37 research outputs found
Beta diversity in regenerating coastal dune forests in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa
Beta diversity, defined as the variation or turnover in species composition, is important to the understanding of how ecological communities assemble. Studies of beta diversity during secondary forest succession may thus afford the chance to understand community assembly from a known onset. This study examined the relationship between regeneration age and beta diversity within and between seral stages along a coastal dune forest successional sere for three taxa (trees, millipedes, and birds). These taxa represent different trophic levels and have different dispersal abilities. Niche-based processes (e.g. environmental filtering and niche diversification) and dispersal-based processes (e.g. dispersal limitation), or a mixture of the two, can influence beta diversity over the course of regeneration. However, stochastic community assembly processes (e.g. sampling and priority effects) can influence beta diversity in an unpredictable way. To determine whether these dune forest communities are developing deterministically (i.e. through environmental selection and/or dispersal limitation) or stochastically (i.e. via sampling and priority effects) with succession, a null model of beta diversity was also used. Beta diversity responses to regeneration age based on classical measures of compositional dissimilarity varied among taxa (e.g. tree beta diversity increased while millipede and bird beta diversity decreased). The choice of dissimilarity index (presence-absence vs. abundance) also had important consequences on beta diversity responses. The results of this study showed that deterministic processes such as niche diversification generally increased with increasing regeneration age, leading to greater compositional dissimilarity. However, this varied depending on whether presence-absence or abundance information was included. The null model for species turnover suggested that species-poor communities were not rarefied samples of species rich communities in older seral stages, but these communities experienced some degree of species turnover. Again, this differed among taxa. This leads to the conclusion that the post-mining development of coastal dune forest largely follows deterministic assembly rules and that stochastic sampling effects are of minor importance. However, there is apparent taxonomic and abundance dependency of beta diversity and inferred processes. Future studies that aim to clarify community assembly processes ought to adopt a null model approach and include species relative abundances. If not, inferences made about the processes driving beta diversity may be misleading.Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Zoology and EntomologyMScUnrestricte
Labour market policies for inclusiveness. A literature review with a gap analysis
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered renewed interest in the use of different fiscal spending and transfer programmes to address the worsening conditions and deepening inequalities within the labour markets.
This paper reviews the role of specific fiscal spending and transfer programmes in shaping labour market dynamics by disentangling different macroeconomic and microeconomic mechanisms. The paper pre- sents the recent empirical evidence on the topic in an attempt to abstract several empirical regularities and identify research gaps. The analysis also highlights gaps in the literature and suggests how future research could fill these gaps
Productivity dynamics in Italy: learning and selection
This paper investigates the sources of labour productivity dynamics in Italy between 2011 and 2018. Exploiting the FRAME-SBS dataset maintained by Istat, we apply
productivity decomposition methods to assess the relative contribution of within firm productivity (“learning” effect) and reallocation of market shares across firms (“market selection” effect) to aggregate productivity. While we cannot measure entry/exit dynamics and thus focus on incumbents, the comprehensive coverage of the Italian economy offered by the data enables us to perform a disaggregated
analysis at the level of very narrowly defined industries (at 5-digit level, NACE Rev.2). This provides a significant contribution to the literature, as previous studies
looked at aggregate economy or aggregate macro-sectors (e.g. total manufacturing).
