Understanding the UK's poor technological performance

In this Briefing Note, we document and disentangle the trends in UK research and development (R&D) over the period 1981-2000, and compare the UK's performance with that of the USA

Desmognathus aeneus

Number of Pages: 4Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Product market reforms, labour market institutions and unemployment

We analyze the impact of product market competition on unemployment and wages, and how this depends on labour market institutions. We use differential changes in regulations across OECD countries over the 1980s and 1990s to identify the effects of competition. We find that increased product market competition reduces unemployment, and that it does so more in countries with labour market institutions that increase worker bargaining power. The theoretical intuition is that both firms with market power and unions with bargaining power are constrained in their behaviour by the elasticity of demand in the product market. We also find that the effect of increased competition on real wages is beneficial to workers, but less so when they have high bargaining power. Intuitively, real wages increase through a drop in the general price level, but workers with bargaining power lose out somewhat from a reduction in the rents that they had previously captured

Product market reform and innovation in the EU

European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to productmarkets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provideempirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme(SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by areduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensityand productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenousvariation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify theeffects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovationand productivity growth. European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to productmarkets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provideempirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme(SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by areduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensityand productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenousvariation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify theeffects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovationand productivity growth

Three-point bridge calibration with one resistor

Method calibrates transducer bridge curing unbalanced condition and line resistance errors are negligible. Series resistance method can be automated easily and controlled by 2-bit information source which provide 4 states for switches

Temperature telemetric transmitter Patent

Temperature telemetric transmitter with frequency determining tank circuit for short range transmissio

Pressure variable capacitor

Fabrication of pressure-telemetry transducer

A preliminary study of grazing intakes of ponies with and without a history of laminitis

One possible factor involved in the aetiology of laminitis is grazing intake. Whilst some studies have looked at grazing intake in healthy animals, there has been little comparison made between animals with and without a history of laminitis. The aim of this study was to compare grazing intake between health animals and those with a known history of laminitis. Sixteen mature grass-kept (maintained at grass 24 h a day) native breed ponies from World Horse Welfare in Norfolk were used in the study, which was conducted in the month of July for a period of 12 days. All animals were grazed under identical conditions. Grazing areas were of that suitable for the management of animals predisposed to laminitis (for ethical reasons) and therefore herbage mass was low (Yield: 124 kg dry matter/ha; sward height of 1–2 cm). Faecal samples were collected from 8 clinically normal horses (NOR) and from 8 that were predisposed to laminitis (LAM) in July 2005. Grazing intake was measured using the alkane technique. Dry matter intakes (DMI) per kilogram bodyweight were low in both groups of animals: 1.32±0.31 percent versus 1.62±0.74 percent for NOR and LAM, respectively. There was no difference in DMI between the two groups of ponies (4.43 versus 4.25 kg/day for NOR and LAM, respectively). Mean DMI per kilogram bodyweight per day were 1.32 and 1.62 for NOR and LAM, respectively (20 percent difference).There was a greater variability of DMI within the LAM group with intakes ranging from 0.81 to 2.36 percent bodyweight. The low DMI values were attributed to the overgrazed nature of the pasture used in this study, which was unavoidable due to the welfare issues associated with grazing overweight, laminitis-prone horses on good grazing pasture. Further work is required with a larger study population grazing pastures with greater herbage mass

An expert system shell for inferring vegetation characteristics: The learning system (tasks C and D)

This report describes the implementation of a learning system that uses a data base of historical cover type reflectance data taken at different solar zenith angles and wavelengths to learn class descriptions of classes of cover types. It has been integrated with the VEG system and requires that the VEG system be loaded to operate. VEG is the NASA VEGetation workbench - an expert system for inferring vegetation characteristics from reflectance data. The learning system provides three basic options. Using option one, the system learns class descriptions of one or more classes. Using option two, the system learns class descriptions of one or more classes and then uses the learned classes to classify an unknown sample. Using option three, the user can test the system's classification performance. The learning system can also be run in an automatic mode. In this mode, options two and three are executed on each sample from an input file. The system was developed using KEE. It is menu driven and contains a sophisticated window and mouse driven interface which guides the user through various computations. Input and output file management and data formatting facilities are also provided