Earnings quality: measures and determinants

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Animace ve Flashi pomocí ConTeXt-mkiv

summary:Starting from release 9 AdobeReader, the reference PDF viewer from Adobe, has a Flash player embedded. The recent addition to CTAN of flashmovie package by Timo Hartmann prompted me to investigate the feasibility of an integration between ConTeXt-mkiv and swf figures. All tests were performed under Linux Ubuntu 8.04 with AdobeReader 9.3.3 installed, but I suppose they also work under Windows or Mac operating systems.summary:Článek představuje jednu z možností, jak vložit animace vytvořené ve Flashi do PDF. Používá na to ConTeXt-mkiv, který využívá programovacího jazyka Lua

Gangs, displaced, and group-based aggression

Many urban areas experienced an alarming growth of gang activity and violence during the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. Gang members, motivated by various factors, commit a variety of different types of violent acts towards rivals and other targets. Our focus involves instances of displaced aggression, which generally refers to situations in which aggression is targeted towards individuals who have either not themselves committed an offense against the aggressor (s), or who provide an offense that is too mild to justify the aggression levels that are expressed towards them. We discuss how social–psychological mechanisms and models of two types of displaced aggression might help explain some aspects of the retaliatory behavior that is expressed by members of street gangs. We also propose general techniques that have the potential to reduce such aggressive behavior

Sharing Knowledge in Public Service Networks: a Case Study of Employment Services

Public services require efficiency and quick responsiveness. An effective management of knowledge and knowledge exchanges is vital. This paper addresses this issue by analysing the case of employment services, which have been subjected to profound reforms in the last years with the aim of providing services that fit the needs of local companies and workers. This is why today labour markets are often managed at local or regional levels, and are populated by wide networks of public and private intermediaries that try to match companies and workers locally. However, these networks require effective management of knowledge exchanges between players, efficient coordination mechanisms, and appropriate use of IT. The paper analyses the processes of knowledge exchange and sharing that characterises a significant case of networked public employment services: the Province of Vicenza, located in Northeastern Italy. The study is based on direct interviews with main actors, on the analysis of support systems and services (e.g. databases, portals), and of available documents. The players in the employment system are identified, and their structure, functions, resources and management approaches are examined. Particularly, the processes of interaction and knowledge sharing between players are analysed, and the web of knowledge exchanges mapped. The related issues of coordination and knowledge management are also investigated. The findings can help public policy makers and private company managers to set appropriate policies for employment services

Catalysis Within the Self-Assembled Resorcin[4]arene Hexamer

Supramolecular catalysis is now enriched by a new principal actor: the resorcin[ 4]arene hexamer as an example of a very large, substrate-selective nanohost able to greatly stabilize reactions involving electron-poor and cationic intermediates. This simple and pseudospherical aggregate that spontaneously forms in organic solvents from a vase-shape molecule obtained in a single synthetic step, has been exploited as a well-defined nanoreactor for a wide range of chemical transformations. All the features observed are consequences of the encapsulation of the substrates or of specific cationic catalysts. These species experience unique solvation effects imparted by the electron-rich aromatic surfaces of the assembly. Thanks to its very large cavity, this assembly has attracted the interest of several research groups looking to use it as a simple but efficient example of artificial nanoenzyme