Higher education and unemployment in Europe : an analysis of the academic subject and national effects

This paper examines the impact of an academic degree and field of study on short and long-term unemployment across Europe (EU15). Labour Force Survey (LFS) data on over half a million individuals are utilised for that purpose. The harmonized LFS classification of level of education and field of study overcomes past problems of comparability across Europe. The study analyses (i) the effect of an academic degree at a European level, (ii) the specific effect of 14 academic subjects and (iii) country specific effects. The results indicate that an academic degree is more effective on reducing the likelihood of short-term than long-term unemployment. This general pattern even though it is observed for most of the academic subjects its levels show significant variation across disciplines and countries

Bayesian Generalized Probability Calculus for Density Matrices

One of the main concepts in quantum physics is a density matrix, which is a symmetric positive definite matrix of trace one. Finite probability distributions can be seen as a special case when the density matrix is restricted to be diagonal. We develop a probability calculus based on these more general distributions that includes definitions of joints, conditionals and formulas that relate these, including analogs of the Theorem of Total Probability and various Bayes rules for the calculation of posterior density matrices. The resulting calculus parallels the familiar "conventional" probability calculus and always retains the latter as a special case when all matrices are diagonal. We motivate both the conventional and the generalized Bayes rule with a minimum relative entropy principle, where the Kullbach-Leibler version gives the conventional Bayes rule and Umegaki's quantum relative entropy the new Bayes rule for density matrices. Whereas the conventional Bayesian methods maintain uncertainty about which model has the highest data likelihood, the generalization maintains uncertainty about which unit direction has the largest variance. Surprisingly the bounds also generalize: as in the conventional setting we upper bound the negative log likelihood of the data by the negative log likelihood of the MAP estimator

Experience of a Preventive Experiment : Spatial Social Mixing in Post-World War II Housing Estates in Helsinki, Finland

The contingent of large housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s accounts for almost a half of all high-rises in Finland. The primary ideology in their genesis was to combine industrially prefabricated urban housing development with the surrounding forest landscape—together with a policy of spatial social mixing—to prevent social disorder and segregation. These policies seemed to work as intended until the early 1990s, but have since proved to be insufficient. With Western integration and new information and communication-based economic growth, new trends of population differentiation have emerged. As new wealth has moved out to the fringes of cities, the large housing estates have declined socio-economically—and have been enriched ethnically. This differentiation is structurally produced, works through the regional housing market and, as such, is beyond the scope of the preventive policies pursued. Recent attempts at controlling the regional markets and new forms of spatial social mixing have so far proved difficult.The contingent of large housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s accounts for almost a half of all high-rises in Finland. The primary ideology in their genesis was to combine industrially prefabricated urban housing development with the surrounding forest landscape—together with a policy of spatial social mixing—to prevent social disorder and segregation. These policies seemed to work as intended until the early 1990s, but have since proved to be insufficient. With Western integration and new information and communication-based economic growth, new trends of population differentiation have emerged. As new wealth has moved out to the fringes of cities, the large housing estates have declined socio-economically—and have been enriched ethnically. This differentiation is structurally produced, works through the regional housing market and, as such, is beyond the scope of the preventive policies pursued. Recent attempts at controlling the regional markets and new forms of spatial social mixing have so far proved difficult.Peer reviewe

Heinäveden reitillä merkittyjen taimenten ja järvilohien vaellukset, kasvu ja pyynti vuosina 2009–2022

