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We study how U.S. manufacturing firms' investment responds to tariff reductions in supplier industries. Our estimates, based on tariff reductions following multinational trade agreements, suggest that a hypothetical 10% reduction of all upstream tariffs would increase downstream investment by 4% to 6%. This estimate is not explained by decreasing uncertainty and stems from tariff reductions for homogeneous and low-R&D inputs, consistent with the investment response resulting from cost reductions rather than superior foreign technology embodied in imported inputs. Evidence from an instrumental variable estimation using the sudden increase in Chinese import penetration suggests that import competition also increases downstream investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does parents' status motivation affect their educational product choices for their children? Across seven studies, the authors find that when parents believe that society provides enough opportunities for individuals to achieve higher social status through hard work (i.e., high social mobility), they prioritize the status advancement goal and prefer products that help maximize a child's strengths. However, when parents believe that even if one works hard, the opportunity to climb up the social ladder is limited (i.e., low social mobility), they focus on maintaining their current status and prefer products that help remedy a child's weaknesses. Moreover, the research demonstrates that this effect diminishes when the strength and weakness are in the domains that have low relevance to status. Finally, the research shows that when parents believe that children with specialties are more likely to succeed, they prefer products for maximizing strengths, whereas when they believe that well-rounded children are more likely to succeed, they prefer products for remedying weaknesses, regardless of their perception of social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disabled people can be successfully employed in most production processes, provided that one knows how to exploit their abilities and take into account their limitations in order to give them an appropriate job. However, because the level and type of production must be constantly adapted to the needs of the market, the involvement of disabled people in the production process may also change. Additionally, people with disabilities have limitations as well as additional rights that must be considered. As a result, the organisation and planning of their work, side by side with other employees, becomes more complex. Computer simulations can be a support for organising and planning the involvement of employees with disabilities in production processes. The aim of the article is to show how simulations can facilitate the organisation of work of employees with disabilities, with the changing demand for manufactured products. The paper identifies the factors that should be considered, and then presents how the employment of disabled people can affect the operation of the production line and the commercial image of the company. The study uses a combination of System Dynamics and Discrete Event Simulations. The relevant data for the simulation were derived from a production company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser forming is a highly flexible and iterative contactless thermomechanical forming process that utilises a defocused laser beam to induce material shortening and bending. There is a high potential for the use of laser forming in rapid prototyping, small and unique batch production; however, to achieve that potential a certain level of automation is required. The presented work seeks to address this need of automation by proposing an end-to-end sheet-metal manufacturing system utilising laser forming and cutting, where the input for the system is a 3D CAD model and the output is a manufactured product. The contribution of the presented work is interconnected laser forming and cutting framework. The presented framework consists of subsystems for automatic extraction of geometrical information from a CAD model, process planning and generation of manufacturing information, scheduling of tasks and a feedback control loop for laser forming. The framework is experimentally validated and has shown consistent forming and cutting behaviour on two types of parts with variation in cutting features, bend angle and lengths of the bend's free edge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the first generalizable empirical analysis of dual branding, that is, the supply of private labels (PLs) by national brand (NB) manufacturers. The authors compile a unique data set combining the identity of PL suppliers in over 260 packaged goods categories with multiple years of scanner data in the Spanish grocery market to offer several contributions. First, they provide new descriptive insights on the prevalence of dual branding in categories where the manufacturer does and does not have NBs, the longevity of PL supply arrangements, and the differences in PL sourcing across retailers. Second, they integrate the literature on motivators and dissuaders of dual branding and test the impact of relevant manufacturer, retailer, and dyad characteristics on PL supply in NB and non-NB categories. The results reveal a more nuanced empirical reality than is evident from prior research regarding the role of multicategory scope, fighter brands, NB differentiation, and size and positioning of the retailer's PL. Third, they examine the outcomes of PL supply for the NBs of dual branders and find that starting (terminating) PL supply to a retailer significantly benefits (hurts) the relative distribution depth but not the relative share of the dual brander's NBs at that retailer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Identifying key differences between manufacturers' submitted analysis and economic reanalysis by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is an important step toward understanding reimbursement recommendations. We compared economic values reported in manufacturers' analysis with the CADTH reanalysis and also assessed methodological critiques. Methods: Two reviewers extracted data from the clinical and economic reports in publicly available CADTH reports from 2018 to 2022. We used the Wilcoxon rank-sum test to assess the difference between mean economic values, and the Chi-square test to assess the association between the CADTH critique final recommendations. Results: Of the total submissions, 99.4% included effectiveness critiques, 88.8% included model structure critiques, 69.1% included utility score critiques, and 78.7% included cost critiques. The median incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) in the manufacturers' analyses was $138,658/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), 2.5-fold lower than the CADTH's reanalysis at $380,251/QALY (p < 0.001). The median CADTH reanalysis for 3-year budget impact analysis (BIA) was $4,575,102, which was 27% higher than the manufacturers' submitted 3-year BIA (p < 0.001). CADTH requested a price reduction for 95% of all submissions, and the median price reduction request was 63.5%. In 2021 and 2022, the willingness-to-pay threshold identified in CADTH reports remained constant at $50,000 per QALY gained for all medications. Conclusion: There was high frequency of CADTH critiques on manufacturers' submissions in all four aspects of economic submissions: effectiveness, cost, utility score and structure. We observed a higher median incremental cost and lower median incremental QALYs in the CADTH reanalysis compared with the manufacturers' submissions. The resulting higher ICUR in the CADTH reanalysis often leads to a recommendation that the manufacturer needs to reduce its price. The 3-year budget impact was higher in the CADTH reanalyses compared with manufacturers' submissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a footloose capital model in a two‐country economy and the manufacturing and natural resource sectors with heterogeneous manufacturing firms to analyze the impacts of trade liberalization and technological progress on the net capital flows, net export, and social welfare. Our main analytical result is that a lagged country initially experiences capital outflow due to the high technological gap in the manufacturing sector with increasing returns to scale, then capital inflow due to the home market effect. This corresponds with the fact that China was a net importer of manufactured goods initially, and became a net exporter recently. These results are consistent with the data obtained after the reform and opening‐up policy in 1978. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welding is an extensively used technique in manufacturing, and as for every other process, there is the potential for defects in the weld joint that could be catastrophic to the manufactured products. Different welding processes use different parameter settings, which greatly impact the quality of the final welded products. The focus of research in weld defect detection is to develop a non-destructive testing method for weld quality assessment based on observing the weld with an RGB camera. Deep learning techniques have been widely used in the domain of weld defect detection in recent times, but the majority of them use, for example, X-ray images. An RGB image-based solution is attractive, as RGB cameras are comparatively inexpensive compared to X-ray image solutions. However, the number of publicly available RGB image datasets for weld defect detection is comparatively lower than that of X-ray image datasets. This work achieves a complete weld quality assessment involving lap shear strength prediction and visual weld defect detection from an extremely limited dataset. First, a multimodal dataset is generated by the fusion of image data features extracted using a convolutional autoencoder (CAE) designed in this experiment and input parameter settings data. The fusion of the dataset reduced lap shear strength (LSS) prediction errors by 34% compared to prediction errors using only input parameter settings data. This is a promising result, considering the extremely small dataset size. This work also achieves visual weld defect detection on the same limited dataset with the help of an ultrasonic weld defect dataset generated using offline and online data augmentation. The weld defect detection achieves an accuracy of 74%, again a promising result that meets standard requirements. The combination of lap shear strength prediction and visual defect detection leads to a complete inspection to avoid premature failure of the ultrasonic weld joints. The weld defect detection was compared against the publicly available image dataset for surface defect detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the impact and legacy of the 1922 referendum and the subsequent granting of responsible government status to Southern Rhodesia in shaping the future economic trajectory of the self-governing colony. Governed through the chartered British South Africa Company (BSAC) from 1890, Southern Rhodesia developed as a typical colony dependent on the export of raw materials, the import of manufactured goods, external capital for economic development, and imperial control. The attainment of responsible government status three decades later gave Southern Rhodesia a unique opportunity to determine its economic affairs with minimum interference from the metropole. That autonomy was made possible by consolidated settler politics that manifested through organised civic organisations that coalesced around particular economic interests, leading to the emergence of interest groups of miners, farmers, commerce, and industrialists. These groups interacted, competed, and collaborated as they pursued their interests, and thus shaped the economic trajectory of Southern Rhodesia. This article demonstrates that unique self-governing colony status allowed Southern Rhodesia to flourish more than other colonies. It thus argues that the 1922 referendum that birthed responsible government laid the base for the diversification of the Rhodesian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes HSS tool wear in turning AFNOR 07-05-04-04-02 steel with variations in machine speed (RPM) and feed depth. Steel, as an iron-based alloy, is known for its superior strength and corrosion resistance, while HSS chisels are used in the machining industry for their wear resistance and ability to maintain sharpness at high temperatures. The results showed that increasing RPM caused greater tool wear, with the highest difference in tool weight at RPM 900 and 1200, reaching 1.0 grams, compared to 0.752 grams at RPM 700. Surface roughness also increased with higher RPM; at 1200 RPM the average value of Ra reaches 4.390565 µm, while at 700 RPM it is only 2.944778 µm. These findings indicate that greater tool wear contributes to increased surface roughness of the workpiece. Variations in Ra, Rz, Rq, and Rt values indicate that different cutting parameters significantly influence the surface quality. This research is expected to provide valuable information for the machinery industry and support the development of materials science and increased productivity in manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual stress causes a premature failure of the manufactured product by a directed