Fighting Irrelevance: The Role of Regional Trade Agreements in International Production Networks in Asia

This chapter contains the sectoral case study on the Thai hard disk drive (HDD) industry. The HDD industry in Thailand was first established during the early 1980s. By 2008, Thailand had become the second-largest HDD exporter in the world, accounting for about 17.4 per cent of world exports. Four out of six major HDD producers have affiliates in Thailand, including Seagate (since 1983), Hitachi GST (since 1991), Western Digital (since 2002) and Toshiba (since 2008). Thus, sufficient time has passed for an assessment to be made of the development of Thailand’s HDD industry.trade liberalization, international production networks, regional trade agreements, value chain, Asia, hard disk drive, East Asia, Thailand

Diagnostic systems in DEMO: engineering design issues

The diagnostic systems of DEMO that are mounted on or near the torus, whether intended for the monitoring and control functions of the engineering aspects or the physics behaviour of the machine, will have to be designed to suit the hostile nuclear environment. This will be necessary not just for their survival and correct functioning but also to satisfy the pertinent regulatory bodies, especially where any of them relate to machine protection or the prevention or mitigation of accidents foreseen in the safety case. This paper aims to indicate the more important of the reactor design considerations that are likely to apply to diagnostics for DEMO, drawn from experience on JET, the provisions in hand for ITER and modelling results for the wall erosion and neutron damage effects in DEMO.Comment: 8 page

A rocket-borne airglow photometer

The design of a rocket-borne photometer to measure the airglow emission of ionized molecular nitrogen in the 391.4 nm band is presented. This airglow is a well known and often observed phenomenon of auroras, where the principal source of ionization is energetic electrons. It is believed that at some midlatitude locations energetic electrons are also a source of nighttime ionization in the E region of the ionosphere. If this is so, then significant levels of 391.4 nm airglow should be present. The intensity of this airglow will be measured in a rocket payload which also contains instrumentation to measured in a rocket payload which also contains instrumentation to measure energetic electron differential flux and the ambient electron density. An intercomparison of the 3 experiments in a nightime launch will allow a test of the importance of energetic electrons as a nighttime source of ionization in the upper E region

Measurement of transmission line parameters of three-core power cables with common earth screen

In power cables fast transient signals arise because of partial discharges. These signals propagate to the cable ends where they can be detected for diagnostic purposes. To enable optimal detection sensitivity and to judge their severity the propagation parameters Z c (characteristic impedance) and ÿ¿ (propagation coefficient) need to be known. A three-core power cable with a single metallic earth screen around the assembly of the cores has multiple, coupled propagation modes with corresponding characteristic impedances and propagation coefficients. This paper presents a practical method to measure and analyse the cable parameters. The propagation modes are decoupled into a modal solution. The modal solution is interpreted in terms of convenient propagation modes: a shield-to-phase (SP) propagation mode between conductors and earth screen and two identical phase-to-phase (PP) modes between conductors. The measurement method, based on a pulse response measurement, to determine all transmission line parameters of the SP and PP modes is proposed and tested on a cable sample. The model is validated by predicting the time, shape and amplitude of multiple reflections in all modes resulting from an injected pulse

Performance study of an adaptive dual antenna handset for indoor communications

The focus of the paper is the design and evaluation of adaptive diversity for mobile handsets. Usually, diversity principles are optimised for base stations. However, for mobile new concepts must be developed to the size and power consumption constraints. A new modelling approach is introduced, which combines indoor radio channel simulations with circuit design parameters. This enables the inclusion of key system parameters, such as the speed of the user, the scanning speed of the antenna beams and the number of phase shifts. The radio channel simulations are based on a high-order finite-difference algorithm using the Berenger (1994) absorbing boundary condition to truncate the computational domain. The algorithm is found to be efficient and accurate enough to simulate very large structures. The analysis has resulted in an optimal design of an adaptive dual antenna handset, which combines received signals (fixed beam) while scanning the environment at the same time (scan beams). A prototype is evaluated with the numerical modelling tools and a measurement set-up. The performance is close to that of a perfect equal gain combine

Definition study for photovoltaic residential prototype system

A site evaluation was performed to assess the relative merits of different regions of the country in terms of the suitability for experimental photovoltaic powered residences. Eight sites were selected based on evaluation criteria which included population, photovoltaic systems performance and the cost of electrical energy. A parametric sensitivity analysis was performed for four selected site locations. Analytical models were developed for four different power system implementation approaches. Using the model which represents a direct (or float) charge system implementation the performance sensitivity to the following parameter variations is reported: (1) solar roof slope angle; (2) ratio of the number of series cells in the solar array to the number of series cells in the lead-acid battery; and (3) battery size. For a Cleveland site location, a system with no on site energy storage and with a maximum power tracking inverter which feeds back excess power to the utility was shown to have 19 percent greater net system output than the second place system. The experiment test plan is described. The load control and data acquisition system and the data display panel for the residence are discussed

Current status and prospects of photonic IC technology

The most complex photonic ICs today have been developed for WDM applications. An overview of the most important integration technologies will be given and recent developments towards broader applications and higher integration densities will be discussed

The Commercial Application of Missile/Space Technology, Parts 1 and 2

This report is concerned with the transfer of technology from missile and space programs to non-missile/space applications in the United States. It presents the findings of a University of Denver Research Institute study sponsored by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant awarded in November 1961. Initial stimulation for the unsolicited proposal leading to this study came from a 1960 Brookings Institution report to NASA, Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs