Exact balanced random imputation for sample survey data

Surveys usually suffer from non-response, which decreases the effective sample size. Item non-response is typically handled by means of some form of random imputation if we wish to preserve the distribution of the imputed variable. This leads to an increased variability due to the imputation variance, and several approaches have been proposed for reducing this variability. Balanced imputation consists in selecting residuals at random at the imputation stage, in such a way that the imputation variance of the estimated total is eliminated or at least significantly reduced. In this work, we propose an implementation of balanced random imputation which enables to fully eliminate the imputation variance. Following the approach in Cardot et al. (2013), we consider a regularized imputed estimator of a total and of a distribution function, and we prove that they are consistent under the proposed imputation method. Some simulation results support our findings

Letter from the editor

UID/HIS/04209/2013publishersversionpublishe

Letter from the editor

UID/HIS/04209/2013publishersversionpublishe

Do formal policies for sustainable development make a difference? A comparison of students from two different universities, one in the UK and one in Portugal

If we are to achieve sustainable development and secure targets for carbon reduction then universities have a role to play in educating students to address sustainable development (SD) and influencing behaviour change. Some universities have already developed approaches to address SD within the curriculum, on campus and in the community; others have done far less, or very little. The assumption might be that students from a university which is formally addressing SD, should exhibit different attitudes and behaviours to students from a university where SD is not a concern. This paper will compare the environmental consciousness level and “green” behaviour of students from a university in Portugal which has no formal sustainable policies, nor a structure supporting the development of global citizenship, with a University in the UK where a formal policy has been implemented which embraces a holistic approach to SD and global citizenship. Analysis of survey data from the two student populations reveals significant differences in environmental attitudes, with students from the UK University displaying greater concern about the environment, greater belief that their actions can influence change and more concern with conservation and buying locally sourced food. The Portuguese students are more concerned about future generations. The conclusion suggests that formal policies do have an impact however the cultural context must also be considered

Education for sustainable development and campus greening: the impact on students’ energy saving attitudes and behaviours

The role of higher education in contributing to a sustainable future has been consistently highlighted in global policy documents: Higher Education has a key role to play in: educating leaders who will manage more sustainably in the future; contributing to sustainable development through research and; reducing the environmental impact of estates and thus, contributing to lower carbon emissions. In regard to the latter, initiatives led by the Estates function within institutions as part of campus greening serve to reinforce for students that higher education is responsive to environmental concerns and that behaviour change is important. Further, combined with integrating education for sustainability within the curriculum, energy conservation projects in the extra-curricular sphere, should ultimately contribute to behaviour change. Very little research to date, has evaluated whether EfS and energy conservation projects impact in this way on student behaviour. A supposition might be that the more effectively and comprehensively an institution addresses energy conservation in both the educational and extra-curricular spheres, the more likely it is that there will be a positive impact on behaviours. This study explores that proposition by comparing students’ energy-related attitudes and behaviours across three distinctly different institutions, two in the UK and one in Portugal. The two UK institutions have both championed EfS but with different approaches: one has acknowledged the need to integrate EfS with extra-curricular and co-curricular initiatives; the other has had less success with EfS and less integration between campus and curriculum. The Portuguese university has not developed a strategic approach in relation to sustainable development and has very little in the way of formal policies. Survey data from students at the three institutions is used to explore the similarities and differences between the student populations in terms of their energy-related attitudes, behaviours and particularly their perspectives on their institution’s energy saving activities. The results demonstrate that there are significant differences between the students’ responses and that these are likely to relate, in part to the efforts, or lack of efforts made by each institution in particular areas. The conclusion suggests that there is value in combining Efs with extra-curricular initiatives but that this will require closer working relationships between academics and professional services staff within institutions. Future research might explore those factors that facilitate or inhibit such integrated ways of working. Robust measures for evaluating the extent to which particular sustainability initiatives and approaches influence behaviour change need to be developed

