Popularity of patent commercialization policies: Iran as a case

Commercialization of technologies has attracted increasing attention over the past years due to its role in improving national competitiveness. Iran has not been an exception as the country's policy-makers have been actively engaged in crafting national policies to facilitate and promote commercialization of technologies. The popularity of the existing policies in this field, however, has not been properly researched. Our research, by following a survey study methodology, aims for the first time to address this gap. The study looks at popularity of governmental policies aimed at supporting commercialization of patented technologies in Iran, based on the careful study of 10 cases of successfully commercialized patented technologies in Iran. Our results indicate that the commercialization process of the studied patented technologies was very much affected by some company/technology-specific characteristics. The study shows that the two policy measures with the highest perceived popularity were the financial supports and the services offered by incubation centers. Our results also show that some of the existing supportive policy measures did not serve the intended purposes and some other measures need to be fine-tuned, as far as the studied cases are concerned, such as frequently held invention and innovation exhibitions and the government-supported media coverage.     

新型胶轮机车运行方式在大坡度盾构隧道施工中的应用

在传统地铁隧道施工中,有轨机车为主要运输方式,近年来有少量项目采用多功能胶轮机车运送施工材料。本文依托莫斯科地铁第三换乘环线东段大直径盾构项目案例,介绍胶轮机车的结构特点、使用优势、弧面运行时的轮胎保护措施。实践证明,胶轮机车在地铁隧道施工中具有很好的技术经济性,改进后的运行方式使其在管片弧面运行时性能更稳定。     

HealthSit: Designing Posture-Based Interaction to Promote Exercise during Fitness Breaks

This research was motivated by a desire to help office workers change their sedentary behavior because a prolonged sedentary posture increases the risks of developing musculoskeletal injuries and chronic diseases, thus threatening their physical and psychological well-being. Regular breaks involving low-effort physical activities are effective in reducing the adverse impacts of inactive behaviors. In this article, we present the design of a posture-based interactive system called HealthSit, which was developed to promote a short lower-back stretching exercise during work breaks. Through a within-subject study involving 30 office workers, the effectiveness of HealthSit in facilitating the stretching exercise was examined by making comparisons between an interaction-aided, a guided, and a self-directed exercise mode. We also used HealthSit as a research probe to investigate the interactivity of the system in enhancing user experience and the psychological benefits of the fitness breaks. Compared with the other two modes, the interaction-aided exercise mode significantly improved the quality of the stretching exercise and enhanced motivation and emotional state. These results confirm the effectiveness of HealthSit in supporting fitness breaks as a new workplace technology. Based on our study, a set of design implications have been derived for technology-assisted fitness work breaks.     

薄板坯连铸连轧流程专利分析

以Orbit专利分析平台为主要研究工具，从专利文献中抽取专利数量指标和专利质量指标来构建评价薄板坯连铸连轧技术竞争力和企业创新能力的指标体系，结合其他文献研究的成果，从产业发展的实际出发做出分析，系统揭示了自薄板坯连铸连轧技术开发以来的技术进步、专利布局、发展演化、国内外发展现状、技术竞争实力等，有助于在专利文献提供的线索启发下开发新产品、新技术，从而有效提高研发效率。     

Effect of practice on similar and dissimilar skills in patient transfer through training with a robot patient

With the number of hospital stays increasing, nurses require more training to handle a variety of patients. However, time for training in nursing schools is limited, and students lack the opportunity to practice on a diverse variety of patients. Using a robot to simulate actual patients, this study observes the learning transfer effect of practice on practice-similar and practice-dissimilar skills from one patient to another, and investigates which types of practice suit which kinds of training. An experiment was conducted by administering a pre-test, practice, a post-test, and a transfer test to two groups (N?=?8), each with different practice-related skills. The evaluation used a checklist covering required skills that were either similar or dissimilar across groups, depending on their practice. The effect of practice can be observed through a comparison of skills similar to one group but dissimilar to the other. The results show that practice facilitates learning transfer on similar skills but not, or to a lesser degree, on dissimilar skills. Furthermore, if skills needed to handle given symptoms are unfamiliar or inaccessible to students, practice related to those symptoms should be emphasized through simulated training with robots.     