energy deposition (DED) process. The stress-relief annealing process can effectively decrease the residual stress. However, the research on the stress-relief annealing on residual stress characteristics of the fabricated part by the DED process consisting of heterogeneous materials has hardly performed yet. The goal of this research work is to investigate the effects of the furnace temperature of stress-relief annealing on residual stress and hardness characteristics of heterogeneous materials fabricated from the DED process. The as-built specimen was created by the deposition of Gridur 6 (G6) powders on AISI 1045 substrates using the DED head of DVF-8000AML. The stress-relief annealing process of the as-built specimen was carried out using an electric furnace. The influence of the furnace temperature on the surface morphology, the residual stress of the boundary region and the hardness of top and bottom surfaces was discussed. Finally, proper furnace temperatures of the stress-relief annealing were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welding processes are widely used technologies in the industrial context for creating permanent connections between mechanical components. This popularity is due to their versatility, which arises from the numerous available process variants and the multiple advantages they offer compared to other joining techniques. In the manufacturing context, where devices often operate in extreme conditions, the quality of welds becomes a critical factor in ensuring the safety and reliability of the manufactured products. Furthermore, a sound joint requires careful compliance with the increasingly stringent design specifications demanded by customers who require industry-standard conformity in order to achieve defect-free, robust, and durable welds. To address these needs and to define the optimal roadmap for the investigated process condition, an experimental investigation was conducted on the submerged arc welding process. The experimental trials involved butt joints of ASTM A516 Gr.70 carbon steel plates with different thicknesses in a flat position, utilizing a U-shaped chamfer and a multi-pass welding technique. For each weldment, the effects of the main process parameters on the qualitative characteristics of the manufactured products were evaluated from a metallurgical perspective. This evaluation included an in-depth metallographic analysis of the heat-affected zone of the carbon steel joint and involved both the measurement of the dimensions of these areas as well as the amount of ferrite and pearlite that resulted as the phases observed in the final microstructure of the steel joint following its solidification. Furthermore, the joint quality was assessed with regard to mechanical strength through hardness measurements. By analysing the experimental data, the paper provides a valuable contribution for increasing the productivity of the investigated welding process, while simultaneously meeting the specified industrial quality requirements for the products made of medium-thickness carbon steels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed milling (HSM) of Ti-6Al-4V is subjected to complex thermo-mechanical loads, leading to alteration in metallurgical conditions within the cutting deformation zones, adversely impacting the mechanical performances of manufactured products. Hence, inclusive insight into microstructural alterations within the Adiabatic Shear Band (ASB) and the milled surface becomes essential for better service performance. This study first developed a Finite Element (FE) milling model to simulate the machining process of Ti-6Al-4V. The proposed FE model is validated through experimental results regarding cutting forces (CFs), cutting temperature (CT), and chip geometry, where the absolute relative error between simulations and experiments was less than 15 %. Secondly, Zenner-Holloman (Z-H) and Hall-Petch (H-P) equations were incorporated into a user-defined subroutine to simulate dynamic recrystallization (DRX) for grain size and microhardness prediction. Simulation results revealed that the grains became finer in the ASB than on the milled surface. In particular, when the cutting speed and feed rate were increased to 350 m/min and 0.30 mm/tooth, the grain size in the ASB decreased from 14 to 0.68 and 0.44 µm, while in the topmost milled surface, it reduced to 7.06 and 6.75 µm, respectively. Conversely, microhardness exhibited an inverse correlation with grain size and increased with cutting speed and feed rate. Furthermore, the impact of increased plastic strain and temperature on the grains during chip segmentation was also examined. Finally, the proposed FE model validity was established by comparing simulated results with experimental data using advanced characterization techniques. This research significantly contributes to a comprehensive understanding of microstructural evolution and its implications for the mechanical performance of machined titanium components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study explores the evolution of Indian domestic electronics manufacturing post-economic reforms and also investigates the lack of natural growth stages among Indian start-up/SME electronics manufactures. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical framework is inspired by Dawar and Frost's survival strategy theory that local companies may follow to overcome competitive threats from MNCs. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, more precisely, a phenomenological approach to walking through policy/regulatory reforms amid market distortions, technological gaps and colonial mindset from the perspective of Indian domestic electronics manufacturers. The study has adopted Gioia method of data analysis to inductively suggest a few research propositions. Findings: The phenomenological approach revealed eight essential structure (essence) narratives to explore the complex issue that plague the industry: make in India, made in India, preferential market access strategy, equitable market access strategy, blue ocean strategy, competitive positioning strategy, technical capability and importance of policy/regulatory arbitrage. Practical implications: The situation of Indian electronics manufacturing units is comparable to the bonsai tree situation, where natural evolution in business stages does not exist; they are born and die as start-ups/MSMEs. The study advocates for equitable market access by removing market distortions. The long-term solution may lie in making available locally manufactured products as a dependable alternative to the imported products or produced locally by MNC OEMs in terms of cost, quality, technology, volume, after-sale service and integrated