Iowa Turkey Marketing Council, Independent Auditor's Reports, Financial Statements, Schedule of Findings, December 31, 2003 & 2004

State Audit Reports

The political economy of childcare in OECD countries : Explaining cross-national variation in spending and coverage rates

If childcare policy has become topical in most OECD countries over the last ten years or so, actual developments display huge cross-national variations. Countries like Sweden and Denmark spend around 2 per cent of GDP on this service, and provide affordable childcare places to most children below school age. At the other extreme, in Southern Europe, only around 10 per cent of this age group has access to formal daycare. Against this background, this article aims to account for cross-national variations in childcare services. It distinguishes two dependent variables: the coverage rate and the proportion of GDP spent subsidising childcare services. Using a mix of cross-sectional and pooled times-series methods, it tests a series of hypotheses concerning the determinants of the development of this policy. Its main conclusion for the coverage rate is that key factors are public spending and wage dispersion (both positive). For spending, key factors are the proportion of women in parliaments (positive) and spending on age-related policies (negative).

Tools & Trends from the Iowa Department of Economic Development, September 2005

Community Development News

Semantic web adoption: online tools for web evaluation and metadata extraction

This work briefly analyses the difficulties to adopt the Semantic Web, and in particular proposes systems to know the present level of migration to the different technologies that make up the Semantic Web. It focuses on the presentation and description of two tools, DigiDocSpider and DigiDocMetaEdit, designed with the aim of verifYing, evaluating, and promoting its implementation.

Entre a dominação simbólica e a emancipação política no Ensino Superior em Enfermagem: Between symbolic domination and political emancipation

Nesta reflexão, problematizamos a atividade de cuidar e de ensinar a cuidar em enfermagem e, para tanto, vamos tomar por base alguns conceitos sobre a dominação e o poder simbólicos de Pierre Bourdieu. Nosso pressuposto foi pensar a saúde como um constituinte fundamental para a produção da nossa existência sobre a Terra. A educação, neste texto, é abordada, tendo por referência as ideias de Pedro Demo, entendidas como uma construtora de sujeitos políticos e bem mais amplas que o manejo do conhecimento formal. A educação é a base primeira sobre a qual se constrói a autonomia humana e, assim, permite a constante ampliação das oportunidades para o exercício da cidadania, qualificando a nossa existência cotidiana. No contexto acadêmico, no qual se cruzam a saúde, a educação e a enfermagem, o trabalho docente competente, crítico e, sobretudo, reflexivo, pode se tornar uma práxis altamente instituinte.

Political mobilisation and models of trade unionism : Southern Europe in comparative perspective

The relationship between union membership and political mobilization has been studied under many perspectives, but quantitative cross-national analyses have been hampered by the absence of international comparable survey data until the first round of the European Social Survey (ESS-2002) was made available. Using different national samples from this survey in four moments of time (2002, 2004 and 2006), our paper provides evidence of cross-country divergence in the empirical association between political mobilisation and trade union membership. Cross-national differences in union members’ political mobilization, we argue, can be explained by the existence of models of unionism that in turn differ with respect to two decisive factors: the institutionalisation of trade union activity and the opportunities left-wing parties have available for gaining access to executive power.

Immigration and contested nation-building : explaining the political salience of immigration in multi-national societies

Multi-national societies present a complex setting for the politics of immigration, as migration’s linguistic, economic and cultural effects may coincide with existing contestation over nationhood between sub-units and the central state. Empirically, though, political actors only sometimes, and in some places, explicitly connect the politics of immigration to the stakes of multi-level politics. With reference to Canada, Belgium and the United Kingdom, this paper examines the conditions under which political leaders link immigration to ongoing debate about governance in multi-national societies. The paper argues that the distribution of policy competencies in the multi-level system is less important for shaping immigration and integration politics than is the perceived impact (positive or negative) on the sub-unit’s societal culture or its power relationship with the center. Immigration and integration are more often politicized where center and sub-unit hold divergent views on migration and its place in national identity.

