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Browsing Ph.D. theses (INT) by Year Published
Now showing items 1-18 of 18
Sulinska, Iwona (Frederiksberg, 2018)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The aim of the dissertation is to disentangle complexities of social capital in boards of directors through proposing new theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. Although extant previous research has discussed various aspects of social capital and its association with numerous organizational outcomes, still the literature demonstrates evident shortcomings resulting from overlooking and oversimplifying its complexities. Therefore, to fill gaps in the literature, the dissertation addresses the following research question: in the context of boards of directors, how can social capital be better understood through exploration of its complexities? The dissertation comprises three empirical studies that individually address the identified gaps in the literature and combined address the aforementioned research question. In this way, the dissertation demonstrates that social capital in boards of directors is more complex than it has been assumed in previous studies and its understanding requires a novel approach to conceptualization and empirical research. The first chapter explains the topic and motivation for the dissertation. The following chapter (Chapter 2) synthetizes the previous approaches to investigating board social capital and proposes a new theoretical and methodological approach. It particularly asserts that research on board social capital may be advanced through utilizing configurational perspective and method, what is then shown on an example of the relationship between board social capital and firm performance. Chapter 3 explores social capital of board chair, which has been overlooked in previous studies. It suggests that individual social capital of board chair is as important for organizational performance as social capital of CEO and directors. Therefore, performance effect derives from combined social capital of board chair, CEO, and directors. Further, the dissertation discusses dynamics of board social capital (Chapter 4) in the context of firm expansion. It emphasizes that evolution process of board social capital is driven by multidimensional changes occurring within internal and external networks of social relationships created by board members. Evolution paths are consequently proposed for diversity and strength of external network ties, and for internal network cohesion. In light of the overarching research question, the final chapter summarizes the findings. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9606
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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Myanmar's Export Garment Industry 2011–2015Bae, Jinsun (Frederiksberg, 2018)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: A growing number of the multinational enterprises work with a global network of suppliers that undertake production activities on their behalf. These enterprises operationalize CSR by enforcing corporate codes of conduct in their networks. The export garment industry of Myanmar—a country emerging out of economic sanctions imposed by Western countries—is no exception to this CSR trend. International fashion brands and retailors (called buyers) have sought out garment manufacturers in Myanmar, with the capacity to implement their social and environmental demands laid out in buyer-designated codes of conduct. This buyer requirement of CSR has taken many manufacturers by surprise because they were previously unaware of it. To some, suppliers CSR itself has been a novel term, and to others, some provisions of the code of conduct seemed to contradict local ways of taking responsibility for workers and local communities. Against this background, the manufacturers and various stakeholders of Myanmar's export garment industry have begun to discuss what CSR means and how should one practice it. This dissertation aims to answer the question of how and why has corporate social responsibility (CSR) been introduced, embraced and challenged in Myanmar's export garment industry during the period 2011 to 2015? The chosen empirical and temporal setting is highly suitable to examine the contestation of different CSR understandings exhibited by actors such as international buyers sourcing garments from Myanmar, and garment manufacturers and international donors in Myanmar. This study combines the global production network (GPN) analysis and institutional theories as analytical lens. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9673
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How Socioemotional Wealth and Familiness Influence InternationalizationSluhan, Anne (Frederiksberg, 2018)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This doctoral dissertation investigates idiosyncratic behaviors of family firms and contributes to an understanding of how family ownership affects the ways in which firms internationalize. While each chapter in the dissertation is a stand-alone work intended for publication, every study relates to an overarching research question about how non-financial dimensions of family firm ownership—exemplified by socioemotional wealth (SEW) and familiness—influence family firm internationalization. The dissertation contributes to varying literatures including family business, corporate governance, strategic management, and international business. Specifically, the review paper on family firm internationalization offers a novel presentation of entry modes along the FIBER dimensions of SEW. It proposes a framework to unbundle family firm-specific capabilities and motivations for internationalization for subsequent analysis utilizing the theoretical perspectives of SEW and familiness. The next chapter studies how family firm risk preferences affect behavior when engaging in cross-border acquisitions. While most studies on family firms implicitly assume businesses are run at the will of a controlling family, this paper abandons this assumption and examines whether (and how) non-family shareholders interact with family shareholders when deciding to internationalize. Results indicate international acquisitions will be of greater value when the level of family ownership is high or low, whereas the value of an acquisition is lower when family ownership is relatively balanced vis à vis non-family ownership. The final empirical chapter studies family firm behavior differently by exploring the notion of familiness within the context of an international acquisition. This study applies an action research methodology first to investigate how employees understand the notion of familiness and then to observe how this perception is actively mobilized to facilitate post acquisition integration. The paper emphasizes how aspects of familiness can be purposefully mobilized to facilitate integration, thus contributing to an understanding of familiness in general, and specifically familiness in a context of internationalization. From a methodological perspective, the paper contributes rich data showing how action research can be used in a business setting, presenting a process that facilitates integration between two distinct organizational and national cultures and between family and nonfamily firms as they face challenges in a post-merger or post-acquisition context. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9626
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Essays on China's Political Organization and Political Economic InstitutionsGrünberg, Nis (Frederiksberg, 2018)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The present dissertation is a compilation of three individual papers, and an introduction chapter. While the introduction lays out the theoretic backdrop of the project as a whole, the papers represent interventions into three specific dimensions of China's Party-state order: structural organizational issues, decision-making institutions, and political economic dynamics. These three dimensions are presented as aspects of the same political organizational order, a Party-state order assembled around the hegemony of the Communist Party of China's (CPC), conceptualized in the introduction using a Gramsci-inspired theory of the state. Employing a historical institutional approach, the three papers engage with specific strands of literatures of China Studies in a conceptual and theoretic manner, while also contributing with empirical findings. They discuss the concept of Fragmented Authoritarianism (FA), the organization and institutionalization of Leading Small Groups, and the social embeddedness of state-owned enterprise (SOE). FA has been an influential concept to explain structural issues of China's bureaucracy, and with China's energy administration as example, I review its value as a theoretic notion today, 30 years after its inception. Discussing the growing importance of Leading Small Groups, the second paper addresses some of the institutional "fixes" to decisionmaking and policy coordination, which have evolved in response to structural fault-lines described in the FA paper. The third paper takes the dissertation into the political economic dimension of the Party-state order, providing a case study of how China National Petroleum Corporation, a central, state-owned and CPC led SOE, is organizationally rooted in its local operations, remaining institutionally embedded in local society through its legacy as a socialist work unit (danwei). Using Polanyi's concept of embeddedness, the paper reveals how SOEs are split into two tiers each tasked with the respective objectives of economic development and political stability, and thus as Party-state organizations are used to flexibly support CPC hegemony. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9596
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A Controversy StudyHansen, Louise Lyngfeldt Gorm (Frederiksberg, 2017)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis conducts a controversy study focusing on the intermingling of political considerations and emerging science in a controversy over whether or not the Zipingpu dam in China's Sichuan Province caused the magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake on May 12th 2008. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was one of the deadliest, costliest and biggest earthquakes in China in three decades. Over 90,000 people died, went missing or were presumed dead, and economic damage was estimated at over 100 billion US dollars in 2013. For scientists to suggest that such an unfathomable disaster could have been man-made was controversial to say the least. Not only because the root cause of the earthquake pointed to was a dam, and dam projects are inherently rife with conflict, but also because the Zipingpu dam was itself a high priority project for the Chinese central government and the Sichuan Province. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9562
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Faigen, Benjamin (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis examines ownership of the firm by its employees, of varying stakes. It begins by identifying the existence of employee ownership in a Chinese context, presented in the form of a general analytical discussion which is informed by a review of the available evidence on the subject. This work sets the stage for a focus on this form of ownership at the individual level of analysis, involving both conceptual and empirical explorations. Together, this constitutes three papers, put together with introductory and concluding chapters. The first thesis paper identifies the drivers of, and barriers to, employee ownership in China at three levels of analysis: the societal, organisational and individual. Its intended contribution to the employee ownership literature is to organise the scattered evidence in order to provide a systematic and comprehensive coverage of the development of this phenomenon. Employee ownership is found to have played a role in Chinese economic transition as a transitory phase before non-state enterprises were afforded official recognition in a context of publicly-owned enterprise privatisation. Senior managers became the key beneficiaries in firm sales and most ventures that were at one stage employee-owned, dissolved. Outside of a couple of notable examples in the tertiary sector, enterprises featuring some level of employees as owners persist in reduced numbers in rural areas today. In the second thesis paper, the interest is in the role of the individual actor with regard to employee ownership outside of a narrower Chinese context. At this level of analysis, it is preferences (attitudes) and resources which are decisive. A more detailed exploration of the former in particular follows, the idea being to theorise the compatibility of defined individual 'types' with specific ownership structures. Yet, because the existence of different forms and mechanisms with regard to employee ownership is not always made clear in the related literature, notable pathways to ownership— cooperative, professional partnership, controlling ownership, share ownership plan mechanism, share option mechanism, and direct ownership—are first clarified to facilitate the analysis. The paper's overall contribution to the literature is the provision of a coherent conceptual treatment of the individual-level antecedents to employee ownership. The third thesis paper comprises mixed-method empirical research into the characteristics of individuals who have recently purchased shares in their employing firms in an Icelandic context, as well as their specific motives for doing so (or reasons for not doing so). Determinants of employee ownership, as well as direct insights into the considerations surrounding share acquisition, are less common at this level of analysis and this is the where the paper contributes to the literature. In order to conduct the empirical analysis, original material is gathered from six case study firms, the details of which are presented within the paper. Income, tenure and age are found to influence ownership status. Furthermore, some support is found for financial motives outweighing non-financial motives behind share purchases in minority employee-owned firms relative to majority employee-owned firms. Internal barriers to ownership, together with a lack of funds, hindered share purchases in majority employee-owned firms in particular. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9392
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Rethinking Autonomy, Space & Time In Today's World Of ArtBertelsen, Marianne (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: By studying what goes on in the world of art, it is possible not only to make observations about art and the artist but also to understand how modern-day culture is being organized and negotiated. From this perspective, understanding the experiences of autonomy and contemporaneity in being an artist today, and how these relate to cultural structures, can serve to explain some of the cultural structures that organize the world of art. In this thesis, my empirical starting point is the local context of a Danish art school and global attitudes to cultural policy-making and art education. These attitudes, in turn, carry my research process across the global world of art, involving the local context of a Chinese art school. Moving away from the somewhat simplified conflicts of autonomy and heteronomy, the global and the local, and the traditional and the contemporary, the three main themes of autonomy, time, and space serve as essential prisms through which to understand and explain the everyday experiences of contemporary art at art schools today. This thesis is positioned as a contribution to the sociology of art but also draws on, and hopes to inspire, scholarship in global art history and aesthetic philosophy. Building upon the classic groundwork in the sociology of art I shed light on how, in an ever more changing world of art, the idea of contemporary art now involves a complex group of issues which go beyond classic approaches, and I suggest the explanatory potential of focusing on individual artists, acting in and making sense of the cultural structures of the world of art. My research process has been guided by critical realism and the methodological meta-approach of engaging with complexity through reflexive research. In this sense, the title "Aesthetic Encounters" refers not only to the conceptual and empirical results and contributions of the thesis but also to the explorative research process of engaging with the complexity of cultural and artistic worlds. As the main outcome of my research, I develop and present the concepts of "antinomies of autonomy", globally connected but locally present contemporaneity, and the "heterochronies" of specific space-times. These are the socio-cultural dynamics which the experiences of the Chinese and Danish artists and their faculties brought me to understand. I then appropriate these dynamics as a means of rethinking and explaining some of the structural features in the world of art and the cultural developments evolving around the increased globalization of and changes in the role of the artist. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9287
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A study of emerging producer organisations in IndiaAbraham, Mathew (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: A majority of the world's agricultural production takes place on small farms (less than 2 hectares). India has one of the smallest average farm sizes with over 68 per cent of its farms being marginal in size (below 1 hectare). Small farm production is constrained by challenges of accessing lumpy inputs of management and asset specific machinery, markets, credit, extension services and technology. Collective actions in the form of cooperatives in many parts of the world have played a vital role in overcoming these challenges and enabling agricultural growth. However, cooperatives in India have suffered from low participation, over-dependence on state assistance, poor management, political interference in their functioning and poor benefits to intended target groups. In recent years Producer Organisational Formats (POFs) such as Producer Companies (PCs), Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) and Farmers Federations (FFs) have emerged in an attempt to address some of these challenges faced by small producers. Although policy makers recognize this new cooperativism to have the potential to address small producer disadvantages, progress has been little in supporting or promoting POFs in India due to limited understanding of their functioning, impact and potential. This knowledge gap motivated this research. Using a conceptual framework grounded in institutional and collective action theories, this thesis examines (a) how POFs are structured on organisational, social and economic terms and (b) how resources are allocated and incentives aligned within these institutions. The thesis finds that the examined POFs are small, regionspecific collective actions, organised with the help of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supported by the state. POFs relied on networks of social relationships, trust, norms and sometimes religious ideology to prevent collective action problems that hindered effective organisation. In economic terms, POFs helped improve market access and increased marketable agricultural surplus at the household level; yet, this surplus was not sufficient for households with marginal sized land to solely depend on farming as a livelihood activity. As for resource allocation and incentive alignment within POFs, the even distribution of collective goods to all members was a strong material incentive for participation. Social capital in the form of networks, norms and trust among members also incentivised participation. In sum the study finds that POFs have the potential to improve access to markets, credit, inputs and research and extension services, the lack of which has hindered small and marginal producer viability. In some cases social disadvantages of access arising from gender and caste were addressed through these organisations. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9120
