Liquid Dynamics from Spacelab to Sloshsat

The European participation in manned spaceflight had a strong impact on research in the natural sciences because weightlessness became available as experimental condition. Preparation for Spacelab required many decisions on organization, funding and allocation of resources. Lessons were learned from results obtained in precursors like Skylab or in unmanned programs such as TEXUS. ESA with scientists from the major disciplines instituted Working Groups that acted as consultant bodies. European experiment hardware has been realized by industry using specifications and not, traditionally, by evolution in a laboratory. The development of the Fluid Physics Module preceded many instruments for liquid research in space. The training of Payload Specialists for the operation of the FPM included theory of fluids and laboratory instruction. The dynamics of spacecraft with a partially filled tank can be studied in weightlessness only. Observation of the liquid behaviour inside the tank is a challenging problem but the momentum of the rigid part of the spacecraft can be tracked accurately. Analytical expressions for transient liquid flow in a moving tank should be identified, together with the tank motion. A validated model of liquid momentum transfer during spacecraft manoeuvres will make many missions more efficient and less costly. Sloshsat FLEVO was flown to provide reference data for this purpose.     

Planning projects with scarce resources: Yesterday,today and tomorrow’s research challenges

This paper is an invited request to describe the main research challenges in the domain of resource-constrained project scheduling. The paper is split up in three parts. In today’s challenges, research endeavors that have received a significant, but still not enough, attention have been described. In tomorrow’s research challenges, some promising research avenues for future research have been given. Finally, in yesterday’s challenge, a research topic that started decades ago, is said to have still a huge potential in tomorrow’s research agenda. This paper does not intend to give a full literature overview, nor a summary of all possible research paths. Instead, it is inspired from the author’s experience in academic research and practical consultancy and it serves as a personal opinion on a non-exhaustive set of promising research avenues, rather than giving a full literature-based advice for future research directions.     

设备监理相关关系分析

论述了监理与设备监理的涵义，设备监理中雇主、承包商、监理三方的关系，设备监理与建筑监理、设备监理与工程咨询、设备监理与项目管理的关系。通过对设备监理相关关系的分析，明确了设备监理的定位，为设备监理工作的进一步开展提供了概念上的支持。     

Comparative analysis of public participation in the EIA process for Thai overseas investment projects: Krabi coal terminal,Hongsa coal power plant,and Dawei special economic zone

While Thai overseas investment projects (TOIPs) have become a key form of development in the region, their environmental impact assessment (EIA) quality has been criticized. This research sought to analyze the differences in EIA practices in terms of public participation (PP) in two TOIPs – the Hongsa coal-fired power plant (Lao PDR) and the Dawei special economic zone (Myanmar) – versus a national-level project, the Krabi coal terminal. For Laos and Myanmar, which did not previously require PP, the Thai consultants did not apply the Thai PP framework, leading to poor public participation index (PPI) scores = 0.02, indicating a negligible PP process. However, the consultant on the Krabi coal terminal claimed to abide by the Thai regulations, yet the PPI scores claimed = 0.81 (substantive rationale), were quite different from those indicated by the affected villagers = 0.39 (instrumental rationale). These villagers’ concerns resulted in conflict between the affected villagers and project owners. Our findings have revealed the true necessity of PP regulation and systems to monitor consultant performance to ensure sustainability of TOIPs in neighboring countries.     

A study of the use of concept selection methods from inside a company

Design methods have been studied by researchers for decades. Academia considers their impact on industry to be insufficient. The objective of this research is to understand the use and impact of design methods in the context of a specific company, Volvo Car Corporation (VCC), by describing the behaviour of engineers in relation to methods, to assist in the future development of design methods and tools. We mainly concentrate on concept selection methods because of their relevance in this company. The data presented is the result of qualitative research carried out during 4 years at VCC, where the authors were located as researchers. The research shows that many methods are employed besides those with an academic name, that some in-company methods used contain improvements to methods researched by academia, that some modifications to academic methods lead to unreliable results, and that there is a lack of objectivity in method modification. For these reasons, the authors suggest further research on understanding the principles of successful and unreliable modification of concept selection methods.     