Predictors of political orientation among US-born Mexican Americans: cultural identification, acculturation attitudes and socioeconomic status

With each passing election, U.S. political campaigns have renewed their efforts in courting the “Latino vote,” yet the Latino population is not a culturally homogenous voting bloc. This study examined how cultural identifications and acculturation attitudes in U.S. born Mexican Americans interacted with socioeconomic status (SES) to predict political orientation. Individuals who held stronger Mexican identity and supported biculturalism as an acculturation strategy had a more liberal orientation, while belonging to a higher SES group and holding stronger assimilation attitudes predicted a less liberal orientation. Mexican cultural identification interacted with SES such that those who held a weaker Mexican identity, but came from a higher social class were less liberal and more moderate in their political orientation. Weak Mexican identification and higher SES also predicted weaker endorsement of bicultural acculturation attitudes, which in turn, mediated the differences in political orientation. The acceptance of one’s ethnic identity and endorsement of bicultural attitudes predicted a more liberal political orientation. In light of these findings, political candidates should be cautious in how they pander to Latino constituents—referencing the groups’ ethnic culture or customs may distance constituents who are not strongly identified with their ethnic culture.

Business Organization and Coordination in Marketing Specialty Hogs: A Comparative Analysis of Two Firms from Iowa, November 2005

We study business organization and coordination of specialty-market hog production using a comparative analysis of two Iowa pork niche-marketing firms. We describe and analyze each firms management of five key organizational challenges: planning and logistics, quality assurance, process verication and management of �credence attributes,� business structure, and profit sharing. Although each firm is engaged in essentially the same activity, there are substantial differences across the two firms in the way production and marketing are coordinated. These differences are partly explained by the relative size and age of each firm, thus highlighting the importance of organizational evolution in agricultural markets, but are also partly the result of a formal organizational separation between marketing and production activities in one of the firm.

Recognition and political accommodation: from regionalism to secessionism. The Catalan case

Having lived through a bloody civil war in the 1930s followed by four decades of General Franco’s dictatorship, the Spanish state carried out a transition to a democratic system at the end of the 1970s. The 1978 Constitution was the legal outcome of this transition process. Among other things, it established a territorial model – the so-called “Estado de las Autonomías” (State of Autonomous Communities) – which was designed to satisfy the historical demands for recognition and self-government of, above all, the citizens and institutions of Catalonia and the Basque Country .In recent years support for independence has increased in Catalonia. Different indicators show that pro-independence demands are endorsed by a majority of its citizens, as well as by most of the political parties and organizations that represent its civil society. This is a new phenomenon. Those in favour of independence had been in the minority throughout the 20th century. Nowadays, however, demands of a pro-autonomy and pro-federalist nature, which until recently had been dominant, have gradually lost public support in favour of demands for self-determination and secession. This paper analyses the massive increase in support for secession in Catalonia during the early years of the 21st century. After describing the different theories of secession in plurinational liberal democracies (section 1), we analyse Catalonia’s political evolution over the past decade focusing on the shortcomings with regard to constitutional recognition and accommodation displayed by the Spanish political system. The latter have been exacerbated by the reform process of Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy (2006) and the subsequent judgement of Spain’s Constitutional Court regarding the aforementioned Statute (2010) (section 2). Finally, we present our conclusions by linking the Catalan case with theories of secession applied to plurinational contexts

Three theories of liberalism for the three theories of federalism. A Hegelian turn

This paper links different political liberal theories, considered from the perspective of their moral ontology, with federal democracies. After giving a brief description of these theories, I discuss their relationship with the theoretical and institutional models of federalism. As methodological tools, the paper introduces some Hegel’s political concepts and deals with their potential application to the analysis of federalism, taken into account the case of minorities in multinational democracies. I postulate the need for a moral and institutional refinement of liberal-democratic patterns that is better able to accommodate national pluralism than has so far been achieved by traditional constitutionalism.

Web containers / portals integrating tools and accessing distributed services

En aquest projecte he avaluat un seguit de plataformes per veure quina era la millor pertal d’integrar les eines que proporcionen serveis del projecte TENCompetence.Per començar el projecte plantejaré el context del projecte. Com se situa al marc del projecte TENCompetence on he desenvolupat aquest treball fi de carrera. Tot seguit es veuen quines eines disposem per tal d’accedir als diferents serveis que ens proporciona el projecte.Comento els escenaris on s’aplicarà la tecnologia que triem i finalment comento les diferents plataformes web on integrarem les diferents eines.A continuació he realitzat un capítol per tal de comentar l’anàlisi de requeriments del’escenari d’aplicació de cada pilot. Per a cada escenari aplico unes determinades eines a un determinat context, i per tant hi han unes necessitats concretes que he de recollir. Per plasmar-ho en paper he realitzat l’anàlisi de requeriments. Un cop recollides totes les dades he pogut feruna selecció de la plataforma contenidora que més s’escau a cada pilot.Amb els requeriments i la plataforma seleccionada, he realitzat un disseny per a cada pilot. Després de refinar el disseny he realitzat la implementació per tal de cobrir les necessitats dels pilots. També he aprofitat per veure quina tecnologia es pot utilitzar per tal d’integrar leseines dins de la plataforma.Amb la implementació feta he realitzat un seguit de proves per tal de veure els resultats aconseguits. Tot seguit he iniciat un procés iteractiu per tal refinar el disseny i millorar la implementació.

