Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "Defense industry employees"

Employees in the defense industry are required to enter test sites and maintenance hangars under military control for the operation tests and maintenance of military equipment. Despite the strengthening of safety standards for defense industry employees since 2019, they remain in a blind spot for safety accidents. However, the safety management of military facilities is conducted in accordance with the National Defense Safety Management Directive, necessitating a reassessment for the safety of defense industry employees. In this study, an analysis was conducted on the National Defense Safety Management Directive to examine the legal basis for preventing safety accidents among defense industry employees and for ensuring the obligation of contractors to secure safety and health under the Serious Accident Punishment Act. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted to investigate and analyze the actual safety management status of defense industry employees. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the scope of the current military safety management instruction was limited to the Ministry of National Defense and institutional units, excluding defense industry workers, and it was confirmed that safety management of defense industry workers was not properly performed during test evaluation conducted within weapon system research institutions. In this study, the following implications and measures to strengthen safety standards were suggested. Firstly, the application scope of the Serious Accident Punishment Act should encompass employees in the defense industry. Secondly, a compensation system for accident victims needs to be implemented. Thirdly, substantive safety training for employees should be conducted, taking into account the risk factors at defense industry sites. These research findings are expected to contribute to enhancing the technological capabilities of the South Korean defense industry by preventing accidents at defense sites and actualizing compensation for victims.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) on the performance of the defence industry and the influence of artificial intelligence on the performance of the defence industry during the disruption era. This study uses a quantitative research approach. The samples processed were 160 defence industry employees. The primary data collection technique is done by distributing questionnaires to respondents. The questionnaire uses a Likert scale as a measure of data. Data analysis was carried out through structural equation modelling with SmartPLS 3.0 software. The dependent variable is the employee performance variable, and the independent variable is the HRIS and job satisfaction variables. The results of data analysis in this study and the significance value obtained prove that HRIS is significantly related to employee performance. The more accurate, precise and complete the HRIS application, the higher the employee's performance in completing their work assignments and improving the process of the defence industry in making human resource decisions through systematic HRIS procedures, which include data collection, data storage, data maintenance, data retrieval, and data validation. Its strategic plan influences the progress of the defence industry in utilizing human resources quantitatively, and understanding environmental conditions can provide an overview of the future of the defence industry. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is significantly related to employee performance.

Исследование посвящено теоретическим аспектам изменений, возникших в мотивации сотрудников ОПК России. В начале статьи рассмотрены аспекты мотивации сотрудников предприятий без учета отраслевой специфики. Потом проанализирован исторический опыт развития системы мотивации в ОПК России и СССР. В завершение статьи приводится специфика управления предприятиями ОПК в текущий момент и обосновываются подходы по выработке методов мотивации сотрудников ОПК в современных условиях. The research is devoted to the theoretical aspects of changes in the motivation of employees of the Russian defense industry. At the beginning of the article, the aspects of motivation of employees of enterprises are considered without taking into account the industry specifics. Then the historical experience of the development of the motivation system in the defense industry of Russia and the USSR is analyzed. At the end of the article, the specifics of the management of the defense industry enterprises at the current moment are presentedand approaches to the development of methods for motivating employees of the defense industry in modern conditions are justified.

Currently, active work is underway to introduce a project-based approach to the management of new product production processes. However, even if the need to implement project management is undeniable, the question arises of the pitfalls in implementing these innovations into the defense enterprises. Based on this, this work aims to determine organizational problems of implementing project management system into an enterprise of the defense industry. The following methods were used to collect data: in-depth interviews with employees of the company, taking a direct and key part in the PM processes; study of internal regulatory and other documentation on the research object; conducting a survey of employees. The research revealed the use of project management tools that are developed mostly in procurement management. The main problems of project management implementation are in scheduling, communications and integration management. The weaknesses in terms of the support provided for the implementation of projects by the enterprise include such areas as the availability of standard project management software and the organization of permanent trainings on project management. Based on the problems revealed, some recommendations are made for implementation of project management system in the enterprise of the defense industry.

This study aims to derive a customized development plan for the defense base area centered on the Gyeongsangnam-do and Changwon special cities, which are representative bases in the domestic defense industry. The areas account for more than 40% of the defense sales and the number of employees based on domestic defense companies. Their status and importance increased as they were selected as the first defense innovation cluster pilot project in Korea by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. For the research method, management performance (sales, R&D investment, number of employees, exports) and difficulties factors were analyzed by targeting 490 defense companies located in Gyeongnam from 2018 to 2021. Based on the results, considerable strengths and opportunity factors were derived in the fields of industry composition, defense supply chain, parts localization, workforce training, and cooperation networks, and the creation of a favorable management environment for defense SMEs was suggested. In the future, to facilitate the localization of defense materials and parts through the defense innovation cluster project, and to establish an effective mid- to long-term defense industry promotion strategy, an accurate analysis of the current situation and competitiveness of defense companies in the Gyeongnam region is required.

The relevance of the study consists in the need to increase the motivation and efficiency of personnel in the context of a changing economic situation and technological changes at the enterprise of the military-industrial industry.The purpose of the study is to develop a system for accounting for bonuses for personnel on the basis of an updated system of principles for stimulating the activities of employees at the enterprise of the military-industrial complex.The оbjectives: are to develop, on the basis of a comparative analysis of the peculiarities of the industry and the principles of stimulation, a refined system of principles for stimulating the activities of employees; test the method of assessing the performance of employees of scientific, technical and production departments; develop a regulation on the distribution of the amount of the bonus between employees of the enterprise at the end of the reporting period.The methodology is a qualitative study, including an analysis of the existing system of accounting for personnel bonuses, as well as the introduction of an improved system of accounting for bonuses at the enterprise of the military-industrial complex.Results. The article describes the development of a new model for accounting for bonuses for personnel, adapted specifically for enterprises of the military-industrial complex, taking into account their characteristics and needs, and also contains practical recommendations for improving the system of accounting for bonuses for personnel at enterprises of the military-industrial complex, based on the result of the study.Conclusions. Based on the generalization of the best practices of scientists, in terms of the formation of requirements for the system of incentives for employees, as well as the specifics of the activities of the defense industry, the system of principles for stimulating the activities of employees in defense industry organizations was clarified, which made it possible to reduce staff turnover and achieve the strategic goals of enterprises. Key performance indicators have been proposed and tested to assess the performance of employees, as well as regulations on the distribution of the amount of the bonus between employees of the defense industry enterprise based on the results of the reporting period based on the assessment of the employee's labor contribution, obtained by summing up points on basic bonus indicators and individual motivation indicators, This made it possible to calculate the employee's remuneration in a certain order and establish the procedure for awarding employees of scientific and production divisions.

