bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The ‘Nationalization’ of the Jewish Canon
Authors: Davies Philip R.
Published: January 2016

L’article commence par montrer que les études récentes relatives à la formation du canon scripturaire juif orientent vers la période hasmonéenne comme l’époque la plus probable à laquelle ce canon serait devenu «officiel » ou «public » . Ensuite, il considère que la création d’un canon public délimité est à mettre au compte d’une politique délibérée des Hasmonéens, au moyen de laquelle ils ont voulu établir les cadres de la religion dans le royaume de Judas, qu’ils ont territorialement fort étendu. Il est probable que les Hasmonéens le voyaient aussi comme la base indispensable d’un système d’enseignement qui dépasse les cercles limités de l’école (ou des écoles) de scribes, voire la formation privée que ces scribes dispensaient. Ainsi on peut répondre à la question : les écritures ont-elles défini le judaïsme ou bien le judaïsme a-t-il défini les écritures ? Les Hasmonéens ont créé un canon politique qui fit partie d’un projet de création d’un «judaïsme » pour un royaume judéen.
La promotion des Bacchantes d’Euripide dans les textes chrétiens
Authors: Massa Francesco
Published: January 2016

L’article se concentre sur la diffusion et le rôle des Bacchantes d’Euripide dans la littérature chrétienne des premiers siècles de notre ère. Les auteurs chrétiens trouvaient dans la pièce de nombreuses représentations des pratiques rituelles bacchiques, une interprétation sur la valeur de ce nouveau dieu pour le genre humain. Chez les Pères de l’Église, en particulier chez Clément d’Alexandrie mais aussi chez Origène et Firmicus Maternus, les vers de la tragédie non seulement ont été repris et cités, mais ils sont devenus l’occasion de développer une reconfiguration des éléments dionysiaques du point de vue chrétien.
Hydroquinone–pyrrole dyads with varied linkers
Authors: Huang Hao , Karlsson Christoffer , Strømme Maria , Sjödin Martin , Gogoll Adolf
Published: January 2016

A series of pyrroles functionalized in the 3-position with p-dimethoxybenzene via various linkers (CH2, CH2CH2, CH=CH, C≡C) has been synthesized. Their electronic properties have been deduced from 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and UV–vis spectra to detect possible interactions between the two aromatic subunits. The extent of conjugation between the subunits is largely controlled by the nature of the linker, with the largest conjugation found with the trans-ethene linker and the weakest with the aliphatic linkers. DFT calculations revealed substantial changes in the HOMO–LUMO gap that correlated with the extent of conjugation found experimentally. The results of this work are expected to open up for use of the investigated compounds as components of redox-active materials in sustainable, organic electrical energy storage devices.
Theoretical Issues of Validity in the Measurement of Aided Speech Reception Threshold in Noise for Comparing Nonlinear Hearing Aid Systems
Authors: Naylor Graham
Published: January 2016

Background:Adaptive Speech Reception Threshold in noise (SRTn) measurements are often used to make comparisons between alternative hearing aid (HA) systems. Such measurements usually do not constrain the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at which testing takes place. Meanwhile, HA
systems increasingly include nonlinear features that operate differently in different SNRs, and listeners differ in their inherent SNR requirements.Purpose:To show that SRTn measurements, as commonly used in comparisons of alternative HA systems, suffer from threats to their validity,
to illustrate these threats with examples of potentially invalid conclusions in the research literature, and to propose ways to tackle these threats.Research Design:An examination of the nature of SRTn measurements in the context of test theory, modern nonlinear HAs, and listener diversity.Study
Sample, Data Collection, and Analysis:Examples from the audiological research literature were used to estimate typical interparticipant variation in SRTn and to illustrate cases where validity may have been compromised.Results and Conclusions:There can be no doubt that SRTn measurements,
when used to compare nonlinear HA systems, in principle, suffer from threats to their internal and external/ecological validity. Interactions between HA nonlinearities and SNR, and interparticipant differences in inherent SNR requirements, can act to generate misleading results. In addition,
SRTn may lie at an SNR outside the range for which the HA system is designed or expected to operate in. Although the extent of invalid conclusions in the literature is difficult to evaluate, examples of studies were nevertheless identified where the risk of each form of invalidity is significant.
Reliable data on ecological SNRs is becoming available, so that ecological validity can be assessed. Methodological developments that can reduce the risk of invalid conclusions include variations on the SRTn measurement procedure itself, manipulations of stimulus or scoring conditions to place
SRTn in an ecologically relevant range, and design and analysis approaches that take account of interparticipant differences.
THE FORMATION AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF YOUNG STAR CLUSTERS
Authors: Fujii M. S. , Zwart S. Portegies
Published: January 2016

