Regional Public Opinions on LGBTI People Equal Opportunities in Employment: Evidence from the Eurobarometer Programme using Small Area Estimation

In recent years, the attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people' rights from institutions, society and scientific bodies has clearly progressed. Although equal opportunities in employment are promoted within European countries and by the EU legislation, there are still evident discriminations in Europe. Many LGBTI people still face bullying and anti-LGBTI discrimination in the workplace and job market. Considerably more progress must be made before every LGBTI person feels accepted and comfortable for who they are in the workplace. Importantly, views on equal opportunities in employment are characterised by spatial heterogeneity at a sub-national level. Therefore, it is necessary to disaggregate estimates of relevant indicators, at least, at a regional level. This is crucial to identify the regions requiring more attention by policy makers. However, large-scale sample surveys are not designed to produce precise and accurate sub-national estimates. Small area estimation methods offer powerful tools in this context. Here, we produce regional estimates of three indicators measuring views of discrimination in employment of people from LGBTI communities in Europe. The analyses are based on the Eurobarometer 91.4 2019. Our empirical evidence shows that the estimates produced by small area estimation are reliable, giving important information to policy makers

Respiratory activity and microbiological aspects of minimally processed potatoes cultivars stored at different temperatures

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar aspectos fisiológicos e microbiológicos de diferentes cultivares de batatas minimamente processadas. Batatas das cultivares 'Ágata', 'Asterix' e 'Monalisa' foram selecionadas, classificadas, lavadas e descascadas por abrasão, sendo em seguida cortadas em cubos, sanitizadas e centrifugadas. Depois foram colocadas em frascos herméticos e armazenadas a 5, 15 e 25°C. Foram determinadas a atividade respiratória e a produção de etileno logo após o processamento e durante 10 horas. As análises microbiológicas foram realizadas no dia do processamento e após nove, cinco e um dia de conservação, a 5, 15 e 25°C, respectivamente. Observou-se que as batatas 'Asterix' apresentaram maiores taxas respiratórias em relação às cultivares 'Ágata' e 'Monalisa', independentemente da temperatura de armazenamento. Nas temperaturas de 15 e 25oC, as batatas 'Ágata' e 'Monalisa' apresentaram comportamentos semelhantes entre si. As contagens de bactérias psicrotróficas e coliformes totais, para todas as cultivares armazenadas 5oC, mantiveram-se dentro dos limites aceitáveis durante nove dias de armazenamento. Não foram detectados coliformes a 45°C e Salmonella. Ficou evidenciada a eficiência do armazenamento a 5°C no controle da atividade metabólica e na segurança microbiológica de batatas minimamente processadas.The purpose of the present research was to evaluate physiological and microbiological aspects of different minimally processed potatoes cultivars. Potatoes cultivar 'Agata', 'Asterix' and 'Monalisa' were selected, classified, washed and abrasion peeled before being diced, sanitized and centrifuged. They were then placed in hermetically closed flasks and stored at 5, 15 and 25°C. The respiratory activity and ethylene production were determined immediately after the processing and during 10 hours. Microbiological analyses were carried out on the processing day and after one, five and nine days of storage at 25, 15 and 5oC, respectively. Potatoes cv. 'Asterix' showed the highest respiratory rates when compared to potatoes cultivar 'Agata' and 'Monalisa', regardless of the storage temperature. Potatoes cv. 'Agata' and 'Monalisa' behaved similarly to each other at 15 and 25°C. Psychrotrophic bacteria and total coliforms counts for all cultivars were within acceptable limits at 5oC for nine days of storage. The presence of coliforms at 45°C and Salmonella was not detected. Storage at 5°C was effective to control the metabolic activity and to keep food safety of minimally processed potatoes

