Introduction: Causation,inferences, and solution types in configurational comparative methods

Quality & Quantity - This special issue addresses questions of causality and validity of different solution types in configurational comparative methods (CCMs). First, what main parameters...     

完善的行业解决方案供应商——访欣技资讯股份有限公司上海分公司、赛弗莱电子贸易（上海）有限公司中国区总监钱宗民

赛弗莱电子贸易(上海)有限公司(以下简称赛弗莱)是台湾企业欣技资讯(CipherLab Co.,Ltd.)下属分公司,成立于2007年,主要从事CipherLab条码识别设备的市场开发和维护,产品应用领域涉及零售、邮政、汽车制造业、政府机关、公共事业、运输及物流等行业.     

以完善的供应链解决方案服务于电子行业——访金鹰国际货运代理有限公司区域物流运营总经理周志杰

金鹰国际货运代理有限公司成立于1996年5月,由中外运空运公司与英国空运(远东)有限公司(Exel)各占50%股权组建而成。公司主要经营海运、空运进出口货物的国际运输代理业务。     

范德兰德:以个性化解决方案满足客户需求——访范德兰德物流自动化系统(上海)有限公司中国区销售总监朱佳

成立于1949年的荷兰范德兰德工业公司(Vanderlande Industries),专业从事自动化物流处理系统及相关设备的研究、制造和系统集成,年营业额超过4.3亿欧元,位居全球物流系统供应商前十.     

梅特勒-托利多提供全方位货物数据采集解决方案

随着中国经济的持续快速发展，物流行业也处于高速发展中。企业对物流效率的要求越来越高，但他们常常发现，在高额投资自动化硬件设备，采用ERP、WMS等管理软件系统的同时，物流效率并没有像期望的那样显著提高。这是因为物流信息化的基础是依托于准确的货物数据（重量、体积、条码）的，而恰恰货物数据采集并没有得到大多数企业的足够重视，成为制约物流效率提升的瓶颈。     

基于网闸的资料下载网络安全解决方案

本文简要的介绍了网闸的工作特性及其工作原理,重点介绍了如何利用网闸实现网络的安全隔离,从而将内网和外网实现物理上的实际隔离,达到保护内网的目的。文中所介绍网络安全解决方案在实际应用中经过实践检验,切实可行,稳定可靠。     

Efficiencies for optimum designs when transforming the response in nonlinear models with nonconstant variance

Often the responses from mechanistic models have to be transformed to achieve error distributions that are symmetric and have constant variance. Because of the nature of the relationship between the response and the mechanistic model, it is necessary to transform both sides of the model. Expressions are given for the parameter sensitivities in the transformed model and examples given of optimum designs for particular values of λ, together with the efficiency of these designs as λ varies. Approaches to finding designs robust to variations in λ are indicated and exemplified.     

Mechanism design goes to war: peaceful outcomes with interdependent and correlated types

In this paper, we consider the possibility of identifying peaceful mechanisms such as bargaining protocols, international institutions, or norms that can enable countries to settle disputes in the absence of binding contracts. In particular, we are interested in the existence of mechanisms with zero probability of war. Here, we focus on situations where the countries’ payoffs to war are interdependent or correlated and where efficient settlements are not required but subsidies are unavailable. Most importantly, countries can choose to go to war at any time and can use information learned from the negotiation process in making this choice. We characterize the conditions under which no peaceful mechanisms exist and discuss how weakening our war consistency condition can change this result. We thank Massimo Morelli, Adam Meirowitz, Hein Goemans and two anonymous reviewers for helpful advice and comments and John Duggan and Dan Bernhardt for encouraging this direction of inquiry.     

A closed-form solution for the continuous-time consumption model with endogenous labor income

In this paper, we study the consumption, labor supply, and portfolio decisions of an infinitely lived individual who receives a certain wage rate and income from investment into a risky asset and a risk-free bond. Uncertainty about labor income arises endogenously, because labor supply evolves randomly over time in response to changes in financial wealth. We derive closed-form solutions for optimal consumption, labor supply and investment strategy. We find that deferring the retirement age stimulates optimal consumption over time and discourages optimal labor supply during the working life. We also find explicitly that optimal portfolio allocation becomes more ‘conservative’ when the individual approaches his prescribed retirement age. The effects of risk-aversion coefficients on optimal decisions are examined.     

In Sickness and in Health: Implications for Employers when Bipolar Disorders are Protected Disabilities

This paper explores the potential conflict between employment protections afforded to individuals with bipolar disorder, and employers’ obligations to maintain a safe working environment for others in the workplace. Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAA) provide workplace protections to those employees or applicants who are classified as qualified individuals with a disability. A disability is “a substantial impairment—a physical or mental impairment—in a major life activity that would substantially limit that major life activity.” ( 42 U.S.C. §§ 12102(1)(A)-(C)), and “mental impairment” is defined to include individuals with bipolar disorder (42 U.S.C. § 1630.2(h)(2)). These statutes further impose a requirement on employers to make reasonable accommodations for such individuals. In essence, they protect the bipolar employee from any discrimination in the workplace based on their disability, to include harassment by coworkers. However, employers may find themselves caught on the horns of a dilemma. Depending on the nature and severity of the bipolar employee’s conduct toward coworkers, they may also be exposed to liability for harm done to coworkers under negligent retention laws, or even the anti-harassment provisions of other equal employment statutes. If a bipolar employee’s negative behaviors toward coworkers are sufficiently severe or pervasive, they can result in coworkers suffering harassment sufficient to constitute actionable conduct under the ADA. To reduce exposure to litigation, employers must understand both their obligations under the ADA, and the nature of bipolar disorder.     

