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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 June 2017

Gonzalo E. Sánchez

This paper aims to examine the short-term effect of the Arizona Immigration Law of 2010 (SB 1070) on the noncitizen Hispanic state population.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the short-term effect of the Arizona Immigration Law of 2010 (SB 1070) on the noncitizen Hispanic state population.

Design/methodology/approach

To get a consistent estimate of this effect, a synthetic control method has been used to calculate a suitable counterfactual.

Findings

Results indicate that this bill produced a statistically significant short-term reduction in the proportion of noncitizen Hispanics in Arizona between 10 and 15 per cent. However, the evidence suggests that this effect vanishes after a few months.

Originality/value

These findings are consistent with previous evidence of the high mobility of the undocumented population in the US, and contribute to the understanding of the effects of federal and state-level immigration legislation.

Propósito

Este artículo examina el efecto a corto plazo de la Ley de Inmigración de Arizona de 2010 (SB 1070) sobre la población hispana no ciudadana.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Para obtener una estimación consistente sobre este efecto, he utilizado un método de control sintético para calcular una hipótesis de contraste adecuada.

Hallazgos

Los resultados indican que este proyecto produjo una reducción a corto plazo estadísticamente significativa en la proporción de hispanos no ciudadanos en Arizona —entre el 10% y el 15%—. Sin embargo, la evidencia sugiere que este efecto desaparece después de unos meses.

Originalidad/valor

Estos hallazgos son consistentes con la evidencia previa de la alta movilidad de la población indocumentada en los Estados Unidos, y contribuyen a la comprensión de los efectos de la legislación de inmigración federal y estatal.

Palabras clave

Población hispana, Inmigración ilegal, Control sintético

Tipo de artículo

Artículo de investigación

Details

Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, vol. 22 no. 42
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2077-1886

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 September 2019

Anders Fredriksson and Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira

This paper aims to present the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) method in an accessible language to a broad research audience from a variety of management-related fields.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) method in an accessible language to a broad research audience from a variety of management-related fields.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes the DiD method, starting with an intuitive explanation, goes through the main assumptions and the regression specification and covers the use of several robustness methods. Recurrent examples from the literature are used to illustrate the different concepts.

Findings

By providing an overview of the method, the authors cover the main issues involved when conducting DiD studies, including the fundamentals as well as some recent developments.

Originality/value

The paper can hopefully be of value to a broad range of management scholars interested in applying impact evaluation methods.

Details

RAUSP Management Journal, vol. 54 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2531-0488

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 July 2019

Ita Sulistyawati, Siet Sijtsema, Matthijs Dekker, Ruud Verkerk and Bea Steenbekkers

The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ health perception and demonstrate its relevance in product and process design in early stages of new product development.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ health perception and demonstrate its relevance in product and process design in early stages of new product development.

Design/methodology/approach

A dried mango was used as a case study involving three countries: Indonesia, China and the Netherlands. Data were collected from nine focus groups (n=53 participants) and were content-analysed to acquire in-depth insights.

Findings

Four themes of health perception emerged, namely, nutrition, naturalness, taste and well-being, which were all expressed on different levels of abstractness. Participants’ health perception of dried mango varied, it is related to the product category it is compared with, e.g. candy or fresh fruit, and the eating context, e.g. position in the diet either as a snack or a meal. In extension participants mentioned product and process characteristics. Application of the insights into product and process design was performed through iterative interactions between consumer scientists and food technologists. The development of two product concepts was elaborated to transform the insights into technical product and process specifications for a natural dried mango product.

Originality/value

This transformation suggests that iterative interactions are necessary to achieve relevant product and process characteristics in the simultaneous design of the technical product and process specifications based on consumer perceptions.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 121 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Alesandra de Araújo Benevides, Alan Oliveira Sousa, Daniel Tomaz de Sousa and Francisca Zilania Mariano

Adolescent pregnancy stands as a societal challenge, compelling young individuals to prematurely discontinue their education. Conversely, an expansion of high school education can…

Abstract

Purpose

Adolescent pregnancy stands as a societal challenge, compelling young individuals to prematurely discontinue their education. Conversely, an expansion of high school education can potentially diminish rates of adolescent pregnancy, given that educational attainment stands as the foremost risk factor influencing sexual initiation, the use of contraceptive methods during initial sexual encounters and fertility. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the implementation of the public educational policy introducing full-time schools (FTS) for high schools in the state of Ceará, Brazil, on early pregnancy rates.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the difference-in-differences method with multiple time periods, we measured the average effect of this staggered treatment on the treated municipalities.

Findings

The main result indicates a reduction of 0.849 percentage points in the teenage pregnancy rate. Concerning dynamic effects, the establishment of FTS in treated municipalities results in a 1.183–1.953 percentage point decrease in teenage pregnancy rates, depending on the timing of exposure. We explored heterogeneous effects within socioeconomically vulnerable municipalities, yet discerned no impact on this group. Rigorous tests confirm the robustness of the results.

