SEOUL, June 13 (Xinhua) — Visiting Chinese top legislator Zhang Dejiang met here Thursday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, with both sides pledging to further expand their all-round practical cooperation.

China-South Korea relations are currently at an all-time high as the leaders of the two countries have made a successful exchange of visits and reached important consensus, Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said during the meeting.

The two countries have enhanced political trust, increased trade and economic cooperation and deepened people-to-people exchanges, he said, adding that the two-way trade reached nearly 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 and the number of personnel exchanges between the two countries exceeded 10 million.

The China-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) officially signed on June 1 will also bring broader prospects for bilateral cooperation, Zhang said.

He said China is ready to make joint efforts with South Korea to step up friendly exchanges at all levels, coordinate macroeconomic polices and development strategies, and push forward all-round practical cooperation.

Beijing is also willing to work with Seoul to realize common development, maintain regional peace, reinvigorate Asia and strive for a more prosperous world, and lift the China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership to a new height, Zhang said.

For her part, Park said that the signing of the FTA, which laid the ground for future development, is a catalyst for deepening bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The South Korean side will continue to expand cooperation with China in all areas, boost the strategic cooperative partnership to higher levels and promote the peace and stability in Northeast Asia, she said.

The two sides also exchanged views on issues of common concern.

Zhang is currently on an official friendly visit to South Korea from Thursday to Saturday at the invitation of the country’s Speaker of the National Assembly Chung Ui-hwa.

Rush hour, stop the vehicle and the road congestion trumpets after another people irritable. And with this corresponds to that rider surf on the sidewalk, not trapped by traffic jams.

Work in the group talk of the town for several years, riding a bicycle to work every day, he smiled and said:. “Commuting cyclists both physical health, but also can relax the most important thing is, this section So blocking, I drove to 10 minutes, while cycling only 15 minutes or so, it will not only protect the environment, but also can save a small fortune in oil money, why not? “

Green travel, you can ride a bike, do not ride the electric car, you can ride the electric car, do not start the car. Today, the car has become more and more essential household goods, but the Chinese people Electric Group, has been more and more like people talk of the town, the private car “frozen” in the garage, on a bike or on foot every day work.

Accustomed to bike or walk to work on the staff, we will be pleasantly surprised, “slow down” benefits not only do not have to road congestion and upset, but that the foot or riding on the road to see the open car can not see the scenery: road side blooming flowers, and occasionally look up at the blue sky and white clouds. Thus, there will be a good mood all day.

In the country, wasting water everywhere, and everywhere. The corresponding is that many employees within the group has been adhering to the “water saving” the traditional Chinese virtues.

In the company work more than ten years old Xu, wash their hands, always open the tap is small, and washing hands after promptly closed the tap. He said: “Although this is only a little effort, but it reflects a person’s literacy usually wash hands here, a lot of people, when applied hand sanitizer will continue to open the taps, so although only a few dozen seconds. However, waste water is a lot. “

Water conservation, and closed tight tap this simple but little things, but often people neglect off large outflow of water per 670 kg tap water, shallow water faucet flowing water per hour will be in vain 17 kg, drops of water taps per hour water flows also weighed 3.6 kg.

Daily life, water is not limited to just shut the faucet, water saving everywhere Jieke reflect. Taomi vegetables, then rinse, not only saves water, but also effectively remove the residual pesticides vegetables; washing water used to wash mops, floor brush, then flush toilets, or wipe windows, wash socks; bicycles, household cleaning car When, not flush, use a damp cloth; Family watering, to use rice water, tea and so on.

If you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, you know having too much money can be a problem. And too much money is part of the predicament that the world economy finds itself in right now.

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the world’s most important central banks embarked on a program of pumping out billions in freshly created money. Though the US Federal Reserve has turned off the spigot, the deluge continues. The Bank of Japan is in the midst of a giant push to churn out yen. And belatedly the European Central Bank has just started, and likely will have to continue generating new euros for years.

This was, of course, the right thing to do. The US economy is in the best shape of any of the large, developed countries, thanks in no small part to the aggressive actions of the US central bank. And while the jury is still out on whether Japan’s push will be effective, the ECB’s effort already seems to be bearing a bit of fruit. (Unemployment is finally falling, albeit slowly.)

But the aggressive action hasn’t been good enough. How do we know? Interest rates. Global interest rates remain ridiculously low. (One way to think about interest rates is that that they’re essentially the price of money, that is, where supply meets demand.)

In some cases, they’re lower than low. They’re negative. This week Switzerland became the first country to sell 10-year government bonds with a negative interest rate. That means that at the end of 10 years, investors will get less money back than they lent to the Swiss. And Switzerland is not alone—interest rates are negative for a range of government bonds, especially in Europe.

Remember, interest rates are one price for money. And prices are determined by supply and demand. We’ve already talked about the supply. There’s a lot, thanks to central bank money printing.

Demand? Not so much. Investors don’t seem to want to invest in a global economy that doesn’t look so hot. China is slowing. Europe is barely puttering forward. South American giant Brazil looks horrible. Russia looks even worse. Nobody expects much from Japan.

The US is the best banana in the bunch. But even American companies—which have a ton of cash—don’t seem particularly willing to do too much productive investment. Just look at one of America’s greatest blue chip companies, General Electric. The industrial giant said on April 10 that it would return $90 billion to shareholders through a series of dividends and share buybacks. And in order to return that money to shareholders, GE is going to repatriate some of it from foreign countries, racking up what could be a $4 billion tax bill. CEOs are loathe to fork money over to the taxman. If paying taxes is a corporation’s idea of efficient use of capital, then the company is running out of ideas.

There are any number of ways to describe the current status quo. Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has been pushing the idea that the global economy is in the midst of a “secular stagnation.” Summers draws on the work of American economist Alvin Hansen—who coined the phrased “secular stagnation” during the Great Depression—to argue that a persistent excess of savings over investment was due to a slowdown in demographic and technological development.

Former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke casts the situation as a “global savings glut,” an idea he first posited in the 1990s. Put roughly, the idea here is that foreign governments—specifically in developing economies that were freaked out by the currency crises of the late 1990s—have been hoarding dollars. They use their dollars to buy super safe government bonds. Those bond purchases are part of the reason why interest rates are low.

Who’s right? It doesn’t really matter. The facts on the ground are the same. There’s too much money and not a lot to do with it. And that’s why we’re seeing investors make some interesting, seemingly non-economic decisions with their piles of cash.

For instance, China is one of the key countries racking up dollar reserves and contributing to ex-chairman Bernanke’s savings glut. But China also is a victim of the low interest rates that the glut has helped create. That’s because there are very few places for China to put any of its dollars for safe-keeping that will earn much of a yield over time.

So instead, China seems to be putting the money to political use, using its giant pile of reserves to help finance the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a Chinese-led rival to the western-dominated IMF and World Bank.

Governments around the world would do well to follow China’s lead. With corporate investment weak, it now falls to governments to spend more, on long-term investments that can boost productivity and give the economy a nudge. Germany certainly has the wherewithal to undertake such a program. And thanks to super low interest rates, many others can, too—including the United States.

Governments around the world have been hoping that aggressive money-printing policies from central banks could get the global economy fully up-to-speed again. It hasn’t happened. Essentially, the free ride is over. Governments need to start contributing.

The first item I see in Amazon’s Swansea warehouse is a package of dog nappies. The second is a massive pink plastic dildo. The warehouse is 800,000 square feet, or, in what is Amazon’s standard unit of measurement, the size of 11 football pitches (its Dunfermline warehouse, the UK’s largest, is 14 football pitches). It is a quarter of a mile from end to end. There is space, it turns out, for an awful lot of crap.

But then there are more than 100m items on its UK website: if you can possibly imagine it, Amazon sells it. And if you can’t possibly imagine it, well, Amazon sells it too. To spend 10½ hours a day picking items off the shelves is to contemplate the darkest recesses of our consumerist desires, the wilder reaches of stuff, the things that money can buy: a One Direction charm bracelet, a dog onesie, a cat scratching post designed to look like a DJ’s record deck, a banana slicer, a fake twig. I work mostly in the outsize “non-conveyable” section, the home of diabetic dog food, and bio-organic vegetarian dog food, and obese dog food; of 52in TVs, and six-packs of water shipped in from Fiji, and oversized sex toys – the 18in double dong (regular-sized sex toys are shelved in the sortables section).

On my second day, the manager tells us that we alone have picked and packed 155,000 items in the past 24 hours. Tomorrow, 2 December – the busiest online shopping day of the year – that figure will be closer to 450,000. And this is just one of eight warehouses across the country. Amazon took 3.5m orders on a single day last year. Christmas is its Vietnam – a test of its corporate mettle and the kind of challenge that would make even the most experienced distribution supply manager break down and weep. In the past two weeks, it has taken on an extra 15,000 agency staff in Britain. And it expects to double the number of warehouses in Britain in the next three years. It expects to continue the growth that has made it one of the most powerful multinationals on the planet.

Right now, in Swansea, four shifts will be working at least a 50-hour week, hand-picking and packing each item, or, as the Daily Mail put it in an article a few weeks ago, being “Amazon’s elves” in the “21st-century Santa’s grotto”.

If Santa had a track record in paying his temporary elves the minimum wage while pushing them to the limits of the EU working time directive, and sacking them if they take three sick breaks in any three-month period, this would be an apt comparison. It is probably reasonable to assume that tax avoidance is not “constitutionally” a part of the Santa business model as Brad Stone, the author of a new book on Amazon, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, tells me it is in Amazon’s case. Neither does Santa attempt to bully his competitors, as Mark Constantine, the founder of Lush cosmetics, who last week took Amazon to the high court, accuses it of doing. Santa was not called before the Commons public accounts committee and called “immoral” by MPs.

For a week, I was an Amazon elf: a temporary worker who got a job through a Swansea employment agency – though it turned out I wasn’t the only journalist who happened upon this idea. Last Monday, BBC’s Panorama aired a programme that featured secret filming from inside the same warehouse. I wonder for a moment if we have committed the ultimate media absurdity and the show’s undercover reporter, Adam Littler, has secretly filmed me while I was secretly interviewing him. He didn’t, but it’s not a coincidence that the heat is on the world’s most successful online business. Because Amazon is the future of shopping; being an Amazon “associate” in an Amazon “fulfilment centre” – take that for doublespeak, Mr Orwell – is the future of work; and Amazon’s payment of minimal tax in any jurisdiction is the future of global business. A future in which multinational corporations wield more power than governments.

