Entry, Competitiveness and Exports: Evidence from Firm Level Data of Indian Manufacturing

The industry and trade policy regimes in India have witnessed drastic changes since 1991. The dismantling of the industrial licensing system and thereby allowing free entry to and exit from the industry of firms in 1991 followed by the WTO induced trade liberalization leading to substantial reduction in tariffs and gradual softening of foreign investment regulations, particularly in the context of foreign direct investment since 1995, may have had significant impact on the state of competitiveness in India industries. In this paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the effects of trade and industrial policy changes on domestic competitiveness for select Indian industries during post-liberalization period. Though there exists a pool of empirical literature focusing on the state of competitiveness in India, the link between theoretical models underlying the empirical analysis is not often strong. Moreover, a section of the literature focuses on a combination of firm and industry data for drawing conclusions on firm behavior, which may not reflect the actual scenario. Given this background, the present paper attempts to provide a unified approach to examine the inter-relationships between entry and competitiveness within a consistent oligopolistic market framework. The empirical analysis of the present study, carried out on the basis of firm data for 14 sectors over 1990-2008, indicates that Indian industry have shown considerable changes over the last decade in terms of entry and competitiveness. An overall decline in concentration is witnessed between the two end points, which signify the importance of newer entry in the markets. The Price-Cost Margin however behaves differently for different sectors, which could be explained by the differing level of spillover of technical changes as a result of increased pressure of competition due to liberalization. Demand curve is generally found to be inelastic and declines over the period. The relationship between the size of the firms and their export volume turns out to be significantly positive.Competitiveness; entry; industrial liberalization; trade liberalization

Cyclodienyl 1,3 - Dianionic Synthons: A Novel Synthesis of 5,5 - Dimethyl - 1,3 - Bis - (trimethylsilyl) Cyclohexa - 1,3 - Diene and its Diels - Alder [π4s+π2s] Cycloadditions with Six Dienophiles

The synthesis of 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-bis(trimethylsilyl)cyclohexa-1,3-diene: a novel cyclic 1,3-dianionic synthon is reported by the Wurtz-Fittig coupling reaction of 1,3-dichloro-5,5-dimethylcyclohexa-1,3-diene with metallic sodium and chlorotrimethylsilane in anhydrous ether solvent. The compound on further Diels-Alder [π4s+π2s] cycloaddition with five N-substituted maleimides gave five novel cycloadducts: the N-substituted 11,11-dimethyl-1,8-bis(trimethylsilyl)-4- azatricyclo[5.2.2.02,6]undec-8-ene-3,5-diones; and reaction with maleic anhydride yielded the novel 11,11-dimethyl-1,8- bis(trimethylsilyl)-4-oxotricyclo[5.2.2.02,6]undec-8-ene-3,5-dione in 94-97% overall yields

A Single Operator Implementation of Task Based Multiple Unmanned Vehicle

ABSTRACT−Automation has greatly reduced operator workload and generally enhanced safety in supervisory control settings. There has recently been a significant amount of activity in developing supervisory control algorithms for multiple unmanned vehicle operation by a single operator. In the both military and commercial sectors there has been significant research and development in the field of unmanned vehicles. The objective of this paper is use to control multiple UV's using single operator by RESCHU software. RESCHU (Research Environment for Supervisory Control of Homogeneous Unmanned vehicles) which allows a single operator have the ability to control multiple UVs. This paper approaches two methods namely Vehicle-Based control (where a single operator individually assigns tasks to unmanned assets) and Task-Based control (where the operator generates a task list, which is then given to the group of vehicles that determine how to best divide the tasks among themselves). The proposed framework incorporates (i) sensor constraints, such as processing/travel time, and (ii) task constraints, such as prioritization. These results have implications for the design of future human-UV systems, as well as more general multiple task supervisory control models

Small scale fracture of multi metal carbide coatings

The micromechanical behavior of sputtered multi metal carbide (Hf-Nb-Ta-Zr)C coatings was investigated. A equiatomic high entropy alloy (Hf-Nb-Ta-Zr) and high density graphite were used as targets to reactively sputter carbide coatings on Si (100) with a silicon nitride buffer layer at different substrate temperatures (RT, 300, 450, 600 and 750 0C). Energy and wavelength dispersive x-ray spectra confirmed that the metal compositions were equiatomic with a carbon content close to stoichiometric value. X-ray diffraction revealed that a single phase with a rocksalt structure was obtained for all deposition conditions. Furthermore, XRD measurements highlighted that crystallinity improved markedly with increasing deposition temperatures and the magnitude of compressive stresses reduced, concomitantly. For the highest temperature, tensile stresses of 500MPa was noted. Optical microscopy also revealed extensive mud cracking of the film deposited at 750°C, consistent with high tensile stresses. Microstructures characterized by transmission electron microscopy revealed columnar grains with nanocrystalline dimensions. Coatings deposited at 600°C showed the highest hardness and indentation modulus of 32 and 350 GPa, respectively, measured with the continuous stiffness mode. Focused ion beam machining is used fabricate micro cantilever which are tested in situ in a SEM to evaluate fracture properties of these complex carbide coatings. Nanoindentation based toughness measurements are underway to compare toughness estimates these two techniques