Mapping the bias of police records:Project final report

Police-recorded crimes are the main source of data used by police forces and researchers to analyse the distribution of crime in geographic areas. These data, however, are affected by measurement error arising from underreporting and recording inconsistencies across police jurisdictions. Not all persons are equally willing to report crimes to the police and cooperate with police services, and practices followed by the police to record crime vary across police jurisdictions. Both these issues affect the ‘dark figure of crime’ (i.e., all crimes unknown to the police), which vary across areas. The open question that this project addresses is whether micro-level maps of police-recorded crimes (i.e., maps produced from aggregating crimes at very detailed spatial scales) suffer from a higher risk of bias than maps of crime produced at larger scales, such as neighbourhoods and ward. While communities unwilling to cooperate with the police may concentrate in some micro-places more than others, and thus the ‘dark figure’ may vary across small areas, larger geographies aggregate more heterogeneous social and demographic groups, and thus the proportion of crimes unknown to the police may be more similar across areas. We utilise data from the UK Census and the Crime Survey for England and Wales to generate synthetic crime data in Manchester, UK, and analyse if micro-level crime maps are affected by a larger risk of bias than maps of crime aggregated in neighbourhoods. The main findings of this project are:• The proportion of crime unknown to the police varies substantially across micro-places.• The proportion of crimes unknown to the police is similar across neighbourhoods.• Micro-level maps of crime are affected by a larger risk of bias than maps of crimes aggregated at larger spatial scales.• The risk of bias in micro-level crime mapping is attributed to the fact that social groups unwilling to cooperate with the police concentrate in some areas more than others. This is less of a problem when aggregating crimes in neighbourhoods.• Future work is needed to address measurement error in crime data

Study of the Santista denim for the applications in the textile antennas

Orientador: Hugo Enrique Hernández FigueroaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: A caracterização eletromagnética do tecido brim Santista, através de medições experimentais e cálculos analíticos da constante dielétrica e tangente de perda desse material foi apresentada de forma pioneira. Para esse propósito foi implementado um confiável e rigoroso método de medição que é exposto em detalhes. A possibilidade da utilização do tecido brim Santista como material dielétrico em dispositivos de radio frequência foi demonstrada de forma irrefutável pelo desenvolvimento, projeto e construção de uma antena têxtil utilizando como substrato este material. O adequado desempenho do protótipo da antena é também mostradoAbstract: The electromagnetic characterization of Santista denim fabric, through experimental measurements and analytical calculations of the dielectric constant and loss tangent of this material was introduced for the first time. For this purpose it was implemented a reliable and accurate measurement method that is exposed in detail. The possibility of the use of Santista denim fabric as dielectric material in radio frequency devices has been irrefutably demonstrated by the development, design and construction of a textile antenna composed of the substrate with Santista denim, whose proper performance is shown hereMestradoTelecomunicações e TelemáticaMestre em Engenharia Elétric

Estimation of Small Area Proportions Under a Bivariate Logistic Mixed Model

A variety of data is of geographic interest but is not available at a small area level from large-scale national sample surveys. Small area estimation can be used to estimate parameters of target variables to detailed geographical scales based on relationships between the target variables and relevant auxiliary information. Small area estimation of proportions is a topic of great interest in many fields of study, where binary variables are diffused, such as in labour force, business, and social exclusion surveys. The univariate generalised mixed model with logit link function is widely adopted in this context. The small area estimation literature has shown that multivariate small area estimators, where correlations among response variables are taken into account, provide more efficient estimates than the traditional univariate approaches. However, the estimation problem of multivariate proportions has not been studied yet. In this article, we propose a bivariate small area estimator of proportions based on a bivariate generalised mixed model with logit link function. A simulation study and an application are presented to evaluate the good properties of the bivariate estimator compared to its univariate setting. We found that the extent of the improved efficiency of the bivariate over the univariate approach is associated with the degree of correlation of the area-specific random effects and the intraclass correlation, whereas it is not strongly related to the area sample size

Regional Public Opinions on LGBTI People Equal Opportunities in Employment: Evidence from the Eurobarometer Programme using Small Area Estimation

