Technological Backwardness Research Articles

ДИВЕРСИФИКАЦИЯ РОССИЙСКОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ В УСЛОВИЯХ САНКЦИЙ

The article estimates the prospects of diversifying the structure of the Russian economy under current Western sanctions. When they were imposed, diversification, the need for which has long been recognized, took the form of import substitution. Sanctions limited the potential of import substitution through several channels. The essential equipment and technology are under export ban. The access of Russian banks and corporations to international capital markets is restricted and this deprives them from financing investments into import-substituting production. There is a ban on transactions with individuals and legal entities included into the sanctions’ lists. Many Russian industries use outdated equipment and badly need modern foreign technologies. The cost of imported equipment, technology, components, parts and materials has grown along with the depreciation of the Russian currency. The Russian economy needs foreign investment, especially in the form FDI which is accompanied by the transfer of technology and expertise. The reduction of the FDI inflows slows down the development of the national economy and worsens its technological backwardness. The hope for receiving financing and technology from China are justified only to a small part. In fact, Chinese banks are extremely cautious while considering credits to the Russian borrowers. They estimate the implied risks as rather high, require costly guarantees and often tie the credit with the purchase of Chinese goods. Chinese investments are mostly limited to general statements and protocols of intent. Basically, it should be remembered that Asian countries are primarily users, rather than creators of advanced technology. The scope of high technologies that Chinese and South Korean companies can freely dispose is very limited. Usually, the consent of Western owners for their further transfer is mandatory. The progress in import substitution can be traced almost exclusively in the area of food production in Russia. However, the quality of many foodstuffs has worsened while prices have gone up. So far, it is only in theory that falling oil prices can help the Russian economy to get rid from the notorious Dutch disease. In effect, the import substitution process is slowing down. Long-term objectives of development of the Russian economy do not correspond with wide-scale import substitution. Russia is interested in improving its international industrial specialization. Under the current conditions this aim can be achieved only through inclusion and integration into the global value chains, not through frontal import substitution. Expansion of ties with European and American companies in the field of science and technology remains a necessary condition for deep modernization of the Russian industry. Thus, success in the area of diversification depends on the normalization of political relations with the leading countries of the West. Acknowledgments. The article has been supported by a grant of the Russian Science Foundation (project №14-28-00097 “The optimization of Russian foreign investment ties in the context of deteriorating relations with the EU”).

PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF INVESTMENT IN AIC

Introduction. Agricultural sector in Ukraine is becoming more and more attractive to investors. Ukraine has favorable climatic conditions and geographical location, the availability of agricultural lands, so it is able to increase the volumes of agricultural production. To create a stable and reliable AIC operation large investment in physical infrastructure and not less investment to solve urgent problems of social development are required. The aim of the study is to determine characteristics of investment in agricultural enterprises, to identify the main problems and prospects of attracting investment in agriculture. Problem. In modern conditions of the development of agriculture in Ukraine there are problems of technical and technological backwardness of agriculture from developed countries due to low incomes of agricultural producers for modernization, limited access of agricultural producers to the market in the conditions of its infrastructure imperfection and the increasing monopolization of retailers and slow pace of social development of rural areas. The main material. Enhancing of investment is not only a basic condition for the way out of a deep agricultural crisis, but also becomes a crucial determinant of its further development. That is, successful AIC Серія: Економічні науки Випуск 40. Частина ІV 113 development requires not only reforming of social structure in rural areas through institutional reforms that was a priority in initial period of agrarian reform, but also attracting of large investment in agricultural sector. The creation of preconditions for a massive influx of investment in agriculture must become an essential element of the strategy of the state agrarian policy today. First, it is necessary to provide the formation of a favorable, economically equivalent market environment at national level, in which the economy is susceptible to investment and in entities investment opportunities for capital recovery and its extension through their own and attracted funds including foreign capital are appearing and expanding. Results and discussion. To ensure the development of agricultural sector an effective organizational and economic mechanism based on a combination of government regulation and market self-regulation, balanced pricing, financial and credit policies, intensification of investment and innovation are needed. For the lack of financial resources it is necessary to find additional sources of funding. Conclusions and recommendations. The availability of rapid, reliable and accurate information formed by different types of accounting – financial, administrative, tax one – is an important direction that improves the efficiency of innovation and investment in agriculture. Thus, in the conditions of integration into the world economic relations there is a need to choose priority directions of the development of agricultural sector. In this regard it is necessary to correct the measures of internal agro-food policy of our country, including in the first place the intensification of innovation and investment activities of agricultural sector

