The dilemma of international capital tax competition in the presence of public capital and endogenous growth

Using an OLG-model with endogenous growth and public capital we show, that an international capital tax competition leads to inefficiently low tax rates, and as a consequence to lower welfare levels and growth rates. Each national government has an incentive to reduce the capital income tax rates in its effort to ensure that this policy measure increases the domestic private capital stock, domestic income and domestic economic growth. This effort is justified as long as only one country applies this policy. However, if all countries follow this path then all of them will be made worse off in the long run.

Meaning of public space and sense of community: The case of new neighbourhoods in the Kathmandu Valley

This paper examines the meaning of public space and sense of community among neighbourhood residents in the changing urban context of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. Two new neighbourhoods were selected for the purpose of this study with data collected from interviews with the residents. The study has found that most residents of the new neighbourhoods have an understanding of the significance of public space in community life. However, such understandings are based less on the actual use of public space. The existing public spaces in these neighbourhoods are less successful in offering a meaning to the residents, due to their poor development and the lack of active use. Despite these changes, some residents believe they have developed a sense of community, which is an outcome of other individual factors than the use of public space. It is argued that the role of contemporary neighbourhood public space in fostering a sense of community appears to be less significant in the valley’s present context.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in junior and mid-tier Australian resources companies operating in developing nations - beyond the public relations offensive

NIt is now widely accepted that corporations have a responsibility to benefit society, as well as generate profit. This study used institutional theory to explore how the complex and contested notion of corporate social responsibility is understood and practiced by junior and mid-tier Australian resources companies operating in the world's most impoverished countries. The study found that CSR meaning and practice in this large but little researched group of companies was shaped by complex pressures at the global, industry, organisational and individual levels. Importantly, the study also revealed striking contradictions and ambiguities between participants' CSR aspirations and their actions and accountability.

Public history, private memories: Historical imagination in the new Italian cinema 1988-1999

The concern with the following arguments started during a study of national and international cinemas, from the desire to account for a cinema that internationally was doing well, but was undervalued domestically. The aims were to account for the renewal of Italian filmmaking from 1988, the New Italian cinema, and understand the conditions behind this renewal. The thesis identifies in the historical theme and in the recurrence of features from Italian cinema history elements of coherence with previous cinema production. The first consideration that emerges is that a triangulation between a new generation of filmmakers, their audience and recent history shaped the recovery of Italian cinema from 1988. A second consideration is that no discussion of Italian cinema can be separated from a discussion of that which it represents: Italian society and politics. This representation has not only addressed questions of identity for a cohort of spectators, but on occasions has captured the attention of the international audience. Thus the thesis follows a methodologic approach that positions texts in relation to certain traditions in Italian filmmaking and to the context by taking into consideration also industrial factors and social and historical changes. By drawing upon a range of disciplines, from political history to socio-psychological studies, the thesis has focussed on representation of history and memory in two periods of Italian film history: the first and the last decade of twentieth century. The concern has been not so much to interpret the films, but to understand the processes that made the films and how spectarors have applied their knowledge structures to make meaning of the films. Thus the thesis abstains from ascribing implicit meanings to films, but acknowledges how films project cultural contingencies. This is beacause film is shaped by production conditions and cultural and historical circumstances that make the film intelligible. As Bordwell stated in Making Meaning, "One can do other things with films besides 'reading' them" (1989, p. xiii). Within this framework, the thesis proposes a project that understands history films with the norms that govern Italian filmic output, those norms that regulate conditions of production and consumption and the relation between films from various traditions.

Bridging the gap: Curriculum practices in community language schools and their challenges

This study investigated curriculum practices in Queensland community language schools and how these practices are supported by government policy. The conceptual framework drew on theories of ethnolinguistic vitality and curriculum dimensions. The research design involved case studies of two community language schools of different sizes, using classroom observation and interviews. Cross–case analysis revealed contrasting curriculum practices determined by student enrolments, and different capacities to access and benefit from what policy support was available. This study offers some implications and possibilities to better support quality curriculum practices in community language schools.

