Open source software capability key to ’technological self-determination’

The growth of free, open-source software presents developing countries with an opportunity to escape from technological dependence on developed countries, but also a challenge to build up local expertise, United Nations University experts say.

Open source software, which includes the freely-shared Linux operating system, represent a phenomenon changing the information technologies wo

Clearstream, the international central securities depository within the Deutsche Börse Group, announces the launch of the Central Facility for Funds (CFF). CFF is an innovative initiative to offer a more efficient post trade solution for investment funds domiciled in Luxembourg, the largest market in Europe for international funds. The launch of the new service is planned for the second half of 2007 and a pilot will begin end of 2006. CFF will provide DVP (delivery versus payment) facilitie

How do shortfalls in crude oil production caused by wars and other political events in the Middle East affect oil prices, economic growth and inflation in major industrialized countries? Lutz Kilian investigates this question in CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5404 ‘The Effects of Exogenous Oil Supply Shocks on Output and Inflation: Evidence From the G7 Countries’. He notes that public discussion of this question has been shaped by the economic experience of the 1970s and early 1980s. The public’s c

Banks and insurance companies have widely recognized the need for mutual co-operation in the form of cross-sector alliances. In these articles we study the problem of finding the most suitable alliance structure between banks and insurance companies from the points of view of executive management, supervisory authorities and customers. We also study possible compromise alliance models for several decision maker groups and a group’s understanding of other groups’ decisions.

In the first

Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe, Europe’s largest provider of enterprise education programmes, considers that promoting entrepreneurial mindsets is one of the most important success factors for growth and jobs of the EU economy. We therefore support and welcome the communication presented by the Vice-President Gunter Verheugen and Commissioner Jan Figel on February 13: “Promoting Entrepreneurship in Schools”.

Europe needs a vibrant and adaptable private sector and one

Contingency plans for staff absence and a major IT systems failure was the focus of the latest online internet survey run by The University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation.

More than 85 per cent of respondents to the UK Business Barometer Survey run businesses employing 20 or less full-time employees. In a small business, the owner manager or chief executive is far more likely to be hands-on and crucial to the day-to-day running of the business than in medium

Men with cardiovascular disease may be at considerably increased risk for death even when their blood sugar level remains in the “normal” range, suggests a new study by a team of scientists at UCLA and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The study, a statistical analysis examining the connection between glucose (blood sugar) levels and death in patients with cardiovascular disease, will be published Feb. 15 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the leading scientific journal in its f

Marketta Henriksson’s dissertation examines issues related to the adoption of the euro by the new Central and Eastern European EU Member States.

The first essay studies the interaction between fiscal policy and the price level in different exchange rate regimes. The theoretical framework is based on the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level (FTPL). The results show that a credibly fixed exchange rate is inconsistent with fiscal irresponsibility, which implies that fiscal discipli

One on one relationships key to employee commitment

Companies that cut middle managers jeopardize their productivity more than save costs, a study from McMaster University suggests.

“Middle managers are the front line communicators with employees,” says Rick Hackett, Canada Research Chair in Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. “One-on-one social exchanges between bosses and their workers have a real i

The ability to retain memory about the details of a natural scene is unaffected by the distraction of another activity and this information is retained in “working memory” according to a study recently published in Journal of Vision, an online, free access publication of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). These results reinforce the notion that humans maintain useful information about previous fixations in long-term working memory rather than the limited capacity of v

National survey identifies the general public as the primary source of abuse

Nearly half of American workers are victims of workplace aggression, with customers, clients or patients the most likely source of attacks, according to a new comprehensive national survey.

“The stereotypical belief that large numbers of employees are ’going postal’ is a bit of a myth,” says Aaron Schat, assistant professor at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. “47 m

The dissertation in the field of economic geography by Kristiina Korhonen, Lic.Sc. (Econ.), ”Foreign direct investment in a changing political environment: Finnish investment decisions in South Korea” will be publicly examined at the Helsinki School of Economics on Monday, December 19th, 2005. The public examination starts at 12:00 in the Stora Enso Hall of the Chydenia Building. The opponent is Professor Sam-Ock Park, PhD (Seoul National University), and the custos is Professor Jarmo Eronen,

New NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Chief Executive Jonathan Kestenbaum visits Scotland today to unveil a series of investments and initiatives designed to drive innovation in Scotland.

NESTA is announcing a range of initiatives designed to have impact at a key stage of the innovation process: through early stage business support and seed investment. These include:

· Two investments worth a total of £200,000 to young technology compan

Growing a forest might sound like a good idea to combat global warming, since trees draw carbon dioxide from the air and release cool water from their leaves. But they also absorb sunlight, warming the air in the process. According to a new study from the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, planting forests at certain latitudes could make the Earth warmer. Carnegie’s Ken Caldeira will present the work at the American Geophysical Union Fal

Pekka Sääskilahti, MSc (Econ.), will defend his doctoral thesis entitled ”Essays on the Economics of Networks and Social Relations” at the Helsinki School of Economics on December 7, 2005. The public defence will start at 12 o’clock in the Stora Enso Hall of the Chydenia building (address: Runeberginkatu 22-24, Helsinki). The opponent is Professor Robin Mason, PhD, (University of Southampton) and the custos is Professor Pekka Ilmakunnas, PhD, (Helsinki School of Economics).

Modern soci

The attitude of a business owner, market demand and available skills top the list of key influence’s on a firm’s growth, an internet survey by The University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation has revealed.

Respondents to The UK Business Barometer were asked to rate five different potential key influences on a firm’s growth — attitude of owner; determine by market demand; available skills; access to finance; access to the latest technology — from