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Copyright of International Journal of Production Research is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents the determination of the greatest stiffness and least power consumption of capillary compensated hydrostatic slideways, prestressed and non-prestressed, respectively. Design equations for determining the optimum values of supply pressure, pocket pressure, length of free-periphery of slideways rim, thickness of land of slideways rim, viscosity, capillary-discharge coefficient and power consumption are determined, other variables held constant. The paper determines the operative conditions which correspond strictly or approximately to the conditions assumed in the equations. Diagrams show the effect of discrepancy between optimum and actual conditions on the stiffness of slideways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper reports tests of several propositions linking the degree of urbanization, the division of labor, the dispersion of objects of consumption, and the level of technological development. The propositions provide a basis for deducing a direct relationship between urbanization and dispersion of objects of consumption. The propositions were tested with data for 45 countries. The percentage of the population residing in metropolitan areas was used as a measure of urbanization, an original measure of the diversification of industry was used as a gauge of division of labor, the per capital consumption of energy was taken as a measure of technological development, and an original measure of the dispersion of external resources was utilized. The degree of relationship was measured by the coefficient of rank-difference correlation. Positive results were obtained for all tests of the propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of articles about industrial organization, government and business and industry studies. The origin of over fishing is usually explained as being the outcome of free international competition on the limited common resources of the sea. It is explained how, in spite of a regime of perfectly free competition, the natural fluctuations of fish abundance and the developments of techniques create possibilities of profit. And these profits can be big although the beneficiaries are in normal conditions relatively few. The main feature of the industrial electricity market over the period 1954-1964 is that electricity consumption grew much faster than output. There are three sets of reasons why this should occur: relative price movements inducing substitution of electricity for other fuels and possibly labor; technological change biased towards the introduction of electricity-using machinery; a greater proportionate increase in capital stock than in output, and/or an electricity intensity of the increment of capital stock which is above the average for the existing stock.

Comments on articles about the demand for energy in the U.S. Relationship between consumption of electricity, population and real income per capita; Estimation of electricity demand; Effect of alternative fuels on electricity demand; Price elasticity of demand functions.

Presents news briefs related to environmental science. Findings that snow and ice cover of the earth increased by 12% during 1967-72; Considerable stress laid on the Soviet Union's energy supplies; Susceptibility of a Brazilian tribe to illnesses from urban man found; Other reports.

This paper develops a simple theory governing the relationship between useful energy consumption and national output that explains why the adjusted elasticities found by two economists turned out to be greater than one. The theory is quantified by reference to a wide range of countries covering the whole spectrum of economic development and is tested against the actual experience over 20 to 25 years of individual countries. Conformity to the theory was very close and the efficiency-in-use coefficients computed by economists were found to hold good for periods of 20 to 25 years. Briefly, the hypothesis states that as a country moves through the various stages of its economic development from primitive subsistence agriculture to the ultimate state of fully energy-dependent production, its useful energy elasticity steadily falls from a high value tending asymptotically to one. By itself this proposition is of little use to energy forecasters, because it simply substitutes the requirement to predict energy intensiveness of output for the requirement to predict energy consumption. If we can satisfy ourselves that real GDP per capita is a good measure of energy intensiveness, however, then the relationship derived above can be used as the basis for a mathematical model linking useful energy consumption per capita with GDP per capita.

The article presents the author's reply to comments on the paper regarding the process of concentrating iron ore by mechanical means near the mine rather than, as in the past, by chemical means in the blast furnace only. The research on the subject is based upon field and working experience in the industry and the objective was to convey accurately and clearly fact and realities relevant to understanding of the subject of iron. Room certainly exists for energy mass budget study in economic geography, but such investigation must proceed within some realistic context, and must be based upon fundamental knowledge.

This article presents information on the development of the British charcoal iron industry and its fuel consumption. Great Britain was one of the least wooded countries in the European forest zone, and in the eighteenth century the British iron industry was the first to succeed in replacing charcoal by coke as its principal fuel. Moreover, fuel is as important as ore for the iron industry, so that iron masters were much concerned with its procurement. Such concern might be taken as indicating that there were special problems. The argument has proved so persuasively coherent that it has hitherto resisted attempts at partial revision. For the last 150 years the early seventeenth century has been accepted as the peak period of British charcoal iron production. England and Wales were credited with 300 furnaces and 500 forges in the second decade of the seventeenth century. The full extent of Welsh and English woodlands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries remains undetermined, but in the 1950's their remnants occupied about 2,300,000 acres. Crown lands in 1608 may have included more than 200,000 acres of woodland of which almost 50,000 acres were coppice. Twenty-two thousand acres of such coppice would therefore have supplied all the needs of the British iron industry for a year, the crown woods alone could have fed it for ten years.

