Hungary: Fiscal risks from public transport enterprises

Public enterprises may play an important role in government finances and pose substantial fiscal risks. However, these risks are not always adequately reflected in the fiscal accounts. This hampers the transparent assessment of the fiscal stance, provides incentives to move fiscal activities off budget, and increases risks that unrecorded liabilities materialize unexpectedly. The IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department proposed a framework to the coverage of public enterprises in fiscal indicators and targets based on the fiscal risks posed by public enterprises’ operations. This paper applies this approach to the Hungarian State Railways and the Budapest Transport Company and draws some lessons for enhancing the transparency, quality and predictability of fiscal policy in Hungary.fiscal risk, public enterprises, quasi-fiscal activities, fiscal transparency.

A study of Professionalism during the Falklands/Malvinas war: The Case of the Argentine Marines

This paper assesses how organizational culture affects the fighting performance of units in the battlefield. By focusing on the behavior of a group of Argentine troops during the Falklands War in 1982. Between May 21 and June 14, Argentine and British troops engaged in a fierce land battle for the possession of a group of islands in the South Atlantic known as the Falkland/Malvinas. In a campaign that a participant characterized as “no picnic,” British Marines, paratroopers, and Guards troops defeated the Argentine garrison comprised mainly of conscripted soldiers. However, Argentine Marine units especially distinguished themselves for their fighting ability. According to the author the main reason for this performance rests on their organizational culture.

Prenegotiation and Mediation: the Anglo-Argentine diplomacy after the Falklands/Malvinas War(1983-1989)

This paper studies the process of prenegotiation and the role of mediators during the negotiations between the Argentine and British governments about the dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands from immediately after the war of 1982 to 1990. In this period, the relationship between both governments evolved from rupture and no-relations to the agreement on the conditions to negotiate the renewal of full diplomatic relations concluded in early 1990. In a preliminary process of prenegotiation, the governments of Switzerland, initially, and the United States played a role in helping to reach an agreement. The former failed when the talks ended abruptly in July 1984. The latter succeeded in getting both parties to the table and keeping them there, thus avoiding a potential rupture until the two parties reached an agreement in principle. During the prenegotiation stage, the principal parties were able to reduce the risks of escalation; they defined and narrowed the boundaries of the dispute, clearly identified the trade-offs, and structured the agenda of formal negotiations. Consequently, the likelihood of successful negotiation improved significantly when the parties reach an agreement during prenegotiation on what will be discussed later. This case also illustrate that sometimes, when negotiations reach a point of stalemate, a mediator can help to find a "zone of agreement". When this situation occurs, the degree of involvement and the resources of the mediator are particularly important. Finally, this case confirms the assertions that effective mediation is more a matter of leverage and influence than a matter of impartiality.international negotiation, prenegotiation, mediation, Falklands, Malvinas

Reassessing the Fighting Performance of Conscript Soldiers during the Malvinas/Falklands War (1982)

While the idea is controversial, it is quite possible that, at least under certain circumstances, the fighting effectiveness of a conscript army can equal that of a professional army. For any army, fighting effectiveness is not only influenced by the degree of psychological cohesion among soldiers and officers, but also by the organizational culture of each particular service unit towards the preparation for war and the waging of the conflict itself. The Malvinas (Falklands) War of 1982 demonstrates this very well. In this war, two different types of armies confronted one another: the British army, a professional and all volunteer force, and the Argentine army constituted principally of conscripted soldiers. In this regard, some analysts assert that the British concept was vindicated when a force of British professional soldiers defeated an opposing Argentine force of draftees twice as numerous. Analysts in general have rated the capabilities of the Argentine land forces as poor, although there were exceptions and some units performed very well. These cases deserve to be studied. Notably, the most effective Argentine effort came from some small Army units and one Navy unit, the 5th Marine Battalion. For these units, two primary reasons account for the differences in fighting performance. First, small Army groups fought well because there was cohesion among their components, conscripts, noncommissioned officers, and junior officers, especially by the attitude of the latter. Secondly, in the case of the Marine battalion, its performance was the product not only of good training, but also of the different institutional approach to waging war that the Argentine Navy employed. These, in turn, improved cohesion. By focusing upon these units and their effectiveness, a rather new picture of the Malvinas War comes to light that differs quite substantially from those drawn in the immediate aftermath of the war itself. It should also make us rethink the "lessons" of the war, including those that surround the professionals versus conscripts controversy.

