WorldWideScience

Sample records for designing tool increases

  1. Design for Motivation: Evaluation of a Design Tool

    OpenAIRE

    Chasanidou, Dimitra

    2018-01-01

    Design for motivation constitutes a design practice that focuses on the activation of human motives to perform an action. There is an increasing need to design motivational and engaging mechanisms for voluntary systems, such as innovation platforms, where user participation is a key target. When designing for motivation, a challenge of the early design phases is the selection of appropriate design tool and strategy. The current work presents a design tool, namely DEMO (DEsign for MOtivation),...

  2. Useful design tools?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jesper Ole

    2005-01-01

    vague and contested concept of sustainability into concrete concepts and building projects. It describes a typology of tools: process tools, impact assessment tools, multi-criteria tools and tools for monitoring. It includes a Danish paradigmatic case study of stakeholder participation in the planning...... of a new sustainable settlement. The use of design tools is discussed in relation to innovation and stakeholder participation, and it is stressed that the usefulness of design tools is context dependent....

  3. Design for Motivation: Evaluation of a Design Tool

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitra Chasanidou

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Design for motivation constitutes a design practice that focuses on the activation of human motives to perform an action. There is an increasing need to design motivational and engaging mechanisms for voluntary systems, such as innovation platforms, where user participation is a key target. When designing for motivation, a challenge of the early design phases is the selection of appropriate design tool and strategy. The current work presents a design tool, namely DEMO (DEsign for MOtivation, and evaluates its design process. The tool provides multidisciplinary teams with a user-centred, structured method to ideate and ultimately develop a consistent design plan to engage the users of innovation platforms. The evaluation study analysed the tool’s contribution to the design of motivational innovation platforms, utilising three data collection methods: a protocol analysis, interviews and questionnaires. The results discuss the experiences of 32 users with the development of motivation concepts, the group and the user activities, as well as their creativity aspects. Structured processes and the use of artefacts were found to be productive practices in the early design phases. The results also highlight the importance of multidisciplinary and user-centred teams that can enhance collaboration and communication during the design processes.

  4. Expressive Design Tools: Procedural Content Generation for Game Designers

    OpenAIRE

    Smith, Gillian Margaret

    2012-01-01

    Games are shaped by the tools we use to make them and our ability to model the concepts they address. Vast improvements in computer graphics technology, processing power, storage capacity, and physics simulations have driven game design for the past forty years, leading to beautiful, spacious, detailed, and highly immersive worlds supporting games that are, for the most part, fundamentally about movement, collision, and other physics-based concepts. Designers use increasingly complex tools th...

  5. Design mentoring tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    In 2004 a design engineer on-line mentoring tool was developed and implemented The purpose of the tool was to assist senior engineers : mentoring new engineers to the INDOT design process and improve their technical competency. This approach saves se...

  6. Assembly tool design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanamori, Naokazu; Nakahira, Masataka; Ohkawa, Yoshinao; Tada, Eisuke; Seki, Masahiro

    1996-06-01

    The reactor core of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is assembled with a number of large and asymmetric components within a tight tolerance in order to assure the structural integrity for various loads and to provide the tritium confinement. In addition, the assembly procedure should be compatible with remote operation since the core structures will be activated by 14-MeV neutrons once it starts operation and thus personal access will be prohibited. Accordingly, the assembly procedure and tool design are quite essential and should be designed from the beginning to facilitate remote operation. According to the ITER Design Task Agreement, the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) has performed design study to develop the assembly procedures and associated tool design for the ITER tokamak assembly. This report describes outlines of the assembly tools and the remaining issues obtained in this design study. (author)

  7. Hybrid design tools for conceptual design and design engineering processes: bridging the design gap: towards an intuitive design tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wendrich, Robert E.

    2016-01-01

    Hybrid Design Tools; Representation; Computational Synthesis. Non-linear, non-explicit, non-standard thinking and ambiguity in design tools has a great impact on enhancement of creativity during ideation and conceptualization. Tacit-tangible representation based on a mere idiosyncratic and

  8. Computational Design Tools for Integrated Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holst, Malene Kirstine; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2010-01-01

    In an architectural conceptual sketching process, where an architect is working with the initial ideas for a design, the process is characterized by three phases: sketching, evaluation and modification. Basically the architect needs to address three areas in the conceptual sketching phase......: aesthetical, functional and technical requirements. The aim of the present paper is to address the problem of a vague or not existing link between digital conceptual design tools used by architects and designers and engineering analysis and simulation tools. Based on an analysis of the architectural design...... process different digital design methods are related to tasks in an integrated design process....

  9. OOTW Force Design Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bell, R.E.; Hartley, D.S.III; Packard, S.L.

    1999-05-01

    This report documents refined requirements for tools to aid the process of force design in Operations Other Than War (OOTWs). It recommends actions for the creation of one tool and work on other tools relating to mission planning. It also identifies the governmental agencies and commands with interests in each tool, from whom should come the user advisory groups overseeing the respective tool development activities. The understanding of OOTWs and their analytical support requirements has matured to the point where action can be taken in three areas: force design, collaborative analysis, and impact analysis. While the nature of the action and the length of time before complete results can be expected depends on the area, in each case the action should begin immediately. Force design for OOTWs is not a technically difficult process. Like force design for combat operations, it is a process of matching the capabilities of forces against the specified and implied tasks of the operation, considering the constraints of logistics, transport and force availabilities. However, there is a critical difference that restricts the usefulness of combat force design tools for OOTWs: the combat tools are built to infer non-combat capability requirements from combat capability requirements and cannot reverse the direction of the inference, as is required for OOTWs. Recently, OOTWs have played a larger role in force assessment, system effectiveness and tradeoff analysis, and concept and doctrine development and analysis. In the first Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), each of the Services created its own OOTW force design tool. Unfortunately, the tools address different parts of the problem and do not coordinate the use of competing capabilities. These tools satisfied the immediate requirements of the QDR, but do not provide a long-term cost-effective solution.

  10. Visualization tool for human-machine interface designers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prevost, Michael P.; Banda, Carolyn P.

    1991-06-01

    As modern human-machine systems continue to grow in capabilities and complexity, system operators are faced with integrating and managing increased quantities of information. Since many information components are highly related to each other, optimizing the spatial and temporal aspects of presenting information to the operator has become a formidable task for the human-machine interface (HMI) designer. The authors describe a tool in an early stage of development, the Information Source Layout Editor (ISLE). This tool is to be used for information presentation design and analysis; it uses human factors guidelines to assist the HMI designer in the spatial layout of the information required by machine operators to perform their tasks effectively. These human factors guidelines address such areas as the functional and physical relatedness of information sources. By representing these relationships with metaphors such as spring tension, attractors, and repellers, the tool can help designers visualize the complex constraint space and interacting effects of moving displays to various alternate locations. The tool contains techniques for visualizing the relative 'goodness' of a configuration, as well as mechanisms such as optimization vectors to provide guidance toward a more optimal design. Also available is a rule-based design checker to determine compliance with selected human factors guidelines.

  11. Design tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anton TenWolde; Mark T. Bomberg

    2009-01-01

    Overall, despite the lack of exact input data, the use of design tools, including models, is much superior to the simple following of rules of thumbs, and a moisture analysis should be standard procedure for any building envelope design. Exceptions can only be made for buildings in the same climate, similar occupancy, and similar envelope construction. This chapter...

  12. SASD-tools for program design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gather, K.S.

    1989-01-01

    An overview of Structured Analysis Structured Design (SASD) methodology is given. Some emphasis is put on the time needed to start in a HEP environment with software design methodologies, and on the motivation for SASD. The need for tools is indicated, and examples of their usefulness in analysis and design steps are discussed. Limitations of certain design methods are indicated and additional tools are briefly discussed. Criteria for the selection of tools to be used in large systems design are discussed, and some attention is given to implications for management structures. (orig.)

  13. New tools for evaluating LQAS survey designs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hund, Lauren

    2014-02-15

    Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) surveys have become increasingly popular in global health care applications. Incorporating Bayesian ideas into LQAS survey design, such as using reasonable prior beliefs about the distribution of an indicator, can improve the selection of design parameters and decision rules. In this paper, a joint frequentist and Bayesian framework is proposed for evaluating LQAS classification accuracy and informing survey design parameters. Simple software tools are provided for calculating the positive and negative predictive value of a design with respect to an underlying coverage distribution and the selected design parameters. These tools are illustrated using a data example from two consecutive LQAS surveys measuring Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) preparation. Using the survey tools, the dependence of classification accuracy on benchmark selection and the width of the 'grey region' are clarified in the context of ORS preparation across seven supervision areas. Following the completion of an LQAS survey, estimation of the distribution of coverage across areas facilitates quantifying classification accuracy and can help guide intervention decisions.

  14. New Conceptual Design Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pugnale, Alberto; Holst, Malene Kirstine; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2010-01-01

    hand, the main software houses are trying to introduce powerful and effective user-friendly applications in the world of building designers, that are more and more able to fit their specific requirements; on the other hand, some groups of expert users with a basic programming knowledge seem to deal......This paper aims to discuss recent approaches in using more and more frequently computer tools as supports for the conceptual design phase of the architectural project. The present state-of-the-art about software as conceptual design tool could be summarized in two parallel tendencies. On the one...... with the problem of software as conceptual design tool by means of 'scripting', in other words by self-developing codes able to solve specific and well defined design problems. Starting with a brief historical recall and the discussion of relevant researches and practical experiences, this paper investigates...

  15. A Framework for IT-based Design Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartvig, Susanne C

    The thesis presents a new apprach to develop design tools that can be integrated, bypresenting a framework consisting of a set of guidelines for design tools, an integration andcommunication scheme, and a set of design tool schemes.This framework has been based onanalysis of requirements to integ...... to integrated design enviornments, and analysis of engineeringdesign and design problem solving methods. And the developed framework has been testedby applying it to development of prototype design tools for realistic design scenarios.......The thesis presents a new apprach to develop design tools that can be integrated, bypresenting a framework consisting of a set of guidelines for design tools, an integration andcommunication scheme, and a set of design tool schemes.This framework has been based onanalysis of requirements...

  16. Analysis of design tool attributes with regards to sustainability benefits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zain, S.; Ismail, A. F.; Ahmad, Z.; Adesta, E. Y. T.

