Abstract: Turkish migrants constitute the largest group among
people with migration background living in Germany. Turkish
women’s labor market participation is of significant importance for
their social and economic integration to the German society. This
paper thus aims to investigate their labor market positions. Turkish
migrant women participate less in the labor market compared to men,
and are responsible for most of the housework, child care, and elderly
care. This is due to their traditional roles in the family, educational
level, insufficient knowledge of German language, and insufficient
professional experience. We strongly recommend that wide-reaching
integration policies for women are formulated, so as to encourage
participation of not only migrant women but also their husbands,
fathers and/or brothers, and natives.
Abstract: Coal fly ash is formed as a solid waste product from
the combustion of coal in coal fired power stations. Huge amounts of
fly ash are produced globally every year and are predicted to
increase. Nowadays, less than half of the fly ash is used as a raw
material for cement manufacturing, construction and the rest of it is
disposed as a waste causing yet another environmental concern. For
this reason, the recycling of this kind of slurries into useful materials
is quite important in terms of economical and environmental aspects.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Orhaneli and
Tuncbilek coal fly ashes for utilization in some industrial
applications. Therefore the mineralogical and chemical compositions
of these fly ashes were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy,
ourier-transform infrared spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction. The
silicon (Si) and aluminum (Al) in the fly ashes were activated by
alkali fusion technique with sodium hydroxide. The obtained extracts
were analyzed for Si and Al content by inductively coupled plasma
optical emission spectrometry.
Abstract: In this paper, we will analyze the relationship between the neo-liberal concept of property rights and redistribution policy. This issue is back in the focus of interest due to the crisis 2008. The crisis has reaffirmed the influence of the state on the free-market processes. The interference of the state with property relations reopened a classical question: is it legitimate to redistribute resources of a man in favor of another man with taxes? The dominant view is that the neoliberal philosophy of natural rights is incompatible with redistributive measures. In principle, this view can be accepted. However, when we look into the details of the theory of natural rights proposed by some coryphaei of neoliberal philosophy, such as Hayek, Nozick, Buchanan and Rothbard, we can see that it is not such an unequivocal view.
Abstract: The paper shows the necessity of farm diversification
in accordance with the current trends in agricultural sector of
Georgia. The possibilities for the diversification and the
corresponding economic policy are suggested.
The causes that hinder diversification of farms are revealed,
possibilities of diversification are identified and the ability of
increasing employment through diversification is proved. Index of
harvest diversification is calculated based on the areas used for
cereals and legumes, potatoes and vegetables and other food crops.
Crop and livestock production indexes are analyzed; correlation
between crop capacity index and value added per worker and per
hectare is studied.
Based on the research farm diversification strategies and priorities
of corresponding economic policy are presented. Based on the
conclusions relevant recommendations are suggested.
Abstract: Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a technique for obtaining clean biofuel from biomass in the presence of heat and pressure in an aqueous medium which leads to a decomposition of this biomass to the formation of various products. A role of operating conditions is essential for the bio-oil and other products’ yield and also quality of the products. The effects of these parameters were investigated in regards to the composition and yield of the products. Chlorellaceae microalgae were tested under different HTL conditions to clarify suitable conditions for extracting bio-oil together with value-added co-products. Firstly, different microalgae loading rates (5-30%) were tested and found that this parameter has not much significant to product yield. Therefore, 10% microalgae loading rate was selected as a proper economical solution for conditioned schedule at 250oC and 30 min-reaction time. Next, a range of temperature (210-290oC) was applied to verify the effects of each parameter by keeping the reaction time constant at 30 min. The results showed no linkage with the increase of the reaction temperature and some reactions occurred that lead to different product yields. Moreover, some nutrients found in the aqueous product are possible to be utilized for nutrient recovery.
Abstract: The intrinsic contradictions of entrepreneurship
development and self-development strategies complicate the task of
reaching compliance between the state economic policy and the
company entrepreneurship policy: on the one hand, there is a
contradiction between the social and the competitive order within
economic order policy and on the other hand, the contradiction exists
between entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture
within entrepreneurship policy.
Abstract: The quality and condition of perishable products
delivered to the market and their subsequent selling prices are
directly affected by the care taken during harvesting and handling.