Argentine Command Structure and its Impact on Land Operations during the Falklands/Malvinas War (1982)

This paper claims that besides training and equipment shortcomings, Argentine command structure was another source of problems that affected the military operations during the Falklands/Malvinas Campaign during April-June 1982. Consequently, the flawed command structure can be seen as a contributing factor in Argentina’s military defeat. Improvisation, confusion, lack of coordination, and desperation prevailed along the command structure throughout the conflict. Operational and tactical commands were seem to be pulling apart between the political imperatives of the High Command in Buenos Aires that transcended to the islands and the military imperatives of the front. This handicap was critical to conduct operations. By using official documents, reports and accounts and the own participants’ testimonies, this paper clarifies the issues connected with the structure of the Argentine High Command and it furthers our understanding of how the Argentine armed forces functioned.

A RAFU linear space uniformly dense in C [a, b]

[EN] In this paper we prove that a RAFU (radical functions) linear space, ∁, is uniformly dense in C [a, b] by means of a S-separation condition of certain subsets of [a, b] due to Blasco-Moltó. This linear space is not a lattice or an algebra. Given an arbitrary function f 2 C [a, b] we will obtain easily the sequence (Cn)n of ∁ that converges uniformly to f and we will show the degree of uniform approximation to f with (Cn)n.Corbacho Cortés, E. (2013). A RAFU linear space uniformly dense in C [a, b]. Applied General Topology. 14(1):53-60. doi:10.4995/agt.2013.1617.SWORD5360141E. Corbacho, Teoría general de la aproximación mediante funciones radicales, ISBN 84-690-1149-9, (Mérida, 2006).E. Corbacho, The degree of uniform approximation by radical funtions, XXII CEDYA- XII CMA, September 5th-9th, (Palma de Mallorca, 2011).E. Corbacho, Uniform approximation by means of radical functions, I Jaen Conference on Approximation Theory, July 4th-9th, (Jaen, 2010).G. J. O. Jameson, Topology and normed spaces, Chapman and Hall, (London, 1974).H. Tietze, Uber functionen die anf einer abgeschlossenen menge stetig sind, Journ. Math. 145 (1915), 9–14.Stone, M. H. (1937). Applications of the theory of Boolean rings to general topology. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 41(3), 375-375. doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1937-1501905-7M. I. Garrido, Aproximación uniforme en espacios de funciones continuas, Publicaciones del Departamento de Matemáticas Universidad de Extremadura 24, (Univ. Extremadura, Badajoz 1990).M. T. Gassó, S. Hernández and S. Rojas, Aproximación por series en espacios de funciones continuas, (Univesitat Jaume I, Departament de Matemátiques, 2010).Kakutani, S. (1941). Concrete Representation of Abstract (M)-Spaces (A characterization of the Space of Continuous Functions). The Annals of Mathematics, 42(4), 994. doi:10.2307/1968778S. Mrowka, On some approximation theorems, Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde (3) XVI (1968), 94–111.Stone, M. H. (1948). The Generalized Weierstrass Approximation Theorem. Mathematics Magazine, 21(4), 167. doi:10.2307/302975

Aportes desde las ciencias sociales a la problemática de la discapacidad en el marco de una sociedad laboral en crisis

