Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Geographical and Occupational Mobility of Workers in the Aircraft and Electronics Industries -Regional Trade Union Seminar, (i) Final Report and (ii) Supplement to Final Report O.E.C.D.
Urban Worker Mobility by Lawrence C. Hunter and Graham L. Reid
Wage Drift, Fringe Benefits and Manpower Distribution by Derek Robinson
White and Blue Collars in a Mill Shutdown , by F. F. Foltman.
The Police: a study in manpower by J. P. Martin and Gail Wilson.
Varieties of Police Behaviour: the management of law and order in eight communities by James Q. Wilson.
The Other Workn by Arthur M. Whitehall, Jr. and Shinichi Takezawa.
The Recruitment Function by Roger H. Hawk.
Recruitment and Selection in a Full Employment Economy by R. A. Denerley and P. R. Plumbley.     

Police management, office automation and organizational change

Police forces, in common with much of the UK system of public administration, continue to come under pressure to engage in managerial and administrative modernisation. This article looks at the role office automation systems play in these processes and at the case for organizational change to accompany the adoption of these systems.     

Book reviews

Book reviews in this article:
Technclogy in Working Order: Studies of Work, Interaction, and Technology Graham Button (Ed.)
Communication, Technology and the Development of People Bernard Woods
Photonic Technology and Industrial Policy: US Responses to Technological Change Ernest Stemberg
Beyond Taylorism: Computerization and the New Industrial Relations Lorraine Giordano
Japanization at Work John Bratton
Working for the Japanese Stephanie Jones
Technology and Work in German Industry Norbert Altmann, Christoph Kohler and Pamela Meil (Eds.)
Towards Global Localisation: The Computing and Telecommunications Industries in Britain and France Philip Cooke, Frank Moulaert, Erik Swyngedouw, Olivier Weinstein, Peter Wells, Martine Lemattre and Patrice Grevet
New Technology and Practical Police Work S. Ackroyd, R. Harper, J. A. Hughes, D. Shapiro and K. Soothill     

降低油田分队计量误差的研究与实践

在油田原油的开采、集输及交接计量中,原油液量和含水率是油田生产的重要指标。近年来随着含水上升速度加快,吨油成本逐年提高,对分队计量数据的准确性提出了更高的要求,如何运用先进计量技术及工艺技术提高分队计量准确度,及时发现生产中存在的问题,科学合理地考核采油队原油任务完成情况,充分调动采油队原油生产的积极性,提高采油厂的经济效益,已成为计量工作亟待解决的问题。介绍了分队计量系统组成及射频含水仪工作原理,综合分析了影响分队计量准确度的主要因素,研究探讨了降低分队计量误差的措施。     

Changes in the field of R&D management over the past 20 years

Abstract
The purpose of this bibliographic study is to identify trends of interest in the field of the management of technology in the last 20 years. The data used are based mainly on a classification of the topics covered by papers printed in this journal since its first publication in 1970.
On the whole, interest in most of the topics has remained steady, notably in economics of R&D, communication, innovation and creativity. The only notable decrease in interest has been in project evaluation and selection. Relative to their importance, the authors remark that in some areas in which interest has remained steady, such as creativity and innovation, not enough is being done. Areas in which interest has increased include organizational issues, the interface between R&D and production and the impact of information technology. Interest in technology strategy increased over the early part of the review period but has recently declined.
The authors conclude by listing topics which strongly deserve attention by workers in the field. They cite integration of R&D into corporate strategy, organizing for technological flexibility, technology assessment and transfer, speeding up the R&D process, measuring the impact of new information technology, intrapreneurship and defining the role of basic R&D in technology development.     

Capacity development in food and nutrition in central and Eastern Europe: A decade of achievements

This article summarizes the activities performed by the Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition in Central and Eastern Europe and Balkan countries (NCDNCEE) in the past decade. The article gives a retrospective of the achievements and challenges in building capacity in nutrition research.Recognizing the lack of capacity and incoherent nutritional situation in CEE/BC, the United Nations University (UNU), Food & Nutrition Programme and the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) encouraged the formation of NCDNCEE in 2005, which became CAPNUTRA in 2012.The network’s aim was to initiate and support tailor-made activities for capacity development in food & nutrition in research and training in CEE/BC. To identify the challenges and needs of nutrition research in the region, the network performed inventories on existence of food composition databases, food systems elements, dietary surveys, micronutrient recommendations, application of dietary assessment methods and grey literature. Further on, the network focused on the development of food composition databases and concomitant data management software, the Diet Assess & Plan platform for food consumption collection, dietary intake assessment and nutrition planning. These and other elements form the Balkan Food Platform, which underpins harmonized nutrition research in CEE/BC. Among key actions promoted by the platform are EFSA-supported dietary surveys conducted in four Balkan countries, on children and adults, in which food consumption data are collected and analysed in a harmonized way. Cooperation with FAO and active participation in international research projects enhanced the exchange of information and knowledge and brought international recognition to the CAPNUTRA network.     

