Starting-up roadmapping fast

Technology roadmapping is a powerful technique for supporting technology management and planning in the firm. The roadmap enables the evolution of markets, products and technologies to be explored, together with the linkages between the various perspectives. A process called T-Plan, which has been developed to support the rapid initiation of roadmapping and thus address these challenges is described.

National Agricultural Research Organisation. National Fisheries Resources Research Institute Annual Report 2011/2012

The annual report presents present activities and achievements for the reporting year 2011/2012. The Objectives of NaFIRRI are highlighted below: a) Generation of knowledge and technologies of strategic importance for the management, development and conservation of fisheries resources and water quality. b) Establishment and management of the human, physical and financial resources of the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute. c) Provision of technical backstopping and capacity building to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institutes (ZARDIs) and other agencies dealing in fisheries research and water quality. d) Development and management of fisheries research information and ensuring collaboration with stakeholders. e) Planning, monitoring and evaluation of all fisheries research programmes undertaken by the institute to ensure conformity with national research strategy. f) Ensuring the quality of knowledge and technologies developed, multiplied and disseminated through uptake pathways. g) Generation of periodic reports on fisheries and water quality research programmes to National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and other stakeholders. h) Establishment of sustainable linkages and partnerships with local, regional and international research bodies.

Engineering change impact on product development processes

This paper presents a method to manage Engineering Changes (EC) during the product development process, which is seen to be a complex system. The ability to manage engineering changes efficiently reflects the agility of an enterprise. Although there are unnecessary ECs that should be avoided, many of the ECs are actually beneficial. The proposed method explores the linkages between the product development process features and product specifications dependencies. It suggests ways of identifying and managing specification dependencies to support the Engineering Change Management process. Furthermore, the impacts of an EC on the product specifications as well as on the process organization are studied. © 2009 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Status of marine protected areas and fish refugia in the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem

The report reviews the status of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Fish Refugia in the Bay of Bengal. Baseline studies are presented and current and potential linkages between MPAs and fisheries management discussed. Feedback from a a workshop in Penang is also presented.

Economic value of the milkfish industry

A brief description is given of the milkfish (Chanos chanos) farming industry in the Philippines. Over the past 20 years, the relative importance of milkfish has declined with the expansion of tilapia, tiger shrimp and seaweed farming. In 1975, some 141,461 mt of milkfish made up 10% of the total fish production, whereas in 1995, the total milkfish harvest of 150,858 mt made up only 5.5% of the total fish production. Milkfish are harvested and marketed mostly fresh or chilled, whole or deboned, but some are canned or smoked. The domestic markets, mainly in Metro Manila, absorb most of the production. Milkfish is also absorbed in different product forms: dried, canned, smoked, or marinated. An export market for quick-frozen deboned milkfish fillets has begun to develop and fish processing companies are responding fast. The milkfish farming industry has important linkages with the various sectors that supply the inputs, and those that transport, store, market or process the harvest. For intensive milkfish farming to be both profitable and sustainable, more value-added products must be developed and marketed.

Buyer-supplier relationships in a servitized environment: An examination with Cannon and Perreault's framework

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine a buyer's adoption of servitization and the associated implications for the relationships with its suppliers. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use the case study approach to examine the tripartite relationship between a manufacturing company and two of its two suppliers. The paper explores the perspectives of employees on multiple organisational levels, and collects evidence on both sides of a relationship. The authors use template analysis utilising Cannon and Perreault's relationship connectors framework to analyse the data. Findings: There are overarching implications of servitization adoption for buyer-supplier relationships. The implications are notable in all five relationship connectors. Parties expected more open exchange of information, operational linkages were strengthened and changes in the structural arrangements of relationships were witnessed. Legal contracts are complemented by relational norms. The authors also observed a departure away from a win-lose mentality and increased levels of supplier adaptation to support the buyer's provision of integrated solutions. Research limitations/implications: The findings are confined to this tripartite relationship and to an extent are context specific. Practical implications: The study unveils buyer-supplier relationships in a servitized context and provides managers with a better understanding of some of the potential implications that the adoption of a servitization strategy may have for managing buyer-supplier relationships. Originality/value: This is the first empirical study that explores the implications of servitization on buyer-supplier relationships. It advances the understanding of the implications that the adoption of servitization has on the manner in which two parties interrelate and conduct commercial exchange. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Change impact on a product and its redesign process: A tool for knowledge capture and reuse

