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This article involves a conceptual evaluation of a large-scale innovation policy experiment—so-called smart specialization strategies (S3s)—that took place within the framework of the European regional cohesion programs between 2011 and the present. The goal is to provide a collection of reflections offering a wealth of lessons and information regarding the capacity of regional governmental agencies and other actors involved in the innovation system to implement a mission-oriented research and development support program and regarding the institutional and cultural conditions that can facilitate its practical application. In the first section, I briefly review the fundamentals of S3s. In the second section, I propose a framework for the identification of mission-oriented policies and I explain how S3 fits into this category. The following section shows how this policy represents a break with the policies that have long dominated the regional policy landscape. The fourth section describes the designing of this policy whose objective is to make strategic choices and decentralization of information and initiatives compatible. And finally, the last section reports on the emerging institutional forms that seem to facilitate the putting into practice of this design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the broader lessons from mission-oriented programs for innovation policy—and indeed policies aimed at investment-led growth. While much has been written about case studies on missions, this has not resulted in an alternative policy making toolkit. Missions—in the least—require those tools to be just as much about market cocreating and market shaping, as they are about market fixing. The article reviews the characteristics of mission-oriented programs, ooks at key features of those programs that can provide lessons, and discusses how to choose and implement mission-oriented policies, with an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question/Issue: This paper examines R&D investment decisions in firms under a pyramidal ownership structure in the context of South Korea. Research Findings/Insights: Using the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, which places limits on group affiliates' equity investments, we provide new evidence that controlling owners tend to increase long‐term R&D expenditures more in firms that are largely subject to the equity investment regulation in South Korea. Moreover, this result is more significant for firms for which the owners have low cash‐flow rights, firms located in the lower layers of the pyramid, and firms that hold less equity shares than do other group affiliates. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study contributes to the literature that focuses on R&D investment decisions by providing empirical support regarding how firms' relative status within their business group influences the firms' R&D investment decisions in South Korea. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study provides important insight into the positive policy implications of the equity investment regulation on R&D investments for Korean business groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not provided a clear rule to digitalasset market participants concerning the nature of cryptoassets, namely, how to determine whether an asset is a security subject to the federal securities laws or something else, like a commodity regulated outside of the purview of the securities statutes. Instead of a formal rule, the SEC has chosen a more flexible modus operandi of enforcement actions in reliance on the functional definition embedded in the Supreme Court Howey decision interpreting the term "investment contract." This Article examines empirical data and develops a model suggesting that, despite the underlying indeterminacy associated with functional definitions and regulation by enforcement, the SEC attempted to reduce information losses and improved regulatory clarity by following a set of well-defined strategies during the first years of its crypto-enforcement efforts. Unfortunately, recent enforcement actions may upend these initially successful game strategies and undermine the efficacy of the techniques the SEC used to minimize the downsides of functional definitions and the regulation via enforcement tactics. As a result, the fabric of cooperation between the innovators and the SEC may be broken, leading to a suboptimal outcome for all market participants and the Commission itself. These problems are particularly important in the rapidly evolving world of crypto, DeFi, and fintech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economics & Environment / Ekonomia i Środowisko is the property of Fundacja Ekonomistow Srodowiska i Zasobow Naturalnych and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2011, Portugal launched a residence permit programme to attract foreign investment from non‐EU citizens, with Chinese business migrants representing those taking most advantage of this initiative. This paper analyses this policy measure and assesses its social consequences, as a new way that Chinese migrants have to enter Portugal. Firstly, we characterise this programme by identifying its principles and legal requirements, using official data from 2012 to 2018. We then describe the emergence of this type of residence permit as a response to the financial crisis of 2011, and as part of a neoliberal political rationality that has guided a governance model since this time. Next, we characterise the profile of Chinese citizens who benefit from this initiative and claim residence permits on the basis of their economic power. Finally, we discuss the social and political implications of this kind of entrance to Portugal, to provide some insights for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Article 64 (1) of the Arbeitsweise der Europäischen Union (AEUV) which applies a restriction of capital movements related to third countries not affected by direct investment under the legislation of a member state in the European Union. It mentions non-repayable grants and in return revenue sharing. It also mentions company originating income like that interim investment income in sense of this regulation proportional to amount.

