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.     

女大学生排球选修课教学之我见

本文依据大学生生理、心理的阶段特征，通过变换组织教法以及增强学生主体、教师主导的双边作用，分析排球课的项目特点。使技能学习和人格发展相结合，培养身心健康发展的大学生。     

高等师范院校内部管理人文关怀问题初探

“强规强序”型内部管理体制深刻地制约着师范教育品质的进一步提升；主动调整管理策略，在管理中注入“人关怀”意识是变革教育模式、提升教育品质的重要举措。具体讲，可从四个方面实现突破：把尊重师生的个性差异作为制定管理规范的基本准则；把激发师生的个体潜能作为谋划管理策略的最终目标；把师生参与管理作为支持内部管理变革的主要方法；把营造宽松、和谐的人际氛围作为内部管理的激活措施。     

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.     

林肯羊与陕北地方绵羊杂交后代产肉性能研究

林肯羊和陕北地方土种绵羊杂交后代,不但能提高当地绵羊的产毛量和羊毛品质,而且能显著地提高产肉量和肉品质,经济效益十分显著。     

拮抗肌对的协同控制与EMG信号的中值频率关系

探讨在持续恒力收缩时,正常人体肘关节主动肌和桔抗肌的协同作用原理与它们的表面EMG信号中值频率(Median Frequency,MF)的变化趋势,研究它们的疲劳行为。十五个正常受试者的实验数据统计结果表明,拮抗肌的SEMG/MF高于主动肌;随着收缩时间的增加,主动肌和拮抗肌的MF几乎以相同的速率下降;收缩力越大,它们的两条拟合直线之间的距离、互相关系数、下降速率也越大;关节的角度的变化对上述结论似乎没有明显的影响。这些结论对屈曲和伸展模式都成立。利用人体组织的幅度衰减特性和频率衰减特性,神经肌肉系统的“共驱动”概念对上述结果进行了讨论。     

望江矶雨花台砾石层工程地质特性及形成机理

根据野外考察与实验资料，对南京雨花区望江矶的雨花台砾石层的工程地质性质作出初步评价认为该砾石层具有一定的固结性，较好的水稳性，较强的抗剪性，中低压缩性不同于现代松散的砂砾石堆积体，作者还运用沉积原理及风化理论对影响其工程地质性质的作用因素进行了探讨。