But then who hasn’t absent-mindedly clicked at something in an idle moment at work, or while watching telly in your pyjamas, and, in what’s a small miracle of modern life, received a familiar brown cardboard package dropping on to your doormat a day later. Amazon is successful for a reason. It is brilliant at what it does. “It solved these huge challenges,” says Brad Stone. “It mastered the chaos of storing tens of millions of products and figuring out how to get them to people, on time, without fail, and no one else has come even close.” We didn’t just pick and pack more than 155,000 items on my first day. We picked and packed the right items and sent them to the right customers. “We didn’t miss a single order,” our section manager tells us with proper pride.

At the end of my first day, I log into my Amazon account. I’d left my mum’s house outside Cardiff at 6.45am and got in at 7.30pm and I want some Compeed blister plasters for my toes and I can’t do it before work and I can’t do it after work. My finger hovers over the “add to basket” option but, instead, I look at my Amazon history. I made my first purchase, The Rough Guide to Italy, in February 2000 and remember that I’d bought it for an article I wrote on booking a holiday on the internet. It’s so quaint reading it now. It’s from the age before broadband (I itemise my phone bill for the day and it cost me £25.10), when Google was in its infancy. It’s littered with the names of defunct websites (remember Sir Bob Geldof’s deckchair.com, anyone?). It was a frustrating task and of pretty much everything I ordered, only the book turned up on time, as requested.

But then it’s a phenomenal operation. And to work in – and I find it hard to type these words without suffering irony seizure – a “fulfilment centre” is to be a tiny cog in a massive global distribution machine. It’s an industrialised process, on a truly massive scale, made possible by new technology. The place might look like it’s been stocked at 2am by a drunk shelf-filler: a typical shelf might have a set of razor blades, a packet of condoms and a My Little Pony DVD. And yet everything is systemised, because it has to be. It’s what makes it all the more unlikely that at the heart of the operation, shuffling items from stowing to picking to packing to shipping, are those flesh-shaped, not-always-reliable, prone-to-malfunctioning things we know as people.

It’s here, where actual people rub up against the business demands of one of the most sophisticated technology companies on the planet, that things get messy. It’s a system that includes unsystemisable things like hopes and fears and plans for the future and children and lives. And in places of high unemployment and low economic opportunities, places where Amazon deliberately sites its distribution centres – it received £8.8m in grants from the Welsh government for bringing the warehouse here – despair leaks around the edges. At the interview – a form-filling, drug- and alcohol-testing, general-checking-you-can-read session at a local employment agency – we’re shown a video. The process is explained and a selection of people are interviewed. “Like you, I started as an agency worker over Christmas,” says one man in it. “But I quickly got a permanent job and then promoted and now, two years later, I’m an area manager.”

Amazon will be taking people on permanently after Christmas, we’re told, and if you work hard, you can be one of them. In the Swansea/Neath/Port Talbot area, an area still suffering the body blows of Britain’s post-industrial decline, these are powerful words, though it all starts to unravel pretty quickly. There are four agencies who have supplied staff to the warehouse, and their reps work from desks on the warehouse floor. Walking from one training session to another, I ask one of them how many permanent employees work in the warehouse but he mishears me and answers another question entirely: “Well, obviously not everyone will be taken on. Just look at the numbers. To be honest, the agencies have to say that just to get people through the door.”

It does that. It’s what the majority of people in my induction group are after. I train with Pete – not his real name – who has been unemployed for the past three years. Before that, he was a care worker. He lives at the top of the Rhondda Valley, and his partner, Susan (not her real name either), an unemployed IT repair technician, has also just started. It took them more than an hour to get to work. “We had to get the kids up at five,” he says. After a 10½-hour shift, and about another hour’s drive back, before picking up the children from his parents, they got home at 9pm. The next day, they did the same, except Susan twisted her ankle on the first shift. She phones in but she will receive a “point”. If she receives three points, she will be “released”, which is how you get sacked in modern corporatese.
Carole Cadwalladr, Amazon feature
The Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr outside the warehouse where she worked for a week. Photograph: Stephen Shepherd for the Observer Stephen Shepherd/Observer

And then there’s “Les”, who is one of our trainers. He has a special, coloured lanyard that shows he’s an Amazon “ambassador”, and another that says he’s a first aider. He’s worked at the warehouse for more than a year and over the course of the week I see him, speeding across the floor, going at least twice the rate I’m managing. He’s in his 60s and tells me how he lost two stone in the first two months he worked there from all the walking. We were told when we applied for the jobs that we may walk up to 15 miles a shift. He’d been a senior manager in the same firm for 32 years before he was made redundant and landed up here. How long was it before you got a permanent job, I ask him. “I haven’t,” he says, and he holds up his green ID badge. Permanent employees have blue ones, a better hourly rate, and after two years share options, and there is a subtle apartheid at work.

“They dangle those blue badges in front of you,” says Bill Woolcock, an ex-employee at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire. “If you have a blue badge you have better wages, proper rights. You can be working alongside someone in the same job, but they’re stable and you’re just cannon fodder. I worked there from September 2011 to February 2012 and on Christmas Eve an agency rep with a clipboard stood by the exit and said: ‘You’re back after Christmas. And you’re back. And you’re not. You’re not.’ It was just brutal. It reminded me of stories about the great depression, where men would stand at the factory gate in the hope of being selected for a few days’ labour. You just feel you have no personal value at all.”

Why haven’t they given you a proper job, I ask Les, and he shrugs his head but elsewhere people mutter: it’s friends of the managers who get the jobs. It’s HR picking names at random. It’s some sort of black magic nobody understands. Walking off shift in a great wave of orange high-vis vests, I chat to another man in his 60s. He’d been working in the Unity mine, near Neath, he told me, until a month ago, the second time he’d been laid off in two years. He’d worked at Amazon last Christmas too. “And they just let me go straight after, no warning or anything. And I couldn’t have worked any harder! I worked my socks off!”

When I put the question to Amazon, it responded: “A small number of seasonal associates have been with us for an extended period of time and we are keen to retain those individuals in order that we can provide them with a permanent role when one becomes available. We were able to create 2,300 full-time permanent positions for seasonal associates in 2013 by taking advantage of Christmas seasonality to find great permanent employees but, unfortunately, we simply cannot retain 15,000 seasonal employees.”

And this is what Amazon says about its policy relating to sickness: “Amazon is a company in growth and we offer a high level of security for all our associates. Like many companies, we employ a system to record employee attendance. We consider and review all personal circumstances in relation to any attendance issues and we would not dismiss anyone for being ill. The current systems used to record employee attendance is fair and predictable and has resulted in dismissals of 11 permanent employees out of a workforce of over 5,000 permanent employees in 2013.”

It’s worth noting that agency workers are not Amazon employees.

There’s no doubt that it is hard, physical work. The Panorama documentary majored on the miles that Adam walked, the blisters he suffered, the ridiculous targets, and the fact that you’re monitored by an Orwellian handset every second of every shift. As an agency worker, you’re paid 19p an hour over the minimum wage – £6.50 – and the shifts are 10½ hours long. But lots of jobs involve hard, physical work. That’s not the thing that bothers people. Almost everybody remains stoical in the face of physical discomfort and exhaustion. And they’re Welsh: there’s a warmth and friendliness from almost everyone who works there. My team leader is no corporate droid. He started on the shop floor, sounds like Richard Burton, and is gently encouraging. And yet.

“I’ve worked everywhere,” a forklift truck driver tells me. “And this is the worst. They pay shit because they can. Because there’s no other jobs out there. Trust me, I know, I tried. I was working for £12 an hour in my last job. I’m getting £8 an hour here. I worked for Sony before and they were strict but fair. It’s the unfairness that gets you here.”

An unfairness that has no outlet. In the wake of the BBC documentary, Hywel Francis, the MP for Aberavon, managed to get a meeting last week with Amazon’s director of public policy, a meeting he’s been trying to get for years. He’s reluctant to speak about the complaints he’s heard from his constituents but says that “the plant is exceptional in the local area in having no union representation. It’s been a long haul to even get in there and find out what is going on.” It’s been a black hole where the lack of any checks upon its power has left a sense that everything is pared to the absolute bone – from the cheapest of the cheap plastic safety boots, which most long-term employees seem to spend their own money replacing with something they can walk in, to the sack-you-if-you’re-sick policy, to the 15-minute break that starts wherever you happen to be in the warehouse. On my third morning, at my lowest point, when my energy has run out and my spirits are low, it takes me six minutes to walk to the airport-style scanners, where I spend a minute being frisked. I queue a minute for the loos, get a banana out of my locker, sit down for 30 seconds, and then I get up and walk the six minutes back to my station.

To work at Amazon is to spend your days at the coalface of consumerism. To witness our lust for stuff. This year’s stuff includes great piles of Xboxes and Kindles and this season’s Jamie Oliver cookbook, Save With Jamie (you want to save with Jamie? Don’t buy his sodding book), and Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds, and Rick Stein’s India.

The celebrity chef cookbooks incense me. They don’t even bother taking them out of the boxes. They lie in great EU butter mountain-sized piles at the ends of the aisle. Cook an egg on the telly and it’s like being given a licence to print money for all eternity. The vast majority of people working in the warehouse are white, Welsh, working class, but I train with a man who’s not called Sammy, and who isn’t an asylum seeker from Sudan, but another country, and I spend an afternoon explaining to him what the scanner means when it tells him to look for a Good Boy Luxury Dog Stocking or a Gastric Mind Band hypnosis CD.

