Inventaire de la biblioth��que 'Umarienne de S��gou : conserv��e �� la Biblioth��que Nationale, Paris / par Noureddine Ghali, Sidi Mohamed Mahibou ; avec la participation de Louis Brenner

Collection : Documents, ��tudes et r��pertoires

Value co-creation through virtual community participation

Consumers create a great deal of content in the Internet. As they do not get a monetary compensation for doing so, it seems apparent that other types of reward are derived from giving up one's time and other resources. The purpose of this study is to describe value creation and user participation in a virtual community. It can be broken down into three research questions. 1. What is the value creation logic of a virtual community? 2. What value is perceived by virtual community users? 3. What is the association between value perceived by virtual community users and their participation in a community? The study employs the discussion on value co-creation as well as perspectives on the notion of value for consumers to create a theoretical framework for value creation. To understand value creation in the context of virtual communities and to create a theoretical framework for user participation, existing literature and research on virtual communities is discussed. The empirical part of the study employs quantitative methodology to analyze data collected by sending a survey questionnaire to the users of a Finnish wellbeing-based virtual community. The results indicate that virtual community users perceive self-development, enjoyment, reputation-building and community commitment value when using the service and that value perceptions are associated with community participation. Moreover, it was found that different types of value are associated with different forms of participation. Based on the findings, it is suggested that the four types of value make up a considerable share of value for virtual community users. Moreover, as the results indicate that different value types are associated with different forms of participation, it suggested that virtual community organizers consider what forms of participation they want to promote and design their virtual communities to support creation of the different types of value accordingly.

Pursuing substantive participation in Russia : a perspective from international legal obligations and comparative law

S�� som ��r fallet f��r m��nga andra stater, kan vissa delar av den ryska f��rvaltningen ��nnu utvecklas f��r att till fullo uppfylla internationella standarder. Internationella f��rdragsorgan som ��vervakar f��rverkligandet i Ryssland av f��rdrag om m��nskliga r��ttigheter framf��r ibland kritiska anm��rkningar om den demokratiska utvecklingen i Ryssland. Enskilda fall d��r politiska r��ttigheter m��jligen kr��nkts av ryska myndigheter har utan tvivel placerat Ryssland i fokus f��r internationell media. Exempel p�� s��dana fall ��r mordet p�� journalisten Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Magnitskys d��d i f��ngelse och f��ngslandet av medlemmarna i "Pussy Riot���. Likv��l anser f��rfattaren av denna studie att politiska r��ttigheter i Ryssland f��rverkligas inom rimliga gr��nser och i enlighet med internationell m��nniskor��ttslagstiftning. Denna studie fokuserar p�� f��rverkligandet av den individuella r��ttigheten att delta i det politiska beslutsfattandet i Ryssland genom andra mekanismer f��r deltagande ��n val och folkomr��stningar. Studien utg��rs av en sammanst��llning av forskningsartiklar som har publicerats i olika internationella tidskrifter. Sammanst��llningen f��reg��s av ett frist��ende inledande kapitel. F��rfattaren koncentrerar sig p�� fr��gan om Rysslands inv��nare ges effektiva m��jligheter att delta i handhavandet av allm��nna angel��genheter och om det finns anv��ndbara r��ttsmedel till hands f��r skydd av de politiska r��ttigheterna. F��rfattaren tar sig an en juridisk analys av rysk lagstiftning g��llande olika s��tt f��r direkt deltagande i beslutsfattande samt analyserar r��ttsfall ang��ende direkt deltagande fr��n domstolarna i Moskva, Perm Krai och Sverdlovsk Oblast. Denna studie anv��nder sig ��ven av en r��ttshistorisk infallsvinkel f��r att visa p�� den positiva dynamiken hos den historiska utvecklingen betr��ffande d e v��sentligaste plattformarna f��r offentligt deltagande. Det bevisas att rysk lagstiftning som garanterar r��tten att delta i beslutsfattande ��r v��l utvecklad i enlighet med internationella m��nniskor��ttsf��rdrag, och att ��tminstone domstolarna i de utvalda ryska omr��dena fattar beslut som st��der deltagander��ttigheter som eventuellt kr��nkts av myndigheter inom den verkst��llande makten. F��rfattaren kommer till den slutsatsen att de i denna studie inkluderade enskilda dokumenterade h��ndelserna g��llande administrativ felbehandling inte n��dv��ndigtvis till��ter den direkta slutsatsen att det beg��s systematiska och grova kr��nkningar av medborgares deltagander��ttigheter i Ryssland.