Employees display various behaviors which also include work-related behaviors such as Job Satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Innovative Work Behavior. The exploration of the relationship among the Big Five Personality Traits, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Innovative Work Behavior of the employees working in the companies providing services for the Turkish Defense Industry serves as the primary aim of this study. Hence, the study was conducted on the employees of defense companies through face-to-face interviews and questionnaire forms. The results of this study demonstrate that the Big Five Personality Traits directly affects the changes in Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Besides, Organizational Citizenship Behavior has a mediating role in the relationship between Big Five personality Traits and Job Satisfaction, which directly affects the changes in Innovative Work Behavior. This study primarily targeted to provide evidence and create an understanding of how employees’ intrinsic characteristics shape the attitudes and behaviors in the workplace according to the scores of Big Five Inventory as well as statistical research techniques. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the defense employees’ personality traits and the results show that personality traits are a pivotal factor in achieving corporate’s strategic goals.

The research objective was to analyze the role of ethical climate as a foundation for internal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and employee performance. The methodology used is a causal study to test the effect by using a survey of 400 employees Holding of state-owned defense, industry randomly selected nonmanagers. The results showed that ethical climate directs internal CSR activities as a realization of ethical awareness in the environment. Employees have an ethical responsibility to restore the goodness of the company to employees in real terms according to the company's demands in the form of optimal performance. The values, beliefs, and ethical atmosphere felt by employees are the reasons for implementing CSR. Internal CSR raises employees' awareness of the company's care and attention, which in turn increases the moral obligation to work optimally for the common good. Ethical climate is guidance for companies and individuals to be involved in collective efforts that can ensure sustainability. In conclusion, ethical climate has an influence on employee performance through CSR. The practical implication is to develop an ethical climate in the company to strengthen the company's internal CSR orientation. Its value contribution can explain the ethical climate function as a foundation for internal CSR concerning employee’s performance.

The economic and security stability of Serbia is closely related to the state and development potentials of the Serbian defense industry. Accelerated development and integration into the flows of the national and international economy of this sector of the economy, through the procurement of new technologies, and the growing export potential in recent years has been recognized as an essential element of the national security policy of the Republic of Serbia.The Defense Industry of Serbia today is a guarantor of the security of vital defense interests and significantly influences economic activity. Competitive advantages distinguished by the defense industry of Serbia are the professional competence of the employees, the volume of production capacities, the recognition and competitiveness of certain segments of the production program in the foreign market, the scientific research community and the experience in research, development of certain products and the production itself. A steady development of the entire economy must to provide preconditions for increasing the budget aimed at defending the country. That would be one the parties allowed to increase production in factories of the Serbian defense industry, and with others would influence the easier placement of individuals combat systems, weapons and military equipment in foreign markets. The paper analyzes systematically the export potential of this industrial branch, as well as its impact on the overall economy of Serbia and the economic activity of the country.The results of the survey also show adequate measures that the Government, through its line ministries of defence, should take to ensure continuity in production and ensure further sustainable development of the industry.

Introduction. The concept of “mechanism” is widely used in modern economic research. The mechanism of staffing is a set of forms and methods of forming the necessary quantitative and qualitative composition of the organization’s personnel. The purpose of the article is to identify the mechanism of staffing used in the period 1946–1950 at the enterprises of heavy and defense industry, to disclose the industry specifics of its implementation. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the research is the modernization historical paradigm. When writing the article, the author was guided by the principles of historicism and objectivity. Work with historical sources was carried out through general scientific and historical methods. Results and Discussion. The mechanisms of solving personnel problems used at defense and heavy industry enterprises aimed at replenishing the workforce (transfer of employees, training of specialists in educational institutions, voluntary hiring, mobilization, use of labor of a special agent (prisoners, special settlers, prisoners of war)), securing personnel at enterprises (administrative and legal regulation and control of labor discipline, financial incentives for employees). Conclusion. The industry specifics consisted in a higher intensity of application of positive (benefits, financial incentives for employees) and negative (administrative coercion, control of labor discipline) forms of staffing at enterprises of priority industry objects. The use of mobilization tools made it possible to overcome the personnel shortage, accumulate labor resources for the development of priority industries.

This dissertation examines the effect that the introduction of an advanced manufacturing technology, specifically robotics, has on the work force of an aerospace defense company. In this endeavor, there are two main objectives. First, this study determines whether workers feel that their jobs are threatened by the introduction of robotic technology. Secondly, the research compares the degree to which workers from different labor types feel this threat. A review of the literature reveals that the technical factors involving manufacturing technology have been thoroughly examined and discussed, but the effect that they have on the work force has been somewhat neglected. This dissertation develops ten hypotheses to ascertain the perceived threat to job security for workers within an aerospace defense company. This study is based on an employee survey that examined the employee's perceived threat to job security by the introduction of robotics. The primary research was obtained from employees within an aerospace defense company through the use of questionnaires in a three phase approach. The first phase utilized a pretest that sampled the questionnaire prior to the company-wide solicitation. The second phase administered the questionnaire to the three labor types within the work force. Phase three consisted of data reduction and the comparison of the primary data to the research hypotheses. The results of the study concluded that workers closer to the robotic technology (hands-on employees) felt more threatened about their job security than workers more removed from the technology (support personnel and management). It was further found that the hands-on workers felt that the major factor that lead to the introduction of robots was the desire to lower labor costs while support personnel and managers felt that the major factor that lead to the introduction of robots was due to increasing productivity. Additional hypotheses tested in this study include the effect that robots have on the perceptions of the work force toward the company's employment level, worker apprehension and reaction, training, safety, health, and competition.

The purpose of this study was to use evaluation research methods to test the effectiveness of a model for planning programs in the defense industry.One of the major reasons for deficiencies in both training and education of Program Managers is the lack of a generic Program Management Planning Process which contains essential elements of program planning and which can be modified or tailored to accommodate the specifics of a given program.This study addressed the following evaluation research questions with regard to a selected Program Management Planning Process:1. How adequate is the functional Performance Measurement Baseline, as a result of following the Program Management Planning Process of this study?2. What is the quality of the resulting Performance Measurement Baseline?3. To what extent are the efforts in creating a performance measurement baseline as defined by the Program Management Planning Process of this study perceived as justified?4. Is the methodology employed in this evaluation research study generalizable to other studies of planning processes?5. Relative to integrated linear and integrated nonlinear models of planning processes, what does this study reveal?The results indicated:1. All of the activities of the Program Management Planning Process of this study were performed and their culminating products produced.2. The Performance Measurement Baseline for the program of this study was satisfactory, but subject to short-term obsolescence and may have been created without sufficient attention being paid to potentially significant cost, schedule or technical program drivers.3. The program planning team participants did believe the Program Management Planning Process of this study added sufficient value, over alternative methodologies, to merit its continued use.4. On the whole, the methodology employed in this research study proved to be generalizable for use on other programs.5. The findings of this study support the proposition that integrated nonlinear planning models are really macro-models and integrated linear models are really micro-models, as applicable to program planning. They are not separate models, but, in fact, the integrated linear model is a subset of the higher level integrated nonlinear model.
Department of Educational Leadership

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-45).
An analysis of the engineering management characteristics present in companies in the defense industry was performed. These aspects include the organization characteristics of structure, hierarchy, and standards and procedures, as well as various features of company culture. This study revealed that the companies that make up most of the defense industry, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, have very similar organization characteristics. They mostly use a matrix structure to run their businesses. They exhibit group relationships, employ an intermediate degree of centralization, and issue a decreasing span of control with increasing power. Moreover, they follow the Department of Defense Acquisition Model, apply engineering management consistent with military standards, and use Capability Maturity Model Integration. However, defense companies are set apart by their cultures. Raytheon has the culture that is most conducive to running a successful company. It places a strong emphasis on its Six Sigma management philosophy, which is a major driving force for the whole organization's operations. Its culture also includes a great value placed on training and graduate education, a confident and customer-focused attitude, and a high regard for ethics. This has led it to have a net income per employee of $23,000 in 2008, the highest out of all four contractors. It also has the highest gross profit margin and revenue growth. While Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman also exhibit positive company culture traits, they do not measure up to Raytheon's. The differences in culture have influenced each company's position in the market.
by Sara S. Gutierrez.
S.B.

碩士
國立高雄應用科技大學
工業工程與管理系碩士在職專班
102
In order to develop technology and economy, domestic Chung-Shan Institute transform to an administrative juridical person after legislation, named "National Chung Shan Institute of Science" Since transform from official system to an administrative juridical person. The present study indicates that 11 percent of the employees in T department in National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology not prefer to transform from official system to an administrative juridical person. It’s worth our further research and discussion that the employees’ working attitude is influence by the psychological factors or worried and resistance to transformation of organization. The purpose of this research is to provide the practical suggestions for policy maker and to probe the meaning of management in academic and the objects of study are employees in T department in National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology. According to the research, perception of transformation, psychological contract and working attitude are all have positive correlation；Psychological contract and working attitude have significant positive correlation. In the other hands, anxiety perception of transformation, psychological contract and working attitude have negative correlation；perception of organization transformation via psychological contract to impact working attitude is complete mediation effect；Different features of sample are partially difference to every variable.

AbstractSweden is well positioned to develop AI for civil and military applications because of bold strategic initiatives by the government and private foundations. The fertility of the Swedish AI soil for defense applications is though dependent on what is nurtured now in the face of competing priorities including the revitalization of its armed forces, looming NATO membership and the resurrection of the total defense concept. Sweden’s long intellectual interest in AI makes this high-tech Nordic nation with a flair for engineering achievements very suited for Fourth Industrial Revolution developments. Sweden’s culturally-infused and porous civil military relations have an unusual intimacy that bodes well for defense AI. It encourages the interflow of ideas, initiative, and technologies across and within these sectors. Sweden’s official recognition in 2018 of the importance of AI brought the government into alignment with the influential private sector. The Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems, and Software Program (WASP) initiative is stimulating the higher education sector with essential funding for AI technologies and future generations of researchers. Sweden now possesses one of the most advanced supercomputers in Europe, which is an important national asset in the Swedish AI ecosystem. Sweden’s advanced military industry already employs defense AI systems with Saab at the forefront of sensor plus AI innovations. The take-up of defense AI in the Swedish armed forces is modest but growing. It is underpinned by strong conceptual work by the Swedish Defense Research Agency that suggests more substantial future engagement. The accession to NATO is also likely to open even more pathways for defense AI cooperation. The foundations for defense AI developments are very apparent in Sweden and the future is potentially very bright.

AbstractThe UK is strategically positioned to capitalize on advancements in AI, especially in the realm of national security. It has taken significant steps in this direction by formulating an AI strategy for defence and national security, engaging in collaborative efforts across government, industry, and academia. The British military is actively experimenting with autonomous platforms and exploring new doctrines for their effective utilization, including aerial drone swarms, pilotless “loyal wingmen,” unmanned submersibles, and tactical ground robots. Partnerships with industry and academia are being strengthened, and autonomous systems are already being employed in data processing and intelligence analysis. However, several challenges lie ahead, including uncertainty regarding AI’s future development and concerns about its ethical implications and performance, particularly in the face of adversarial countermeasures and potential biases. Britain’s aspiration to maintain full spectrum military and intelligence capabilities on a global scale while undergoing significant technological transformation presents formidable challenges, especially given the need to balance these ambitions with a large and growing defence budget. Economic and political uncertainties, including those stemming from Brexit and low productivity, further complicate the situation. These challenges extend beyond immediate defence budgeting, impacting the country’s research base, attractiveness to investment, and ability to attract high-skilled migration. Despite these obstacles, the UK remains committed to advancing its defence capabilities and leveraging AI to address evolving security threats.

Abstract This chapter discusses the fundamental question of the defense industry’s role and legitimacy for societies. It begins with a parable of a psychopath doing something self-serving that has beneficial moral consequences. Analogously, it is argued, the defense industry profiting by selling weapons that can kill people makes it useful in solving moral problems not solvable by people with ordinary moral scruples. Next, the chapter argues that while the defense industry is a business, it is also implicated in the security of its home nations. In addition, its products can be used for good or evil. Thus, it must navigate conflicting values, with the result that the rules often thought to rightly regulate the industry—codes of business ethics, engineering ethics, procurement ethics, plus laws of the land and dicta of conscience—need supplementing by general moral reflection. This chapter argues for a principle that tells how to decide when to violate the rules, for a theory of rational choice on which choosing by this principle is rational, and for teaching that theory to defense industry employees to ensure their ethical behavior.

