"Bilateral" adaptive cruise control could help reduce traffic jams

In 2007, mathematicians from the University of Exeter showed that the freeway traffic jams that appear to occur for no reason are actually the result of a "backward traveling wave" initiated when a driver slows below a critical speed. This sets off a chain reaction that ultimately results in traffic further down the line coming to a complete standstill. An MIT professor has now developed an algorithm that could be applied to a modified Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system to help eliminate such traffic jams.

Last year Honda started to conduct public-road testing of technology that detects whether a person's driving style is likely to create traffic jams and encourages them to adopt a driving style that would avoid this. At the time, Honda said it would be possible to further improve this system by connecting it to cloud servers that would allow a vehicle's ACC system to automatically sync with the driving patterns of vehicles further up the road.

Berthold Horn, a professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has come up with a somewhat similar approach that would also rely on a vehicle's ACC system, but without the need for the system to connect to the cloud. However, it would require current ACC systems, which only monitor the speed and distance of vehicles in front, to be modified to also take into account the speed and distance of the vehicle traveling directly behind.

Horn describes this system as "bilateral control," as it looks both forward and backward at the same time. By gathering this information, the ACC system is able to keep the car at roughly the midpoint between the vehicle in front and the vehicle behind. In this way, the system is able to avoid slamming on the brakes too hard if the car in front brakes, thereby avoiding causing a large disruption to the car behind that is then amplified as it is passed onto vehicles following behind.

The major problem facing the implementation of the algorithm is the technology required. Currently, ACC systems are generally only available as an option on high-end vehicles as they rely on relatively expensive sensors such as radar or laser rangefinders. Additionally, these only monitor the speed and distance of the vehicle in front, so Horn's system would require a second system to be installed to monitor vehicles traveling behind the car.

However, Horn does suggest that alternative cheaper technologies, such as digital cameras, could be employed to bring his algorithm to the roads. But these have their own drawbacks.

“There are several techniques,” Horn says. “One is using binocular stereo, where you have two cameras, and that allows you to get distance as well as relative velocity. The disadvantage of that is, well, two cameras, plus alignment. If they ever get out of alignment, you have to recalibrate them.”

Horn's system would also only be effective if a large percentage of vehicles on the road were using it, meaning it probably won't be helping to cut traffic jams anytime soon.

Horn presented his algorithm at the IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transport Systems held earlier this month.

Source: MIT,University of Exeter

Rebels in Colombia Hit Energy Sector Hard in 'Black October'

According to an article published on the Wall Street Journal,

"Colombia's energy sector, the main driver of its economy, is limping away from "Black October," a term coined by Marxist rebels who set forth on a month-long blitzkrieg, attacking oil pipelines, coal trains, electricity plants and transmission towers in a show of strength during peace talks with the government.

There were roughly two dozen attacks during October on high-profile targets like oil pipelines, according to security analysts and companies. That was more than double the number of attacks in September and by far the highest for any month this year, according to analysts. The Colombian government usually comes out with a count months later. Colombia's army declined to comment.

Few parts of Colombia's energy infrastructure escaped unscathed. State-controlled power-grid company ISA said 19 of its transmission towers that dot the countryside were blown up in October, compared with 11 such attacks in the previous nine months combined.

Colombia's second-longest oil pipeline, the Cano Limon, was attacked at least three times last month, bringing pumping to a halt and leading locals to again start calling it "the flute" due to all the holes the rebels have blasted in the above-ground pipeline over the past 20 years.

The Cano Limon attacks have also forced the delay of a much-anticipated grand opening of Colombia's newest oil pipeline, the $1.6 billion Bicentennial pipeline, because it can't operate if the Cano Limon line isn't also pumping oil.

The timing of the rebel assault comes as Colombia's economy struggles with up-and-down growth rates and a widening gap between the rich and the poor that has led this year to a wave of violent, sometimes deadly protests by farmers and other low-income workers. In some cases, the protesters' demands run parallel with those of the FARC, mainly seeking better conditions for agrarian workers and criticizing foreign companies' influence in Colombia, Latin America's fourth-largest economy.

The peace talks were supposed to "last for months, not years," President Juan Manuel Santos promised when the talks were launched in October 2012. But the talks are now beginning their second year and rebel and government negotiators have so far only come to agreement on one of five talking points, that of land reform. The two sides are reportedly still far apart on important issues such as integrating rebels into the political arena once they would lay down their arms".

