Preserving Local Character for Sustainable Tourism Development: National Park of Theth as a Case study

This paper studies the physic/architectural character in National Park of Theth, considering it as a tourist attraction of special importance. Despite the contextual qualities typical of this alpine area, the actual construction character in Theth is changing in relation to local architecture, which requires more attention and research. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether new development design in the tourism destinations making local character count and whether including of local community in this process, can contribute positive to physical attractive environments. The objectives of the study are analyzing the local architectural character of Thethi region, which is one of the most important protected and tourism areas in Albania, and offering to be applied in Theth of a model of international experiences of engaging local people in constructive debate about local character preservation in the new development design in a place. To realize this study, authors used the information obtained from published material and also from made the observation of the situation in the Theth region regarding the physical/architectural character of its. The study was undertaken by following some logical steps. First, it explains the concept of sustainable tourism development and the concept of local character. Also, the paper argues necessity of preserving local character and involvement of local people in new development design of area for sustainable tourism. Then, the paper passed to assessment of local physic/architectural character of area and the problems shown to preservation of its in Theth. The paper presents a model to apply in Theth from international experience of engaging local people in constructive debate about how to help ensure that new development design in their area fits its surroundings and is in keeping with local character of the areas in which they live. Finally the paper gives conclusion of authors about the issue in the study for the preservation of local character in the alpine area of Thethi as we try to realize the concept of sustainable tourism development

Revealing the role of receptor WSX1: a double-edged sword in tumor progession

Tumor initiation and progression are dependent on both aberrant gene expression in tumor cells and the communication between tumor cells and its micro- and systemic microenvironment. Many tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes have been characterized to suppress or promote tumor growth, but fewer genes in tumors are well-characterized as interacting with immune cells in the host to promote or inhibit tumor growth. The interleukin (IL) 27 receptor WSX1 is expressed in immune cells and induces an IL27-dependent immune response. Opposing this conventional dogma, our initial results reveal a much higher level of WSX1 expression in multiple types of epithelial tumor cells when compared to normal epithelial cells. These revelations suggest a role for WSX1 in tumor development, and thus a possible target in cancer immune-therapy. Using genetically modified tumor cells, our studies show that the expression of WSX1 in tumor cells regulates the communication between tumor and host cells resulting in two different consequences. In both the cervical cell line TC1 and the squamous carcinoma cell line AT84, overexpression of WSX1inhibited tumorigenicity both in vivo and in vitro. Sensitizing NK cell-mediated surveillance through upregulation of NKG2D ligands in tumor cells is the underlying mechanism by which WSX1 inhibits tumor growth. Further investigations into other cell lines, such as colon cancer (CT26) and Lewis Lungs Carcinoma (LLC), confirmed the role of WSX1 as a tumor suppressor in vitro. In contrast to the role that WSX1 plays in the aforementioned cells, aggressive LLC and melanoma AGS tumor cells expressing WSX1 grow faster than the control cohorts. These studies reveal that the principal mechanism by which WSX1 promotes tumor growth is the inhibition of T cell proliferation and production of the effector cytokine IFNγ both in the tumor microenvironment and distal lymphatic tissues. Our evidence reveals that this effect is initiated via direct tumor cell and immune cell contact. This important observation reveals a new pathway of tumor-host interaction, which will ultimately lead to better strategies in immune therapy to reverse tumor tolerance

The Role of Corporate Governance Failure in the Banking Sector

Corporate governance is the organizational arrangement by which a company represents and serves the interests of its investors. It encompasses anything from a company’s boards to executive compensation schemes to bankruptcy laws. Generally, the definitions of corporate governance which was found in the literature tend to share certain characteristics. One of this characteristic is the notion of accountability. Corporate governance is the process of supervision and control which intends to ensure that the company’s management acts in accordance with the interests of shareholders (Parkinson, 1994). Corporate governance, the internal policies and leadership that guide the actions of corporations, played a major part in the recent global financial crisis. While much blame has been targeted at compensation arrangements that rewarded extreme risk-taking but did not punish failure, the performance of large, supposedly, sophisticated institutional investors in this crisis have not been examined. Corporate governance has come to the forefront of academic research due to the vital role it plays in the overall health of economic systems. Corporate governance was long ignored as a matter of potential importance for the development of a nation’s economy. This paper, however, expresses some cases in the field of corporate governance, regarding the failure of corporate governance. Institutional investors failed to effectively monitor such volatile investments, ignoring relatively well-established corporate governance principles and best practices. Corporate Governance Failures offers nuanced and realistic proposals to mitigate future financial pitfalls

