The impact of infrastructure investment on economic growth in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Infrastructure investment has long been held as an accelerator or a driver of the economy. Internationally, the UK ranks poorly with the performance of infrastructure and ranks in the lower percentile for both infrastructure investment and GDP growth rate amongst comparative nations. Faced with the uncertainty of Brexit and the likely negative economic impact this will bring, infrastructure investment may be used to strengthen the UK economy. This study aims to examine how infrastructure funding impacts economic growth and how best the UK can maximize this potential by building on existing work. The research method is based on interviews carried out with respondents involved in infrastructure operating across various sectors. The findings show that investment in infrastructure is vital in the UK as it stimulates economic growth through employment creation due to factor productivity. However, it is critical for investment to be directed to regional opportunity areas with the potential to unlock economic growth and maximize returns whilst stimulating further growth to benefit other regions. There is also a need for policy consistency and to review UK infrastructure policy to streamline the process and to reduce cost and time overrun, with Brexit likely to impact negatively on infrastructure investment. Keywords: infrastructure; economic growth; investment; constructio

Non-equilibrium Phonon Generation and Detection in Microstructure Devices

We demonstrate a method to excite locally a controllable, non-thermal distribution of acoustic phonon modes ranging from 0 to ∼200 GHz in a silicon microstructure, by decay of excited quasiparticle states in an attached superconducting tunnel junction (STJ). The phonons transiting the structure ballistically are detected by a second STJ, allowing comparison of direct with indirect transport pathways. This method may be applied to study how different phonon modes contribute to the thermal conductivity of nanostructuresThe authors thank R. B. Van Dover, J. Blakely, S. Baker, K. Schwab, and Cornell LASSP for loan of key equipment, and L. Spietz for photolithography recipes. We thank R. B. Van Dover, K. Schwab, E. Smith, J. Parpia, D. Ralph, B. Plourde, M. Blencowe, D. Westly, R. Pohl, P. Berberich, and C. Mellor for helpful discussions and thank D. Toledo, J. Chang and A. Lin for help with apparatus. The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (DMR 0520404) and Department of Energy (DOE) (DE-SC0001086). This publication is based on work supported in part by Award No. KUS-C1-018-02, made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). This work was performed in part at the Cornell NanoScale Facility, a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant ECS-0335765

Infrastructure Development in the UK: Key Drivers and Implementation Challenges

Infrastructure is a critical factor in fostering strong and sustained economic growth, hence, sufficient attention should be given to the allocation of investment. Although UK infrastructure investment have risen in line with the global trend, the level of investment remains in the lower percentile when compared to other leading countries such as Singapore and China. The study examines the challenges of infrastructure development in the UK and explored the policies required to stimulate investment. Using semi-structured interviews, the views of key stakeholders involved in infrastructure operating across key sectors of transport and energy were captured to gain an insight into the key policy drivers of infrastructure investment. Findings from the research suggests that policy changes are required to stimulate significant investment if the UK is to become a world leader in infrastructure. Key criticisms of UK infrastructure policy focussed on comparatively low level of investment, inadequate collaboration between key stakeholders, and the regional bias of investment in favour of London which disproportionately affects the Northern regions. To facilitate economic growth, the identification of future investible pipeline of infrastructure projects, increasing collaboration with local stakeholders and addressing the regional biases will be critical to ensure synergy and ownership and to scale up the implementation of UK future infrastructure development plans. Considerations should also be given to the need to set up infrastructure banks similar to what is in operation in other countries such as China and Singapore to stimulate private investment and to complement public sector budget allocations. Improving infrastructure project implementation through institutional coordination will boost economic growth post Brexit, support the development of new trading agreements and enhance the country’s economic performance after the pandemi

