Macroengineering in the 1980s

Developing macroengineering projects will require continuous adaptations to changes in concepts, economics, environment, and technology. Contemporary macro- project developers face extraordinary and unprecedented uncertainties, making it incredibly difficult to plan and complete projects. Macroproject planners and developers should at the very least build sufficient economic margins and development flexibility into each project. Some of the key issues that need to be considered in this decade and beyond include financing, the sanctity of supporting contractual agreements, appropriate technology and economics, project execution techniques, and appropriate managerial structures. This will require new procedures and techniques to analyze the many factors bearing upon macroproject developments, as well as a reexamination and enhancement of management tools which can span the vast variety of functions to be coordinated and can respond to the political, social, economic, financial, technical, and construction aspects of macroprojects under volatile and changing circumstances.     

The designer in the 1980s— the deskiller deskilled

The reorganization of the design activity around computer-based systems will have profound effects upon the design community.The computer is already proving to be a Trojan Horse with which to introduce Taylorism into the design office. In consequence, there are strong indications of alienation, deskilling and subordination to the ‘machine’.There is still time to reverse this historical tendency, and to opt for human centred and enhancing systems which make full use of the ‘tacit knowledge’ of the designer.     

The evolutionary patterns of knowledge production in Korea

The recent trend of rapid growth in the scientific and engineering activities in East Asian Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) resulted in a change in the structure of world knowledge production. In South Korea, particularly, not only the numbers of publications have increased, but there is a noticeable change in the composition of scientific and engineering activities. This paper notes the most of the research on the knowledge production of advanced countries, along with a handful of studies about the knowledge production of latecomers. Recent changes in the patterns of knowledge production in latecomer countries provoke the deeper understanding about the underlying mechanisms of ongoing change. Therefore, this paper explores the patterns of knowledge production activities in latecomers by analyzing scientific and engineering capabilities using empirical evidence from Korea. The results suggest that the patterns of accumulation of knowledge production in Korea gradually evolved from engineering to scientific activities. Important policy implications can be drawn from the findings for supporting scientific and engineering research activity in the latecomers in general and NIEs in particular.     

The structure of problem-solving knowledge and the structure of organizations

This work presents a rather general model of organizationalproblem-solving able to account for the relationships betweenproblem complexity, decentralization of tasks and problem-solvingefficiency. Whenever problem-solving requires the coordinationof a multiplicity of interdependent elements, the varying degreesof decentralization of cognitive and operational tasks shapethe solutions which can be generated, tested and selected. Suboptimalityand path-dependence are shown to be ubiquitous features of organizationalproblem-solving. At the same time, the model allows a preciseexploration of the possible trade-offs between decompositionpatterns and search efficiency involved in different organizationalarchitectures.     

Successful implementations of MES in Korean manufacturing SMEs: an empirical study

This study explores the factors that affect the successful implementation of the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) in small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs). To this end, a survey was carried out. Responses from 163 SMMEs were analysed. The results found that all hypothesised variables including top management support, sufficiency of investment, capacity of the system developer, and user participation were critical factors for successful MES implementation in SMMEs. This study is the first empirical study on the successful implementation of MES in SMMEs in the Asia/Pacific region.     

The use of bibliometric and knowledge elicitation techniques to map a knowledge domain: Software Engineering in the 1990s

Summary Parallel mappings of the intellectual and cognitive structure of Software Engineering (SE) were conducted using Author Cocitation Analysis (ACA), PFNet Analysis, and card sorting, a Knowledge Elicitation (KE) method. Cocitation counts for 60 prominent SE authors over the period 1990 - 1997 were gathered from SCISEARCH. Forty-six software engineers provided similar data by sorting authors’ names into labeled piles. At the 8 cluster level, ACA and KE identified similar author clusters representing key areas of SE research and application, though the KE labels suggested some differences between the way that the authors’ works were used and how they were perceived by respondents. In both maps, the clusters were arranged along a horizontal axis moving from “micro” to “macro” level R&D activities (correlation of X axis coordinates = 0.73). The vertical axis of the two maps differed (correlation of Y axis coordinates = -0.08). The Y axis of the ACA map pointed to a continuum of high to low formal content in published work, whereas the Y axis of the KE map was anchored at the bottom by “generalist” authors and at the top by authors identified with a single, highly specific and consistent specialty. The PFNet of the raw ACA counts identified Boehm, Basili, and Booch as central figures in subregions of the network with Boehm being connected directly or through a single intervening author with just over 50% of the author set. The ACA and KE combination provides a richer picture of the knowledge domain and provide useful cross-validation.     