Corporate Governance Failure: The Case Of Enron And Parmalat

Corporate governance is a central and dynamic aspect of business. The term governance is derived from the latin word gubernare, meaning to steer. It usually applies to the steering of a ship. Thus, this implies that corporate governance involves the function of direction rather than control. Corporate governance has come to the forefront of academic research due to the vital role it plays in the overall health of economic systems. Corporate governance was long ignored as a matter of potential importance for the development of a nation’s economy. The wave of U.S. corporate fraud in the 1990s was attributed to deficiencies in corporate governance. The recent 2008-2009 global financial crisis, triggered by the unprecedented failure of Lehman Brothers and the subprime mortgage problems, renewed interest on the role of corporate governance in the financial sector. The development of a strong corporate governance framework is important to protect stakeholders, maintain investor confidence in the transition countries, and attract foreign direct investment. This paper looks at the collapse of Enron and the Parmalat, which was a particular Italian scandal. Parmalat, Enron, and other American firms such as Tyco and WorldCom all have a number of fudging at their core – efforts to make the companies look healthier than they were. Parmalat’s collapse began in November when its auditor raised questions about a $135 million derivatives profit. After additional evidence of accounting misstatements, the company’s chief executive and founder, Calisto Tanzi, resigned on the 15th of December. Four days later, the company disclosed the fake Bank of America letter. On the 23rd of December, Italian investigators stated that the company had used dozens of offshore companies to report non-existent assets to offset themselves. This was as much as$11 billion in liabilities. Also, this is in addition to the fact that Parmalat might have been falsifying its accounting figures for as long as 15 years

Macbeth the messenger between Shakespeare and Kadare

Shakespeare’s figure in this research paper is loomed as tangential, since his world wide dimension has already entered in the records of the world literature together with Homer, Aeschylus, Dante, Cervantes up to other later writers such as Marques and Eco. Fortunately for us, this list also includes our writer Ismail Kadare. A lot of contemporary world’s scholars and critics, when writing about Kadare (surely the merits for being the first to write about him belong to the French writer Alen Boske), drew the parallel between Kadare and other writers such as Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Gogol, Kafka, and Orwell. His correlations with these colossi present a versatile interest, but we are going to focus especially on the intersections with Shakespeare, respectively with his work. The first embryo of the intersection is undoubtedly Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, which Kadare had read in his early childhood

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Trade, Corporate Governance, Economic Growth in Albania and Some OECD Countries

Foreign Direct Investment statistics are compiled in compliance with the international standards, IMF and Eurostat requirements for the compilation of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position. Foreign Direct statistics specify direct investment abroad by resident investors and investments in the domestic economy by non-residents. The balance of payments statistics present transactions related to direct investment for a certain period of time. Meanwhile, the International Investment Position shows the direct investment situation at the end of a reference period. Theoretical studies strongly support the positive effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the host country through technology transfer, human capital formation, etc. Trade and Foreign Direct Investment has been treated as crucial factors underlying the relative growth rates experienced by the Albanian Economy, especially during the late years, thus, boosting economic growth in the country and improving the degree of integration of Albanian economy into the World markets. The paper outlines policy implications with respect to promoting relevant institutional policies for the enhancement of trade and FDI activities, which potentially could enhance economic growth. Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices, and processes by which a firm is directed and controlled. Corporate governance essentially involves balancing the interests of a company's many stakeholders, such as shareholders, senior management executives, customers, suppliers, financiers, the government, and the community. Keywords:Albania, OECD countries, FDI, Trade, Growth, etc. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/14-10-02 Publication date:May 31st 202

Corporate Boards: Control through Representation and Accounting Standards in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

Today the company has adopt the accounting standards and corporate governance (CG) standards.CG is at the topic of all the lesson of management. The corporate governance and management has important role in every company, but the role of implementing standards of accounting is most important. Effective corporate governance requires a clear understanding of the respective roles of the board, management and shareholders; their relationships with each other; and their relationships with other corporate stakeholders. This paper is a theoretical study about the corporate governance and the role of company in corporate governance and the role of accounting standards in SME. Keywords: corporate governance, accounting standards, board of directors etc. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-17-07 Publication date:October 31st 202

Financial System, Audit and Corporate Governance During and After the Financial Crisis

A financial system is a set of institutions, such as banks, insurance companies, and stock exchanges, that permit the exchange of funds. Financial systems exist on firm, regional, and global levels. Borrowers, lenders, and investors exchange current funds to finance projects, either for consumption or productive investments, and to pursue a return on their financial assets. The financial system also includes sets of rules and practices that borrowers and lenders use to decide which projects get financed, who finances projects, and terms of financial deals. The concept of "internal control" conveys a difficult and complex process. Different countries have different interpretations of the internal control system, and in accordance with their tradition use different methods, techniques and philosophies for its implementation.The financial system of our economy, although it must be acknowledged that it is not very modern and developed, is still quite complex. In support of a complete system with all components, there is a need for harmonized investment in many directions at once. Financial crises and stock market crashes have clearly demonstrated the impact of investors’ sentiment on asset pricing and stock markets’ efficiency. Herd behavior, which is behavioral similarity based on individuals’ interaction that leads to convergence of action and correlated trading (Hirshleifer and Teoh, 2003), is one of the most important behavioral biases that is more likely to occur during periods of market stress when individual investors prefer to follow the market consensus, being reluctant to follow their own knowledge or beliefs (Christie and Huang, 1995). Management on all levels must have full confidence in the integrity and independence of the audit process.Financial system, audit and corporate governance (CG) has come to the forefront of academic research due to the vital role it plays in the overall health of economic systems. The wave of U.S. corporate fraud in the 1990s was attributed to deficiencies in corporate governance. The recent 2008-2009 global financial crisis, triggered by the unprecedented failure of Lehman Brothers and the subprime mortgage problems, renewed interest on the role of corporate governance in the financial sector. The main purpose of this scientific paper is to study financial situation, audit and governance and strategies for optimizing investment, concretelly in the albanian financial environment. Keywords: Financial crisis, corporate governance, emerging economies etc. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/14-10-01 Publication date:May 31st 202