Culture Aspects of Inforaction

The adequate attitude to the information models and information objects in the culture context is one of the main problems to be investigated on the threshold of information society. The goal of this paper is to outline some problems connected with the main styles of perceiving of the mental and artificially generated information models stored in the information objects and used in the processes of the Information Interaction or simply – in the Inforaction. The culture influence on inforaction is discussed.

The Staple Commodities of the Knowledge Market

In this paper, the “Information Market” is introduced as a payable information exchange and based on it information interaction. In addition, special kind of Information Markets - the Knowledge Markets are outlined. The main focus of the paper is concentrated on the investigation of the staple commodities of the knowledge markets. They are introduced as kind of information objects, called “knowledge information objects”. The main theirs distinctive characteristic is that they contain information models, which concern sets of information models and interconnections between them.

Formal Definition of the Concept “Infos”

The concept INFOS is very important for understanding the information phenomena. Because of this, it is basic for the General Information Theory. The more precise formal definition of this concept is given in the paper.

The Information

The current formal as well as not formal definitions of the concept "Information” are presented in the paper.

Business Informatics

A definition of the concept "business informatics" based on the General Information Theory is discussed in the paper.

Application of Fractional Calculus in the Dynamical Analysis and Control of Mechanical Manipulators

Mathematics Subject Classification: 26A33, 93C83, 93C85, 68T40

Goal orientation and its relationship to the business family, and family business performance, within the UK’s family owned and managed mid-sized businesses

Mid-Sized Businesses (MSBs) are defined by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) as having a sales turnover of between £25 million and £500 million. A key gap in family firm/business research and literature to date is, understanding the role and importance of non-financial objectives (such as family harmony, tradition and business longevity), and the role the family plays in creating a wide set of business performance objectives (both financial and non-financial) in these businesses. This dissertation contributes to filling this knowledge gap by drawing on Family Systems Theory applied in a business context, and within an overarching Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm.

Néhány megjegyzés a kockázat, bizonytalanság, valószínűség kérdéséhez (Some remarks about uncertainty, risk and probability)

A címben említett három fogalom a közgazdasági elméletben központi szerepet foglal el. Ezek viszonya elsősorban a közgazdaságtudományi megismerés határait feszegeti. Mit tudunk a gazdasági döntésekről? Milyen információk alapján születnek a döntések? Lehet-e a gazdasági döntéseket „tudományos” alapra helyezni? A bizonytalanság kérdéséről az 1920-as években való megjelenése óta mindent elmondtak. Megvizsgálták a kérdést filozófiailag, matematikailag. Tárgyalták a kérdés számtalan elméleti és gyakorlati aspektusát. Akkor miért kell sokadszorra is foglalkozni a témával? A válasz igen egyszerű: azért, mert a kérdés minden szempontból ténylegesen alapvető, és mindenkor releváns. Úgy hírlik, hogy a római diadalmenetekben a győztes szekerén mindig volt egy rabszolga is, aki folyamatosan figyelmeztette a diadaltól megmámorosodott vezért, hogy ő is csak egy ember, ezt ne feledje el. A gazdasági döntéshozókat hasonló módon újra és újra figyelmeztetni kell arra, hogy a gazdasági döntések a bizonytalanság jegyében születnek. A gazdasági folyamatok megérthetőségének és kontrollálhatóságának van egy igen szoros korlátja. Ezt a korlátot a folyamatok inherens bizonytalansága adja. A gazdasági döntéshozók fülébe folyamatosan duruzsolni kell: ők is csak emberek, és ezért ismereteik igen korlátozottak. A „bátor” döntések során az eredmény bizonytalan, a tévedés azonban bizonyosra vehető. / === / In the article the author presents some remarks on the application of probability theory in financial decision making. From mathematical point of view the risk neutral measures used in finance are some version of separating hyperplanes used in optimization theory and in general equilibrium theory. Therefore they are just formally a probabilities. They interpretation as probabilities are misleading analogies leading to wrong decisions.