It’s the Barbie Doll girl’s Christmas advent calendar, however, that nearly breaks me. I traipse back and forth to section F, where I slice open a box, take another Barbie advent calendar, unpick the box and put it on the recycling pile, put the calendar, which has been shipped from China, passed from the container port to a third-party distributor and from there to the Amazon warehouse, on to my trolley and pass it to the packers, where it will be repackaged in a different box and finally reach its ultimate destination: the joy in a small child’s heart. Because nothing captures the magic of Christmas more than a picture of a pneumatic blonde carrying multiple shopping bags. You can’t put a price on that (£9.23 with free delivery).
High street, Amazon
Amazon’s arrival has coincided with the decline of the high street in nearby town Briton Ferry. Photograph: Stephen Shepherd for the Observer Stephen Shepherd/Observer

We want cheap stuff. And we want to order it from our armchairs. And we want it to be delivered to our doors. And it’s Amazon that has worked out how to do this. Over time, like a hardened drug user, my Amazon habit has increased. In 2002, I ordered my first non-book item, a This Life series 1 video; in 2005, my first non-Amazon product, a secondhand copy of a biography of Patricia Highsmith; and in 2008, I started doing the online equivalent of injecting intravenously, when I bought a TV on the site. “We are the most customer-centric company on earth,” we’re told in our induction briefing, shortly before it’s explained that if we’re late we’ll get half a point, and after three of them we’re out. What constitutes late, I ask. “A minute,” I’m told.

I grew up in South Wales and saw first-hand how the 1980s recession slashed a brutal gash through everything, including my own extended family. I’ve always known that there’s only a tissue-thin piece of luck between very different sorts of lives. But then my grandfather worked in a warehouse in Swansea. In my case, there really is only a tissue-thin piece of luck between me and an Amazon life. I have a lot of time to think about this during my 10½-hour day.

At the Neath working men’s club down the road, one of the staff tells me that Amazon is “the employer of last resort”. It’s where you get a job if you can’t get a job anywhere else. And it’s this that’s so heartbreaking. What did you do before, I ask people. And they say they’re builders, hospitality managers, marketing graduates, IT technicians, carpenters, electricians. They owned their own businesses, and they were made redundant. Or the business went bust. Or they had a stroke. Or their contract ended. They are people who had skilled jobs, or professional jobs, or just better-paying jobs. And now they work for Amazon, earning the minimum wage, and most of them are grateful to have that.

Amazon isn’t responsible for the wider economy, but it’s the wider economy that makes the Amazon model so chilling. It’s not just the nicey nice jobs that are becoming endangered, such as working in a bookshop, as Hugh Grant did in Notting Hill, or a record store, as the hero did in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, or the jobs that have gone at Borders and Woolworths and Jessops and HMV, it’s pretty much everything else too. Next in line is everything: working in the shoe department at John Lewis, or behind the tills at Tesco, or doing their HR, or auditing their accounts, or building their websites, or writing their corporate magazines. Swansea’s shopping centre down the road is already a planning disaster; a wasteland of charity shops and what Sarah Rees of Cover to Cover bookshop calls “a second-rate Debenhams and a third-rate Marks and Spencer”.

“People know about their employment practices, and all the delivery men hate them, but do people remember that when they click? Probably not. We try and kill them with kindness,” she says. “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.” But then there is nothing else to try and kill them with. It’s cheaper, often for her, to order books on Amazon than through her distributor. “We’re upfront about it and tell people, but there is just no way to compete with them on price.”

There is no end to Amazon’s appetite. “It’s expanding in every conceivable direction,” Brad Stone tells me. “It’s why I called my book The Everything Store. Their ambition is to sell everything. They already have their digital services and their enterprise services. They’ve just started selling art. Apparel is still very immature and is set for expansion. Groceries are the next big thing. They’re going very strongly after that because it will cut down costs elsewhere. If they can start running their own trucks in major metro areas, they can cut down the costs of third-party shippers.”

In the UK, I point out, everyone already delivers groceries: Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s. “I suspect they’ll acquire,” he says. And everywhere it kills jobs. Shops employ 47 people for every $10m in sales, according to research done by a company called ILSR. Amazon employs only 14 people per $10m of revenue. In Britain, it turned over £4.2bn last year, which is a net loss of 23,000 jobs. And even the remaining jobs, the hard, badly paid jobs in Amazon’s warehouses, are hardly future-proof. Amazon has just bought an automated sorting system called Kiva for $775m. How many retail jobs, of any description, will there be left in 10 years’ time?

Our lust for cheap, discounted goods delivered to our doors promptly and efficiently has a price. We just haven’t worked out what it is yet.

It’s taxes, of course, that pay for the roads on which Amazon’s delivery trucks drive, and the schools in which its employees are educated, and the hospitals in which their babies are born and their arteries are patched up, and in which, one day, they may be nursed in their dying days. Taxes that all its workers pay, and that, it emerged in 2012, it tends not to pay. On UK sales of £4.2bn in 2012, it paid £3.2m in corporation tax. In 2006, it transferred its UK business to Luxembourg and reclassified its UK operation as simply “order fulfilment” business. The Luxembourg office employs 380 people. The UK operation employs 21,000. You do the math.

Brad Stone tells me that tax avoidance is built into the company’s DNA. From the very beginning it has been “constitutionally oriented to securing every possible advantage for its customers, setting the lowest possible prices, taking advantage of every known tax loophole or creating new ones”. It’s something that Mark Constantine, the co-founder of Lush cosmetics, has spent time thinking about. He refuses to sell through Amazon, but it didn’t stop Amazon using the Lush name to direct buyers to its site, where it suggested alternative products they might like.

“It’s a way of bullying businesses to use their services. And we refused. We’ve been in the high court this week to sue them for breach of trademark. It’s cost us half a million pounds so far to defend our business. Most companies just can’t afford that. But we’ve done it because it’s a matter of principle. They keep on forcing your hand and yet they don’t have a viable business model. The only way they can afford to run it is by not paying tax. If they had to behave in a more conventional way, they would struggle.

“It’s a form of piracy capitalism. They rush into people’s countries, they take the money out, and they dump it in some port of convenience. That’s not a business in any traditional sense. It’s an ugly return to a form of exploitative capitalism that we had a century ago and we decided as a society to move on from.”

In Swansea I chat to someone whose name is not Martin for a while. It’s Saturday, the sun is shining and the warehouse has gone quiet. We’ve been told to stop picking. The orders have been turned off like a tap. “It’s the weather,” he says. “When it rains, it can suddenly go mental.” We clear away boxes and the tax issue comes up. “There was a lot of anger here,” he says. “People were very bitter about it. But I’d always say to them: ‘If someone told you that you could pay less tax, do you honestly think you would volunteer to pay more?'” He’s right. And the people who were angry were also right. It’s an unignorable fact of modern life that, as Stuart Roper of Manchester Business School tells me, “some of these big brands are more powerful than governments. They’re wealthier. If they were countries, they would be pretty large economies. They’re multinational and the global financial situation allows them to ship money all over the world. And the government is so desperate for jobs that it has given away large elements of control.”

It’s a mirror image of what is happening on the shop floor. Just as Amazon has eroded 200 years’ worth of workers’ rights through its use of agencies and rendered a large swath of its workers powerless, so it has pulled off the same trick with corporate responsibility. MPs like to slag off Amazon and Starbucks and Google for not paying their taxes but they’ve yet to actually create the legislation that would compel them to do so.

“They are taking these massive subsidies from the state and they are not paying back,” says Martin Smith of the GMB union. “Their argument is that they are creating jobs but what they are doing is displacing and replacing other jobs. Better jobs. And high street shops tend to pay their taxes. There is a £120bn tax gap that is only possible because the government pay tax benefits to enable people to survive. When companies pay the minimum wage they are in effect being subsidised by the taxpayer.”

Back in Swansea, on the last break of my last day, I sit and chat with Pete and Susan from the Rhondda and Sammy, the asylum seeker from Sudan. Susan still wants a permanent job but is looking more doubtful about it happening. Her ankle is still swollen. Her pick rate has been low. We’ve been told that next week, the hours will increase by an hour a day and there will be an extra day of compulsory overtime. It will mean getting their children up by 4.30am and Pete is worried about finding a baby-sitter at three days’ notice. When I ask Sammy how the job compares with the one he had in Sudan, where he was a foreman in a factory, he thinks for a minute then shrugs: “It’s the same.”

There have always been rubbish jobs. Ian Brinkley, the director of the Work Foundation, calls Amazon’s employment practices “old wine in new bottles”. Restaurants and kebab shops have done the same sort of thing for years. But Amazon is not a kebab shop. It’s the future. Which may or may not be something to think about as you click “add to basket”.

—–Reproduced online

Amazon changes tax practices in Europe as investigations continue as investigations continue

NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) has started booking revenue from retail sales in individual European countries, instead of channeling all sales through low-tax Luxembourg, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Under international tax rules, this means Amazon EU Sarl will now have to pay tax in those countries on the share of its profits generated by the branches.

The change was made effective May 1, a company spokesman told the Journal. Amazon said it had started preparing to diversify its retail sales structure two years ago, the Journal reported.

Amazon did not respond to email or phone requests for comment.

The change at the e-commerce company has come amid greater scrutiny of corporate tax avoidance on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years.

European Union antitrust regulators opened an investigation into Amazon’s tax-minimising arrangements with Luxembourg in October. The investigation focuses on whether Luxembourg broke EU state aid rules by agreeing to a deal which allows Amazon to operate almost tax-free in Europe.

The EU’s antitrust chief said earlier this month that EU regulators would miss a June deadline to decide whether the tax deals granted by individual member states to Amazon and other companies such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) were legal because they lacked some data.

Luxembourg has faced international criticism following media revelations in November based on leaked documents, dubbed “LuxLeaks,” that detailed its role in helping companies channel profits through the country and pay low tax rates rather than higher rates in states where they did more business.

Long hot summer, when the frequent use of household appliances. Electrical safety is a matter vital interests, whether in the dorm or at home, we had better pay special attention to electrical safety. US Baidoa Electrical here to teach you safety, energy saving, environmental protection, electricity Cheats, Check it out!