Recent observations have revealed a variety of young star clusters, including embedded systems, young massive clusters, and associations. We study the formation and dynamical evolution of these clusters using a combination of simulations and theoretical models. Our simulations start with a turbulent molecular cloud that collapses under its own gravity. The stars are assumed to form in the densest regions in the collapsing cloud after an initial free-fall time of the molecular cloud. The dynamical evolution of these stellar distributions is continued by means of direct N-body simulations. The molecular clouds typical of the Milky Way Galaxy tend to form embedded clusters that evolve to resemble open clusters. The associations were initially considerably more clumpy, but they lost their irregularity in about a dynamical timescale, due to the relaxation process. The densest molecular clouds, which are absent in the Milky Way but are typical in starburst galaxies, form massive, young star clusters. They indeed are rare in the Milky Way. Our models indicate a distinct evolutionary path from molecular clouds to open clusters and associations or to massive star clusters. The mass–radius relation for both types of evolutionary tracks excellently matches the observations. According to our calculations, the time evolution of the half-mass–radius relation for open clusters and associations follows

, whereas for massive star clusters

. Both trends are consistent with the observed age–mass–radius relation for clusters in the Milky Way.
ROLE OF NUCLEONIC FERMI SURFACE DEPLETION IN NEUTRON STAR COOLING
Authors: Dong J. M. , Lombardo U. , Zhang H. F. , Zuo W.
Published: January 2016

The Fermi surface depletion of beta-stable nuclear matter is calculated to study its effects on several physical properties that determine the neutron star (NS) thermal evolution. The neutron and proton Z factors measuring the corresponding Fermi surface depletions are calculated within the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock approach, employing the AV18 two-body force supplemented by a microscopic three-body force. Neutrino emissivity, heat capacity, and in particular neutron 3
PF
2 superfluidity, turn out to be reduced, especially at high baryonic density, to such an extent that the cooling rates of young NSs are significantly slowed.
Expression of OCT-4 and SOX-2 in Bone Marrow-Derived Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells during Osteogenic Differentiation
Authors: Matic Igor , Antunovic Maja , Brkic Sime , Josipovic Pavle , Caput Mihalic Katarina , Karlak Ivan , Ivkovic Alan , Marijanovic Inga
Published: January 2016

AIM: Determine the levels of expression of pluripotency genes OCT-4 and SOX-2 before and after osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs).METHODS: Human MSCs were derived from the bone marrow and differentiated into osteoblasts. The analyses were performed on days 0 and 14 of the cell culture. In vitro differentiation was evaluated due to bone markers â€“ alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity and the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of AP and bone sialoprotein (BSP). The OCT-4 and SOX-2 expression was evaluated at mRNA level by real-time qPCR and at protein level by immunocytochemistry.RESULTS: In vitro cultures on day 14 showed an increase in AP activity and upregulation of AP and BSP gene expression. OCT-4 and SOX-2 in undifferentiated hMSCs on day 0 is detectable and very low compared to tumor cell lines as a positive control. Immunocytochemistry detected OCT-4 in the cell nuclei prior (day 0) and post differentiation (day 14). On the same time points, cultures were negative for SOX-2 protein.CONCLUSION: Messenger RNA for pluripotency markers OCT-4 and SOX-2 isolated from hMSCs was less present, while OCT-4 protein was detected in cell nuclei prior and post differentiation into osteoblast lineage.
Natural pozzolan-and granulated blast furnace slag-based binary geopolymers
Authors: Robayo R. A. , Mejía de Gutiérrez R. , Gordillo M.
Published: January 2016

This study describes the synthesis at ambient temperature (25±3 °C) of binary geopolymer systems based on natural volcanic pozzolan and granulated blast furnace slag. Na2SiO3 and NaOH were used as alkaline activators. The effects of the SiO2/Al2O3, Na2O/Al2O3 ratio and the amount of slag added (from 0 to 30%) on the reaction kinetics, compressive strength and microstructure of the final product were studied. To characterise the geopolymer pastes, techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used. The results indicate the possibility of obtaining a geopolymer cement with a compressive strength of up to 48.11 MPa after 28 days of curing at ambient temperature whose characteristics are comparable to those of commercial portland cement.
Google Glass in Face-to-face Lectures - Prototype and First Experiences
Authors: Ebner Markus , Mühlburger Herbert , Ebner Martin
Published: January 2016

