Journalistic practice in risk and crisis situations: Significant examples from Spain

In a democratic society, the media are central to the communication of risks and uncertainties to the public. This article presents 10 proposals for improving media coverage in social risk situations. The article focuses on the production logic of the media and its consequences for society. The proposals and the conclusions of this research are supported by an analysis of three Spanish cases: the risk implied by the Tarragona chemical complex (one of the biggest in Europe); the terrorist attacks on 11 March 2004 in Madrid; and the Carmel tunnel disaster in Barcelona on January 2005. The authors are participating in a research project on public perception of risk funded by the Spanish Education Ministry on public perception of risk (2004–2007 and 2007–2010).

Nuevos elementos paradigmáticos para salir realmente de la crisis

Postprint (published version)

Iowa's Maternal Health, Child Health and Family Planning Business Plan, January 2014

• Promotes access to regular preventive health care services for children through contracts with 22 agencies covering all of Iowa’s 99 counties • Fosters age appropriate growth and development by promoting early identification of children’s health concerns and referral for diagnosis and treatment • Assists families to establish medical and dental homes for their children • Targets low income families – children on Medicaid and those who are uninsured and under insured • Strives to meet family needs and remove barriers to accessing health care by linking families to community-based, culturally appropriate services

Actores periodísticos y políticos en momentos de crisis: un estudio de caso

Este artículo pretende estudiar la relación entre periodistas y políticos en situacionescríticas. Los autores han analizado la información emitida por las cadenas de televisión:Televisión Española, Antena 3 y Tele 5 en los días 11, 12 y 13 de marzo de 2004, coincidiendocon el atentado de Madrid. De esta investigación, se concluye que los periodistasactuaron con poca capacidad crítica, en connivencia con los políticos, en la propagaciónde determinadas tesis poco o nada argumentadas y de ciertos tópicos y expresionesgratuitas.

Analysis of the present (and impact) of women in business organizations in contemporany Spanish democracy. The impact of Spanish law of equality reviewed

Since its approval, in 2007, the Spanish Law of Equality (LO 3/2007) has been the target of many scholars on gender issues. Those analyses (and those previous to the first observable results of the Spanish Law of Equality), have largely prioritized political representative institutions and political parties as the main arenas to assess the impact of the new regulation. Nevertheless, to make a comprehensive analysis of the increase and impact of the presence of women in contemporary democracies one cannot exclude the existence of many other crucial actors in our pluralist systems, such as business organizations.In this line, in order to widen the knowledge on the presence of women in Spanish contemporary democracy, as well as to further assess the impact of Spanish Law of Equality on the presence of women in economic and political life, our paper will look at the gender bias of the executive committees in the Spanish Chambers of Commerce and business associations during the period 20010-2012. By placing those actors at the front sight, we aim to contribute with new empirical insights to the current debate on this topic.

Estudio del Business Intelligence y desarrollo de un Cuadro de Mando para el Análisis de Ventas

El Business Intelligence ha pasado en los últimos 20 años de ser un capricho de unos pocos CIO, que podían permitirse destinar partidas presupuestarias para tal efecto, a convertirse en una realidad ya presente en muchas de las grandes empresas o una necesidad urgente para las que todavía no han implantado un sistema de esas características.La primera parte del presente documento, denominada “Estudio del Business Intelligence”, presenta una introducción a dicho concepto, desde la base. Explicando los conceptos teóricos clave necesarios para entender este tipo de soluciones, más adelante se comentan los componentes tecnológicos que van desde los procesos de extracción e integración de información a cómo debemos estructurar la información para facilitar el análisis. Por último, se repasan los diferentes tipos de aplicaciones que existen en el mercado así como las tendencias más actuales en este campo.La segunda parte del documento centra su foco en la implantación de un Cuadro de Mandos para el análisis de las ventas de una empresa, se identifican las diferentes fases del proyecto así como se entra en detalle de los requerimientos identificados. En último lugar, se presenta el desarrollo realizado del Cuadro de Mandos con tecnología Xcelsius, que permite exportar a flash el resultado y visualizarlo en cualquier navegador web.

Estat d'ànim sota la crisi / Estado de ánimo bajo la crisis

Viure és una cosa més aviat hostil, un eludir constantment dificultats i de tant en tant, alguna satisfacció vital.

El programa de cooperación interuniversitària de la AECID: 18 años de historia interrumpidos por la crisis econòmica

Nota on es vol fer constar la cancel·lació del “Programa de Cooperación Interuniversitaria” conegut per l'acrònim “PCI” de l' “Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo” (AECID), un dels programes més exitosos y de més llarga tradició de la cooperació espanyola

Observation of a continuous interior crisis in the Hindmarsh-Rose neuron model.

Interior crises are understood as discontinuous changes of the size of a chaotic attractor that occur when an unstable periodic orbit collides with the chaotic attractor. We present here numerical evidence and theoretical reasoning which prove the existence of a chaos-chaos transition in which the change of the attractor size is sudden but continuous. This occurs in the Hindmarsh¿Rose model of a neuron, at the transition point between the bursting and spiking dynamics, which are two different dynamic behaviors that this system is able to present. Moreover, besides the change in attractor size, other significant properties of the system undergoing the transitions do change in a relevant qualitative way. The mechanism for such transition is understood in terms of a simple one-dimensional map whose dynamics undergoes a crossover between two different universal behaviors

Business Development Efforts and Performance Improvements in SMEs Case Study of Business Development Projects Implemented in SME