在最终需求为服从正态分布的随机变量时的投入产出优化控制模型

本文给出了随机投入产出决策方法的特征,讨论了在最终需求为服从正态分布的随机变量时的投入产出决策方法,并且建立了相应的随机优化控制模型。     

Human capital revisited: The role of experience and education when controlling for performance and cognitive skills

Human capital theory predicts that differences in wages arise because of differences in human capital. The latter can be accumulated in two ways: through experience and education. Using matched firm–worker data for the Ghanaian Manufacturing sector we first test whether changes in wages over the life cycle reflect changes in performance, following the methodology of Medoff and Abraham [Medoff, J.L., &; Abraham, K.G. (1980). Experience, Performance, and Earnings. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 95(4), 703-736; Medoff, J.L., &; Abraham, K.G. (1981). Are Those Paid More Really More Productive? The Case of Experience. Journal of Human Resources, 16(2), 186–216]. We find that wage–seniority profiles are independent of performance – a result that holds when controlling for firm fixed effects. Extending the analysis, we include a control for on-the-job-training and find that it does not attenuate the seniority profile, which is also at odds with human capital theory. We do find however that firm characteristics play an important role. Wage–seniority profiles are steeper in large firms, but performance profiles are not, suggesting that the results from Medoff and Abraham are specific to large firms. We then assess the role of education. Our results confirm that education is important for the allocation to job levels. Using data on cognitive ability, we also find that the effect of education on wages is at least partially because it signals cognitive ability. We also find evidence that the returns to education are not related to performance, while the returns to cognitive ability are.     

Obstacles and solutions on the ladder of citizen participation: a systematic review

This article presents a systematic review of the English-language empirical literature about citizen participation to identify the obstacles to its implementation and the most successful ways to address them. Three sets of variables seem to impact effectiveness: contextual factors, including information asymmetries and public officials’ attitude; organizational arrangements, including community representation criteria and process design; and process management patterns, including group dynamics and collaboration quality. Two recommendations stem from our analysis: internalize decisions in organizational procedures, and establish ongoing interactions between government bodies and their stakeholders. We conclude that half-hearted engagement is unlikely to lead to successful citizen participation.     

The empirics of granular origins: some challenges and solutions with an application to the UK

Journal of Productivity Analysis - We study the effects of firm-level microeconomic fluctuations on aggregate productivity in the United Kingdom. We show that a standard measure of residual...     

Dynamics of a business cycle model with two types of governmental expenditures: the role of border collision bifurcations

Decisions in Economics and Finance - We reconsider the multiplier–accelerator model of business cycles, first introduced by Samuelson and then modified by many authors. The original simple...     

Modelling spatial allocation-location solutions for general practitioner medical services in cities: The equity-revenue maximizing conflict case

A General Practitioner Location-Allocation model is presented which can be used to analyze the availability and distribution of general practitioner medical services. This modelling approach can also be used to locate new practitioner services while insuring minimum levels of income for all general practitioners, decreasing any mal-distribution of practitioner services and increasing the number of people that are provided accessible services.     

湖南省农村科普示范基地建设的现状、问题及对策研究

农村科普示范基地,是新形势下提升农业劳动参与者业务素质的重要载体,是提升农业科技应用水平的有效途径。文章针对湖南农村科普示范基地建设现状,阐述了农村科普示范基地在新农村建设中的积极作用,并针对目前湖南湖南农村科普示范基地建设存在的主要问题,针对性提出了发展农村科普示范基地的对策。     

A maturity framework for autonomous solutions in manufacturing firms: The interplay of technology,ecosystem, and business model

Significant advancements within the fields of digitalization, electrification, and automation have enabled the development, testing, and implementation of increasingly advanced autonomous solutions. Current examples of industrial automation promise significant economic and sustainability-oriented benefits for industrial customers. Yet, implemented autonomous solutions have rarely advanced beyond ‘islands of autonomy’. Although enabling initial improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of operations, they have not led to the systemic process improvements that fully integrated site-wide solutions can achieve. It is becoming increasingly clear that the major challenges in this shift extend beyond technology to focus on business transformation and ecosystem relationships. Yet, extant research offers few insights into these domains. There is a need to develop a business-focused maturity framework for autonomous solutions to contribute to a predominantly technical discourse and support equipment actors and their wider ecosystems in commercializing autonomous solutions. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how industrial equipment manufacturers can align the development of technology, business models and ecosystem relationships for the advancement of autonomous solutions. We build on case studies that include 32 interviews from four industrial equipment manufacturers and their extended ecosystems of customers and partners. We capture our findings in a three-level maturity framework for industrial autonomous solutions. This framework unwraps the attributes of each level from the perspectives of technical system development, ecosystem configuration, and business model design and is complemented by three overarching principles for the successful commercialization of autonomous solutions.

     

The impact of embodied and disembodied technical progress on productivity gaps—An applied general equilibrium analysis for Germany and Spain

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of disembodied and of capital embodied technical progress on the closing of international productivity gaps. Within the framework of a partial equilibrium model the direct effect of technical progress on the change of productivity gaps can be calculated directly. However, since the two types of technical progress affect unit costs of industries differently, and hence the system of relative prices, an applied general equilibrium model is required in order to measure the indirect effect of technical progress on the change in productivity gaps. We employ variable cost functions with quasi-fixed effective capital, depending on the rate of embodied technical change, in order to generate a system of prices. Based on similarly structured applied general equilibrium models for Spain and Germany, we quantify the effects of sectoral embodied or disembodied technical change on reduction in national inflation as well as the effect on closing productivity gaps.