Assessing the "Choosiness" of Job Seekers. An Exploratory Approach and Evidence for Italy

We use data about job search and work preferences, typically collected in a Labour Force Survey, in order to construct an indicator of .choosiness. of the supply of job-seekers. The method for obtaining the indicator, first at individual level and then at aggregate levels, is based on results from multiple correspondence analysis. We investigate the informational value of the indicator by examining its stability over time and its predictive power on labour force transitions. Empirical analyses of cross-section and panel samples of job-seekers from the Italian quarterly Labour Force Survey clarify the potentials (and limitations) of the approach.job search, multiple correspondence analysis, survey data, unemployment

The persistence of poverty: true state dependence or unobserved heterogeneity? Some evidence from the Italian Survey on Household Income and Wealth

Evidence from several countries is that any household experiencing poverty today is much more likely to experience it again, which may be due to both unobserved heterogeneity (UH) and true state dependence (TSD). We point out that in this context there are two sources of UH: (1) the household ability to obtain income at a specific time period and (2) the way in which this ability evolves from that time period onwards. We test for TSD using a panel from Italy. After testing for the ignorability of the massive attrition plaguing the panel and accepting it, we do not find any sign of TSD.Attrition ignorability, Discrete response panel data models, Poverty dynamics

Self-regulated learning, motivation and emotions towards university study. A latent class approach

Students' attitudes, motivations and emotions towards university study have a great in uence on their university careers. In this work, we use a latent class factor analysis approach to reveal the underlying latent factors which summarise a series of items investigating students' positions in three domains: self-regulated learning, motivation, and emotions towards university study. Data come from a CAWI survey conducted in 2012 on a cohort of students enrolled in academic year 2006-07 at University of Padova, a large public university in north-east Italy. Results show that the underlying latent factors are in line with related psychological literature

A simple two-stage data collection procedure to handle unit non-response in social surveys

The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibility of collecting information on the reproductive behaviour of mothers by means of a two-stages data collection procedure. At first stage a simple self-filled questionnaire is administered to a sample of students attending compulsory school; thus, each pupil is asked to give his mother a more complex questionnaire, bringing it back to school. Linking the two questionnaires, the non-response selection problems are solved using the same statistical techniques used to control attrition in panel surveys. Even if selffilled questionnaires can not be too complex, in some cases this data collection procedure can be recommended as (1) the proportion of unit non-responses in standard surveys can be very high, and the unit non-response selection is not easy to control; (2) it is a very low cost data collection procedure. After a general description of this data collection technique, an application is performed using data of the Urban Fertility Survey (UFS) conducted during 2001-02 in four Italian towns. As respondents are clearly selected (e.g., by citizenship) if data analysis is performed without correcting for non-response, results may be biased. In particular, we compare some regression models explaining fertility using data collected by the two questionnaires

Compatibility of children and work preferences: two European cases.

Nowadays female participation in the labor market and motherhood are competing and the conciliation between them can be solved in different ways. In this paper we analyze children and work preferences in two European countries with very different behaviour: Italy and France. Italy shares with Spain the lowest fertility level (the TFR is around 1.25) whereas French TFR reaches the highest level (1.89) among the European Community countries. Moreover female employment rate in Italy is about 40% whereas in France reaches 70%. In these two contexts, using data from the European Community Household Panel, we model jointly fertility and female participation in the labor market, taking into account the potential correlation across unobserved heterogeneity in children and work preferences

Le carriere universitarie tra successo formativo, abbandono, cambio di corso e ritardo. Un'analisi per coorte attraverso gli archivi dell'Ateneo di Padova [Technical Report Series, 1/2011]

In questo lavoro si intendono specificare e quantificare i fenomeni di drop-out (abbandono e cambio di Corso) e di ritardo nelle Laureee triennali di ordinamento ex D.M. 509/1999, a partire da dati amministrativi, adottando il punto di vista del Corso di laurea. L'obiettivo è classificare i vari Corsi di laurea sulla base delle performance dei loro iscritti, al fine di identificare delle strategie mirate di intervento di contrasto alla dispersione. Lo studio coinvolge le coorti di studenti immatricolati negli anni accademici 2001-2005 in ottantaquattro Corsi di laurea triennale dell’Ateneo di Padova. Le misure della dispersione sono ricavate attraverso Multiple-decrement life tables; a partire da esse si costruiscono graduatorie di performance dei Corsi

Childcare and participation at work in North-East Italy. Why do Italian and foreign mothers behave differently?

