Current State of the Art: Problem-Driven Multi-Functional Bio-Inspired Designs

Author(s):  
Devesh Bhasin ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams

Abstract The development of multi-functional designs is one of the prime reasons to adopt bio-inspired design in engineering design. However, the development of multi-functional bio-inspired designs is mostly solution-driven, in the sense that an available multi-functional solution drives the search for a problem that can be solved by implementing the available solution. The solution-driven nature of the approach restricts the engineering designers to the use of the function combinations found in nature. On the other hand, a problem-driven approach to multi-functional designs allows the designers to form some combination of functions best suited for the problem at hand. However, few works exist in the literature that focus on the development of multi-functional bio-inspired solutions from a problem-driven perspective. In this work, we analyze the existing works that aid the designers in combining multiple biological strategies to develop multi-functional bio-inspired designs. The analysis is carried out by comparing and contrasting the existing frameworks that support multi-functional bio-inspired design generation. The criteria of comparison are derived from the steps involved in the unified problem-driven biomimetic approach. In addition, we qualitatively compare the multi-functional bio-inspired designs developed using existing frameworks to the multi-functional designs existing in biology. Our aim is to explore the capabilities and limitations of current methods to support the generation multi-functional bio-inspired designs.

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (62) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Gregor Behnke ◽  
Susanne Biundo

Linear temporal logic (LTL) provides expressive means to specify temporally extended goals as well as preferences.Recent research has focussed on compilation techniques, i.e., methods to alter the domain ensuring that every solution adheres to the temporally extended goals.This requires either new actions or an construction that is exponential in the size of the formula.A translation into boolean satisfiability (SAT) on the other hand requires neither.So far only one such encoding exists, which is based on the parallel $\exists$-step encoding for classical planning.We show a connection between it and recently developed compilation techniques for LTL, which may be exploited in the future.The major drawback of the encoding is that it is limited to LTL without the X operator.We show how to integrate X and describe two new encodings, which allow for more parallelism than the original encoding.An empirical evaluation shows that the new encodings outperform the current state-of-the-art encoding.


Author(s):  
Alexander Diederich ◽  
Christophe Bastien ◽  
Karthikeyan Ekambaram ◽  
Alexis Wilson

The introduction of automated L5 driving technologies will revolutionise the design of vehicle interiors and seating configurations, improving occupant comfort and experience. It is foreseen that pre-crash emergency braking and swerving manoeuvres will affect occupant posture, which could lead to an interaction with a deploying airbag. This research addresses the urgent safety need of defining the occupant’s kinematics envelope during that pre-crash phase, considering rotated seat arrangements and different seatbelt configurations. The research used two different sets of volunteer tests experiencing L5 vehicle manoeuvres, based in the first instance on 22 50th percentile fit males wearing a lap-belt (OM4IS), while the other dataset is based on 87 volunteers with a BMI range of 19 to 67 kg/m2 wearing a 3-point belt (UMTRI). Unique biomechanics kinematics corridors were then defined, as a function of belt configuration and vehicle manoeuvre, to calibrate an Active Human Model (AHM) using a multi-objective optimisation coupled with a Correlation and Analysis (CORA) rating. The research improved the AHM omnidirectional kinematics response over current state of the art in a generic lap-belted environment. The AHM was then tested in a rotated seating arrangement under extreme braking, highlighting that maximum lateral and frontal motions are comparable, independent of the belt system, while the asymmetry of the 3-point belt increased the occupant’s motion towards the seatbelt buckle. It was observed that the frontal occupant kinematics decrease by 200 mm compared to a lap-belted configuration. This improved omnidirectional AHM is the first step towards designing safer future L5 vehicle interiors.


Author(s):  
W. Ernst Eder

Abstract Historic developments, and the current state of the art are surveyed in thought, theory, methods and methodology, and education for and about engineering design. This survey covers two particular and disparate regions, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, the latter including the activities of an international group centered in Zürich known as WDK — Workshop Design-Konstruktion.


Author(s):  
Ahlam Fuad ◽  
Amany bin Gahman ◽  
Rasha Alenezy ◽  
Wed Ateeq ◽  
Hend Al-Khalifa

Plural of paucity is one type of broken plural used in the classical Arabic. It is used when the number of people or objects ranges from three to 10. Based on our evaluation of four current state-of-the-art Arabic morphological analyzers, there is a lack of identification of broken plural words, specifically the plural of paucity. Therefore, this paper presents “[Formula: see text]” Qillah (paucity), a morphological extension that is built on top of other morphological analyzers and uses a hybrid rule-based and lexicon-based approach to enhance the identification of plural of paucity. Two versions of the Qillah were developed, one is based on FARASA morphological analyzer and the other is based on CALIMA Star analyzer, as these are some of the best-performing morphological analyzers. We designed two experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed solution based on a collection of 402 different Arabic words. The version based on CALIMA Star achieved a maximum accuracy of 93% in identifying the plural-of-paucity words compared to the baselines. It also achieved a maximum accuracy of 98% compared to the baselines in identifying the plurality of the words.


