Sustainable Conservation of Cultural Heritage: A Global Responsibility. Sichuan Towers Case Study

This paper has been developed in the framework of a larger research program, in which the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Tsinghua University and Yangzhou University are jointly involved to study and preserve historic towers. Cultural heritage is the intangible and tangible attributes of a society, including the natural heritage, that are inherited from past generations, preserved in the present and granted for the next generations. Nowadays we consider the cultural heritage as a world heritage belonging to all the people of the world, irrespective on which territory they are located. This paper presents a model and a methodological hypothesis to conserve cultural heritage in a sustainable way throughout the case study of Sichuan Towers (China) that could become an example for other cultural sites around the world, connecting the environmental and socio-economical aspect to the tourism development.      

Empirical investigation about statistical properties of abundance estimates based on line-intercept and network sampling of tracks

Line-intercept sampling (Becker, 1991) and network sampling (Becker et al., 1998) seem to be the most appropriate procedures for estimating animal abundance in a study area on the basis of tracks. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the statistical properties of these alternative procedures by constructing confidence intervals for abundance and comparing the interval performances in terms of width and coverage.     

A new test for decreasing mean residual lifetimes

The mean residual life of a non negative random variable X with a finite mean is defined by M(t) = E[X ? t|X > t] for t ? 0. One model of aging is the decreasing mean residual life (DMRL): M is decreasing (non increasing) in time. It vastly generalizes the more stringent model of increasing failure rate (IFR). The exponential distribution lies at the boundary of both of these classes. There is a large literature on testing exponentiality against DMRL alternatives which are all of the integral type. Because most parametric families of DMRL distributions are IFR, their relative merits have been compared only at some IFR alternatives. We introduce a new Kolmogorov–Smirnov type sup-test and derive its asymptotic properties. We compare the powers of this test with some integral tests by simulations using a class of DMRL, but not IFR alternatives, as well as some popular IFR alternatives. The results show that the sup-test is much more powerful than the integral tests in all cases.     

The Taste for Corporate Responsibility: Heterogeneity and Consensus Around CR Indicators

We investigated, using an ad hoc questionnaire, a sample of Italian respondents’ opinions on different corporate responsibility (CR) items typically used by CR rating agencies. The hypotheses that equal average value weights are given to different CR items and equal variance (which we consider a proxy for the inverse of consensus on the importance of an indicator) were strongly rejected by our data, both in our overall survey sample and in more homogeneous subsamples based on gender, age, education, and religious beliefs. More specifically, we found that top environmental (renewable energy) and labor (heath and safety on the job) items had significantly higher scores than customer satisfaction, corporate governance, and animal testing items. We as well often reject the hypothesis that value weights for the same CR item are the same across different subpopulations in gender subsamples, because women attributed significantly higher weights than men to many CR items when we not corrected for young respondents’ oversampling.     

Evaluation of the implementation of a socio-educational program with immigrant families: a case study

There exist an increasing number of studies that demonstrate the necessity to evaluate the processes which characterize a program and guarantee its implementation and evaluation. This paper deals with the implementation of a program designed to improve the acculturation of immigrant families in Spain (EU). Implementation followed a process that has proved successful in other settings, but is being applied here for the first time. Qualitative and quantitative measures are employed to assess each stage of implementation, with a particular emphasis on fidelity to program design. The intent was to guide effective revision of the program, and to establish it in a form that can be implemented on a larger scale.     

A New Test for New Better Than Used in Expectation Lifetimes

The mean residual life of a non negative random variable X with a finite mean is defined by M(t) = E[X ? t|X > t] for t ? 0. A popular nonparametric model of aging is new better than used in expectation (NBUE), when M(t) ? M(0) for all t ? 0. The exponential distribution lies at the boundary. There is a large literature on testing exponentiality against NBUE alternatives. However, comparisons of tests have been made only for alternatives much stronger than NBUE. We show that a new Kolmogorov-Smirnov type test is much more powerful than its competitors in most cases.     

The Interplay between Equity and Gender Ideology in Perceived Housework Fairness: Evidence from an Experimental Vignette Design

Previous survey studies on the perceived fairness of the division of housework have suffered from limitations resulting from the use of observational data, namely reverse causation, unobserved heterogeneity, and the difficulty of estimating more than one causal effect at once. This article overcomes these limitations by using an innovative method in this research field: a survey‐based vignette design combining the benefits of experiments with a higher capability of generalization. From our findings based on Italian primary data, we argue that equity and gender ideology theories explain different elements of the fairness evaluation process and are not mutually exclusive. Consistent with equity theory, under certain conditions it is considered fair to exchange paid and unpaid time. However, unlike equity theory, the economic value of time is not an issue. Moreover, a request to renegotiate housework is more legitimate if it redresses a prior inequity and, for women, irrespective of the asker's gender. Gender ideology affects partners' equity considerations, weighting their contribution to paid and unpaid work differently.     

Evolution of hostile sexism and benevolent sexism in a spanish sample

The aim of this research is toevaluate the evolution of ambivalent sexismtoward women (ASI: Ambivalent Sexism Inventory,Glick and Fiske, 1996) and men (AMI: Acttitudetoward Men Inventory; Glick and Fiske, 1999)with a Spanish sample between 18–65 years ofage (n = 1003). The results show that sexistattitudes toward women and men are conditionedin different ways according to sex and age.Women as well as men have a more hostileattitude towards the opposite sex; but men havebenevolent attitudes toward both men and women.Moreover, there are similarities between thesexes in relation to their benevolent attitudestoward men. It is very interesting to point outthat below the age range of 38–42, there arefewer sexist attitudes and there are significantdifferences between the sexes about sexistattitudes toward women. We conclude that inorder to explain the evolution of sexistattitudes toward men and women, we must takeinto account not only generational changes butalso cultural and historical changes.     

Fathers’ Use of Childbirth Leave in Spain. The Effects of the 13-Day Paternity Leave

This article investigates, for the case of Spain, to what extent the introduction in March 2007 of a non-transferable 13-day paternity leave has encouraged men to make greater use of childbirth leave. Data were drawn from the Spanish Economically Active Population Survey, covering the period 2005–2009. We use a natural experiment approach, comparing the behavior of wage earners fathers with children of less than 1 year of age before and after the reform and using mothers as control group. After estimating a difference-in-differences logistic regression model we obtain statistical evidence that there is a higher percentage of males on leave in the reference week in the post-reform period (after 2007). The article also analyzes some of the personal and socio-economic determinants of the fathers’ use of childbirth leave. Fathers are more likely to be on leave if they have stability in employment, if there are facilities for reconciling work and family life (working in the public sector) and if the partner is employed. The father’s age has an interesting U-shaped influence.