仿人机器人的机械结构设计与控制系统构建

文章研发了一款适用于机器人教育教学的多功能、多用途、普适性的19自由度的小型仿人机器人,主要完成了该机器人的机械结构设计与控制系统构建工作[1]。所设计的机器人机械结构可靠性高、工艺性好、结构紧凑、样式新颖；所构建的机器人控制系统鲁棒性高、稳定性好、控制准确、反应迅速,圆满地实现了预期的设计任务。通过对优缺点的综合对比,得出组合式构型方案在功能性、实用性和稳定性等方面具有明显优势,有望通过后续软件系统的开发提高其运动效能,真正在青少年机器人教育中发挥重要作用[2]。     

CME Forum: a response to “Construction flow index: a metric of production flow quality in construction”

The study of types of flow in construction is a relatively new field. This paper reviews the work of Sacks et al. and reveals that they have applied a production-line metaphor with recognition of two production flows. Process flow: locations are equated with products moving down a production line. Operations flow: work crews are equated to work stations. Their work proposes an index of the quality of production flow in construction, but the research design has three significant flaws: the skilled interpretation of flow-line charts is not in turn applied to the interpretation of their example charts; the conceptual framework does recognize that the underlying metaphor requires levels of detail in both location and task that is not supported in their analysis. The meaning of “quality of flow” in this context is not defined. This debate raises important epistemological questions for those working in lean construction and location-based management. While the concept of “production flow quality” is important, the Sacks et al. methodology does not address the detailed planning of individual crews. It is only possible to apply the production-line metaphor if micro-management is adopted as detailed planning.     

Human–Cyber–Physical Systems (HCPSs) in the Context of New-Generation Intelligent Manufacturing

An intelligent manufacturing system is a composite intelligent system comprising humans, cyber systems, and physical systems with the aim of achieving specific manufacturing goals at an optimized level. This kind of intelligent system is called a human–cyber–physical system (HCPS). In terms of technology, HCPSs can both reveal technological principles and form the technological architecture for intelligent manufacturing. It can be concluded that the essence of intelligent manufacturing is to design, construct, and apply HCPSs in various cases and at different levels. With advances in information technology, intelligent manufacturing has passed through the stages of digital manufacturing and digital-networked manufacturing, and is evolving toward new-generation intelligent manufacturing (NGIM). NGIM is characterized by the in-depth integration of new-generation artificial intelligence (AI) technology (i.e., enabling technology) with advanced manufacturing technology (i.e., root technology); it is the core driving force of the new industrial revolution. In this study, the evolutionary footprint of intelligent manufacturing is reviewed from the perspective of HCPSs, and the implications, characteristics, technical frame, and key technologies of HCPSs for NGIM are then discussed in depth. Finally, an outlook of the major challenges of HCPSs for NGIM is proposed.     

“双一流”背景下专业基础课程培养创新人才

在“双一流”背景下,结合我校“工学并举”的办学特色,于电子技术基础专业课程中探索创新人才培养方法。根据“双一流”建设要求,更新教师和学生的观念,引导学生自主学习、主动实践、主动探索；采用“互联网+课堂”的教学模式,利用“课前(预习+问题)+课上(讲授+讨论)+课后(复习+举例)+课余(大作业+竞赛)”的互动模式；引入相关科技前沿,注重启发式教学,应用案例教学法,创设问题情境,开阔学生视野,培养学生的创新意识。通过科技竞赛等活动,促进学生的自主学习能力和实践能力,培养他们敢于尝试不怕失败的创新精神。     

Scalable classification of nanoparticles: A proof of principle for process design

Nanoparticles like quantum confined ZnS semiconductor nanocrystals, exhibit unique structure-property relationships. Narrow particle size distributions (PSDs) become one of the most important factors to tailor product performance. Size selective precipitation has already been proven to be an effective post processing strategy for ZnS nanoparticles. It is based on the titration of a poor liquid into a stable dispersion, which leads to the preferred flocculation of larger particles. Afterwards, these flocks must be separated from the continuous phase. While on lab scale the formed flocks can be easily separated by centrifugation from the fine fraction, for larger scale production using continuous processes, new concepts are urgently needed. Herein we developed a filtration process for flock removal that allows the handling of larger quantities. For process design, we first investigated the flock properties in order to know how stable the generated flocks are and how the flock properties can be controlled. Then, we replaced the classical flock separation by centrifugation through separation by surface filtration under the constraint that the underlying separation efficiency was not affected. By the future use of properly controlled, alternating filtration modules, our work opens the door for establishing an urgently needed, scalable post-processing for sub-10 nm nanoparticles.