Axon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Funke

In the first part of my ‘workshop report’, I will provide information about the current state of the epigraphical editions of the Inscriptiones Graecae. Subsequently, I will focus on the plans for the upcoming years. In this context, questions pertaining to epigraphic research in new geographic regions, on the one hand, and the revision of past editions, on the other hand, are paramount. In the second part of my report, I will outline the current state and future perspectives of the digitisation of the IG.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 570-583
Author(s):  
Waldemar Czajkowski

AbstractA paradox of our time is identified: on the one hand – the development of one global system (ecological, technological and social), on the other hand – the still increasing “balkanization” of science. The dynamics of this systems is a source of well-known numerous global problems. Its possibly effective solution needs adequate knowledge about the system. For this reason, counteraction to “balkanization” of science is of great practical importance. And this counteraction should comprise not only development of “transboundary” sciences (such as biochemistry or social psychology) but also establishing and developing links between very distant disciplines. This text is intended as a contribution to linking social and engineering sciences. The notion of design plays the central role in this text. Its meaning in the engineering sciences. The notion of utopia has been chosen as a partial counterpart to the term of engineering design. This notion was defined using a concept of possible world – taken from modal logic. It encompasses two ideas: this of design and that of prediction, It is claimed that we need many utopias and that their plurality is of fundamental importance for protecting us against the threats of utopianism. The paper suggests that social utopias can play a heuristic role in engineering design (particularly in the initial phase of defining technological problems), and – on the other hand – that the theory of engineering design can be supportive for, badly needed, development of methodology of utopias creation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 195-221
Author(s):  
Shūhei Fujii

Abstract This paper will shed light upon the history and current state of Japanese Zen Buddhism in Europe. Japanese Zen has mainly been transmitted in two ways among European countries: via the group founded by Deshimaru Taisen, and through Christian Zen. Deshimaru went to Europe and taught Zen. His teaching represented Zen as a wholistic, scientific, and peaceful Eastern religion. Though his group initially expanded greatly, it split into several subgroups following Deshimaru’s death. On the other hand, Sanbō Kyōdan promoted ecumenical integration between Christianity and Zen. The longstanding interest in Zen among Christians can be seen in the contemporary “spiritual exchange of the East-West.” Concerning the current state of Zen in Europe, data show that there are more than 270 Zen centers in Europe, located in 24 countries. An analysis of the contemporary situation thus demonstrates that European Zen is mobile, has various forms, and has influenced Japanese institutions.


Author(s):  
Tatiana Prorokova

This chapter scrutinizes the complex relationship between climate change and theology, as represented in First Reformed, as well as Paul Schrader’s understanding of humanity’s major problems today. Analyzing the issue of ecological decline through the prism of religion, Schrader outlines the ideology that presumably might help humanity survive at the age of global warming. Through the complex discussions of such issues as despair, anxiety, and hope, Schrader deduces the formula of survival in which preservation is the key component. Equating humans to God, Schrader, on the one hand, censures those actions that led to progress but destroyed the environment, yet, on the other hand, he foregrounds the fact that humans can also save the planet now. Schrader portrays both humans and Earth as living organisms created by God. He draws explicit parallels between the current state of our planet and the problems that we experience – from political ones, including war, to more personal ones like health issues.


Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Werner ◽  
Urs Alexander Peuker ◽  
Thomas Mütze

The recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIB) is becoming increasingly important with regard to environmental, economic, geostrategic, and health aspects due to the increasing amount of LIB produced, introduced into the market, and being spent in the following years. The recycling itself becomes a challenge to face on one hand the special aspects of LIB-technology and on the other hand to reply to the idea of circular economy. In this paper, we analyze the different recycling concepts for spent LIBs and categorize them according to state-of-the-art schemes of waste treatment technology. Therefore, we structure the different processes into process stages and unit processes. Several recycling technologies are treating spent lithium-ion batteries worldwide focusing on one or several process stages or unit processes.


Author(s):  
Alexander Troussov ◽  
František Dařena ◽  
Jan Žižka ◽  
Denis Parra ◽  
Peter Brusilovsky

Spreading Activation is a family of graph-based algorithms widely used in areas such as information retrieval, epidemic models, and recommender systems. In this paper we introduce a novel Spreading Activation (SA) method that we call Vectorised Spreading Activation (VSA). VSA algorithms, like “traditional” SA algorithms, iteratively propagate the activation from the initially activated set of nodes to the other nodes in a network through outward links. The level of the node’s activation could be used as a centrality measurement in accordance with dynamic model-based view of centrality that focuses on the outcomes for nodes in a network where something is flowing from node to node across the edges. Representing the activation by vectors allows the use of the information about various dimensionalities of the flow and the dynamic of the flow. In this capacity, VSA algorithms can model multitude of complex multidimensional network flows. We present the results of numerical simulations on small synthetic social networks and multi­dimensional network models of folksonomies which show that the results of VSA propagation are more sensitive to the positions of the initial seed and to the community structure of the network than the results produced by traditional SA algorithms. We tentatively conclude that the VSA methods could be instrumental to develop scalable and computationally efficient algorithms which could achieve synergy between computation of centrality indexes with detection of community structures in networks. Based on our preliminary results and on improvements made over previous studies, we foresee advances and applications in the current state of the art of this family of algorithms and their applications to centrality measurement.


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