The political economy of employment protection

This paper develops a model of job creation and job destruction in agrowing economy with embodied technical progress, that we use toanalyze the political support for employment protection legislationssuch as the ones that are observed in most European countries.We analyze the possibility of Condorcet cycles due to the fact thatworkers about to become unemployed prefer both an increase and areduction in firing costs over the status quo. Despite this problem, we show the existence of local, and sometimes global majority winners.In voting in favour of employment protection, incumbent employeestrade off lower living standards (because employment protectionmaintains workers in less productive activities) against longer job duration. We show that the gains from, and consequently the politicalsupport for employment protection (as defined by maximunjob tenure) are larger, the lower the rate of creative destruction and the largerthe worker's bargaining power. Numerical simulations suggest a hump-shaped response of firing costs to these variables, as well as negative impact of exogeneous turnover on employment protection.

2010- 2014 Iowa Transportation Improvement Program

The Iowa Transportation Improvement Program (Program) is published to inform Iowans of planned investments in our state’s transportation system. The Iowa Transportation Commission (Commission) and Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) are committed to programming those investments in a fiscally responsible manner. A major component of the 2010-2014 Program is the full integration of funding allocated to the Iowa DOT from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). To date, the Recovery Act has provided over $400 million of additional federal funding for transportation in Iowa, including funding that is allocated to local governments and entities. Recovery Act funding will result in a record year for transportation construction in Iowa and the creation and retention of jobs. Opportunities for additionalRecovery Act transportation funding remain and will be pursued as they becomeavailable. While Recovery Act funding will make a one-time significant impact in addressing Iowa’s backlog of needs, it is important to note that there remains a large shortfall in sustained annual transportation investment to meet Iowa’s current and future critical transportation needs. In recognition of this shortfall, Governor Culver introduced and the legislature passed an I-JOBS proposal. I-JOBS will result in an additional $50 million of state funding to reduce structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges on the primary road system and approximately $10 million in funding for other modes of transportation including $3 million of new funding to support the expansion of passenger rail service in Iowa. I-JOBS, and the continuing gradual increase in funding due to TIME-21, will complement and extend the benefits of Recovery Act funding and set the stage for addressing the shortfall in annual funding in the next few years. Iowa’s transportation system is multi-modal; therefore, the Program encompasses investments in aviation, transit, railroads, trails, and highways. A major component of the Program is the highway section. The FY2010-2014 highway section is financially balanced and was developed to achieve several objectives. The Commission’s primary highway investment objective is stewardship (i.e. safety, maintenance and preservation) of Iowa’s existing highway system. The highway section includes an annual average of $104 million for preserving the interstate system; an annual average of $78 million for non-interstate pavement preservation; an annual average of $36 million for non-interstate bridges; and an annual average of $14 million for safety projects. Another objective is to maintain the scheduled completion of interstate and non-interstate capacity and economic development projects that were identified in the previous Program and this Program does so. The final Commission objective is to further address capacity and economic development needs and the Commission has done so by adding several such projects to the Program. Construction improvements are partially funded through the current federal transportation act, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The act will expire September 30, 2009. With the expiration of SAFETEA-LU, there is significant uncertainty in the forecast of federal revenues in the out-years of this Program. The Commission and Iowa DOT will monitor federal actions closely and make adjustments to the Program as necessary. The Iowa DOT and Commission appreciate the public’s involvement in the state’s transportation planning process. Comments received personally, by letter, or through participation in the Commission’s regular meetings or public input meetings held around the state each year are invaluable in providing guidance for the future of Iowa’s transportation system. It should be noted that this document is a planning guide. It does not represent a binding commitment or obligation of the Commission or Iowa DOT, and is subject to change. You are invited to visit the Iowa DOT’s Web site at iowadot.gov for additional and regular updates about the department’s programs and activities.

Processus et fonctions psychiques de l'écriture : de la création littéraire au groupe à médiation

