Comments to Osvaldo Guariglia’s “Democracy Under Siege”

Estos comentarios examinan las instituciones democráticas transnacionales que, en un artículo publicado en este mismo volumen de la RLFP, Osvaldo Guariglia defiende como forma de limitar a los dos grupos oligárquicos que amenazan a las democracias contemporáneas. Este examen plantea dudas sobre dos aspectos de esa defensa. En primer lugar, sobre su fundamento conceptual –el derecho humano a la democracia– y, en segundo lugar, sobre su carácter democrático, especialmente cuando es evaluada desde una perspectiva de democracia radical.These comments analyze the transnational democratic institutions that, in an article published in this volume of RLFP, Guariglia defends as a limit to the two oligarchic groups that menace the contemporary democracies. This analysis raises doubts concerning two features of Guariglia’s defense. First, it questions his conceptual foundations –the human right to democracy– and, second, it questions its democratic nature, which is problematic when it is assessed from the viewpoint of radical democrat views.Fil: Garcia Valverde, Facundo. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The Cognitive Status of Risk: A Response to Thompson

Discussing the role that probability theory should play in Risk analysis and management, Dr. Valverde argues that Thompson\u27s approach puts too much emphasis on the distinction between Risk subjectivism and Risk objectivism in addressing the question, When are Risks real

Human Resource Management Outsourcing in Spanish firms: Evolution over time and implication for devolution

Purpose: The paper aim to explore the evolution in the use of HRO in Spanish firms, and determine the differences in the degree of implementation of HRO since 1999 until 2014, and also analyze the relationship between HR outsourcing and devolution of HR responsibilities to line managers in Spanish organizations. Design/methodology: This paper combines quantitative and qualitative methods. Namely the article is based on international Cranet HRM survey data collected from private and public organizations and also interviews with HR external providers. Findings: The analysis of developments, based on the Cranet surveys and interviews with HR external providers shows that during the past few years there has been an increasing use of HRO in parallel with the tendency to devolve more HR responsibility to line managers. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this research is the limitation of data about reasons for devolution that the CRANET questionnaire provides. However, the interviews carried out enrich the survey data with qualitative results. Practical implications: The findings can be used to guide management teams in outsourcing and devolution decisions to maximize benefits to their organizations. Originality/value: This paper is about the evolution of HRO in Spain as a European Union country where published research on HRO and also its implications is relatively limited. The originality of this paper is mainly the involvement of line manager in the outsourcing process which have been poorly analyzed until now.Peer Reviewe

Helical buckling of a whirling conducting rod in a uniform magnetic field

We study the effect of a magnetic field on the behaviour of a conducting elastic rod subject to a novel set of boundary conditions that, in the case of a transversely isotropic rod, give rise to exact helical post-buckling solutions. The equations used are the geometrically exact Kirchhoff equations and both static (buckling) and dynamic (whirling) instability are considered. Critical loads are obtained explicitly and are given by a surprisingly simple formula. By solving the linearised equations about the (quasi-)stationary solutions we also find secondary instabilities described by (Hamiltonian-)Hopf bifurcations, the usual signature of incipient `breathing' modes. The boundary conditions can also be used to generate and study helical solutions through traditional non-magnetic buckling due to compression, twist or whirl.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0810.366