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.     

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.     

层板复合材料疲劳性能测试实验

根据层板复合材料的性能与具体的铺层形式有关的特点 ,介绍了在层板复合材料疲劳性能测试中试件准备注意事项、疲劳性能测试的内容和实验控制程序的要求 ,以及为缩短实验时间、优化层板复合材料疲劳剩余强度和疲劳剩余刚度分析模型的参数估计 ,并减少测试所需试件数量的合理试件数的确定方法 .     

钢纤维混凝土桥面铺装试验研究与工程应用

针对桥面铺装层的受力状况和破坏原因 ,重点对钢纤维砼材料进行了抗弯强度试验和耐磨损试验 ,并进行了钢纤维砼弯曲性能分析 ,闸述了钢纤维砼的耐磨机理 ;结合 130 76m2 的实际工程应用 ,进行了钢纤维砼桥面铺装施工技术总结 ,分析了采用钢纤维砼作为桥面铺装层所带来的效益 ,可供类似工程参考应用     

浅谈城市夜景照明管理

文章阐述了城市夜景照明存在的不足，从五个方面提出今后的发展思路。     

Static extracting method of software intended behavior based on API functions invoking

The method of extracting and describing the intended behavior of software precisely has become one of the key points in the fields of software behavior＇s dynamic and trusted authentication. In this paper, the author proposes a specified measure of extracting SIBDS （software intended behaviors describing sets） statically from the binary executable using the software＇s API functions invoking, and also introduces the definition of the structure used to store the SIBDS in detail. Experimental results demonstrate that the extracting method and the storage structure definition offers three strong properties： （i） it can describe the software＇s intended behavior accurately; （ii） it demands a small storage expense; （iii） it provides strong capability to defend against mimicry attack.     

一种基于粗集理论的属性权重构造方法

提出一种新的基于粗集理论的权重构造方法来解决传统决策中主观性问题和冗余性问题,并给出了一种新的判据模式.新方法分析论述了可拓学中存在的数学逻辑错误,并与通过其他决策方法得出的结论作比较.最终通过实验分析来说明方法的有效性和可行性,从而为管理决策提供了一种新的思想.