Graz University of Technology has a long tradition in doing technology-enhanced courses. Following the latest trends, as mentioned in the NMC Horizon Report [32], we reviewed the possibility to use a wearable technology, in our case the Google GlassTM, in courses to improve the interaction between the lecturer and the audience with a special focus on huge classes. The lack of interaction in traditional face-to-face lectures is a well-known problem with a long research history [4], [12]. New technologies in Audience Response Systems (ARS) offer new ways to improve the interaction between teacher and student by enabling to ask questions to the audience [5] to get instant feedback during a lecture. Currently many types of web-based ARSs are available on the market [15]. Our research focused on finding an ARS suitable for the visualization in the Google Glass display. Further we developed a prototype and described first practical experiences.
Mobile Learning for Special Preschool Education
Authors: Drigas Athanasios , Kokkalia Georgia
Published: January 2016

Nowadays the development of the Mobile Learning (ML) in children’s progress is thought significant. However, its role in special preschool education is recognized crucial, as it is a tool that can foster the knowledge and the experiences for this sensitive age. The support of specific areas in preschool education according to the educational perspective is thought significant with the maintenance of the mobile applications. In this paper we present a brief overview of the most representative studies of the last decade (2005-2015), which concentrates on skills that are examined in special kindergarten (early literacy, early mathematics, cognitive, social-emotional) and are supported by the mobile learning. The effectiveness of mobile applications in children who are autistic and face attention deficit problems is examined. The role of mobile learning in preschool children who face mental problems is also investigated.
Distributed Data Acquisition System for Condition Monitoring of Low-speed Machines Using Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zheng Kai , Zhang Yun , Liu Lei , Zhao Chen
Published: January 2016

Low-speed machines play an important role in industrial production, and the condition monitoring of these machines is of great importance. Monitoring with wireless sensor network (WSN) has many advantages. To monitor the condition of low-speed machines, we need to acquire low-frequency, weak and hardly-varying physical signals. As such, we designed a WSN system for high-precision signal acquisition. Actual measurement results showed that the acquisition precision of nodes could reach 0.01 mV. When the sensor nodes continuously acquired and sent data, the energy conversion efficiency was higher than 90% and the nodes’ power consumption came to about 110mW. The WSN system was designed based on the low-power consumption 802.15.4 MAC/Zigbee, and the WSN was built through MESH topology. Data transmission was stable and the PER was lower than 1%. The measurement results under laboratory and industrial field conditions showed that the WSN system designed met the requirements for on-site data acquisition and monitoring of low-speed machines.
A Novel Traffic Control Scheme for Multi-Layered Satellite Network Based on Chain Reaction Model
Authors: Li Ning , Wang Pengfei , Deng Zhongliang , Han Ke
Published: January 2016

Multi-Layered Satellite Network (MLSN) is a kind of delay tolerant network with characters of intermittent connection, long packet queuing time, complex and uncertain delay time, etc. The call congestion rate of new business is higher in delay tolerant network which leads to the reduction of communication quality and the high packet loss rate. The existing traffic control scheme is hard to meet the individual requirements of new business. It becomes more and more important to study the most effective traffic control scheme so as to increase the satellite bandwidth utilization. According to the nuclear chain reaction of atomic physics, a novel traffic control method based on chain reaction model (TCCR) is presented in this paper to realize dynamic data transmission and control for MLSN. The optimal flow distribution scheme will be obtained by analyzing the network transmission information in this algorithm. Simulation by OPENT is done which proves that TCCR can obviously improve the network total throughput, shorten link transmission delay, and reduce packet loss rate of MLSN.
Fractal-Based Outlier Detection Algorithm over RFID Data Streams
Authors: Sheng Li Lian
Published: January 2016

Nowadays, Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been extensively deployed to retailing, supply chain management, object recognition, object monitoring and tracking and many other fields. Detecting outliers in RFID data streams can help us find abnormal activities and thus avoid disasters. In order to detect outliers in RFID data streams efficiently and effectively, we proposed a fractal based outlier detection algorithm. Firstly, we built a monotone searching space based on the self-similarity of fractal. Then, we proposed two piecewise fractal models for RFID data streams, and presented an outlier detection algorithm based on the piecewise fractal model. Finally, we validated the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by massive experiments.
A Novel WSNs Localization Algorithm Based on Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm
Authors: Yang Xiaoying , Zhang Wanli , Song Qixiang
Published: January 2016

In node localization algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the least square method is affected by the measurement error, which leads to position error of the unknown node. In order to solve the problem that the error is too high, we propose a novel WSNs localization algorithm based on artificial fish swarm (AFSA). In the proposed algorithm, artificial fish swarm, which has some advantages such as requirements for the initial value and parameter setting is not high, the optimization speed is quick and so on, is introduced in position process. Firstly, the distances between nodes are obtained by using the TDOA algorithm. Then the geometrical position of the unknown nodes is estimated by the artificial fish swarm optimization algorithm. The simulation results show that compared with the least square method, the algorithm proposed in the paper can reduce the computation amount, get the optimal solution quickly and improve the accuracy of the node without increasing the cost and power consumption. Moreover, the number of beacon nodes is relatively small, so the network cost is reduced to a certain extent.
Virtual Private Networks
Authors: Vishwakarma Alok
Published: January 2016