Highlights • An investment prediction model for large scale building energy saving retrofit (LSBESR) was proposed. • Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) and Monte Carlo (MC) analysis were integrated in the investment prediction model. • A MC prediction method for estimating investment of LSBESR by a probability matrix of individual building retrofit scheme was proposed. • The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) of building owners' willingness for building retrofit was established. • The simulation analysis of the investment distribution for large-scale energy retrofit in 100 buildings in Shanghai was carried out. Abstract Nowadays, it has emerged a trend to carry out large scale building energy saving retrofit (LSBESR) in China. LSBESR is determined by a range of endogenous and exogenous factors. In particular, uncertainties concerning owners' willingness of retrofit exacerbate the difficulty of investment prediction. In this paper, an investment prediction model (IPM) for LSBESR is proposed by considering owners' willingness factors that possess fuzzy attributes and random characteristics. By definition, IPM integrates fuzzy multiple attribute decision making (FMADM) and Monte Carlo (MC) analysis. First, this paper proposes analytic hierarchy process (AHP) of retrofit willingness. Second, the membership function is constructed. Third, the authors suggest using MC simulation to predict investment. Meanwhile, 100 public buildings of LSBESR in Shanghai are investigated, based on which the authors obtained double peak distribution of LSBESR investment. Compared with the high investment scheme ($154 million), the expected value of investment (EVI) is shown to be $89 million and the probability of greater than EVI is 60.5%. Moreover, the authors revealed a strong logarithmic relationship between willingness and EVI. Relying on investigation willingness factor, people can quickly get the EVI of LSBESR. In summary, this paper is capable of providing a new perspective to the decision maker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that an aggregate preferred habitat for investors exists on (or about) the last day of the calendar month, due to standardizations in the nation's payments system resulting in a concentrated flow of funds on this date. Thus, equilibrium yield discounts are predicted for securities maturing on such dates. Empirical tests on monthly and daily Treasury bill data support the principal hypothesis, as well as several ancillary hypotheses. The results have implications for Treasury debt management, for the short-term cash and debt management practices of businesses and banks, and for the empirical estimation of daily, weekly, or monthly return premiums on risky securities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cuba urgently needs increasing its investment levels for revitalizing its economy. Current structure of Cuban economy is highly sensitive to changes occurring in international markets. Growing of Foreign Investment and future scenes where this investment will take place need to strengthen the analysis of feasibility which validates the advisability of such investment, even in complex conditions. Rules for assessing investments in the country are getting stronger and they demand a continuous improvement, so that the decisions made do not put into risk the estimated economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving beyond direct marketing, food systems work is increasingly connecting sustainably grown food with supermarkets, dining services, and other mainstream outlets. It is here that growers come face‐to‐face with the rigid conditions of a globalized food system. In this paper we document the emergence of mission‐driven intermediaries as bridging institutions in the middle spaces of American agriculture that are using value addition and strategic scaling up to connect alternative food systems to local and regional markets at profitable prices. Through in‐depth interviews with Working Landscapes of Warrenton, North Carolina, we describe one path to becoming a Mission‐Driven Intermediary, in which intermediaries with roots in the nonprofit sector evolve into organizations of hybrid form that include revenue‐generating activities. This institutional heterodoxy allows lateral alliances with diverse entities that help recombine existing resources in new ways, enabling the organization to demonstrate long‐term commitment to the local food project while successfully improvising to survive in a highly competitive and corporatized industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights governing standards of trust investing, detailing the relationship between these rules and the market in Pennsylvania. Topics discussed include the American trust investment cases "Harvard College v. Amory;" provisions of the Uniform Prudent Investor Act concerning the issue; and acceptance of modem theories of investing that allows the trustee greater freedom in regards to investment decisions.

The article provides the history and overview of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which aims to encourage deposit taking institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to meet consumer credit needs of communities. Topics discussed include the general structure of the CRA performance evaluation, review of an institution's assessment area and factors that have potential effect on performance and community development-related investment and services.

