Category Archives: Economics

Posts exploring the economic impacts of science and engineering. The value of strong science and engineering practice has many benefits to the economy – directly and indirectly. Many countries are focusing their future economic plans on advancing their scientific, engineering and technology communities and creating environments that support scientists and engineers.

Federal Circuit Decides Software No Longer Patentable

The Bilski Decision Is In: Buh-Bye [Most] Business Methods Patents

This was an appeal against a rejection of a business methods patent, and the appeals court has now agreed with the rejection. At issue was whether an abstract idea could be eligible for patent protection. The court says no.

Buh-bye business methods patents!

Court Reverses Position on Biz Methods Patents

The ruling in the case, called In re Bilski, largely disavowed the controversial State Street Bank case of 1998. There, the Federal Circuit opened the door to business method patents, which had until then been excluded from patent protection, by granting protection to a system for managing mutual fund accounts. The decision, according to its detractors — which included several members of the Supreme Court — had led to the issuance of weak patents and exposed financial services companies to high-dollar litigation over business method patents.

The Fall of Spore

image from Spore game

The hype for Spore as it was being developed was grand, and I was intrigued. Unfortunately the compromises I have read about have been disappointing. Seed has written about the development of the game in The Creation Simulation

This was Spore’s central problem: Could the game be both scientifically accurate and fun? The prototyping teams were becoming lost in their scientific interests.
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Spore’s decision”‰—”‰to preserve the illusion of life at the expense of the actual facts of life”‰—”‰made for some substantial casualties. First to go in the cute-versus-science war were the extreme ends of the scale”‰—”‰galaxy formation and origins of life simulation”‰—”‰dismissed as being too abstract and dissipated. Next, small and then big laws were shattered and remade. Wright’s determination to represent faster-than-light travel as impossible crumbled in the face of making the spacefaring section of the game enjoyable. Evolution, despite his staunch Darwinism, became a massively telescoped process that depended on the external, deliberate interventions of the players. And so, instead of becoming the ultimate science project, Spore gradually became the ultimate game.

The snag is that Spore didn’t just jettison half its science”‰—”‰it replaced it with systems and ideas that run the risk of being actively misleading. Scientists brought in to evaluate the game for potential education projects recoiled as it became increasingly evident that the game broke many more scientific laws than it obeyed.

I can understand this process and even admit it might be the right choice for those involved. I am just disappointed we don’t have what was imagined (and hyped) early on – a great, fun, learning environment to enjoy and learn from.

The game has an amazingly low 1 1/2 star rating on Amazon with 3,121 reviews (I have never seen anything so popular so disliked on Amazon). Some of the disappointment is in the compromises made but I know a bunch is for the hated digital rights management DRM used by Spore.

Science, Engineering and National Development in Nigeria

Science and national development

In spite of urbanization, Nigeria remains essentially an agricultural country, since about 80 percent ‘of our population continues to engage in agriculture.
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The application of science and technology has made it possible to carry out agricultural activities in areas hitherto considered impossible. A good example is the state of Israel, which has successfully engaged in agriculture in the desert through intelligent application of irrigation and information technology. Israel has literally made the desert bloom.

With increased crop yields, a new problem arises, namely, storage and retardation of spoilage. Again, science and technology come to the rescue. Modem storage silos designs and chemical fumigation are available to facilitate long term storage without spoilage.
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We have illustrated and drawn a correlation between advances in science and national economic development. Fortunately this country is endowed with brilliant men and women who have distinguished themselves in the physical, biological and medical sciences, engineering and technology. The country is also rich in natural resources; therefore, we have no reason to remain underdeveloped if only we apply suitable policies to harness the available talents to achieve meaningful and sustained development. We can borrow a leaf from the Asian tigers to seek our own niches for focused advancement. This is the challenge for our leaders in all tiers of government.

As I have said numerous times the development and application of science, engineering and technology solutions is an important factor to economic success.