Conminados cronológicamente a iniciar un nuevo milenio, los miembros lúcidos de la comunidad humana no nos arriesgamos a plantearnos más que aquellos problemas que tienen cierta posibilidad real de ser resueltos La utopía tecnológica que arroja más allá de la perspectiva temporal humana las soluciones a situaciones de extrema conflictividad, es solamente un artilugio de nuestra inteligencia para cubrir -con silencio, olvido o fuga- problemas que, hoy, son insolubles. Hasta hace pocas décadas, la preocupación por el ambiente y el desarrollo económico de una misma región eran contrapuestos. Se suponía que un país en vías de desarrollo debía superar primero etapas de crecimiento económico, social y político, para después interesarse por el tema ambiental, como si éste fuese un lujo o una preocupación suntuaria. Hoy esa perversa jerarquización y cronología impuesta están siendo superadas. Los conceptos de desarrollo sustentable, ecodesarrollo y la consideración del derecho a un medio ambiente sano como una porción del derecho a la vida y a la salud, van formando parte integrante del comentario diario, de las reivindicaciones callejeras, de los planes de estudio en los diferentes niveles de la enseñanza y de los foros internacionales. El tema social es desde hace décadas un foco de grave preocupación para los gobiernos y las sociedades de nuestro continente. El franco deterioro de la situación es alarmante. En 1988, la Primera Conferencia Regional sobre la Pobreza en América Latina y El Caribe, reunida en Cartagena de Indias, declaraba: "La pobreza constituye uno de los mayores problemas que enfrentan los países de la región para lograr su desarrollo, pues dilapida el capital humano, impide el bienestar colectivo, restringe mercado interno e incuba inestabilidad social y política... esta creciente pauperización de la región y el deterioro generalizado de las condiciones de vida no es accidental o transitoria, sino el resultado de condiciones históricas y estructurales de orden interno e internacional, cuya superación común es tarea ineludible". El deterioro del ambiente, convertido en amenaza creciente, genera cotidianamente situaciones de desigualdad, de discriminación para ciertos miembros de la comunidad que no logran una participación plena en la misma. La discapacidad -en este contexto- podrá ser asequible desde la perspectiva de la gestión ambiental, como un fenómeno objetivo y visible. Es una situación de menoscabo físico, psíquico o sensorial que afecta a personas concretas y se reproduce en el nivel socio-cultural generando ideas, palabras, valores y normas que configuran la imagen social de la persona con discapacidad (PCD) y de la discapacidad misma. Una importante cantidad de material informativo difundido por los mass-media incluye conceptos desactualizados sobre la discapacidad, utilizando terminologías incorrectas que en ocasiones degradan a las PCD.Fil: Corbacho, Mario Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina

Notas sobre la traducción en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras con especial referencia al alemán empresarial

El propósito del presente trabajo es la defensa del uso de la traducción en los procesos de en - señanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras, con especial referencia al alemán empresarial. Se intenta demostrar que la traducción puede ser un instrumento didáctico muy válido en la enseñanza de una lengua extranjera, siempre que se la considere como complementaria de otros ejercicios y actividades. En consecuencia, se ofrece una descripción del tipo de traducción que mejor se adecúa a esta clase de enseñanza, partiendo de algunas de las aportaciones recientes de la lingüística contrastiva, la fraseología y otros estudios sobre la lengua común y las variedades especializadas del lenguaje.The purpose of this paper is to defend the use of translation in the processes of foreign language teaching and learning, and more specifically in relation to business German. The aim is to show that translation can be a valuable instrument in the teaching of a foreign language, provided that it is regarded only as an adjunct to other tasks and activities. Thus, a description is given of the type of translation that best lends itself to this kind of teaching, in the light of some recent contributions from contrastive linguistics, phraseology and other studies on everyday and specialised varieties of language

El humor y la poética en Ángel González

El artículo aborda la búsqueda de formulismos de buen humor en la poesía de Ángel González y, sobre todo, cómo la ironía afilada que se deriva de contrastar diferentes registros de expresión. El método constituye una habilidad única en la estética del escritor, pues representa un elemento de su poesía bien formada, más que un recurso estilístico.The article approaches the research of a series of humorous procedures in Ángel González's poetry and, especially, that sharp irony which derives from the contrast that highlights the varied registers of expression. The method constitutes a unique resource in the writer's aesthetics, as it represents, more than a stylistic skill, a shapely element of his poetry.notPeerReviewe