scholarly journals Sustainable sanitation from a multi-layered approach: the case of Costa Rica

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Calvo Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
National Level ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Joint Production ◽  
Environmental Sanitation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Sustainable Environment ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

The purpose of this article is to present the case of Costa Rica in its recent efforts to achieve sustainable environmental sanitation. Mainly, it is based on a theoretical framework that integrates the notion of environmental sanitation practices at multiple levels: the macro level (environmental and social policies), and at the micro level (community actions and individual daily practices). The context of Costa Rica is taken into account, since it presents an interesting case study in terms of environmental sanitation. On the one hand, it is a country widely recognized for its ecological policies framed within a "green agenda", with high social development indexes. However; on the other hand, it faces increasingly greater challenges in terms of sanitation planning, inter-institutional coordination, legislation, financing and maintenance of current sanitation systems.This article takes up some results of the author's doctorate study, which conducted a mixed-methods approach. The qualitative data were obtained from in-depth interviews with national authorities, locals, community leaders, and heads of households. The quantitative data were obtained from the application of a survey in three different communities with rural, urban, and semi-urban characteristics. At the national level, the main result is a paradigm shift in the conception of health, where the joint production of healthy environments should be paramount, within the framework of the right to live in a healthy and sustainable environment. At the community level, local efforts to protect their natural resources for tourism or productive purposes are highlighted, and at the individual level a mixture of reactive and proactive daily practices is found.

scholarly journals Pro-Environmental Behavior in an Aging World: Evidence from 31 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1748
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Feng Hao ◽  
Yunxia Liu
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Environmental Behavior ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Individual

Population change and environmental degradation have become two of the most pressing issues for sustainable development in the contemporary world, while the effect of population aging on pro-environmental behavior remains controversial. In this paper, we examine the effects of individual and population aging on pro-environmental behavior through multilevel analyses of cross-national data from 31 countries. Hierarchical linear models with random intercepts are employed to analyze the data. The findings reveal a positive relationship between aging and pro-environmental behavior. At the individual level, older people are more likely to participate in environmental behavior (b = 0.052, p < 0.001), and at the national level, living in a country with a greater share of older persons encourages individuals to behave sustainably (b = 0.023, p < 0.01). We also found that the elderly are more environmentally active in an aging society. The findings imply that the longevity of human beings may offer opportunities for the improvement of the natural environment.

The Villa Item and a Bride's Ordeal

1929 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Toynbee
Keyword(s):  
The South ◽  
Important Paper ◽  
The North ◽  
Dwelling House ◽  
South Wall ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
North Wall ◽  
The Right

The paintings in the triclinium of the Villa Item, a dwelling-house excavated in 1909 outside the Porta Ercolanese at Pompeii, have not only often been published and discussed by foreign scholars, but they have also formed the subject of an important paper in this Journal. The artistic qualities of the paintings have been ably set forth: it has been established beyond all doubt that the subject they depict is some form of Dionysiac initiation: and, of the detailed interpretations of the first seven of the individual scenes, those originally put forward by de Petra and accepted, modified or developed by Mrs. Tillyard appear, so far as they go, to be unquestionably on the right lines. A fresh study of the Villa Item frescoes would seem, however, to be justified by the fact that the majority of previous writers have confined their attention almost entirely to the first seven scenes—the three to the east of the entrance on the north wall (fig. 3), the three on the east wall and the one to the east of the window on the south wall, to which the last figure on the east wall, the winged figure with the whip, undoubtedly belongs.

Does Sophistication Affect Electoral Outcomes?

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Rapeli
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Citizen Competence ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Sociodemographic Determinants ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

It is widely assumed that a representative democracy requires an enlightened citizenry in order to function properly. The competence of citizens has been studied extensively and the sociodemographic determinants of political sophistication are particularly well known. Much less is known about whether and how citizen competence affects electoral behaviour and outcomes. This article reviews the existing literature on these topics. Despite the widespread consensus that, generally speaking, citizen competence matters for electoral outcomes, the review produced a mixed result: some studies suggest that the political left would benefit from a better-informed electorate, while other studies suggest the opposite. Although the majoritarian electoral context is overrepresented in the evidence, the review shows that at the individual level, political knowledge greatly increases a person’s ability to match personal preferences with the right candidate or party in an election. The article also identifies several gaps in existing knowledge, thereby suggesting future research questions.

Learning to Solve a Business Problem: ‘Hands-on’ Can Get Results

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 465-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Neeson ◽  
Leo Billington ◽  
Rowena Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Business Owner ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Small Business Owner ◽  
Business Training ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Small Business Training ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Small business training can facilitate business growth. The authors show that a ‘hands-on’ approach can have a direct impact on a business owner's current situation. They consider this in relation to the problem of being unable to find the right staff, demonstrating that a programme such as the one they describe enables learning and addresses the lack of time and resources faced by many small business owner-managers. Such programmes also accommodate the style, pace and circumstances of the individual learner. This has a number of implications for the delivery of training to small business owner-managers.

scholarly journals Changes And New Constraints In The Competition Rules Enforcement Due To Accession: The Perception Of The Romanian Companies

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Mihaela Dima
Keyword(s):  
Competition Policy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Free Market ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Competition Rules ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

Many times, in the attempt to win or to maintain an advantageous position on the market, the economic agent will use a whole arsenal of practices (inclusively and mostly from the marketing field), most of them anticompetitive, with a negative impact on the business environment, which also affects the well-being of the consumer. The policy in the field of competition is the one that defines these types of behaviour and penalizes them depending on the importance of their negative impact, by creating a complex and coherent legislative and institutional mechanism. The right enforcement of the competition policy at the national level is the key in this process, but this should be coordinated with the regional and international objectives and regulations in this field. Romania is facing a double challenge: on the one side, it had to set up a competition policy, which was almost ignored before the90s, on the other side, it had to comply, recently, with high standards in the field, as an EU candidate. Now, as a member state, the promotion of a competition culture becomes a must, along with the design of an adequate system of information and knowledge dissemination for all of those involved. The paper is based on a original and qualitative research and aims at emphasising the increased necessity of the promotion of a competition culture for the competitiveness of the Romanian business environment on the European level in the new context of accession. This will help Romanian business to face the competition challenges within a more extended single European market, as an essential issue of the free market economy status recently granted, and accordingly to the most important EU objectives set up at Lisabon to become the most competitive economy in the world up to 2010.

Economic Crisis, Incumbent Performance and Regime Support: A Comparison of Longitudinal Data from West Germany and Costa Rica

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Finkel ◽  
Edward N. Muller ◽  
Mitchell A. Seligson
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Regime Support

While much is known about the effects of the economy on the popularity and electoral fortunes of political leaders, political scientists know very little about how economic decline and political performance influence support for the political regime and the stability of democratic systems. We use three cross-national longitudinal surveys to address this issue: two collected in Costa Rica in the midst of a severe economic crisis in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and one in West Germany during the recession of the mid-1970s. We show that in both countries, overall support for the political regime remained extremely high during the economic decline, while satisfaction with incumbent performance fluctuated much more sharply. Moreover, at the individual level, changes in satisfaction with incumbent performance were only weakly related to changes in regime support. These results provide strong evidence suggesting that if democracies enter economic downturns with initially high levels of regime support, they will be able to withstand even severe, prolonged crises of economic performance.

scholarly journals Public support for the right to euthanasia: Impact of traditional religiosity and autonomy values across 37 nations

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maksim Rudnev ◽  
Aleksandra Savelkaeva
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
Independent Effect ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
Moral Attitudes

