The social benefits of water and sanitation projects in Northern Colombia: Cost‐Benefit Analysis,the Water Poverty Index and beyond

Water, and Sanitation projects play an important role in alleviating water‐related poverty in developing countries. There are several methodologies that will not only assess the performance of these projects but will also help to better identify the problem and its characteristics, and to improve the efficiency of the investment. The Water Poverty Index is one of them. It is a very useful tool that helps to measure water stress at the household level in a holistic way, and to identify priorities. It is important, however, to complement it with a Cost‐Benefit Analysis that will take into account the costs of the project. A case study in Northern Colombia illustrates this point.     

论会计管制与会计制度弹性

企业的契约本质决定了会计作为制造共同知识和控制机制在企业实施的必然性.信息不对称与机会主义等促使企业实施会计管制.囿于环境的复杂性、不完全信息和有限理性等,会计管制制度必须具有弹性.会计制度弹性空间作为公共区域,必然存在攫取租金的机会主义行为.计算并披露会计制度弹性信息有助于降低信息不对称,提高市场效率.     

高职《食品分析》课程实践教学改革的探讨

《食品分析》实践教学是食品专业的一个重要的教学环节,为培养创新人才、提高学生的实验动手能力,我们在《食品分析》实验课教学中,通过从实验教学的课程体系、教学方法和手段、考核方式等方面进行了探讨,对课程实践教学改革做了一些有益的尝试和探索。     

基于成本-效益分析的企业技术创新策略选择

以企业效益最大化为分析前提,假设企业仅面临着开展或不开展技术创新两种策略选择,并假设两种策略的收入与成本函数均为线性函数.在此基础上运用成本-效益分析法,讨论在不同情况下企业的技术创新策略选择及其判别条件,并对分析结论的经济涵义给予解释.     

房地产预警指标体系及综合预警方法研究

 本文在对常用的房地产预警指标体系选择方法及筛选流程进行分析的基础上,提出了一种主、客观相结合的房地产预警指标选择方法,即先采用综合分析方法对指标进行初次选择,然后用聚类分析和相关分析相结合的方法进行再次选择。最后建立了武汉市房地产预警指标系统,并进行了房地产综合预警。     

Ambiguous Criteria Weights in AHP: Consequences and Solutions*

Two related streams of criticism of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) have not yet been satisfactorily resolved, although both date from the early 1980s. The first relates to ambiguity in the meaning of the relative importance of one criterion as compared to another. The second is concerned with reversals of rank alleged to be possible when new options are introduced in an AHP problem. Both proponents and critics of AHP agree that rank reversals occur, but disagree on the legitimacy of such reversals. This paper shows that there is a necessary correspondence between the manner in which criteria importances are interpreted and computed and the manner in which the weights of the options under each criterion are normalized. In general, if this relationship is ignored, incorrect weights are generated for options under consideration regardless of whether new options are added or deleted. A rank reversal on the addition of an option is merely symptomatic of this fact, and such reversals do not occur when the correspondence condition is met.     

Some Cautions on the Measurement of User Information Satisfaction*

User information satisfaction (UIS) is important because of its potential effects on MIS department goals, quality of user work life, and extent of voluntary usage of systems. Reliable measurement of UIS is important for providing evaluative information for both researchers and practitioners. This study used 92 managers and executives as subjects to compare the test/retest reliability of a widely used, 13-scale UIS instrument together with four summary questions under experimental and control conditions. The summary questions behaved more reliably than the detailed questions for all groups, perhaps because of problems with scale units and origins and with item heterogeneity. This suggests that researchers need more reliable measures of UIS and that practitioners need to exercise caution when collecting and interpreting UIS scores.     

Translation and factor analysis of structural models of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in Serbian pregnant and postpartum women – Web-based study

BackgroundThe Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is well accepted for detecting symptoms of postnatal depression. The aim of this study was to examine psychometric properties and to evaluate structural models of the Serbian translation of EPDS in pregnant and postpartum women.MethodsThe original English version of the EPDS was translated into Serbian, and checked by means of back-translation. Data were collected via an anonymous online questionnaire posted on a Serbian website devoted to pregnancy topics. The study sample included 201 women (76 pregnant, 125 postpartum). The internal consistency of the scale was measured by Cronbach's α coefficient. Principal component analysis was used to determine scale dimensions while confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate model fit.FindingsCronbach α coefficient was 0.84 and 0.83 in pregnant and postpartum women, respectively, which indicated good internal consistency of the Serbian EPDS. Three dimensions of the scale were revealed in both groups of women. Goodness of fit indices described good and excellent model in pregnant and postpartum women, respectively. High level of depression symptoms (score ≥13) was recorded in 27.6% and 24.8% (p > 0.05) of pregnant and postpartum women, respectively. Moderate level of depression symptoms (score 10–12) was recorded in 21.1% and 16.8% (p > 0.05) of pregnant and postpartum women, respectively.ConclusionThe Serbian translation of the EPDS showed good consistency and good model characteristics in pregnant and postpartum women. However, cut-off values, sensitivity and specificity of the scale should be determined in the further studies with more representative samples of women.     

FDI Determinants: Case of Romania

Even if the FDI is important for all host countries, for those in the process of transition to a market economy the FDI presence is critical under many respects. Not all transition countries benefited from the very beginning from the FDI presence. Several determinant factors explain the differences. Romania was lagging behind regarding the interest of foreign investors during the first 9–10 years of transition. The situation has improved greatly. The aim of this paper is to identify the main factors determining the evolution in the FDI/GDP (%) as proxy for the FDI evolution. To this end, we used the method of factors analyses. The four resulted determinant factors are: Market size and potential, Reform progress, Business liberalization, and Labor cost. A linear regression model expresses the connections between dependent variable and the four determinant factors. The paper concludes with certain policy implications.

DIVERSIFICATION GAINS FROM INCLUDING REAL ESTATE IN MIXED-ASSET PORTFOLIOS*

Diversification gains in mean-variance efficiency derived from including real estate in financial asset portfolios are examined. Optimal financial and mixed-asset portfolios were generated by selecting from an investment universe including several distinct financial and real estate media. Deficiencies of previous studies were overcome by employing data with improved representativeness and comparability. The efficient mixed-asset portfolios dominated the efficient financial asset portfolios implying that purely financial asset diversification is inefficient. The optimal mixed-asset portfolio prescribed that approximately two-thirds of the investment wealth be allocated to real estate and one-third to the financial media.