A Design Tool for Distributed Concept Development

Author(s):  
Kate Nordland ◽  
Edward Hensel

This paper provides an overview of a database tool to support collaborative concept development in an asynchronous, distributed design environment. This paper will illustrate how an ideation method, such as as brainstorming, can be applied to a desired set of functions for a new design. The result of the brain-storming session for each articulated function can then be used in conjunction with a collaborative weighted voting tool to develop a rank-ordered morphological chart of the design space. A case study will be presented to illustrate how the information and knowledge generated in a prior working session by a design group can be introduced into a subsequent design session. The case study will illustrate how knowledge can be effectively transferred from one design project to the next, and preserve design intent over time.

i-com ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Daniel Buschek ◽  
Charlotte Anlauff ◽  
Florian Lachner

Abstract This paper reflects on a case study of a user-centred concept development process for a Machine Learning (ML) based design tool, conducted at an industry partner. The resulting concept uses ML to match graphical user interface elements in sketches on paper to their digital counterparts to create consistent wireframes. A user study (N=20) with a working prototype shows that this concept is preferred by designers, compared to the previous manual procedure. Reflecting on our process and findings we discuss lessons learned for developing ML tools that respect practitioners’ needs and practices.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Rusli ◽  
Anthony Luscher ◽  
James Schmiedeler

A mechanical assembly aims to remove 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) motion between two or more parts using features such as fasteners, integral attachments, and mating surfaces, all of which act as constraints. The locations, orientations, and quantity of these constraints directly influence the effectiveness of a constraint configuration to eliminate DOF; therefore, constraint design decisions are crucial to the performance of a mechanical assembly. The design tool presented in this paper uses an analysis tool developed by the authors to explore a user-specified constraint design space and help the designer make informed decisions based on quantitative data so as to optimize constraint locations and orientations. The utility of the design tool is demonstrated with an assembly case study that contains both threaded fasteners and integral attachments. The results identify the opportunity for significant improvements by separately exploring individual design spaces associated with some constraints and further gains through a search of a multidimensional design space that leverages interaction effects between the location and orientation variables. The example also highlights how the tool can help identify nonintuitive solutions such as nonrectilinear, nonplanar parting lines. A trade-off study demonstrates how the design tool can quantitatively aid in optimizing the total number of constraints. Adding constraints generally improves an assembly's performance at the expense of increased redundancy, which can cause locked-in stresses and assembly inaccuracies, so the design tools helps identify new/removable constraints that offer the greatest/least contribution to the overall part constraint configuration. Through these capabilities, this design tool provides useful data to optimize and understand mechanical assembly performance variables.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Dowling ◽  
Somikazi Deyi ◽  
Anele Gobodwana

While there have been a number of studies on the decontextualisation and secularisation of traditional ritual music in America, Taiwan and other parts of the globe, very little has been written on the processes and transformations that South Africa’s indigenous ceremonial songs go through over time. This study was prompted by the authors’ interest in, and engagement with the Xhosa initiation song Somagwaza, which has been re-imagined as a popular song, but has also purportedly found its way into other religious spaces. In this article, we attempted to investigate the extent to which the song Somagwaza is still associated with the Xhosa initiation ritual and to analyse evidence of it being decontextualised and secularised in contemporary South Africa. Our methodology included an examination of the various academic treatments of the song, an analysis of the lyrics of a popular song, bearing the same name, holding small focus group discussions, and distributing questionnaires to speakers of isiXhosa on the topic of the song. The data gathered were analysed using the constant comparative method of analysing qualitative research.


2002 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D Anderson ◽  
John C Zasada ◽  
Glen W Erickson ◽  
Zigmond A Zasada

A white pine (Pinus strobus L.) stand at the western margin of the species range, approximately 125 years of age at present, was thinned in 1953 from 33.5 m2 ha-1 to target residual basal areas of 18.4, 23.0, 27.5, and 32.1 m2 ha-1 . Repeated measurement over the following 43-years indicated that the greatest total volume production and the greatest number of large diameter trees occurred in the unit of highest residual density. Over time, the distribution of stems was predominantly random although mortality between 1979 and 1996 resulted in a tendency for clumping in the 23.0 and 27.5 m2 ha-1 treatments. DNA analysis indicated that thinning intensity had little effect on the genetic diversity of residual white pine. This study suggests that mature white pine stands in northern Minnesota may be managed at relatively high densities without loss of productivity. However, regardless of overstory density, there was little or no white pine regeneration occurring in this stand. Key words: thinning, growth, genetic diversity, molecular markers, spatial pattern, regeneration


Author(s):  
Mensura Altumbabic ◽  
Marc R. Del Bigio ◽  
Scott Sutherland

ABSTRACT:Background:Transtentorial herniation of large cerebral fragments is a rare phenomenon.Method:Case StudyResults:Examination of the brain of a 35-year-old male showed massive intracerebral hemorrhage resulting in displacement of basal ganglia components into the fourth ventricle.Conclusions:Sufficiently rapid intracerebral bleeding can dissect fragments of cerebrum and displace them long distances across the tentorial opening.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 887
Author(s):  
Guenther Schneider ◽  
Alexander Massmann ◽  
Peter Fries ◽  
Felix Frenzel ◽  
Arno Buecker ◽  
...  

