Control in the technical societies: a brief history

By the time control engineering emerged as a coherent body of knowledge and practice (during and just after WW2) professional engineering societies had existed for many decades. Since control engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of the profession, new sections devoted to control were quickly established within the various existing technical societies. In addition, some new bodies devoted specifically or primarily to control were established. This article, a revised version of a paper presented at the IEEE 2009 Conference on the History of Technical Societies, describes how control engineering as a distinct branch of engineering became represented in technical societies in a number of countries

Review Of Theories And Models Of Economic Growth

The subject of this article is a review of the theories and models of economic growth. In the first section, the author analyzes the theories of economic growth, such as Schumpeter’s, Lewis’s and Rostow’s theory. In the second part there is a review of the models of economic growth. In this part the author divides models into two groups: exogenus models and endogenus models. The article finishes with conclusions concerning the issues discussed. The method used in writing the article is an analysis of the English and Polish literature on the subject.Celem artykułu jest przegląd teorii oraz modeli wzrostu gospodarzcego. W pierwszej części autor dokonuje analizy teorii wzrostu gospodarczego autorstwa: Schummpetera, Lewisa oraz Rostowa. W drugiej części opracowania zawarty jest przegląd modeli wzrostu gospodarczego. Autor analizowane modele dzieli na dwie grupy; modele egzogeniczne oraz modele endogeniczne. Artykuł kończy lista wniosków dotyczących przeprowadzonych analiz. Autor przygotowując artykuł wykorzystał metodę analizy literatury angielskiej i polskiej

Accumulation, productivity and technology: measurement and analysis of long term economic growth

This paper provides a brief overview of the "state of the art" on research on the sources of long term economic growth. It is argued that, despite the enormous progress in development of the theory and empirics on long term economic growth, we are still not able to unambiguously distinguish between the determinants of growth. The distinction between accumulation, productivity and technology is a useful device to structure the debate, as the former two tend to emphasize the importance of investment and increased efficiency in use of resources, whereas the latter puts the contribution of invention and innovation change into the spotlight. However, the most powerful explanations of economic growth are those which combine these various aspects of growth with an explicit focus on historical, institutional and political factors in the growth process. To strengthen empirical research, the paper recommends greater attention for reconstruction of historical national accounts, the development of a broad range of technology indicators.

Control engineering and the professional societies

By the time control engineering emerged as a coherent body of knowledge and practice (during and just after WW2) professional engineering societies had existed for many decades. Since control engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of the profession, new sections devoted to control were quickly established within the various existing technical societies. In addition, some new bodies devoted specifically or primarily to control were established. This brief paper will present in outline the history of how control engineering as a distinct branch of engineering became represented in technical societies – or their equivalent – in the USA, UK, USSR, Germany and France

Convergence or Divergence - The Impact of Technology

This paper presents an overview and assessment of the theoretical and empirical work on catch-up and growth, with particular emphasis on the impact of technology, and the consequences for developing countries. The point of departure is the neoclassical theory of economic growth, as laid out by Solow and other in the 1950s, and the applied work that followed ("growth accounting"). Then the contributions from economic historians and more heterodox economists, such as Schumpeter, Kaldor and others, are discussed, followed by an account of the most recent theoretical developments in this area ("new growth theory"). Finally an assessment is made of the lessons from the recent surge in empirical (econometric) work in this area.

IQ variations across time and race are explained by literacy differences

Intelligence quotient (IQ) scores are intended to assess the cognitive competences of individuals, groups and populations. A body of data collected during the last 50 years has revealed that IQ average population scores vary significantly over time, nationality, and race. The causes of these variations remain a mystery. Theories focusing on nutrition, brain size, dysgenic factors, social class and education have proved inexact or unsatisfactory. Here I describe a new explanation based on the fact that intelligence test performance requires a level of literacy not present in all people to the same degree. I show that literacy variations across time, place and race are highly associated with changes in IQ scores. These findings have widespread implications. Contemporary IQ test score differences between populations and racial groups are predicted to diminish with rises in universal literacy in the 21st century

Structural Health Monitoring of Large Structures Using Acoustic Emission-Case Histories

Acoustic emission (AE) techniques have successfully been used for assuring the structural integrity of large rocket motorcases since 1963 [...

Accounting for Growth

A satisfactory account of the postwar growth experience of the United States should be able to come to terms with the following three facts: -Since the early 1970's there has been a slump in the advance of productivity. -The price of new equipment has fallen steadily over the postwar period. -Since the mid-1970's the skill premium has risen. Variants of Solow's (1960) vintage-capital model can go a long way toward explaining these facts, as this paper shows. In brief, the explanations are: -Productivity slowed down because the implementation of information technologies was both costly and slow. -Technological advance in the capital goods sector has lead to a decline in equipment prices. -The skill premium rose because the new, more efficient capital is complementary with skilled labor and/or because the use of skilled labor facilitates the adoption of new technologies.Investment-specific technological progress, vintage-capital models, learning by doing, diffusion lags.