Do financial constraints hold back innovation and growth?: Evidence on the role of public policy

This paper provides evidence that capital-market imperfections hold back innovation and growth, and that public policy can complement capital markets. We deliver the evidence by studying the effects of government funding on the behavior of SMEs in Finland. By adapting the methodology recently proposed by Rajan and Zingales [Rajan, R.G., Zingales, L., 1998. Financial dependence and growth. American Economic Review 88, pp. 559-587] to firm-level data, we show that government funding disproportionately helps firms from industries that are dependent on external finance. We demonstrate that the result is economically significant and robust to a variety of tests.     

Agents of responsibility in software vulnerability processes

Modern software is infested with flaws having information security aspects. Pervasive computing has made us and our society vulnerable. However, software developers do not fully comprehend what is at stake when faulty software is produced and flaws causing security vulnerabilites are discovered. To address this problem, the main actors involved with software vulnerability processes and the relevant roles inside these groups are identified. This categorisation is illustrated through a fictional case study, which is scrutinised in the light of ethical codes of professional software engineers and common principles of responsibility attribution. The focus of our analysis is on the acute handling of discovered vulnerabilities in software, including reporting, correcting and disclosing these vulnerabilities. We recognise a need for guidelines and mechanisms to facilitate further improvement in resolving processes leading to and in handling software vulnerabilities. In the spirit of disclosive ethics we call for further studies of the complex issues involved.     

Four Decades of Finnish Educational Sociology

This section focuses on educational sociology and social pedagogy, two designations mirroring somewhat different perspectives on very much the same reality. The first article presents Finnish Educational sociology from the 1950s to the 1990s and is based on doctoral dissertations and other significant or typical studies in the field. The author argues that empirical research originated during the 1950s and the early 1960s. A typical theme of early research emphasized the school class as a miniature society. In initial studies on the activities and social participation of youth, society itself was already dealt with as a structural entity. In the 1970s, when the Finnish comprehensive‐education system was built, educational policy and the socialization process were the major themes. Then, in the 1980s, the march towards diversification and the development of a range of educational sociologies started. Finally, the expansion of evaluation research was realized in the context of the deep Finnish economic depression of the early 1990s. The lesson here is very sociological: the social context does matter. The second article focuses on development of theory and research related to social pedagogy in Norway, a ‘new’ Norwegian subfield within the discipline of education which was bom almost three decades ago. It is marked by some influential intellectual patterns 1970s from the new social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. In the discourse on social pedagogy in Norway the reception and utilization of inspirations from the Norwegian positivism debate, the new sociology of education and post‐positivist social theory were the main academic sources of development which motivated normative and empirical research on a number of new themes. The author argues that the subfield of social pedagogy has led to a renewed understanding of the role of normative theory within education as an academic field of knowledge, to a broad acceptance of the possibilities of qualitative research strategies, and a new emphasis on integrative research efforts; but at the same time this engagement has reduced the outcome of a unique contribution to a thorough reconstruction of educational research and scholarship.     

Changes in performance and poling kinetics during cross-country sprint skiing competition using the double-poling technique

In this study, changes in skiing performance and poling kinetics during a simulated cross-country sprint skiing competition were investigated. Twelve elite male cross-country skiers performed simulated sprint competition (4 × 1,150 m heat with 20 min recovery between the heats) using the double-poling technique. Vertical and horizontal pole forces and cycle characteristics were measured using a force plate system (20-m long) during the starting spurt, racing speed, and finishing spurt of each heat. Moreover, heat and 20-m phase velocities were determined. Vertical and horizontal pole impulses as well as mean cycle length were calculated. The velocities of heats decreased by 2.7 ± 1.7% (p = 0.003) over the simulated competition. The 20-m spurting velocity decreased by 16 ± 5% (p < 0.002) and poling time increased by 18 ± 9% (p < 0.003) in spurt phases within heats. Vertical and horizontal poling impulses did not change significantly during the simulation; however, the mean forces decreased (p < 0.039) (vertical by 24 ± 11% and horizontal by 20 ± 10%) within heats but not between the heats. Decreased heat velocities over the simulated sprint and spurting velocities within heats indicated fatigue among the skiers. Fatigue was also manifested by decreased pole force production and increased poling time.     

