A REVIEW OF MEDICAL TOURISM AND HOW IS IT APPLICABLE TO THE ISLAND OF FIJI

The purpose of this study is to undertake a literature review on the theme of medical tourism. We will use Fiji as a case study. The paper uses a systemic review of secondary data with a comprehensive data extraction methodology to match the subject areas with the specific countries being investigated. This literature review used 61 articles. Most medical tourism cases are driven by a desire for more economical healthcare services than those in most medical tourists' home nations. In order to drive essential improvements, the quality of services encourages investment in technology and facilities in medical tourism-active countries. With increased medical tourism investment and patient numbers, Asian Pacific countries have gained substantial foreign revenue. There are also many questions and uncertainties, despite the many positive aspects of medical tourism, such as the lack of a database to store patient records anywhere in the world or on the ground, growing medical tourism difficulties for local health services, and social and political factors such as corruption, political wars, and government uncertainty, all of which can have a significant impact on a country's medical care. Fiji has begun efforts to develop its medical tourism sector, setting up Oceania Hospital, and investing in Ba and Lautoka hospitals, operated and equipped by the Health Care Fiji brand. However, Fiji requires extensive government support, skilled and qualified personnel, valuable partnerships in its local sector, and infrastructural upgrades to incorporate medical tourism fully.

Leontief Meets Markov: Sectoral Vulnerabilities Through Circular Connectivity

Economists have been aware of the mapping between an Input-Output (I-O, hereinafter) table and the adjacency matrix of a weighted digraph for several decades (Solow, Econometrica 20(1):29–46, 1952). An I-O table may be interpreted as a network in which edges measure money flows to purchase inputs that go into production, whilst vertices represent economic industries. However, only recently the language and concepts of complex networks (Newman 2010) have been more intensively applied to the study of interindustry relations (McNerney et al. Physica A Stat Mech Appl, 392(24):6427–6441, 2013). The aim of this paper is to study sectoral vulnerabilities in I-O networks, by connecting the formal structure of a closed I-O model (Leontief, Rev Econ Stat, 19(3):109–132, 1937) to the constituent elements of an ergodic, regular Markov chain (Kemeny and Snell 1976) and its chance process specification as a random walk on a graph. We provide an economic interpretation to a local, sector-specific vulnerability index based on mean first passage times, computed by means of the Moore-Penrose inverse of the asymmetric graph Laplacian (Boley et al. Linear Algebra Appl, 435(2):224–242, 2011). Traversing from the most central to the most peripheral sector of the economy in 60 countries between 2005 and 2015, we uncover cross-country salient roles for certain industries, pervasive features of structural change and (dis)similarities between national economies, in terms of their sectoral vulnerabilities.

Reflections of the transnational capitalist class on the global health: The case of India

Objectives This study aims to explore the transformations in the relation of global health and capitalism during the last three decades and its reflections on the nature of power relations between the state, local and transnational capital in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Methods In this study, the effects of the developments in the international political economy after TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) in the global pharmaceutical sector and in the Indian local sector are examined within the framework of the International Relations discipline. In this sense, a historical review of the Global Patent Regime has been made and a literature review has been conducted on the global pharmaceutical industry, drug patents and post-TRIPS agreements. Qualitative research method is used in the study in which the literature review is evaluated in an empirical and theoretical framework. Key findings The Global Patent Regime has been constructed for the interests of the transnational capitalist hegemon and in this sense has increased inequality in the global health. However, when the changes created by the global economy in the pharmaceutical sector, cooperation between the Southern countries and state policies are analysed, it is seen that a struggle area has been formed. This struggle adds value to global health in terms of access to medicine. Conclusions In transnational capitalism, the emergence of the state in strategic sectors such as the pharmaceutical sector in India indicates a new political and economic power.