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Entrepreneurship-Enabled Dynamic Capability of Medium-Sized Multinational EnterprisesCao, Yangfeng (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This PhD dissertation focuses on business model innovation (BMI), which plays a central role in explaining firm performance and is viewed as a source of competitive advantage. A recent global survey of more than 4,000 senior executives by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that the majority (54%) favoured BMI over product or service innovation as a source of future competitive advantage. Hence, the research on BMI is a salient topic for strategic management and entrepreneurship studies because it is central to a firm's dynamic capability for novel value creation and novel value capture on a sustainable basis. Prior studies have argued that a business model can be only effective if it is designed properly for a specific context. In this sense, the business models of multinational enterprises (MNEs) should differ from those of domestic firms. Specifically, owing to the large gaps or distances in the economic and institutional contexts between advanced and emerging economies, as two sides of the global divide, cross-divide entry by MNEs, either from an advanced economy into an emerging economy as a top-down venture or from an emerging economy to an advanced economy as a bottom-up venture, will depend heavily on the novel business model designed to match the host context on the other side of the global divide. This is particularly true in the case of entering the mid-end market as the mainstream in the host economy. In addition, owing to the internal contextual dimensions of corporate size and age, the key challenge to a top-down venture seems more acute for medium-sized MNEs (MMNEs) than both large and small MNEs (the latter is often referred to as ‗born-global' firms). This is because MMNEs tend to have more limited resources than large MNEs, but less flexibility than small MNEs. Given the salience of the cross-divide context to MNEs as well as the paucity of research on MMNEs, this PhD dissertation focuses on how BMI occurs in the special context of cross-divide entry with a top-down venture for a mid-end market by MMNEs. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9241
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Brandl, Kristin Martina (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The global economy is perpetually changing to a highly knowledge-based economy in which services and especially knowledge-intensive services are increasingly offshored (geographically relocated) to emerging market economies such as India. This trend is interesting as for decades services had been characterized as intangible, perishable, heterogeneous and inseparable from their sources of origin making a geographic dispersion of service production and consumption unimaginable. Thus, the geographic relocation of the services is expected to infer organizational and operational reconfigurations also impacting the service production. The thesis studies these reconfigurations by questioning: how does offshoring impact on the production of services. In order to capture the unique characteristics of services and provide a thorough understanding of the phenomenon, detailed and dynamic analyses of activities and actors through process perspectives are argued to be necessary. Process perspectives allow studying relationships between actions and individual actors from an organizational and operational angle. Two process perspectives are applied in this thesis in three independent research papers. The first research paper studies the offshoring process as a strategic and organizational change process that leads to a misalignment of components of a services production system and questions how this impact elicits a reconfiguration of the system. The second and third paper investigates the offshored production process of knowledge-intensive services with a focus on actors in the processes and their activities. That is, the second paper questions how the increase of cognitive distance between actors inferred by offshoring changes the production of the services including costs and value outcomes. The third paper questions how offshoring impacts client co-production, i.e. the transfer and co-creation of knowledge, in a similarly designed service production process of knowledgeintensive business services. Collectively, this research shows that process perspectives on service offshoring are essential to study the impact of offshoring on service production. It also allows an understanding on the importance of actors and the causal links between them and activities. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9046
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Spliid, Robert (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Afhandlingens overordnede forskningsspørgsmål er, hvordan kapitalfondene skaber værdi for deres porteføljevirksomheder ved brug af metoder og kompetencer. Metoderne er de instrumenter, kapitalfondene anvender, mens kompetencerne er deres evne til at benytte metoderne effektivt. Siden den første kapitalfond så dagens lys i midten af 70'erne, har der været betydelig fokus på denne ejerskabsform. På den ene side er kapitalfondene blevet kritiseret for at skabe værdi for aktionærerne på andre stakeholderes bekostning, på den anden side er der gjort adskillige forsøg på at påvise, at virksomheder i kapitalfondsejerskab klarer sig bedre end andre virksomheder. Udgangspunktet for denne undersøgelse er, at ingen ejerskabsform er den optimale under alle forhold. Alle virksomheder gennemlever forskellige faser, og kapitalfondsejerskabet egner sig bedst for virksomheder, der har behov for hurtig transformation. Undersøgelser af, hvordan kapitalfondsejede virksomheder klarer sig i sammenligning med andre virksomheder, bidrager derfor ikke til at fremme forståelsen for kapitalfondenes værdiskabelsesproces. Kapitalfondenes funktion som tidsbegrænset ejer forstås bedst ved at analysere dem i den kontekst, de opererer. Kapitalfondene udgør ikke en homogen investorgruppe, der handler ens på alle udfordringer, men de råder over bestemte instrumenter og kompetencer, som tegner et mønster i den måde, de arbejder på. Afhandlingens formål er at afdække dette mønster. Metoden er en casebaseret analyse af tre danske kapitalfondsejede virksomheder, som er udvalgt efter en række krav til forskellighed. De tre cases er byggevarekæden DT, som var ejet af en kapitalfond fra 2003 til 2006, fjernvarmerørsproducenten Logstor, som var ejet af kapitalfonde i to omgange fra 1999 til 2013, og medicinalvirksomheden Nycomed, som var ejet af kapitalfonde i tre omgange fra 1999 til 2011. Der er således i alle tre tilfælde tale om virksomheder, som er exited, så kapitalfondsejerskaberne kan ses i deres helhed. Undersøgelsen er baseret på interviews med 21 personer, hvoraf de 20 har haft en tilknytning til en af de tre virksomheder, mens den sidste repræsenterer en bank, der har deltaget i finansieringen af alle tre virksomheder. De 20 personer med direkte tilknytning til de tre virksomheder repræsenterede fire grupper: kapitalfondene, bestyrelsen, ledelsen og medarbejderne. Repræsentanterne for de fire grupper redegjorde fra hver deres synsvinkel for, hvorledes de mente, kapitalfondene arbejdede med virksomheden. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8934
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Insights from Annual General MeetingsStrand, Therese (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis consists of five empirical studies, all relating to shareholder activism at annual general meetings. The first study concerns the structure and content of general meetings in Denmark and Sweden comparatively. The paper reveals significant differences in the level of activism, with Swedish investors being the most active in terms of proposals, proxy voting, and 'voice'. The paper takes a legal approach, and discusses divergence in activism levels from the perspective of shareholder prerequisites to engage in monitoring efforts. Further, the paper investigating the topics addressed through questions and opinions. The results show that matters which can be categorized as irrelevant are reasonably rare. This is an important finding, as suggestions to abolish general meetings have often been based on the assumption that general meetings facilitate nothing but irrelevant, time consuming, and costly discussions that serves no monitoring function. The second study analyses the impact of voting power on shareholder activism. We hypothesize that there is a positive relationship between shareholder activism and a measure of the largest shareholder's sensitivity to increased participation by small shareholders and find that firms' amenability to small shareholder influence leads to more proposals by the nomination committee, but fewer proposals by other shareholders. We interpret this as evidence that the shareholder elected nomination committees effectively channel shareholder concerns and preempt other kinds of activism. Politicians and companies that desire active shareholders could improve the amenability of firms to shareholder influence by ownership transparency, shareholder committees, and contacts with shareholder associations and other vehicles for collective action... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8460
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An application to ChinaLi, Xin (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The starting point of this PhD research is two observations. The first is that people often tend to discuss a country's national competitiveness in a general tone, i.e., judging a country to be either competitive or uncompetitive, rather than making more balanced assessment, and therefore their opinions often contradict each other. The second observation is that there are many competing international reports that rank a large number of countries in terms of their national competitiveness. These reports often provide different rankings for a given country (e.g., China), and therefore the readers of these reports are often left with a confusing picture. The first observation reflects the reality that there has been a lack of commonly accepted definition of national competitiveness. The second reflects the methodological problems of the indexing-and-ranking methods commonly used by international competitiveness reports... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8357
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Sigurjonsson, Throstur Olaf (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Currently, the corporate governance has the agenda of categorizing reality and thereby determining which systems are more effective and efficient in a given context. A question is posed; how has the internationalization of markets, liberalization, deregulation, and privatization adapted to rapid changes in traditionally based models of corporate governance? When corporate governance practices are exported from one country to another, they tend to be translated and customized to local practices before being adopted. The objective of this thesis is to examine this type of adaptation and explain the circumstances that led to a collapse of governance mechanisms, using Iceland as an example. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8336
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An Empirical Reconciliation of Two Critical ConceptsOhnemus, Lars (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8022
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An empirical analysis of Economics and ManagementÓladóttir, Ásta Dis (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This dissertation consists of an introductory chapter, followed by four papers that approach the topic of internationalization of small economies and the multinational firm from different angles. The concluding chapter deals with what happened in Iceland after the crisis that started in October 2008 with the collapse of the Icelandic financial system and how the very fast internationalization of Icelandic firms was possible, but only as further issues that need to be researched. Each of the papers can be read individually as well as in the larger context of this dissertation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7993
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The Norwegian maritime sectorWallevik, Kristin (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The four papers in this thesis investigate corporate governance in family firms from different angles, with emphasis on industry and industry networks. I divide the industry networks into social and commercial networks, where social networks are measured by interlocking boards and commercial networks by investments in other firms in the same industry. Focus is on the governance structures in family firms, how industry and networks may be determinants of family ownership, and the effect of family ownership and strong industry networks on financial performance in certain industries (such as the maritime industry). Two of the papers are theoretical papers and two are empirical papers. The empirical papers are based on the same hand-collected dataset comprising 167 Norwegian listed companies from 1996-2005. The first paper - "Corporate Governance in Family firms" comprises a survey of the corporate governance literature on family firms, paying attention to the unique issues in the governance of these firms. I discuss different forms of ownership and how different agency contexts and business environments may suit family ownership better than other ownership structures. I also discuss how firms can reap the benefits of family ownership, by using a relational governance model, if there is an atmosphere of positive relationships, trust and shared visions. A relational governance model focuses on the social capital embedded in personal relations between owners, managers and board members. A contractual governance model, however, focuses on finding the optimal incentives in the relations between owners and managers, in addition to having greater focus on the monitoring role of the board. These two models may complement and supplement each other in a governance structure. The question is how these different governance models affect firms' operations, decision-making, and competitiveness. The second paper - "The Effect of Industry Networks on Family Ownership" deals with possible effects of industry networks on the prevalence of family firms in different industries. I discuss how various networks can be determinants of family ownership, in addition to elements like incentives, monitoring, and altruism, as well as firm, industry and nation specific factors. I also discuss whether family firms can gain more from these industry networks than other firms due to a higher degree of "thick trust", strong owner-manager relations and the use of a relational governance structure. This paper proposes that strong social and commercial networks affect the number of family firms in an industry, as a result of the social capital embedded in these relations. Paper three - "Social and Commercial Networks as Determinants of Family Ownership - The Norwegian Shipping Industry" is an empirical paper testing whether industry networks are among the determinants of family ownership in the Norwegian shipping industry. The overall question is why family ownership is more prevalent in some industries, and which elements that influence this ownership structure. I focus on industry effects such as the number of firms in an industry and the social and commercial industry networks between firms. These are potential determinants of family ownership. I find that both industry and various industry networks have a significant and positive effect on family ownership in the shipping industry. The fourth paper - "Family Ownership, Networks and Financial Performance" takes up the question whether family ownership and various networks affect financial performance, measured by Tobin's q and ROA lagged, or not. Earlier studies come to different conclusions regarding the relationship between family ownership and firm performance, which may be due to differences in the agency context of the studies. I add industry and industry networks as central variables to disentangle some of the contextual factors in this relationship. This paper argues that it is not necessarily the family ownership that affects performance, but how this ownership is used in a strategic manner. Establishing and using networks are seemingly a means of operation in some industries, sometimes with a positive effect on performance. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7901
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Entry timing and mode choiceJakobsen, Kristian (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This dissertation consists of an introduction followed by four papers on issues related to the choice of entry timing and entry mode in transition economies. Below is a list of the papers that is included in the dissertation with information about their current publication status and coauthorships. * Jakobsen, K. 2007. First mover advantages in Central and Eastern Europe: A comparative analysis of performance measures, Journal of East-West Business, 13(1), 35-61. * Jakobsen, K. 2008. Competition for Markets in the Brewing Industry in Central and Eastern Europe. In J. Larimo (Ed.) Perspectives on Internationalization and International Management, Vassan Yliopiston Julkaisuja, p. 299-316. ISBN 978-952-476-228-1 * Jakobsen, K., & Meyer, K. E. 2008. Partial Acquisition: The overlooked entry mode. In J. H. Dunning and P. Gugler (eds.) Progress in International Business Research 2, Elsevier Science, p. 203-226. ISBN 978-0-7623-1475-1. * Jakobsen, K., & Meyer, K. E. 2007. Negotiating entry modes: Partial acquisitions in transition economies. Revise and resubmit at International Business Review URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7681
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Now showing items 1-18 of 18