世界石油贸易新秩序中的亚洲与中国——记“2012亚太石油贸易国际会议”

《国际石油经济》编辑部与士研传媒共同举办的“2012亚太石油贸易国际会议”,聚焦行业热点问题,在开放的平台上与来自各国的专家共同研判未来亚太地区特别是东北亚地区的石油贸易变化趋势,探讨如何利用金融工具规避石油贸易风险,展望石油仓储船运业的发展前景.亚洲与中国在世界石油贸易的新秩序下还没有完成角色转换,缺少在国际石油贸易中的话语权.因此在石油金融领域,中国正在推动石油贸易的人民币结算,推进中国原油期货上市.此次会议还分享了韩国提出的建立东北亚石油枢纽的构想.会议的成果对促进本地区石油贸易、石油合作和石油安全具有重要参考价值.     

Factors Affecting New Product Success: Cross-Country Comparisons

Although considerable effort has been devoted to identifying the factors that contribute to new product success and failure, plenty of work remains to be done in this area. For example, many studies of this subject focus on companies in specific parts of the world (in particular, North America, Europe, and Japan). It remains to be seen whether the findings from these studies apply to the new product development (NPD) efforts of companies in other regions, let alone on a global basis. Sanjay Mishra, Dongwook Kim, and Dae Hoon Lee address this issue in a study of the factors that contribute to the success or failure of NPD efforts in South Korean firms. To explore the question of whether a global set of success factors can be identified, they compare their findings with those of similar studies conducted in Canada and China. Classifying these countries in terms of stages of economic development (with China and Canada at opposite extremes and Korea in the middle), they expect to find the greatest dissimilarities in their comparisons of China and Canada. Marketing managers from 144 Korean firms provided in formation about 288 successful and unsuccessful products. Their responses indicate that the factors most closely related to new product outcomes in Korea are market intelligence, product-firm compatibility, the nature of the new product idea (for example, whether the product idea was market derived, whether the product specifications were clearly defined by the marketplace), launch effort, and general characteristics of the new product venture (such as the product's innovativeness to the market and its technical complexity). Several of these factors were emphasized in studies of Canadian and Chinese NPD success, though respondents to those studies also highlighted the importance of the product offering and proficiency of formal NPD activities. Contrary to expectations, China and Canada show the greatest similarity among the three countries studied, in terms of the relative importance of the various NPD success factors. On the other hand, China and Korea are more similar in terms of the effects of the variables studied. In other words, if a variable is related to new product failure in Korea, that variable is most likely also related to failure in China. Although some similarities are evident among all three countries, the findings in this study do not point toward a single, global formula for NPD success.     

入世后河北省铸造业的应对措施

讨论了加入世界贸易组织后,河北省铸造业所面临的机遇与挑战,分析了河北省乃至全国铸造业的现状和与国外存在的差距。根据世贸组织规则和铸造业特点及河北省具体情况,提出了河北省铸造业发展的措施和建议,例如:我国铸件生产能力大,但开工明显不足;铸件质量低、价格低、竞争能力低,同时面临世界铸件需求旺盛的机遇。文中从厂点布局、管理水平、铸件精度、环保意识、现代企业制度的建立等方面进行了分析。     

Rolling Out New Products Across Country Markets: An Empirical Study of Causes of Delays

Faced with the challenge of launching a new product into numerous countries, managers may view a sequential rollout as the prudent course of action. Rather than launching the product simultaneously in diverse countries, they may believe they can reduce risk by launching first in one or two countries, and then in others. However, this strategy overlooks the interplay between timeliness in international new product rollouts (INPR) and product success. George M. Chryssochoidis and Veronica Wong explore these issues in a study of 30 high-tech products launched into multiple European markets. Their study has three objectives: examining the incidence of timeliness and delays in simultaneous and sequential INPR; exploring the causes of delays in INPR; and assessing the effects that INPR timeliness and delays have on new product outcomes. They define timeliness in INPR as the availability of the new product to the firm's multiple target markets within the time frame planned by the company's managers. In other words, timeliness in this study reflects a company's capability for adhering to the schedule that management has established. Contrary to expectations, the results of this study do not reveal direct effects on timeliness in INPR from such sources as diversity of target markets or the firm's external environment. These results suggest that firms can achieve on-time, multicountry rollout of new products notwithstanding the legal, technological, and competitive environment. For the firms in this study, timeliness in INPR depends on such factors as sufficiency of marketing and technological resources (for example, to train sales staff, provide after-sales service, and adapt the product for multiple markets), proficiency in executing new product development activities, and effective communication between a company's headquarters and its business units and customers in different countries. Among the 22 product launches categorized as sequential rollouts in this study, 15 experienced delays. All eight of the simultaneous launches were timely. The results of this study indicate a positive relationship between timeliness in INPR and new-product success. Conversely, for the firms in this study, delays in INPR resulted in lower-than-expected product sales and profitability. In other words, the seemingly less risky sequential launch strategy may actually increase the risk of new product failure by delaying product rollout in multiple markets.     

