Towards an effective strategy to cope with housing land scarcity in the Gaza Strip as a sustainable development priority

Consistent with the global trends towards the adoption and implementation of sustainable urban planning strategies, this study discusses the problem of housing land shortage, considering the ever rapidly growing human population. Urban land is one of the most precious resources that need to be consumed and developed wisely. In this context, housing density is a widely used tool to control housing land consumption and ensure acceptable housing environments. With reference to the Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories), the main aim of this study is to highlight the role of increasing housing density in order to face the problem of housing land scarcity. Within this scope, building legislation implemented in Gaza has been reviewed with reference to housing density. A questionnaire and a case study have been analyzed to propose recommendations related to housing planning and design. It has been concluded that rationalising urban land consumption in Gaza can be achieved by a dual strategy approach that increases housing density above the currently specified limit, and reduces the area of the typical Palestinian housing unit. This has to be done without sacrificing the limited open spaces available in the local housing environment. Thus, solutions that strike a balance between dense housing patterns and adequate urban environment, are essentially required here.     

Care of Older Adults in Iceland: Policy Objectives and Reality

ABSTRACT

We examine the implementation of the Icelandic government's policy on formal care of older adults in Iceland. The policy as expressed in legislation and other policy documents is to ensure access of older adults to the appropriate level of health and social care services. How does the actual level of formal care compare with the policy objectives? Does there exist an implementation deficit, and if so, why? We address the question by analyzing Icelandic and international statistical databases. The findings reveal a gap between the aims of the current policy and its delivery. As elsewhere in the Nordic region, the policy allows for the emphasis to be on home-care services in which the individual's needs are assessed comprehensively. Administrative problems and insufficient resources to better understand and explain the problem are identified. Current steps to address the problem include the necessity of a comprehensive evaluation of the level and quality of elder-care services in Iceland, which would help compensate for the shortcomings of the existing public statistical databases. In future research, it is necessary to analyze how services can be coordinated while increasing responsiveness to the voices of older adults and their relatives on the care of older people.     

Correction to: Inequality Between Whom? Patterns,Trends, and Implications of Horizontal Inequality in the Philippines

Social Indicators Research - The article Inequality Between Whom? Patterns, Trends, and Implications of Horizontal Inequality in the Philippines, written by Omar Shahabudin McDoom, Celia Reyes,...     

Comparison of decapod communities across an urban-forest land use gradient in Puerto Rican streams

Urbanization influences a range of factors related to stream health, including the hydrologic regime, water quality, and riparian conditions that lead to negative effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, impacts on freshwater decapods from urbanization of tropical streams have not been reported. We hypothesized that changes in decapod communities in watersheds with different levels of urbanization are related to changes in physical stream habitats caused by different land uses and their effects on water discharge. The impacts of land use on the physico-chemical characteristics of streams and freshwater decapod communities were evaluated in three watersheds characterized by low, moderate and high-intensities of urbanization in Puerto Rico. For the low and moderately developed urban watersheds, decapod species richness ranged from 10 to 11 species; the highly urbanized watershed only had 4 species. Macrobrachium faustinum and Xiphocaris elongata were the most ubiquitously species and were found in all watersheds. Multivariable analysis of physical characteristics and densities of the decapod families resulted in one axis that explained 80 % of the total variation among the watersheds and was correlated with stream discharge. The effect of discharge is likely a result of frequent high flows that sustain habitats with high concentrations of dissolved oxygen and low concentrations of pollutants. An increase in physico-chemical parameters were observed from the LUW to the HUW. These results indicate that the decapod communities were most likely influenced by land use and environmental conditions that affected erosional aspects related to water discharge and water quality in the highly impacted watersheds.     

Nonparametric regression method with functional covariates and multivariate response

Nonparametric regression methods have been widely studied in functional regression analysis in the context of functional covariates and univariate response, but it is not the case for functional covariates with multivariate response. In this paper, we present two new solutions for the latter problem: the first is to directly extend the nonparametric method for univariate response to multivariate response, and in the second, the correlation among different responses is incorporated into the model. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are studied, and the effectiveness of the proposed methods is demonstrated through several simulation studies and a real data example.     

Ethnic inequality,cultural distance,and social integration: evidence from a native-settler conflict in the Philippines

A key debate in studies of native-migrant relations relates to the barriers to integration created by ethno-cultural differences and socio-economic disadvantage. How do changes in socio-economic inequality between ethnic groups affect interethnic ties in a divided society? I investigate this question by analysing the effect of ethnic inequality on the evolution of cross-ethnic marriages in a society fractured by conflict between natives and settlers. I find the effect is contingent on the ethnic group. Certain groups intermarry more in response to reductions in socio-economic disadvantage; others, however, remain indifferent. I suggest the difference relates to cultural distance. Specifically, I point to differences between groups in the power of the norms and sanctions regulating members’ social interactions outside of the group. These ‘closure’ norms interpose an ethno-cultural distance. I establish these findings with field interviews and census data on over six million marriages in Mindanao, an ethnically diverse region in the southern Philippines and location of an insurgency waged by rebels, drawn from the native Muslim Moro population, resentful of the influx of Christian settlers. I find Moro intermarriage unresponsive to socio-economic equalisation and suggest the strength of their ethno-cultural norms, derived from their ethno-religious identification, accounts for their distinctive response.     

Do you reward and punish in the way you think others expect you to?

This paper addresses three questions: (1) When deciding on whether to reward or punish someone, how does how you think others expect you to behave affect your decision? (2) Does it depend upon whether others expect you to reward them vs. punish them? (3) What is the interpretation of such a causal effect? We investigate these questions using a modification of the lost wallet trust game (a simplified version of the trust game) that permits punishment. Like previous studies, we collect data on what second-movers think that first-movers expect them to do by directly eliciting the second-movers’ expectations. Unlike previous studies, we ensure exogeneity of these expectations by instrumenting for them. The instrument is the expectations of neutral observers which are disclosed to second-movers prior to the elicitation of second-movers’ expectations. We find that what you think others expect you to do has a zero causal effect on both reward and punishment decisions. We also find that it is important to instrument for second-order expectations because they are endogenous. We interpret these findings in terms of models of guilt-aversion and intentional reciprocity.