Editor-in-Chief\u27s Note

Global interaction, a perennial phenomenon among human groups, is a function of perceived need. The fact that Columbus’ contact with the New World was an accident does not discount the fact that he was seeking a new trade route to Asia—and avoiding established ones. And, this contact by that dark miracle of fate or chance altered the destiny of men and nations. Similarly, the Silk Road, the greatest land route on earth, traces trade, travel and ideas. Travel and trade, in turn, generate contact with groups beyond one’s particular culture—which, by itself, is a tumultuous journey into the unknown as mysterious, unsettling, and fraught with danger and uncertainty as any physical voyage of discovery. The cost, real or prospective, of innovation is therefore high, as is the risk. The other side of the same coin is, of course, the perceived benefit derived from successfully navigating uncharted geographic and cultural terrains. And, as evinced innumerable times throughout human history, the benefit to one group may come at the expense of another. Travel, trade and contact, in a very real, very human sense, can change the definition of what is perceived as global, as benefit, and as human. No matter how good we become, we always want to be better as thinking is our most important skill

Book Review: China\u27s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities.

Reviews the book China\u27s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities, by C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas Lardy, & Derek Mitchell. Published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2008

Editor-in-Chief’s Note

This third edition of the Journal of Emerging Knowledge on Emerging Markets (JEKEM) is a virtual smorgasbord of theoretically and empirically-based articles from around the globe. We open with big questions, setting the stage across both the hemispheres, on themes of: BRIC economies, globalization, innovation, R & D, capacity utilization, issues in education, international monetary system, performance management, geo-politics, fiscal decentralization, and information technology. I hope you delight in reading and learning from these pieces as I did. It’s a great conversation. Join it. Enjoy

BRICS at the Gate: Modern International Monetary System in Conditions of Balanced Uncertainty

The history of the modern international monetary system has been one of balanced uncertainty, with a fundamental trade-off - and tension - persisting between it anchoring mechanism and the mechanism for adjusting imbalances within. Ever since the system’s moorings drifted from its anchoring to gold and the assured automaticity of convertibility, the adjustment mechanism to regulate intra-systemic imbalances - floating exchange rates, capital controls, coordinated international intervention, or a combination thereof - has had to be progressively scaled upwards to account for the contingent nature of the tie to gold. Attempts to weave this balance have typically tended to break down over time as structural shifts associated with modern capitalism have overwhelmed the founding design of each monetary order. Looking ahead, a 21st century international monetary order that is entirely de-anchored from gold and rests merely on the full faith and credit of its fiat money trustees will necessitate that its mechanisms of international coordination and adjustment to restore balance be ratcheted-upwards equivalently. The emergence of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) phenomenon, and the powerful re-rise of China as a global strategic peer competitor to the United States, is likely to heap a layer of complication to this task of international financial coordination. To overcome the fundamental structural tensions that exist within the system – semi-liberalized financial and exchange rate regimes in a universe of fully-liberalized and quicksilver capital flows; basic long-term irreconcilability of the United States’ international debtor status with its principal reserve currency-issuer status; viability of a dollar-dominated monetary system in a progressively China, Asia and BRICS-dominated global economic and trading order, we propose that flexibility and capacity be endowed within the system’s regulatory mechanisms to accommodate – and accelerate - the economic and financial liberalization trajectories, and rise, of its BRICS and emerging markets constituents

A Clashing Viewpoint Concerning India: A Critique of Goldman Sachs 2007 Report

The centerpiece of the 2007 Report by Goldman Sachs is the prediction of India\u27s phenomenal economic growth and power in the next few decades. In this article we critique the conceptual validity of that prognosis. In particular, we highlight several hard and soft infrastructure impediments to India\u27s emergence as a major economic power

Globalization and International R&D Flows into Emerging Markets: Nomothetic Evidence

In this paper we analyze the impact of some determinants of international R&D expenditures made by overseas affiliates of MNCs. We also examine whether globalization has expedited international R&D investment flows since 1995, the year that internet access was opened up to mass usage and trade barriers began to concertedly decrease worldwide, following the emergence of the World Trade Organization (WTO). We find evidence that ethnic diversity, political stability, and patent rights enforcement promotes international flows of R&D investments. Increased workers’ educational levels appear to have contradicting effects on international R&D investment flows. When we isolated the effects of globalization into its component forces of technological advancement and trade liberalization, we found some notable interaction effects, especially involving trade barriers. Increased globalization since 1995 has increased international R&D flows in the face of diminishing tariff barriers. A dataset containing more countries and more recent time horizons should help to unravel some of the counter-intuitive and confounding results that our study has unearthed

Uncertainty in Damage Assessment and Remaining Life Prediction of Engineering Materials Used In Petrochemical Industry

In this paper creep damage assessment of about 11 years’ service exposed HP-40 grade of steel used in hydrogen reformer of a petrochemical industry has been carried out in terms of a discontinuous Markov process. Experimentally determined conventional creep data under identical testing condition were used in the present investigation. Scatter and damage accumulation due to creep deformation were evaluated through microstructural assessment using light optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. Quantification of creep damage was made from replicated creep data in terms of two damage parameters A and A*. Statistical analysis of void area fraction has been carried out extensively for the both top and bottom portions of the reformer tube at 870 o C in the stress range of 52-68 MPa. In addition, the proposed probabilistic model has been compared with the Kachanav’s Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) model. Both the approaches displayed quantitative experimental support. A residual life of > 10 years is estimated at 870 degree C / operating stress. For 55 years’ service exposed Catalytic Cold Cracking (CCU) reactor vessel and Feed Processing Unit (FPU) distillation column materials of a petrochemical industry remnant life assessment studies were estimated by incorporating the uncertainty involved in calculation of LMP (Larson Miller Parameter) values and from extrapolation of stress vs. LMP plot. Variability of normalized creep damage for reactor and column materials is well approximated with the aid of Weibull distribution. As expected, it is observed that the distributions shift towards the higher range of damage with increase in service exposure time

Parameter optimization in milling of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) using DOE-Taguchi method

Introduction: Optimization of machining parameters is essential for improving expected outcome of any machining operation. Case Description: The aim of this work is to find out optimum values of machining parameters to achieve minimal surface roughness during milling operation of GFRP. Discussion and Evaluation: In this machining operation speed, depth of cut and feed rate are considered as parameters affecting surface roughness and Design of Experiment (DOE)-Taguchi method tool is used to plan experiments and analyse results. Conclusion: Analysis of experimental results presents optimum values of these three parameters to achieve minimal surface roughness with speed as a major contributing factor. Speed—200 rpm, depth of cut—1.2 mm and feed—40 mm/min are an optimal combination of machining parameter to produce minimal surface roughness during milling of GFRP