In engineering, electromechanics combines the sciences of electromagnetism of electrical engineering and mechanics. Mechatronics is the discipline of engineering that combines mechanics, electronics and information technology.

Explanation

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Electromechanical devices are those that combine electrical and mechanical parts. These include electric motors and mechanical devices powered by them, such as calculators and adding machines; switches, solenoids, relays, crossbar switches and stepping switches.

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NPR Topics: Business

Food Documentary Debate Misses Mainstream Farmers
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0400
Food Inc., a documentary film about the modern agricultural industry, is a hit with big-city movie reviewers, small organic farmers and vegetarians. The movie argues that large-scale agriculture produces inexpensive meat and vegetables, but imposes high costs on the environment and Americans' health. But ordinary farmers — the people who grow the lion's share of what America eats — have largely been left out of the mainstream media debate over Food Inc. Frank Morris, of member station KCUR in Kansas City, drove out to hear what farmers are saying.
Will Madoff's Fate Comfort Victims?
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0400
Host Scott Simon talks to New York Times business columnist Joe Nocera about the Bernie Madoff sentencing and what it means for victims of the Ponzi scheme.
Apple Warns Some iPhones May Have Heat Issues
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:24:00 -0400
Apple Inc. has issued an advisory that some 3G and 3GS iPhones may not do well in hot conditions. Apple is telling owners to keep the phones in places where the temperature is below 95 degrees.

Latest financial news - CNNMoney.com

Porsche-Volkswagen showdown looms
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:50:37 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
Japan backs dollar as reserve currency
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:45:13 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
Bacon entrepreneurs bring in the bucks
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:33:58 -0400
Tired of hearing that everything tastes like chicken? So are Seattle entrepreneurs Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow. They want it all to taste like bacon.

The Financial Page

James Surowiecki: Caveat Mortgagor
James Surowiecki Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0000
In 1937, the Massengill Company began selling a health product called Elixir Sulfanilamide, which contained one of the antibiotic sulfa drugs. Unfortunately, it also contained diethylene glycol, a solvent that happens to be deadly to humans. In a matter of months, the elixir killed more than a hundred consumers. The . . .
Will gas prices pump up inflation?
James Surowiecki Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0000
How fast the world turns. Only a few months ago, as consumer spending evaporated and commodity prices collapsed, investors and policymakers were haunted by the spectre of deflation. Today, with the economy showing some signs of bottoming and commodity prices back on the rise, the worry du jour has suddenly . . .
James Surowiecki: Argentina's great coin shortage.
James Surowiecki Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0000
As you walk into the Retiro train station in downtown Buenos Aires these days, you pass a long line of people snaking their way from the station’s entrance to a single window. At first glance, this is unsurprising: what’s more common than a queue in a train station? But there . . .

Reuters: Business News

GM Europe head says to sell Opel to Magna soon: report
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:59:29 -0400
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors Europe President Carl-Peter Forster expects to sell German unit Opel to Canadian auto parts supplier Magna soon, he told a German newspaper.
Medici lawyer says Kohn didn't get Madoff payments
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:17:20 -0400
NEW YORK/VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian fund manager Sonja Kohn did not receive any kickbacks from Bernard Madoff to steer Bank Medici customer funds to the swindler's investment business, a Medici lawyer said on Friday.
Teck to sell 17 percent stake to China for C$1.74 billion
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:29:07 -0400
TORONTO (Reuters) - Teck Resources said on Friday it will sell a 17.2 percent equity stake to state-owned China Investment Corp in a deal that will help the Canadian miner pay down its debt while expanding China's portfolio of commodity investments.

ABC News: Money

For Investors, Cash Is King
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:39:03 -0400
Burned by the market, many seek cash assets for long-term portfolios.
WATCH: Frugal Fireworks
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:43:35 -0400
All Bets Off for Russia's Casinos?
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:58:25 -0400
More than 400,000 out of work as Russia's casinos close under anti-vice law.

BBC News | Business | UK Edition

BT offers holidays for pay cuts
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:28:17 -0000
BT offers staff the chance of long holidays in return for a big pay cut in a bid to reduce costs during the economic downturn.
Rogue trades cost oil broker $10m
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:19:10 -0000
A rogue trader at a London-based oil brokerage causes his employer to lose $10m (£6m) after making unauthorised trades.
BA to cut spending by one fifth
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:52:08 -0000
British Airways says it is to reduce capital spending by 20% as it faces falling passenger numbers.