Current trends in the Strategy of Innovative Development of Industries in Russia

Currently, Russian engineering industry is not competitive on the international market, which is largely due to its technological backwardness of the industrialized countries. One of the main reasons for this situation were shortcomings Existing-available methods of control in the engineering sector of the country, for the modernization which is necessary to accelerate the development and introduction of complex of measures approved international practice during the tse-quire monitoring of industrial policy, innovation policy. Accounting for me-zhdunarodnogo experience will clarify the evaluation indicators of innovational activities and determine the measures necessary for the functioning of the Russian-innovation system. Currently, the industrialized countries see innovation as an essential foundation for competitiveness in the global economy. Every year in these countries increased spending on research and development in various industries. In Russia, however, is still a very low level of expenditure on the development of new products, the development and introduction of new techniques and technologies, which leads to a low-competitiveness of the domestic manufacturing industry. Innovation policy is spreading as rapid strengthening of the role of foreign-valued ficking and foreign direct investment is based on the concept of din-Michna competitive advantages, the need for defining the active formation of the country's institutions, including the government, image boo-duschey economy and ways to practical implementation-oriented bathrooms on the formation of competitiveness of industrial enterprise-prises. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s3p364

Old teachers, old ideas, and the effect of population aging on economic growth

As populations age, the degree to which workers׳ human capital reflects the cutting edge of technology falls because education took place further in the past. This “pure vintage” effect of aging is well known. In this paper, we explore a second effect of aging: in an older population, older teachers pass on knowledge that was current further in the past. We show that this “teacher multiplier” can significantly increase the technological backwardness of the labor force. We present both an analytic model that can be solved for steady states and a numerical model that can describe transitions in the average vintage of human capital as population age structure changes over time. We also discuss evidence on the effect of age on the technological up-to-dateness of workers in general and teachers in particular.

Improving the Competitiveness of Agricultural Products Is the Basis for Food Security in Kazakhstan

This article describes the main economic indicators characterizing the level of food security of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the years of its independence. The conducted analysis led to the conclusion that the country is strongly dependent on the imports of most types of food.Despite significant progress in the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the years of independence, the level of competitiveness of agricultural products is still low. The main limiting factors, according to the author, are: fragmentation of economic units, technical and technological backwardness of the industry; insufficient level of compliance of agricultural products with modern quality standards; low profitability of agricultural production. The article defines the main directions and forms of improving the competitiveness of agricultural products in Kazakhstan as a fundamental factor in ensuring food security of the country.

19. YÜZYIL ENDÜSTRİ MİRASI ÖRNEĞİ OLARAK TİRİLYE'DE BİR ZEYTİNYAĞI FABRİKASI

Tirilye is a coastal town located in the west of Mudanya, Bursa and its economy is based on olive cultivation. Tirilye, which is worldwide known for its olive and olive oil production, was also an important settlement with sericulture, fishery industry and wine production until recently. Olive production still maintains its importance. The olive oil workshops where the olive oil is produced by traditional techniques and early modern olive oil factories, the primary examples of industrialization have become idle due to their technological backwardness. Since the studies on the conservation of olive industrial heritage are rare, the traditional factories are changing, being demolished and finally disappearing with the machinery inside rapidly. The aim of this paper is to document the industrial heritage olive oil factory, which has been built by Greeks in the second half of 19 th century in Tirilye and remained out of function for nearly 15 years. In this respect, the architectural characteristics, history, construction techniques, materials and measured drawings of the building are investigated in this paper.

An Evaluation of the Role of Technical Education in Nigeria’s Industrial Development

The rapid industrialization of any nation is tied to the acquisition of education, especially technical education. The relationship between technical education and industrial development is not in-doubt. Nigeria seems to be industrially underdeveloped as a result of her technological backwardness. This paper evaluates the role of technical education in Nigeria’s industrial development. The analysis is qualitative in nature but with far reaching implications for achieving industrial development through technical education. The study adopts dependency theory as its theoretical framework because of its relevance in explaining the importance of technical education in Nigeria’s industrial development. The paper has succinctly articulated the history of technical education in Nigeria, importance and benefits of technical education as well as colonial influences. Strategies of Nigeria’s industrial development from independence have been put in perspective as well as the seeming challenges of technical education in Nigeria. It is on the strength of these challenges, that the paper recommends adequate funding, manpower training, steady energy production and supply, political will/good leadership as possible solution to achieving industrial development through the instrumentality of technical education in Nigeria.