Taimenen ja järvilohen vaellusten pituutta ja suuntaa, pyyntikokoa, kasvua ja pyyntimenetelmiä selvitettiin pyydystämällä vesistöistä 501 taimenta ja 30 järvilohta ja merkitsemällä ne t-ankkurimerkeillä Heinäveden reitillä Vuoksen päävesistöalueella vuosina 2009–2019. Kalat pyydystettiin merkintään virtavesiltä vapavälineillä ja verkolla ja järviltä vapavälineillä. Taimenten merkintäpituuden keskiarvo ja vaihteluväli olivat 40 ja 15–79 cm ja järvilohen vastaavasti 54 ja 20–88 cm. Taimenista arviolta 50–90 % oli luonnossa syntyneitä, järvilohista mahdollisesti muutama. Lisäksi Heinäveden koskiin istutettiin 1821 ankkurimerkittyä 2-vuotiasta taimenta vuosina 2012–2017 ja Kermajärvelle 727 ankkurimerkittyä 2-vuotiasta järvilohta vuonna 2012. Tulokset perustuvat vapaa-ajankalastajilta saatuihin merkkipalautuksiin ja -havaintoihin. Virtavesillä merkityistä 487 taimenesta saatiin 66 palautusta merkintävirtavesiltä ennen kalojen mahdollista järvivaellusta, 16 palautusta järviltä, 7 palautusta toisesta koskesta järven toiselta puolelta ylä- tai alavirrasta sekä 8 palautusta merkintäkoskista mahdollisesti järvivaelluksen tehneinä. Järvillä merkityt 14 taimenta tuottivat 4 palautusta järviltä ja 1 palautuksen koskilta. Merkityistä istukkaista saapui vain 14 palautusta. Järvilohista saatiin 6 palautusta järviltä ja 1 palautus koskilta. Virtavesillä merkittyjen ja järviltä pyydettyjen taimenien lähtöpituuden vaihteluväli oli ainakin 29–77, mutta mahdollisesti 21–86 cm. Virtavesillä merkittyjen taimenten pyyntipituuden keskiarvo ja vaihteluväli olivat 53 ja 29–86 cm, järvillä merkittyjen taimenten 56 ja 50–70 cm, merkittyjen taimenistukkaiden 42 ja 23–69 cm, järvillä ja virtavesillä merkittyjen järvilohien 54 ja 45–73 cm sekä merkittyjen järvilohi-istukkai-den 53 ja 40–76 cm. Virtavesillä merkittyjen taimenten merkinnän ja pyynnin välinen pituuskasvu ja ajanjakso olivat keskimäärin 8 cm ja 415 vrk. Pituuskasvu ja ajanjakso olivat keskimäärin sitä pienempiä mitä suurempana kala oli merkitty. Pituuskasvun keskiarvo oli vain 6 ja 3 cm merkintäpituusluokissa 40–56,9 cm ja ≥57 cm. Koskista järvivaellukselle lähteneistä taimenista saatiin 11 palautusta ylävirran ja 12 palautusta alavirran puoleisilta järviltä. Vaellusmatka merkintäkosken niskalta tai alareunalta pyyntipaikalle suorinta vesireittiä pitkin oli keskimäärin 19 kilometriä. Pisimmät vaellukset olivat 139 km ylävirtaan ja 56 km alavirtaan. Taimenen kaikkien merkintäryhmien merkkipalautuksissa saaliksi otetuista kaloista pyydystettiin verkolla ja vavalla 87 ja 13 %. Järvilohella vastaavat osuudet olivat toisinpäin, 27 ja 73 %. Järviltä saatujen merkkipalautusten perusteella villin järvitaimenen ja järvilohen elinkierron toteutuminen järvivaelluksella oli todennäköisesti niukkaa tutkimusjaksolla Heinäveden reitillä ja Vuoksen päävesistön läntisessä osassa. Kalastuskuolevuus järvillä oli todennäköisesti suuri lajien elinkiertoon suhteutettuna

Beta diversity patterns reveal positive effects of farmland abandonment on moth communities

Farmland abandonment and the accompanying natural succession are largely perceived as unwanted amongst many European conservationists due to alleged negative effects on biodiversity levels. Here, we test this assumption by analysing alpha, beta and gamma diversity patterns of macro-moth communities in habitats on an ecological succession gradient, from extensively managed meadows to scrub-encroached and wooded sites. Macro-moths were light-trapped at 84 fixed circular sampling sites arranged in a semi-nested design within the National Park of Peneda-Gerês, NW-Portugal. In total, we sampled 22825 individuals belonging to 378 species. Alpha, beta and gamma diversity patterns suggest that farmland abandonment is likely to positively affect both overall macro-moth diversity and forest macro-moth diversity, and to negatively affect species diversity of non-forest macro-moth species. Our results also show that spatial habitat heterogeneity is important to maintain gamma diversity of macromoths, especially for rare non-forest species and habitat specialistsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio