A search model for Joint Implementation

The aim of this paper is to present a search model in the field of environmental economics, where so-called clean and dirty producers enter the trading market, both looking for a partner with whom to exchange the goods they are endowed with. The model derived in this paper is rather simple. Nevertheless, it is able to produce a series of interesting results and useful insights, and is conveniently used here as a framework to explain the functioning of Joint Implementation programs for polluting emissions＇ reduction.     

Large Family Card as an Instrument of Supporting Families With Many Children

The aim of the article is to assess the efficacy of the large family card and its relevance to the real needs of families with many children, using the example of Poland. The large family card is a general term standing for locally implemented programmes that are aimed at families with many children. The idea behind the programme is to create a positive image of a large family. The very name of the programme serves the purpose of combating negative stereotypes and presenting large families as active and resourceful. The paper presents the results of empirical research conducted with cardholders and implementers of programs in selected Polish cities （questionnaire survey and focus group interviews with participants and interviews with program coordinators from 15 programs）. Empirical research was conducted in the period from December 2013 to April 2014, and was funded by the National Science Centre. The study included all programs started by the end of2011. The conclusions enable a number of anomalies and weaknesses of the programs to be seen and indicate directions for further development of this promising initiative. The program is perceived very positively by large families, although it has little influence on family situation. Apart from its positive impact on the diversification of sports and recreation activities, it does not basically play any role in supporting the condition of the family. Neither healthcare nor the educational aspect is attractive enough to interest the family. The basic reason for the low quality of programs is primarily the lack of proper communication and knowledge about the real problems affecting large families.     

Characteristics and Problems of CLT

The present paper makes a short introduction about 8 kinds of teaching approaches and methods, later with a focus on the approach of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This paper first summarizes the characteristics of CLT, and after that gives the existing problems of CLT, and in the end a conclusion is made. The purpose of this paper is to make a clear understanding of CLT in order to provide some advice to carry out it.     

Executive Compensation： Pay-for-Performance in High-Technology Firms

This study examines the relationship between corporate performance and the Chief Executive Officer （CEO） compensation in high-technology firms in the S＆P 500. The total short- and long-term CEO compensation in high-technology was compared with other industrial sectors from standard classification codes and tested in terms of corporate performance. The ExecuComp database was used to find the variables and to create a sample of firms between 2004 and 2010. Important corporate performance variables are used in this work, such as assets, employees, sales, net income, and earnings per share （EPS）, as reported by the firms for each year. A panel data GLS with a fixed effect model for time is estimated that describes total compensation for the period between 2004 and 2010. The result was aligned with the theory of executive compensations to address agency problems and to examine CEO pay-for-performance. The main objective of this paper is to consistently demonstrate that the performance is determined for the total CEO compensation for short- and long-term periods and to examine whether the total remunergttion paid to CEOs in high-technology firms in the S＆P 500 is related to corporate finance. This work provides a better understanding of the relationship between compensation and performance in high-technology firms. Results suggest that high-tech firms tend to use more sophisticated performance measurements to determine CEO compensation.     

Optimal pricing and ordering policy for deteriorating inventory under trade credit in demand declining market

In market, the retailer tries to sell the product at much higher price than the purchase cost. In this study, an attempt is made to develop optimal ordering and pricing policy for a retailer when the supplier offers a credit period to settle the account. The demand of a product is declining with time and units in the retailer＇s inventory are subject to constant deterioration. An algorithm is developed to determine the optimal selling price and the ordering quantity to maximize the retailer＇s profit. The numerical examples are given to support the development of the mathematical model. The sensitivity analysis of critical parameters is carried out to observe the changes in the decision variables and objective function.     

Analysis on the Hero’s Abnormal Psychology in The tell-tale heart

The Tell-Tale Heart is one of the horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe's, who was a master of the horror tale in American. The hero in this story is always afraid of the eyes of an old man. He is extreme anxiety under the eyes, for avoiding this anxiety, he kills the old man. This paper is to analyze the hero's abnormal psychology.     

