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This thesis describes a study of the potential contribution of industrial design to the adaptation of agricultural machinery for use in Malaysia. The study identifies the nature of agricultural machinery and equipment design which uses mainly adaptation concepts as a means of getting a 'quick' design. The nature of industrial design with regard to agricultural machinery and equipment design in Malaysia and the UK was also studied. This research has established the potential of industrial designers to contribute in this area of design activity. This researchu tilised a combinedm ethodologyo f'triangulation' where quantitative surveysa nd qualitative studies were used. Literature surveys, a groundwork study, questionnaire surveys, case studies, interviews, and observations were carried out. Case studies and interviews were the main methods of data collection while questionnaire surveys helped to provide information, support, and validate findings from the former methods. Case studies and interviews involved five establishmentsin Malaysia and four companiesi n the UK. Adaptation designw as confirmed as'a successfulc oncept, however, the processesin volved in the designo f machinesa nd equipmentn eedt o be developeda nd improved. There were generally no specific design processes or procedures adhered to while carrying adaptation design work. They were determinedb y the samef actors i. e. the types of projects, aims/objectiveso f project, duration and date-line, funding and level of adaptation design. From the quantitative survey and qualitatives tudyr esults,i t was establishedth at industrial design should be incorporated into the adaptation design concept. The role of industrial designers in adaptation design can be that of assisting and advising the engineers and working collectively as a team. The potential contributionso f industriald esignersw ould be to improve 'appearance('a esthetics),q uality, and overall design. Industrial design knowledge in human-factors- ergonomics/anthropometricswere also sort for in order to satisfy factors such as safety and ease of use. Industrial designers were also needed to achieve designs which could reduce costs and to increase sales of machinery/equipmenpt roducts. The thesis concludes that the diverse nature of agricultural machinery and equipment design, especiallyfo cusingo n the adaptationd esignc oncept,r equiresa synthesisa pproachr equiring the participation and consideration of such factors as: inter-disciplinary relationships, agricultural policy, designp olicy, designe ducation,a nd public awarenessA. ll thesef actors coupled with the contributions made by industrial designers would bring improvements to the success rates of adaptation design. V

Understanding how the transmission of energy between the providers (such as nuclear power stations, renewable resources, or any type of supplying entity) and the consumers (such as factories, homes, or any type of demanding entity) depends on the structure of the inter-connections between them and on their dynamical be- haviour, is of paramount importance for the design of power-grid systems that are resilient to failures, e.g., failures due to structural modifications or energy fluctu- ations. In this thesis, we derive the implicit relationship between structure and behaviour that flow and power networks have, namely, the mathematical principles behind the transmission of energy in complex networks. From our novel derivations, we determine exact and approximate strategies to create self-controlled and stable systems (i.e., resilient to failures without the need for external controllers) that have an optimal (i.e., with less cost and power dissipation) and smart (i.e., allowing the decentralisation of large power-stations to smaller fluctuating renewable resources) energy distribution. Moreover, not only we achieve analytical solutions for problems that usually require a numerical analysis, but we also propose a change in the analy- sis view-point of complex systems, namely, systems composed of many dynamically interacting units forming a network. We show that in order to explain the emer- gent behaviour in these systems, instead of focusing on the network structure of the interactions, we should focus on the functional form of the interactions. In particu- lar, we derive a general framework to study the existence and stability of emergent collective behaviour in networks of interacting phase-oscillators, namely, the math- ematical principles behind the synchronisation in complex networks. The numerous breakthrough results in this thesis are expected to be of aid for engineers to design smarter and more resilient power-grid systems, as well as to scientists dealing with emergence of collective behaviour in complex systems.

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Complex policy problems in today’s world require sound evidence for good decisions. Yet what constitutes sound evidence can often itself become a matter of political contention. Using original qualitative interview, focus group and document analysis, this thesis finds both that many Canadian organizations with a mandate for communicating scientific information (knowledge transfer) are working to bring together researchers and end-users into various forms of direct contact (known as interaction practices) and that different social groups have concerns with these interactions. Through using interaction practices to improve communication efforts by establishing end-user/researcher relationships, the socially constructed boundaries that exist between science and politics become blurred. When the science communicated has controversial political implications, this blurring becomes problematic, “polluting” the wider credibility of the science communicated. This thesis uses “boundary theory” to argue that organizations engaging in knowledge transfer must be aware of these risks, and in controversial political topics, work to span rather than blur these boundaries, in order to protect scientific credibility necessary to successfully communicate scientific information in politically controversial situations.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

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