The choice of transport technology in the presence of exports and FDI

In a set-up with intermediate production, we analyze how a shipper's choice of transport technology, traditional versus modern, interacts with the mode of foreign expansion by an service firm, export versus foreign direct investment (FDI). In terms of the mode of foreign expansion by the service firm, we obtain that: due to trade in intermediate goods, trade and FDI can be complements; the export strategy dominates when the economies of scale at plant level are high and trade costs are low; the FDI strategy is preferable when market size is large and trade costs are intermediate. In what concerns the choice of transport technology by the shipper, we find that: the modern technology tends to be implemented in larger markets; economic integration can encourage the adoption of modern technology vis-à-vis the traditional one; the modern technology adoption is more likely for intermediate levels of transport costs. We then have that modern technology adoption usually occurs under the FDI strategy, since both emerge when trade costs are intermediate and market size is large.Transport Technology, Foreign Direct Investment, Trade, Service Sector, Firm Location.

A Multilingual Study of Compressive Cross-Language Text Summarization

Cross-Language Text Summarization (CLTS) generates summaries in a language different from the language of the source documents. Recent methods use information from both languages to generate summaries with the most informative sentences. However, these methods have performance that can vary according to languages, which can reduce the quality of summaries. In this paper, we propose a compressive framework to generate cross-language summaries. In order to analyze performance and especially stability, we tested our system and extractive baselines on a dataset available in four languages (English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish) to generate English and French summaries. An automatic evaluation showed that our method outperformed extractive state-of-art CLTS methods with better and more stable ROUGE scores for all languages

Designing for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have emerged as an industrial response to improve, simplify, and accelerate the stages of product development. The available layer-by-layer techniques and building materials, combined with, e.g., geometric freedom, processing speed, tool independency, ability to generate multimaterial products in a single-step process, and the possibility to embed components for enhanced functionality, provide new capabilities that expand the applications possibilities from prototypes and tools, up to final functional parts personalized with unique and distinctive characteristics. AM technologies are applied in biomedical (medical implants, prosthetics), architectural (modeling, construction), rapid tooling (jig fixtures), hybrid molds (molding inserts, conformal cooling), aerospace (lightweight structures), aviation and automotive (lightweight components, heat sinks). These potentialities and versatility of AM are impacting the industrial world toward a new era. In this chapter, the main AM technologies are described, and basic design rules and key benefits are introduced in the context of process optimization and product development.- (undefined

Formation of Atomic Carbon Chains from Graphene Nanoribbons

The formation of one-dimensional carbon chains from graphene nanoribbons is investigated using it ab initio molecular dynamics. We show under what conditions it is possible to obtain a linear atomic chain via pulling of the graphene nanoribbons. The presence of dimers composed of two-coordinated carbon atoms at the edge of the ribbons is necessary for the formation of the linear chains, otherwise there is simply the full rupture of the structure. The presence of Stone-Wales defects close to these dimers may lead to the formation of longer chains. The local atomic configuration of the suspended atoms indicates the formation of single and triple bonds, which is a characteristic of polyynes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

In mold laser welding for high precision polymer based optical components

“Proceedings of PPS-29 : The 29th International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society - Conference Papers. ISBN 978-0-7354-1227-9”To Assemble a complete subsystem as a rear lamp, is necessary to have different machines and to perform several tasks. This necessity obliges the companies to have large structures to support all the assembling process. These huge structures are very costly and have as a consequence the reduction of the competitiveness of the companies. The process presented in this document has the intention of reducing the number of tasks needed to produce the final subsystem/product. To achieve this goal were combined several technologies, as in-mould assembling, laser welding and LEDs (light-emitting diode). One of the advantages of this process was the utilization of only one injection molding machine with three injection units to do all the assembling process. To achieve the main objective, firstly, the rear lamp was designed according to with the legislation of UNECE Vehicle Regulations - 1958 Agreements; Regulation No. 50 -Rev.2 - Position lamps, stop lamps, direction indicators for motorcycles. Posterior several polymeric materials were studied at different levels. Initial were studied several concentrations of carbon nanotubes mixed with PC (polycarbonate). This had the objective of determine, if these materials are suitable to conduct the necessary electric current to turn on the different LEDs. One of the main advantages of this process is the use of the laser transmission welded process. Since, with this welding technology is possible reduce the complexity of the final part. To understand the potentialities of this technology a combination of two materials was studied. The studied showed that all materials presented a high transparency to the laser beam. In terms of weld process, the study showed that the best welding conditions are the lowest velocity, diameter and power. With these studies was possible conclude that this new process is suitable to be implemented at the industrial level