Financial Development, Economic Growth and Adaptive Efficiency： A Comparison between China and Pakistan

The strong economic growth in China is difficult to reconcile with its inefficient financial system. The puzzle of China＇s financial development and growth can be explained through a dynamic criterion of adaptive efficiency, rather than through allocative efficiency. Using the framework of an autoregressive distributed lag model, the present paper tests the hypothesis that the GDP growth rate is dependent on financial development along with other variables in China and Pakistan. The hypothesis cannot be rejected in both cases. However, the results show that economic growth has a negative relationship with credit to the private sector in China. We conclude that financial development is a source of China＇s high growth rate and that the banking system is still under an evolutionary process, involving the pursuit of social objectives instead of the sole objective of profit maximization. Our results provide some implications for other developing countries like Pakistan.     

Solidarity based economy： The success of work integration social firms in Spain

The work insertion social firms have grown in the last decade in Spain. The aim of this work is to help unemployees and workers with several problems （being in prison, drugs...） to start in ＂normalized＂ companies as workers. The aim of the paper is to analyze the success of work insertion social firms defined by social and commercial dimensions. Using a sample of 49 companies in Spain, the authors have developed an explanatory model in which the doubt about the success of these companies is explained. This paper seeks to analyze the main problems of the poor financial situation of companies that are based on social help. The work integration social enterprises could be a new entrepreneurship form that helps improving work skills of workers to be able to obtain a ＂normalized job＂.     

Understanding Failure in International Retailing： An Institutional Framework for Future Investigation

The move from domestic market to one that includes major retailers. Whiles prior research acknowledged differences international firms is not proving an easy task for between country environments and stressed the importance of addressing these differences in order to avoid the dangers and failures inherent in internationalisation, there is still lack of suitable framework that captures the effects of the institutional environment on failure in international retailing. The purpose of this paper is to introduce institutional theory as a complementary framework to explain failure in international retailing and suggest propositions for further research. The paper seeks to answer the research question： What are the factors in the institutional environment of a host country that affect failure in international retailing？ Consequently, the objective of this paper is threefold： （1） to introduce institutional theory as alternative theoretical framework to conceptualise failure in international retailing; （2） to identify institutional factors that exert pressures on the operational activities of international retailers in foreign markets and which leads to failure; （3） to provide some research propositions for further investigation. This paper offers several contributions. First, we extend current theories in international business, particularly, the literature on retail internationalisation and institutional theory by exploring pressures and difficulties that international retailers face in a new host institutional environment. Second, we identify a set of institutional factors that exert pressures on international retailers in foreign markets that lead to failure. Finally, with the institutional approach, this study fills the gap in earlier works by developing a complementary framework along with 11 propositions for future research. One major limitation of this paper is that it is conceptual; hence, further empirical analysis is needed to test the suggested propositions.     

Reforming the Financial Health Care System： The Case of the Republic of Albania

The Albanian health care system is currently in a period of deep transformation as well as the country is reflecting the future reforms after the turbulent development of the most recent years. The admission of Albania among future members of the European Union requires also an innovation in the health care system in order to build a model more compliant with the European performance and standards. These innovations are required also in the managerial approach to the health care and in its financing system. The aim of this paper is to analyze the actual financing model of the Albanian health care sector while highlighting the possible future managerial development. First of all, this article presents a history review of the Albanian health-care system, analyzing the current governance model. The goal of this approach is to describe the starting point of the reform paths for the future policy makers. Afterwards the research underlines the transition from a financing model based on historical public expenditure to a system based on the performance as one of the main innovation in the managerial approach to the health care. The introduction of management thinking will then allow developing a cost-based financing model, an accounting system in the teaching hospital and, finally, a financing system able to pay for services provided by private health care entities. The article then offers also a contribution to policy makers in order to define the ＂paths＂ of the Albanian health care system in the next years.     