Making usability affordable in the design of e-government services: User-centred design for public sector websites

E-government provides a platform for governments to implement web-enabled services that facilitate communication between citizens and the government. However, technology-driven design approach and limited understanding of citizens' requirements have led to a number of critical usability problems on the government websites. Hitherto, there has been no systematic attempt to analyse the way in which theory of User-Centred Design (UCD) can contribute to address the usability issues of government websites. This research seeks to fill this gap by synthesising perspectives drawn from the study of UCD and examining them based on the empirical data derived from case study of the Scottish Executive (SE) website. The research employs a qualitative approach in the collection and analysis of data. The triangulated analysis of the findings reveals that e-government web designers take commercial development approach and focus only on technical implementations, which lead to websites that do not meet citizens' expectations. The research identifies that e-government practitioners can overcome web usability issues by transferring the theory of UCD to practice. © Copyright 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Creating physical education in remote Australian schools: Overcoming the tyranny of distance through communities of practice

This paper reports on a qualitative case study undertaken in a remote part of Queensland, Australia. While there is some modest agreement about the capacity of contemporary information technologies to overcome the problems of schooling in areas of extreme remoteness, generally, children educated in such contexts are considered to be disadvantaged. The experiential areas of the curriculum, which often require specific teaching expertise, present the greatest challenge to teachers, and of these, physical education is perhaps the most problematic. This research reports on a case study of three remote Queensland multi-age primary (elementary) schools that come together to form a community of practice to overcome the problems of teaching physical education in such difficult circumstances. Physical education is constructed in these contexts by blurring the school and community boundaries, by contextualizing the subject content to make it relevant, and by adjusting the school day to accommodate potential physical education experiences. Each community gathers its collective experience to ensure the widest possible experiences are made available for the children. In doing so, the children develop a range of competencies that enable seamless transition to boarding high schools.

Public and private technical assistance programs for non-industrial private forest landowners in the southern United States.

XVIII IUFRO World Congress, Ljubljana 1986.

Promoting the European Union : Attitudinal stance adjectives in three genres of EU communication to the public

Målet för Pro Gradu-avhandlingen är att undersöka hur Europeiska unionen (EU) marknadsförs genom användningen av värderande adjektiv i tre genrer av skriftlig kommunikation från EU till medlemsstaternas medborgare. Undersökningen är inriktad på tre forskningsfrågor: hur marknadsföringen av EU syns i användningen av värderande adjektiv i de tre genrerna, vilka de centrala skillnaderna mellan de tre genrerna är gällande användningen av värderande adjektiv, samt på vilket sätt texterna uppfyller sitt kommunikativa syfte, nämligen att informera allmänheten om EU:s verksamhet och marknadsföra EU som en giltig och handlingskraftig union. Den teoretiska ramen för undersökningen grundar sig på genreanalys, kommunikationsteori och teorier om hur författarens värdering (stance) syns i texter. Skillnaden mellan genre, texttyp och register diskuteras, och teoridelen redogör även för begreppet diskurssamfund, dvs. den grupp personer som i ett yrkesmässigt eller institutionellt sammanhang producerar och använder sig av en genre enligt dess kommunikativa konventioner. Materialet behandlas även utgående från Egon Werlichs indelning av texttyper i deskriptiva, narrativa, expositära, argumentativa och instruktiva texter. Materialet består av tre delar som representerar var sin genre: informationsbroschyrer, pressmeddelanden och den Allmänna rapporten om Europeiska unionens verksamhet, som utges av EU varje år. Storleken på varje del av materialet varierar mellan 20 000 - 30 000 ord. Materialet har valts på basis av de teman texterna behandlar, och kriterierna för urvalet är bl.a. att texterna behandlar ämnen som har anknytning till medborgarnas vardag, att de är riktade till allmänheten, och att de finns tillgängliga på Internet. Undersökningen är genomförd som en kvalitativ genreanalys. Materialet analyseras först utgående från kontexten och det samhälleliga sammanhanget enligt Vijay K. Bhatias metodik för analys av obekanta genrer. Det kommunikativa syftet, författaren och den tilltänkta läsarkretsen, dvs. målgruppen för kommunikationen, fastställs. Värderande adjektiv som uttrycker författarens hållning har plockats ur texten manuellt och med hjälp av konkordansprogrammet AntConc, och placerats i 16 kategorier enligt de värden de uttrycker. Varje genre analyseras sedan språkligt med utgångspunkt i adjektivlistorna, varefter resultaten jämförs med varandra. Undersökningen visar att pressmeddelandena innehåller det största antalet värderande adjektiv, medan informationsbroschyrerna innehåller det minsta antalet värderande adjektiv. Den Allmänna rapporten om Europeiska unionens verksamhet innehåller delar med tätt förekommande värderande adjektiv, i synnerhet i stycken som behandlar mer kontroversiella ämnen. I alla tre genrer sammanfaller ett högt antal värderande adjektiv med argumentativ text, och argumentativ text förekommer främst då ämnet som diskuteras rör sig på en mer abstrakt nivå, t.ex. om EU:s värderingar och grundläggande principer, eller då texten behandlar sådan politik som delar allmänhetens uppfattning. För EU utgör alla tre genrer viktiga kanaler för kommunikationen till medlemsstaternas medborgare, och EU kan genom sitt informationsmaterial och sina officiella publikationer informera om, förklara och marknadsföra sin verksamhet på ett sätt som avser att upprätthålla och förbättra EU:s image. Utarbetandet av lämpliga texter är ändå krävande på grund av den heterogena målgruppen, och det är en utmaning i sig att få fram rätt budskap bland det stora utbudet information som finns tillgängligt på Internet.