Pentagon Expects to Build a Bomber on a Budget

   According to an article published today on the Wall Street Journal,"the plane of the future, dubbed the "Long-Range Strike Bomber," is the first weapon system to be designed in the new age of military austerity. Flight range, firepower and technological prowess are no longer the only features that matter. The Pentagon says it now gives equal weight to a far more pedestrian point: cost".

"After a decade of rapidly rising defense spending, Congress capped the Pentagon budget, forcing nearly a trillion dollars in cuts by 2023.

Defense officials worry that those cuts could threaten many modernization programs, like the bomber.

Air Force leaders believe the new aircraft is critical to America's ability to project force in far-flung parts of the world, particularly in Asia, where China is investing heavily in its military and long distances between U.S. bases diminish the effectiveness of its short-range fighters.

The Air Force hopes to get the new nuclear-capable bomber airborne in the middle of the next decade—a daunting task considering the history of such ambitions.

Delays, technical glitches and cost overruns have beset nearly every Air Force project in the past three decades.

Aging and expensive to maintain now, only 16 B-2s are combat ready (at $135,000 per hour of flight), and many of the remaining 138 B-52 and B-1 bombers are heading for retirement.

The military fears being stuck with a small fleet, as many in the service believe future conflicts will require lightning quick responses, with the ability to strike newly identified targets in distant lands within hours while at the same time penetrating a bristling range of air-defenses.

For supporters of the new bomber, only a long-range stealthy aircraft offers that capability.

"In the future, what our president is going to need is options, options to project power anywhere in the world within hours," said Major Gen. Steve Kwast, who is charged with helping shape the Air Force's long-term strategy. "This Long-Range Strike Bomber is going to be that option the president can use when there are no other option".

UK Monday Newspaper Round-up

A string of oil and gas firms is expected to float on the junior stock market in the coming months as they tap in to a growing appetite for IPO's). Accountancy firm EY's latest report on the sector's smaller companies shows flotation activity has already propelled business confidence to its highest level in 18 months, although the feel-good factor is so far confined to a small number of players, The Scotsman explains. 

BT is today accused of making profits of almost £5bn over and above the level deemed acceptable under regulator Ofcom's own rules. The damning accusation comes in a report written by research firm Frontier Economics and commissioned by Vodafone. It states that since 2005 British consumers and businesses have lost out as BT's returns for regulated services overall have been consistently above a benchmark rate, The Daily Mail says. 

Britain's business leaders have raised their forecasts for the country's economic growth through to 2016 today, lending further weight to claims that the recovery is gaining momentum. On the eve of its annual conference, the Confederation of British Industry said it had upped its growth forecast for 2013 to 1.4%, from 1.2% in August, and expected output to build steadily. While growth is expected to slow in the fourth quarter of this year, the CBI said the economic recovery would gather pace over the next two years, upping its 2014 forecast to 2.4% from 2.3% in August, while predicting that growth would hit 2.6% in 2015, according to The Daily Mail.

Public investment in the US has hit its lowest level since demobilisation after the Second World War because of Republican success in stymieing President Barack Obama's push for more spending on infrastructure,science and education. Gross capital investment by the public sector has dropped to just 3.6% of US output compared with a postwar average of 5%, according to figures compiled by the Financial Times, as austerity bites in the world's largest economy.

Britain's membership of the EU brings a net benefit of 3,000 pounds a year to every household, employers' organisation the CBI will say on Monday as it begins a three-year campaign to stop the country sliding towards the exit. The largest  business group, which is holding its annual conference in London, will attempt to rally corporate Britain around remaining in the EU and reforming it from within, the Financial Times explains. 

Source: LiveCharts

Fitch revised Spain outlook to Stable from Negative

Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on Spain to stable from negative, due to its recent policy track record with regard to fiscal consolidation, the country's economic recovery, its banking sector restructuring and improving financing conditions. 

The credit agency announced the revision in a report published on Friday after the European market close and affirmed Spain's rating at 'BBB'. 

"Spain has improved its policy track record in 2012-13," Fitch said, commenting that the general government deficit/gross domestic product ratio has been reduced by 2.5% despite cyclical headwinds. 

Fitch also mentioned that the banking sector restructuring has "advanced well" since 2012 and noted that Spain exited the recession sooner than the agency had expected. 

Though Fitch does forecast that the Spanish economy will begin to recover in 2014, it noted that performance to "remain very weak" with an estimate of 0.5% real GDP growth in 2014. 

