Solar residential heating and cooling system

System has been placed in operation to verify technical feasibility of using solar energy to provide residential heating and cooling. Complete system analysis was performed to provide design information

Understanding collaborative supply chain relationships through the application of the Williamson organisational failure framework

Many researchers have studied supply chain relationships however, the preponderance of open markets situations and ‘industry-style’ surveys have reduced the empirical focus on the dynamics of long-term, collaborative dyadic relationships. Within the supply chain the need for much closer, long-term relationships is increasing due to supplier rationalisation and globalisation (Spekman et al, 1998) and more information about these interactions is required. The research specifically tested the well-accepted Williamson’s (1975) Economic Organisations Failure Framework as a theoretical model through which long term collaborative relationships can be

Solar residential heating and cooling system development test program

A solar heating and cooling system is described, which was installed in a simulated home at Marshall Space Flight Center. Performance data are provided for the checkout and initial operational phase for key subsystems and for the total system. Valuable information was obtained with regard to operation of a solar cooling system during the first summer of operation. Areas where improvements and modifications are required to optimize such a system are discussed

Long Term Collaborative Business Relationships: The Impact of Trust and C3 Behaviour

Long-term, collaborative business relationships are like marriages where tolerance, forbearance and some reduction of freedom as well as innovation are necessary to ensure success. Trust and co-operative behaviours are known to be essential ingredients in securing an environment of continuous improvement but, how they are correlated has yet to be tested. The paper describes a research project within a sample of long-term monopoly businesses as a novel approach to bringing trust and cooperation, co-ordination and collaboration (C3 Behaviour) into sharper focus without competitive distractions. It was found that a correlation between trust and C3 Behaviour and the success of the collaborative relationship exists

Marriage without the option of divorce: measuring the quality of long-term collaborative business relationships.

An often unforeseen feature of long term, collaborative business relationships characterized by the investment of highly specific assets is the partners become locked into the arrangement. Exit may become too costly and difficult due to the loss of irretrievable investments and the adverse effect on business continuity (Hirschman, 1970). But, as long as goodwill and benefits flows are maintained, all is well. However, if problems are encountered that undermine trust, commitment will suffer and the inadequacy of contract law to adequately resolve complex relationship problems will be realized. An unhappy marriage results without the option of divorce. The partners can either co-exist in a mutually disadvantageous arrangement or, realizing the lack of an escape choice, learn to adapt and to re-invigorate the partnership. This paper describes a research project that examined the pure monopolistic business relationships within UK Defence Procurement. From the researchers point of view this environment is particularly interesting because the variability resulting from competition is removed and the links between the partner organisations, including the effect of key behavioural variables, are more visible. It aims to show how a suite of techniques was used to measure and describe an environment that has received scant attention from management researchers. These relationships are characterized by high technology, long durations (up to 40 years), strategically important products and services and the regular expenditure of large sums of public money. They have a tradition of adversarial relationships, late, over- budget projects and low economic returns (Parker & Hartley, 1997). The study aimed to understand the dynamics within these relationships and to determine if it was possible to identify those factors that maintain goodwill and benefit flows and those that might re-invigorate failure situations

Is there an integrative center in the vertebrate brain-stem? A robotic evaluation of a model of the reticular formation viewed as an action selection device

Neurobehavioral data from intact, decerebrate, and neonatal rats, suggests that the reticular formation provides a brainstem substrate for action selection in the vertebrate central nervous system. In this article, Kilmer, McCulloch and Blum’s (1969, 1997) landmark reticular formation model is described and re-evaluated, both in simulation and, for the first time, as a mobile robot controller. Particular model configurations are found to provide effective action selection mechanisms in a robot survival task using either simulated or physical robots. The model’s competence is dependent on the organization of afferents from model sensory systems, and a genetic algorithm search identified a class of afferent configurations which have long survival times. The results support our proposal that the reticular formation evolved to provide effective arbitration between innate behaviors and, with the forebrain basal ganglia, may constitute the integrative, ’centrencephalic’ core of vertebrate brain architecture. Additionally, the results demonstrate that the Kilmer et al. model provides an alternative form of robot controller to those usually considered in the adaptive behavior literature

Development of an improved protective cover/light block for multilayer insulation

The feasibility of using a scrim-reinforced, single metallized, 4-mil Tedlar film as a replacement for the Teflon coated Beta-cloth/single metallized 3-mil Kapton film presently used as the protective cover/light block for multilayer insulation (MLI) on the Orbiter, Spacelab, and other space applications was demonstrated. The proposed Tedlar concept is lighter and potentially lower in cost. Thermal analysis with the proper concept was much simpler than with the present system. Tests have already demonstrated that white Tedlar has low alpha (adsorption) degradation in space from U.V. The proposed concept was 4400 percent cheaper with nominal weight savings of 50 percent