MNEs and flexible working practices in Mauritius

We compare how far companies based in Africa, India and the 'global North' operating in Mauritius adopt high-trust flexible working practices, and how these are linked to different clusters of wider labour management practice. Using comprehensive firm-level data collected in late 2011, we find that African/Indian company practices are closer to those of indigenous firms than to those of Northern companies. The different company groups operate in quite different ways but regional MNEs operate in a similar way to indigenous companies. We therefore conclude that Rugman and Verbeke’s ‘regionalization’ theory also applies to the HR field. We further find that both a relatively strategic approach to HRM and measures to develop employer-employee interdependence are, respectively, linked directly and indirectly to flexible working incidence

How do older people discuss their own sexuality? A systematic review of qualitative research studies

This study captured older people’s attitudes and concerns about sex and sexuality in later life by synthesising qualitative research published on this issue. The systematic review was conducted between November 2015 and June 2016 based on a pre-determined protocol. Key words were used to ensure a precise search strategy. Empirically based, qualitative literature from 18 databases was found. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. Thomas and Harden’s thematic synthesis was used to generate ‘analytical themes’ which summarise this body of literature. Three main themes were identified: (a) social legitimacy for sexuality in later life; (b) health, not age, is what truly impacts sexuality, and (c) the hegemony of penetrative sex. The themes illustrate the complex and delicate relation between ageing and sexuality. Older adults facing health issues that affect sexual function adopt broader definitions of sexuality and sexual activit

Assessing the Dutch energy transition policy: how does it deal with dilemmas of managing transitions?

ABSTRACT In the Netherlands, the national government is committed towards altering the systems of energy, transport and agriculture in the name of sustainable development. A process of deliberation and change was started\xe2\x80\x94aimed at achieving \xe2\x80\x98transitions\xe2\x80\x99\xe2\x80\x94using a model of transition management. This paper examines how the new arrangements of governance for energy transition deal with six problems of steering: ambivalence about goals, uncertainty about cause\xe2\x80\x93effect relations, distributed power of control, political myopia, determination of short-term steps for long-term change and the danger of lock-in to new systems. The Dutch experience shows that transition management is applied in ways different from the original model (established players play a too great role) but it appears a useful model of reflexive governance, combining advantages of incremental politics with those of planning. It helps to orientate innovation policy and sectoral policies to sustainable development goals and to exploit business interests in system innovations in a prudent manner

Black-boxing Sustainable Development: Environmental Impact Assessment on the River Uruguay

International audienceThis chapter offers an original account of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a technology that scripts collective action through black-boxing the politics of governance. After tracing the global trajectory of the instrument, the chapter looks at EIA struggles in the case of pulp mills on the River Uruguay. As actors seeking to halt projects because of their potential harmful impact follow the choreography of EIA, the authoritative governance script is reinforced rather than undermined. There is a tragic aspect to this, in that those wishing to block a project are actually making it stronger. This points to a subtle de-politicization resulting from the evolution of instruments in use, and a need for their re-politicization

Benthic communities and their drivers: A spatial analysis off the Antarctic Peninsula

Multiple environmental factors control benthic community patterns, and their relative importance varies with spatial scale. Since this variation is difficult to evaluate quantitatively, extensive sampling across a broad range of spatial scales is required. Here, we present a first case study on Southern Ocean shelf benthos, in which mega-epibenthic communities and biota-environment relationships have been explored at multiple spatial scales. The analyses encompassed 20 seafloor, water-column, and sea-ice parameters, as well as abundances of 18 mega-epibenthic taxa in a total of 2799 high-resolution seabed images taken at 28 stations at 32–786 m depth off the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Based on a priori nesting of sampling stations into ecoregions, subregions, and habitats, analyses indicated most pronounced patchiness levels at finest (within transects among adjacent seabed photos) and largest (among ecoregions) spatial scale considered. Using an alternative approach, explicitly involving the spatial distances between the geo-referenced data, Moran’s Eigenvector mapping (MEM) classified the continuum of spatial scales into four categories: broad (> 60 km), meso (10–60 km), small (2–10 km), and fine (< 2 km). MEM analyses generally indicated an increase in mega-epibenthic community complexity with increasing spatial scale. Moreover, strong relationships between biota and environmental drivers were found at scales of > 2 km. In contrast, few environmental variables contributed to explaining biotic structures at finer scales. These are likely rather determined by nonmeasured environmental variables, as well as biological traits and interactions that are assumed to be most effective at small spatial scales

Branching fraction and form-factor shape measurements of exclusive charmless semileptonic B decays, and determination of |V_{ub}|

We report the results of a study of the exclusive charmless semileptonic decays, B^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu, B^+ --> pi^0 l^+ nu, B^+ --> omega l^+ nu, B^+ --> eta l^+ nu and B^+ --> eta^' l^+ nu, (l = e or mu) undertaken with approximately 462x10^6 B\bar{B} pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. The analysis uses events in which the signal B decays are reconstructed with a loose neutrino reconstruction technique. We obtain partial branching fractions in several bins of q^2, the square of the momentum transferred to the lepton-neutrino pair, for B^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu, B^+ --> pi^0 l^+ nu, B^+ --> omega l^+ nu and B^+ --> eta l^+ nu. From these distributions, we extract the form-factor shapes f_+(q^2) and the total branching fractions BF(B^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu) = (1.45 +/- 0.04_{stat} +/- 0.06_{syst})x10^-4 (combined pi^- and pi^0 decay channels assuming isospin symmetry), BF(B^+ --> omega l^+ nu) = (1.19 +/- 0.16_{stat} +/- 0.09_{syst})x10^-4 and BF(B^+ --> eta l^+ nu) = (0.38 +/- 0.05_{stat} +/- 0.05_{syst})x10^-4. We also measure BF(B^+ --> eta^' l^+ nu) = (0.24 +/- 0.08_{stat} +/- 0.03_{syst})x10^-4. We obtain values for the magnitude of the CKM matrix element V_{ub} by direct comparison with three different QCD calculations in restricted q^2 ranges of B --> pi l^+ nu decays. From a simultaneous fit to the experimental data over the full q^2 range and the FNAL/MILC lattice QCD predictions, we obtain |V_{ub}| = (3.25 +/- 0.31)x10^-3, where the error is the combined experimental and theoretical uncertainty.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR

Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive deep inelastic scattering events produced in $ep$ interactions at HERA. The events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function of \xpom, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of $\beta$, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to \xpom, and of $Q^2$. The \xpom dependence is consistent with the form \xpoma where $a~=~1.30~\pm~0.08~(stat)~^{+~0.08}_{-~0.14}~(sys)$ in all bins of $\beta$ and $Q^2$. In the measured $Q^2$ range, the diffractive structure function approximately scales with $Q^2$ at fixed $\beta$. In an Ingelman-Schlein type model, where commonly used pomeron flux factor normalisations are assumed, it is found that the quarks within the pomeron do not saturate the momentum sum rule.Comment: 36 pages, latex, 11 figures appended as uuencoded fil

Observation of excited Lambda_b0 baryons

Using pp collision data corresponding to 1.0 fb-1 integrated luminosity collected by the LHCb detector, two narrow states are observed in the Lambda_b0pi+pi- spectrum with masses 5911.97 +- 0.12(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +- 0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2 and 5919.77 +- 0.08(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +- 0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2. The significances of the observations are 5.2 and 10.2 standard deviations, respectively. These states are interpreted as the orbitally-excited Lambda_b0 baryons, Lambda_b*0(5912) and Lambda_b*0(5920).Comment: Replaced by version published in Phys. Rev. Lett, modified fit with better mass resolution treatmen