Urban Palio and Scharlach Races in Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Italy and Germany

For the first time since antiquity, the Italian and German urban horse races for the prize of a precious piece of cloth called palio or scharlach could be studied as a fully-developed competitive ‘sport culture’ in all its dimensions, from planning and organization to the competitive performance itself through to the discursive perception and symbolic communication of victories and defeats. On both sides of the Alps, this communal tradition of horse racing experienced its heyday in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Notwithstanding this contemporaneity and a bunch of organizational similarities, the Northern and Southern racing phenonema did not form a specific field of transalpine entanglement, but rather unconnected parallel worlds. In this essay, I will present some key comparative aspects of the transalpine field of urban horse racing: organizational structures, spatial arrangements, social range of the participants, the central role of equine agency for the success or failure of racing performances, and different media representations of victories.Peer Reviewe

Compliance of dental staff with infection control practices in primary health care centers in Gaza strip

One of the most important issues of dental care staff is to take in consideration the safety conditions during practice. This has a direct impact on the health of patients and staff in dental clinics. The aim of the current study is to assess the level of Compliance of dental staff with infection control practices in primary health care centers in Gaza strip. A survey for observing 100 dentists working in the all dental clinics of primary health care in the five governorates of Gaza trip will be conducted by well-trained personnel on using a checklist related to routine safety procedures. According to the reports and the data base of Ministry of Health, the target population of the study will be 100 dentists. The checklist will include items about infection control measures related to dentist practice, availability of equipment, instruments and materials necessary for infection control, and the infrastructure level of clinic environment suitable for infection control, also the socio-demographic information of dentists will be included in the checklist. Data will be statistically be processed by the SPSS program to describe the level of compliance of dentist by presenting in the form of frequency tables and graphs; in addition, t-tests and ANOVA at significant level (α =0.05) will be used to compare the difference in the level of compliance of infection control according to gender, age, years of experience and qualification of dentists and according to region, type and the condition of clinics. The results and recommendations of the current study may help the dental staff and the decision makers in the Ministry of health in Palestine to carry out policies, measures and interventions that help in controlling and preventing the potential transmission of occupational and nosocomial infections among dental personnel and their patients

Auctioning as a financial instrument. Alternative strategies in overcoming economic hardship in Malmö, 1840-1870.

The impact of economic hardship has been proven to be a substantial factor in how people lived their lives in the 19th century Sweden. Equally the second-hand market has in recent studies been shown to have been a substantial part of the 19th century economy. The second-hand market consisting of market institutions such as peddler merchants, pawnshops and auctions were central to how people bought and sold goods in the 19th century Sweden. Although, little light has been shed on what people during the pre-industrializing Sweden did to overcome economic hardship. This master thesis aims to investigate how economic hardship affected people into auctioning in the period 1840-1870 in Malmö. Furthermore, this master thesis suggest that auctions were an alternative strategy in overcoming short-term economic stress. Using auction protocols from Malmö City Auction House, with 6993 auctions in total and a total selling amount of just above 4.5 million riksdaler, along with data covering grain-production and prices. This research has shown results suggesting that auctions were used as a financial instrument in times of hardship throughout the 19th century Malmö by the broad spectra of socioeconomic group, and also that there were substantial differences in how different socioeconomic groups auctioned. These differences were also fueled by their relation to the agricultural sector, and whether the specific socioeconomic group were net producers or consumers

Corporate Governance Mechanisms and Web-Based Investor Relations Activities: an Empirical Examination on Companies Listed in Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange

This study seeks to examine the relationship between Corporate Governance mechanisms and corporate web-based investor relations reporting practices of companies listed in Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX). The study draws a sample of 56 companies listed in ADX and conducted a content analysis on their websites to assess the level to which investor relations information are disclosed. Results of the content analysis showed that all companies included in the sample have a corporate websites and more than 50% disclose information related to investor relations. A multivariate regression analysis was conducted to find the relationship between 4 independent variables reflecting corporate governance mechanisms (Government ownership, Institutional ownership, Board independence, and Audit committee financial expertise) and Web-based investor relations disclosures. The results showed a significant positive relationship between Ownership structure (Government and Institutional) and Audit committee financial expertise and the degree to which companies disclose IR information on their websites. This indicates that strong corporate governance mechanisms are influencing and motivating companies to enhance and improve their disclosure activities by using a new medium (i.e. the internet) and therefore increasing the transparency and information availability to the stock market participants in emerging economies such as the UAE. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Investor Relations, Internet Financial Reporting, Voluntary Disclosure

The intermediate leader pulled in two directions: in concert a leader to some and a follower to others