supply chain. Originality/value: While the favorable FDI policies, digital India and make-in India initiatives have strengthened domestic electronics production, it is yet to significantly impact India's position in global trade, including manufacturing and exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to develop an intelligent framework for quality control and fault detection in pre-production and post-production systems in Industry 4.0. In the pre-production system, the health of the manufacturing machine is monitored. In this study, we examine the gear system of induction motors used in industries. In post-production, the product is tested for quality using a machine vision system. Gears are fundamental components in countless mechanical systems, ranging from automotive transmissions to industrial machinery, where their reliable operation is vital for overall system efficiency. A faulty gear system in the induction motor directly affects the quality of the manufactured product. Vibration data, collected from the gear system of the induction motor using vibration sensors, are used to predict the motor's health condition. The gear system is monitored for six different fault conditions. In the second part, the quality of the final product is inspected with the machine vision system. Faults on the surface of manufactured products are detected, and the product is classified as a good or bad product. The quality control system is developed with different deep learning models. Finally, the quality control framework is validated and tested with the evaluation metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process scheduling is still considered a crucial subject for manufacturing industry, due to the ever-changing circumstances dictated by the nowadays product demand and customer trends. These conditions are often associated with increasing costs and energy consumption, considerably affecting the long-term sustainability of manufacturing plants. To mitigate that effect, one should create an effective strategy tailoring integrated operations and processes to the customer demand and trends faced by the nowadays industry. A well-known approach to this matter is the technologies introduced by manufacturing paradigms, e.g., Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing. As suggested in literature, these technologies are capable of helping decision-makers by continuously gathering significant information about the state of machinery and manufactured goods. This information is thereafter utilized to identify weaknesses and strengths demonstrated within manufacturing plants. To this end, the present paper presents a process optimization framework implemented in a three-stage production line prone to systematic degradation faults. Aiming at strengthening profitability, the framework engages reinforcement learning with ad-hoc manufacturing/maintenance control in decision-making carried out in implemented machines. Simulation experiments showed improved process planning and inventory management enabling cost-effective green and sustainable manufacturing in manufacturing plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the presence of Japanese woodblock prints within the context of state-sponsored exhibitions during the Meiji era (1868–1912). Although the Meiji government organized five National Industrial Exhibitions at irregular intervals, woodblock prints were exclusively showcased at those organized in 1877 and 1881. This article identifies the woodblock prints wherever possible, and addresses questions relating to their role in advancing (Western) exhibition culture, the emergence of modern education, and the growing concern over the impact of popular prints on the future and the reputation of Japanese fine and decorative art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While intellectual capital's (IC) impact on innovation has been well‐established, increasing understanding of related contingencies would yield great benefits to both research on and the practice of innovation and IC management. With the rise of the service economy, servitization degree – i.e., the degree of relevance of service provision compared with the delivery of manufactured goods – represents an important contingency, with significant potential to shed more light on and improve the understanding of the IC‐performance relationship in the context of research and development. This paper examines how servitization moderates IC's impact on innovation performance by testing related hypotheses on a sample of 180 Spanish companies through a statistical analysis conducted through structural equation modeling based on partial least squares. The results indicate that servitization moderates the relationship between internal and external relational capital and innovation in different ways: The moderation effect is negative for internal relational capital, but positive for external relational capital, i.e., more service‐oriented companies benefit from internal collaboration and coordination to a lesser extent in their innovation endeavors, while external stakeholder communication and networks are crucial for achieving a high rate of innovation performance. The findings help develop a more fine‐grained understanding of IC's role in innovation and related firm‐ and industry‐level contingencies, as well as increase the understanding of R&D ecosystem agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The digital capabilities driven by Internet of Things and affiliated techniques have enabled the prevailing service-oriented business models, among which servitization has been well recognised as one of the most competitive strategies for manufacturing companies. However, manufacturing companies usually show a lack of knowledge regarding the service offering associated to their manufactured products. Acquiring external knowledge from service providers is one effective way to tackle this problem, but due to the information asymmetry, the process of knowledge sharing between the two is often faced with a prisoner's dilemma game. Meanwhile, the company's game strategy will change with the evolution of the knowledge sharing network structure. We therefore consider the influence of group spatial structure on individual game strategy, marry a canonical evolutionary game model on the decision-making mechanism of individuals to the complex network theory on the interaction behaviour among individuals in the groups. By analysing the model, we reveal the influence of various factors under the dimensions of ability and benefit on the willingness of companies to share knowledge. We also demonstrate the divergence in the influence of various factors on different types of companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do consumers react to products assembled from existing components? Nine studies in both the lab and the field demonstrate that consumers evaluate products as more creative and more appealing when they consist of components that originally served entirely different functions. When consumers realize that the intended functionality of a component is not fixed, but versatile, they experience an aha! moment, which in turn enhances perceived product creativity and product appeal. This research bridges engineering and consumer research providing theoretical contributions to the product design and creativity literature. The findings of this research have substantive implications for designing sustainable products, especially for product upcycling, the process of transforming old or used components into new products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining high levels of process quality is crucial to the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in today's increasingly global marketplace. To ensure the quality of manufactured products meets customer needs, process capability indices (PCIs) are widely used to analyze the process performance of various processing characteristics. Products characterise by processing characteristics of both unilateral and bilateral specifications are common in the current sales market. Manufacturing firms must often adopt multiple PCIs to analyze the process performance of a single product, which is inefficient in practical applications and management. Yield-based index C p k is not subject to this limitation. For this reason, we employed C p k to evaluate process performance and the effectiveness of improvement measures. In practice, C p k is estimated from samples, which means that misjudgment may occur in the assessment of process performance and improvement effectiveness due to sampling errors. We therefore derived the 100 (1 − α) % confidence interval of C p k and, based on the producer's perspective, used the upper confidence limit to evaluate improvement effectiveness. To lower the risk of misjudgment and increase the reliability of improvement effectiveness in the case of data uncertainty, this paper further proposes fuzzy estimation using the right-sided confidence interval of C p k and develops the fuzzy judgement model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jurnal Agroindustri Halal is the property of Universitas Djuanda and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to characterise the so-called Sialkoti paper used to produce Pahari drawings preserved today in the Wereldmuseum in Leiden (Netherlands) (WML). These works originate from the Punjab Hills in India (today Himachal Pradesh) and are commonly known as 'Pahari miniature paintings'. The paper upon which these drawings are executed is said to have been produced in Sialkot during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when papermaking was an integral part of an overall regional economy correlated with other sectors such as agriculture and the textile industry. Although the term Sialkoti refers to identified papermills in Sialkot (now Pakistan), the paper from this region is yet to be subjected to a systematic study. This article therefore explores the paper(s) in question through macro- and microscopic observations of structure, pulp and fibres. The study of historical sources, complemented by the analysis of paper samples and fibre identification, has revealed that the pulp would have been prepared from a variety of manufactured products using different technologies, such as rags, cloth, mats, rope and other plant-based materials made from local bast fibres which, once tattered, were recycled to prepare the pulp. Microscopic study reveals that a variety of fibre combinations under different conditions and processing steps were used, in particular sunn hemp fibre (Crotalaria juncea L.), a plant species that has until now rarely been identified in historical paper. In addition, the presence of kenaf and jute fibres, as well as a significant quantity of cotton fibres, have also been demonstrated. To overcome the lack of comparative materials, our work was supported by a comparative study of several materials made from sunn hemp now held in the Ethnobotany Collection at Kew Gardens. Samples were taken from these materials and provided useful reference micrographs for the identification of the WML samples. The quality of the paper used by Pahari artists, as well as the raw materials available and their processing, are discussed in detail. Putting all the data, including technical and historical information into perspective, we conclude that the Pahari artists used a paper of inferior quality compared to other types of paper used for other purposes such as the creation of illuminated manuscripts in the Punjab plains. This study therefore provides useful analytical and material evidence that complements previous historical, technical and anthropological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of visual content and heuristic cues on product evaluation, such as color composition on Instagram, remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the influence of product background color combinations (similar vs. contrastive) on product evaluation. Two empirical analyses were conducted, and the findings revealed that when the color is similar between product and background, it can significantly influence product evaluation in both brand layout and post situations on Instagram. The product type (functional vs. sensory-social) was found to moderate the relationship between product background color and product evaluation. This study contributes to the existing literature on color theory and visual marketing research, providing valuable practical implications and novel insights for leveraging color cues when presenting products on brand Instagram accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive Manufacturing increasingly becomes a viable alternative to conventional manufacturing technologies. However, the knowledge and awareness to achieve a ready-for-manufacturing and quality-ensured design of additively manufactured products are mostly lacking. Knowledge from the manufacturing process on how certain process variables affect the product requirements must already be considered in product design to assure and potentially enhance the quality a priori, thus saving time and cost-intensive iterations. Therefore, this knowledge must be front-loaded as a basis to suitably adapt product and process design simultaneously. This contribution therefore proposes a framework for the simultaneous product and process design synthesis of existing designs by providing insight