In recent years, the attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people’ rights from institutions, society and scientific bodies has clearly progressed. Although equal opportunities in employment are promoted within European countries and by the EU legislation, there are still evident discriminations in Europe. Many LGBTI people still face bullying and anti-LGBTI discrimination in the workplace and job market. Considerably more progress must be made before every LGBTI person feels accepted and comfortable for who they are in the workplace. Importantly, views on equal opportunities in employment are characterised by spatial heterogeneity at a sub-national level. Therefore, it is necessary to disaggregate estimates of relevant indicators, at least, at a regional level. This is crucial to identify the regions requiring more attention by policy makers. However, large-scale sample surveys are not designed to produce precise and accurate sub-national estimates. Small area estimation methods offer powerful tools in this context. Here, we produce regional estimates of three indicators measuring views of discrimination in employment of people from LGBTI communities in Europe. The analyses are based on the Eurobarometer 91.4 2019. Our empirical evidence shows that the estimates produced by small area estimation are reliable, giving important information to policy makers

Multivariate Small Area Estimation of Social Indicators: the Case of Continuous and Binary Variables

Large-scale sample surveys are not designed to produce reliable estimates for small areas. Here, small area estimation methods can be applied to estimate population parameters of target variables to detailed geographic scales. Small area estimation for noncontinuous variables is a topic of great interest in the social sciences where such variables can be found. Generalized linear mixed models are widely adopted in the literature. Interestingly, the small area estimation literature shows that multivariate small area estimators, where correlations among outcome variables are taken into account, produce more efficient estimates than do the traditional univariate techniques. In this article, the author evaluate a multivariate small area estimator on the basis of a joint mixed model in which a small area proportion and mean of a continuous variable are estimated simultaneously. Using this method, the author “borrows strength” across response variables. The author carried out a design-based simulation study to evaluate the approach where the indicators object of study are the income and a monetary poverty (binary) indicator. The author found that the multivariate approach produces more efficient small area estimates than does the univariate modeling approach. The method can be extended to a large variety of indicators on the basis of social surveys

I.S.Mu.L.T. Achilles Tendon Ruptures Guidelines

This work provides easily accessible guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of Achilles tendon ruptures. These guidelines could be considered as recommendations for good clinical practice developed through a process of systematic review of the literature and expert opinion, to improve the quality of care for the individual patient and rationalize the use of resources. This work is divided into two sessions: 1) questions about hot topics; 2) answers to the questions following Evidence Based Medicine principles. Despite the frequency of the pathology andthe high level of satisfaction achieved in treatment of Achilles tendon ruptures, a global consensus is lacking. In fact, there is not a uniform treatment and rehabilitation protocol used for Achilles tendon ruptures

Using Novel Methods to Develop Data for Evidence‐Based Practice: Understanding LGBTI Stigma and Discrimination at the Sub National Level in Europe Using the Eurobarometer

Drawing on data from the Eurobarometer Survey, this study explores the distribution of stigma and discrimination towards LGBTI communities at the sub‐national level. There has been increased attention at global and pan‐European levels around LGBTI rights mostly drawing on national‐level measurements. However, there is limited research or understanding of the complex and pervasive problem of stigma and discrimination towards LGBTI groups at regional levels. Yet, it is widely noted that regional disparities exist across demographic characteristics; thus, national‐level data may not be suitable for planning and policy making. We utilized two questions from the Eurobarometer as a proxy for levels of stigma and discrimination against LGBTI communities. We drew on novel Small Area Estimation (SAE) methods to produce the first reliable estimates and analysis for sub‐national areas across Europe. The findings widen our understanding of differences around stigma and discrimination towards LGBTI communities both between and within nation states, emphasizing how regional‐level analysis is necessary to develop targeted policies and interventions. Our findings demonstrate that programming and policy based on only national data should be utilized with caution. We argue that novel methods, such as SAE, can be utilized to support more effective data‐driven decision making