Coopetitive game solutions for the eurozone economy

This paper aims at providing, through a game theory model of coopetition, feasible solutions in a cooperative perspective to the problems that affect the Eurozone economy after the Greek crisis. In particular, it focuses on stability and growth as the primary goals, which should drive the Eurozone economy in consequence of the financial and economic crisis of the Greek economy with its effects throughout the Euro area. By means of two coopetitive models derived by an original general analytical framework of coopetition, we show in our paper the strategies that could bring to feasible solutions in a cooperative perspective between Germany and Greece, where these feasible solutions aim at “sharing the pie fairly”, by offering a win-win outcome for both countries, within a growth path represented by a non-zero sum game. A remarkable analytical result of the paper consists in the determination of the winwin solution by a new selection method on the transferable utility Pareto boundary of the coopetitive game.Eurozone Economy, Coopetition, Game Theory

Coopetitive game solutions for the eurozone economy

This paper aims at providing, through a game theory model of coopetition, feasible solutions in a cooperative perspective to the problems that affect the Eurozone economy after the Greek crisis. In particular, it focuses on stability and growth as the primary goals, which should drive the Eurozone economy in consequence of the financial and economic crisis of the Greek economy with its effects throughout the Euro area. By means of two coopetitive models derived by an original general analytical framework of coopetition, we show in our paper the strategies that could bring to feasible solutions in a cooperative perspective between Germany and Greece, where these feasible solutions aim at “sharing the pie fairly”, by offering a win-win outcome for both countries, within a growth path represented by a non-zero sum game. A remarkable analytical result of the paper consists in the determination of the winwin solution by a new selection method on the transferable utility Pareto boundary of the coopetitive game

Coopetitive game solutions for the eurozone economy

This paper aims at providing, through a game theory model of coopetition, feasible solutions in a cooperative perspective to the problems that affect the Eurozone economy after the Greek crisis. In particular, it focuses on stability and growth as the primary goals, which should drive the Eurozone economy in consequence of the financial and economic crisis of the Greek economy with its effects throughout the Euro area. By means of two coopetitive models derived by an original general analytical framework of coopetition, we show in our paper the strategies that could bring to feasible solutions in a cooperative perspective between Germany and Greece, where these feasible solutions aim at “sharing the pie fairly”, by offering a win-win outcome for both countries, within a growth path represented by a non-zero sum game. A remarkable analytical result of the paper consists in the determination of the winwin solution by a new selection method on the transferable utility Pareto boundary of the coopetitive game

Rules, Imbalances and Growth in the Eurozone

This paper highlights the rules and institutions that have characterized the European Monetary Union during its prolonged crisis and discusses the policies implemented in the Eurozone, stressing the limits of the strategy pursued by the European authorities. It also examines the issues of current account imbalances, economic growth and the problem of debt, and their interconnections. The main purpose of the paper is to indicate some economic solutions and political arrangements in order to complete the institutional system of the EMU. This requires appropriate reforms of its institutional architecture, where a key point is fiscal union. But such reforms require changes in the treaties in order to make the Eurosystem more consistent and endowed of democratic legitimacy, so to have the tools, resources and policies necessary to contribute to the development, stability and cohesion of the Eurozone countries

Integrating Entrepreneurship into the Design Classroom: Case Studies from the Developing World

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Developing countries are more and more committed to building a knowledge-based economy as a means to diversify from their current resource-based economy. The current focus of many governments is on technology with real insights on creative economy and arts. In this context, universities are seen as a key partner of the government. This article presents the results of two innovative case studies of professors working in the College of Art and Design collaborating with a professor in the College of Business to integrate the concepts of entrepreneurship into their interior design courses. This was done through designing space for entrepreneurial projects and by the students acting as entrepreneurs themselves with an external client. This dual model of training combines (1) learning processes about the habits and the needs of entrepreneurs and (2) learning by acting as an entrepreneur. Such methods demonstrate the role of universities to provide a proper theoretical background for students and to foster entrepreneurial behaviors through arts entrepreneurship education. Furthermore, the central role of professors to introduce innovative teaching methods to combine entrepreneurship and the creative economy into non-business courses is an important finding in these case studies

Sustainability, innovation, and efficiency:A key relationship

Sustainability has become the emerging goal for countries, companies, and people. Sustainability usually refers to the need to develop models necessary for both human beings and our planet to survive. However, sustainability is not a short-term problem; it is above all a long-term issue, posing intergenerational equity problems. Moreover, sustainability needs efficiency. The efficient use of energy, natural, material, and informational resources is vital for sustainability and sustainable development, which should be the major goal of every country, as established in Rio in 1992, and reaffirmed at Rio+ 20 in 2012. But any strategy aiming at sustainability and efficient use of resources must focus on innovation and technological progress. Consequently, innovation is fundamental to making sustainability possible and improving efficiency. Yet, innovation for sustainability must be environmentally friendly (e.g., green technologies). The principle behind such a strategy is better instead of more. This paper aims at highlighting the key relationship among sustainability, innovation, and efficiency. First, it examines the concept of sustainability, looking at the neoclassical literature on sustainability and its relationship with innovation. Then, it analyzes different theoretical approaches and discusses the policy issues for sustainability where innovation, natural capital, human capital, population, and institutions are fundamental factors

