Search results for "Productivity."
showing 10 items of 557 documents
IS evolution benefit assessment: Challenges with economic investment criteria
2007
Maintenance and system evolution activities have a significant role in the information system (IS) life cycle. It has been estimated that approximately 80% of the total IT expenses are allocated for maintenance activities [20]. According to Lehman’s first law, maintenance is necessary, because software needs to be continuously improved or it will get out of date and cannot respond to the requirements of its environment [19]. Despite the importance of IS evolution investments, there is a gap between the IT related costs and company profitability [27]. Brynjolfssen [10] described this as a productivity paradox: information technology utilization has increased since the 70’s but simultaneously…
CAPITAL FLOW BONANZAS AS A FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENT IN SPAIN'S FINANCIAL CRISES, 1850-2015
2020
El trabajo analiza los mecanismos a través de los cuales los flujos de capital produjeron inestabilidad financiera en España durante un período de 165 años. Se estudia por qué y cómo las bonanzas de capital hacen que las crisis sean más probables y severas, y si su incidencia varía en función de los tipos de crisis (crisis cambiaria, bancaria y de deuda). Concluimos que la mayoría de ellas se produjeron en diferentes regímenes de política monetaria pero que se asociaron a bonanzas de capital en un marco regulatorio liberal, lo que contribuyó a una mayor probabilidad y a una mayor gravedad de las crisis. El análisis de los diferentes regímenes de política monetaria, las estructuras financier…
Cultivation and biochemical characterization of isolated Sicilian microalgal species in salt and temperature stress conditions
2021
Abstract In the last years, the possibility to exploit autochthone microalgae in regional applications has been explored. The regional-based microalgal industry may bring several benefits, as autochthone microalgae are already adapted to the biotic and abiotic stresses of their environment. In this work, this concept was applied to Sicily, in which three microalgal strains were collected from the coastline. Monoalgal strains were then isolated and molecular characterization was performed for the species determination. Three of them, two strains of Chlorella and one of Dunaliella, were cultivated in lab-scale in four different conditions: Low Temperature-Low Salt (LT-LS), High-Temperature-Lo…
Periphyton pigment analyses using paper chromatography
1983
Paper chromatography was used to study the community structure, the proportion of degraded chlorophylls to the total pigment content, and the chlorophyll and carotenoid content of the epilithic periphyton algae from Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada. Analyses were made using both samples directly from the lake and cultured periphytic algae. The extraction was made with boiling 100% methanol; two dimensional chromatography was used to separate the pigments. The relative contribution of different pigment fractions to total light absorption by the complete periphyton extract was estimated by planimetric integration of absorption curves. From the pigment structure, estimates were made of the propor…
THE NEED FOR THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE IN THE CONTEXT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE ENHANCE QUALITY OF LIFE
2012
The professional life of the individual in society should become a major goal of the employment policies and strategies, a goal considered science and art. Starting from the Europe`s demographic paradox, it is concluded the need to use at full capacity the human resources of the EU27, by maximizing the efficiency of each individual of the society. Based on criteria of choice a caree and of the satisfaction - productivity report it is detailed the importance of counselling to optimize the relationship skills / utility in the society. In the end, a series of conclusions and suggestions are presented on the current and future way of addressing employment, education, continuous lifelong profess…
Ecological risk assessment of pesticides in the Mijares River (eastern Spain) impacted by citrus production using wide-scope screening and target qua…
2021
The widespread use of pesticides, especially in agricultural areas, makes necessary to control their presence in surrounding surface waters. The current study was designed to investigate the occurrence and ecological risks of pesticides and their transformation products in a Mediterranean river basin impacted by citrus agricultural production. Nineteen sites were monitored in three campaigns distributed over three different seasons. After a qualitative screening, 24 compounds was selected for subsequent quantitative analysis. As expected, the lower section of the river was most contaminated, with total concentration >5 µg/L in two sites near to the discharge area of wastewater treatment pla…
Exploring the sources of labour productivity growth and convergence in the Italian regions: some evidence from a production frontier approach
2009
This paper investigates labour productivity growth and regional convergence patterns in Italy over the time span 1982–2000. Starting from some evidence of spatial polarisation within Italian economy, the analysis aims at exploring the sources of this tendency. To this end, an approach based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) production frontiers is employed which allows to decompose labour productivity growth into efficiency change, technological progress and capital deepening, looking then at the relative contribution of each component to regional convergence. Moreover, some measures of human capital and public capital are used as augmentation factors of the conventional inputs. The study …
Productivity trends and income inequality in Latvia
2020
Increasing labour productivity is a key driver for prosperity. Although Latvia's productivity growth rates are among the highest in the EU, productivity growth has declined in recent years. With the productivity dynamics slowing down, the pace of convergence is also slower. The benefits of the recent economic recovery in Latvia have not been evenly distributed among households and income inequality has not diminished significantly. The recent OECD and academic studies point to a correlation between falling productivity and increasing income inequality. The more unequal a society is, the more it affects productivity growth and the sustainability of growth. Improving productivity has the pote…
Productivity factors and dynamics in Latvia
2021
Productivity is crucial factor for the growth of Latvia's economy and prosperity. Although Latvia has achieved significant growth since joining the European Union, productivity growth has slowed in recent years. Today, the world is experiencing a strong shock due to Covid19 crisis, the impact of which on productivity has not yet been widely studied. The aim of this study is to analyse the dynamics of productivity in Latvia, structural changes in technological intensity, as well as the analysis of productivity-related factors. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on productivity is also analysed based on researchers' assessments and available information. The research is based on statistical …
Ba/Ca ratios in shells of Arctica islandica —Potential environmental proxy and crossdating tool
2017
Abstract Ba/Ca shell time-series of marine bivalves typically show flat background levels which are interrupted by erratic sharp peaks. Evidence from the literature indicates that background Ba/Ca shell ratios broadly reflect salinity conditions. However, the causes for the Ba/Ca shell peaks are still controversial and widely debated although many researchers link these changes to primary productivity, freshwater input or spawning events. The most striking feature is that the Ba/Ca shell peaks are highly synchronous in contemporaneous specimens from the same population. For the first time, we studied Ba/Ca shell in mature and ontogenetically old (up to 251 year-old) specimens of the long-li…