Business Ethics and E-learning: A contradiction in terms?

In seeking to stimulate the ethical awarenessof first year undergraduates on business andpublic sector courses, the potentialcontribution of e-learning should not beunderestimated. While ethics is traditionallyassociated with more discursive approaches,initially there is much to be gained fromproviding students with an interactiveelectronic facility which they can use at theirconvenience. If designed with due regard to thelimitations of educational technology andmodest aims, it can help students to becomemore ethically aware by familiarising them withthe language and concepts of ethical discourseand to acquire the skills needed to evaluatesituations from an ethical perspective.At Sheffield Hallam University, such afacility, based on the principles ofprogression and interactivity, is beingdeveloped within an action research framework.Involving close collaboration between tutors,those with relevant technical expertise andstudent volunteers, representing the interestsof potential users, all concerned are committedto enhancing the quality and rigour of thefirst year student learning experience.The challenges faced have included workingwithin the constraints imposed by the softwareplatform, Blackboard 5, and ensuring that thefacility is genuinely interactive rather thansimply the replication of a paper based system;is user friendly; enhances learning andencourages users to build on the foundationslaid. While face-to-face tuition must remain akey element in helping undergraduates becomemore aware of the ethical dimension of businesslife in its broadest sense, the projectdemonstrates that business ethics ande-learning are not a contradiction in terms.     

多处理器芯片趋向可编程

随着ASIC设计数量的开始下跌,芯片的复杂性也在不断提升,配备多处理器内核和利用软件进行编程的器件越来越多。这些器件被称为多处理器系统级芯片(MP SoC)。MP SoC器件的设计极其困难。正在为这个领域开发设计工具的Imperas公司总裁兼CEO Simon     

Parental eating messages and dietary guideline compliance of college students

The purpose of this study was to identify parental eating messages from the point of view of 340 college students and the relationship of these messages to dietary guideline practices. Four types of parental eating messages were identified: (1) threat or guilt, (2) picky eater, (3) food as health, (4) critical weight. Five types of dietary guide practices were identified: (1) fat meals and snacks, (2) vegetable–fruit, (3) sugar‐salt convenience food, (4) fitness–protein–carbohydrate, (5) fat add‐ons. The lack of association of parental eating messages with any of the dietary guideline factors suggests that messages are not affecting the food choices of these college students. Parental messages may in fact represent the way different cultures address eating, parenting and caring.     

Australian Student Loans

The Australian Government introduced the so-called ‘AUSTUDY Supplement’ in the 1992–93 budget. The scheme gives AUSTUDY recipients the option of trading in up to $2000 per year of their grant for $4000 of an income-contingent loan, to be paid back according to the current HECS arrangements, implying that the Government is acting as an insurer against future default by students. This article addresses the theoretical basis of the scheme, and explores two related questions: will it be in the financial interests of average students to take up the option? and what is likely to be the take-up rate of loans? Through the use of both cross-sectional data and the HARDING microsimulation model it is demonstrated that for many students the loan option will result in financial advantages, and that the take-up rate is likely eventually to be high.     

Contested Continuity: Competing Explanations of the Evolution of the Corporate Form

The history of the electric utility industry provides the occasion for testing competing explanations of the emergence and persistence of the corporate form. This industry, characterized by capital intensity, intense competition, and attractive investment opportunities — along with rapid technological change as well as legal and regulatory changes — provides lessons for newer industries with network externalities. Drawing on the work of institutional economics and business history, I examine the evolution of the electric power industry in the US to test competing explanations of choices of finance and technology.     

Can Institutional Change Impact High-technology Firm Growth?: Evidence from Germany’s Neuer Markt

To facilitate the transformation of the German economy from the traditional manufacturing industries towards emerging new technologies, a new segment of the Frankfurt exchange was introduced in 1997 — the Neuer Markt. To examine whether the Neuer Markt was successful, we compare the relationship between firm size and growth for firms listed on the Neuer Markt and contrast the results with two benchmarks: (1) for German firms prior to the 1990s (to reflect the older traditional manufacturing sector) and (2) for the stylized results for the US. This study provides evidence that not only did many new firms obtain funding from the Neuer Markt; but that for the first time in recent history, Germany succeeded in enabling smaller firms to grow faster than larger firms. This suggests that the new policies were not only successful in promoting a new type of firm that otherwise might not exist, but in transforming the sources of growth and innovation within the German economy.     

The Role and Current Status of IFRS in the Completion of National Accounting Rules – Evidence from Belgium

Abstract

We study the incorporation of EU Directive 2013/34/EU on financial reporting into Belgian legislation. By analyzing the forces that shape the transposition of this Directive, we examine opportunities and obstacles in the Belgian institutional environment that hinder or stimulate the possibilities for the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to influence financial reporting by private firms in Belgium. As a result of several national forces, the Belgian legislature did not use all opportunities available to modernize financial reporting for private entities when transposing this Directive. We further discuss existing differences between Belgian National Accounting Rules for private enterprises and the IFRS and observe that the influence of the latter on financial reporting regulation for private enterprises in Belgium remains rather limited.