The Economics of Non-Governmental Organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the organisational comparative advantage of NGOs, and to develop a model which explains the set of circumstances uder which they emerge and dominate other types of firms. It is argued that the potential superiority of NGOs derives from two features: (1) the creation of an institutional environment within the firm which selectively attracts altruists, who have a lower supply price of effective labour than egotists, and (2) the ability to develop efficient technologies for converting the relevatory and productive effort of their staff into local outputs which are highly valued by the target group of beneficiaries.miroeconomic analyses of economic development, formal and informal sectors, non-governmental organisations, institutional arrangements, non-profit institutions, altruism

Polyurethane foam infill for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge deck panels: an evaluation of core alternatives using small scale experimental testing

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) decking is a concept that has been explored in recent decades as one solution to the performance issues of conventional concrete bridge decking. Many sandwich panel designs made of glass reinforced polyester or vinyl ester resin have been well developed, and manufactured using filament winding, hand lay-up, and extrusion methods. The major benefits of these panels was their light weight, corrosion resistance, fatigue performance, and potential for rapid field assembly. However, high initial costs coupled with small state budgets have kept them from main stream adoption. A viable alternative, is a foam/reinforced foam core sandwich panel made of polyurethane materials and glass fibers that is manufactured using the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. These type of panels could potentially decrease initial expenses, manufacturing difficulties, and possibly reduce weight further while retaining the benefits provided by previously explored FRP panels. The primary objective of this thesis is to evaluate three potential core alternatives. Type 1 consisted of a rigid polyurethane core, Type 2 consisted of a flexible polyurethane foam core reinforced by a grid work of resin infused glass fibers, and the Type 3 core consisted of trapezoidal blocks of flexible polyurethane foam reinforced with resin infused glass fiber shear layers. Four types of small scale experimental testing were conducted in this research; flatwise compression and tension testing, three point flexural testing, and four point flexural testing. The results showed that both the Type 1 and 2 cores were very weak and flexible making their implementation in bridge deck panels less practical. The Type 3 core was the stiffest and strongest core configuration making in the most practical for implementation in bridge deck panels --Abstract, page iii