油田常用非金属管道的质量控铜及相关标准的研究

非金属管道在解决油田腐蚀问题上取得了明显的效果,通过工程实际应用,大多数非金属管道生产运行基本正常,但部分工程在生产维修上存在一定问题,暴露出不同程度的渗漏、断裂损坏等问题。为了进一步规范非金属管道的工程设计、产品检验、施工与验收、维护和管理工作,有必要完善非金属管道标准体系。重点对油田实际应用的非金属管道设计选用条件、基本规定、技术界限、计算方法及管道敷设与连接等,以及产品检验、施工验收、维护和管理中应执行的标准进行了研究。     

The gap not only closes: Resistance and reverse shifts in the digital divide in Russia

The reduction of the digital divide due to the availability of the Internet and the improvement of skills is accompanied by reverse and resistance trends associated with the influence of socio-demographic and economic characteristics of users. In this paper, we estimate the volume and dynamics of the digital divide in access and use of the Internet in Russia by key social groups according to a longitudinal survey for 2008–2018. We found that along with the reducing of the digital divide, its gaps still remain. The greatest polarization is associated with the income, age, and type of residence of the respondents. The most vulnerable social groups on access to ICTs and Internet use are the low-income, the elderly, citizens with disabilities, and those living in rural areas. The reverse shifts in the digital divide were recorded mainly in relation to the Internet usage by age between the middle-age and youth and by gender. In addition, we pointed out the most resistance social groups to reduce the digital divide in the period under review, in particular, by income and type of residence of the respondents. The findings contribute to an understanding of the dynamics and social consequences of the digital divide and can be taken into account in social policy and measures.     

碳捕捉与封存技术国内外研究现状评述及发展趋势

目前碳捕捉与封存（CCS）技术作为一种新的温室气体减排手段受到西方发达国家热捧,然而目前CCS还远未达到商业化推广阶段,其大规模实施还存在一定的不确定性。中国作为煤炭生产和消费大国,CO2减排形势相当严峻,对CCS进行深入研究就显得十分重要和迫切。由于我国在该领域的研究刚刚起步,为促进我国CCS的研究工作,对国内外的研究现状进行了综述,从研究领域、研究角度和研究方法总结了发展趋势,并指出了目前研究中还需要进一步加强的领域。     

Inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo

The liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Togo aimed at ensuring access to a better quality of telecommunication services at affordable prices to everyone. While the liberalization policy has increased competition in the sector and reduced significantly telecommunication services prices charged to costumers, statistics on the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo reveal disparities with respect to individuals' socio-economic characteristics which could be an indication of the existence of inequalities of opportunities in the access and use of these services.This paper investigates the inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo using a parametric approach. The results of estimations indicate that, inequalities of opportunities are larger for men and the elderly than respectively women and youths and are more pronounced in urban areas and regions such as the Plateaux and Savanna regions. Moreover, the circumstance variables such as the ‘place of residence’ and the ‘region’ are the key variables in explaining the inequalities of opportunities in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo. So, policies toward reducing inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo should be designed with regards to men, the elderly, and people living in urban areas and regions such as the Plateaux and Savanna regions.     

Irrigation,agricultural performance and poverty reduction in China

The overall goal of our paper is to understand the impact that irrigation in China has had on grain production and incomes, in general, and income and poverty alleviation in poor areas, in particular. The paper seeks to meet three objectives. First, we describe the relationship among irrigation status, yields and household crop revenue. Second, we seek to understand the magnitude and nature of the effect that irrigation has on yields and crop revenue. Finally, we seek to understand the impact that irrigation has on incomes in poor areas. Our analysis shows that irrigation contributes to increases in yields for almost all crops and in income for farmers in all areas. The importance of crop income in poor areas and the strong relationship between crop revenue and irrigation provides evidence of the importance of irrigation in past and future poverty alleviation in China. We also show that in the majority of the villages that invested in new irrigation, returns are positive even after accounting for increases in capital and production costs.     

