Ranking Crop Yield Models: A Comment

This comment discusses key specification issues that may have affected the performance and, therefore, the ranking of parametric models that were compared in a recent AJAE article. A procedure to obtain the most flexible parametric model specification possible, given the particular probability distribution function on which the model is based is presented. These specifications also allow for standardized and, therefore, more valid comparisons across parametric models that are based on different probability distributions. Finally, the comment cautions against generalization of the rankings in that AJAE article and recommends that these more flexible specifications be adopted in future comparisons and applications.     

浅谈中低产田改造和节水灌溉技术在蒲峪渠灌区的推广应用

改造中低产田发展节水灌溉,是挖掘现有耕地的生产潜力,提高灌区粮田综合生产能力,保证粮食安全的重要途径。文章结合蒲峪渠灌区实际,详细阐述了中低产田的防治措施、节水技术措施,以及在灌区推广应用后所取得的成效,为今后的节水扩灌工作提出新的发展方向。     

Climate Change Policy Options for Asian Economies: Findings from an Integrated Assessment Model

This study outlines potential futures for the global economy through the 2050 with a specific focus on the countries of Asia. With underlying assumptions about population and output growth, a baseline scenario assesses the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and the ensuing impacts on the climate. Under the baseline scenario, Asia's high growth leads to a strong rotation in global output and emissions by the year 2050. The analytical framework traces back the changes in temperature to economic damages – limited to the agricultural sectors. Parts of Asia are likely to see much higher dependence on food imports as a consequence of these damages. Various carbon tax scenarios are implemented to assess the potential for reducing carbon emissions. Because of the structure of their economies, Asian countries are likely to bear the greatest burden in reducing emissions in an efficient global tax scheme, but there is significant scope to ease this burden through financial transfers.     

云计算环境下的审计业务模式变革研究简

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。     

机械类专业人才三维数字化设计能力培养的研究

培养机械类专业人才三维数字化设计能力应从师资、课程体系、教学内容、教学模式和实践环节等方面系统构建培养体系,明确教学要求,加强实践教学,培养综合应用能力。     

What do professional forecasters actually predict?

This paper studies what professional forecasters predict. We use spectral analysis and state space modeling to decompose economic time series into trend, business cycle, and irregular components. We examine which components are captured by professional forecasters by regressing their forecasts on the estimated components extracted from both the spectral analysis and the state space model. For both decomposition methods, we find that, in the short run, the Survey of Professional Forecasters can predict almost all of the variation in the time series due to the trend and the business cycle, but that the forecasts contain little or no significant information about the variation in the irregular component.     

Understanding organizational citizenship behavior from a cultural perspective: An empirical study within the context of hotels in Mainland China

Scholarly concerns in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have increased dramatically over the past two decades. Nevertheless, there are significant issues yet to be addressed and resolved, one of which relates to the influences of cultural values on such voluntary behaviors. In view of the importance of OCB in meliorating hotel service and cultivating customer loyalty, the current study seeks to investigate a possible mechanism through which Chinese values (CVs) may function on employee citizenship behaviors within the hotels in Mainland China. The research questions focus on whether CVs have a direct impact on OCB and its verified antecedents, leader–member exchange (LMX) and employee organizational commitment (OC). Eventually, the research findings have verified the conceptual model and confirmed all the postulated linkages among the constructs under study.     

Empowerment and resident support for tourism in rural Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): the case of Pomerania,Poland

Despite empowerment being a crucial component of sustainable tourism, few scholars have quantitatively operationalized empowerment and looked at how it applies to rural societies within the post-communist European Union (EU) member states. Knowing the high priority of sustainable rural development goals within the EU, empowering residents within these post-communist societies has become a pertinent issue especially where those societies appear more reluctant to engaging in democratic ways of decision-making. In response to this gap, this study tests the cross-cultural validity of the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale, and then evaluates how empowerment predicts residents’ support for tourism within the municipality of Choczewo, Pomerania, Poland. Using a theoretical perspective that blends Social Exchange Theory with Weber's Theory of Formal and Substantive Rationality, these non-economic empowerment dimensions are coupled with a measure of resident perceptions of economically benefiting from tourism to see if rural residents in Choczewo, Poland, are more swayed by the economic or non-economic benefits of tourism. Results show that residents within this Central and Eastern Europe setting are more influenced by the pride and self-esteem boost associated with psychological empowerment and the perceptions of increased community cohesion (i.e. social empowerment) than the economic promises of tourism.     

Estimating the long-run effects of socioeconomic and meteorological factors on the domestic tourism demand for Galicia (Spain)

Tourism is one of the more important sectors for the economy of Galicia (northwest of Spain). The aim of our study is to quantify determinants of Galician domestic tourism demand and their impacts. Additionally, confidence intervals for these impacts are calculated by bootstrapping data. The results show that income, Eastern vacations and the celebration of the Holy Year of the Apostle Saint James have had a relevant positive impact on tourism. There is also a significant positive connection between a meteorological phenomenon, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and tourism demand. On the other hand, the differential rates of inflation between Galicia and the rest of Spain and the 2008 economic crisis have had a negative effect.     

Determinants and outcome of career competencies: Perspectives of hotel managers in China

This study aims to explore the determinants and outcome of career competencies. Based on the notion that organizations and individuals have respective obligations in the career management of employees’, this study developed perceived “organizational career management’ (OCM) and “career commitment” as determinants and career satisfaction as an outcome of career competencies. Data were collected in the state-owned hotels in China, and structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships. The findings indicate that both perceived OCM and career commitments have positive, direct effects on career competencies. The findings of this study may benefit both hotels and hotel employees by providing valuable implications.