The Analytic Network Process of Indonesia's Bioethanol: Future Direction of Competitive Strategy and Policy

Increased consumption of fossil fuel has been an escalating debate related to its limited deposit and global warming issue. Recently, the oil price tends to rise. Bioethanol has been considered as an alternative substitute for fossil fuel because it is renewable and environmentally friendly. Indonesia plans to develop the bioethanol industry since 2006 but until 2011 it has not been realized yet besides its well planned blue-print and target. This study is aimed to determine factors affecting the competitiveness of the bioethanol industry as well as to select a competitive strategy. Data collection was conducted from April to December 2010 in six cities. Analytic Network Process (ANP) was used as a method in this study. There were four categories, namely problems, alternative of solutions, policies, and strategies. Results from the development of bioethanol competitive industry framework suggested that: (1) sugarcane is considered the most potential resource for bioethanol raw material, (2) government's lack of coordination is the main problem for developing competitiveness, and (3) a new bioethanol blueprint policy with a through stakeholder strategy to increase competitiveness of the bioethanol industry in Indonesia is needed

Ranking effective factors on production of electronic brand among private banks of Iran

The purpose of the present study is to use analytic hierarchy process for ranking the effective factors on production of electronic brand, to use the DEMATEL method to find the intensity of influence of effective factors on production of electronic brand, and to use the TOPSIS method for ranking the five banks including Saman Bank, Sarmayeh Bank, Parsian Bank, Pasargad Bank, EN Bank in Iran. From the analytic hierarchy process results, we understood that “the security and easy to use” is the most important effective factors on production of electronic brand. The results of DEMATEL method showed that “quality of relationship with customer and reputation” is the most influence and the strongest connection to other criteria. Finally, the results of DEMATEL method indicated that EN Bank and Saman Bank were regarded as the best banks

Putting Power Back Into Growth Theory

distribution hierarchy energy growth neoclassical economics power* Winner of the 2014 RECASP Essay Prize * Neoclassical growth theory assumes that economic growth is an atomistic process in which changes in distribution play no role. Unfortunately, when this assumption is tested against real-world evidence, it is systematically violated. This paper argues that a reality-based growth theory must reject neoclassical principles in favour of a power-centered approach. Building on Nitzan and Bichler’s Capital as Power hypothesis, I argue that hierarchy formation is an integral part of the growth process. I hypothesize that the role of capital accumulation (through profit) is to facilitate hierarchy formation by legitimizing the authority of capitalists

The pragmatization of love : a study of the concepts of hierarchy, encounter, and epoche

This study is presented in narrative form and develops perspectives upon the topic of love. The foundational implication of this research is that in acknowledging our common ground we experience the mutuality from which we may prosper human well-being. Experiences of mutuality and reciprocity will be regarded as unfolding the realms of love. I intend to describe, contrast, and integrate concepts of hierarchy, and dialogical encounter to pose the situation of love. Hierarchy denotes stratification with an uneven distribution of control. The impulse to control can be witnessed in technology; thus our culture, in its utilitarianism, supports an environment which is looked upon as increasingly technological in its concerns and hierarchical in its composition. Division, alienation, and dehumanization are pervasive descriptors and indicative of destructiveness. Analysis of the concepts of hierarchy and encounter allows for the discussion of factors dehumanizing and humanizing the world and are bound within the theme of the pragmatization of love. This theme contains a two-fold meaning. One is articulated in objectification which lessens human being; and the other, the Utopian generative meaning, aspires toward bettering the world of shared living

Putting Power Back Into Growth Theory

Neoclassical growth theory assumes that economic growth is an atomistic process in which changes in distribution play no role. Unfortunately, when this assumption is tested against real-world evidence, it is systematically violated. This paper argues that a reality-based growth theory must reject neoclassical principles in favour of a powercentered approach. Building on Nitzan and Bichler’s Capital as Power hypothesis, I argue that hierarchy formation is an integral part of the growth process. I hypothesize that the role of capital accumulation (through profit) is to facilitate hierarchy formation by legitimizing the authority of capitalists