Redefining Stewardship: Public Lands and Rural Communities in the Pacific Northwest

pdf contains 24 pages

The impacts of leadership in the quality of municipal public services: case study of a portuguese municipal council

[EN]The present research work, based on some of the components of the Common Assessment Framework, sets to analyse the influence held by leadership in specific factors that constitute the organisational climate, and also the impact that these factors have on the quality of municipal public services. For the purposes of this study, we propose Likert’s exploitative autocratic and participative leadership styles to explain the genesis, structure and workflow. As far as the organisational climate is concerned, the variables used are motivation, satisfaction, empowerment, conflict and stress. The main conclusions that arose was that a participative leader confers higher relevance to the quality of service, through motivation, satisfaction, empowerment and human resources positive results, than an exploitative autocratic leader. Performed contributions are based on the empiric research hereby presented, and new research guidelines are proposed. The research methodology used was qualitative, based on the case study.

Voyages and travels into Brasil and east-Indies : containing an exact description of the dutch Brasil and divers parts of the east-Indies, their provinces, cities, living creatures, and products, the manners, customs, habits and religion the inhabitants : with a particular account of all the remarkable passages that happened during the author's stay of nine years in Brasil, especially in relation to the revolt of the portugueses, and the intestine war carried on there from 1640 to 1649 : as also a most ample description of the most famous city of batavia in the east-Indies

Joan Nieuhoff, viajante alemão, nasceu em Usen, Vesfália, em 1618, e morreu em Madagascar, em 1672. Trabalhou na Companhia das Índias Orientais, foi nomeado agente em Batávia, em 1654. Em 1655, foi à China tratar da abertura dos portos daquele país ao comércio holandês. Governou o Ceilão de 1662 a 1667. Em 1672, desembarcando em Madagascar, foi morto pelos nativos.

Species and size relationships within schools of yellowfin and skipjack tuna as indicated by catches in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: Yellowfin tuna, Neothunnus macropterus, and skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, are fished intensively off the west coast of the Americas in an area from about the California-Mexico border in the north to the Peru-Chile border in the south. The historical development of this fishery, and its expansion by the long-range California fleets of bait and purse-seine vessels, are well documented by Godsil (1938), Scofield (1951) and Shimada and Sehaefer (1956). The quarterly distribution of the tuna catches within this area has been reported for some recent years by Alverson (1959). SPANISH: Los atunes aleta amarilla, Neothunnus macropterus, y barrilete, Katsuwonus pelamis, son pescados con intensidad frente a la costa occidental del continente americano, en un área comprendida más o menos entre la frontera California-México en el norte y el límite Perú-Chile en el sur. El desarrollo histórico de esta pesquería y la expansión que le han dado las flotas californianas de largo radio de acción, formadas por los barcos de carnada y rederos, están bien documentados por Godsil (1938), Scofield (1951) y Shimada y Schaefer (1956). La distribución trimestral de las pescas de atún dentro de esta área ha sido tratada por Alverson (1959) con referencia a años recientes.