Study and measurement of the productivity in the printing industry in Villahermosa Tabasco to develop an improvement proposal

Productivity is one of the paths that a company must take to achieve its objectives, goals and purposes, working effectively and efficiently. To achieve a culture of measurement, it is important to perform a productivity analysis, which will help to obtain adequate information to create development recommendations in the near future. This work provides information on the results obtained from a productivity measurement study in a sample of companies in the printing industry, in Villahermosa Tabasco, which helps to understand and adapt business needs within the cultural, environmental, technological, economic and political variables. To carry out this study, a measurement instrument has been used that obtains specific information on the elements that an organization must have for the development of productivity, this tool is called Comprehensive Productivity Assessment Technique (TIEP), the which will give us results that serve to generate a model for improving productivity, which will be of great help for the growth of this business sector with positive results that bring benefits to the region and society.

Who and What Holds Back Reforms in Croatia? – The Political Economy Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting reform patterns in Croatia in order to identify the main reasons for the (missing) reform success so far. The focus is on the analysis of the political system, especially on government fragmentation as one of the main features of proportional electoral rule and clientelism. In addition to political variables, economic factors are analysed as well. The obtained results show that reforms in Croatia were implemented during crises, that coalition governments are not conducive to reforms and that clientelism and corruption present significant obstacles for reform implementation in Croatia. Moreover, the results show that political cycles also have a significant effect, with reform activity slowing down as elections approach. This article contributes to the burgeoning debate on reform implementation (in the post-socialist societies) from the political economy perspective.

Political Hearts of Darkness: The Dark Triad as Predictors of Political Orientations and Interest in Politics

Background: This study investigated the relationships between the Dark Triad of personality (sub-clinical psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) and four political variables: socio-religious conservatism, support for greater economic equality, overall liberal–conservative orientation, and interest in politics. A theoretical approach that focused on the influence of the Dark Triad in large groups was provided to interpret those relationships. Methodological issues found in previous research that related to the use of abbreviated scales to measure the dark traits and the use of unidimensional indicators of political orientations were addressed. Methods: A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine whether any of the three dark traits could explain variance in the aforementioned political attributes over and above that accounted for by the Big Five, sex, age, and nationality, using the full personality scales and measures of political orientation that captured both social and economic liberalism–conservatism. Results: Machiavellianism uniquely predicted lower levels of socio-religious conservatism, and both Machiavellianism and narcissism uniquely predicted lower levels of overall conservatism. Conclusions: There were important links between the Dark Triad and politics.

Rurality Versus Readiness: The Relationship Between State-Level Connection and Capacity Variables and the Management of Medical Stockpiles for a Public Health Emergency

This study investigates what factors contributed to the score a state received for managing its medical countermeasures stockpile pre-COVID-19. It is particularly interested in the relationship between a state’s level of rural population and its countermeasure management capacity. A fixed-effects regression analysis was run using data from 2016 to 2019 to test for a relationship between the percentage of rural population in a state and the states’ countermeasures management score, while controlling for other relevant social, economic, and political variables such as level of social associations, the segregation index, and the level of income inequality. Rurality and physicians per capita proved to be significant and negative. A subsequent analysis found that states with higher levels of rural populations have lower levels of COVID-19 vaccinations, even accounting for effective countermeasure management. This points to rural states having challenges in regard to medical countermeasures that cannot be completely solved with technocratic solutions.

Economic voting in the Philippines

The article wanted to find out if elections in the Philippines are economically motivated. Using 2019 gubernatorial election results, a logit model with inflation rate, unemployment rate, provincial revenue, and poverty incidence for the economic variables and party affiliation with the President and membership in a political family as the political variables was tested to explain the probability of an incumbent governor to be re-elected. The marginal effects tell us that a change in the unemployment rate decreases the predicted probability of a governor being reelected but interestingly, a change in the poverty incidence rates has the opposite effect.

Digital Media and Democracy: A Systematic Review of Causal and Correlational Evidence Worldwide

One of today's most controversial and consequential questions is whether the rapid, worldwide uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N=498 articles) on the link between digital media and different political variables, such as trust, polarization or news consumption. We further focused on the subset of articles that employed causal inference methods. Across methods, the articles report associations between digital media use and most political variables. Some associations, such as increases in political participation and information consumption, are likely to be beneficial for democracy and were often observed in the Global South and emerging democracies. Other consistently reported associations, such as declining political trust, advantages for populists, and growing polarization, are likely to be detrimental to democracy and were more pronounced in established democracies. We conclude that while the impact of digital media on democracy depends on the specific political variable and the political system in question, several variables show clear directions of associations. We believe that the evidence calls for further research efforts and vigilance by governments and civil societies to better understand and actively design the intimate interplay of digital media and democracy.