Managerial work roles of health care executives in the changing environment of academic medical centers

The current U.S. health care system faces numerous environmental challenges. To compete and survive, health care organizations are developing strategies to lower costs and increase efficiency and quality. All of these strategies require rapid and precise decision making by top level managers. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the environment, made up of unfavorable market conditions and limited resources, and the work roles of top level managers, specifically in the settings of academic medical centers. Managerial work roles are based on the ten work roles developed by Henry Mintzberg, in his book, The Nature of Managerial Work (1973). ^ This research utilized an integrated conceptual framework made up of systems theory in conjunction with role, attribution and contingency theories to illustrate that four most frequently performed Mintzberg's work roles are affected by the two environment dimensions. The study sample consisted of 108 chief executive officers in academic medical centers throughout the United States. The methods included qualitative methods in the form of key informants and case studies and quantitative in the form of a survey questionnaire. Research analysis involved descriptive statistics, reliability tests, correlation, principal component and multivariate analyses. ^ Results indicated that under the market condition of increased revenue based on capitation, the work roles increased. In addition, under the environment dimension of limited resources, the work roles increased when uncompensated care increased while Medicare and non-government funding decreased. ^ Based on these results, a typology of health care managers in academic medical centers was created. Managers could be typed as a strategy-formulator, relationship-builder or task delegator. Therefore, managers who ascertained their types would be able to use this knowledge to build their strengths and develop their weaknesses. Furthermore, organizations could use the typology to identify appropriate roles and responsibilities of managers for their specific needs. Consequently, this research is a valuable tool for understanding health care managerial behaviors that lead to improved decision making. At the same time, this could enhance satisfaction and performance and enable organizations to gain the competitive edge . ^

Towards the formation of a sustainable South Florida: An analysis of conflict resolution and consensus building in the South Florida Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Initiative

This dissertation examines the sociological process of conflict resolution and consensus building in South Florida Everglades Ecosystem Restoration through what I define as a Network Management Coordinative Interstitial Group (NetMIG). The process of conflict resolution can be summarized as the participation of interested and affected parties (stakeholders) in a forum of negotiation. I study the case of the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida (GCSSF) that was established to reduce social conflict. Such conflict originated from environmental disputes about the Everglades and was manifested in the form of gridlock among regulatory (government) agencies, Indian tribes, as well as agricultural, environmental conservationist and urban development interests. The purpose of the participatory forum is to reduce conflicts of interest and to achieve consensus, with the ultimate goal of restoration of the original Everglades ecosystem, while cultivating the economic and cultural bases of the communities in the area. Further, the forum aim to formulate consensus through envisioning a common sustainable community by providing means to achieve a balance between human and natural systems. ^ Data were gathered using participant observation and document analysis techniques to conduct a theoretically based analysis of the role of the Network Management Coordinative Interstitial Group (NetMIG). I use conflict resolution theory, environmental conflict theory, stakeholder analysis, systems theory, differentiation and social change theory, and strategic management and planning theory. ^ The purpose of this study is to substantiate the role of the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida (GCSSF) as a consortium of organizations in an effort to resolve conflict rather than an ethnographic study of this organization. Environmental restoration of the Everglades is a vehicle for recognizing the significance of a Network Management Coordinative Interstitial Group (NetMIG), namely the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida (GCSSF), as a structural mechanism for stakeholder participation in the process of social conflict resolution through the creation of new cultural paradigms for a sustainable community. ^

The Ghana National Service Scheme: Perceptions of former educational personnel, students and guardians