RADIANCE—A planning software for intra-operative radiation therapy

In the last decades accumulated clinical evidence has proven that intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT) is a very valuable technique. In spite of that, planning technology has not evolved since its conception, being outdated in comparison to current state of the art in other radiotherapy techniques and therefore slowing down the adoption of IORT. RADIANCE is an IORT planning system, CE and FDA certified, developed by a consortium of companies, hospitals and universities to overcome such technological backwardness. RADIANCE provides all basic radiotherapy planning tools which are specifically adapted to IORT. These include, but are not limited to image visualization, contouring, dose calculation algorithms-Pencil Beam (PB) and Monte Carlo (MC), DVH calculation and reporting. Other new tools, such as surgical simulation tools have been developed to deal with specific conditions of the technique. Planning with preoperative images (preplanning) has been evaluated and the validity of the system being proven in terms of documentation, treatment preparation, learning as well as improvement of surgeons/radiation oncologists (ROs) communication process. Preliminary studies on Navigation systems envisage benefits on how the specialist to accurately/safely apply the pre-plan into the treatment, updating the plan as needed. Improvements on the usability of this kind of systems and workflow are needed to make them more practical. Preliminary studies on Intraoperative imaging could provide an improved anatomy for the dose computation, comparing it with the previous pre-plan, although not all devices in the market provide good characteristics to do so. DICOM.RT standard, for radiotherapy information exchange, has been updated to cover IORT particularities and enabling the possibility of dose summation with external radiotherapy. The effect of this planning technology on the global risk of the IORT technique has been assessed and documented as part of a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). Having these technological innovations and their clinical evaluation (including risk analysis) we consider that RADIANCE is a very valuable tool to the specialist covering the demands from professional societies (AAPM, ICRU, EURATOM) for current radiotherapy procedures.

RADIANCE—A planning software for intra-operative radiation therapy

In the last decades accumulated clinical evidence has proven that intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT) is a very valuable technique. In spite of that, planning technology has not evolved since its conception, being outdated in comparison to current state of the art in other radiotherapy techniques and therefore slowing down the adoption of IORT. RADIANCE is an IORT planning system, CE and FDA certified, developed by a consortium of companies, hospitals and universities to overcome such technological backwardness. RADIANCE provides all basic radiotherapy planning tools which are specifically adapted to IORT. These include, but are not limited to image visualization, contouring, dose calculation algorithms—Pencil Beam (PB) and Monte Carlo (MC), DVH calculation and reporting. Other new tools, such as surgical simulation tools have been developed to deal with specific conditions of the technique. Planning with preoperative images (preplanning) has been evaluated and the validity of the system being proven in terms of documentation, treatment preparation, learning as well as improvement of surgeons/radiation oncologists (ROs) communication process. Preliminary studies on Navigation systems envisage benefits on how the specialist to accurately/safely apply the pre-plan into the treatment, updating the plan as needed. Improvements on the usability of this kind of systems and workflow are needed to make them more practical. Preliminary studies on Intraoperative imaging could provide an improved anatomy for the dose computation, comparing it with the previous pre-plan, although not all devices in the market provide good characteristics to do so. DICOM.RT standard, for radiotherapy information exchange, has been updated to cover IORT particularities and enabling the possibility of dose summation with external radiotherapy. The effect of this planning technology on the global risk of the IORT technique has been assessed and documented as part of a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). Having these technological innovations and their clinical evaluation (including risk analysis) we consider that RADIANCE is a very valuable tool to the specialist covering the demands from professional societies (AAPM, ICRU, EURATOM) for current radiotherapy procedures.

Політика розвитку внутрішнього ринку та Угода про асоціацію Україна – ЄС: спільність у суперечність завдань

After 2008, Ukraine's domestic market has been growing slowly compared to other countries and exerted hardly any influence on the development of commodity production sector. The reasons are associated with the fact that consumers, because of the low growth of discretionary income, were slow in changing their consumer spending in favor of innovative and better quality products and manufacturers tended to satisfy the scanty demand for such products with imported items. The slowed structural changes in aggregate demand and aggregate supply in the domestic market led to the following negative economic trends: high income differentiation, which in Ukraine is 2-3 times greater than in the developed world, technological backwardness of the commodity production, where the wear rate of fixed assets reached 76,7%, devaluation of the hryvnya, and inflation. The only way for the Ukrainian Government to expand the domestic market, and use its potential to update and modernize the domestic commodity production is increasing the consumers' purchasing power together with encouraging investment in the sector of commodity production. These issues were not solved with the help of the economic benefits which Ukraine received in 2008 after accessing the WTO. EU - Ukraine Association Agreement gives the Ukrainian Government another chance to succeed in implementing the policy of the growth of domestic market providing it is supplemented by protectionist measures focused on import substitution, increasing the productivity of commodity production, and launching new types of high-tech products.

