Suchergebnisse

Open Government is en vogue, yet vague: while practitioners, policy-makers, and others praise its virtues, little is known about how Open Government relates to bureaucratic organization. This paper presents insights from a qualitative investigation into the City of Vienna, Austria. It demonstrates how the encounter between the city administration and "the open" juxtaposes the decentralizing principles of the crowd, such as transparency, participation, and distributed cognition, with the centralizing principles of bureaucracy, such as secrecy, expert knowledge, written files, and rules. The paper explores how this theoretical conundrum is played out and how senior city managers perceive Open Government in relation to the bureaucratic nature of their administration. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to empirically trace the complexities of the encounter between bureaucracy and Open Government; and second, to critically theorize the ongoing rationalization of public administration in spite of constant challenges to its bureaucratic principles. In so doing, the paper advances our understanding of modern bureaucratic organizations under the condition of increased openness, transparency, and interaction with their environments.

Article ; The Open Access movement in scientific publishing has been gathering momentum in the European Union and its member states, partly due to the policies of some of its main research funders. Already we have seen encouraging research results on the effects of openness on the dissemination of scientific outputs. As business models of Open Access publishing are still under development, the aim of our paper is to assess the statistical tools and data that the Finnish libraries currently have for comparing the costs associated with different modes of disseminating scientific publications. We will also analyse the potential costs associated with Open Access publishing models and compare them with the current cost structure of – mostly – paywalled (PW) access. The discussion will include a description of current Finnish Open Access policies and their funding models. The financial analysis will be based on the statistical data found in the national Research Library Statistics database and the Finnish National Research Publications database, Juuli. We will discuss the alternatives on how best to develop statistical tools to estimate the true costs of scientific publishing. ; published version ; http://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerReviewed

The importance of delegated legislation is growing in both the quantitative and qualitative sense. Under the American system, the so-called division of rulemaking authority between the legislative and executive branch was resolved at a very early juncture and in a highly pragmatic manner by applying the fundamental principles of the legislative procedure to the level of the rulemaking procedure, which primarily implies the transparency and openness of the latter. Conversely, Continental Europe did not develop a general theory of public participation which could provide a basis for the search for solutions to the situation. The purpose of this paper is to present different concepts of the rulemaking procedure and discuss the question of public participation. We conclude that, as the quantity and complexity of societal relationships grow, it is fruitful to use the so-called problem-solving model of the rulemaking procedure as a starting point for its procedural arrangement. This allows us to focus on the role that civil society, interest groups and the general public play in the contemporary governance process.

Since the initial marketing in 2005, the use of e-cigarettes has increased exponentially. Nonetheless, accumulating evidence has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of e-cigarettes in leading to smoking cessation, and decreasing the adverse health impacts of cigarette smoking. The number of adolescents adapted to e-cigarettes has been increasing substantially each year, and this adaptation has promoted openness to tobacco smoking. The present review discusses controversies regarding the smoking cessation effects of e-cigarettes, recent governmental policies and regulations of e-cigarette use, toxic components and vaporization products of e-cigarettes, and the novel molecular mechanisms underlying the adverse health impacts of e-cigarettes leading to oxidative stress in target tissues, and consequent development of cardiopulmonary diseases (i.e. COPD), neurodegenerative disorders (i.e. Alzheimer's' disease), and cancer. Health warning signs on the packaging and professional consultation to avoid adaptation in risk groups might be helpful solutions to control negative impacts of e-cigarettes. It is also recommended to further expand basic and clinical investigations to reveal more detailed oxidative stress mechanisms of e-cigarette induced damages, which would ultimately result in more effective protective strategies.

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the state-of-play of social security with a focus on pension insurance in the Czech Republic and this due to the potential use of international agreements with individual countries of the European region. The contracts are divided in terms of whether the state is a part of the European Union, or remains outside that integration. The use of international agreements in the field of social security currently appears to be important for a number of reasons such as tourism, openness of the labour market, economic dependence on international trade and various kinds of migration. The issue is covered by interdisciplinary studies, where the knowledge of the humanities and economic fields mingles. Overall, the work provides a comprehensive overview of international agreements in the territory of the Czech Republic, not only in the period of the capitalism, but also captures the recent history, the period from the 1960s up to now, when the Czech Republic used to be a part of the socialist bloc, At that time most important become agreements and contracts with the former USSR.

