Cell Dynamics Simulation of Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami Kinetics of Phase Transformation

In this study, we use the cell dynamics method to test the validity of the Kormogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) theory of phase transformation. This cell dynamics method is similar to the well-known phase-field model, but it is a more simple and efficient numerical method for studying various scenarios of phase transformation in a unified manner. We find that the cell dynamics method reproduces the time evolution of the volume fraction of the transformed phase predicted by the KJMA theory. Specifically, the cell dynamics simulation reproduces a double-logarithmic linear KJMA plot and confirms the integral Avrami exponents $n$ predicted from the KJMA theory. Our study clearly demonstrates that the cell dynamics approach is not only useful for studying the pattern formation but also for simulating the most basic properties of phase transformation.Comment: 16 page, 8 figure

Business Groups and the Big Push: Meiji Japan's Mass Privatization and Subsequent Growth

Rosenstein-Rodan (1943) and others posit that rapid development requires a 'big push' -- the coordinated rapid growth of diverse complementary industries, and suggests a role for government in providing such coordination. We argue that Japan's zaibatsu, or pyramidal business groups, provided this coordination after the Meiji government failed at the task. We propose that pyramidal business groups are private sector mechanisms for coordinating and financing 'big push' growth, and that unique historical circumstances aided their success in prewar Japan. Specifically, Japan uniquely marginalized its feudal elite; withdrew its hand with a propitious mass privatization that rallied the private sector; marginalized an otherwise entrenched first generation of wealthy industrialists; and remained open to foreign trade and capital.

Been There, Done That: The History of Corporate Ownership in Japan

Japan's corporate sector has, at different times in recent history, been organized according to every major model. Prior to World War II, wealth Japanese families locked in their control over large corporations by organizing them into pyramidal groups, called zaibatsu, similar to structures currently found in Canada, France, Korea, Italy, and Sweden. In the 1930s, the military government imposed a centrally planned command economy, with private property rights retained as little more than a legal fiction. The American occupation force replaced this with a widely held corporate sector similar to that of the United Kingdom and United States. A bout of takeovers and greenmail ensued. To defend their positions, Japanese top executives placed small numerous blocks of stock with each others' firms, creating dense networks of small intercorporate blocks that summed to majority blocks in each firm. These networks, called keiretsu, halted hostile takeovers completely. Although their primary functions were to lock in corporate control rights, both zaibatsu and keiretsu were probably also rational responses to a variety of institutional failings. Successful zaibatsu and keiretsu were enthusiastic political rent-seekers, raising the possibility that large corporate groups are better at influencing government than free standing firms. In the case of keiretsu especially, this rent seeking probably retarded financial development and created long-term economic problems.

Measuring Firms’ R&D Effects on Technical Progress: Japan in the 199

One of the important public policy issues in science and technology is to ascertain if and how firms' investments in research and development (R&D) contribute to technical progress at firm and industry levels. Griliches (1979) made a pioneering contribution to our understanding of economic growth by pointing out that accumulation of firms' investments in R&D and creation of knowledge will lead to technical progress. In this paper we present a method based on index number theory for estimating technical progress and then apply it for estimating technical progress for Japanese manufacturing firms in the 1990s. Estimated technical progress is then used to test the above Griliches hypothesisR&D; Japan; technical progress; economic growth

Conics on a Generic Hypersurface

In this paper, we compute the contributions from double cover maps to genus 0 degree 2 Gromov-Witten invariants of general type projective hypersurfaces. Our results correspond to a generalization of Aspinwall-Morrison formula to general type hypersurfaces in some special cases.Comment: 18pages, AmsLatex, minor errors are correcte