Computing and teaching microsymposia at ECM [European Crystallographic Meeting 20, Krakow, August 2001]

Microsymposia on the contemporary topic of Computing and Teaching Some key issues regarding different models for delivery of the curriculum, the pace of introducing the new technologies, the role of government in delivering mass education and the pressures on institutions in responding to the novel methods of education were raised during the talks

Horizontal Product Differentiation in Auctions and Multilateral Negotiations

We experimentally compare first-price auctions and multilateral negotiations after introducing horizontal product differentiation into a standard procurement setting. The two institutions yield the buyer the same surplus, a difference from prior findings with homogeneous products that results from differentiation’s influence on the sellers’ pricing behavior. In particular, we find that introducing product differentiation intensifies price competition among the sellers in some treatments, and has no effect in others, which contrasts with the conventional wisdom that product differentiation softens competition.

"Supervision of financial holding companies in Europe : the proposed EU directive on supplementary supervision of financial conglomerates"

On April 24, 2001 the European Commission presented a proposal for a Directive1 introducing supplementary supervision of financial conglomerates (the Proposed Directive). The Proposed Directive requires a closer coordination among supervisory authorities of different sectors of the financial industry and leads to changes in the number of existing Directives relating to the supervision of credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms

Factors affecting e-Learning effectiveness in a higher learning institution in Malaysia

The purpose of this research was to investigate factors that influence the effectiveness of the e-learning system in a higher learning institution. The participants were students randomly selected from diploma and degree programs. The main instrument was a questionnaire that was distributed to the students. The researchers collected 205 completed questionnaires out of a total of 300. Four factors were chosen as independent variables namely: reaction and satisfaction,learning outcome and achievement, familiarity with online learning technology, and participation and interaction. It was found that the effectiveness of the e-learning system was significantly affected by reaction and satisfaction, learning outcome and achievement, and familiarity with online learning technology. The participation and interaction factor had no apparent effect on the effectiveness of the e-learning system. Therefore, it is recommended that higher learning institutions interested in introducing e-learning should focus on students’ reaction and satisfaction towards the system.E-learning should focus on learning outcomes and achievement. It is also recommended that institutions first look into the issue of familiarity with online learning technology among students before introducing the e-learning system so as to determine whether students are comfortable with the online learning tools

Implementing the social pedagogic approach for workforce training and education in England: a preliminary study

Implementing the Social Pedagogic Approach for Workforce Training and Education in England is a study that was developed in conjunction with DfES and the Social Exclusion Task Force. It focuses on the potential for introducing training for social pedagogy in England, with special reference to children in care. The report covers (i) care leavers’ perspectives on their carers, including the carers’ need for training; (ii) summaries of 4 studies of social pedagogy conducted at TCRU; (iii) the perspectives of stakeholders from children's services and training institutions on the introduction of social pedagogy and on other proposals advanced in Care Matter; (iv) differences between Danish qualifications in social pedagogy and English social care NVQs and social work degrees and (v) a framework for introducing pedagogy education, in England, and a discussion of costs

Job Turnover, Unemployment and Labor Market Institutions

This paper studies the role of labor market institutions on unemployment and on the cyclical properties of job flows. We construct an intertemporal general equilibrium model with search unemployment and endogenous job turnover, and examine the consequences of introducing an unemployment benefit, a firing cost and a downward wage rigidity. The simulations suggest that downward wage rigidities, rather than unemployment benefit or firing cost, may well play a dominant role in explaining both the high unemployment rate and the job flows dynamics of such an economy.Unemployment, Job flows dynamics, Institutions

Mechanisms of Endogenous Institutional Change

This paper proposes an analytical-cum-conceptual framework for understanding the nature of institutions as well as their changes. In doing so, it attempts to achieve two things: First, it proposes a way to reconcile an equilibrium (endogenous) view of institutions with the notion of agents’ bounded rationality by introducing such concepts as a summary representation of equilibrium as common knowledge of agents. Second, it specifies some generic mechanisms of institutional coherence and change -- overlapping social embededdness, Schumpeterian innovation in bundling games and dynamic institutional complementarities -- useful for understanding the dynamic interactions of economic, political, social and organizational factors.

Implementing electronic theses at the University of Glasgow: Cultural challenges

Many UK university libraries are actively engaged in the process of introducing electronic theses to their institutions. This article describes the strategies that have been adopted by staff at Glasgow University Library in trying to implement electronic theses and the challenge that have been faced. The article concludes that a number of lessons have been learned from the experience and presents further strategies that have subsequently been developed. External developments, which may help speed up the transition to electronic theses, are also detailed

Income inequality and health status: role of institutions quality

This paper investigates the relationships between health indicators, institutional variables and income inequality. In the economic literature, the impact of income distribution on health status is largely studied. Theoretically, all the mechanisms developed in the literature highlight a negative impact of income inequality on health status. However, empirical studies find different results and the conclusions are far from a consensus. In this article, we partly propose an explanation to these discrepancies on the effect of income distribution on health by introducing institutions quality in the debate. More precisely, we assess whether the effect of income inequality on population's health is conditional to institutions quality. Our analysis shows that income inequality affects negatively population health and this negative effect is mitigated by good institutions. Another interesting result is that income inequality affects higher health status in developing countries as compare to others.health status, income inequality, institutions quality, instrumental variables method, panel data

The failure of introducing market institutions in a rent sector into an economy in transition

Privatisation is at the heart of the structural reforms for economies in transition. In theory, the main aim of privatisation is to change the structures of corporate governance in order to improve the efficiency of the enterprises and to assure their long-term future in a competitive environment. The adoption of formal market institutions would be sufficient to secure the new property rights, in particular because the new holders of the rights to control assets would have a great incentive to encourage the definition of new judicial rules that would guarantee their rights of ownership. In Russia that didn't happen.privatisation;changement institutionnel;droits de propriété;industrie gazière;industrie pétrolière