The Role of Innovation for the Economic Growth and Development of the States. The Case of the Emerging Countries

At the beginning of the XXIst century, the importance of innovation is brought in light mainly due to the huge differences that exist between the living standard of the richest and of the poorest nations, differences that could be partly explained through the fact that the most advanced countries pay a greater attention to the intensive side of economic activity. The purpose of this paper is to determine the way in which innovation actually influences the economic growth and the prosperity of a country. Being known that between the stock of human and social capital, on one side, and the innovation, on the other side, there is a strong positive correlation, we will try to identify the possibilities that developing economies have to foster the innovation. The relationship between human capital and innovation will be analyzed in order to see how it could be optimized so that to obtain the best results on both micro and macroeconomic level. The example of China, whose fast development astonished the world, will serve as a model in reaching out our purposes.

THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AND THE LOW-COST MARKETS OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA

In order to be considered a low-cost market, the cost advantage of one or more factors of production offered by a state – generally, a developing one – must be exploited by the multinational firms. Therefore, we may speak about these markets only after 19multinational company, low-cost market, foreign direct investments, developing state, location advantages

THE CRISIS’ EFECTS ON THE STOCK OF ROMANIAN HUMAN CAPITAL

The knowledge, skills and abilities, as main aspects of human capital, have significant influences on the economic development of a country. Unfortunately, in Romania, the low level of human capital at the young people, combined with one of the Europe’s lhuman capital, education, economic development, financial crisis

The Role of Innovation for the Economic Growth and Development of the States. The Case of the Emerging Countries

At the beginning of the XXIst century, the importance of innovation is brought in light mainly due to the huge differences that exist between the living standard of the richest and of the poorest nations, differences that could be partly explained through the fact that the most advanced countries pay a greater attention to the intensive side of economic activity. The purpose of this paper is to determine the way in which innovation actually influences the economic growth and the prosperity of a country. Being known that between the stock of human and social capital, on one side, and the innovation, on the other side, there is a strong positive correlation, we will try to identify the possibilities that developing economies have to foster the innovation. The relationship between human capital and innovation will be analyzed in order to see how it could be optimized so that to obtain the best results on both micro and macroeconomic level. The example of China, whose fast development astonished the world, will serve as a model in reaching out our purposes

Recent advances in biosorption of heavy metals: support tools for biosorption equilibrium, kinetics and mechanism

Heavy metals are increasingly present in industrial wastes and effluents, which can generate serious concerns for environmental quality and human health. Consequently, there is a continuous expansion of researches for new approaches and developments to guarantee environmental cleaning-up. Although there are some physico-chemical established methods for the removal of heavy metals from various environmental compartments, biosorption gains further confidence as a reliable alternative compared to classical technologies, which are expensive and sometimes unreliable. This paper aims to analyze the biosorption as a biotechnological strategy for the decontamination of aqueous effluents containing heavy metal ions, in terms of its potential for metal immobilization and uptake. The paper also focuses on the most important parameters affecting the removal of heavy metals by various categories of biosorbents both living and non-living forms of biomass and provides new alternatives for modeling and optimization of process equilibrium and kinetics. A special attention was paid to biosorption mechanism, as a factual challenge for process optimization and scale-up. The potential benefits and problems associated to metal removal by biosorption are highlighted.Roumanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0559”, Contract 265/2011

New oral anticoagulants and their reversal agents

Atrial fibrillation is a commonly encountered pathology in medical practice, and its prevalence has shown a continuous rise over the past years. Atrial fibrillation has a significant impact on patients\u27 quality of life, not only due to the standard anticoagulant treatment with vitamin K antagonists that require close monitoring and dose adjustment, but also due to the fragile equilibrium between hemorrhagic and thrombotic risks. The introduction of new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in the treatment guidelines for atrial fibrillation has improved the quality of life, as NOACs do not require close monitoring or dose adjustments. However, even if the safety profile of the NOACs regarding the hemorrhagic risk is superior to vitamin K antagonists, the problem raised by an unexpected hemorrhage (e.g. severe hemorrhage after an accident) and the need for efficient hemostasis in a chronic anticoagulated patient has remained unsolved. To find a solution for this problem, reversal agents for NOACs have been developed and tested, and two of them, idarucizumab and andexanet-alpha, have already been approved by the FDA, thus making NOACs increasingly appealing as a choice of anticoagulation treatment

The impact of price-quality relationship on the romanian consumers

The economic literature from the middle of the XXth century underlined the fact that the price is the most relevant indicator of a product’s quality, arguing that when various goods are heterogeneous from the quality’s point of view and when their prices are significantly different, the consumers correlate the monetary sacrifice to the level of the quality. The present paper offers strong arguments that partially contradict this idea, the empirical support being represented by a study conducted by us, with the help of a questionnaire, on a sample of 500 Romanian consumers. The results obtained after the statistical tabulation of the data reveal the fact that most of the investigated persons consider that the goods with high prices do not have always a superior quality, but only sometimes. The conclusion of the study strongly sustains the idea according to which, only in the absence of other information about a product, the individuals will largely base the quality evaluation of the good on price, sometimes even overestimating the intensity of the relationship between the two indicator

Inflation – Unemployment Dilemma. A Cross-Country Analysis

According to Phillips’ study, there is an inverse link between inflation and unemployment. The major consequence of these imbalances lies in authorities’ ability to correct one of them, usually the unemployment, by influencing the components of the aggregate demand. Phillips' opinion is later countered by Friedman’s principle of currency neutrality. Together with Phelps, Friedman argues that, in the long run, the Phillips curve is vertical and any attempt to lower the unemployment below the natural rate leads to a simultaneous rise in unemployment and inflation. This paper aims to analyze the impact of the economic policy measures on the evolution of inflation and unemployment in the G7 countries, starting from the monetary criticism regarding the inefficiency of monetary impulses. In order to achieve this purpose, the developed econometric analysis tries to identify the existence and the direction of the nexus between variables, both in the short and long term, by using causality and cointegration methods, such as Granger, Granger-Wald and Johansen tests. Our findings support Phillips model on the short run, indicating that there is an inverse link between the inflation rate and the unemployment rate in the G7 states, during the analyzed period. However, on the long run, our results indicate that inflation and unemployment can coexist, fact that allows us to agree with the monetarist theories

Global Interdependence and its Effects on Social Work Education in the United States

Social workers in the United States are confronted on a daily basis with challenges reflecting the imprint of globalization. Nevertheless, research shows that most of them are not trained to deal with the global realities of the 21st century, including how to use a rights-based sustainable development approach. This article proposes the use of a rights-based development model as opposed to a charity-based approach. It provides a rationale for implementing a global perspective in social work education that addresses sustainable development consistent with social work values and unique mission. Furthermore, it proposes that it is paramount to adhere to a global perspective in social work education, especially in light of growing global interdependence in economics, communication, and human migration. The article discusses the implications of trends in online/distance education learning to global social work practice, and outlines implications of globalization and the growing global interdependence to social work theory, welfare policy, and practice. It also stresses the need to include this content in field education. The article concludes with a discussion on how to incorporate global content into social work curricula and how to overcome the barriers that may emerge in this process

The importance of the brand name in taking the consumption decisions. The case of the romanian consumers

In the economic literature, the remarks regarding the relationship between the products’ brand name and the consumption decisions can be included into a large and various opinions’ framework. While some authors argue that the brand plays a more important role in the consumption decision than the price of a product, the label being strongly correlated to a higher quality, others notice that there is a positive relation between the price, the way in which the quality is perceived and the brand loyalty. Due to this conflict of opinions, the purpose of the present paper is to analyze the way in which the individuals’ acquisition decisions are influenced or not by the products’ brand name, taking the particular case of the Romanian consumers’ behavior. The empirical support of this paper is given by an enquiry conducted on a sample of 380 persons from the North-Eastern part of Romania. The research instrument was the questionnaire, which included questions related not only to the long term products but also to the short term ones