This article takes a postmodernization perspective on support for the right to euthanasia by treating it as an expression of a process of value change, as a preference for quality over quantity of life. Using the data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, this study attempts to answer the question of whether the mass support for the right to euthanasia is an expression of autonomy values rather than just a function of a low religiosity. Multilevel regressions demonstrate that both traditional religiosity and autonomy values have a high impact at the individual level, while at the country level only the effects of traditional religiosity are significant. Autonomy values have stronger association with attitudes to euthanasia in countries with higher levels of postmaterialism. Multilevel path analysis demonstrates that the effect of religiosity is partially and weakly mediated by the values of autonomy at both levels. Although religiosity was found to have a much stronger impact, the independent effect of autonomy values suggests that mass support for the right to euthanasia is a value-driven preference for quality over quantity of life. We conclude by suggesting that the fall in traditional religiosity might emphasize the role of values in moral attitudes regulation.

scholarly journals Creativity Versus Innovativeness: Exploring the Differences between the Two Constructs May Lead to Greater Innovation in Large Firms

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cocco ◽  
Majdi Quttainah
Keyword(s):  
Motivational Orientation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Sustained Competitive Advantage ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Study Support ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

<p>Several individuals from top management seem to be confused about the difference between creativity and innovativeness. Amabile (1997) suggests that while innovation begins with creative ideas, creativity by individuals and teams is only a starting point for innovation. Individual creativity is necessary but not sufficient to yield breakthrough innovation in organizations. This can sometimes cause confusion in employee development efforts and actions taken by management. Companies often look for ways to hire and retain creative employees and at the same time they are also interested in establishing a creative environment for knowledge workers… but should creativity be the primary focus? These firms hope that creativity enhancing steps will eventually lead to greater innovation and therefore help it to achieve sustained competitive advantage. This paper attempts to demonstrate that there are potentially other dimensions beyond creativity related to innovativeness, which should be considered at the individual level in order to foster innovation in firms. Empirical results in this study support the idea that intrinsic motivational orientation, sociability and political astuteness are enhancers to employee innovativeness while perfection seeking behavior detracts employee innovativeness. These findings may serve to extend Amabile’s (1997) componential framework to center on the “innovativeness” construct versus creativity to help explain how firms need to hire, cultivate and retain the right talent.</p>

Is mediation the preferred procedure in labour dispute resolution systems? Evidence from employer–employee matched data in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaojiao Feng ◽  
Pengxin Xie
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
National Level ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Dispute ◽  
Structure Factors ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Matched Data ◽  
The Relationship

This study explores procedural preferences in the historical development of labour dispute resolution systems at the national level and employees’ pre-experience preference to resolve disputes at the individual level. Drawing on two datasets – one from national public statistics and one from China’s employer–employee matched data – we find that mediation has fluctuated in its use and efficacy, and it has re-emerged as an important method to stabilize labour relations. Employees choose internal mediation only if they feel that the enterprise’s mediation committee is selected fairly. Organizational structure factors, such as the enterprise’s size and the effectiveness of the Staff and Workers Representative Congress, moderate the relationship between employees’ perceptions of justice and procedural preferences. This study contributes to the dispute resolution literature by highlighting the interactions between individual perceptions of justice and organizational factors of procedural preference. Additionally, practical implications are offered to aid in the design of dispute resolution systems and improve organizational justice.

Definiteness in written Swedish by Finnish-speaking immersion pupils at the end of immersion

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-84
Author(s):  
Eeva-Liisa Nyqvist
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Definite Form ◽  
Spontaneous Writing ◽  
Acquisition Order ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
Better Than

Abstract There are two primary goals for this study – first, to analyse definiteness and article use in spontaneous writing in Swedish by 15-year-old Finnish immersion students (n = 162) and secondly, to compare their performance with that of non-immersion students at the same age (n = 67). Analyses at the group level show that immersion students usually perform significantly better than the control group, but they also reveal similar problems to what L2-Swedish non-immersion students have demonstrated in previous studies, such as omission of indefinite articles and difficulty in choosing the right definite form of the noun. Still, these inaccuracies occurred less often in the data from the immersion students. The studied constructions also show at the group level an acquisition order similar to that reported in previous studies, explainable by different aspects of complexity and cross-linguistic influence. Analyses on the individual level, however, show different acquisition orders depending on the criteria being used.

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