Managerial learning and development in small firms: implications based on observations of managerial

In this study we set out to examine the conditions for managerial learning in small firms and the implications it gives for how to facilitate and support work-based management development in this context. Empirically, we conduct structured observations of the daily work activities performed by small business managers. A framework based on experiential learning theory is developed and used as an analytical tool to assess the extent to which these work activities provide them with opportunities for work-based learning and development. In short, the results show that small business managers experience a fragmented working day with frequent and different forms of interruptions and unexpected problems during the course of their working day. These interruptions and unexpected problems are something that leaves little time for engaging in reflective observation to effectively learn from their daily work practices. We discuss the implications of our results for theory and research on managerial learning in small firms as well as for the design of university-led management development programs aimed at supporting the experiential learning process of small business managers.academic Experiential learning; managerial learning; managerial work; management development; small firms; structured observations

Improved Bounds for Quantified Derandomization of Constant-Depth Circuits and Polynomials

This work studies the question of quantified derandomization, which was introduced by Goldreich and Wigderson (STOC 2014). The generic quantified derandomization problem is the following: For a circuit class cal{C} and a parameter B=B(n), given a circuit C in cal{C} with n input bits, decide whether C rejects all of its inputs, or accepts all but B(n) of its inputs. In the current work we consider three settings for this question. In each setting, we bring closer the parameter setting for which we can unconditionally construct relatively fast quantified derandomization algorithms, and the "threshold" values (for the parameters) for which any quantified derandomization algorithm implies a similar algorithm for standard derandomization. For constant-depth circuits, we construct an algorithm for quantified derandomization that works for a parameter B(n) that is only slightly smaller than a "threshold" parameter, and is significantly faster than the best currently-known algorithms for standard derandomization. On the way to this result we establish a new derandomization of the switching lemma, which significantly improves on previous results when the width of the formula is small. For constant-depth circuits with parity gates, we lower a "threshold" of Goldreich and Wigderson from depth five to depth four, and construct algorithms for quantified derandomization of a remaining type of layered depth-3 circuit that they left as an open problem. We also consider the question of constructing hitting-set generators for multivariate polynomials over large fields that vanish rarely, and prove two lower bounds on the seed length of such generators. Several of our proofs rely on an interesting technique, which we call the randomized tests technique. Intuitively, a standard technique to deterministically find a "good" object is to construct a simple deterministic test that decides the set of good objects, and then "fool" that test using a pseudorandom generator. We show that a similar approach works also if the simple deterministic test is replaced with a distribution over simple tests, and demonstrate the benefits in using a distribution instead of a single test

El problema de la acción en Aristóteles

Nos proponemos en este trabajo analizar la cuestión de la racionalidad práct1ca en Aristóteles, y en consecuencia la irracionalidad interna: que no toda acción es irracional por las mismas razones o en el mismo sentido; así como reflexionar sobre el problema del conflicto motivacional que se produce entre estos deseos contrapuestos - racional e irracional -, procurando responder a las preguntas: "¿puede un sujeto actuar intencionalmente en contra de su juicio de lo que, en general, es mejor?” "¿ Cómo puede estar disociado en la acción del Incontinente lo que está tan fiel y conceptualmente conectado?". O sea, el conflicto por el desarrollo moral desequilibrado que sufre el agente moral incontinente, como lo clasifica Aristóteles. Y ulteriormente describir, brevemente, el modelo formal que el estagirita propone como explicación de estas acciones intencionales y responsables: el silogismo práctico

Creació d'una aplicació Android d'una xarxa social

Creació d'un prototip amb Android (concretament l'API 23 referent a l'Android 5.1) d'una xarxa social per comentar i valorar sèries. Paral·lelament a la realització d'aquesta aplicació el treball se suma a un projecte en conjunt amb dos companys més, amb l'Eduard Vallvé i la Laura Nelly, en el que el primer realitza la plana web i la Laura fa els dissenys

Planktonic Cyanophyceae from northeastern Argentina

Dans ce travail sont présentés les résultats sur l'inventaire floristique des Cyanophycées planctoniques d'eau douce du nord-est de l'Argentine (région chaude). Entre espèces et variétés, 61 taxons ont été reconnus. Parmi ceux-ci les suivants sont nouveaux pour l'Argentine : #Aphanothece longior, #Chroococcus turicensis, #Myxosarcina chroococcoides, #Phormidium articulatum, #Ph. chalybeum var. #insularis, #Ph. willei, #Jaaginema kuetzingiana, #Calothrix dolichomeres, #C. scytonemicola, #Hapalosiphon intricatus et #Rhabdogloea clathrata. Parmi les taxons trouvés, 78% montrent une large distribution géographique, 10% semblent présenter une distribution pantropicale et le restant a été signalé pour différentes stations de l'Inde et d'Europe. Quelques caractéristiques des milieux aquatiques étudiés sont données. (Résumé d'auteur

Digital Art And Feminism: A Surreal Relationship

An essay discussing the political aspects of digital art works by Emilia Forstreuter, Jennifer Hall, Claudia Hart, Yael Kanarek, Jeanette Louie, Ranu Mukherjee, Mary Bates Neuvauer, Marie Sivak, Camille Utterback, Adrianne Wortzel, and Janet Zweig

Niklas Luhmann y la observación

La organización compleja de saberes en que se han concentrado las ciencias en los últimos tiempos obliga a los estudiosos de ámbitos científicos estrictamente muy acotados, a poner en duda la "tradicional frontera de saberes" Las disciplinas científicas estipuladas por sus correspondientes tradiciones están perdiendo el sentido de espacios exclusivos, para acceder a uno nuevo, de interacción plural en la resolución de problemáticas complejas, en el ámbito correspondiente a las denominadas ciencias sociales -sometidas actualmente a desafíos insostenibles por campos tales como la ingeniería, la informática y la genética- y se vienen planteando cuestiones que afectan no a uno u otro método de investigación, sino al conjunto del conocimiento que se produce con tales instrumentos conceptuales

Lower Bounds on Black-Box Reductions of Hitting to Density Estimation

Consider a deterministic algorithm that tries to find a string in an unknown set Ssubseteq{0,1}^n, under the promise that S has large density. The only information that the algorithm can obtain about S is estimates of the density of S in adaptively chosen subsets of {0,1}^n, up to an additive error of mu>0. This problem is appealing as a derandomization problem, when S is the set of satisfying inputs for a circuit C:{0,1}^n->{0,1} that accepts many inputs: In this context, an algorithm as above constitutes a deterministic black-box reduction of the problem of hitting C (i.e., finding a satisfying input for C) to the problem of approximately counting the number of satisfying inputs for C on subsets of {0,1}^n. We prove tight lower bounds for this problem, demonstrating that naive approaches to solve the problem cannot be improved upon, in general. First, we show a tight trade-off between the estimation error mu and the required number of queries to solve the problem: When mu=O(log(n)/n) a polynomial number of queries suffices, and when mu>=(4log(n)/n) the required number of queries is 2^{Theta(mu cdot n)}. Secondly, we show that the problem "resists" parallelization: Any algorithm that works in iterations, and can obtain p=p(n) density estimates "in parallel" in each iteration, still requires Omega( frac{n}{log(p)+log(1/mu)} ) iterations to solve the problem. This work extends the well-known work of Karp, Upfal, and Wigderson (1988), who studied the setting in which S is only guaranteed to be non-empty (rather than dense), and the algorithm can only probe subsets for the existence of a solution in them. In addition, our lower bound on parallel algorithms affirms a weak version of a conjecture of Motwani, Naor, and Naor (1994); we also make progress on a stronger version of their conjecture