126,061 research outputs found
Rich Dad Poor Dad: An Entrepreneurial Approach to the Teaching of Business French
No full textUS higher education has focused on the development of new cadres of employees to the near exclusion of entrepreneurship as a career path. In this article, the authors describe an entrepreneurial approach to the teaching of Business French. The senior author served as the course instructor while the junior author was a student who completed the course. To provide an entry into the world of global entrepreneurship, the senior author selected the French translation of Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. In parallel with the reading of Rich Dad, students completed a series of entrepreneurial course activities. Selected activities are described from the perspectives of both authors. The article ends with students’ feelings about (1) entrepreneurship, (2) future career plans, (3) the theme of the course, and (4) the use of Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad
Nummulitids, Lepidocyclinids and strontium isotope stratigraphy of the Porto Badisco Calcarenite (Salento Peninsula, southern Italy). Implications for the biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography of Oligocene Larger Benthic Foraminifera
No full textThe Oligocene Porto Badisco Calcarenite (Apulian Carbonate Platform, southern Italy) contains very rich and diverse assemblages of larger benthic foraminifera. In this paper we provide the first comprehensive taxonomic study of Nummulitids and Lepidocyclinids, based on a biometric approach to species identification. The larger foraminiferal assemblage is dominated by Eulepidina, Heterostegina and Spiroclypeus. Nummulites, Operculina and Nephrolepidina make a subordinate but significant contribution. The concurrent range of the larger foraminiferal species present in the Porto Badisco Calcarenite, and in particular the presence of Spiroclypeus margaritatus and of Miogypsinoides complanatus-formosensis, indicates the late Oligocene Shallow Benthic Zone (SBZ) 23. The taxonomic composition of the larger foraminiferal assemblage of the Apulian Carbonate Platform is very similar to coeval assemblages of other localities of the western Tethyan realm (southern France, southern Spain, Malta, Greece), while some typical components of the SBZ 23 assemblages, like Heterostegina assilinoides and Eulepidina dilatata, are missing in more eastern areas (Turkey, India). Strontium isotope stratigraphy gives an age of 23.6 ± 0.5 Ma for the lower part of the Porto Badisco Calcarenite, constraining the chronostratigraphic calibration of the SBZ 23 within the latest Chattian. This calibration further supports the correlation between the SBZ 23 of the European Basins biozonal scheme with the Te 4 stage of the East Indian Letter Classification
Designing mission communication planning: the role of rich pictures and cognitive work analysis
No full textTypically, Ergonomics does not have much to offer design of new systems, it either focuses on the analysis of existing systems or evaluated new systems, leaving design to the imagination of the designer. The research reported in this article considered how the gap between Ergonomics and design may be bridged, focusing on a new approach to communications planning for military platforms. Contemporary communication planning software is overly complex and difficult to learn to use. As a result, much of the functionality of these systems goes unused and the planning process is not as efficient as it could be. To tackle these problems, a new approach of combining Rich Pictures with Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) was used; Rich Pictures revealed how users understand their work and how CWA identified the system constraints. The Rich Pictures were used to inspire the proposed new systems. Social Organisation and Cooperation Analysis-Contextual Activity Template (SOCA-CAT) from CWA and simulated task performance were then used to compare current and proposed systems. SOCA-CAT showed that the proposed system would make better use of the user's activity and simulated task performance showed that the new system would be more efficient. Feedback from the users suggested that the proposed system would result in better communication plans which would be completed in less time and with fewer errors than the current system
Do poorer countries have less capacity for redistribution ?
No full textDevelopment aid and policy discussions often assume that poorer countries have less internal capacity for redistribution in favor of their poorest citizens. The assumption is tested using data for 90 developing countries. The capacity for redistribution is measured by the marginal tax rate on those who are not poor by rich-country standards that is needed to cover the poverty gap or to provide a poverty-level of basic income, judged by developing-country standards. For most (but not all) countries with annual consumption per capita under 4,000, as well as some poorer countries. Most countries fall into one of two groups: those with little or no realistic prospect of addressing extreme poverty through redistribution from the"rich"and those that would appear to have ample scope for such redistribution. Economic growth tends to move countries from the first group to the second. Thus the appropriate balance between growth and redistribution strategies can be seen to depend on the level economic development.Achieving Shared Growth,Rural Poverty Reduction,Population Policies,Debt Markets,Inequality
Macroeconomic Aspects in Resource-Rich Countries.
