Corporate control in Central Europe and Russia : should banks own shares?

The authors review corporate governance arrangements in the West and conclude that for a system based on bank ownership and control of firms to succeed, the banking system must be free of perverse incentives and state interference, as well as subject to adequate supervision by banking authorities and competition from market forces. Admirable progress over the past few years notwithstanding, these conditions do not now exist in the countries of Central Europe and Russia, so a corporate governance system based on bank ownership is not appropriate. That is not to say that such a system would not eventually be appropriate - but not before much more effort is made to create a competitive, private, well-supervised banking system (which is needed in any case). Changes in the banking system that are prerequisites for any large-scale bank involvement in the ownership and governance of firms are simple to enunciate but less easy to implement: (1) Sever existing relationships between the state and banks. Privatization is the strongest guarantee that bank investment decisions will not be subject to state influence, but bank privatization has been slow in most countries. This reflects limited understanding of the financial sector's poor condition, the many institutional and political obstacles to bank reform, and the initial decision in many countries to focus first on the"real economy"(a decision that in hindsight seems unfortunate). (2) Dispel the belief (which still exists in some countries) that poor lending and investments will enventually be underwritten by the government, with few consequences for managers. (3) Greatly strengthen competition in the banking system, in part by encouraging new private banks and the entry of foreign banks. (Some countries, such as Poland, have taken the opposite tack, refusing to issue new licenses.) (4) Provide effective bank supervision and an effective prudential and regulatory framework. This requires investing substantially in setting up institutions, accounting systems, and information networks, in hiring and training qualified personnel, and in ensuring that the system is immune from political intervention. Developing such a system will surely be long and drawn out, and may require foreign assistance.Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Small Scale Enterprise,Banks&Banking Reform

Is the physics within the Solar system really understood?

A collection is made of presently unexplained phenomena within our Solar system and in the universe. These phenomena are (i) the Pioneer anomaly, (ii) the flyby anomaly, (iii) the increase of the Astronomical Unit, (iv) the quadrupole and octupole anomaly, and (v) Dark Energy and (vi) Dark Matter. A new data analysis of the complete set of Pioneer data is announced in order to search for systematic effects or to confirm the unexplained acceleration. We also review the mysterious flyby anomaly where the velocities of spacecraft after Earth swing--bys are larger than expected. We emphasize the scientific aspects of this anomaly and propose systematic and continuous observations and studies at the occasion of future flybys. Further anomalies within the Solar system are the increase of the Astronomical Unit and the quadrupole and octupole anomaly. We briefly mention Dark Matter and Dark Energy since in some cases a relation between them and the Solar system anomalies have been speculated.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures, submitted for the proceedings of the 359th WE-Heraeus Seminar on "Lasers, Clocks, and Drag-Free: Technologies for Future Exploration in Space and Tests of Gravity

Solar system tests of scalar field models with an exponential potential

We consider a scenario where a scalar field has dynamics ruled by an exponential potential, such as those arising from some quintessence type models, and aim at obtaining phenomenological manifestations of this entity within our Solar System. To do so, we assume a perturbative regime, derive the perturbed Schwarzschild metric, and extract the relevant post-Newtonian parameters.Comment: 5 page

El Imaginario Social y su Aporte a la Teoría de la Comunicación: Seis Argumentos para Debatir

El presente ensayo aborda, en seis argumentos, las implicancias de la teoría de los imaginarios sociales en la comprensión del fenómeno comunicativo y su papel en el proceso de la semiosis. Se describe la directa relación existente entre las tres facultades que hacen del hombre un ser simbólico: la comunicación, la actividad consciente y la construcción imaginaria, confirmando la idea de que la realidad se constituye intersubjetivamente en las prácticas cotidianas

