The Online Faculty Development and Assessment System

This article evaluates the role of the Online Faculty Development and Assessment System (OFDAS), created at universities in the Canary Islands, Spain, in staff development. The evaluation indicates that the system helped staff in learning to teach curriculum and teaching capacities. The tasks, online resources and opportunities for discussions provided within the learning environment created for the system helped shape their attitudes towards learning curriculum and teaching capacities and enabled them to share their concerns about students’ classroom learning environment assessment

On classical set-compatibility

In this paper, I generalise the logical concept of compatibility into a broader set-theoretical one. The basic idea is that two sets are incompatible if they produce at least one pair of opposite objects under some operation. I formalise opposition as an operation ′ ∶ E → E, where E is the set of opposable elements of our universe U, and I propose some models. From this, I define a relation ℘U × ℘U × ℘U^℘U, which has (mutual) logical compatibility as its more natural interpretation

Entrepreneurial orientation, organizational learning capability and performance in the ceramic tiles industry

La orientación emprendedora es susceptible de tener un impacto positivo sobre el desempeño de la empresa. Sin embargo, empíricamente esta relación directa no es completamente consistente. Proponemos el desempeño innovador como una variable intermedia y, además, argumentamos que la relación entre orientación emprendedora y desempeño innovador no es incondicional, sino dependiente de la capacidad de aprendizaje organizativo. Utilizamos modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para contrastar nuestras hipótesis sobre la industria cerámica italiana y española. Los resultados sugieren que (1) el desempeño innovador actúa como una variable mediadora entre la orientación emprendedora y el desempeño de la empresa; (2) la orientación emprendedora puede ser considerada como un antecedente de la capacidad de aprendizaje organizativo; y (3) la capacidad de aprendizaje organizativo juega un papel importante en la determinación de los efectos de la orientación emprendedora sobre el desempeño. Finalmente, señalamos las limitaciones del estudio y proponemos futuras líneas de investigación. Entrepreneurial orientation is considered to have a positive impact on firm performance. However, this direct relationship does not seem to be empirically conclusive. In our research we consider innovation performance as an intermediate variable, and explain that the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovation performance is not unconditional, but subject to organizational learning capability. Structural equation modeling has been used to test our research hypotheses on a data set from the Italian and Spanish ceramic tile industry. Results suggest that (1) innovation performance acts as a mediating variable between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance; (2) entrepreneurial orientation can be considered as an antecedent of organizational learning capability; and (3) organizational learning capability plays a significant role in determining the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on innovation performance. Finally, we highlight our study¿s limitations and we posit avenues for future research.Entrepreneurial orientation, organizational learning capability, performance. Orientación emprendedora, capacidad de aprendizaje organizativo, desempeño.

An Analysis of the Microeconomic Determinants of Travel Frequency

A critical factor in predicting the demand for tourism within a certain period of time is the number of trips individuals take. New tourists’ behaviour shows a tendency toward more frequent travel. Nevertheless, the frequency of travel has received little attention in empirical literature. This paper uses household data to examine the determinants of the number of quarters with positive tourist expenditure within a year. The results highlight the relevance in travel frequency analyses of distinguishing between the participation decision and the frequency decision conditional on participation. Many socio-demographic variables only show explanatory power for the participation decision. The two most relevant factors by far in explaining each decision are the previous year tourism demand decisions (suggesting evidence of habit persistence in tourism decisions) and disposable income, although with an income elasticity below the unit.Tourism demand, frequency of travel, habit persistence, household data.

Effect of management spontaneous cover crop on rosy apple aphid, green apple aphid and their natural enemies in an apple organic orchard

Cover crops have been reported as shelters for pest but also for natural enemies. Nevertheless, there is not agreement about their influence on pest presence on apple trees. An experiment was conducted in 2004-2006 in an IRTA-Estació Experimental de Lleida organic apple orchard located in Les Borges Blanques (Lleida, Spain) in order to evaluate the influence of cover crops on the presence of pest and natural enemies on apple trees. Three cover crops were tested and compared to a bare soil: (1) spontaneous cover crop where Plantago lanceolata L. was the most abundant specie, (2) no-mowed spontaneous cover crop, (3) spontaneous cover crop mowed when weeds were 30 cm tall. Cover crops tested affected neither the presence the rosy apple aphid nor aphid natural enemies. Nevertheless, the green apple aphid was more abundant in bare soil trees than in cover crop trees

Tour operators' price strategie in the Balearic Islands

In this paper we analyse the package tours prices from a sample of British and German tour operators. The offers correspond to one-week tourist packages in the Balearic Islands in a specific hotel establishment. The period studied comprises the 2002 and 2003 high seasons, what provides us with a dynamic perspective. The paper shows the existence of persistent differences in the mean prices from tour operators, as well as price distributions with different dispersion and shape among tour operators and markets. The time variation of these distributions seems to be linked to the market situation and structure. Although the paper is presented as an empirical investigation, the results can be interpreted in the context of theoretical literature on price dispersion.price dispersion, tour operators’ industry