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To remanufacture a disused part, a hybrid process needs to be taken in part production. Therefore, a reasonable machining route is necessary to be developed for the hybrid process. This paper aims to develop a novel process planning algorithm for additive and subtractive manufacturing (ASM) system to achieve this purpose.

First, a skeleton of the model is generated by using thinning algorithm. Then, the skeleton tree is constructed based on topological structure and shape feature. Further, a feature matching algorithm is developed for recognizing the different features between the initial model and the final model based on the skeleton tree. Finally, a reasonable hybrid machining route of the ASM system is generated in consideration of the machining method of each different sub-feature.

This paper proposes a hybrid process planning algorithm for the ASM system. Further, it generates new process planning insights on the hybrid process service provider market.

The proposed process planning algorithm enables engineers to obtain a proper hybrid machining route before product fabrication. And thereby, it extends the machining capability of the hybrid process to manufacture some parts accurately and efficiently.

This study addresses one gap in the hybrid process literature. It develops the first hybrid process planning strategy for remanufacturing of disused parts based on skeleton tree matching, which generates a more proper hybrid machining route than the currently available hybrid strategy studies. Also, this study provides technical support for the ASM system to repair damaged parts.

As an important connecting component, the reliability of aluminium alloy welded joints influences the whole structural effectiveness and stability of equipment. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel reliability estimation approach to the welded joints based on time-transformed Wiener process with automatic image measurement of crack growth. The crack length information of the welded joints is incorporated into reliability analysis to reflect the product time-varying characteristics.

The proposed approach is superior to other crack growth estimations in that it innovatively introduce a non-contact and flexible photogrammetry technique.First, on-line crack growth images of aluminium alloy welded joints are acquired by the designed monitor system. Second, crack length is calculated with image measurement, then the crack growth data during the manufacturing process is prepared. Finally, a time-transformed Wiener process is used to modeling the degradation, and reliability estimation is carried out with Wiener model. The approach has been validated on five 7075-T7351 welded joint samples.

The method has a twofold task: first, the extraction of crack length growth data by a sequence of image processing. The main step is to model the crack skeleton with crack skeleton tree, and remove it edges to calculate the length of crack; second, the prediction of crack growth and reliability estimation.

The limitation of proposed method should not be ignored. The pixel/mm scale should be calibrated in advance that means once we have built the monitor system, the relative position of the CCD camera and the surveyed crack cannot change anymore. It has reduced the flexibility. To improve this, we can obtain binocular vision in crack image measurement. The 3-D measurements could solve calibration problem and provide more information, such as the depth and the orientation of crack to research. Therefore, future work can be centered on the improvement of monitor system and measurement precision.

In the paper a novel method to estimate reliability of crack growth from welded joint based on image measurement has been presented. This method could be widely applied in different filed of manufacturing systems, reliability engineering and structural analysis.

Computer aided process planning (CAPP) is an effective way to integrate computer aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM). There are two key issues with the integration: design input in a feature‐based model and acquisition and representation of process knowledge especially empirical knowledge. This paper presents a state of the art review of research in computer integrated manufacturing using neural network techniques. Neural network‐based methods can eliminate some drawbacks of the conventional approaches, and therefore have attracted research attention particularly in recent years. The four main issues related to the neural network‐based techniques, namely the topology of the neural network, input representation, the training method and the output format are discussed with the current systems. The outcomes of research using neural network techniques are studied, and the limitations and future work are outlined.

The automatic body measurement is the key of tailoring, mass customization and fit/ease evaluation. The major challenges include finding the landmarks and extracting the sizes accurately. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new method of body measurement based on the loop structure.

The scanned human model is sliced equally to layers consist of various shapes of loops. The semantic feature analysis has been regarded as a problem of finding the points of interest (POI) and the loop of interest (LOI) according to the types of loop connections. Methods for determining the basic landmarks have been detailed.

The experimental results validate that the proposed methods can be used to locate the landmarks and to extract sizes on markless human scans robustly and efficiently.

With the method, the body measurement can be quickly performed with average errors around 0.5 cm. The results of segmentation, landmarking and body measurements also validate the robustness and efficiency of the proposed methods.

