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With the recognition that generating economic growth is not the same as sustaining it, the challenge to catch-up and growth literature is discerning between these processes. Recent research suggests that the decline in the frequency of “shrinking” episodes is more important for long-term development than higher growth rates. By using a framework centred around social capabilities, this study aims to investigate the effects of income inequality and poverty on economic shrinking frequency, as opposed to previous literature that has exclusively had a growth focus. The aim is to investigate how and why some societies might be more resilient to economic shrinking.

The research is a quantitative study, and the authors build a longitudinal data set including 23 developing countries throughout 42 years to test the paper’s purpose. This study uses country and period fixed-effects specifications as well as cross-sectional graphical representations to investigate the relationship between proxies of economic inclusivity and the frequency of shrinking episodes.

The authors demonstrate that while inclusive societies are more resilient to shrinking overall, it is changes in poverty levels, but not changes in income inequality, that appear to be correlated with economic shrinking frequency. Inequality, while still an important element to explain countries’ growth potential as an initial condition, does not seem to make the sample more resilient to shrinking. The authors conclude that the mechanisms in which poverty and inequality are correlated with the catch-up process must run through different channels. Ultimately, processes that explain growth may intersect but not always overlap with the ones that explain resilience to shrinking.

The need for inclusive growth in long-term development has been championed for decades, yet inclusion has seldom been explored from the shrinking perspective. Though poverty reduction is already an important mainstream political objective, this paper differentiates itself by providing an alternate viewpoint of why this is important. Income inequality could have more of an economic growth limiting effect, while poverty reduction could be required to build resilience to economic shrinking. Developing countries will need both growth and resilience to shrinking, to catch-up with higher-income economies, which policymakers might need to balance carefully.

The purpose of this paper is to create multilayer substrate (composite) from various low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates by their mutual combinations and to analyse influence of these multilayer substrates on dielectric properties in GHz frequency range.

GreenTape 951, GreenTape 9K7 and Murata LFC were used to create compound multilayer substrates that include three layers: middle layer is from Murata LFC, and both upper and bottom layers are either from GreenTape 951 or GreenTape 9K7. Shrinkage in all x-, y- and z-axes of all substrates including multilayer substrates were analysed, and influence of different shrinkage on dielectric properties was examined by microstrip ring resonators applied on all mentioned of substrates.

The middle layer of Murata LFC has significant influence on shrinkage value of composites which has a good repeatability and minimalizes problems with design of multilayer LTCC devices. Impact of middle layer from Murata LFC on dielectric constant is not significant, but on the other hand Q factor (loss tangent) of these composites is increased according to inhomogeneity between single LTCC layers, especially at frequency around 6 GHz.

The novelty of this work lies in creating multilayers systems from different types of LTCC substrates to find combination with the most suitable physical and dielectric properties for various purposes in GHz range applications.

The work aims to study the direct bonding of silicon substrate with solders type Sn-Ag-Ti.

During the bonding process with ultrasound assistance, the active element (Ti,Ce,Mg) is distributed from the solder to interface with a silicon substrate, where it supports the bond formation.

Formation of a reaction layer, 1-2 μm in thickness, was observed. The new Si2Ti phases and Mg2Si phase were identified in the reaction layer.

The results of analysis suggest that the Si/Sn-Ag-Ti joint is of diffusion character. The highest average strength on silicon substrate (39 MPa) was achieved with Sn-Ag-Ti(Mg) solder.

Shareholders, investors and potential employees, all attach special importance to understanding a company through its annual report, the status of which has evolved over the years: from providing information for the adepts of competitive intelligence, it now provides information available to all stakeholders in the company. But one aspect has not changed: the keynote message of the president that prefaces the annual report. The present article indicates current practice in the matter in the case of 28 leading French companies.

We have made these companies the subject of a systematic and detailed computer‐assisted analysis.

Among the main conclusions to be noted are: a varied range of rhetorical cosmetics by way of embellishment, and attitudes either of prudence or optimism on the part of company heads; a type of discourse open to several levels of interpretation: from a literal level to a level allowing the reader to interpret the wider spirit and intention of the document.

In view of the time devoted to the preparation and fine‐tuning of a presidential letter, we feel justified in writing a modest letter of recommendations for the attention of the president at the end of this contribution.