    2018-01-01

    The trend of global manufacturing competitiveness has shown a significant shift from profit and customer driven business to a more harmonious sustainability paradigm. This new direction, which emphasises the interests of three pillars of sustainability, i.e., social, economic and environment dimensions, has changed the ways products are designed. As a result, the roles of design tools in the product development stage of manufacturing in adapting to the new strategy are vital and increasingly challenging. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the attributes of design tools with regards to the sustainability perspective. Four well-established design tools are selected, namely Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Failure Mode and Element Analysis (FMEA), Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Design for Environment (DfE). By analysing previous studies, the main attributes of each design tool and its benefits with respect to each sustainability dimension throughout four stages of product lifecycle are discussed. From this study, it is learnt that each of the design tools contributes to the three pillars of sustainability either directly or indirectly, but they are unbalanced and not holistic. Therefore, the prospective of improving and optimising the design tools is projected, and the possibility of collaboration between the different tools is discussed.

  17. CAD/CAM: improved design quality, increased productivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, D. E.; England, J.

    1980-01-01

    Maintaining productivity levels while assuring the quality of engineering products grows increasingly more difficult and costly for industries such as the energy industry which are heavily committed to product design. The man/machine interface made possible through the development of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology can be applied to the design process as a tool for increased control to assure the quality of the final engineering product. The quality-control aspects of CAD/CAM technology are addressed in this presentation.

  18. Learning Design Tools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Griffiths, David; Blat, Josep; Garcia, Rocío; Vogten, Hubert; Kwong, KL

    2005-01-01

    Griffiths, D., Blat, J., Garcia, R., Vogten, H. & Kwong, KL. (2005). Learning Design Tools. In: Koper, R. & Tattersall, C., Learning Design: A Handbook on Modelling and Delivering Networked Education and Training (pp. 109-136). Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.

  19. New tools for evaluating LQAS survey designs

    OpenAIRE

    Hund, Lauren

    2014-01-01

    Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) surveys have become increasingly popular in global health care applications. Incorporating Bayesian ideas into LQAS survey design, such as using reasonable prior beliefs about the distribution of an indicator, can improve the selection of design parameters and decision rules. In this paper, a joint frequentist and Bayesian framework is proposed for evaluating LQAS classification accuracy and informing survey design parameters. Simple software tools are pr...

  20. EPR design tools. Integrated data processing tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kern, R.

    1997-01-01

    In all technical areas, planning and design have been supported by electronic data processing for many years. New data processing tools had to be developed for the European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR). The work to be performed was split between KWU and Framatome and laid down in the Basic Design contract. The entire plant was reduced to a logical data structure; the circuit diagrams and flowsheets of the systems were drafted, the central data pool was established, the outlines of building structures were defined, the layout of plant components was planned, and the electrical systems were documented. Also building construction engineering was supported by data processing. The tasks laid down in the Basic Design were completed as so-called milestones. Additional data processing tools also based on the central data pool are required for the phases following after the Basic Design phase, i.e Basic Design Optimization; Detailed Design; Management; Construction, and Commissioning. (orig.) [de

  1. Developing a Parametric Urban Design Tool

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steinø, Nicolai; Obeling, Esben

    2014-01-01

    Parametric urban design is a potentially powerful tool for collaborative urban design processes. Rather than making one- off designs which need to be redesigned from the ground up in case of changes, parametric design tools make it possible keep the design open while at the same time allowing...... for a level of detailing which is high enough to facilitate an understan- ding of the generic qualities of proposed designs. Starting from a brief overview of parametric design, this paper presents initial findings from the development of a parametric urban design tool with regard to developing a structural...... logic which is flexible and expandable. It then moves on to outline and discuss further development work. Finally, it offers a brief reflection on the potentials and shortcomings of the software – CityEngine – which is used for developing the parametric urban design tool....

  2. Design mentoring tool : [technical summary].

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    In 2004 a design engineer on-line mentoring tool was developed and implemented The purpose of the tool was to assist senior engineers mentoring new engineers to the INDOT design process and improve their technical competency. This approach saves seni...

  3. Design of tool monitor simulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yao Yonggang; Deng Changming; Zhang Jia; Meng Dan; Zhang Lu; Wang Zhi'ai; Shen Yang

    2011-01-01

    It is based on tool monitor in Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant for the object of study, and manufacture a tool monitor simulator. The device is designed to automatically emulate-monitor the contamination level of objects for training students. Once if the tool monitor reports the contamination, the students can handle properly. The brief introduction of main function and system design of the simulator are presented in the paper. (authors)

  4. Design of the ITER Tokamak Assembly Tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Hyunki; Her, Namil; Kim, Byungchul; Im, Kihak; Jung, Kijung; Lee, Jaehyuk; Im, Kisuk

    2006-01-01

    ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Procurement allocation among the seven Parties, EU, JA, CN, IN , KO, RF and US had been decided in Dec. 2005. ITER Tokamak assembly tools is one of the nine components allocated to Korea for the construction of the ITER. Assembly tools except measurement and common tools are supplied to assemble the ITER Tokamak and classified into 9 groups according to components to be assembled. Among the 9 groups of assembly tools, large-sized Sector Sub-assembly Tools and Sector Assembly Tools are used at the first stage of ITER Tokamak construction and need to be designed faster than seven other assembly tools. ITER IT (International Team) proposed Korea to accomplish ITA (ITER Transitional Arrangements) Task on detailed design, manufacturing feasibility and contract specification of specific, large sized tools such as Upending Tool, Lifting Tool, Sector Sub-assembly Tool and Sector Assembly Tool in Oct. 2004. Based on the concept design by ITER IT, Korea carried out ITA Task on detailed design of large-sized and specific Sector Sub-assembly and Sector Assembly Tools until Mar. 2006. The Sector Sub-assembly Tools mainly consist of the Upending, Lifting, Vacuum Vessel Support and Bracing, and Sector Sub-assembly Tool, among which the design of three tools are herein. The Sector Assembly Tools mainly consist of the Toroidal Field (TF) Gravity Support Assembly, Sector In-pit Assembly, TF Coil Assembly, Vacuum Vessel (VV) Welding and Vacuum Vessel Thermal Shield (TS) Assembly Tool, among which the design of Sector In-pit Assembly Tool is described herein

  5. Possibilities for using software tools in the process of secuirty design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ladislav Mariš

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The authors deal with the use of software support the process of security design. The article proposes the theoretical basis of the implementation of software tools to design activities. Based on the selected design standards of electrical safety systems application design solutions, especially in drawing documentation. The article should serve the needs of the project team members in order to use selected software tools and a subsequent increase in the degree of automation of design activities.

  6. Production engineering jig and tool design

    CERN Document Server

    Jones, E J H

    1972-01-01

    Production Engineering: Jig and Tool Design focuses on jig and tool design as part of production engineering and covers topics ranging from inspection and gauging to multiple and consecutive tooling, tool calculation and development of form tools, deep-hole boring, and grinding-wheel form-crushing. Air and oil operated fixtures, negative rake machining, and the economics of jig and fixture practice are also discussed. This text is comprised of 22 chapters; the first of which provides an overview of the function and organization of the jig and tool department. Attention then turns to the subjec

  7. Design of parametric software tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sabra, Jakob Borrits; Mullins, Michael

    2011-01-01

    The studies investigate the field of evidence-based design used in architectural design practice and propose a method using 2D/3D CAD applications to: 1) enhance integration of evidence-based design knowledge in architectural design phases with a focus on lighting and interior design and 2) assess...... fulfilment of evidence-based design criterion regarding light distribution and location in relation to patient safety in architectural health care design proposals. The study uses 2D/3D CAD modelling software Rhinoceros 3D with plug-in Grasshopper to create parametric tool prototypes to exemplify...... the operations and functions of the design method. To evaluate the prototype potentials, surveys with architectural and healthcare design companies are conducted. Evaluation is done by the administration of questionnaires being part of the development of the tools. The results show that architects, designers...

  8. Tool and Fixture Design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Graham, Mark W. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2015-07-28

    In a manufacturing process, a need is identified and a product is created to fill this need. While design and engineering of the final product is important, the tools and fixtures that aid in the creation of the final product are just as important, if not more so. Power supplies assembled at the TA-55 PF-5 have been designed by an excellent engineering team. The task in PF-5 now is to ensure that all steps of the assembly and manufacturing process can be completed safely, reliably, and in a quality repeatable manner. One of these process steps involves soldering fine wires to an electrical connector. During the process development phase, the method of soldering included placing the power supply in a vice in order to manipulate it into a position conducive to soldering. This method is unacceptable from a reliability, repeatability, and ergonomic standpoint. To combat these issues, a fixture was designed to replace the current method. To do so, a twelve step engineering design process was used to create the fixture that would provide a solution to a multitude of problems, and increase the safety and efficiency of production.

  9. ASTROS: A multidisciplinary automated structural design tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neill, D. J.

    1989-01-01

    ASTROS (Automated Structural Optimization System) is a finite-element-based multidisciplinary structural optimization procedure developed under Air Force sponsorship to perform automated preliminary structural design. The design task is the determination of the structural sizes that provide an optimal structure while satisfying numerous constraints from many disciplines. In addition to its automated design features, ASTROS provides a general transient and frequency response capability, as well as a special feature to perform a transient analysis of a vehicle subjected to a nuclear blast. The motivation for the development of a single multidisciplinary design tool is that such a tool can provide improved structural designs in less time than is currently needed. The role of such a tool is even more apparent as modern materials come into widespread use. Balancing conflicting requirements for the structure's strength and stiffness while exploiting the benefits of material anisotropy is perhaps an impossible task without assistance from an automated design tool. Finally, the use of a single tool can bring the design task into better focus among design team members, thereby improving their insight into the overall task.

  10. Tools for Stakeholder Involvement in Facility Management Service Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nardelli, Giulia; Scupola, Ada

    that are more in line with the stakeholder needs and expectations, and may thus result in increased customer satisfaction, better services and, at the very end, an increased competitive advantage for the organization. Background: The background of this study lies in user involvement in service design...... in the design process as well as FM service provision processes. Research limitations: The major limitation of the study consists of the relatively small amount of interviews conducted, which is the basis for finding the tools in FM service design processes....