Professional sports and gambling regulation in Finland - Examining the institutional factors of gambling affecting professional sport clubs in Finland

This study examines how to institutional environment of gambling is currently in motion both in Europe and Finland. Furthermore, it examines the criticism by Finnish professional sport clubs directed towards the national gambling monopolies, especially Veikkaus Oy. This criticism addresses the acclaimed issue of low or non-existing sponsorship funds coming to the clubs despite the clubs��� duties to promote Veikkaus Oy in their stadiums etc. In essence the main research objective was to examine the interaction and institutional environments of both Finnish professional sport clubs and gambling regulation. This was done through three sub-objectives: 1) to analyze professional sport as business and its institutional environment 2) to analyze the institutions of gambling in their current state and their potential future 3) to evaluate the potential impact of an institutional change in gambling legislation to the professional sport clubs The findings from Finland were then compared to those of Denmark where an institutional change had occurred in gambling regulation. Empirical data was collected through multiple interviews. Interviewees represented sport clubs (7), sport association (1), sport league (1), Finnish monopoly representatives (2), commercial gambling providers (1), Danish monopoly system representatives (1), Danish sport club (1). In addition a vast amount of secondary data (e.g. Green and white books by EU, court decisions, a variety of studies etc.). Theoretically this study combines the aspects of institutional theory with the theory of professional sports as business. This proved to be a rather new approach and no published literature was found to have done specifically this. The findings of this study are twofold, on the European level it is clear that the momentum if towards a more liberated gambling market while Finland is at the moment trying to go the opposite direction and uphold its monopoly. From the sport club���s level the findings suggest that currently sport clubs do not directly benefit from the funds originated from Veikkaus Oy as these funds are more or less used on the association/league levels. However, the clubs themselves are also lacking in self-criticism as they are lacking in clear sponsorship packages/programs which Veikkaus Oy might be interested in participating. If liberation of the gambling market would occur it is highly possible that that the largest clubs in football and ice-hockey would be the main beneficiaries while smaller clubs and sports could possibly be worse off than currently. These interpretations were well supported by the findings from Denmark.

USING ATHLETE ENDORSEMENT IN BRAND POSITIONING ��� An insight from multinational sports goods companies

It has become a popular method in marketing campaigns to use well-known and admired personalities to promote products. A famous person can draw attention to the brand and change consumers��� perceptions of the brand. The research problem of this study was to offer guidelines on how to use athlete endorsement effectively in brand positioning. This research tried to illustrate how athlete endorsement is a vital brand building factor. Athletes have been found to have special credibility, so this research concentrated on the sports goods industry. Furthermore, athlete endorsement has become a natural part of communicating a sports brand. Athletes highlight the performance of the brand to the consumers. The study was conducted as a qualitative research applying case study method. The two case companies selected for this study were Adidas and Puma. The main findings of the empirical research corresponded to the theoretical framework of the study. Brand positioning strategies in the sports goods industry often include athlete endorsement to some extent. Large multinational companies try to attract the best athletes to promote their brand. The key to successful brand positioning is to have a good product with the right personalities to promote it. However, large multinational companies may face difficulties in localizing their marketing efforts. As a result, global campaigns may not be lucrative everywhere. The role of an expert in an athlete���s sport has resulted in increasing credibility in promoting brands. Creating a superior product in consumers��� minds creates competitive advantage. A top athlete may be linked with superior equipment. After considering the goals of the positioning strategy, companies need to plan their brand awareness process, brand image and brand values. Then, athletes need to be selected based on their characteristics to meet the criteria. Sport sponsorship is a way to support the message delivered through athlete endorsement. Athlete endorsement and sport sponsorship complement the marketing communications mix of a brand. Additionally, companies raise brand awareness and communicate brand image through the athlete. Thus, athletes may earn more money through the sponsorship deals and even feature the advertisements after their professional career. Key words

