Connecting Two Sides: A Qualitative Study on Social Innovation Ventures and Poor Communities in an Emerging Economy

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - The relationship between social innovation venture and poor communities has received little attention from studies in the...     

Are There Gender-based Effects for an Educational Program for Parents of Adolescents With Risk Behaviors?

The goals of this study were to evaluate the gender-based effectiveness of the parental intervention of the Suspertu (“recovery” in English) prevention program for adolescents with risk behaviors in Spain. The sample included 229 parents (105 fathers and 124 mothers). One open-label trial with repeated measures was used. Parents received a family therapy and a group education. The intervention improved parents’ authoritative parenting style, decreasing the degree of parental stress and reducing parent’s psychopathological symptoms and maladjustment. Improvement in both groups (fathers and mothers) was mainly observed from pre- to post-intervention assessment. According to the results, prevention programs for adolescents with risk behaviors may be a suitable context both to teach parents to deal appropriately with their children’s risk behaviors, and to improve parent’s psychological state.     

Urbanization homogenizes the interactions of plant-frugivore bird networks

Urban Ecosystems - Anthropogenic activities are the main cause of habitat loss and fragmentation, which directly affects biodiversity. Disruption in landscape connectivity among populations may...     

Optimal exact design of double acceptance sampling plans by attributes

The design of double acceptance sampling (AS) plans for attributes based on the operating characteristic curve paradigm is usually addressed by enumeration algorithms. These AS plans may be non optimal regarding the sample size to inspect as they were obtained without the requirement that the constraints at the OC curve controlled points are not violated for minimum Average Sample Number (ASN) scenarios. An approach based on mathematical programming is proposed to systematically design double AS plans for attributes, where the characteristics controlled are modelled by binomial or Poisson distributions. Specifically, Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) formulations are developed and combined with an enumeration algorithm that allows finding ASN minimax optimal plans. A theoretical result is developed with the purpose of assuring the global optimum design is reached by iteration where a convenient solver is used to find local optima. To validate the algorithm, we compare our results with those of tables commonly used for practical purposes, consider different rates of risk, and setups commonly used in Lot Quality Assurance Plans (LQAS) for health monitoring programmes. Finally, we compare AS plans determined for processes described by binomial and Poisson distributions.     

On the one parameter unit-Lindley distribution and its associated regression model for proportion data

In this paper considering an appropriate transformation on the Lindley distribution, we propose the unit-Lindley distribution and investigate some of its statistical properties. An important fact associated with this new distribution is that it is possible to obtain the analytical expression for bias correction of the maximum likelihood estimator. Moreover, it belongs to the exponential family. This distribution allows us to incorporate covariates directly in the mean and consequently to quantify their influences on the average of the response variable. Finally, a practical application is presented to show that our model fits much better than the Beta regression.     

Identification of average marginal effects under misspecification when covariates are normal

A previously known result in the econometrics literature is that when covariates of an underlying data generating process are jointly normally distributed, estimates from a nonlinear model that is misspecified as linear can be interpreted as average marginal effects. This has been shown for models with exogenous covariates and separability between covariates and errors. In this paper, we extend this identification result to a variety of more general cases, in particular for combinations of separable and nonseparable models under both exogeneity and endogeneity. So long as the underlying model belongs to one of these large classes of data generating processes, our results show that nothing else must be known about the true DGP—beyond normality of observable data, a testable assumption—in order for linear estimators to be interpretable as average marginal effects. We use simulation to explore the performance of these estimators using a misspecified linear model and show they perform well when the data are normal but can perform poorly when this is not the case.     

Welfare gains of the poor: An endogenous Bayesian approach with spatial random effects

We introduce a Bayesian instrumental variable procedure with spatial random effects that handles endogeneity, and spatial dependence with unobserved heterogeneity. We find through a limited Monte Carlo experiment that our proposal works well in terms of point estimates and prediction. We apply our method to analyze the welfare effects generated by a process of electricity tariff unification on the poorest households. In particular, we deduce an Equivalent Variation measure where there is a budget constraint for a two-tiered pricing scheme, and find that 10% of the poorest municipalities attained welfare gains above 2% of their initial income.     

Neighborhood processes, self-efficacy, and adolescent mental health

Self-efficacy beliefs are central to mental health. Because adolescents' neighborhoods shape opportunities for experiences of control, predictability, and safety, we propose that neighborhood conditions are associated with adolescents' self-efficacy and, in turn, their internalizing problems (i.e., depression/anxiety symptoms). We tested these hypotheses using three waves of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 2,345). Results indicate that adolescents living in violent neighborhoods tended to report lower self-efficacy beliefs, partly because they were more likely to experience fear in their neighborhood. However, moving out of Chicago neighborhoods marked by violence and low collective efficacy to neighborhoods outside of the city was associated with adolescents' increased self-efficacy (vs. staying in such neighborhoods), an association explained by adolescents' school-related experiences. Finally, through self-efficacy, these neighborhood processes had an indirect association with adolescents' internalizing problems. Results partially support a model linking neighborhood conditions, cognitions about the self, and emotions.     

Mobility and accessibility in historic cities

The historic cities of Brazil, despite its colonial structure, don't fail to go through transformations that affect contemporary cities, which is the main source of problems, leading to new approaches to urban issues such as mobility and accessibility. The uncontrolled growth of tourism in the historic cities can be considered as a big problem, because at the same time, they have committed to the conservation of its built heritage and demand control of the activities that occur in their areas without harm. Then, a permanent dialogue between conservatives and planners could be accomplished by joining the various sectoral policies. The study of urban mobility in historical sites was in fact the focus of this work because of their peculiarities, such as its specific characteristics of urban structure, morphology and occupation. In fact, the development of tourism in historic centers generates specific demands, such as adaptation to new uses of the houses, intensive movement of people and vehicles, illegal parking, among others. Beyond threatening the city preservation, does not provide mobility and accessibility to tourists, because these cities were not designed for the tourism conditions and needs of contemporary life. Characteristic features of Brazilian baroque cities, such as topography , the narrow streets, narrow or nonexistent sidewalks, steep turns and ramps strong, are not suitable for heavy vehicles, traffic and pedestrian circulation. Thus, studies concerning conservation urban integrated are aimed at an approach to interaction between historic preservation of the environment with the dynamic socio-economic of the local.     

Identification of the mental workload of public employees in the administrative sector at a public university

In the workplace there are risk factors that can overwhelm the health of the worker causing physical and psychological disorders. Among these disorders, is occupational stress. Thus, this research proposes to measure the mental workload of job stress from the identification of demand, control and social support. It is an observational cross-sectional epidemiological character, performed with the Rectory office workers at the State University of West Paraná (Unioeste). Data collection was due to the application of the "Job Stress Scale" (JSS) and in its reduced version adapted to Portuguese. The survey sample consisted of 44 individuals. Statistical analysis was correlated inversely with medium intensity (r = -0.404) between age and social support. For males was found between control and age (r = 0.603). According to the data obtained, we conclude that most workers are exposed to passive work, leading to loss of skills or disinterest in the job. This study highlights the importance of research in the area and the need for new actions that change the conditions of stress at work.