Change propagates, potentially affecting many aspects of a design and requiring much rework to implement. This article introduces a cross-domain approach to decompose a design and identify possible change propagation linkages, complemented by an interactive tool that generates dynamic checklists to assess change impact. The approach considers the information domains of requirements, functions, components, and the detail design process. Laboratory experiments using a vacuum cleaner suggest that cross-domain modelling helps analyse a design to create and capture the information required for change prediction. Further experiments using an electronic product show that this information, coupled with the interactive tool, helps to quickly and consistently assess the impact of a proposed change. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

An exploration of risk management in global industrial investment

This article explores risk management in global industrial investment by identifying linkages and gaps between theories and practices. It identifies opportunities for further development of the field. Three related bodies of literature have been reviewed: risk management, global manufacturing and investment. The review suggests that risk management in global manufacturing is overlooked in the literature; that existing theoretical risk management processes are not well developed in the global manufacturing context and that the investment literature applies mainly to financial risk assessment rather than investment risk management structures. Further, there appears to be a serious lack of systematic industrial risk management in investment decision making. This article highlights the opportunities to deploy current good practices more effectively as well as the need to develop more robust theories of industrial investment risk management. The approach adopted to investigate this multidisciplinary topic included a historical review of literature to understand the diverse background of theoretical development. A case study research approach was adopted to collect data, involving four global manufacturing companies and one risk management advisory company to observe the patterns and rationale of current practices. Supporting arguments from secondary data sources reinforced the findings. The research focuses risk management in global industrial investment. It links theories with practice to understand the existing knowledge gap and proposes key research themes for further research. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1460-3799 Risk Management.

Low voltage ride-through of DFIG and brushless DFIG: Similarities and differences

The brushless doubly fed induction generator (BDFIG) has been proposed as a viable alternative in wind turbines to the commonly used doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). The BDFIG retains the benefits of the DFIG, i.e. variable speed operation with a partially rated converter, but without the use of brush gear and slip rings, thereby conferring enhanced reliability. As low voltage ride-through (LVRT) performance of the DFIG-based wind turbine is well understood, this paper aims to analyze LVRT behavior of the BDFIG-based wind turbine in a similar way. In order to achieve this goal, the equivalence between their two-axis model parameters is investigated. The variation of flux linkages, back-EMFs and currents of both types of generator are elaborated during three phase voltage dips. Moreover, the structural differences between the two generators, which lead to different equivalent parameters and hence different LVRT capabilities, are investigated. The analytical results are verified via time-domain simulations for medium size wind turbine generators as well as experimental results of a voltage dip on a prototype 250 kVA BDFIG. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Integrating design attributes, knowledge and uncertainty in aerospace sector

The delivery of integrated product and service solutions is growing in the aerospace industry, driven by the potential of increasing profits. Such solutions require a life cycle view at the design phase in order to support the delivery of the equipment. The influence of uncertainty associated with design for services is increasingly a challenge due to information and knowledge constraints. There is a lack of frameworks that aim to define and quantify relationship between information and knowledge with uncertainty. Driven by this gap, the paper presents a framework to illustrate the link between uncertainty and knowledge within the design context for services in the aerospace industry. The paper combines industrial interaction and literature review to initially define the design attributes, the associated knowledge requirements and the uncertainties experienced. The framework is then applied in three cases through development of causal loop models (CLMs), which are validated by industrial and academic experts. The concepts and inter-linkages are developed with the intention of developing a software prototype. Future recommendations are also included. © 2014 CIRP.

