A model to simulate the time evolution of the distribution of agglomeration degree of sucrose crystals is deduced and validated against experimental data obtained through an image analysis technique. The crystallisation laboratory facility, procedures and the resulting experimental data are described. The model employed includes nucleation, growth, growth rate dispersion and agglomeration kinet...

The effect of spatial agglomeration (localisation and urbanisation economies) on employment growth is explored over a balanced panel of 23,374 Italian firms, using a flexible Bayesian model. Contrary to previous research, the agglomeration economies measures are calculated using direct measures of physical distances between pairs of firms, rather than with respect to pre-specified geographical ...

Most models of regional agglomeration are based on the NEG (New Economic Geography) model in which returns to scale are pecuniary. We investigate the implications for regional agglomeration of a "Marshallian" model in which returns to scale derive from technological externalities. Workers are assumed to have heterogeneous "home region" preferences. The model is designed to explain how "second n...

This paper investigates the drivers of the environmental innovations (EI) introduced by firms in local production systems (LPS). The role of firm network relationships, agglomeration economies and internationalization strategies is analysed for a sample of 555 firms in the Emilia-Romagna region, North-East of Italy. Cooperating with ‘qualified’ local actors – i.e. universities and suppliers – i...

Agglomeration of facilities that compete with each other is common in practice, which suggests the existence of forces driving facilities to locate in clusters. Shopping centers and food courts are everyday examples. Although these agglomeration forces have been adequately analyzed and explained in the economic literature, operational research location models have not taken them into considerat...

Coating of dispersions or suspensions of particles in a fluid is very common in the manufacturing of functional materials. Commonly, a uniform distribution of the suspended phase is required, but, in practice, agglomerates of the suspended particles appear in the final product. It has been shown experimentally that agglomeration takes place as the dispersion flows inside the coating die, before...

The nucleation and growth of niobium pentaethoxide (NPE)-derived clusters in ethanol, through acid-catalyzed hydrolysis/condensation in the presence and absence of the silsesquioxane 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE), was monitored at 298-333 K by small-angle X-ray scattering. The data were analyzed with a newly derived model for polydisperse mass-fractal-like structures. At 298-313 K in th...

We explore the impact of geographically bounded intra-firm spillovers (internal agglomeration economies) and geographically bounded inter-firm spillovers (external agglomeration economies) on firms’ location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database and the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project, we analyze organic expansions of biopharmaceutical firms (by both new es...