Choice of Flexible Production Technologies Under Strategic Delegation

This work analyzes a managerial delegation model in which firms can choose between a flexible production technology which allows them to produce two different products and a dedicated production technology which limits production to only one product. We analyze whether the incentives to adopt the flexible technology are smaller or greater in a managerial delegation model than under strict profit maximization. We obtain that the asymmetric equilibrium in which only one firm adopts the flexible technology can be sustained under strategic delegation but not under strict profit maximization when products are substitutes. We extend the analysis to consider welfare implications.

Review: Trans-forming beef to provide healthier fatty acid profiles

[EN]Trans fatty acids are found naturally in foods, particularly in those derived from ruminant animals, such as beef and dairy cattle. Over the past few decades, human consumption of trans fatty acids has increased, but this has been mainly from products containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. The correlation of trans fatty acid consumption with diseases such as coronary heart disease has been cause for concern, and led to recommendations to reduce their consumption. Trans fatty acids, however, have differing effects on human health. Therefore, in foods produced from ruminant animals, it is important to know their trans fatty acid composition, and how to enrich or deplete fatty acids that have positive or negative health effects. This review will cover the analysis of trans fatty acids in beef, their origin, how to manipulate their concentrations, and give a brief overview of their health effects.

La producción flexible: Just in time versus organización científica del trabajo

Nadie puede negar que la competitividad actual de la industria japonesa se basa, entre otras razones, en el bajo coste y alto nivel de calidad de sus productos. Ambas cualidades se han conseguido por la aplicación, a partir de los 70, de prácticas innovadoras y nuevas tecnologías de fabricación como es el caso del Just in Time.

Modelos de organización flexible: estudio del sector de la maquina-herramienta

Uno de los objetivos de este artículo ha sido identificar el modo en que las nuevas formas organizativas suponen una transformación drástica con respecto a los modelos tradicionales. Los nuevos modelos y, en particular, el de organización virtual supone la aparición de un nuevo marco conceptual. La innovación no reside tanto en que se abordan nuevas soluciones para los problemas, como en la transformación de los propios problemas y cuestiones clave.

FTT-MA: A Flexible Time-Triggered Middleware Architecture for Time Sensitive, Resource-Aware AmI Systems

There is an increasing number of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems that are time-sensitive and resource-aware. From healthcare to building and even home/office automation, it is now common to find systems combining interactive and sensing multimedia traffic with relatively simple sensors and actuators (door locks, presence detectors, RFIDs, HVAC, information panels, etc.). Many of these are today known as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Quite frequently, these systems must be capable of (1) prioritizing different traffic flows (process data, alarms, non-critical data, etc.), (2) synchronizing actions in several distributed devices and, to certain degree, (3) easing resource management (e.g., detecting faulty nodes, managing battery levels, handling overloads, etc.). This work presents FTT-MA, a high-level middleware architecture aimed at easing the design, deployment and operation of such AmI systems. FTT-MA ensures that both functional and non-functional aspects of the applications are met even during reconfiguration stages. The paper also proposes a methodology, together with a design tool, to create this kind of systems. Finally, a sample case study is presented that illustrates the use of the middleware and the methodology proposed in the paper.

Nanostructured giant magneto-impedance multilayers deposited onto flexible substrates for low pressure sensing

Nanostructured FeNi-based multilayers are very suitable for use as magnetic sensors using the giant magneto-impedance effect. New fields of application can be opened with these materials deposited onto flexible substrates. In this work, we compare the performance of samples prepared onto a rigid glass substrate and onto a cyclo olefin copolymer flexible one. Although a significant reduction of the field sensitivity is found due to the increased effect of the stresses generated during preparation, the results are still satisfactory for use as magnetic field sensors in special applications. Moreover, we take advantage of the flexible nature of the substrate to evaluate the pressure dependence of the giant magneto-impedance effect. Sensitivities up to 1 Omega/Pa are found for pressures in the range of 0 to 1 Pa, demostrating the suitability of these nanostructured materials deposited onto flexible substrates to build sensitive pressure sensors.

Diseño de una junta esférica flexible para un manipulador de alta precisión.

ES]El Trabajo Fin de Grado que se presenta a continuación tiene como objetivo principal el diseño de una unión flexible que formará parte de las patas de un robot de cinemática paralela. Por la propia arquitectura de estos mecanismos, y para dotar a la plataforma de movimientos precisos, esta unión, ubicada en la parte superior de las patas, debe deformarse al ser sometida a esfuerzos de flexión y torsión. Se realiza un adecuado diseño que maximice las deformaciones de dicha unión a la par que se garantiza una adecuada duración de la misma para la aplicación requerida. A su vez, se comprueba que las tensiones a las que se verá sometida no superan el límite de fluencia del material elegido. Todo ello se realiza de forma computacional mediante el método de los elementos finitos.

Collective dynamics of glass-forming polymers at intermediate length scales: a synergetic combination of neutron scattering, atomistic simulations and theoretical modelling

Qens/wins 2014 - 11th International Conference on Quasielastic Neutron Scattering and 6th International Workshop on Inelastic Neutron Spectrometers / editado por:Frick, B; Koza, MM; Boehm, M; Mutka, H

Plan de marketing para la empresa: Roll&Pack

[ES]Elaboración de un plan de marketing.

Physico-chemical interactions between compartment-forming lipids and other prebiotically relevant biomolecules

Lipids are essential constituents of contemporary living cells, serving as structural molecules that are necessary to form membranous compartments. Amphiphilic lipid-like molecules may also have contributed to prebiotic chemical evolution by promoting the synthesis, aggregation and cooperative encapsulation of other biomolecules. The resulting compartments would allow systems of molecules to be maintained that represent microscopic experiments in a natural version of combinatorial chemistry. Here we address these possibilities and describe recent results related to interactions between amphiphiles and other biomolecules during early evolution toward the first living cells.