Avalia??o histol?gica e histomorfom?trica da regenera??o ?ssea guiada sob membranas biol?gicas n?o reabsorv?veis em ratas osteopor?ticas com e sem tratamento com ?cido zoledr?nico

Submitted by Setor de Tratamento da Informa??o - BC/PUCRS ([email protected]) on 2016-02-12T17:10:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_JULIANO_BUSETTI_COMPLETO.pdf: 4728791 bytes, checksum: 9cc2c815f6f8eda49ba630d9796f6ea8 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-12T17:10:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_JULIANO_BUSETTI_COMPLETO.pdf: 4728791 bytes, checksum: 9cc2c815f6f8eda49ba630d9796f6ea8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-27Regeneration of lost tissues can be obtained in a predictable way by using the Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR) concept. The development of such concept is based on the observation that to regenerate a certain type of tissue, specific cells with the ability to reconstruct such kind of tissue must repopulate the wound. GBR was applied to heal different type of bone defects and the isolation of it by using resorbable and nonresorbable membranes resulted in a predictable healing through the formation of new bone. Nowadays the GBR concept is used for the treatment of multiple clinical situations in dentistry, even with dental implants. Osteoporosis is the most common chronic bone disease and may interfere in the healing of regenerative procedures. The increase in life expectancy results in a larger number of elderly patients referred for bone regeneration and dental implants. Osteoporosis is associated with aging, menopause and chronic use of some types of drugs. Regenerative protocols must be postulated taking into account this category of patients. Limited scientific evidence suggests that osteoporosis can negatively influence bone healing as well as the osseointegration of dental implants. In addition to disease, the use of drugs for its prevention and treatment may affect healing of GBR procedures. Bisphosphonates (BP) are the most frequently used drugs for treatment and prevention of osteoporosis. The drug acts mainly in the inhibition of bone resorption by its action on osteoclasts. Among the commercially prescribed BP, zoledronic acid (ZA) is known to be the most potent of all. In the first paper of this thesis osteoporosis was induced in rats and these animals were submitted to regenerative procedures comparing samples with and without osteoporosis as well as with and without the use of ZA. To assess GBR, critical size defects (CSD) were made in the animals? calvarial bone. Microporous non-resorbable PTFE (polytetrafluorethylene) membranes were used to promote GBR in healthy, osteoporotic and osteoporotic animals treated with ZA. Forty-eight Wistar rats with 6 months of age were included in the study. Experimental osteoporosis was induced by ovariectomy (OVX) associated with hipocalcic diet in 32 animals. Sixteen OVX rats received a single dose of ZA (OZ) while the other 16 osteoporotic rats received no treatment (O). The remaining 16 animals were SHAM operated; the ovaries were exposed but not removed, being considered the control group (C). Six weeks after osteoporosis induction, each animal from the OZ group received a single dose of ZA. One week latter (7 weeks after baseline) two 5-mm CSD were performed bilaterally in the parietal bones and one of these defects was treated with two membranes, one located internally, in contact to the Dura, and the other was placed on top of the defect. GBR healing periods were 30 and 60 days for each group. Evaluation of new bone formation (NBF) was done by qualitative and quantitative histological analysis. Differences in means between groups (O, OZ and C), the use of membranes as well as the observation period (days 30 and 60) were analyzed by ANOVA for each variable. When a statistically significant difference was identified between the averages, the Bonferroni post hoc test was used. The results showed that treatment with ZA (p = 0.001) and the use of membranes (p = 0.000) significantly increased the amount of regenerated bone tissue and the presence of osteoporosis may have reduced NBF (p = 0.028).Regenera??o de tecido ?sseo perdido pode ser alcan?ada de forma previs?vel utilizando-se o conceito de Regenera??o ?ssea Guiada (ROG). O desenvolvimento deste conceito ? baseado na observa??o de que para realizar a regenera??o de um tipo de tecido, c?lulas espec?ficas, com habilidade de regenerar este tecido especificamente, devem repopular a ferida. Quando ROG foi utilizada para regenera??o de v?rios tipos de defeitos ?sseos, o isolamento destes, com o uso de barreiras f?sicas reabsorv?veis e n?o reabsorv?veis, as