  11. Interdisciplinary Approach to Tool-Handle Design Based on Medical Imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Harih

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Products are becoming increasingly complex; therefore, designers are faced with a challenging task to incorporate new functionality, higher performance, and optimal shape design. Traditional user-centered design techniques such as designing with anthropometric data do not incorporate enough subject data to design products with optimal shape for best fit to the target population. To overcome these limitations, we present an interdisciplinary approach with medical imaging. The use of this approach is being presented on the development of an optimal sized and shaped tool handle where the hand is imaged using magnetic resonance imaging machine. The obtained images of the hand are reconstructed and imported into computer-aided design software, where optimal shape of the handle is obtained with Boolean operations. Methods can be used to develop fully customized products with optimal shape to provide best fit to the target population. This increases subjective comfort rating, performance and can prevent acute and cumulative trauma disorders. Provided methods are especially suited for products where high stresses and exceptional performance is expected (high performance tools, professional sports, and military equipment, etc.. With the use of these interdisciplinary methods, the value of the product is increased, which also increases the competitiveness of the product on the market.

  12. Decision support tools in conservation: a workshop to improve user-centred design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Rose

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available A workshop held at the University of Cambridge in May 2017 brought developers, researchers, knowledge brokers, and users together to discuss user-centred design of decision support tools. Decision support tools are designed to take users through logical decision steps towards an evidence-informed final decision. Although they may exist in different forms, including on paper, decision support tools are generally considered to be computer- (online, software or app-based. Studies have illustrated the potential value of decision support tools for conservation, and there are several papers describing the design of individual tools. Rather less attention, however, has been placed on the desirable characteristics for use, and even less on whether tools are actually being used in practice. This is concerning because if tools are not used by their intended end user, for example a policy-maker or practitioner, then its design will have wasted resources. Based on an analysis of papers on tool use in conservation, there is a lack of social science research on improving design, and relatively few examples where users have been incorporated into the design process. Evidence from other disciplines, particularly human-computer interaction research, illustrates that involving users throughout the design of decision support tools increases the relevance, usability, and impact of systems. User-centred design of tools is, however, seldom mentioned in the conservation literature. The workshop started the necessary process of bringing together developers and users to share knowledge about how to conduct good user-centred design of decision support tools. This will help to ensure that tools are usable and make an impact in conservation policy and practice.

  13. Daylight prediction techniques in energy design tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Milne, M.; Zurick, J. [California Univ., Los Angeles, Dept. of Architecture, CA (United States)

    1998-09-01

    Four different whole-building energy design tool systems that calculate energy savings from daylighting and that display annual performance on an-hour-by-hour basis, have been tested. The nature of design tools, the sources of hourly outdoor illuminance data, the ways of predicting indoor illumination, the assumptions of each tool, and the resulting energy savings of the design tools tested are discussed. The tests were carried out with the essential criteria for evaluating whole-building daylighting and energy design tools in mind. These have been identified as user confidence, accuracy, response time, and the amount of detail. Results of the tests, all four of them run on a single elementary school classroom for the sake of comparability, were provided. 9 refs., 2 figs.

  14. Analytical Tools for Space Suit Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aitchison, Lindsay

    2011-01-01

    As indicated by the implementation of multiple small project teams within the agency, NASA is adopting a lean approach to hardware development that emphasizes quick product realization and rapid response to shifting program and agency goals. Over the past two decades, space suit design has been evolutionary in approach with emphasis on building prototypes then testing with the largest practical range of subjects possible. The results of these efforts show continuous improvement but make scaled design and performance predictions almost impossible with limited budgets and little time. Thus, in an effort to start changing the way NASA approaches space suit design and analysis, the Advanced Space Suit group has initiated the development of an integrated design and analysis tool. It is a multi-year-if not decadal-development effort that, when fully implemented, is envisioned to generate analysis of any given space suit architecture or, conversely, predictions of ideal space suit architectures given specific mission parameters. The master tool will exchange information to and from a set of five sub-tool groups in order to generate the desired output. The basic functions of each sub-tool group, the initial relationships between the sub-tools, and a comparison to state of the art software and tools are discussed.

  15. Systems scenarios: a tool for facilitating the socio-technical design of work systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Helen P N; Clegg, Chris W; Bolton, Lucy E; Machon, Lauren C

    2017-10-01

    The socio-technical systems approach to design is well documented. Recognising the benefits of this approach, organisations are increasingly trying to work with systems, rather than their component parts. However, few tools attempt to analyse the complexity inherent in such systems, in ways that generate useful, practical outputs. In this paper, we outline the 'System Scenarios Tool' (SST), which is a novel, applied methodology that can be used by designers, end-users, consultants or researchers to help design or re-design work systems. The paper introduces the SST using examples of its application, and describes the potential benefits of its use, before reflecting on its limitations. Finally, we discuss potential opportunities for the tool, and describe sets of circumstances in which it might be used. Practitioner Summary: The paper presents a novel, applied methodological tool, named the 'Systems Scenarios Tool'. We believe this tool can be used as a point of reference by designers, end-users, consultants or researchers, to help design or re-design work systems. Included in the paper are two worked examples, demonstrating the tool's application.

  16. Advanced Vibration Analysis Tool Developed for Robust Engine Rotor Designs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Min, James B.

    2005-01-01

    The primary objective of this research program is to develop vibration analysis tools, design tools, and design strategies to significantly improve the safety and robustness of turbine engine rotors. Bladed disks in turbine engines always feature small, random blade-to-blade differences, or mistuning. Mistuning can lead to a dramatic increase in blade forced-response amplitudes and stresses. Ultimately, this results in high-cycle fatigue, which is a major safety and cost concern. In this research program, the necessary steps will be taken to transform a state-of-the-art vibration analysis tool, the Turbo- Reduce forced-response prediction code, into an effective design tool by enhancing and extending the underlying modeling and analysis methods. Furthermore, novel techniques will be developed to assess the safety of a given design. In particular, a procedure will be established for using natural-frequency curve veerings to identify ranges of operating conditions (rotational speeds and engine orders) in which there is a great risk that the rotor blades will suffer high stresses. This work also will aid statistical studies of the forced response by reducing the necessary number of simulations. Finally, new strategies for improving the design of rotors will be pursued.

  17. QFD: a methodological tool for integration of ergonomics at the design stage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsot, Jacques

    2005-03-01

    As a marked increase in the number of musculoskeletal disorders was noted in many industrialized countries and more specifically in companies that require the use of hand tools, the French National Research and Safety Institute launched in 1999 a research program on the topic of integrating ergonomics into hand tool design. After a brief review of the problems of integrating ergonomics at the design stage, the paper shows how the "Quality Function Deployment" method has been applied to the design of a boning knife and it highlights the difficulties encountered. Then, it demonstrates how this method can be a methodological tool geared to greater ergonomics consideration in product design.

  18. Design principles of metal-cutting machine tools

    CERN Document Server

    Koenigsberger, F

    1964-01-01

    Design Principles of Metal-Cutting Machine Tools discusses the fundamentals aspects of machine tool design. The book covers the design consideration of metal-cutting machine, such as static and dynamic stiffness, operational speeds, gearboxes, manual, and automatic control. The text first details the data calculation and the general requirements of the machine tool. Next, the book discusses the design principles, which include stiffness and rigidity of the separate constructional elements and their combined behavior under load, as well as electrical, mechanical, and hydraulic drives for the op

  19. Intuitive Tools for the Design and Analysis of Communication Payloads for Satellites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Culver, Michael R.; Soong, Christine; Warner, Joseph D.

    2014-01-01

    In an effort to make future communications satellite payload design more efficient and accessible, two tools were created with intuitive graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The first tool allows payload designers to graphically design their payload by using simple drag and drop of payload components onto a design area within the program. Information about each picked component is pulled from a database of common space-qualified communication components sold by commerical companies. Once a design is completed, various reports can be generated, such as the Master Equipment List. The second tool is a link budget calculator designed specifically for ease of use. Other features of this tool include being able to access a database of NASA ground based apertures for near Earth and Deep Space communication, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) base apertures, and information about the solar system relevant to link budget calculations. The link budget tool allows for over 50 different combinations of user inputs, eliminating the need for multiple spreadsheets and the user errors associated with using them. Both of the aforementioned tools increase the productivity of space communication systems designers, and have the colloquial latitude to allow non-communication experts to design preliminary communication payloads.

  20. Report on design rules of μ-tools for hybrid tooling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Esmoris, Jose Ignacio; Azcarate, S.; Tosello, Guido

    2011-01-01

    -effectively, especially for micro injection moulding. This particular deliverable has the objective to present the design rules for high performance μ-tools and inserts manufacture based on the new standard manufacturing process chains established during the WP 2.2 work. In particular, the achievable features, surfaces......Tooling is one of the critical stages of the process chain for polymer micro products manufacture and in particular for the COTECH process chain. Therefore, within the scope of SP2 “Tooling”, the WP 2.2 “New tool-making solutions for μ-IM and HE” is designed to investigate, develop and standardize...

  1. Design of the ITER tokamak assembly tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Hyunki [National Fusion Research Institute, 52 Eoeun-Dong, Yuseong-Gu, Daejon 305-333 (Korea, Republic of)], E-mail: hkpark@nfri.re.kr; Lee, Jaehyuk; Kim, Taehyung [SFA Engineering Corp., 42-7 Palyong-dong, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do 641-847 (Korea, Republic of); Song, Yunju [National Fusion Research Institute, 52 Eoeun-Dong, Yuseong-Gu, Daejon 305-333 (Korea, Republic of); Im, Kihak [ITER Organization, CEA Cadarasche, 13108 Saint Paul-lez-Durance (France); Kim, Byungchul; Lee, Hyeongon; Jung, Ki-Jung [National Fusion Research Institute, 52 Eoeun-Dong, Yuseong-Gu, Daejon 305-333 (Korea, Republic of)

    2008-12-15

    ITER tokamak assembly is mainly composed of lower cryostat activities, sector sub-assembly, sector assembly, in-vessel activities and ex-vessel activities. The main tools for sector sub-assembly procedures consists of upending tool, sector lifting tool, vacuum vessel support and bracing tool and sector sub-assembly tool. Conceptual design of assembly tools for sector sub-assembly procedures is described herein. The basic structure for upending tool has been developed under the assumption that upending is performed with crane which will be installed in Tokamak building. Sector lifting tool is designed to adjust the position of a sector to minimize the difference between the center of the tokamak building crane and the center of gravity of the sector. Sector sub-assembly tool is composed of special frame for the fine adjustment of position control with 6 degrees of freedom. The design of VV support and bracing tool for four kinds of VV 40 deg. sectors has been developed. Also, structural analysis for upending tool, sector sub-assembly tool has been studied using ANSYS for the situation of an applied load with the same dead weight multiplied by 3/4. The results of structural analyses for these tools were below the allowable values.