Virtual Private Network, Its ‘Virtual', Its ‘Private' and it's a ‘Network'. A virtual private network (VPN) provides a secure connection between a sender and a receiver over a public non-secure network such as the Internet. A secure connection is generally associated with private networks. (A private network is a network that is owned, or at least controlled via leased lines, by an organization.). We can define a VPN by the following relationship: VPN = Tunneling + Security + QoS Parameters. This Chapter deals with Advantages of VPNs, Types of VPNs, VPN Architectures, VPN Models, VPN Devices, Technologies and Protocols Used to Enable Remote Access VPNs.
Sensors Network
Authors: Bachani Mamta , Memon Ahsan , Shaikh Faisal Karim
Published: January 2016

This chapter aims to develop an understanding of sensor networks and the security threats posed to them, owing to the inherently insecure wireless nature. It also highlights the current security issues associated with the exchange of information and presents respective countermeasures that can be used to secure the network of malevolent behavior. It builds the reader's understanding of security threats by presenting an idealistic security mechanism and comparing it to currently practiced security mechanisms. Doing so, it identifies the security flaws in each mechanism, henceforth, enumerating a list of well-known security attacks that are connected to the respective security flaws. To provide a better understanding of security threats, the security attacks, in general, are discussed in the perspective of a network administrator, and an adversary. Their impact is also considered from the side of a network administrator and its respective benefits to the adversary. The chapter is later concluded along with future directives and an insight on requirements of forthcoming technologies.
Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and Their Types
Authors: Pradhan Manoranjan , Nayak Chinmaya Kumar , Pradhan Sateesh Kumar
Published: January 2016

Over the last two decades, computer and network security has become a main issue, especially with the increase number of intruders and hackers, therefore systems were designed to detect and prevent intruders. This chapter per the authors investigated the most important design approaches, by mainly focusing on their collecting, analysis, responding capabilities and types of current IDS products. For the collecting capability, there were two main approaches, namely host- and network-based IDSs. Therefore, a combination of the two approaches in a hybrid implementation is ideal, as it will offer the highest level of protection at all levels of system functions. The analysis capability of an IDS can be characterised by the misuse and anomaly detection approaches. Therefore, a combination of the two approaches should improve the analysis capability of an IDS i.e. hybrid of misuse and anomaly detection.
Countering RSA Vulnerabilities and Its Replacement by ECC
Authors: Rahnama Behnam , Sari Arif , Ghafour Marwan Yassin
Published: January 2016

Security is utilized to keep the information safe. Online resources, e-commerce, internet banking and a lot of similar services are protected by use of well-known protocols such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL). This protocol makes use of the RSA key exchange protocol for authentication. New innovations and boost ups in the computational power of supercomputers today makes it quite easier than before to break through RSA and consequently decrypt the payload transferred over SSL. In this research demonstrates the use of SSL; how to utilize it in the best shape? We also discuss reasons of why we need to improve its strength. The proposed solution is to replace the RSA key exchange mechanism utilized in SSL with Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).
Kenya's Difficult Political Transitions Ethnicity and the Role of Media
Authors: Ugangu Wilson
Published: January 2016

Kenya's political transitions at different points in its history have had tremendous impact on the country's media. This chapter argues that there is a close relationship between the country's political transitions, ethnicity and the role of the media. Making reference to different transition moments such as independence in the early 1960s, the attempted coup in 1982, the advent of multiparty politics in the early 1990s and the more recent disputed elections of 2007, the chapter demonstrates the manifestations of these connections, on the perceptions of the role of the media in Kenya, and how this ultimately has affected the media, including attendant policies by the state.
Local Governance and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Rural Kenya
Authors: Akwala Alfred
Published: January 2016

Poor communication approaches in addition to other socio-economic factors in rural areas are the greatest contributors to infant and maternal mortality. Estimates show that sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia bear the greatest burden of maternal mortality. Traditional media has been seen to be ineffective in dissemination of maternal-child health information. However information communication technology (ICT) provides a variety of media platforms that can be appropriated in disseminating maternal-child health knowledge. The objective of this paper was to investigate how ICT can be appropriated in rural areas for campaigns in maternal-child health. One major issue emerged in this paper; that appropriate interactive and participatory communication through ICT influences the dissemination of maternal-child health knowledge among the rural population and thus influences utilisation of skilled maternal-child health services.
Hate Speech and Competitive Politics
Authors: Muluka Sophie
Published: January 2016

