62 research outputs found
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No full textProceedings of the International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence187-194PCTI
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED REPORT LITERATURE
No full textAn annotated bibliography is presented containing 698 references to unclassifled reports on currert and proposed ranioactive waste processing and disposal practices for solutions from radiochemical processing plants and laboratories, decontamination of surfaces, air cleaning, and other related subjects. Author, corporate author, subject, and report nuunber indexes are included. (auth
Evaluating keyword selection methods for WEBSOM text archives
No full text10.1109/TKDE.2003.1262193IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering163380-383ITKE
Extracting meaningful labels for WEBSOM text archives
No full textInternational Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, Proceedings41-4
Generalized Associative Memory Models for Data Fusion
No full textProceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks42528-253385OF
Competition in network industries
No full textA wave of privatization is sweeping the globe, affecting about 100 countries and adding up to an average of more than $60 billion a year in business in the past decade. The challenge is to ensure that privatization yields clear benefits. Empirical studies suggest that ownership change by itself will often yield results, especially when it reduces government interference. But the regulation required in areas of natural monopoly can become overly intrusive and undermine progress. Real competition is required to generate sizable and lasting welfare improvements. But in infrastructure sectors, the introduction of competition is complicated by the existence of complex transport and communications networks. Debate about whether and how to introduce competition in network industries is sometimes heated. Certain questions recur: Will continuing regulation be needed? Whether and at what terms will private finance be forthcoming? The author argues that policymakers need to understand how competitive forces can be brought to bear in network industries. He explains the following: 1) common principles that are often lost in"technical"debates about specific sectors; 2) various methods for introducing competition in network industries; 3) competition for the market, and bidding for franchises; 4) options for competition for existing networks; 5) options for expanding competitive systems by decentralizing investment in new network capacity; 6) the option of allowing competition among multiple networks; and 7) the implications of these options for the sectors and for financing industry expansion. In case of doubt, he contends, policymakers should not restrict the entry of competitive firms in such networks. If they do, entry restrictions should be subject to an automatic test after a set period, and reviewed for costs and benefits.Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,Markets and Market Access,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access,Environmental Economics&Policies
Research on land markets in South Asia : what have we learned?
No full textThe authors review the literature on land markets in South Asia to clarify what's known and to highlight unresolved issues. They report that: (1) We have a good understanding of why sharecropping persists and why it can be superior to other standard agricultural contracts. We have less understanding of what determines the relative efficiency of sharecropping in different environments and why other apparently superior contractual relationships are rare. (2) Insecure rights to land adversely affect production and investment incentives in areas outside of South Asia, but in South Asia strong evidence linking investment and rights to production is scarce. (3) An inverse relationship between farm size and output per unit area is a recurrent feature in data from South Asia, apparently related to land-labor interactions. (4) Although small farms seem to be more efficient than large ones, small farmers have trouble raising their profitability and enlarging their holding, largely because of credit constraints, but also because of poverty and policy that discriminates against them. (5) Misguided land reform in the past has made tenancy unattractive to landowners, so large capital-intensive farms have developed. Political economic analysis is needed to explain the failure of past land reform, as well as distortions in agricultural input and output markets in (6) South Asia. Land fragmentation (as distinguished from farm size) has caused productivity losses. Those losses have not been quantified and the reasons fragmentation persists are poorly understood. (7) Transaction costs are a significant impediment to functioning land markets. In South Asia, transfers of land rights are complicated by lack of explicit title to land, and by informal and customary rights. (8) One pressing research problem is gender discrimination, an important factor in land market imperfections -especially (within the household) the separation of land management and its control. Research needs include more systematic regional comparisons, the use of more panel data, and an investigation of how agricultural productivity is affected by gender problems and land fragmentation.Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Land Use and Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Rural Land Policies for Poverty Reduction,Land Use and Policies
Population and Poverty: A Review of the Links, Evidence and Implications for the Philippines
