Facing the organic reality : the diversity of development models and their consequences on research policies

While OF&F specificity or diversity are acknowledged in many studies, the process of selecting development models is still a pending issue. Based on literature review and our experience, we propose a comprehensive description of such models. Two main axes determine four models. The first axis refers to governance patterns, whether individual or collective. The second one opposes means-based OF to system redesign. Four models are then described, and potential transitions among them are discussed. The role and nature of public policies likely to support candidate models is finally examined. On this basis, this paper intends to openly lay down the stakes of a public research policy for OF&F. As the current poli-cies generally consider implicitly OF&F as an homoge-nous entity, the authors emphasize it’s the diversity and show how the research agendas are strongly connected to the development models for OF&F

A neural blackboard architecture of sentence structure

We present a neural architecture for sentence representation. Sentences are represented in terms of word representations as constituents. A word representation consists of a neural assembly distributed over the brain. Sentence representation does not result from associations between neural word assemblies. Instead, word assemblies are embedded in a neural architecture, in which the structural (thematic) relations between words can be represented. Arbitrary thematic relations between arguments and verbs can be represented. Arguments can consist of nouns and phrases, as in sentences with relative clauses. A number of sentences can be stored simultaneously in this architecture. We simulate how probe questions about thematic relations can be answered. We discuss how differences in sentence complexity, such as the difference between subject-extracted versus object-extracted relative clauses and the difference between right-branching versus center-embedded structures, can be related to the underlying neural dynamics of the model. Finally, we illustrate how memory capacity for sentence representation can be related to the nature of reverberating neural activity, which is used to store information temporarily in this architecture

Economic impacts of the RES Obligations in Austria – an Application of the Macro-Econometric Model e3.at

The year 2008 started in January (Jan 23, 2008) with ambitious European initiatives on climate change when the European Commission suggested a climate packages with new targets for energy from renewable sources (RES), for the design of the third phase of the emission trading system, for a directive on carbon capture and storage systems (CCS), for the fuel directive, and a directive on CO2 limit for new vehicles. Several of these proposed directives have been an issue of fierce discussion during the year, especially as the extent of the financial crisis gradually came to the fore and the fears of a worldwide economic crisis grew. At the end of 2008, however, the package passed the European parliament (Dec. 17, 2008) though several concessions had to be made concerning the emission trading system or the vehicle directive. However, seemingly unaffected by current fears and therefore largely unaltered the directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources in Europe passed with a rather high amount of “yes” votes of the whole package, indicating that the support for energy from renewable sources still seems strong. The Directive “establishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources. It sets mandatory national targets for the overall share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy and for the share of energy from renewable sources in transport.” (COM(2008)0019 – C6-0046/2008 – 2008/0016(COD) The national overall targets are set individually for each country and the required increases compared to 2005 are as low as 22% (Sweden, Latvia) or as high as more than 1000% in the case of the UK (c.f. full table in the Appendix). Each country will have to develop a strategy for a sustainable pathway to reach the target. Though the strategic decisions will be on the national levels for each country, the knowledge of the targets for the European Community provides useful information to back the decision. Domestic support of RES technologies can induce a lead market and create international export opportunities. Observing the strategies of the other EC member states will affect the choice of the national efficient and effective policy mix. Austria is an interesting case study insofar as it already uses renewable energy to a large extent (23.3% in 2005) and still has to increase it by almost 50% to 34% by 2020. This increase will come with large necessary investments and will require a combined energyefficiency strategy. To answer the question how and at what overall economic costs in terms of GDP and employment effects the targets can be reached a scenario has to be developed and tested with the help of a model that reflects the economic and environmental interdependences. Therefore, to analyze the overall effects a highly interdependent resource economic modeling approach is needed. The macro-econometric model e3.at has been developed to answer such questions. The article is organized as following. Section 2 describes the model e3.at. Section 3 suggests an energy-efficiency scenario that meets the EC’s targets. Section 4 presents modeling results and section 5 concludes.Austria, Macro-Econometric Model, e3.at, Economic impacts, RES Obligations

The Economics of Medical Tourism A Case Study for the USA and India

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate a simple Ricardian model of international trade for health care industries of the USA and India. Our motivation is to illustrate that specialization and free trade result in gains from international trade. We will shed some light on the economics of outbound as well as inbound medical tourism. By adopting the model of comparative advantage to the costs of medical surgeries, we will show that trade between our two model countries – India and the USA – is beneficial to both of them. By specializing on the type of surgery they are most efficient in producing, it will enhance the well being of both nations. Numerical examples and graphical presentations help to support our arguments. In addition, we will lift some of the more restrictive assumptions. By including transportation costs, barriers of trade as well as a larger variety of surgical services, the central message of the beneficial effect of specialization still remains, even though the general picture becomes slightly blurred. There is evidence for support of a more multi-polar international system of trade in medical services.medical tourism, Ricardian model, comparative advantage, international trade, gains from trade

Dividing up an Inheritance Successfully – Significant International Variations Surprising Results of an Internet Experiment

Ultimatum bargaining game, experimental economics, fairness and economic rationality

Challenges Ahead in 2021 & 2022

-