text:
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- Generating a playbook for company success.
Be sure to attend our next live event so you can get answers to your questions in person from the experts!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The cameraman, Fadel Shana, 24, filmed the muzzle flash of the Merkava-4 tank that sent a dart-scattering shell above his head. The screen goes black as Shana falls dead in an open patch of sandy ground near the Israel-Gaza border, southwest of Gaza City on April 16. His soundman, Wafa Abu Mizyed, is wounded. Eight other civilians, aged between 12 and 20, were killed; six of them were under 16. At least seven other bystanders aged from 10 to 18 were also hit. None was armed or was a militant.
In a six-page letter to Thomson Reuters dated August 12, the
Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) military advocate general, Brig.-Gen. Avihai
Mandelblit, absolves
the tank crew and their superiors of any responsibility or criminal
wrongdoing. The letter outlines some of the findings of a confidential inquiry
into the killing. It skates over testimony from witnesses quoted by Reuters and
other media and human rights groups, and concludes that the decision to fire a
shell designed to kill concentrations of battlefield infantry at a two-man TV crew
was "reasonable" and "sound."
I worked as Reuters bureau chief in Israel and the
The underpinning of the general's argument that the tank crew's actions were reasonable is that the soldiers could not see press signs and assumed that a black object mounted on a tripod posed a threat to them. The soldiers were on heightened alert because another IDF tank had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, albeit miles away, and three Israeli soldiers had been killed in separate incident earlier that day.
"The tank crew did not spot any markings on the vehicle or clothing worn by the persons spotted," the investigation concluded. Here are some facts garnered from reporting and interviews with eye-witnesses and military experts by media outlets and human rights researchers.
Both Reuters journalists and their Mitsubishi SUV carried clear press markings. The journalists were wearing blue body armor, the standard color for civilians, with "Press" written on it. The Merkava tank is equipped with state-of-the art optics and an Israeli Elbit Systems battle management system. There were two tanks on the ridge overlooking Shana's TV position, one spotting, and the other firing. Both the tank commander and gunner have separate optical systems. Did all four soldiers fail to spot press markings from 1.4 kilometers away? The standard training distance for gunnery practice in the IDF is 3.9 kilometers.
Shana had been on assignment in the area for many hours filming the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike that killed many Palestinians including children. Just 20 minutes before the fatal shelling, he had passed within 700 meters (766 yards) of the tanks. The TV markings on his car were clearly visible. An unmanned observation drone was circling the area.
The IDF report said, "The tank commander requested authorization to fire at persons identified from a distance, whose behavior was suspicious and who had been spotted affixing to a tripod a large black unidentified object and directing it at the tank." The report said the commander believed the object could be an anti-tank missile or mortar. It said for reasons it could not disclose, recordings of the communication between IDF forces in the area at the time had not been made.
The way Shana behaved would not lead to the conclusion that he was about to fire an anti-tank missile. He set up his tripod in the open. He made no attempt to hide behind an embankment or vegetation.
The IDF report acknowledges that he filmed for four minutes before the tank fired. Witnesses said he had set up his tripod at head height (he was more than 6 feet tall), standard procedure for such a camera shoot. That is more than twice the height for a tripod-mounted anti-tank weapon where the person firing lies or on ground or sits.
Also, there are no published reports of Palestinian
militants ever firing such an anti-tank weapon at Israeli forces in
The IDF added that both journalists were wearing body armor "common to Palestinian terrorists." Again, journalists covering the conflict in the Gaza Strip say militants do not usually wear flak jackets.
The general's letter leaves too many questions unanswered.
Why was the tank crew authorized to fire such a lethal weapon as a flechette shell in an area with civilians at a target it could not identify? Why did commanders not issue a warning before firing? Why did the tanks not take evasive action if they felt threatened?
There are many other chilling questions, including the unthinkable: Did the crew suspect that Shana was a journalist but fired anyway?
The upshot of this whole tragedy is that raising a camera in
"We hope that the army's conclusion does not give soldiers free license to fire without being sure of the target, thereby hindering the media's ability to cover the conflict," it said.
Without a full, independent inquiry into this incident and
an overhaul of IDF rules of engagement, such fears might be realized.


