Gains and Losses of India-China Trade Cooperation – a Gravity Model Impact Analysis

As revealed by the trade intensity indices, India and the People’s Republic of China have significant bilateral trade potential, which remains unexplored until now. These countries are presently negotiating for free trade arrangements among them based on their complementarities. This paper makes an attempt to estimate the likely benefits in terms of gains or losses in imports of both India and China due to different preferential trading arrangements and free trade arrangements using the gravity model. Empirical results show that in the short run India’s potential gain is relatively less compared to China because of its high tariffs but in the long run, India’s gains are higher than China once its tariff levels are brought at par with them. Free trade arrangement is a win-win situation for both countries and is consistent with their growing dominance in the international trade.PTAs, FTA, gravity model, trade intensity indices, India- People Republic of China, bilateral trade flows, trade creation and trade diversion

Do south-south trade agreements enhance member countries' trade? evaluating implications for development potential in the context of SAARC

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the least integrated economy in the Asia-Pacific region, whose intraregional trade was only 5.6 per cent in 2006. In order to estimate potential trade of the SAARC Member Countries (SMCs), we have estimated “behind the border” and “beyond the border” constraints, which both appear to be quite significant in all SMCs. Given the level of “beyond the border” constraints, in the absence of full information on all “behind the border” constraints, the combined effect of the latter on actual exports of individual SAARC country is modeled in the gravity equation, which is estimated using the methods suggested in the literature for estimating stochastic frontier production function. Results of the stochastic frontier gravity model show that when FTA among SAARC countries becomes fully operational, smaller members will gain maximum benefits compared to larger members. The paper also analyses the synergy between trade and development goals of the SAARC countries. Since tariffs are not an important barrier in this region, emphasis should be given to liberalization of investment flows, higher technology cooperation, and cooperation in areas of education, literacy, basic health care, gender bias, favorable institutions ensuring good governance, social capital, transparency, transportation costs, infrastructure, to achieve the SAARC development goals (SDGs)

Do south-south trade agreements enhance member countries' trade? evaluating implications for development potential in the context of SAARC

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the least integrated economy in the Asia-Pacific region, whose intraregional trade was only 5.6 per cent in 2006. In order to estimate potential trade of the SAARC Member Countries (SMCs), we have estimated “behind the border” and “beyond the border” constraints, which both appear to be quite significant in all SMCs. Given the level of “beyond the border” constraints, in the absence of full information on all “behind the border” constraints, the combined effect of the latter on actual exports of individual SAARC country is modeled in the gravity equation, which is estimated using the methods suggested in the literature for estimating stochastic frontier production function. Results of the stochastic frontier gravity model show that when FTA among SAARC countries becomes fully operational, smaller members will gain maximum benefits compared to larger members. The paper also analyses the synergy between trade and development goals of the SAARC countries. Since tariffs are not an important barrier in this region, emphasis should be given to liberalization of investment flows, higher technology cooperation, and cooperation in areas of education, literacy, basic health care, gender bias, favorable institutions ensuring good governance, social capital, transparency, transportation costs, infrastructure, to achieve the SAARC development goals (SDGs)

Turbine blade failure in a thermal power plant

The failure of a LP (low pressure) turbine blade of a 220 MW thermal power plant is presented. The blade was made of martensitic stainless steel and the structure was tempered martensite. There was no evidence of degradation of blade material. The fracture took place at the aerofoil region, 113-mm from the root. Throughout the blade surface Si rich phases were detected. Several pits/grooves were found on the edges of the blades and chloride was detected in these pits. These were responsible for the crevice type corrosion. The probable carriers of Cl− were Ca and K, which were found on the blade. The failure mode was intergranular type. Possibly the ultimate failure was due to corrosion-fatigue

Wafer bonding solution to epitaxial graphene - silicon integration

The development of graphene electronics requires the integration of graphene devices with Si-CMOS technology. Most strategies involve the transfer of graphene sheets onto silicon, with the inherent difficulties of clean transfer and subsequent graphene nano-patterning that degrades considerably the electronic mobility of nanopatterned graphene. Epitaxial graphene (EG) by contrast is grown on an essentially perfect crystalline (semi-insulating) surface, and graphene nanostructures with exceptional properties have been realized by a selective growth process on tailored SiC surface that requires no graphene patterning. However, the temperatures required in this structured growth process are too high for silicon technology. Here we demonstrate a new graphene to Si integration strategy, with a bonded and interconnected compact double-wafer structure. Using silicon-on-insulator technology (SOI) a thin monocrystalline silicon layer ready for CMOS processing is applied on top of epitaxial graphene on SiC. The parallel Si and graphene platforms are interconnected by metal vias. This method inspired by the industrial development of 3d hyper-integration stacking thin-film electronic devices preserves the advantages of epitaxial graphene and enables the full spectrum of CMOS processing.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Failure analysis of high temperature studs

Studs in the interceptor valve of a 110 MW unit failed after a service life of 148,700 h. The studs were operated under a steam pressure of 35 kg/cm2 and a temperature of 535°C. The studs were fractured at one end of the threaded end. Various techniques were employed to analyse the failure of the studs. It has been concluded that the failure of the studs was due to reverse temper embrittlement. The failure was delayed due to the presence of Mo and V. To reduce the tendency to this kind of failure, the following steps were recommended: (a) reduce the phosphorus content in the steel to a low level or (b) reduce the grain size to about 10 μm

Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIM-7) Coating Affects Triphasic Palladium Electrocatalysis

A film of the polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-7 is coated onto a glassy carbon electrode and the resulting effects on electron transfer reactions are studied for three different types of processes: (i) aqueous solution based, (ii) solid state surface immobilised, and (iii) electrocatalytic processes on electrodeposited palladium. The effects on reactivity for hydroquinone oxidation in aqueous phosphate buffer are shown to be linked to microporosity causing a slightly lower rate of mass transport without detrimental effects on electron transfer and reaction kinetics. Next, water-insoluble microcrystalline anthraquinone is immobilised directly into the PIM-7 film and shown to give a chemically reversible reduction process, which is enhanced in the presence of PIM-7, when compared to the case of anthraquinone immobilised directly onto bare glassy carbon. Electrodeposition of a film of nano-palladium is demonstrated to give catalytically active electrodes for the reduction/oxidation of protons/hydrogen, the reduction of oxygen, and for the oxidation of formic acid and methanol. With the PIM-7 film applied onto palladium, a mechanical stabilisation effect occurs. In addition, both the hydrogen insertion and the hydrogen evolution reactions as well as formic acid oxidation are enhanced. Effects are discussed in terms of PIM-7 beneficially affecting the interfacial reaction under triphasic conditions. The microporous polymer acts as an interfacial “gas management” layer.</p

Low cost, high performance transmit/receive intergrated circuit on a single chip

Issued as final reportVersa