No full textThe article reviews trends in population and poverty, compares population and development between the Philippines and Thailand over the last 40 years, discusses the theoretical links between population and poverty as well as the empirical evidence, and finally its implications for policy. The author emphasizes the primacy of growth as a development strategy in reducing poverty and perhaps inequality, as well as better fertility management--particularly among the poor--aimed at the potential development benefits arising from demography.poverty, population, inequality, demographic changes
Social safety net and the poor during the transition : the case of Bulgaria
No full textUsing data from the 1992 Bulgarian household budget survey, the authors analyze the structure of income in Bulgaria, identifying who the poor are and how they are reached by the social safety net. Their main findings about household incomes: (a) Social transfers provide an extremely large component - 24 percent - of household income per capita. That is roughly on a par with the share in other Eastern European countries but more than 40 percent higher than the share of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. (b) Wage earnings have declined as a source of income, reflecting the counteraction of the state sector. Wage income in Bulgaria has declined to only half the OECD level. (c) Income from self-employment has increased, reflecting the surge in small-scale retail establishments. Income is considerably less concentrated in Bulgaria than in other lower-middle-income countries. The author's main findings about the poor (the bottom 20 percent in terms of household income): The head of household in a poor home tends to be older, a woman, poorly educated, and unemployed. Poor households are not necessarily larger households in Bulgaria, unlike in other developing countries. The sources of income in poor Bulgarian households reflect other findings: (a) The poor depend for more than half their income on social benefits (especially pensions), indicating the importance of the social safety net. (b) The social safety net is not well targeted. Most social benefits are pro-poor, in the sense that they improve income distribution, but many benefits accrue to better-off households. There is substantial scope for better distribution of income. The authors conclude that comprehensive reform of social benefits is needed, focusing on pensions, unemployment benefits, child allowances, and social assistance.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Services&Transfers to Poor,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Inequality,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Services&Transfers to Poor,Safety Nets and Transfers
Conflict and cooperation in managing international water resources
No full textWater is often not confined within territorial boundaries so conflicts may arise about shared water resources. When such boundaries lie within a federal state, conflicts may be peacefully and efficiently resolved under law, and if the state fail to reach an agreement, the federal government may impose one. Similar international conflicts are more difficult to resolve because no third party has the authority to enforce an agreement among national states, let alone impose one. Such international agreements must be self-enforcing. Efficient outcomes may emerge, but are not guaranteed. International law may emphasize the doctrine of"equitable utilization"of water resources, but there is no clear definition of what this implies. In the Colorado River case, the polluter (the United States) agreed to pay for all the costs of providing the downstream neighbor (Mexico) with clean water. In the Rhine River case, the downstream country (the Netherlands) agreed to pay part - but not all - of the costs of cleanup. In Colombia River Treaty case, both parties agreed to incur construction costs on their side of the border and share evenly the gross (not the net) benefit. This division may well have yielded a smaller net benefit to the United States than unilateral development would have, but the United States ratified the treaty. Negotiated outcomes need not to maximize net benefits for all countries. To some extent, inefficiencies can be traced to the desire to nationalize resources rather than to gain from cooperative development. The Indus Waters Treaty, for example, divided the Indus and its tributaries between India and Pakistan, rather than exploit joint use and development of the basin. Both efficiency and equity should be considered in agreements for managing international water resources. The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan did not reserve water for upstream riparians - notably, Ethiopia. A basinwide approach could make use of Nile waters more efficient and benefit all three riparians: Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Construction of dams in Ethiopia would give that country irrigation, would eliminate the annual Nile flood, and would increase the total water available to Ethiopia and Sudan. In negotiations over use of the Nile, the net benefits of basinwide management, and the ways these three riparians could share equitably in gains, should be demonstrated. In the 1980s, Egypt did not run short of water because Sudan did not take its full allocation and because Ethiopia did not withdraw any water from the basin. Increased water demand will inevitably create tension between the states.Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Law,Water Resources Law,Water and Industry
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