The Gulf of Mexico Decommissioning Market

The Gulf of Mexico offshore decommissioning market is the most diverse and competitive service contract environment in the world. The purpose of this paper is to describe the business, engineering, and market environment of decommissioning services in the Gulf of Mexico, and to provide a first-order approximation of the number of structures expected to be removed over a 25 year time horizon. Decommissioning activities associated with offshore production are an important and specialized segment of marine construction that has received limited attention in the academic literature, yet is compelling because few industrial sectors have such well-understood and widely adopted abandonment requirements. This paper should appeal to practitioners and researchers interested in learning the processes involved in deconstruction and the basic structure of the industry. The regulatory requirements and primary stages of decommissioning are reviewed, and the management, bid/tender process, and negotiation strategies are described. A life expectancy model of the number of structures expected to be removed from the Gulf of Mexico is presented, along with a discussion of the model uncertainty and the limitations of the analysis.     

美国景观视觉资源规划设计方法评析及新技术改进潜力分析

尽管环境视觉感知领域有深厚科研积累,但由于系统性理论及实证缺乏、感受信息采集失真、缺乏实景信息互动等问题,景观视觉规划设计实践仍然相对薄弱。本文以美国景观视觉资源管理方法为研究对象,采用历史研究和预实验的方法,以选取美国林务局视觉规划为例,总结了传统景观视觉规划设计中可能存在的主要问题,并在此基础上介绍了如何通过包括生物反馈信息采集、地理信息协同平台、增强现实等技术对目前景观视觉规划设计过程进行优化和模拟检验。预实验结果表明上述若干新技术对于改进现有视觉规划设计方法有一定的效果,并分析了新技术的发展潜力。     

Hedratecture and Expandable Platform

This paper is directed only to the basic aspects of hedratecture. The word hedratecture is derived from the Greek “to build with hedrons.” It is used to describe the art and science of constructing with framed elements that are hedron‐shaped, usually in the form of the five convex polyhedrons. Hedratecture encompasses two major elements: the expandable platform and structures thereon. The platform when set on a surface by computer has the capability to incorporate within itself a whole variety of integrated lesser structures that provide dwelling units and a modular internal transportation system. The platform can be placed in a designated area as a hedron city or expanded in a linear dimension and in that mode it becomes a trestle or a bridge. The basic elements provide an endless variety of shapes with uses that vary from a small helicopter pad to a small city on earth. When placed on the Moon or Mars it can provide a telerobotically placed base.     

“平台与高岗”——伍重建筑中的跨文化地景及其精神体验

在以往国内对丹麦建筑师尤恩·伍重(J?rn Utzon)的作品研究中,其富有表现力的屋盖及建构(Tectonic)特征被一再讨论,并与中国传统建筑乃至《营造法式》联系起来。相比之下,伍重建筑中极具特质的地景般的平台基座却少有关注,与之相关的重要的论文\"平台与高岗:一位丹麦建筑师的思考\"也少有人问津。在笔者看来,这正是伍重设计思想的起点,建筑精神体验的基石,同时也是一种对待传统的独特认知,即跨文化视角,而非地域主义。本文将呈现伍重的建筑如何植根于大地的\"平台与高岗\"之上,唤起建成环境中\"城市之冠\"的升华感,以构建建筑中的精神感悟和宇宙观念。文章试图通过这样的解读,进一步揭示伍重作品中隐匿的精神线索,以促进当代建筑实践中对自然与人工、远古与现代、本土与跨文化这一系列二元关系的重新思考。     

《小型网络组建》精品课程移动终端app的开发

在教育领域,尤其在职业教育领域中,移动终端平台上的教学类应用软件仍处于空白状态。《小型网络组建》精品课程移动终端app的开发,在国内具有领先水平,填补国内职业类院校移动终端平台教学软件的空白。该移动终端app基于Java进行开发,适用于Android2．1或以上版本的各种Android移动平台。将介绍该教学软件的开发情况。     

A Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment (FQFD) model for deriving optimum targets

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a powerful tool that translates the Voice of the Customer (VoC) into the Engineering Characteristics (ECs), which are those that can be modified in order to meet the desires of the customer. A main objective of QFD is the determination of target values of ECs; however, the conventional QFD aims only empirically at finding these targets, which makes it difficult for the ECs to be optimum. This paper proposes a novel method for determining optimum targets in QFD. Fuzzy numbers are used to represent the imprecise nature of the judgements, and to define more appropriately the relationships between ECs and Customer Attributes (CAs). Constraints such as cost, technical difficulty and market position are considered. An example of a car door is presented to show the application of the method.     

Effect of Antenna Beam Pattern and Layout on Cellular Performance in High Altitude Platform Communications