Academic performance and institutional resources: a cross-country analysis of research universities

Links between institutional academic performance and academic resources are of relevance for university managers, country officials and the public at large. This study aims to shed light on the issues using reliable data on research performance indicators as well as educational and resource indicators from research universities in Spain, Italy, Australia and Canada. The four countries selected for the study represent different academic traditions and belong to different geopolitical regions, yet they have relatively similar higher education systems in terms of student population, institutional resources and research production. Our study explores differences and similarities among them to better assess the performance of research universities from the four countries in a global context. The indicator set includes research production (number of indexed articles per year) and its quality (citation impact and number of highly cited papers), education production (full-time equivalent FTE student load and degree completions per year) and the resource base (annual ordinary expenditure and FTE number of faculty). We consider the raw indicators as well as a set of composite indicators normalised by measures of scale. Across the profile of universities in our complete sample, institutional size is the prime determinant of research production, with systematic differences in quality related to country, research intensity and resourcing level. Our data show that research universities allocate resources to research and education in country-specific and size-specific ways that are reflected in research performance.     

学术道德建设背景下艺术类教学与科研改革创新研究

目前中国艺术类教学与科研改革实践依旧存在一定的学术道德问题,通过分析艺术类教学与科研实践现状和问题,指出目前艺术类教育教学过程中存在的学术道德失范的现象和存在的问题;分别从保障积极正常的研究态度、创造良好学术氛围和推动高校发展3个方面讨论学术道德在艺术类教学与科研改革创新中的重要性;并从加强顶层设计、监督管理和制度建设3个方面给出提升艺术类教学与科研改革创新过程中的策略参考。     

A fault analysis for health impact assessment: procurement,competence, expectations,and jurisdictions

This paper describes and analyses failures in the health impact assessment process of five different major international projects owned by various multinational consortia. The objective is to improve the process. The paper examines how the consortia approached the issue of procurement of consultancy services, and the competence with which consultancy companies offering such services respond. It looks at issues of jurisdiction over management and content and the ethics and expectations of baseline studies. Finally, it offers solutions to some of the challenges described.     

Engineering management for high-end equipment intelligent manufacturing

The high-end equipment intelligent manufacturing (HEIM) industry is of strategic importance to national and economic security. Engineering management (EM) for HEIM is a complex, innovative process that integrates natural science, technology, management science, social science, and the human spirit. New-generation information technology (IT), including the internet, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, have made a remarkable influence on HEIM and its engineering management activities, such as product system construction, product life cycle management, manufacturing resources organization, manufacturing model innovation, and reconstruction of the enterprise ecosystem. Engineering management for HEIM is a key topic at the frontier of international academic research. This study systematically reviews the current research on issues pertaining to engineering management for HEIM under the new-generation IT environment. These issues include cross-lifecycle management, network collaboration management, task integration management of innovative development, operation optimization of smart factories, quality and reliability management, information management, and intelligent decision making. The challenges presented by these issues and potential research opportunities are also summarized and discussed.     

Development, significance and background information about the “Chinese Book Citation Index” (CBkCI) demonstration database

Writing academic books is one of the core expressions of academic research. In the process of writing, the author cites many types of publications such as journals, journal articles, reports, web sources and books. Collecting and analyzing these citations in selected academic books, leads to the creation of book citation indexes. Based on this concept and design, the Chinese book citation index (CBkCI) is produced. The value of the CBkCI lies not only in filling the domestic vacuum in book citation, but also in promoting the quality of academic book publishing, and in contributing to a better library collection development. More importantly it helps to lay a solid foundation in the area of academic evaluation.     

Research and development on Moringa Oleifera – Comparison between academic research and patents

Moringa is a tropical plant well known in Asia and Africa. Many local medicines used the various Moringa extracts to cure various diseases or to provide nutrients. Some parts of the plant are also use as coagulants to clean water and for their biomedical properties. The regional development of developing countries is often linked to their natural resources and applied research and technology information are two main points to explore before decision making. For these reasons we present a comparison between data coming from an academic research using different sources and patent information using the worldpatent database from EPO.     