The evolution of the knowledge structure of fuel cells

Summary This study evaluates the scientific output of Iran over the past two decades. The information has been extracted by searching ISI in December 2003. Science production in Iran has been reviewed (1967-2003) and compared with 15 countries in the year 2000. During these years Iran's relative share in the scientific output in the world increased from 0.0003% in 1970 to 0.29% in 2003. Comparing the ratio of science output to GNP, Iran stands on thirteenth place among 16 countries in the year 2000. The present article discusses that Iran has had an increasing growth in presenting articles after the Iraq-Iran war, which marks the period of stability and development.     

Evolving knowledge for the solution of clustering problems in cellular manufacturing

Hierarchical clustering has been widely used for the solution of problems in the area of cellular manufacturing. Hierarchical clustering procedures utilize coefficients that quantify the level of similarity between pairs of machines or parts in the plant. An evolutionary methodology is proposed for the construction of new similarity coefficients that can be used by standard hierarchical clustering methodologies for the solution of cell-formation problems. A typical application is presented for the simplest case of the cell-formation problem. However, alternative similarity coefficients can be evolved for advanced formulations of the problem by suitably modifying the set of fitness cases that constitute the environment of the evolutionary process.     

Changing patterns in motor vehicle crash mortality: 1940-1980

Overall motor vehicle mortality rates in the United States varied little between 1940 (26 deaths per 100,000 per year) and 1980 (23 deaths per 100,000 per year). However, the distribution of motor vehicle deaths by age, sex, and road user status has changed considerably. Among the elderly there has been a substantial increase in motor vehicle death rates. The result of these changes, and of the altered age structure of the population, is that the number of years of life lost to motor vehicle crash injury before age 70 has increased 84 percent between 1940 and 1980.     

Collaboration network patterns and research performance: the case of Korean public research institutions

This study examines the impact of collaborating patterns on the R&;D performance of public research institutions (PRIs) in Korea’s science and engineering fields. For the construction of R&;D collaborating networks based on the co-authorship data of 127 institutions in Scopus, this paper proposes four types of collaborations by categorizing network analyses into two dimensions: structural positions (density, efficiency, and betweeness centrality) and the relational characteristics of individual nodes (eigenvector and closeness centralities). To explore the research performance by collaboration type, we employ a data envelopment analysis window analysis of a panel of 23 PRIs over a 10-year period. Comparing the R&;D productivities of each group, we find that the PRIs of higher productivity adhere to a cohesive networking strategy, retaining intensive relations with their existing partners. The empirical results suggest that excessively cohesive alliances might end up in ‘lock-in’ relations, hindering the exploitation of new opportunities for innovation. These findings are implicit in relation to the Korean Government’s R&;D policies on collaborating strategies to produce sustained research results with the advent of the convergence research era.     

From industry targeting to technology targeting: A policy paradigm shift in the 1980s

The 1980s represent an era in which the governments of many industrialized countries changed their policies regarding international competition. This paper investigates the initiation of important technological programs and the adjustments made to the missions of government organizations and agencies in Japan, the United States, and nine countries in Western Europe. It is suggested that, over the past decade or so, there has been a pervasive shift towards the technological dimension in government policy in the industrialized world. On the one hand, overt industry targeting seems to have waned or not to have increased significantly; on the other hand, technology targeting has become more explicit and market-oriented. This trend implies a convergence of, and a head-on competition between, national innovation policies.     

The patterns of knowledge spillovers across technology sectors evidenced in patent citation networks

The innovation literature often argues that major inventions arise through the cumulative synthesis of existing components and principles. An important economic phenomenon associated with this argument is the knowledge spillover. Although increasing attention has been paid to knowledge spillovers as a means to grasp innovation, little is known about its structural characteristics. This study examines the structural patterns of knowledge flow evidenced in patent citations by focusing on two aspects: the reciprocity of citations between technology sectors and the concentration of citing and cited sectors. The results indicate that the knowledge flow tends to be highly reciprocal within pairs of technology sectors instead of having a clear direction and that there are relatively low inflow and outflow concentrations in most sectors, although there are some exceptions. These results suggest that most technological sectors become both a knowledge provider and a knowledge consumer at the same time and they coevolve with reciprocal knowledge exchanges with each other.     