The study was motivated by identified gaps in literature, theory and practice on hate speech's role in perpetuating negative ethnicity and youth violence. The study sought to add to existing knowledge with modifications to the Critical Race Theory, highlighting ethnicity as a dominant factor in Kenya's political and social discourse. The study is founded on the Pragmatic Paradigm, employing various mixed methods techniques. The sample of the study was 150 youth drawn from a Kenyan University and University College through simple random sampling. Convenience sampling was used to select a sample for Focus Group Discussions. Five members of ethnic-affiliated university student associations were interviewed and snowball sampling used to identify five members of the Mungiki sect for interview. Data was analyzed by linking the research objectives to the data analysis procedure, transcribing data and analyzing textual content to determine features characterizing hate speech based on the target group's perceptions, thus generating themes for analysis to facilitate the building of theory.
Gendered Media and Political Communication in Africa
Authors: Macharia Juliet Wambui
Published: January 2016

The African media landscape has grown tremendously in the last 20 years and currently, communication channels are more accessible to various groups, even those previously marginalised in the society. Access to communication channels is important as the media sets the agenda and guides everyday discourses and interactions. However, of concern to this paper is the analysis of the African media landscape that is highly gendered; whereby media owners and practitioners are predominantly male. As a result, the message design and communication favours male over female political candidates because a lot of propaganda and persuasion is often used to entice the electorate. The chapter discusses how political images seen on television are often centered on the male dominant figure in politics, while the women are often discussed from the periphery. Due to a mainly male dominated political scene, women shy away from participating and those who chose to get involved, often have to fight against societal stereotypes enabled by the media which inovertly propagates the notion that competitive politics is a manly affair. In many African countries therefore female stereotyping is prevalent in the media during electioneering period. An analysis of news coverage shows that among the news stories reported by male journalists on television, 76 per cent were often men subjects while only 29 percent of stories reported by female journalists were about women in politics. Even when women featured in the stories in the centre pages and at the end of news bulletins, they were about them as victims of political violence during campaigns rather than males/females participating in campaigns as future leaders and decision makers.
Network Analysis for Economics and Management Studies
Authors: Biggiero Lucio
Published: January 2016

Sociology and other social sciences have employed network analysis earlier than management and organization sciences, and much earlier than economics, which has been the last one to systematically adopt it. Nevertheless, the development of network economics during last 15 years has been massive, alongside three main research streams: strategic formation network modeling, (mostly descriptive) analysis of real economic networks, and optimization methods of economic networks. The main reason why this enthusiastic and rapidly diffused interest of economists came so late is that the most essential network properties, like externalities, endogenous change processes, and nonlinear propagation processes, definitely prevent the possibility to build a general – and indeed even partial – competitive equilibrium theory. For this paradigm has dominated economics in the last century, this incompatibility operated as a hard brake, and presented network analysis as an inappropriate epistemology. Further, being intrinsically (and often, until recent times, also radically) structuralist, social network analysis was also antithetic to radical methodological individualism, which was – and still is – economics dominant methodology. Though culturally and scientifically influenced by economists in some fields, like finance, banking and industry studies, scholars in management and organization sciences were free from “neoclassical economics chains”, and therefore more ready and open to adopt the methodology and epistemology of social network analysis. The main and early field through which its methods were channeled was the sociology of organizations, and in particular group structure and communication, because this is a research area largely overlapped between sociology and management studies. Currently, network analysis is becoming more and more diffused within management and organization sciences. Mostly descriptive until 15 years ago, all the fields of social network analysis have a great opportunity of enriching and developing its methods of investigation through statistical network modeling, which offers the possibility to develop, respectively, network formation and network dynamics models. They are a good compromise between the much more powerful agent-based simulation models and the usually descriptive (or poorly analytical) methods.
Neural Network Models
Authors: Pessa Eliano
Published: January 2016

