Hasil untuk "Commercial geography. Economic geography"

Abou Bakr Essedik KIDAOUENE, Messaoud ZIANE MOUSSA, Charif BOUDRI

This study aims to determine the status of digital transformation in the European Union (EU) countries that are members of the Group of Seven (G7). This study focuses on analyzing statistical data issued by a European statistical agency (Eurostat). To detail the aspects of the study, we use the deductive method to describe the theoretical concepts related to digital transformation in addition to the inductive method to explain the data related to digital transformation in the EU countries that are members of the G7. The study found that Germany is ahead of France and Italy in all digital transformation technologies as well as allocating more budgets and training programs for employee training than France and Italy.

Hafsia Leghrissi, Ali Chebil

This paper examines groundwater and landscape governance in irrigated areas of central Tunisia, (North Africa). A stakeholders' network analysis was employed to characterize the landscape and assess governance dynamics. The results highlight the necessity of developing inclusive and effective groundwater management policies in Tunisia, which may also be applicable to other North African and Middle Eastern countries facing similar water-related challenges. Key points include addressing the irregular distribution of network influence in groundwater governance, fostering more inclusive and collaborative governance approaches, intentionally engaging less connected actors, and leveraging the centrality of network hubs.

Sintayehu Assefa Yirga, Misrak Ayalew Beshir

Abstract Innovation is the adaptation of management systems to the changing conditions of the environment and is a key factor for organizations survival and growth. The objective of the study was to examine the effect of total quality management practices on innovation. The researcher employed a cross-sectional descripto-explanatory research design and also a quantitative research approach was used to collect and analyze primary data. In order to collect primary data a survey instrument was adapted from business quality management practices literatures and by using stratified sampling techniques 150 questionnaires were distributed to employees, senior and functional managers of the Colleges and only 140 questionnaires were fully filled and returned with a 93% response rate. The survey data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationship between total quality management practices dimensions on innovation. The findings of multiple regression analysis insured that in the Colleges all of the seven total quality management practices dimensions (management leadership, employee involvement, training and education, employee empowerment, customer focus, information and analysis and continuous improvement) have positive and significant relationship with innovation at 95% confidence level. From the seven total quality management practice dimensions, management leadership dimension with beta value of 0.174 was the most influential total quality management practice dimension to have positive and significant effect on innovation followed by customer focus with beta value of 0.131. Information and analysis dimension was the third influential dimension with beta value of 0.115, followed by continuous improvement dimension with beta value of 0.113. Employee involvement dimension was the fifth influential dimension with beta value of 0.111, followed by training and education with beta value of 0.092. Finally employee empowerment dimension was the least influential dimension to have positive and significant effect on innovation with beta value of 0.080. Also, regression result also shows that in the Colleges, the fore mentioned seven dimensions of total quality management practices explained 88.3% of the variations in innovation. Therefore the researcher recommended that the management bodies of the colleges should give their employees a high degree of autonomy in order to do their job and participate in the implementation of total quality management practices so as to increase their innovativeness. Additionally, the management bodies of the Colleges should establish their quality management systems according to the requirement of ISO 9001:2008 standards to increase innovation in the colleges.

Gustavo L. Kohlrausch, Thiago Dias, Sebastian Gonçalves

Wealth transactions are central to economic activity, and their particularities shape macroeconomic outcomes. We propose an agent-based model to investigate how homophily influences economic inequality. The model simulates wealth exchanges in a dynamic network composed of two groups, $A$ and $B$, differentiated by a homophily parameter $δ$, which increases intragroup connections within $A$. Economic interactions alternate between conservative wealth exchanges and connection rewiring, both influenced by agents' wealth and $δ$. We examine economic and network dynamics under varying levels of social protection $f$, which favor poorer agents in transactions. At low $f$, results reveal high inequality and link concentration, with $δ$ impacting only transient dynamics. At high $f$, homophily becomes an economic advantage, as increasing $δ$ directs wealth flow to group $A$. However, since this flow benefits the wealthiest agents, it simultaneously exacerbates internal inequality within the group. These findings show that homophily is a significant driver of inequality, directing wealth towards the homophilous group and worsening internal disparities.

Tabea Hirzel, Alexandre Solcà

This article examines how governance models shaped water management in ancient Persia, the Roman Empire, and medieval Europe, focusing on qanats and splendour fountains. It explores how each civilization’s societal needs influenced their water infrastructure. The study highlights how environmental challenges led to adaptations in governance and engineering. These water systems were both functional and symbols of power. The research reveals the diverse approaches to water management across these cultures.

