Small- and medium-sized enterprises' restructuring in a context of transition: a shared process: inter-player effects on efficient boundary choice in the Argentine manufacturing sector

Includes bibliography

Regia sententia lata inter partes Regii Fisci Procuratoris et Iacobi Calbo alterius ex administratoribus conductionis impositionis vini, & aliorum iurium, vulgo del General del entrada, agentium et Iosephi Gomez Vale[n]tin proxonetae rei criminaliter co[n]uenti ...

Segun Gutiérrez del Caño, p. 673, Silvestre Esparsa imprimió entre 1628 y 1660

Wage spillovers, inter-regional effects and the impact of inward investment

This paper evaluates the extent of inter-industry and inter-regional wage spillovers across the UK. An extensive body of literature exists suggesting that wages elsewhere affect wage determination and levels of satisfaction, but this paper extends the analysis of wage determination to examine the effects of inward investment in the process. Thus far the specific effect of foreign wages on domestic wage determination has not been evaluated. We employ industry- and regional-level panel data for the UK, and contrast results from alternative approaches to space-time modelling. Each supports the notion that such wage spillovers do occur, though assumptions made concerning the modelling of spatial interaction are important. Further, such wage spillovers are more widespread for skilled than for unskilled workers and also lower in areas of high unemployment. © 2006 Regional Studies Association.

Infringement and Exclusive Jurisdiction in Intellectual Property: a Comparison for the International Law Association

The following comparison was written for the first meeting of the International Law Association newly established (2010) Committee on Intellectual Property and Private International Law (Chair: Professor Toshiyuki Kono, Kyushu University; Co-Rapporteurs: Professors Pedro de Miguel Asensio, Madrid Complutense University, and Axel Metzger, Hannover University) (hereinafter: ILA Committee), which was hosted at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in March 16-17, 2012. The comparison at stake concerns the rules on infringement and exclusive (subject-mater) jurisdiction posed (or rejected, in case of exclusive jurisdiction) by four sets of academic principles. Notwithstanding the fact that the rules in question present several differences, those differences in the majority of cases could be overcome by further studies and work of the ILA Committee, as the following comparison explains.

Consistent effects of consumer species loss across different habitats

Our knowledge of the effects of consumer species loss on ecosystem functioning is limited by a paucity of manipulative field studies, particularly those that incorporate inter-trophic effects. Further, given the ongoing transformation of natural habitats by anthropogenic activities, studies should assess the relative importance of biodiversity for ecosystem processes across different environmental contexts by including multiple habitat types. We tested the context-dependency of the effects of consumer species loss by conducting a 15-month field experiment in two habitats (mussel beds and rock pools) on a temperate rocky shore, focussing on the responses of algal assemblages following the single and combined removals of key gastropod grazers (Patella vulgata, P. ulyssiponensis, Littorina littorea and Gibbula umbilicalis). In both habitats, the removal of limpets resulted in a larger increase in macroalgal richness than that of either L. littorea or G. umbilicalis. Further, by the end of the study, macroalgal cover and richness were greater following the removal of multiple grazer species compared to single species removals. Despite substantial differences in physical properties and the structure of benthic assemblages between mussel beds and rock pools, the effects of grazer loss on macroalgal cover, richness, evenness and assemblage structure were remarkably consistent across both habitats. There was, however, a transient habitat-dependent effect of grazer removal on macroalgal assemblage structure that emerged after three months, which was replaced by non-interactive effects of grazer removal and habitat after 15 months. This study shows that the effects of the loss of key consumers may transcend large abiotic and biotic differences between habitats in rocky intertidal systems. While it is clear that consumer diversity is a primary driver of ecosystem functioning, determining its relative importance across multiple contexts is necessary to understand the consequences of consumer species loss against a background of environmental change.

The Constitutional-Judicial Control of the Legislative and Executive Powers in Central and Eastern European Countries