According to the report, the stable outlook reflects the fact that Fitch believes "upside and downside risks to the ratings are balanced", that Spain will retain market access and that the risk of fragmentation of the Eurozone "remains low". 

Source: LiveCharts

HSBC Registered 10% rise profits before tax

FTSE 100-listed global banking giant HSBC registered a 10 per cent rise in underlying profits before tax in the third quarter of 2013 to reach 5,056m dollars (3.14bn pounds). 

During the same period underlying revenue was broadly unchanged, at $15,588m (£9,682m), versus the $15,661m achieved in 2012. 

'Clean' underlying revenue came in at $15,571m, ahead of the consensus estimate of $15,335m and Nomura's forecast of $15,145m. Meanwhile, the clean underlying profit before tax was $5,809m (consensus: $5,535m, Nomura: $5,509m).

In regards to the most current trading conditions, HSBC said that they were "in line with the trends we experienced during the first nine months of the year". It also confirmed that it is one of a number of firms being investigated by the FCA and other regulators in relation with its dealings in the foreign exchange market. 

Net interest margin down

Net interest margins decreased in the nine months to September 30th when compared with the same period in 2012 as a result of significantly lower gross yields on customer lending, including balances within 'Assets held for sale', the lender explained. 

HSBC added $400m of additional "sustainable cost savings" across all regions, taking the annualised total to $4.5bn since the start of 2011. That already exceeds the bank's target for the end of 2013.

The cost-efficiency ratio, which compares overheads with income, fell back to 57%.

Operating expenses higher

Underlying operating expenses in the latest quarter fell by 4% to $9,572m. 

However, excluding notable items, operating expenses increased reflecting higher investment expenditure, wage inflation and litigation and regulatory-related costs.

The bank's core tier-1 ratio stood at 13.3% at the quarter-end, while its annualised return on equity (RoE) improved by 1.5 percentage points in the latest nine-month period to 10.4%, compared with 8.9% in the equivalent period in 2012.

Reasons for optimism on outlook for global growth 

Regarding the outlook, management referenced "reasons for optimism" with some evidence of a broadening recovery. HSBC was positive on China, the US and the UK, although Latin America was expected to remain slow. Nevertheless, at one point in its statement HSBC added that "regulatory uncertainty remains".

HSBC's forecasts for global growth remained constant at 2.0% in 2013 and 2.6% in 2014.

Eurozone Investor Sentiment hit a two-and-a-half year high in November

Eurozone investor sentiment hit a two-and-a-half year high in November after registering the largest increase amidst all regions, according to data reported on Monday by Sentix GmbH. 

Specifically, the Sentix investor confidence for the euro area rose 3.2 points to 9.3. That was its highest reading since May 2011. 

"Investors have become especially upbeat concerning the economic situation," Sentix said in the report. 

Also worth noting, the six-month expectations gauge for Germany reached its highest level since the survey began in 2009. Sentix did mention that the US and Japan made negative contributions, although sentiment in the emerging markets remains positive. 

Source: LiveCharts

Eurozone Manufacturing PMI Shows 'Frustratingly Slow' Recovery, MARKIT SAYS

The modest and fragile Eurozone manufacturing recovery continued at the start of the fourth quarter, although it remained "by all measures frustratingly slow", according to Markit chief economist Chris Williamson. 

Thus, the final Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) for October edged up to 51.3, from September's reading of 51.1. 

Although Markit noted that the growth was "modest overall", it pointed out that only two of the nations covered by the survey, France and Greece, saw deteriorating conditions. 

At the individual country level, Ireland climbed to the top of the list, surpassing the Netherlands. Growth hit a near two-and-a-half year peak in Austria and also moved higher in Germany and Spain. However, the rates of contraction in France and Greece were the sharpest seen in four and three months, respectively. 

New export orders rose for the fourth consecutive month - and remained near August's 27-month high - despite which employment in the Eurozone´s manufacturing sector declined for the 21st month in a row. 

Williamson noted that despite the somewhat "disappointing" lack of a steeper pick-up in the last two months, "the recent growth revealed by the survey indicates a marked turnaround in the health of the manufacturing economy". 
However, Markit's chief economist seemed daunted by the slow pace of the stabilization. "While the recovery goes on, it is by all measures frustratingly slow. 

"In particular, the modest gains in output and new orders remain insufficient to encourage firms to take on more staff," Williamson said. 

Source:  LiveCharts