Brazilian scientific production,financial support,established investigators and doctoral graduates

In the near future, Brazil is expected to face a number of challenges with regards to economic and social development, and scientific production is a critical aspect of this development process. Over the past 30 years, there has been an almost 18-fold increase in the number of brazilian papers published, up from about 2,000 in 1980 to more than 35,000 in 2009. In this study we analyze the evolution of scientific production in terms of input (resources and permanent investigators) and output (scientific papers and doctorate graduates). We evaluate whether structural investments and the number of investigators at universities are both able to explain the increase in the number of papers, by investigating the relationships among growth rates in investments and the quantity of the papers published, as well as the number of doctorate graduates and active permanent investigators. As an indication of the fluctuations in investments pertaining to academic research, we consider the budget history of the largest Brazilian federal agencies charged with providing academic grants. We observe that the burgeoning number of papers has occurred independently of investments and the number of established investigators, thus suggesting an increase in the efficiency of Brazilian scientific output. Moreover, this increase in efficiency has occurred in conjunction with an increased number of Doctoral graduates per year. In this context, we propose that an evaluation of the academic structure is necessary in order to ascertain the risks of this increased “efficiency”. Moreover, the recent cut of over US$ 1 billion announced by the Brazilian government may jeopardize the quality of scientific output in the future.     

The differentiation of the strategic profile of higher education institutions. New positioning indicators based on microdata

We address the issue of differentiation of the profile of universities and offer a set of new indicators based on microdata at the individual level and the application of robust nonparametric efficiency measures. In particular, we use efficiency measures in order to characterize the way in which universities use their inputs (academic and non academic staff, funding) in the effort to position themselves in the space of output (undergraduate teaching, postgraduate education, fundamental research, contract research, third mission), while keeping efficiency under control. The strategic problem of universities is defined as making best use of existing resources in the short run, while enlarging the scope of autonomy in procuring additional resources in the long run. In order to make best use of resources universities are led to increase their specialization and differentiate their offering profile. This happens even if the European institutional landscape does not encourage universities to differentiate.     

A Joint Algorithm for Resource Allocation in D2D 5G Wireless Networks

With the rapid development of Internet technology, users have an increasing demand for data. The continuous popularization of traffic-intensive applications such as high-definition video, 3D visualization, and cloud computing has promoted the rapid evolution of the communications industry. In order to cope with the huge traffic demand of today’s users, 5G networks must be fast, flexible, reliable and sustainable. Based on these research backgrounds, the academic community has proposed D2D communication. The main feature of D2D communication is that it enables direct communication between devices, thereby effectively improve resource utilization and reduce the dependence on base stations, so it can effectively improve the throughput of multimedia data. One of the most considerable factor which affects the performance of D2D communication is the co-channel interference which results due to the multiplexing of multiple D2D user using the same channel resource of the cellular user. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a joint algorithm time scheduling and power control. The main idea is to effectively maximize the number of allocated resources in each scheduling period with satisfied quality of service requirements. The constraint problem is decomposed into time scheduling and power control subproblems. The power control subproblem has the characteristics of mixed-integer linear programming of NP-hard. Therefore, we proposed a gradual power control method. The time scheduling subproblem belongs to the NP-hard problem having convex-cordinality, therefore, we proposed a heuristic scheme to optimize resource allocation. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm effectively improved the resource allocation and overcome the co-channel interference as compared with existing algorithms.     

Beyond the concept: characterisations of later-stage creative behaviour in design

As a mechanism through which better solutions are developed, creativity is well-recognised as an important part of the engineering design process, but has to date largely only been studied in general or in early design process stages. This paper aims to study the occurrence of creative behaviour in engineering design with a particular focus on the later design process stages. Through the application of a detailed coding scheme to two studies of engineers’ work, this paper identifies patterns in creative behaviour through the design process stages, creative approaches employed by engineers, typical types of creative task, and fundamental differences within creative behaviour between early- and late-stage design. This understanding is then used to form ten characterisations of engineer behaviour within late-stage design, early-stage design, and throughout the design process. These characterisations can be used to direct future research and to improve the design process and output through development of specific, effective design support methods, selected to be appropriate to the design stage and type of creative behaviour that occurs within.     

