Abstract
Growth of the world population and the globalization of trade are the origins of the fourth industrial revolution, called “Industry 4.0”. What engineers call systems are becoming more and more complex as businesses strive to stay competitive and meet ever-changing demand. While automation and information digitization and transmission technologies are increasingly becoming major assets in modern industries, the changes they bring are having an impact on the management of occupational health and safety.
The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the progress achieved in the understanding of complex systems and to test some of the published theory by comparing it to a case study. The major scientific databases were searched to retrieve the literature on complexity, and a large company in the steel products business was queried to determine how its complexity as perceived by its managerial staff compares to the theory of complex systems.
Our main conclusion is that, based on the data gathered in the case study, the perception that the managerial staff has of the company corresponds closely to the current definition of complex systems as proposed by researchers. However, it remains to be determined whether this correspondence holds over the range of business sizes.
Abstract
Drones, specifically quadcopters, have increased in importance during the last years due to their wide range of applications, from civil applications to military employment. One of the most important issues in quadcopters is the efficient control system. While many researchers have dealt with building control systems for symmetric quadcopters, this work presents an efficient control system for asymmetric quadcopters using evolutionary computations. The problem is well-defined throughout the paper, and the methodology is explained in detail in the respective sections. A genetic algorithm is used to tune the weighting matrix of the control system after formulating the control system as an optimization problem. The genetic algorithm was fast and active to increase the performance of the proposed system.
Abstract
Processes in the past decades have resulted in the segmentation of European industries into ‘headquarter’ and ‘factory’ economies, though these categories are not fully distinct. ‘Headquarter’ economies typically host the higher value added activities and service units while ‘factory’ economies are popular locations for lower segments of the value chains. This setup has implications for EU level industrial policy strategies. In the current times of accelerating technological development and the ever growing servitisation of industries, ‘headquarter’ economies genuinely have better capabilities and resources to gain more share of the value added, and can actually steer the course of events in the sector. In the EU peripheries, new investment often covers relocation of previous technologies and retired assets of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The ‘factory’ economies are in a disadvantage in several aspects, while the headquarters optimise according to their own set of strategic preferences, which further compromises the opportunities of industrial actors in the peripheries to shape their own future. Industrial policies, however smart and well designed, have limited chances to influence the character and speed of changes. We review reported cases through which we test literature and contrast realities with aspirations regarding smart and sustainable industrial development across the EU.
Abstract
In the first, mostly fictitious part of his Myreur des histors Jean d’Outremeuse tells the story of the origins of the Franks combining the two traditional narratives, that of the Chronicle of Pseudo-Fredegarius, and that of the Liber historiae francorum. In his text Gaulois and Sicambrins, both descending from Trojan refugees, are united after some conflict as the same people, ancestors of the French. Instead of locating Sicambria to Hungary as some of his comtemporaries do, he is attributing to a secondary but significant role to Hungary as a colony and rival of Danemark, another important kingdom in his narrative. The article argues that it might be a kind of compensation of putting apart Hungary from the story of Sicambria, and also a consequence of the phonetic closeness of Hongrie (Hungary) and the city of Tongres, which is in the center of the narrative before the foundation of Liège.
Abstract
Whether occasioned through careful, consistent meditative practice or through quicker means like the ritual ingestion of psilocybin or ayahuasca, global contemplative practices have established effective systems of implementing, directing, and integrating the very kinds of non-ordinary experiences central to psychedelic use. However, contemplative traditions are largely absent from the present discourse on psychedelic therapy. This paper addresses this gap and offers a novel analysis of psychedelic-assisted therapy through the lens of the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative tradition. It first establishes a baseline for comparing the non-ordinary experience occasioned by Tibetan Buddhist meditation and the psychedelic experience by referencing the phenomenological literature of both. It then articulates the Tibetan contemplative framework of view, meditation, action (Tib. lta sgom spyod gsum) as the way Tibetan Buddhism directs its non-ordinary meditative experience towards its desired ends and suggests how this framework may be applied to psychedelic-assisted therapy. Finally, this paper uses this Tibetan Buddhist lens of analysis to compare and assess two protocols for psychedelic-assisted therapy and to make recommendations for future clinical protocols. Given the phenomenological similarity of Tibetan Buddhist meditative experience and the psychedelic experience, this article suggests that a more intensive preparatory session where maladaptive conceptual narratives are worked through and beneficial ones are introduced, repeated dosing sessions, and a more directed psychedelic experience may increase the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy. It thus argues that the insights of the Tibetan framework of view, meditation, action can improve future protocols and allow for psychedelic-assisted therapy to be of even greater benefit.