Time-in-area represents foraging activity in a wide-ranging pelagic forager

Successful Marine Spatial Planning depends upon the identification of areas with high importance for particular species, ecosystems or processes. For seabirds, advancements in biologging devices have enabled us to identify these areas through the detailed study of at-sea behaviour. However, in many cases, only positional data are available and the presence of local biological productivity and hence seabird foraging behaviour is inferred from these data alone, under the untested assumption that foraging activity is more likely to occur in areas where seabirds spend more time. We fitted GPS devices and accelerometers to northern gannets Morus bassanus and categorised the behaviour of individuals outside the breeding colony as plunge diving, surface foraging, floating and flying. We then used the locations of foraging events to test the efficiency of 2 approaches: time-in-area and kernel density (KD) analyses, which are widely employed to detect highly-used areas and interpret foraging behaviour from positional data. For KD analyses, the smoothing parameter (h) was calculated using the ad hoc method (KDad hoc), and KDh=9.1, where h = 9.1 km, to designate core foraging areas from location data. A high proportion of foraging events occurred in core foraging areas designated using KDad hoc, KDh=9.1, and time-in-area. Our findings demonstrate that foraging activity occurs in areas where seabirds spend more time, and that both KD analysis and the time-in-area approach are equally efficient methods for this type of analysis. However, the time-in-area approach is advantageous in its simplicity, and in its ability to provide the shapes commonly used in planning. Therefore, the time-in-area approach can be used as a simple way of using seabirds to identify ecologically important locations from both tracking and survey data

Capitals and commitment. The case of a local learning and employment network.

This article draws on research undertaken with a Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN) in the state of Victoria, Australia. LLEN are networks that were implemented by the state government in 2001 to undertake community capacity building through which the outcomes of young people aged 15-19 in education, training and employment would be enhanced. In 2008, in the context of an enhanced federal commitment to social inclusion through ‘joining-up’, the Victorian experience provides insights on the implications of such policy initiatives. Drawing on Bourdieu’s discussion of the forms of capital and Granovetter’s notion of the strength of weak ties, I argue that stores of economic, cultural and social capital as outlined by Bourdieu were necessary, but insufficient, for LLEN to achieve the objectives with which they were charged given the failure of government to follow through on the implications of its policies. I argue for a commitment on the part of all stakeholders to realise the potential of ‘joining-up’

Using a simulation model for knowledge elicitation and knowledge management

The work reported in this paper is part of a project simulating maintenance operations in an automotive engine production facility. The decisions made by the people in charge of these operations form a crucial element of this simulation. Eliciting this knowledge is problematic. One approach is to use the simulation model as part of the knowledge elicitation process. This paper reports on the experience so far with using a simulation model to support knowledge management in this way. Issues are discussed regarding the data available, the use of the model, and the elicitation process itself. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Further constraints on electron acceleration in solar noise storms

We reexamine the energetics of nonthermal electron acceleration in solar noise storms. A new result is obtained for the minimum nonthermal electron number density required to produce a Langmuir wave population of sufficient intensity to power the noise storm emission. We combine this constraint with the stochastic electron acceleration formalism developed by Subramanian & Becker (2005) to derive a rigorous estimate for the efficiency of the overall noise storm emission process, beginning with nonthermal electron acceleration and culminating in the observed radiation. We also calculate separate efficiencies for the electron acceleration -- Langmuir wave generation stage and the Langmuir wave -- noise storm production stage. In addition, we obtain a new theoretical estimate for the energy density of the Langmuir waves in noise storm continuum sources.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physic

Radio Observations of the January 20, 2005 X-Class Event

We present a multi-frequency and multi-instrument study of the 20 January 2005 event. We focus mainly on the complex radio signatures and their association with the active phenomena taking place: flares, CMEs, particle acceleration and magnetic restructuring. As a variety of energetic particle accelerators and sources of radio bursts are present, in the flare-ejecta combination, we investigate their relative importance in the progress of this event. The dynamic spectra of {Artemis-IV-Wind/Waves-Hiras with 2000 MHz-20 kHz frequency coverage, were used to track the evolution of the event from the low corona to the interplanetary space; these were supplemented with SXR, HXR and gamma-ray recordings. The observations were compared with the expected radio signatures and energetic-particle populations envisaged by the {Standard Flare--CME model and the reconnection outflow termination shock model. A proper combination of these mechanisms seems to provide an adequate model for the interpretation of the observational data.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physic