The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models gained a wide popularity owing to a number of claimed advantages such as biological plausibility, tolerance with respect to errors or noise in the input data, learning ability allowing an adaptability to environmental constraints. Notwithstanding the fact that most of these advantages are not typical only of ANNs, engineers, psychologists and neuroscientists made an extended use of ANN models in a large number of scientific investigations. In most cases, however, these models have been introduced in order to provide optimization tools more useful than the ones commonly used by traditional Optimization Theory. Unfortunately, just the successful performance of ANN models in optimization tasks produced a widespread neglect of the true – and important – objectives pursued by the first promoters of these models. These objectives can be shortly summarized by the manifesto of connectionist psychology, stating that mental processes are nothing but macroscopic phenomena, emergent from the cooperative interaction of a large number of microscopic knowledge units. This statement – wholly in line with the goal of statistical mechanics – can be readily extended to other processes, beyond the mental ones, including social, economic, and, in general, organizational ones. Therefore this chapter has been designed in order to answer a number of related questions, such as: are the ANN models able to grant for the occurrence of this sort of emergence? How can the occurrence of this emergence be empirically detected? How can the emergence produced by ANN models be controlled? In which sense the ANN emergence could offer a new paradigm for the explanation of macroscopic phenomena? Answering these questions induces to focus the chapter on less popular ANNs, such as the recurrent ones, while neglecting more popular models, such as perceptrons, and on less used units, such as spiking neurons, rather than on McCulloch-Pitts neurons. Moreover, the chapter must mention a number of strategies of emergence detection, useful for researchers performing computer simulations of ANN behaviours. Among these strategies it is possible to quote the reduction of ANN models to continuous models, such as the neural field models or the neural mass models, the recourse to the methods of Network Theory and the employment of techniques borrowed by Statistical Physics, like the one based on the Renormalization Group. Of course, owing to space (and mathematical expertise) requirements, most mathematical details of the proposed arguments are neglected, and, to gain more information, the reader is deferred to the quoted literature.
An International Trade Comparison of Two Supposedly Different Sectors
Authors: Basevi Mario , Biggiero Lucio
Published: January 2016

According to modern international economics, and especially evolutionary economic geography, a country industry characteristics influence the structure of its international trade. Following this view, this chapter moves from the following basic research issue: if two sectors are very different according to market, economic and technological aspects, should we expect that its corresponding international trade networks are as well markedly different? Aerospace and Common Earth Materials seem quite different in those respects, and thus, they are good candidates to explore that research issue. Its comparison allowed to evidence and discuss some methodological problems in applying social network analysis, and especially in using it to compare different networks. In particular, it is underlined the difficulty to handle valued networks when value variance is very high, and to combine three groups of indicators: simple, hierarchy focused, and strictly topological. The comparative analysis employed 32 indicators either at network or sub-network level, like for core-periphery analysis, which indicate clear and marked diversity only in terms of hierarchical degree and topological aspects. A first conclusion is that the two examined trade networks are following a similar path and, excepted for few indicators, they seem to be rather similar even at a deeper structural level. Hence, one (or more) of three implications can be drawn: 1) the global value networks corresponding to the two sectors are not so markedly different; 2) they are substantially different but such a diversity does not produce a significant difference in terms of international trade networks; 3) there are some methodological problems that prevent differences to be evidence and require a more refined and modified comparison. A second conclusion is that trade patterns of both sectors are rather unstable.
The Role of Proximity in Inter-Organizational Network Evolution
Authors: Angelini Pier Paolo
Published: January 2016

This chapter presents and discusses some methodological issues in the application of stochastic actor-oriented modeling for longitudinal network analysis. By following a forward-selection procedure, three models will be defined and run on four observations of the collaboration network subsidized by the European Union Framework Programmes in the Aerospace sector, covering a 20-years time span (1994-2013). Specifically, the influence exerted by five dimensions of inter-organizational proximity (geographical, organizational, social, institutional and technological) on the longitudinal evolution of the network is analyzed. Results show that organizational proximity is the most important driver for the longitudinal evolution of the network. Further, this form of proximity is constant in time, analogously to the geographical one which, on its side, only moderately affects network's evolution. Network proximity plays a weak but positive influence, while the institutional and technological dimensions do not affect the evolution of the network. Anyway, when proximity is evaluated on single institutional and technological types, different roles are detected. Organizations' patenting activity, introduced as a control variable, does not play a significant role on network's evolution.
Innovations and Organizational Structures
Authors: Valente Marco
Published: January 2016

This chapter presents a novel model to represent the relative results that different innovation strategies can be expected to attain in respect of technological spaces defined by different complexity levels. The model representing complexity is based on Kauffman's fitness landscape (known, also, as NK fitness landscape). However, contrary to the original proposal, we used a functional and deterministic representation of complexity defined over a real-valued space, replacing a stochastic and statistical-based definition of complexity in binary-valued spaces. The search strategies proposed are inspired to hierarchical organizations like companies. Low-level employees are assumed to have a full (technical) knowledge of a sub-set of the organization's functions, but lack the global vision necessary to assess the impact of a change on the overall organization's performance. Higher-level management has the task to weight different alternative proposals and select the best one for the benefit of the company as a whole, even though they are not able to explore directly technical solutions. The results confirm the results already known in the literature, though in much clearer and robust way, and suggest a large number of possible extensions.
Knowledge-Driven Agglomeration Processes
Authors: Carbonara Nunzia
Published: January 2016

