Enlarging and/or deepening the community

Developments in Eastern Europe have forced the EC to reconsider its goal of European union. German reunification and the end of East-West conflict and the division of Europe have given rise to two antagonistic schools of thought. One argues in favour of strengthened integration in order to accommodate a united Germany in the EC; the other implies an opening up of the EC to those countries wishing to join the Twelve. In order to pass beyond the enlargement/deepening dilemma the EC has attempted to implement a strategy whose success is still uncertain. The debate over enlargement is highlighting differences of opinion between and within member states over the objectives of European union.     

Monitoring Accounts Payables

In creating shareholder value, one objective of management is to increase the speed of cash inflows and reduce the speed of cash outflows. To accomplish this task, management must understand the relationships that cause accounts receivable and accounts payable to change. The paper expands a receivable monitoring model by Gentry and De La Garza to incorporate the causes of changes in payables. Several examples are developed to show the operation of the model. The three primary contributions of the paper are (a) developing algorithms that measure the causes of changes in payables, plus an interpretation for each set of conditions; (b) showing that a present value approach to monitoring payables is superior to a recommended accounting approach based on variance analysis; (c) finally, presenting an approach for ranking the performance of payable and receivable strategies.     

Market analysis with rational expectations: Theory and estimation

In a dynamic market structure the rational expectations hypothesis implies the existence of a ‘fixed point’ or‘equilibrium’ price sequence. For a prototype market structure we develop the This approach displays the relationships between exogenous structure, expectations, and behavior. The resulting framework suggests effective estimation procedures and clarifies analysis. Results for an application are presented and discussed.     

The Contribution of Bioenergy to a New Energy Paradigm

Biomass is a widely available resource that is receiving increased consideration as a renewable substitute for fossil fuels. Developed sustainably and used efficiently, it can induce growth in developing countries, reduce oil demand, and address environmental problems. The potential benefits include: reduction of greenhouse gases, recuperation of soil productivity and degraded land, economic benefits from adding value to agricultural activities and improving access to and quality of energy services. The production of bioenergy involves a range of technologies, including solid combustion, gasification, and fermentation. These technologies produce energy from a diverse set of biological resources - traditional crops, crop residues, energy-dedicated crops, dung, and the organic component of urban waste. The results are bioenergy products that provide multiple energy services: cooking fuel, heat, electricity and transportation fuels. It is this very diversity that holds the potential of a win-win-win for the environment, social and economic development. Bioenergy has to be viewed not as a replacement for oil, but as an element of a portfolio of renewable sources of energy. Coherent and mutually supportive environmental and economic policies may be needed to encourage the emergence of a globally dispersed bioenergy industry that will pursue a path of sustainable development.     

Modelling the propagation of adult male muscle dysmorphia in Spain: economic,emotional and social drivers

Males aged over 40 do more gym practice to improve their body image as a way of reinforcing their personal self-esteem and sexual appeal. Cases when self-image becomes an obsession may result in a body dysmorphic disorder named ‘muscle dysmorphia’ (MD). The combination of psychological, environmental and biological drivers determines the appearance and development of this disorder. In this article, we developed a discrete population mathematical model to forecast the rate of prevalence of males who are noncompetitive bodybuilders at risk of suffering MD in Spain in forthcoming years. Economic, emotional, sociological and psychological motivations were taken into account to quantify the dynamic behaviour of Spanish noncompetitive bodybuilders. The impact of the unemployment is reflected in the construction of two coefficients, α_u and α₂₁, which explain subpopulation transits due to the economy. Sociological influences, such as human herding and social propagation, were also considered. Our results predict an increase in Spanish noncompetitive bodybuilders suffering MD from 1% in 2011 to around 11% in 2015. Our model can be applied to any other western country where data are available and to another study period when the hypotheses are applicable.     

城市创新生态指标体系构建及广州-深圳比较研究

城市创新生态是指城市中政府、企业、机构及人等行为主体的创新过程中所依赖的城市基本"生态"状况。城市创新生态对于城市创新因素积聚,促进城市内部创新行为主体创新行为有重要作用。各城市创新生态具有不同的特色,创新生态水平也不同。以广州和深圳为例,基于问卷、访谈及数据统计资料,通过建立测度城市创新生态水平的指标体系,运用层次分析法及特尔菲法相结合的综合评价方法,对广州与深圳城市创新生态水平进行评价。研究表明:广州与深圳城市综合创新生态水平基本处于相当地位,广州略优于深圳。在城市创新生态的各个具体方面上,广州与深圳则各有优劣。