Modes of Foreign Entry under Asymmetric Information about Potential Technology Spillovers

This paper studies the effect of technology spillovers on the entry decision of a multinational enterprise into a foreign market. Two alternative entry modes for a foreign direct investment are considered: Greenfield investment versus acquisition. We find that with quantity competition a spillover makes acquisitions less attractive, while with price competition acquisitions become more attractive. Asymmetric information about potential spillovers always reduces the number of acquisitions independently of whether the host country or the entrant has private information. Interestingly, we find that asymmetric information always hurts the entrant, while it sometimes is in favor of the host country

Laser Spray Fabrication for Net-Shape Rapid Product Realization LDRD

The primary purpose of this LDRD project was to characterize the laser deposition process and determine the feasibility of fabricating complex near-net shapes directly from a CAD solid model. Process characterization provided direction in developing a system to fabricate complex shapes directly from a CAD solid model. Our goal for this LDRD was to develop a system that is robust and provides a significant advancement to existing technologies (e.g., polymeric-based rapid prototyping, laser welding). Development of the process will allow design engineers to produce functional models of their designs directly from CAD files. The turnaround time for complex geometrical shaped parts will be hours instead of days and days instead of months. With reduced turnaround time, more time can be spent on the product-design phase to ensure that the best component design is achieved. Maturation of this technology will revolutionize the way the world produces structural components

Materials Issues for Micromachines Development - ASCI Program Plan

This report summarizes materials issues associated with advanced micromachines development at Sandia. The intent of this report is to provide a perspective on the scope of the issues and suggest future technical directions, with a focus on computational materials science. Materials issues in surface micromachining (SMM), Lithographic-Galvanoformung-Abformung (LIGA: lithography, electrodeposition, and molding), and meso-machining technologies were identified. Each individual issue was assessed in four categories: degree of basic understanding; amount of existing experimental data capability of existing models; and, based on the perspective of component developers, the importance of the issue to be resolved. Three broad requirements for micromachines emerged from this process. They are: (1) tribological behavior, including stiction, friction, wear, and the use of surface treatments to control these, (2) mechanical behavior at microscale, including elasticity, plasticity, and the effect of microstructural features on mechanical strength, and (3) degradation of tribological and mechanical properties in normal (including aging), abnormal and hostile environments. Resolving all the identified critical issues requires a significant cooperative and complementary effort between computational and experimental programs. The breadth of this work is greater than any single program is likely to support. This report should serve as a guide to plan micromachines development at Sandia

Factors affecting the fate of ciprofloxacin in aquatic field systems

Ciprofloxacin (cipro) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in human and veterinary medicine that is readily transported into the environment via domestic wastewaters and through direct runoff. Although factors governing cipro fate are becoming understood, an integrated evaluation of disappearance mechanisms in aquatic systems has not been performed. Here we examined cipro disappearance rate in surface waters using both laboratory and field systems under different light, and dissolved (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) conditions to determine when photodegradation versus adsorption dominates cipro fate. Initial laboratory experiments showed that cipro rapidly photodegraded (t(1/2) ∼ 1.5 h) with numerous photodegradation products being noted when POC levels were low. However, even moderate water column POC levels resulted in reduced photodegradation ( no breakdown products detected) and soluble cipro disappearance rates were accelerated. C-14-ciprofloxacin studies confirmed significant adsorption onto aquatic POC (KOC values of 13,900 to 20,500 L/kg at neutral pH). In contrast, a follow-up mesocosm-scale field study using low POC water showed that photodegradation could also dominate cipro fate. In conclusion, both adsorption and photodegradation strongly influence cipro fate in aquatic systems, although the dominant mechanism appears to depend upon the ambient POC level