Sustainable Local Economic Development: The Role of Informatics in Determining Municipal Revenue Management

This paper discusses the challenges undermining the ability of smaller municipalities in South Africa (SA) to raise revenue to sustain local economic development (SLED). The concept of enactment of technology-in-practice (ETiP) of Structuration Theory (ST) was adopted as a lens to understand and interpret the factors hindering the implementation of relevant legislation e.g., the municipal property rates Act of 2004 (MPRA) for SLED. The purpose of the study was to determine the role informatics can play in the implementation of MPRA to institutionalise its provisions to improve revenue collection. An extensive investigation in twenty-five (25) smaller municipalities across SA indicated a number of factors suggested by ETiP have impacted on the implementation of MPRA and property rates collection. The view is that implementation of legislation e.g., MPRA is similar to the deployment of ICT solutions in governments. Thus, in the world of social theory, legislation implementation is a socio-technical phenomenon with significant political, economic and social components. The findings of the study is a general framework as a lens through which factors influencing SLED can be understood and interpreted to provide a richer understanding of the complexity associated with the role of informatics in government revenue management to support SLED

MPRAnalyze: statistical framework for massively parallel reporter assays.

Massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) can measure the regulatory function of thousands of DNA sequences in a single experiment. Despite growing popularity, MPRA studies are limited by a lack of a unified framework for analyzing the resulting data. Here we present MPRAnalyze: a statistical framework for analyzing MPRA count data. Our model leverages the unique structure of MPRA data to quantify the function of regulatory sequences, compare sequences' activity across different conditions, and provide necessary flexibility in an evolving field. We demonstrate the accuracy and applicability of MPRAnalyze on simulated and published data and compare it with existing methods

Phenotypic Heterogeneity in Mycobacterial Stringent Response

A common survival strategy of microorganisms subjected to stress involves the generation of phenotypic heterogeneity in the isogenic microbial population enabling a subset of the population to survive under stress. In a recent study, a mycobacterial population of M. smegmatis was shown to develop phenotypic heterogeneity under nutrient depletion. The observed heterogeneity is in the form of a bimodal distribution of the expression levels of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as reporter with the gfp fused to the promoter of the rel gene. The stringent response pathway is initiated in the subpopulation with high rel activity.In the present study, we characterize quantitatively the single cell promoter activity of the three key genes, namely, mprA, sigE and rel, in the stringent response pathway with gfp as the reporter. The origin of bimodality in the GFP distribution lies in two stable expression states, i.e., bistability. We develop a theoretical model to study the dynamics of the stringent response pathway. The model incorporates a recently proposed mechanism of bistability based on positive feedback and cell growth retardation due to protein synthesis. Based on flow cytometry data, we establish that the distribution of GFP levels in the mycobacterial population at any point of time is a linear superposition of two invariant distributions, one Gaussian and the other lognormal, with only the coefficients in the linear combination depending on time. This allows us to use a binning algorithm and determine the time variation of the mean protein level, the fraction of cells in a subpopulation and also the coefficient of variation, a measure of gene expression noise.The results of the theoretical model along with a comprehensive analysis of the flow cytometry data provide definitive evidence for the coexistence of two subpopulations with overlapping protein distributions.Comment: 24 pages,8 figures, supplementary information and 5 supplementary figure

La demografia in Europa e in Us. Uno sguardo alle proiezioni a medio-lungo termine

The demographic database of Eurostat and of Us Census of Bureau are explored and the main facts are extracted and described. This paper is completely self-standing but is also part of a more general analysis dedicated to the functioning and sustainability of pay-as-you-go to finance the welfare system in developed countries. Thsi paper constitutes Chapert 2.. Chapter 1. has been already posted on MPRA. Other chapters follow

The economic theory and the Portuguese manufactured industry. Another approach

The aim of this paper is to present a further contribution to the analysis of absolute convergence, associated with the neoclassical theory, of the manufactured industry productivity at regional level and for the period from 1995 to 1999 (1)(Martinho, 2011a). This work aims, also, to test the Verdoorn Law, with the alternative specifications of (2)Kaldor (1966), for the five Portuguese regions (NUTS II), from 1995 to 1999. It is intended to test, yet in this work, the alternative interpretation of (3)Rowthorn (1975) about the Verdoorn's Law for the same regions and period (4)(Martinho, 2011b). This paper pretends, yet, to analyze the importance which the natural advantages and local resources are in the manufacturing industry location, in relation with the "spillovers" effects and industrial policies. To this, we estimate the Rybczynski equation matrix for the various manufacturing industries in Portugal, at regional level (NUTS II) and for the period 1995 to 1999 (5)(Martinho, 2011c)

