Entry and Exchanges of Cost Information

The literature on exchanges of information has ignored firms' entry decisions. Yet, the Federal Trade Commission recently expressed concerns that exchanges of information in business-to-business electronic platforms would adversely impact entry and, thus, consumers. When entry decisions are endogenized in a competitive Cournot model with cost uncertainty, we find results that contrast sharply with current thinking on the welfare consequences of information sharing.     

Indigenous livelihoods, slash-and-burn agriculture, and carbon stocks in Eastern Panama

Improved crop–fallow systems in the humid tropics can simultaneously sequester atmospheric carbon emissions and contribute to sustainable livelihoods of rural populations. A study with an indigenous community in eastern Panama revealed a considerable biophysical potential for carbon offsets in small-scale slash-and-burn agriculture through longer fallow periods, improved fallow management, secondary forest development, and agricultural intensification. Based on soil and biomass carbon measurements, estimated annual sequestration rates amount to 0.3−3.7 t C ha^− 1 yr^− 1. Despite such potential, the economic benefits of initiatives aimed at sequestration of carbon in the community are likely to be rather unequally distributed within the community. Heterogeneity in livelihood strategies and uneven asset endowments among households – factors often overlooked in the ongoing carbon and sustainable development debate – are expected to strongly affect household participation. Indeed, only the better-endowed households that have also managed to diversify into more lucrative farm and non-farm activities are likely to be able to participate in and thus benefit from improved crop–fallow systems that capture carbon. Economic, ethical, institutional, and technical concerns need to be taken into account when designing community carbon management and investment plans.     

创新型城市的概念、构成要素及发展战略

本文界定了创新型城市的内涵,在充分借鉴世界先进创新型城市的发展经验基础上,分析城市创新体系的构成要素,提出区域一体化联动和差异化发展战略。     

Environmental problems in Belarus

Résumé By far the most pressing problbem facing Belarus is the radioactive contamination resulting from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station and the on-going threat to the environment posed by the destroyed reactor and those blocks which continue to produce electricity. The country is clearly not in a position to cope with the repercussions of the disaster. Western aid is required here, particularly to provide medical care for the population, decontaminate polluted areas, provide reliable measuring equipment and to analyse the level of contamination in food supplies. Air pollution, although worrying in some cities, is not as dramatic as in most of the polluted industrial centres of Russia and the Ukraine. Water pollution, too, is less serious than in most of the successor states to the Soviet Union. A serious problem is, however, posed by salification of the water supply by the potash industry. Recently environmental charges were introduced with the aim of improving environmental protection. Yet given rapid inflation and the persistence of soft budget constraints for enterprises, such charges are unlikely to have so far provided a significant incentive to more ecologically sustainable production in Belarus.     

Designing trust

The decision making process in technological development, with its underlying suppositions of certainty and controllability, contributes to fomenting social resistance to technology rather than trust among social actors. Those underlying suppositions are in disaccord with values and world views expressed by the new social movements. These movements, which form part of today’s civil society and are critical of many modern technologies, tend to hold an implicit view of technology as a social experiment under uncertainty. The tendency of the current design activity of basing design decisions on criteria, like engineering efficiency, defined as objective, is contributing to this lack of trust in the very process of decision making, which many social actors are currently demonstrating. Technology, however, depends on sustained public trust. Future technology design has therefore to take into account, as one of its basic functions, the creation of trust among actors.     

浅谈英语教学改革中对学生英译汉技巧的培养

英语教学改革要求我们要把提高学生的英语应用能力放在第一位，教师要在学生的学习过程中起到引导和辅助的作用。在英译汉的过程中，教师不能只生硬地传授译文，而是要把英译汉的规律进行归粪总结，得出一些象数学公式一样的翻译技巧，将其传授给学生，让学生在学习中加以实践运用，达到以不变应万变的良好效果，进而提高学生的英语应用能力。     

自主创新:"十一五"行业主要任务 许坤元副会长谈如何贯彻中央经济工作会议精神

11月29目至12月1日。中共中央、国务院召开的中央经济工作会议在北京举行。这次关系国民经济发展的重要会议分析了“十五”时期国内经济社会发展工作的成就及取得的重要认识和经验、当前我国的经济形势，阐述了未来经济社会发展主要预期目标和需要解决的重点问题。本刊记者在会后对中国纺织工业协会许坤元副会长进行了专访。许会长在分析纺织产业“十五”期间取得的成就和发展现状的基础上强调指出：自主创新是纺织工业“十一五”时期的主要任务，并对如何实现全面增强自主创新能力、节约能源资源。推动纺织行业协调、健康可持续发展进行了深入浅出地分析。[编者按]     

中央经济工作会议纺织解读 国家发改革委经济运行局张莉纵论宏观经济调控与中国纺织发展

2005年中央经济工作会议为明年的经济工作提出了包括“一个统筹”，“四个着力点”，“八项任务”在内的工作要求，成为各行业下一步发展的指导思想。我们希望了解：明年宏观经济调控的具体方向是什么？中国纺织行业如何在政策框架下谋求更好的发展？政府将对纺织工业采取哪些调整措施？纺织行业及企业如何把握工作的重点？带着这些问题，本刊记者专访了国家发展与改革委员会经济运行局张莉局长，请她从纺织产业的角度全方位解读了2005年中央经济工作会议内容。[编者按]     

The EC‐LQO five‐factor framework: An alternative lens for business model innovation in highly knowledge‐intensive industries

Growing technological complexity continues to drive firms to interact with the external innovation environment to achieve firm success. However, industries' complexities and the business model concept's underlying ontology have limited research on modeling the key factors that enable this interface. In this study, results of an empirical analysis of a unique dataset of 102 biopharmaceutical companies broadly support the EC‐LQO five‐factor framework as a useful tool to guide business model innovation for highly knowledge‐intensive environments.