knowledge about product and process design specific to Fused Layer Modeling. This is achieved via a consolidated ontology-based knowledge representation and its integration in a design environment. Thus, the aim, in contrast to most existing approaches, is to provide this knowledge on a product- and application-specific basis to parallelise product and process design for non-assembly mechanisms and exploit currently unused potential concerning the interaction between the different domains. This can shorten development times and also compensate for a lack of background knowledge in certain areas. A practical use case highlights the general procedure, benefits, and applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examined the time series data of the United Kingdom (UK) from 1965 to 2021 for energy usage, total reserves, manufacturing, gross domestic product, and total carbon dioxide emission using auto regressive distribution lag (ARDL) model. Energy usage, manufacturing and GDP were found to have GDP positive relation with carbon dioxide emission both in the short run and long run. The need of the UK government to promote policies for energy mix is emphasized.

The rapidly developing manufacturing industry constantly needs top specialists to ensure sustainability (resource optimisation, production efficiency, sustainable products) and to implement the latest know-how (digitalisation, big data analytics, artificial intelligence). Those requirements, in turn, place higher demands on universities, curricula, teaching staff and, above all, laboratories to teach the concept of a smart factory. TTK University of Applied Sciences (TTK UAS) has come to an understanding that renovation of existing production laboratories is unavoidable. Keeping this in mind, a study needs to be conducted to investigate best practices and strategies to develop a new concept that best suits TTK UAS. In this article, the authors examine how to renovate and update the existing university laboratories (production, measurement, CAD/CAM) using simulation software with a Learning Factory concept in mind while still ensuring research development capability. Using the case-study methodology, factory automation simulation software, and a new pedagogical approach, the TTK UAS industrial engineering laboratories are functioning as a cluster, achieving higher learning and R&D efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the results of a study of the effect of a shock absorber on the vibration of an electric axle in a semi-trailer. The dynamic characteristics of three shock absorbers from different manufacturers were determined. They were then installed on the electric axle of a semi-trailer equipped with a measuring apparatus. Test runs were carried out on two types of road surface - a test track with a defined profile and a local road. Each run was repeated for a fully loaded and an empty semi-trailer. These tests were designed to determine the values of the dynamic parameters of the electric axle during operation of the semi-trailer depending on the shock absorber used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We examine the spatial variation in variety of manufactured consumer goods to study how choice fades across space. We use data on 132 consumer goods and over 800 brands available from a purpose‐designed survey of fixed shops and periodic market stalls in towns and villages in Ethiopia. We find that local consumer choice fades, with fewer varieties in remoter villages. On average, these villages have approximately half the number of available items compared to their nearest market town. A fall in travel time of a half‐hour is associated with 4 extra goods and 9 brands. Variety also increases with inequality and market size. Furthermore, we estimate a model of heterogeneous consumers with a preference for variety and monopolistically competitive traders to disentangle the role of transport costs from the taste for variety, and to assess the consequences for prices. Our model estimates suggest that local consumer prices contain a markup of 8% above source town prices and transport costs. We demonstrate the significant costs to consumers from both low variety and high trade costs. Ignoring such costs means that poverty is underestimated in remote places. In turn, when infrastructure investments raise variety, the likely fall in poverty will be underestimated too. This paper is part of the Economica 100 Series. Economica, the LSE "house journal" is now 100 years old. To commemorate this achievement, we are publishing 100 papers by former students, as well as current and former faculty. Andualem Mengistu is a researcher at the IGC, LSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author explores the problem on handguns and the moral and legal role of handgun manufacturers in it. Topics discussed include the focus of the public debate about handguns, the crisis on handgun deaths in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reasons behind the lack of public and media focus on handgun manufacturers, and the marketing, distribution and promotion of handguns.

Even if China and the United States (US) are not heading toward a redux of classic military, Cold war logic, they are locked in an economic confrontation that has quickly turned into a dispute over prospective economic supremacy and heavily driven by technological advances. While the first area of intervention was international trade, progressively, the protectionist policies both nations began to implement were directed toward a broader plan to secure a leading edge in the future of technological development. Then, technological decoupling might be a more accurate term to describe the key courses of action to be followed in the forthcoming hegemonic struggle. In this setting, the question arises, what are the risks and opportunities for China in its relation with the Andean Community (CAN)? The departing argument is that the economic tensions between the world's largest economies will cause growing competition. On the one hand, this will provide CAN an opportunity to improve their participation in the global economy, but on the other hand, risks for China for securing resources. The results show that Andean Community (CAN) trade relations with both the US and China follow a typical centre-periphery model. Still, it is noteworthy that China's imports from CAN are almost entirely basic goods, while the US purchases significant amounts of goods that make part of the region's productive diversification efforts since the 1990s. Regarding the opportunities for CAN, through a novel methodology, it was found that there are effectively some added-value manufactures that can substitute trade between China and the