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This paper reports the outcome of a 2‐year research project that set out to provide a process map of the concept stage of building projects. From a literature review, comparison of current process maps, and through interviews and case study analyses, a tentative new framework for the concept stage was developed and tested. It comprises 12 activities in five phases. The framework formed the basis of a graphical method used to plot the activities of design teams in a series of workshops. This graphical method illustrates design iteration in a way which we believe has not been undertaken before, and the patterns it reveals are intuitively understood by design team members themselves, helping them reflect on their own design process. We have also constructed a prototype internet‐based decision support tool for the concept stage of design. This is intended to be inherently flexible and supportive of non‐linear routes through concept design, while also offering a structured approach, design tools to broaden the solution space or evaluate competing options, team management advice, and the recording of decision making. Initial testing of this tool showed it to be well‐received, although it was criticized for focusing too much on the gates between activities and too little on the issues and decisions within each activity.

The construction industry is acutely aware of the need to improve the integration, planning and control of its design and production processes. A number of projects undertaken within Loughborough, Salford and Cambridge Universities, in collaboration with a number of construction industry organizations, are addressing this issue by investigating, and developing tools to assist, the design and construction process. Emerging from these projects is the common need for IT systems and support that will facilitate the capture, storage and retrieval of project knowledge. It is only by relating these compatible IT applications to a common and recognizable project process framework that construction industry organizations will be able to make optimum use of the available technological developments. This paper describes the development of techniques and strategies to support the integrated planning and control of design through the collaboration of the main designers, suppliers and contractor working on complex building projects, and discusses the relevance of clustering these in relation to the phases and activities of a generic model of design and construction.

About the year 1806 or 1807 consumers of cane sugar, and particularly those in central Europe, began to find out that there was very little of this kind of sugar to be obtained. Naval warfare and Napoleon's Continental System had resulted in something very like a sugar famine; and the only means of relief appeared to be either to extend and improve the existing methods of producing sugar from the beetroot or to discover new sources of saccharine matter from materials furnished by Europe itself, and so to make Europe independent of supplies of overseas sugar. Napoleon—the master of Europe at that time—made it his first care to provide, as far as possible, for the needs of the people of France; and French chemists were ordered and encouraged to undertake researches with the view to finding a more or less efficient substitute for cane sugar and molasses. The first step which was taken in the direction of relieving the situation was taken by Proust, who turned his attention to the possibilities inherent in grape juice. After a little time he had so well succeeded in his research that he was able to present the people of France with a sort of treacle, and with this it appears the masses had to be contented for about four years; refined cane sugar had become somewhat of a luxury. The use of molasses was the common practice in Germany—where the cost of moist sugar had been about fifteen pence a pound for some years before the time we are referring to. Proust's treacle must have proved an exceedingly poor article, and Napoleon, realising that human endurance of this would not survive for long, appointed a Committee, with the celebrated Chaptal as its head, to consider the best means of introducing the manufacture of beet sugar into France. Chaptal had succeeded Lucien Bonaparte as Minister of the Interior in 1801. He was the President of the Society for the Encouragement of National Industries, and in all respects he was well qualified to supervise a public enquiry of such importance. Marggraf's discovery in 1747 had already been taken advantage of to some extent in Prussia, and Achard of Berlin and others were already cultivating the beetroot and obtaining small quantities of beet sugar. After an interval of three or four years, during which careful examination had been made of the Prussian methods and results with beet sugar, Chaptal was able to send in a favourable report to Napoleon regarding their probable success in France. Events then moved rapidly. By Imperial decree 32 thousand hectares, say 80 thousand acres, of French soil were at once sown with beet. An absolute embargo was placed on all overseas sugar; and in the same year (1811) Chaptal was created Count de Chantaloupe. The start of the beet sugar industry in Europe may be said to date from this time.