Socio-economic and spatial determinants of municipal cultural spending

The determinants of the expenditure of Austrian municipalities for cultural affairs are ascertained in a panel time series framework. The Austrian municipalities spend about € 93 per capita a year for cultural affairs (approximately 4% of the total municipal expenditure). The econometric estimations revealed that the size of the municipality, and various socio-economic, fiscal and political variables, are the main determinants of municipal cultural spending. The results of the estimations infer a rather small but nevertheless significant spatial dependence of cultural spending. An increase of 10% of cultural spending in the neighboring regions leads to an increase of 0.6–1.5% in a representative municipality (however, the potentially overlapping and contradicting reasons for spatial correlations could not be disentangled in this paper). In comparison to the spatial effects, the size of the municipality is a more significant predictor of municipal cultural spending. The larger cities provide many cultural goods and services to the surrounding areas by utilizing economies of scale and density. It can be concluded that municipalities, in particular in rural areas, should increase their efforts for co-operation in order to improve the efficiency of cultural spending.

Modeling the differences in the time-series profiles of new COVID-19 daily confirmed cases in 3,108 contiguous U.S. counties: A retrospective analysis

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has exhibited a distinct multiwave pattern beginning in March 2020. Paradoxically, most counties do not exhibit this same multiwave pattern. We aim to answer three research questions: (1) How many distinct clusters of counties exhibit similar COVID-19 patterns in the time-series of daily confirmed cases? (2) What is the geographic distribution of the counties within each cluster? and (3) Are county-level demographic, socioeconomic and political variables associated with the COVID-19 case patterns? Materials and methods We analyzed data from counties in the U.S. from March 1, 2020 to January 2, 2021. Time series clustering identified clusters in the daily confirmed cases of COVID-19. An explanatory model was used to identify demographic, socioeconomic and political variables associated with the outbreak patterns. Results Three patterns were identified from the cluster solution including counties in which cases are still increasing, those that peaked in the late fall, and those with low case counts to date. Several county-level demographic, socioeconomic, and political variables showed significant associations with the identified clusters. Discussion The pattern of the outbreak is related both to the geographic location within the U.S. and several variables including population density and government response. Conclusion The reported pattern of cases in the U.S. is observed through aggregation of the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases, suggesting that local trends may be more informative. The pattern of the outbreak varies by county, and is associated with important demographic, socioeconomic, political and geographic factors.

The State of Jefferson Secession Movement “Keepin’ it Rural”

The current “State of Jefferson” movement is comprised of residents of a large rural region encompassing much of Northern California and Southern Oregon, where many inhabitants claim the right to statehood. Since its origins in 1941, the State of Jefferson remains an obscure movement for most scholars and is simply labeled a regionalist movement. While Jefferson possesses every factor of a secession movement, including economic and socio-political variables, the complexity of its ideology and identity has not been studied. This study aimed to answer the question, “How do those who claim to represent the State of Jefferson secession movement describe Jeffersonian identity and characterize the ideology of the movement? Under the guidance of framing theory, which states that “media, as well as individuals, frame issues according to their own views and values” (M’Bareck 9), a content analysis of ten Facebook accounts was used to provide unfiltered and authentic rhetoric espoused by the movement. Results indicated that the movement is driven by agrarianism, possesses conservative, yet libertarian values, and embraces an ideology of Jeffersonianism reflected in the name of the state. While remaining closely tied to their ideology, Jeffersonian self-identification is also rooted in the rural nature of the region in which they reside.

Manifestations of legislative shortcomings in the Iraqi constitution

"The period of approving the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005 was surrounded by a state of political turmoil that usually accompanies any transitional phase that carries many political variables through the transition from a phase of dictatorial rule to a new phase bearing the features of democracy. In its approval, the lack of clarity in the political vision and the weakness of the constitutional legal culture of its authors, as well as the way in which it was approved by a popular referendum, which is voted on by yes or no, and does not allow an opportunity to discuss its articles and articles and diagnose its shortcomings. One of the shortcomings in our constitution is that it does not refer to regulating the resignation of the Prime Minister. This position has a political nature, and an administrative nature, and its occupant has the right to decide not to continue with this position and be satisfied with working in this field for any reason, and this must be in accordance with the context Organized legal, which is known as resignation., and this is what we dealt with in this research. For the purpose of researching this topic, we asked a research question that is... How can we address the legislative shortcomings that surrounded the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005 and related to regulating the resignation of the Prime Minister? From this research question, we derived several secondary research questions... 1- What is the limitation of legislative shortcomings? 2- What are the reasons for the legislative deficiencies in the Iraqi constitution? 3- Does the Prime Minister have the right to resign during his tenure? 4- To whom is the resignation submitted? 5- Who is the party that decides whether or not to accept the resignation? 6- What are the procedures that follow the acceptance of the resignation? By discussing these questions, we will try to reach the possibility of developing a legislative text that deals with a complete organization of the resignation of the Prime Minister, especially since the idea of ​​amending the constitution and to this day is still valid and possible, because many political, social and economic conditions in the country have changed from the time of entry into force of this constitution, which makes the idea of ​​the amendment obligatory and necessary"