More Money,More Problems? Resource Dependence and Professionalization of Non-governmental Social Services Organizations in Southern Spain

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This study analyzes the strategies displayed by non-governmental organizations in the social services sector to face the...     

Interdependent Network Recovery Games

Recovery of interdependent infrastructure networks in the presence of catastrophic failure is crucial to the economy and welfare of society. Recently, centralized methods have been developed to address optimal resource allocation in postdisaster recovery scenarios of interdependent infrastructure systems that minimize total cost. In real-world systems, however, multiple independent, possibly noncooperative, utility network controllers are responsible for making recovery decisions, resulting in suboptimal decentralized processes. With the goal of minimizing recovery cost, a best-case decentralized model allows controllers to develop a full recovery plan and negotiate until all parties are satisfied (an equilibrium is reached). Such a model is computationally intensive for planning and negotiating, and time is a crucial resource in postdisaster recovery scenarios. Furthermore, in this work, we prove this best-case decentralized negotiation process could continue indefinitely under certain conditions. Accounting for network controllers' urgency in repairing their system, we propose an ad hoc sequential game-theoretic model of interdependent infrastructure network recovery represented as a discrete time noncooperative game between network controllers that is guaranteed to converge to an equilibrium. We further reduce the computation time needed to find a solution by applying a best-response heuristic and prove bounds on ε-Nash equilibrium, where ε depends on problem inputs. We compare best-case and ad hoc models on an empirical interdependent infrastructure network in the presence of simulated earthquakes to demonstrate the extent of the tradeoff between optimality and computational efficiency. Our method provides a foundation for modeling sociotechnical systems in a way that mirrors restoration processes in practice.     

Testing Parameter Constancy in Stationary Vector Autoregressive Models Against Continuous Change

In this article we derive a parameter constancy test of a stationary vector autoregressive model against the hypothesis that the parameters of the model change smoothly over time. A single structural break is contained in this alternative hypothesis as a special case. The test is a generalization of a single-equation test of a similar hypothesis proposed in the literature. An advantage here is that the asymptotic distribution theory is standard. The performance of the tests is compared to that of generalized Chow-tests and found satisfactory in terms of both size and power.     

An improved estimator to analyse missing data

Missing data due to nonresponse, though undesirable, is a reality of any survey. In this paper we consider a situation in which, at a given time, observations are missing for one of the several auxiliary characteristics; thus the ‘missing’ phenomenon occurs for the characteristics separately but not simultaneously. A new method, making use of all the available observations, is proposed. A simulation study based on three real populations was performed to test the proposed technique.     

Partly linear models on Riemannian manifolds

In partly linear models, the dependence of the response y on (x ^T, t) is modeled through the relationship y=x ^T β+g(t)+?, where ? is independent of (x ^T, t). We are interested in developing an estimation procedure that allows us to combine the flexibility of the partly linear models, studied by several authors, but including some variables that belong to a non-Euclidean space. The motivating application of this paper deals with the explanation of the atmospheric SO₂ pollution incidents using these models when some of the predictive variables belong in a cylinder. In this paper, the estimators of β and g are constructed when the explanatory variables t take values on a Riemannian manifold and the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are obtained under suitable conditions. We illustrate the use of this estimation approach using an environmental data set and we explore the performance of the estimators through a simulation study.     

Sample size determination for 2k-r experiments with a binomial response

This paper provides closed form expressions for the sample size for two-level factorial experiments when the response is the number of defectives. The sample sizes are obtained by approximating the two-sided test for no effect through tests for the mean of a normal distribution, and borrowing the classical sample size solution for that problem. The proposals are appraised relative to the exact sample sizes computed numerically, without appealing to any approximation to the binomial distribution, and the use of the sample size tables provided is illustrated through an example.     

El compromiso con el trabajo en la transición de la escuela al mundo laboral

Resumen

Este artículo presenta un estudio longitudinal del compromiso con el trabajo en relación con el status de empleo y el sexo de los individuos.

La muestra estuvo compuesta por 355 jóvenes que en el tiempo 1 estaban estudiando Formación Profesional l.°-2.° curso, y un año después (tiempo 2) fueron divididos en cuatro grupos: empleados, desempleados, «desempleados encubiertos» (en la escuela pero con una clara propensión a abandonarla para ir a trabajar) y estudiantes comprometidos.

Los resultados muestran que el compromiso con el trabajo incrementa significativamente del tiempo 1 al tiempo 2. Estos incrementos son más altos en las mujeres que en los varones. No se encontró un efecto predisposicional del compromiso con el trabajo sobre el status de empleo estudiado en el tiempo 2, no se encontraron cambios significativos del compromiso con el trabajo en función de las transiciones experimentadas por los jóvenes. Sin embargo, cuando se considera el sexo, los efectos de las transiciones son estadísticamente significativas. Estos resultados muestran la fuerte influencia del sexo en los cambios en compromiso con el trabajo durante las transiciones que tienen lugar después de terminar Formación Profesional 1, transiciones que pueden ser consideradas como un «período crítico» en la socialización laboral.     

The Influence of Water Access in Subjective Well-Being: Some Evidence in Yucatan, Mexico

The literature on happiness or subjective well-being has explored the determinants of happiness without taking into consideration the role that water plays. In this paper we attempt to draw attention to water in subjective well-being studies. Approximately one hundred million people do not have access to water. A lack of clean water causes diseases such as diarrhea and cholera, responsible for around 5% of the total deaths in the world. Access to water should therefore be a necessary asset in life. In order to consider access to water, we estimate its influence on subjective well-being using data from rural Yucatan, Mexico. Residents in Yucatan suffer from low quality access to water and there are also imperfections in the management of the service, such as water cuts. We estimate the influence of water on subjective well-being, finding a positive and significant relationship. In a second stage of the research, we relate water access variables to subjective well-being, the health and the water domain of life, finding significant results. These results make it possible to formulate political measures concerning access to water and happiness maximization. We demonstrate that access to water is important for well-being in Yucatan and might be important in many other places; we therefore encourage future research to contemplate water satisfaction and water variables in their analysis.     

Mixture of Maximal Quasi Orders: a new Approach to Preference Modelling

Normative theories suggest that inconsistencies be pointed out to the Decision Maker who is thus given the chance to modify his/her judgments. In this paper, we suggest that the inconsistencies problem be transferred from the Decision Maker to the Analyst. With the Mixture of Maximal Quasi Orders, rather than pointing out incoherences for the Decision Maker to change, these inconsistencies may be used as new source of information to model his/her preferences.