Safe use of electricity Cheats:

1, home air conditioners, microwave ovens and other electrical power, it is best to avoid simultaneous start, otherwise the instant impact of current is too large, easily lead to accidents;

2, electrical equipment must be stored in a dry, clean and well ventilated place, long-term without electric heating appliances best once a week to prevent moisture corrosion. Many people like to use a damp cloth to wipe the surface of the TV screen, this approach is not correct, do not power on when the home appliance with a damp cloth;
3, please use qualified appliances, do not buy fake electrical appliances, wires, ducts (tubes), switches, plugs, sockets and the like;

4, check the fuse and cable appropriate for the load, not any bold fuse. Do not use copper wire, wire, aluminum wire instead of fuse;
5. Do not use wet hands, rub a damp cloth cap charged, switches and sockets;

6, the summer should pay attention to good lightning protection measures, do not want to cut off electrical power to prevent being struck by lightning;
7, the best energy-saving electrical equipment transferred to the state, the air temperature is not too low, can be kept at 26 degrees Celsius, as much as possible to reduce the number of refrigerator door, TV or computer brightness not too strong; household lamps must be replaced with energy-saving lamps , money and the environment;
8, people walking off with complete power failure, power outage also temporarily cut off power supply;

9, the summer people sweat easily be reduced to human resistance against electric shock safety factor is relatively weakened, so when in contact with electrical equipment but also to pay attention to safety, to avoid electric shock. Such as unusual noise, smell, smoke, fire, etc., to disconnect the power supply immediately.

How to prevent common accidents
1, do not Luanla random access wire;
2. When replacing the fuse, overhaul the electrical or mobile electrical equipment must be cut off, do not risk live action;
3, the use of iron, hair dryer, electric stove and other household electric heaters, people do not leave;
4, found electrical equipment emitting smoke or an unusual smell, to quickly cut off the power supply to be checked;
5, power facilities, care, do not fly kites near overhead electrical box distribution transformers;
6, during the summer, parents need to remind children note home appliances, especially not to a nearby outdoor transformers, power distribution facilities to play, to prevent accidents;
7, thunderstorm days, walking on the road, do not touch the trees, poles and pole cable, to prevent electric shock;
8, the case of household appliances on fire, you should cut off the power. Put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, but TV, computer use fire blankets, quilts and other items to extinguish the flames. When unable to cut off the power, use a non-conductive fire extinguishing agent, do not use water and foam fire extinguishing agent, quickly dialed “110” or “119” alarm.

Saving Cheats
TV set
Controlling the brightness of the TV screen, is a way of saving, 20-inch color TV, for example, 85-watt power consumption when the brightest, darkest consumes only 55 watts. Also, do not frequent switching TV.
Cooker
Cover the pot with a towel, you can reduce heat loss. Make full use of the rice cooker, electric oven heat, such as rice cooker when cooking, can be powered down after the pot boiling for 7-8 minutes, then re-energized.
Fan
In the air flow to meet the requirements of the situation, try to use the mid-range or low gear, such as 400mm of fans, with fast file when power consumption is 60W, use low gear, only 40W, a savings of one-third.
Washing machine
Shall be determined according to the number and extent of dirty clothes laundry time: General synthetic fibers and wool, washing 2-4 minutes; cotton fabric, washed for 5-8 minutes; very dirty clothes washed for 10-12 minutes.

The genius, who struggled with schizophrenia, was played by the actor Russell Crowe in the 2001 biopic A Beautiful Mind.

 Mathematician John Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia, 82, whose lives were the subject of the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, were killed Saturday in a taxi crash in New Jersey, police told BuzzFeed News.

Elevator Rope Tensiometer Manual

Discription:

The Elevator rope tensiometer is main used in the elevator traction wire rope tension test.
In elevator installation, acceptance and inspection process, through the test and adjustment of each tractive ropes, make each rope tension as consistent as possible. So can prolong the service life of tractive sheave and make the elevator wire rope run more smoothly.
The tensiometer can also be used in bridge sling, tower connection line, overhead conductors, index wire rope and all involving the wire tension tests.

Characteristic:
1. Has the tensile force rope structure, no need to disassemble, install and making test within a few seconds
2. Can measure the relatively static tension of wire rope(Diameter φ 8 to φ15）
3. Support each wire rope multipoint testing, greatly improve the test accuracy
4. Can transmit the test data to the computer via USB, manage the testing data

Technical parameters:

Type DGZ-300 DGZ-500 DGZ-1000 DGZ-3000 DGZ-5000
Load 300N 500N 1000N 3000N 5000N
Resolution 0.1N 1N
Accuracy ≦±5%
Repeatability ≦±1%
Loading method Manual
Power 7.2V Nickel metal hydride rechargeable battery pack
Size 418*128*40
N.W. 1.7Kg

Love is always all businesses favorite topic of speculation, February 14 Western Valentine’s Day did not love enough, Valentines Day has not yet begun to love, in the particular environment of China, the Internet spawned out “520 network Valentine’s Day” was again Love gives meaning, become the cross-border import electricity suppliers compete for high ground. 5.20 this year is yet to come, but several major importing electricity supplier promotional, already shed smoke flavor.
The war-torn area of ​​skin care cosmetics, shoes products are also not spared
Hugo network of more than 520 promotional activities involved in importing electronic business platform to understand, compare Promotions circumstances of each site found in 520 promotional competition, skincare and cosmetics to close to female consumers advantage, as the various import electricity supplier Promotional product of choice.
Honey Amoy network in five major promotional theme individually for skin care, cosmetics and shaping, slimming products opened up a “natural beauty” theme, which Elizavecca Green piggy pig collagen cream sleep mask 100g is playing a low-cost 49 yuan, 2.9 fold discount. Lahaina test purchase “520 Love explosion models” in the big picture posted miracle horse oil 70g village 8 520 seconds at the beginning of a two-digit limit buy the message, “Love 520 ex-gratia”, there are also fine pores VDL bright makeup before moisturizing mention Shell brighten liquid milk 30ml, It’s skin Perfection Concentrated Whitening Wrinkle Mask inverse space repair skin care products and other merchandise among them. Wan national best places skincare products, cosmetics products FREE Shipping as a promotional tool, although the action is not, but also see a promising market for cosmetics. In addition to cosmetic started United States together superior product, its speed shops in 520 promotional activities to be outdone, be dedicated to Beauty venue.
In addition, all imported electricity supplier for shoes and apparel accessories market promotional efforts is not small. Honey Amoy network “bump” the topic of men and women, the majority of men and women shoes discount up to half of the following table, a sunglasses but also to the United States and Asia 2.5% discount and the “520” Yuan bump. Electronic products primarily new egg China have prevented the intervention of shoes and apparel products. United States together superior product this year to play at the venue an anniversary baby signs, of course, shoes and apparel products promotion.
Said a woman’s easiest to make money, a few imported electricity supplier in 520 promotional activities in skin care, cosmetics, shoes and apparel market and the market’s attention to attitude, seems to confirm the credibility of this statement.
Maternal and child market promotional efforts, the interpretation of “love” alternative understanding
In the major import electricity supplier as a propaganda theme of love, when the United States together superior product another way, or because a positive listing anniversary, launched a special anniversary baby venue.
This year the United States together with 520 maternal and child products as the main promotional products, a variety of diapers, powdered milk considerable discount, baby toner powder, baby shower gel and other products at least 199 up by 100, children shoes, maternity, children’s toys and other discount more It is a frequent 2.1 fold, 1.3 fold and other ultra-low discount. Kao will also test Lahaina purchase wonderful and comfortable diapers, baby formula and other beauty love him a variety of diapers, infant formula product was added to limit looting price. The flagship brand of honey love Amoy network, in the “When You Are Old” topic can not be avoided to the bigger US ChildLife two baby product promotion.
Or by May 10 Mother’s Day fallout, 520 battlefield category maternal love-themed products in order to stand out the siege, the interpretation of several imported electricity supplier for “love” alternative understanding.
520 imported electricity suppliers war, electronic products, “beak” airs
The so-called “Tiger brothers, father and son soldiers into battle”, 520 electricity suppliers war with the “power” how can name electronics behind? Electronic products for the promotion of the new flagship of Chinese egg Needless to say, all kinds of mobile phones, computers, printers, promotional efforts is not small, electronic watches, digital cameras, are also not far behind, electric toothbrushes, electric shavers, electric cooker and so on, three hundred I kind of goods into the promotions list. Honey Amoy Network “nature of the love” is full of mobile phones, mobile power, electric shavers, electric toothbrushes and other product discounts. The test Lahaina shopping in one of the few promotional items posted in, electric shavers, electric toothbrushes also impressively.
Electronic products can expose the limelight in battle 520 importing electricity supplier in the cross-border electricity supplier industry weight is not small, it is well deserved.
It is worth mentioning that the choice of “sun 520 orders sent Apple Watch I” as against the way, it seems a small movement this year’s “520” in the electricity business promotion battle, Suning Tesco “low key”, the exercise Weiweijiuzhao avoid markdowns price war the main battlefield, “the sun Order” alternative ways to promote consumer spending, although the effect is unknown, but it is also a bold attempt commendable.
Hugo network has learned that import electricity supplier as a potential industry, competition has become increasingly fierce. May 10th Mother’s Day reverberations, May 20 520 battlefield has quietly opened. Xiao Bian bold speculation, the next battleground, perhaps the horn sounded in the “61” Children.

US R & D reservoir electricity and transmission as one of the nanowires

University of Central Florida recently developed a set of rechargeable batteries and transmission as one of the nanowires. Increase in copper nanorods generated around the outer circle of thin plastic sheet and a metal sheath to wrap up, and finally with a special gel bond the layers together. Because nanowhisker insulated, so inside the conductive copper retention functions, the copper outer layer may also be stored electricity alone. The technology can be applied directly to the field of electric vehicles, space launch vehicles and portable electronic devices, which will help reduce the “weight” and reduce costs.

42 kinds of new cable installation tools come

US Southern Electric Wire & Cable Company (Southwire) introduced 42 kinds of new cable installation tools to meet the needs of custom installation. This VDV tools further complement its product range of low-voltage cable product line and related tools and equipment of lines. It is the kind of installation program based product development approach to improve the efficiency of on-site installation and cable products. The launch of the company’s 42 kinds of new cable installation tools include cable cutters, wire strippers, crimping machine, a line tool, cable inspection and testing and so on.