This project looked at the nature, contents, methods, means and legal and political effects of the influence that constitutional courts exercise upon the legislative and executive powers in the newly established democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. The basic hypothesis was that these courts work to provide a limitation of political power within the framework of the principal constitutional values and that they force the legislature and executive to exercise their powers and duties in strict accordance with the constitution. Following a study of the documentary sources, including primarily the relevant constitutional and statutory provisions and decisions of constitutional courts, Mr. Cvetkovski prepared a questionnaire on various aspects of the topics researched and sent it to the respective constitutional courts. A series of direct interviews with court officials in six of the ten countries then served to clarify a large number of questions relating to differences in procedures etc. that arose from the questionnaires. As a final stage, the findings were compared with those described in recent publications on constitutional control in general and in Central and Eastern Europe in particular. The study began by considering the constitutional and political environment of the constitutional courts' activities in controlling legislative and executive powers, which in all countries studied are based on the principles of the rule of law and the separation of powers. All courts are separate bodies with special status in terms of constitutional law and are independent of other political and judicial institutions. The range of matters within their jurisdiction is set by the constitution of the country in question but in all cases can be exercised only with the framework of procedural rules. This gives considerable significance to the question of who sets these rules and different countries have dealt with it in different ways. In some there is a special constitutional law with the same legal force as the constitution itself (Croatia), the majority of countries allow for regulation by an ordinary law, Macedonia gives the court the autonomy to create and change its own rules of procedure, while in Hungary the parliament fixes the rules on procedure at the suggestion of the constitutional court. The question of the appointment of constitutional judges was also considered and of the mechanisms for ensuring their impartiality and immunity. In the area of the courts' scope for providing normative control, considerable differences were found between the different countries. In some cases the courts' jurisdiction is limited to the normative acts of the respective parliaments, and there is generally no provision for challenging unconstitutional omissions by legislation and the executive. There are, however, some situations in which they may indirectly evaluate the constitutionality of legislative omissions, as when the constitution contains provision for a time limit on enacting legislation, when the parliament has made an omission in drafting a law which violates the constitutional provisions, or when a law grants favours to certain groups while excluding others, thereby violating the equal protection clause of the constitution. The control of constitutionality of normative acts can be either preventive or repressive, depending on whether it is implemented before or after the promulgation of the law or other enactment being challenged. In most countries in the region the constitutional courts provide only repressive control, although in Hungary and Poland the courts are competent to perform both preventive and repressive norm control, while in Romania the court's jurisdiction is limited to preventive norm control. Most countries are wary of vesting constitutional courts with preventive norm control because of the danger of their becoming too involved in the day-to-day political debate, but Mr. Cvetkovski points out certain advantages of such control. If combined with a short time limit it can provide early clarification of a constitutional issue, secondly it avoids the problems arising if a law that has been in force for some years is declared to be unconstitutional, and thirdly it may help preserve the prestige of the legislation. Its disadvantages include the difficulty of ascertaining the actual and potential consequences of a norm without the empirical experience of the administration and enforcement of the law, the desirability of a certain distance from the day-to-day arguments surrounding the political process of legislation, the possible effects of changing social and economic conditions, and the danger of placing obstacles in the way of rapid reactions to acute situations. In the case of repressive norm control, this can be either abstract or concrete. The former is initiated by the supreme state organs in order to protect abstract constitutional order and the latter is initiated by ordinary courts, administrative authorities or by individuals. Constitutional courts cannot directly oblige the legislature and executive to pass a new law and this remains a matter of legislative and executive political responsibility. In the case of Poland, the parliament even has the power to dismiss a constitutional court decision by a special majority of votes, which means that the last word lies with the legislature. As the current constitutions of Central and Eastern European countries are newly adopted and differ significantly from the previous ones, the courts' interpretative functions should ensure a degree of unification in the application of the constitution. Some countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Russia) provide for the constitutional courts' decisions to have a binding role on the constitutions. While their decisions inevitably have an influence on the actions of public bodies, they do not set criteria for political behaviour, which depends rather on the overall political culture and traditions of the society. All constitutions except that of Belarus, provide for the courts to have jurisdiction over conflicts arising from the distribution of responsibilities between different organs and levels in the country, as well for impeachment procedures against the head of state, and for determining the constitutionality of political parties (except in Belarus, Hungary, Russia and Slovakia). All the constitutions studied guarantee individual rights and freedoms and most courts have jurisdiction over complaints of violation of these rights by the constitution. All courts also have some jurisdiction over international agreements and treaties, either directly (Belarus, Bulgaria and Hungary) before the treaty is ratified, or indirectly (Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia). In each country the question of who may initiate proceedings of norm control is of central importance and is usually regulated by the constitution itself. There are three main possibilities: statutory organs, normal courts and private individuals and the limitations on each of these is discussed in the report. Most courts are limited in their rights to institute ex officio a full-scale review of a point of law, and such rights as they do have rarely been used. In most countries courts' decisions do not have any binding force but must be approved by parliament or impose on parliament the obligation to bring the relevant law into conformity within a certain period. As a result, the courts' position is generally weaker than in other countries in Europe, with parliament remaining the supreme body. In the case of preventive norm control a finding of unconstitutionality may act to suspend the law and or to refer it back to the legislature, where in countries such as Romania it may even be overturned by a two-thirds majority. In repressive norm control a finding of unconstitutionality generally serves to take the relevant law out of legal force from the day of publication of the decision or from another date fixed by the court. If the law is annulled retrospectively this may or may not bring decisions of criminal courts under review, depending on the provisions laid down in the relevant constitution. In cases relating to conflicts of competencies the courts' decisions tend to be declaratory and so have a binding effect inter partes. In the case of a review of an individual act, decisions generally become effective primarily inter partes but is the individual act has been based on an unconstitutional generally binding normative act of the legislature or executive, the findings has quasi-legal effect as it automatically initiates special proceedings in which the law or other regulation is to be annulled or abrogated with effect erga omnes. This wards off further application of the law and thus further violations of individual constitutional rights, but also discourages further constitutional complaints against the same law. Thus the success of one individual's complaint extends to everyone else whose rights have equally been or might have been violated by the respective law. As the body whose act is repealed is obliged to adopt another act and in doing so is bound by the legal position of the constitutional court on the violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights of the complainant, in this situation the decision of the constitutional court has the force of a precedent.