We examine the relation between the government consumption expenditure and output growth volatility in 57 low and middle income countries by using both static and dynamic panel methods. It seems that the results of these methods largely differ from each other. Contrary to some previous results reported in the literature, we present a strong evidence for a negative relation between government expenditure and volatility in low and middle income countries. We also conclude that the volatilities of government consumption, trade openness and investment are significant in explaining the growth volatility. To have a more stable economy, policy makers in these countries should pay more attention to some issues. In this context, we think that a change in the tax and expenditure system in order to make automatic stabilizers work better would be helpful. Additionally, it is important to have a sound fiscal and monetary position to effectively carry out countercyclical policies when needed. Moreover, adopting and implementing clear and flexible rule-based economic policies should be considered. Finally, improving the institutional structure and policy making capacity must be an ultimate aim to reduce the economic volatility.

Smart city represents an emerging topic because efficient city management is beneficial for both government and private sector businesses. IoT envisions to connect billions of sensors to the Internet and expects to use them for efficient and effective resource management in Smart Cities. An organisation collects data analyses it and uses the results as an input for decision making processes. The paper provides an overview of the smart city concept relying on IoT and Big Data technologies, an overview on Smart City development in Romania and describes four Smart City national solutions. Their benefits are efficient resource utilization, increased quality of life, higher levels of transparency and openness towards citizens. A smart city uses digital technologies or information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance quality and performance of urban services to make lives of citizens better. It becomes easier to navigate for visitors, and more serendipitous for locals. City officials and municipal governments are provided with a completely new way to connect with citizens and visitors and a city that is more connected to its people works and feels better.

Since the initial marketing in 2005, the use of e-cigarettes has increased exponentially. Nonetheless, accumulating evidence has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of e-cigarettes in leading to smoking cessation, and decreasing the adverse health impacts of cigarette smoking. The number of adolescents adapted to e-cigarettes has been increasing substantially each year, and this adaptation has promoted openness to tobacco smoking. The present review discusses controversies regarding the smoking cessation effects of e-cigarettes, recent governmental policies and regulations of e-cigarette use, toxic components and vaporization products of e-cigarettes, and the novel molecular mechanisms underlying the adverse health impacts of e-cigarettes leading to oxidative stress in target tissues, and consequent development of cardiopulmonary diseases (i.e. COPD), neurodegenerative disorders (i.e. Alzheimer's' disease), and cancer. Health warning signs on the packaging and professional consultation to avoid adaptation in risk groups might be helpful solutions to control negative impacts of e-cigarettes. It is also recommended to further expand basic and clinical investigations to reveal more detailed oxidative stress mechanisms of e-cigarette induced damages, which would ultimately result in more effective protective strategies.

Enforcement of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in principle can provide an opportunity to create a joint economic growth including the tourism sector. Bandung as one of the creative tourism destination should certainly be able to create competitiveness in the face of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). As this study shows that tourism destination competitiveness of Bandung city in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) needs to be improved, in which aspects of competitiveness, infrastructure development, environmental, technological progress, human resources, openness, and social development. In these problems the development of the tourism sector in the city of Bandung need more promotion. In addition to support promotion agencies, brochures, websites, promotion abroad, and tourism facilities including infrastructure is a contributing factor to increase tourism in the city of Bandung which can contribute significantly to the economic growth of the community. The government must also play a role in the development of tourism. In addition to more consultation with the private sector before formulating new policy, the government is also required to build partnerships with the private sector, improving road safety and health services, as well as a variety of tourism support it.

Alessandro Ferrara's conception of Democratic Horizon provides an innovative normative framework to address the challenge of hyperpluralism for an updated political liberalism. This project however, takes the fact of hyperpluralism as a given, disconnected from the global political context that leads to the emergence of this phenomenon. In particular, (1) the paper asks if liberal democracies have a duty to enlarge their polities through new constituent assembles and supranational organizations, or if accession of new polities should be conceived as a matter of national interest among interested parties. Paradoxically, (2) the paper defends the thesis that resort to conjectural argumentation that helps accommodate internal cultural diversity cannot justify supranational integration in normative terms or a transnational fusion of horizons. As an alternative, (3) the paper explores the notion of "conjectural space" for fair bargaining formation among interested parties. Additionally, (4) it also argues that the "ethos of openness" that supports the Democratic Horizon is unnecessarily constrained by a statist model of global governance. This model is still unjustifiably tied to the representation of national interests irrespective of population size or competing transnational interests. ...