Wind Turbine Manufacturing in Colorado

Vestas picks Pueblo for plant

Danish wind turbine manufacture Vestas Wind Systems has chosen Pueblo for what it has said is a nearly $240 million manufacturing plant to build the steel towers needed to hold wind turbines aloft, state officials said Friday.
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Two weeks ago, on Aug. 15, Gov. Ritter announced that Vestas was building two new manufacturing plants in Brighton. The wind-blade production plant and nacelle assembly factory represent a $290 million capital investment and will bring 1,350 new jobs to Colorado.

Just months before that, in March, the company opened Vestas Blades America Inc., a $60 million manufacturing plant in Windsor, north of Denver, employing about 464 people to build blades for wind turbines. Before that plant was even finished, the company announced in November 2007 that it would increase the plant 50 percent in size, production and employee numbers.

This is a reminder that manufacturing output continues to grow in the USA. In June they received an order for 500 MW in the USA. In October Vestas has received orders for 102 MW of turbines from Italy and 99 MW of turbines from Spain.

Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel

photo of Hampton Roads Virginia Bridge-Tunnel

Now that is some cool engineering: a bridge that becomes a tunnel. The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel is a 4.6 miles (7.4 km) crossing for Interstate 664 in Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA. It is a four-lane bridge-tunnel composed of bridges, trestles, man-made islands, and tunnels under a portion of the Hampton Roads harbor where the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth Rivers come together in the southeastern portion of Virginia.

If you like this post, please look at our other popular posts, and consider adding our blog feed to your blog reader. Posts such as: Bacteriophages: The Most Common Life-Like Form on Earth, Robot Finds Lost Shoppers and Provides Directions and The Engineer That Made Your Cat a Photographer

It was completed in 1992, after 7 years of construction, at a cost $400 million, and it includes a four-lane tunnel that is 4,800 feet (1,463 m) long, two man-made portal islands, and 3.2 miles (5.1 km) of twin trestle.

Photos by Virginia Department of Transportation. Details from wikipedia. Google satellite view of the bridge-tunnel.

High-School Social Skills Predict Better Earnings than Test Scores

High-School Social Skills Predict Better Earnings than Test Scores

Ten years after graduation, high-school students who had been rated as conscientious and cooperative by their teachers were earning more than classmates who had similar test scores but fewer social skills, said a new University of Illinois study.

The study’s findings challenge the idea that racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic gaps in educational attainment and earnings can be narrowed solely by emphasizing cognitive skills, said Christy Lleras, a University of Illinois assistant professor of human and community development.

“It’s important to note that good schools do more than teach reading, writing, and math. They socialize students and provide the kinds of learning opportunities that help them to become good citizens and to be successful in the labor market,” she said.

“Unless we address the differences in school climates and curriculum that foster good work habits and other social skills, we’re doing a huge disservice to low-income kids who may be entering the labor market right after high school, especially in our increasingly service-oriented economy,” Lleras added.

The University of Illinois study analyzed data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, which followed a diverse group of 11,000 tenth graders for 10 years, tracking not only their scores on standard achievement tests but teacher appraisals of such qualities as the students’ work habits, their ability to relate well to peers, and their participation in extracurricular activities, a proxy for the ability to interact well with both students and adults.

The teachers’ assessments were then compared with the students’ self-reported educational attainments and earnings 10 years after high-school graduation. Even after controlling for students’ achievement test scores, family socioeconomic status, and educational attainment, Lleras found that such social skills as conscientiousness, cooperativeness, and motivation were as important as test scores for success in the workplace.

Reducing Poverty

photo of Rita Bashnet

Today is blog action day, which this year is focused on poverty. We have highlighted various uses of appropriate technology, many of which help those in poverty improve their lives. Such as: Water Pump Merry-go-Round and Smokeless Stove Uses 80% Less Fuel.