Biodiversity loss and ecosystem functioning: Distinguishing between number and identity of species

Given currently high rates of extinction, it is critical to be able to predict how ecosystems will respond to loss of species and consequent changes in community structure. Much previous research in this area has been based on terrestrial systems, using synthetically assembled communities. There has beer! much less research on inter-trophic effects in different systems, using in situ removal experiments. Problems with the design of early experiments have made it difficult to determine whether reductions in ecosystem functioning in low diversity treatments were due to the number of species present or merely to the reduced likelihood of including particular (

El control difuso de la constitución en los países andinos con énfasis en el Tribunal Fiscal del Perú, a partir de 2005

El propósito de esta tesis es evidenciar la posibilidad del control difuso en la Administración Pública, principalmente en los Tribunales Administrativos y Órganos Colegiados que imparten justicia administrativa a nivel nacional. El control difuso de la Constitución siempre se entendió como la facultad del poder judicial, que a través de los jueces de las diferentes instancias, quienes al momento de resolver un caso concreto, si evidencian manifiestamente la inconstitucionalidad de la norma aplicable al caso, pueden inaplicarla sólo para ese caso, cuyos efectos son inter partes, es decir la norma inaplicable por el juez sigue vigente dentro del ordenamiento jurídico, habiendo sido considerada nula sólo para el caso concreto. Sin embargo, esta postura de que el control difuso es sólo potestad del poder judicial, se fue relativizando, al menos en el caso peruano, toda vez que mediante la sentencia recaída en el Exp. Nº 3741-2004-AA/TC, el Tribunal Constitucional, crea la figura jurídica del control difuso administrativo, en la que los Tribunales Administrativos y Órganos Colegiados que imparten justicia administrativa con carácter nacional, también están en la potestad y el deber de aplicar el control difuso para garantizar la plena vigencia de la Constitución y el respeto de los derechos fundamentales de los administrados, inaplicando normas manifiestamente inconstitucionales. En consecuencia, para mejor ilustrar al respecto, la tesis lo dividimos en tres capítulos: en el primer capítulo, abordamos el desarrollo del control constitucional con énfasis en el control difuso, evidenciando el Principio de Supremacía Constitucional, así como la creación y recepción del control difuso y concentrado de la Constitución por los diferentes países del mundo. En el segundo capítulo desarrollamos el control difuso en los países andinos, resaltando el control difuso en la Administración Tributaria; y, finalmente en el tercer capítulo, desarrollamos el control difuso como atribución del Tribunal Fiscal del Perú, que se caracteriza por ser un Tribunal Administrativo que imparte justicia administrativa a nivel nacional, resolviendo conflictos en materia tributaria y aduanera.

Variability in fecal water genotoxicity, determined using the Comet assay, is independent of endogenous N-nitroso compound formation attributed to red meat consumption

Red meat consumption causes a dose-dependent increase in fecal apparent total N-nitroso compounds (ATNC). The genotoxic effects of these ATNCs were investigated using two different Comet assay protocols to determine the genotoxicity of fecal water samples. Fecal water samples were obtained from two studies of a total of 21 individuals fed diets containing different amounts of red meat, protein, heme, and iron. The first protocol incubated the samples with HT-29 cells for 5 min at 4 degrees C, whereas the second protocol used a longer exposure time of 30 min and a higher incubation temperature of 37 degrees C. DNA strand breaks were quantified by the tail moment (DNA in the comet tail multiplied by the comet tail length). The results of the two Comet assay protocols were significantly correlated (r = 0.35, P = 0.003), however, only the second protocol resulted in detectable levels of DNA damage. Inter-individual effects were variable and there was no effect on fecal water genotoxicity by diet (P > 0.20), mean transit time (P = 0.588), or weight (P = 0.705). However, there was a highly significant effect of age (P = 0.019). There was no significant correlation between concentrations of ATNCs in fecal homogenates and fecal water genotoxicity (r = 0.04, P = 0.74). ATNC levels were lower in fecal water samples (272 microg/kg) compared to that of fecal homogenate samples (895 microg/kg) (P < 0.0001). Failure to find dietary effects on fecal water genotoxicity may therefore be attributed to individual variability and low levels of ATNCs in fecal water samples.