Originality/value

This paper aims to contribute to: (1) the consolidation of research on the subject, given the absence of such research in Brazil to the best of our knowledge; (2) the advancement and analysis of evidence-based public policy and (3) the utilization of novel longitudinal data and methodology to evaluate adolescent pregnancy rates.

Details

EconomiA, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1517-7580

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 July 2019

Maria Dich Herold, Cecilia Rand and Vibeke Asmussen Frank

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a “holistic approach” is enacted in two interventions accommodating the same target group, young adults with offending behaviour and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a “holistic approach” is enacted in two interventions accommodating the same target group, young adults with offending behaviour and drug use experiences, but offered in very different contexts, the Prison Service and the community. The aim is to show how enactments of a “holistic approach”, although similar on paper, differ in welfare institutional practices due especially to organisational and structural conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews and written material from and about the two interventions.

Findings

Different enactments of a “holistic approach”, due to organisational and structural conditions of the interventions, construct different possibilities for institutional identities. These insights could be useful to take into consideration when discussing prevention initiatives (in a broad sense) for young people with complex problems, including co-occurring offending behaviour and drug use experience.

Originality/value

Research with a focus on citizens with complex problems who do not comply with OR conform to standard welfare institutions are limited. The authors contribute to this literature by focussing on young adults with offending behaviour and drug experiences.

Details

Drugs and Alcohol Today, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1745-9265

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 June 2017

Lizhen Cui, Xudong Zhao, Lei Liu, Han Yu and Yuan Miao

Allocation of complex crowdsourcing tasks, which typically include heterogeneous attributes such as value, difficulty, skill required, effort required and deadline, is still a…

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Abstract

Purpose

Allocation of complex crowdsourcing tasks, which typically include heterogeneous attributes such as value, difficulty, skill required, effort required and deadline, is still a challenging open problem. In recent years, agent-based crowdsourcing approaches focusing on recommendations or incentives have emerged to dynamically match workers with diverse characteristics to tasks to achieve high collective productivity. However, existing approaches are mostly designed based on expert knowledge grounded in well-established theoretical frameworks. They often fail to leverage on user-generated data to capture the complex interaction of crowdsourcing participants’ behaviours. This paper aims to address this challenge.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes a policy network plus reputation network (PNRN) approach which combines supervised learning and reinforcement learning to imitate human task allocation strategies which beat artificial intelligence strategies in this large-scale empirical study. The proposed approach incorporates a policy network for the selection of task allocation strategies and a reputation network for calculating the trends of worker reputation fluctuations. Then, by iteratively applying the policy network and reputation network, a multi-round allocation strategy is proposed.

Findings

PNRN has been trained and evaluated using a large-scale real human task allocation strategy data set derived from the Agile Manager game with close to 500,000 decision records from 1,144 players in over 9,000 game sessions. Extensive experiments demonstrate the validity and efficiency of computational complex crowdsourcing task allocation strategy learned from human participants.

Originality/value

The paper can give a better task allocation strategy in the crowdsourcing systems.

Details

International Journal of Crowd Science, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-7294

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 June 2019

Fiona W.L. Yip, Diane Zelman and Adrian Low

Research suggests that children in Hong Kong are at an elevated risk of emotional problems. Authoritarian parenting, a common parenting style in Hong Kong, is a critical factor…

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Abstract

Purpose

Research suggests that children in Hong Kong are at an elevated risk of emotional problems. Authoritarian parenting, a common parenting style in Hong Kong, is a critical factor associated with childhood mental health problems. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the 6As Positive Parenting Program (6As) in modifying parenting attitudes, reduction of parenting stress and increasing self-efficacy in positive parenting, among a sample of 82 Hong Kong parents. 6As focuses on prevention by instilling positive parenting beliefs and principles, thereby reducing reliance on authoritarian and related parenting styles.

Design/methodology/approach

The program was evaluated using a controlled pre-post-treatment design. Outcome measures were the Chinese Child-rearing Beliefs Questionnaire, Parental Stress Scale, Parenting Self-efficacy Scale and participant feedback. ANOVA and correlation were utilized to detect treatment effects and relationships between the degree of change among measures and subscales.

Findings

Relative to the control group, the 6As Positive Parenting Program significantly changed parents’ parenting attitudes, reduced parenting stress and increased self-efficacy in positive parenting. In sum, 97.6 percent of the participants agreed that the program is a good fit for the Hong Kong culture.

Research limitations/implications

A larger sample would have been desirable for this study. One factor that limited analyzable data was that some of the participating organizations enrolled participants into the program who did not meet research inclusion criteria. Furthermore, the size of groups varied from 5 to 16 participants, which may have produced different group dynamics that added variability to outcomes. Future 6As parenting program research should attempt to standardize group size or to directly compare the effectiveness of smaller vs larger groups. Furthermore, as noted earlier, the research was conducted during the primary school application period, which may have heightened the parenting stress for parents of younger children.

Practical implications

The results suggest that an enhanced belief in authoritative, autonomy and training strategies could reduce parental stress and shift parents’ attitude toward a more positive approach in child-rearing.

