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The paper aims to review all the techniques for developing scenarios that have appeared in the literature, along with comments on their utility, strengths and weaknesses.

The study was carried out through an electronic search using internet search engines and online databases and indexes.

The paper finds eight categories of techniques that include a total of 23 variations used to develop scenarios. There are descriptions and evaluations for each.

Futurists can use this list to broaden their repertoire of scenario techniques.

Scenario development is the stock‐in‐trade of futures studies, but no catalog of the techniques used has yet been published. This list is the start at developing a consensus list of techniques that can be refined as the field matures.

The dependency on human expertise for analysis and interpretation is the main reason for wear debris analysis not being used in industry to its full potential and becoming one of the most powerful machine condition monitoring strategies. The dependency on human expertise makes the interpretation and result subjective in nature, costly and time consuming. The purpose of this paper is to review work being done to develop an automatic, reliable and objective wear particle classification system as a solution to the above problem. At the same time it also aims to discuss some common off line test methods being practiced for wear debris analysis.

Computer image analysis is a solution for some of the problems associated with the conventional techniques. First it is tried to efficiently describe the characteristics of computer images of different types of wear debris using a few numerical parameters. Then using some Artificial Intelligence tools, the wear particle classification system can be developed.

Many shape, size and surface parameters are discussed in the paper. Out of these, nine numerical parameters are selected to describe and distinguish six common type of wear debris. Once the type of debris is identified, the mode of wear and hence the machine condition can be assessed.

The present process of fault and condition monitoring of an equipment by wear debris analysis involves human judgment of debris formations. A set‐up standard for comparison of debris will enable the maintenance team to diagnose faults in a comparatively better way.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the difficulties in identifying wear particles and finding out the exact health of equipment, which, due to its subjective nature, is influenced by human errors. An objective method with certain standards for classification of wear particles compatible with an artificial intelligence system will yield some flawless results of wear debris analysis, which has not been attempted in the past as per available literature.

Communication of information in the biological sciences is becoming increasingly complex as the number of users multiplies and as science becomes more and more interdisciplinary. Libraries play a major role in this communication of scientific information. This role is being threatened by increasing publication rates coupled with increasing costs and decreasing resources. Even the most illustrious science libraries are finding that their resources have decreased in real money and as a result of inflation. The Bowker Annual of Library and Book Trade Information, editions 8–20, 1962–75, graphically shows the increases in publishing rates and in price. The Bowker statistics are broken down into large categories; unfortunately biology falls between the categories of agriculture and medicine. The increases found in both medicine and agriculture are relevant for the subcategory of biology. Books published in agriculture have risen from 78 in 1960 to 196 in 1974. Books published in medicine have gone from 520 in 1960 to 2,281 in 1974. During the same time period the average price of these same books has gone from $8.54 to $18.43. The picture for the near future is no brighter. Librarians will have to be more and more selective and clever in purchasing materials that will be used by patrons.

In a recent issue of Futuribles, authors from the European Commission’s Forward Studies Unit outlined five scenarios for Europe 2010. The scenarios were constructed using the so‐called “shaping actors, shaping factors” method, claimed by the authors as specific to their unit. In this article, Michel Godet reacts to that claim and makes two fundamental criticisms of their methodology.

Introduction Visual inspection or observation at low magnification with an optical microscope has been of great help in analysing fracture surfaces. Optical microscopy, however, has distinct limitations, such as low resolution and small depth of field. The transmission electron microscope does not have these limitations.

The purpose of this paper is to report on how foresight methods are being used to address a “wicked problem” for the global furniture industry: “What are we going to do in the furniture industry in high cost countries (HCC) to maintain our future competitiveness with respect to the competition coming from low cost countries?”

This study explores one sectorial initiative, CEFFOR® (Furniture Foresight Centre, headquarters in Valencia, Spain), that attempts to mitigate the negative impact of globalisation on the competitiveness of the furniture industry in HCCs, by creating a vision of a preferable future through the use of a set of qualitative foresight tools (structural analysis, morphological analysis/field anomaly relaxation, and cross impact analysis) involving a worldwide expert panel.

