Understanding the Knowledge Needs of Designers During Design Process in Industry

Product success is substantially influenced by satisfaction of knowledge needs of designers, and many tools and methods have been proposed to support these needs. However, adoption of these methods in industry is minimal. This may be due to an inadequate understanding of the knowledge needs of designers in industry. This research attempts to develop a better understanding of these needs by undertaking descriptive studies in an industry. We propose a taxonomy of knowledge, and evaluate this by analyzing the questions asked by the designers involved in the study during their interactions. Using the taxonomy, we converted the questions asked into a generic form. The generic questions provide an understanding about what knowledge must be captured during design, and what its structure should be.

Thermal properties of MOSi2 with minor aluminum substitutions

Mo(Si1-xAlx)(2) compositions (x = 0-0.1) have been prepared by a modified SHS route under uniaxial hydrostatic pressure. Oxidation studies carried out by thermal analysis and sheet resistivity indicate an improvement in the low temperature (700-900 K) oxidation resistance with increasing aluminum addition. Dilatometric results show a decrease in the a value up to x = 0.05 substitution. With the aluminum substitution, both thermal expansion coefficient and thermal conductivity show decrease in their values except in the biphasic region. The x = 0.05 composition containing both C11(b) and C40 phases is a promising material for high temperature thermal barrier coating as it shows higher oxidation resistance and a similar K/alpha value as compared to pure MoSi, (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimization of friction stir welding parameters for dissimilar aluminum alloys

Assembly consisting of cast and wrought aluminum alloys has wide spread application in defense and aero space industries. For the efficacious use of the transition joints, the weld should have adequate strength and formability. In the present investigation, A356 and 6061 aluminum alloys were friction stir welded under tool rotational speed of 1000-1400 rpm and traversing speed of 80-240 mm/min, keeping other parameters same. The variable process window is responsible for the change in total heat input and cooling rate during welding. Structural characterization of the bonded assemblies exhibits recovery-recrystallization in the stirring zone and breaking of coarse eutectic network of Al-Si. Dispersion of fine Si rich particles, refinement of 6061 grain size, low residual stress level and high defect density within weld nugget contribute towards the improvement in bond strength. Lower will be the tool rotational and traversing speed, more dominant will be the above phenomena. Therefore, the joint fabricated using lowest tool traversing and rotational speed, exhibits substantial improvement in bond strength (similar to 98% of that of 6061 alloy), which is also maximum with respect to others. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing the learning experiences through Industry-Based Learning from Indonesian university perspective

This paper investigates how students’ learning experience can be enhanced by participating in the Industry-Based Learning (IBL) program. In this program, the university students coming into the industry to experience how the business is run. The students’ learning media is now not coming from the textbooks or the lecturers but from learning by doing. This new learning experience could be very interesting for students but at the same time could also be challenging. The research involves interviewing a number of students from the IBL programs, the academic staff from the participated university who has experience in supervising students and the employees of the industry who supported and supervised the students in their work placements. The research findings offer useful insights and create new knowledge in the field of education and learning. The research contributes to the existing knowledge by providing a new understanding of the topic as it applied to the Indonesian context.

Realisation of University-Industry Collaboration through Industry-Based Learning at Indonesian Higher Education

The collaboration between universities and industries has become increasingly important for the development of Science and Technology. This is particularly more prominent in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Literature suggest that the key element of University-Industry Partnership (UIP) is the exchange of knowledge that is mutually beneficial for both parties. One real example of the collaborations is Industry-Based Learning (IBL) in which university students are coming into industries to experience and learn how the skills and knowledge acquired in the classroom are implemented in work places. This paper investigate how the University-Industry Collaboration program is implemented though Industry-Based Learning (IBL) at Indonesian Universities. The research findings offer useful insights and create a new knowledge in the field of STEM education and collaborative learning. The research will contribute to existing knowledge by providing empirical understanding of this topic. The outcomes can be used to improve the quality of University-Industry Partnership programs at Indonesian Universities and inform Indonesian higher education authorities and their industrial partners of an alternative approach to enhance their IBL programs.

