Early sedimentation and crossover kinetics in an off-critical phase-separating liquid mixture

Early sedimentation in a liquid mixture off-critically quenched in its miscibility gap was investigated with a light attenuation technique. The time evolution of the droplets distribution is characteristic of an emulsion coalescing by gravitational collisions. This sedimentation behaviour has given access to the phase-separating kinetics and a crossover on the way toward equilibrium was observed, which separates free growth from conserved order-parameter coarsening with a crossover time fitting well to theoretical predictions

Toward a complete description of nucleation and growth in liquid-liquid phase separation

The phase separation mechanism of a binary liquid mixture off-critically quenched in its miscibility gap is nucleation and growth, its homogeneous phase reaching a metastable equilibrium state. The successive stages of growth of the nucleated droplets are a diffusion-driven free growth, an intermediate regime and a coarsening by reduction of interface (Ostwald ripening or Brownian collisions induced coalescence). We have made light attenuation experiments to investigate the sedimentation in such systems. These results have given us access experimentally to two values predicted theoretically: the growth exponent of the intermediate regime and the crossover time between this regime and interface-reduction coarsening. These data, added to the literature results, have permitted to get a quite complete view of the growth scenario in very off-critical phase-separating liquids

Kinky perceived demand curves and Keynes-Negishi equilibria

The label “Keynes-Negishi equiibria” is attached here to equilibria in a monetary economy with imperfectly competitive product and labor markets where business firms and labor unions hold demand perceptions with kinks - as posited in Negishi’s 1979 book Microeconomic Foundations of Keynesian Macroeconomics. Such equilibria are defined in a general equilibrium model, and shown to exist. Methodological implications are briefly discussed in a concluding section.Equilibrium, imperfect competition, perceived demands, kinky demand, princing rules, union wage model, union objectives, cash-in-advance

Pricing Innovation: State of the Art and Automotive Applications

The paper aims at elaborating on pricing and business models for forthcoming innovative ITS devices, limiting its scope in particular to in-vehicle driving assistance systems and suggesting the various possible innovation and pricing strategies with theoretical discussions. The methodology is based on a comprehensive literature review of the major contributions made by the fields of managerial economics and management sciences to the study of pricing strategies and practices and, in particular, the pricing of innovative goods or services, in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various schools of thought. The paper also gathers and analyzes the available data on two innovative navigation and safety devices for cars, namely ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System) and navigation systems, in order to put forward an initial interpretation.It concludes that there is no formula or even a vague method for determining "acceptable" price levels or "trigger points". There are two options, i.e. disruptive innovation which is by essence very risky and incremental innovation with each major model renewal.Innovation; pricing; automobile; intelligent transportation system

World Bank policy research : a historical overview

The World Bank is a leading intellectual institution on development. It is a world leader in analytical studies in areas including poverty measurement, delivery of social services, impact evaluation, measurement of development outcomes, international trade and migration. It is also a leader in development data, including the Living Standard Measurement Surveys; the enterprise surveys, and the International Price Comparison Project. World Bank research is resolutely empirical and policy oriented. By both learning from past policies and operations and thinking critically about future policies, research plays a critical role in the formulation of policy advice to developing countries. This paper reviews the intellectual and institutional forces that have shaped research at the World Bank since the latter started lending to developing countries in the early 1950s. It provides an overview of the shifts in development economics that have influenced Bank research and briefly surveys the changes in research organization, structure and approach. The first section, after a short introduction, examines the shifts in positive and normative views about development during the past half century that have influenced Bank thinking. The Bank itself has been an active participant in the rise and fall of long-lived development dogmas about the nature of development; the most appropriate policies and actions for achieving it; and the respective roles of government and markets. The second section examines how the World Bank has adapted its organization to keep abreast of emerging issues and produce relevant policy research of good quality. On the one hand, the Bank has experienced several reorganizations that have affected the research unit(s) as well as its relationship with operational units. On the other hand, the Bank’s research units themselves have been reorganized at several junctures, leading to new priorities and new means of achieving them.Banks&Banking Reform,ICT Policy and Strategies,Science Education,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis

Life Cycle Assessment Practices: Benchmarking Selected European Automobile Manufacturers

With the rise of environmental concerns in the general public, re-appropriated by influential politicians, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become a widely used set of tools for the management of all impacts on environment by industrial products. LCA is carried out at the very early stages of product research, development and design. This is particularly true in the automobile industry where vehicle manufacturers Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are launching several new or re-vamped models each year. The automobile industry is therefore a very emblematic sector for best practices of LCA. The paper is based on available literature and interviews with top LCA professionals in Germany-based OEMsLife cycle assessment; automobile; best practices

Translating Principles Into Practice in Regulation Theory

Regulators must understand basic principles of regulation, to explain with credibility their decissions, to asess the universality of the proposals, to develop new solutions, etc. For the relevance of economic theory, economists must fight to include in their frameworks enough constraints, as regulators face in practice, including technology constraints, even informational constraints, bureaucratic and political ones. Debates on regulation are turning around the world more important, defining the discussion frontier about the role of government in the economy.regulation; economic theory; government in the economy

European research plans

The text of a short speech describing the European plans for utilization of Space Station Freedom is presented. In particular, the capabilities and utilization of the Columbus module are discussed