Toward a microeconomics of growth

What drives growth at the microeconomic level? The authors divide the factors that determine a location's growth performance into two groups,"1st advantage"and"2nd advantage."The term 1st advantage refers to the conditions that provide the environment in which new activities can be profitably developed, including most of the factors on which traditional theory has focused, such as access to inputs (labor and capital), access to markets, provision of basic infrastructure, and the institutional environment. The term 2nd advantage refers to factors that increase returns to scale and can lead to cumulative causation processes. They may be acquired by learning, through technological spillovers, or by the development of thick markets of suppliers and local skills. The authors'analysis suggests that empirical investigation of the drivers of growth must shift down to a more microeconomic level. Such an analysis has become more feasible as data at the subnational level have become more available. By viewing recent empirical evidence on drivers of growth through their analytical framework, the authors are able to begin to sketch out a microeconomic agenda for growth. They emphasize that it is the manner in which 1st and 2nd advantages interact that shapes the pattern of development. The authors then turn to the example of how policy has affected manufacturing growth performance in India. They analyze links between the direction of state-level labor regulation and growth in the organized manufacturing sector, how state-led expansion of bank branches into rural areas has affected unregistered or informal manufacturing, and how the pre-reform technological capability of industries affected their response to liberalization in 1991. The analysis suggests that policy choices at the local level affect growth. Both theory and empirics need to downshift to the microeconomic level if we are to make advances in identifying specific means of encouraging innovation and growth.Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Decentralization,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Governance Indicators,Achieving Shared Growth

The underwater aviation heritage of the Second Siege of Malta

Between the years 1940 and 1943, the skies over the Maltese islands and their surrounding seas witnessed some of the most intense aerial combat of the Second World War. The prolonged duration of this conflict in a relatively well-delineated area has resulted in a submerged legacy that bears witness to a period of rapid advancement in aviation technology. After discussing the potential size of this cultural resource, this paper will explain why all of the in situ aircraft remains from this conflict now exist underwater, as well as a working hypothesis as to its composition. This paper concludes by urging a re-appraisal in how this archaeological resource is regarded and treated, advocating a wider holistic approach to construct an ‘airscape’ of Malta during the Second World War.peer-reviewe

Effective means of improving email communication

Email communication has become an integral part of the communication structure within organisations, but the problems it can cause are rarely assessed. The defects associated with email, which are related to both the quantity and the quality of email need to be understood by employees for them to become more effective users of email. Email training within organisations tends to focus on how to use email as a software package, without looking at when it is appropriate to use email and how to get your message across effectively. This thesis first explores email defects and how they impact on organisations. [Continues.

Investigation of thermodynamic factors influencing Thorium reactor efficiencies

In this meta-study, the major forms of thorium based nuclear reactors were compared using thermodynamic parameters to find which reactor type holds the highest thermodynamic efficiency and hence, determine which reactor would be most beneficial to research further and implement for energy production. Our study found that molten salt reactors had the best thermodynamic efficiency and also runs at one atmospheric pressure, making it safer than conventional water reactors. The findings in this study show molten salt reactors would be the most efficient reactor to replace standard water reactors, which dominate the market in use of nuclear energy production. This study found a strong link between the thermal efficiency of the plant and the pressure and temperature at which it runs. Reactor core volumes also appeared to have a small effect on the efficiencies. Power flux density was calculated for each style of reactor and compared to other parameters but no distinct relationship was found between them.

Capturing and managing email knowledge.

In many successful organisations today, significant resources are invested in training and development efforts exploring group dynamics and effective team building. The challenge from a knowledge management perspective is to explore how technology could facilitate knowledge sharing (both tacit and explicit) in a group context. The paper highlights the benefits of developing such Knowledge Management tools to make better use of the information contained within email messages, and shows how organisations could become more effective by adopting such an application

Output Feedback Speed Control for a Wankel Rotary Engine via Q-Learning

This paper develops a dynamic output feedback controller based on continuous-time Q-learning for the engine speed regulation problem. The proposed controller is able to learn the optimal control solution online in a finite time using only the measurable outputs. We first present the mean value engine model (MVEM) for a Wankel rotary engine. The regulation of engine speed can be formulated as an optimal control problem that minimises a pre-defined value function by actuating the electronic throttle. By parameterising an action-dependent Q-function, we derive a full-state adaptive optimal feedback controller using the idea of continuous-time Q-learning. The adaptive critic approximates the Q-function as a neural network and directly updates the actor, where the convergence is guaranteed by employing novel finite-time adaptation techniques. Then, we incorporate the extended Kalman filter (EKF) as an optimal reduced-order state observer, which enables the online estimation of the unknown fuel puddle dynamics, to achieve a dynamic output feedback engine speed controller. The simulation results of a benchmark 225CS engine demonstrate that the proposed controller can effectively regulate the engine speed to a set point under certain load disturbances

The effectiveness of training in reducing email defects

Previous research has shown that there are many defects associated with email use within the workplace. This paper describes the effectiveness of email training in enabling employees to write better emails. Employees were asked to evaluate the emails they received from specified senders before and after the senders had received training. These emails were marked against a set of ten criteria that covered different aspects of email, including whether the email had a suitable subject line, whether it was relevant and if it was easy to read. By comparing the results before and after the training it is possible to see how effective the training has been and which areas of email use benefited the most from the training. The results show that some of the email defects are more receptive to training than others. The data also shows the relationships between the evaluation criteria used. This is important because it shows how some of the problems with email are related; similarly it shows how an improvement in one area is likely to lead to an improvement in another. This paper highlights some of the problem areas often associated with email and shows the effect of training in reducing these email defects

Email training significantly reduces email defects

Organisations are now becoming aware of the problems associated with email use and are keen to reduce these defects. These email defects relate to the ineffective way that email is used within organisations, and are not only limited to the volume of email that is sent and received, but also the quality of the email content. Email defects lead to inefficiencies within the workplace as employees spend more time dealing with email rather than doing other aspects of their job. This paper firstly examines how email is used within a large organisation and highlights the defects associated with email. The initial results show that these defects affect some groups of employees more than others. The paper also reports on the effectiveness of email training in reducing the defects associated with email use. The results show that some of these defects are related and that training can significantly reduce some of the email defects and improve the way people write emails