This study aims to solder AlN ceramics with a Cu substrate using an active type Sn-Ag-Ti solder. Soldering was performed with power ultrasound. The Sn3.5Ag2Ti alloy was first studied.

It was found to contain a Sn matrix, where both Ag phase – ɛ-Ag₃Sn – and Ti phases ɛ-Ti₆Sn₅ and Ti₂Sn₃ – were identified. Ti contained in these phases is distributed to the interface with ceramic material. A reaction layer was thus formed. This layer varies in thickness from 0.5 to 3.5 µm and ensures the wettability of an active solder on the surfaces of ceramic materials.

X-ray diffraction analysis proved the presence of new NTi and AlTi₂ phases on the fractured surface. Sn plays the main role in bond formation when soldering the Cu substrate with Sn-Ag-Ti solder. The Cu₃Sn and Cu₆Sn₅ phases, which grow in direction from the phase interface to solder matrix, were found in all cases within the solder/Cu substrate interface. The combination of AlN ceramics/Cu joint maintained a shear strength of 29.5 MPa, whereas the Cu/Cu joint showed a somewhat higher shear strength of 39.5 MPa.

The present study was oriented towards soldering of AlN ceramics with a Cu substrate by the aid of ultrasound, and the fluxless soldering method was applied. Soldering alloy type Sn-Ag-Ti was analysed, and the interactions between the solder and ceramic and/or Cu substrate were studied. The shear strength of fabricated soldered joints was measured.

This study aims to investigate soldering of SiC ceramics by using Zn-Al-In-based solders and ultrasonic soldering. The focus was on the quality of soldered joints, examining the boundary of the solder/substrate joint and the strength of the fabricated joints. Moreover, the fractured surfaces of joints were assessed.

The Zn-5Al base, which is considered for eutectic solder, was used in experiments. When manufacturing this solder, In was also added to at 1 Wt.%. The soldering of SiC substrates on a hot plate with ultrasonic assistance was performed.

The solder at room temperature consists of a primary segregated solid solution (Zn) and the binary eutectics (Zn) + (Al) with a high Al content and binary lamellar eutectic with a high Zn and In content non-uniformly distributed on the grain boundaries. The average tensile strength of the Zn5Al1In solder was 52 MPa. The ceramic material was wetted during soldering via reaction between the solder and the SiC substrate, with the formation of Al-Si reaction products. The thickness of the reaction layer on the boundary was 0.5–1.1 µm. The average strength of the soldered joint was 59 MPa. The obtained results confirmed the high efficiency of ultrasonic soldering in air.

This work has characterised Zn5Al1In soldering alloy and examining soldering SiC ceramics by a flux-less ultrasonic process. The analyses were oriented to assess the strength and structure of the solder and the soldered joints. Based on the achieved results, it is possible to predict the suitability of the solder alloy for flux-free soldering of SiC ceramics.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce modified in–phase and quadrature components (I–Q) demodulator based on low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) dielectric substrate GreenTape 951PX for M-Sequence ultra-wide band (UWB) sensor system.

Microstrip low pass (LP) and band pass (BP) filters for UWB sensor systems with required properties (for both filters, minimum attenuation is −40dB in stopband, bandwidth of pass band is 6 to 8.5 GHz for BP filter and cutoff frequency is 2.5 GHz for LP filter) were designed, simulated, fabricated and measured using dielectric substrates Du Pont GreenTape 951 PX. The developed microstrip filters were integrated with all parts of I–Q demodulator on one multilayer structure based on LTCC substrate Du Pont GreenTape 951 PX.

Both type of microstrip filters integrated in the I– Q demodulator achieved better transmission characteristics in comparison with commercial available filters. It was shown that LTCC technology based on GreenTape 951PX proves good stability in gigahertz frequency and suitability for fabrication of I–Q demodulator with a multilayer approach.

The novelty of this work lies in substituting commercially available LP and BP filters used in I– Q demodulator by microstrip LP and BP filters with better performance and furthermore the I– Q demodulator is fabricated based on LTCC instead of previously used PCB.