Mergers and acquisitions transactions strategies in diffusion - type financial systems in highly volatile global capital markets with nonlinearities

The M and A transactions represent a wide range of unique business optimization opportunities in the corporate transformation deals, which are usually characterized by the high level of total risk. The M and A transactions can be successfully implemented by taking to an account the size of investments, purchase price, direction of transaction, type of transaction, and using the modern comparable transactions analysis and the business valuation techniques in the diffusion type financial systems in the finances. We developed the MicroMA software program with the embedded optimized near-real-time artificial intelligence algorithm to create the winning virtuous M and A strategies, using the financial performance characteristics of the involved firms, and to estimate the probability of the M and A transaction completion success. We believe that the fluctuating dependence of M and A transactions number over the certain time period is quasi periodic. We think that there are many factors, which can generate the quasi periodic oscillations of the M and A transactions number in the time domain, for example: the stock market bubble effects. We performed the research of the nonlinearities in the M and A transactions number quasi-periodic oscillations in Matlab, including the ideal, linear, quadratic, and exponential dependences. We discovered that the average of a sum of random numbers in the M and A transactions time series represents a time series with the quasi periodic systematic oscillations, which can be finely approximated by the polynomial numbers. We think that, in the course of the M and A transaction implementation, the ability by the companies to absorb the newly acquired knowledge and to create the new innovative knowledge bases, is a key predeterminant of the M and A deal completion success as in Switzerland.Comment: 160 pages, 9 figures, 37 table

A brief report of research activities of Indus Institute of Higher Eduction (IIHE) Karachi, Pakistan 2007-2010 (August)

An attempt has been made to summarize the past performance of “Indus Institute of Higher Education” (IIHE) relating to research work already done or being done in its different faculties. In fact this Institute is actively involved in research activities but never reflected them in any correspondence. This Institute is regularly publishing its academic journal with contribution from within the country and qualified researchers from abroad. Four active researchers, of this Institute, are registered and contributing articles in research journals and MPRA working paper series at national and international level. For the students of Bachelors and Masters Research Projects are mandatory for award of Degrees. The Institute has already started M.Phil and Ph.D programs and from the first batch of M.Phil a few students have already submitted their Thesis. The 2nd batch of M.Phil [16 students) is doing its thesis writing. As per HEC’s requirements every faculty have to contribute at least 2 articles at national and international level. In this respect the IIHE has planned to publish one working paper series and four e-journals in the field of textile, engineering and technology, education and economics. The management has decided to make it mandatory for every faculty to contribute at least two research papers/reports per annum. To achieve this objective Research Office has decided to train all the faculty members of the Institute through workshops etc. in order to creating awareness in Faculty members as well as students of MBA, BBA, M.Ed. and B.S.T. to use research-based structure and methodologies that are requisite for M.Phil. Or Ph.D students.Research Activities; IIHE, Cell; RePEc; Journal

A fair price for motor fuel in the United States

In the United States, there exist robust linear trends in the differences between headline (or core) CPI and price indices for individual subcategories of goods and services such as energy, food, housing, etc. Chiefly these differences can be represented by a piece-wise straight line. The periods of the transition from one trend to another are characterized by an elevated volatility. The difference between the core CPI and the price index for motor fuel can be also accurately approximated by several straight lines. In 2008, the negative trend was replaced with a positive one, and thus, a very high volatility in motor fuel price was observed, with an extension into 2009. The change in the trend was accompanied by an “overshoot” in the price for motor oil, which dropped much lower than that expected from the new trend. Therefore, the difference has to return to the new positive trend in 2009. During the recovery period, the index for motor fuel will grow by 90 units or 50%. The price for motor fuel in the US will also grow by 50% by the end of 2009. Oil price is expected to rise by ~50% as well, from its current value of ~$50 per barrel. Therefore, the fair price is not a fixed value but a linear function of time.CPI, motor fuel price, prediction, US