POSSIBILITIES OF IMPLEMENTING THE SMART DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT IN RURAL AREAS FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE. THE EXAMPLE OF EASTERN POLAND

The aim of this paper was the evaluation of the impact of selected background conditions for implementing the smart village concept in the opinion of entrepreneurs. The assessment was based on an opinion poll on a sample of 240 entrepreneurs from three regions of Eastern Poland, using a questionnaire. The results were presented using descriptive analysis, including a comparative analysis of areas with low and high levels of smart growth potential. The presented results show that rural areas in the abovementioned regions, in general, create disadvantageous conditions for enhancing innovativeness through business activity, and the surveyed agents are characterised by a low level of innovativeness. In the opinion of the surveyed entrepreneurs, on the impact of selected factors on enterprise innovativeness, the potential impact of the local environment is above average. The findings point to a need to develop the endogenous potential of rural areas from peripheral regions by increasing access to modern ITC infrastructure and the role of the institutional environment in the process of knowledge transfer to the local sector of companies, the development of local connections in the business sector and within the scope of cooperation of local authorities with entrepreneurs.

HARVESTING AND PROCESSING OF NATIVE WOOD FROM UPLAND TROPICAL FORESTS IN AMAPÁ, EASTERN AMAZONIA

Knowledge about the activity of the timber sector and local industries assists in the management of a forest economy based on sustainable use in the Amazon. In this study, the situation of the timber sector of the municipality of Porto Grande-AP was examined to detail the extraction and processing of native wood from the Amazon and the sustainable use of this resource by the local sector. Forms were applied in all sawmills of the municipality, which collected information on factors of production and commercialization of native wood for the year 2017. In addition, interviews with local merchants were done and secondary data collection from several institutions related to the sector was conducted. All sawmills in the municipality exercise licensed activity and processed 69,300 m3 of wood in the period, with an average extraction of 21 m3/ha. The sawmills productive income was 55%, above of the 35%, maximum recently established by CONAMA. There is no destination for productive of residual waste generated by most sawmills and lumber is marketed mainly to the Northeast of Brazil for use in civil construction. Thus, in order to guarantee better economic and environmental performance of the sector, it is recommended that sawmills search for new forest areas as sources of raw material, participate in forest certification programs, and seek ways to use residual waste for bioenergy generation. The government recommends that new forests be managed through actions that solve land tenure problems and increase the supply of public forests, and for certified management units the recommendation is to reduce licensing costs, and simplify the bureaucratic processes of environmental agencies.

Finite-time H∞ control for a class of singular Markovian jump systems subject to actuator saturation

This work considers the finite-time control problem for a class singular Markovian jump delayed systems subject to saturating actuators. By employing local sector conditions and an appropriate Lyapunov function, a observer-based state feedback controller is designed to guarantee that the resulted closed-loop constrained system is mean-square locally finite-time stabilizable. Some sufficient conditions for the solution to this problem are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method.

El desarrollo de la actividad turística en el municipio de Paderne

En el presente articulo se hace un análisis del sector turístico en el municpio de Paderne, una vez realizado el marco teórico centrado en la planificación, el desarrollo local y la sostenibilidad en zonas rurales, se estudia los principales atractivos del lugar así como la oferta turística existente; tras la realización de una serie de entrevistas a empresarios y administración local así como el posterior establecimiento de unas lineas estratégicas de desarrollo, las conclusiones finales nos permiten tener una imagen global de la actividad turística en el municipio cuyo potencial de desarrollo vendrá determinado por la cohesión entre comunidad local, sector privado y sector público.

Fuzzy control design for nonlinear impulsive switched systems using a nonlinear Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model

This paper deals with the fuzzy control design for nonlinear impulsive switched systems modeled by a novel nonlinear Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy structure. To model, this structure only uses some of the nonlinearities as premise variables. So, the derived model has fewer rules compared with the traditional T-S fuzzy models that utilize standard local sector nonlinearity; and accordingly, the number of stability/stabilization conditions is sharply reduced. In our structure, considering only a part of nonlinearities as premise variables causes that some of the local models in the consequent part of the fuzzy rules be nonlinear but with less complexity than the original nonlinear system. As a result, the feasibility of our model’s stability criteria is more than those that one can directly establish for the original nonlinear system. Besides, unlike the existing methods in the literature of impulsive switched systems that aim to permanently reduce the value of Lyapunov function candidates, this paper takes into account this process until trajectories reach a sufficient small region containing the origin. Then, within this region, the size of Lyapunov functions is just controlled at impulse instants. This strategy is useful when there are non-vanishing impulses and/or uncertainties, and it is more relaxed when the goal is ultimate bound stability. Finally, to achieve the stabilizing control signal that ensures practical control issues along with smallest ultimate bound and widest region of attraction, this paper also proposes an optimization problem with linear and bilinear constraints. The simulation results represent the performance of the proposed method.