I am also very interested in using micro loans to help entrepreneur improve their lives – I have written about Kiva before. Kiva fellows are funded by Kiva (fellows are unpaid) to go to spend time in the countries Kiva facilitates loans for working with the local partners. This post is about Rita Bashnet (in photo) an entrepreneur from Nepal:

Field visits are by far the best part about being a Kiva Fellow. You’re given the opportunity to hop on a motorbike, hike up a village trail, and actually see the impact of a Kiva loan firsthand.
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Five years ago, Ms. Rita took her first loan of NRs. 10,000 (USD $150) and purchased some extra seed and fertilizer in the hopes of expanding her small vegetable patch. With the profits from this initial investment and a second loan from Patan Business and Professional Women (they offer a graduated loan program), she then purchased her first dairy cow.
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After hearing about a program that subsidized the installation of methane gas storage tanks, Ms. Rita took another loan and applied for the program. With this new system, she is now able to capture the valuable gas released from her cow’s waste in a simple controlled-release storage tank. Today she no longer purchases gas from the city and can even sell some during times of shortage.
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Ms. Rita exemplifies the potential of microfinance. A combination of access to capital and strategic investment has allowed her and her family to drastically improve their economic situation in a short five years.

Great story, and exactly my hope for using capitalism to improve the standard of living for people around the globe.

If you haven’t loaned money through Kiva, please consider it now. If you do (or already have a Kiva page), send me your Kiva lender link and I will add it to Curious Cat Kivans. I would love to add more of our readers to that page.

59 MPG Toyota iQ Diesel Available in Europe

image of seating in the toyota iQ

59 MPG Toyota iQ On Sale In Europe, US Plans Unclear

With lower carbon dioxide emissions than the Prius — around 159 grams of CO2 emitted per mile by the 1.0 liter gas engine and 166 g/mile for the diesel version — not only does the iQ deliver on fuel economy, but its straight-up conventional engine is a pollution winner too.
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At just about 9.8 feet long, 5.5 feet wide and 4.9 feet tall, Toyota certainly has pulled of a near engineering miracle with the amount of stuff they’ve crammed into this tiny vehicle. Toyota claims the iQ can fit 3 adults and 1 child “comfortably.”
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Toyota expects to sell about 80,000 of them a year in Europe.

I own some Toyota stock (and bought a bit more recently) based on their excellent management and production system and the results they have achieved (so I pay attention to what they are doing – plus I own them because they do things I see as wise so it is a self reinforcing dynamic). Business week recently wrote about Ford’s 65 mpg Diesel Car the U.S. Can’t Have.

I owned Ford stock back when they were adopting Deming based management principles but when they dropped those to pursue short sighted goals and poor management practices I sold and bought Toyota (turned out to be a very wise decision – my mistake was holding Ford too long hoping they would realize their mistake).

Wind Power Provided Over 1% of Global Electricity in 2007

graph of global installed wind power capacity

Data from World Wind Energy Association, for installed Mega Watts of global wind power capacity in 2007. 19,696 MW of capacity were added in 2007, bringing the total to 93,849 MW. Europe accounts for 61% of installed capacity, Germany accounts for 24% and the USA 18%.

The graph shows the top 10 producers (with the exceptions of Denmark and Portugal) and includes Japan (which is 13th).

Symptom of America’s Decline in Particle Physics

Land Of Big Science

Probing more deeply than ever before into the stuff of the universe requires some big hardware. It also requires the political will to lavish money on a project that has no predictable practical return, other than prestige and leadership in the branch of science that delivered just about every major technology of the past hundred years.

Those advances came, in large measure, from the United States. The coming decades may be different.
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A third of the scientists working at the LHC hail from outside the 20 states that control CERN. America has contributed 1,000 or so researchers, the largest single contingent from any non-CERN nation.
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The U.S. contribution amounts to $500 million—barely 5 percent of the bill. The big bucks have come from the Europeans. Germany is picking up 20 percent of the tab, the British are contributing 17 percent, and the French are giving 14 percent.
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The most worrying prospect is that scientists from other countries, who used to flock to the United States to be where the action is, are now heading to Europe instead.

This is a point I have made before. The economic benefits of investing in science are real. The economic benefits of having science and engineering centers of excellence in your country are real. That doesn’t mean you automatically gain economic benefit but it is a huge advantage and opportunity if you act intelligently to make it pay off.