No full textNatural resources represent a good opportunity for economic growth and development in many resource-rich countries. However, not all these countries have benefited from the wealth stemming from natural resources. The empirical evidence shows that the economic performance of many resource-rich countries is poorer than the average. This has come to be known as the "natural resource curse". The interesting questions are why do some countries perform badly despite their natural wealth, what are the mechanisms that cause lower growth rates and how can they be avoided. Different arguments have been proposed to explain the natural resource curse. Some authors claim that resource abundance elicits corruption and rent seeking. Others argue that the high volatility of commodity prices lead to macroeconomic volatility, and volatility harms economic growth. However, the soundest explanation for the natural resource curse is based on the notion of the Dutch disease. The first chapter of the thesis analyses the mechanism behind the Dutch disease. The extra wealth generated by the sale of natural resources induces an appreciation of the real exchange rate and a corresponding contraction of the traded sector. If we consider that most of the economic growth is caused by technological progress acquired through "learning-by-doing" (LBD) which is mainly present in the traded sector, a temporary decline in that sector may imply lower economic growth. A number of oil producing countries have attempted to avoid the Dutch disease through stabilization funds. The second chapter of the thesis analyses the economic consequences of stabilization funds. These funds permit oil producing countries to adjust government spending and cushion the domestic economy from the sharp and unpredictable variations in oil prices and revenue. Given that natural resources are exhaustible, the last chapter of the thesis looks for an optimal revenue distribution between current and future generations. Previous models based on the permanent-income hypothesis are enriched, including essential features of resource-rich countries, productive government spending and Dutch disease effects.Macroeconomics; Resource allocation -- Mathematical models;
Orthophragminid and operculinid events at the Middle-Upper Eocene boundary in Europe.
No full textIn some Middle Lutetian (Gibret, Nousse and Angoumé, France), Upper Lutetian (Ajka and Padragkút in Hungary) and Lower Bartonian (Dudar in Hungary, San Pancrazio in Italy and Biarritz, Rocher de Peyreblanque in France) localities (see Less, 1998) the richest orthophragminid assemblages ever seen can be found. The members of nineteen evolutionary lineages are represented in them. By comparing the orthophragminid content of the Middle and Upper Priabonian localities (Priabona, Sorgente, Valle Granella and the Middle-Upper Priabonian of Mossano in Italy and Kisgyör, Remete-kút in Hungary) with them, we find that eleven of the nineteen lineages had been lost and only five new (and rare) species appeared. The eight lineages that are coming from the Middle Eocene and surviving until the end of the Eocene are: Discocyclina dispansa, D. augustae, D. radians, D. trabayensis, Orbitoclypeus varians, O. furcatus, Asterocyclina stellata and A. stella.The orthophragminid events in the Late Bartonian and Early Priabonian can be followed in correlating them with three other successive larger foraminiferal events, such as (from top to bottom):- Event 3: The appearance of Spiroclypeus that has never been found in the Middle Eocene and with large Nummulites.- Event 2: The extinction of large Nummulites that have never been found with Spiroclypeus. Their supposed occurrence (especially of N. ex gr. millecaput) in the Upper Eocene of Slovakia and Armenia has to be carefully studied. Papazzoni & Sirotti (1995) recognized a considerable gap between Events 2 and 3 in N Italy whose duration however, has to be analysed in other regions, too. Papazzoni (this volume) stressed the possible bias of local paleoecological conditions on the biostratigraphical distribution of some species.