A Framework to Support Agility Strategy Formulation

In the last decade, turbulent times and uncertainti es in the business environment have made ground for a new business era, and "chang e" has become a major characteristic of the new era. This has resulted in tirele ss evolution of business systems and the creation of new manufacturing and manag ement philosophies. Agile Manufacturing (AM) is a step forward in generation of new means for better performance and success of business, and in practice is a s trategic approach to manufacturing by considering the new conditions of the business environment. This paper discusses the concepts and development of a met hodology to achieve agility in manufacturing organisations. Following an introdu ction of the subject of agility, a discussion of the methodology and practical t ools to support the implementation of the methodology, including metrics for the assessment of agility drivers, capability and performance are given. Aspects of the tools are tested in an aerospace company.

Atomic cobalt anchored on covalent triazine frameworks with ultra-high performance towards oxygen reduction reaction

Single cobalt atom is promising non-precious metal catalyst instead of Pt in the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR).However,it is still a great challenge to develop a costeffective,ultrastable and efficent single-atom cobalt catalyst for ORR,requiring efficient fabrication strategies and robust support to stabilize the single cobalt atom.Here,we prepared a highly active and stable atomically isolated cobalt catalyst via covalent triazine framework(CTF)support with Ketjen Black(KB)hybridization in scale.The prepared single Co catalyst(Co-CTF/KB)possesses high metal loading over 4 wt%and shows superior ORR performance with a half-wave potential(E1/2)of 0.830 V and a limiting current density of 6.14 mA cm-2 as well as high tolerance of methanol in an alkaline medium,which outperforms commercial Pt/C and most non-precious-metal catalysts reported to date.Benefiting from strong stabilization of Co atoms on CTF,Co-CTF/KB shows outstanding stability with only 5 mV negative shifts after 10,000 cycles.Moreover,it also displays high catalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction(OER),suggesting it is an efficient ORR/OER bifunctional catalyst.The present work provides a facile strategy for preparing single-atom catalysts in bulk quantity and contributes to development of catalysts for electrochemical conversion and storage devices.

Global Community of Disaster Risk Reduction Scientists and Decision Makers Endorse a Science and Technology Partnership to Support the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030

At the first gathering of its kind on the role of science in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030,over 750 scientists,policymakers,business people,and practitioners met in Geneva from January 27–29,2016.The UNISDR Science and Technology Conference on the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 fea-

Sustainable Water Resources Management: River Basin Modelling and Decision Support Framework

Sustainability is a key objective of water resources management and this paper describes a modelling and decision support framework that achieves this, illustrated by applications on the UK Thames and Mekong river basins. The decision support framework contains several modules, including an interactive user＇s interface linked to a GIS, a geo-database, knowledge base, simulation models and optimization procedures. Based on the analysis of scenarios and proposed interventions, efficient modelling and optimization tools form a comprehensive integrated decision support framework for the analysis and operational management of water resources in the river basin, our emphasis has been on a practical implementation through careful screening of alternatives, consideration of the institutional framework and direct involvement of stakeholders in the decision making process. Operating in this environment is transparent, reproducible and auditable, securing the trust of all interested parties. This paper discusses its applications to water utilisation on the Mekong river basin and drought management of the Lower Thames stored reservoir system.

Decision Support System for Adaptive Restoration Control of Transmission System

The power system restoration control has a higher uncertainty level than the preventive control of cascading failures. In order to ensure the feasibility of the decision support system of restoration control, a decision support framework for adaptive restoration control of transmission system is proposed, which can support the coordinated restoration of multiple partitions, coordinated restoration of units and loads, and coordination of multi-partition decision-making process and actual restoration process. The proposed framework is divided into two layers, global coordination layer and partition optimization layer. The upper layer partitions the transmission system according to the power outage scenario, constantly and dynamically adjusts the partitions during the restoration process, and optimizes the time-space decision-making of inter-partition connectivity. For each partition, the lower layer pre-selects restoration targets according to the estimated restoration income, optimizes the corresponding restoration paths, and evaluates the restoration plans according to the expected net income per unit of power consumption. During the restoration process, if the restoration operation such as energizing the outage branch fails, the current restoration plan will be adaptively switched to the sub-optimal one or re-optimized if necessary. The framework includes two operation modes, i.e., the on-line operation mode and training simulation mode, and provides an information interaction interface for collaborative restoration with related distribution systems. The effectiveness and adaptability of the proposed framework is demonstrated by simulations using the modified IEEE 118-bus system.