Mielikuvien luominen traileroinnilla : tutkimuskohteena Big Brother Suomi

The thesis studies the launch campaign of Big Brother Finland, especially from the viewpoint of on-air promotion. Interest to the subject arose when participating in the campaign as an on-air promotion planner together with Subtv's marketing director, on-air promotion editor and the channel's advertising agency. The launch of the campaign was a challenge due to the format, since not a lot of information can be revealed before the start of the program. When the planning started, all the material consisted of two logos. The first season of the Finnish version of Big Brother begun on Subtv August 2005. The goal of the program was to become a topic of discussion on TV on the fall 2005 and to raise the profile of the channel. The goal of the launch was to get good ratings for the first episode. The launch campaign was also supposed to open up the format to the viewers and to arouse interest in the show. Secrecy and the size of the program were set to be the marketing tones of the launch. Although partly different messages were told via on-air promotion and external media, the campaign was congruent in visual design. In the study, interviews of Subtv's staff, campaign plans and notes were used as research material. From the aspect of affecting images and emotions, the finished campaign promos and other on-air elements were analyzed. In on-air promotion, all choices in audio and visual design affect the outcome and therefore the images that the viewer constructs. The two promo series were made to affect emotions and to awaken curiosity. Other on-air elements were merely used to present program information. The campaign and the series were accepted with enthusiasm. The launch of the second season was even more massive than the first. Participation in the launch campaign of Big Brother Finland was an essential experience in the development of professional identity. When one has taken part in the creation of a massive campaign from scarce materials, tools are given to future assignments in the field of on-air promotion.

Software CMAP TOOLS® para a construção de mapas conceituais: a avaliação dos estudantes de enfermagem

O mapeamento conceitual (MC) é uma estratégia de ensino que pode ser utilizada para resoluções de casos clínicos, porém de trabalhosa execução manuscrita. O estudo teve por objetivos descrever os desafios e as contribuições do software Cmap Tools® para a construção de mapas conceituais para resolução de caso clínico. Para isso, utilizou-se método descritivo, qualitativo, com estudantes da 3ª série de Graduação em Enfermagem da Universidade Federal de São Paulo. A estratégia de ensino foi aplicada e os dados foram coletados pela técnica do grupo focal. Os resultados evidenciaram que o software facilita e garante a organização, visualização e correlação dos dados, porém com dificuldades iniciais relacionadas ao manejo das ferramentas que dispõe. Concluiu-se que o software Cmap Tools® favoreceu a construção dos MC por seus recursos de formatação e autoformatação e que estratégias de orientação deveriam ser implantadas para a fase inicial de utilização.

Estratègies de marketing per assolir l'èxit : llançament d'una revista per a joves

Actualment, en aquesta societat és difícil introduir un nou producte al mercat degut alshàbits de consum adquirits per la població. Per tal de superar aquests obstacles, el marketing actual s'ha tornat més complex i sofisticat. Per tot això, s’analitzaran els passos que s'han de seguir per tenir èxit a l'hora de llançar un nou producte.Per començar, s’enfocarà el tema en un únic producte, una revista dirigida a un públic entre 16 i 30 anys aproximadament. Així doncs, es suposarà una situació fictícia on una empresa independent, que està intentant introduir una nova publicació al mercat de la premsa escrita, contractarà un estudi de marketing per decidir els continguts de la revista, a quin tipus de consumidors estarà dirigida i analitzar els punts forts i febles de la competència per saber quina directriu hauria de seguir l’estratègia comercial.Seguidament, es decidirà la marca de la revista: el títol i el disseny del logotip. El preu òptim de llançament, els mitjans de comunicació que s’utilitzarien per donar a conèixer la revista, quins canals de distribució es seguirien i quins serien els punts de venda. Per tot això, es realitzaran enquestes i es faran diversos estudis sobre l’entorn general de l’empresa i la situació actual del sector.Amb tot això volem aconseguir el següent objectiu: ¿Quines estratègies de marketings'haurien de seguir per assolir l'èxit?