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Explores the impact of early supplier involvement (ESI) on product development practices. Develops a conceptual framework and a case study for effective implementation of ESI. A conceptual framework for ESI in product development consists of the four building blocks of design, procurement, supplier, and manufacturing requirements. Notes that, while each of the building blocks has a unique role in ESI, their interrelationships are the focus of the ESI conceptual framework. These blocks are decomposed into a set of specific tasks required to implement ESI. Applies the framework in a company that currently implements ESI in order to test and validate its viability. This comparison enumerates the examples of success and failure of ESI and two measurements of the company’s ESI effectiveness. Discusses the framework’s validity and proposes modifications. Additionally, presents a set of findings, hypotheses, and recommendations for implementing ESI. Also presents a set of hypotheses as a basis for future ESI theory building and testing.

The paper presents an approach for defining ICT investment proposals. The approach was developed on the authority of the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. The Ministry was confronted with a growing amount of ICT investment proposals. Since there was no format for describing a proposal and no procedure for obtaining the data on the basis of which a proposal was described, the decision to select proposals for funding missed any kind of rationality. Proposals differed enormously and hence were incomparable. The evaluation of existing ICT assessment methods showed that there was not any method that would meet the expectations and demands of the Ministry. The main points of criticism concentrated on the limitation of applying a fixed set of data for describing a project proposal and the absence of a process to support the selection of a meaningful set of data to describe a project. Inspired by the multi‐criteria score method of Parker a tailor‐made approach for defining ICT investment proposals was developed, taking into account the characteristics of the governmental organization. In this paper, the approach as well as the developmental process with regard to this approach are presented. The overall conclusion is that a tailor‐made approach, which is developed with the full cooperation of the user organization, has considerable advantages since local knowledge and expertise is incorporated in this type of approach.

In order to ensure the high-quality completion of the construction of stadiums and gymnasiums and the smooth holding of the Fourteenth National Games, through on-the-spot investigation and collation of relevant literature at home and abroad, lessons are drawn from the experience of the planning and construction of the stadiums and gymnasiums of the recent three National Games. According to the investigation of the stadiums and gymnasiums in Shaanxi Province, the number, characteristics, overall layout and construction methods of the required stadiums are specifically analyzed. Taking Xi'an Sports Center as an example, from the point of view of the construction requirements of the main stadium of the National Games and the sports construction technology, the functional orientation and construction standards of the competition facilities and training base facilities are put forward. Especially for the planning and design of sports construction facilities including “one stadium, two gymnasiums”, Tennis Center and outdoor sports stadium, the specific index analysis is made. The index analysis provides suggestions for the compilation of the planning and design task sheet of Xi'an Sports Center, and provides reference for the planning and construction of other stadiums and gymnasiums for the Fourteenth National Games.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between automated assembly and mass production environments such as the manufacture of cars, airplanes and white goods and methods of modelling and simulation. Even in this environment high‐level automated assembly is restricted to the original equipment manufacturers where production volumes are high and flexibility and the ability to quickly reconfigure systems are not major drivers. It proposes modelling of the fixing/assembly process and outlining why and how new methods are important throughout the manufacturing process. The paper aims to expand the domain of co operation of different research institutes, universities and companies.

The paper focuses on typically, fixture design, which involves the identification of clamp, locator, and support points, and the selection of corresponding fixture elements for their respective functions. In addition, the automation of fixture design activities in manufacturing is an important research area, which aims to achieve the integration of design and manufacturing. The most commonly used methods are pointed out.

The paper summarizes the main modelling and simulation methods applied to new fixing and assembly processes.

Because of the chosen research approach, the paper is more general.

The paper includes implications for the development of a powerful new fixing method applied in the automotive and aerospace industry, which is important for stability and easy change in a rough manufacturing environment.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how new fixing methods can improve motorcar and aerospace manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the operation and maintenance intelligence of power systems, and summarize the transmission line robots and their key technologies. High-voltage power cables are important channels for power transmission systems. Their special geographical environment and harsh natural environment can lead to many different faults. At present, such special operations in dangerous and harsh environments are performed manually, which have not only high labor intensity and low work efficiency but also great personal safety risks.

For maintenance works that are far away from the tower, power outages are required. With the increasing evaluation of transmission quality and operational safety, and the urgent need for automation and operation of modern power systems, the contradiction between this manual operation and modern high-quality power transmission has become increasingly prominent. An effective method to replace the manual maintenance work is to use the mobile robot to carry the operation manipulator and its end tool, that is, the live maintenance robot.

Some achievements have been made in the key technologies of live maintenance robots, the work to be done to meet the basic requirements of complex and changeable line environment and practical application. Based on the existing research results of live overhaul robot, the follow-up research will focus on the practical application needs and the frontier of scientific and technological development, and truly realize the human–machine integration between live overhaul robot–human working environment. Only in this way can the robot better serve the operation and maintenance of the power system.

This paper reviews the system platform, operation function, structural characteristics and key technologies involved in the power cable robot, and the combination of live maintenance robots and modern high-tech such as big data and cloud computing is also given, and finally, the future development direction of the special operation robot is pointed out.

The purpose of this paper is to present the status of the on-going development of the new computerized environment for aircraft synthesis and integrated optimization methods (CEASIOM) and to compare results of different aerodynamic tools. The concurrent design of aircraft is an extremely interdisciplinary activity incorporating simultaneous consideration of complex, tightly coupled systems, functions and requirements. The design task is to achieve an optimal integration of all components into an efficient, robust and reliable aircraft with high performance that can be manufactured with low technical and financial risks, and has an affordable life-cycle cost.

CEASIOM (www.ceasiom.com) is a framework that integrates discipline-specific tools like computer-aided design, mesh generation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), stability and control analysis and structural analysis, all for the purpose of aircraft conceptual design.