Workplace training and generic and technical skill development in the Australian construction industry

- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current skills gap in both generic and skill areas within the construction industry in Queensland, Australia. - Design/methodology/approach An internet-based survey was administered to collect the opinions of construction employees about the workplace-training environment and their perceptions towards training. The survey intended to address the following research questions, specifically in relation to the construction industry. - Findings The survey results reveal that whilst overall participation in workplace training is high, the current workplace training environments do not foster balanced skill development. The study reveals that in the current absence of a formal and well-balanced training mechanism, construction workers generally resort to their own informal self-development initiatives to develop the needed role-specific theoretical knowledge. - Research limitations/implications The findings of the research are based on the data primarily collected in the construction industry in Queensland, Australia. The data are limited to a single Tier 2 construction company. - Practical implications The findings of this study can be utilised to suggest improvements in the current (or develop new) workplace training initiatives. - Social implications The research suggests that workplace training has positive relationship with career growth. The results suggest that in the construction industry, employees are generally well aware of the importance of workplace training in their career development and they largely appreciate training as being a critical factor for developing their capacity to perform their roles successfully, and to maintain their employability. - Originality/value This paper is unique as it investigates the current skills gap in both generic and skill areas within the construction industry in Queensland, Australia. So far no work has been undertaken to identify and discusses the main method of workplace learning within the Tier 2 industry in the context of Queensland Australia.

Steroids and related natural products. VII. Boron trifluoride etherate-lithium aluminum hydride reduction of smilagenin acetate

Reduction of smilagenin acetate (Va) using a boron trifluoride etherate-lithium aluminum hydride reagent, followed by hydrogen peroxide oxidation and acetylation, was found to yield: 3β-ethoxysmilagenin (Vb), 3β-ethoxydihydrosmilagenin acetate (VIa), dihydrosmilagenin diacetate (VIb), and a complex mixture of partially acetylated products. Similar reaction conditions were employed to convert dihydrodiosgenin (II) to dihydrochlorogenin (III). Boron trifluoride etherate-lithium aluminum hydride reduction of 3β-acetoxy-5α-cholestane and 3β-acetoxy-5α-lanostane (VIIIa) was shown to yield the corresponding 3β-ethoxy (e.g., VIIIb) derivatives.

Adoption processes for EDM, EDI and BIM technologies in the construction industry

Three strategically important uses of IT in the construction industry are the storage and management of project documents on webservers (EDM), the electronic handling of orders and invoices between companies (EDI) and the use of 3-D models including non-geometrical attributes for integrated design and construction (BIM). In a broad longitudinal survey study of IT use in the Swedish Construction Industry the extent of use of these techniques was measured in 1998, 2000 and 2007. The results showed that EDM and EDI are currently already well-established techniques whereas BIM, although it promises the biggest potential benefits to the industry, only seems to be at the beginning of adoption. In a follow-up to the quantitative studies, the factors affecting the decisions to implement EDM, EDI and BIM as well as the actual adoption processes, were studied using semi-structured interviews with practitioners. The theoretical basis for the interview studies was informed by theoretical frameworks from IT-adoption theory, where in particular the UTAUT model has provided the main basis for the analyses presented here. The results showed that the decisions to take the above technologies into use are made on three differ- ent levels: the individual level, the organizational level in the form of a company, and the organiza- tional level in the form of a project. The different patterns in adoption can to some part be explained by where the decisions are mainly taken. EDM is driven from the organisation/project level, EDI mainly from the organisation/company level, and BIM is driven by individuals pioneering the technique.

Building Information Modelling – Experts´ Views on Standardisation and Industry Deployment

The goal of the single building information model has existed for at least thirty years and various standards have been published leading up to the ten-year development of the Industry Foundation Classes. These have been initiatives from researchers, software developers and standards committees. Now large property owners are becoming aware of the benefits of moving IT tools from specific applications towards more comprehensive solutions. This study addresses the state of Building Information Models and the conditions necessary for them to become more widely used. It is a qualitative study based on information from a number of international experts and has asked a series of questions about the feasibility of BIMs, the conditions necessary for their success, and the role of standards with particular reference to the IFCs. Some key statements were distilled from the diverse answers received and indicate that BIM solutions appear too complex for many and may need to be applied in limited areas initially. Standards are generally supported but not applied rigorously and a range of these are relevant to BIM. Benefits will depend upon the building procurement methods used and there should be special roles within the project team to manage information. Case studies are starting to appear and these could be used for publicity. The IFCs are rather oversold and their complexities should be hidden within simple-to-use software. Inevitably major questions remain and property owners may be the key to answering some of these. A framework for presenting standards, backed up by case studies of successful projects, is the solution proposed to provide better information on where particular BIM standards and solutions should be applied in building projects.