Acclimatization to altitude and normoxic training improve 400-m running performance at sea level

To investigate the benefits of ‘living high and training low' on anaerobic performance at sea level, eight 400-m runners lived for 10 days in normobaric hypoxia in an altitude house (oxygen content = 15.8%) and trained outdoors in ambient normoxia at sea level. A maximal anaerobic running test and 400-m race were performed before and within 1 week of living in the altitude house to determine the maximum speed and the speeds at different submaximal blood lactate concentrations (3, 5, 7, 10 and 13 mmol· l-1) and 400-m race time. At the same time, ten 400-m runners lived and trained at sea level and were subjected to identical test procedures. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the altitude house group but not the sea-level group improved their 400-m race time during the experimental period (P ? 0.05). The speeds at blood lactate concentrations of 5–13 mmol· l-1 tended to increase in the altitude house group but the response was significant only at 5 and 7 mmol·l-1 (P ? 0.05). Furthermore, resting blood pH was increased in six of the eight altitude house athletes from 0.003 to 0.067 pH unit (P ? 0.05). The results of this study demonstrate improved 400-m performance after 10 days of living in normobaric hypoxia and training at sea level. Furthermore, the present study provides evidence that changes in the acid–base balance and lactate metabolism might be responsible for the improvement in sprint performance.     

Applications,MATLAB and linear algebra as a unifying vehicle for the engineering-oriented syllabus

The paper considers the negative effects of the degeneration of the mathematics syllabus for engineering-oriented students into a collection of unconnected recipes, and presents a modernization of a linear algebra course to serve as a tool for the unification of the syllabus into a single transparent picture. The modernization is centred on the use of operator language as enabled by the incorporation of MATLAB-based applications into the theoretical part of the course.     

Les études hispano‐musulmanes en France à l'aube du troisième millénaire

Les études hispano‐musulmanes connurent leur essor en France dès la première partie du XX^e siècle graâce à l'?uvre magistrale d'Evariste Lévi‐Provençal. L'histoire de l'Espagne musulmane de 710 à 1031, fondée sur une profonde connaissance des sources arabes et de l'Islam d'Espagne, fut suivie par de brillantes études sur la civilisation d'al‐Andalus et par de précieuses éditions de textes arabes médiévaux. L'archéologie et l'histoire de l'art hispano‐musulman doivent beaucoup aux remarquables érudits que furent Georges Marçais, Elie Lambert et Henri Terrasse dont le fils, Michel Terrasse, poursuit les travaux à l'heure actuelle. Dès 1959, Rachel Arié s'est consacrée à l'Espagne musulmane au temps des Narides (1232–1492) ; elle a publié à Barcelone en 1982 une étude d'ensemble sur l'Espagne musulmane du VIII^e siècle au XV^e siècle. En outre, cinq ouvrages sur al‐Andalus, de nombreux articles, plusieurs communications de congrès ont illustré son activité d'arabisante et d'historienne. L'arabe hispanique a suscité des recherches lexicographiques au sein d'une équipe du CNRS depuis 1979. L'intérêt pour la pensée spéculative andalouse a été mis en lumière depuis 1956 par Roger Arnaldez et à partir de 1972 par Dominique Urvoy. Marie‐Thérèse Urvoy s'est penchée sur la question des Mozarabes. La poésie andalouse en arabe classique au XI^e siècle qui avait retenu l'attention d'Henri Pérès dès 1937 a fait l'objet de plusieurs articles dans la seconde édition de l'Islam depuis 1954. La participation française dans le domaine de l'Espagne musulmane s'est avérée notable dans ce monument d'érudition.     

The regional impact of Universities in Finland

During the rapid growth of higher education from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s, many new universities were founded in different parts of Finland. This article, resulting from the research project University and Environment, deals with the impact of this decentralized system of higher education on the regional development of Finland. The research is based on an analysis of the historical and social context of the expansion of higher education, followed by a more detailed examination of the different forms of regional impact. The findings suggest that the change from an agrarian to an industrial or post-industrial society has given rise to the assumption that higher education is a part of the social infrastructure in the world of scientific-technological revolution.     

Diversity in diversification: an analysis of shopping trips in six-week travel diary data

Diversification in shopping, a long-pursued subject in consumer behavior analysis, is approached from a broad perspective of the diversity in daily travel patterns, which may or may not involve shopping trips, as well as the diversity in shopping locations and frequency. The focus of this analysis is on the heterogeneity across individuals in the ways in which they each diversify their respective shopping behavior. This study explores differences across individuals in the variations of their shopping travel patterns across days. Treating the day-of-the-week evolution of shopping travel patterns as a stochastic process, characteristics of diversification are quantified for respective individuals. Finally, heterogeneity across individuals is identified using an array of statistical methods. The analysis, based on results of a six-week travel diary survey in Germany with geo-coded activity locations, reveals the effects of individual, household, and urban attributes on diversification in shopping behavior, including that full-time workers with medium incomes (4000–4999 Deutsche Mark per month) tend to have more variations in their shopping engagement.