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The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the relationship between fiscal policy and total factor productivity (TFP) while accounting for several economic and econometric issues of the phenomenon like non-stationarity, fiscal feedback effects, persistence in productivity, country heterogeneity and unobserved global shocks and local spillovers affecting heterogeneously the countries in the sample.

The paper is empirical. It builds an Error Correction Model (ECM) specification within a dynamic heterogeneous framework with common correlated effects and models both reverse causality and feedback effects.

The results of this study highlight some new findings relative to the existing related literature. The outcomes suggest some relevant evidence at both the academic and policy levels: (1) the causal effects going from fiscal deficit/surplus to TFP are heterogeneous across countries; (2) the effects depend on the time horizon considered; (3) the long-run dynamics of TFP are positively impacted by improvements in fiscal budget, but only if the austerity measures do not exert slowdowns in aggregate growth.

The main originality of this study is methodological, with possible extensions to related phenomena. Relative to the existing literature, the gains of this study rely on the way econometric techniques, recently proposed in the literature, are adapted to the economic relationship of interest. The endogeneity due to the existence of reverse causality is modelled without implying relevant performance losses of the models. Moreover, this is the first article that questions whether the effects of fiscal budget on productivity depend on the impact of the former on aggregate output growth, thus emphasising the importance of the quality of fiscal adjustments.

STANDARDIZATION of engine components should start in the drawing office. To ensure uniformity in regard to method of dimensioning and standardization of data and notes, a system of sample drawing may be used. For example, if a drawing is to be made of a connecting rod, crankshaft, piston, piston ring, and so on, the draughtsman should refer to a list showing the sample drawing number for each particular part. The drawing may be obtained from file and used as a guide in producing the drawing. Fig. 1 shows one of these lists. To guide the draughtsman in selecting the proper sample drawing, a remarks column is used with a description oi the part.

WE have recently received details of a new tool grinder which is of general interest to those operating a machine shop of any size. This tool, like so many of the new machines designed today, comes from the U.S.A.—this particular example is the product of the Hannifin Mfg. Co. of Chicago. The machine is known as the No. 5 Universal Precision Tool Grinder and is particularly designed for the rapid grinding of precision tools and cutters of all types. There is a large range of fixtures which cover practically any contingency that might arise. The machine is compactly layed out and particular attention has been paid to the production of a tool which can be cleanly and easily operated.

Conventional sportswear design does not take into account body size changes that many individuals experience (e.g. through pregnancy, puberty, menstruation, etc.). This paper aims to detail both the construction of a novel wearable shape-adaptive composite and a new meso-scale material design method, which enables the optimal creation of these structures.

This work reports the development of a predictive computational model and a corresponding design tool, including results of a tensile testing protocol to validate their outputs. A mathematical model was developed to explore the geometric parameter space of a bi-stable composite system, which then feeds into an optimization design tool.

The authors found that it is possible to fabricate shape-adaptive composites via 3D printing bi-stable structures, and adhering them to a base textile. Experimental mechanical tensile testing showed good agreement with the predictive model in mid-range unit cell amplitude designs. To illustrate how the optimization design tool works this paper details two design examples, one for expected shape change during pregnancy and one for targeted compression for high performance swimwear. The optimized design parameters are shown to replicate the target parameters, however there is potential for further improvement with a lower stiffness base textile.

Although there is a wealth of research on multi-stable mechanisms, there is a dearth of studies that apply these structures in the wearable composite space. Additionally, there is a need for design methods which leverage the structurally-programmable capabilities of multi-stable structures to create optimized, high-performance functional composites.

Ceramic materials and glasses have become important in modern industry as well as in the consumer environment. Heat resistant ceramics are used in the metal forming processes or as welding and brazing fixtures, etc. Ceramic materials are frequently used in industries where a wear and chemical resistance are required criteria (seals, liners, grinding wheels, machining tools, etc.). Electrical, magnetic and optical properties of ceramic materials are important in electrical and electronic industries where these materials are used as sensors and actuators, integrated circuits, piezoelectric transducers, ultrasonic devices, microwave devices, magnetic tapes, and in other applications. A significant amount of literature is available on the finite element modelling (FEM) of ceramics and glass. This paper gives a listing of these published papers and is a continuation of the author's bibliography entitled “Finite element modelling of ceramics and glass” and published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 16, 1999, pp. 510‐71 for the period 1977‐1998.

The form of the paper is a bibliography. Listed references have been retrieved from the author's database, MAKEBASE. Also Compendex has been checked. The period is 1998‐2004.

Provides a listing of 1,432 references. The following topics are included: ceramics – material and mechanical properties in general, ceramic coatings and joining problems, ceramic composites, piezoceramics, ceramic tools and machining, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, applications of ceramic/composites in engineering; glass – material and mechanical properties in general, glass fiber composites, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, and applications of glasses in engineering.

This paper makes it easy for professionals working with the numerical methods with applications to ceramics and glasses to be up‐to‐date in an effective way.

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between spiritual leadership and employee innovative behavior by testing the mediating role of autonomous motivation and the moderating role of employee power distance orientation.

The author predicted an indirect relationship between spiritual leadership and employee innovative behavior via autonomous motivation. Also, the author predicted the positive effect of spiritual leadership on employee innovative behavior will be stronger when employee power distance orientation is high. Hypotheses are tested with data gathered from 174 participants.

Results showed that spiritual leadership was positively related to employee innovative behavior via autonomous motivation. And, the positive relationship between spiritual leadership and autonomous motivation was stronger when employee power distance orientation was high. Furthermore, the indirect effect of autonomous motivation was stronger when employee power distance orientation was high.

This study provides a new theoretical perspective – self-determination theory – to test how and when spiritual leadership enhances employee innovative behavior by suggesting autonomous motivation as a mediator and employee power distance orientation as a boundary condition.

The results of this research provide suggestions for leaders to adopt spiritual leadership as well as enhance interactions between them and employees to increase employee innovative behavior.

This study highlights the moderating role of employee power distance orientation and uses self-determination theory to examine how and when spiritual leadership plays a positive role.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceptions of learning climate and employee innovative behavior and proficiency.

Using robust analysis techniques on data from a sample of 419 employees and their supervisors from four different business and public sector organizations, the author tested the proposed relationships, as mediated by job engagement. Moreover, this mediation effect was examined in the light of sector of employment differences (business vs public).

The results were generally consistent with the hypothesized conceptual scheme, in that the indirect relationship between perceptions of learning climate and employees’ innovative behavior and proficiency was mediated by job engagement. However, with regard to sector employment differences, this mediation process was demonstrated among business sector employees only to the relationship between perceptions of learning climate and innovative behavior. When proficiency was included in the mediation model, this mediation effect was evident among public sector employees.

The research on perceptions of learning climate lacks empirical evidence on its implications for employees’ innovative behavior and proficiency. Although scholars contend that employees’ perceptions of learning climate should enhance their in-role and extra-role performance behaviors, these arguments are mainly non-empirical. Understanding whether perceptions of learning have an impact on employee intra- and extra-role performance behaviors is important, considering that the majority of workplace learning occurs through daily ongoing means that are part of the working environment and previous research results show that structured learning and formal training are less effective in improving employees’ performance at work.