The purpose of this inquiry was to investigate the perceptions of former service personnel, students and their parents about the organizational effectiveness of the Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS). The inquiry addressed the following questions: How do the participants perceive the effectiveness of the national service program on the Ghanaian society? What are the perceptions of school administrators who worked with service personnel, parents and students vis-à-vis the over all impact of the GNSS on the educational system? What are the perceptions of former service personnel, students and their parents in regard to the impact of the GNSS on them? ^ The GNSS is a part within the ministry of education, which is also part in the Ghanaian social structure. Hence, a systems theory approach which asks, “How and why a system as a whole functions as it does” (Patton, 1990), was utilized in the study. Methodologies included purposive sampling; interviews; participant observation, and follow-up interviews. The study was conducted over a six-moth period. ^ A cross-sectional survey design was used to generate data. The survey was followed up with an ethnographic study where in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted together with observations. The results were described and interpreted. ^ The summary of findings concludes that perceptional determinants of the effectiveness of the GNSS were biased by the age and zone of origin but not gender. This partially agrees with Marenin's (1990) except for gender. A significant difference was detected between the responses of those who were officials of the National service Secretariat and of former service personnel. The administrators defended the status quo and demonstrated their deeper knowledge about the scheme. The former personnel and parents freely criticized the program when necessary and did not seem to know much about the GNSS. Respondents mostly stressed the need for the secretariat to focus on the following areas: (1) involvement in the agricultural sector of the economy, (2) involvement in rural mass, civic and health education, (3) adequacy of remuneration and personnel welfare, and (4) ensuring posting of personnel to areas of their expertise. Recommendation for further research concluded the study. ^

The political economy of inequality and growth: Essays on sovereign debt, democracy and saving

This dissertation addresses three issues in the political economy of growth literature. The first study empirically tests the hypothesis that income inequality influences the size of a country's sovereign debt for a sample of developing countries for the period 1970–1990. The argument examined is that governments tend to yield to popular pressures to engage in redistributive policies, partially financed by foreign borrowing. Facing increased risk of default, international creditors limit the credit they extend, with the result that borrowing countries invest less and grow at a slower pace. The findings do not seem to support the negative relationship between inequality and sovereign debt, as there is evidence of increases in multilateral, countercyclical flows until the mid 1980s in Latin America. The hypothesis would hold for the period 1983–1990. Debt flows and levels seem to be positively correlated with growth as expected. ^ The second study empirically investigates the hypothesis that pronounced levels of inequality lead to unconsolidated democracies. We test the existence of a nonmonotonic relationship between inequality and democracy for a sample of Latin American countries for the period 1970–2000, where democracy appears to consolidate at some intermediate level of inequality. We find that the nonmonotonic relationship holds using instrumental variables methods. Bolivia seems to be a case of unconsolidated democracy. The positive relationship between per capita income and democracy disappears once fixed effects are introduced. ^ The third study explores the nonlinear relationship between per capita income and private saving levels in Latin America. Several estimation methods are presented; however, only the estimation of a dynamic specification through a state-of-the-art general method of moments estimator yields consistent estimates with increased efficiency. Results support the hypothesis that income positively affects private saving, while system GMM reveals nonlinear effects at income levels that exceed the ones included in this sample for the period 1960–1994. We also find that growth, government dissaving, and tightening of credit constraints have a highly significant and positive effect on private saving. ^

Structure of international cooperation in trade, investment and environment

This dissertation analyzes the obstacles against further cooperation in international economic relations. The first essay explains the gradual nature of trade liberalization. I show that existence of asymmetric information between governments provides a sufficient reason for gradualism to exist. Governments prefer starting small to reduce the cost of partner’s betrayal when there is sufficient degree of information asymmetry regarding the partner’s type. Learning about partner’s incentive structure enhances expectations, encouraging governments to increase their current level of cooperation. Specifically, the uninformed government’s subjective belief for the trading partner being good is improved as the partner acts cooperatively. This updated belief, in turn, lowers the subjective probability of future betrayal, enabling further progress in cooperation. The second essay analyzes the relationship between two countries facing two policy dilemmas in an environment with two way goods and capital flows. When issues are independent and countries are symmetric, signing separate agreements for tariffs (Free Trade Agreements-FTA) and for taxes (Tax Treaties-TT) provides the identical level of enforcement as signing a linked agreement. However, linkage can still improve the joint welfare by transferring the slack enforcement power in a case of asymmetric issues or countries. I report non-results in two cases where the policy issues are interconnected due to technological spillover effect of FDI. Moreover, I show that linking the agreements actually reduces enforcement when agreements are linked under a limited punishment rule and policy variables are strategic substitutes. The third essay investigates the welfare/enforcement consequences of linking trade and environmental agreements. In the standard literature, linking the agreements generate non-trivial results only when there is structural relation between the issues. I focus on institutional design of the linkage and show that even if environmental aspects of international trade are negligible linking the agreements might still have some interesting welfare implications under current GATT Rules. Specifically, when traded goods are substitutes in consumption, linking the environmental agreement with trade agreement under the Withdrawal of Equivalent Concession Rule (Article XXVIII) will reduce the enforcement. However, enforcement in environmental issue increases when the same rule is implemented in the absence of linkage.