text:
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Woven rather than knitted, this is a wonderful and luxurious large grey cashmere scarf crafted from 100% Mongolian cashmere. Measuring 180x37.5cm with an attractive and traditional fringe edging this is a beautiful product which will lift any outfit and is sure to keep you warm. Would also make a fabulous gift, especially presented in our complimentary gift wrapping - please specify at check out. Shown here in Flannel Grey, a stylish grey tone rich in depth. Great with crisp white shirts and jeans alike. 100% Cashmere
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All N.Peal garments are of the highest quality and with good care will last for years to come. To read our care guide please click here.


text:
A new king rises in the north; a Khaleesi finds new hope.
The denoument of the first season of Game of Thrones acts almost as an epilogue, bringing to a close the first act of the series. The event that closed the previous episode opens this one,and from here we see the aftermath rippling through the Seven Kingdoms. Alan Taylor's consummate direction—already witnessed in the prior episode—returns to guide viewers through these final moments, skillfully handling the emotional moments as the Starks and Dany suffer their individual heartbreaking moments and ensuing challenges. Taylor has since been announced as director of four episodes next season—out of ten in total—and that's certainly welcome.
Highlights of the episode include an impressive expansion of the role of Ramin Djawadi's score, giving the episode a more cinematic feel than any before it, and to go along with it there are scenes fully matching in their breadth and scope. Not least, the final moments of the episode, one of the most evocative and iconic scenes in the whole of the series. Matched with strong acting performances from Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Sophie Turner, and more, in retrospect this may be the best episode in the first season.


