Published Date
Structural Change and Economic Dynamics September 2015, Vol.34:46–59,doi:10.1016/j.strueco.2015.06.002
Author
Adam Szirmai a,,
Bart Verspagen a,b,
aMaastricht Economic and Social Research and Training Centre on Innovation and Technology, United Nations University (UNU-MERIT), Maastricht, The Netherlands
bSchool of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Received October 2013. Revised June 2015. Accepted June 2015. Available online 8 July 2015.
Highlights
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We re-examine the role of manufacturing as a driver of growth in developed and developing countries in the period 1950–2005.
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We find a moderate positive impact of manufacturing on growth and interesting interaction effects of manufacturing with education and income gaps.
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Manufacturing is becoming a more difficult route to growth than before after 1990.
Abstract Historically, manufacturing has functioned as the main engine of economic growth and development. However, recent research raises questions concerning the continued importance of the manufacturing sector for economic development. We re-examine the role of manufacturing as a driver of growth in developed and developing countries in the period 1950–2005. We find a moderate positive impact of manufacturing on growth. We also find interesting interaction effects of manufacturing with education and income gaps. In a comparison of the subperiods, it seems that since 1990, manufacturing is becoming a more difficult route to growth than before. Keywords
Very little is known about how differences in use and perceptions of urban green space impact on the general health of black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. BME groups in the UK suffer from poorer health and a wide range of environmental inequalities that include poorer access to urban green space and poorer quality of green space provision. This study used a household questionnaire (n = 523) to explore the relationship between general health and a range of individual, social and physical environmental predictors in deprived white British and BME groups living in ethnically diverse cities in England. Results from Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) segmentation analyses identified three distinct general health segments in our sample ranging from “very good” health (people of Indian origin), to ”good” health (white British), and ”poor” health (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani origin and other BME groups), labelled ”Mixed BME” in the analyses. Correlated Component Regression analyses explored predictors of general health for each group. Common predictors of general health across all groups were age, disability, and levels of physical activity. However, social and environmental predictors of general health-including use and perceptions of urban green space-varied among the three groups. For white British people, social characteristics of place (i.e., place belonging, levels of neighbourhood trust, loneliness) ranked most highly as predictors of general health, whilst the quality of, access to and the use of urban green space was a significant predictor of general health for the poorest health group only, i.e., in ”Mixed BME”. Results are discussed from the perspective of differences in use and perceptions of urban green space amongst ethnic groups. We conclude that health and recreation policy in the UK needs to give greater attention to the provision of local green space amongst poor BME communities since this can play an important role in helping address the health inequalities experienced by these groups. View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
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This study reviews scholarly papers and case studies on urban vacant land to gain a stronger understanding of its public value in terms of the ecological and social benefits it can bring. This literature review offers a conceptual overview of the potential benefits of vacant land with the goal of addressing gaps in knowledge about vacant land and to provide suggestions to planners and designers on how vacant properties can be integrated with other green infrastructure in cities. There are many opportunities to redevelop vacant land to enhance its ecological and social value, and many design professionals and scholars are becoming interested in finding new ways to exploit this potential, especially with regard to planning and design. A better appreciation of the public value of urban vacant land is vital for any effort to identify alternative strategies to optimize the way these spaces are utilized for both short-term and long-term uses to support urban regeneration and renewal. This study will help planners and designers to understand and plan for urban vacant land, leading to better utilization of these spaces and opening up alternative creative approaches to envisioning space and landscape design in our urban environments. View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
For further details log on website :
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/5/486
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus PO Box 70377 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-8377, USA
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Graduate School of Planning, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, PO Box 23354, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-3354, USA
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Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, Lewis Hall 312, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0626, USA
4
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University, 330 Bellamy Bldg., 113 Collegiate Loop, PO Box 3062280, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
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International Institute of Tropical Forestry, US Forest Service, Jardín Boánico Sur, 1201 Calle Ceiba, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico 00926-1119, USA
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: William D. Shuster
Received: 20 January 2016 / Revised: 9 April 2016 / Accepted: 28 April 2016 / Published: 18 May 2016
Urban sustainability discourse promotes the increased use of green infrastructure (GI) because of its contribution of important ecosystem services to city dwellers. Under this vision, all urban green spaces, including those at the household scale, are valued for their potential contributions to a city’s social-ecological functioning and associated benefits for human well-being. Understanding how urban residential green spaces have evolved can help improve sustainable urban planning and design, but it requires examining urban processes occurring at multiple scales. The interaction between social structures and ecological structures within the subtropical city of San Juan, the capital and the largest city of Puerto Rico, has been an important focus of study of the San Juan ULTRA (Urban Long-Term Research Area) network, advancing understanding of the city’s vulnerabilities and potential adaptive capacity. Here we provide a synthesis of several social-ecological processes driving residential yard dynamics in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, through the evaluation of empirical findings related to yard management decisions, yard area, and yard services. We emphasize the role of factors occurring at the household scale. Results are discussed within the context of shrinking cities using an integrated, multi-scalar, social-ecological systems framework, and consider the implications of household green infrastructure for advancing urban sustainability theory. View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
For further details log on website :
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/5/481
Abstract: This paper investigated the influence of adding torrefied biomass within an entrained flow coal gasifier for the production of methanol. Computer simulations of gasifying a mixture of torrefied biomass and coal within an entrained flow gasifier, synthesis gas purification, and methanol synthesis were carried out using the Aspen plus program package. In addition, economic analyses are presented based on the net present value. It was shown that, based on the predictions for future prices of the raw materials and methanol, usage of a mixture of biomass and coal within entrained flow gasifiers would be feasible and could become economically even better than the usage of coal only. The net emissions of CO2 would also be significantly lowered.
