Search results for: democratic transition countries

Authors: Afaq Ahmad

Abstract:

Using state space technique and GF(2) theory, a simulation model for external exclusive NOR type LFSR structures is developed. Through this tool a systematic procedure is devised for computing pseudo-random binary sequences from such structures.

Keywords: LFSR, external exclusive NOR type, recursivebinary sequence, initial state - next state, state transition matrix.

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Authors: B. Zvirbule, I. Vilka

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The Baltic States regained independence and started the pathway from command economy to market economy and entered European Union at the same time. Latter internationally recognized evaluations for the countries are diverse. The present diversity of the Baltic States -Economic Development is a subject of interest because of the similarities – all three are small, open economies, countries have similar geographic location and initially likewise historical and political backgrounds. This article explains relationship between social environment, business environment and economic growth. It argues that the elements of social environment underlie more successful economic development. It researches the causes, why Estonia has performed better in economic outcomes and development. The article analyses selection of socio-economic indicators of all three Baltic States – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia for the time period of ten years to include the influence of economic cycles.

Keywords: Baltic States, economic development, economic growth, level of education, social environment.

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Authors: Noor Azryani Auzairy, Rubi Ahmad

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To strengthen the capital market, there is a need to integrate the capital markets within the region by removing legal or informal restriction, specifically, stock market liberalization. Thus the paper is to investigate the effects of the subsequent stock market liberalization on stock market integration in 4 ASEAN countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore) and Korea from 1997 to 2007. The correlation between stock market liberalization and stock market integration are to be examined by analyzing the stock prices and returns within the region and in comparison with the world MSCI index. Event study method is to be used with windows of ±12 months and T-7 + T. The results show that the subsequent stock market liberalization generally, gives minor positive effects to stock returns, except for one or two countries. The subsequent liberalization also integrates the markets short-run and long-run.

Keywords: ASEAN, event method, stock market integration, stock market liberalization.

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Authors: Ibtihaj Al-Siyabi

Abstract:

The crisis of COVID-19 posed enormous challenges to the statistical providers. While official statistics were disrupted by the pandemic and related containment measures, there was a growing and pressing need for real-time data and statistics to inform decisions. This paper gives an account of the way the pandemic impacted the operations of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in general in terms of data collection and methods used, and the main challenges encountered by them based on international surveys. It highlights the performance of the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf, GCC-STAT, and its responsiveness to the pandemic placing special emphasis on environmental statistics. The paper concludes by confirming the GCC-STAT’s resilience and success in facing the challenges.

Keywords: NSO, COVID-19, pandemic, National Statistical Offices.

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Authors: N. Utaberta, H. Mamamni, M. Surat, A. I. Che-Ani, N.A.G. Abdullah

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The architecture of Safavid Dynasty can be considered the epitome of Iranian architectural beauty. Safavid dynasty (1501- 1722 AC) along with Ottoman in Turkey and Mughal Empire in India were the three great Islamic nations of their time (1500 AC) often known as the last Islamic countries with international authority up to the 20th Century. This era approximately coincide with Renaissance in Europe. In this era, large European countries begin amassing power thanks to significant scientific, cultural and religious revolutions of that time and colonizing nations such as England, Spain and Portugal began to influence international trends with in an increasing while other non-industrial nations diminished. The main objective of this paper is to give a typological overview of the development of decoration and ornament in the architecture of Safafid Dynasty in Iran. It is expected that it can start a wider discussion to enrich this nation-s heritage and contribute to the development of Islamic ornament in general.

Keywords: Ornamentation, Architecture in Iran, Safavid Dynasty

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Authors: Pei. P. Tan, Don. U.A. Galagedera, Elizabeth A.Maharaj

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This paper examines predictability in stock return in developed and emergingmarkets by testing long memory in stock returns using wavelet approach. Wavelet-based maximum likelihood estimator of the fractional integration estimator is superior to the conventional Hurst exponent and Geweke and Porter-Hudak estimator in terms of asymptotic properties and mean squared error. We use 4-year moving windows to estimate the fractional integration parameter. Evidence suggests that stock return may not be predictable indeveloped countries of the Asia-Pacificregion. However, predictability of stock return insome developing countries in this region such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines may not be ruled out. Stock return in the Thailand stock market appears to be not predictable after the political crisis in 2008.

Keywords: Asia-Pacific stock market, long-memory, return predictability, wavelet

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Authors: Samira Malekmohammadi Golsefid, Mehdi Ghazanfari, Somayeh Alizadeh

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The goal of this paper is to segment the countries based on the value of export from Iran during 14 years ending at 2005. To measure the dissimilarity among export baskets of different countries, we define Dissimilarity Export Basket (DEB) function and use this distance function in K-means algorithm. The DEB function is defined based on the concepts of the association rules and the value of export group-commodities. In this paper, clustering quality function and clusters intraclass inertia are defined to, respectively, calculate the optimum number of clusters and to compare the functionality of DEB versus Euclidean distance. We have also study the effects of importance weight in DEB function to improve clustering quality. Lastly when segmentation is completed, a designated RFM model is used to analyze the relative profitability of each cluster.

Keywords: Customers segmentation, Customer relationship management, Clustering, Data Mining

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Authors: B. Frączek

Abstract:

The paper analyses the usage of the Internet by university students in Visegrad Countries (4V Countries) who study economic fields in their formal and informal financial education and captures the areas of untapped potential of Internet in educational processes. Higher education and training, technological readiness, and the financial market development are in the group of pillars, that are key for efficiency driven economies. These three pillars have become an inspiration to the research on using the Internet in the financial education among economic university students as the group of the best educated people in finance. The financial education is a process that allows for improving the level of financial literacy. In turn, the financial literacy it is the set of financial knowledge, skills, awareness and patterns influencing the financial decisions. The level of financial literacy influences the level of financial well-being of individuals, determines the scale of saving of households and at the same time gives the greater chance for sustainable and more predictable development of the financial market with the positive impact on economy. The financial literacy is necessary for each group of society but its appropriate level is desirable especially in respect of economics students as future participants of financial markets as well as the experts and advisors in financial decision making. The low level of financial literacy is the great problem of many target groups in both developing and developed countries and the financial education is seen as the best way of improving this situation. Also the financial inclusion plays the special role in enhancing the level of financial literacy in the aspect of education by practice as well as due to interrelation between level of financial literacy and degree of financial inclusion. Despite many initiatives under financial education, the level of financial literacy is still very low. Scientists still search for new ways of solving this problem. One of the proposal is more effective usage of the new technology in financial education, especially the Internet, because of the growing popularity of e-learning and the increasing number of Internet users, especially among young people who are called the Generation Net. Due to special role of the university students studying the economics fields for the future financial markets, students of four universities from Visegrad Countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) were invited to participate in the survey. The aim of the article is to present the level and ways of using the Internet technology in financial education and indicating the so far unused or underused opportunities.

Keywords: Financial education, financial inclusion, financial literacy, usage of Internet in education.

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Authors: A. A. Mityureva, A. A. Pastor, P. Yu. Serdobintsev, N. A. Timofeev

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Comparison of electron- and photon-impact processes as a method for determination of photo-ionization cross sections is described, discussed and shown to have many attractive features.

Keywords: Transition probability, cross section, photo-ionization, electron-ionization, multi-photon process.

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Authors: Young Sik Kim, Tae Kwon Ha

Abstract:

This article considers the problems of economic growth and Russian energy strategy. Also in this paper, the issues related to the economic growth prospects of Russian were discussed. Russian energy strategy without standing Russia`s stature in global energy markets, at the current production and extraction rates, will not be able to sustain its own production as well as fulfil its energy strategy. Indeed, Russia’s energy sector suffers from a chronic lack of investments which are necessary to modernize its energy supply system. In recent years, especially since the international financial crisis, Russia-EU energy cooperation has made substantive progress. Recently the break-through progress has been made, resulting mainly from long-term contributing factors between the countries and recent international economic and political situation changes. Analytical material presented in the article is intended for a more detailed or substantive analysis related to foreign economic relations of the countries and Russia as well.

Keywords: Russia, Energy strategy, Economic growth, Cooperation.

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Authors: Heather Wyman-Pain, Yuankai Bian, Furong Li

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The decreasing use of fossil fuel power stations has a negative effect on the stability of the electricity systems in many countries. Nuclear power stations have traditionally provided minimal ancillary services to support the system but this must change in the future as they replace fossil fuel generators. This paper explains the development of the four most popular reactor types still in regular operation across the world which have formed the basis for most reactor development since their commercialisation in the 1950s. The use of nuclear power in four countries with varying levels of capacity provided by nuclear generators is investigated, using the primary frequency response provided by generators as a measure for the electricity networks stability, to assess the need for nuclear generators to provide additional support as their share of the generation capacity increases.

Keywords: Frequency control, nuclear power generation, power system stability, system inertia.

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Authors: Zhazira Kuanyshbayeva

Abstract:

Article is devoted to the problem of Kazakhstan people national values in the conditions of the Republic of Kazakhstan independence. Formation of ethnos national values is viewed as the mandatory constituent of this process in contemporary conditions. The article shows the dynamics of forming socialspiritual basis of Kazakhstan people-s national values. It depicts peculiarities of interethnic relations in poly-ethnic and multiconfessional Kazakhstan. The study reviews in every detail various directions of the state social policy development in the sphere of national values. It is aimed to consolidation of the society to achieve the shared objective, i.e. building democratic and civilized state. The author discloses peculiarities of ethnos national values development using specific sources. It is underlined that renewal and modernization of Kazakhstan society represents new stage in the national value development, and its typical feature is integration process based on peoples- friendship, cultural principles of interethnic communication.

Keywords: Interethnic relation, Kazakhstan people, national policy, national values.

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Authors: A. Kumar, V. Devadas

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Energy is the basic element for any country’s economic development. India is one of the most populated countries, and is dependent on fossil fuel and nuclear-based energy generation. The energy sector faces huge challenges and is dependent on the import of energy from neighboring countries to fulfill the gap in demand and supply. India has huge setbacks for efficient energy generation, distribution, and consumption, therefore they consume more quantity of energy to produce the same amount of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the developed countries. Technology and technique use, availability, and affordability in the various sectors are varying according to their economic status. In this paper, an attempt is made to quantify the domestic electrical energy consumption in Jodhpur, India. Survey research methods have been employed and stratified sampling technique-based households were chosen for conducting the investigation. Pre-tested survey schedules are used to investigate the grassroots level study. The collected data are analyzed by employing statistical techniques. Thereafter, a multiple regression model is developed to understand the functions of total electricity consumption in the domestic sector corresponding to other independent variables including electrical appliances, age of the building, household size, education, etc. The study resulted in identifying the governing variable in energy consumption at the household level and their relationship with the efficiency of household-based electrical and energy appliances. The analysis is concluded with the recommendation for optimizing the gap in peak electrical demand and supply in the domestic sector.

Keywords: Appliance, consumption, electricity, households.

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Authors: José Carlos Rodríguez, Mario Gómez

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The aim of this paper is to get insight on the nature of university-industry technology transfer (UITT) and technology transfer offices (TTOs) activity at universities in the case of emerging economies. In relation to the process of transferring knowledge/technology in the case of emerging economies, knowledge/technology transfer in these economies are more reactive than in developed economies due to differences in maturity of technologies. It is assumed in this paper that knowledge/technology transfer is a complex phenomenon, and thus the paper contributes to get insight on the nature of UITT and TTOs creation in the case of emerging economies by using a system dynamics model of knowledge/technology transfer in these countries. The paper recognizes the differences between industrialized countries and emerging economies on these phenomena.

Keywords: University-industry technology transfer, technology transfer offices, technology transfer models, emerging economies.

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Authors: Keivan Karimlou, Nemat Hassani, Abdollah Rashidi Mehrabadi

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Climate change, industrial bloom, population growth and mismanagement are the most important factors that lead to water shortages around the world. Water shortages often lead to forced immigration, war, and thirst and hunger, especially in developing countries. One of the simplest solutions to solve the water shortage issues around the world is transferring water from one watershed to another; however it may not be a suitable solution. Water managers around the world use supply and demand management methods to decrease the incidence of water shortage in a sustainable manner. But as a matter of economic constraints, they must define a method to select the best possible action to reduce and limit water shortages. The following paper recognizes different kinds of criteria to select the best possible policy for reducing water shortage in mega cities by examining a comprehensive literature review.

Keywords: Criteria, management, shortage, sustainable, water.

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Authors: Alessandra Battisti, Silvia Cimini

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This article stands in the context of rural communities in Brazil, where, like many others emerging countries, the overwhelming increasing markets and the overcrowded cities are leaving behind informal settlements based on obsolete agricultural economies and techniques. The pilot project for the community of Goiabeira reflects the attempt to imagine a development model that privileges the actual improvement of living conditions, the education and training, the social inclusion and participation of the dwellers of rural communities. Through the inclusion of operative public space, the aim is for them to become self-sustaining, encouraging the use of local resources for appropriate architectural, ecological and energy technologies and devices, that are efficient, affordable and foster community participation, in the respect of the surrounding environment.

Keywords: Economical development, environment conservation, local resources, participation and social inclusion.

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Authors: Ichiro Mukai

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether firms applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), provide high-quality and comparable earnings information that is useful for decision making of information users relative to firms applying local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Focus is placed on the earnings quality of listed firms in several developed countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Except for Japan and the US, the adoption of IFRS is mandatory for listed firms in these countries. In Japan, the application of IFRS is allowed for specific listed firms. In the US, the foreign firms listed on the US securities market are permitted to apply IFRS but the listed domestic firms are prohibited from doing so. In this paper, the differences in earnings quality are compared between firms applying local GAAP and those applying IFRS in each country and industry category, and the reasons of differences in earnings quality are analyzed using various factors. The results show that, although the earnings quality of firms applying IFRS is higher than that of firms applying local GAAP, this varies with country and industry category. Thus, even if a single set of global accounting standards is used for all listed firms worldwide, it is difficult to establish comparability of financial information among global firms. These findings imply that various circumstances surrounding firms, industries, and countries etc. influence business operations and affect the differences in earnings quality.

Keywords: Accruals, earnings quality, IFRS, information comparability.

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Authors: Jindřiška Šedová

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In the past 20 years the economy of the Czech Republic has experienced substantial changes. In the 1990s the development was affected by the transformation which sought to establish the right conditions for privatization and creation of elementary market relations. In the last decade the characteristic elements such as private ownership and corresponding institutional framework have been strengthened. This development was marked by the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU. The Czech Republic is striving to reduce the difference between its level of economic development and the quality of institutional framework in comparison with other developed countries. The process of finding the adequate solutions has been hampered by the negative impact of the world financial crisis on the Czech Republic and the standard of living of its inhabitants. This contribution seeks to address the question of whether and to which extent the economic development of the transitive Czech economy is affected by the change in behaviour of households and their tendency to consumption, i.e. in the sense of reduction or increase in demand for goods and services. It aims to verify whether the increasing trend of household indebtedness and decreasing trend of saving pose a significant risk in the Czech Republic. At a general level the analysis aims to contribute to finding an answer to the question of whether the debt increase of Czech households is connected to the risk of "eating through" the borrowed money and whether Czech households risk falling into a debt trap. In addition to household indebtedness risks in the Czech Republic the analysis will focus on identification of specifics of the transformation phase of the Czech economy in comparison with the EU countries, or selected OECD countries.

Keywords: household indebtedness, household consumption, credits, financial literacy

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Authors: Domenico Chizzoniti, Monica Moscatelli, Letizia Cattani, Luca Preis

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A primary healthcare facility in developing countries should be a multifunctional space able to respond to different requirements: Flexibility, modularity, aggregation and reversibility. These basic features could be better satisfied if applied to an architectural artifact that complies with the typological, figurative and constructive aspects of the context in which it is located. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify a procedure that can define the figurative aspects of the architectural structure of the health prototype for the marginal areas of developing countries through a critical approach. The application context is the rural areas of the Northeast of Bahia in Brazil. The prototype should be located in the rural district of Quingoma, in the municipality of Lauro de Freitas, a particular place where there is still a cultural fusion of black and indigenous populations. Based on the historical analysis of settlement strategies and architectural structures in spaces of public interest or collective use, this paper aims to provide a procedure able to identify the categories and rules underlying typological and figurative aspects, in order to detect significant and generalizable elements, as well as materials and constructive techniques typically adopted in the rural areas of Brazil. The object of this work is therefore not only the recovery of certain constructive approaches but also the development of a procedure that integrates the requirements of the primary healthcare prototype with its surrounding economic, social, cultural, settlement and figurative conditions.

Keywords: Architectural typology, Developing countries, Local construction techniques, Primary health care.

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Authors: Ksenija Dumičić, Anita Čeh Časni, Irena Palić

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This paper examines economic and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development influence on recently increasing Internet purchases by individuals for European Union member states. After a growing trend for Internet purchases in EU27 was noticed, all possible regression analysis was applied using nine independent variables in 2011. Finally, two linear regression models were studied in detail. Conducted simple linear regression analysis confirmed the research hypothesis that the Internet purchases in analyzed EU countries is positively correlated with statistically significant variable Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPpc). Also, analyzed multiple linear regression model with four regressors, showing ICT development level, indicates that ICT development is crucial for explaining the Internet purchases by individuals, confirming the research hypothesis.