A new CEASIOM version is under development within EU Project AGILE (www.agile-project.eu), by adopting the CPACS XML data-format for representation of all design data pertaining to the aircraft under development.

Results obtained from different methods have been compared and analyzed. Some differences have been observed; however, they are mainly due to the different physical modelizations that are used by each of these methods.

This paper summarizes the current status of the development of the new CEASIOM software, in particular for the following modules: CPACS file visualizer and editor CPACSupdater (Matlab) Automatic unstructured (Euler) & hybrid (RANS) mesh generation by sumo Multi-fidelity CFD solvers: Digital Datcom (Empirical), Tornado (VLM), Edge-Euler & SU2-Euler, Edge-RANS & SU2-RANS Data fusion tool: aerodynamic coefficients fusion from variable fidelity CFD tools above to compile complete aero-table for flight analysis and simulation.

Presents an embedded MAS (Multi‐Agent System) based control method for multi link series manipulators.

The manipulator's completing operation work is based on several agents' cooperation. The entire embedded MAS of a manipulator is implemented in one ARM7 microprocessor. The multi agents and the communications between the agents are constructed depending on the real‐time multitasking capability and the system services of real time operation system, μC/OS‐(tm). An improved distributed inverse kinematics algorithm, which is the foundation the agents' behavior strategies, and the system architecture designing are described in detail.

This method is very suitable for tele‐operation redundant manipulators' embedded control systems designing, with high reliability.

Using this paradigm, the embedded system firmware development for a redundant manipulator would be very easy and the code would be reusable. A few amendments should be made for miscellaneous manipulators.

It is suitable for controlling a high reliability expected tele‐operation manipulator system.

The embedded MAS based manipulator control paradigm has several attractive advantages, led from MAS theory. Basing this method, we do not require computing the traditional inverse (or pseudoinverse) Jacobian matrix to control a redundant manipulator, especially for mobile redundant robot based on a compact embedded control system, expecting high reliability and potential complexity for coping with dynamical environments. The development procedure would be very easy and the code would be reusable. A few amendments should be made for different manipulators.

Lesson study (LS) is generally regarded as a pathway for teachers' professional development and a method for teachers' instructional research. LS has been regarded as having the potential to drive large-scale reform but little is known about how it does so from a district level. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal how lesson study promote district education reform.

This study offers an in-depth case study of how District Y of Shanghai, China, took LS as the primary method in promoting its District Project of Building Curriculum Leadership in Schools. By analyzing the key project documents and achievements in project promotion, and interviews with the major Project leaders at District and school levels, this study explored the practice and impact of LS as a tool to promote district reform.

In the District Project, LS has been a medium to address each individual school's real problems of practice and turn them into reform vision and reform will in alignment with District goals. Five levels of school curriculum texts have been planned, designed, translated, implemented, reflected on, updated and mutually adjusted systematically through LS to ensure consistency in transforming District reform vision into classroom practice. Different models of teaching-research community building were found in sampled project schools and professional expertise was built with district support to promote reform. The curriculum leadership development through LS has shaped reform leader schools and formed a collection of LS exemplars circulated in schools as high-quality curriculum packages, which laid the foundation for district-wide reform.

The innovative practice of LS in China's education reform has expanded its reach from within one classroom to the entire district curriculum system and made it an important tool to drive large-school district-based education reform.

Low back disorder is one of the most prevalent and costly injuries in the construction industry. Back-support exoskeletons are increasingly perceived as promising solutions. However, the intended benefits of exoskeletons may not be realized if intention-to-use the device is low. Social influence could increase intention-to-use exoskeletons. This study aims to evaluate the impact of social influence on construction workers' intention-to-use back-support exoskeletons.

A field study involving 37 construction workers was conducted, with workers who used exoskeleton for one week, and their peers and supervisors. Data were collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, respectively.

The workers felt that the exoskeleton is easy to use and the functions are well integrated. Workers' intention-to-use exoskeleton was mainly influenced by employers providing and requiring the use of the device. The attitude of the workers and the perception of peers and supervisors did not have a significant impact on workers' intention-to-use exoskeleton, whereas the subjective norm of construction workers had a positive impact on the intention-to-use exoskeletons.

The study involved only 37 workers, including 15 workers who used the exoskeleton, and 14 peers and 8 supervisors of the workers.

This study contributes to existing knowledge on the influence of social influence on intention-to-use exoskeletons. The study also highlights how exoskeleton designs and the construction workplace can influence behavioral intention-to-use exoskeletons.

A significant part of knowledge and experience in an organization belongs not to the organization itself, but to the individuals it employs. Therefore, knowledge management (KM) tasks should include eliciting knowledge from knowledgeable individuals. The paper aims to argue that the current palette of methods proposed for this in KM discourse is limited by idealistic assumptions about the behavior of knowledge owners. This paper also aims to enrich the repertoire of methods that can be used in an organization to extract knowledge (both tacit and explicit) from its employees by bridging KM and knowledge engineering and its accomplishments in the knowledge elicitation field.

This paper is based on extensive literature review and 20 years of experience of one of the authors in applying various knowledge elicitation techniques in multiple companies and contexts.

The paper proposes that the special agent (analyst) might be needed to elicit knowledge from individuals (experts) in order to allow further knowledge sharing and knowledge creation. Based on this idea, the paper proposes a new classification of the knowledge elicitation techniques that highlights the role of analyst in the knowledge elicitation process.

The paper contributes to managerial practice by describing a systemic variety of knowledge elicitation techniques with direct recommendations of their feasibility in the KM context.

The paper contributes to a wider use of knowledge engineering methodologies and technologies by KM researchers and practitioners in organizations.