Productive and cognitive innovation strategy:African framework design

Since the mid 1900’s, economist have come to recognize the role of innovative activity in firms productivity growth, particularly in the competitive market economies. However, the most conducive market environment for innovative activity has also become a subject of interest. Thus, a major constraint on industrial dynamism in African countries is said to be the dearth of indigenous entrepreneurs. This paper therefore argued for the provision of comprehensive innovation policy, in which the government supports the innovators by providing appropriate financial measures; removing regulatory, institutional (competitive) obstacles to innovation; and strengthening the knowledge base through investment in education, research and industrial sites in Africa.innovation policy; Africa; Nigeria; investment; productivity; science parks; business clusters; economic zones; inventions; free trade zones; cognitive revolution, industrial revolution; infrastructures; technology; research and development; venture capital

Some Novel Implications of Replacemnt and Scrapping

The emphasis of capital theory in recent decades has moved away from the implications of useful life as an important economic variable and has turned on the microeconomic and macroeconomic consequences of investment irreversibilities. Thus the voluminous literature that has developed ignores the marked difference be-tween replacement and scrapping and glosses over their significant implications for microeconomic and aggregate dynamics. This paper highlights the gains in explana-tory power that result when useful life, replacement and scrapping are placed in the center of the analysis. It does so by considering an economy with two representative firms that differ only in that the one applies replacement and the other scrapping. Among other interesting findings, at the microeconomic level it turns out that the de-mand for replacement investment is not invariant with respect to the type of capital policy being applied, whereas at the macroeconomic level it is shown that we cannot obtain consistent aggregates of capital stock and replacement investment.Capital, investment, service life, replacement, scrapping

Sending Jobs Overseas: The Cost to America’s Economy and Working Families

[Excerpt] This report was created by Working America and the AFL-CIO as a companion piece to Work­ing America’s Job Tracker, a ZIP code –searchable database of jobs exported (as well as Occupational Safety and Health Act violations and other work­place issues). Users can search their area for com­panies that have sent jobs overseas. Though Job Tracker is one of the largest publicly available, fully searchable records of the extent and specifics of outsourcing, it only reveals the tip of the iceberg. This report and Job Tracker contextualize each other—Job Tracker by mapping specific job losses due to outsourcing, the report by taking a broad view of the national-level numbers that are avail­able and offering case studies of key industries

Current Directions in the Climate Change Debate in the United States

human development, climate change

Environmental constituents of EDM

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-31).Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a non-traditional process that uses no mechanical forces to machine metals. It is extremely useful in machining hard materials. With the advantages EDM has to offer and its presence as a common and useable technique, along with the other machining processes available to the industrial world, there is an added strain on the environment. The scope of this thesis includes analyzing the various inputs into EDM and the resulting outputs into the environment. A simplified model is used to analyze the process. The main categories of flow scrutinized in the model are material flow and energy flow. The most hazardous effect to the environment is found in the resin interaction of the wire EDM process where depending on the type of material machined, there is a potential presence of hazardous materials. There are efforts to recycle all salvageable materials such as wire and metal wastes, but currently no accountability system exists as manufacturers are responsible for their actions.by Margaret H. Cho.S.B

Arbor Research Corporation PSA oxygen generators : Canadian market penetration

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96914/1/MBA_LowesF_1997Final.pd

Energy for Development: The Potential Role of Renewable Energy in Meeting the Millennium Development Goals

This report identifies renewable energy options that are currently in wide use in some regions and that are now ready for large-scale introduction in many areas of the developing world. Through 26 case studies, the report cites biogas, small hydro, solar, wind, ethanol, and biodiesel, among other technologies, as viable options for poverty alleviation in developing countries.As their cost has declined and their reliability has improved, renewable energy technologies have often emerged as more affordable and practical means of providing essential energy services. Although the strongest renewable energy growth has been in grid-connected power systems and liquid fuels for transportation, several technologies are well-suited to providing modern energy services for low-income people. Scaling up a broad portfolio of renewable energy options can make a major contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, concludes the report.The creation of REN 21 was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Formally established in Copenhagen in June 2005, REN 21 is now supported by a steering committee of 11 governments, five intergovernmental organizations, five non-governmental organizations, and several regional, local and private organizations

Silicon as an intermediary between renewable energy and hydrogen

Non-renewable energy sources are becoming depleted. Air and water (our environment) are precious and will be under increased jeopardy without effective energy and environmental policies. A hydrogen technology based upon solar energy represents a viable solution to these problems. Silicon successfully functions as a tailor-made intermediate linking decentrally operating renewable energy-generation technology with equally decentrally organised hydrogen-based infrastructure at any location of choice. The transport and storage of silicon are free from potential hazards and/or high energy losses and require a simple infrastructure similar to that needed for coal. --