According to the economic geography literature, firms tend to geographically cluster when agglomeration economies exist. These are positive externalities associated with the co-location of firms within a bounded geographic area. Traditionally, the agglomerative advantages have been expressed in terms of pecuniary externalities and they have been identified as one of the key sources of the geographical clusters' competitive advantage. However, in the last years the basics of competition are changed and the ability of firms to create new knowledge is more crucial for success rather than the efficiency in production. This has shifted the attention of scholars on the role of knowledge and learning for the competitiveness and success of geographical clusters. In line with these studies, the chapter suggests that agglomeration economies are related to both pecuniary externalities and knowledge-based externalities. The latter are benefits that co-located firms can gain in terms of development of knowledge. To investigate whether knowledge-based externalities affect geographical clustering of firms, an agent-based model is developed. By using this model, a simulation analysis is carried out.
The Awareness of Mentality in Public Administration as the Key for the Management of Its Complexity
Authors: Pečarič Mirko
Published: January 2016

Public objectives are mostly pursued within public administration, which despite its apparent Weberian rationality works mainly evolutionarily – by imitating processes or things that prove to be effective in other areas. The present complexity cannot be grasped by endless enumeration of objective factors. Individual and personal characteristics that cannot be controlled only by the law can be a different starting point. Research should be moved to a higher level where they could be controlled and implemented through values if their basic human properties could be known that operate also within public administration. The situational and human complexity is so great that it can only be tamed step by step, through non-stop adjustments, using a central perspective on situations from the highest management. “Entering into the unknown fully prepared for changes” will be the motto of the public administration of the future.
Public Administration in the Era of Late Neo-Liberalism
Authors: Sowa Frank , Staples Ronald
Published: January 2016

This contribution deals with tensions employees of public employment services have to face in their working routine. Empirically, the authors rely on the participant observation of counselling interviews in employment agencies, flanked by semi-structured interviews with job-seekers and their respective agency personnel. These data has been collected as part of an extensive qualitative evaluative research project at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The findings indicate that under the New Public Management regime the work of the placement personnel is structured differently: On the one hand the job placement professionals are labour market experts with an extended scope of action. In counselling interviews the job placement officers interact with job seekers and provide advice and monitor the individual behaviour of job seekers. On the other hand all decisions of the placement professionals are checked by a close meshed accounting system and revised if they contradict the organizational business logic.
Potential Uses and Usefulness of Italian Local Government Consolidated Financial Reporting
Authors: Carini Cristian , Teodori Claudio
Published: January 2016

Debate on consolidated financial reporting has considerably increased over the years, also due to the various public sector accounting reforms. In this regard, Italy offers an important experience since it was one of the first countries in the European Union to expressly provide for compulsory adoption. The Legislative Decree no. 118/2011 will introduce consolidated financial reporting for local government as from 2017, after an initial “experimentation” period. In view of the recent adoption, the methodological approach implemented in the chapter is based on a case study. After discussion of the boundaries of the consolidation performed by comparison with international experiences – IPSAS 6, new IPSAS 35 and GASB 14 – a critical analysis of the Italian proposal is also provided. The chapter aims to contribute to the debate on consolidated financial reporting both from the theoretical and empirical points of view.
Modernization of Governmental Accounting Systems
Authors: Araya-Leandro Carlos , Caba-Pérez María Del Carmen , López-Hernandez Antonio M.
Published: January 2016

The countries in the Central American region, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, have carried out a reform process of their public financial management systems, seeking to guarantee higher-quality, reliable and timely information, using mainly the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). In this context, the chapter has a double objective. On the one hand, valuing from the Model of Contingency of the Professor Lüder, the influence of the environment in the implementation of processes of innovation in systems of government financial management in the Central American region. On the other hand analyze the main implementation strategies in the process of adoption or adaptation of IPSAS in these countries. For this purpose, interviews have been made with those responsible for the process of implementation of IPSAS in the countries of the region, as well as an in-depth review of the documents and legislation issued in government financial administration in these countries.
The Influence of Accounting Information in the Re-Election of the Mayors in Portugal
Authors: Cunha Ana , Ferreira Augusta da Conceição Santos , Fernandes Maria José
Published: January 2016