Examining patterns of scientific knowledge diffusion based on knowledge cyber infrastructure: a multi-dimensional network approach

Scientometrics - Diffusion of scientific knowledge plays an important role in scientific development. Based on electronic traces of knowledge flows in knowledge cyber infrastructure, this study...     

Scientific knowledge in South Africa: information trends,patterns and collaboration

Scientometrics - South Africa has made remarkable progress in science and technology. In the production of scientific information it is a leading country not only in sub-Saharan Africa but also in...     

Emerging research fronts in science and technology: patterns of new knowledge development

Research fronts represent the most dynamic areas of science and technology and the areas that attract the most scientific interest. We construct a methodology to identify these fronts, and we use quantitative and qualitative methodology to analyze and describe them. Our methodology is able to identify these fronts as they form—with potential use by firms, venture capitalists, researchers, and governments looking to identify emerging high-impact technologies. We also examine how science and technology absorbs the knowledge developed in these fronts and find that fronts which maximize impact have very different characteristics than fronts which maximize growth, with consequences for the way science develops over time.     

Analysis of publication patterns in Korean library and information science research

This study assessed research patterns and trends of library and information science (LIS) in Korea by applying bibliometric analysis to 159 Korean LIS professors?? 2,401 peer-reviewed publications published between 2001 and 2010. Bibliometric analysis of publication data found an increasing trend for collaboration, robust publication patterns, increasing number of international publications, and internationalization of LIS in Korea. The maturation and internalization of LIS research was evidenced in increased number of publications in high impact journals (e.g., SSI, SSCI), growing participation in leading international conferences (e.g., ASIST, TREC), increasing proportion of Korean LIS faculty with international degrees, and high publication rates by professors with international degrees. Though limited in its evaluative power without citation data, publication data can be a rich source for bibliometric analysis as this study has shown. The analysis of publication patterns conducted by the study, which is a first step in our aim to establish a multi-faceted approach for assessing the impact of scholarly work, will be followed up in a future study, where the question of quantity versus quality will be examined by comparing publication counts with citation counts.     

Influence of the manufacturing technology on microchannel structure efficiency

The paper presents investigations of different copper microchannel structure manufacturing technologies. Both additive and subtractive techniques are taken into consideration. Performed tests show that due to the chosen material and dimensions only wire cutting process and milling process can be selected. The use of these methods results in differences in obtained microchannel shape. Further, the analysis of microchannel shape, various geometrical and thermal parameters and their influence on cooling abilities of the microchannel structures are presented. It is shown that the geometry resulting from chosen manufacturing technology may impact the overall thermal performance of the copper microstructures, especially for heat transfer coefficients below 5 W/cm² K. The numerical analysis has been conducted with the aid of ANSYS software.     

British science in the 1980s — Has the relative decline continued?

In previous articles, the author and his colleagues have shown that British science declined relative to other countries during the 1970 and more slowly during the early 1980s. More recently, the author examined figures for 1981–85 produced by the Information Science and Scientometrics Research Unit (ISSRU) and showed that they were consistent with other evidence on Britain's relative decline. However, those latter findings and the methodology used to derive them have been criticised byBraun and his colleagues at ISSRU, and byLeydesdorff andKealey. This paper begins by examining these criticisms to establish whether there are any grounds for revising the previous conclusion that British science has been slipping in relation to other countries. It then analyses the latest publication and citation statistics. It also presents new data on highly cited papers and on the national distribution of Nobel Prizes. The paper concludes that, although a few isolated indicators might be taken to suggest that British science has been growing in some absolute sense, the great weight of evidence points to a continuing relative decline.     

Advanced technology use and firm performance in Canadian manufacturing in the 1990s

This paper investigates the evolution of industrial structurein Canadian manufacturing and its relationship to technologicalchange. It does so by examining the extent to which plants thatmake greater use of advanced technologies experience highergrowth in market share and productivity. Using recent surveydata on technology use at the plant level, the study finds thatestablishments that had adopted advanced manufacturing technologiesby the end of the 1990s, particularly network communicationstechnologies, had superior productivity growth throughout thedecade. In turn, gains in relative productivity were accompaniedby gains in market share.