Search results for "work"
showing 10 items of 14511 documents
Microbial Diversity in the Midguts of Field and Lab-Reared Populations of the European Corn Borer Ostrinia nubilalis
2011
Background: Insects are associated with microorganisms that contribute to the digestion and processing of nutrients. The European Corn Borer (ECB) is a moth present world-wide, causing severe economical damage as a pest on corn and other crops. In the present work, we give a detailed view of the complexity of the microorganisms forming the ECB midgut microbiota with the objective of comparing the biodiversity of the midgut-associated microbiota and explore their potential as a source of genes and enzymes with biotechnological applications. Methodological/Principal Findings: A high-throughput sequencing approach has been used to identify bacterial species, genes and metabolic pathways, parti…
Adoption and use of work-life initiatives: Looking at the influence of institutional pressures and gender
2015
Under the lens of Institutional Theory, this paper examines how coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on employers encourage the adoption and use of work-life balance. Analyzing a sample of Spanish private firms, we find that the diffusion of work-life practices may be explained as an isomorphic process in which particular normative pressure significantly influences the adoption and use of work-life programs, while mimetic pressures only affect the level of use. Interestingly, the presence of women in organizations is found to be relevant to the adoption and use of work-life benefits only when this presence refers to managerial positions.
Are Spanish SMEs good places to work?
2012
PurposeThis paper aims to perform a descriptive analysis of the current degree of development and application of work‐life balance policies in Spanish SMEs, examining the differences that arise due to ownership structure (family owned business versus non‐family owned business) and presenting an in‐depth analysis of the variables that influence managers' attitudes towards work‐life balance policies.Design/methodology/approachStructured interviews with SME managers were performed.FindingsThe presence of those polices is small, although the situation differs depending on the type of policy. Differences in ownership structure do not imply significantly different behavior with regard to the intr…
Gender and Work-Life Balance: a Contest Analysis on Nursey Schools in Palermo
2018
This paper reflects on the gender inequalities and their influence in the access to labor market and, on the other one, to reproductive process. Maternity and work often arise as choices excluding one another due for the inadequacy of care services. The essay reviews some laws of the last years for encourage the work-life balance and analyzes the presence of the services for children in Palermo. The “case study” of the municipality of Palermo shows a general lack of services and a progressive reduction of public nurseries and kindergarten, despite the economic investments of the last decades at institutional level. It points out how many obstacles persist that discourage female participatio…
The Impact of Family and Work-Life Balance Policies on the Performance of Spanish Listed Companies
2014
Work-life balance has become a topic of great relevance in today's business world. In this work we present both a theoretical review on the state of art in this issue and an analysis testing the validity of the positive impact of work-life balance policies in firm performance. For the empirical analyses of these policies on performance we evaluated a sample composed of firms listed in IBEX-35. Findings provide support for the idea that introducing work-life balance practices benefits the company with respect to talent retention and higher employee engagement, as well as achieving a positive impact on productivity, costs and business results.
Constrained consistency enforcement in AHP
2020
Abstract Decision-making in the presence of intangible elements must be based on a robust, but subtle, balance between expert know-how and judgment consistency when eliciting that know-how. This balance is frequently achieved as a trade-off reached after a feedback process softens the tension frequently found between one force steadily pulling towards (full) consistency, and another force driven by expert feeling and opinion. The linearization method, developed by the authors in the framework of the analytic hierarchy process, is a pull-towards-consistency mechanism that shows the path from an inconsistent body of judgment elicited from an expert towards consistency, by suggesting optimal c…
The legal balance between liberty and equality
2021
The paper explores the specific legal balance between liberty and equality, distinguishing it from political theories and constitutional settings, where they are often considered in opposition. In order to find the specific legal balance between liberty and equality, and after identifying some of their relevant meanings for the purpose, it becomes necessary to focus on the rule of law, and to examine the relationship between liberty and equality in its different versions. Once the core meaning of the rule of law in terms of liberty and equality is enucleated, it is possible to consider extending it to the international field.
The Network Balance Realized by Routing Organization System
2011
In the presented paper, we propose to exploit routing organization for the purpose of managing network resources. According to our assumptions, we have the same quantity of materials, objects, tokens, tools etc. at our disposal in every node of the network. During network operation we must distribute resources between these nodes. It should be carried out as instantaneously and as economically as possible. Multi-Agent Systems are also used to deal with this kind of tasks and the centralised algorithms presented in this paper are to be used to measure the efficiency of the distributed MAS solution. From the logistical point of view, we have a sequence of stages with different states of token…
Progress in the design development of EU DEMO helium-cooled pebble bed primary heat transfer system
2019
Abstract In the frame of the activities promoted and encouraged by the EURO-fusion Power Plant Physics and Technology (PPPT) department aimed at developing the EU-DEMO fusion reactor, strong emphasis has been recently posed to the whole Balance of Plant (BoP) which represents the set of systems devoted to convert the plasma generated thermal power into electricity and to deliver it to the grid. Among these systems, a very important role is played by the Breeding Blanket (BB) Primary Heat Transfer System (PHTS) as it is responsible to extract more than 80% of the fusion plasma power. In this framework, University of Palermo, Ansaldo Nucleare and CREATE have focused their work to improve ther…
Enhancing performance management and sustainable organizational growth through system-dynamics modelling
2012
Organizational growth and performance management provide two important research topics for both enterprises and public sector organizations. Improving performance levels, or at least keeping them stable over time, is a hot topic not only for business executives and entrepreneurs, but also for managers and policy makers in public and non-profit institutions. How best to design Planning & Control (P&C) systems to support organizational performance management and assessment in a sustainability perspective? This paper illustrates the need for a methodological framework that would link system dynamics to P&C systems so as to support decision-makers in managing organizational performance, as well…