The changes recommended by the New Public Management (NPM) in public accounting have given special attention and importance to the evaluation of mayor's performance by citizens/voters. Thus, this study aims to assess the impact of accounting information on the re-election of Portuguese mayors. Taking the agency theory as a point of departure, we start from the following research question: Does the accounting information disclosed by the municipalities influence the re-election of Portuguese mayors? The research methodology used in this study is the quantitative type, through which a multivariate analysis of data was performed on 308 Portuguese municipalities, in the period 2005-2008, based on the election results of 2009. The results from the binary logistic regression show that some indicators of accounting nature have impact on the re-election of mayors in Portugal, namely, the components of financial accounting and municipal revenues.
Online Financial Transparency
Authors: Magalhães Fábio Rodrigues , Santos Carlos
Published: January 2016

The aim of this transnational comparative research is to analyze if the practice of disclosure of financial information over the Internet by local governments of MERCOSUR countries has been taken into account to increase the transparency of government. To achieve this objective, we evaluate, for a sample of 374 local governments, the adoption rate and the extent of the practice of disclosure and we explore, through of interviews, any reasons related to the involvement of local politicians with this practice. The results indicate a limited number of local governments that adopt this practice of disclosure in MERCOSUR, due to the lack of political will, of human resources and of demand from citizens. Due to the almost nonexistent adoption of this disclosure practice in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, the study of the extent of this practice was restricted to the Brazil, revealing a small and disparate extension. These results show that the local governments of MERCOSUR have not yet woken up to the potential of the Internet to increase the transparency of public management.
Performance Measurement in Public Networks
Authors: Agostino Deborah , Arnaboldi Michela , Azzone Giovanni
Published: January 2016

This chapter outlines the development of a PMS (Performance Measurement System) to support the management and evaluation of public networks from the perspective of the individual actors operating within the network and the managers with responsibilities over the activity of the entire network. The study concerns two systems, the first, called “PMS accounting for network effects”, evaluates the network from the angle of individual organizations in charge of operations within the network and is, therefore, intended as a support for management within the network. The second system, called “PMS accounting for the network as an entity”, evaluates the networks from the viewpoint of the network manager in charge of the whole network; this system is meant to support the management of the network itself. Both the systems are based on the multi-layered concept of a public network and make use of individual components that constitute a PMS.
Risks in Implementing EU-Funded Projects in Romanian Public Higher Education System
Authors: Rinderu Paul , Voiculescu Catalin I. , Visanescu Demetra Lupu
Published: January 2016

The current study, after shortly introducing the manner in which the National Strategic Reference Framework has being conceived for meeting the EU Regional and Cohesion objectives, presents in a concise manner the architecture of the Operational Programmes in Romania for the financing exercises 2007-2013 and 2014-2020. The first financing exercise has been critically analysed and a list of systemic risks is presented, in connection to the lessons learned for the new financing exercise. Further on, the paper presents the main directions under which the public higher education institutions accessed EU funds via various projects and identifies the main institutional risks for their implementation. The authors consider defining risk institutional profiles for a significant lot of public universities by introducing “soft” and “hard” sets of indicators. After assessing these profiles, recommendations for adapting the organizational structure will be depicted in order to help a softer implementation of the accessed projects.
Applied Areas of Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds in Learning and Teaching
Authors: Ghanbarzadeh Reza , Ghapanchi Amir Hossein
Published: January 2016

Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVW) have been substantially adopted in educational and pedagogical fields worldwide. The current study conducted a systematic literature review of the published research relevant to the application of 3DVWs in higher education. A literature search was performed in eight high-ranking databases, and following scrutiny according to inclusion criteria, 164 papers were selected for review. The systematic literature review process was summarized, reviews undertaken by the authors, and results about the applicability of 3DVWs in higher education were extracted. A wide variety of application areas for the 3DVWs in higher education were found, and were classified into five main categories. Various 3DVW platforms and virtual environments used for educational goals were also identified. The results revealed Second Life as the most popular 3DVW platform in higher education. This study also found that by using 3DVW technology a wide range of virtual environments and virtual tools have been designed and applied in teaching and learning for higher education.
Faculty Perception of Virtual 3-D Learning Environment to Assess Student Learning
Authors: Cassard Anita , Sloboda Brian W.
Published: January 2016

This chapter presents some of the methods and approaches that are used in the assessment of student outcomes in 3-D virtual learning environments. Distance learning or eLearning that includes the 3-D virtual learning environments have been increasing dramatically because of the rise in demand by students. Because of this advent in eLearning, assessment of the outcomes is crucial when measuring student learning. In addition to the measurement of student learning, the instructional designers will need assessment of student learning as a means to upgrade the 3-D virtual learning environments and maintain the relevancy of the content for students. Much of the research on measurement of outcomes is based on anecdotal evidence provided by students. A comprehensive examination of assessment of the 3-D virtual learning environment becomes paramount, so educators will have a better idea how to carefully assess outcomes of student learning.