Amendment of IAS 39 by the IASB in 2008 provided an option to reclassify investments from fair value to historical cost. We predict that too-important-to-fail (TITF) banks took less advantage of this option because the political protection they enjoyed insulated them from regulatory pressure. Banks that did not enjoy this protection had greater reason to make use of this option since doing so would protect their Tier 1 capital. As predicted, findings reveal that TITF banks made less use of the reclassification option to protect their Tier 1 capital and there is a significant moderating influence of TITF status on the incentive to reclassify investments for banks with lower regulatory capital. This finding is consistent with TITF banks placing less weight on protecting regulatory capital and thereby retaining flexibility to sell assets. Our findings provide evidence that accounting choices are affected by the importance of banks to their economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate, both theoretically and empirically, the institutional setting of monetary policy making that mitigates the effects of productive public investment on inflation persistence.Design/methodology/approach In the theoretical approach, the authors consider a simple monetary game model à la Barro-Gordon introducing, apart from stochastic output shocks, indexed wage contracts and public investment effects. Then, the authors empirically produce inflation persistence and public investment persistence by estimating a first-order autoregressive model in a fixed rolling window of 36 months for the UK and also use a dummy in order to incorporate the regime switch in monetary policy since 1997, giving a clear increase in the level of central bank independence.Findings The theoretical framework suggests that an independent central banker could better manage inflation expectations and therefore inflation persistence despite the occurrence of persistent public investment shocks. From the perspective of fiscal policy, the appointment of a conservative and independent central banker could absorb adverse effects on inflation dynamics resulting from persistent expansionary fiscal policies. Empirical evidence in the UK indicates that the creation of an independent monetary policy committee reduces the positive link between public investment and inflation persistence.Practical implications From a monetary policy perspective view, the best response to public investment policies is to increase the degree of independence to alleviate effects on inflation dynamics. From the perspective of fiscal policy, an independent central banker can provide the necessary conditions to undertake a long-run public investment plan, since long-run growth will not be undermined by adverse inflation inertia.Originality/value The authors introduce, in the debate of inflation persistence, both theoretically and empirically, the role of public investment and monetary policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del ICDT is the property of Instituto Colombiano de Derecho Tributario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The combination of ineffective corporate governance at the company level and an uncertain legal and regulatory environment can significantly reduce the prices investors are willing to pay when investing in companies in emerging markets. The authors report the findings of their recent survey that asks investment professionals to compare the value of a hypothetical Australian company with that of its identical counterparts located in five emerging markets: Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Iran. The responding investors said they would value the emerging markets investments at discounts from the value of the Australian company that ranged from a low of 13.5% for its Malaysian counterpart to 51.2% for the Iranian company. Moreover, they indicated they would require costs of equity for these investments that were consistent with even larger valuation discounts. The investors' responses to the survey also suggest that corporate governance is especially important in countries with weaker investor protection. Well-governed companies located in these countries enjoy significant value premiums that can partly offset the negative effect of the poor institutional environments, which suggests there may be a significant payoff for investors that succeed in improving the governance of the companies they invest in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Due to such issues as the recent economic recession, low salaries, and an aging society, how people can strengthen their investment performance when managing their personal financial affairs is a critical consideration. The purpose of this paper is to consider the assessment of the performance of individual investment policies and to present an evaluation framework for measuring the degree of workability of investment policies.Design/methodology/approach The proposed evaluation framework combines the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and the improved fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution to measure the efficiency scores of the alternatives (i.e. investment policies) under assessment.Findings This quantitative framework is formed from the criteria of investment return, taxation, risk, and individual circumstances according to prudent evaluation of private wealth management research, and is applied to appraise the investment performance of individuals in Taiwan. The findings indicate that investment performance, risks, and the investment of mutual funds are the most preferred conditions and investment policy for investors, and can offer some effective suggestions for investors as well as for future academic research.Originality/value The efficiency scores are computed based on the fuzzy Mahalanobis distances, taking into account the fuzzy correlations among experts’ criteria. The advantage of adopting the fuzzy Mahalanobis distances over the fuzzy Euclidean distances, which are typically computed in the literature, is that the undulation of the efficiency scores can be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the potential challenges for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) through International Investment Agreements (IIAs) in light of the new generation of IIAs negotiated by the European Union (EU). It argues that it will be difficult in practice to succeed in enforcing IPRs through IIAs. The article will do so by examining in detail the criteria international tribunals have required in order to consider IPRs covered investments, and then analyzing the key protection standards considering the interaction between investment treaties and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Because negotiators have reacted to the legal issues raised in this context with new and innovative treaty language, this article will further examine these issues based on the EU's IIAs. Their drafting practice should be taken as an indication that existing IIAs should be interpreted rather narrowly in respect of the protection of IPRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes Professor Ronald Gilson's theory of "simultaneity" in engineering a venture capital market in the context of China. Based on both quantitative and qualitative data collected by the author, this article analyzes how China has created the fastest developing and the largest engineered venture capital market in the world within three decades. It concludes that the rise of venture capital in China is attributable to (1) increasing capital supply through various governmental programs, easing regulatory barriers towards institutional and foreign investors, providing tax incentives, and improving the exit environment; (2) enhancing the availability of financial intermediaries by introducing the limited partnership that creates an efficient relationship between venture capitalists and investors; and (3) encouraging entrepreneurship by improving the regulatory environment for small businesses. Through these measures, China has facilitated the simultaneous availability of capital with the appetite for high-risk, long-term investments and the emergence of a class of entrepreneurs with the skills and incentives to put that capital to work. One key