Linking Induced Technological Change, Competitiveness and Environmental Regulation: Evidence from Patenting in the U.S. Auto Industry

This article examines firms’ innovation activities in response to U.S. technology-forcing auto emissions standards enacted between 1970 and 1998. Patent applications in automobile emission control technologies were used as a measure of firms’ innovative responses to regulatory pressures. In addition, we extensively studied secondary literature and industry specific records and conducted targeted interviews with experts involved in the development. Findings of this study provide new evidence that supports the Porter hypothesis: the performance based technology-forcing auto emissions regulations induced technological innovation and led domestic U.S. firms to become relatively more innovative when compared to their foreign rivals. Overall, this study suggests that proper technology-forcing regulations have the potential to induce technological innovation, in particular radical innovation. Findings also imply that domestic firms may establish competitive advantage over rival firms by reacting proactively in the early phase of the regulatory era

Innovation and Technology Policy: Lessons From Emission Control and Safety Technologies in the U.S. Automobile Industry

This research explores processes of innovative activities that lead to the development of automobile emission-control and safety technologies in the U.S. automobile industry. Understanding the construction of these two automotive technologies is interesting for two reasons: 1) they were developed under command-and-control type government regulations designed to force the industry to develop new technologies by setting standards beyond industry’s current technical capability (“Technology-forcing” regulations); and 2) the two key federal agencies responsible for designing and implementing the two sets of regulations (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency) were established in the same period, the late 1960s, creating an ideal “natural experiment” for analyzing processes of technological changes that involve development of two different technological systems under two different sets of federal laws and federal agencies, and one common regulated industry -- the automobile industry. Our key motivation in this research is to investigate whether “technology-forcing” federal regulatory standards imposed upon the U.S. automobile industry stimulated industry innovation; and more importantly, whether federal regulations conferred any competitive advantage on the domestic U.S. firms in the automobile industry, which has long been crowded by foreign automakers as well as foreign suppliers. By using patent application as a measure of innovative activities, we identified relevant patents in both automobile emission-control and safety technologies in the last forty years from c. 1960 to c. 2000. In addition to compiling patent application records, we extensively studied both existing secondary literature and published government and industry records and conducted targeted interviews with important actors across a variety of related institutions involved in the development. This qualitative and quantitative information was used to construct a historically based study on two simultaneously-developing automotive safety and emission-control technologies, so that we could compare and contrast not only the patterns of innovation but also the socio-political processes of technological development under regulatory pressures. Statistical results reveal a strong correlation between overall patent applications and major regulatory events in both automotive emission-control and safety technologies. This finding supports the idea that “technology-forcing” regulatory instruments can be effective in driving technological change. More importantly, for a separate model that tested the impact of regulation on patent applications by U.S. firms (after controlling for foreign patenting activities and firm market share), regulation was also found to be effective in driving innovation, but its impact was significant only in the early phase of technological change when regulations were first introduced in the early 1970s. Findings of this research provide interesting new insights on the “Porter hypothesis,” which claims that appropriately designed regulation will increase corporate competitiveness and motivate new process and product innovation. While this study provides an empirical evidence for the Porter hypothesis; the study also implies that the most significant impact of regulation on innovation and industrial competitiveness may only be positive and significant in the early phase of technological change when the market for new technology is immature and when more radical technological innovation is necessary to meet new, stringent regulations. Interestingly, the study also shows that the auto industry reacted differently to the expectations of the regulatory agencies; that is, the auto industry developed and introduced catalyst-based emission control systems in the 1970s as expected by the EPA. Yet the auto industry resisted implementing the airbag system for automobile safety that NHTSA actively pushed for in the early 1970s

Lattice microstructure design for cathode electrodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

The electrode geometry is an essential parameter affecting the cycling performance of batteries. In this work, the effect of lattice geometry of the cathode electrode on battery performance was studied by theoretical simulations keeping its volume constant. It was observed that the variation of the lattice geometry improves the cycling performance when compared to conventional planar geometry. The improvement of the cycling performance in the lattice geometry is related to variations in the electrolyte current density. It was demonstrated that the lattice geometry allows to improve the discharge performance in lithium-ion batteries at higher discharge rates.511F-603F-4B30 | Francisco MirandaN/

Social capital and the Creation of Knowledge

This paper examines the relationship between the social capital and knowledge creation in research, mostly in the context of universities. The analysis is developed considering all of the following critical aspects of social capital: direct ties, strengths of direct ties, density, structural holes, centrality, and external-internal index in terms of fields of knowledge. Two important results arise from this research. First, the overall results suggest that, when controlling for other network variables and individual heterogeneity, the effects of the structural holes variable disappear. This result stands in contrast to the established idea that structural holes is the most important variable to represent social capital and, therefore, is seen as contributing to superior performance. Second, the results show that with this strong set of controls, what matters in social capital is having many direct ties, being in a central position, having partners from different areas of knowledge, and being part of a non dense network

Real-time tracking system for a moored oil tanker: a kalman filter approach

This paper presents a tracking system developed to study the behavior of an oil tanker moored at the Berth "A" of the Leixões oli terminal, Porto, Portugal

Structural mechanical simulation to optimize the sensor arm geometry to be implemented on cranial remodeling orthosis