Use of Document Management Systems - a Case Study of the Finnish Construction Industry

Triggered by the very quick proliferation of Internet connectivity, electronic document management (EDM) systems are now rapidly being adopted for managing the documentation that is produced and exchanged in construction projects. Nevertheless there are still substantial barriers to the efficient use of such systems, mainly of a psychological nature and related to insufficient training. This paper presents the results of empirical studies carried out during 2002 concerning the current usage of EDM systems in the Finnish construction industry. The studies employed three different methods in order to provide a multifaceted view of the problem area, both on the industry and individual project level. In order to provide an accurate measurement of overall usage volume in the industry as a whole telephone interviews with key personnel from 100 randomly chosen construction projects were conducted. The interviews showed that while around 1/3 of big projects already have adopted the use of EDM, very few small projects have adopted this technology. The barriers to introduction were investigated through interviews with representatives for half a dozen of providers of systems and ASP-services. These interviews shed a lot of light on the dynamics of the market for this type of services and illustrated the diversity of business strategies adopted by vendors. In the final study log files from a project which had used an EDM system were analysed in order to determine usage patterns. The results illustrated that use is yet incomplete in coverage and that only a part of the individuals involved in the project used the system efficiently, either as information producers or consumers. The study also provided feedback on the usefulness of the log files.

Dry sliding wear behavior of Al2O3 fiber reinforced aluminum composites

Dry sliding wear behavior of die-cast ADC12 aluminum alloy composites reinforced with short alumina fibers were investigated by using a pin-on-disk wear tester. The Al2O3 fibers were 4 mu m in diameter and were present in volume fractions (T-f)ranging from 0.03 to 0.26, The length of the fiber varied from 40 to 200 mu m. Disks of aluminum-alumina composites were rubbed against a pin of nitrided stainless steel SUS440B with a load of 10 N at a sliding velocity of 0.1 m/s. The unreinforced ADC 12 aluminum alloy and their composites containing low volume fractions of alumina (V-f approximate to 0.05) showed a sliding-distance-dependent transition from severe to mild wear. However, composites containing high volume fractions of alumina ( V-f > 0.05) exhibited only mild wear for all sliding distances. The duration of occurrence of the severe wear regime and the wear rate both decrease with increasing volume fraction. In MMCs the wear rate in the mild wear regime decreases with increase in volume fraction: reaching a minimum value at V-f = 0.09 Beyond V-f = 0.09 the wear rate increasesmarginally. On the other hand, the wear rate of the counterface (steel pin) was found to increase moderately with increase in V-f. From the analysis of wear data and detailed examination of (a) worn surfaces, (b) their cross-sections and (c) wear debris, two modes of wear mechanisms have been identified to be operative, in these materials and these are: (i) adhesive wear in the case of unreinforced matrix material and in MMCs with low Vf and (ii) abrasive wear in the case of MMCs with high V-f. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Context and Diffusion of Knowledge in the Finnish Jewellery Industry - The role of the House of Fabergé

Researchers within the fields of economic geography and organizational management have extensively studied learning and the prerequisites and impediments for knowledge transfer. This paper combines two discourses within the two subjects: the-communities-of-practice and the learning region approaches, merging them through the so-called ecology of knowledge-approach, which is used to examine the knowledge transfer from the House of Fabergé to the Finnish jewellery industry. We examine the pre-revolution St Petersburg jewellery cluster and the post-revolution Helsinki, and the transfer of knowledge between these two locations through the components of communities of people, institutions and industry. The paper shows that the industrial dynamics of the Finnish modern-day goldsmith industry was inherently shaped both through the transfer and the non-transfer of knowledge. It also contends that the “knowledge-economy” is not anchored in and exclusive for the high technology sector of the late 20th century.