مجله توسعه تکنولوژی صنعتی
پیاپی 19 (بهار و تابستان 1391)

One of the key factors of the failure of employing technology to gain competitive advantage in the developing countries firms is the lack of knowledge and understanding of the firm technological capabilities level and using them in the direction of relative advantages. Technological needs assessment is a tool used for determining the required capabilities to implement technological priorities. Technological assessment not only identifies the weak and problematic areas of the firm، but also takes relative advantages of the firm into consideration and defines them. In this paper، it is tried to study and analyze technological capabilities level of the Ministry of Energy using technological needs assessment model. This model has evaluated the capability level of the firm from 9 aspects، and has determined the firm status in each of them. Finally، in order to reduce the existing gap some suggestions are offered.

Distributed generation has recently become a common source of energy because of spreading of big cities، high cost of installing new power networks، placement issues and many other problems. There are various technologies in distributed generation but due to limitations in national resources and other obligations، setting an order of precedence for these technologies is of high importance the purpose of this paper is to analyze the appeal of distributed generation (DG) technologies assuming energy subsidies have been stopped by the government. This is a subject of multi-criteria decision making which could be solved by various decision techniques. Analytic hierarchy process is employed in this paper، regarding its advantages، to analyze and prioritize the distributed generation. Entropy analytic hierarchy process is used for uncertain viewpoints of decision makers. Results of the research show that this method is a useful and effective tool for considering uncertainty in MCDM problems.

Increasing use of fossil fuels، greenhouse gas emissions increase، the rise of oil prices، world industrialization growth، and the reduction of the present fuel resources have led scientist to look for their alternatives. The huge، renewable biofuels resources with less pollution are considered as the viable ones. In this regard، many countries such as U. S. A. and Brazil are mainly producing and using these fuels now، and many others have planned and set targets to do so. Of course، the production and use of these fuels compared to fossil ones have several advantages، disadvantages and outcomes. In this paper، the necessity of paying attention to the production، and the use of these fuels are discussed along with the advantages، disadvantages، and their consequences. Finally، by explaining the necessity and importance of the production and the use of these fuels، various criteria are specified for comparing these two kinds of fuels in planning and goal setting in this respect. Considering the presence of different criteria for comparison، and different options for goal setting، it is necessary to use the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques to compare these two fuels in order to set the suitable target for the countries (including Iran) which have not planned in this area seriously.

This paper reports on Material flow analysis and energy consumption in the world iron ore and steel industries. These analyses imply that the production of world iron ore has increased from 274 million tons in 1950 to 3000 million tons in the year 2012. The production of world steel also has been raised from 207 to 1540 million tons at the same time. Since the rate of production in mining and steel industries is on the rise، reducing of energy consumption can lead to a large proportion of energy. It should be noted that many studies have been worked on saving energy and the reduction of polluted gases; however، the previous studies were restricted to the cliché information and had some drawbacks in the procedural level. In this study، first، world’s resources of iron ore، iron and steel production were studied. Second، the consumption energy in the mining and steel industries were separately analyzed. Finally، some suggestions for the reduction of energy consumption in different stages were made. The highest proportion of consumption energy in mining procedure is related to grinding process (40%) and material transformation (about 17%). Since china is the largest country producing steel and is one of the biggest energy consumers and pollution makers in the world، it was studied in the current paper. The findings of the study revealed that due to the use of recent technologies in 2007، the overall energy consumption، the fresh water consumption and the total emission of SO2، declined per ton of steel by about 8%، 24% and 4. 5% respectively، when compared with that in 2005. Also، the results have shown that the energy consumption of blast furnace is 2. 5 times the energy used by electric arc one.

The increased quality demands on industrial equipment have resulted in more and more production lines of factories being equipped with precise measurement tools. It would provide feedback to help the user monitor and control the line. This could be a part of control techniques which is used in intelligent control systems. Numbers of methods are available to quantify exterior size of objects: contact and noncontact. Non-contact measurement technologies designed to improve product quality as they avoid possible surface damage that can be caused upon contact. In this paper، we have studied the fabrication technology of a digital optical micrometer as a noncontact and nondestructive technique. In this way، inspection cycle times are faster and the measure value is more accurate for each new part inspected. Furthermore، it allows for the possibility of 100% automated inspection. Through this experience، using of high power LEDs as a substitute for lasers besides modifying the optical transmitter and receiver units، utilizing of matrix detectors and special signal processing techniques، have improved the features of the optical micrometer. The characteristics of the optical micrometer include ±4μm precision، fast sampling rate، ease of operation، reduced human error and capability to be interfaced with computer systems for data processing in automated systems.

Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) should be competitive، customer oriented and cost-effective، which require adopting strategic approach in the management of these organizations in order to carry out their mission. By increasing the global competition، RTOs need to strengthen their strategic management in order to become effective، efficient and goal directed organizations for technology development and technological innovation. A few models have been developed in the framework of strategic management of RTOs، each of them has its specific approach and characteristics. In this article، different developed models in this respect are studied، and finally a few managerial suggestions are pointed out.

Foresight activity and in particular technology foresight has become an analytical tool and the distinctive vision that gives consideration to the various future alternative fields in order to assist decision-making processes at all levels. This paper considers the different perspectives of evaluating foresight by establishing a road map of them and their interactions with the various future policy functions. Then، it tries to propose a policy framework to identify and prioritize the influencing factors involving in NAJA’s research foresight projects.