Trends in the U.K. consumption of coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric energy are discussed, and forecasts of use to the year 2000 A.D. are given. More detailed forecasts of fuel use by different sectors to 1985 are presented. Wastes, the resulting pollution and their likely future trends from the following energy sources are reviewed: primary energy--oil treatment, natural gas transhipment, coal production and nuclear and hydroelectric power; secondary energy--electricity generation, coking and gas making; tertiary energy--use of fuels in transport and the domestic sector. Emission forecasts for several air pollutants from all energy sources to 1985 are presented, the pollution and damage arising being discussed. The need for further waste and pollutant monitoring is then debated, and the necessity of continuing to consider environmental protection in energy policy decisions, along with fuel conservation and relative price is stressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's reply to comments on his paper regarding the process of concentrating iron ore by mechanical means near the mine rather than, as in the past, by chemical means in the blast furnace only. The use of an energy-mass budget analysis could indeed contribute to a better understanding of the "relative costs" to society when iron ore and steel producers utilize beneficiated low-grade ores rather than direct shipping ores. Water pollution, could likely be shown to rank high as a cost item in the pelletized iron ore production process, as could also air pollution.

Copyright of Demography (Springer Nature) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main conclusion from the analysis is that relative price changes are not unambiguously an important determinant of growth in industrial electricity consumption. The chief determinants are growth in output and changes in technology. Taken at face value, the results for the relative price variables suggest that in at least nine out of the sixteen industry groups price elasticity of demand is zero; in a further two it is relatively inelastic; and in only five does there appear to be a marked responsiveness of demand to relative price changes. This, if valid, would seem to have relevance for current developments in the energy economy. It suggests, for example, that quite considerable changes in relative fuel prices would be necessary to offset even partially the effects of growth in industrial output, so that natural-gas discoveries need not, in a time of economic growth, have a significant effect on electricity's share of the industrial energy market. The main conclusion, then, is that electricity demand is highly responsive to changes in output and fuel technology but relatively unresponsive to price. This latter result, however, is a first approximation only, and further research in this area should concentrate on measuring responsiveness to prices actually paid, and also on the derivation of a satisfactory relative cost index for different types of fuel-using equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An examination of the existing system of taxation of Middle East oil producers' profits has shown that this system fails to meet the requirements of a theoretically "ideal" tax which would fall on producers' rents only, and that consequently it incorporates a floor price effect limiting the fall in oil prices and rise in output which market forces would otherwise be likely to produce. Consideration of the effects of the main existing alternative system--a " fixed per cent of profits " tax, such as exists in other oil-producing areas and also more generally in other fields of profit taxation-has shown that this would have a similar effect. A theoretically "ideal" profits-tax system which would fall only on producers' rents, while confiscating the whole of these rents, has been outlined; but in view of the interest of the Governments of the oil-producing countries in maximising potential revenue from the taxation of producers' rents it is evident that they will seek to maintain a taxation system incorporating a price floor at the point where the total of producers' rents is maximised, and that there is no prospect therefore of the introduction of a tax in the theoretically ideal form. The discussion has shown that there is good reason for what has been called the "producer mentality" of the Governments of oil-producing countries (and indeed of countries supplying other primary products for foreign markets)-as expressed in their support for price maintenance and output restriction-since this policy serves the interests of maximising their potential income from the taxation of producers' profits. From the point of view of the oil-consuming countries the "ideal" character of the theoretically ideal form of tax is unaffected when considerations of security of supply are introduced. The cheapest method of obtaining security of oil supplies will not be achieved by switching over to politically secure sources (North America) but rather by continuing to rely on low-cost sources within the O.P.E.C. countries (Middle East, Libya) and providing protection against interruption of supply by increased strategic storage within the consuming country. Consequently, the increased dependence on oil from O.P.E.C. sources which would tend to result from the abolition of the floor-price clement in crude-oil taxation would not constitute a threat to security, but rather a means of reducing the cost both of normal oil consumption and of the oil storage required to provide security of supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents some practical applications of marginal cost pricing in the public utility field. According to the author, the only public utility enterprise in the world to proceed from the theory of marginal cost pricing to both a schedule of rates and a series of rules for investment policy is Electricité de France (E.D.F.), a public corporation which is the dominant factor in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in France. His discussion of this singular price policy will be in three parts. The first will sketch in certain special features of the French electricity industry and its physical and economic environment, the second will present an outline of marginal cost pricing as applied by E.D.F. and the third will offer a brief critique of the French approach. French electricity production is about 50 percent hydro. This hydro production is concentrated in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Massif Central or just about as far as possible from Paris and most other important consuming centers, which cluster in the north. Finally, the cheapest and most abundant hydro production comes from the Alps, is derived from melting snow and ice, and therefore reaches its peak in summer. However, consumption of electricity remains concentrated in winter.