  2. Potential and limitations of environmental design with LCA tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Hollberg

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The built environment has a very high impact on the environment. Architects can largely define the environmental impact a building will cause throughout its lifetime through its design. Especially the choice of material and the type of construction can be influenced in early design stages. To quantify the environmental impact, tools for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA are used. This paper discusses the results of four case studies of applying four different novel LCA tools in four different academic courses at different universities. The results show that the success of applying LCA tools highly depends on the point of time during the design process and the design strategy the student pursues. If the right tool is used at the right moment and matches the design strategy, it can help to improve the architectural quality and reduce environmental impacts. In most cases however, the time of application did not fit, resulting in additional effort for applying the LCA tool. In consequence, the architectural elaboration of the design and the improvement of environmental performance compete against each other. Either the architectural quality suffers or the tool is employed late and the environmental performance cannot be improved. Even if the point in time of the tool application is right, the success depends highly on the design strategy. The number of tools is growing and there is an adequate tool available for each design stage. The design strategy has to match the tool and this requires a willingness to adapt the design approach. The issue of environmental design shifted from a lack of adequate tools to the lack of adequate design approaches. Tools can be easily taught in seminars. Environmental design strategies, however, have to be included in design studios and developed throughout the entire design phase to become part of architectural education.

  3. Design tools and materials in creative work

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Nicolai Brodersen; Dalsgaard, Peter; Halskov, Kim

    2017-01-01

    -oriented perspectives, we wish to examine the potentials and limitations in current uses of design tools and materials, and discuss and explore when and how we can introduce ones. Participation in the workshop requires participants to document and analyse central themes in a case, and the resulting material will serve......This workshop aims to examine and discuss the role and nature of design tools and materials in creative work, and to explore how novel tools can meaningfully combine existing and novel tools to support and augment creative work. By exploring and combining methodological, theoretical, and design...

  4. Software Tools for Battery Design | Transportation Research | NREL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Software Tools for Battery Design Software Tools for Battery Design Under the Computer-Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries (CAEBAT) project, NREL has developed software tools to help using CAEBAT software tools. Knowledge of the interplay of multi-physics at varied scales is imperative

  5. Short Paper: Design Tools, Hybridization Exploring Intuitive Interaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wendrich, Robert E.; Kuhlen, Torsten; Coquillart, Sabine; Interrante, Victoria

    2010-01-01

    Design and Design Engineering is about making abstract representations often based on fuzzy notions, ideas or prerequisite requirements with the use of various design tools. This paper introduces an interactive hybrid design tool to assist and support singular design activity or multiple

  6. Cast Off expansion plan by rapid improvement through Optimization tool design, Tool Parameters and using Six Sigma’s ECRS Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gopalakrishnan, T.; Saravanan, R.

    2017-03-01

    Powerful management concepts step-up the quality of the product, time saving in producing the product thereby increase the production rate, improves tools and techniques, work culture, work place and employee motivation and morale. In this paper discussed about the case study of optimizing the tool design, tool parameters to cast off expansion plan according ECRS technique. The proposed designs and optimal tool parameters yielded best results and meet the customer demand without expansion plan. Hence the work yielded huge savings of money (direct and indirect cost), time and improved the motivation and more of employees significantly.

  7. Tooling device design for vibration-assisted high speed shaping of PMMA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mostofa, Md. Golam; Noh, J. H.; Kim, H. Y.; Ahn, J. H.; Kang, D. B.

    2010-01-01

    PMMA optical components that are used as one of the most important parts of high precision equipment and machines are increasingly replacing the glass due to the various advantages of PMMA. Especially in Light Guide Panels, the PMMA sheet that is used in Liquid Crystal Displays plays an important role in scattering the incident light and requires very fine machining as the sheet is directly related to the optical characteristics of the panels. The High Speed End milling and High Speed Shaping processes that are widely adopted and applied to the precise machining of Light Incident Plane still have quality problems, such as cracks, breakages, poor waviness, and straightness. This paper presents the tooling device design for machining a Light Incident Plane through vibration-assisted High Speed Shaping for increasing the optical quality by minimizing the above-mentioned problems. The cutting tool and the tool post presented in this paper are designed by the authors to increase the magnitude of the cutting stroke by adopting the resonant frequency without weakening the stiffness and to reduce vibrations during even high speed feeding. The dynamic characteristics of the cutting tool and the tool post are evaluated through simulation and experiment as well. The results reveal very appropriate dynamic characteristics for vibration-assisted High Speed Shaping

  8. A Maturity Grid Assessment Tool for Environmentally Conscious Design in the Medical Device Industry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moultrie, James; Sutcliffe, Laura Francesca Rose; Maier, Anja

    2016-01-01

    . This intervention tool provides designers and product marketers with insights on how to improve the design of their medical devices and specifically allows consideration of the complex trade-offs between decisions that influence different life-cycle stages. Through the tool, actionable insight is created......The medical device industry is growing increasingly concerned about environmental impact of products. Whilst there are many tools aiming to support environmentally conscious design, they are typically complex to use, demand substantial data collection and are not tailored to the specific needs...... of the medical device sector. This paper reports on the development of a Maturity Grid to address this gap. This novel design tool was developed iteratively through application in five case studies. The tool captures principles of eco-design for medical devices in a simple form, designed to be used by a team...

  9. Integrated Radiation Analysis and Design Tools

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Integrated Radiation Analysis and Design Tools (IRADT) Project develops and maintains an integrated tool set that collects the current best practices, databases,...

  10. Analysis of functionality free CASE-tools databases design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Gavrilov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The introduction in the educational process of database design CASEtechnologies requires the institution of significant costs for the purchase of software. A possible solution could be the use of free software peers. At the same time this kind of substitution should be based on even-com representation of the functional characteristics and features of operation of these programs. The purpose of the article – a review of the free and non-profi t CASE-tools database design, as well as their classifi cation on the basis of the analysis functionality. When writing this article were used materials from the offi cial websites of the tool developers. Evaluation of the functional characteristics of CASEtools for database design made exclusively empirically with the direct work with software products. Analysis functionality of tools allow you to distinguish the two categories CASE-tools database design. The first category includes systems with a basic set of features and tools. The most important basic functions of these systems are: management connections to database servers, visual tools to create and modify database objects (tables, views, triggers, procedures, the ability to enter and edit data in table mode, user and privilege management tools, editor SQL-code, means export/import data. CASE-system related to the first category can be used to design and develop simple databases, data management, as well as a means of administration server database. A distinctive feature of the second category of CASE-tools for database design (full-featured systems is the presence of visual designer, allowing to carry out the construction of the database model and automatic creation of the database on the server based on this model. CASE-system related to this categories can be used for the design and development of databases of any structural complexity, as well as a database server administration tool. The article concluded that the

  11. Harnessing VLSI System Design with EDA Tools

    CERN Document Server

    Kamat, Rajanish K; Gaikwad, Pawan K; Guhilot, Hansraj

    2012-01-01

    This book explores various dimensions of EDA technologies for achieving different goals in VLSI system design. Although the scope of EDA is very broad and comprises diversified hardware and software tools to accomplish different phases of VLSI system design, such as design, layout, simulation, testability, prototyping and implementation, this book focuses only on demystifying the code, a.k.a. firmware development and its implementation with FPGAs. Since there are a variety of languages for system design, this book covers various issues related to VHDL, Verilog and System C synergized with EDA tools, using a variety of case studies such as testability, verification and power consumption. * Covers aspects of VHDL, Verilog and Handel C in one text; * Enables designers to judge the appropriateness of each EDA tool for relevant applications; * Omits discussion of design platforms and focuses on design case studies; * Uses design case studies from diversified application domains such as network on chip, hospital on...

  12. Design and development of progressive tool for manufacturing washer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annigeri, Ulhas K.; Raghavendra Ravi Kiran, K.; Deepthi, Y. P.

    2017-07-01

    In a progressive tool the raw material is worked at different station to finally fabricate the component. A progressive tool is a lucrative tool for mass production of components. A lot of automobile and other transport industries develop progressive tool for the production of components. The design of tool involves lot of planning and the same amount of skill of process planning is required in the fabrication of the tool. The design also involves use of thumb rules and standard elements as per experience gained in practice. Manufacturing the press tool is a laborious task as special jigs and fixtures have to be designed for the purpose. Assembly of all the press tool elements is another task where use of accurate measuring instruments for alignment of various tool elements is important. In the present study, design and fabrication of progressive press tool for production of washer has been developed and the press tool has been tried out on a mechanical type of press. The components produced are to dimensions.

  13. Tools and techniques for product design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lutters, Diederick; Houten, Fred J.A.M.; Bernard, Alain; Mermoz, Emmanuel; Schutte, Corné S.L.

    2014-01-01

    For product designers, tools and techniques are essential in driving the design cycle. Nevertheless, their employment usually is implicit, while passing over e.g. the design and project environments empowering their adequate use. This publication presents an overview of approaches in structuring and

  14. Managing design excellence tools during the development of new orthopaedic implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Défossez, Henri J P; Serhan, Hassan

    2013-11-01

    Design excellence (DEX) tools have been widely used for years in some industries for their potential to facilitate new product development. The medical sector, targeted by cost pressures, has therefore started adopting them. Numerous tools are available; however only appropriate deployment during the new product development stages can optimize the overall process. The primary study objectives were to describe generic tools and illustrate their implementation and management during the development of new orthopaedic implants, and compile a reference package. Secondary objectives were to present the DEX tool investment costs and savings, since the method can require significant resources for which companies must carefully plan. The publicly available DEX method "Define Measure Analyze Design Verify Validate" was adopted and implemented during the development of a new spinal implant. Several tools proved most successful at developing the correct product, addressing clinical needs, and increasing market penetration potential, while reducing design iterations and manufacturing validations. Cost analysis and Pugh Matrix coupled with multi generation planning enabled developing a strong rationale to activate the project, set the vision and goals. improved risk management and product map established a robust technical verification-validation program. Design of experiments and process quantification facilitated design for manufacturing of critical features, as early as the concept phase. Biomechanical testing with analysis of variance provided a validation model with a recognized statistical performance baseline. Within those tools, only certain ones required minimum resources (i.e., business case, multi generational plan, project value proposition, Pugh Matrix, critical To quality process validation techniques), while others required significant investments (i.e., voice of customer, product usage map, improved risk management, design of experiments, biomechanical testing

  15. KIT multi-physics tools for the analysis of design and beyond design basis accidents of light water reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanchez, Victor Hugo; Miassoedov, Alexei; Steinbrueck, M.; Tromm, W.