factor of the rapid development of the Chinese market has been its increased reliance on market forces in allocating capital. On the other hand, a residual degree of bureaucratic involvement in capital allocation prevents the Chinese regime from being fully efficient. China serves as an (imperfect) model for other governments in the world where unfettered market forces have not brought about successful venture capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to interrogate the extent to which national and regional investment policies in Africa are sufficient to facilitate sustainable China- Africa industrial capacity cooperation so as to spur industrialization on the continent. It focuses on a tripartite review of the existing investment regimes in the Southern African countries of Botswana, South Africa and Zambia as case studies. The study found that although there were notable successes recorded in industrialization to date in the three countries, especially in South Africa and Botswana, the rate of industrialization was very slow. The paper concludes that the China- Africa industrial capacity cooperation initiative presents an opportunity to unlock the industrialization potential of these three countries in particular, and African countries in general, and this can only be realized if African countries make interventions to address the gaps and limitations within their investment regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brexit will require the UK to negotiate new trade arrangements with the EU. After summarizing the main options for future UK-EU trade relations, this article reviews the purpose of trade agreements. We highlight that trade negotiations are a bargaining game between countries seeking to reap the gains from international coordination while conceding as little as possible to their negotiating partners. This leads us to propose four principles the UK should adopt to guide its trade negotiating strategy: (i) you get what you give; (ii) where negotiations start from matters; (iii) bargain from a position of power; and (iv) invest in negotiating capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent empirical work in public finance uses the housing price response to public investment to assess the efficiency of local durable public good provision. This article explores the theoretical justification for this technique. It points out that the logic justifying the technique for evaluating nondurable public good provision does not translate to the durable case. A model in which investment is determined by the interaction between a budget-maximizing bureaucrat and a community's residents is used to demonstrate that the technique can falsely predict underprovision, falsely predict overprovision, or perform without error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Note traces the government's effort to balance the need for investments with the need for regulating the economy. Regulations of the financial industry, largely in response to economic crises such as the Great Depression and the 2008 recession, have focused on limiting investments deemed too risky for the general public to "sophisticated" investors. Struggling to define "sophisticated," Congress and the SEC opted for criteria based on the investor's net worth with narrow exceptions for highly knowledgeable but lower-net-worth individuals. Recent legislation and interpretation of that legislation have expanded these narrow exceptions, suggesting the trend is moving towards investor eligibility criteria based on sophistication measures beyond net-worth. This change is a positive one for investors, businesses, and the economy as a whole. However, the benefits of the current efforts to expand the definition of "sophisticated" cannot be realized because legislative incentives for investment managers continue to limit investment opportunities to only the very rich without regard for knowledge or expertise. This Note proposes that Congress should expand the Qualified Purchaser standard under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to allow sophisticated but lower-net-worth individuals to invest in hedge funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider an insurer who faces an external jump-diffusion risk that is negatively correlated with the capital returns in a multidimensional regime switching model. The insurer selects investment and liability ratio policies continuously to maximize her/his expected utility of terminal wealth. We obtain explicit solutions of optimal policies for logarithmic and power utility functions. We study the impact of the insurer's risk aversion, the negative correlation between the external risk and the capital returns, and the regime of the economy on the optimal policy. We find, among other things, that the regime of the economy and the negative correlation between the external risk and the capital returns have a dramatic effect on the optimal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues are of growing importance for investors across industries and have played a central role in recent high-stake investment disputes. The classic context in which environmental policy-related arguments have previously been developed is as host State defences (shield) against claims of treaty violations. More recently, environmental policies and regulations have been invoked by renewable energy investors as a sword, with foreign investors relying on the host State's environmental measures in an effort to enforce their rights against States. Moreover, host States have also started exploring new arguments and sought to use environment as a sword by bringing environmental counterclaims against foreign investors and could potentially turn to illegality arguments if foreign investors violate environmental laws and regulations in making or implementing their investments. Host States will, however, need to meet the jurisdictional requirements and high thresholds established by arbitral tribunals in order to succeed on counterclaims and illegality claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the changes that have occurred in Brazil's position in the regulatory regime of investments. My main interest is the dispute settlement method adopted in the new Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreement, which consists of a preventive mechanism and a jurisdictional method. Using the metaphor of the 'shadow of the law' and relying on a comparative data analysis of the South Korean model of investment protection, I explore whether this dispute settlement method represents a stimulus or an obstacle to negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the relevantfeatures of the Brazilian Investment Partnerships Program, created by Provisional Measure No.727, of 12 May 2016, to expand and strengthen the interaction between the State and the private sector through the conclusion of partnership agreements for the implementation of public infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the EU the regions have gained increasing importance especially due to the policy of regional development, and tourism is a field that has experienced an explosive development in recent decades. Hence the need to analyze tourism in regional profile. The purpose of this paper is to verify the existence of possible correlations among tourism indicators at regional level in Romania. These can be used in developing future programs aimed at developing tourism in those areas with potential and where in this way the local development can be stimulated. After highlighting correlations at regional level, we can say that an increase in investments volume can cause an increase in tourist activity, which will lead to an increase in turnover. This can help to increase the amount of wage and average number of employees in Hotels and Restaurants branch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how judicial review is constitutionally mandatory in protecting individual rights and in bringing necessary checks and balances to the national security review process. Topics discussed include scope of judicial review from the perspectives of constitutional rights, reviewability of antitrust concerns, and administrative procedure; and enactment of the Foreign Investment and National Security Act.