Copper refresh 100Gbps transfer rate record

Bell Labs realized using a single pair of copper wires within 70 meters 1Gbps symmetric transmission rate, and use double within 30 meters of copper wire to achieve transfer rates of 100Gbps, 100Gbps record refresh rate over copper. The resulting work is called XG-FAST technology is based on the extension G.fast technology. The technology to transmit frequency up to 500MHz, but closer than many shorter G.fast protocol standards, relatively high-speed transmission can only be achieved within a short distance. Fiber to the home can be used to improve internal transport home network, or to improve the transfer rate within the community. This year is expected to launch the official version of the technical standards.

South Africa developed a portable device to protect against shark submarine infringement

South Africa’s latest development of a new device shark pod can protect submarine cables, divers from shark attack. The device uses “shark in the deep sea can capture prey trace the current issue of the heart beat,” this feature, change the direction of the shark away near the current barrier that protects the basis not only harm sharks, seals, dolphins and other creatures on submarine cables, personal safety. It is reported that the device will be piloted in five months on undersea cables, the future will be more large-scale experiments. There are already companies began selling in Australia, which means a heavy submarine cable added protection, if successful, is expected in the global markets.

Smart Cable protection technology to reduce costs to increase reliability

Energy consulting and testing agency DNV GL publish intelligent cable protection solutions continuously monitor and detect the exact location of medium voltage (MV) power cable system failure. The program in real time up to date cable, reduce maintenance time and enhance medium voltage power cable system stability, and reduce overall service costs for utilities and industrial property owners.

MCBs provide overcurrent and short-circuit protection only and are unable to detect residual current (earth leakage current) unless it is large enough to be classed as an overload or short circuit.

The most common MCB characteristics are Types B, C and D. What is the difference between type B,C,D MCB?

In consumer unit applications it is rare to see anything other than Type B MCBs used, with the occasional use of Type C devices on high inrush circuits such as some lighting loads. Let’s examine the most common MCB characteristics in a little more detail:

Type B MCBs react quickly to overloads, and are built to trip when the current passing through them is between 3 and 4.5 times the normal full load current. They are suitable for protecting incandescent lighting and socket-outlet circuits in domestic and commercial environments, where there is little risk of current surges of a magnitude that could cause the MCB to trip.

Type C MCBs react more slowly, and are recommended for applications involving inductive loads with high inrush currents, such as fluorescent lighting installations. Type C MCBs are built to trip at between 5 and 10 times the normal full load current.

Type D MCBs are slower still, and are set to trip at between 10 and 20 times normal full load current. They are recommended only for circuits with very high inrush currents, such as those feeding transformers and welding machines. Note, however, that MCBs with Type K characteristics may provide better protection in some applications of this type.

The majority of countries that celebrate Mother’s Day do so on the second Sunday of May. On this day, it is common for Mothers to be celebrated with presents and special attention from their families, friends and loved ones.

But it wasn’t always this way…

Spiritual Origins of Mother’s Day

The traditional practice of honoring of Motherhood is rooted in antiquity. Ancient rites had strong symbolic and spiritual overtones, as societies tended to celebrate Goddesses and symbols of motherhood, rather than actual Mothers. Objects of adoration ranged from mythological female deities, to the Christian Church.

The personal, family orientation of Mothers Day is a relatively new phenomenon. Only in the past few centuries did celebrations of Motherhood develop a decidedly human focus, and only in last century did Mothers Day take on commercial overtones.

Goddess Isis – Early Egyptian Roots

One of the earliest historical records of a society celebrating a Mother deity can be found among the ancient Egyptians, who held an annual festival to honor the goddess Isis. Her stern, yet handsome head is typically crowned by a pair of bull horns enclosing a fiery sun orb. She is most often depicted sitting on a throne.

As the story goes, after Isis’ brother-husband Osiris was slain and dismembered in 13 pieces by their jealous brother Seth, Isis re-assembled Osiris’ body and used it to impregnate herself. She then gave birth to Horus, who she hid among the reeds lest he be slaughtered by Seth. Horus grew up and defeated Seth, and then became the first ruler of a unified Egypt. Thus Isis earned her stature as the Mother of the pharaohs.

Isis also held a place at the Roman temple, despite being aforeign deity. The Festival of Isis was used by the Romans to commemorate an important battle and mark the beginning of winter. The celebration, which lasted for three days, centered around mostly-female dancers, musicians and singers.

It is interesting to note that the Mother and Son imagery of Isis and Horus — in which Isis cradles and suckles her son — is strikingly similar to that of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.

Cybele and Rhea – Ancient Mother Goddesses

Isis may have been early on the scene in Rome, but it was the emergence of two other mother goddesses, Cybele from Phrygia in ancient Anatolia (modern Turkey), and Rhea from Greece, that perhaps laid the most important foundation for the worship and celebration of motherhood in Europe.

The Phrygian goddess Cybele has roots dating back 6,000 years to Neolithic times. Phrygians celebrated a “Mother Goddess,” whose realm was the earth’s mountains and caverns, natural surroundings, and wild animals. References to Cybele as “Potnia Theron” (a term used by Homer to describe female divinities associated with animals) confirm to her ancient Neolithic roots as “Mother of the Animals.”

By around 600 BC, worship of the Phrygian Mother Goddess had been adopted into much of Asia Minor, and parts of Greece.

The Greeks named her “Cybele” and also called her “Matar” for “mother.”

At the same time, some Greeks already worshiped another mother goddess: Rhea, the Greek mother of the Gods. Rhea was born from the union of the Greek goddess Gaia, the personification of Earth, and Uranus, the sky god.

The two mother goddesses Cybele (above) and Rhea (left) were so similar in their nature and iconography that they became closely, almost interchangeably, intertwined in Greek life and culture.

Magna Mater and Rome

After a meteor shower and failed harvest seemed to predict doom for the Roman republic, Rome officially adapted Cybele as its own Mother Goddess. Eventually, the Romans and the Greeks simply referred to her as Magna Mater, the Great Mother.

The Roman festival of Megalesia, to celebrate the Magna Mater goddess, was held from April 4-10, in close proximity to:
–  the Vernal Equinox (March 20/21), and,
–  the Roman festivals of Hilaria (March 15-28), in celebration of Cybele.

During the Hilaria, games were held in honor of the Mother of the Gods. Customary during the Hilaria was a procession through the streets with a statue of the goddess carried at the head, followed by a display of elaborate arts and crafts.

Early Festivals

Earlier festivals celebrating the Anatolian Mother Goddess were said to be at times so wild that they were eventually discouraged or banned. But the more conservative celebrations of Magna Mater, Hilaria and equivalents, involved eating honey cakes and sharing flowers.

European Celebration

By the 16th Century, as Ancient Roman religious and cultural traditions in Europe and England gave way to the spread of Christianity, Hilaria celebrations became part of Laetare Sunday – the fourth Sunday of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar (the 40 days of fasting preceding Easter Sunday). Early Christians in England initially used the day to honor the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ … and the church in which they were baptized, which they knew as their “Mother Church.” This place of worship would be decorated with jewels, flowers and other offerings.

Individual Mothers Recognized

In the 17th Century, a clerical decree in England broadened the celebration from one focused on the church and the Virgin Mary, to include real Mothers, referring to the occasion as Mothering Day.

Mothering Day became an especially compassionate holiday toward the working classes of England. During this Lenten Sunday, servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their towns of origin to visit their families.

Mothering Day also provided a reprieve from the fasting and penance of Lent. Families across England enjoyed a family feast; Mothers were presented with cakes and flowers; and beloved, distant children came home to visit.

Read more about the Origins and History of Mothering Sunday in the UK.

History of American Celebration

When the first English settlers came to America, they discontinued the tradition of Mothering Day. While the British holiday would live on, the American Mother’s Day would be invented — with an entirely new history — centuries later. One explanation for the settlers’ discontinuation of Mothering Day was that they just didn’t have time; they lived under harsh conditions and were forced to work long hours in order to survive. Another possibility, however, is that Mothering Day conflicted with their Puritan ideals. Fleeing England to practice a more conservative Christianity without being persecuted, the pilgrims ignored the more secular holidays, focusing instead on a no-frills devotion to God. For example, even holidays such as Christmas and Easter were more somber occasions for the pilgrims, usually taking place in a Church that was stripped of all extraneous ornamentation.

Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870

The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’sMother’s Day Proclamation in 1870.

Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic twelve years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers.

With the following, she called for an international Mother’s Day celebrating peace and motherhood:

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears
Say firmly:
 
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.
 
“We women of one country
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
  
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says, “Disarm, Disarm!”
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!
Blood does not wipe out dishonor
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have of ten forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war.
 
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
 
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
 
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.
 
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.

The Rise & Fall of Howe’s Mother’s Day

At one point Howe even proposed converting July 4th into Mother’s Day, in order to dedicate the nation’s anniversary to peace. Eventually, however, June 2nd was designated for the celebration.

In 1873 women’s groups in 18 North American cities observed this new Mother’s holiday. Howe initially funded many of these celebrations, but most of them died out once she stopped footing the bill. The city of Boston, however, would continue celebrating Howe’s holiday for 10 more years.

Despite the decided failure of her holiday, Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would blossom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day.

Anna M. Jarvis’s Mother’s Day in 1908

After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace.

In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother’s Day celebration took place at Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The West Virginia event drew a congregation of 407 and Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnations — her Mother’s favorite flower — to adorn the patrons. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance.

Today, white carnations are used to honor deceased Mothers, while pink or red carnations pay tribute to Mothers who are still alive.

Andrew’s Methodist Church was incorporated into the International Mother’s Day Shrinein the late 1960’s, and in 1992, became a National Historic Landmark for its significance in the establishment of a national Mother’s Day celebration.

US Government Adoption

In 1908 a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Elmer Burkett, proposed making Mother’s Day a national holiday at the request of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). The proposal was defeated, but by 1909 forty-six states were holding Mother’s Day services as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.