Ce travail porte sur l'étude des processus et fonctions psychiques de la création littéraire et de l'écriture dans une perspective psychanalytique, à partir d'une méthodologie de recherche qualitative exploratoire. Un premier volet de la recherche s'attache à étudier les processus et fonctions psychiques dans la création littéraire à partir de six entretiens semi-structurés avec des écrivains romands publiés. Les entretiens sont analysés en profondeur à partir de la méthodologie qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). Un second volet de la recherche étudie les processus et fonctions psychiques de l'écriture dans un atelier de groupe à médiation écriture prenant place dans un Centre de Jour pour adultes, à partir de l'élaboration de deux cas. L'articulation des analyses de ces expériences d'écriture dans les deux contextes étudiés permet de mettre en évidence des enjeux de continuité/discontinuité dans le passage du premier mouvement créateur de l'écriture - le « miroir-papier » - vers le mouvement de la publication/lecture - le « miroir-lecteur ». Ces enjeux de partage invitent à penser le travail créateur de l'écriture à partir de la notion de « Moi- peau » (Anzieu, 1995) et à préciser cinq fonctions psychiques de l'écriture : transformation ; protection ; échange ; réassurance narcissique ; partage. Un accent particulier est porté sur la fonction de protection, dans la tension qu'elle entretient avec celle de transformation, au travers de la mise en évidence de six formes d'enveloppes d'écriture protectrice. Finalement, les analyses mettent en évidence la manière dont cette tension entre un investissement défensif de l'écriture et un investissement de transformation se déploie par des voies singulières en vue d'une tentative de résolution du conflit subjectif interne entre les exigences du « public intérieur » (De M'Uzan, 1964) et la rencontre avec l'objet réel. Ces pistes d'analyses permettent de préciser les modalités de contribution de l'écriture aux processus de symbolisation et d'enrichir la pratique du champ des médiations thérapeutiques de repères d'appréciation clinique. - Based on an exploratory qualitative research methodology, this work focuses on the psychical processes and functions of literary creation and writing from a psychoanalytic perspective. The first part of the research investigates psychical processes and functions in creative writing through the analysis of six semi-structured interviews with published Swiss writers. The interviews are analyzed according to the exploratory qualitative methodology Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). The second area of research examines the processes of writing in the context of an art-therapy writing group that took place in an adult day center. The observations lead to the elaboration of two case studies. The joint analysis of these writing experiences highlights issues of continuity/discontinuity in passing from the first creative writing movement - the « mirror-paper » - to the final publication/reading of the work - the «mirror-reader». These issues enable us to understand the creative writing processes from the concept of the « skin-ego » (Anzieu, 1995). Five functions of writing are proposed: transformation, protection, exchange, narcissistic reassurance, and sharing. An emphasis on the tension between the protection and the transformation functions is highlighted through the identification of six forms of protective writing psychical envelopes. Finally, the analysis shows how this tension between a defensive and a transformative investment in writing takes place in an attempt to resolve the internal conflict between the « inner audience » (De M'Uzan, 1964) and the encounter with the real object. This study clarifies the way creative writing can contribute to symbolization and can enrich clinical assessment in the field of art-therapy.

Identidad territorial y promoción turística: la organización de eventos como estrategia de creación, consolidación y difusión de la imagen de marca del territorio

La organización de un evento resulta paradigmática en el proceso de construcción de imágenes territoriales vividas in situ. La fabricación de imágenes territoriales - turísticas o no- con motivo de la organización de un evento para su posterior consolidación en el imaginario colectivo de los asistentes, plantea una curiosa alternativa de promoción turística implícita en la propia estrategia de gestión del evento. En efecto, no cabe duda de que el evento, por sí mismo, representa una importante estrategia de promoción del territorio, pero hay más; también puede devenir a modo de catalizador de imágenes, de creador de imaginarios capaces de fijar una marca de ciudad en su conjunto. El presente artículo dará a conocer las posibilidades que se desprenden de la organización de un evento en relación al posicionamiento identitario y promocional de un territorio.

Institutional landmarks in Brazilian research on soil erosion: a historical overview

The problem of soil erosion in Brazil has been a focus of agricultural scientific research since the 19th century. The aim of this study was to provide a historical overview of the institutional landmarks which gave rise to the first studies in soil erosion and established the foundations of agricultural research in Brazil. The 19th century and beginning of the 20th century saw the founding of a series of institutions in Brazil, such as Botanical Gardens, executive institutions, research institutes, experimental stations, educational institutions of agricultural sciences, as well as the creation and diversification of scientific journals. These entities, each in its own way, served to foster soil erosion research in Brazil. During the Imperial period (1808-1889), discussions focused on soil degradation and conserving the fertility of agricultural land. During the First Republic (1889-1930), with the founding of various educational institutions and consolidation of research on soil degradation conducted by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas in the State of São Paulo, studies focused on soil depletion, identification of the major factors causing soil erosion and the measures necessary to control it. During the New State period (1930-1945), many soil conservation practices were developed and disseminated to combat erosion and field trials were set up, mainly to measure soil and water losses induced by hydric erosion. During the Brazilian New Republic (1945-1964), experiments were conducted throughout Brazil, consolidating soil and water conservation as one of the main areas of Soil Science in Brazil. This was followed by scientific conferences on erosion and the institutionalization of post-graduate studies. During the Military Regime (1964-1985), many research and educational institutions were founded, experimental studies intensified, and coincidently, soil erosion reached alarming levels which led to the development of the no-tillage system.