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes the KIT numerical simulation tools under extension and validation for the analysis of design and beyond design basis accidents (DBA) of Light Water Reactors (LWR). The description of the complex thermal hydraulic, neutron kinetics and chemo-physical phenomena going on during off-normal conditions requires the development of multi-physics and multi-scale simulations tools which are fostered by the rapid increase in computer power nowadays. The KIT numerical tools for DBA and beyond DBA are validated using experimental data of KIT or from abroad. The developments, extensions, coupling approaches and validation work performed at KIT are shortly outlined and discussed in this paper.

  16. KIT multi-physics tools for the analysis of design and beyond design basis accidents of light water reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanchez, Victor Hugo; Miassoedov, Alexei; Steinbrueck, M.; Tromm, W. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)

    2016-05-15

    This paper describes the KIT numerical simulation tools under extension and validation for the analysis of design and beyond design basis accidents (DBA) of Light Water Reactors (LWR). The description of the complex thermal hydraulic, neutron kinetics and chemo-physical phenomena going on during off-normal conditions requires the development of multi-physics and multi-scale simulations tools which are fostered by the rapid increase in computer power nowadays. The KIT numerical tools for DBA and beyond DBA are validated using experimental data of KIT or from abroad. The developments, extensions, coupling approaches and validation work performed at KIT are shortly outlined and discussed in this paper.

  17. Design Tools for Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit (RHinO)

    Science.gov (United States)

    French, Mathew; Graham, Paul; Wirthlin, Michael; Larchev, Gregory; Bellows, Peter; Schott, Brian

    2004-01-01

    The Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit (RHinO) project is focused on creating a set of design tools that facilitate and automate design techniques for reconfigurable computing in space, using SRAM-based field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) technology. These tools leverage an established FPGA design environment and focus primarily on space effects mitigation and power optimization. The project is creating software to automatically test and evaluate the single-event-upsets (SEUs) sensitivities of an FPGA design and insert mitigation techniques. Extensions into the tool suite will also allow evolvable algorithm techniques to reconfigure around single-event-latchup (SEL) events. In the power domain, tools are being created for dynamic power visualiization and optimization. Thus, this technology seeks to enable the use of Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit, via an integrated design tool-suite aiming to reduce risk, cost, and design time of multimission reconfigurable space processors using SRAM-based FPGAs.

  18. Design Tool for 5-20 MW Direct Drive Generators

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leban, Krisztina Monika; Ritchie, Ewen; Argeseanu, Alin

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports on a machine design tool for large (5-10MW) direct drive electrical generator. The aim of the work is to construct a flexible calculation tool that enables the analysis of different ideas and concepts for generator design. The tool is intended for engineers that are involved...... in the design of wind turbine systems. The design tool comprises calculation modules that are kept as independent as possible from each other so that new machine geometries and types can be modelled by reusing, recombining and modifying the different modules. Choice of the most suitable candidates...

  19. Design of jigs, fixtures and press tools

    CERN Document Server

    Venkataraman, K

    2015-01-01

    Textbook presenting the fundamentals of tool design with special focus on jigs, fixtures and die design Covers sections on sheet metal forming processes; turning, grinding, broaching, welding and modular fixtures; principles of clamping; and an Introduction to Presses and Auxiliary Equipment Author has many years' experience in both academic and industrial environments, and presents this work in an easily-accessible style End of chapter questions and answers assist the learning process for both practicing tooling designers and engineers, and manufacturing en

  20. Users’ perception of visual design and usefulness of a web-based educational tool

    OpenAIRE

    Sánchez Franco, Manuel Jesús; Villarejo Ramos, Ángel Francisco; Peral Peral, Begoña; Buitrago Esquinas, Eva María; Roldán Salgueiro, José Luis

    2012-01-01

    Our research has become increasingly aware of the relevance of visual design in understanding learners’ attitudes towards the use of virtual tools. Likewise, perceived usefulness is an essential antecedent of the cumulative impressions of and preferences for them. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the main effects of visual design and usefulness on learning and productivity in the domain of web-based educational tools. A Structural Equation Modelling, specifically Partial Lea...

  1. Gear cutting tools fundamentals of design and computation

    CERN Document Server

    Radzevich, Stephen P

    2010-01-01

    Presents the DG/K-based method of surface generation, a novel and practical mathematical method for designing gear cutting tools with optimal parameters. This book proposes a scientific classification for the various kinds of the gear machining meshes, discussing optimal designs of gear cutting tools.

  2. Design of a Cognitive Tool to Enhance Problemsolving Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Youngmin; Nelson, David

    2005-01-01

    The design of a cognitive tool to support problem-solving performance for external representation of knowledge is described. The limitations of conventional knowledge maps are analyzed in proposing the tool. The design principles and specifications are described. This tool is expected to enhance learners problem-solving performance by allowing…

  3. CATO: a CAD tool for intelligent design of optical networks and interconnects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chlamtac, Imrich; Ciesielski, Maciej; Fumagalli, Andrea F.; Ruszczyk, Chester; Wedzinga, Gosse

    1997-10-01

    Increasing communication speed requirements have created a great interest in very high speed optical and all-optical networks and interconnects. The design of these optical systems is a highly complex task, requiring the simultaneous optimization of various parts of the system, ranging from optical components' characteristics to access protocol techniques. Currently there are no computer aided design (CAD) tools on the market to support the interrelated design of all parts of optical communication systems, thus the designer has to rely on costly and time consuming testbed evaluations. The objective of the CATO (CAD tool for optical networks and interconnects) project is to develop a prototype of an intelligent CAD tool for the specification, design, simulation and optimization of optical communication networks. CATO allows the user to build an abstract, possible incomplete, model of the system, and determine its expected performance. Based on design constraints provided by the user, CATO will automatically complete an optimum design, using mathematical programming techniques, intelligent search methods and artificial intelligence (AI). Initial design and testing of a CATO prototype (CATO-1) has been completed recently. The objective was to prove the feasibility of combining AI techniques, simulation techniques, an optical device library and a graphical user interface into a flexible CAD tool for obtaining optimal communication network designs in terms of system cost and performance. CATO-1 is an experimental tool for designing packet-switching wavelength division multiplexing all-optical communication systems using a LAN/MAN ring topology as the underlying network. The two specific AI algorithms incorporated are simulated annealing and a genetic algorithm. CATO-1 finds the optimal number of transceivers for each network node, using an objective function that includes the cost of the devices and the overall system performance.

  4. REQUIREMENTS PROCESSING TOOLS AND THE BUILDING DESIGNERS MOTIVATION ON USE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camila Pegoraro

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The successful development of projects requires, among other conditions, the ability to process requirements. In the construction literature, researchers have figured out that human difficulties was often at the root of Requirements Processing (RP problems throughout the design phases, and that the employment of tools could be a key factor for RP implementation. To check these outcomes and to look at how current practitioners behave in relation to the RP tools, an exploratory case study was conducted with a building design team from a public university. The aim of this paper was to investigate the perception of benefits and the motivation of designers regarding the RP tools. The results indicated that 42% of the participants are highly motivated to use new tools and that they have more interest in tools that deal directly with design activities than in those focused on data. Validation tools aroused interest as the most useful tools for designers. 66,7% of the participants mentioned that the tools can make the design process clearer, and that training and adaptation are crucial to promote acceptance and commitment to RP. The main contribution is the indication of gaps for further research and for tools improvement from the designers’ perspective.

  5. Value engineering on the designed operator work tools for brick and rings wells production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayu Bidiawati J., R.; Muchtiar, Yesmizarti; Wariza, Ragil Okta

    2017-06-01

    Operator working tools in making brick and ring wells were designed and made, and the value engineering was calculated to identify and develop the function of these tools in obtaining the balance between cost, reliability and appearance. This study focused on the value of functional components of the tools and attempted to increase the difference between the costs incurred by the generated values. The purpose of this study was to determine the alternatives of tools design and to determine the performance of each alternative. The technique was developed using FAST method that consisted of five stages: information, creative, analytical, development and presentation stage. The results of the analysis concluded that the designed tools have higher value and better function description. There were four alternative draft improvements for operator working tools. The best alternative was determined based on the rank by using matrix evaluation. Best performance was obtained by the alternative II, amounting to 98.92 with a value of 0.77.

  6. Developing a Conceptual Design Engineering Toolbox and its Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. W. Vroom

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to develop a successful product, a design engineer needs to pay attention to all relevant aspects of that product. Many tools are available, software, books, websites, and commercial services. To unlock these potentially useful sources of knowledge, we are developing C-DET, a toolbox for conceptual design engineering. The idea of C-DET is that designers are supported by a system that provides them with a knowledge portal on one hand, and a system to store their current work on the other. The knowledge portal is to help the designer to find the most appropriate sites, experts, tools etc. at a short notice. Such a toolbox offers opportunities to incorporate extra functionalities to support the design engineering work. One of these functionalities could be to help the designer to reach a balanced comprehension in his work. Furthermore C-DET enables researchers in the area of design engineering and design engineers themselves to find each other or their work earlier and more easily. Newly developed design tools that can be used by design engineers but have not yet been developed up to a commercial level could be linked to by C-DET. In this way these tools can be evaluated in an early stage by design engineers who would like to use them. This paper describes the first prototypes of C-DET, an example of the development of a design tool that enables designers to forecast the use process and an example of the future functionalities of C-DET such as balanced comprehension.

  7. An evaluation of software tools for the design and development of cockpit displays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Thomas D., Jr.

    1993-01-01

    The use of all-glass cockpits at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) simulation facility has changed the means of design, development, and maintenance of instrument displays. The human-machine interface has evolved from a physical hardware device to a software-generated electronic display system. This has subsequently caused an increased workload at the facility. As computer processing power increases and the glass cockpit becomes predominant in facilities, software tools used in the design and development of cockpit displays are becoming both feasible and necessary for a more productive simulation environment. This paper defines LaRC requirements of a display software development tool and compares two available applications against these requirements. As a part of the software engineering process, these tools reduce development time, provide a common platform for display development, and produce exceptional real-time results.