Smart Specialisation in Croatia: Between the Cluster and Technological Specialisation

The paper discusses the particularities of the implementation of the concept of smart specialisation in the innovation follower countries using the example of Croatia. Croatian experience suggests that a level of economic and technological development enables the realisation of a reduced concept of smart specialisation that is focused on the development of existing business clusters, industries and ventures of lower technological complexity while technological specialisation through supporting frontier research and key enabling technologies (KETs) is difficult to attain. Therefore, there is a threat that KETs will be formally included in the strategy for smart specialisation but their development in practice may prove to be a failure. This narrow concept of smart specialisation is perceived as inferior to the smart specialisation which nurture fundamental and generic knowledge, education and skills needed for putting the key technologies into work since it keeps the regions/countries captured in uncompetitive industries with low profit and weak employment abilities. The reasons for such a limited realisation of smart specialisation in Croatia are numerous of which a long-term technological backwardness, excessive tertiarisation of economy in the low-profit/skills sectors, serious underinvestment in science and knowledge-based industries can be sorted out. From the innovation policy point of view, the neglect of research and technological specialisation is mostly a consequence of horizontal broad-based measures for fostering entrepreneurship, innovation and research without thematic prioritisation. In this context, the concept of smart specialisation is perceived as a useful tool for replacement of the current surplus of horizontal and mutually disconnected policy measures with a new policy mix build upon the concept of linking identified priority thematic areas with KETs and other cross-cutting themes such as tourism and information and communications technology (ICT).

Extractive Institutions, Closed Borders and Economic Development

Autocratic regimes often limit access to information concerning the outside world, to prevent their citizenry from learning about the comparatively poor performance of their economy. In this paper, we analyze the use of censorship, and consider it as an information asymmetry problem, in the context of an augmented Solow growth model. We find that higher technological backwardness, lower quality of domestic institutions, low level of income inequality and low costs of collecting information about foreign economies lead to more restrictive and comprehensive censorship. These findings are consistent with stories of socialist dictatorships, as the Soviet Union or North Korea, where very restrictive forms of censorship, as political isolationism, were/are used. We also explain why these forms of censorship are less popular now. We argue that isolationism reduces opportunities for adoption of technologies, which results in underdevelopment, higher vulnerability to negative shocks, and potentially higher political turbulence. To avoid these outcomes, a political regime can prefer not to implement the most strict forms of censorship. This finding is in line with censorship policy which is applied in nowadays China.

The Impact of Political Leadership and Corruption on Nigeria’s Development since Independence

The paper draws an interlocking relationship between political leadership and development and concludes that, while leadership had played tremendous role in the socio-political and economic development of most nations of the world, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Apart from identifying other social vices that accounted for the protracted state of Nigeria’s underdevelopment, the paper also singles out corruption as the major impediment to Nigeria’s quest for development since independence. Drawing from the World Bank, Transparency International and highly knowledgeable scholars in this field, the paper demonstrates the process through which Nigerian political leadership became ‘neck-deep’ in corruption with several cases of monumeotal diversion of public funds meant for the economic development of the country into individual pockets. The multi-dimensional consequences of corrupt practices on a nation’s socio-political and economic development cannot be overemphasised, as virtually all sectors of the country, including education, health, agriculture, politics, technology, e.t.c, are negatively affected, with the resultant outcome like extreme poverty, high level of illiteracy, economic dependency, technological backwardness, political instability, e.t.c, as the order of the day. Nigeria’s situation typifies the above as shown in the paper.

Localization of production as one of the instruments of import substitution based on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization

This article describes the localization of production in the whole country, which is one of the instruments of import substitution preventing technological backwardness of domestic products from foreign counterparts on the basis of Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization.

Economic Culture of the East: China

The article discusses the features of China’s economic culture. The author traces the genesis of the economic model of the Chinese civilization and determine its potential as an alternative to the Western one. Among the characteristic properties of the Chinese model for much of the New Age one can note technological and organizational backwardness due to the restrictions imposed on the economic life of the state-bureaucratic model of the economy. The author comes to the conclusion that the Chinese model cannot act as an alternative to the Western one.

