Showing papers on "Ingenuity published in 1994"

Perspectives on Growth Theory

Abstract: This essay relates recent developments in growth theory to problems and ideas that first engaged R. F. Harrod, E. Domar, and their neoclassical successors. The body of 'new growth theory' began by finding special ways to assume that there are constant returns to capital. It is shown that this is a very nonrobust assumption, thus not a good basis for growth theory. More promising is the attempt to create a genuinely endogenous theory of the process of innovation. This notion has always been present in the literature or just beneath the surface. Current ideas, for all their ingenuity, may be too mechanical.

Water for Sarajevo

Abstract: In an emergency situation, installing a new water supply system or repairing an existing one takes ingenuity and resourcefulness. Buying equipment, arranging for its transport, and managing a team under stress are just some of the problems that have to be solved.

“Masses of Granite”: The Sociology of an Elite

Abstract: Gaps in our information about village life make it difficult to assess the impact of the Empire on the rural masses. The situation is quite different in the case of the social elites of the Empire. As is so often the case in historical research, the sources leave us well informed about the nature of the ruling classes, but piecing together a “history from below” demands considerable ingenuity. The membership of the elites whom the Napoleonic regime summoned to its defence is so well known that historians have been able to conduct a computer-based analysis of the career data of almost 70 000 notables of the Empire.1

Chapter 4 Military operations research

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses military operations research (OR). Military OR is concerned with the preparation for and the fighting of wars. Military OR problems frequently take the form of arranging some kind of defense to prevent a target from being attacked. The chapter describes certain problems arising in peacetime MOR, along with some of the techniques used to solve them. Emphasis is placed on the material that illustrates unique aspects. The principle for selecting material is biased. Military organizations have vast logistics, inventory, scheduling, and personnel problems. The operations research method depends strongly on the most fundamental aspects of the scientific outlook. Essential to the successes are skepticism, energy and ingenuity in digging for facts, deep thought and imagination in discerning the purpose of an operation and how to measure effectiveness, and persistence and caution in seeking operational improvements.

A Historical Perspective on Measurements of Solar Irradiance

Abstract: Recent measurements made from platforms in space prove beyond question that the radiant energy received from the Sun at the Earth, once called the ‘solar constant’, fluctuates over a wide range of amplitudes and time scales. The source of that variability and its impact on our terrestrial environment pose major challenges for modern science. We are confronted with a tangled web of facts which requires the combined ingenuity of solar, stellar, planetary and atmospheric scientists to unravel. This brief overview draws attention to key developments during the past century which shaped our concepts about sources of solar variability and their connection with solar activity.