Abstract
Fluctuating prices can cause unintended redistribution of income and wealth, which may be particularly painful to lower income households. Our study examines the indirect effects of this redistribution in an empirical way: it focuses on the capital market distortions of inflation and the disparities in wealth and income. Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures average inflation. However, households feel different inflation rates because their expenditure patterns are different from the ‘average’ patterns. We used the Kruskal – Wallis H test to determine if there are statistically significant differences between low- and high-income households. We calculated alternative inflation rates based on income deciles' different consumption basket. The study finds that households with low income often feel higher inflation than in the actual price indices published by the statistical offices. As our research shows, individuals in different wealth deciles perceive significantly different inflation. Our results also provide important information for economic policymakers, because if social groups perceive different inflation, it modifies the expected behaviour of the population, thereby weakening the economic policy effectiveness of different decisions.
Abstract
We aimed to enrich the empirical picture and to better understand the nature of post-communist capitalism in the new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE11). Our main research goal is to assess the degree of similarity of the institutional architectures in these countries toward each of the four models of capitalism in Western Europe distinguished by Bruno Amable (2003), represented in our research by one Western European country being the most typical empirical approximation of a particular ‘ideal-typical’ model. The study is based on the application of a new method designed for the purpose of our research, the coefficients of similarity. Our empirical exercise shows that the CEE11 countries exhibited on average the greatest relative similarity to the Mediterranean model of capitalism, represented by Spain and Italy. At the same time, they also displayed a considerable institutional proximity to the Continental model of capitalism, represented by Germany, and – to a lesser extent – to two remaining benchmarks. These findings may be generalized as the prevalence of a polycentric pattern of institutional similarity of the CEE11 economies to the established models of Western European capitalism which makes the emerging post-communist capitalism a distinct research category and adds to its patchwork nature.
Abstract
We analyse the effect of the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary shock spillover and its impact on the European Union's 9 countries outside the euro area (EA) between 2000 and 2020. We use the sign-restricted Bayesian VAR model and subsequent interpretation by plotting the impulse-response functions. Moreover, we investigate both conventional and unconventional monetary policies and its international transmission. The spillover of monetary policy is growing with the openness of economies and the ongoing deepening of integration. The output responds to the EA's monetary shock flexibly and persistently, but there is considerable heterogeneity across countries. We claim that it is essential for central banks outside the EA to monitor and incorporate the ECB's monetary policy spillover into decision-making processes. In particular, the international transmission of the unconventional monetary policy has a fundamental effect on the development of the price level, thus achieving price stability. In the case of implementing a counter-cyclical policy, it is also necessary to monitor conventional policy. However, there is no need to fight the spillover effect since there is no beggar-thy-neighbour problem, i.e., spillover effect works in the same direction in both domestic and foreign country.
Abstract
The article deals with the estimation of import intensities of exports, final consumption expenditures and gross fixed capital formation. It uses the input-output methodology of computing direct and indirect imports to the final demand components, which compares with regression estimates. Unlike the widely used turnover approach, the results contribute fundamentally to knowledge about the genuine openness of the Czech economy with regard to how much value-added is exported. In 2015, the highest import intensity for exports amounting to 52%, closely followed by 49% for investments. Household consumption worked with 41% import intensity, while general government consumption expenditures showed the lowest import intensity of 16%. Based on our input-output findings, the true openness of the Czech economy can be revealed. While turnover of exports to GDP reached 80% in 2019, the value-added approach showed only a half, i.e., 40% value-added was exported. It implies a contra-intuitive conclusion that even in a relatively small and highly integrated country into the globalized economy, there is a 60% majority of the non-tradeable goods.
Abstract
Far the most acknowledged and influential author in the economics of Eastern Europe has been János Kornai, the theorist of economic systems and a prolific writer on a variety of subjects in the seventy years of his academic career. His output appeared in more than a dozen of languages. He was criticized and appreciated, especially on the occasion of his 90th birthday, commemorated by – yet another – Festschrift, special issues of academic journals, later followed up by countless obituaries paying the due tribute to someone who has never made to the Nobel Prize, but whose influence definitely exceeded that of many recipients. In this essay we avoid the usual chronological description and highlight certain major themes and try to establish his place in the history of global economic thought. We are aware of our constraints, since it would perhaps take a monograph rather than an article to serve justice to this exceptional academic output of his.