This paper examines the set‐up phase of the CEFFOR initiative, and describes the main elements of the morphological space developed to profile possible future configurations of the global furniture industry. Future papers will report on further model development and the subsequent take‐up of this work.

The approach used could be adapted to a variety of other industrial sectors. While this study examines a traditional industrial sector, there is no conceptual limitation on its use in other sectors, although such adaptation should clearly remain alert to the unique aspects of any industry.

The novelty of this initiative is the application of a normative foresight approach in a traditional industrial sector in order to generate a shared vision of a sustainable future, and to integrate this foresight approach with an existing business intelligence system.

With the increasing number of universities in the country, research on urban form and architecture—with a focus on historic settlements—has accelerated in Cyprus in the last fifteen years. Lefke, a small traditional medieval town located on north-west Cyprus, warrants a detailed urban morphological study, as its traditional urban pattern has been shaped by a medieval character. Within its overall organic urban pattern, there are well-scaled narrow streets, a number of public buildings and irregularly shaped public spaces at the intersection of streets and/or in front of public buildings. Lefke's morphological characteristics, which have developed throughout many years, have been significantly impacted by British influences, as the Cyprus Mines Corporation (CMC), established in 1916, turned Lefke into an industrial town. The CMC district, which is the first industrial mass housing district in Cyprus, has uniquely impacted Lefke's urban patterns and still defines the morphological characteristics of the town today. Accordingly, this paper first explores urban morphology based on two pioneering morphological studies: Gianfranco Cannigia's theories of typo-morphological understanding, and the evolutionary insights of M.R.G. Conzen. The ultimate goal is to set up a typo-morphological basis for the CMC industrial mass housing district, which will drive future interventions, design and planning policies towards its conservation and sustainability.

Americans have become increasingly interested in their ethnic heritage in recent years. Assimilated Euro‐Americans, whose ancestors arrived in the New World generations ago, are rediscovering their roots and are enrolling in foreign language classes, taking up folk dancing, learning ethnic cuisine, tracing their genealogical pedigrees, and returning to the religious traditions their parents may or may not have passed on to them. Now it's “in” to be ethnic.

The sheer complexity and unpredictability characterising cities challenges the adequacy of existing disciplinary knowledge and tools in urban design and highlights the necessity to incorporate explicitly the element of change and the dimension of time in the understanding of, and intervention on, the form of cities. To this regard the concept of resilience is a powerful lens through which to understand and engage with a changing world. However, resilience is currently only superficially addressed by urban designers, and an explicit effort to relate elements of urban form to resilience principles is still lacking. This represents a great limit for urban designers, as the physical dimension of cities is the matter they work with in the first place. In this paper, we combine established knowledge in urban morphology and resilience theory. We firstly look at resilience theory and consistently define five proxies of resilience in urban form, namely diversity, redundancy, modularity, connectivity and efficiency. Secondly, we discuss the configuration of, and interdependencies between, several constituent elements of the physical city, as defined in urban morphology and design, in light of the mentioned five proxies. Finally, we conduct this exploration at five scales that are relevant to urban morphology and design: plot, street edge, block, street and sanctuary area / district.

This research paper examines the post-military landscape of the Victoria Barracks regarding the high-density urbanism in Hong Kong from the 1970s to the 2000s. The article first interprets the concept of post-military landscape according to the ideology and urbanism of the then Hong Kong society. It then studies three plans of the Victoria Barracks of different stages, showing contestations between domestic, commercial and administrative powers in controlling the military redevelopment. Several contemporary architectural projects on the site will also provide an alternative view of the transformation according to the local economic laissez-faire policy. Its influence to the unsatisfactory heritage protection leads to the disappearance and false representation of the identity of this particular military and cultural heritage.