Trieste : les horizons d’une ville centre-européenne, 1690-1820

Cet article interroge le mythe construit autour de l’essor du port franc de Trieste pour analyser les enjeux et les étapes du développement de la ville portuaire tout au long du xviiie siècle. La création du port franc doit se lire dans le contexte d’un jeu politique à trois, entre la ville de Trieste, le duché de Carniole et la monarchie des Habsbourg. Aussi, elle affranchit la ville de Trieste de la tutelle de Laibach tout autant qu’elle entraîne progressivement la fin des libertés communales au profit de la Hofkammer. L’essor économique de Trieste répond alors à une politique courante au sein de la monarchie des Habsbourg, un gouvernement intégré au territoire via l’association des intérêts d’acteurs privés avec ceux de la Maison impériale et royale. Il en résulte une diversification des élites qui limite le pouvoir de l’ancien patriciat municipal, reflétant ainsi l’évolution socio-politique globale de la monarchie composite autrichienne

Trieste au XVIIIe siècle : port franc, ville-monde

Fantasmée, détournée, parfois confisquée, l'histoire de Trieste et de son port franc interpelle. Au XVIIIe siècle, la fortune de la ville s'explique d'abord par sa position stratégique en Méditerranée. [1ères lignes

Trans-Imperial Familiarity: Ottoman Ambassadors in Eighteenth-century Vienna

"Practices of Diplomacy in the Early Modern World" offers a new contribution to the ongoing reassessment of early modern international relations and diplomatic history. Divided into three parts, it provides an examination of diplomatic culture from the Renaissance into the eighteenth century and presents the development of diplomatic practices as more complex, multifarious and globally interconnected than the traditional state-focussed, national paradigm allows. The volume addresses three central and intertwined themes within early modern diplomacy: who and what could claim diplomatic agency and in what circumstances; the social and cultural contexts in which diplomacy was practised; and the role of material culture in diplomatic exchange. Together the chapters provide a broad geographical and chronological presentation of the development of diplomatic practices and, through a strong focus on the processes and significance of cultural exchanges between polities, demonstrate how it was possible for diplomats to negotiate the cultural codes of the courts to which they were sent

Lazarets Never Aimed to Stop Circulations

‘Lazarets never aimed to stop circulations’The history of lazarets lies at the crossroads between the history of circulations and that of pandemics. Initially built to isolate and treat plague patients, they were then closely associated with the economic development of the early modern European states, and ensured the development of safe circulation in the Mediterranean and Central Europe. Here, through the example of the lazaret of Trieste, we can also understand that a lazaret was a micropolis, and the social and cultural importance of such micropolis for the city, the history, and the memory of Trieste. This history is also that of an empire, of its governance and of the many actors operating at the local, regional and global levels, despite an ever-present pandemic risk. [...

A Social History of Trans-Imperial Diplomacy in a Crisis Context: Herbert von Rathkeal's Circles of Belonging in Pera, 1779–1802

This article explores the multiple circles of diplomatic agents and their social belonging in the context of the international crisis in late eighteenth-century Istanbul, drawing upon the private papers of the imperial internuncio at Pera between 1779 and 1802. The son of an Irish Jacobite supporter who became a Jesuit and then a radical reformer in Vienna, Peter Herbert von Rathkeal was also a member of the Pera society in which he was born and raised. An agent of one of the most influential trans-imperial households established in Friuli, and a member of the Austrian and British nobilities, Herbert sought to become an eminent actor of the Ottoman diplomatic scene while remaining the patron of a cosmopolitan commercial-cum-political clientele. To study Herbert's actions is to question the model of diplomatie de type ancien in a cross-cultural and fast-changing context of crisis. Despite the collapse of the old diplomatic order with the breakdown of the French Revolution, and despite rising tensions generated by the increasingly sensitive ‘Eastern Question’, this article reveals how Herbert von Rathkeal managed to maintain a certain stability in Istanbul due to the economic and social resources, which his different circles of belonging opened up for him