Networks of queues with infinite servers in each node applied to the management of a two echelons repair system

After a report of results about infinite servers queues, essentially on its busy period, a model is built, using networks of queues with infinite servers in each node, to study a two echelons repair system for example of a fleet of aircraft, shipping or trucks. The customers are the failures, and their service time is the time that goes from the instant at which they occur till they are completely repaired. The failing repairs occur in a base or in a remote station. The whole failures detected in the base are repaired there. Some of the failures detected in the station are repaired there and the others in the base. The results referred above allow the determination of a two echelons repair system performance measures. In this application, models of Carrillo （1991） and Ferreira （1996） are considered, improved and completed. The theory is illustrated with a numerical example.     

Intercultural Competency Development in Conjunction With a Short Term Study Away Experience： Changes in Undergraduate Students

The purpose of this research was to examine whether undergraduate business students who participated in a short term study abroad course and intercultural competence building coursework demonstrated a significant increase in intercultural competence over those who only enrolled in the study abroad course. The 20 participants attended a small liberal arts College in Midwestern United States. The Intercultural Development Inventory （IDI） was administered to the participating students before and after their study away experience. The IDI （v.3） is based on the theoretical framework of the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity （DMIS） introduced by Milton Bennett. The DMIS is based on the assumption that intercultural competence can be strengthen through the development of intercultural knowledge and experience with people from other cultures. The IDI has been used in numerous scholarly studies and has demonstrated valid and reliable results. It is a self-administered 50-item series of statements in which participants are asked to rate the level of their agreement with statements that address their relationship to and evaluation of cultural difference. In the model, people progress in a linear developmental fashion through six stages： defense, denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, and adaptation. This study was designed to determine if students who studied away and completed intercultural coursework （prior intercultural knowledge and an intercultural experience） would increase their level of intercultural competency more than those students who just studied away （intercultural experience only） as measured by the change in their IDI scores. The results of this small sample show that intercultural coursework in conjunction with a short term study away experience can have a positive impact on individual intercultural development.     

Neuroeconomics and business psychology

To determine parameters of the frontal power of executive integration for application in business, this paper reviewed neuroeconomic neuroimaging research and discussion in relation to business psychology. The results are that limbic system （L） is a centre of primary consciousness based on a mesolimbic dopamine system serving the client in the brain stem with adaptive feedback as well as generating cognition and emotions towards Neocortex in a reciprocal autonomic balance. The power of concentration （C） is a tripartite executive integrating emotions and cognition： Prefrontal analysis by semantic recollection from temporal （R） lobe is based on episodic memories. Volition in the medial prefrontal cortex （c） controls both cognitive prediction （R＇c） and emotions （L/c） for a balanced integration as a neural root of economic reasoning. An intuitive visuospatial Parietal sketchpad （I） integrates hippocampal episodic memory mismatches complementary to the cognitive prediction function. Chronic stress limiting the capacity of C is indicated by baseline serum cortisol. The conclusion is that the neuroeconomic model enables （1） operation of the theorem of economic man as an economic-bio-educational complex. Other business applications comprise, （2） a neural foundation of transactional analysis （TA） to improve corporate collaboration and management, （3） a combined health promotion/human resource development program based on simple training techniques as physical exercise, medical meditation and neurolinguistic programming （NLP）, i.e., for weight regulation.     

Economic crisis： Using M ｜ G ｜ ∞ queue systems busy period to solve logistics problems in an organization

