PROMETHEE IV through kernel density estimation

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a new version of PROMETHEE IV, which considers the empirical distribution of the criteria through kernel density estimation to evaluate alternatives. The developed method has the ability to treat criteria according to their distribution. The classic PROMETHEE IV can produce divergent integrals, and this could be the cause for its insufficient exploration in literature. The proposed method overcomes this situation since large values have little weight compared to values near the mean.     

Capability Approach and Multidimensional Well-Being: The Italian Case of BES

This paper lies within the debate on GDP and beyond and provides an empirical assessment of the Italian equitable and sustainable well-being (BES) as a composite measure of multidimensional well-being. From a policy perspective, the goal is to deliver a reading of the Italian BES able to shed light on its usability. The aim is to offer a suitable method for making the information included in the BES more viable for policy design. To this end, the paper is grounded in an interpretation of the Italian BES through the lens of the capability approach and investigates the relations among BES indicators and life domains. The empirical assessment uses Italian data from the national survey “Aspects of daily life” and applies the Structural Equation Model to estimate several life capabilities and their causal path. Outcomes show the interrelated nature of multi-dimensional well-being and prove the role of exogenous causes in the determination of capabilities. Moreover, the paper provides a final ranking analysis where Italian regions are compared based on their position per capability and income performance. Results confirm, on one hand, the disparity of income and well-being measurements and the importance of multidimensional assessment for human development and, on the other, the importance of focusing on the single components of multidimensional well-being and their interconnections.     

Human factors identification and classification related to accidents'causality on hand injuries in the manufacturing industry

The causes of occupational accidents from the perspective of human factors have been a subject which has received little attention into the field of scientific research. The aim of this research was to identify and classify the human factors that influence human errors and failures that cause accidents and injuries specifically on hands. Available studies related to the topic have been developed mainly for aerospace applications and are found insufficient to explain accidents causalities in the manufacturing industry. This research was developed in the assembly industry of automotive harnesses and was conducted following a mixed Cognitive Anthropological approach. This study was developed in two phases. During the first qualitative phase, participants freely listed their knowledge to identify elements of the cultural domain, then and in the second phase they performed the successive pile sort technique for the collection data to classify elements in the cultural domain. Statistical models like Cluster Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling were applied for results' validation purposes. As results, 70 different human factors were identified and in the second phase they were classified into 4 main categories which were: human error, unsafe conditions, individual factors, and organizational factors. Statistical methods validated these results.     

Employment status and education/employment relationship of PhD graduates from the University of Ferrara

Two sample surveys of Post-Docs were planned and carried out at the University of Ferrara in 2004 and 2007 aimed at determining the professional status of Post-Docs, the relationship between their PhD education and employment, and their satisfaction with certain aspects of the education and research program. As part of these surveys, two methodological contributions were developed. The first concerns an extension of the non-parametric combination of dependent rankings to construct a synthesis of composite indicators measuring satisfaction with particular aspects of PhD programs [R. Arboretti Giancristofaro and L. Salmaso, Global ranking indicators with application to the evaluation of PhD programs, Atti del Convegno “Valutazione e Customer Satisfaction per la Qualità dei Servizi”, Roma, 8–9 Settembre 2005, pp. 19–22; R. Arboretti Giancristofaro, S. Bonnini, and L. Salmaso, A performance indicator for multivariate data, Quad. Stat. 9 (2007), pp. 1–29; R. Arboretti Giancristofaro, F. Pesarin, and L. Salmaso, Nonparametric approaches for multivariate testing with mixed variables and for ranking on ordered categorical variables with an application to the evaluation of PhD programs, in Real Data Analysis, S. Sawilowsky, ed., a volume in Quantitative Methods in Education and the Behavioral Sciences: Issues, Research and Teaching, Ronald C. Serlin, series ed., Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2007, pp. 355–385]. The procedure was applied to highlight differences in the interviewed Post-Docs’ multivariate satisfaction profiles in relation to two aspects: education/employment relationship; employment expectations; and opportunities. The second consists of an inferential procedure providing a solution to the problem of hypothesis testing, where the objective is to compare the heterogeneity of two populations on the basis of sampling data [G.R. Arboretti, S. Bonnini, and F. Pesarin, A permutation approach for testing heterogeneity in two-sample categorical variables, Stat. Comput. (2009) doi: 10.1007/S11222-008-9085-8.]. The procedure was applied to compare the degrees of heterogeneity of Post-Doc judgments in the two surveys with regard to the adequacy of the PhD education for the work carried out.     

Social work online: a recognition of experiences and practices in Italy

ABSTRACT

‘The Internet is the fabric or our lives’ [Castells, M. (2001). The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 1] – but which are the weaves that nowadays connect Italian social workers into such a fabric? Herein we aim at answering this question through a survey of on-line resources, nodes and practices of e-Social Work in Italy. We shall be discussing ICT impact on the Italian context, and the utilization of ICT by Italian social workers, in order to build up the internal and external factors that determine the current utilization levels of these emerging tools within the professional community. A review of the major on-line social work portals will identify their key features and peculiarities and aim to provide an overview of the substance and current on-line functions of Italian social work, with a summing-up of criticalities and opportunities that might prompt reflection on possible future developments.     

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.     

ATTRIBUTION ERROR IN ECONOMIC VOTING: EVIDENCE FROM TRADE SHOCKS

This article exploits the international transmission of business cycles to examine the prevalence of attribution error in economic voting in a large panel of countries from 1990 to 2009. We find that voters, on average, exhibit a strong tendency to oust the incumbent governments during an economic downturn, regardless of whether the recession is home‐grown or merely imported from trading partners. However, we find important heterogeneity in the extent of attribution error. A split sample analysis shows that countries with more experienced voters, more educated voters, and possibly more informed voters—all conditions that have been shown to mitigate other voter agency problems—do better in distinguishing imported from domestic growth. (JEL E3, E6)     

Code Ethnography and the Materiality of Power in Internet Governance

Qualitative Sociology - The purpose of this article is to discuss an ethnography of code, specifically code ethnography, a method for examining code as a socio-technical actor, considering its...     

Friends in high places: A dyadic perspective on peer status as predictor of friendship quality and the mediating role of empathy and prosocial behavior

Friendships and peer status play important roles in the social landscape of adolescents and are related to developmental outcomes. Yet, how peer status is related to friendship quality and what role social skills play in this association remains unclear. In this study, we use Actor–Partner Interdependence (Mediation) Modeling (Ledermann, Macho, & Kenny, 2011 ) to investigate how two forms of peer status, preference and popularity, are related to positive and negative friendship quality in mid‐adolescence. Results show that adolescents who are friends with more preferred (i.e., likeable) and popular adolescents report higher friendship quality. These partner effects were partially mediated by adolescents’ own prosocial behavior and their friends’ empathy levels. Higher levels of empathy of one's friend and one's own lesser preference for equity explained why adolescents were more satisfied in a friendship with highly preferred (i.e., likeable) adolescents. Interestingly, empathy was not a mediator for the link between friendship quality and popularity. These findings promote a better understanding of the interplay between different levels of social complexity (i.e., individual, dyadic and peer group level) in adolescence.