Studies on polysaccharides from three edible species of Nostoc (Cyanobacteria) with different colony morphologies: Comparison of monosaccharide compositions and viscosities of polysaccharides from field colonies and suspension cultures

Hot water-soluble polysaccharides woe extracted from field colonies and suspension cultures of Nostoc commune Vaucher, Nostoc flagelliforme Berkeley et Curtis, and Nostoc sphaeroides Kutzing. Excreted extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were isolated from the media in which the suspension cultures were grown. The main monosaccharides of the field colony polysaccharides from the three species were glucose, xylose, and galactose, with an approximate ratio of 2:1:1. Mannose was also present, but the levels varied among the species, and arabinose appeared only in N. flagelliforme. The compositions of the cellular polysaccharides and EPS from suspension cultures were more complicated than those of the field samples and varied among the different species. The polysaccharides from the cultures of N. flagelliforme had a relatively simple composition consisting of mannose, galactose, glucose, and glucuronic acid, but no xylose, as was found in the field colony polysaccharides. The polysaccharides from cultures of N. sphaeroides contained glucose (the major component), rhamnose, fucose, xylose, mannose, and galactose. These same sugars were present in the polysaccharides from cultures of N. commune, with xylose as the major component. Combined nitrogen in the media had no qualitative influence on the compositions of the cellular polysaccharides but affected those of the EPS of N. commune and N. flagelliforme. The EPS of N. sphaeroides had a very low fetal carbohydrate content and thus was not considered to be polysaccharide in nature. The field colony polysaccharides could be separated by anion exchange chromatography into neutral and acidic fractions having similar sugar compositions. Preliminary linkage analysis showed that 1) xylose, glucose, and galactose were 1-->4 linked, 2) mannose, galactose, and xylose occurred as terminal residues, and 3) branch points occurred in glucose as 1-->3,4 and 1-->3,6 linkages and in xylose as a 1-->3,4 linkage. The polymer preparations from field colonies had higher kinematic viscosities than those from corresponding suspension cultures. The high viscosities of the polymers suggested that they might DE suitable for industrial uses.