Eric Wu, Kevin Wu, James Zou

There is great interest in fine-tuning frontier large language models (LLMs) to inject new information and update existing knowledge. While commercial LLM fine-tuning APIs from providers such as OpenAI and Google promise flexible adaptation for various applications, the efficacy of fine-tuning remains unclear. In this study, we introduce FineTuneBench, an evaluation framework and dataset for understanding how well commercial fine-tuning APIs can successfully learn new and updated knowledge. We analyze five frontier LLMs with commercially available fine-tuning APIs, including GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro, on their effectiveness in two settings: (1) ingesting novel information, such as recent news events and new people profiles, and (2) updating existing knowledge, such as updated medical guidelines and code frameworks. Our results reveal substantial shortcomings in all the models' abilities to effectively learn new information through fine-tuning, with an average generalization accuracy of 37% across all models. When updating existing knowledge, such as incorporating medical guideline updates, commercial fine-tuning APIs show even more limited capability (average generalization accuracy of 19%). Overall, fine-tuning GPT-4o mini is the most effective for infusing new knowledge and updating knowledge, followed by GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4o. The fine-tuning APIs for Gemini 1.5 Flesh and Gemini 1.5 Pro are unable to learn new knowledge or update existing knowledge. These findings underscore a major shortcoming in using current commercial fine-tuning services to achieve reliable knowledge infusion in common scenarios. We open source the FineTuneBench dataset at https://github.com/kevinwu23/StanfordFineTuneBench.

Wadim Strielkowski, Oxana Mukhoryanova, Oxana Kuznetsova et al.

This paper analyzes sustainable regional economic development and land use employing a case study of Russia. The economics of land management in Russia which is shaped by both historical legacies and contemporary policies represents an interesting conundrum. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia embarked on a thorny and complex path towards the economic reforms and transformation characterized, among all, by the privatization and decentralization of land ownership. This transition was aimed at improving agricultural productivity and fostering sustainable regional economic development but also led to new challenges such as uneven distribution of land resources, unclear property rights, and underinvestment in rural infrastructure. However, managing all of that effectively poses significant challenges and opportunities. With the help of the comprehensive bibliographic network analysis, this study sheds some light on the current state of sustainable regional economic development and land use management in Russia. Its results and outcomes might be helpful for the researchers and stakeholders alike in devising effective strategies aimed at maximizing resources for sustainable land use, particularly within their respective regional economies.

Reetwika Basu, Eric Anderson, Chinmay Deval et al.

In an era where informed decision-making is paramount for sustainable development and effective resource management, the role of Earth observations (EO) in shaping economic landscapes cannot be overstated. EO, facilitated by satellites, sensors, and data analytics, is a cornerstone for evidence-based policymaking, risk mitigation, and resource allocation. SERVIR is a joint initiative of US Agency for International Development and NASA. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of relevant economic impact assessment (EIA) work, summarizes SERVIRs potential interests in EIA, and identifies how and where EIA could improve how SERVIR quantifies and communicates the impact of its services.

Sara Mekki

From the beginning of the industrial revolution, several economists such as J.B.Say, Schumpeter or Kenneth Arrow linked entrepreneurship and innovation. The entrepreneur is not only a source of wealth but a source of economic growth.The Algerian Government, aware of the importance of entrepreneurship, has established a new system and new national economic policy focused on innovation, now the priority subsidies were for the creation of businesses that demonstrate a form of innovation. This article aims to study the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and the role of female entrepreneurs in this new impetus for the national economy by studying a random of 100 companies working in the field of High Tech , start-up and innovation.

Marouane Daoui

This article conducts a literature review on the topic of monetary policy in developing countries and focuses on the effectiveness of monetary policy in promoting economic growth and the relationship between monetary policy and economic growth. The literature review finds that the activities of central banks in developing countries are often overlooked by economic models, but recent studies have shown that there are many factors that can affect the effectiveness of monetary policy in these countries. These factors include the profitability of central banks and monetary unions, the independence of central banks in their operations, and lags, rigidities, and disequilibrium analysis. The literature review also finds that studies on the topic have produced mixed results, with some studies finding that monetary policy has a limited or non-existent impact on economic growth and others finding that it plays a crucial role. The article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of research in this field and to identify areas for future study.

Qazal Rezaee, Mehdi Delrobaei, Ashkan Giveki et al.