Türkiye encountered the first embargo targeting the defense industry during the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation. The applied arms embargo has revealed the importance of independence and national production in the supply of defense technologies and the satisfaction of military communication needs in Türkiye more than ever before. As a result of the lessons learned and negative experiences received after the operation, ASELSAN was established to meet the needs of military communications and electronics without depending on any country under the leadership of the Ground Forces Strengthening Foundation to support the domestic and national defense industry. ASELSAN has reached a global size with its original designs developed, more than nine thousand employees as of 2021, companies in which it has shares at home and abroad, thousands of square meters of campuses and exports to 78 countries within 46 years. The sanctions of the countries against Türkiye have continued in the recent past. It is aimed that the sanctions imposed will have an impact on the Turkish defense industry on the basis of systems, subsystems, components, especially in critical technologies. As a result of the sanctions, many countries and companies around the world have acted contrary to contracts in their relations with Turkish defense industry institutions and companies. ASELSAN represents Türkiye in the world with independent defense technologies on many platforms and systems today with its nationalization activities in order to reduce external dependence and supply risks in the defense industry, and it can offer many products that cannot be obtained from outside due to embargoes to its users. ASELSAN carries out nationalization activities in order to increase the proportion of domestic materials in its systems in order to reduce external dependence and supply risks in the defense industry. ASELSAN has reached the level that developed countries in the defense industry, where technology is kept under strict control between countries, have reached with intensive work within a century, within a few decades.

Many military-related innovation approaches can be followed, such as doctrinal, tactical changes, and innovations in the organizational structure of military units. These approaches examine innovation in its historical context and flow. Defense industries of the countries are an indicator of their power in the international arena and develop new war weapons, systems, and equipment with innovation. Innovations turn it into economic power. Militaries are the most important customers of the defense industries. From the design of the products to the feedback of the last user, the defense industry, and military are in mutual interaction. Military culture, which is shaped in the light of the experiences gained with blood on the battlefield and has its dynamics, is one of the main phenomena in the acceptance of innovations and shaping the culture of military innovation. In this chapter, the authors examine the contribution of the defense industry and military employees to innovation in these innovation processes and the organizational acceptance processes offered to the use of these innovations.

The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) entrepreneurial venture challenge for the innovators was to develop an ERP database using standard generic database software within existing resources and available data at lowest cost in minimum time. The generic ERP database model so developed was completed as a part time task by two innovative entrepreneurs over twelve months for the Australian Department of Defense. They used standard generic database software, existing data, with no additional resources or external consultants. This action research was undertaken on a longitudinal basis by the two entrepreneurs networking closely with the many internal and external stakeholders. The Australian Department of Defense is a complex, high tech Australian Federal Government Department of around 90,000 employees. In 2008-09 the Australian Department of Defense will spend more than $9.6 billion acquiring and sustaining military equipment and services, and will employ over 7,500 people in more than 40 locations around Australia and overseas (Department of Defense, 2009). This comprises the procurement of defense capability products (goods and services) and their support and maintenance from almost every industry sector, on a global basis. Hundreds of small to large enterprises are dependent on the Australian Department of Defense for such orders. The anticipation of the developers of the ERP database was that this entrepreneurial venture could not only help the Australian Department of Defense become an inclusive knowledge based learning society, but subsequently provide an inexpensive database model for other organizations, large or small.

Abstract This chapter explores the role of engineers in the ethical development and proliferation of weapons and technology. It observes that engineers employed by manufacturers have a critical role in foreign military sales that is often unnoticed. Manufacturers’ engineers do much more than design the fighter jet, for instance. At an early stage of negotiations, engineers will be sent out to work with their foreign counterparts to evaluate the local infrastructure that would support the jets—air bases, maintenance practices, pilot training, local suppliers, and so forth. Such details involve ongoing discussions and handshake agreements between engineers. The chapter describes these relationships between the exporting firm’s and purchasing country’s engineers as “intimate and enduring.” Hence, the chapter proposes that ethical standards be embedded in the standards of the engineering profession. This would address arms industry ethical dilemmas in three directions. Horizontally, this would broaden the industrial and international ethical standards. Vertically, this would push existing standards down to the practical level of engineers, where many of the critical ethical decisions are made. Temporally, this would introduce ethical considerations from the very beginning that would endure throughout the life cycle of the weapon system.

This chapter discusses the attempt to forge a social partnership with the employers. The lesson Bevin and the TUC learned from the General Strike was class warfare was never to be repeated and that capitalism was here to stay. Citrine and Bevin argued that 'trade unionism has reached the end of a defensive stage in its evolution' and that its new aim should be to join with employers in to raise industry to its highest efficiency. Alfred Mond and 21 other employers mainly in the newer industries responded favourably leading to the Mond-Turner talks leading to a set of proposals were agreed which the TUC regarded as the foundation of the industrial relations of the future in contrast to the 'outdated' conflictual model of the militants. Bevin led these discussions. The main employers' organisations representing the older industries overwhelmingly rejected the Mond-Turner proposals.

This chapter employs Michael Porter’s Five Forces model to understand the potential strategic value of data mining within the Australian banking industry. The motivation for examining the strategic potential of data mining is to counter balance the preponderance of process level arguments for adopting this technology (e.g., risk and fraud mitigation, market campaigns, etc.) with an industry level perspective of what the technology potentially means for competition between rival firms (i.e., industry behavior). In essence, this chapter explores how data mining can affect industry structure and attractiveness by assisting businesses such as banks defend themselves against forces such as those asserted by buyers, substitute products, new entrants, and suppliers. This chapter also explores the future implications of data mining for the banking industry, the operating models of those institutions and the underlying economics of the industry. The emergence of data mining presents banks with the opportunity to either continue to develop their core competencies around the design, manufacture, distribution and support of products and/or to develop critical competencies around customer relationship management. A possible “contract banking” model supported through the application of data mining is discussed.

In recent times, nanotechnology has emerged as a pivotal and captivating frontier in the realms of chemistry physics, biology, and engineering. Its potential for groundbreaking achievements looms large, poised to reshape the trajectory of technological progress across a diverse array of applications. Nanotechnology, abbreviated as NT, entails comprehending, maneuvering, and directing matter at the aforementioned nanoscale, enabling the engineering, synthesis, and manipulation of the chemical, biological, and physical characteristics of materials – encompassing individual atoms, molecules, and bulk substances. Nanoscale components are used in electronics to improve efficiency, device functionality, and miniaturization due to these characteristics. Targeted medication delivery, diagnostics, and imaging made possible by nanomaterials in medicine have revolutionized patient care and treatment effectiveness. Additionally, nanoparticles help the energy sector by enhancing conversion efficiency, energy preservation, and catalysts for environmentally friendly manufacturing procedures. This manipulation heralds a new era marked by enhanced materials, devices, frameworks, and systems. This chapter delves into the myriad platforms of nanotechnology employed in fields spanning food science, medicine, textile industry, materials science, environmental preservation, defense and security, as well as space exploration.