US. They represent a huge opportunity for the Andean nations to shift away from primary export dependency to manufactured goods. Regarding risks for China, on the one hand, the largest competition is expected in minerals such as molybdenum and tungsten; and agricultural products such as buckwheat and fish fats. On the other hand, the US has the lead in current LAC exports, given that it exceeds China's current purchases [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we aim to document and analyze the long arc of connectivity between China and Latin America. First, using analytical international trade and economic tools, we provide a new economic perspective of the First Globalization–-the Ming and early Qing China's economic and business links with Latin America and Europe. Second, due to U.S. government trade policies toward China in the 1990s, the Second China's Globalization was ushered in with its entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO). During this second phase, China exchanged manufactured goods with minerals and resources from Latin America. Finally, the tough technology and trade stance by the Trump and Biden Administrations prompted China to intensify the third phase of China interaction with Latin America. For the 2020s and beyond, one important pillar of the Third China-Latin America-Europe Globalization is heightened efforts for China to increase its digital-AI, telecommunication and platform business presence and access into the Latin American markets. To enrich our analysis, we will provide Chinese-style digital-AI business and economic models to help illustrate our discussions. Throughout our paper, we want to point out that government policies were instrumental in bringing forth these Three Globalizations that involve China-Latin America-Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of the introduction of deep grain processing on the development of grain processing enterprises. The main problems of processing grain crops in the Republic of Kazakhstan have been considered. The need to assess the impact of the innovative process of enterprise development was outlined. The research was carried out in the North-Kazakhstan region; the object of the study was the grain processing industries in the NorthKazakhstan region. The results show the following: 1) total cost savings when expanding the level of gluten consumption (up to 3 % by weight of the volume of flour consumed) will save USD 18.5 billion. The savings are due to the significant improvement in the baking properties of the flour when adding 1−3 % gluten to the level of the highest quality wheat flour. At the same time, due to the manufacturability of the process and the use of the lowest quality raw materials, the unit cost of gluten in terms of protein is lower than the price of high-quality wheat necessary for baking; 2) in the processing of starch and amino acids, grain starch is the main product of world trade among all goods of the grain processing industry, and gluten ranks only second in terms of world imports. The share of issued patents in the area of starch production is also leading among the sectors of deep grain processing; 3) the implementation of the developed project for deep processing of grain in Northern Kazakhstan could significantly improve the indicators of innovative development of the country: the increase in innovative products of the manufacturing industry in the country as a whole would be 19.1 %. The growth of non-resource exports would equal 1.5 %. The annual increase in the enterprise’s revenue could be about USD 0.47 per USD 1 of investment costs compared to the base scenario for the sale of unprocessed wheat. The scope of practical application of the results extends to the grain industry. The project has a significantly wider range of manufactured products and is focused on the markets of neighboring countries, which could reduce export risks to a minimum and provide stable demand for the company’s products [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CliniMACS Prodigy closed system is widely used for the manufacturing of chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells). Our study presents an extensive immunophenotypic and functional characterization and comparison of the properties of anti-CD19 CAR-T cell products obtained during long (11 days) and short (7 days) manufacturing cycles using the CliniMACS Prodigy system, as well as cell products manufactured from different donor sources of T lymphocytes: from patients, from patients who underwent HSCT, and from haploidentical donors. We also present the possibility of assessing the efficiency of transduction by an indirect method. Seventy-six CD19 CAR-T cell products were manufactured using the CliniMACS Prodigy automated system. Immunophenotypic properties, markers of cell activation and exhaustion, antitumor, anti-CD19 specific activity in vitro of the manufactured cell products were evaluated. As an indirect method for assessing the efficiency of transduction, we used the method of functional assessment of cytokine secretion and expression of the CD107a marker after incubation of CAR-T cells with tumor targets. The CliniMACS Prodigy platform can produce a product of CD19 CAR-T cells with sufficient cell expansion (4.6 × 109 cells—median for long process [LP] and 1.6 × 109—for short process [SP]), transduction efficiency (43.5%—median for LP and 41.0%—for SP), represented mainly by T central memory cell population, with low expression of exhaustion markers, and with high specific antitumor activity in vitro. We did not find significant differences in the properties of the products obtained during the 7- and 11-day manufacturing cycles, which is in favor of reducing the duration of production to 7 days, which may accelerate CAR-T therapy. We have shown that donor sources for CAR-T manufacturing do not significantly affect the composition and functional properties of the cell product. This study demonstrates the possibility of using the CliniMACS Prodigy system with a shortened 7-day production cycle to produce sufficient amount of functional CAR-T cells. CAR transduction efficiency can be measured indirectly via functional assays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital age, digital services not only provide important intermediate inputs for manufacturing but they also affect the availability of other potentially ICT-enabled high-quality services as intermediate inputs. Therefore, it is particularly important and meaningful to explore the relationship between the liberalization of trade in digital services and manufacturing exports. This paper uses a panel dataset of bilateral exports of 15 manufacturing sectors in 54 countries, from 2014 