Preconceitos do Brasil (Text)

This text in Portuguese and its English translation accompanies the illustrated podcast in Portuguese 'Preconceitos do Brasil' created by James Letts, a student of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Languages and Area Studies, Universit

Direct Determination of the CKM Matrix from Decays of W Bosons and Top Quarks at High Energy e+e- Colliders

At proposed high energy linear e+e- colliders a large number of W bosons and top quarks will be produced. We evaluate the potential precision to which the decay branching ratios into the various quark species can be measured, implying also the determination of the respective CKM matrix elements. Crucial is the identification of the individual quark flavours, which can be achieved independent of QCD models. For transitions involving up quarks the accuracy is of the same order of magnitude as has been reached in hadron decays. We estimate that for charm transitions a precision can be reached that is superior to current and projected traditional kinds of measurements. The t->b determination will be significantly improved, and for the first time a direct measurement of the t->s transition can be made. In all cases such a determination is complementary to the traditional way of extracting the CKM matrix elements.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures; Submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Social Entrepreneurship and Social Transformation

This study provides a comparative analysis of seven cases of social entrepreneurship that have been widely recognized as successful. The paper suggests factors associated with successful social entrepreneurship, particularly with social entrepreneurship that leads to significant changes in the social, political and economic contexts for poor and marginalized groups. It generates hypotheses about core innovations, leadership, organization, and scaling up in successful social entrepreneurship. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the practice of social entrepreneurship, for further research, and for the continued development of support technologies and institutions that will encourage future social entrepreneurship.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 15. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers

Federal Contracting Strategies for Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Businesses

Access to federal contracts is often a challenge for service-disabled, veteran-owned business (SDVOB) leaders because of business size and competition in the environment. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore the strategies that 5 SDVOB leaders from 5 different businesses in the Northeastern United States used to win federal contracts. Porter\u27s generic strategies for competitive advantage was the conceptual framework for the study. Five company leaders who won $1 million or more in federal contracts were contacted from the Vendor Information Pages database of the Department of Veterans Affairs to participate in the study. Data were collected via semistructured interviews and archival documents. Data analysis consisted of compiling the data, coding for emergent and a priori codes, disassembling the data into common codes, reassembling the data into themes, interpreting the meaning, and reporting the themes (strategies). Eight themes regarding winning federal contracts emerged. The eight themes were process improvement/optimization, understanding requirements, preventing trial and error, personalizing services, understanding the client, access to external capital/resources, understanding the procurement process, and forward-planning. SDVOB leaders may use the results of this study to secure larger contracts in less time by adopting successful strategies that have won federal contracts. Positive social change implications include the potential for further empowerment, success, and profitability of SDVOBs, as well as other minority-owned firms. Further success of SDVOBs may provide long-term employment and increased tax revenue for communities

Beyond Hague VIII: Other Legal Limits on Naval Mine Warfare

Legal texts and scholarly articles that deal with the topic of naval mine warfare typically do so by reference to Hague Convention VIII of 1907 and customary international law. Little comment, if any, is usually made in relation to the variety of other legal regimes that might impact upon the use of naval mines in armed conflict. This article seeks to redress that imbalance by examining, with a focus on the jus in bello, a range of legal considerations arising from more contemporary sources that affect the use of naval mines in international armed conflict

JOHN LETTS, THE GIFTED WARWICKSHIRE RE SCULPTOR.

Some four years have elapsed since my first brief encounter with Mary Ann Evans - or \u27Ann\u27 as I had called her at that time. I t had been a strange, emotional experience with moments of deep passion and quiet companionship. But, it was not to last. The affair ended as it began, with a suddenness that was, in itself, an awakening. One does not easily get over such an experience except, perhaps, by the passing of time. And time had passed. It was a surprise, therefore. when I discovered that a few of her close \u27friends\u27, knowing of our fondness for each other, (it would seem that \u27Ann\u27 had conveyed her feelings on this matter to them) arranged that\u27 Ann\u27 and I should renew our acquaintance. I still do not know what careful planning went into this reunion. The first sight of Ann brought back all the old feelings that I had taken so long trying to forget. I t was then the end of May, and I knew that Ann would be leaving me again in the following October

Mental Capacity Act 2005: The Statutory Principles and Best Interests Test

The Mental Capacity Act 2005, due for implementation in 2007, will create a new statutory framework intended to improve and clarify the decision-making process for people aged 16 and over who are unable to make decisions for themselves. Section 1 of the Act sets out five statutory principles intended to underline the provisions of the Act and guide its implementation and operation. The first part of this paper will look at the origins of each of the statutory principles. The second part will consider one of the principles – acting in the best interests of a person lacking capacity – in greater detail by looking at the requirements set out in the Act for determining a person’s best interests

Reassessing the cultural distance between China and the United States as perceived by students from the Sino-American 1+2+1 dual degree program

As a result of the exponential growth of international commerce and academic exchange between Mainland China and the United States, this thesis examines the present-day validity of those Chinese and American cultural characteristics, such as practices and values, historically understood as defining cultural differences. Using Babiker\u27s Cultural Distance Index (Babiker, Cox, & Miller, 1980) questionnaire (an institutionally established instrument since 1980), 45 Mainland Chinese student-sojourners conveyed their perceptions of cultural differences found in daily living. Chinese participants identified many cultural attributes that still affect the migrant\u27s perceptions of difference. These attributes are language, food, education costs, and leisure activities. Participants found the CDI attributes, climate, modernity, elder esteem, and social dating conventions, of no definable difference between cultures. Participants also identified new cultural attributes pertinent to present-day comparisons of China and the United States. These are lifestyle, the significance of education, transportation, sexuality, and politics. The outcome of a follow-up, open-ended questionnaire elaborated these findings. The thesis discusses returnees\u27 perceptions and attitudes of cultural differences as established in the Cultural Distance Index and how present-day changes in cultural relations require a modified instrument for measuring distance. Also addressed are other issues related to the difficulty of measuring cultural distance today such as changes in migrant student\u27s perception and identification of its own culture after studying abroad--understood as transculturation. The study concludes with suggested areas of focus for future development in intercultural competency within the context of Sino-American student exchange --Document