Driver Drowsiness is one of the leading causes of road accidents. Electroencephalography (EEG) is highly affected by drowsiness; hence, EEG-based methods detect drowsiness with the highest accuracy. Developments in manufacturing dry electrodes and headsets have made recording EEG more convenient. Vehicle-based features used for detecting drowsiness are easy to capture but do not have the best performance. In this paper, we investigated the performance of EEG signals recorded in 4 channels with commercial headsets against the vehicle-based technique in drowsiness detection. We recorded EEG signals of 50 volunteers driving a simulator in drowsy and alert states by commercial devices. The observer rating of the drowsiness method was used to determine the drowsiness level of the subjects. The meaningful separation of vehicle-based features, recorded by the simulator, and EEG-based features of the two states of drowsiness and alertness have been investigated. The comparison results indicated that the EEG-based features are separated with lower p-values than the vehicle-based ones in the two states. It is concluded that EEG headsets can be feasible alternatives with better performance compared to vehicle-based methods for detecting drowsiness.

Monu Yadav, Laxminarayan Das

This paper explores the features of cyclonic disturbances (CDs) in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) by utilizing data from 1990 to 2022. It investigates the occurrence rate of these disturbances and their effects on human and economic losses throughout the mentioned period. The analysis demonstrates a rising trend in the occurrence of CDs in the NIO. While there has been a slight decline in CD-related fatalities since 2015, but there has been a considerable increase in economic losses. These findings can be attributed to enhanced government initiatives in disaster prevention and mitigation in recent years, as well as rapid economic growth in regions prone to CDs. The study sheds light on the significance of addressing the impact of CDs on both human lives and economic stability in the NIO region.

Andrea Carotti, Cosimo Sguanci, Anastasios Sidiropoulos

The Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) is designed to improve the scalability of blockchain systems by using off-chain payment paths to settle transactions in a faster, cheaper, and more private manner. This work aims to empirically study LN's fee revenue for network participants. Under realistic assumptions on payment amounts, routing algorithms and traffic distribution, we analyze the economic returns of the network's largest routing nodes which currently hold the network together, and assess whether the centralizing tendency is incentive-compatible from an economic viewpoint. Moreover, since recent literature has proved that participation is economically irrational for the majority of large nodes, we evaluate the long-term impact on the network topology when participants start behaving rationally.

Prashant Singh, David Williams, Frank J. Velez et al.

The oyster industry is a significant component of United States aquaculture and is vulnerable to various food frauds. In addition to species substitution, mislabeling of oyster geographical origin is performed for economic gains. The geographical origin misrepresentations are performed to claim a famed region of origin known for its unique flavor profile. DNA barcoding is the gold standard method for identifying seafood species but has limited resolution to the species level. This pilot study was conducted to characterize and compare the oyster gill microbiome as an alternative approach for tracking oysters’ origin. Commercially available raw east coast oysters (Crassostrea virginica) from two distinct geographical locations were purchased. Genomic DNA isolated from the gills was processed for microbiome analysis. The data revealed distinct microbiome signatures among the two sample sets. Oysters from Louisiana showed the presence of eighteen unique bacterial genera, whereas Maryland oysters showed a higher abundance of twelve genera. Findings from this study demonstrate the applicability of microbiome analysis as an emerging alternative approach for identifying geographical origin misrepresentations.

Andrew J. Stier, Sina Sajjadi, Luıs M. A. Bettencourt et al.

Homophily and heterophobia, the tendency for people with similar characteristics to preferentially interact with (or avoid) each other are pervasive in human social networks. Here, we develop an extension of the mathematical theory of urban scaling which describes the effects of homophily and heterophobia on social interactions and resulting economic outputs of cities. Empirical tests of our model show that increased residential racial heterophobia and segregation in U.S. cities are associated with reduced economic outputs and that the strength of this relationship increased throughout the 2010s. Our findings provide the means for the formal incorporation of general homophilic and heterophobic effects into theories of modern urban science and suggest that racial segregation is increasingly and adversely impacting the economic performance and connectivity of urban societies in the U.S.

Paul Trust, Ahmed Zahran, Rosane Minghim

The need for timely data analysis for economic decisions has prompted most economists and policy makers to search for non-traditional supplementary sources of data. In that context, text data is being explored to enrich traditional data sources because it is easy to collect and highly abundant. Our work focuses on studying the potential of textual data, in particular news pieces, for measuring economic policy uncertainty (EPU). Economic policy uncertainty is defined as the public's inability to predict the outcomes of their decisions under new policies and future economic fundamentals. Quantifying EPU is of great importance to policy makers, economists, and investors since it influences their expectations about the future economic fundamentals with an impact on their policy, investment and saving decisions. Most of the previous work using news articles for measuring EPU are either manual or based on a simple keyword search. Our work proposes a machine learning based solution involving weak supervision to classify news articles with regards to economic policy uncertainty. Weak supervision is shown to be an efficient machine learning paradigm for applying machine learning models in low resource settings with no or scarce training sets, leveraging domain knowledge and heuristics. We further generated a weak supervision based EPU index that we used to conduct extensive econometric analysis along with the Irish macroeconomic indicators to validate whether our generated index foreshadows weaker macroeconomic performance

