Suchergebnisse

Tourism is an important part of rural policies in European countries. An increased demand for rural amenities is seen as creating a more diversified labour market and contributing to the restructuring of the economy, from primary sectors and manufacturing to a more service-oriented economy, which has been termed a "new rural economy". As a result, and as often presented in many policy documents, tourism is now seen as a universal tool for rural development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the distribution of public spending on tourism in rural areas in Sweden. It focuses on public spending on the main programme for rural development, the Swedish rural development programme, but also on the regional structural funds programmes, from 2000 to 2013. Another subject of interest is how policy makers understand rural tourism as presented in policy documents since these documents, to a great extent, direct programme spending in terms of projects and their content. This study is based on register data on programme spending, policy documents and programme evaluation reports. Results show that a relatively small amount of total public spending targets tourism – mainly going to accommodation, activities and marketing efforts – indicating that tourism is still not a prioritised area despite policy makers' understanding of rural tourism as expressed in policy documents. Thus, although public efforts target adequate parts of the tourism industry, they cannot be expected to contribute significantly to the restructuring of the rural economy.

Although essential to professional competence in psychology, quantitative research methods are a known area of weakness for many undergraduate psychology students. Students find selecting appropriate statistical tests and procedures for different types of research questions, hypotheses and data types particularly challenging, and these skills are not often practiced in class. Decision trees (a type of graphic organizer) are known to facilitate this decision making process, but extant trees have a number of limitations. Furthermore, emerging research suggests that mobile technologies offer many possibilities for facilitating learning. It is within this context that we have developed StatHand, a free cross-platform application designed to support students' statistical decision making. Developed with the support of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, StatHand guides users through a series of simple, annotated questions to help them identify a statistical test or procedure appropriate to their circumstances. It further offers the guidance necessary to run these tests and procedures, then interpret and report their results. In this Technology Report we will overview the rationale behind StatHand, before describing the feature set of the application. We will then provide guidelines for integrating StatHand into the research methods curriculum, before concluding by outlining our road map for the ongoing development and evaluation of StatHand.

The paper is written on the basis of a rare type of sources: and statistical blanks and questionnaires prisoners of Irkutsk provincial prison in 1920, the analysis of the sources content allows understanding who became enemies of the Soviet government immediately after the defeat of the White movement. ; Статья написана на основе редкого вида источников – статистических листков и анкет заключенных Иркутской губернской тюрьмы в 1920 г. Анализ содержания источников позволяет судить о том, кто стал врагом советской власти сразу после поражения белого движения.

The problematic issues of latent corruption crime detection are examined in the article. It is stated that corruption has a negative impact practically on all the spheres of life. The importance of this research is emphasized in the view of extremely high level of this kind of crime latency which creates great problems with its combating.The main methods of this issue examination are analyzed. They are the following: sociological methods, method of expert estimates, method of documents analysis, polygraph usage, methods used by organizations combating corruption, analysis of information published in mass-media etc. Advantages and disadvantages of the described methods are named. Thus, the main advantages of surveys lay in the possibility to find out the information on the exact problem by choosing respective questions, receiving the information directly from the perpetrators and victims of corruption crime and some other. Among the disadvantages of this method are the following: possibility to count the same crime twice, probability that the respondent has forgotten about some facts of corruption crime or does not actually understand what the corruption crime is etc. One more very important method of research is expert estimates method that also has its pros and cons. Methods used by the Transparency International (international organization monitoring and publicizing corporate and political corruption in international development) in order to define Corruption Perception Index are named. It is stated that documents analysis method is used in order to define the indices of artificial latency of corruption crime. The use of method of indirect indices in order to detect corruption crime has been described as the comparison of the income achieved by the officials and their expenses.The ways of improving the use of the mentioned methods are offered. They include inter alia applying surveys within the whole country among different groups of population, wide use of the Internet and mass-media to detect corruption crimes, periodic use of polygraph to check the commission of corruption crimes by state and local self-government officials etc.It has been established that the most effective methods of detecting corruption crime are surveys and expert estimates. It has been concluded that the most precise idea on the real indices of latent corruption crime can be made only on the basis of the complex use of different methods and comparison of the achieved results.The effects of such methods usage are enumerated. It is emphasized that the list of methods described in the article is not exhaustive. ; Досліджено проблемні питання виявлення латентної корупційної злочинності. Наголошено на важливості вивчення цього питання з огляду на надзвичайно високий рівень латентності названого виду злочинності, що створює значні проблеми у боротьбі із нею. Проаналізовано окремі методи, які застосовують у процесі вивчення вказаного питання, а саме: соціологічні методи, метод експертних оцінок, метод аналізу документів, використання поліграфа, методи, які використовують організації, що досліджують питання корупції, та інші. Зазначено, що перелік таких методів є невичерпним. Встановлено окремі переваги та недоліки згаданих методів. Запропоновано шляхи підвищення ефективності використання даних методів (застосування опитувань у межах усієї країни серед різних груп населення, широке використання мережі Інтернет та ЗМІ для виявлення корупційних злочинів, періодичне застосування поліграфа для перевірки вчинення корупційних злочинів держав­ними службовцями та посадовими особами місцевого самоврядування тощо). Встановлено, що найдієвішими є метод опитування та метод експертних оцінок. Зроблено висновки, що найточніше уявлення про реальні показники латентної корупційної злочинності може дати лише комплексне застосування різних методів та співставлення отриманих результатів.

