Volumes & issues:
Volume 7, Issue 5
June 2012
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- Author(s): D. Ross
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 4 –4
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0503
- Type: Article
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Doomed. We're all doomed? Technology can bring hope back to the High Street. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 6 –7
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0504
- Type: Article
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The biggest engineering stories from around the world. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 8 –8
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0505
- Type: Article
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(3 pages) - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 14 –14
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0506
- Type: Article
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The Dragon capsule, from US-based private space transportation operator Space X, is set to become the first commercial space vehicle to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 15 –18
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0507
- Type: Article
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- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 20 –20
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0508
- Type: Article
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Mainline steam locomotive Tornado clocks up 50,000 miles in four years, while new cars in the UK reduce CO2 emissions by almost a quarter since 2000. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 21 –26
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0509
- Type: Article
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- Author(s): S. Davies
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 27 –27
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0510
- Type: Article
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Cobham looks for growth in commercial markets while pulling in new defence orders. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 28 –29
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0511
- Type: Article
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Pick of the E&T inbox. - Author(s): G. Clapperton
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 30 –30
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0500
- Type: Article
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The idea that the use of social networking in the workplace is creating downtime is a complex one. This is not because there is any doubt on the issue. There is always downtime brought about by employees engaging in non-work-related activities. The question is whether or not the effect of social media at work is significant and whether or not it is a bad thing. The answer is, of course, that in moderation it can be a force for good, while if it is taken to extremes it becomes an abuse of company resources. - Author(s): S. Carter
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 31 –31
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0523
- Type: Article
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Social media enables social activity to happen and this is an important function of society. There is a very strong case for saying that it has the potential to bind together an organisation. This can be powerful, but it is outweighed by its sheer ubiquity and availability. To put it plainly, the balance of probability is that the members of your corporate tribe are connecting with other tribes that have no particular use to your business. To put this even more plainly, they are wasting your corporate time. - Author(s): M. Fairhurst
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 32 –32
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0501
- Type: Article
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Say the word 'biometrics' and for many people it will probably conjure up images of high-tech crime dramas and science-fiction thrillers. But the fact is that biometrics technologies for example, automated fingerprint recognition, iris scanning and voice recognition have reached a level of maturity where viable practical applications are both possible and increasingly available. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 33 –45
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0502
- Type: Article
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Online purchasing, out-of-town retail parks, a double-dip recession: the high street is under seige. commentators and policy-makers alike fear the prospect of empty and irrelevant town centres. But is it possible that, on the contrary, a mid-2 1st century economy will see a return to a socially active and dynamic high-street environment? A look has been taken at one iconic high street to work out what the future holds for our retailers. - Author(s): A. Bodhani
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 46 –49
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0512
- Type: Article
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E-commerce has transformed retail over the last 15 years, but the widely held presumption that online purchasing would spell the demise of bricks-and-mortar shopping has now been supplanted by a more nuanced vision of our shopping future. Recent developments in advanced interactive technology have enabled shrewd retailers to mine the idea that online/offline shopping is not an either/or proposition, and that there is a chance to engage customers in new ways on the physical shopfloor. Indeed, rather than diminishing the traditional shopping experience, techniques that have been the preserve of the online shop are to some extent now informing the new in-store retail technology. - Author(s): A. Harris
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 50 –53
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0513
- Type: Article
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The Obama administration has set a goal of one million electric cars on the road by 2015 to reduce air pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. The UK government has similarly ambitious targets, but all of this is dependent on public confidence that the charging infrastructure will be in place. The paper investigates how electric vehicle market is gaining strength through careful consideration of the future charging-point infrastructure. - Author(s): A. Grogan
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 54 –57
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0514
- Type: Article
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The driving party-lines behind both of London's Mayoral electoral candidates this year have included a focus on improving London's ageing underground system. Olympic fever has seen many banks and trading floors encourage their workforces to operate from home during the summer months, fearing congested scenes of commuter carnage. Ambitious changes to the Tube are, of course, far too late for this summer's Games, but the event has done a great deal to highlight the importance of upgrading existing systems to enable it to cope better with booming urban populations. Many in the transport industry believe the rejuvenation of the Tube lies in the technology of automation. As a result, driverless trains, platform screen doors and fully automated systems now top the procurement lists of transport planners across the world. However, London's DLR line was met with a mixed reception following its early performance in the 1980s, and last year London Mayor Boris Johnson's bullish plans to replace London's Tube train drivers with automated systems was met with a frosty reception from the press. - Author(s): K. Sangani
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 58 –60
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0515
- Type: Article
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The UK Government is keen to hail the success of technology businesses centred around London's Old Street area, known as 'Silicon Roundabout'. Many of these businesses are web 2.0 and social media based with one or two notable exceptions. As such, they have very different experiences obtaining funding. GPEG is one of very few hardware technology companies based in London, and is the largest developer of electronic displays for gaming, consumer and professional market. - Author(s): B. Gaiser
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 61 –63
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0516
- Type: Article
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Nanomaterials are materials with at least one dimension in the range of 100 nm or smaller. Nanotoxicology describes the discipline in which the potential damage of these materials to health or the environment is investigated. Vicki Stone, head of the Nanosafety Research Group at Heriot-Watt Unversity in Edinburgh, tells us more about nanomaterials. - Author(s): T. James
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 64 –67
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0517
- Type: Article
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If the national media is correct, then UK manufacturing is struggling to be competitive and shedding jobs at an alarming rate. But the Nissan factory at Sunderland is not following the plot of any scare stories. Over the past year the plant has secured four new models the all-electric Leaf, the new Qashqai and two brand new vehicles. These will boost the number of employees at the plant and it will be operating at full capacity for the first time. - Author(s): M. Morrell
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 68 –71
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0518
- Type: Article
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Business leadership guru Margot Morrell says that today's engineering manager has much to learn from explorers of the past. Her book 'Shackleton's Way' is one of the best selling management books of all time. It's a lifeboat central to a brand of management thinking, and an icon for how strong leadership can put the brakes on corporate disaster. As 'Shackleton's Way' illustrates, powerful and successful people from dotcom entrepreneurs to CEOs of multinationals have modelled themselves on the Antarctic explorer. As an author, Morrell is interested in how important leaders of the past influence business managers of today. - Author(s): P. Hunter
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 72 –75
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0519
- Type: Article
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Broadcast media is a late convert to cloud computing, but it is proving to be an enthusiastic one. The benefits are especially timely for an industry undergoing a transformation as it embraces the concept of 'TV Everywhere' at the same time as migration to IP networks for transmission. - Author(s): C. Edwards
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 76 –79
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0520
- Type: Article
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The company that now dominates the DRAM business, Samsung, barely had a microelectronics operation in the mid-1980s, but grew to be the largest supplier of memory chips by the end of 1992. The company is now the world's second largest chipmaker, double the size of nearest competitor Texas Instruments (TI). It outpaces Elpida in terms of total chip sales almost tenfold. The Korean giant has become the other agent of change in the semiconductor world, according to IC Insight's McClean. - Author(s): S. Davies
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 80 –83
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0521
- Type: Article
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The transmission of power from large, offshore wind farms is a considerable technical challenge. It is similar to that faced by oil exploration companies in the 1960s when they first began to exploit offshore oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. A reliable, modern and efficient grid, both onshore and offshore, is required. Offshore, the challenge is to more efficiently connect power harvested at sea with the onshore transmission system, while at the same time building a system that can actively contribute to stability and security of supply by enabling further integration of the European power market. This was the dilemma mulled over by global renewable energy consultancy 3E when it analsysed the situation in a report for the OffshoreGrid project, co-financed by the European Commission under the EU's Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The consultancy published its final report late last year. Not surprisingly, the technical solution deemed most viable was a meshed grid consisting of linked hub connections. This would entail connecting projects located in close proximity so that they could share a single transmission line to shore. The report predicted that this would shave £11.5bn from the original £67bn. - Author(s): P. Gannon
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 84 –87
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0522
- Type: Article
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1952 was the year that Princess Elizabeth inherited the throne and when several innovations fuelled technological leaps for the UK's nascent computer industry. In 1952 there were crucial developments that brought into play small memory devices and printed circuit boards and also made major advances in software. Perhaps as important, given the fact that early computers are expensive at a time of fiscal austerity, is the fact that they were used for commercial applications. - Author(s): S. Munk
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 88 –89
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0524
- Type: Article
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The future is bigger tablets, smaller bike helmets and watching TV anywhere, even if you can't see the screen. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 90 –91
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0525
- Type: Article
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The new iPad has managed to develop improvements without increasing the retail cost. How have Apple managed this? - Author(s): B. Betts
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 92 –93
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0526
- Type: Article
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Creating new vistas with your mobile phone is a hot area for portable devices. - Author(s): N. Smith
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 94 –95
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0527
- Type: Article
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If you are bewildered about which performance management strategy suits your business a new book might help to steer you through the maze. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 96 –97
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0528
- Type: Article
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A celebration of Arthur C Clarke, going digital, and clever ways to store your old-fashioned paper books. - Author(s): N. Spurrier
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 98 –100
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0529
- Type: Article
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This year marks the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth, and the novelist and journalist lived through several major technological changes - but what did he make of them? - Author(s): J. Pollard
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 101 –101
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0530
- Type: Article
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'Half-past mausoleum' could have been a Roman's response to a request for the time. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 102 –102
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0531
- Type: Article
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The students' plan for a film club fails to bring down the House. - Author(s): M. Barfield
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 109 –109
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0532
- Type: Article
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Our regular selection of improbable engineering mini-stories. - Author(s): D. Sandham
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 110 –110
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0533
- Type: Article
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This month - some Olympics-related brain teasers, with the promise of a prize for the winner. - Author(s): N. Smith
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, p. 112 –113
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0534
- Type: Article
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What went wrong with Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7? - Author(s): V. Vitaliev
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 7, Issue 5, page: 114 –114
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2012.0535
- Type: Article
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How technology is changing the face, if not the spirit, of the Holy Mountain.
Editor's letter
World news
News
The graphic: Space X supply vehicle
News
Number news
News
Taking stock
Letters to the Editor
Social media software provides real benefit to the corporate culture
Social media software provides no real benefit to the corporate culture
Comment: Collaboration will help the biometrics community fulfil its true potential
The future of the high street [Online purchasing]
Shops offer the e-tail experience
Charge your engines [electric vehicle]
Driverless trains: It's the automatic choice
The magic roundabout
Going with the flow
Turning over a new leaf [automotive manufacturing]
Interview [Margot Morrell on engineering management]
Cloud's broadcast benefits
The big 22nm gamble
But where do you plug them in?
A diamond year for computing [Innovations in computer industry]
Gadgets
The teardown: iPad
Software reviews: Augmented reality applications
Book interview: Steve Player
Book reviews
The best of times, the worst of times
The eccentric engineer
Jack's blog
E&Tcetera
Thinking cap
Classic projects: Bluebird K7
After all: Mobile monks and modernisation of Mount Athos
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