Institutional Aspects of Youth Employment and Training Policy in Britain

Public policy towards youth employment and training in Britain during the past decade has been dominated by two themes: the quest to reduce youth relative pay, as part of a wider deregulation of the labour market, in order to increase access to jobs and training: and the neglect of apprenticeship in favour of the Youth Training Scheme. This paper analyses these policies in an institutional framework informed by the results of a recent research project on youth activity in industry in major EC economies (Marsden and Ryan 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991).
The policy debate in Britain has tended to focus upon the effectiveness of lower youth pay at improving youth access to jobs and training (Wells 1983; Jones 1985; Junankar and Neale 1987). We accept the efficacy of lower youth pay but question its institutional viability. Youth employment and training policies must be well grounded in labour market institutions in order to achieve success. We argue that neglect of the institutional context accounts for the lopsided and partial success resulting from current policies in Britain, and that the revitalization of apprenticeship, either as such or in the equivalent form of a strongly upgraded public training scheme, has a great deal to offer.
We begin with an outline of the relevant institutions. We trace their implications for outcomes in the youth market, contrast the divergent institutional directions taken by West Germany and the UK, and finally assess contemporary British policy towards youth activity in general and apprenticeship in particular.     

Water scarcity and food trade in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries

This study investigates food trade patterns in relation to water resources availability in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMED). Examinations show that most of these countries have a high dependence on the import of water intensive crops – cereal, vegetable oil and sugar, in the domestic food supply. The region as a whole is marginally a net exporter of fruits and vegetables, while variations are substantial across countries. Multi-variable regression analyses show that intensification of water scarcity is an important factor in explaining the increase in food import in the SEMED countries during the past two decades. It also finds that while GDP per capita has a strong influence on the level of food import in a country, its impact on changes in the import during the same period is rather modest. No significant relationship is found between the trade of fruits and vegetables and water resources availability. The projection on food import with respect to the decline in per capita water resources availability results in an increase of 40%, 39% and 14%, respectively, for cereal, vegetable oil and sugar by 2020 in the region, holding other factors constant. The European Union (EU) is the major food trade partner of the SEMED countries, except for cereal. About 70% of the fruit export and 55% of the vegetable export of the region currently go to the EU market. Expanding the export of fruits and vegetables is conducive to improving the value of water use in the SEMED countries. However, the expansion is constrained partly by the barriers in the destination markets, notably the EU.     

Sense and sensibility: Two approaches for using existing theory in theory-building qualitative research

The paper addresses the role and use of theory in theory-building case research. How to use existing theory in theory-building efforts is a crucial, yet somewhat overlooked challenge within qualitative research. On that background, the purpose of the paper is to explore, compare and discuss two distinct approaches for using existing theory and developing theoretical awareness in theory-building case studies. Upon discussing the role and use of theory in case study research in general, we identify two approaches for drawing on pre-existing theory, labeled the in vivo approach and the ex ante approach. The in vivo approach takes departure in a single theoretical framework, anchored in a single paradigm, and the aim of theory-building is to gradually deepen, refine and complement this framework. The ex ante approach suggests that researchers should look for paradox in the form of theoretical tensions and use these to develop theory, meaning that researchers should develop an elaborate theoretical understanding of meta-theoretical stances and use these to generate different readings of the case material, subsequently prioritizing and integrating them into a coherent pattern.     

The relationship between technology and science: Some historical and philosophical reflections. Part II

Dr Paul Gardner was appointed to the Faculty of Education at Monash University in 1967 and is currently a Reader in Education. After graduating from the University of Melbourne with a science degree and teacher qualifications in 1960, he taught physics and chemistry in high schools for six years. He obtained the M. Ed. degree from the University of Melbourne in 1970 for a thesis which involved experimental studies of concept attainment, and in 1972 completed a Ph.D. at Monash for an investigation of student and teacher characteristics which influence students' attitudes to physics. His major field of interest is science education, and he has published extensively on the assessment of cognitive and affective outcomes, the role of language in learning science and (his current major interest) the links between science and technology. He was a founding member of the university's Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in 1989. He is currently the Editor ofResearch in Science Education, the annual journal of the Australasian Science Education Research Association, of which he was a founding member in 1970. Early in 1993, he presented a paper on science-technology relationships at a UNESCO-sponsored conference in Jerusalem; a revised version of this paper is being published inStudies in Science Education in 1994. He teaches post-graduate courses on statistical analysis, attitude measurement, curriculum issues and science and technology education.