Ghana has set an objective of achieving 10% of its energy requirements through renewable sources, by 2020. However, to date, the renewable energy (RE) sector has attracted only marginal investor interest. This paper aims to identify the challenges faced in financing RE in Ghana.

A comprehensive review of literature in renewable energy finance was conducted and 12 financing challenges were identified. From this list, a questionnaire was developed asking to rank barriers. This was distributed to experts within financial institutions and 32 were returned. A factor analysis and severity index analysis were performed to identify a ranking of challenges impeding RE project financing in Ghana.

The challenges to RE financing fall into the three broad categories, namely, “economic, commercial and regulatory” challenges. Within these broad constraints, “long payback periods,” “limited track record” and “high upfront cost” are the most severe impediments to obtaining financing for RE.

Identifying the specific conditions that make an investment in RE unattractive, give policymakers set on achieving the 10% RE goal, a way forward in developing a targeted policy that would mitigate identified investor disincentives.

The broad range of potential barriers to investment are known. However, this study combines a specific governmental ambition – encouraging the financing of RE – with a specific set of identified barriers inhibiting that ambition. In this regard, this study identifies exactly where the government needs to act if it is to facilitate investment in RE, as is required for Ghana to reach its 10% RE target.

With the development of automation technology, the accuracy, bearing capacity and self-adaptation requirements of wheeled mobile robots are more and more demanding under various complex conditions, which will urge designers such shortcomings as the low accuracy, poor flexibility and weak obstacle crossing ability of traditional heavy haul vehicles and improve the wear resistance and bearing capacity of traditional omnidirectional wheels.

The optimal configuration for heavy payload transportation is obtained by building sliding friction consumption model of traditional wheels with different driving types based on Hertz tangential contact theory. The heavy payload omnidirectional wheel with a double-wheel steering and a coupled differential wheel driving is designed with the optimal configuration. The wheel consists of a differential gear train unit and a nonindependent suspension unit. Kinematics model of the wheel is established and relative parameters are optimized.

The prototype experiments show that the wheel has higher motion accuracy and environment adaptability. The results are consistent with the theoretical calculation, which show that the accuracy is more than 50% higher than that of differential prototype. The motion stability and the accuracy of the coupled differential omnidirectional wheel are better than those of the traditional omnidirectional wheels during the moving and obstacle crossing process under complex conditions, which verifies the correctness and advantages of the design.

Aiming at the specific application of heavy payload omnidirectional transportation, a new omnidirectional mobile mechanism with a two-wheel coupling drive structure and an adaptive mechanism is proposed. The simulation and experimental results show that it can realize the high-precision heavy-load omnidirectional movement, the effective contact with the ground and improve the adaptability to the rugged ground. It is flexible, simple and modular and can be widely applied to transportation, exploration, detection and other related industrial fields.

Real-time implementation of sophisticated algorithms on robotic systems demands a rewarding interface between hardware and software components. Individual robot manufacturers have dedicated controllers and languages. However, robot operation would require either the knowledge of additional software or expensive add-on installations for effective communication between the robot controller and the computation software. This paper aims to present a novel method of interfacing the commercial robot controllers with most widely used simulation platform, e.g. MATLAB in real-time with a demonstration of visual predictive controller.

A remote personal computer (PC), running MATLAB, is connected with the IRC5 controller of an ABB robotic arm through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP server on the IRC5 responds to a request from an FTP client (MATLAB) on a remote computer. MATLAB provides the basic platform for programming and control algorithm development. The controlled output is transferred to the robot controller through Ethernet port as files and, thereby, the proposed scheme ensures connection and control of the robot using the control algorithms developed by the researchers without the additional cost of buying add-on packages or mastering vendor-specific programming languages.

New control strategies and contrivances can be developed with numerous conditions and constraints in simulation platforms. When the results are to be implemented in real-time systems, the proposed method helps to establish a simple, fast and cost-effective communication with commercial robot controllers for validating the real-time performance of the developed control algorithm.

The proposed method is used for real-time implementation of visual servo control with predictive controller, for accurate pick-and-place application with different initial conditions. The same strategy has been proven effective in supervisory control using two cameras and artificial neural network-based visual control of robotic manipulators.

This paper elaborates a real-time example using visual servoing for researchers working with industrial robots, enabling them to understand and explore the possibilities of robot communication.