The emergence of the 'accountant' in the institutions of Ancient Egypt

This paper examines the emergence of, and the roles played by accountants in some of the institutions of ancient Egypt. The paper documents evidence relating to the importance of the scribal occupation compared to other occupations available to the young Egyptians, and traces the emergence and functioning of scribal schools in which the pupils learned how to read and write and how to master numerical skills. Thereafter, the paper provides some illustrative examples of the diverse activities of the scribes in accounting for both the public (state) and private economic domains. The paper argues that right from the dawn of the dynastic era in Egypt (3000 B.C.) by dint of placing themselves at the centre of economic relations, the scribes (accountants) were among the most esteemed in society and the scribal occupation was one of the most prestigious occupations. The paper also argues that accounting then, just as it remains today, held a central position in the economic, social and political settings throughout the long and illustrious history of ancient Egypt.     

云计算环境下的审计业务模式变革研究

云计算环境下的审计业务模式是未来审计信息化发展的必然趋势。在归纳了IT环境下审计业务模式演变并从IT和审计两个角度诠释“云审计”及其国内外研究应用现状的基础上,以审计业务流程为主线,从云服务与审计结合的技术场景、云计算环境下的审计业务流程实现步骤以及云计算应用所引起的审计业务风险变化三个方面出发,分析云计算环境下的审计业务模式变革,为掌握云计算应用所带来的审计业务流程变革、迎接云审计时代的到来提供理论基础。     

产业结构调整中家具质量安全风险评估技术的探讨

我国是家具制造大国,经济转型中,我国要逐步完善家具服务业,建立家具质量安全风险评估机制,确保障我国家具产品质量安全。     

On an efficient multiple time step Monte Carlo simulation of the SABR model

In this paper, we will present a multiple time step Monte Carlo simulation technique for pricing options under the Stochastic Alpha Beta Rho model. The proposed method is an extension of the one time step Monte Carlo method that we proposed in an accompanying paper Leitao et al. [Appl. Math. Comput. 2017, 293, 461–479], for pricing European options in the context of the model calibration. A highly efficient method results, with many very interesting and nontrivial components, like Fourier inversion for the sum of log-normals, stochastic collocation, Gumbel copula, correlation approximation, that are not yet seen in combination within a Monte Carlo simulation. The present multiple time step Monte Carlo method is especially useful for long-term options and for exotic options.     

锚固地梁技术在人工边坡治理中的应用研究

峡口码头高切坡,处于硬软岩性的交接部位,岩体中裂隙发育,多为层状结构和碎裂结构,在切坡初期,常产生规模不等的滑移破坏。基于小变形的假设和有限元分析基础上,确定工程治理措施,是紧密结合工程实践的重要课题。     

过氧乙酸杀菌剂制备工艺的优化研究

过氧乙酸不仅是一种良好的氧化剂,而且是一种广谱、高效、速效、廉价的灭菌剂,应用广泛。通过改变物料配比、反应物浓度、催化剂用量等工艺条件,优化制备过氧乙酸工艺条件。     

说不尽的《金瓶梅》

中国封建社会的百科全书《金瓶梅》，是一部说不尽道不完的衰世奇书。本文仅从四个层面上进行了简略的论述：导论、性描写、骂语艺术、讽刺技巧。     

Weighted utility optimization of the participating endowment contract

ABSTRACT

In a participating endowment contract, the special loss compensation and profit sharing mechanism leads to heterogeneous benchmarks to distinguish the gain and loss for the policyholder's and the insurance company's S-shaped utilities. Because of the intense competition among the insurance companies and the requirement of the regulators, the benefits of the policyholders should be considered. As such, choosing the weighted utility of the two counterparts as the optimization objective is a rational setting. This setting induces a non-HARA (hyperbolic absolute risk aversion) and non-concave objective utility whose exact concavity and convexity are unknown. The difficulties not only come from this highly non-concave optimization problem, but also exist in the implicit integration of the optimum when solving the expected utilities of the two counterparts. We originally design an identification method to establish two categories of concave envelopes to solve the optimization problem, and propose an innovative numerical integration by substitution technique to deal with the implicit integration problem. The numerical simulation results recognize the existence of Pareto improvement of the two counterparts, which shows that the utilities of the policyholder and the insurance company can be simultaneously improved by switching into the weighted objective and appropriately amending the contract.     

The effectiveness of economic sanctions with application to the case of Iraq

In a recent article, San Ling Lam (1990) used a probit estimation technique to re-examine the conclusions of Hufbauer, Schott and Elliott (1985) regarding the effectiveness of economic sanctions in achieving foreign policy goals. While Lam's criticisms of the HSE methodology are valid, the results of the model developed here differ in lending support to the HSE conclusions. In addition, the model can be used to predict the probability of sanctions contributing to a peaceful resolution of the recent Middle East crisis. The predicted probabilities of success in the Iraq case were above average and well above 50 percent.     

International trade and the relative dispersion of industrial wages and production techniques in 14 OECD countries, 1970–1985

The Factor Price Equalization theorem implies that freer trade would narrow the gap in returns to similar productive factors across countries over time. To determine the empirical relevance of this implication, data for 11 industries in 14 countries over the period 1970–1985 are investigated. Moreover, the paper examines the data for seven industries in the nontrade sector. Regression analyses suggest that the industry-level wages across countries are significantly influenced by the relative dispersion of production techniques at the industry level and, to a lesser extent, by international trade. The estimation of a wage model indicates that the diffusion of technology may have also played a role in the apparent convergence of wages. The findings of this paper suggest that FPE is capable of explaining the cross-country variation in returns to productive factors.