Activities that started using various resources and carried out to produce a product or service in a limited time are called projects. Process of delivering the project to an end with plans made to achieve project's goals in desired extent and time is called project management. Successful project management is becoming more important for competing companies. The project manager, who is responsible for execution of one or more projects, gains a lot of experience throughout the process and becomes more knowledgeable and skilled. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the effects of learning with experience and human resources allocation on multi-project management. Survey which is prepared to evaluate the sub-goals under the main purpose is applied online to the project managers who are working in institutions operating in defense industry in Ankara. Data obtained via the survey are analyzed by a statistical software. As a result, it’s found that the current knowledge of employees and their experience have a positive effect on managing projects. It’s been evaluated that there may be disruptions in customer relations and project management when human resource planning is insufficient and it’s important to consider the experience of employees to make allocations.

The changes that games have undergone during the 20th Century paved the way to modern eSports, or representations of the real world in the digital environment. Nowadays, market economies and profit-oriented strategies have taken over the economic environment. In this context, the eSports market and its unbelievable potential revenue couldn't have remained unnoticed. Video games comprise a wide range of genres, including "serious games", which have an educational purpose. The Serious Games industry has its own historians. Among them is Oliver Grau, who talks about "prehistorical" games. According to him, the history of video games begins with the invention of arcade machines, which have changed a lot over time, but are still based on the same principles. Not only do Serious Games entertain people, but they also serve educational purposes. The "Serious Games" title was adopted in Romania, too, to express and highlight their usefulness. These virtual simulations of circumstances that are more or less likely to occur in real life can be used in many fields, including those of education, industry, defense, heath, scientific research, projection, management, and politics. In the early 2000s, these activities were defined as "games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment or fun as their primary purpose". The first educational games consisted of sports competitions and board games. The concept then evolved to modern computer simulations. A great difference between Serious Games and other type of games is that the former are tailored to fit clients' needs and serve a predetermined purpose. They are not meant for the retail market, as clients - companies, local authorities, etc - decide how the applications look like, the purpose that they serve and their target audience. Serious Games are valuable assets in training and educating employees all over the world. The modern science of building and simulating real situations in virtual environments is a relatively new one, dating back to the early 2000s. Although this field has given rise to skeptical reactions from people who doubt that games can go beyond entertainment, an increasing number of important organizations use Serious Games as a training method. This confirms the idea that learning in the 21st Century has to keep up with the times.

