Poverty and Economic Growth in Russia’s Regions

The extent of poverty reduction has varied enormously during the recovery period across the eighty-three regions of Russia, with some regions continuing to experience increases in poverty even though they have returned to growth. We attempt to understand and analyse the reasons for this regional variation. We focus on two principal causative factors: the changes in economic structure resulting from the liberalisation of the economy, and policy instruments aimed at poverty reduction. We find that many regions which experienced structural change under perestroika (notably those benefiting from the current oil and gas boom) experienced massive growth in GDP but little poverty reduction, because their prevailing production function is capital-intensive and thus they were unable to transmit much or any reduction in poverty through the labour market. Regions where the growth of the early 2000s was diversified, was based more on the service sector, and where the educational system made possible flexibility within the labour market, tended to be more effective at generating poverty reduction

Examination of the World3 Model and the Development of a Novel Model of a Multi-market, Multi-regional Economy Driven by Adaptive Heterogeneous Consumer Agents

Ever since the human race developed consciousness we have battled against the elements to bring about prosperity and health. For millennia we closely observed the natural phenomena that seemed to influence future outcomes, gradually building and refining our conceptions of reality, our mental models. We refined the process of observation and discovery with the scientific method, and from that point on our power to control our environment grew immensely. Now our greatest foe is not only Mother Nature, but ourselves. We still act impulsively, and make decisions which seem irrational. We may guiltily watch hour after hour of Antiques Road Show, instead of spending a mere 30 minutes finishing off the final thesis chapter. The tradition of model development is continued herein, with a focus on holistic socio- ecological models. The first part of this thesis examines the pre-existing Limits to Growth model, originally developed by Meadows et. al. in 1972. Uncertainty analysis was per- formed on this model to develop a better understanding of its reliability. This model is also used to better understand the trade-off relationships between common goals humans wish to achieve in the future. A genetic algorithm was used to determine the Pareto front of the seven examined goals. The final part of the thesis presents a novel model designed to allow many simulated human actors to make purchasing decisions in a self determining fashion, based on the cost of various goods. The new model simulates multi-item market- places, floating prices on goods, and spacial effects on trading and resource extraction. A preliminary version of the model is tested under eight different conditions, and the results are presented and discussed

Study on open science: The general state of the play in Open Science principles and practices at European life sciences institutes

Nowadays, open science is a hot topic on all levels and also is one of the priorities of the European Research Area. Components that are commonly associated with open science are open access, open data, open methodology, open source, open peer review, open science policies and citizen science. Open science may a great potential to connect and influence the practices of researchers, funding institutions and the public. In this paper, we evaluate the level of openness based on public surveys at four European life sciences institute

Road Safety Performance Indicators: Theory. Deliverable D3.6 of the EU FP6 project SafetyNet.

This document provides details about the theory behind the development of Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) in seven major areas which are central to the fields of activity in road safety in Europe. The fields of activity were selected as a result of reviews of national road safety plans in many of the EU countries and around the world and are considered the central themes of activity in road safety, necessary to bring about a significant improvement in road safety in the EU countries. Within each field SPIs were developed which are directly related to that field of activity, can be quantitatively measured, can provide the basis for the assessment of the level of road safety in each country and can serve as an indicator to describe the level of activity in that field and country and can provide a yardstick for comparison. Comparisons can be before and after certain actions are taken or can be comparisons between countries. As stated above, this document deals with the theory behind the development of each of the seven SPIs. It provides the rationale behind their development, the proofs for their relevance in the specific fields and the existing limitations that led to the adoption of the specific SPIs. The document provides also some recommendations for the possible improvements required to obtain better SPIs. Two companion documents are also being prepared. One is a manual which provides details on the procedures necessary to collects the required data for the development of each SPI in each country. The second document provides results on the data collected so far for each of the 25 EU countries and the SPIs developed so far, based on the data submitted by each of the countries. It can be seen that a lot of work still has to be done, both in collecting the necessary data and in improving the SPIs, once better and more detailed data becomes available

Congress UPV Proceedings of the 21ST International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators

This is the book of proceedings of the 21st Science and Technology Indicators Conference that took place in València (Spain) from 14th to 16th of September 2016. The conference theme for this year, ‘Peripheries, frontiers and beyond’ aimed to study the development and use of Science, Technology and Innovation indicators in spaces that have not been the focus of current indicator development, for example, in the Global South, or the Social Sciences and Humanities. The exploration to the margins and beyond proposed by the theme has brought to the STI Conference an interesting array of new contributors from a variety of fields and geographies. This year’s conference had a record 382 registered participants from 40 different countries, including 23 European, 9 American, 4 Asia-Pacific, 4 Africa and Near East. About 26% of participants came from outside of Europe. There were also many participants (17%) from organisations outside academia including governments (8%), businesses (5%), foundations (2%) and international organisations (2%). This is particularly important in a field that is practice-oriented. The chapters of the proceedings attest to the breadth of issues discussed. Infrastructure, benchmarking and use of innovation indicators, societal impact and mission oriented-research, mobility and careers, social sciences and the humanities, participation and culture, gender, and altmetrics, among others. We hope that the diversity of this Conference has fostered productive dialogues and synergistic ideas and made a contribution, small as it may be, to the development and use of indicators that, being more inclusive, will foster a more inclusive and fair world

Applications of Rasch analysis in consumer research for new food product development

Introduction The classical test theory (CTT) and its extensions are the predominant measurement and data processing approaches in current consumer research areas. However, the CTT-based approaches suffer from several theoretical drawbacks such as requiring interval data and lack of quality control procedures. To overcome these drawbacks, an alternative method Rasch analysis, which stands for the analysis using a family of parametric probabilistic response models, can be used. Although Rasch analysis has been broadly used in education and health research areas, it is yet to be used extensively in food-related research and new food product development. The aims of this research were to demonstrate the benefit which can be obtained by applying Rasch analysis to consumer research for new food product development and to explore the application of Rasch analysis in the development and validation of an instrument which can be used in food-related consumer research tasks Research activities and outcomes To achieve the aims of the research, four case studies were conducted in the following order: Case study I compared the difference between CTT approach and Rasch analysis in the evaluation of a survey of 269 respondents using an existing instrument Health and Taste Attitude Scales. The results indicated that compared to CTT approach, Rasch analysis could identify more meaningful underlying structure of the instrument and interpretable reliability statistics. Case study II employed the Many-Facet Rasch model in a sensory study for modelling a composite overall liking measure from 8 sensory attributes and a holistic measure from a single overall acceptability item. The psychometric properties of the two models were compared. The ability of the two measures to differentiate between the overall liking of product were also compared. The results suggested that the composite measure has greater ability of differentiating products. Case study III developed and validated a set of instruments in relation to ready meal consumption under the guidance of Rasch analysis. The instruments can be used for measuring consumers’ satisfaction attitudes, decision making patterns and willingness to consume ready meals in different contextual situations. The hierarchical rank order of the items also provided information associated with new food product development opportunities. Case study IV developed and validated a sensory instrument for benchmarking test on beef lasagne ready meals under the guidance of Rasch analysis. The result verified the expectation of product ranking. The information also reflected panellists’ particular needs for product improvement. Conclusion Rasch analysis can overcome the limits of CTT approach, improving the quality of measurement in consumer research for new food product development practice. It should be applied to more food-related area

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMUNITY INFORMED CUMULATIVE STRESSORS AND RESILIENCY INDEX (CSRI) TO EXAMINE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES AND DISEASE RISK IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Communities with environmental justice (EJ) issues usually have disparities in exposure to chemical and non-chemical stressors and health status compared to other communities without underlying EJ issues. Improving cumulative risk assessment (CRA) screening tools and models can provide the necessary information needed to reduce health disparities and create more resilient communities. To address these gaps in EJ science, this dissertation has three specific aims: 1) Identify perceptions of environmental and resilience factors that may influence health among African-Americans in North Charleston, South Carolina (SC) (Study 1), 2) Develop a Cumulative Stressors and Resiliency Index (CSRI) used to rank risk in SC (Study 2), and 3) Examine associations between CSRI scores and risk of asthma hospitalizations/emergency department (ED) visits in SC (Study 3). Community stakeholders (N=18) participated in key-informant interviews and completed a 26-item paper survey in study one. Interviews were transcribed and coded, while mode, frequencies, and percentages were calculated for each indicator based on its ability to influence health. Statistical tests performed in study two included a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression performed in SAS Enterprise Guide 7.1. Choropleth maps were also developed in ArcMap 10.5. We concluded by calculating descriptive statistics by Environmental Affairs (EA) region, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, one-way ANOVA, and negative binomial regression analyses in study three. Many of the indicators (61%) were rated as extremely high priority items and included environmental hazards, sociodemographic attributes, and factors that may influence resiliency. CSRI scores ranged from 7.4 – 64.0 with a mean score of 29.1. Statistically significant differences in CSRI scores were evident by EA region (p <0.0001) and a one-unit increase in the percentage of non-white populations per census tract projected to increase CSRI scores by roughly 6.1%. The CSRI was not able to predict risk of asthma hospitalizations/ED visits as hypothesized. Overall, we demonstrated that identifying and addressing chemical and non-chemical stressors and resiliency gaps in areas impacted by environmental injustice may lead to overall improvements in community resilience. We anticipate this work will be used as a blueprint to build more resilient and equitable communities in SC