Combination of laser welding with in-mould assembling into a single process

The search of a process capable of produce and assemble complex subsystems in a short period is the goal of any company. In the market it is possible to found several solutions. They go from simple glue to the complexes systems that use moulds, robot and other. These systems are part of a complex assembling line. In these lines are several different processes as welding, plastic and assembling process. This complex structure is costly, and in countries where the labour cost is high. To maintain the cost the companies are obliged to go overseas. The process presented had the objective of reducing the complexity of an assembling line. The reduction of the complexity is achieved through the combination of the in-mould assembly and the laser welding. The in-mould assembly is used to produce in the same mould several components. Laser welding is used to join different polymers. To study the viability of the process I was chosen a case study, in this case, a rear lamp. Firstly, it was modified to this new process, and then each component was studied individually. Finally, all the processes were combined and it was concluded that this process has viability and to make it possible producing a complex subsystem in one process

Main drivers of battery industry changes: Electric vehicles—A market overview

The growing popularity of electric vehicles is one of the main drivers of battery industry transformation. Words like “transport system decarbonization”, “electromobility”, and “environmental-friendly society” are very popular today, but questions remain as to how to measure electric vehicles’ adoption progress and how this transition changes the battery industry. This perspective paper provides a review of the electric cars and buses market, estimates the production volumes of some other electric vehicle types, and discusses the role of traction batteries in the global battery market. A simple estimation of the sales rate allows us to evaluate the prospects of electric vehicle adoption in leading countries. Finally, the application of the main battery chemistries is reviewed and topical issues to the research society are addressed and formulated. © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The quantitative characterization of the EV adoption progress needs data. Fortunately, there are some proper open sources. First, we can mention reports within the Electric Vehicles Initiative by International Energy Agency (IEA) [49,51], reports by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) [52], and the EV section in the Annual Energy Outlook [53] by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). There are also some web-resources from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) [54], the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) [55] by the European Commission, and the EV sales blog [20]—the open source version of EV Volumes database [31]. Finally, analytical companies such as Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) with Electric Vehicle Outlook [56], Navigant research [57], IDTechEx [58], HIS Markit [59], and others can provide some paid reports. Conventional car production open source data are provided by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) [60], and JATO [61]

In mould laser welding for high precision polymer based optical components

Assembling a complete subsystem as a rear lamp, it is necessary several different machines and tasks, for producing the final product. The technology presented in this paper has de capability to reduce the number of tasks needed for producing a final subsystem/product. In this case will be necessary only one injection moulding machine with three injection units. This was achieved by combining several technologies, as in-mould assembling, laser welding and LEDs. The challenges began by studying several polymeric materials, for understanding their behavior when they are welded by a laser beam. This was helpful also for determine the best welding properties. At the same time were analyzed different conductive polymers. This had the objective to determine their suitability for conducting the electric current between the different LEDs. The development of the rear lamp was made take in consideration the legislation of UNECE Vehicle Regulations - 1958 Agreement; Regulation No. 50 -Rev.2 - Position lamps, stop lamps, direction indicators for motorcycles. The results obtained present good input for producing in the same machine a complete and functional rear lamp

Thermoelectrical regulation of microinjection moulds

Microinjection is one of the major replication techniques for producing low cost micro parts. The small scale of the microinjection processes presents different challenges from those usually encountered in conventional injection moulding. One particular aspect, very important for part quality, is mould temperature control. In conventional injection moulding, the temperature control system is set to a fixed value during the injection cycle. In microinjection moulding such behaviour is not acceptable, which as lead to the development of “active” control temperature of the mould named “variotherm” systems. In the present paper a study will be presented for the implementation of thermo electric elements in dynamic temperature control of microinjection moulds and its impact on the process cycle time and part quality

Product design of novel technology-based products - The importance of users

Terms such as product design, engineering design, and others, have been used to represent specific ways to look at Product Design and Development (PDD). Each of them features specific methods and techniques and, despite the evolution of PDD, most processes remain unchanged. Moreover, as products incorporate more technology, with emphasis on microelectronics, it becomes obvious that improvements of the traditional PDD processes are required. Incorporating microelectronics in products, without the user being able to perceive them, while simultaneously ensuring their functionality, is not a trivial task. Therefore, improving a user-centered design (UCD) approach is paramount. In this framework, 6 design processes proposed by different authors and the UCD standard were analysed by comparing the phases of each process, and their methods, techniques, and tools were explored. Finally, a case-study is described, which enables studying how the different processes can be applied and, how the user could be linked to the process. This opens the path for the optimization of PDD to meet the needs of novel products by improving the importance of users' direct participation in the process.- (undefined