Keywords: European Union, Internet purchases, multiple linear regression model, outlier

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Authors: Dongseok Cho, Mitchell Driedger, Sera Han, Noman Khan, Mohammed Elmorsy, Mohamad El-Hajj

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Since the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine in late 2020, vaccination rates have varied around the globe. Access to a vaccine supply, mandated vaccination policy, and vaccine hesitancy contribute to these rates. This study used COVID-19 vaccination data from Our World in Data and the Multilateral Leaders Task Force on COVID-19 to create two COVID-19 vaccination indices. The first index is the Vaccine Utilization Index (VUI), which measures how effectively each country has utilized its vaccine supply to doubly vaccinate its population. The second index is the Vaccination Acceleration Index (VAI), which evaluates how efficiently each country vaccinated their populations within their first 150 days. Pearson correlations were created between these indices and country indicators obtained from the World Bank. Results of these correlations identify countries with stronger Health indicators such as lower mortality rates, lower age-dependency ratios, and higher rates of immunization to other diseases display higher VUI and VAI scores than countries with lesser values. VAI scores are also positively correlated to Governance and Economic indicators, such as regulatory quality, control of corruption, and GDP per capita. As represented by the VUI, proper utilization of the COVID-19 vaccine supply by country is observed in countries that display excellence in health practices. A country’s motivation to accelerate its vaccination rates within the first 150 days of vaccinating, as represented by the VAI, was largely a product of the governing body’s effectiveness and economic status, as well as overall excellence in health practises.

Keywords: Data mining, Pearson Correlation, COVID-19, vaccination rates, hesitancy.

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Authors: Kwok Tak Kit

Abstract:

Under the Paris Agreement 2015, the countries committed to address and combat the climate change and its negative impacts and agree to the target of reducing the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission substantially by limiting the global temperature to 2 0C above the pre-industrial level in this century. An international submit named “26th United Nations Climate Conference” (COP26) was held in Glasgow in 2021 with all committed countries agreed to finalize the outstanding element in Paris Agreement and Glasgow Climate Pact to keep 1.5 0C. In this paper, we will focus on the basic approach of waste strategy, recycling policy, circular economy strategy, net-zero strategy and sustainability strategy and the importance of the elements which affect the carbon emission, waste generation and energy conservation will be further reviewed with recommendation for future study.

Keywords: Net-zero carbon, climate change, carbon emission, energy consumption.

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Authors: Mansur Hamma-Adama, Tahar Kouider

Abstract:

Construction Industry has been evolving since the development of Building Information Modelling (BIM). This technological process is unstoppable; it is out to the market with remarkable case studies of solving the long industry’s history of fragmentation. This industry has been changing over time; United States has recorded the most significant development in construction digitalization, Australia, United Kingdom and some other developed nations are also amongst promoters of BIM process and its development. Recently, a developing country like China and Malaysia are keying into the industry’s digital shift, while very little move is seen in South Africa whose development is considered higher and perhaps leader in the digital transition amongst the African countries. To authors’ best knowledge, Nigerian construction industry has never engaged in BIM discussions hence has no attention at national level. Consequently, Nigeria has no “Noteworthy BIM publications.” Decision makers and key stakeholders need to be informed on the current trend of the industry’s development (BIM in specific) and the opportunities of adopting this digitalization trend in relation to the identified challenges. BIM concept can be traced mostly in Architectural practices than engineering practices in Nigeria. A superficial BIM practice is found to be at organisational level only and operating a model based - “BIM stage 1.” Research to adopting this innovation has received very little attention. This piece of work is literature review based, aimed at exploring BIM in Nigeria and its prospects. The exploration reveals limitations in the literature availability as to extensive research in the development of BIM in the country. Numerous challenges were noticed including building collapse, inefficiencies, cost overrun and late project delivery. BIM has potentials to overcome the above challenges and even beyond. Low level of BIM adoption with reasonable level of awareness is noticed. However, lack of policy and guideline as well as serious lack of experts in the field are amongst the major barriers to BIM adoption. The industry needs to embrace BIM to possibly compete with its global counterpart.

Keywords: Adoption, BIM, CAD, construction industry, Nigeria, opportunities.

