This study analyses a production-management model that considers the possibility of implementing a reverse-logistics system for remanufacturing end-of-life products in a lean production environment (as opposed to models that use EOQ approaches). Decision variables are identified (including manufacturing and remanufacturing capacities and return rates and use rates for end-oflife products) and o...

S mall businesses form the foundation of most rural and urban economies. To grow and prosper, these enterprises need access to equity capital as well as the debt capital provided by traditional banking institutions. While debt markets function well in most rural places, rural equity markets tend to be unorganized or nonexistent (RUPRI Rural Finance Task Force). The impetus for the Rural Policy ...

We explore the hypothesis that demographic changes started in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are at the root of the acceleration in growth rates at the dawn of the modern age. During this period, life tables for Geneva and Venice show a decline in adult mortality; French marriage registers show an important increase in literacy; historians measure an acceleration of economic growth. W...

This paper is about the reasons why there is so rarely a strong association between the secular trend in real wages and mortality. We classify the reasons in several different categories: epidemiological, sociological, geographical, demographic, technologic, and economic. In addition, we offer some speculations on why there has been an expectation that such an association would exist. We sugges...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE The decline in fertility rates and the increase in life expectancy have changed the demographic structure of many countries substantially and entail long-term economic implications too. Population aging has adverse effects on countries' economies, especially with respect to the social security system and the welfare structure. METHODS Given the importance of the phenome...

Since 1990, progress has been made toward global tuberculosis (TB) control, as measured by targets set for 2015. However, TB remains a major threat to health around the world. In 2013, there were an estimated 11 million prevalent cases, and an estimated 9.0 million incident cases occurred globally. Approximately 1.5 million deaths were caused by TB, including 360,000 among people living with HI...

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer affecting men in the United States. The initial treatment and subsequent monitoring of PCa patients places a large burden on U.S. health care systems. The objectives of this study were to estimate the total and disease-related per-patient lifetime costs using a phase-based model of cancer care for PCa patients enrolled in Medicare. ME...

This paper focuses on urban passenger transport eco-efficiency, which can be defined as the production of maximum benefits to society while minimising environmental impacts from urban transport’s inputs of energy and materials. Researchers have intensively studied transport’s varied environmental impacts, particularly through Life Cycle Assessment; this paper argues that primary transport energ...

BACKGROUND Considerable socioeconomic and health inequalities have been reported in China. However, because of a lack of appropriate data, limited research has been conducted on variations in disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) among older adults. This study aimed to use the most up-to-date disability survey data to explore geographical variations in DFLE at age 60 in China and to identify t...

This article contains analysis of the evolution of approach to interpretation of the innovation concept. Peculiarities of the cycle of financial resources circulation in the modern economy are formulated and the interpretation of such terms as invention, innovation and innovative company are given based on it. Peculiarities of companies' behavior in consumer markets of innovative sectors are co...