Code of Conduct and Corporate Governance

The purpose of the paper is to examine the code of conduct as a corporate governance communication tool. Drawing on the description of corporate conduct code, an analysis has been conducted on the first one hundred US companies (classified by Fortune Magazine), to verify the importance that global companies attribute to the corporate governance communication. Findings indicate that in the 58% of the cases a code exists and it is usually incorporated into the corporate governance communications.Corporate Governance, Corporate Governance Communication, Conduct Code, Ethics

Market-Driven Management, Global Competition and Corporate Responsibility

The aim of the paper is to define the role of corporate responsibility in sustainable development of global firms. To be successful, global firms must be on the alert of emerging environmental trends and do their best to improve the corporate performance in line with key stakeholder expectations. In this respect, the management of corporate social responsibility highlights the criticality of the corporate intangible assets system and the need for overall assessment of corporate performance - not only financial performance but social too.Market-Driven Management; Corporate Responsibility; Corporate Social Responsibility; Intangible Assets; Global Markets

Computation of generalized matrix functions

We develop numerical algorithms for the efficient evaluation of quantities associated with generalized matrix functions [J. B. Hawkins and A. Ben-Israel, Linear and Multilinear Algebra 1(2), 1973, pp. 163-171]. Our algorithms are based on Gaussian quadrature and Golub--Kahan bidiagonalization. Block variants are also investigated. Numerical experiments are performed to illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our techniques in computing generalized matrix functions arising in the analysis of networks.Comment: 25 paged, 2 figure

VO2_2 as a natural optical metamaterial

VO$_2$ is a unique phase change material with strongly anisotropic electronic properties. Recently, samples have been prepared that present a co-existence of phases and thus form metal-insulator junctions of the same chemical compound. Using first principles calculations, the optical properties of metallic and semiconducting VO$_2$ are here discussed to design self-contained natural optical metamaterials, avoiding coupling with other dielectric media. The analysis of the optical properties complements the experiments in the description of the vast change in reflectance and metallicity for both disordered and planar compounds. The present results also predict the possibility to realize ordered VO$_2$ junctions operating as efficient hyperbolic metamaterials in the THz-visible range, by simply adjusting the ratio between metallic and insulating VO$_2$ content. The possibility to excite propagating {\em volume plasmom polariton} across the metamaterial is finally discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Reduction operators and exact solutions of generalized Burgers equations

Reduction operators of generalized Burgers equations are studied. A connection between these equations and potential fast diffusion equations with power nonlinearity -1 via reduction operators is established. Exact solutions of generalized Burgers equations are constructed using this connection and known solutions of the constant-coefficient potential fast diffusion equation.Comment: 7 page

The Future of the Working Classes: A Comparison Between J.S. Mill and A. Marshall

Both J. S. Mill and A. Marshall had a lifelong concern with the living conditions of the working classes and theorized the possibility of a new age, characterized by a widespread mental and moral cultivation. This paper compares the precise arguments put forward by them in the period ranging from Mill‟s “The Claims of Labour” (1845) to Marshall's "Principles" (1890), against the background of the evidence of progress they had. It is argued that, at different stages and with different specific arguments, their predictions relied on self-reinforcing mechanisms, in which a better life was the cause, no less than the effect, of progress. In order to make similarities and differences more transparent from a logical point of view, two simple mathematical formulations are proposed.

Islamist Terrorism in Carl Schmitt's Reading

The thought of Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) helps to place Islamist terrorism within a certain tradition of warfare and political theory. In fact, this form of violence can be clarified by Schmitt’s theoretical endowment, as this brief paper attempts to do. The end of the legal framework of the jus publicum europaeum and the emergence of non-state actors have put into question centuries-old certainties. Schmitt’s theory could help to put order in political concepts today ideologically misused. And his opposition to any universalistic tendencies questions not only Jihadi ideology but also Western anti-terroristic rhetoric, which is equally part of the ongoing global war of annihilation feared by Schmitt during his entire life