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Authors: Gleda Kutrolli, Maksi Kutrolli, Etjon Meco

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SARS-CoV-2 virus is currently one of the most infectious pathogens for humans. It started in China at the end of 2019 and now it is spread in all over the world. The origin and diffusion of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, is analysed based on the discussion of viral phylogeny theory. With the aim of understanding the spread of infection in the affected countries, it is crucial to modelize the spread of the virus and simulate its activity. In this paper, the prediction of coronavirus outbreak is done by using SIR model without vital dynamics, applying different numerical technique solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs). We find out that ABM and MRT methods perform better than other techniques and that the activity of the virus will decrease in April but it never cease (for some time the activity will remain low) and the next cycle will start in the middle July 2020 for Norway and Denmark, and October 2020 for Sweden, and September for Finland.

Keywords: Forecasting, ordinary differential equations, SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, SIR model.

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Authors: Monica Dudian , Raluca Andreea Popa

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This article analyses the relationship between sovereign credit risk rating and gross domestic product for Central and Eastern European Countries for the period 1996 – 2010. In order to study the metioned relationship, we have used a numerical transformation of the risk qualification, thus: we marked 0 the lowest risk; then, we went on ascending, with a pace of 5, up to the score of 355 corresponding to the maximum risk. The used method of analysis is that of econometric modelling with EViews 7.0. programme. This software allows the analysis of data into a pannel type system, involving a mix of periods of time and series of data for different entities. The main conclusion of the work is the one confirming the negative relationship between the sovereign credit risk and the gross domestic product for the Central European and Eastern countries during the reviewed period.

Keywords: credit rating agencies, economic growth, gross domestic product, sovereign credit risk rating.

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Authors: Nerey H. Mvungi, Justinian Anatory, Fatuma Simba

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Digital broadcasting has been an area of active research, development, innovation and business models development in recent years. This paper presents a survey on the characteristics of the digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB) standards, and implementation status of DTTB worldwide showing the standards adopted. It is clear that only the developed countries and some in the developing ones shall be able to beat the ITU set analogue to digital broadcasting migration deadline because of the challenges that these countries faces in digitizing their terrestrial broadcasting. The challenges to keep on track the DTTB migration plan are also discussed in this paper. They include financial, technology gap, policies alignment with DTTB technology, etc. The reported performance comparisons for the different standards are also presented. The interesting part is that the results for many comparative studies depends to a large extent on the objective behind such studies, hence counter claims are common.

Keywords: Digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB) technologies, DTTB standards comparison, DTTB implementation.

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Authors: Areej Azhar, Peter Duncan, David Edgar

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Due to a high unemployment rate among local people and a high reliance on expatriate workers, the governments in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have been implementing programmes of localisation (replacing foreign workers with GCC nationals). These programmes have been successful in the public sector but much less so in the private sector. However, there are now insufficient jobs for locals in the public sector and the onus to provide employment has fallen on the private sector. This paper is concerned with a study, which is a work in progress (certain elements are complete but not the whole study), investigating the effective implementation of localisation policies in four- and five-star hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of the paper is to identify the research gap, and to present the need for the research. Further, it will explain how this research was conducted. Studies of localisation in the GCC countries are under-represented in scholarly literature. Currently, the hotel sectors in KSA and UAE play an important part in the countries’ economies. However, the total proportion of Saudis working in the hotel sector in KSA is slightly under 8%, and in the UAE, the hotel sector remains highly reliant on expatriates. There is therefore a need for research on strategies to enhance the implementation of the localisation policies in general and in the hotel sector in particular. Further, despite the importance of the hotel sector to their economies, there remains a dearth of research into the implementation of localisation policies in this sector. Indeed, as far as the researchers are aware, there is no study examining localisation in the hotel sector in KSA, and few in the UAE. This represents a considerable research gap. Regarding how the research was carried out, a multiple case study strategy was used. The four- and five-star hotel sector in KSA is one of the cases, while the four- and five-star hotel sector in the UAE is the other case. Four- and five-star hotels in KSA and the UAE were chosen as these countries have the longest established localisation policies of all the GCC states and there are more hotels of these classifications in these countries than in any of the other Gulf countries. A literature review was carried out to underpin the research. The empirical data were gathered in three phases. In order to gain a pre-understanding of the issues pertaining to the research context, Phase I involved eight unstructured interviews with officials from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (three interviewees); the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund (one); the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (three); and the Abu Dhabi Development Fund (one).