Under the circumstances of the increasing market pressure, enterprises try to improve their competitive position by development efforts, and a business development project is one tool for that. There are not many answers to the question of how the development projects launched to improve the business performance in SMEs have succeeded. Theacademic interest in the business development project success has mainly focused on projects implemented in larger organisations rather than in SMEs. The previous studies on the business success of SMEs have mainly focused on new business ventures rather than on existing SMEs. However, nowadays a large number of business development projects are undertaken in existing SMEs, where they can pose a great challenge. This study focuses on business development success in SMEs thathave already established their business. The objective of the present study is to gain a deep understanding on business development project success in the SME-context and to identify the dimensions and factors affecting the project success. Further, the aim is to clarify how the business development projects implemented in SMEs have affected their performance. The empirical evidence is based on multiple case study. This study builds a framework for a generic theory of business development success in the SME-context, based on literature from the areas ofproject and change management, entrepreneurship and small business management, as well as performance measurement, and on empirical evidence from SMES. The framework consists of five success dimensions: entrepreneurial, project preparation, change management, project management and project success. The framework provides a systematic way for analysing the business development project and its impact on the performance and on the performing company. This case evidence indicates that successful business development projects have a balanced, high performance concerning all the dimensions. Good performance in one dimension is not enoughfor the project success, but it gives a good ground for the other dimensions. The other way round, poor performance in one success dimension affects the others, leading to poor performance of the project. In the SME-context the business development project success seems to be dependent on several interrelated dimensions and factors. Success in one area leads to success in other areas, and so creates an upward success spiral. Failure in one area seems to lead to failure in other areas, creating a downward failure spiral. The study indicates that the internal business development projects have affected the SMEs' performance widely also on areas and functions not initially targeted. The implications cover all thesuccess categories: the project efficiency, the impact on the customer, the business success and the future potentiality. With successful cases, the success tends to spread out to areas and functions not mentioned as the project goals, andwith unsuccessful cases the failure seems to spread out widely to the SMEs' other functions. This study also indicates that the most important key factors for successful business development project implementation are the strength of intention, business ability, knowledge, motivation and participation of the employees, as well as adequate and well-timed training provided to the employees.

Offering planning with support of roadmapping in project business

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia kuinka roadmapping-tekniikkaa voidaan käyttää tarjonnan suunnittelun tukena uusien tuotteiden valmistamisen yhteydessä. Työ koostuu teoreettisesta ja käytännönläheisestä osasta. Teoreettinen runko on luotu selventämään kuinka tämän hetkisen tutkimus- ja kehitys projektit lopulta muodostavat tulevaisuuden tarjoaman. Menestyksekkään tuotetarjoaman luominen vaatii, sekä uusien teknologioiden kehittämistä, että markkinoilla olevien asiakkaiden tarpeiden ymmärtämistä. Asiakassuuntaisten tuotteiden kehittäminen vaatii toimintaympäristöstä ja asiakasrajapinnasta tulevien signaalien tunnistamista ja niiden ohjaamista tuote- ja teknologia platformeille. Strategia luodaan tukemaan päätöksentekoa prosessin eri vaiheissa. Yrityskohtainen osio koostuu analyysistä, joka on tehty teetetyn kyselyn ja haas-tattelujen pohjalta. Osana analyysia ovat Major project-yksikön tämänhetkinen tarjonnansuunnitteluprosessi, strategian soveltaminen, informaation kerääminen ja priorisointi, portfolionhallinta ja roadmap-tekniikan käyttö. Ratkaisussa on esitet-ty tarjonnan suunnitteluprosessi ja siihen liittyvät kriittiset komponentit. Roadmapping-tekniikkaaon luotu yhdistämään toimintaympäristö, tuotteet ja teknologia toisiinsa. Toimintaympäristö ja tuotteet on yhdistetty myös linked-grids-tekniikan avulla.

Impact of quality and environmental investment on business competitiveness and profitability: The case of travel agencies

Few studies have examined the combined effect of implementing quality and environmental management within the service sector. This void is more evident if we focus on segments in which small businesses predominate and even more so if we look for highly competitive sectors that are very variable and that have high business mortality. After analysing 198 surveys of Spanish travel agency managers using structural equations, it can be concluded that practices of quality management have a significant direct impact on business competitiveness but not on this business's financial results, at least directly. However, there is a significant relationship between environmental management practices and economic benefits. This article suggests that commitment to quality and the environment can allow small businesses in the service sector to have a competitive advantage that will separate surviving and ceased operations, particularly in sectors that are rapidly evolving and highly competitive.

Modeling competencies and capabilities in knowledge intensive business environment

Tämän diplomityön päämääränä oli tutkia Perloksen teknologiaosaamisia. Perloksen tavoitteena on tulevaisuudessa yhdistää ja soveltaa uusia teknologioita ja älykkäitä materiaaleja muovimekaniikkaan.Ideana oli mallintaa Perloksen osaamisia ja osaamisgapeja ottaen huomioon heidän tulevaisuuden visionsa. Projektituotteena osaamisten mallintamisessa oli Perlos Healthcaren asiakkaan analysoiva mittauslaite. Tutkimuksen arvo on huomattava sillä tunnistamalla osaamisensa ja kyvykkyytensä yritys pystyy luomaan paremman tarjooman vastatessaan koko ajan kasvaviin asiakasvaatimuksiin. Tutkimus on osa TEKESin rahoittamaa LIIMA -projektia. Työn ensimmäisessä osassa esitellään osaamiseen ja partneroitumiseen liittyviä teorioita. Osaamisten mallintaminen tehtiin Excel -pohjaisella työkalulla. Se sisältää projektituotteeseen liittyen osaamisriippuvuuksien mallintamisen ja gap -analyysin. Yhtenä tutkimusmetodina käytettiin haastattelututkimusta. Työ ja sen tulokset antavat operatiivista hyötyä teknologioiden ja markkinoiden välisessä kentässä.