- Event 1: The appearance of involute Heterostegina (former Grzybowskia) that can be found with the last large Nummulites in some sections of N Italy (Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1993 and 1995), Poland (Bieda, 1963), Armenia (Nemkov, 1967) and Urhida in Hungary (our new data).Recently Event 3 seems to be the most adequate for placing the lower boundary of the Priabonian as it has been found by Papazzoni & Sirotti (1995) because it appears exactly at the base of the Priabonian in the Mossano section. At the same time, the rapid nepionic acceleration of Heterostegina reticulata manifested in the strong reduction of non-subdivided, operculinid chambers (parameter X shows their number in the spire of the A-forms, including the proloculus) can be considered the most reliable evolutionary clock in order to calibrate the events listed above. By using the Papazzoni & Sirotti (1993) data from the Mossano section and our new data from Urhida and Noszvaj, Hungary the evolution of parameter X can be sketched as follows:- X (mean) reduces from at least 15-16 to 7-9 between Events 1 and 2 (sample Mossano 2 of Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1993 and two new samples from Urhida, Hungary).- No statistical data from between Events 2 and 3.- X (mean) is about 5 just after Event 3 (sample Mossano 10 of Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1993).- It reduces until 3 in the following part of the Priabonian (sample Mossano 16 in Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1993 and a new sample from Noszvaj, Hungary).The lineage of Assilina schwageri-alpina also shows a rather rapid increase of the proloculus of the A-forms in the Bartonian-Priabonian interval as indicated by Papazzoni (1998) and confirmed by our data from Urhida, Noszvaj and Kisgyör, Remete-kút (Less, 1999), too. According to these, the inner cross diameter of the proloculus of A-forms is about 125-135 μm at the Middle-Upper Eocene boundary (Event 3). At the same time, it is difficult to follow the development of the Operculina roselli-gomezi lineage in the context of the events listed above, mostly because the boundary of the two successive species is not clearly defined. However, this lineage is very frequent in some samples listed below after Event 1, so it needs further studies.For characterizing the orthophragminid events around the Middle-Upper Eocene boundary several samples have been used: The Middle-Upper Lutetian (O.9-11 orthophragminid zones) and Lower Bartonian (O.12-13) ones listed at the beginning of this paper were formed before Event 1, while the Middle-Upper Priabonian (O.15-16) ones well after Event 3. The other samples (their orthophragminid fauna was seen and evaluated by the author: all they indicate the O.14 zone with a few exceptions shown in brackets) are:- Between Events 1 and 2: Gurb (O.13) in Spain (Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1995 using also Hottinger, 1977, fig. 38 and C. Ferrández's unpublished data), Siest in France (Less, 1998), samples from Mossano, Italy: MOSS 1 and 11 in Papazzoni & Sirotti (1995) (MOSS. 001 and 2 in Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1993), Mossano 31 (~MOSS 11) (Schweighauser, 1953, see also in Less, 1998), new samples from Hungary (see them in the Field-trip guide-book of IGCP 393 for 2000): Bajót, Domonkos Creek section, "millecaput" beds, Urhida "millecaput" beds.- Between Events 2 and 3: Samples Igualada 4-5 in Spain (Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1995, using also C. Ferrández's unpublished data) and MOSS 16 (former MOSS. 7) of Mossano, Italy (Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1995).