  8. Representation stigma: Perceptions of tools and processes for design graphics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Barbarash

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Practicing designers and design students across multiple fields were surveyed to measure preference and perception of traditional hand and digital tools to determine if common biases for an individual toolset are realized in practice. Significant results were found, primarily with age being a determinant in preference of graphic tools and processes; this finding demonstrates a hard line between generations of designers. Results show that while there are strong opinions in tools and processes, the realities of modern business practice and production gravitate towards digital methods despite a traditional tool preference in more experienced designers. While negative stigmas regarding computers remain, younger generations are more accepting of digital tools and images, which should eventually lead to a paradigm shift in design professions.

  9. Altitude Compensating Nozzle Design Tool, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Launch vehicle subsystem preliminary design tools that are fast, accurate, and seamlessly integrated into an electronic design and optimization environment have...

  10. IT-based wellness tools for older adults: Design concepts and feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joe, Jonathan; Hall, Amanda; Chi, Nai-Ching; Thompson, Hilaire; Demiris, George

    2018-03-01

    To explore older adults' preferences regarding e-health applications through use of generated concepts that inform wellness tool design. The 6-8-5 method and affinity mapping were used to create e-health design ideas that were translated into storyboards and scenarios. Focus groups were conducted to obtain feedback on the prototypes and included participant sketching. A qualitative analysis of the focus groups for emerging themes was conducted, and sketches were analyzed. Forty-three older adults participated in six focus group sessions. The majority of participants found the wellness tools useful. Preferences included features that supported participants in areas of unmet needs, such as ability to find reliable health information, cognitive training, or maintaining social ties. Participants favored features such as use of voice navigation, but were concerned over cost and the need for technology skills and access. Sketches reinforced these wants, including portability, convenience, and simplicity. Several factors were found to increase the desirability of such devices including convenient access to their health and health information, a simple, accessible interface, and support for memory issues. Researchers and designers should incorporate the feedback of older adults regarding wellness tools, so that future designs meet the needs of older adults.

  11. 3D Design Tools for Vacuum Electron Devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levush, Baruch

    2003-01-01

    A reduction of development costs will have a significant impact on the total cost of the vacuum electron devices. Experimental testing cycles can be reduced or eliminated through the use of simulation-based design methodology, thereby reducing the time and cost of development. Moreover, by use of modern optimization tools for automating the process of seeking specific solution parameters and for studying dependencies of performance on parameters, new performance capabilities can be achieved, without resorting to expensive cycles of hardware fabrication and testing. Simulation-based-design will also provide the basis for sensitivity studies for determining the manufacturing tolerances associated with a particular design. Since material properties can have a critical effect on the performance of the vacuum electron devices, the design tools require precise knowledge of material characteristics, such as dielectric properties of the support rods, loss profile etc. Sensitivity studies must therefore include the effects of materials properties variation on device performance. This will provide insight for choosing the proper technological processes in order to achieve these tolerances, which is of great importance for achieving cost reduction. A successful design methodology depends on the development of accurate and efficient design tools with predictive capabilities. These design tools must be based on realistic models capable of high fidelity representation of geometry and materials, they must have optimization capabilities, and they must be easy to use

  12. Design and application of a formal verification tool for VHDL designs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    John, Ajith K.; Bhattacharjee, A.K.; Sharma, Mukesh; Ganesh, G.; Dhodapkar, S.D.; Biswas, B.B.

    2012-01-01

    The design of Control and Instrumentation (C and I) systems used in safety critical applications such as nuclear power plants involves partitioning of the overall system functionality into subparts and implementing each subpart in hardware and/or software as appropriate. With increasing use of programmable devices like FPGA, the hardware subsystems are often implemented in Hardware Description Languages (HDL) like VHDL. Since the functional bugs in such hardware subsystems used in safety critical C and I systems have disastrous consequences, it is important to use rigorous reasoning to verify the functionalities of the HDL models. Work on developing a software tool named VBMC (VHDL Bounded Model Checker) for mathematically proving functional properties of hardware designs described in VHDL has been described. It is based on the principle of bounded model checking. Although the design of VBMC is still evolving, it is currently also being used for the functional verification of FPGA based intelligent I/O (EHS) boards developed in Reactor Control Division, BARC

  13. Design Tools for Integrated Asynchronous Electronic Circuits

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Martin, Alain

    2003-01-01

    ..., simulation, verification, at the logical and physical levels. Situs has developed a business model for the commercialization of the CAD tools, and has designed the prototype of the tool suite based on this business model and the Caltech approach...

  14. Designing decision support tools for targeted N-regulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Andreas Aagaard; Piil, Kristoffer; Andersen, Peter Stubkjær

    2017-01-01

    data model for land use data – the dNmark landscape model. Based on input data which is corrected and edited by workshop participants, the tool estimates the effect of potential land use scenarios on nutrient emissions. The tool was tested in 5 scenario workshops in case areas in Denmark in 2016...... in Denmark to develop and improve a functioning decision support tool for landscape scale N-management. The aim of the study is to evaluate how a decision support tool can best be designed in order to enable landscape scale strategic N-management practices. Methods: A prototype GIS-tool for capturing......, storing, editing, displaying and modelling landscape scale farming practices and associated emission consequences was developed. The tool was designed to integrate locally held knowledge with national scale datasets in live scenario situations through the implementation of a flexible, uniform and editable...

  15. Internet MEMS design tools based on component technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brueck, Rainer; Schumer, Christian

    1999-03-01

    The micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) industry in Europe is characterized by small and medium sized enterprises specialized on products to solve problems in specific domains like medicine, automotive sensor technology, etc. In this field of business the technology driven design approach known from micro electronics is not appropriate. Instead each design problem aims at its own, specific technology to be used for the solution. The variety of technologies at hand, like Si-surface, Si-bulk, LIGA, laser, precision engineering requires a huge set of different design tools to be available. No single SME can afford to hold licenses for all these tools. This calls for a new and flexible way of designing, implementing and distributing design software. The Internet provides a flexible manner of offering software access along with methodologies of flexible licensing e.g. on a pay-per-use basis. New communication technologies like ADSL, TV cable of satellites as carriers promise to offer a bandwidth sufficient even for interactive tools with graphical interfaces in the near future. INTERLIDO is an experimental tool suite for process specification and layout verification for lithography based MEMS technologies to be accessed via the Internet. The first version provides a Java implementation even including a graphical editor for process specification. Currently, a new version is brought into operation that is based on JavaBeans component technology. JavaBeans offers the possibility to realize independent interactive design assistants, like a design rule checking assistants, a process consistency checking assistants, a technology definition assistants, a graphical editor assistants, etc. that may reside distributed over the Internet, communicating via Internet protocols. Each potential user thus is able to configure his own dedicated version of a design tool set dedicated to the requirements of the current problem to be solved.

  16. Hybrid Design Tools Intuit Interaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wendrich, Robert E.; Kyvsgaard Hansen, P.; Rasmussen, J.; Jorgensen, K.A.; Tollestrup, C.

    2012-01-01

    Non-linear, non-explicit, non-standard thinking and ambiguity in design tools has a great impact on enhancement of creativity during ideation and conceptualization. Tacit-tangible representation based on a mere idiosyncratic and individual approach combined with computational assistance allows the

  17. Rotorcraft Optimization Tools: Incorporating Rotorcraft Design Codes into Multi-Disciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyn, Larry A.

    2018-01-01

    One of the goals of NASA's Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Project (RVLT) is to provide validated tools for multidisciplinary design, analysis and optimization (MDAO) of vertical lift vehicles. As part of this effort, the software package, RotorCraft Optimization Tools (RCOTOOLS), is being developed to facilitate incorporating key rotorcraft conceptual design codes into optimizations using the OpenMDAO multi-disciplinary optimization framework written in Python. RCOTOOLS, also written in Python, currently supports the incorporation of the NASA Design and Analysis of RotorCraft (NDARC) vehicle sizing tool and the Comprehensive Analytical Model of Rotorcraft Aerodynamics and Dynamics II (CAMRAD II) analysis tool into OpenMDAO-driven optimizations. Both of these tools use detailed, file-based inputs and outputs, so RCOTOOLS provides software wrappers to update input files with new design variable values, execute these codes and then extract specific response variable values from the file outputs. These wrappers are designed to be flexible and easy to use. RCOTOOLS also provides several utilities to aid in optimization model development, including Graphical User Interface (GUI) tools for browsing input and output files in order to identify text strings that are used to identify specific variables as optimization input and response variables. This paper provides an overview of RCOTOOLS and its use

  18. Design Package for Fuel Retrieval System Fuel Handling Tool Modification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    TEDESCHI, D.J.

    2000-01-01

    This design package documents design, fabrication, and testing of new stinger tool design. Future revisions will document further development of the stinger tool and incorporate various developmental stages, and final test results

  19. Methodologies and tools for proton beam design for lung tumors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moyers, Michael F.; Miller, Daniel W.; Bush, David A.; Slater, Jerry D.

    2001-01-01

    Purpose: Proton beams can potentially increase the dose delivered to lung tumors without increasing the dose to critical normal tissues because protons can be stopped before encountering the normal tissues. This potential can only be realized if tissue motion and planning uncertainties are correctly included during planning. This study evaluated several planning strategies to determine which method best provides adequate tumor coverage, minimal normal tissue irradiation, and simplicity of use. Methods and Materials: Proton beam treatment plans were generated using one or more of three different planning strategies. These strategies included designing apertures and boluses to the PTV, apertures to the PTV and boluses to the CTV, and aperture and bolus to the CTV. Results: The planning target volume as specified in ICRU Report 50 can be used only to design the lateral margins of beams, because the distal and proximal margins resulting from CT number uncertainty, beam range uncertainty, tissue motions, and setup uncertainties, are different than the lateral margins resulting from these same factors. The best strategy for target coverage with the planning tools available overirradiated some normal tissues unnecessarily. The available tools also made the planning of lung tumors difficult. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that inclusion of target motion and setup uncertainties into a plan should be performed in the beam design step instead of creating new targets. New computerized treatment planning system tools suggested by this study will ease planning, facilitate abandonment of the PTV concept, improve conformance of the dose distribution to the target, and improve conformal avoidance of critical normal tissues

  20. Remediating a design tool

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Mads Møller; Rädle, Roman; Klokmose, Clemens N.

    2018-01-01

    digital sticky notes setup. The paper contributes with a nuanced understanding of what happens when remediating a physical design tool into digital space, by emphasizing focus shifts and breakdowns caused by the technology, but also benefits and promises inherent in the digital media. Despite users......' preference for creating physical notes, handling digital notes on boards was easier and the potential of proper documentation make the digital setup a possible alternative. While the analogy in our remediation supported a transfer of learned handling, the users' experiences across technological setups impact......Sticky notes are ubiquitous in design processes because of their tangibility and ease of use. Yet, they have well-known limitations in professional design processes, as documentation and distribution are cumbersome at best. This paper compares the use of sticky notes in ideation with a remediated...