membranas, resultou em uma cicatriza??o previs?vel atrav?s da forma??o de novo tecido ?sseo. Atualmente, o pr?nc?pio de ROG ? usado para o tratamento de v?rias situa??es cl?nicas na odontologia, com ou sem o uso associado de implantes dent?rios. Osteoporose ? a doen?a ?ssea cr?nica mais prevalente e pode interferir na cicatriza??o de procedimentos regenerativos. O aumento na expectativa de vida da popula??o resulta em um maior n?mero de pacientes idosos indicados para regenera??o ?ssea e implantes dent?rios. Considerando que a osteoporose est? relacionada com fatores como idade, menopausa e uso cr?nico de alguns tipos de f?rmacos, a preval?ncia desta doen?a ? alta. Protocolos regenerativos devem ser postulados levando-se em conta esta categoria de pacientes. Por?m, limitada evid?ncia cient?fica sugere que osteoporose pode influenciar negativamente a cicatriza??o ?ssea assim como a osseointegra??o de implantes dent?rios. Somado ? doen?a, o uso de drogas para preven??o e tratamento da osteoporose pode influenciar na cicatriza??o de procedimentos regenerativos. Bisfosfonatos (BF) s?o os f?rmacos mais utilizados para tratamento da osteoporose. A droga age na inibi??o da reabsor??o ?ssea atrav?s da sua a??o principalmente sobre os osteoclastos. Dentre os BF existentes comercialmente, o ?cido zoledr?nico (AZ) ? reconhecidamente o mais potente de todos. Sendo assim, o primeiro artigo desta tese buscou criar condi??es de osteoporose em ratas e, nestes animais, procedimentos regenerativos foram feitos comparando amostras com e sem osteoporose assim como com e sem o uso de AZ. Para avaliar ROG, defeitos cr?ticos (CSD) foram feitos na calv?ria dos animais. Membranas n?o reabsorv?veis microporosas de teflon foram utilizadas para ROG em animais saud?veis, osteopor?ticos e osteopor?ticos tratados com AZ. Quarenta e oito ratas Wistar, com 6 meses de idade, foram inclu?das no estudo. Osteoporose experimental foi induzida atrav?s de ovariectomia (OVX) associada ? dieta hipoc?lcica em 32 animais. Dezesseis ratos OVX receberam uma dose ?nica de AZ (OZ) enquanto as outras 16 ratas osteopor?ticas n?o receberam tratamento (O). Os demais 16 animais foram submetidos ? cirurgia controle, onde os ov?rios n?o foram removidos, sendo considerado o grupo controle (C). Seis semanas ap?s a indu??o da osteoporose, o grupo OZ recebeu uma dose ?nica de AZ. Ap?s mais uma semana (7 semanas ap?s OVX), dois CSD de 5 mm foram feitos, bilateralmente, nos ossos parietais, sendo que um destes defeitos foi tratado com duas membranas, uma instalada internamente ao defeito, sobre a dura mater, e outra na por??o externa. Os per?odos de cicatriza??o de ROG foram de 30 e 60 dias para cada grupo. Avalia??o da forma??o de tecido ?sseo (NBF) foi feita atrav?s de an?lise histol?gica qualitativa e quantitativa. Diferen?as entre as m?dias entre os grupos (O, OZ e C), o uso de membranas assim como o per?odo de observa??o (30 e 60 dias) foram analisados atrav?s de ANOVA para cada vari?vel. Quando uma diferen?a estat?stica era identificada entre as m?dias, o teste p?s hoc Bonferroni foi utilizado. Os resultados mostraram que o tratamento com AZ (p=0,001) e o uso de membranas (p=0,000) aumentaram significativamente a quantidade de tecido ?sseo regenerado e que a presen?a de osteoporose pode ter reduzido a forma??o de novo osso (p=0,028)

The study of electrochemically active planktonic microbes in microbial fuel cells in relation to different carbon-based anode materials

MFCs (Microbial fuel cells) are bio-electrochemical systems that convert chemical energy into electrical energy by utilizing electrochemically active bacteria.rt-qPCR (Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction) assays were used to identify the planktonic bacteria present in the production of electricity in MFCs. The relationship between the bacterial communities with different carbon-based anode materials, such as C-FELT (carbon felt), carbon felt with C-PANI (polyaniline) and C-SADDLES (carbon-coated Berl saddles), were investigated.The distribution of bacteria among the three different MFC anode materials was evaluated. Significant differences were observed for total bacteria (p < 0.01), Geobacter (p < 0.05) and Shewanella (p < 0.05). These differences were generally due to higher bacterial counts in the C-FELT anode MFC. Significant differences in maximum power density (p < 0.001) were also observed; the C-PANI MFC showed the highest maximum power density of 28.5 W/m3 when compared with the C-FELT (4.7 W/m3) and C-SADDLES (4.6 W/m3) MFCs. The greatest number of electrochemically active planktonic microbes was observed in the C-FELT MFC, whereas the C-PANI MFC had the optimum carbon-based anode material