The Rebirth of Dinamo Riga: From the Glorious Soviet Past to the Kontinental Hockey League

Since the end of Cold War rivalries, the world of international hockey was deemed to becoming increasingly homogenized along western sportization patterns. The introduction of the Russian-sponsored Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) signified a new era in the global diffusion of modern sports. Its recent expansion in the post-Soviet space and European countries significantly reshuffled the landscape of international hockey, offering new prospects for the studies of the intersection of sports, history, geopolitics and nationalism in the age of globalization. The aim of this study is to conceptualize the KHL and illuminate the role of ice hockey in post-Soviet Latvia. I treat the creation of the KHL and the integration of a Latvian-based team, ���Dinamo Riga,��� into the KHL within the broader discussion on the globalization of sports and its effects on national communities. The research is based on a case study of the modern rebirth of ���Dinamo Riga��� and its participation in the KHL and is confined to the scholarly themes in sports research, such as the history of modern sports and globalization, sports and nationalism. The study pays special attention to unveiling the geopolitical links between the restart of Latvian-Russian relations after the EU���s eastern enlargement and the re-emerging Latvian-Russian contacts in ice hockey. The research concludes that with the creation of the KHL, European hockey received a new charismatic ���zone of prestige��� for sports interaction. The project of ���Dinamo Riga��� became the new global phenomenon in Latvian sports in terms of its capabilities to transcend the post-Soviet geopolitical stereotypes in relation to Russia and serve as a new national symbol in the promotion and celebration of Latvian sporting nationalism. Further sociological research would require the clarification of the impact of Latvian-Russian cooperation in hockey on the bilateral relations of both countries and the formation of a national community in Latvia.

What do Sports Sponsors Really Want? The effects of service quality, service value and customer satisfaction on behavioral intentions in sports sponsorship context

The aim of this Master���s thesis was to study the antecedents of customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and their relative relationships in the sports sponsorship context. The possible antecedents under investigation in the current research are service value and service quality. As the academic background in the sports sponsorship literature is still rather modest there was a need for further empirical testing. The theoretical part of the research builds on the existing services marketing literature with sports sponsorship and business-to-business contexts in mind. The empirical study focused on the case company Liiga-SaiPa Oy. The data for the empirical analysis was collected via quantitative online survey. The total sample consisted of 357 the case company���s business customers and a total of 80 usable responses were collected. The data was analyzed by using statistical analysis software, SPSS. According to the results of the empirical analysis the most important antecedent of behavioral intentions in the underlying context is customer satisfaction. Also service value was found to have a direct and positive relationship with behavioral intentions. Moreover no indirect relationships through satisfaction were found between service quality and service value and behavioral intentions. However both constructs of service value and service quality were diagnosed to have a direct and positive effect on customer satisfaction. Service quality was also found to be a direct antecedent of service value with other service value benefits. However a contradicting finding with the current literature was, that service value sacrifices were not found to have a significant relationship with overall service value perceptions.