Life sciences research in Venezuela

The development, current status and dynamics of research in biology related domains in Venezuela is examined through the study of demographic, academic distribution, scientific output and productivity, for two sets of investigators that fit a profile outlined for life sciences researchers or scientists. The first group corresponds to biologists extracted from the ranks of the official Program for the Promotion of Researchers (PPI), the other, pulled out from those that publish in biologically oriented journals, indexed by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI). Both sets of biology scientists, PPI researchers or Web of Science/ISI scientists, show similar characteristics. The number (absolute and relative) of PPI member that are supposedly dedicated to biological research but do not publish in ISI indexed journals was found to be very similar to the number of supposedly non biologist members of the PPI Program that do publish biological articles in ISI indexed journals. There is also an ongoing feminization process, of academic hierarchies. Female biologists predominate in lower academic ranks and in research cadres, as many as 70% in some areas of biology. This contrasts with the pattern of male predominance observed during the second half of twentieth century in the country. Productivity of Venezuelan biologists seems to depend on gender; men are more productive that their female counterparts. From the bibliometric standpoint, it is found that, on average, 30% of all publications produced in the country are related to biology (or life sciences). The Venezuelan biologists network qualifies neither as a ‘Small World’ nor it follows the ‘Scale Free’ model. Finally, in a country rich in renewable natural resources, it seems that the Venezuelan community of researchers in biology is in decline, despite the fact that they constitute its most productive group of investigators.     

Potential science-technology spillovers in regions: An insight on geographic co-location of knowledge activities in the EU

This article depicts some features of the geography of science and technology outputs in the EU, with a particular attention to regional “co-location” of these two pillars of the “knowledge-based society”. Economists have, for a decade, paid great attention to local “spillovers” stating that industrial firms often draw advantages from the presence of nearby academic centres. The presence in the same areas of strong academic and technological resources is both a condition and a result of science-technology interactions. Concentrating on publications and patents as proxies of the science and technology level in regions, we built a typology of regions according to their commitment to the two knowledge-base activities and then analysed the co-locations of science and technology from several points of view. A fine-grain lattice, mainly based on standard Nuts3 level, was used. Co-location, at the EU level, is not a general rule. A strong potential for spillover/ interaction does exist in the top-class regions which concentrate a high proportion of European S and T output. But for regions with a small/medium level of S&T activity, a divergence of orientations appears between a science-oriented family and a technology-oriented family, indicating an imbalance between local S and T resources. If we look at the S-oriented regions, whilst controlling for underlying factors, such as population and regional economic product, a significant geographic linkage between T and S appears. This suggests a trajectory of science-based technological development. A careful examination of S&T thematic alignments and specialisation is necessary to develop the hypothesis that fostering academic resources could increase the technological power along a growth path. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Strategic Project Management to Use the Grand Challenge Scholars Program to Address Urban Infrastructure

Throughout the world, infrastructure to support cities is critical to support sustainable and responsible economic development. This can include new infrastructure projects in the case of growing areas. It can also include the renewal and upgrading of existing infrastructure in areas that have been inhabited and already developed. Infrastructure includes roads, bridges and transportation systems; power grids and energy service; internet and telecommunications; and water and sewer services. This development can be part of a system of systems, in which government, industries, and universities can contribute knowledge, skills, and abilities. This paper will investigate the strategic project management taken by one university to provide an academic experience that will prepare engineering students to address several of the Grand Engineering Challenges of the 21st Century, as identified by the US National Academy of Engineering. The challenges relating to energy, water, information, and urban infrastructure can be approached using the functions of teaching, research, and service. By approaching the challenges strategically, resources of faculty time, student effort and laboratory facilities can be leveraged to achieve greater results. This case study will describe the efforts and results to date and identify opportunities for future growth.     

Institutional research rankings via bibliometric analysis and direct peer review: A comparative case study with policy implications

Recent years have seen enormously increased interest in the comparative evaluation of research quality in the UK, with considerable resources devoted to ranking the output of academic institutions relative to one another at the sub-discipline level, and the disposition of even greater resources dependent on the outcome of this process. The preferred methodology has been that of traditional peer review, with expert groups of academics tasked to assess the relative worth of all research activity in ‘their’ field. Extension toinstitutional evaluation of a recently refined technique ofjournal ranking (Discipline Contribution Scoring) holds out the possibility of ‘automatic’ evaluation within a time-frame considerably less than would be required using methods based directly on citation counts within the corpus of academic work under review. This paper tests the feasibility of the technique in the sub-field of Business and Management Studies Research, producing rankings which are highly correlated with those generated by the much more complex and expensive direct peer review approach. More generally, the analysis also gives a rare opportunity directly to compare the equivalence of peer review bibliometric analysis over a whole sub-field of academic activity in a non-experimental setting.