COMPUTER AIDED TEAM BUILDING FOR RESEARCH AND DESIGN PROJECTS

Building teams has a fundamental impact for execution of research and development projects. Often the success of the project depends on the competence of employees implementing these projects. Therefore, it be-comes essential to build the team where skills complement each other in terms of knowledge, personality and practical skills. On the other hand an important element is the process of assessing the candidate. The person dealing with recruitment often bases its decisions on intuition / subjective impression and they tend to be unreliable. The article presents a proposal to use Fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS methods in team building for R&D projects on the basis of employees skills using for this process the most well-known tool, namely spreadsheet

Classifying de facto exchange rate regimes of financially open and closed economies: A statistical approach

This paper offers a new de facto exchange rate regime classification that draws on the strengths of three popular classifications. Its two hallmarks are the careful treatment of a nexus between exchange rate regime and financial openness and the use of formal statistical tools (the trimmed k-means and k-nearest neighbour methods). It is demonstrated that our strategy minimises the impact of differences between market-determined and official exchange rates on the ‘fix’ and ‘float’ categories. Moreover, it is more suited to assess empirical relevance of the Mundellian trilemma and ‘irreconcilable duo’ hypotheses. Using comparative analysis we find that the degree of agreement between classifications is moderate: the null of no association is strongly rejected, but its strength ranges from low to moderate. Moreover, it is shown that our classification is the most strongly associated with each of the other classifications and as such can be considered (closest to) a centre of a space of alternative classifications. Finally, we demonstrate that unlike other classifications, ours lends more support to the Mundellian trilemma than to the ‘irreconcilable duo’ hypothesis. Overall, our classification cannot be considered a variant of any other de facto classification. It is a genuinely new classification

Classifying de facto exchange rate regimes of financially open and closed economies: A statistical approach

This paper offers a new de facto exchange rate regime classification that draws on the strengths of three popular classifications. Its two hallmarks are the careful treatment of a nexus between exchange rate regime and financial openness and the use of formal statistical tools (the trimmed k-means and k-nearest neighbour methods). It is demonstrated that our strategy minimises the impact of differences between market-determined and official exchange rates on the ‘fix’ and ‘float’ categories. Moreover, it is more suited to assess empirical relevance of the Mundellian trilemma and ‘irreconcilable duo’ hypotheses. Using comparative analysis we find that the degree of agreement between classifications is moderate: the null of no association is strongly rejected, but its strength ranges from low to moderate. Moreover, it is shown that our classification is the most strongly associated with each of the other classifications and as such can be considered (closest to) a centre of a space of alternative classifications. Finally, we demonstrate that unlike other classifications, ours lends more support to the Mundellian trilemma than to the ‘irreconcilable duo’ hypothesis. Overall, our classification cannot be considered a variant of any other de facto classification. It is a genuinely new classification

Monetary policy options for mitigating the impact of the global financial crisis on emerging market economies.

Though the hypothesis that exchange rate regimes fully predetermine monetary policy in the face of external shocks hardly finds any advocates on theoretical ground it has crept in the most of empirical research. This study adopts a more discerning empirical approach that looks at monetary policy tools used in order to accommodate the recent financial crisis. We investigated the GDP growth in 45 emerging market economies in the most intense phase of the crisis and found out that there is no clear difference in the growth performance between countries at the opposite poles of the exchange rate regime spectrum. Depreciation cum international reserve depletion outperforms the other policy options, especially the rise in the interest rate spread. We discovered certain complementarities between the information on the policy option and on exchange rate regime. Taking into account non-Gaussian settings, we decided to use quantile regression, which provide in addition, more complete picture of relationship between the covariates and the distribution of the GDP growth

The impact of the Euro area macroeconomy on energy and non-energy global commodity prices

The aim of the paper is the analysis of the links between the real and financial processes in the euro area and energy and non-energy commodity prices. Monthly data spanning from 1997:1 to 2013:12 and the structural VAR model are used to analyse the relations between global commodity prices and the euro area economy. The analysis is performed for three sub-periods in order to capture potential changes in these relations in time. The main finding of the study reveals that commodity prices in the euro area do not respond to impulses from production (the economic activity), while commodity prices strongly react to impulses from financial processes, that is, the interest rates in the euro area and the dollar exchange rate to the euro (especially in the period before the global financial crisis). The study also indicates tightening the relations between energy and non-energy commodity prices

Output volatility and exchange rates: New evidence from the updated de facto exchange rate regime classifications

This paper raises the question of whether the exchange rate regime matters for output volatility. Using the two de facto exchange rate regime classifications, it is demonstrated that the answer to this question is conditional ‘yes’. The key finding is that the exchange rate regime modifies the importance of determinants of output volatility rather than impacts it directly. This point is explained within a macroeconomic model of an open economy and is corroborated with empirical evidence for 48 advanced and emerging market economies. It is found that under the pegged regime the trade openness contributes to a reduction in output volatility, whereas the financial development has an opposite effect. Moreover, bigger economies experience lower output volatility irrespective of the exchange rate regime, albeit the beneficial size effect is stronger under floating regimes. The results do not depend on the classification employed to identify de facto pegs and floats

The impact of the Euro area macroeconomy on energy and non-energy global commodity prices

The aim of the paper is the analysis of the links between the real and financial processes in the euro area and energy and non-energy commodity prices. Monthly data spanning from 1997:1 to 2013:12 and the structural VAR model are used to analyse the relations between global commodity prices and the euro area economy. The analysis is performed for three sub-periods in order to capture potential changes in these relations in time. The main finding of the study reveals that commodity prices in the euro area do not respond to impulses from production (the economic activity), while commodity prices strongly react to impulses from financial processes, that is, the interest rates in the euro area and the dollar exchange rate to the euro (especially in the period before the global financial crisis). The study also indicates tightening the relations between energy and non-energy commodity prices

Udrożnienia przewlekłych okluzji tętnic wieńcowych : rola wielorzędowej tomografii komputerowej : opis przypadku

Nieinwazyjne metody obrazowania serca pozwalają ocenić żywotność miokardium (ocena wskazań do zabiegu) oraz ułatwić wybór strategii zabiegu i sprzętu stosowanego podczas przezskórnej interwencji wieńcowej (ang. percutaneous coronary interventions, PCI). Przedstawiamy opis zabiegu u pacjenta poddanego PCI przewlekłej okluzji tętnicy wieńcowej po diagnostyce metodami nieinwazyjnymi, w tym po wykonaniu wielorzędowej tomografii komputerowej (multi-slice computed tomography, MSCT).Non-invasive diagnostics of the heart allow one to assess myocardium viability (indication for procedure) and facilitate the choice of strategy and tools used during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We present a case of PCI of chronic total occlusion (CTO) after non-invasive diagnostics, including multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT)

Selected issues in forensic techniques

With the financial support of Internal Security Fund Police Programme European Commission Directorate General Home Affairs. This project has been founded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Naczyniakomięsak serca — pułapki diagnostyczne

Primary tumours of the heart are extremely rare. Sarcomas are considered to be the most frequent histological type. This study presents two cases with a two-week and two-month history of fatigue, fever and shortness of breath. In both cases, cardiac tumours with pericardial effusion were diagnosed by means of echocardiography, being responsible for the above-mentioned symptoms. At the beginning of the diagnostic process, sarcomas seemed to be the likeliest cause of these symptoms. Establishment of the histopathological diagnosis based on the tumour biopsy turned out to be very difficult, and this delayed further therapeutic procedures