Die vorliegende Datenbank ist im Rahmen eines bevölkerungsbiologischen Forschungsvorhabens entstanden. Eine wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgruppe beschäftigte sich mit dem Zusammenhang von genetischer und kultureller Reproduktion am Beispiel der Krummhörner Bevölkerung des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts. Datengrundlage des Vorhabens sind die in den Kirchenregistern enthaltenen Lebenslauf-Einträge. Diese wurden nach bestimmten Gesichtspunkten systematisch erhoben und nach der Methode der ´Familienrekonstitution´ genealogisch geordnet. Im Vordergrund der Bemühungen stehen die Identifizierung der Personen und die möglichst vollständige vitalstatistische Beschreibung ihrer Lebensläufe. Flankiert werden die Daten durch Angaben zu den sozialen Hintergründen der Familien, wie sie aus den Steuerlisten erhoben werden.

Die Einzeldaten aus den Kirchenbüchern sind familienzentriert in strukturellen Einheiten (den ´Fällen´) zusammengefasst. Jeder ´Fall´ ist in zwei Ebenen gegliedert. Die erste Ebene enthält die Identifikation und Beschreibung des Falls sowie die Angaben zum Mann und zur Frau dieses Falls, also typischerweise zum Vater und zur Mutter einer Kernfamilie. Diese Angaben sind in der so genannten Familientabelle gespeichert. Die zweite Ebene enthält Angaben zu den Kindern (falls vorhanden). Diese sind in der Kindertabelle enthalten.

I. Familientabelle (Ebene 1):

Familien-ID; Fallangabe (Copulation - Heirat, Proklamation, Verlobung, illegitime Verbindung); Falldatum (Heiratsdatum bzw. Datum der Proklamation); Ort der Eheschließung; andere Proklamationsorte als der Ort der Eheschließung; Sozialgruppenzugehörigkeit (beruhend auf Berufs- und Ehrenbezeichnungen); größter jemals dokumentierter Landbesitz (in grasen); Vorname(n) des Mannes und der Frau; Zwischen- und Nachnamen des Mannes und der Frau; individuelle ID des Mannes und der Frau; Geburtsdatum des Mannes und der Frau; Kommentar zur Geburtsangabe des Mannes und der Frau; Geburtsort bzw. Taufort des Mannes und der Frau; Taufort des Mannes und der Frau, wenn vom Geburtsort verschieden; Familien-ID der Herkunftsfamilie des Mannes und der Frau; Ordnungszahl der Ehe bei Mehrfachehen; Gesamtzahl aller bekannten Ehen des Mannes und der Frau; Familien-ID von bis zu vier weiteren Ehen des Mannes bzw. der Frau; Berufe des Mannes und der Frau; Sterbedatum des Mannes und der Frau (hilfsweise das Begräbnisdatum); Kommentar zur Todesangabe des Mannes und der Frau; Sterbeort bzw. Begräbnisort des Mannes und der Frau; Begräbnisort des Mannes und der Frau, wenn vom Sterbeort verschieden.

II. Kindertabelle (Ebene 2):

Familien-ID, individuelle ID der Person; Geschlecht des Kindes; Vorname(n) des Kindes, Zwischen- und Nachnamen des Kindes; Geburtsdatum des Kindes; Kommentar zur Geburtsangabe des Kindes; Geburtsort bzw. Taufort des Kindes; Taufort des Kindes, wenn vom Geburtsort verschieden; Familien-ID von bis zu fünf gegründeten Familien; Sterbedatum des Kindes; Kommentar zur Todesangabe des Kindes; Sterbeort bzw. Begräbnisort des Kindes; Begräbnisort des Kindes, wenn vom Sterbeort verschieden; Berufe des Kindes.

