The shoe industry of Marikina City, Philippines: a developing country cluster in crisis

I initiate the discussion with a few general remarks on industrial clusters and commodity chains. I describe the main features of the shoe industry in the Philippines. The core of the industry is located in Marikina City in the northeast of the Manila Metropolitan Area. I provide a detailed account of the internal structure and changing fortunes of this cluster. The deeply-rooted failures of the cluster since the early 1990s are pinpointed. I show that these can be directly related to the liberalization of the Filipino economy, and the concomitant increase in Chinese-made shoes on domestic markets. Various private and public responses to the crisis are described and evaluated. I argue that as helpful as many of these responses may be, their overall impact is likely to remain limited. I enumerate a series of possible policy options, but I also emphasize the high risks of failure. I try, in particular, to provide a developmental scenario based on cluster upgrading and intensified export activity.shoe industry, industrial districts, regional development, clustering, agglomeration

CULTURAL-PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES AND URBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: PROSPECTS FOR GROWTH AND MARKET CONTESTATION IN GLOBAL CONTEXT

The paper opens with a brief definition of the cultural economy. A first generation of local economic development policy approaches based on place-marketing and associated initiatives is described. The possibilities of a more powerful second-generation approach are then sketched out with special emphasis on localized complexes of cultural- products industries. An extensive review and classification of these complexes is laid out, and their inward and outward relations to global markets are considered. On this basis, a critical discussion of local economic policy options focussed on cultural-products industries is offered. Contrasting examples of development initiatives in major global cities, in selected old manufacturing towns, and in the Multimedia Super Corridor of Malaysia are briefly presented. It is suggested that the growth and spread of localized production agglomerations based on cultural-products industries is leading not to cultural uniformity but to greatly increased diversity at the global level.

Larval fish in the vicinity of aquaculture intakes

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has recently proposed that all facilities pumping water from Texas estuaries be fitted with 0.5 mm screening to prevent larval fish mortality at these facilities. Data on larval fish distributions in Texas estuaries is quite limited (Holt et al. 1990). This report presents the results of a pilot study to examine the impact on larval fishes and shrimps of pumping water into mariculture facilities at three sites on the central and southern Texas Coast. The primary objective of this study was to determine the species composition, density and size structure of ichthyoplankton populations in the vicinity of the intake structures of the three mariculture facilities during their spring and fall pumping seasons. A secondary objective was to determine what organisms were actually being pumped through the system.Final report for contract IAC(90-91)111.5Prepared for Texas A&M Sea Grant, Texas General Land OfficeFebruary 1991Marine Scienc

Cultural economy and the creative field of the city

I begin with a rough sketch of the incidence of the cultural economy in US cities today. I then offer a brief review of some theoretical approaches to the question of creativity, with special reference to issues of social and geographic context. The city is a powerful fountainhead of creativity, and an attempt is made to show how this can be understood in terms of a series of localized field effects. The creative field of the city is broken down (relative to the cultural economy) into four major components, namely, (a) intra-urban webs of specialized and complementary producers, (b) the local labor market and the social networks that bind workers together in urban space, (c) the wider urban environment, including various sites of memory, leisure, and social reproduction, and (d) institutions of governance and collective action. I also briefly describe some of the path-dependent dynamics of the creative field. The paper ends with a reference to some issues of geographic scale. Here, I argue that the urban is but one (albeit important) spatial articulation of an overall creative field whose extent is ultimately nothing less than global.cultural economy; creative field; creativity; creative city; urban economy; urban growth

REGIONAL PUSH: TOWARDS A GEOGRAPHY OF DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

Regional push derives from the geographic agglomeration of economic activities, and is expressed in increments to national productivity. Various pieces of statistical evidence in favor of the existence of regional push effects in low- and middle-income economies are marshalled. The origins of these effects in different sorts of externalities and increasing returns to agglomerative scale and scope are analyzed in theoretical terms. Further evidence for the existence of these effects is displayed in a brief review of published case studies of African, Asian, and Latin American regions. A number of observations are then offered on the possibilities of identifying viable developmental policies and practices directed to enhancing the productivity-boosting properties of regions in low- and middle-income economies.Agglomeration, big push, regional development, developing countries, local economic development

