The Industrial Processes Of Large Economies

This book tries to build a broad view on industrial processes of large economies and their integration in the world. It provides insight into the industrialization progresses of the quartet of USA, China, Germany and Japan, all attaining individual industrialization success by distinct trade, fiscal and industrial policy path, the underlying principles of which can be traced back to respective nation's roots in civilization. The combination of their industrial output led to the integrated formation of international industrial distribution. While being highly productive, the current distributed pattern yields benefits that are unevenly dispersed among different regions, industries and societal groups within each participating nation and among engaging economies. To address the uneven benefits distribution at both domestic and international levels, large industrial economies took a plethora of policy actions that will impact industrial ecosystem and portfolio results. The book aims to help readers to build better investment strategies and robust risk management practice under the context of uncertainty and successfully navigate through choppy waters in the years ahead.

This title considers the main similarities and differences in the industrialization processes of the major economies.

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.

These notes are based on the material presented in a series of lec tures in the IBM Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in Geneva durJng 1967-1969 to systems engineers working in the design and programming of computer systems for control and monitoring of i~nustrial proc esses. The purpose of the lectures and this book is to give a survey of dif ferent approaches in developing models to describe the behavior of the process in terms of controllable variables. It does not cover the theory of control, stability of control systems, nor techniques in data acquisition or problems in instrumentation and sampling. But certain aspects in the organization of data collection and design of experiments are obtained as side products, notably the concept of orthogonality. The reader is assumed to have a working knowledge of elementary prob ability theory and mathematical statistics. Therefore, the text con tains no introduction to these concepts. The author is aware of some inaccuracies in not making proper dis tinction between population parameters and their sample estimates in the text, but this should alw~s be evident from the context. The same applies to the occasional replacement of number of degrees of freedom by the number of samples in the data. In practice, computer collected sets of data consist of a high number of samples and the difference between the two is inSignificant.

The tremendous progress in biology over the last half century - from Watson and Crick's elucidation of the structure of DNA to today's astonishing, rapid progress in the field of synthetic biology - has positioned us for significant innovation in chemical production. New bio-based chemicals, improved public health through improved drugs and diagnostics, and biofuels that reduce our dependency on oil are all results of research and innovation in the biological sciences. In the past decade, we have witnessed major advances made possible by biotechnology in areas such as rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing, metabolic engineering, and high-throughput screening. The manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand even faster. A proactive strategy - implemented through the development of a technical roadmap similar to those that enabled sustained growth in the semiconductor industry and our explorations of space - is needed if we are to realize the widespread benefits of accelerating the industrialization of biology. Industrialization of Biology presents such a roadmap to achieve key technical milestones for chemical manufacturing through biological routes. This report examines the technical, economic, and societal factors that limit the adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and which, if surmounted, would markedly accelerate the advanced manufacturing of chemicals via industrial biotechnology. Working at the interface of synthetic chemistry, metabolic engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology, Industrialization of Biology identifies key technical goals for next-generation chemical manufacturing, then identifies the gaps in knowledge, tools, techniques, and systems required to meet those goals, and targets and timelines for achieving them. This report also considers the skills necessary to accomplish the roadmap goals, and what training opportunities are required to produce the cadre of skilled scientists and engineers needed.

It is universally recognized that the end of the current and the beginning of the next century will be characterized by a radical change in the existing trends in the economic development of all countries and a transition to new principles of economic management on the basis of a resource and energy conservation policy. Thus there is an urgent necessity to study methods, technical aids and economic consequences of this change, and particularly, to determine the possible amounts of energy resources which could be conserved (energy "reserves") in different spheres of the national economy. An increased interest towards energy conservation in industry, one of the largest energy consumers, is quite natural and is manifested by the large num ber of publications on this topic. But the majority of publications are devoted to the solution of narrowly defined problems, determination of energy reserves in specific processes and plants, efficiency estimation of individual energy conserva tion measures, etc. However, it is necessary to develop a general methodological approach to the solution of such problems and create a scientific and methodical base for realizing an energy conservation policy. Such an effort is made in this book, which is concerned with methods for studying energy use efficiency in technological processes and estimation of the theoretical and actual energy reserves in a given process, technology, or industrial sector on the basis of their complete energy balances.

It is universally recognized that the end of the current and the beginning of the next century will be characterized by a radical change in the existing trends in the economic development of all countries and a transition to new principles of economic management on the basis of a resource and energy conservation policy. Thus there is an urgent necessity to study methods, technical aids and economic consequences of this change, and particularly, to determine the possible amounts of energy resources which could be conserved (energy "reserves") in different spheres of the national economy. An increased interest towards energy conservation in industry, one of the largest energy consumers, is quite natural and is manifested by the large num ber of publications on this topic. But the majority of publications are devoted to the solution of narrowly defined problems, determination of energy reserves in specific processes and plants, efficiency estimation of individual energy conserva tion measures, etc. However, it is necessary to develop a general methodological approach to the solution of such problems and create a scientific and methodical base for realizing an energy conservation policy. Such an effort is made in this book, which is concerned with methods for studying energy use efficiency in technological processes and estimation of the theoretical and actual energy reserves in a given process, technology, or industrial sector on the basis of their complete energy balances.

Process Industry Economics: Principles, Concepts and Applications, Second Edition, explores the fundamentals of market evaluation, capital and operating cost estimation, and profitability evaluation, along with their implications for process technology evaluation, project development and investment decisions. Sections cover time dependent technology evolution in process plants, including scale development, performance improvement in new and operating plants, and learning related to environmental, safety and sustainability assessments. Influences on capital investment decisions, including capacity planning and environmental considerations are explored and supported by case studies. Finally, the aspects of overall industry performance and drivers are discussed. Outlines the basic principles of economic evaluation Identifies the roles of engineering, scientific, commercial and management personnel in contributing to economic evaluation Explores the interaction of economics with safety, environmental and sustainability criteria in project evaluation