to 2018, to examine the impact of digital services trade policy restrictions on exports of manufactured goods. The main results suggest that the impact of trade policy restrictions on manufacturing exports is mixed but mainly negative. Moreover, regulatory differences in digital services industries between bilateral country pairs also have a significant negative impact on the export performance of manufacturing industries. In addition, we further examine the heterogeneity of this impact mechanism across different policy areas, manufacturing sectors, and bilateral country-pair groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are promising regenerative therapeutics that primarily exert their effects through secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs). These EVs – being small and non‐living – are easier to handle and possess advantages over cellular products. Consequently, the therapeutic potential of MSC‐EVs is increasingly investigated. However, due to variations in MSC‐EV manufacturing strategies, MSC‐EV products should be considered as highly diverse. Moreover, the diverse array of EV characterisation technologies used for MSC‐EV characterisation further complicates reliable interlaboratory comparisons of published data. Consequently, this study aimed to establish a common method that can easily be used by various MSC‐EV researchers to characterise MSC‐EV preparations to facilitate interlaboratory comparisons. To this end, we conducted a comprehensive inter‐laboratory assessment using a novel multiplex bead‐based EV flow cytometry assay panel. This assessment involved 11 different MSC‐EV products from five laboratories with varying MSC sources, culture conditions, and EV preparation methods. Through this assay panel covering a range of mostly MSC‐related markers, we identified a set of cell surface markers consistently positive (CD44, CD73 and CD105) or negative (CD11b, CD45 and CD197) on EVs of all explored MSC‐EV preparations. Hierarchical clustering analysis revealed distinct surface marker profiles associated with specific preparation processes and laboratory conditions. We propose CD73, CD105 and CD44 as robust positive markers for minimally identifying MSC‐derived EVs and CD11b, CD14, CD19, CD45 and CD79 as reliable negative markers. Additionally, we highlight the influence of culture medium components, particularly human platelet lysate, on EV surface marker profiles, underscoring the influence of culture conditions on resulting EV products. This standardisable approach for MSC‐EV surface marker profiling offers a tool for routine characterisation of manufactured EV products in pre‐clinical and clinical research, enhances the quality control of MSC‐EV preparations, and hopefully paves the way for higher consistency and reproducibility in the emerging therapeutic MSC‐EV field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals, which can leak into the surrounding environment, such as water and soil, from water-resistant manufactured products where they remain highly persistent due to their strong chemical bonds. PFAS have been found in human blood and can cause thyroid disease, increased cholesterol levels, liver damage, kidney cancer, and testicular cancer in humans. The goal of this study is to test the effectiveness of sorption and degradation removal methods on PFAS. The sorption method involves the use of biochar. Biochar can hold the PFAS in a concentrated area through electrostatic and hydrophobic properties. The degradation method involves using powerful ultraviolet (UV) light, in which free radicals will be produced and help break down PFAS molecules into simpler ones such as carbon and fluorine. The sorption experiment tested various modified corn biochar and the effect on perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS). It was found that biochar did have a positive removal effect on PFBS, and the biochar with the most modifications had the highest removal rate. The degradation experiment tested the effect of UV light and other modifications on PFBS. It was found that UV light did have a positive removal effect on PFBS, and the UV light combined with other modifications had a higher removal effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control charts are an important part of statistical control because they allow the inspection characteristics of manufactured pharmaceutical products to be tracked and controlled. It helps show current processes and status and, if necessary, identifies areas for further development. The investigation and analysis of an initial trend for a few inspection properties of the manufactured chemical 3-O-ethyl 5-Omethyl 2-(2-aminoethoxymethyl)-4-(2-chlorophenyl)-6-methyl-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate benzenesulfonic acid is the main focus of the current work. Using the well-known commercial SPC platform for comprehensive SPC analyses. The datasets of the assay and polarization rotation followed the Weibull pattern. While the results of the overall impurities and particle size test data were adopted for Gaussian spreading the Johnson family transformation was implemented for the latter. An exploratory Individual-Moving Range plot is the method used to trend the datasets and capacity analyses were conducted in accordance with that method. Improvements are required to enhance the quality of inspection properties at the preliminary steps since there are signs of a low capability process in the particle size test and the assay to some extent. In addition, the means of the quality tests should be brought to the center since the preliminary data are not in the middle of the specification range. Thus, some inspection characteristics are lower quality than others and need immediate correction and enhancement at the initial stages of the establishment of the manufacturing process and criteria. This perspective highlights the importance of control charts in the examination of the quality of chemically manufactured materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of being landlocked on international trade flows in the manufacturing sector. The study overcomes the empirical challenge of using a country‐specific variable 'landlocked', within a structural gravity framework in the presence of importer and exporter fixed effects. Results show that the impact of being landlocked for manufactured goods trade is highly negative and statistically significant. Such effect is higher for low‐income landlocked countries compared to high‐income landlocked countries. The impact of being landlocked on manufactured goods trade declined in 2005 compared to 1980. A series of robustness checks further confirm the estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]