The article focuses on the economic planning function in the regulation of electricity as a public service. Regulation of electric utilities at its best has failed to accomplish its basic purpose. This failure has been due in large measure to the fact that it has avoided or evaded its essential economic planning function. It has thus left the key to abundant electricity at the lowest possible rates to quasi-monopolistic, privately-owned corporations without incentive to use it or to the influence of public competition. The failure of regulation, except as aided by actual or potential public competition, to assure the lowest possible electric rates and the most abundant use has been due mainly to a static interpretation of its function. Rate cases have consisted largely in determining whether the profits of last year's limited business represent more or less than a fair return on some rate base. No effective effort has been made to require the best organization of the power supply function in the interest of low-cost power on a regional basis. Finally in the modern world per capita use of energy and particularly electrical energy has proved a highly satisfactory measure of the civilization and living standard enjoyed by any people.

The article presents a discussion on the effectiveness of regulation of state commission of power plants. With the simplification of the financial structures there is some reason to hope that attention will be focused on taking maximum advantage of advances in technology and those measures of integration which will result in lower cost. Certain private power interests have transferred all the time and energy formerly expended on financial manipulation to fighting for higher rates and lobbying in the United States. The author refers to practical experience, it is easier from the legal viewpoint to hang onto an excessive rate than to get a legitimate rate increase where a commission is very small. Utilities must be convinced of flexibility upwards in rates before they undertake flexibility downwards. Iowa State's electric rates are the highest of the group and Wisconsin's the lowest. The Wisconsin Commission is near the top in vigor and ability. The condition of plant and its maintenance are seldom given extensive consideration in rate proceedings.

With the establishment of international institutions of Unprecedented political and economic potentialities attention has again been focused on the fundamental economic conditions which distinguish if not divide the nations of the world, and which will presumably occupy the attention of these institutions for years to come. Urgently needed relief and rehabilitation of war devastated areas, whether undertaken by countries individually or in concert with others, are expected to be succeeded by international consideration of proposals for the economic development of retarded areas. Inasmuch as the attainment of these economic objectives will rest heavily on the solution of problems of detail it is quite likely that the measurement and reporting of basic economic data on a larger scale than heretofore attempted will receive early consideration. It is scarcely necessary to say that the need for estimates of national income or national product should accord these subjects similar attention. In recent years the literature has been enriched by numerous contributions chiefly concerned with problems of concept but also reporting estimates of national income for several countries and periods.

Discusses the relationship between the patterns of energy consumption and the growth of an economy. Role of energy utilization in economic growth; Responses of energy consumption to changes in national income; Reasons for the decline in the output of energy per unit of gross national product.

The authors attempt to discover: one, if various levels of demographic behavior are typical of given levels of modernization; two, if per capita energy consumption discriminates levels of demographic behavior within a group of less developed countries; and three, if trends in the level of modernization are associated temporally with trends in demographic development. Even for relatively narrow ranges of modernization there is a wide range of demographic behavior, and broad generalizations must be made cautiously. Also, the demographic differences that exist between the modernized and underdeveloped nations are decreasing, while economic differences increase. Finally, among some cases studied economic modernization has occurred in the absence of demographic modernization, but the converse has not. Infant mortality consistently has been related inversely to modernization, there has been a trend toward the disappearance of the crude death rate differential, and the relationship between modernization and the crude birth rate is becoming stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on several articles about energy policy in the U.S. Examples of environmental regulations that affect energy supply and consumption; Policy for oil import control; Incentives as a basis for evaluating energy policy.

Corrects myths about energy use. Energy conservation from plant shutdowns; Energy requirements of employees working in the second and night shifts; Effects of staggered employee reporting time on energy consumption; School closures to address energy shortages.