Attention to safety and health are of ever-increasing priority to industrial organizations. Good Safety is demanded by stockholders, employees, and the community while increasing injury costs provide additional motivation for safety and health excellence. Safety has always been a strong corporate value of DuPont and a vital part of its culture. As a result, DuPont has become a benchmark in safety and health performance. Since 1990, DuPont has re-engineered itself to meet global competition and address future vision. In the new re-engineered organizational structures, DuPont has also had to re-engineer its safety management systems. A special Discovery Team was chartered by DuPont senior management to determine the “best practices’ for safety and health being used in DuPont best-performing sites. A summary of the findings is presented, and five of the practices are discussed. Excellence in safety and health management is more important today than ever. Public awareness, federal and state regulations, and enlightened management have resulted in a widespread conviction that all employees have the right to work in an environment that will not adversely affect their safety and health. In DuPont, we believe that excellence in safety and health is necessary to achieve global competitiveness, maintain employee loyalty, and be an accepted member of the communities in which we make, handle, use, and transport products. Safety can also be the “catalyst” to achieving excellence in other important business parameters. The organizational and communication skills developed by management, individuals, and teams in safety can be directly applied to other company initiatives. As we look into the 21st Century, we must also recognize that new organizational structures (flatter with empowered teams) will require new safety management techniques and systems in order to maintain continuous improvement in safety performance. Injury costs, which have risen dramatically in the past twenty years, provide another incentive for safety and health excellence. Shown in the Figure 1, injury costs have increased even after correcting for inflation. Many companies have found these costs to be an “invisible drain” on earnings and profitability. In some organizations, significant initiatives have been launched to better manage the workers’ compensation systems. We have found that the ultimate solution is to prevent injuries and incidents before they occur. A globally-respected company, DuPont is regarded as a well-managed, extremely ethical firm that is the benchmark in industrial safety performance. Like many other companies, DuPont has re-engineered itself and downsized its operations since 1985. Through these changes, we have maintained dedication to our principles and developed new techniques to manage in these organizational environments. As a diversified company, our operations involve chemical process facilities, production line operations, field activities, and sales and distribution of materials. Our customer base is almost entirely industrial and yet we still maintain a high level of consumer awareness and positive perception. The DuPont concern for safety dates back to the early 1800s and the first days of the company. In 1802 E.I. DuPont, a Frenchman, began manufacturing quality grade explosives to fill America’s growing need to build roads, clear fields, increase mining output, and protect its recently won independence. Because explosives production is such a hazardous industry, DuPont recognized and accepted the need for an effective safety effort. The building walls of the first powder mill near Wilmington, Delaware, were built three stones thick on three sides. The back remained open to the Brandywine River to direct any explosive forces away from other buildings and employees. To set the safety example, DuPont also built his home and the homes of his managers next to the powder yard. An effective safety program was a necessity. It represented the first defense against instant corporate liquidation. Safety needs more than a well-designed plant, however. In 1811, work rules were posted in the mill to guide employee work habits. Though not nearly as sophisticated as the safety standards of today, they did introduce an important basic concept — that safety must be a line management responsibility. Later, DuPont introduced an employee health program and hired a company doctor. An early step taken in 1912 was the keeping of safety statistics, approximately 60 years before the federal requirement to do so. We had a visible measure of our safety performance and were determined that we were going to improve it. When the nation entered World War I, the DuPont Company supplied 40 percent of the explosives used by the Allied Forces, more than 1.5 billion pounds. To accomplish this task, over 30,000 new employees were hired and trained to build and operate many plants. Among these facilities was the largest smokeless powder plant the world had ever seen. The new plant was producing granulated powder in a record 116 days after ground breaking. The trends on the safety performance chart reflect the problems that a large new work force can pose until the employees fully accept the company’s safety philosophy. The first arrow reflects the World War I scale-up, and the second arrow represents rapid diversification into new businesses during the 1920s. These instances of significant deterioration in safety performance reinforced DuPont’s commitment to reduce the unsafe acts that were causing 96 percent of our injuries. Only 4 percent of injuries result from unsafe conditions or equipment — the remainder result from the unsafe acts of people. This is an important concept if we are to focus our attention on reducing injuries and incidents within the work environment. World War II brought on a similar set of demands. The story was similar to World War I but the numbers were even more astonishing: one billion dollars in capital expenditures, 54 new plants, 75,000 additional employees, and 4.5 billion pounds of explosives produced — 20 percent of the volume used by the Allied Forces. Yet, the performance during the war years showed no significant deviation from the pre-war years. In 1941, the DuPont Company was 10 times safer than all industry and 9 times safer than the Chemical Industry. Management and the line organization were finally working as they should to control the real causes of injuries. Today, DuPont is about 50 times safer than US industrial safety performance averages. Comparing performance to other industries, it is interesting to note that seemingly “hazard-free” industries seem to have extraordinarily high injury rates. This is because, as DuPont has found out, performance is a function of injury prevention and safety management systems, not hazard exposure. Our success in safety results from a sound safety management philosophy. Each of the 125 DuPont facilities is responsible for its own safety program, progress, and performance. However, management at each of these facilities approaches safety from the same fundamental and sound philosophy. This philosophy can be expressed in eleven straightforward principles. The first principle is that all injuries can be prevented. That statement may seem a bit optimistic. In fact, we believe that this is a realistic goal and not just a theoretical objective. Our safety performance proves that the objective is achievable. We have plants with over 2,000 employees that have operated for over 10 years without a lost time injury. As injuries and incidents are investigated, we can always identify actions that could have prevented that incident. If we manage safety in a proactive — rather than reactive — manner, we will eliminate injuries by reducing the acts and conditions that cause them. The second principle is that management, which includes all levels through first-line supervisors, is responsible and accountable for preventing injuries. Only when senior management exerts sustained and consistent leadership in establishing safety goals, demanding accountability for safety performance and providing the necessary resources, can a safety program be effective in an industrial environment. The third principle states that, while recognizing management responsibility, it takes the combined energy of the entire organization to reach sustained, continuous improvement in safety and health performance. Creating an environment in which employees feel ownership for the safety effort and make significant contributions is an essential task for management, and one that needs deliberate and ongoing attention. The fourth principle is a corollary to the first principle that all injuries are preventable. It holds that all operating exposures that may result in injuries or illnesses can be controlled. No matter what the exposure, an effective safeguard can be provided. It is preferable, of course, to eliminate sources of danger, but when this is not reasonable or practical, supervision must specify measures such as special training, safety devices, and protective clothing. Our fifth safety principle states that safety is a condition of employment. Conscientious assumption of safety responsibility is required from all employees from their first day on the job. Each employee must be convinced that he or she has a responsibility for working safely. The sixth safety principle: Employees must be trained to work safely. We have found that an awareness for safety does not come naturally and that people have to be trained to work safely. With effective training programs to teach, motivate, and sustain safety knowledge, all injuries and illnesses can be eliminated. Our seventh principle holds that management must audit performance on the workplace to assess safety program success. Comprehensive inspections of both facilities and programs not only confirm their effectiveness in achieving the desired performance, but also detect specific problems and help to identify weaknesses in the safety effort. The Company’s eighth principle states that all deficiencies must be corrected promptly. Without prompt action, risk of injuries will increase and, even more important, the credibility of management’s safety efforts will suffer. Our ninth principle is a statement that off-the-job safety is an important part of the overall safety effort. We do not expect nor want employees to “turn safety on” as they come to work and “turn it off” when they go home. The company safety culture truly becomes of the individual employee’s way of thinking. The tenth principle recognizes that it’s good business to prevent injuries. Injuries cost money. However, hidden or indirect costs usually exceed the direct cost. Our last principle is the most important. Safety must be integrated as core business and personal value. There are two reasons for this. First, we’ve learned from almost 200 years of experience that 96 percent of safety incidents are directly caused by the action of people, not by faulty equipment or inadequate safety standards. But conversely, it is our people who provide the solutions to our safety problems. They are the one essential ingredient in the recipe for a safe workplace. Intelligent, trained, and motivated employees are any company’s greatest resource. Our success in safety depends upon the men and women in our plants following procedures, participating actively in training, and identifying and alerting each other and management to potential hazards. By demonstrating a real concern for each employee, management helps establish a mutual respect, and the foundation is laid for a solid safety program. This, of course, is also the foundation for good employee relations. An important lesson learned in DuPont is that the majority of injuries are caused by unsafe acts and at-risk behaviors rather than unsafe equipment or conditions. In fact, in several DuPont studies it was estimated that 96 percent of injuries are caused by unsafe acts. This was particularly revealing when considering safety audits — if audits were only focused on conditions, at best we could only prevent four percent of our injuries. By establishing management systems for safety auditing that focus on people, including audit training, techniques, and plans, all incidents are preventable. Of course, employee contribution and involvement in auditing leads to sustainability through stakeholdership in the system. Management safety audits help to make manage the “behavioral balance.” Every job and task performed at a site can do be done at-risk or safely. The essence of a good safety system ensures that safe behavior is the accepted norm amongst employees, and that it is the expected and respected way of doing things. Shifting employees norms contributes mightily to changing culture. The management safety audit provides a way to quantify these norms. DuPont safety performance has continued to improve since we began keeping records in 1911 until about 1990. In the 1990–1994 time frame, performance deteriorated as shown in the chart that follows: This increase in injuries caused great concern to senior DuPont management as well as employees. It occurred while the corporation was undergoing changes in organization. In order to sustain our technological, competitive, and business leadership positions, DuPont began re-engineering itself beginning in about 1990. New streamlined organizational structures and collaborative work processes eliminated many positions and levels of management and supervision. The total employment of the company was reduced about 25 percent during these four years. In our traditional hierarchical organization structures, every level of supervision and management knew exactly what they were expected to do with safety, and all had important roles. As many of these levels were eliminated, new systems needed to be identified for these new organizations. In early 1995, Edgar S. Woolard, DuPont Chairman, chartered a Corporate Discovery Team to look for processes that will put DuPont on a consistent path toward a goal of zero injuries and occupational illnesses. The cross-functional team used a mode of “discovery through learning” from as many DuPont employees and sites around the world. The Discovery Team fostered the rapid sharing and leveraging of “best practices” and innovative approaches being pursued at DuPont’s plants, field sites, laboratories, and office locations. In short, the team examined the company’s current state, described the future state, identified barriers between the two, and recommended key ways to overcome these barriers. After reporting back to executive management in April, 1995, the Discovery Team was realigned to help organizations implement their recommendations. The Discovery Team reconfirmed key values in DuPont — in short, that all injuries, incidents, and occupational illnesses are preventable and that safety is a source of competitive advantage. As such, the steps taken to improve safety performance also improve overall competitiveness. Senior management made this belief clear: “We will strengthen our business by making safety excellence an integral part of all business activities.” One of the key findings of the Discovery Team was the identification of the best practices used within the company, which are listed below: ▪ Felt Leadership – Management Commitment ▪ Business Integration ▪ Responsibility and Accountability ▪ Individual/Team Involvement and Influence ▪ Contractor Safety ▪ Metrics and Measurements ▪ Communications ▪ Rewards and Recognition ▪ Caring Interdependent Culture; Team-Based Work Process and Systems ▪ Performance Standards and Operating Discipline ▪ Training/Capability ▪ Technology ▪ Safety and Health Resources ▪ Management and Team Audits ▪ Deviation Investigation ▪ Risk Management and Emergency Response ▪ Process Safety ▪ Off-the-Job Safety and Health Education Attention to each of these best practices is essential to achieve sustained improvements in safety and health. The Discovery Implementation in conjunction with DuPont Safety and Environmental Management Services has developed a Safety Self-Assessment around these systems. In this presentation, we will discuss a few of these practices and learn what they mean. Paper published with permission.

