europaea) street trees in Gothenburg, Sweden. We found that a small fraction of permeable ground surface in the vertically projected tree crown area caused lower stem growth and strongly suppressed current-year shoot growth. This finding can guide future city planning, demonstrating that the vitality of street trees is compromised when the permeable surface area in the vicinity of the tree is small.     

Objectified conformity: working self-objectification increases conforming behavior*

The present work explores whether self-objectification triggered by doing peculiar work activities would increase people’s conforming behavior. We conducted an experimental study in which participants (N = 140) were asked to perform a high objectifying activity (vs. low objectifying activity vs. baseline condition) simulating a real computer job. Afterwards, their levels of self-objectification and conforming behavior were assessed. Results revealed that participants who performed the high objectifying activity self-objectified (i.e., perceived themselves as lacking human mental states) more than the other conditions and, in turn, conformed more to the judgments of unknown similar others. Crucially, increased self-objectification mediated the effects of the high objectifying activity on enhancing conforming behavior. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Self-enforcing family rules,marriage and the (non)neutrality of public intervention

We demonstrate that the notion of a family ‘constitution’ (self-enforcing, renegotiation-proof norm) requiring adults to provide attention for their elderly parents carries over from a world where identical individuals reproduce asexually, to one where individuals differentiated by sex and preferences marry, have children and bargain over the allocation of domestic resources. In this heterogenous world, couples are sorted by their preferences. If a couple’s common preferences satisfy a certain condition, the couple have an interest in instilling those preferences into their children. Policies are generally nonneutral. In particular, wage redistribution may raise, and compulsory education will reduce, the share of the adult population that is governed by family constitutions, and thus the share of the elderly population who receive attention from their children.     

The Failure of External Control on Public Utilities

Although on average the cost of local public services is quite high, the same cannot always be said about their quality. Why is this so? This paper suggests that the answer lies in the failure of external control systems. Specifically, four types of risk have been identified: (1) standardisation that is either lacking or incongruent; (2) inappropriate relationships between controllers and the controlled; (3) cases of erosion and resistance to control; (4) incoherence between control aims and methods, and the skill of controllers. The research method was based partly on an analysis of literature and partly on empirical observation. Initially, a thorough examination of articles on the subject published in the main international journals was carried out. Then empirical research (limited to the Italian situation) was added to support the research hypotheses, and which led to the paper’s conclusions. The results may be significant from two points of view. Firstly, although in recent years financial scandals have been very much in the news (the cases of Enron, Argentine bonds, football club scandals) literature has not yet systematically dealt with control failure. Secondly, the conclusions may be of support to public administration policy-makers or to controllers who need to improve their professionalism and diligence.     

A micro analysis of the macro differences in refusal risk among metropolitan areas. The case of the Italian multipurpose survey

Although still modest, non response rates in multipurpose household surveys have recently increased, especially in some metropolitan areas. Previous analyses have shown that refusal risk depends on the interviewers' characteristics. The aim of this paper is to explain the difference in refusal risk among metropolitan areas by analysing the strategies adopted in the recruitment of interviewers through a multilevel approach. The Annual Survey on Living conditions is a PAPI survey of the "Multipurpose" integrated system of social surveys and it represents our data base. For non responding household, data on non response by reason, municipality and characteristics of the interviewer are available. The results highlight that those cities recruiting interviewers mainly among young students have a higher refusal risk. These results are particularly important as they indicate that recruitment strategies may have a substantial impact on non sampling errors. Acknowledgements An earlier version of this article was presented at the International Conference on Improving Survey, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, August 25-28, 2002. We would like to thank the participants to the presentation for their useful comments and suggestions. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of any of the institutions they work for.     

Markets with Hierarchies and the Network Structure of Organizational Communities

Using data on supplier relationships among 106organizations involved in the production of means oftransportation located in southern Italy, I exploresome of the consequences of the progressive erosion ofboundaries around corporate actors in modernorganizational economies. The paper is built aroundthe claim that – as companies are forced by variouslearning imperatives to rely more on other companies– interorganizational differences are sustained andreproduced by role structures emerging from theconcatenation of different types of relationshipsacross multiple networks. The analysis illuminatesselected implications of network relations for thestructuring of market relations in interorganizationalfields.     

Mixture modelling of recurrent event times with long-term survivors: Analysis of Hutterite birth intervals

We propose a mixture model that combines a discrete-time survival model for analyzing the correlated times between recurrent events, e.g. births, with a logistic regression model for the probability of never experiencing the event of interest, i.e., being a long-term survivor. The proposed survival model incorporates both observed and unobserved heterogeneity in the probability of experiencing the event of interest. We use Gibbs sampling for the fitting of such mixture models, which leads to a computationally intensive solution to the problem of fitting survival models for multiple event time data with long-term survivors. We illustrate our Bayesian approach through an analysis of Hutterite birth histories.     

Projecting Long-Term Care Expenditure in Four European Union Member States: The Influence of Demographic Scenarios

This study examines the sensitivity of future long-term care demand and expenditure estimates to official demographic projections in four selected European countries: Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. It uses standardised methodology in the form of a macro-simulation exercise and finds evidence for significant differences in assumptions about demographic change and its effect on the demand for long-term care, and on relative and absolute long-term care expenditure. It concludes that mortality-rate assumptions can have a considerable influence on welfare policy planning. Relative dispersion between country-specific and Eurostat official estimates was found to be higher for the United Kingdom and Germany than for Italy and Spain, suggesting that demographic projections had a greater influence in those countries.

Looking at the IPO from the “top floor”: a literature review

This article aims to assess the current situation and the evolution of the literature on the role of top level decision-makers in initial public offerings. The article combines bibliometric and qualitative reviews of 147 articles published in 57 journals until 2015. Findings show that the debate on the role of top-level decision-makers in initial public offerings has followed an irregular pathway. Research attention has moved from studies on the actors and the dynamics of going public to a focus on the strategic implications of initial public offerings. The paper is a good starting point for future policy-making interventions designed to support top-level decision-making. By enhancing awareness of the strategic role of initial public offerings, we hope to improve the governance practices associated with them. The paper also sheds light on the importance of fostering the corporate transparency of top-level decision-making in firms going public, as an additional tool to increase investors’ trust and attract financial resources. Finally, the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the academic field, examining research trends and the evolutionary pattern. It also suggests future research avenues by identifying un(der)explored issues to advance knowledge on the topic.