  1. Designer Modeling for Personalized Game Content Creation Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liapis, Antonios; Yannakakis, Georgios N.; Togelius, Julian

    2013-01-01

    preferences, goals and processes from their interaction with a computer-aided design tool, and suggests methods and domains within game development where such a model can be applied. We describe how designer modeling could be integrated with current work on automated and mixed-initiative content creation......With the growing use of automated content creation and computer-aided design tools in game development, there is potential for enhancing the design process through personalized interactions between the software and the game developer. This paper proposes designer modeling for capturing the designer’s......, and envision future directions which focus on personalizing the processes to a designer’s particular wishes....

  2. Program Design Report of the CNC Machine Tool(II)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jong Kiun; Youm, K. U.; Kim, K. S.; Lee, I. B.; Yoon, K. B.; Lee, C. K.; Youm, J. H.

    2007-06-01

    The application of CNC machine tool being widely expanded according to variety of machine work method and rapid promotion of machine tool, cutting tool, for high speed efficient machine work. In order to conduct of the project of manufacture and maintenance of laboratory equipment, production design and machine work technology are continually developed, especially the application of CNC machine tool is very important for the improvement of productivity, quality and clearing up a manpower shortage. We publish technical report which it includes CNC machine tool program and drawing, it contributes to the systematic development of CNC program design and machine work technology

  3. Program Design Report of the CNC Machine Tool(II)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jong Kiun; Youm, K. U.; Kim, K. S.; Lee, I. B.; Yoon, K. B.; Lee, C. K.; Youm, J. H

    2007-06-15

    The application of CNC machine tool being widely expanded according to variety of machine work method and rapid promotion of machine tool, cutting tool, for high speed efficient machine work. In order to conduct of the project of manufacture and maintenance of laboratory equipment, production design and machine work technology are continually developed, especially the application of CNC machine tool is very important for the improvement of productivity, quality and clearing up a manpower shortage. We publish technical report which it includes CNC machine tool program and drawing, it contributes to the systematic development of CNC program design and machine work technology.

  4. Program Design Report of the CNC Machine Tool(III)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jong Kiun; Youm, K. U.; Kim, K. S.; Lee, I. B.; Yoon, K. B.; Lee, C. K.; Youm, J. H.

    2008-08-01

    The application of CNC machine tool being widely expanded according to variety of machine work method and rapid promotion of machine tool, cutting tool, for high speed efficient machine work. In order to conduct of the project of manufacture and maintenance of laboratory equipment, production design and machine work technology are continually developed, especially the application of CNC machine tool is very important for the improvement of productivity, quality and clearing up a manpower shortage. We publish technical report which it includes CNC machine tool program and drawing, it contributes to the systematic development of CNC program design and machine work technology

  5. Program Design Report of the CNC Machine Tool (I)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jong Kiun; Youm, K. U.; Kim, K. S.

    2006-08-01

    The application of CNC machine tool being widely expanded according to variety of machine work method and rapid promotion of machine tool, cutting tool, for high speed efficient machine work. In order to conduct of the project of manufacture and maintenance of laboratory equipment, production design and machine work technology are continually developed, especially the application of CNC machine tool is very important for the improvement of productivity, quality and clearing up a manpower shortage. We publish technical report which it includes CNC machine tool program and drawing, it contributes to the systematic development of CNC program design and machine work technology

  6. Program Design Report of the CNC Machine Tool(IV)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youm, Ki Un; Lee, I. B.; Youm, J. H.

    2009-09-01

    The application of CNC machine tool being widely expanded according to variety of machine work method and rapid promotion of machine tool, cutting tool, for high speed efficient machine work. In order to conduct of the project of manufacture and maintenance of laboratory equipment, production design and machine work technology are continually developed, especially the application of CNC machine tool is very important for the improvement of productivity, quality and clearing up a manpower shortage. We publish technical report which it includes CNC machine tool program and drawing, it contributes to the systematic development of CNC program design and machine work technology

  7. Computational Tools and Algorithms for Designing Customized Synthetic Genes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gould, Nathan [Department of Computer Science, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ (United States); Hendy, Oliver [Department of Biology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ (United States); Papamichail, Dimitris, E-mail: papamicd@tcnj.edu [Department of Computer Science, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ (United States)

    2014-10-06

    Advances in DNA synthesis have enabled the construction of artificial genes, gene circuits, and genomes of bacterial scale. Freedom in de novo design of synthetic constructs provides significant power in studying the impact of mutations in sequence features, and verifying hypotheses on the functional information that is encoded in nucleic and amino acids. To aid this goal, a large number of software tools of variable sophistication have been implemented, enabling the design of synthetic genes for sequence optimization based on rationally defined properties. The first generation of tools dealt predominantly with singular objectives such as codon usage optimization and unique restriction site incorporation. Recent years have seen the emergence of sequence design tools that aim to evolve sequences toward combinations of objectives. The design of optimal protein-coding sequences adhering to multiple objectives is computationally hard, and most tools rely on heuristics to sample the vast sequence design space. In this review, we study some of the algorithmic issues behind gene optimization and the approaches that different tools have adopted to redesign genes and optimize desired coding features. We utilize test cases to demonstrate the efficiency of each approach, as well as identify their strengths and limitations.

  8. Computational Tools and Algorithms for Designing Customized Synthetic Genes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gould, Nathan; Hendy, Oliver; Papamichail, Dimitris

    2014-01-01

    Advances in DNA synthesis have enabled the construction of artificial genes, gene circuits, and genomes of bacterial scale. Freedom in de novo design of synthetic constructs provides significant power in studying the impact of mutations in sequence features, and verifying hypotheses on the functional information that is encoded in nucleic and amino acids. To aid this goal, a large number of software tools of variable sophistication have been implemented, enabling the design of synthetic genes for sequence optimization based on rationally defined properties. The first generation of tools dealt predominantly with singular objectives such as codon usage optimization and unique restriction site incorporation. Recent years have seen the emergence of sequence design tools that aim to evolve sequences toward combinations of objectives. The design of optimal protein-coding sequences adhering to multiple objectives is computationally hard, and most tools rely on heuristics to sample the vast sequence design space. In this review, we study some of the algorithmic issues behind gene optimization and the approaches that different tools have adopted to redesign genes and optimize desired coding features. We utilize test cases to demonstrate the efficiency of each approach, as well as identify their strengths and limitations.

  9. Gradually including potential users: A tool to counter design exclusions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zitkus, Emilene; Langdon, Patrick; Clarkson, P John

    2018-01-01

    The paper describes an iterative development process used to understand the suitability of different inclusive design evaluation tools applied into design practices. At the end of this process, a tool named Inclusive Design Advisor was developed, combining data related to design features of small appliances with ergonomic task demands, anthropometric data and exclusion data. When auditing a new design the tool examines the exclusion that each design feature can cause, followed by objective recommendations directly related to its features. Interactively, it allows designers or clients to balance design changes with the exclusion caused. It presents the type of information that enables designers and clients to discuss user needs and make more inclusive design decisions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  10. Designing the user experience of game development tools

    CERN Document Server

    Lightbown, David

    2015-01-01

    The Big Green Button My Story Who Should Read this Book? Companion Website and Twitter Account Before we BeginWelcome to Designing the User Experience of Game Development ToolsWhat Will We Learn in This Chapter?What Is This Book About?Defining User ExperienceThe Value of Improving the User Experience of Our ToolsParallels Between User Experience and Game DesignHow Do People Benefit From an Improved User Experience?Finding the Right BalanceWrapping UpThe User-Centered Design ProcessWhat Will We

  11. Computational Tools and Algorithms for Designing Customized Synthetic Genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan eGould

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Advances in DNA synthesis have enabled the construction of artificial genes, gene circuits, and genomes of bacterial scale. Freedom in de-novo design of synthetic constructs provides significant power in studying the impact of mutations in sequence features, and verifying hypotheses on the functional information that is encoded in nucleic and amino acids. To aid this goal, a large number of software tools of variable sophistication have been implemented, enabling the design of synthetic genes for sequence optimization based on rationally defined properties. The first generation of tools dealt predominantly with singular objectives such as codon usage optimization and unique restriction site incorporation. Recent years have seen the emergence of sequence design tools that aim to evolve sequences toward combinations of objectives. The design of optimal protein coding sequences adhering to multiple objectives is computationally hard, and most tools rely on heuristics to sample the vast sequence design space. In this review we study some of the algorithmic issues behind gene optimization and the approaches that different tools have adopted to redesign genes and optimize desired coding features. We utilize test cases to demonstrate the efficiency of each approach, as well as identify their strengths and limitations.

  12. Topics in expert system design methodologies and tools

    CERN Document Server

    Tasso, C

    1989-01-01

    Expert Systems are so far the most promising achievement of artificial intelligence research. Decision making, planning, design, control, supervision and diagnosis are areas where they are showing great potential. However, the establishment of expert system technology and its actual industrial impact are still limited by the lack of a sound, general and reliable design and construction methodology.This book has a dual purpose: to offer concrete guidelines and tools to the designers of expert systems, and to promote basic and applied research on methodologies and tools. It is a coordinated coll

  13. Analytical Design Package (ADP2): A computer aided engineering tool for aircraft transparency design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wuerer, J. E.; Gran, M.; Held, T. W.

    1994-01-01

    The Analytical Design Package (ADP2) is being developed as a part of the Air Force Frameless Transparency Program (FTP). ADP2 is an integrated design tool consisting of existing analysis codes and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software. The objective of the ADP2 is to develop and confirm an integrated design methodology for frameless transparencies, related aircraft interfaces, and their corresponding tooling. The application of this methodology will generate high confidence for achieving a qualified part prior to mold fabrication. ADP2 is a customized integration of analysis codes, CAE software, and material databases. The primary CAE integration tool for the ADP2 is P3/PATRAN, a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software tool. The open architecture of P3/PATRAN allows customized installations with different applications modules for specific site requirements. Integration of material databases allows the engineer to select a material, and those material properties are automatically called into the relevant analysis code. The ADP2 materials database will be composed of four independent schemas: CAE Design, Processing, Testing, and Logistics Support. The design of ADP2 places major emphasis on the seamless integration of CAE and analysis modules with a single intuitive graphical interface. This tool is being designed to serve and be used by an entire project team, i.e., analysts, designers, materials experts, and managers. The final version of the software will be delivered to the Air Force in Jan. 1994. The Analytical Design Package (ADP2) will then be ready for transfer to industry. The package will be capable of a wide range of design and manufacturing applications.