The board of directors as a part of family business governance ��� multilevel participation and board development

In this study, I examine the board of directors as a part of family business governance. Both boards and governance have increased their attractiveness as a research topic lately. Research on boards has concentrated mostly on the study of different board attributes, like composition, and the relationship of these attributes to the firm���s performance. Family business governance studies are criticized for ignoring the multifaceted needs of companies. More research observing the context and contingencies affecting the governance and board of directors is needed. The objective of this study is to clarify: 1) how the board participates in family business governance, and 2) how the board develops along with the firm���s and family���s development. The study is implemented as qualitative research, and the longitudinal process approach has been used as it provides the opportunity to examine development in context. Selection criteria for the two cases selected for this study are: active board of directors, at least one implemented succession, and interviewees available from two generations and from different positions in the firm. The data consists of interviews and secondary data, and it is collected from different data sources. The analysis was done selecting first some critical events from both cases to closer examination, and analysing them by using content analysis technique. Several conclusions were drawn basing on the findings. First, the family business board participates in the firm���s activities much more widely than it is customary to think. Second, the family business board is not a static part of the business, but it develops and it has to develop for different reasons. Third, ownership is not only the basis for the board���s activities or existence, but the relationship between the board and ownership is two-way. The board contributes to a large extent to the ownership decisions, and in this way to the management of ownership. Fourth, according to the cases, the board has many unrecognized possibilities to facilitate succession in family firms.

Participation of kinins in the inhibitory action of captopril on acute hypertension induced by L-NAME in anesthetized rats

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of bradykinin in the inhibitory action of captopril in hypertension induced by L-NAME in anesthetized rats. Male Wistar rats (260-320 g) were anesthetized with chloralose and arterial blood pressure was recorded with a polygraph pressure transducer. The hypertensive effect of L-NAME was studied in rats pretreated with saline, captopril or HOE 140 plus captopril. The effect of captopril was also studied during the sustained pressor effect of L-NAME. The acute pressor effect of L-NAME (10 mg/kg, iv) was significantly reduced by iv pretreatment with 2 mg/kg captopril (<!-- $MVD$:face("Symbol") --><FONT FACE="Symbol">D</font> increase of 49 �� 4.9 mmHg reduced to 20 �� 5.4 mmHg, P = 0.01). The pressor effect of L-NAME (<!-- $MVD$:face("Symbol") --><FONT FACE="Symbol">D</font> increase of 38 �� 4.8 mmHg) observed in rats pretreated with captopril and HOE 140 (0.1 mg/kg, iv) was not significantly different from that induced by L-NAME in rats pretreated with saline (P = 0.09). During the sustained pressor effect induced by L-NAME (<!-- $MVD$:face("Symbol") --><FONT FACE="Symbol">D</font> increase of 49 �� 4.9 mmHg) captopril induced a significant (P&lt;0.05) reduction in arterial blood pressure (<!-- $MVD$:face("Symbol") --><FONT FACE="Symbol">D</font> decrease of 22 �� 3.0 mmHg). The present results demonstrate that the acute pressor effect of L-NAME is reduced by captopril and this inhibitory effect may be partly dependent on the potentiation of the vasodilator actions of bradykinin

Opiatergic participation in the thirst-inhibiting effect of acute third ventricle injections of cadmium (Cd2+) and lead (Pb2+)

We have previously demonstrated that acute third ventricle injections of both lead and cadmium prevent the dipsogenic response elicited by dehydration or by central injections of dipsogenic agents such as angiotensin II, carbachol and isoproterenol in rats. We have also shown that the antidipsogenic action of cadmium may be due, at least in part, to activation of thirst-inhibitory central serotonergic pathways. In the present paper we show that in Wistar male rats the antidipsogenic effect of both lead acetate (3.0 nmol/rat) and cadmium chloride (3.0 nmol/rat) may be partially dependent on the activation of brain opiatergic pathways since central injections of naloxone (82.5 nmol/rat), a non-selective opioid antagonist, blunt the thirst-inhibiting effect of these metals. One hundred and twenty minutes after the second third ventricle injections, dehydrated animals (14 h overnight) receiving saline + sodium acetate displayed a high water intake (7.90 �� 0.47 ml/100 g body weight) whereas animals receiving saline + lead acetate drank 3.24 �� 0.47 ml/100 g body weight. Animals receiving naloxone + lead acetate drank 6.94 �� 0.60 ml/100 g body weight. Animals receiving saline + saline drank 8.16 �� 0.66 ml/100 g body weight whilst animals receiving saline + cadmium chloride drank 1.63 �� 0.37 ml/100 g body weight. Animals receiving naloxone + cadmium chloride drank 8.01 �� 0.94 ml/100 g body weight. It is suggested that acute third ventricle injections of both lead and cadmium exert their antidipsogenic effect by activating thirst-inhibiting opioid pathways in the brain.