The effect of domestic credit in the economic *development process

A commonly held view is that creation of excessive domestic credit may lead to inflation problems, however, many economists uphold the possibility that, generous domestic credit under appropriate conditions will result in increases of output. This hypothesis is examined for Japan and Colombia for the period 1950-1993.^ Domestic credit theories are reviewed since the times of Thornton and Smith, until the recent times of Lewis, McKinnon, Stiglitz and of Japanese economists like K. Emi, Tachi R. and others. It is found that in Japan of the Post-War period, efficient financial markets and the decisive role of the government in orienting investment decisions seem to have influenced positively the effectiveness of domestic credit as an output-stimulating variable. On the contrary, in Colombia the absence of the above features seems to explain why domestic credit is not very effective as an output-stimulating variable.^ Multiple regression analyses show that domestic credit is a strong explanatory variable for output increases in Japan and a weak one for Colombia's case in the studied period. For Japan the correlation depicts a positive relationship between the two variables with a decreasing rate very similar to a typical production function. Moreover, the positive decreasing rate is confirmed if net domestic credit is used in the correlations. For Colombia a positive relationship is also found when accumulated domestic credit is used, but, if net domestic credit is the source of correlations, the positive decreasing rate is not obtained.^ Granger causality tests determined causality from domestic credit to output for Japan and no-causality for Colombia at the 1% significance level; the differences are explained by: (1) The low development level of the financial system in Colombia. (2) The nonexistence of consistent domestic credit policy to foster economic development. (3) The lack of an authoritative orientation in the allocation of financial resources and the nonexistence of long range industrialization programs in Colombia that could channel productively credit resources. For the system of equations relating domestic credit and exports, the Granger causality tests determined no-causality between domestic credit and exports for both Japan and Colombia also at the 1% significance level. ^

A Case Study of the Ellison Model's Use of Mentoring as an Approach Toward Inclusive Community Building

The Ellison Executive Mentoring Inclusive Community Building (ICB) Model is a paradigm for initiating and implementing projects utilizing executives and professionals from a variety of fields and industries, university students, and pre-college students. The model emphasizes adherence to ethical values and promotes inclusiveness in community development. It is a hierarchical model in which actors in each succeeding level of operation serve as mentors to the next. Through a three-step process--content, process, and product--participants must be trained with this mentoring and apprenticeship paradigm in conflict resolution, and they receive sensitivitiy and diversity training, through an interactive and dramatic exposition. The content phase introduces participants to the model's philosophy, ethics, values and methods of operation. The process used to teach and reinforce its precepts is the mentoring and apprenticeship activities and projects in which the participants engage and whose end product demontrates their knowledge and understanding of the model's concepts. This study sought to ascertain from the participants' perspectives whether the model's mentoring approach is an effective means of fostering inclusiveness, based upon their own experiences in using it. The research utilized a qualitative approach and included data from field observations, individual and group interviews, and written accounts of participants' attitudes. Participants complete ICB projects utilizing the Ellison Model as a method of development and implementation. They generally perceive that the model is a viable tool for dealing with diversity issues whether at work, at school, or at home. The projects are also instructional in that whether participants are mentored or seve as apprentices, they gain useful skills and knowledge about their careers. Since the model is relatively new, there is ample room for research in a variety of areas including organizational studies to dertmine its effectiveness in combating problems related to various kinds of discrimination.