In Phase II, a questionnaire was administered to 24 managers and 24 employees in four- and five-star hotels in each country to obtain their beliefs, attitudes, opinions, preferences and practices concerning localisation. Unstructured interviews were carried out in Phase III with six managers in each country in order to allow them to express opinions that may not have been explored in sufficient depth in the questionnaire. The interviews in Phases I and III were analysed using thematic analysis and SPSS will be used to analyse the questionnaire data. It is recommended that future research be undertaken on a larger scale, with a larger sample taken from all over KSA and the UAE rather than from only four cities (i.e., Riyadh and Jeddah in KSA and Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE), as was the case in this research.

Keywords: KSA, UAE, localisation, hotels, Human Resource Management.

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Authors: K. Laoubi, M. Yamao

Abstract:

In Algeria, liberalization reforms undertaken since the 1990s have resulted in negative effects on the development and management of irrigation schemes, as well as on the conditions of farmers. Reforms have been undertaken to improve the performance of irrigation schemes, such as the national plan of agricultural development (PNDA) in 2000 and the water pricing policy of 2005. However, after implementation of these policies, questions have arisen with regard to irrigation performance and its suitability for agricultural development. Hence, the aim of this paper is to provide insight into the profitability of irrigation during the transition period under current irrigation agricultural policies in Algeria. By using the method of farm crop budget analysis in the East Mitidja irrigation scheme, the returns from using surface water resources based on farm typology were found to vary among crops and farmers- groups within the scheme. Irrigation under the current situation is profitable for all farmers, including both those who benefit from subsidies and those who do not. However, the returns to water were found to be very sensitive to crop price fluctuations, particularly for non-subsidized groups and less so for those whose farming is based on orchards. Moreover, the socio-economic environment of the farmers contributed to less significant impacts of the PNDA policy. In fact, the limiting factor is not only the water, but also the lack of land ownership title. Market access constraints led to less agricultural investment and therefore to low intensification and low water productivity. It is financially feasible to recover the annual O&M costs in the irrigation scheme. By comparing the irrigation water price, returns to water, and O&M costs of water delivery, it is clear that irrigation can be profitable in the future. However, water productivity must be improved by enhancing farmers- income through farming investment, improving assets access, and the allocation of activities and crops which bring high returns to water; this could allow the farmers to pay more for water and allow cost recovery for water systems.

Keywords: Irrigation schemes, agricultural irrigation policy, farm crop budget analysis, water productivity, Algeria.

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Authors: István Patkó, Hosam Bayoumi Hamuda, András Medve, András Szeder

Abstract:

In order to efficiently solve the problems created by the deepening energy crisis affecting Europe and the world, governments cannot neglect the opportunities of using the energy produced by sun collectors. In many of the EU countries there are sun collectors producing heat energy, e.g. in 2011 in the area of EU27 (countries which belong to European Union) + Switzerland altogether 37519126 m2 were operated, which are capable of producing 26.3 GWh heat energy. The energy produced by these sun collectors is utilized at the place of production. In the near future governments will have to focus more on spreading and using sun collectors. Among the complex problems of operating sun collectors, this article deals with determining the optimal tilt angle, directions of sun collectors. We evaluate the contamination of glass surface of sun collector to the produced energy. Our theoretically results are confirmed by laboratory measurements. The purpose of our work is to help users and engineers in determination of optimal operation parameters of sun collectors.

Keywords: Heat energy, tilt angle, direction of sun collector, contamination of surface.

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Authors: A. Faro, D. Giordano, F. Maiorana

Abstract:

Data mining uses a variety of techniques each of which is useful for some particular task. It is important to have a deep understanding of each technique and be able to perform sophisticated analysis. In this article we describe a tool built to simulate a variation of the Kohonen network to perform unsupervised clustering and support the entire data mining process up to results visualization. A graphical representation helps the user to find out a strategy to optmize classification by adding, moving or delete a neuron in order to change the number of classes. The tool is also able to automatically suggest a strategy for number of classes optimization.The tool is used to classify macroeconomic data that report the most developed countries? import and export. It is possible to classify the countries based on their economic behaviour and use an ad hoc tool to characterize the commercial behaviour of a country in a selected class from the analysis of positive and negative features that contribute to classes formation.

Keywords: Unsupervised classification, Kohonen networks, macroeconomics, Visual data mining, cluster interpretation.

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