Narrow Results

In this paper a method for calculating the socially optimal level of aggregate investment is developed. That method is then applied to Japan. It is found that in the 1990's the level of investment in Japan was excessive, in the sense that it exceeded the socially optimal level. The degree of over-investment in Japan in the 1990's has averaged about 5.5 per cent of GDP per year according to the calculations in this paper.

Whilst most people in developed societies would celebrate the route from innovation to impact, particularly in the context of engineering and biomedicine, it is not often acknowledged that the definitions of the start, mid-points and even end-points of that route vary between groups in society. Since that route requires funding, this variety of opinion leaves regions of the route vulnerable to underfunding, particularly in times of recession. This paper explores how this can lead to failure to foresee problems and underpin solutions on the 10–50 year timescale. Furthermore, policies designed to support the route from innovation to impact can have the opposite effect. The route is illustrated with examples from the author's research.

Sounds that we hear on the radio are the product of music being superimposed on carrier waves. In a similar way, the economic cycles we have seen in recent decades have been carried on the evolution of the information technology (IT). In this paper, we put forth our view that the current financial crisis is driven by a structural change from outside of the financial world. Developments that alter the path of economic growth of the world are deemed to be structural changes. We believe that the IT revolution was a structural change in this sense of altering the path of growth and has been a root cause of the two most recent business cycles. An important factor that is often missed is the causal (cause and effect) relationship between various sectors and fields, which will prove to be important for decision-makers, policy-makers and researchers.

The berm breakwater or reshaping breakwater is a special type of breakwater. The main advantage of this type of breakwater is the requirement of relatively smaller sized armour stones which accelerate the construction speed and reduce the cost of the construction. The stability of berm breakwater is strongly influenced by the weight of units used in primary layer, interlocking properties of the armour units, geometry (width and elevation) of the berm, down slope and the toe berm characteristics. In the present study, the experiments are carried out to study the structural and hydrodynamic response of trunk section in 13m water depth for the berm breakwater proposed at Gopalpur port, Orissa, India. The studies are pertaining that simulating the cyclonic wave condition of Phailin cyclone (October 12, 2013) which has crossed Gopalpur, partly damaging the berm breakwater under construction. The breakwater is designed as a non-overtopping structure with the crest level of (+) 11m CD. The berm width of 15m and the berm level of (+) 6.7m CD is adopted considering the constructional feasibility. The down slope of 1V:1.5H is considered. The armour stone gradation is 3T to 5T, 5T to 7T and 9T-12T has been adopted. For the present experiments, 1:35 scale model has been chosen and tested under long crested random waves. The stability of the structure is compared to the tests under design water level at Mean High Water Spring (MHWS) + storm surge and at MHWS. Swell and Sea wave parameters are considered for the MHWS + storm surge and MHWS respectively. The recession of the primary armour layer has been measured and which is compared with the stability and failure criteria reported in the literature and the design guidelines for berm width. It is found that recession is 2 to 3 times of the diameter of stone. The wave run-up and overtopping discharge also presented in this paper.