Secondary and tertiary roads play an important role in national, regional and local integration, and also facilitate access to the national life of remote and isolated communities. These pathways as a whole, represent about 92% of total national road network. This article points out some points that should be considered during the planning and execution of secondary and tertiary, important road infrastructure if the Government wants to materialize post-conflict in rural country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's foreign direct investment in Africa is poised to continue to expand rapidly in the coming years. However, investment has not come without costs, especially to the precious African environment. It is more important than ever that governments reevaluate their policies regarding investment practice that may undermine sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article gives an overview of the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) currently in existence in South Africa and shows how the exposure to international investment arbitration has led South Africa to reassess its (lack of) policy on investment treaties and to develop a new approach to the protection of foreign investment. An analysis of the provisions of the South African BITs is done and it shows that there was no change or progression in the government's approach to the negotiation and signing of the BITs through the years; the provisions contained in these agreements are all more or less the same and have stayed the same through the years. South African BITs are found to be fairly standard when it comes to their content, other than what one could have expected of a State that was in a process of transformation when these treaties were signed and thus in a perfect situation to take its own domestic needs and policies into account. Because this was not done, there was a sudden awareness of the fact that the BITs perhaps could entail more harm than good when South Africa became involved in investment arbitrations as a result of some of its internal policies and domestic legislation leading to complaints of treaty violations. As a result of this, a review of the government's investment policy framework was undertaken and a number of its BITs were terminated; the idea is to replace them with a new domestic framework for the protection of foreign investment, doing away with investor--state arbitration as can be seen from the Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill that was recently introduced into Parliament. Disputes between investors and the South African government that arise as a result of an averred treaty breach may still be taken to arbitration in terms of the terminated BITs until the sunset period runs out. But new investors who cannot rely on the protection of a BIT do not have this option and until such time as legislation is passed and certainty is achieved on the issues of expropriation, compensation and the interaction with broad-based black economic empowerment and the forms that this may take as well as the resolution of disputes, the position of new investors and their investments is going to continue to remain uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has had a significant change in its investment policy in the past 30 years. It has moved from a closed economy to one that actively encourages foreign direct investment (FDI), and is now a world leader in attracting FDI. More recently, China has become a major source of outward direct investment (ODI). Much of this ODI is made by Chinese State-owned entities (SOEs), such as China National Petroleum Co (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC). This article considers the impact of this shift in China's economic influence and the direct impact it has on the type of treaties being negotiated. China has one of the largest networks of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in place, as well as a growing number of very modern free trade agreements (FTAs) containing long and detailed investment chapters. Although not a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, China has on-going BIT negotiations with Europe, the US as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Given the scale of China's ODI through SOEs, China would want its treaty protections to apply to these investments. China is actively engaging in the international investment regime as indicated by its Exchange of Letters in the Sanum Investments case confirming that the China-Laos BIT did not apply to Macau. This trend will no doubt continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the comparisons of three aspects of insurer investments in the United States and China. For investment regulation, we summarize the allocation limits specified in the U.S. Investments of Insurers Model Act and update China's regulation to the 2014 version. For investment allocation, we show the year-by-year allocations to various investable assets from 2005 to 2013 of U.S. and Chinese insurance industries. Finally, for investment performance, we calculate yearly investment returns and discuss the rationale that contributed to the return fluctuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]