Donald Blount is recognized around the world for his contributions to high-speed marine vehicles of various types for more than 50 years. A highlight of his career has been the revolutionary high-speed craft, DESTRIERO, which holds the combined east- and west-bound Atlantic crossing elapsed time record and the fastest east-bound crossing record for which its development history has been presented in numerous forums. An in-depth look at his career beyond this singular achievement will be shared in honor of his numerous contributions to the marine industry during his lifetime of bringing science and technology to the waterfront. Donald Blount began his formal career in 1954 as an intern at David Taylor Research Center while a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He was hired by DTRC and worked in the model test basin and in the tests and trials branch. In 1959 he successfully tested into a naval architecture position. He concluded his degree in Mechanical Engineering at George Washington University in 1963. Also in 1963, Gene Clement and Donald published "Resistance Tests of a Systematic Series of Planing Hull Forms" in SNAME Transactions which concluded two years of testing in Tank 3 at DTRC and of the subsequent analysis of Model Series 62. He worked in Jacques Hadler's division conducting individual research and directing engineering programs relating to emerging technology in the field of hydrodynamics. He served as Project Engineer in the ship powering, small craft, propeller and full-scale trials branches. He volunteered and served two years as a civilian with NRDUV (Naval Research and Development Unit, Viet Nam) including being in Viet Nam during the summer of 1968. Throughout 1967 while acting as branch head, he received casualty reports from the field for trend monitoring. During his in-country tour in 1968, he personally participated in nine missions on the rivers of the Mekong Delta and offshore. Upon returning from his service he found that his position as Trials Branch Head at DTRC was no longer available and he chose to transfer to the Combatant Craft Engineering Department in Norfolk, Virginia as Technical Manager in 1969. He was responsible for planning, organizing and monitoring research and development programs for small craft and their systems. He also evaluated technological trends and selected promising approaches to achieve significant advances in performance. Department of Defense and other governmental agencies. He was promoted to Department Head in 1981 where he was responsible for design, engineering and testing of all non-commissioned navy craft. He supervised 80 government employees and an additional 45 contracted technical staff. The department developed contract plans and specifications used to procure navy boats and craft. He served as advisor to all levels of the Department of Defense on issues relating to state-of-the-art technologies required for producing high-speed small craft. Throughout his civil service tenure he maintained a small, private consulting practice for the recreational boating industry and when he retired from the Civil Service in 1990, he took his consulting practice full time as a naval architect and professional engineer providing hydrodynamic expertise with an emphasis on sea-keeping, propulsion, maneuvering, control and dynamic stability for high speed and special purpose commercial, military and recreational craft. Donald has published numerous papers and has received several honors in recognition of his contributions. He maintains several professional society memberships, is a professional engineer registered in Virginia and North Carolina and has professional interests including marine archaeology and the collection of antiquarian naval architectural books about boat and yacht design. He is currently writing a book regarding the technical design of small craft. An attempt is made here to present Donald's many contributions in bringing science and technology to the waterfront.

The nature of the business environment is very complex in the construction industry. Huge capital investment, supply chain management, resource scarcity and uncertainty create a multifaceted background along with impressive external environmental impacts. Thus, contracting organizations are highly influenced by the competitive nature of the construction industry. Hence identifying the impact of competitive forces to the contractors in Sri Lanka is identified as vital. Besides, Porter’s five competitive forces model is grounded to interpret the competition through external environment and it denotes that there are five forces which can affect to the competition of an industry; new entrants, suppliers, buyers, substitutes and the existing competitors. Thus, the research leads to examine the impact of competitive forces to the contractors in Sri Lanka using a comprehensive Porter’s Five Forces analysis. The research employs a quantitative approach consisting of preliminary survey of experts and questionnaire survey with the participation of construction experts in Sri Lanka. In order to analyse the collected data, statistical tools such as RII method and measurements of central tendency were employed. The results of the analysis elicited 28 significant factors that determine the power of the five competitive forces on local contractors. Accordingly, the final outlined Porter’s five forces analysis matrix enables the contractors to analyse the impact of each competitive force through identified determinant factors which would provide a proper guidance on determining necessary offensive or defensive strategies to be taken to survive in the market.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Automotive researchers and industry experts have extensively documented vulnerabilities arising from unauthorized in-vehicle communication through academic research, industry investigations, sponsored events, and learnings from real-world attacks. While current cybersecurity endeavors in the heavy-duty (HD) vehicle space focus on securing conventional communication technologies such as the controller area network (CAN), there is a notable deficiency in defensive research concerning legacy technologies, particularly those utilized between trucks and trailers. In fact, state-of-the-art attacks on these systems have only come to public attention through official disclosures and public presentations as recently as 2020.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">To address these risks, this paper introduces a system-wide security concept called Legacy Intrusion Detection System (LIDS) for heavy-duty vehicle applications utilizing the SAE J1708/J1587 protocol stack. LIDS relies on coordinated network gateways at each host and employs specialized J1587 security messages to alert other hosts of anomalies. Each gateway uses configurable busload, access control, and transmission rate parameters to perform signature-based and anomaly-based detection on inbound and outbound network traffic for its host.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">This paper also presents the development process of the gateway and summarizes the experiments conducted to satisfy the hardware, software, and security requirements imposed by the J1708/J1587 stack and the LIDS concept. Subsequently, we deploy, test, and evaluate LIDS on a retrofitted dual air brake system simulator (DABSS) at CSU's Powerhouse Energy Campus. Under the assumptions presented, the experiments show that LIDS is effective against message spoofing attacks originating from a compromised host or rogue device and flooding attacks from hosts. However, LIDS' effectiveness against flooding attacks from rogue nodes depends on the designer's false positive tolerance. This research builds upon learnings in prior work while incorporating guidelines outlined in SAE J3061. To the best of current knowledge, this publication marks the first presentation of cybersecurity defense research on the SAE J1708/J1587 protocol stack.</div></div>