Noise induced transitions in semiclassical cosmology

A semiclassical cosmological model is considered which consists of a closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime in the presence of a cosmological constant, which mimics the effect of an inflaton field, and a massless, non-conformally coupled quantum scalar field. We show that the back-reaction of the quantum field, which consists basically of a nonlocal term due to gravitational particle creation and a noise term induced by the quantum fluctuations of the field, are able to drive the cosmological scale factor over the barrier of the classical potential so that if the universe starts near a zero scale factor (initial singularity), it can make the transition to an exponentially expanding de Sitter phase. We compute the probability of this transition and it turns out to be comparable with the probability that the universe tunnels from ``nothing'' into an inflationary stage in quantum cosmology. This suggests that in the presence of matter fields the back-reaction on the spacetime should not be neglected in quantum cosmology.

Recent advances in biocuration: meeting report from the fifth International Biocuration Conference.

The 5th International Biocuration Conference brought together over 300 scientists to exchange on their work, as well as discuss issues relevant to the International Society for Biocuration's (ISB) mission. Recurring themes this year included the creation and promotion of gold standards, the need for more ontologies, and more formal interactions with journals. The conference is an essential part of the ISB's goal to support exchanges among members of the biocuration community. Next year's conference will be held in Cambridge, UK, from 7 to 10 April 2013. In the meanwhile, the ISB website provides information about the society's activities (http://biocurator.org), as well as related events of interest.

A propòsit de l'edició de Tintín en alguerès i dels problemes de codificació

Based on the experience of the Maria Montessori Teaching Resources Center in Alghero, the Algherese adaptation of 'Tintín al país de l'or negre' (Barcelona, 1995), coordinated by the author of the present article, constitues one of the most successful publications in terms of the creation and utilization of a useful Algherese language model for schoools. On the basis of criteria presented in the paper 'L'ensenyament del català a l'Alguer i la qüestió del model de llengua' at a meeting of the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans in 2000, the model employed applies Catalan spelling standards but, at the same time, is in greater alignment with the Catalan spoken in Alghero from a morphological, lexical and syntactic point of view. the article reflects upon two possible methods of codification, e.g. of Algherese, put forward by the sociolinguist Enrico Chessa who in the process regarded the disparities and differences between spelling and phonetic transcription.

Eina de col·laboració en grup

Aquest projecte consisteix en el disseny i implementació de un sistema en línia que permet la creació i organització de grups de treball els usuaris dels quals podran comunicar-se i compartir informació.

From institutional repositories to personal collections of learning resources

Institutional digital repositories are a basic piece to provide preservation and reutilization of learning resources. However, their creation and maintenance is usually performed following a top-down approach, causing limitations in the search and reutilization of learning resources. In order to avoid this problem we propose to use web 2.0 functionalities. In this paper we present how tagging can be used to enhance the search and reusability functionalities of institutional learning repositories as well as promoting their usage. The paper also describes the evaluation process that was performed in a pilot experience involving open educational resources.

Simulating Communication Routes in Mediterranean Alluvial Plains

Societies exchange knowledge, ideas and merchandise throughout their territories. Topography plays a fundamental role in the trajectory of such movements whilst helping to explain the distribution of human constructions. Standard GIS functions have been employed widely to simulate communication routes between settlements, but the straight application of published least cost route models proved inadequate for Mediterranean alluvial plain areas in which seasonal floods become an important factor to acknowledge. The objective of this study is the production of a new model, using topographic and hydrologic factors as variables from which it would be possible to simulate a route, and test it against known Roman itineraries. The selected Roman stretches are Girona – Coll de Pannisars and Tarragona – Montblanc. The new model shows the need to consider each case individually but also stresses the hydrologic factor, expressed in seasonal floods, as being of prime importance in the creation and development of Roman roads in Mediterranean alluvial plains.