- After Event 2 but in uncertain relationship with Event 3: New samples from Bajót, Hungary, "Discocyclina + Operculina" beds: Domonkos Creek section and the quarry W of the village (O.15).- Just after Event 3: Samples in Mossano, Italy: MOSS 20 (former MOSS. 10) in Papazzoni & Sirotti (1995), Mossano 44 (O.14/15) and 50 (O.15) (Schweighauser, 1953, see also in Less, 1998 as well as sample MOSSA), a new sample from Hungary: Urhida, "Discocyclina" beds.Therefore, two main orthophragminid extinction events could be distinguished at the Middle-Upper Eocene boundary, the first (Event α) occurring before or simultaneously with Event 1, while the second (Event β) after Event 3.- Event α: Five of the eleven lost lineages cannot be found after Event 1. These are: Discocyclina pulcra, D. spliti, Nemkovella katoae, Orbitoclypeus douvillei, and O. schopeni (the latter is extremely rare already in the Middle-Upper Lutetian and Lower Bartonian). These lineages became extinct very likely well before the end of the Bartonian, in the SBZ 17 zone of Serra-Kiel et al. (1998) (or in the case of D. spliti maybe even in SBZ 16). This event roughly coincides with the extinction of some nummulitid lineages such as Assilina exponens and probably also Nummulites brongniarti and N. puschi.- Event β: Four of the six lineages having survived the first orthophragminid extinction event, Nemkovella strophiolata, Asterocyclina alticostata, A. kecskemetii and Discocyclina pratti can still be found with the first Spiroclypeus (the first two in Mossano, the last three in Urhida), thus they surely survived Event 3. The fifth lineage, D. discus also survived at least Event 2 as it can be found in the Bajót, Domonkos Creek section. Since Event 3 could not be detected so far in this region, this extinction is joined with that of the previous four lineages. Finally, the sixth lineage, Orbitoclypeus daguini (with last occurrence in Gurb) is so rare (altogether 10 specimens from 6 localities are known) that its extinction can be tentatively placed together with that of the other five lineages.As it is mentioned earlier, five new orthophragminid species appeared in the Priabonian. They are so rare that here only their first occurrences are listed without any further conclusions: Discocyclina nandori in sample MOSSA (O.14 zone), between Events 3 and 4; D. euaensis in the quarry W of Bajót (O.15), between Events 2 an 4; D. samantai (the ribbed variant of D. pratti minor, the last member of that lineage) in the "Discocyclina" beds of Priabona (O.14), after Event 3 and in the Lábatlan, Raibl-patak quarry (Less, 1987) (O.15), before Event 4; D. ruppi (see Rasser et al., 2000) in the "Discocyclina + Operculina" beds of the Bajót, Domonkos Creek section (O.14), after Event 2; Asterocyclina priabonensis in sample Mossano 44 (O.14/15), between Events 3 and 4.As it is clear from the list of orthophragminid samples representing the Bartonian-Priabonian transition, Event 1 can very probably be placed into the uppermost part of O.13 zone, Events 2 and 3 into the O.14 zone while Event 4 into the lower part of O.15 zone, thus almost the whole interval between Events 1 and 4 belongs to the O.14 zone within which the development of orthophragminid lineages is hardly detectable. By using our new data from Urhida and Bajót, Domonkos Creek, the only change is that Discocyclina pratti pratti is succeeded by D. pratti minor (their limit based on the population mean of the outer cross diameter of the deuteroconch is 700 μm) that could happen between Events 1 and 2.This research is a contribution to IGCP 393 and was supported by the National Scientific Fund of Hungary (OTKA, grants 23880, 32370), and by the Italian MURST 60% fund (responsible Prof. A. Sirotti, Italy)
Less Favoured Area Measure in the Netherlands: a welcome or negligible addition?
