Semi-endogenous growth when population is decreasing

The paper analyzes the effect of a negative population growth rate on per capita income growth using a simple model of semi-endogenous growth. It is shown that there is a non-monotonous relationship between population growth rates and long-run per capita income growth rates. Compared to the case of positive population growth the dynamics are richer and depend on the rate of depreciation. Semi-endogenous growth becomes partly endogenous.negative population growth, semi-endogenous growth

Retail design: lighting as an atmospheric tool, creating experiences which influence consumers’ mood and behaviour in commercial spaces

Retail design is no new discipline, but a scientific approach is of rather recent date. Since atmosphere has been proven to have an influence on consumer’s behaviour from a marketing point of view, this Ph.D. focuses on the designers’ perspective. This paper addresses one aspect of atmosphere: lighting and its influence on consumers’ mood and buying behaviour. Following an introduction in the discipline of retail design, we discuss the notion of ‘atmosphere’ and its relationship to lighting. We also develop a theoretical framework as a first part of a three-part process: literature review, experiments and validation. This first part includes the development of hypotheses and research questions. We will summarise a long tradition of research into architectural physics and psychology in both retail and work environments. Additionally, we also attempt to describe the applied research category: research by design. The set-up of the first experiment, currently undertaken, is explained via its method (participants, instruments, procedure) with an analysis of the preliminary results. Furthermore, the second part - the experiments and a design - and the third part - the development of guidelines - are briefly described. Keywords: Retail Design; Lighting; Consumer Behaviour; Research By Design; Mood; Atmosphere</p

Optimal Pest Control in Agriculture

Based on economic methodology we model an ecosystem with two species in predator-prey relationship: mice feed on grain and grain feeds on a resource. With optimizing behaviour of individual organisms a short-run ecosystem equilibrium is defined and characterized that depends on the farmer’s use of fertilizer and on the mice population which, in turn, is affected by pesticides. In that way, a microfounded agricultural production function is derived. Linking a sequence of short-run ecosystem equilibria yields the growth function of the mice population which is thus derived rather than assumed. In each period the farmer harvests all grain in excess of some given amount of seed. If she maximizes her present-value profits, optimal farming is shown to depend on the prices of pesticide and grain. It is either optimal to use no pesticide or a moderate amount of pesticide or to apply a chattering control. Pest eradication is never optimal. On the other hand, if the farmer takes into account steady state mice populations only, it may be optimal to eradicate mice or to use no or a moderate amount of pesticide depending on prices as well as on the shape of the grain production function which is determined by micro parameters of grain reproduction.pesticides, agriculture, predator-prey, chattering pest control

Neoklassische Wachstumstheorie : Darstellung, Kritik und Erweiterung

Das Wirtschaftswachstum ist der wesentliche Bestimmungsgrund für den Wohlstand der Nationen. Ob ein Land heute reich oder arm ist, hängt vom Wachstum seines Nationale inkommens in der Vergangenheit ab. Der zukünftige Reichtum eines Landes wird durch das gegenwärtige und das künftige Wachstum bestimmt. In diesem Buch werden die grundlegenden Modelle der neoklassischen Wachstumstheorie dargestellt, in Teilen kritisiert und darauf aufbauend erweitert. Die zentralen Kritikpunkte beziehen sich auf den Ansatz der dynamischen Optimierung in Erklärungsmodellen einerseits und auf die Skaleneffekte in der Theorie des endogenen Wachstums andererseits. Auf der Basis des neoklassis chen Paradigmas werden einfache Modelle des Wirtschaftswachstums entwickelt, die diese Kritik berücksichtigen und die mit den sogenannten stilisierten Fakten über das Wachstum vereinbar sind. Die gängige Konsumhypothese der Neoklassik wird durch den Ansatz von Faustregeln ersetzt, wobei Modelle ohne Skaleneffekte mit endogenem technischem Fortschritt im Mittelpunkt stehen. In bezug auf einige der stilisierten Fakten erweist sich die Betrachtung offener Volkswirtschaften als unumgänglich. In diesem Zusammenhang wird die Frage untersucht, welche Ansatzpunkte für die Wachstumspolitik im Rahmen von Modellen des semi-endogenen Wachstums bestehen. Wegen seiner zentralen Ausrichtung auf die Theorie des semi-endogenen Wachstums und der ausführlichen Erörterung der erforderlichen mathematischen Grundlagen (gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen und dynamische Optimierung) im wachstumstheoretischen Kontext ist der Text auch als fortgeschrittenes Lehrbuch geeignet

Design Grammar - a pedagogical approach for observing teacher and student interaction.

Teacher and student interaction in a design-studio setting, also referred to as tutorial-learning or learning-by-doing, has been the blueprint of design education for decades. A crucial difficulty of design education is that the content of these meetings remains remarkably implicit. In this study we propose to explore the concept of Design Grammar as an observation framework for teacher-student interactions. Design grammar can be defined as the visual language used to design, i.e., the elements, and relationships between them, that are synthesized in the Form (understood as a unified structure of parts) of an artifact. In order to make this concept operational we developed a Design Grammar Model (DGM) which explicits the different elements involved in form-giving in design. We used the DGM to analyze the content of the interactions of junior Industrial Design students. We compared the results in terms of the student and teacher’s fluency in Design Grammar (DG), the criteria to evaluate fluency was: the frequency of references to DG, variety of references and articulation of DG elements. The main insight of our study was the observation that interactions with students with lower fluency in DG resulted in poorer performances from the teacher and therefore lower quality interactions

Designing and Developing Curriculum for a Guadeloupean High school: Exploring Youth Identity with Tumblr

This thesis-project equivalent documents an autoethnographic study that leads to the design and development of a curriculum. The autoethnography documents lived experiences in Guadeloupe, a French Antillean island, during the 2016-2017 academic year. Concepts of identity including race and belonging were subjectively explored in the autoethnography and then through activities in the curriculum. The curriculum was designed to address the specific cultural and academic needs of high school students in Guadeloupe. This English as a foreign language environment emphasized multiple languages as a source of success while battling its own history of cultural genocide. A balance of embracing diversity and maintaining traditional cultures has been an ongoing struggle for foreign teachers working within these diverse populations. The curriculum presented in this paper addressed the complexities of that setting while fostering a space for young people to discuss their own perceptions of identity and exploring them through Tumblr. Enforcing digital etiquette practices, online security and privacy policies, and navigating the digital world in English were tangible tools developed through the program. The program emphasized both soft and hard skills specifically designed for a Web 2.0 era where young people are expected to be well versed in technology and critical analysis