Background. This paper aimed to prospectively evaluate the safety of embolization therapy of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) for the detection of cerebral infarctions by pre- and post-interventional MRI. Method One hundred and five patients (male/female = 44/61; mean age 48.6+/−15.8; range 5–86) with pre-diagnosed PAVMs on contrast-enhanced MRA underwent embolization therapy. The number of PAVMs treated in each patient ranged from 1–8 PAVMs. Depending on the size and localization of the feeding arteries, either Nester-Coils or Amplatzer vascular plugs were used for embolization therapy. cMRI was performed immediately before, and at the 4 h and 3-month post-embolization therapy. Detection of peri-interventional cerebral emboli was performed via T2w and DWI sequences using three different b-values, with calculation of ADC maps. Results Embolization did not show any post-/peri-interventional, newly developed ischemic lesions in the brain. Only one patient who underwent re-embolization and was previously treated with tungsten coils that corroded over time showed newly developed, small, diffuse emboli in the post-interventional DWI sequence. This patient already had several episodes of brain emboli before re-treatment due to the corroded coils, and during treatment, when passing the corroded coils, experienced additional small, clinically inconspicuous brain emboli. However, this complication was anticipated but accepted, since the vessel had to be occluded distally. Conclusion Catheter-based embolization of PAVMs is a safe method for treatment and does not result in clinically inconspicuous cerebral ischemia, which was not demonstrated previously.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Awadh Jasim ◽  
Laura Hanks ◽  
Katharina Borsi

AbstractToday, the concept of built heritage authenticity is a projection screen for conflicting demands and thus a ‘contested field’. Short-sighted readings started to drag the concept behind different ill-considered treatises, in which some heritage aspects loosely outweighed other aspects. Archaeological perspectives that tend to freeze heritage structures in time, such as those that are privileged upon other contemporary socio-cultural issues, while political takes also overshadowed other epistemological prospects, and vice versa. Repercussions have made inclusion of what is regarded as ‘inevitable changes’ within the built context problematic as to the re-interpretation and thus assessment of its authenticity. Despite their possible momentary threat to the latter, these changes may add to the cultural value of the context over time, granting new potential that may instead boost its authenticity. This paper investigates the potential continuity of Erbil Citadel’s Babylonian Gate as an inevitable change within the site’s built context by studying the Gate’s controversial political impacts on the context’s authenticity. This study affirms that authenticity is a transcendental value of an open-ended progressive nature, which cannot be reduced to a specific period or properties within the historical chronology of built heritage. Hence, authenticity should be approached as a meaningful existential issue, while revelation of its essence and thus its dimension entails precise scrutiny of both the tangibles and intangibles of the context. However, to be part of its authenticity, any change in the context should be adaptable and possibly incorporated as a new value within its cultural strata, thus enabling progressive support for site authenticity.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1324
Author(s):  
David Revell ◽  
Phil King ◽  
Jeff Giliam ◽  
Juliano Calil ◽  
Sarah Jenkins ◽  
...  

Sea level rise increases community risks from erosion, wave flooding, and tides. Current management typically protects existing development and infrastructure with coastal armoring. These practices ignore long-term impacts to public trust coastal recreation and natural ecosystems. This adaptation framework models physical responses to the public beach and private upland for each adaptation strategy over time, linking physical changes in widths to damages, economic costs, and benefits from beach recreation and nature using low-lying Imperial Beach, California, as a case study. Available coastal hazard models identified community vulnerabilities, and local risk communication engagement prioritized five adaptation approaches—armoring, nourishment, living shorelines, groins, and managed retreat. This framework innovates using replacement cost as a proxy for ecosystem services normally not valued and examines a managed retreat policy approach using a public buyout and rent-back option. Specific methods and economic values used in the analysis need more research and innovation, but the framework provides a scalable methodology to guide coastal adaptation planning everywhere. Case study results suggest that coastal armoring provides the least public benefits over time. Living shoreline approaches show greater public benefits, while managed retreat, implemented sooner, provides the best long-term adaptation strategy to protect community identity and public trust resources.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Catarina Ianni Segatto ◽  
Mário Aquino Alves ◽  
Andrea Pineda

This article is a case study of Brazil, a country where Catholic-based organizations have historically played a key role in providing education and welfare services. Since the 1980s, these organizations have supported progressive changes at both the national and subnational levels. Nevertheless, the influence of religion on education policy has shifted in the last few decades. Pentecostal and Neopentecostal groups have gained prominence through representatives in the National Congress, and, in 2018, formed a coalition enabling the election of a right-wing populist President. We analyse the trajectory of religious groups’ influence on Brazil’s education policy over time (colonization to the 1980s, the 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s, and the 2000s until now) through a qualitative-historical analysis of primary and secondary data. This article argues that both Catholic and Protestant groups have influenced progressive changes in Brazil’s education policy, but they also share conservative ideas impeding further advances.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Abdallah ◽  
Mohammed Abdel Rahem ◽  
Antonella Pasqualone

AbstractFood products suitable for Muslim consumers should be halal certified, particularly when their origins or production processes are doubtful. However, there is a multiplicity of halal standards. This situation may generate confusion, particularly for producers in Western countries who would like to certify their products in order to export them to Islamic countries. This study analyzed the reasons underlying the multiplicity of standards and reviewed the attempts of harmonization over time. Then, the case study of application to slaughterhouses was considered, by comparing four different halal standards (namely GSO 993:2015, OIC/SMIIC 1:2019, HAS 23103:2012, and MS 1500:2019) representative of different geographic areas. Animal stunning was critically examined, comparing tradition with modernity. The study evidenced that the basic requirements related to slaughtering are common to all the halal standards considered, but several differences occur in more specific details. Only a close collaboration between the authorities of all the countries involved in issuing halal certifications will lead to a homogeneous regulatory framework with unified certification and accreditation procedures, increasingly required in a globalized market.


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