Understanding mode choice behaviour when new modes come into play

Smart mobility has become increasingly prevalent nowadays, and new travel modes have been emerging in this process. The entry of these new modes not only fosters diversity of transport systems, but also would lead to changes of the characteristics of the transport system itself. This may induce changes in individual travel behaviour. For example, some people would shift to a new mode from other existing modes, while other individuals might be induced to make additional travel which would not be made if the new mode is not available. Some unique underlying characteristics may also drive these changes in travel behaviour. For instance, while some individuals are resistant to change, others may be prone to adopt novel options. This necessitates the investigation of the impact of variety-seeking on how people make choices when new modes are involved. Secondly, while choices are relatively stable for some individuals, others may have stronger tendencies to vary their choices more frequently over choice occasions. Exploration into this characteristic is needed to facilitate better understanding of people's consecutive choices over time. Thirdly, a new mode is usually associated with some new attributes with which individuals may be less familiar. This entails obtaining more knowledge of the role that attributes play in choice making for travel behaviour researchers. This thesis aims at examining mode choice behaviour at an individual level and uncovering travel demand through empirical analyses. Contributions are made to accounting for the three unique underlying characteristics in behaviour as mentioned above, which enhance understanding of the determinants behind mode choices and heterogeneity in preferences in the context of the introduction of new modes. This thesis exclusively uses stated preference (SP) data, as SP data can be used for preference elicitation in hypothetical scenarios, whereas it is much more difficult to collect revealed preference data when new modes have not yet been launched or have only existed in the market for a short period. This research relies on discrete choice modelling (DCM), which is a well-established econometric method for analysing individual choice behaviour and aggregate demand. DCM enables the accommodation of complex heterogeneity in preferences both across individuals and within individuals, and to achieve greater behavioural realism in delineating decision-making. The integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model is adopted in different manners, illustrating that the incorporation of latent variables is not confined to investigating the impact of unobserved psychological factors (e.g. variety-seeking) in choices or in class allocation, but could be extended for the purpose of combining stated choice (SC) data with other alternative SP data, e.g. best-worst scaling (BWS) data. The research findings are as expected. The study in the context of HSR (high-speed rail)-air intermodality suggests that people with stronger variety-seeking tendencies are more likely to adopt the new mode introduced. The same finding has been discovered in the second study that applies to the context where a hypothetical air taxi service is involved, which further shows that stronger variety-seeking tendencies can also lead to more unstable preferences across choices. The third study that synthesises traditional SC data and additional BWS data demonstrates the correlation between these different types of collection methods, illustrates that attributes play a relatively consistent - though not one-to-one - role across different methods, and enables the exploration of behavioural information per individual to a greater extent. In general, this thesis contributes to deeper understanding of mode choice behaviour in the context of the introduction of new modes. That is, the investigation into the impact of various level-of-service attributes provides empirical evidence for transport practitioners in willingness-to-pay evaluation. Moreover, the research indicates that while variety-seekers are more likely to be attracted to adopt a new mode at an early stage, they might in the meantime have less consistency in using the new mode. Thus, policy makers could expect an initial uptake of the new mode in the population, but it does not necessarily mean that people would keep on using the new mode over time. Furthermore, this research shows that when confronting the introduction of a new mode characterised with new attributes, an applicable approach for policy makers to improve the understanding of trade-offs and forecast of travel demand would be jointly using alternative preference elicitation methods together with the traditional SC survey