Anna Jarvis quit working and devoted herself full time to the creation of Mother’s Day, endlessly petitioning state governments, business leaders, women groups, churches and other institutions and organizations. She finally convinced the World’s Sunday School Association to back her, a key influence over state legislators and congress. In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to officially recognize Mother’s Day, and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

The Fight Over Commercialization

The holiday flourished in the United States. Flowers, especially white carnations, became a very popular part of the celebration. One business journal, Florists Review, went so far as to print, “This was a holiday that could be exploited.” But the budding commercialization of Mother’s Day greatly disturbed Jarvis, who vociferously opposed what she perceived as a misuse of the holiday.

In 1923 Jarvis sued to stop a Mother’s Day event. In the 1930’s she was arrested for disturbing the peace at the American War Mothers group: She was protesting their sale of flowers. Jarvis also petitioned against a postage stamp featuring her Mother with a vase of white carnations and the word “Mother’s Day.” Jarvis was able to have the words “Mother’s Day” removed … but the flowers remained.

In 1938, Time Magazine ran an article about Jarvis’s fight to copyright Mother’s Day, but by then it was already too late to change the commercial trend.

In opposition to the flower industry’s exploitation of the holiday, Jarvis wrote, “What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations?” Despite her efforts, flower sales on Mother’s Day continued to grow. Florist’s Review wrote, “Miss Jarvis was completely squelched.”

Anna Jarvis died in 1948, blind, poor and childless. Jarvis would never know that it was, ironically, The Florist’s Exchange that had anonymously paid for her care.

Beijing (China) (AFP) – China is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for the Washington-based institution to add the yuan to its basket of reserve currencies, a top banking official said Thursday as Beijing seeks a greater global role for the unit.

It hopes the yuan will become part of the IMF’s “special drawing rights” (SDR) assets “in the foreseeable future”, said vice central bank governor Yi Gang.

At present, SDRs are made up of only the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

But Yi said China’s rise to become the world’s second-largest economy had made the yuan, also known as the renminbi, the world’s second largest trade financing currency and sixth most widely used transaction currency.

Including the yuan in SDRs will “undoubtedly” make the IMF’s unit more “representative” of the global economic landscape, said Yi, who is also head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

“We are evaluating the matter and actively communicating with our colleagues at the IMF,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Communist-controlled National People Congress legislature.

The global lender’s executive board reviews the basket composition every five years, with the next examination set to take place this year.

Criteria for inclusion in SDRs include both how widely a currency is used, and that it is “freely usable”.

China still keeps a tight grip on the yuan’s value, controls which led the IMF to disqualify the yuan in its last review in November 2010, but Yi said it was “developing in the direction of a freely usable currency”.

“We hope our colleagues at the IMF will take into sufficient account the progress in the international use of the yuan and include the yuan into the SDR’s currency basket in the foreseeable future,” he added.

The country has set up yuan clearing arrangements with 10 countries and regions and signed currency swap agreements with 28 central banks.

Calls for the yuan to be included into the SDR basket emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis and disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011 said such a move would promote monetary stability.

But the IMF said later in the year that it was not prepared to adjust the formula.

Digital Torque Meter Manual (Big measuring range)

• Function

Digital torque meter is an intelligent multi-functional measuring instrument which is designed for testing various kinds of torque. It main used in testing and calibrating various kinds of electric pneumatic screwdriver set, the torque of torque wrench, all kinds of products refer to testing of screw down force, parts torsion destructive testing etc. With features of simple operation, high precision, easy to carry, complete functions etc. It’s widely used in various kinds of electric, light industry, machinery manufacturing, research institutions, etc.

• Specifications

TypeIndex	With printer	ANL-1000P	ANL-2000P	ANL-3000P	ANL-5000P
	No printer	ANL-1000	ANL-2000	ANL-3000	ANL-5000
Measuring range / Division value	N·m	1000.0/0.1	2000.0/0.1	3000.0/0.1	5000.0/0.1
	Kg·cm	10210/1	20420/1	30630/1	51051/1
	Ib·in	88622/1	17724/1	26586/1	44311/1
Precision		±1%
Peak Value Sampling Frequency		2000HZ
Power		8.4V 1.2VX7 　Ni-MH Battery group
Charging Time		4～6 Hours
Continuous using time of battery		About 10 Hours
Battery life		≥300 times
Size		With printer：Host display part 230mm×95mm×180mmNo printer：Host display part 230mm×70mm×125mm
Net Weight		With printer：36KG     No printer：34KG
Power adapter		Input：AC 220V 50HZ   Output：DC 10V 300mA

 

• Main features

1. High precision, high resolution, quick sampling speed, full-screen display.
2. Adopting high precision torque sensor, with torque direction display.
3. Upper and lower limit value setting, red and green indicating lights and buzzer audible and visual alarm.
4. Three units can be switched each other (N·m、kgf·cm、Ib·in).
5. Real-time, peak, automatic peak three models of optional switch.
6. Use USB interface and PC communications, synchronous test function can connect to the computer, computer synchronous display test force graph and the detailed test process, can save, print, doing all sorts of analysis.
7. Peak holding, remove automatically function, remove time to set freely.
8. Large storage, can save 99 groups of test data.
9. Without automatic shutdown function, time can be set freely.

Overseas buyers at the opening day of the mainland’s largest trade show gave products low marks for innovation, but high marks for quality and affordability.

The twice-yearly Canton Fair, seen as a barometer for Chinese exports, failed to attract the crowds domestic traders had hoped for on its opening day on Wednesday.

For the first week of its three-week run, the fair centres on home appliances, electronic goods, construction materials and machinery. In the second week it switches to gifts and home decoration and in the third and final week it features garments, shoes and food.

“I’m not impressed by any of the electronic products I found here,” said Udomdech Tantipisit, a buyer from Thailand on his first visit to the fair.

“I had seen all of the products already … It’s hard to call them innovative.

“But the products are cheaper than in Thailand, by about 15 per cent. I’m still interested in placing orders.”

David Miller, from Australia, said he had attended the fair “for years”.

“I can see the Chinese manufacturers have been trying to improve their products’ quality,” he said. “But they are still not leaders when it comes to innovation, especially in building materials.”

He said China was still the best cheap manufacturing hub. “It’s true there are cheaper products in Thailand and Vietnam, but the quality is poorer for the type of products I source,” he said.

The operator of the fair said there would be several forums and events to promote high-end and innovative Chinese products and brands.

But many overseas buyers said the forums would be of little interest as guests would be speaking Chinese.

“I did not notice the billboards for the forums because most of the descriptions are in Chinese,” said Diana Villareal, a buyer from Brazil.

She had been searching for manufacturers of industrial vacuum cleaners through the fair’s centre for new products.

The centre is a new feature of the fair this year aimed at promoting domestic traders’ latest products, but some visitors complained that traders had been allowed to advertise old products by paying a fee.

“I thought I would be surprised by new designs and products, but it’s just advertising,” said Villareal.

Many domestic traders in building materials, construction machinery and electronic products said they had experienced a fall in orders. They said only leading companies would be able to afford research and development given the tough economic climate.

“Our overseas orders in the first three months of this year dropped 40 per cent from the same period of last year,” said a sales representative of Beijing Pustar Development, which produces steel nails.

“Our long-term clients tell us the demand keeps dropping in their countries,” she said. “The cost of steel is fine. But labour costs and rent are soaring in China. Our profit margins are already very low.

“It’s just the first day of the fair. We need to wait and see. But those overseas buyers are very picky to get lower prices, at least five per cent lower than last year,” she said.

Li Long, from the Dongguan Qishenglong Electronics, which produces Bluetooth products, said his company had also seen foreign orders drop this year due to the economy.

“We are trying to launch new products. But small factories like us cannot invest much in innovation. The efficient way is still to copycat the top selling products in the market,” he said.

DIAL TORQUE DRIVER

MANUAL

1、Capability

ANQ Dial Torque Driver is our new product, it is use for cars, autobike, machine, electronic and so on. It is use for the torque of parts, easy to handle, easy to use, can keep long time. It is a necessary tool to test the torque of maintain and check equipment set.

2、Characteristic

• Dial shows:

Shows torque value, easy to read, high accurate.

• Have a driven needle:

When you round it to a certain measure value, the driven needle will stop and you can read the accurate value.

• Two direction:

Our products can use by clockwise and counter-

clockwise.

• Design logical

Handle, long time to use.

• Easy to use:

Direct zero, anyone can use.

• It has a cross and right screw Driver head, customer can change it when you test.
• It has a lengthen pole, when customer need to use big capacity, it will help them to use better.

3、Products dimension

Long: 270(mm)

Wide: 98(mm)

High: 100(mm)

4、Model

Model	Capacity（N·m）	Accurate（%）	Long（mm）
ANQ-0.6	0.1-0.6	5%	270
ANQ-1.2	0.2-1.2
ANQ-3	0.25-3
ANQ-6	0.5-6
ANQ-9	0.75-9
ANQ-12	1-12

 

5、Operate method

• Zero before operate it, so you can get accurate value. Do like follow:

⑴Loose the screw, round the dial, the needle direct zero, then knob the screw.

⑵When direct the zero, if you need clockwise test, please turn the handle from clockwise direction, then loose it. If the needle not direct with the zero, please use the first method again. After direct with the zero, then you can turn from clockwise.

⑶When direct the zero, if you need counter- clockwise test, please turn the handle from counter-

clockwise direction, then loose it. If the needle not direct with the zero, please use the first method again. After direct with the zero, then you can turn from counterclockwise.

• When using, please let the products uprightness, or it will get low accurate,And it will short the products life.
• After using, make it zero.

6、Attention

①This products can’t use as tool.

②This products have been calibrate, not need to open the back cover, or loose the screw, it will make error.

③Don’t put the products with ache, alkali and other causticity things together.

7、Product schematic drawing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

 

       Sponge Hardness Tester Manual

Dear user:

Thank you for using LX-F type sponge durometer. Before using this instrument, please read this instruction carefully, so that you can use correctly. And please keep instructions and warranty, in case you can not understand or for some fault, it can help you .

This instruction is on the basis of the latest products, because some improvement and other changes in this manual , the description may be slightly different with actual situation, our company will reserve the right to modify any changes, That will be hard to let you know.