小兴安岭主要树种及林型对气候变化的潜在响应研究

本文采用了国际上可信度高、应用广泛的林窗模型LINKAGES，结合多个气候模式的预测结果，对小兴安岭地区的17个主要树种和4个主要林型对气候变化的潜在响应进行了系统研究。验证结果表明，LINKAGES模型能够较好地跟踪并再现小兴安岭现有林分及各主要林型的演替动态，适用于树种和林型对气候变化响应的预测研究。主要结论如下： 1）以树种为研究对象的模拟结果表明，不同树种均具有各自不同的生存温度临界值，因此对气候变化的敏感性也不同。当温度缓慢上升时，云冷杉、枫桦将面临退化危险，但红松及其他阔叶树种的生长优势均更加明显；当温度快速上升时，大部分树种均显示出不同程度的衰退趋势，仅蒙古栎等耐高温、干旱的阳性树种能够较好地适应未来的高温环境。 2）以整个林分为研究对象的模拟结果表明，在小幅增温情景下，林分中的云冷杉、枫桦趋于退化，而红松及其他伴生阔叶树种的比重则逐渐增加，森林总生物量呈上升趋势；在中幅增温情景下，现存的云冷杉红松阔叶混交林有可能逐渐演化为阔叶混交林，物种多样性明显减少；在大幅增温情景下，小兴安岭现有林分呈显著的退化趋势。 3）林分年龄影响森林的演替方向。不同年龄林分对气候变化的响应程度存在差异。当未来气候条件适于红松生长时，过熟林的恢复能力最强，而中幼林的适应能力最强；当未来气候条件不适于红松生长时，过熟林的恢复能力下降，而中幼林依然具有较强的适应能力。 4）季节增温方式是影响森林演替方向的另一重要因素。当冬季增温幅度大于夏季时，小兴安岭现存林分的演替受气候变暖的影响相对最小，树种组成仍然能够保持较为稳定的针阔混交状态；反之，当冬季增温幅度小于夏季时，现存林分的演替受气候变暖的影响最显著，树种衰退最迅速。小兴安岭针阔混交林的演替与未来的增温方式关系密切，上限温度是现存树种能否继续存活的重要决定因子。 5）以林型为研究对象的模拟结果表明，如果未来气候维持当前的状况不变，云冷杉红松林、枫桦红松林、椴树红松林和蒙古栎红松林四种主要林型的森林组分均将继续维持目前的优势地位，并一直保持较为稳定的动态平衡。 在变暖气候情景下，各林型中的云杉、臭冷杉和枫桦将退出森林演替；目前的云冷杉红松林、枫桦红松林和椴树红松林均将逐渐向椴树、色木槭阔叶红松林演变；蒙古栎红松林林型内部的树种组成基本不变，但蒙古栎所占比例将大幅上升。 6）气候变化幅度决定各林型未来的生物量水平。椴树红松林和蒙古栎红松林100年后的红松生物量和林分总生物量均在小幅增温情景（OSU和GISS模式）下达到最大，云冷杉红松林则在中幅增温情景（CGCM2和HadCM3模式）下达到峰值，而枫桦红松林在现行气候条件下已经为最理想状态，气温的小幅变化也会对其造成影响。在大幅增温情景（UKMO和GFDL模式）下，各林型均难以适应近8℃的增温而全部呈退化趋势。 此外，土壤水分越充足，各林型对高温的耐受范围就相对越大。故从林型角度进行预测分析时，除温度外还应进一步考虑土壤水分与林内的湿度状况。

Preparation and characteristics of nonflammable polyimide materials

The thermal and flame-retardant properties of homo- and copolyimides were evaluated. Those containing sulfone linkages in the backbone were found to be more flame retardant. Both properties were dependent on the composition. A polyimide/silica nanocomposite was obtained through sol-gel processing. The effects of the addition of silica an the dispersion, interfacial adhesion, fire resistance, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of the composites were investigated. SEM analysis showed a good dispersion of silica with a diameter of 50-300 nm in the organic matrices. The addition of silica increased the fire retardancy and mechanical properties of the composites. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

季节增温方式对小兴安岭红松针阔混交林演替的潜在影响

应用林窗模型LINKAGES对小兴安岭红松针阔混交林在不同季节增温方式下的未来演替过程进行了模拟预测.以温度增加5℃、降水无明显变化作为未来变暖气候的模拟假设,共设计3种气候变暖方式预案,分别为冬季增温幅度大于夏季、冬季与夏季增温幅度相同以及冬季增温幅度小于夏季.模拟结果表明,当冬季增温幅度大于夏季时,小兴安岭现存林分的演替受气候变暖的影响相对最小,树种组成仍然能够保持较为稳定的针阔混交林状态;当冬季增温幅度小于夏季时,现存林分的演替受气候变暖的影响最显著,树种衰退最迅速.可见,小兴安岭针阔混交林的演替与未来的增温方式关系密切,上限温度是现存树种能否继续存活的重要决定因子.

A fucoidan fraction from Ascophyllum nodosum

A fucoidan fraction was purified from the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum. The polysaccharide contained -fucose and sulfate as the only constituents. Combination of methylation analysis, Smith degradation, FTIR and NMR spectroscopy on the native and the de-sulfated polymers demonstrated that the fucoidan consisted of a highly branched core region with primarily α-(1→3)-linked fucosyl residues and a few α-(1→4) linkages. Branch points were at position 2 of the →3-linked internal residues. The side chains consisted of single and multi-unit fucosyl residues. The combined analytical data suggested also a complex sulfation pattern with substitution principally at position 2 and/or position 4. Such diversity in the structural features of this fucoidan may be of importance for its various biological properties.