text:
As the most public - and pivotal - opponent of an adults-only video game rating in Australia, Michael Atkinson is a rather public figure. Just don't call him a crook. You may end up being sued by him.
Last year, a user-submitted comment on an Adelaide-based website called Atkinson a "crook". That's it. It had been submitted by Dean McQuillan, a man brave/stupid enough to use his real name. Despite the website removing the comment from public view, McQuillan has for his troubles been sued.
Let's just spell this out. A member of the public, posting a harmless comment on a local website, has been sued not just by a State government politician, but by a state government attorney general.
Atkinson's lawyers say the term was "highly defamatory", and are after $20,000 in "damages". They've obviously never looked over a video game website's comments section before.
What a world we live in. And people wonder why Australian gamers get so worked up about this guy.
In other Michael Atkinson news, it's also come to light that a group claiming that video games are as bad for you as smoking (and which picked up serious national exposure with that "revelation" earlier this week) is, surprise, being heavily supported by Atkinson. Financially. Every year the group's actions in providing additional, voluntary ratings for media products receives backing from the South Australia Attorney General, with 2006 figures revealing his office had already ponied up AUD$33,000 in government funding.
Miffed Minister's Gag [Media Watch, via Game Politics]
Video game 'cancer' group funded by Atkinson [news]


text:
Blog Roll
- JDLasica
- Jeff Jarvis
- Jeremiah Owyang
- Charlene Li
- Danah Boyd
- Jay Rosen
- Jim Romenski
- Cory Doctorow
- Howard Rheingold
- Henry Copeland
- New York Times
- Yahoo! News
- AllThingsD
- GigaOM
- readwriteweb
- BoingBoing
- CyberJournalist.net
- laobserved
- BoxesandArrows
Elizabeth has transformed Irishcentral.com from a hopeful web site to a growing brand and business that engages its audience, innovates for its advertisers and provides unique distribution to its partners. — Niall O'Dowd, Founder IrishCentral.com Many claim to be pioneers in online news but Elizabeth Osder is a true pathfinder. — Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine.com Elizabeth understands the content industry from all sides, both on the creative and business side, a perspective sorely needed in these times — Rafat Ali, PaidContent Elizabeth is genius at all things Internet — Paul Steiger, Editor, ProPublica Elizabeth is one of the most strategically gifted people I have met; there are very few people with whom every interaction is a valuable learning experience — Arnie Gullov Singh, EVP, Fox Audience Network She [Elizabeth] is practical, efficient and focused, with a reverence for our journalistic mission; her counsel has been crucial to the launch and development of ProPublica.org — Paul Steiger, Editor, ProPublica Elizabeth is a bright and astute observer of trends in the media market and possesses the rare blend of strategic vision and tactical insight — Allen Weiner, Research VP, Gartner, Inc. Working with Elizabeth has been both comforting and clarifying — Joni Evans, CEO, WowOwow Osder has worked on the future of news from every possible angle and can bring invaluable perspective to anyone trying to navigate the new world of media, news, and marketing online. — Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine.com Elizabeth's diligence on seeing her projects through helped our resource-strapped small company a lot — Rafat Ali, PaidContent Elizabeth is superb strategist and adviser. She combines a deep understanding of content and business imperatives with what's tactically practical — along with that critical ingredient, enthusiasm — David Goddy, Vice President, Education, Scholastic Elizabeth is an accomplished professional who knows how to draw on all her areas of editing and on- line expertise.. She is excellent at adjusting to the special requirements of each project and tailoring her advice to work creatively with the team in place — Tina Brown, Founder and Editor, The Daily Beast


text:
Cat with Two Faces Sets World Record
Meet "Frankie and Louie," a 12-year-old cat with two faces and two names. Guinness World Records says he is the world's longest-living Janus cat. (Fun fact: That is what they call two-faced cats, on account of two-faced Roman god Janus.) Most Janus cats die within hours of their births.
Frankie and Louie (sometimes "Frankenlouie") has two mouths, two noses, two functioning eyes, and one non-functioning eye.
"That was the first eye to open up when he was two days old so I had a little Cyclops for a while," his owner explains.
At left, Frankie and Louie appears on an old episode of Animal Planet's Weird, True and Freaky. [Worcester Telegram, Cheat Sheet, screenshot via Worcester Telegram]


text:
|Four Generations of Women
I wish the photo was a bit clearer, but I'm just delighted to have it. Only minor changes made to sharpen and get rid of flaws (unedited photo is on the bottom).
|Before photo corrections
|Four Generations of Women
|Before photo corrections
It IS a treasure! You did a nice job cleaning it up, Cheryl. I can sure see the family resemblance among the ladies, can't you? Do you use Picasa? It has the option (on a sliding scale) to sharpen images. It has been somewhat useful sometimes.ReplyDelete
Thanks, Nancy! I love the picture. I think I have a generations picture of men as well, but 3 generations or something like that. I'll have to check! :)
I use Microsoft Picture Manager and then Serif Photo Plus x2. I may have to try Picasa to sharpen and see how I like it. Sadly, I haven't played with Picasa much.
A classic of its era. We can learn so much about the time and place just by studying this photo. The fact that it's 4 generations of your family makes its history personal. thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
What a wonderful picture to have - no matter the condition, right?!ReplyDelete


text:
Soft + luxe this knitted loop is a wardrobe essential – worn doubled or single – it's popularity is never ending.
Size • 26 x 70cm folded
Soft 100% Cotton
- Reviews
- Shipping
Thank you for visiting and shopping at Zabecca Living. Following are the terms and conditions that constitute our Shipping Policy.
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If you have any further queries please contact us on +61 3 8822 3215.
At Zabecca Living, we understand that buying online can be a bit tricky and sometimes items just don't fit or suit you. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to return your purchased items.
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Call us at any time at +61 3 8822 3215 if you have any questions about our Return Policy or the process.


text: Thursday, January 24, 2013 New in the Literature: PFMT for Urinary Incontinence (Int Urogynecol J. 2013 Jan 11. [Epub ahead of print]) Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is effective for treating stress urinary incontinence (SUI), say authors of an article published in International Urogynecology Journal. There is no apparent add-on effect of biofeedback (BF) training in short-term follow-up, they add. Women with SUI were randomized to PFMT with BF (BF group, n = 23) or without BF (PFMT group, n = 23) for 12 weeks. As primary outcome measures, subjective symptoms and QOL were assessed by the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF). A voiding diary, 1-h pad test, and measurement of PFM strength were secondary outcome measures. Changes in the primary and secondary outcomes were assessed before and after 12 weeks of exercise training. Of the 9 domains of the KHQ, the scores of 5 significantly decreased in the PFMT group; the scores of 7 significantly decreased in the BF group. All ICIQ-SF items and the total score significantly decreased in both groups after therapy. The number of incontinence episodes significantly decreased in the PFMT group, and tended to decrease in the BF group, but this was not significant. The leakage volume in the 1-h pad test tended to decrease in both groups, but was not significant. Maximum vaginal squeeze pressure significantly increased in both groups. There were no significant inter-group differences in the changes in any of the parameters assessed.