No full textThe Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) Directive (75/268) which was introduced in 1975, was the first common European instrument of regional agricultural structural policy. LFAs are areas where agriculture is hampered by permanent natural handicaps. The major objectives were to ensure the continuation of farming, thereby maintaining a minimum population level and preserving scenic landscapes and environmentally valuable habitats. In the Netherlands, the LFA measure is used as an additional payment, to compensate farmers for negative economic effects due to the conservation of these natural handicaps. It was not implemented as a stand alone policy, but is linked to measures aiming at active nature and landscape conservation management. In this paper, the effects will be examined of the regulations aiming at the conservation of natural handicaps on farm businesses within LFAs, when comparing them to farm businesses outside LFAs, where these regulations and handicaps do not exist. The main data source that was used is the Farm Accountancy Data Network. Reference groups of farms were compiled with the use of the simple and multiple imputation approach in Stars (Statistics for Regional Studies). Both analyses were tested with the use of a parametric and a nonparametric test. When comparing the results of both analyses, it can be concluded that there is no evidence that there is a statistical difference in family farm income corrected for and not corrected for LFA payment between the LFA farm businesses and the reference groups. Based on these findings it can be concluded that the size of the compensatory allowances is small and there is no evidence that it has a significant effect on the family farm income of LFA farm businesses. The main purpose of the Dutch LFA policy is to compensate farm businesses for negative economic effects due to the conservation of natural handicaps. Although this may be true for some individual farms, based on the methods used in this paper, it appears not to be the case for the collectivity of LFA premium beneficiaries as a whole.Less Favoured Areas, family farm income, regional development, Agricultural and Food Policy,
Understanding the Outcomes of Older Job Losers
No full textWe use an unusually rich Canadian survey to examine how post-job-loss behaviour and outcomes vary with age of the job loser. We find that older job losers experience greater post-displacement joblessness, and are less likely to return quickly to satisfactory employment. We show that this apparent age effect is not a job tenure effect or wealth effect. We also find that older job losers, compared to mid-career job losers, are as likely to report searching for work, but that they search less intensely (reporting fewer hours of search, and lower out of pocket expenditures on search). They are also less likely to retrain, less likely to undertake a geographic move, and less likely to switch occupations. Thus, the data suggest older job losers are less likely to make career investments after job loss. This may be a rational response to a shorter time horizon, or to more limited labour market opportunities.job loss, job search, older workers
Study of operational performance and electrical response on mediator-less microbial fuel cells fed with carbon- and protein-rich substrates
No full textThe inducement of electroactive consortia was carried Out in dual-chamber MFCS using acetate-based substrate- and a protein-rich synthetic wastewater in fed-batch mode. The characteristics of these MFCs were then compared. MFCs based on acetate-induced consortia (MFC(Ace)) achieved more than twice higher maximum power, and one half of optimal external resistance in comparison to MFCs based on consortia (MFC(Pro)) induced by a protein-rich wastewater. Furthermore, these MFCs exhibited various electrical responses even identical Substrate being applied. MFC(Ace) preferred carbon-neutral substrates. whereas MFC(Pro) exhibited better performance on nitrogen rich feedstock. In particular, for glucose-glutamic acid solution with gradually decreased glucose/glutamic acid ratio, MFC(Pro) exhibited increasing electrical responses than MFC(Ace). These results suggest that it is possible to optimize the behavior and characteristics of MFC through proper selection of feeding substrate. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Biometric study of late Oligocene larger benthic Foraminifera (Lepidocyclinidae and Nummulitidae) from the Qom Formation, Central Iran (Tajar-Kuh section)
No full textThe Oligocene strata of the Qom Formation from the Tajar-Kuh section, Central Iran, are rich in various Larger Benthic Foraminifera (LBF). Morphometric studies of the internal features of the LBF tests were carried out based on matrix-free specimens from seven samples. The LBF assemblage studied in 24 populations mainly contains representatives of two nummulitid (the reticulate Nummulites bormidiensis Tellini, 1888, only in the lower three samples, and the radiate Nummulites kecskemetii Less, 1991 in all samples) and of two lepidocyclinid lineages. Of the latter, Nephrolepidina praemarginata (R. Douvillé, 1908) occurs in all the samples, whereas Eulepidina formosoides H. Douvillé, 1925 is present in the lower six samples. In the upper sample, the slightly more advanced Eulepidina ex. interc. formosoides H. Douvillé, 1925 et dilatata (Michelotti, 1861) is recorded. Due to the very similar taxonomic composition of the Tajar-Kuh section with their coeval faunas of the Mediterranean, the age was evaluated in the frame of the Western Tethyan Oligo-Miocene shallow benthic zonation (SBZ). Although the presence of E. formosoides suggests late Rupelian (SBZ 22A Zone) age, the occurrence of Heterostegina assilinoides, N. kecskemetii, N. bormidiensis, and Planolinderina sp. preferably represents the SBZ 22B Zone of the early Chattian. Based on the obtained results, at least the lower six samples can indicate the very basal part of the Chattian. More advanced Eulepidina from the uppermost sample suggests a slightly younger but still early Chattian age
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