Neonatal environment exerts a sustained influence on the development of the intestinal microbiota and metabolic phenotype

The postnatal environment, including factors such as weaning and acquisition of the gut microbiota, has been causally linked to the development of later immunological diseases such as allergy and autoimmunity, and has also been associated with a predisposition to metabolic disorders. We show that the very early-life environment influences the development of both the gut microbiota and host metabolic phenotype in a porcine model of human infants. Farmpiglets were nursed by their mothers for 1 day, before removal to highly controlled, individual isolators where they received formula milk until weaning at 21 days. The experiment was repeated, to create two batches, which differed only in minor environmental fluctuations during the first day. At day 1 after birth, metabolic profiling of serum by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated significant, systemic, inter-batch variation which persisted until weaning. However, the urinary metabolic profiles demonstrated that significant inter-batch effects on 3-hydroxyisovalerate, trimethylamine-N-oxide and mannitol persisted beyond weaning to at least 35 days. Batch effects were linked to significant differences in the composition of colonic microbiota at 35 days, determined by 16 S pyrosequencing. Different weaning diets modulated both the microbiota and metabolic phenotype independently of the persistent batch effects. We demonstrate that the environment during the first day of life influences development of the microbiota and metabolic phenotype and thus should be taken into account when interrogating experimental outcomes. In addition, we suggest that intervention at this early time could provide ‘metabolic rescue’ for at-risk infants who have undergone aberrant patterns of initial intestinal colonisation.

Foreign direct investment spillovers: additional lessons from a country study

We investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on the productivity of domestic firms, using sectoral data for Portugal. An improved analysis takes into account the most appropriate interval for the technological gap between foreign and domestic firms. Sectoral variation of spillovers, idiosyncratic sectoral factors and the search for inter-sectoral effects provide new insights on the subject. Significant spillovers require a proper technology differential between the foreign and domestic producers and favourable sectoral characteristics. Broadly, they occur in modern industries in which foreign firms have a clear, but not too sharp, edge on the domestic ones. Agglomeration effects are also identified as pertinent specific influences.

Inward investment, transaction linkages and productivity spillovers

The article examines the extent to which foreign manufacturing firms in the UK promote productivity growth in the domestically owned manufacturing sector through their buying and supplying relationships. Evidence for intra- and inter-regional externalities from the presence of foreign manufacturing, and intraand inter-industry effects is brought to light. Externalities in the domestic sector are most noticeable where foreign manufacturing sells to domestic manufacturing. These externalities are, however, not wholly robust to different specifications of spatial dependence. The findings are positioned in a debate, which has tended to view backward (as opposed to forward) linkages from multinationals to domestically owned supply bases as a critical driver of indirect economic benefits. © RSAI 2004.

Industrial districts, inward foreign investment and regional development

This article compares the importance of agglomerations of local firms, and inward FDI as drivers of regional development. The empirical analysis exploits a unique panel dataset of the Italian manufacturing sector at the regional and industry levels. We explore whether FDI and firm agglomeration can be drivers of total factor productivity (separately and jointly), with this effect being robust to different estimators, and different assumptions about inter-regional effects. In particular, we isolate one form of firm agglomeration that is especially relevant in the Italian context, industrial districts, in order to ascertain their impact on productivity. In so doing, we distinguish standard agglomeration and localization economies from industrial districts to understand what additional impact the latter has on standard agglomeration effects. Interaction effects between FDI spillovers and different types of agglomeration economies shed some light on the heterogeneity of regional development patterns as well as on the opportunity to fine tune policy measures to specific regional contexts.

Advanced perturbation technique for digital backward propagation in WDM systems

An improved digital backward propagation (DBP) is proposed to compensate inter-nonlinear effects and dispersion jointly in WDM systems based on an advanced perturbation technique (APT). A non-iterative weighted concept is presented to replace the iterative in analytical recursion expression, which can dramatically simplify the complexity and improve accuracy compared to the traditional perturbation technique (TPT). Furthermore, an analytical recursion expression of the output after backward propagation is obtained initially. Numerical simulations are executed for various parameters of the transmission system. The results indicate that the advanced perturbation technique will relax the step size requirements and reduce the oversampling factor when launch power is higher than -2 dBm. We estimate this technique will reduce computational complexity by a factor of around seven with respect to the conventional DBP. © 2013 Optical Society of America.