text:
The idea that "false choices" are distorting our politics is under attack. I want to defend the concept for both substantive and personal reasons. The canary in the coal mine was my colleague Ruth Marcus's column on March 31 in which she argued directly: "It's time to retire the false choice."
"As a rhetorical device, particularly as a political rhetorical device, the false choice has outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any," she wrote. "The phrase has become a trite substitute for serious thinking. It serves too often to obscure rather than to explain."
While I empathize with Marcus's frustration that false choices are sometimes invoked to evade choices altogether, I respectfully but passionately disagree with her. And she has company in her skepticism.
A few days after her column appeared, NPR's Ari Shapiro offered a resolutely fair, balanced and entertaining piece about President Barack Obama's affection for calling out false choices. He included the views of Mary Kate Cary, a false-choice critic and former speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush: "It's tempting for the speaker to distort the two extremes in such a way that it makes the critics angry and invites a response like, well, that isn't at all what I said."
Cary is right that the false choice idea is easily misused. My favorite recent rendering of what a classically false false choice—sorry about that—looks like was offered by my friend Hendrik Hertzberg on his New Yorker blog.
Praising Obama's George Washington University budget speech earlier this month, Hertzberg said he was relieved that the president did not descend into the worst kind of false choicery. "I know it's silly," Hertzberg wrote, "but I was a little worried we might get something uncomfortably akin to 'We must reject both extremes, those who say we shouldn't help the old and the sick and those who say we should.'" Me, too; I'm glad Obama didn't go near that sort of thing.
But if there are false false choices, there are also real false choices. And here I should acknowledge my personal stake in this debate. Twenty years ago, I wrote a book called Why Americans Hate Politics arguing that liberals and conservatives often imposed a series of false choices on voters that prevented them from expressing their true preferences. Many voters preferred an intelligent "both/and" politics to an artificially constrained "either/or" approach.
The classic case for me was the phony division of Americans into "feminist" and "profamily" camps. I noted that most Americans accepted the equality of men and women but were concerned about how new work arrangements were affecting family life.
"Women who take time off from their careers to care for young children are routinely ëpunished' by having their opportunities for promotion reduced," I wrote. "Is it 'feminist' or is it 'profamily' to suggest that this practice is unfair? Is it 'feminist' or 'profamily' to contend that this practice shows how little value society really places on the work that parents do?"
There were and are a slew of other paralyzing false choices in our political dialogue. President Bill Clinton wrote generously about the impact of my false choice argument on his own views in his memoir My Life, and then proffered an excellent catalog of false choices we needed to avoid. Among them: Between "excellence or equity in education"; between "quality or universal access in health care"; between "a cleaner environment or more economic growth"; between "crime prevention or punishing criminals."
Unmasking false choices is especially important to progressives for whom the task of finding the proper balances--between government and the market, between greater equality and the need for incentives, between a respect for tradition and a commitment to individual freedom—is close to the heart of their political philosophy. In the current budget battle, the quintessential false choice is the core assertion of the House Republicans' plan: that we have to choose either program cuts or tax increases. They go only for program cuts. Our purpose should be about finding the right balance between the two.
Marcus, Cary, and other false choice critics can perform a useful service if they push politicians away from using the term either to caricature views they disagree with or to avoid making choices altogether. But we should not abandon the idea that battling false choices is essential to an honest framing of the choices we truly and urgently need to make.
(c) 2011, Washington Post Writers Group


text:
'Bharat Ki Shaan...' - a unique reality show from DD
Doordarshan Sunday announced the launch of a new reality show 'Bharat Ki Shaan - Rum Jhum', which will see a competition between Indian classical and Western dancers.
Courtesy : <img src="images/uploads/D9B_hqdefault.jpg" alt="" align="right" width="300" height="200" border="1"
Going on air Monday, the show will come on the first two days of a week and it has been conceptualized and created by Gajendra Singh, the man behind hit TV shows like 'Antakshari The Great Challenge' and 'Amul Star Voice of India I and II'.
"We are very happy to produce 'Bharat Ki Shaan - Rum Jhum'. With the show we wanted to expand Bharat ki Shaan in the form of dance," V.K. Jain ADG (Publicity) Doordarshan, said in a statement.
"The concept of doing Indian versus non-Indian dance was conceptualized by our respected Director General Tripurari Sharan. It was his idea to get the traditional and contemporary Indian dance versus other forms of non-Indian dance to bring out the cultural values from different parts of the world," Jain added.
The show has been developed by renowned classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, who will be seen for the first time on Indian television as the Guru Shrestha, the supreme judge.
"It is a strategy for me to bridge the schism between the popular and pure arts. I hope the show doesn't only let the country discover new talents, but also discover dance in its diversity, richness and beauty," Mansingh said.
Sandip Soparkar, whose forte is Ballroom dance, and Kathak dancer Sandeep Mahavir will judge the show.


text:
|AmpliTube Slash for iPad
|IK Multimedia
|Price (MSRP)
$9.99 / €7,99 / £6.99
|Type / Tags
|Guitar Amp and FX ModelingDistortion / Overdrive / Amp
|Copy Protection
AmpliTube Slash for iPad features models of all the legendary signature gear used by Slash in the studio and for his live performances. Now you can rock models of the legendary Marshall JCM Slash Edition Silver Jubilee, the Marshall AFD100, Slash's signature guitar pedals, and import/purchase and play along with Slash's extensive discography or any music from your music library. Also included is a collection of 30 Slash guitar tone preset settings, provided as starting points for your own tone tweaking or playing along.
AmpliTube Slash for iPad features:
- Real-time guitar and bass mobile multiFX + recording app with Slash tone.
- Slash gear models: 6 Stompboxes (Gate, Wah Distortion, OctoBlue, Booster, x-Chorus, Delay) and 2 Amplifiers (Marshall AFD100, Marshall JCM Slash Edition Silver Jubilee 2555SL, Marshall with 4x12" cabinet).
- Complete set of 30 Slash tone Presets.
- Slash songs links directly within the app for play-along.
- Single track recorder expandable to 4-track studio with master effects (via in-app purchase).
- Import and play songs as backing tracks from your iPod library or computer.
- Export via E-mail, SoundCloud, FTP or File Sharing.
- Audio Copy/Paste.
- Slow down/speed up the tempo of imported songs without affecting pitch.
- NO VOICE feature removes the lead vocal or guitar solo from imported songs.
- Powerful preset system to manage presets and favorites.
- Tuner/metronome.
- Digital audio in/out.
- MIDI controllable (available as in-app purchase and free for iRig MIDI users).
- Low-latency for real time playing.
AmpliTube Slash Bundle is also available via in-app purchase within AmpliTube for iPad 2.5 and above, and is the recommended purchasing method for existing AmpliTube for iPad users.
{See video at top of page}
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text:
Illustrator CC Online Courses
Illustrator CC Online Course in Uganda
About This Course
In Getting Started With Illustrator
CC, award-winning veteran trainer Geoff Blake walks you through the
fundamentals of Adobe's flagship vector graphics editor. You'll
start with the basics: Understanding vector artwork and how it
differs from raster images, and how to navigate through and
customize Illustrator's interface. Then, it's on to making precise,
masterful selections with Illustrator's
variety of commands and tools. Next, you'll create and manage your
own vector artwork, and learn how to scale, align, and adjust your
objects with ease. Typography, including handing text objects and
create text along a path comes next, followed by more advanced
Illustrator techniques like special effects, Pathfinders, and
exporting your work into a variety of file formats. All this and
more awaits in Getting Started With Illustrator CC! 2KO International delivers consulting services, in the IT and Business space, as well as being a training provider for IT certification and user level courses. Training can be any blend of bespoke, classroom and online learning.
Who is the target audience?
This introductory course on Illustrator is meant for those looking to get up and running quickly with Adobe's flagship vector editor
Course Modules
Getting Started
Welcome, Here's What We'll Learn
Understanding Raster & Vector Graphics
A Crash Course In Graphic File Formats
Getting Comfortable in the Illustrator Environment
Opening, Creating & Working With Multiple Documents
A Tour Of The Illustrator Interface
Customizing The Illustrator Environment
Saving Interface Workspaces
Zooming and Navigation Techniques
Using Illustrator's Outline Mode
Working With Selections
Using the Selection Tool
Using the Direct Selection Tool
Free-Handing Selections With The Lasso Tool
Selecting Objects Based On Colour
Advanced Selection Techniques
Saving & Reloading Selections
Drawing Shapes & Paths
Drawing Rectangles & Squares
Drawing Ovals & Circles
Drawing Rounded Rectangles, Polygons & Stars
Drawing Lines, Arcs & Grids
Drawing With The Pencil Tool (And Erasing Mistakes)
Understanding Vector Paths
Introducing Illustrator Brushes
Using The Blob Brush
Managing Objects
Moving And Duplicating Objects
Aligning And Spacing Objects Apart
Grouping And Ungrouping Objects
Locking And Hiding
Controlling Stacking Order
Rotating, Reflecting, And Transforming Shapes
Precise Positioning Using The Transform Panel
Precisely Transforming And Positioning Objects
Automatically Calculating In The Transform Panel
Aligning To A Key Object
Working With Colour
Methods For Applying Fills And Strokes
Setting Stroke Options