THE CATEGORICAL TABLES of the S.C. which are used entirely for the sub‐division of subjects have only been criticized for two reasons, and neither is very serious. It has been said that in many cases they make the notation too cumbrous and the numbers too long; and someone has objected to these tables for including subjects which are already in the main schedules. A lengthy symbol is almost inseparable from minute classification, because it is impossible without enormously increasing the main tables to provide for the many forms and standpoints which require expressing if an attempt is to be made to get right up to the specific subject. An example of enormous expansion will be found in the uncompleted Library of Congress Classification, in which no fewer than 7,079 numbers are used for music, a subject which in the S.C. is even more fully detailed in 332 numbers. For instance, there is no place in the Congressional scheme for the viol family of instruments, in connection with which there is a very large literature, so that, in spite of its great array of numbers, it appears that it is possible to miss important headings even in the most ambitious scheme. This inflation is caused by the constant repetition of forms, localities, and other categories, which in the S.C. are expressed once and for all in separate tables, by numbers which always mean the same thing. Thus:—

To confront the increasingly devastating impacts of disasters and the challenges that climate change is posing to disaster risk management (DRM) there is an imperative to further develop DRM. The resilience approach is emerging as one way to do this, and in the last decade has been strongly introduced into the policy arena, although it is not new for DRM practitioners and researchers. Nevertheless, resilience is a highly contested issue, and there is no agreed definition of it, which has resulted in confusion for stakeholders when applying it to practice. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how resilience is framed by researchers and DRM practitioners.

The analytical framework used was Hajer's “social-interactive discourse theory”, combined with analysis of government documents, in-depth interviews with practitioners and observation of field and practices within the context of the Natural Disaster Resilience Program in Queensland, Australia.

One of the key findings is that the idea of “bouncing back” is central to the resilience discourse but different interpretations of this idea results in real-world implications. Three different ways (storylines) in which practitioners construct the meaning of disaster resilience emerge from this study. Importantly the divergences between these storylines reveal possibilities for reframing to occur and these could lead to different policy options and practices.

The results presented in this paper offer empirical evidence on how resilience is understood on the ground, contributing to extending resilience theory and informing DRM and resilience practice.

THE first Farnborough Air Show of the Seventies holds the promise of a vintage Show. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first exhibition held by what is now the Society of British Aerospace Companies. Once again it will be the largest national aviation exhibition and flying display in the world and, by common repute, the best organised of all the major air shows.

In case any of you are expecting a tale of mystery and intrigue on the high seas—complete with ships in hidden coves—I'm afraid I must disappoint you. My Drugs from the Sea story is not so dramatic, although it has its excitement (since the potential is always there for discovering a miracle drug from life in the sea).

Organizational innovation, leading change, customer service management in professional service firms.

Advanced undergraduate, MBA/executive education.

This case describes the human resource (HR) dilemma faced by BDO Hungary in 2010, an international audit and tax consulting partnership, operating in the country since 1989. In order to continue its past growth story and to reach closer to “Big Four” BDO has to enter new business segments, offer more services to its existing customers and seize higher value-added business potentials. The new strategy, however, is challenged by its incumbent, traditional core business: auditing, which is highly regulated by ethical, legal, and professional standards including non-advertisement regulations to which the resulting organizational culture and HR routines are congruent. The case is described from the perspective of the Equity Partner, HR Director and Executive MBA student, who is tasked with a new HR plan for training and development and is charged with implementing it successfully. How best to adjust current training and development policies to the best meet new strategic growth goals? How to develop existing human capital? How to make employees more commercially oriented in such a conservative, risk averse, and highly regulated environment? How to improve their customer service and the sales skill?

Exploring the importance of training and development in improving customer service levels in professional service firms operating in emerging markets. Understanding the limitations and the possibilities of transferring international HR policies and standards across borders and cultural differences.

Teaching notes.

This paper aims to deal with the problem of designing robot behaviors (mainly to robotic arms) to express emotions. The authors study the effects of robot behaviors from our humanoid robot NAO on the subject’s emotion expression in human–robot interaction (HRI).

A method to design robot behavior through the movement primitives is proposed. Then, a novel dimensional affective model is built. Finally, the concept of action semantics is adopted to combine the robot behaviors with emotion expression.

For the evaluation of this combination, the authors assess positive (excited and happy) and negative (frightened and sad) emotional patterns on 20 subjects which are divided into two groups (whether they were familiar with robots). The results show that the recognition of the different emotion patterns does not have differences between the two groups and the subjects could recognize the robot behaviors with emotions.

Using affective models to guide robots’ behavior or express their intentions is highly beneficial in human–robot interaction. The authors think about several applications of the emotional motion: improve efficiency in HRI, direct people during disasters, better understanding with human partners or help people perform their tasks better.

This paper presents a method to design robot behaviors with emotion expression. Meanwhile, a similar methodology can be used in other parts (leg, torso, head and so on) of humanoid robots or non-humanoid robots, such as industrial robots.