Verkko-opetuksenhyödyntäminen uusien työntekijöiden koulutuksen haasteisiin vastaamisessa

Työn tarkoituksena oli kehittää verkko-oppimisympäristö sahatavaran jatkojalostusprosessien uusien ja työtehtävää vaihtavien työntekijöiden perehdytykseen. Työssä tutkittiin myös miten verkko-oppimisympäristöä voidaan käyttää osaamisen siirrossa. Työssä haastateltiin työnjohtajia ja työntekijöiden perehdyttämisestä vastaavia henkilöitä siitä, mitkä ovat ongelmat ja haasteet sahatavaran jatkojalostuksen alueella tietämyksen siirrossa uusille työntekijöille. Työssä tarkasteltiin tiedon syntymistä ja siirtämistä tietojohtamisen, sekä oppivan organisaation teorioiden avulla. Työssä selvitettiin myös mitkä ovat verkko-oppimisympäristöjen vahvuudet ja heikkoudet tiedonsiirrossa, sekä miten verkko-oppimisympäristö voisi toimia osana tiedonsiirtojärjestelmää. Haasteiksi uusien työntekijöiden koulutuksessa nousi esille neljä teemaa. Ne olivat laatutietous, turvallisuus, taloudellisuus jamotivaatio oppimiseen. Verkko-oppimisen vahvuuksia pyrittiin käyttämään mahdollisimman tehokkaasti hyväksi esiin nousseisiin haasteisiin vastaamisessa. Verkko-oppimisen vahvuuksia ovat eri mediaelementtien käyttö kuten kuvat, videot ja animaatiot. Työn tuloksia käytettiin hyväksi verkko-oppimisympäristön teossa. Lopuksi tehtiin myös ehdotus verkko-oppimisympäristön käytöstä osana tiedonsiirtojärjestelmää. Järjestelmän käyttö riippuu sen sisällön hyödyllisyydestä ja jatkuvasta päivityksestä.

Institutionaalinen luottamus - yrityksen ei-henkilöityvä luottamuksen ulottuvuus työntekijän näkökulmasta

Ylläpitääkseen kilpailuetua ja menestyäkseen markkinoilla yritysten tulee teknologisen ja liiketoimintaosaamisen lisäksi hallita tehokas sisäinen toimintansa. Tieto on tärkein tuotannontekijä ja sen jakaminen yrityksessä onkriittistä innovaatioiden syntymisen kannalta. Luottamus edistää tiedon luomista ja jakamista. Luottamusta yrityksissä on tutkittu pääasiassa henkilöiden välisenä luottamuksena omiin esimiehiin ja kollegoihin. Kansainvälisistä omistaja- jamuista yritysjärjestelyistä johtuen yritysten sisäinenkin toiminta on usein maantieteellisesti hajautettua, mikä vähentää henkilöiden välisten luottamussuhteiden syntymistä. Tällaisissa tilanteissa yritykseen itseensä kohdistuva ei-henkilöityvä luottamus täydentää tutkimusten mukaan vähäisiä henkilöiden välisiä luottamussuhteita. Yrityksen ei-henkilöityvää luottamusta on tutkittu vain vähän ja kokonaisvaltaista teoriapohjaista ja/tai empiiristä tutkimusta ei ole tehty tai sitä ei ole raportoitu. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tutkittiin, mitä yrityksen institutionaalinen luottamus on ja mistä se muodostuu. Tutkielman teoriatausta nousee sosiologian, taloustieteen ja sosiaalipsykologian eri teorioista sekä aikaisemmasta monitieteisestä luottamustutkimuksesta. Empiirinen aineisto kerättiin neljässä fokusryhmäkeskustelussa ja aineisto analysoitiin sekä aineistolähtöisesti että teoriaohjaavasti hyödyntäen ATLAS.ti kvalitatiivisen aineiston analyysiohjelmaa. Työn keskeisenä tuloksena oli teorian ja empirian synteesinä muodostunutyrityksen institutionaalisen luottamuksen määritelmä. Yrityksen institutionaalisella luottamuksella tarkoitetaan yksilön odotuksia työnantajayrityksen kyvykkyydelle ja oikeudenmukaisuudelle. Kyvykkyydellä tarkoitetaan yrityksen havaittua kyvykkyyttä menestyä markkinoilla jatkuvasti ja organisoida sisäinen toimintansa tehokkaasti ja varmasti. Oikeudenmukaisuudella tarkoitetaan koettua oikeudenmukaista henkilöstöpolitiikkaa ja hyvää työnantajamainetta.

Inmigrantes musulmanes en una sociedad "laica". Procesos de creación, consolidación y retos de futuro de las mezquitas

El artículo presenta, a través de dos estudios empíricos, la dinámica seguida por algunos oratorios españoles. Constatando que se trata de un fenómeno en crecimiento, analiza los motivos por los que fueron creados y sus objetivos, enfatizando en el abandono del islam por parte de algunos y el proceso de recuperación de éste que realiza la creación de uno de estos centros.