First, properties introduction:

In order to measure the hardness of foam, we special tailor-Made the LX-F type sponge durometer to facilitate our customers. It is suitable for the determination of soft foam, polyurethane foam rubber products’ hardness. And it will be different with the other hardness tester In the aspects of using. When using, the presser foot directly contact to the sample, and see its own weight as force measurement load.

 

Main parameters:

• Scope of pressure needle route: 0 ~ 2.5 millimeters.
• The scale value: 0-100 degrees.
• The force of pressure needle end: 550mN~4300mN（56~438.5g).

Second, the method of using:

Handheld the middle of the instrument, located the hardness tester gently on the plane specimens which is bigger than presser foot (or specimen). Reading out the value in1 seconds when durometers’ presser foot contact with the sample smoothly. And the tick of pointers is the hardness value of sample (specimen). In order to improving the accuracy of measurement, you should put the sample on a flat plate glass or plate. Each measuring point should be measured only one time, the measuring point at a distance of more than 25mm of different parts from the same sample should be more than 5 points. To take the average of measurement results, namely it’s the hardness value of the materials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third, structure schematic:

Forth, Attention:

1 When the durometer presser foot is in the free state, it points “0”.The pressure needle end and the pressure foot flat is in close contact with the glass surface, the indication should be “100” If the Durometers’ pointer can not show “0’ and “100” when checking, adjust it to “0’ and “100

2, The sample and adjustments

• The specimen thickness should be in 25mm to 30mm, when insufficient thickness of 25mm, you can stack 2 pieces. but you need to ensure the flat surface smooth, the whole thickness still should conform to the sample thickness.
• The sample size should satisfy the length and the width are larger than 100mm, the distance between the measuring point and sample edge is not less than 40mm, all measuring point are less than between 25mm, each sample points is not less than five points.
• Take out the skin of both sides of the specimen, the thickness should be uniform, smooth surface, micro-hole distribution uniformity, no mechanical damage and impurities.
• Sample test conditions according to GB/T2941-91 provisions.

3, After using the hardness tester, put it in instrument box, put in dry place to prevent moisture.

 

Subsequent: welcome users to make more precious suggestions in aspects of performance, structure, manufacturing quality etc. for our improvement and improve product quality.

 

Pressuremeter Tension Tester Manual

 

Digital pressuremeter tension tester is a kind of special equipment to measure wind towers, signal transmission and power transmission systems rope tension. It has characters of high precision, easy to operate, easy to carry, etc. also it has many kinds of test modes, convenient to testing. Users can also input gravity acceleration value to make the test more accurately.

 

• Function Characteristics

1. High precision, high resolution.
2. Five kinds of test modes, three kinds display modes—To improve test efficiency to the greatest extent.
3. N (Newton), kg (kg), lb (lb) three testing units for selection, mutual conversion.
4. Gravity acceleration setting function—Users can input the precise gravity acceleration value of testing place, make the testing and unit conversion more
5. Peak holding function—Maintain peak display until manual reset.
6. Automatic peak function—Maintain peak value can be removed automatically after 2 seconds.
7. Can set upper and lower limit value to make statistical analysis, the value more than comparative value, the alarm buzzer will alarm.
8. Data stored function, we can store 896 test values.
9. 10 minutes without operating automatic shutdown, green initiative.
10. High quality charging power,charge voltage from 240V to 100V, can adapt to domestic and foreign most areas,also have short circuit, leakage, overload protection function.
11. 2 sets of installation dimensions, adapt to domestic and foreign most test machines,convenient to installation and using.
12. Six digit Big screen display.

 

• Sensor specification table 1, force gauge specification table 2

Rope Tension	Rope Diameter(mm)	A	B	C
1T	Φ 6~Φ 14	160	30	60
2T	Φ 10~Φ 18	160	30	60
5T	Φ 16~Φ 26	180	34	68
10T	Φ 24~Φ 36	200	40	80
20T	Φ 24~Φ 36	240	46	90

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Type/Specification	HD1T	HD2T	HD5T	HD10T	HD20T
Maximum load value	10KN	20KN	50KN	100KN	200KN
Load division value	0.01KN	0.01KN	0.01KN	0.1KN	0.1KN
	0.001Mg	0.001Mg	0.001Mg	0.01Mg	0.01Mg
	0.001Klb	0.001Klb	0.001Klb	0.01Klb	0.01Klb
Error of indication		土0.5%			土1.0%
Accuracy	According to the ropes characteristics of different forms, precision is the 2%-6% of the full range.
Unit	N(KN)         Kg(Mg or T)     Lb(Klb)
Output interface	Rs232 Nine holes socket
Power	Rechargeable batteries   Battery voltage(100V-240V)
Sensor structure	S type or cylinder shape high-accuracy sensor (External)
Operating temperature	-20℃~+60℃
Transportation temperature			-20℃~+60℃
Relative temperature	10%-90% RH
Work environment	No seismic focus and corrosive medium around
Net weight	About 400g+weight of sensor
Size	230 X 66 X 36mm

• Working principle (As shown to the right)

When the two ends of analyte have a F1 tension,in the three application points were three force F2, F¹2 and F respectively.According to the principle of force, we can calculate the proportional relation between F and two ends tension force F1, after measuring the force of F, that can measure the F1 force of both ends.

• Safety precautions

Notes:

• The wrong operating may damage the instrument or cause serious accidents.The instruction has noted important matters to prevent accidents and the usage of instrument.Please read this manual carefully before using, properly kept after reading so that can read again.
• If measured the impact load, please choose the machine type whose maximum test load is twice than the tested impact load.

Warnings:

• In testing, people should wear masks and gloves to protect, in case pieces were flung off in the testing process.
• Don’t use the damaged or transmutative fixtures. Please refer to the related parameters in instruction about homemade fixture (Our company also provide various fixture, customers can choose according to need separately)
• Don’t use beyond maximun load of this instrument, otherwise the sensor can be damaged, big load may collapse the sensor to cause accident.
• When the testing value is 105% exceed the measuring value, buzzers will tweet continuously. Please remove to reduce the load quickly at this time.
• Please use the matched battery charger, or will cause circuit fault,even it will cause fire.
• Don’t use the power which is lower or higher than rated voltage of battery charger, otherwise it may cause shock or fire.
• Please don’t use wet hand pull out or insert plug, or will cause electric shock.
• Don’t pull the power wire to pull the plug, to avoid electric shocks when wire was broke.

Please use the soft cloth to clean the machine, immerse the dry cloth into water with cleaner, wring out after the removal of dust and dirt. Do not use vaporific chemical substance, such as essential oil, thinner, alcohol etc.

• Do not operate machine in the environment of below:
• Damp environment
• Dusty environment
• Using oil or chemicals place
• Place of seismic focus
• Please use and storage under the scope of prescribed temperature and humidity, otherwise may cause instrument malfunction.
• Do not disassemble, repair or reconstruction this machine. These actions may cause permanent fault.
• Name of structure

 

 

 

 

• Screen display Introductions:

1. PEAK

When display “PEAK” that is Peak mode, the screen maintain peak display until manual reset. When display “AUTO PEAK”, that is auto peak relieve mode,peak value can be removed automatically after 2 seconds. When not display “PEAK”that is Real-time load model, the value in screen will change with the change of load.

2. LO BAT

When the battery voltage is lower than 7.0V, the screen display“LO BAT”，prompting under voltage, you need recharge(When charging can still be tested)

3. MEM

“MEM” will show when information is stored, when pressing the “DATA ”button to check the stored data, “MEM”button is flashing.

4. In this instrument, push(pressure) force default shows negative（“-”）, pull force default shows positive（“+” not show).
5. CMP Comparison function

When setting compared value through CPDT (see the below corresponding explanation), this function become activate,“CMP”display. The Compared values default to full range, when using can be set separately according to need.

6. Specification above HF10K, last digit of screen”” will be “K”, together with “N” and “Kgf”, “Lbf” build up into”KN” and “T”, “Klb”, such as the following picture:

• Buttons Introductions
• “ON” Button

Pressing this button,power on, at the same time, “power” indicator light will light up(When charging the indicator light will light up), model will be displayed. After startup,before pressing the”ZERO” button, the screen may display analog signal zero-point drift numerical, just press the “ZERO” button can be cleared.

• “OFF” Button

Whenever you press this button, power off. But the stored data will not disappear.

• “DATA” Button

Press this button,the stored testing data(memory data) will display on the screen in turn, “MEM” is flashing—first show memory times, after 2 seconds automatic display memory data. Pressing button can be out of memory.

• “UNIT” Button

Press this button to execute testing units switching, revolving show N (Newton), kg (kg), lb (lb) three units. In the test data showing condition, also can complete unit conversion of the same value. Specification above HF10K, together with “K” build up into”KN” and “T”, “Klb” .

• Button

Once click this button will display “PEAK”, “AUTO PEAK” or “PEAK” disappear switch, that is peak keeping, peak remove automatically, real-time load value modes switching.

• “PRINT” Button

In the shutdown condition,press this button, then press the “ON” button, The stored testing data will output computer, communication is ok, press button to shutdown.

In “MODE” setting condition, press this button can make the flashing digits change between “0′ to “9”.

• “MEMO” Button

Press this button, the testing data displaying on screen will be stored. The stored data can be exported by “DATA” button, also can be eliminated by “ZERO” button, also can outputed by “PRINT” button to computer for analysis and print.

When the testing data is stored in machine, “MEM” display.

• “ZERO” Button

Press this button,all the testing data on screen will return to zero.

※ When the using fixture weight is more than 20% of the range or exists load which is more than 20% range, press “ZERO” button can not zero clearing, we need choose lighter fixture or relieve the added load, then zero clearing again.

※ Pressing this button for 4 seconds, all the storage data can be clear(In some condition may not remove, you should shutdown, then restart your machine again to execute the function again, that can remove all memory data)

• “MODE” Button

Detailed setting, please refer to the ” functional set” , there are many ways of setting.