A. Bryhn, P. Kraufvelin, U. Bergström et al.

Understanding and communicating the links among human activities and marine ecosystem services are fundamental for ecosystem-based management, which aims at attaining ecological, economic and social sustainability in the use of our seas. Relationships are typically complex and may differ between geographic areas. Here, an assessment model that combines available quantitative, semi-quantitative and qualitative information, rooted in the DAPSIR (Driver—Activity—Pressure—State—Impact—Response) framework and assessment requirements of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is developed and applied. Focusing on Swedish marine waters, major human activities at sea are evaluated in relation to their dependencies and impacts on the status of marine ecosystem services. This case study is a consensus assessment based on evaluation of available literature and data. By relating degrees of dependencies and impacts to values of different economic sectors, discrepancies among sectors with respect to their impact versus their monetary value can be identified. In our case, commercial fishing depends on and influences a wide range of ecosystem services, while other sectors, such as shipping, depend little on marine ecosystem services. At the extreme end of the range, pressures from human activities in the past, such as historical nutrient emissions, still have prominent influence on ecosystem services today, entailing considerable losses. Marine tourism and commercial fishing show similar dependencies on ecosystem services, but tourism has a clearly lower impact on ecosystem services and a higher monetary value. The model may serve as a useful tool for communicating and guiding priorities in integrated environmental management and maritime spatial planning.

CERNITOIU COSMIN

ct The manager is the person who has the responsibility to fulfill the objectives of the organization and exercises his attributions in a high-performance managerial system, capitalizing on human, material, natural resources, etc. It is assumed that the manager holds certain leadership positions, not necessarily that of leader of the organization. The basic functions of management, presented as separate processes are intended to explain the concepts; they are in a permanent inter-relationship in the managerial act, being found in different proportions depending on the hierarchical level of the manager in the organization, as well as on the specifics of the organization's activity..

Ivan Kitov

Growth rate of real GDP per capita, GDPpc, is represented as a sum of two components, a monotonically decreasing economic trend and fluctuations related to population change. The economic trend is modelled by an inverse function of GDPpc with a constant numerator which varies for the largest developed economies. In 2006, a statistical analysis conducted for 19 selected OECD countries for the period between 1950 and 2003 showed a very weak linear trend in the annual GDPpc increment for the largest economies: the USA, Japan, France, Italy, and Spain. The UK, Australia, and Canada showed a slightly steeper positive linear trend. The 2012 revision showed that the positive trends became much lower and some of them fell below zero due to the Great Recession. The fluctuations around the trend values are characterized by a quasi-normal distribution with heavy and asymmetric tails. This research revises the previous estimates and extends the set of studied countries by economies in East Europe, Latin America, BRICS, Africa, and Asia including several positive outliers with extremely fast growth. The change in GDP definitions and measuring procedures with time and economic source is discussed in relation to the statistical significance of the trend estimates and data quality requirements for a consistent economic model. The relative performance of all counties since 1960 is compared according to the predicted total GDPpc growth as a function of the initial value. The performance in the 21st century is analyzed separately as revealing potential and actual shifts in the global economic powers.

M. Miazzi, V. di Rienzo, Isabella Mascio et al.

The olive tree is one of the most important economic, cultural, and environmental resources for Italy, in particular for the Apulian region, where it shows a wide diversity. The increasing attention to the continuous loss of plant genetic diversity due to social, economic and climatic changes, has favored a renewed interest in strategies aimed at the recovery and conservation of these genetic resources. In the frame of a project for the valorization of the olive Apulian biodiversity (Re.Ger.O.P. project), 177 minor genotypes were recovered in different territories of the region. They were submitted to morphological, molecular, technological and phytosanitary status analysis in comparison with reference cultivars, then they were propagated and transferred in an ex situ field. All the available information was stored in an internal regional database including photographic documentation and geographic position. The work allowed obtaining information about the genetic diversity of Apulian germplasm, to clarify cases of homonymy and synonymy, to check the sanitary status, and to identify candidate genotypes useful both to set up breeding programs and to enrich the panel of olive cultivars available to farmers for commercial exploitation.