Mechanical injury, in fact, occurs at all stages, from pre-harvest
operations through post-harvest handling, packing and transport to
the market. The main implications of this damage are the reduction of
the product’s quality and economical losses related to the shelf life
diminution. For most perishable products, the shelf life is relatively
short and it is typically dictated by microbial growth related to the
application of dynamic and static loads during transportation. This
paper presents the correlation between vibration levels and
microbiological growth on strawberries and woodland strawberries
and detects the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in
order to develop an intelligent logistic unit capable of monitoring
VOCs using a specific sensor system. Fresh fruits were exposed to
vibrations by means of a vibrating table in a temperature-controlled
environment. Microbiological analyses were conducted on samples,
taken at different positions along the column of the crates. The values
obtained were compared with control samples not exposed to
vibrations and the results show that different positions along the
column influence the development of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous
fungi.
Abstract: There are several possibilities of reducing the required
amount of cement in concrete production. Natural zeolite is one of
the raw materials which can partly substitute Portland cement. The
effort to reduce the amount of Portland cement used in concrete
production is brings both economical as well as ecological benefits.
The paper presents the properties of concrete containing natural
zeolite as an active admixture in the concrete which partly substitutes
Portland cement. The properties discussed here bring information
about the basic mechanical properties and frost resistance of concrete
containing zeolite. The properties of concretes with the admixture of
zeolite are compared with a reference concrete with no content of
zeolite. The properties of the individual concretes are observed for
360 days.
Abstract: The biodegradable family of polymers
polyhydroxyalkanoates is an interesting substitute for convectional
fossil-based plastics. However, the manufacturing and environmental
impacts associated with their production via intracellular bacterial
fermentation are strongly dependent on the raw material used and on
energy consumption during the extraction process, limiting their
potential for commercialization. Industrial wastewater is studied in
this paper as a promising alternative feedstock for waste valorization.
Based on results from laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, a
conceptual process design, techno-economic analysis and life cycle
assessment are developed for the large-scale production of the most
common type of polyhydroxyalkanoate, polyhydroxbutyrate.
Intracellular polyhydroxybutyrate is obtained via fermentation of
microbial community present in industrial wastewater and the
downstream processing is based on chemical digestion with
surfactant and hypochlorite. The economic potential and
environmental performance results help identifying bottlenecks and
best opportunities to scale-up the process prior to industrial
implementation. The outcome of this research indicates that the
fermentation of wastewater towards PHB presents advantages
compared to traditional PHAs production from sugars because the
null environmental burdens and financial costs of the raw material in
the bioplastic production process. Nevertheless, process optimization
is still required to compete with the petrochemicals counterparts.
Abstract: The paper discusses mineral water consumer market
and development policy in Georgia, the tools and measures, which
will contribute to production of mineral waters and increase its
export.
The paper studies and analyses current situation in mineral water
production sector as well as the factors affecting increase and
reduction of its export. It’s noted that in order to gain and maintain
competitive advantage, it’s necessary to provide continuous supply of
high quality goods with modern design, open new distribution
channels to enter new markets, carry out broad promotional activities,
organize e-commerce. Economic policy plays an important role in
protecting markets from counterfeit goods. The state also plays an
important role in attracting foreign direct investments. Stable
business environment and export oriented strategy is the basis for the
country’s economic growth.
Based on the research, the paper suggests the strategy for
improving competitiveness of Georgian mineral waters; relevant
conclusions and recommendations are provided.
Abstract: The construction industry has been demonstrating
increased growth and importance in Brazil’s national economic
development. This study aims to evaluate the financial performance
of the leading companies in the construction sector in Brazil in the
period from 2009 to 2012. An analysis is made of the capital
structure, liquidity, and profitability of the six largest companies in
the construction sector in Brazil: Brookfield, Cyrela, Gafisa, MRV,
PDG and Rossi. The results are then compared with standard industry
ratios. It was found that among the companies analyzed, MRV and
Cyrela showed the best relative performance in the period under
consideration.
Abstract: This paper discusses the value theory in cultural
heritage and the value theory in environmental economics. Two
economic views of the value theory are compared, within the field of
cultural heritage maintenance and within the field of the environment.
The main aims are to find common features in these two differently
structured theories under the layer of differently defined terms as well
as really differing features of these two approaches; to clear the
confusion which stems from different terminology as in fact these
terms capture the same aspects of reality; and to show possible
inspiration these two perspectives can offer one another. Another aim
is to present these two value systems in one value framework. First,
important moments of the value theory from the economic
perspective are presented, leading to the marginal revolution of (not
only) the Austrian School. Then the theory of value within cultural
heritage and environmental economics are explored. Finally,
individual approaches are compared and their potential mutual
inspiration searched for.
