In the last edition of TMI, we explored the elements, which comprise the financial supply chain. We looked in some detail at the order-to-cash (receivables) and purchaseto-pay (payables) processes and how these can be optimised to create internal efficiencies, reducing the number of cash days for a company and therefore working capital requirements. The benefits of automating internal processes...

Designation as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can protect coastal ecosystems, but apparently has not effectively protected the rocky intertidal zone in urban Southern California. Here, illegal collecting and habitat disturbance harm coastal marine life. We surveyed day visitors to sandy beaches or adjacent rocky habitats in Orange County. Using the close-ended, double-bounded contingent valuatio...

This paper explores both theoretically and empirically whether or not the willingness to pay (WTP) for pollution control varies with income. Our model indicates that the income elasticity of the marginal WTP for pollution reduction is only constant under very restrictive conditions, which are not necessary for an environmental Kuznets curve relationship between pollution and income. Our empiric...

The aggregate welfare measure for a change in the provision of a public good derived from a contingent valuation (CV) survey will be higher if the same elicited mean willingness to pay (WTP) is added up over individuals rather than households. A trivial fact, however, once respondents are part of multi-person households, it becomes almost impossible to elicit an “uncontaminated” WTP measure tha...

We construct a general equilibrium trade model of a two-class small open host or source country. Government consumption tax or tariff revenue finances either the provision of an imported public consumption good or income transfers. Within this framework, among other things, under plausible assumptions, we show the following: When consumption tax revenue finances the provision of a public good, ...

Investments in protective measures involve an initial immediate cost in exchange for a stream of potential benefits accruing over time in the form of reduced expected losses. This paper describes two studies in which individuals were asked both to make choices and indicate the maximum amount they were willing to pay (WTP) for such protective measures. By varying the number of years that the mea...

In this paper, we propose a new ground penetrating radar (GPR) imaging technique based on multi-scale weighted back projection (BP) processing. Firstly, the whole imaging region is discretized by large scale and low-resolution imaging result is obtained by using traditional BP imaging technique. Secondly, the potential targets regions (PTR) are delineated from low-resolution imaging result by u...

To demonstrate the proper functionality of the inlet system, three identical E. coli fermentations were conducted. The reproducibility of these experiments is shown by comparison of a set of process variables (Table 1, Figure 2). Figure 1: Simplified schematic of the setup. Fermenter off-gas is sampled and analyzed continuously. The inlet box, containing the flowcontrollers, is thermally contro...

According to diffusion theory, opinion leaders play an important role in the diffusion of new technologies through interpersonal communication with potential adopters. This study investigates the role and utility of opinion leadership in photovoltaic (PV) system diffusion. Specifically, the study proposes, examines, and considers the implications of the hypothesis that there is a positive relat...

In some, but not all, contexts, respondents to stated preference valuation studies state a willingness to pay (WTP) higher than what lab or field experiments indicate is the actual amount they would pay. However, several ex ante survey design strategies and ex post calibration techniques can be used to minimize or eliminate hypothetical bias. This article reviews and presents evidence on the ef...