Agglomeration and networks in spatial economies

We consider the parallel developments in the economics of agglomeration and the economics of networks. We explore the complementarities between the productivity benefits of agglomeration and those of network linkages, arguing that networks of actors dispersed over space may substitute for agglomerations of actors at a single point.JEL Classification: D20, L14, R30     

Thomas Fincke und die <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geometria rotundi</Emphasis>

Thomas Fincke (January 6^th, 1561–April 24^th, 1656), born in Flensburg (Germany), was one of the very most important and significant scientists in Denmark during the seventeenth century, a mathematician and astrologer and physician in the beginning of modern science, a representative of humanism and an influentual academic organizer. He studied in Strasbourg (since 1577) and Padua (since 1583) and received his M.D. in Basel (1587), he practised as a physician throughout his life (since 1587 or 1590) and became a professor at Copenhagen (1591). But he was best known because of his Geometriae rotundi libri XIIII (1583), a famous book on plane and spherical trigonometry, based not on Euclid but on Petrus Ramus. In this influentual work, in which Fincke introduced the terms tangent and secant and probable first noticed the Law of Tangents and the so-called Newton-Oppel-Mauduit-Simpson-Mollweide-Gauss-formula, he showed himself to be „abreast of the mathematics of his time“.      

Bemerkungen zu “Himmelsbeobachtungen in karolingischer Zeit

Additional remarks are given for the data of auroras during the earlier centuries.     

Review on testers for measuring flow properties of bulk solids

 The author was asked by the International Fine Particle Research Institue (IFPRI) to write a critical review on shear testers for IFPRI-members. The review was delivered to IFPRI in summer 1999. Following the contract with IFPRI it was not allowed to publish the review elsewhere for at least two years. Granular Matter invited the author to submit the review in the original form; during the refereeing process (besides other changes) it turned out that some remarks should be added here for clarification: - Since 1999, the author is not aware of a really new device for testing bulk solid properties, which could lead to a change of the general comments and conclusions provided in the review. It was argued, that the review is referring too much to the work of Jenike, while the works of Johanson and Peschl were not adequately cited. Both are excellent engineers with a lot of experience, but their basic ideas are not available in published form, and if, they are not set in relation to alternative approaches so that an objective comparison in detail would be a future research issue rather than a topic in this report. A discussion on the influence of electrostatic charges was missing. There hardly is an influence, since the particles are in continuous contact. Only with non-conducting plastic particles electrostatic charges could cause problems. But no relevant experiments and results are known. In closed systems, the effect of electric charges is thus mainly neglected, but it is clear that electrostatic forces are eminent in flows with a free surface – an issue not addressed in this review. Received: 1 November 2002     

The stiffness matrix in elastically articulated rigid-body systems

Discussed in this paper is the Cartesian stiffness matrix, which recently has received special attention within the robotics research community. Stiffness is a fundamental concept in mechanics; its representation in mechanical systems whose potential energy is describable by a finite set of generalized coordinates takes the form of a square matrix that is known to be, moreover, symmetric and positive-definite or, at least, semi-definite. We attempt to elucidate in this paper the notion of “asymmetric stiffness matrices”. In doing so, we show that to qualify for a stiffness matrix, the matrix should be symmetric and either positive semi-definite or positive-definite. We derive the conditions under which a matrix mapping small-amplitude displacement screws into elastic wrenches fails to be symmetric. From the discussion, it should be apparent that the asymmetric matrix thus derived cannot be, properly speaking, a stiffness matrix. The concept is illustrated with an example.     

Deactivation of V2O5-WO3-TiO2 SCR catalyst at a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant

The deactivation of a commercial type V₂O₅-WO₃-TiO₂ monolith catalyst under biomass combustion was studied at a full-scale grate-fired power plant burning straw/wood using a slip stream pilot scale reactor. The aerosols in the flue gas consisted of a mixture of potassium chloride and sulphate. Three catalyst elements were exposed at 350 °C, and one element was exposed at 250 °C for comparison. The catalyst activity was measured in the reactor at the exposure temperature by addition of NH₃ and extra NO. The activity, in terms of a first-order rate constant, dropped by 52% after about 1140 h indicating a very fast deactivation compared to coal firing. It was also found that the reactor temperature was not of importance for the deactivation rate. SEM-EDX analysis showed that particle deposition and pore blocking contributed to the deactivation by decreasing the diffusion rate of NO and NH₃ into the catalyst. However, potassium also penetrated into the catalyst wall and the resulting average K/V ratio in the catalyst structure was high enough (about 0.3–0.5) for a significant chemical deactivation. Chemisorption studies carried out in situ showed that the amount of chemisorbed NH₃ on the catalyst decreased as a function of exposure time, which reveals that Brøndsted acid sites had reacted with potassium compounds and thereby rendered inactive. When washed by 0.5 M H₂SO₄ the regenerated catalyst regains a higher activity than that of the fresh catalyst at temperatures higher than 300 °C, but even though reactivation is possible, the deactivation rate appears too high for practical use of the SCR process in straw combustion.