The conveyor belt hypothesis for thymocyte migration: participation of adhesion and de-adhesion molecules

Thymocyte differentiation is the process by which bone marrow-derived precursors enter the thymus, proliferate, rearrange the genes and express the corresponding T cell receptors, and undergo positive and/or negative selection, ultimately yielding mature T cells that will represent the so-called T cell repertoire. This process occurs in the context of cell migration, whose cellular and molecular basis is still poorly understood. Kinetic studies favor the idea that these cells leave the organ in an ordered pattern, as if they were moving on a conveyor belt. We have recently proposed that extracellular matrix glycoproteins, such as fibronectin, laminin and type IV collagen, among others, produced by non-lymphoid cells both in the cortex and in the medulla, would constitute a macromolecular arrangement allowing differentiating thymocytes to migrate. Here we discuss the participation of both molecules with adhesive and de-adhesive properties in the intrathymic T cell migration. Functional experiments demonstrated that galectin-3, a soluble ��-galactoside-binding lectin secreted by thymic microenvironmental cells, is a likely candidate for de-adhesion proteins by decreasing thymocyte interaction with the thymic microenvironment.

Role of nitric oxide in hypoxia-induced hyperventilation and hypothermia: participation of the locus coeruleus

Hypoxia elicits hyperventilation and hypothermia, but the mechanisms involved are not well understood. The nitric oxide (NO) pathway is involved in hypoxia-induced hypothermia and hyperventilation, and works as a neuromodulator in the central nervous system, including the locus coeruleus (LC), which is a noradrenergic nucleus in the pons. The LC plays a role in a number of stress-induced responses, but its participation in the control of breathing and thermoregulation is unclear. Thus, in the present study, we tested the hypothesis that LC plays a role in the hypoxia-induced hypothermia and hyperventilation, and that NO is involved in these responses. Electrolytic lesions were performed bilaterally within the LC in awake unrestrained adult male Wistar rats weighing 250-350 g. Body temperature and pulmonary ventilation (VE) were measured. The rats were divided into 3 groups: control (N = 16), sham operated (N = 7) and LC lesioned (N = 19), and each group received a saline or an NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 250 ��g/��l) intracerebroventricular (icv) injection. No significant difference was observed between control and sham-operated rats. Hypoxia (7% inspired O2) caused hyperventilation and hypothermia in both control (from 541.62 �� 35.02 to 1816.18 �� 170.7 and 36.3 �� 0.12 to 34.4 �� 0.09, respectively) and LC-lesioned rats (LCLR) (from 694.65 �� 63.17 to 2670.29 �� 471.33 and 36 �� 0.12 to 35.3 �� 0.12, respectively), but the increase in VE was higher (P&lt;0.05) and hypothermia was reduced (P&lt;0.05) in LCLR. L-NAME caused no significant change in VE or in body temperature under normoxia, but abolished both the hypoxia-induced hyperventilation and hypothermia. Hypoxia-induced hyperventilation was reduced in LCLR treated with L-NAME. L-NAME also abolished the hypoxia-induced hypothermia in LCLR. The present data indicate that hypoxia-induced hyperventilation and hypothermia may be related to the LC, and that NO is involved in these responses.