This thesis is concerned with specifying and estimating multivariate models in discrete data settings. The models are applied to several empirical applications with an emphasis in banking and monetary history. The approaches presented here are of central importance in model evaluation, policy analysis, and prediction.The first chapter develops a framework for estimating multivariate treatment effect models in the presence of sample selection. The methodology deals with several important issues prevalent in program evaluation, including non-random treatment assignment, endogeneity, and discrete outcomes. The framework is applied to evaluate the effectiveness of bank recapitalization programs and their ability to resuscitate the financial system. This paper presents a novel bank-level data set and employs the new methodology to jointly model a bank's decision to apply for assistance, the central bank's decision to approve or decline the assistance, and the bank's performance. The article offers practical estimation tools to unveil new answers to important regulatory and government intervention questions.The second chapter examines an important but often overlooked obstacle in multivariate discrete data models which is the proper specification of endogenous covariates. Endogeneity can be modeled as latent or observed, representing competing hypotheses about the outcomes of interest. This paper highlights the use of existing Bayesian model comparison techniques to understand the nature of endogeneity. Consideration of both observed and latent modeling approaches is emphasized in two empirical applications. The first application examines linkages for banking contagion and the second application evaluates the impact of education on socioeconomic outcomes.The third chapter, which is joint work with Professor Ivan Jeliazkov, studies the formulation of the likelihood function for simultaneous equation models for discrete data. The approach rests on casting the required distribution as the invariant distribution of a suitably defined Markov chain. The derivation resolves puzzling paradoxes highlighted in earlier work, shows that such models are theoretically coherent, and offers simple and intuitive linkages to the better understood analysis of continuous outcomes. The new methodology is employed in two applications involving simultaneous equation models of (i) female labor supply and family financial stability, and (ii) the interactions between health and wealth.

Visuals play a vital role in human communication in the modern media landscape, but there have been little progress on a systematic analysis on massive visual data. In this dissertation, I introduce a novel computational paradigm that brings advanced techniques in computer vision and machine learning to bear on research questions in media studies and social science. I first examine how the news media leverage photographs to visually persuade their audiences. I developed a computational model that can predict the viewers' emotional perceptions from politicians' photographs in the mass media by inferring hidden messages and communicative intents embodied in images. I applied the model to track the visual favorability of the U.S. President in the mass media, revealing strong correlations between the visuals from the mass media and the public opinion. Secondly, I investigate the role of facial appearance in social perception and trait inference and its impacts to real-world social events such as elections. The result shows that the automated trait recognition from the facial appearance of politicians predicts the major election outcomes in the U.S. up to 70% accuracy. These approaches extend existing theories and behavioral studies to large-scale analysis, demonstrate the utility of computer vision and machine learning as novel research tools in computational communication science, and suggest a new area of research for computer vision, which goes beyond traditional syntactical scene understanding.

Since its independence until today the Republic of Macedonia aims to reforms aimed at building a democratic society based on the principles of rule of law and market economy. In that plan the Republic of Macedonia has made a series of reforms in 2005 resulted in obtaining candidate status for EU membership, without setting a date for starting negotiations. Not setting a date for talks indicates that Macedonia still has not reached the level to fully meet the Copenhagen criteria. In this context speak European reports published by the European Commission which particularly highlight the problem of corruption. This paper will focus on the effectiveness of the institutions of the system in the fight against corruption with emphasis on corrupt offenses provided in chapter 30 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia.

Рассматривается возможность применения количественных методов для определения лексических репрезентантов текстового концепта и их связи с идеологическим содержанием текста. На примере анализа заявления Испании по вопросу о самопровозглашении независимости Косово авторы анализируют семантические параметры концепта «суверенитет». Используемая методика основана на учете частотности как прямых, так и косвенных лексических репрезентанов концепта, а также их качественной семантической оценки. ; The article explores the potential of statistical approaches for the retrieval of lexical representatives of a textual concept as well as for the study of their correlations with the ideological content of the text. Based on Michael Freeden's concept-oriented theory of ideology, the authors suggest to study the lexical representation of the concept "sovereignty" in the statements on the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo presented to the International Court of Justice, which implicitly reflect the ideological orientations of 37 countries as for the idea of sovereignty and its status in the international law. To do this, the authors calculate the frequency of both direct and indirect representatives of the concept within the statements made by 37 countries. This analysis shows that the frequency of words which can be regarded as potential representatives of the concept in question is three times higher in the texts of countries opposing Kosovo's independence than of those supporting it, this reveals the "argumentative potential" of the concept in the discussion on Kosovo's independence. The statement made by Spain, strongly opposed to the idea of the independence of Kosovo, has the highest number of words potentially representing the concept "sovereignty". The authors then proceed to the statistical analysis of collocations in Spain's statement which leads to retrieve the indirect representatives of the concept in question relevant for the particular text. These are: territorial integrity, political unity and independence (only nouns or combinations of nouns and adjectives were retained). Obviously, they correspond to the various aspects of sovereignty as defended by Spain. Besides these representatives, the authors analyze two statistically specific units: autonomy and border control. The authors show that the uniqueness of border control in the statement of Spain reflects the peripheral character of the corresponding meaning in the structure of the studied concept, while the qualitative analysis of autonomy reveals that it reflects the meaning opposing the idea of independence (autonomy is suggested as an alternative to independence) and cannot be considered as a representative of the concept "sovereignty" in this particular text. The authors conclude that the statistical methods and the techniques of automatic treatment of texts can be useful for the preliminary lexical and semantic analysis of political concepts as reflected in ideologically non-neutral texts.