Una propuesta exploratoria del perfil profesional en turismo desde Limón, Costa Rica

La siguiente investigación surge a partir de la falta de estudios actuales realizados en Costa Rica y propiamente de la provincia de Limón, que refiere a la preparación de profesionales para el sector turismo. El objetivo de la siguiente investigación da respuesta a cuál es el perfil profesional que se requiere para responder a las necesidades actuales y futuras del sector turismo, donde se brindarán variables, se identificarán conocimientos, habilidades y actitudes con el fin de formular el perfil profesional acorde para la provincia. Para fundamentar dicho trabajo se procede a la extracción y revisión bibliográfica, además de un mapeo y un método que definirá conceptos y teorías de turismo, perfil profesional, dando a la investigación un enfoque cualitativo y una investigación etnográfica. El trabajo presenta aportes de diversas áreas profesionales, de grado académico, educativo, sector de gobierno local, sector empresarial, egresados de la carrera de Gestión de Turismo Sostenible, que dieron importantes y diferentes perspectivas, para brindar una propuesta del perfil profesional de Turismo para el distrito Central de Limón.

PENDAMPINGAN MANAJEMEN USAHA KELOMPOK USAHA BERSAMA (KUB) KOPI ARABIKA DI KABUPATEN TEMANGGUNG

Temanggung Regency is one of the largest coffee-producing districts in Central Java. This motivates coffee farmers to expand their business to the production of ground coffee. One business group that focuses on the coffee business is KUB Tegal Makmur Abadi. The problems that exist in KUB are organizational management, low motivation, and marketing which is still limited to the local sector. Based on these problems, several methods used to solve these problems are (1) Focus Group Discussion, (2) Reorganization, (3) Entrepreneurial Motivation, (4) Training, and (5) Monitoring-Evaluation. The results obtained in this mentoring program are KUB Tegal Makmur Abadi feeling (1) The benefits of entrepreneurship assistance programs on business management capabilities, there is already a clear organizational structure formulation and specific assignment of tasks, (2) improvement of marketing skills for KUB members, this can be seen from the ability to create advertisements, manage social media and websites (3) Marketing of Jumprit coffee products that were still in the area of ​​Temanggung Regency has penetrated outside the Island. Keywords: Plastic Waste, Alternative fuel Abstrak Kabupaten Temanggung merupakan salah satu kabupaten pengasil kopi terbesar di Jawa Tengah. Hal ini memotivasi petani kopi untuk mengembangkan usaha hingga ke produksi bubuk kopi. Salah satu kelompok usaha yang fokus pada usaha kopi adalah KUB Tegal Makmur Abadi. Permasalahan yang ada pada KUB adalah manajemen organisasi, motivasi yang rendah dan juga pemasaran yang masih terbatas pada sektor lokal. Berdasarkan permasalahan tersebut, beberapa metode yang digunakan untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan tersebut adalah (1) Focus Group Discussion, (2)Re-organisasi, (3) Motivasi Wirausaha, (4) Pelatihan-pelatihan dan (5) Monitoring-Evaluasi. Hasil yang didapatkan dalam program pendampingan ini adalah KUB Tegal Makmur Abadi merasakan (1) Manfaat program pendampingan kewirausahaan terhadap kemampuan manajemen usaha, sudah ada formulasi struktur organisasi yang jelas dan pembagian tugas secara spesifik, (2) peningkatan keterampilan pemasaran bagi anggota KUB, hal ini dapat dilihat dari kemampuan membuat iklan, mengelola media sosial dan website (3) Pemasaran produk jumprit coffee yang tadinya masih diwilayah Kabupaten Temanggung sudah merambah luar pulau. Keywords: Community Partnership, Arabica coffee, Temanggung