EVOKE: A Value-Driven Concept Selection Method for Early System Design

The development of new technologically advanced products requires the contribution from a range of skills and disciplines, which are often difficult to find within a single company or organization. Requirements establishment practices in Systems Engineering (SE), while ensuring coordination of activities and tasks across the supply network, fall short when it comes to facilitate knowledge sharing and negotiation during early system design. Empirical observations show that when system-level requirements are not available or not mature enough, engineers dealing with the development of long lead-time sub-systems tend to target local optima, rather than opening up the design space. This phenomenon causes design teams to generate solutions that do not embody the best possible configuration for the overall system. The aim of this paper is to show how methodologies for value-driven design may address this issue, facilitating early stage design iterations and the resolution of early stage design trade-offs. The paper describes how such methodologies may help gathering and dispatching relevant knowledge about the ‘design intent’ of a system to the cross-functional engineering teams, so to facilitate a more concurrent process for requirement elicitation in SE. The paper also describes EVOKE (Early Value Oriented design exploration with KnowledgE maturity), a concept selection method that allows benchmarking design options at sub-system level on the base of value-related information communicated by the system integrators. The use of EVOKE is exemplified in an industrial case study related to the design of an aero-engine component. EVOKE’s ability to raise awareness on the value contribution of early stage design concepts in the SE process has been further verified with industrial practitioners in ad-hoc design episodes.     

The expansion of GPCR transactivation-dependent signalling to include serine/threonine kinase receptors represents a new cell signalling frontier

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling is mediated through transactivation-independent signalling pathways or the transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors and the recently reported activation of the serine/threonine kinase receptors, most notably the transforming growth factor-β receptor family. Since the original observation of GPCR transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors, there has been considerable work on the mechanism of transactivation and several pathways are prominent. These pathways include the “triple membrane bypass” pathway and the generation of reactive oxygen species. The recent recognition of GPCR transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors enormously broadens the GPCR signalling paradigm. It may be predicted that the transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors would have mechanistic similarities with transactivation of tyrosine kinase pathways; however, initial studies suggest that these two transactivation pathways are mechanistically distinct. Important questions are the relative importance of tyrosine and serine/threonine transactivation pathways, the contribution of transactivation to overall GPCR signalling, mechanisms of transactivation and the range of cell types in which this phenomenon occurs. The ultimate significance of transactivation-dependent signalling remains to be defined but it appears to be prominent and if so will represent a new cell signalling frontier.     

Reconsideration on Homogeneous Quadratic Riemann Boundary Value Problem

The homogeneous quadratic Riemann boundary value problem (1) with Hoelder continuous coefficients for the normal case was considered by the author in 1997. But the solutions obtained there are incomplete. Here its general method of solution is obtained.     

黎锦明小说的艺术特色

在中国现代文学史上，黎锦明创作颇丰，曾是一位较为活跃的有影响的著名作家，有些作品在当时曾引起文坛的瞩目和社会的反响。长期以来，他和他的作品被人漠视和遗忘。实际上，他的小说在题材内容选取上很是广阔，在体式技法运用的多样性上更是有其独特之处。     

Abrupt climate change：Debate or action

Global abrupt climate changes have been documented by various climate records, including ice cores, ocean sediment cores, lake sediment cores, cave deposits, loess deposits and pollen records. The climate system prefers to be in one of two stable states, i.e. interstadial or stadial conditions, but not in between. The transition between two states has an abrupt character. Abrupt climate changes are, in general, synchronous in the northern hemisphere and tropical regions. The timescale for abrupt climate changes can be as short as a decade. As the impacts may be potentially serious, we need to take actions such as reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.     

The Optimal Solution of the Model with Physical and Human Capital Adjustment Costs

We prove that the model with physical and human capital adjustment costs has optimal solution when the production function is increasing return and the structure of vetor fields of the model changes substantially when the prodution function from decreasing return turns to increasing return. And it is shown that the economy is improved when the coefficients of adjustment costs become small.     

多路抢答器设计

为适应高校等多代表队单位活动的需要设计一个多路抢答器，讲述了电路各部分的设计及功能，并说明了调试中出现的问题及解决的方法     

关于特征函数T(r,f)与T(r,1/f)的关系

本文研究亚纯函数f(z)与1/f(z)的特征函数T(r,f)与T(r,1/f)之间的关系。由Jensen公式推导出了它们的关系式,从而证明了特征函数T(r,f)与T(r,1/f)之间只相差一个常数。     

新规则·新挑战·新思维·新接招--技巧女三项目难度问题的探讨

从2001年起,国内外技巧比赛启用国际体操联合会颁布的技巧新评分规则和难度表。“以难制胜”是上世纪中国技巧女三项目称雄世界的制胜法宝,新世纪该法宝将面临新规则的挑战。只有深刻领会新规则的内涵,用新的思路对“以难制胜”注入新的内容,其仍将会是新的绝招,从而依然成为中国女三称雄世界的制胜法宝。     

平果铝高压溶出过程结疤形成影响因素探索

平果铝高压溶出过程，结疤的形成是不可避免的，而且对生产带来的危害也很大。对结疤形成影响因素的研究，对于生产中结疤的治理，强化氧化铝生产具有十分重要的意义。