Social implications

There is considerable need for a holistically designed parenting training that is culturally credible and sensitive.

Originality/value

Findings suggest that positive parenting can enhance the parent–child relationship and reduce parental stress. The results support governmental, non-governmental organizational and community focus on positive practices for parenting training in Hong Kong.

Details

Public Administration and Policy, vol. 22 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1727-2645

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 January 2022

Pilar Beneito and Óscar Vicente-Chirivella

The autonomous governments of two regions in Spain established mobile bans in schools as of the year 2015. Exploiting the across-region variation introduced by such a…

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Abstract

Purpose

The autonomous governments of two regions in Spain established mobile bans in schools as of the year 2015. Exploiting the across-region variation introduced by such a quasi-natural experiment, this study aims to perform a comparative-case analysis to investigate the impact of this non-spending-based policy on regional Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in maths and sciences and bullying incidence.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply the synthetic control method and diff-in-diff estimation to compare the treated regions with the rest of regions in Spain before and after the intervention.

Findings

The results show noticeable reductions of bullying incidence among teenagers in the two treated regions. The authors also find positive and significant effects of this policy on the PISA scores of the Galicia region that are equivalent to 0.6–0.8 years of learning in maths and around 0.72 to near one year of learning in sciences.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first empirical study analysing the impact of mobile phone bans in schools on bullying cases, exploiting variation across regions (or other units), years and age intervals. Besides, the scarce formal evidence that exists on the consequences of the mobile phones use in students’ academic achievement comes from a micro perspective, while the paper serves as one more piece of evidence from a macro perspective.

Details

Applied Economic Analysis, vol. 30 no. 90
Type: Research Article
ISSN:

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 February 2011

John E. Berg

Depression is a usual comorbidity in patients with Parkinson's disease. It has been known for more than 50 years that electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) has a positive effect on…

Abstract

Depression is a usual comorbidity in patients with Parkinson's disease. It has been known for more than 50 years that electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) has a positive effect on the muscular symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Many countries do not allow giving ECT for this indication. We have recently treated a resident patient in an acute psychiatric facility referred to the hospital with moderate depressive symptoms and strong suicidal ideation. Before and after a series of ECT he filled out the Beck Depression Inventory and the Antonovsky Sense of Coherence test. The scores before ECT were 20 and 2.69, respectively, and after 12 treatments 14 and 3.38. Both test results indicate improvement regarding level of depression and coping in life. The physiotherapists treating him observed that his rigidity was reduced and his gait improved. Muscular tonus was reduced and increased his tendency of falling as he had less tonus in muscles close to joints. Self help efficiency in daily tasks improved. He got cognitive impairment during and in the weeks after ECT. Electroconvulsive treatment should be offered to more patients with Parkinson disease and depression in order to lessen the burden of both depression and Parkinson symptoms.

Details

Mental Illness, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2036-7465

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 January 2024

Adewale Allen Sokan-Adeaga, Godson R.E.E. Ana, Abel Olajide Olorunnisola, Micheal Ayodeji Sokan-Adeaga, Hridoy Roy, Md Sumon Reza and Md. Shahinoor Islam

This study aims to assess the effect of water variation on bioethanol production from cassava peels (CP) using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as the ethanologenic agent.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to assess the effect of water variation on bioethanol production from cassava peels (CP) using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as the ethanologenic agent.

Design/methodology/approach

The milled CP was divided into three treatment groups in a small-scale flask experiment where each 20 g CP was subjected to two-stage hydrolysis. Different amount of water was added to the fermentation process of CP. The fermented samples were collected every 24 h for various analyses.

Findings

The results of the fermentation revealed that the highest ethanol productivity and fermentation efficiency was obtained at 17.38 ± 0.30% and 0.139 ± 0.003 gL−1 h−1. The study affirmed that ethanol production was increased for the addition of water up to 35% for the CP hydrolysate process.

Practical implications

The finding of this study demonstrates that S. cerevisiae is the key player in industrial ethanol production among a variety of yeasts that produce ethanol through sugar fermentation. In order to design truly sustainable processes, it should be expanded to include a thorough analysis and the gradual scaling-up of this process to an industrial level.

Originality/value

This paper is an original research work dealing with bioethanol production from CP using S. cerevisiae microbe.

Highlights

  1. Hydrolysis of cassava peels using 13.1 M H2SO4 at 100 oC for 110 min gave high Glucose productivity

  2. Highest ethanol production was obtained at 72 h of fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae

  3. Optimal bioethanol concentration and yield were obtained at a hydration level of 35% agitation

  4. Highest ethanol productivity and fermentation efficiency were 17.3%, 0.139 g.L−1.h−1

Hydrolysis of cassava peels using 13.1 M H2SO4 at 100 oC for 110 min gave high Glucose productivity

Highest ethanol production was obtained at 72 h of fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Optimal bioethanol concentration and yield were obtained at a hydration level of 35% agitation

Highest ethanol productivity and fermentation efficiency were 17.3%, 0.139 g.L−1.h−1

Details

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-9899

Keywords

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