High Altitude Platforms may offer high spectrum efficiency by deploying multi-beam, multi-cell communications networks. The properties of the antennas carried by the HAP payload are key to the effective exploitation of these benefits. This paper compares different models for the antenna sidelobe region and quantifies, in each case, the carrier to interference ratio for a 3 channel re-use plan. Networks of 121 and 313 cells are compared. We show how the ITU recommended pattern for the 47/48 GHz band leads to pessimistic results compared to an adapted pattern which fits that of measured data for an elliptic beam lens antenna. The method is then extended to consider other radiation patterns. Spectrum sharing issues are explored with reference to further ITU recommendations and comparison with measurement data. Finally, an ITU type cellular layout which uses the same antenna for each cell is compared to an alternative hexagonal layout where each cell has equal size. John Thornton is a physics graduate of the University of York, UK, obtained an MSc. in microwave physics from the University of Portsmouth, UK, in 1995 and a PhD from the UK's Open University in 2002. He has held research posts at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, developing sub-millimetre wave solid state sources and receivers, and at the University of Oxford, on projects including passive radar transponders, array antennas and superconducting filters. In 2000 he returned to York to join the Department of Electronics as a Research Fellow, where his research interests include microwave techniques, wireless broadband and scanning antennas. David Pearce BA(Cantab), DPhil(York) MIEEE, AMIEE, is a lecturer in the Department of Electronics in the University of York and has worked in the field of Fixed Wireless Access schemes for the last five years. Prior to this he worked developing new copper-based local area network schemes in both academia and industry; including heavy involvement in the standardisation work for ISO-8802.5 token ring. Current research interests are focused on media access schemes for multimedia traffic and adaptive techniques for optimising the bandwidth efficiency of wireless networks. David Grace received his MEng in Electronic Systems Engineering and D.Phil from the University of York, UK in 1993 and 1999 respectively. Since 1994 he has been a member of the Communications Research Group where he is now a Senior Research Fellow whose current interests include radio resource management for broadband communications, particularly from high-altitude platform, and terrestrial ad hoc networks. He is Principal Scientific Officer for CAPANINA, a major European Framework 6 project developing broadband communications from high-altitude platforms. He has been an invited speaker at several conferences and industrial locations in the fields of HAP systems. He is a nominated Researcher in the European NEWCOM Network of Excellence, and a Director of SkyLARC Technologies Ltd, a York based company, specialising in broadband communications from aerial platforms. He is a member of IEE and IEEE. Masayuki Oodo received B.E., M.E., and D.E. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, respectively in 1992,1994, and 1997. In 1997, he joined the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL), now part of the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT). Since July 2004 he has been a visiting research fellow at the University of York. His research interests are array antennas for wireless communications and frequency-sharing between HAPS and other systems. Dr. Oodo received the Paper Presentation Award from IEEJ (The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan) in 1995, the Young Scientist Award from URSI in 1996, the Young Engineer Award from IEICE (The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers) of Japan in 1997, and the Young Engineer Award from IEEE AP-S Tokyo Chapter in 1998. Konstantinos Katzis received his BEng degree in Computer Systems Engineering in 2000 and his MSc in Radio Systems Engineering in 2001, both from the University of Hull, UK. Since 2001 he has been a member of the Communications Research Group at York where he has been working on Resource Allocation Techniques for HAPs for his PhD degree. Currently he is a Research Associate working on Radio Resource Management for the European project CAPANINA. His current research interests include Resource allocation and spectrum management, multiple access schemes and medium access control protocol modelling. Tim Tozer MA(Cantab), CEng, FIEE, MIEEE, is Senior Lecturer in Electronics at York, since 1987, and leader of the Communications Research Group. Research interests include: wireless access techniques; multi-user, satellite and High Altitude Platform communications. He has held numerous grants and research contracts from industry, government and international organisations, and is a named author on over 180 technical publications. He is active in the IEE Professional Network on Satellite Systems and Applications. Tim is a regular invited presenter at international conferences, workshops and tutorials, in the fields of VSAT and HAPs communications. He has previous experience in industry, including work on military satellite systems at DERA (now QinetiQ). Tim is also Managing Director of SkyLARC Technologies Ltd.     

On the valuation of goods and selection of the best design alternative

A platform is the set of elements and interfaces that are common to a family of products. In this paper, the design of a platform-based product family is formulated as an optimization problem. This optimization is then transformed into a two-step process amenable to industrial product design processes. The first step involves designing the technical aspects of the product family, optimizing an objective (or a set of objectives) subject to technical constraints, with external uncertain factors fixed. We have previously presented such a method for designing product families based on platforms that optimizes performance and cost metrics, using variables and a system model. That approach allows a team of engineers to design and evaluate candidate platforms, given perfect understanding of the designs and requirements. The second step is to quantify the value to the firm for each identified design alternative, while here accounting for external uncertain factors of the product family development. In this paper we present a model to perform this second step of the overall approach. Real options concepts are introduced to model the risks and delayed decision benefits present during product development due to uncertainty in technologies, funding, etc. We develop a quantitative measure of the value to the company for different family designs, and apply it to select the most appropriate design from the possible alternatives. An application to the design of platform-based families of spacecraft is shown. Electronic Publication     

Can public service broadcasting survive Silicon Valley? Synthesizing leadership perspectives at the BBC,PBS, NPR,CPB and local U.S. stations

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is generally characterized by a remit to provide high-quality news, educational content, cultural enrichment and entertainment as free public goods with as broad a public reach as possible while also filling critical gaps in the media ecosystem (a multifaceted principle called universality). However, in the current online environment, the ability to reach audiences is increasingly intermediated by online platforms managed by powerful technology companies who do not necessarily share the same objectives or values as PSBs. Interviews were conducted with PSB executives and managers working on digital products and strategy in the U.K. and U.S. to examine the challenges and tensions PSB entities face in the context of growing commercial platform power and the strategies emerging in response, such as investing in new platforms and digital infrastructures rooted in traditional public service values. The study also discusses differences in capacities to respond to platform power between the decentralized U.S. PSB system and centralized U.K. system. Finally, the study discusses some theoretical and practical implications, and suggests some ways PSB services might survive and thrive with robust fidelity to democratic needs.