Posts
All Comments
Posts
All Comments
As the UK Advanced Manufacturing Consortium kicks into place cf. my blog post "Interdisciplinary Advanced Forming Research Centre, Univ of Strathclyde "The Tech", One of 7 Members of the Advanced Manufacturing Consortium" here is further supportive evidence from SAE International -Automotive Engineering Online 28 Sept. 2011 that Strathclyde and the Consortium are on the right path and true to The Strathclyde Motto as "A Place of Useful Learning.
To quote a few snippets from the SAE Intl's page on the US National Center for Manufacturing Sciences incidentally founded in 1986.
"In the world of discrete manufacturing today, collaboration is a very hot topic. Driven by the reality of global commerce, the most visible manifestation of this important tool is in design as practiced by many extended enterprises—for example an OEM, its geographically dispersed design centers, and its suppliers. Collaborations such as these can pay big dividends in design cycle time compression."
"However, another type of collaboration, created and optimized by theNational Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) 25 years ago, is a model in which two or more companies or organizations work together to achieve shared goals. Guided by NCMS, collaborators develop a statement of work (SOW) that defines a common objective in precompetitive research and development with well-defined deliverables plus a work breakdown structure (WBS) that defines individual organization efforts in support of the shared goal. In collaborations structured this way, participants share the cost and risk associated with traditional R&D models while bringing their innovations to market faster, at less cost."
There is much more to be learned from the US NCMS approach and if I remember correctly from the Germany's Fraunhofer Institute.
More on Materials from SAE
More Materials Matter from this blogger
Original pointers Global Spec.com Metals_Alloys
Useful learning- enjoy
JA
I have just been introduced to a new innovation consultant (Gareth Davies twitter pseudo, "@microsinger") via The Institute, IOM3.
He directs the innovation business at the start-up g2innovation, UK . Hope I got that right, if not drop Gareth a line at the link above.
The site already points to a most useful Benchmark paper on the position of Innovation within the UK. The latter is provocatively, but justifiably,described as a follower rather than a leader in the field of Innovation. Well to be fair the graph of EU innovation countries places UK well above the EU average on a scale 0 to 100 in percentage points. Only four countries lead UK. Two countries (Germany & Finland-Nokia surely!) by 10% or 1 point, and two countries (Denmark & Sweden by 15% or 1.5 points.)
I have dug out the references for my readers and added more important pointers just to keep my fellow country men on their toes, g2innovation is housed in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Industrial Innovation EU score card
[2 MB] [380 KB] [450 KB]
Nature's editorial of 25 Aug. 2011 entitled "Spoils of War is summarized as follows:
"Conflict poisons both land and sea, and lost natural resources lead to more violence. Ecology is an unlikely objective during wartime, but one that can help to secure peace."
Examples given are:
1.Cancer rate on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques higher than that in the surrounding Caribbean due to noxious munitions have been dumped off Vieques during training exercises by the US navy."
2."Bands of toxic mercury in the soils of Slovenia are a chemical legacy of artillery barrages along the Soca Front during the First World War."
3."Active fighting burns and crushes whole landscapes and the chaos generated leaves rules and regulations by the wayside, natural resources are plundered and poaching is rife."
4."Deforestation rates have soared as successive conflicts have raged in Afghanistan, and Pakistani 'timber mafias' have looted valuable woods from the region.
ACTION-INNOVATION.
A new bread of Warfare ecologists has arisen. By studying warfare's effects on the environment, and the environment's effects on war, these researchers hope to short-circuit the cycles of violence leading to natural-resource crises leading to violence. A paper on page 438 links El Niño weather events to civil conflicts, showing that the connections can be strong.
THE STRATEGIC ISSUE:
"It is clear that humanity at the beginning of the twenty-first century is much better at violent conflict than at planet management.
Certainly, the US Department of Defense's budget is 100 times that of the National Science Foundation.
INNOVATION IN FACE OF THE CYNICS AND CYNICISM.
"research the interplay between ecosystems and international aid and relief, and suggest smart technological fixes, such as solar panels in refugee camps, which improve safety there. After a war, they can restore ecosystem services necessary for continued peace, from clean water to locally grown food. And they can promote 'peace parks', protected areas that span borders, preserve nature, provide a feel-good common cause for local and national governments and create economic opportunities through tourism."
COUNTER ARGUMENTS.
"There are troubling aspects to warfare ecology. Peter Smallwood, a biologist at the University of Richmond, Virginia, who has worked to establish a peace park in Afghanistan, points out that such projects are so enthusiastically supported by soldiers trying to win hearts and minds that they can blur the lines between civilian and military acts.
Another uncomfortable truth that war can be a boon to ecosystems and rare species. War zones, military bases and weapons labs around the world serve as de facto protected areas, many of which are now managed with biodiversity in mind. The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea has become a haven for endangered species such as red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis). In Colombia, jungle areas held by guerrilla fighters are safe from development.
CONCLUSIONS
1"The above does not mean that warfare ecologists must wish for conflicts to continue. Instead, they can prepare for peace, by partnering with conservation organizations to raise funds that can be mobilized when war zones open up."
2.Warfare ecology should and will go on. Ecologists are used to making do, and there is always a war somewhere.
The current financial climate sees even sacrosanct defence budgets feeling the pinch, and ecological research and nature protection could be among the early casualties. But warfare ecology should and will go on. Ecologists are used to making do, and there is always a war somewhere.
FINALLY
"The field can be a grey area in which to work: a nebulous zone between propaganda and peacemaking, between mitigating harm and being seen as applying a public-relations gloss to violence. But ecology is most relevant to society when it studies the intersection between humans and the environment. And along with romance and music and endless curiosity, war remains one of humanity's most characteristic activities."
Posts
All Comments
Posts
All Comments