The general picture emerging from the analysis is that within-firm “learning” prevails over between-firm reallocation and allocative efficiency effects in shaping
aggregate productivity dynamics. This finding is robust over time and across both manufacturing and service industries. In addition, allocative efficiency is generally stable and rather weak over the reference period, although somewhat stronger in manufacturing than in services
Employment quality, economic performance and wages in Europe. Exploring the virtuous circle
This paper investigates the existence of a virtuous circle between industries’ employment quality, the ability to introduce new products, increase labour productivity and pay higher wages. We first present descriptive evidence of these trends in Europe. We then develop a simultaneous four-equation model investigating empirically four related variables: first, the rise of non-standard work as a proxy of low employment quality; second, the success of firms in translating their R&D efforts into new products and services; third, labour productivity growth driven by technological activities; fourth, wage increases and the factors supporting their rise. The model is tested empirically for 41 manufacturing and service sectors of six European economies (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK) over the period 1996-2016. The findings provide novel evidence of mutually reinforcing relationships, where higher employment quality complements technological activities, leading to more product innovations that increase productivity growth. In turn, the latter allows wage increases that contribute to higher employment quality, resulting in a good jobs-high innovation virtuous circle
The Sectoral Innovation Database, 1994-2016. Methodological Notes
The Sectoral Innovation Database (SID) has been developed at the University of Urbino over the last 20 years and combines several major sources of industry-level data, shedding light on the dynamics of structural change, the nature and impact of innovation, the internationalisation of production, the evolution of the quantity and quality of employment, income distribution patterns and the role of digitalization. The database covers six major European countries – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom (representing 75% of EU28’s GDP) – from 1994 to 2016, considering six time periods corresponding to upswings and downswings of business cycles. The first version of the SID provides data for 21 manufacturing and 17 service sectors for two-digit NACE Rev. 1 classes. As statistical surveys have moved to the two-digit NACE Rev. 2 classification, a second version of the Sectoral Innovation Database was produced, providing data for 18 manufacturing and 23 service sectors for two-digit NACE Rev. 2 classes. Major sources of data include the Community Innovation Surveys provided by Eurostat, the OECD’s STAN database, the WIOD database, the Eurostat’s EU Labour Force Surveys, and the EU KLEMS data on digitalization. The integrated information provided by the Sectoral Innovation Database offers a comprehensive view of industries’ dynamics in Europe and allows for an in-depth investigation of key research questions related to technological change, economic performance, international production, income distribution and employment
Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross section in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
A measurement of the cross section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar LT 1: 37 and 1: 52 LT = vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar LT 1: 81 in the transverse energy range 15 LT = E-T(gamma) LT 100 GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 880 nb(-1), collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Photon candidates are identified by combining information from the calorimeters and from the inner tracker. Residual background in the selected sample is estimated from data based on the observed distribution of the transverse isolation energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate. The results are compared to predictions from next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations
Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the decay channel H - GT ZZ(()*()) - GT 4l with the ATLAS detector
A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the decay channel H - GT ZZ(()*()) l(+)l(-)ll(-), where l = e, mu, is presented. Proton-proton collision data at root s = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector and corresponding to an average integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb(-1) are compared to the Standard Model expectations. Upper limits on the production cross section of a Standard Model Higgs boson with a mass between 110 and 600 GeV are derived. The observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit on the production cross section for a Higgs boson with a mass of 194 GeV, the region with the best expected sensitivity for this search, is 0.99 (1.01) times the Standard Model prediction. The Standard Model Higgs boson is excluded at 95% confidence level in the mass ranges 191-197, 199-200 and 214-224 GeV. (C) 2011 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Properties of jets measured from tracks in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energy root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
Jets are identified and their properties studied in center-of-mass energy root s = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider using charged particles measured by the ATLAS inner detector. Events are selected using a minimum bias trigger, allowing jets at very low transverse momentum to be observed and their characteristics in the transition to high-momentum fully perturbative jets to be studied. Jets are reconstructed using the anti-k(t) algorithm applied to charged particles with two radius parameter choices, 0.4 and 0.6. An inclusive charged jet transverse momentum cross section measurement from 4 GeV to 100 GeV is shown for four ranges in rapidity extending to 1.9 and corrected to charged particle-level truth jets. The transverse momenta and longitudinal momentum fractions of charged particles within jets are measured, along with the charged particle multiplicity and the particle density as a function of radial distance from the jet axis. Comparison of the data with the theoretical models implemented in existing tunings of Monte Carlo event generators indicates reasonable overall agreement between data and Monte Carlo. These comparisons are sensitive to Monte Carlo parton showering, hadronization, and soft physics models
Search for first generation scalar leptoquarks in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector (vol 709, pg 158, 2012)
Breaking the Divide: Can Public Spending on Social Infrastructure Boost Female Employment in Italy?
We contribute to the long-standing debate on the Italian North-South divide by assessing the impact of public spending on social infrastructure - including education, healthcare, childcare and social assistance - on the gender employment gap over the last two decades, using a PSVAR analysis. These investments, while not explicitly targeting women, may increase both their labour supply - by reducing the unpaid care work burden - and pro-women labour demand through job creation in care sectors that predominantly employ women. Our research reveals a positive and long-lasting impact of social infrastructure expenditure on private investment, GDP and employment in all areas of the country. However, the reduction of the gender employment gap is detected only in the South and among high-skilled women. These results stress the need for targeted policies to fill the investment gaps in social infrastructure, aiming for a more inclusive labour market, particularly in Southern regions, which suffer from chronic underinvestment and structural challenges