POWER SHIFT: THE RISING CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTORS AND RETAILERS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR MANUFACTURED GOODS
The development of new technology combined with the process of deregulation is changing the organizational structure of firms in the wholesale sector. These factors are altering the traditional location of wholesale and warehouse employment, and a variety of countervailing locational tendencies are emerging, including the decentralization of large mass wholesalers and their warehousing complexes and increasing specialization of inner-urban wholesale and warehouse functions. Nationally based wholesalers now transport goods off-hours to meet the needs of large-destination customers. Small, specialized firms make use of new technology to reduce costs, while offering highly tailored services to traditional customers. There also is a general reduction in wholesale employment, with losses concentrated in inner-urban areas as large wholesalers move their warehousing operations out to rural and adjacent suburban areas to take advantage of cheaper land and labor.
11.481J / 1.284J / ESD.192J Analyzing and Accounting for Regional Economic Growth
DEFINITIONS Conceptual framework " New institutional economics " – relationships between the " economy " and " institutions " determine the rules of the game for economic exchange. Definition Underground economy: economic activities that do not adhere to, or are not protected by, the " rules of the game " .
Ceramic microwave antennas for mobile applications
Due to their medium to high permittivity values, ceramic microwave materials are attractive as building blocks for miniaturised antenna solutions. Further advantages are low dielectric losses and an excellent temperature stability of standard ceramic materials. Yet, the permittivity of the ceramic material also has a strong influence on the radiation efficiency and bandwidth of the antenna. This implies that in the design process a suitable compromise has to be found between the degree of miniaturisation on the one hand and the antenna efficiency and bandwidth on the other. We describe two approaches towards efficient miniaturised ceramic microwave antennas: the dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with partial metallisation and the shorting post patch antenna. We focus on design steps taken to ensure both a high degree of miniaturisation and high values of the radiation efficiency, the choice of the ceramic material and the experimental performance of the antennas.