Employment in Europe 2000

[Excerpt] This Report examines in detail basic elements of the employment challenge renewed in Lisbon. Beyond recent employment trends in 1999, the Report sets out how each Member State is expected to contribute to achieving the Union’s employment objectives. It analyses both the nature and quality of jobs being created, with special focus on its gender dimension and the evolution of social and regional imbalances in the EU. In view of the forthcoming enlargement of the Union, the Report also reviews progress in transforming the labour markets in the Central European candidate countries. Finally, the Report assesses the impact of tax and benefit systems on employment, gauging the tax burden on labour and the tax wedge as well as coverage and replacement rates of unemployment benefits and early retirement systems

Pilot Evaluation of the Mexican Model of Dual TVET in the State of Mexico

Since the first public announcement of the Mexican Model of Dual TVET (MMFD) in June 2013, more than 5,000 apprentices have enrolled in the programme and around 2,000 already graduated. The Ministry of Education (SEP and CONALEP), the Chambers of Commerce (i.e. COPARMEX) and the German Cooperation Agencies (i.e. CAMEXA) have been collaborating with state authorities, families, schools and companies to turn this initial idea into a significant and sustainable initiative. Although the numbers are still small, it seemed necessary to undertake a pilot evaluation study of the implementation and impact of this program on its participants to inform those responsible for this policy. We decided to focus our study on the State of Mexico because of the higher number of apprentices in this state and because of the access that the CONALEP authorities gave us to the informants. The report that you are about to read is structured in four main sections. In the first one we reviewed the international evidence on the experiences of policy transfer of Dual TVET. Transferring international good practice sin TVET is always a complex process that requires careful attention to the experiences and lessons from those that tried to do it before. In the second section, we present the main characteristics of the Mexican Model of Dual TVET and the specificities of its implementation in the State of Mexico. In a federal country like Mexico, it is important to understand that national policies may largely vary across states in terms of design and implementation. The third section outlines the methodology of the study, which is inspired by the realist evaluation principles. Realist evaluation, not only tries to measure the impact of interventions on beneficiaries, but also to understand the causal mechanisms that explain why this policy is more effective in certain contexts and with certain beneficiary populations than in others. In the final section, the results of the interviews and the survey with 25 apprentices that completed their studies under the MMFD in the State of Mexico are presented. Obviously, the reduced sample of the study limits the representativeness of our findings but it will offer some expected and unexpected results that should not be ignored by those involved in this policy in the State of Mexico and nationally

Applying semantic web technologies to knowledge sharing in aerospace engineering

This paper details an integrated methodology to optimise Knowledge reuse and sharing, illustrated with a use case in the aeronautics domain. It uses Ontologies as a central modelling strategy for the Capture of Knowledge from legacy docu-ments via automated means, or directly in systems interfacing with Knowledge workers, via user-defined, web-based forms. The domain ontologies used for Knowledge Capture also guide the retrieval of the Knowledge extracted from the data using a Semantic Search System that provides support for multiple modalities during search. This approach has been applied and evaluated successfully within the aerospace domain, and is currently being extended for use in other domains on an increasingly large scale

Recommendation domains for pond aquaculture

This publication introduces the methods and results of a research project that has developed a set of decision-support tools to identify places and sets of conditions for which a particular target aquaculture technology is considered feasible and therefore good to promote. The tools also identify the nature of constraints to aquaculture development and thereby shed light on appropriate interventions to realize the potential of the target areas. The project results will be useful for policy planners and decision makers in national, regional and local governments and development funding agencies, aquaculture extension workers in regional and local governments, and researchers in aquaculture systems and rural livelihoods. (Document contains 40 pages

Creating the Capacity to Benefit from Technological Change in Developing Countries

What really makes an economy competitive? This paper reviews and discusses how the capacity to generate, exploit and diffuse new knowledge is key in enabling countries to capitalise on challenges brought about by rapid technology-driven transformations rather than succumb to their adverse effects. In particular, we look at the importance of new knowledge emanating from both domestic and foreign sources in the innovation process in view of the contention that "international technology transfer" is critical for growth in developing countries. We find that there is a tight link between high rates of technology acquisition and high investment ratios, and that the absorptive capacity is a sine qua non of foreign technology benefits.absorptive capacity, knowledge, developing countries, systems of innovation

Technology Advancement Influence in Accounting and Information System Fields

This research serves to relate the accounting and information technology fields. The information in the research documents changes in the accounting and information technology fields, and how the fields are expected to change in the coming years. The research also discuss the relationship between the accounting and information technology fields. The topics on the ideal accounting candidates for employers and the expectation gap between graduates skills and employers’ expectations are also discussed. Careers in accounting and information systems and also similar and different basic skills of both fields are documented in the research. The changes in accounting are influenced by the improvements in technology as time progress. Information technology makes integration and communication possible anywhere in the world between businesses. Information technology systems have created a lot of job opportunities. Accounting and Information Systems are two different fields but combined they create a means of collecting, storing, managing, processing, retrieving and reporting financial data effectively