text:
Global warming, increasing greenhouse gases and melting ice sheets are among the predictions made by the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but comprehending the scientific assessments, their human impacts, and the possibilities for mitigation is not easy. Now, in a new book, Penn State climate scientists Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump digest the most recent IPCC reports into easily understood, sometimes amusing explanations and illustrations.
Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming features all the graphs, images and eye-catching layout expected from international publisher DK Publishing, which specializes in popular illustrated reference books such as The Way the Universe Works.
The book covers the work of IPCC Working Groups One, Two, and Three. While the reports of these three groups are available online, each is well over 700 pages plus appendices. Mann and Kump have boiled down the essence into five parts, with mostly two-page articles full of colorful graphics, for a total of just over 200 pages of engaging science.
The scientific information leaps off the page, with vivid images and a multitude of maps. Sections treat "Climate Change Basics," "Climate Change Projections," "The Impacts of Climate Change," "Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change," and "Solving Global Warming."
A key element is accurate information debunking the most commonly held myths about climate change, including the ideas that carbon dioxide is causing the holes in the ozone, that the increase in carbon dioxide is the result of natural cycles, and that our atmosphere is not warming at all. The authors consider each myth or misunderstanding and explain any kernel of truth within it before providing its refutation.
While the book is perfect for people already interested in global climate change, it would also make a good beginning for an introductory course in the subject for students not majoring in science. College, high school, and middle school students, as well as most adults, will find the book an easy roadmap to understanding the global warming debate.
Michael E. Mann, Ph.D., is associate professor of meteorology and director of the Earth System Science Center in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Lee R. Kump, Ph.D., is professor of geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; email@example.com Predictions: Understanding Global Warming was published by DK Publishing in July 2008.


text:
The big selling point of the Xperia Play, Sony's first mobile phone to run its PlayStation Suite of handheld games, is the fact users can download PS1 games. So it's a little weird that nobody seems to be doing that.
Because the games are available on the Android Marketplace, it's easy to see how many units each title has sold, and none has sold over 1000. Indeed, a report on PlayStation Lifestyle says most are numbering only in the "low hundreds".
Sony Ericsson's Dominic Neil-Dwyer says in defence of the poor sales "I think there's also an awareness thing for people that are getting their hands on the device and where they are choosing to purchase games. There's only a few, at the minute, PlayStation One titles there, and there's more coming on a regular basis, and there's the whole PlayStation as a content provider exclusive to the device, the story about that, that will emerge and people will see."
Strange. I thought the only real reason to buy one would be to play PS1 games on the phone. Are people buying these things by accident? Or, to address the elephant in the room (and going by the popularity of PS1 ROM managers on the Android Marketplace), are people just not buying them?
PS1 Classics Sales Tally In the Low Hundreds On Xperia PLAY [PSLS]


text:
It should have been a moment of glory back in the early 1970s. I had run a button hook route and the pass was perfect. I caught the football and turned around, just steps from the end zone.
It felt to this nine-year-old that I had hit a brick wall. In reality, I had run straight into a small tree, newly-planted right in the middle of our neighborhood "football" field.
Blood and stars and tears all started at once. Instead of doing a touchdown dance, I ran through the end zone, across the street, and into the house, yelling as loud as I could.
After my concerned mother calmed me a bit, I dropped my hands and looked in the mirror to see that my two front teeth were hanging by a thread.
That dang tree had knocked out my two front teeth! It resulted in a memorable school picture (see below), and two full months trying to convince Santa and my parents that I wanted much more for Christmas than just my two front teeth.
I eventually recovered and moved on with my life. But I hung on to my dislike of the tree.
Fast forward 25 years and I end up moving my young family into the house across the street. Suddenly, I was the owner of that tree.
It began as a little sapling that wasn't much taller than tooth level. But over the years, it grew and grew and grew into a beautiful tree. I checked the tree about four feet up to see if there was any scarring. It had also recovered and moved on with life.
We grew to love that tree. It provided a perfect setting for a neighborhood tree house. A long branch was just right for a swing, and an adjacent utility pole made the perfect anchor for a hammock. The kids could climb the tree or sit in the shade or play in the grass.
The tree struggled through the drought of 2002. One hot morning, we awoke to see that an enormous branch had broken off in the middle of the night.
The biggest problem with the tree is the fact that it was too close to utility lines. We would have the tree trimmed and looking fine and tree crews would come and butcher it.
When my once-hated tree started to lose limbs, I really started to feel for the tree. Kindred spirits.
Finally, we realized we needed to make a change. Last week, the crews from TLC cut down the tree and hauled it off.
I had been there through the full life of the tree. We started off our relationship with a bad taste in my mouth, but instead of 38-year-old revenge, it was with a sense of sadness that we watched it go.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released for public comment a draft of its Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). Comments must be submitted by 5:00 pm ET on September 18, 2012 at firstname.lastname@example.com or received by mail at Executive Officer, Office of the Executive Secretariat, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131 M Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20507. The Commission plans to vote on the draft plan at the end of this fiscal year.
The first requirement of the EEOC's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2012 - 2016 was to develop the SEP by the start of fiscal year 2013 - October 1, 2012. The SEP will establish the Commission's priorities and integrate all components of EEOC's private, public and federal sector enforcement.
The process for developing the SEP has been highly inclusive and collaborative. The plan was developed by the Commission with input from a Work Group consisting of district and headquarters staff, led by Chair Jacqueline Berrien, General Counsel P. David Lopez, and Memphis District Director Katharine Kores. On June 5, the Commission solicited written input on the SEP's development. In response, comments were submitted by more than 100 individuals, organizations, and coalitions - internal and external to the agency - from across the nation. On July 18, the Commission held a public meeting to receive input from more than 30 stakeholders on the issues they believed should be addressed in the plan.
The Commission is continuing this inclusive effort by soliciting comments from the general public on a draft of the SEP. Your input is vital to their efforts to ensure accountability to our nation's workers, employers, and taxpayers in general. All comments will be reviewed and considered as the Commission continues to edit the plan.
The EEOC has served as the nation's lead enforcer of employment antidiscrimination laws and chief promoter of equal employment opportunity (EEO) since 1965. The agency is responsible for enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and Title II of the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. Together, these laws protect private, public, and federal workers from employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. They also make it illegal to retaliate against a person for filing a charge of, or participating in an investigation or lawsuit regarding, employment discrimination.
For general inquiries about the plan, please email firstname.lastname@example.com or call (202) 663-4070/(TTY: 202-663-4494). For press inquiries, please contact the
Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs at (202) 663-4191 or firstname.lastname@example.com. If you are seeking EEOC information, please call (202) 663-4900 or e-mail email@example.com. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.