The recent economic developments in the world have shown how important it is to solve the logistics problems of machine failures in an expedite way. A model based on queues theory to solve these failures is presented. Using this model with M ｜ G ｜ ∞ queuing systems, customers arrive according to a Poisson process at rate A. Each of them receives, immediately after its arrival, a service whose length is a positive random variable with distribution function G（.） and mean value α. An important parameter of the system is the traffic intensity ρ =λα The service of a customer is independent of the services of the other customers and of the arrival process. The busy period of a queuing system begins when a customer arrives there, finding it empty, and ends when a customer leaves the system letting it empty. During the busy period, there is always at least one customer in the system. Therefore, in a queuing system, there is a sequence of idle and busy periods. For these systems with infinite servers the busy period length distribution is difficult to derive, except for a few exceptions. But formulae that allow the calculation of some of the busy period length parameters for the M｜ G ｜ ∞ queuing system are presented. These results can be applied in logistics （Ferreira, 2002; Ferreira, 2003; Ferreira, Andrade ＆ Filipe, 2009）. For instance, they can be applied to the failures which occur in the operation of an aircraft, shipping or trucking fleet. The customers are the failures. And their service time is the time that goes from the instant at which they occur till the one at which they are completely repaired. Here a busy period is a period in which there is at least one failure waiting for reparation or being repaired. The formulae referred allow the determination of measures of the system performance.     

Analysis of China＇s Renewable Energy Development under the Current Economic and Technical Circumstances

At present, the development of renewable energy relies mainly on government support. The government invests in a considerable number of projects to improve public welfare and to assist in poverty relief If China is to replace fossil fuels on a large scale with renewable energy sources, the production costs and prices of renewable energy must be brought down. All countries are facing the challenge of moving to a more secure and low-carbon energy system without weakening economic and social development. In this regard, China is facing an even greater challenge in terms of economic cost, as cheap coal remains the main energy form. Technical innovation and industrialization in the area of renewable energy is an important means of lowering cost. China is in for a period of high-speed development of its economy and the rising demand for energy is irreversible. If the technical progress and development speed of renewable energy lags behind the growth in demand, it will be difficult to realize the improvement of its energy structure.     

Determinants of Competitiveness： Observations in China＇s Textile and Apparel Industries

This paper attempts to explore key determinants of competitiveness in the textile and apparel industries, with special reference to Chinese Mainland. The authors conduct a survey that is designed to use productivity, supply-side and demand-side determinants to measure enterprises＇ competitiveness. The collected survey data is then analyzed using factor analysis to capture the related determining factors indicative of competitiveness at the enterprise level. The findings demonstrate that government policies and related industry infrastructure are the most important determinants of competitiveness in the textile and apparel industries, followed by domestic demand. This suggests that the improvement of industry infrastructure can foster industry performance, and that more resources should be endowed to enhance the domestic business competitiveness of local enterprises. The development of domestic demand will foster the competitiveness of the textile and apparel industries on a more sustainable basis.     

China＇s Economy in 2006/2007： Managing High Growth for Faster Structural Adjustment

China's economy in 2006 continued to register high growth of 10.5 to 10.7 percent with low inflation (CPI at 1.3 percent),dissipating fears of a hard landing. Since its accession to the WTO,China has become a significant global economic player,and is the favorite destination for many regional and global production networks. China is now a truly economic power (jingji daguo). China's economic leadership is also increasingly confident of its ability to manage China's domestic economic growth and its growing relations with the outside world. Although China's growth is expected to slow down in 2007 to approximately 9.5 percent,the national mood now is one of "more balanced" growth rather than "fast growth". Therefore,the building of a "harmonious society" is to be emphasized in China,while letting economic growth solve the burning social and environmental issues. In 2007,the government will also need to deal with various internal and external macroeconomic imbalances. The renminbi will be under even stronger pressure to revalue,given China's record trade surplus of US$160bn and foreign reserves of US$1tn.     

Relationship marketing in health organizations and its effect on customer loyalty

This study was carried out to determine the role of relationship marketing in health organizations with regard to providing customer loyalty and to evaluate the views of patients related to relationship marketing activities. In this study, a questionnaire was applied to 371 patients in Kadlk0y Universal Hospital, which is a private hospital in Istanbul. As a result of the correlation analysis between the satisfaction level from hospital and customer loyalty, it was seen that there is a medium level positive relation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The important implications of this study can be stated as follows： Keeping existing patient is significant as much as gaining new patient, the variables being effective for providing customer loyalty can show difference from one patient to another, the image of health organization is significant for providing customer loyalty, and customer loyalty can be acquired by making continuous communication with patients.