• Testing
• Installing method is as follows:

1. Unscrewing screw 1, then unburden the pressure orientation block 2(As shown in figure 1)
2. Place the analyte 4 in the two supports 3 of sensor as picture(As shown in figure 2)

 

3. As shown in figure 3, using the pressure orientation block 2 and screw 1 to lock the analyte 4.       In the process of lock, using the attached hexagonal wrench downward spiral the two screw 1 slowly(Note: downward spiral one side screw half-turn, then spiral the other side screw half-turn, cycle to spin downward ), the ultimate purpose of spin down is two points as following:(As shown in figure 4)

A: Unscrew Screw 1, should make compaction orientation block 2 and sensor base in the same level to ensure the two ends H approximately equal, Measuring pressure orientation block 2 spin at both ends of the screw spin, that will be ok.

B: Using the thickness gauge in attachment, make analyte and sensor plan 5 have clearance as the following table:

Wire rope diameter（mm）	φ16～φ18	φ19～φ22	φ23～φ26
Clearance T size（mm）	0.3	1.2	2.5

C: Complete the clamping before measurement.

• Measurement methods are as follows:

First zero clearing LCD, install the analyte on sensors, stay after stability, the display numerical is the tensile force of two ends of analyte.

• MODE Function setting

In boot condition, press the “MODE” button, there will display the seted project at this time.The first displayed is“TEST”()，after 2 seconds appears digital settings window automatically.Using “PRINT”and “MEMO”button to set testing modes, then press MODE button. Appeared “ AODT”()，“LODT”()，“HIDT”()，“CPDT”() in order.Digital settings window will display automatically after their corresponding project appears2 seconds.Using PRINT and MEMO button to set the needed parameters.When “Setend”display，mean setting finished, enter into testing status.

AODT   Induction value setting

When tested simultaneously in the push-pull,setting induction value Fa. For example:push testing, numerical value exceed induction value, that means begin “push” testing, then when numerical value under induction value means “push” testing finished. On the contrary，can start the negative direction tensile test, when thenumerical value exceed induction value, means begin “pull” testing, afterwards when numerical value under induction value means “pull” testing finished.

LODT   Testing lower limit value setting

Set the lower limit testing value, value below the lower limit is beyond the range, “MIN”shows.

HIDT   Testing upper limit value setting

Set the upper limit testing value, value above the upper limit is beyond the range, “MAX”shows.

CPDT   Comparative value setting

When the testing value exceed the seted comparative value, buzzer alarm.

Cooperate LODT HIDT CPDT to use，make the instrument have the analysis judgment to test data. When users in unknown debugging(The best is in condition to shutdown, then reboot again), press the“MODE”button more than 4 seconds. After hearing “di” , loosen your hand, the instrument will return to factory defaults. The value is as following:

TEST：0001 Standard test mode, AODT, LODT：1% of full range,

HIDT, CPDT：full range.

• Storage (memory) information

1. Stored information

Only in the PEAK holding condition, after testing, press the“MEMO” button to store the information, LCD will display “MEM”, the stored data can also be preserved after shutdown.When using the“DATA”button to check the stored data,“MEM ”flashing,appeared memory times first, after 2 seconds,will appear memory numerical value automatically. Pressing button can exit memory, enter into testing.Also can enter data into the computer for analysis.This machine can be stored 896 data, when“O.E”display,means the 897 data can not be stored.

2. Memory eliminate

In general test shows state,press“ZERO”button for more than 4 seconds, all memory data will be removed.“MEM”disappear.

This machine can be connected with computers,enter testing data into the computer.Check and print test times, average, minimum and maximum value, and judging test results conform to required setting or not.

• Gravity acceleration value modification

Users can input the precise gravity acceleration value of testing place. Holding on pressing the button before boot, then press“ON” button,then can enter into gravity acceleration value. In setting interface, after inputting new gravity acceleration value, press“MODE”button,system shutdown,restart it can be use again.

• Method of coreection

Please use standard weights regularly to confirm whether the force gauge display accurately,if not accurate, correct by measuring professionals as the following ways:

• In Shutdown condition, long press the“DATA”button, also long time press the“ON”button at the same time(Don’t add load),display“type”on LCD, after 2 seconds will display a default type.
• Press the “PRINT” button to change number until the type of force gauge display,press button to make sure, after 2 seconds displaying“sety”, will show the 4 digit gravity acceleration value.Then press“MODE”button display 6 digit figure, after figure stabilized, then press the“MODE”button to ensure.Showing“noload”, will display 6 digit figure again after 2 seconds.
• Loading the corresponding full load value of this type(Standard weights), after figure stabilized, press “MODE”button, display “full”, showing “setend”after 2 seconds, then shutdown automatically, finish correction.
• Other matters need attention

 

 

Power            supply	Symptom	Reason or phenomena	Dispose
	Press on button, no display	No power	Charge
	Can not charge	Charging specifications are not suitable to converters	Make sure: AC110V-DC 9.4V, AC220V-DC 9.4V
Testing value	Testing value is not correct	Big error	Weight correct reading value(Refer to correction method)
Others	Parameters confusion	MODE error setting	Press MODE button return to factory defaults
	Accidentally system halted	No reaction when press any button	Use wire to contact the 6 foot and 9 foot of Data interface,   short circuit for a short while, then boot again

 

 

• Data interface (9PIN)

Lead foot	Fuction
PIN4 PIN5	Contact signal
PIN2 PIN7 PIN8 PIN9	External sensor
PIN2 PIN3 PIN9	Rs232 Interface to computer

 

 

 

 

 

• Shape and size figure
• Accessories list

Type ype Qua. Name	Auxiliary plugs	Computer connections	Manual	Inspection certificate	Charger	Software
HD 1 T	1	1	1	1	1	1
HD 2 T	1	1	1	1	1	1
HD 5 T	1	1	1	1	1	1
HD 10 T	1	1	1	1	1	1
HD 20 T	1	1	1	1	1	1

China Import and Export Fair Canton Fair that is, referred to the Canton Fair, the English name of Canton fair. Was founded in the spring of 1957, held in Guangzhou every spring and autumn, from 2014 has fifty-seven years of history, China is now the longest history and the highest level, the largest and most complete varieties, the largest attendance and business turnover. The best comprehensive international trade event. Since the 101st since April 2007, the Chinese Export Commodities Fair was renamed as China Import and Export Fair, an export platform into a single two-way import and export trading platform. October 15, 2012, the opening of the 112th session of the Canton Fair, despite the global market is still in a constant state cooling effect, but the traditional advantages of China’s foreign trade development has not been fundamentally weakened.
China Import and Export Fair [1] by 48 trading delegations, there are thousands of good credit, strong foreign trade companies, production enterprises, research institutes, foreign investment / owned enterprises, private participation.
China Import and Export Fair Trade flexible way, in addition to the traditional transaction look like, but also organized trade fairs (VirtualExpo, Online Exhibition). Fair leans to export trade, but also the import business, you can also carry out various forms of economic and technological cooperation and exchanges, commodity inspection, insurance, transportation, advertising, consulting and other business activities. Businessmen from around the world are gathering in Guangzhou, exchanging business information and developing friendship.
Fair was held in three phases, each has a different range of exhibitors.
Phase I: large-scale machinery and equipment, small machinery, bicycles, motorcycles, auto parts, chemical products, hardware, tools, vehicles (Outdoor), Construction Machinery (Outdoor), household appliances, consumer electronics, electrical and electronic products, computers and communication products, lighting products, construction and decoration materials, sanitary equipment, Pavilion
Phase II: bicycle, household ceramics, technical ceramics, home decorations, glass handicrafts, furniture, Weaving, Rattan and Iron Arts, garden products, stone products (outdoor), household goods, personal care appliances, bathroom supplies, watches glasses, toys, gifts and premiums, holiday items, tou (109 th New in)
Phase III: men and women, children’s wear, lingerie, sportswear and casual wear, Furs Leather Down and Related Products, Fashion Accessories and accessories, home textiles, textile raw fabrics, carpets and tapestries, food, medicine and health products, medical equipment, Disposables and Dressings, sports and leisure goods, office stationery, shoes, bags.
Meba’s products belong to Phase I of electrical and electronic products, we took part in this fair this time and with great harvest!

At the core of this development is wide bandgap material made of silicon carbide with qualities superior to standard semiconductor materials. Power inverters convert direct current into the alternating current that powers the vehicle. The Oak Ridge inverter achieves much higher power density with a significant reduction in weight and volume.

“Wide bandgap technology enables devices to perform more efficiently at a greater range of temperatures than conventional semiconductor materials,” said ORNL’s Madhu Chinthavali, who led the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Group on this project. “This is especially useful in a power inverter, which is the heart of an electric vehicle.”

Specific advantages of wide bandgap devices include: higher inherent reliability; higher overall efficiency; higher frequency operation; higher temperature capability and tolerance; lighter weight, enabling more compact systems; and higher power density.

Additive manufacturing helped researchers explore complex geometries, increase power densities, and reduce weight and waste while building ORNL’s 30-kilowatt prototype inverter.

“With additive manufacturing, complexity is basically free, so any shape or grouping of shapes can be imagined and modeled for performance,” Chinthavali said. “We’re very excited about where we see this research headed.”

Using additive manufacturing, researchers optimized the inverter’s heat sink, allowing for better heat transfer throughout the unit. This construction technique allowed them to place lower-temperature components close to the high-temperature devices, further reducing the electrical losses and reducing the volume and mass of the package.

Another key to the success is a design that incorporates several small capacitors connected in parallel to ensure better cooling and lower cost compared to fewer, larger and more expensive “brick type” capacitors.

The research group’s first prototype, a liquid-cooled all-silicon carbide traction drive inverter, features 50 percent printed parts. Initial evaluations confirmed an efficiency of nearly 99 percent, surpassing DOE’s power electronics target and setting the stage for building an inverter using entirely additive manufacturing techniques.

Building on the success of this prototype, researchers are working on an inverter with an even greater percentage of 3-D printed parts that’s half the size of inverters in commercially available vehicles. Chinthavali, encouraged by the team’s results, envisions an inverter with four times the power density of their prototype.

Others involved in this work, which was to be presented today at the Second Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications in Knoxville, were Curt Ayers, Steven Campbell, Randy Wiles and Burak Ozpineci.

Research for this project was conducted at ORNL’s National Transportation Research Center and Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, DOE user facilities, with funding from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.