This paper examines two of the decision-making processes following the birth of a child: whether a working mother should continue with her job, and whether the couple should provide the child with formal childcare. Focusing on Padova and its district (North-East Italy), differences in the strategies of Italian and foreign mothers are discussed, controlling for socio-economic status, opinions on women's roles, and family structure, according to the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. Six to thirty-six months after the birth of a child, the proportion of foreign mothers who are not employed is more than double that of Italian mothers (51% vs. 21%). In addition, 25% of Italian women entrust their children to the care of their parents and in-laws, vs. only 13% of foreign women. Although there are differences in the effects of individual characteristics on participation at work across the two groups, what matters most is the different composition of the Italian and foreign women's groups, especially as regards education, partners’ characteristics and attitudes towards the job market and motherhood. As regards the maximum price a couple is willing to pay for formal childcare, intended to represent parents’ preferences for formal childcare, differences between the two groups are also mainly explained by differences in composition

Aspetti strategici, motivazionali ed emotivi e successo accademico. Progettazione e conduzione di un'indagine sugli studenti dell'Università di Padova [Technical Report Series, 1/2012]

Quali sono le principali cause che incidono sull’abbandono, sul ritardo e sul cambio di percorso negli studi universitari? Quali atteggiamenti e quali risorse personali mettono in campo gli studenti che riescono a superare le difficoltà? Quali servizi si sono dimostrati efficaci nel contrastare i fenomeni di rallentamento e ridefinizione dei percorsi? Per rispondere a questi quesiti è stata progettata e condotta un’indagine su una coorte di 8473 studenti di ordinamento ex D.M. 509/99, immatricolati nei Corsi di Laurea triennale dell’Ateneo di Padova nell’anno accademico 2006/07. Scopo principale dell’indagine è di valutare come gli aspetti strategici, motivazionali ed emotivi siano collegati alla carriera universitaria, e di elaborare un profilo degli studenti che abbandonano o rallentano gli studi come pure degli studenti che lo completano in modo regolare. Ricercatori di ambito psico-pedagogico, oltre che statistico, hanno collaborato alla costruzione dello strumento, affinché riuscisse ad integrare questo complesso ventaglio di aspetti del fenomeno. Il questionario, somministrato via web, ha inoltre rilevato l’utilizzo dei servizi di sostegno agli studenti offerti dall’Ateneo (Tutorato, SAP-DSA). Questo lavoro illustra le fasi di progettazione e conduzione dell’indagine, nonché il trattamento dei dati elementari e il sistema di ponderazione utilizzato per superare i problemi di autoselezione dei rispondenti e le prime risultanze di tipo descrittivo

Scaling-up climate services with users in Latin America

Latin America farmers are highly vulnerable to climate variability, with crop losses observed throughout the region on a virtually annual basis. For instance, as indicated by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP), the 2014–2017 drought conditions in Central America affected over 3.5 million people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. At the same time, local stakeholders and farmers generally have limited access to existing climate and forecast information, do not have sufficient capacities to understand the climate information and/or mechanisms to relate this information to the impact that climate variations can generate at a local level. This precludes the translation of information into actionable knowledge, and therefore into action. In this study, we describe a process through which scientists and strategic partners have co-developed, tested and scaled out an approach to assess, co-produce, translate and transfer climate information to enable agricultural decision making –the Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (LTAC). LTACs allow open and clear dialogues about climate variations at multiple timescales, how these can affect crops, and the design of measures to reduce crop loss, particularly providing agronomic recommendations to farmers. We systematically describe the process of evidence generation, creation, partner engagement, scaling up, and monitoring of the approach throughout Latin America. Currently, 35 LTACs exist in 9 Latin American countries, engaging more than 250 public and private institutions, increasing the resilience and food security of an estimated 330,000 farmers, and potentially transforming how Latin American farmers manage climate risk. The study illustrates changes in institutional and farmers' capacities to co-produce, translate and use climate information and explores how better climate and crop prediction models can effectively underpin this process. We show how strategic alliances with farmer organizations, national public, and private and regional climate outlook forums help deliver improved and accurate climate information to users. Finally, we document how LTACs and their integration with other local-scale processes have led to changes in farmers’ management practices to take better advantage of good climatic conditions or avoid losses

Feasibility Study of a Proton Irradiation Facility for Radiobiological Measurements at an 18 MeV Cyclotron

A feasibility study of an experimental setup for the irradiation of biological samples at the cyclotron facility installed at the National Centre of Accelerators (Seville, Spain) is presented. This cyclotron, which counts on an external beam line for interdisciplinary research purposes, produces an 18 MeV proton beam, which is suitable for the irradiation of mono-layer cultures for the measurement of proton cell damages and Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) at energies below the beam nominal value. Measurements of this kind are of interest for proton therapy, since the variation of proton RBE at the distal edge of the Bragg curve may have implications in clinical proton therapy treatments. In the following, the characteristics of the beam line and the solutions implemented for the irradiation of biological samples are described. When dealing with the irradiation of cell cultures, low beam intensities and broad homogeneous irradiation fields are required, in order to assure that all the cells receive the same dose with a suitable dose rate. At the cyclotron, these constraints have been achieved by completely defocusing the beam, intercepting the beam path with tungsten scattering foils and varying the exit-window-to-sample distance. The properties of the proton beam thus obtained have been analysed and compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The results of this comparison, as well as the experimental measurement of the lateral dose profiles expected at the position of samples are presented. Meaningful dose rates of about 2–3 Gy/min have been obtained. Homogeneous lateral dose profiles, with maximum deviations of 5%, have been measured at a distance of approximately 50 cm in air from the exit window, placing a tungsten scattering foil of 200 μm in the beam path