Abstract: This exploratory study gives an overview of the
evolution of the main financial and performance indicators of the
Academic Spin-Off’s and High Growth Academic Spin-Off’s in year
3 and year 6 after its creation in the region of Catalonia in Spain. The
study compares and evaluates results of these different measures of
performance and the degree of success of these companies for each
University.
We found that the average Catalonian Academic Spin-Off is small
and have not achieved the sustainability stage at year 6. On the
contrary, a small group of High Growth Academic Spin-Off’s
exhibits robust performance with high profits in year 6. Our results
support the need to increase selectivity and support for these
companies especially near year 3, because are the ones that will bring
wealth and employment. University role as an investor has rigid
norms and habits that impede an efficient economic return from their
ASO investment.
Universities with high performance on sales and employment in
year 3 not always could sustain this growth in year 6 because their
ASO’s are not profitable. On the contrary, profitable ASO exhibit
superior performance in all measurement indicators in year 6. We
advocate the need of a balanced growth (with profits) as a way to
obtain subsequent continuous growth.
Abstract: Traditional document representation for classification
follows Bag of Words (BoW) approach to represent the term weights.
The conventional method uses the Vector Space Model (VSM) to
exploit the statistical information of terms in the documents and they
fail to address the semantic information as well as order of the terms
present in the documents. Although, the phrase based approach
follows the order of the terms present in the documents rather than
semantics behind the word. Therefore, a semantic concept based
approach is used in this paper for enhancing the semantics by
incorporating the ontology information. In this paper a novel method
is proposed to forecast the intraday stock market price directional
movement based on the sentiments from Twitter and money control
news articles. The stock market forecasting is a very difficult and
highly complicated task because it is affected by many factors such
as economic conditions, political events and investor’s sentiment etc.
The stock market series are generally dynamic, nonparametric, noisy
and chaotic by nature. The sentiment analysis along with wisdom of
crowds can automatically compute the collective intelligence of
future performance in many areas like stock market, box office sales
and election outcomes. The proposed method utilizes collective
sentiments for stock market to predict the stock price directional
movements. The collective sentiments in the above social media have
powerful prediction on the stock price directional movements as
up/down by using Granger Causality test.
Abstract: Parabolic solar trough systems have seen limited
deployments in cold northern climates as they are more suitable for
electricity production in southern latitudes. A numerical dynamic
model is developed to simulate troughs installed in cold climates and
validated using a parabolic solar trough facility in Winnipeg. The
model is developed in Simulink and will be utilized to simulate a trigeneration
system for heating, cooling and electricity generation in
remote northern communities. The main objective of this simulation
is to obtain operational data of solar troughs in cold climates and use
the model to determine ways to improve the economics and address
cold weather issues.
In this paper the validated Simulink model is applied to simulate a
solar assisted absorption cooling system along with electricity
generation using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and thermal storage.
A control strategy is employed to distribute the heated oil from solar
collectors among the above three systems considering the
temperature requirements. This modelling provides dynamic
performance results using measured meteorological data recorded
every minute at the solar facility location. The purpose of this
modeling approach is to accurately predict system performance at
each time step considering the solar radiation fluctuations due to
passing clouds. Optimization of the controller in cold temperatures is
another goal of the simulation to for example minimize heat losses in
winter when energy demand is high and solar resources are low.
The solar absorption cooling is modeled to use the generated heat
from the solar trough system and provide cooling in summer for a
greenhouse which is located next to the solar field.
The results of the simulation are presented for a summer day in
Winnipeg which includes comparison of performance parameters of
the absorption cooling and ORC systems at different heat transfer
fluid (HTF) temperatures.
Abstract: Dengue outbreaks are affected by biological,
ecological, socio-economic and demographic factors that vary over
time and space. These factors have been examined separately and still
require systematic clarification. The present study aimed to investigate
the spatial-temporal clustering relationships between these factors and
dengue outbreaks in the northern region of Sri Lanka. Remote sensing
(RS) data gathered from a plurality of satellites were used to develop
an index comprising rainfall, humidity and temperature data. RS data
gathered by ALOS/AVNIR-2 were used to detect urbanization, and a
digital land cover map was used to extract land cover information.