Knowledge Imperialism and Intellectual Capital Formation: A Critical Analysis of Colonial Policies on Educational Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The paper examines the interconnections between intellectual capital formation or development in sub- Saharan Africa and its colonial historical antecedents. The historical epochs of the region in its relations with the West manifested by colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism, tend to have hallo effects on the level of intellectual capital formation, as far as the development of the knowledge industries, which is concerned with the production and distribution of ideas and information rather than goods and services, are concerned. It begins with a statistical presentation and analysis of the state of intellectual capital formation in Africa with the state of information and communication technology as a case study for measurement. The paper argues that the technological backwardness of Africa cannot be divorced from its historical antecedents and relationships. What is the relationship between colonial educational systems and the state of technological development of Africa? Is the culture of ‘technological apartheid’ a product of deliberate bureaucratic policies dating back to the colonial era? Is the dependent relationship between Africa and the West in post-colonial era related to the consciously and deliberately established educational, socio-cultural, political and bureaucratic structures of the colonial era? Is Africa a victim of its own inherent and internal contradictions as a result of its relationships with the major hegemonic power centres of Europe and America? The paper concludes by tabling the options before Africa in a scenario where global power play has positioned African countries in a delicately complex economic and political matrix dominated by powerful actors with huge social, cultural, political and technological advantages. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p567

Pemex y Petrobras: historias de gestión petrolera con rumbos diferentes

In this paper is presented an analysis related with the financial and productive conditions that have marked, in recent years, the management strategies in Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) y Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras). This is relevant in so far as to justify a new round of reforms to the regulatory framework of the domestic energy industry, has been cited repeatedly the importance of considering, among other references, the Brazilian oil model. However, the data suggest that a reform to modernize Pemex would have to start solving the debt problems and technological backwardness that have been caused by inefficient administrations.

Awakening Giant: International Business in China Growth, Opportunities and Challenges

This paper analyses China’s growth through a developmental state framework, taking into account the positive role of the state in deliberately fostering a strategic industrial policy, with the aim of creating a process of rapid industrialisation and overcoming structural and technological constraints. It is argued that China growth has been achieved through a strong industrial policy implemented by state intervention in a way similar to other late-industrialised East Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In particular, there are three main features in Chinese development typical of a developmental state policy: the constant control by the state of economic prices and allocation of resources, the focus on export-oriented firms and the openness towards foreign direct investment in order to overcome technology backwardness. China’s growth has been analysed from an historical perspective in order to identify the key government reforms which have sustained and enhanced economic growth within the country. It is demonstrated that the industrial policy played a significant role in creating rapid industrialisation.

Measuring Growth of Labor Productivity in Vietnam by Shift-Share Analysis of Structure of Industries

This research aims at measuring growth of labor productivity during structural changes in Vietnam in the years 1994-2011. Shift-share analysis of structure of industries shows that growth of labor productivity in Vietnam is a result from the static shift effect. In other words, productivity growth is resulted from changes in structure of industries, in which labors move from low-productivity industries to higher ones. Both endogenous (within-industry) factors and dynamic shift effect seem to be affected by the burden of structure and the backwardness of technology in the process of economic structural changes.

Effective Environmental Management: A Panacea for Socio-Economic Development of Developing Countries

The science of environmental management is one of the areas of great interest in the present millennium. It deals with the whole concept of the environment, its characteristics, resources, and effective exploitation for the benefit of man. The environment offers unlimited opportunities for socio-economic development through effective exploration and exploitation of the available resources and purposeful utilization of the proceeds in developmental projects. However, in developing countries, environmental management is subject to various limitation and drawbacks. Consequently these countries continues to grapple with the challenges of climate change and its impacts, food security, population explosion, pest infestation, communicablediseases as well as pollution, contamination and environmental sustainability. The overall effects are poverty, low living standard, poor health, inadequate housing, high level of unemployment and under-employment, low agricultural productivity, technological backwardness and poor socio-economic development. Against the above background, it becomes pertinent to carry out an investigation on the essence and methods of effective environmental management, its socio-economic implications and the problems militating effective utilization of environmental resources in developing countries, hence this research. The work is a descriptive survey and the investigation revealed that lack of knowledge and proper planning in environmental issues, lack of executive capacity, technical know-how and political will as well as inadequate funding and socio-cultural inclinations are some of the factors limiting effective environmental management in developing countries. It is therefore recommended that adequate budgetary provisions be made for funding research on environmental management, capacity building and human development. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n6p175