Toward Globalization of the Forest Products Industry: Some Trends

This paper examines the hypothesis that changes have been brought about in the forest industry that allow it to participate fully in globalization. The forest industry has undergone profound changes in recent years in large part by new technologies. Whereas traditionally it was primarily an extractive industry that relied on local sources for its basic resource—raw, industrial wood—today, intensively managed planted forests are replacing natural forests as the basic source of the wood resource, and modern biotechnology is being applied to create trees that both grow rapidly and have traits desired in industrial wood. These changes eliminate the traditional ties between forest processing and locations with abundant natural forests. Today, globalization allows investments, capital flows, and emerging technologies to move easily into regions where they are expected to be particularly productive. It also provides for the ready utilization of the human resources of foreign countries. Thus, offshore outsourcing is closely associated with globalization. The easy flow of productive factors results in the production of goods and services based on a mix of in-country and external contributions to production. In forestry, this process takes on an additional dimension in which the basic resource itself, the forest, can be relocated to capitalize on the cost advantages of particular regions. Additional changes have been driven by modern biotechnology, which has dramatically increased the variety of areas where productive forests can be grown, as well as overall forest productivity. We find that there is substantial evidence in this country-level forestry data to support our hypotheses of how globalization has begun to reshape the forest products industry. However, the evidence suggests that the changes have been more prominent in the pulp industry than in the structural wood sector.forests, globalization, forest products, international, comparative advantage, technology

Magnetic-domain-controlled vortex pinning in a superconductor/ferromagnet bilayer

Vortex pinning in a type-II superconducting Pb film covering a Co/Pt multilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is investigated. Different stable magnetic domain patterns like band and bubble domains can be created in the Co/Pt multilayer, clearly influencing the vortex pinning in the superconducting Pb layer. Most effective pinning is observed for the bubble domain state. We demonstrate that the pinning properties of the superconductor/ferromagnet bilayer can be controlled by tuning the size, density and magnetization direction of the bubbles.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for AP

Dynamic Regimes in Films with a Periodic Array of Antidots

We have studied the dynamic response of Pb thin films with a square array of antidots by means of ac susceptibility chi(T,H) measurements. At low enough ac drive amplitudes h, vortices moving inside the pinning potential give rise to a frequency- and h-independent response together with a scarce dissipation. For higher amplitudes, the average distance travelled by vortices surpasses the pinning range and a critical state develops. We found that the boundary h*(H,T) between these regimes smoothly decreases as T increases whereas a step-like behavior is observed as a function of field. We demonstrate that these steps in h*(H) arise from sharp changes in the pinning strength corresponding to different vortex configurations. For a wide set of data at several fields and temperatures in the critical state regime, we show that the scaling laws based on the simple Bean model are satisfied.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Symmetry Violation in a Superconducting Film with a Square Array of Ferromagnetic Dots

We study the equilibrium state of a superconducting film covered with a regular square array of perpendicularly magnetized magnetic dots. The dots induce vortices in the film directly under them and antivortices between the dots. We show that the symmetry of the dot array is spontaneously violated by the vortices. The positions of the vortices and the antivortices depend on the magnetization and the size of the dots.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Istraživanje učinkovitosti dizalice topline s bušotinskim izmjenjivačem topline

The paper presents results of an optimal design process of a ground-source heat pump system including thermal modelling of the system and selection of optimal design parameters which affect the system performance and operational costs. An integrated building and system simulation program was built for this purpose. The results were compared with a predefined “reference” installation defining energy savings, environmental benefits and economical results. It was found that a primary energy saving and CO2 emission reduction of 31 % was obtained. Decreasing the borehole resistance leads to an increased natural cooling fraction of 48 % to 61 %. Operational costs were higher for the reference installation (86 %) than for the heat pump system (73 %). Over a lifetime, the ground source heat pump system is a far more economical choice.Ovaj rad predstavlja rezultate optimiranja rada dizalice topline s bušotinskim izmjenjivačem topline, te uključuje termodinamički model sustava, odabir optimalnih parametara koji utječu na učinkovitost sustava te njegovih pogonskih troškova. U tu svrhu izgrađena je simulacija cjelovite zgrade s prethodno navedenim sustavom. Rezultati su uspoređeni s ranije definiranom referentnom instalacijom, definirajući uštede energije, pozitivan utjecaj na okoliš, te ekonomske rezultate. Rezultati su pokazali da je ostvarena ušteda primarne energije i smanjenje CO2 emisije od 31 %. Smanjenje toplinskog otpora bušotine vodi do porasta udjela prirodnog hlađenja s 48 % na 61 %. Operativni troškovi su bili veći za referentni sustav (86 %) za razliku od sustava s dizalicom topline s bušotinskim izmjenjivačem topline.(73 %). Obzirom na vijek trajanja, dizalica topline s bušotinskim izmjenjivačem topline predstavlja ekonomski isplativiju opciju

European Antidumping Law and Procedure

This article is adapted from the presentations made by Messrs. Oldekop and Van Bael at the Symposium on Antidumping Law held at the University of Michigan Law School on November 3 and 4, 1978

Surface functionalized titanium scaffolds for orthopaedic application: learning from nature

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