Recently the industry's clients, designers and society as a whole, have begun to accept that innovation can offer key benefits in the form of financial growth and increased profits. Therefore, it is apparent that the development of a culture of innovation is of utmost importance if a business is to become universally proactive, entrepreneurial and remain successful. This owes much to the fact that the agility and ability of an organisation to respond to the changing marketplace is driven by its propensity to innovate. This paper does not attempt to resolve these problems; it merely attempts to raise awareness of the key issues relating to innovation, diffusion and the associated management of change. Moreover, it promotes the benefits afforded by developing an organizational culture of innovation. The content will be of interest to industrialists and researchers and will describe the key issues associated with product derivation, introduction and wider diffusion. Ultimately, it aims to demonstrate that creativity, the promotion of a culture for innovation, and the development of intellectual capital are issues of utmost importance in generating and maintaining a proactive and entrepreneurial organisation.

We discuss how attachment theory can help leaders maintain security in their relationships with followers during crisis, using the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic as an example. We describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has undermined the typical ways leaders may have fostered secure relationships with their followers. Guided by Lewin's action research paradigm, we integrate research on attachment theory with recent research on the COVID-19 pandemic to present leader interventions to maintain attachment security in spite of the disruption caused by COVID-19. We then discuss how these propositions can guide leader interventions in other types of crisis.

Attachment theory has received considerable attention in recent years from management and leadership scholars. We extend this line of inquiry by drawing parallels between the strange situation, a now classic paradigm for researching infant–caregiver attachment systems, to understand attachment security in leader–follower relationships during times of crisis.

We find that the crises such as COVID-19 present a challenge to attachment security in leader–follower relationships. We also find that research on adult attachment in response to crises and traumatic events is relevant to understanding how leaders can foster positive relations with followers during times of crisis when physical proximity is not possible.

We apply attachment theory and leadership research to present a framework for leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, many of our theoretical assertions and related interventions could be applied to other unprecedented crises that disrupt leader–follower relationships. Hence, our paper offers a unique lens that is centered on the attachment security within the leader–follower relationship during crisis.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said that a six‐month study shows the DC‐10 pylon is fundamentally sound and can serve 25 years without failure unless damaged during maintenance.

HIS holidays over, before the individual and strenuous winter work of his library begins, the wise librarian concentrates for a few weeks on the Annual Meeting of the Library Association. This year the event is of unusual character and of great interest. Fifty years of public service on the part of devoted workers are to be commemorated, and there could be no more fitting place for the commemoration than Edinburgh. It is a special meeting, too, in that for the first time for many years the Library Association gathering will take a really international complexion. If some too exacting critics are forward to say that we have invited a very large number of foreign guests to come to hear themselves talk, we may reply that we want to hear them. There is a higher significance in the occasion than may appear on the surface—for an effort is to be made in the direction of international co‐operation. In spite of the excellent work of the various international schools, we are still insular. Now that the seas are open and a trip to America costs little more than one to (say) Italy, we hope that the way grows clearer to an almost universal co‐working amongst libraries. It is overdue. May our overseas guests find a real atmosphere of welcome, hospitality and friendship amongst us this memorable September!

The purpose of this research is to develop closed‐loop control of robotic welding processes.

The approach being developed is the creation of three‐dimensional models of the weld pool using stereo imagining. These models will be used in a model‐based feedback control system. Fusion of more than one sensor type in the controller is used.

Three‐dimensional images can be produced from stereo images of GMAW‐p weld pools. This requires coordinating the image capture with the arc pulse to allow observation of the pool.

This is a work in progress. The imaging is not being done in real time at this point in time. Future work will address this issue. Also, how the image information is to be used to make corrections within the controller is future work.

Closing the loop on GMAW welding will allow robotic automation of welding to proceed to a much broader degree of application.

This paper demonstrates that stereo imaging of out‐of‐position GMAW‐p weld pools is possible and the useful information can be obtained from these images. It also provides insights into the analysis required within the model‐based controller if one is to close the loop on the process specifically with regard to weld pool stability.