Other data on relevant factors and dengue outbreaks were collected
through institutions and extant databases. The analyzed RS data and
databases were integrated into geographic information systems,
enabling temporal analysis, spatial statistical analysis and space-time
clustering analysis. Our present results showed that increases in the
number of the combination of ecological factor and socio-economic
and demographic factors with above the average or the presence
contribute to significantly high rates of space-time dengue clusters.
Abstract: Improved resource efficiency of production is a key
requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by
considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical
Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating
the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the
study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the
Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results
show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it
decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the
other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy
input; technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological
change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change
increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth,
North African governments should take some measures for increasing
the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some
others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.
Abstract: An innovative concept called “Flexy-Energy” is developing at 2iE. This concept aims to produce electricity at lower cost by smartly mix different available energy sources in accordance to the load profile of the region. With a higher solar irradiation and due to the fact that Diesel generator are massively used in sub-Saharan rural areas, PV/Diesel hybrid systems could be a good application of this concept and a good solution to electrify this region, provided they are reliable, cost effective and economically attractive to investors. Presentation of the developed approach is the aims of this paper. The PV/Diesel hybrid system designed consists to produce electricity and/or heat from a coupling between Diesel Diesel generators and PV panels without batteries storage, while ensuring the substitution of gasoil by bio-fuels available in the area where the system will be installed. The optimal design of this system is based on his technical performances; the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Levelized Cost of Energy are developed and use as economic criteria. The Net Present Value (NPV), the internal rate of return (IRR) and the discounted payback (DPB) are also evaluated according to dual electricity pricing (in sunny and unsunny hours). The PV/Diesel hybrid system obtained is compared to the standalone Diesel Diesel generators. The approach carried out in this paper has been applied to Siby village in Mali (Latitude 12 ° 23'N 8 ° 20'W) with 295 kWh as daily demand.This approach provides optimal physical characteristics (size of the components, number of component) and dynamical characteristics in real time (number of Diesel generator on, their load rate, fuel specific consumptions, and PV penetration rate) of the system. The system obtained is slightly cost effective; but could be improved with optimized tariffing strategies.
Abstract: This paper argues nation-building theories that
prioritize democratic governance best explain the successful postindependence
development of Botswana. Three main competing
schools of thought exist regarding the sequencing of policies that
should occur to re-build weakened or failed states. The first posits
that economic development should receive foremost attention, while
democratization and a binding sense of nationalism can wait. A
second group of experts identified constructing a sense of nationalism
among a populace is necessary first, so that the state receives popular
legitimacy and obedience that are prerequisites for development.
Botswana, though, transitioned into a multi-party democracy and
prosperous open economy due to the utilization of traditional
democratic structures, enlightened and accountable leadership, and an
educated technocratic civil service. With these political foundations
already in place when the discovery of diamonds occurred, the
resulting revenues were spent wisely on projects that grew the
economy, improved basic living standards, and attracted foreign
investment. Thus democratization preceded, and therefore provided
an accountable basis for, economic development that might otherwise
have been squandered by greedy and isolated elites to the detriment
of the greater population. Botswana was one of the poorest nations in
the world at the time of its independence in 1966, with little
infrastructure, a dependence on apartheid South Africa for trade, and
a largely subsistence economy. Over the next thirty years, though, its
economy grew the fastest of any nation in the world. The transparent
and judicious use of diamond returns is only a partial explanation, as
the government also pursued economic diversification, mass
education, and rural development in response to public needs.
As nation-building has become a project undertaken by nations
and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, Botswana may provide best practices
that others should follow in attempting to reconstruct economically
and politically unstable states.
Abstract: The objective of countercyclical capital buffer is to
encourage banks to build up buffers in good times that can be drawn
down in bad times. The aim of the report is to assess such decisions
by banks derived from three approaches. The approaches are the
aggregate credit-to-GDP ratio, credit growth as well as banking
sector profits. The approaches are implemented for Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania for the time period 2000-2012. The report compares
three approaches and analyses their relevance to the Baltic States by
testing the correlation between a growth in studied variables and a
growth of corresponding gaps. Methods used in the empirical part of
the report are econometric analysis as well as economic analysis,
development indicators, relative and absolute indicators and other
methods. The research outcome is a cross-Baltic comparison of two
alternative approaches to establish or release a countercyclical capital
buffer by banks and their implications for each Baltic country.