The Economist: Business

Foreign oil firms in Iraq: Waiting game
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:54:22 -0000
The Western giants hold out for a better offerFOR some conspiracy theorists, the war in Iraq was always about gaining control of the world’s third-largest oil reserves for Western energy firms. True or not, things are not panning out that way. This week most big oil companies turned their backs on the first opening of Iraqi production to foreign investors since Saddam Hussein nationalised the industry 37 years ago. The oil ministry, which wants to lift crude output from 2.4m barrels a day (b/d) last year to 6m b/d by 2017, hoped a much-delayed licensing round for eight of the country’s biggest oil- and gasfields would bring international firms—with their capital and expertise—back to Iraq. But the televised auction proved embarrassing for Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq’s oil minister. Just one contract was awarded, to a joint venture between BP and China’s CNPC, which beat a bid from Exxon Mobil and Petronas of Malaysia. That contract covers the Rumaila oilfield, Iraq’s second largest. BP and its partner must now increase its output from 1m b/d to 2.85m b/d within six years. Their reward will be $2 a barrel, half the amount BP originally sought. ...
The recession spurs self-service: Help yourself
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:54:22 -0000
Customers are working for companies free of charge, and they like itAMERICANS worried that cheap labour in faraway countries threatens jobs at home should redirect their gaze to the mirror. Yes, companies are outsourcing jobs—to their customers. They are steering ever greater numbers to ATMs instead of tellers, websites instead of telephone hotlines and automated checkouts instead of manned registers. The recession is making them even keener.Self-service is on the rise in industries from retailing and entertainment to travel and telecommunications. According to VDC Research Group, retailing, hospitality and health-care firms spent $2.8 billion on self-service technology in 2008. Between now and 2013 their investment will grow by around 15% a year. Speech-recognition technology, which permits automated responses to telephone calls, is also faring well. Datamonitor Group, a consultancy, expects spending on that to rise by around 8% in 2009. ...
Corporate bankruptcies in America: The boom in busts
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:54:22 -0000
Bankruptcies are at near-record levelsIT IS not quite the Armageddon that was being predicted in the weeks after Lehman Brothers became America’s biggest corporate bankruptcy last September. But this recession is still on course to be second only to the Depression in terms of companies going bust. Measured by the firm’s assets at the time of filing for protection from their creditors, the past year has seen five of the eight biggest bankruptcy filings in the history of American business—with Washington Mutual, Thornburg Mortgage, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler joining Lehman on the list.A good indicator of the awfulness of the downturn is the market for junk bonds, which surely deserve the name again after nearly two decades of attempts to rebrand them as safer-sounding “high-yield debt”. At the end of May 9.2% of high-yield debt issues (globally, but dominated by American paper) had defaulted during the previous 12 months, compared with less than 1% in the year to December 2007. The failure rate is on course to hit 13.8% in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Moody’s, a credit-rating agency, after which it should start to decline. That would be slightly higher than in the two previous recessions, when the percentage of defaults peaked at 10.9% (in January 2002) and 12.8% (in June 1991), but below the all-time high of around 16.3% in 1933. ...

Business News - UPI.com

British Airways to slash 3,700 more jobs
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:03:01 -0400
LONDON, July 4 (UPI) -- British Airways says it is looking to cut 3,700 jobs in addition to 2,500 positions already trimmed and will reduce capital spending.
Real estate goes through roof in China
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:16:37 -0400
BEIJING, July 3 (UPI) -- Real estate prices in major cities in China have suddenly gone from bust to boom, a leading real estate expert said.
Back to school budgets: A teaching moment
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:49:28 -0400
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 3 (UPI) -- Back to school shoppers are apt to be more discerning this year, as they stretch their dollars in the midst of a recession, a retail expert in Texas said.
Darling asks bankers to return to earth
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:24:21 -0400
LONDON, July 3 (UPI) -- Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said some bankers have been "too complacent" about changing pay structures that encourage risk.
UPI NewsTrack Business
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:06:51 -0400
Asian markets mostly lower Friday ... Bank fees rise, bailout notwithstanding ... Government bluffing, bondholders say ... Michigan on path to lose 310,700 jobs ... News from United Press International.
Bank fees rise, bailout notwithstanding
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:57:33 -0400
NEW YORK, July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. banks are increasing fees for a variety of transactions in spite of massive taxpayer bailouts, industry research groups said.

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