Reverend John Daniel (Father) Kestell (1854-1941) was a wellknown minister of religion in the Dutch Reformed Church. Through various actions he earned himself the nickname of "Father (Vader) Kestell" among his fellowmen. Although he supported the actions of the Republic of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic in the South African War (1899-1902), he declined to fight or take up a military rank. He in stead tried to strengthen the faith in God of the burgers and acted as a medical assistant to Boer and Briton when needed. As a chaplain he only wanted to be a minster of religion, no soldier. In this article the actions of Kestell as a Boer chaplain in the War of 1899-1902 are investigated: His motives for supporting the two Republics, his work as a chaplain, his belief in the providence of God, his emotional conflicts in case of Boer losses and his close relations to his president, MT Steyn and his chief of army, General CR de Wet. Kestell was a tipical spiritual shepherd who had an openness to people and their needs and customs. He attracked those in need.

Public service is essentially the provision of excellent service to the community which is the embodiment of the obligations of the government apparatus as a public servant but the condition in the community shows that the public service in the form of police administration service especially in the case of making Police Note Certificate (SKCK) has not fully run well and Encountered obstacles. In this study aims to determine the effectiveness of SKCK service in Driyorejo Polsek where the research is to answer the formulation of the proposed problem. The type of research used in this research is descriptive research with qualitative approach. The survey method used is the interview method to the employees and the community who perform SKCK service. Indicators used are indicators of service effectiveness, which include simplicity, clarity and certainty, security, openness, efficiency, economics, equity and equity and timeliness. Based on the results of interviews obtained can be concluded that the performance of employees who conducted Polsek Driyorejo in serving the community has been effective because the people who do the service already feel good against the performance of officers Driyorejo Police.Keywords : Service Effectiveness, SKCK Service

The emergence, application and popularization of network discourse bring great challenges to the traditional model of ideological and political education. Network discourse bears the characteristics of material reality, content dominance and discursively by nature. These characteristics cause the changes of the college students' ideological and political education model, from the subjectivity education model of intersubjectivity education model, from the uniform education content to diverse educational content. The model evolves from a closed and static situation to an open and dynamic education environment. Therefore, the contemporary scholars in the field of college students' ideological and political education should constantly explore new models of the university students' ideological and political education, appealing to the demand of the transformations in education conception, the openness of education approaches. They should apply the intersubjectivity education model and enrich the educational content. They should also attach importance to the diversity education model and construct an appealing educational atmosphere. Dynamic education is the direction so the new development and demand of the ideological and political education can adapt to requirements in the network + era.

Bronislaw Malinowski and Melville Herskovits were founding contributors to the anthropological study of economic life—Malinowski as a pioneering ethnographer in Melanesia and a late-career ethnographer in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Herskovits as the leading exponent of comparative studies. The definition of their respective approaches to the study of economic life began in the 1940s with Karl Polanyi and in the 1950s with Raymond Firth, culminating in the formalist-substantivist debate of the 1960s–1970s. Malinowski's contribution was defined as emphasizing the institutional matrix of the economy while denying the universal applicability of classical/neoclassical economics; Herskovits's was defined as promoting the applicability of economics in comparative studies. A reconsideration of Herskovits's writings shows that his advocacy of the application of economics by anthropologists had qualifications and caveats. New documentary information about Malinowski's approach reinforces his commitment to the study of economic life as an ethnographic pursuit rather than a comparative one. It further reveals his late-career openness to the use of classical/neoclassical economic principles and concepts, his familiarity with market economics, and his views on the role of theory in ethnographic economics.

Kenya's foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows as a percentage of GDP have been increasing negligibly over the last 4 years, increasing from 0.4 per cent in 2010 to 0.9 per cent in 2013. And yet evidence shows that quality infrastructure lowers the cost of doing business and thus attracts FDI. Kenya has visible signs of infrastructure inadequacy and inefficiencies despite the fact that since the year 2000, there has been increased budgetary allocation to the infrastructure sector. This study, therefore, sought to determine the effects of transport, energy, communication and water and waste infrastructure development on FDI inflows in Kenya. The study used annual time series data sourced from Central Bank of Kenya, World Bank and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Using multiple regression analysis, it was established that improved transport infrastructure, communication infrastructure, water and waste infrastructure, exchange rate, economic growth and trade openness are important determinants of FDI inflows into Kenya. Hence, for Kenya to attract more FDI, continued infrastructural development is key since quality infrastructure affords investors a conducive investment climate in which to operate.