For the treatment of moderate and severe cases of deformational plagiocephaly, an asymmetrical deformation of the skull, a cranial remodeling orthosis (CRO) is used. For the development of a new CRO concept, a pressure sensor grid is placed inside the orthosis that will allow the monitoring of excessive pressures and incorrect CRO positioning throughout the treatment. To implement the sensor grid in the CRO, high mobility of the sensor arms structure that joins the several sensors of this grid is required, however, it is intended that this procedure does not damage the printed copper tracks on the sensor structure. In this study, computer simulations were performed to optimize the sensor arm structure geometry, minimizing undesirable mechanical behavior in the sensor structure when subjected to tensile forces and displacements applied during its placement in the CRO. It was observed that the different sensor arm structures geometries have different effects on the mechanical behavior of the sensor structure when subjected to tensile forces and tensile displacement. The zigzag curve geometry presents the best performance based on high mobility without intense strain on the structure that could damage the printed copper tracks.511F-603F-4B30 | Francisco MirandaN/

Relationship between the order of permanent tooth eruption and the predominance of motor function laterality: A cross-sectional study

Objetivos Evaluar si el orden de la erupción dental es un buen indicador de la lateralidad motora. Métodos Estudio transversal en escolares de ambos sexos de 6 a 8 años tratados mediante las revisiones orales rutinarias anuales realizadas en los colegios incluidos en un área de atención primaria urbana en Barcelona (España). También se evaluaron las lateralidades de manos, pies, ojos y oídos mediante una serie de ejercicios simples. Se realizaron análisis bivariantes y multivariantes de los datos. Resultados La muestra comprendió 388 escolares, 51,3% niñas, con una edad media de 6,5 años. La lateralidad derecha predominó en todas las variables de estudio, especialmente en la dentición (310 escolares; 80%), la mano (349; 89,9%) y el pie (337; 86.8%). En el estudio bivariante se observó una asociación estadísticamente significativa (p < 0,001) entre la lateralidad de la dentición y la de la mano y el pie, así como entre la lateralidad de la dentición y las lateralidades de oído y de ojo. En el estudio multivariante, las lateralidades de la dentición y del pie se asociaron significativamente a la lateralidad de la mano. En lo concerniente a la precisión de la lateralidad de la dentición y del pie como prueba diagnóstica de la lateralidad de la mano, ambas mostraron una sensibilidad y valores predictivos positivos y negativos similares, pero la especificidad de la lateralidad de la dentición fue mayor (79% vs. 66%). Conclusiones La lateralidad en el orden de la erupción dental es un buen indicador para determinar la lateralidad motora durante el desarrollo, que podría ser particularmente útil para ayudar a precisar la lateralidad más predominante en casos de lateralidad cruzada.Objectives To assess whether the order of permanent tooth eruption may be a useful indicator of motor function laterality. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in schoolchildren aged 6 to 8 years old evaluated in the annual school-based routine dental health examinations conducted by the staff of the primary care centre of an urban district in Barcelona, Spain. We also evaluated hand, foot, eye, and auditory lateralities using a series of simple exercises. Bivariate and multivariate analysis of data was performed. Results The study sample included 388 children, 51.3% female, with a mean age of 6.5 years. Right laterality was the predominant side in every variable under study, especially in tooth eruption (310 children; 80%), handedness (349; 89.9%), and footedness (337; 86.8%). In the bivariate analysis, we found a statistically significant association of tooth eruption laterality with handedness and footedness, an of tooth eruption laterality with ocular and auditory lateralities (P<.001). In the multivariate analysis, tooth eruption laterality and foot laterality were independent variables significantly associated with hand laterality. The diagnostic accuracy of tooth eruption laterality and foot laterality in relation to hand laterality as reference, showed a similar sensitivity and positive and negative predictive values, but the specificity of dentition laterality was higher (79% versus 66%). Conclusions Laterality in the order of dental eruption is a useful indicator of right or left motor function laterality in developing individuals that may be particularly helpful to determine the main dominance in cases of crossed laterality

Haplotype diversity patterns in Quercus suber (Fagaceae) inferred from cpDNA sequence data

Chloroplast genome diversity in cork oak (Quercus suber) is characterised by the occurrence of haplotypes that are akin to those found in other Mediterranean oak species, particularly in Q. ilex and Q. rotundifolia, suggesting the possible presence of an introgressed chloroplast lineage. To further investigate this pattern, we reconstructed chloroplast haplotypes by sequencing four chloroplast markers (cpDNA), sampled across 181 individuals and 10 taxa. Our analyses resulted in the identification of two diversified chloroplast haplogroups in Q. suber, corresponding to a geographically widespread lineage and an Afro-Iberian lineage. Time-calibrated phylogenetic analyses of cpDNA point to a Miocene origin of the two haplogroups in Q. suber, suggesting that the Afro-Iberian lineage was present in cork oak before the onset of glaciation periods. The persistence of the two haplogroups in the western part of the species distribution range may be a consequence of either ancient introgression events or chloroplast lineage sorting, combined with different fixation in refugia through glaciation periods. Our results provide a comprehensive insight on the origins of chloroplast diversity in these ecologically and economically important Mediterranean oaks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Real-time tracking system for a moored oil tanker : a kalman filter approach

This paper presents a tracking system developed to study the behavior of an oil tanker moored at the Berth “A” of the Leixões Oil Terminal, Porto, Portugal. A brief description of the local environmental conditions and the existing operational conditions at that oil terminal are presented. Due to extreme outdoor working conditions a Kalman filter was implemented to ensure the robustness and reliability of the obtained measurements. Tests were performed in laboratory on a physical model of a moored oil tanker at a scale 1/100. The results were compared with a commercial motion capture system installed in laboratory. The presented measurement system was developed as part of the DOLPHIN project that aims to study the behavior of moored ships in harbors