text:
Air Filter Housing
2008-10 Ford Air Flow Restriction Gauge Motorcraft FA1892$44.95Save 37%List: $70.95 Save: $26.00
Ford Air Flow Restriction Gauge Motorcraft FA1784$44.95Save 34%List: $67.95 Save: $23.00
Air Filter Housing
What is an air filter box and where is it located?
The air cleaner housing assembly (also commonly referred to as an air box or air filter housing) houses and protects the air filter from the various harsh elements that could potentially weaken and damage it. This allows the air filter to do its job of filtering out any impurities in the air before it flows into the engine. The air box can usually be found near the front of the fender, inside the engine compartment. A typical air filter housing will have an air inlet on one side of the filter to allow in the fresh air and an outlet on the other side of the box that goes to the air intake hose leading to the throttle body on the engine. Some air filter boxes may also have baffles inside to quiet engine noise, air intake temperature sensors, or mass air flow sensors.
When do I need to replace my air cleaner housing?
The air cleaner housing assembly is not a part that requires regular maintenance or replacement. However, since it is made of plastic, it can crack from pressure or extreme environmental conditions. Sometimes air boxes can break when changing the filter. This can happen when the person performing the maintenance does not know where all the bolts are or exactly how the box comes apart, so they may try to force it open, effectively breaking the box. Improper installation may also lead to broken closure clips or stripped screw holes, as well as to over-tightened mounting bolts that can cause the area around them to break. Lastly, due to its location in the engine bay, they are often broken when the vehicle is in an accident.
Replacing an air filter housing
Replacing the air filter housing is generally an easy and straight forward job. Make sure to remove and transfer any sensors located in the old box into the new one. Disconnect the engine inlet air hose on the outlet of the housing. Remove the air filter and check for any damage or contaminants, and replace if necessary. Remove any mounting hardware, and the housing should be free to pull out.
Need an air cleaner housing replacement?
Breaks and cracks in the air box can disrupt the air flow, which can lead to rough running and poor fuel economy. A broken air box can also allow unwanted dirt and contaminants to enter into your vehicle's engine. This can foul your mass air flow sensor, which is an expensive repair and/or prematurely wear out your engine, which is an even more costly repair. Therefore, if your vehicle's air cleaner housing assembly needs to be replaced, it is imperative that you do so as soon as possible.
Is your vehicle's air filter box broken? If so, then you have come to the right place for a replacement. At 1A Auto, we have quality, aftermarket air cleaner housing assembly replacements for many makes and models, and at great prices. Our air cleaner housings are built to strict quality control standards, and are reinforced in weak areas to resist cracking and breaking. That means you save money in the long run.
Shopping for an air filter housing replacement for your car, truck, SUV or van is also easy at 1A Auto - we're here to help you select the right part for your vehicle! Call our customer service toll free at 888-844-3393 if you have any questions about our products, warranty, compatibility or to purchase, or you can buy online. So, get your vehicle back in working order again and buy an aftermarket air filter housing replacement for your car or truck from 1A Auto today!
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USA Customer Support
Our goal is to exceed our customers' expectations every day. We are a team of passionate auto enthusiasts who are here to help. If you have a question about our parts or a repair contact us.


text:
MAD DADS plea for information of Westside murder
Group searches for leads in murder of Kerry Lamb
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A local organization reached out to a Westside community Saturday, asking residents to break the code of silence, in hopes of gathering information about a January murder.
MAD DADS canvassed neighborhoods surrounding Shindler Drive Baptist Church. That's where police discovered the body of Kerry Lamb in mid-January.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has not revealed if there are any leads in this case.
Savannah Carver lives in the community and said she's concerned about the well-being of her children.
"That's sad that people don't want to give it up," said Carver. "I drove right down the street the other day right after it was done, I guess, my daughter is the one whose seen the body laying down. We had to turn around just to see what she was talking about. She's five years old. It's not good to be driving down the road and see something like that."
MAD DADS is trying to help officers collect further information by encouraging neighbors to step forward.
If you have any information about this crime, you can leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.
Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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I was wondering if you can help me out with this code, I am learning on my own mostly from a book.
The code runs fine but in the 2nd do/while statement I am curious about the condition: (ch=='\n') or (ch=='\r'); Why would ch be equal to a carrage return or line feed? I found out that line feed and carriage returns occur when a keyboard character is input, but do they occur continuously? Why not use the condition: while(ch != 'K'); this condition should run the loop until 'K' is selected on the keyboard, shouldn't it?
Thanks in advance-Farmer
public class HSGuess4 {
public static void main(String[] args) throws java.io.IOException{
char ch, answer = 'K';
System.out.println("I'm thinkning of a letter between A and Z ");
System.out.println("Can you guess it: ");
//read a letter, but skip cr/lf (carrage return and line feed)
ch = (char) System.in.read(); // get char from keyboard command
} while(ch == '\n'| ch == '\r');
if(ch == answer) System.out.println("**Right**");
System.out.println("Sorry you're ");
if(ch < answer) System.out.println("too low");
else System.out.println("too high");
System.out.println("Try again!\n");
} while(answer !=ch);


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The closest English equivalent of the term Guru is 'Master'. The actual meaning of the word Guru is sometimes lost sight of in today's world, as it is used as a term to refer to any high level teacher or instructor. A true Guru is one who has attained God-realisation. The Guru guides the student or disciple through the many stages of the Yoga journey, one who like an inner coach helps us to reach the ultimate goal; absolute oneness with God which is God-realisation. The literal meaning of Yoga is union, the union of the individual soul with our source or our highest self. The Guru shows us the way to achieve this highest of goals.
This immense journey of self-transformation requires from the disciple sincerity, determination, aspiration and perseverance. The Guru lovingly and patiently with the perfect blend of compassion and strictness, guides the disciple through the myriad of inner experiences one must have before achieving God-realisation. The Guru also helps the disciple to conquer and transcend the many inner and outer obstacles to their spiritual progress.
To perform such a role, a true Guru therefore is someone who must be God-realised themselves, someone who has reached through lifetimes of intense Yogic practises, the highest pinnacles of consciousness. A true Guru's whole life is firmly established in God consciousness and is a radiant example at every moment, of the integral Yoga. God-realised Masters will express and reveal in all that they do, the direct experience and knowledge of God.
'He alone is the true teacher who is illumined by the light of true Knowledge.' – Sri Ramakrishna.
Next Page What is God Realisation


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ESPN scoured its message boards this morning to find its cleverest, boldest, most enlightening comment, and chose this one above all others ...
• "Back-to-back National Champs. It doesn't get better than this." — puncho305
Previous ESPN Featured Comment of the Day, plus a Featured Deadspin Response or two ...
• "Jayhawk fans, you can unbuckle your seat belts now. The flight has landed successfully." — DasTar HeelAgain
• DasTar HeelAgain, you can lower your arm now. You're alone, and no one is going to high-five you for that comment. — Metroville
• ESPN Commenters, you can relax now. Project "Stupidify America" has been implemented successfully. — NovakAintNoJokovic
• Can someone tell DasTar HeelAgain that Mangino has to pay for two seats on the next flight? — Civil Negligence