Large-scale Volunteer Engagement in Humanitarian Mapping

Organisers of large crowdsourcing initiatives need to consider how to produce outcomes with their projects, but also how to build volunteer capacity. The initial contributor ex-perience plays an important role in this, particularly when contributions require some expertise: not all contributors who start to learn the practice are likely to be retained. My dissertation is focused on this growth challenge, using the example of the volunteer community of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. The research involves several quantitative observational studies at the scale of the individual, the group, and the collective, and qualitative studies of contributor experiences

Public opinion and social imaginary: towards a redefinition of the ‘spiral of silence’

El artículo desarrolla un análisis crítico de la teoría de opinión pública conocida como la espiral del silencio. Según el autor, afirmar que el ser humano biológicamente quiere ser aceptado y teme el rechazo de sus pares tiene una connotación esencialista. La autoprotección social que reflejaría el denominado miedo al aislamiento es sólo una reacción institucional, apoyada por los medios de comunicación como recreadores simbólicos de la realidad y por las emociones que actúan como dispositivos de control social. En otras palabras, la opinión pública no es más que un imaginario social, al igual que las emociones o la noticia, pero elevada a la categoría de institución: hay un discurso hegemónico que ha facilitado esa legitimación.This article critically examines the 'spiral of silence' theory of public opinion. I examine the claims that humans possess a biological desire for peer acceptance and a fear of peer rejection, and I argue that both these claims have an essentialist connotation. I argue that an individual's 'social self-protection', which allegedly reflects the so-called fear of isolation, is better understood as an institutional reaction sustained by the mass media (which acts as the symbolic re-creator of reality), and by the emotions (which act as devices of social control). In other words, I argue that public opinion is merely a social imaginary, like the emotions or the news, elevated to the category of institution. Finally, I argue that this legitimation has been facilitated by a hegemonic discourse

Flipping the Focus: Flipped Learning in a Geometry Classroom

In recent years, a new method of instruction has become increasingly popular amongst educators. Whereas the traditional method of teaching uses class time for direct instruction/teacher lecture, the flipped instruction model shifts that direct instruction to outside of class time as homework. The aim of flipped instruction is to allow educators more time to engage with and support students during the class time, while students work through practice problems. The purpose of this research is to examine whether flipped learning impacts students’ performance on assessments, students’ ability to retain information, and students’ attitude and perception of learning, as compared to a more traditional method of instruction. This study will include a control group of roughly sixty students who will be instructed via the traditional method and an experimental group of roughly sixty students who will be instructed via the flipped learning method. Students will complete a pre-assessment to establish prior knowledge, a unit test to analyze growth, a quiz completed roughly one month after the completion of the unit to examine retention levels, and a survey to provide insight into students’ attitudes about learning

La opinión pública y los imaginarios sociales : hacia una redefinición de la espiral del silencio

El artículo desarrolla un análisis crítico de la teoría de opinión pública conocida como la espiral del silencio. Según el autor, afirmar que el ser humano biológicamente quiere ser aceptado y teme el rechazo de sus pares tiene una connotación esencialista. La autoprotección social que reflejaría el denominado miedo al aislamiento es sólo una reacción institucional, apoyada por los medios de comunicación como recreadores simbólicos de la realidad y por las emociones que actúan como dispositivos de control social. En otras palabras, la opinión pública no es más que un imaginario social, al igual que las emociones o la noticia, pero elevada a la categoría de institución: hay un discurso hegemónico que ha facilitado esa legitimación.This article critically examines the 'spiral of silence' theory of public opinion. I examine the claims that humans possess a biological desire for peer acceptance and a fear of peer rejection, and I argue that both these claims have an essentialist connotation. I argue that an individual's 'social self-protection', which allegedly reflects the so-called fear of isolation, is better understood as an institutional reaction sustained by the mass media (which acts as the symbolic re-creator of reality), and by the emotions (which act as devices of social control). In other words, I argue that public opinion is merely a social imaginary, like the emotions or the news, elevated to the category of institution. Finally, I argue that this legitimation has been facilitated by a hegemonic discourse