The Cultural Economy of Paris

The cultural economy is defined in terms of a set of sectors ranging from certain traditional artisanal industries like clothing or jewelry on the one side, to newer media industries like sound recording or television program production on the other. I provide an overview of the industrial dynamic of French society since the Second World War and I assess its (inimical) effects on segments of the cultural economy. An empirical description of the cultural-products industries of Paris is offered, with special reference to their locational structure and their competitive advantages and disadvantages. The entire institutional and policy environment within which these industries operate is then subject to analysis, and I seek to show how many of them have become locked in to dysfunctional competitive strategies. I conclude by suggesting that despite their current difficulties, the cultural-products industries of Paris remain a potential focus of significant new growth and development.Cultural products, agglomeration, industrial clusters, creative industries

A knowledge-based system design/information tool

The objective of this effort was to develop a Knowledge Capture System (KCS) for the Integrated Test Facility (ITF) at the Dryden Flight Research Facility (DFRF). The DFRF is a NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) facility. This system was used to capture the design and implementation information for NASA's high angle-of-attack research vehicle (HARV), a modified F/A-18A. In particular, the KCS was used to capture specific characteristics of the design of the HARV fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system (FCS). The KCS utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) knowledge-based system (KBS) technology. The KCS enables the user to capture the following characteristics of automated systems: the system design; the hardware (H/W) design and implementation; the software (S/W) design and implementation; and the utilities (electrical and hydraulic) design and implementation. A generic version of the KCS was developed which can be used to capture the design information for any automated system. The deliverable items for this project consist of the prototype generic KCS and an application, which captures selected design characteristics of the HARV FCS

Abundance and distribution of larval fishes and shrimps in the Laguna Madre, Texas : a hypersaline lagoon

To Texas Water Development BoardContract nos. IAC (88-89)1636 and (90-91)0751October 1990Tidal inlets connecting the Gulf of Mexico with estuarine waters are widely spaced and relatively narrow along the Texas coast. These inlets provide the sole route for ingress of larvae to the estuary for estuarine-dependent marine species and the egress of juveniles and sub-adults of these species back to the ocean. This study was an investigation of the abundance and distribution of ichthyoplankton of selected fishes and shrimps in an area where the opening and maintenance of a new tidal pass has been proposed in the Laguna Madre, a sub-tropical, hypersaline lagoon along the southern Texas coast. Surface and bottom ichthyoplankton samples were taken bimonthly in four zones in the Laguna Madre in areas which were directly influenced by tidal inlets from the Gulf of Mexico and areas isolated from such connections. Seasonal composition of the ichthyoplankton was similar to that reported from other Gulf of Mexico and southeastern United States estuaries with winter catches dominated by offshore spawners and summer catches dominated by inshore and estuarine spawners. The pelagic larvae of three species of estuarine spawners, bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli), spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), and black drum (Pogonias cromis), were common throughout the Laguna Madre at salinities up to 50°/00. Pelagic larvae of offshore spawners were abundant only in the area near the tidal inlet and only a few individuals were found dispersed throughout the lagoon. The majority of these species are distributed throughout the Laguna Madre as juveniles but the dispersion or advection of these species to areas not closely associated with tidal inlets occurs at development stages older than the pelagic larval stage. These data suggest that opening and maintaining a tidal inlet in the upper Laguna Madre would increase the opportunity for recruitment of larvae of offshore spawners into an area currently unoccupied by these life-history stages.Marine Scienc

Differential localization of glutamate receptor subunits at the drosophila neuromuscular junction

The subunit composition of postsynaptic neurotransmitter receptors is a key determinant of synaptic physiology. Two glutamate receptor subunits, Drosophila glutamate receptor IIA (DGluRIIA) and DGluRIIB, are expressed at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction and are redundant for viability, yet differ in their physiological properties. We now identify a third glutamate receptor subunit at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction, DGluRIII, which is essential for viability. DGluRIII is required for the synaptic localization of DGluRIIA and DGluRIIB and for synaptic transmission. Either DGluRIIA or DGluRIIB, but not both, is required for the synaptic localization of DGluRIII. DGluRIIA and DGluRIIB compete with each other for access to DGluRIII and subsequent localization to the synapse. These results are consistent with a model of a multimeric receptor in which DGluRIII is an essential component. At single postsynaptic cells that receive innervation from multiple motoneurons, DGluRIII is abundant at all synapses. However, DGluRIIA and DGluRIIB are differentially localized at the postsynaptic density opposite distinct motoneurons. Hence, innervating motoneurons may regulate the subunit composition of their receptor fields within a shared postsynaptic cell. The capacity of presynaptic inputs to shape the subunit composition of postsynaptic receptors could be an important mechanism for synapse-specific regulation of synaptic function and plasticity