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This study focuses on the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) ranking. The standard ranking process of the MPI produces a single total (linear) rank of units by simply ordering them from the best to the worst (or the inverse) as a function of their MPI score. However, units are not necessarily comparable regarding all 10 indicators simultaneously on which the MPI is based. We use the 2012/13 India District Level Household Survey wave four with a special focus on the State of Karnataka. By using partial order theory (i.e. the Hasse Diagram technique and the software package PyHasse), we found that, in Karnataka, the number of incomparabilities greatly exceeds the number of comparabilities. This indicates that the aggregation process leading to the MPI hides the individual role of indicators. We utilized a number of tools in partial order theory to analyze the comparabilities and incomparabilities. This included local partial order, antichain, and average height analysis. In contrast with the standard MPI ranking, partial order theory provides average height which does not only account for comparable districts, but also considers to what extent incomparable districts influence the position of a district in the ranking. We found that the results of partial order ranking deviate considerably from those of the MPI ranking. Given the extent of incomparabilities, for most of our sample, the MPI ranking does not provide an adequate ranking. The Hasse Diagram technique, can therefore be seen as a synthetic ranking tool or a robustness tool that complements the standard ranking process of the MPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we investigated the technical feasibility of 'on-demand' production of selected drugs to cover their demand for a time window of 90 days. We focused on two sub-processes 'automated chemical synthesis' and 'formulation in micropellets'  to enable personalized dosing. The production of drugs 'on-demand' is challenging, important, but also attractive. Switzerland could thus gain access to an additional instrument for increasing resilience for supply-critical drugs. The biggest challenge in the case study presented here is the scalability of automated chemical synthesis and the application range of micropellet formulations., (Copyright 2023 Daniel Gygax, Kaspar Eigenmann, Christian Suter, Marianne Hürzeler, Ahmed Mahmoud, Johannes Mosbacher, Norbert Pöllinger. License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

Cars represent a valuable real asset that most individuals use on a daily basis. Although cars are a form of material prosperity like income and other forms of wealth, the link between cars and subjective well-being (SWB) is barely covered in the existing literature. Furthermore, few existing contributions are scattered across specific cultural contexts. Here, we analyze the relationship between cars and the SWB of seniors in different European countries using the SHARE dataset. We construct multilevel and fixed-effect models to explore the extent of economic, infrastructural, and cultural factors and how they can explain this relationship. The results show that the value of the car is, among all wealth components (houses, bank account, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, debts and mortgages), the form of wealth most related to life satisfaction. In addition, cars matter less (a) in affluent societies, (b) where rail infrastructure is more developed, and (c) where people hold fewer materialistic values. We discuss these results in the framework of the functional and positional value of cars, i.e., respectively, the value derived from it regardless of others and the value derived from it vis-à-vis others., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

This contribution analyses early retirement in Germany and Switzerland with a focus on financial resources. Using data from CH-SILC linked to administrative records and the German SOEP, we distinguish three different financial resources: namely, pre-retirement labour income, net worth and pension entitlements. High labour income reduces the probability for early retirement. In contrast, high pension entitlements are associated with early retirement. Private wealth also plays an important role in early retirement, but differs with regard to the relevance of the asset components between the two countries. Although the pension system moderates the influence of financial resources on retirement behaviour, the direction of the effects is consistent across the countries once pension entitlements are accounted for., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: As possible explanations for risk behaviour in young men past strains, lack of resources, social individualization processes and genderspecific aspects are discussed. For this study the concept of authoritarianism was used as the model for analysis., Methods: 4,235 recruits from the German-speaking part of Switzerland were surveyed with regard to risk behaviours in sexuality, alcohol consumption, suicide tendency, and violence. The predicting variables for non-risk behaviours and for different risk behaviour patterns were identified by means of logistic regression analysis. The main predicting variables included authoritarianism, disposition to discriminate, stressful life events, and personal and social resources., Results: The results show that the different aspects of authoritarianism not only influence prejudice and aggression towards dissenters as has been shown in other studies, but risk behaviours in general. Between the aspects of authoritarianism and risk behaviour patterns positive as well as negative correlations were found., Conclusion: We conclude that there are different types of authoritarian men who differ with regard to risk behaviours.