‘Feminism: Confronting a Contradiction’

The contemporary debate centering round the circumference of feminist discourse has of late been very potent in addressing the issues of certain prejudiced notions in our existing patriarchal structure. This paper is an attempt to show the ongoing paradox existing in the world of feminism which has thoroughly critiqued the patriarchal culture and has naturalized sexual identities, thereby glorifying man’s supremacy and dominion. The patriarchal culture lionized the ideals of brevity, courageousness, and intellect and thought of these as the only special possessions of man in society. The qualities of being submissive, kind and caring in nature is considered to be “ideal” and exclusive qualities of a woman. Even though these qualities are “ideal” to women, they are discarded from being considered as universal in nature and are thought of as insignificant in the mainstream societal structure. These qualities are treated as inferior, and exclusively womanly and hence cannot make their stand in the conventional patriarchal social order. For this reason a dilemmatic situation arises here. My effort is to show that this dilemma cannot be exposed in the sense of gender specific human qualities

Analysing dimensions and indicators to design energy education framework in Malaysia using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)

In order to progress towards a more sustainable energy future, Malaysia should reduce its reliance on fossil-based energy sources and shifting to green and renewable energy. Therefore, focus on energy education awareness programmes emphasising sustainable behaviours and frameworks are required. These programmes connect with Sustainable Development Goal 7 of the United Nations, which is to provide affordable and clean energy. In this study, dimensions and indicators of a framework for energy education were studied and evaluated in an effort to improve decision making. This study systematic approach comprised a review of relevant literature and consultation with an ad hoc panel of energy education experts via surveys, interviews, and questionnaires. This study also included an analytic hierarchy process to evaluate the framework’s criteria selection, alternative indicators, and priority or weights. The results indicated that the “Aim to minimise climate change” dimension is deemed the most essential criterion for selecting energy education dimension criteria. On the other hand, “National policy makers” is the most essential stakeholder across all parties. It has been determined that the use of analytic hierarchy process to the design of the framework for energy education in Malaysia could help simplifies a systematic decision-making process

Density or Distinction? The Roles of Data Structure and Group Detection Methods in Describing Adolescent Peer Groups

Despite cross-disciplinary interest in social influence among adolescent peer groups, significant variations in collecting and analyzing peer network data have not been explored, so it is difficult to disentangle substantive and methodological differences in peer influence studies. We analyze two types of network data (self-reported friendships and multi-informant reports of children who “hang around together a lot”) with three methods of identifying group structures (two graph theoretic approaches and principal components analysis) to explore substantive differences in results. We then link these differences back to underlying features of the networks, allowing greater insight into the general problem of identifying groups in network data. We find that different analytic approaches applied to the same network data produced moderately concordant group solutions, with higher concordances for multi-informant data. The same analytic approaches applied to different relational data (on the same nodes) produced weaker concordance, suggesting that the underlying data structure may be more salient than analytic approach in accounting for different results across studies. Behavioral similarity among group members was greatest for approaches that rest directly on density of direct ties

Development of a Knowledge Management System for Energy Driven by Public Feedback

The Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department and the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom, is proposing to create an open web platform that makes high-quality scientific data on energy sources readily available, assembles those data into metrics more suitable to the general public’s knowledge and interest (e.g. impact on the family’s budget or green house gas emission), and visually renders such information in a straightforward manner

Culture Rules: The Foundations of the Rule of Law and Other Norms of Governance

This study presents evidence about relations between national culture and social institutions. We operationalize culture with data on cultural dimensions for over 50 nations adopted from cross-cultural psychology and generate testable hypotheses about three basic social norms of governance: the rule of law, corruption, and accountability. These norms correlate systematically and strongly with national scores on cultural dimensions and also differ across cultural regions of the world. Regressions indicate that quantitative measures of national culture are alone remarkably predictive of governance, that economic inequality and British heritage add to predictive power, but that economic development and other factors add little. The results suggest a framework for understanding the relations between fundamental institutions of social order as well as policy implications for reform programs in transition economies.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39991/3/wp605.pd