UKAEA’s Winfrith site was built in the late 1950’s to undertake research and development into electricity generation from nuclear power. Pioneering scientific and technical work was carried out which resulted in a better understanding of nuclear issues, particularly nuclear safety. At its peak, Winfrith employed 2000 staff and at one time had nine operational nuclear reactors. The most noticeable landmark being the Steam Generating heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR) which, when in operation, provided the National Grid with enough electricity for a small town. In the early 1990’s the UK Government wound down its programme of nuclear R&D, and work started on restoring the environment of the Winfrith site by the progressive removal of the nuclear facilities. Winfrith has always been considered to be one of three key sites in Dorset for development of quality employment, and the site management, with the support of the DTI, decided to undertake a programme of environmental restoration that retained appropriate buildings and infrastructure systems that could be put to alternative long term use. To date, successes have been achieved in both the decommissioning work and also the establishment of tenants. All the fuel has been removed from the nuclear reactors and five reactors have been completely dismantled. Decontamination of other facilities has been completed. A notable example of this work is the return of a fuel fabrication building to a green field site. Another example was the decommissioning of a building that contained gloveboxes, and laboratories equipped with high efficiency filtered ventilation systems. This building was decommissioned, the area of land containing it delicensed, and the building leased to non-nuclear tenants. This thorough, painstaking process involved the use of recently developed industry techniques and required close working with the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). The tenant base is growing and at the end of 2002 there are 40 different companies resident on site with employee numbers ranging from 1 to several hundreds with a total of ∼ 1000 staff. In addition, the UKAEA programme employs ∼ 500 as staff and contractors. The larger tenants include QinetiQ and DSTL (both from the former Defence Evaluation and Research Agency), the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and RWE Nukem. The progressive decommissioning work continues and as UKAEA retreats across the site, from east to west, the non-nuclear research and development businesses move in. The range of work established at Winfrith provides a focus for its further development as a scientific and technical centre of excellence. Facilities have been created in partnership with the local council for small and start-up businesses, while strong links are being encouraged with universities that have an interest in areas such as environmental research. Together they will form a vital part of the commercial community, stimulating growth through technical interaction and innovation.

During some time now the application of the so called AXE Bow has proven very successful. Typical applications so far have been as Fast Crew Suppliers in the Offshore industry, as Patrol Boats with Coast Guards and SAR boats all in the range of 50 till 20 meter length overall and speeds ranging from 25 to 35 knots. Applying the AXE Bow Concept on smaller boats than 15 meter length overall is a challenge, because minimal stability requirements generally ask for a smaller L/B ratio and so beamier ships. On the other end application on frigate type hulls, which have generally a rather high L/B ratio and already fine bow could be considered less advantageous because high vertical accelerations, bow slamming and added resistance in head waves are already relatively small. In an earlier study commissioned by the Netherlands, Italian and Danish navies some 10 years ago (the THALES Project reported in Ref [1]) the application of the Enlarged Ship Concept and the AXE Bow Concept on a frigate type hull were already considered but only on a limited scale. Over the last decade a large amount of design information has been gathered from the experience gained from full scale measurements on board of real AXE Bow ships. This refers amongst others to increased directional stability particular in following waves by applying fixed skegs and so reduced rudder motions to be applied, the possibility to vary and increase the maneuverability at wish by making these skegs retractable (Ref [2]), a reduced added resistance in waves and considerably less shipping of green water when sailing in head waves. All these aspects led to the question raised when the replacement of the presently employed “M Frigate” of the Royal Netherlands Navy came in sight whether the application of the AXE Bow Concept on the new frigate would be a desirable and feasible option. The main question to be addressed by the present research was How does the Conventional Frigate hull type compare to the AXE Bow hull with respect to: the calm water resistance, taking on green water, the behavior in stern quartering waves, and the maneuverability. These research questions were formulated and the project commissioned by the DAMEN Shipyard at Gorinchem, Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding and the Defense Material Organization from the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands to the Ship Hydromechanics Department of the Delft University of Technology. An extensive research plan including a large test program has been set up to investigate the behavior of both designs, both in the towing tank of the Delft University and from MARIN at Wageningen and also on open water on an estuary in the south with radio controlled models. Part of the measurements were conducted on open water to be able to carry out turning circles at various forward speeds and rudder angles. Also for the tests in following and stern quartering waves the addition of open water tests seemed essential to gather sufficient statistically reliable results on rarely occurring events such as broaching. The main results of this research project will be reported in this paper.

This paper presents a description of a new ship technology called the Mobil Ocean System. The Mobil Ocean System (RDIF) is a recently patented marine platform technology that is both high speed and very stable in open ocean conditions, (Patent No. 6,341,573 B1). The RDIF is configured as a transformable ship with an upper hull and lower catamaran hulls. The upper hull contains the habitability spaces, prime movers, and operational platform. The lower catamaran hulls are pivotal at each end; they separate at the center and swing down to form a spar hull configuration. The RDIF employs the principle of the spar hull, which provides a very stable platform in the seaway. Combining the spar catamaran hulls as part of a horizontal ship configuration provides the capability for the ship to be transformed from a conventional ship into a stable ocean platform and back again. The RDIF has both multi-industrial and military uses including: 1. Seabasing platform, RDIF/SB. 2. Missile Defense, RDIF/MD. 3. Open-ocean aquaculture and fish process plant, RDIF/A. 4. Renewable energy generation, possible hydrogen and potable water production plant, RDIF/E. 5. Space vehicle launch platform, equatorial and polar launches, RDIF/L. The RDIF has applicability to the private sector or Government customers who have requirements for a high speed and an open ocean mobile stable platform. We are developing the RDIF to meet specified customer requirements, we are providing the naval architecture and engineering design, and we will oversee construction of the platform. As with many new enabling technologies, the military or industry user may not see a current requirement because the capability that new technology provides has not been available before. Projecting into the future, applying entrepreneurial thinking to develop new applications and mission requirements, and operational scenario, are what is needed to take full advantage of this new emerging technology. Thinking “outside the box” will gain the best advantage when applying the new novel RDIF technology. This paper presents a description of the RDIF technology, data on validation of concept, and expands on how the technology may be deployed both in the military and commercial use.