Operational asset replacement strategy : a real options approach

This article analyses the problem of replacement by investigating the optimal moment of investment replacement in a given tax environment with a given depreciation policy. An operation and maintenance cost minimization model, based on the definition of equivalent annual cost, is applied to a real options paradigm. The developed methodology allows for an innovative evaluation of the flexibility of replacement process analysis. A new two- factor evaluation function is introduced to quantify decisions of asset replacement under a unique cycle environment. This study improves upon previous findings in the literature as it accounts for autonomous salvage value processes. Based on partial differential equations, this model achieves a general analytical solution and particular numerical solution. The results differ significantly from those observed in one-factor models by showing evidence of over-evaluation in optimal levels of replacement, and by confirming suspicions that different types of uncertainties produce non-monotonous effects on the optimal replacement level. The scientific contribution of this study lies in new and stronger approaches to equivalent annual cost literature, supplying an algorithm for operation and maintenance cost minimization that is conditioned by autonomous salvage value. This study also contributes to the real options literature by developing of a two-factor model with Brownian processes applied to asset replacement.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of recommender systems in streaming environments

Evaluation of recommender systems is typically done with finite datasets. This means that conventional evaluation methodologies are only applicable in offline experiments, where data and models are stationary. However, in real world systems, user feedback is continuously generated, at unpredictable rates. Given this setting, one important issue is how to evaluate algorithms in such a streaming data environment. In this paper we propose a prequential evaluation protocol for recommender systems, suitable for streaming data environments, but also applicable in stationary settings. Using this protocol we are able to monitor the evolution of algorithms' accuracy over time. Furthermore, we are able to perform reliable comparative assessments of algorithms by computing significance tests over a sliding window. We argue that besides being suitable for streaming data, prequential evaluation allows the detection of phenomena that would otherwise remain unnoticed in the evaluation of both offline and online recommender systems.Comment: Workshop on 'Recommender Systems Evaluation: Dimensions and Design' (REDD 2014), held in conjunction with RecSys 2014. October 10, 2014, Silicon Valley, United State

International Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer: The CDM´s Reality in China

Entrepreneurship as a determinant of economic growth and innovation intensity has been increasingly used by governments for shaping public policies with sustainable development purposes. This chapter positions the Clean Development Mechanism as an example of an international technology transfer mechanism that can stimulate knowledge spillovers in the host economies. Taking as reference the Chinese context, a benchmarking approach is proposed to assess the performance of distinct mechanisms of climate friendly technology transfers. This is particularly relevant since it is an innovative attempt for addressing the caveat found in the literature of international entrepreneurship and technology transfer, especially focused in the need for developing both qualitative and quantitative analyses about distinct experiences in adopting technology transfer mechanisms into developing countries. This is useful not only in the scope of global efforts to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases, but also in the accomplishment of sustainable development goals of host economies. Moreover, from the current proposal an operative tool is derived for guiding the action of policy makers, managers and practitioners engaged in the field of Energy Entrepreneurship.Benchmarking; Clean Development Mechanism; CDM, International Entrepreneurship; Technology Transfer.

The conceptual question among sovereignty, biopolitics and law: a sensible point between Foucault and Agamben

The concept of biopolitics has its origin on the Michel Foucault works developped since 1975 to 1979. In this period, the author introduced the foundations for a new approach about the modern government, based in both crescent enpowerment on individuals and the control of populations. The theme has attracted the attentions of some critical political studies, with many practical uses. However, I believe there is not enough consolidation about biopolitics as a concept and a comprehensive theory of the new political mechanisms. This uncertainness is more evident when the very role of Law is questioned in a biopolitical model, due to the archaic nature that Foucault gives to it. So the aim of the paper is to identify the theorical comprehension of biopolitics in a contemporary author as Giorgio Agamben to demonstrate his oppositions and proximities from the original idea of Michel Foucault. I propose that Agamben has the same difficulties of Foucault to deal with legal theory and Law inside biopolitics. Nevertheless, after a critical review on the works of this two authors, my conclusion is that a settlement of the concepts of Law and biopolitics depends of the surpassing of the Foucaldian version of Law as sovereignity, a clear delimitation of a common core between the authors and their differences and the research and affirmation of the concept of Law in Agamben, more well-refined than Foucault's one

External dependency, value added generation and structural change: an inter-industry approach

The external dependency of many industries and the corresponding low value added generated in production, combined with a relatively weak export potential, create high external deficits and growing debt to GDP ratios in several open economies. In this paper we propose an empirical method to assess the evolution of these vulnerabilities, based on a new treatment of interindustry production multipliers. The (gross)output growth potential given by the column sums of the Leontief inverse matrix (backward linkage indicators) results from three terms: interindustry consumptions, value added and imported inputs. After a convenient arrangement of these terms, the evolution of backward linkage indicators can be used to detect structural changes, particularly quantifying a (net) growth effect (more value-added generation) and an external dependency effect (more imported inputs), and to classify the productive sectors accordingly. An application to the Portuguese Economy is made, using input-output tables for the years 1980, 1995 and 2005. This method can also be useful as a simple, but suggestive, device to compare the evolution of two or more economies, along their development processes in time.