This thesis explores an important yet underexplored aspect of leadership studies, the phenomenon of an intermediate leader, here defined as an individual embodying both roles of a leader and a follower. Whilst these two roles are usually seen as belonging to people interacting with each other, this body of work is innovative in investigating one individual co-enacting both the roles and identities of leader and follower, as he/she connects different leadership relationships. This exploration starts with a broad research question: how do intermediate leaders enact both roles effectively? This thesis provides some answers by presenting three separate papers, each focusing on a separate study. Paper 1 reviews previous literature categorizing the tensions faced by intermediate leaders. It introduces the leadership triad, formed by an intermediate leader, his/her leader and his/her follower as a promising area of enquiry. It then contributes a theoretical dynamic model of coenactment, through which intermediate leaders balance the tensions by embracing both leader and follower self-concepts as mutually important. Paper 2 and 3 are both based on longitudinal, inductive, qualitative studies, focusing on leadership triads in large financial organizations. Paper 2 unveils the practice of skip-level leadership, whereby the intermediate leader’s sensemaking is bypassed by meaning formed in a direct leadership relationship between his/her leader and his/her follower. It reveals the disruptive effects that this can have on intermediate leaders’ identity. Paper 3 explores authentic leadership from the perspective of intermediate leaders, who face two separate audiences, their boss and their teams, often embracing contrasting interests. This paper contributes a model of ‘bounded authenticity’ in leadership, revealing tactics used by intermediate leaders to be authentic amidst organizational-, relational- and individual-level barriers to authenticity. The overarching contribution of this thesis is to expose the interconnectedness of the roles of leader and follower, highlighting how the enactment of one informs the enactment of the other

The Impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance: Evidence from the UAE

This study seeks to examine the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance of companies listed in Abu Dhabi stock exchange. It is argued in this paper that strong corporate governance mechanisms are expected to have a positive impact on performance measures. The dataset is drawn from the Abu Dhabi exchange Shareholding Company’s guide for years 2007-2011.The study uses pooled regression analysis on 281 firm/year observations.In this regard, two measures of firm performance are used; Tobin’s Q score and Return on Assets (ROA), on the other hand independent variables include institutional ownership, governmental ownership, board size, and audit quality. The study controls for the relationship between the dependent and independent variables by including firm size, debt ratio, dividend yield, and age as control variables. Results showed significant positive impact of corporate governance measures on firm performance (except for Audit quality). Results obtained inthis research paper provide further evidence on the importance of corporate governance mechanisms on stock market participants’ valuation of listed companies. In addition, it makes us understand to some extent the attitudes of shareholders toward good corporate governance practices.The importance of this research paper stems from the fact that it is conducted in an emerging economy which has recently adopted a corporate governance code. In this regard, the UAE has put into action the new corporate governance code on 2007 and made it mandatory on all listed companies as on 2010, the current study focus on this period. As far as the current researcher is aware of, prior studies conducted in the UAE context were cross-sectional in nature and conducted before the implementation of the new code. Key words: Corporate Governance, Firm Performance, Ownership Structure, Emerging Markets

Study of lifestyle and physical activity patterns of British and Kuwaiti 15-16 year old boys

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX207528 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Harnessing shared identities to mobilise resilient responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Shared social identifications (family, community, nation, humanity) predict normative actions and psychological well-being, and can be invoked discursively by leaders to mobilise their followers. We illustrate the potential for harnessing shared identities to mobilise resilient public responses against COVID-19. Study 1 explored which patterns of social identification predicted protective behaviours (personal hygiene, physical distancing), prosocial actions (helping proximal and distal others), and psychological well-being (mental well-being, depressive symptoms, anxiety), among 560 UK adults surveyed during lockdown. Study 2 contrasted Prime Minister Ardern’s use of identity-based rhetoric to mobilise New Zealanders, with Prime Minister Johnson’s use of individualistic appeals to the UK public. Our findings suggest how political leaders might beneficially use social identities in communications about extreme events

Seeking transparency whilst embracing ambiguity: skip level leadership dynamics during strategic change

Extant, literature shows that it is important for leaders to create clarity and transparency to foster trust with their followers but also that it is important for leaders to construct slightly different meanings for each audience they face, to ensure buy-in for strategy implementation. This paper illuminates how these two contradictory dimensions of leadership coexist within a senior team in a financial institution, during the implementation of strategic change. A two years study of a multilevel team, formed by top, senior- and lower-level managers, uncovers the dynamics through which meanings are constructed through upward and downward sensemaking and sensegiving. Different leadership dynamics emerge, formal and skip level. Skip level leadership dynamics are characterized by junior managers and top manager enter in direct leadership relationships, bypassing the senior manager, in search for greater transparency. In doing so they disrupt the formal leadership relationship with the senior managers, affecting their leadership identity through sensebreaking. The temporality of this study allows to unveil that skip level leadership can be unsustainable, and tend to revert to formal leadership, favoring the existence of pragmatic ambiguity, where meaning construction is controlled by the senior managers mediation. Controlled attempts to create direct communication between top and junior managers are created, but only provide an illusion of transparency

Bruno Blondé / Marc Boone / Anne-Laure van Bruaene (Eds.), City and Society in the Low Countries, 1100–1600. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2018

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.Peer Reviewe