Search results for "CCO"

Cystic hydatidosis: a rare case of spine localization.

2011

Economic Cooperation Between Latvia and China on the Background of Belt and Road Initiative with Focus on Cargo Potential

2018

Latvia is a Belt and Road Initiative country and can contribute to its Eurasian Land Bridge. The existing railway infrastructure can be used for establishing the Eurasian Land Bridge Northern Branch via Latvia, but the problem is a lack of cargo for this route. It can be integrated into the existing Eurasian Land Bridge with specialization to connect China and some European countries—the Scandinavian countries. The aim of the study is to assess the potential volume of Latvian cargo for the Eurasian Land Bridge Northern Branch through Latvia. The methods of the study are statistical analyses and the forecasts of experts. Forecast of experts is an innovative method for investigating this top…

Combinatorial Double Auction Radio Resource Allocation Model in Crowd Networks

2018

International audience; Industrial Partners (IPs) with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are extending the mobile network infrastructure with Small Cells (SCs) in order to meet the growing mobile traffic demand. Due to the increasing number of telecommunication market competitors and the scarcity of radio resources, static sharing schemes are no more efficient. New dynamic schemes should be considered to meet both user expectations and economic success. In a crowd networking context, we propose in this work a dynamic radio resource scheme based on combinatorial double auctions. The participants in these auctions are the MNOs considered as buyers and the IPs, providers of SCs, considered as se…

The institutional pillars of management accounting function

2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to theorize the institutional pillars of management accounting function.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a comparative case study approach.FindingsInstitutional pillars of management accounting are explored on the basis of two longitudinal case studies. Competitive/economic forces and three analytical elements of institutional theory are composing institutions: regulative, normative and cultural‐cognitive pillars. Each element is important, and all of them may work in combination, but they operate through distinctive mechanisms and processes. This paper illustrates how they provide the basis for compliance, order and the legitimacy of not the w…

Innovations in savings and credit groups: evidence from Kenya

2007

Accepted version of an article published in the journal : Small Enterprise Development Copyright Practical Action Publishing: http://practicalaction.org/publishing/sed_journal This article reports from a church based Savings and Credit Groups (SCG) project in Kenya called Tuinuane. The project builds upon the Worth program of PACT, but has added some interesting and innovative features allowing country-wide outreach: 1) It piggybacks on a church. 2) Field officers have been avoided. Instead group leaders are screened and trained through a detailed implementation plan. 3) It makes active use of mobile phones in planning, monitoring and follow-up efforts. The attachment to the church as well …

An exploratory study of sustainable rural tourism in Sicily

2013

Recently, a significant interest was noticed around rural tourism, and particularly agritourism, which represents the main specific application. Rural tourism is a sustainable tourism, since the valorisation and conservation of environmental and territorial resources where economic activity is carried out are its main features. From the official statistical data, it appears clear that this activity, widely spread in Italy, may provide a significant financial support both to agricultural firms and to the whole sector of tourism, and thus allows redistributing touristic flows from coastal towards inland areas. The main aims of the paper are both to analyse the agritourist supply in Sicily com…

Examining Benchmark Indicator Systems for the Evaluation of Higher Education Institutions

2009

Higher Education Institutions are undergoing important changes involving the development of new roles and missions, with implications for their structure. Governments and institutions are implementing strategies to ensure the proper performance of universities and several studies have investigated evaluation of universities through the development and use of indicator systems. In this paper, we review some of the systems applied to the OECD countries, with special attention to Spain. We demonstrate the difficulty involved in establishing classification criteria for existing indicators, on which there is currently no consensus.

University Rankings: The Many Sides of the Debate

2014

Abstract Within the context of bourgeoning institutions that rank higher education institutions, this paper examines the merits and demerits of university rankings and diverse ranking methodologies. It explores and presents recent developments and diversification of international rankings and highlights their general trend towards more broadly balanced and multidimensional criteria. The paper concludes that like any other complex endeavour, rankings have their pros and cons but the latter does not justify their abandonment. What is required is public education that builds a discerning user who can optimally gain from the use of rankings while avoiding their pitfalls. The original version of…

Macroeconomic knowledge of higher education students in Germany and Japan – a multilevel analysis of contextual and personal effects

2016

Recent trends towards harmonising and internationalising business and economics studies in higher education are affecting the structure and content of programmes and courses, and necessitate more transparent and comparable information on students’ economic knowledge and skills. In this study, we examine by linear multilevel regression modelling the current state of macroeconomic knowledge of higher education students in Germany and Japan, while controlling for the effects of key study-related aspects such as study progress and completion of economics courses. We assess macroeconomic knowledge using the internationally established Test of Understanding in College Economics, which has been ad…

Spain: A Success Story Shadowed Only by a Poor Productivity Performance

2007

Since joining the European Union in 1986, the performance of the Spanish economy has been quite remarkable, acting as a good example for new entrants of what can be accomplished in twenty years. Its ability to generate employment has been astonishing. Departing from an environment of very high unemployment (close to 25 per cent), Spain has become the country of destination most preferred by immigrants. However, it has also had a scant productivity performance. The main burden on productivity growth lies with the construction sector and almost all private service sectors with the unique exception of the financial sector. Most likely, over the next years, the continuity of the Spanish success…