  14. The future-essay as a design tool

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Bente Dahl; Kappel, Anne

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to present scenarios, photo-essays and future-essays as tools in communication, and as tools for clarifying the use of products in the future and the aesthetic qualities in the programme. In the design process, the programme is a description of the function, the condition...

  15. A Tool for the Automated Design and Evaluation of Habitat Interior Layouts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Matthew A.; Wilhite, Alan W.

    2013-01-01

    The objective of space habitat design is to minimize mass and system size while providing adequate space for all necessary equipment and a functional layout that supports crew health and productivity. Unfortunately, development and evaluation of interior layouts is often ignored during conceptual design because of the subjectivity and long times required using current evaluation methods (e.g., human-in-the-loop mockup tests and in-depth CAD evaluations). Early, more objective assessment could prevent expensive design changes that may increase vehicle mass and compromise functionality. This paper describes a new interior design evaluation method to enable early, structured consideration of habitat interior layouts. This interior layout evaluation method features a comprehensive list of quantifiable habitat layout evaluation criteria, automatic methods to measure these criteria from a geometry model, and application of systems engineering tools and numerical methods to construct a multi-objective value function measuring the overall habitat layout performance. In addition to a detailed description of this method, a C++/OpenGL software tool which has been developed to implement this method is also discussed. This tool leverages geometry modeling coupled with collision detection techniques to identify favorable layouts subject to multiple constraints and objectives (e.g., minimize mass, maximize contiguous habitable volume, maximize task performance, and minimize crew safety risks). Finally, a few habitat layout evaluation examples are described to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and tool to influence habitat design.

  16. Conceptual design tool development for a Pb-Bi cooled reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, K. G.; Chang, S. H.; No, H. C.; Chunm, M. H.

    2000-01-01

    Conceptual design is generally ill-structured and mysterious problem solving. This leads the experienced experts to be still responsible for the most of synthesis and analysis task, which are not amenable to logical formulations in design problems. Especially because a novel reactor such as a Pb-Bi cooled reactor is going on a conceptual design stage, it will be very meaningful to develop the conceptual design tool. This tool consists of system design module with artificial intelligence, scaling module, and validation module. System design decides the optimal structure and the layout of a Pb-Bi cooled reactor, using design synthesis part and design analysis part. The designed system is scaled to be optimal with desired power level, and then the design basis accidents (Dbase) are analyzed in validation module. Design synthesis part contains the specific data for reactor components and the general data for a Pb-Bi cooled reactor. Design analysis part contains several design constraints for formulation and solution of a design problem. In addition, designer's intention may be externalized through emphasis on design requirements. For the purpose of demonstration, the conceptual design tool is applied to a Pb-Bi cooled reactor with 125 M Wth of power level. The Pb-Bi cooled reactor is a novel reactor concept in which the fission-generated heat is transferred from the primary coolant to the secondary coolant through a reactor vessel wall of a novel design. The Pb-Bi cooled reactor is to deliver 125 M Wth per module for 15 effective full power years without any on-site fuel handling. The conceptual design tool investigated the feasibility of a Pb-Bi cooled reactor. Application of the conceptual design tool will be, in detail, presented in the full paper. (author)

  17. Conceptual Design Tool for Concrete Shell Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holst, Malene Kirstine; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2011-01-01

    This paper focuses on conceptual tools for concrete shell structures when working within the span of performance-based design and computational morphogenesis. The designer, referred to as the Architect-Engineer, works through several iterations parallel with aesthetic, functional and technical re...

  18. A Framework for the Application of Robust Design Methods and Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Göhler, Simon Moritz; Howard, Thomas J.

    2014-01-01

    can deliver are not always clear. Expectations to the output are sometimes misleading and imply the incorrect utilization of tools. A categorization of tools, methods and techniques typically associated with robust design methodology in the literature is provided in this paper in terms of purpose...... and deliverables of the individual tool or method. The majority of tools aims for optimizing an existing design solution or give an indication of how robust a design is, which requires a somewhat settled design. Furthermore, the categorization presented in this paper shows a lack in the methodology for tools...... of the existing tools. When to apply, what tool or method, for which purpose can be concluded. The paper also contributes with a framework for researchers to derive a generic landscape or database for RDM build upon the main premises and deliverables of each method....

  19. Design Package for Fuel Retrieval System Fuel Handling Tool Modification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    TEDESCHI, D.J.

    2000-01-01

    This is a design package that contains the details for a modification to a tool used for moving fuel elements during loading of MCO Fuel Baskets for the Fuel Retrieval System. The tool is called the fuel handling tool (or stinger). This document contains requirements, development design information, tests, and test reports

  20. Evaluating a digital ship design tool prototype: Designers' perceptions of novel ergonomics software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mallam, Steven C; Lundh, Monica; MacKinnon, Scott N

    2017-03-01

    Computer-aided solutions are essential for naval architects to manage and optimize technical complexities when developing a ship's design. Although there are an array of software solutions aimed to optimize the human element in design, practical ergonomics methodologies and technological solutions have struggled to gain widespread application in ship design processes. This paper explores how a new ergonomics technology is perceived by naval architecture students using a mixed-methods framework. Thirteen Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering Masters students participated in the study. Overall, results found participants perceived the software and its embedded ergonomics tools to benefit their design work, increasing their empathy and ability to understand the work environment and work demands end-users face. However, participant's questioned if ergonomics could be practically and efficiently implemented under real-world project constraints. This revealed underlying social biases and a fundamental lack of understanding in engineering postgraduate students regarding applied ergonomics in naval architecture. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Control room design and human factors using a virtual reality based tool for design, test and training

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lirvall, Peter

    1998-02-01

    This report describes a user-centred approach to control room design adopted by IFE for the nuclear industry. The novelty of this approach is the development of a Control Room Philosophy, and the use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology as a tool in the design process, integrated with a specially developed Design Documentation System (DDS) and a process display prototyping tool PICASSO-3. The control room philosophy identifies all functional aspects of a control centre, to define the baseline principles and guidelines for the design. The use of VR technology enables end-users of the control room design (e.g. control room operators) to specify their preferred design of the new control room, and to replace the need for a physical mock-up to test and evaluate the proposed design. The DDS, integrated with the VR design tool, guides the control room operators, through a structured approach, to document the proposed design in a complete design specification. The VR tool, specially developed by IFE, is called the VR based Design, Test and Training tool (VR DTandT). It is not only intended to visualise the design, but also to test and evaluate the design. When the design is implemented, the same model is re-used as a VR based training simulator for operators. A special feature in the VR DTandT tool is that the verification and validation (VandV) tests, concerning human factors, are according to the regulative standards for nuclear control rooms

  2. Design of a Three-Axis Machine Tool Module

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Childers, Marshal

    2003-01-01

    This report documents the design improvement process of the components in a tool module for a three-axis machine tool, which occurred during the period of March-April 2002 in support of a critical U.S...

  3. A Modeling Tool for Household Biogas Burner Flame Port Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decker, Thomas J.

    Anaerobic digestion is a well-known and potentially beneficial process for rural communities in emerging markets, providing the opportunity to generate usable gaseous fuel from agricultural waste. With recent developments in low-cost digestion technology, communities across the world are gaining affordable access to the benefits of anaerobic digestion derived biogas. For example, biogas can displace conventional cooking fuels such as biomass (wood, charcoal, dung) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), effectively reducing harmful emissions and fuel cost respectively. To support the ongoing scaling effort of biogas in rural communities, this study has developed and tested a design tool aimed at optimizing flame port geometry for household biogas-fired burners. The tool consists of a multi-component simulation that incorporates three-dimensional CAD designs with simulated chemical kinetics and computational fluid dynamics. An array of circular and rectangular port designs was developed for a widely available biogas stove (called the Lotus) as part of this study. These port designs were created through guidance from previous studies found in the literature. The three highest performing designs identified by the tool were manufactured and tested experimentally to validate tool output and to compare against the original port geometry. The experimental results aligned with the tool's prediction for the three chosen designs. Each design demonstrated improved thermal efficiency relative to the original, with one configuration of circular ports exhibiting superior performance. The results of the study indicated that designing for a targeted range of port hydraulic diameter, velocity and mixture density in the tool is a relevant way to improve the thermal efficiency of a biogas burner. Conversely, the emissions predictions made by the tool were found to be unreliable and incongruent with laboratory experiments.

  4. Searching for Sentient Design Tools for Game Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liapis, Antonios

    their generative algorithms) and to their human users (who must take all design decisions), respectively. This thesis argues that computers can be creative partners to human designers rather than mere slaves; game design tools can be aware of designer intentions, preferences and routines, and can accommodate them...... or even subvert them. This thesis presents Sentient Sketchbook, a tool for designing game level abstractions of different game genres, which assists the level designer as it automatically tests maps for playability constraints, evaluates and displays the map's gameplay properties and creates alternatives......Over the last twenty years, computer games have grown from a niche market targeting young adults to an important player in the global economy, engaging millions of people from different cultural backgrounds. As both the number and the size of computer games continue to rise, game companies handle...

  5. Improving design processes through structured reflection : a prototype software tool

    OpenAIRE

    Reymen, I.M.M.J.; Melby, E.

    2001-01-01

    A prototype software tool facilitating the use of a design method supporting structured reflection on design processes is presented. The prototype, called Echo, has been developed to explore the benefits of using a software system to facilitate the use of the design method. Both the prototype software tool and the design method are developed as part of the Ph.D. project of Isabelle Reymen. The goal of the design method is supporting designers with reflection on design processes in a systemati...

  6. Using CFD as Rocket Injector Design Tool: Recent Progress at Marshall Space Flight Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Kevin; West, Jeff; Williams, Robert; Lin, Jeff; Rocker, Marvin; Canabal, Francisco; Robles, Bryan; Garcia, Robert; Chenoweth, James

    2003-01-01

    The choice of tools used for injector design is in a transitional phase between exclusive reliance on the empirically based correlations and extensive use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) Program goals emphasizing lower costs and increased reliability have produced a need to enable CFD as an injector design tool in a shorter time frame. This is the primary objective of the Staged Combustor Injector Technology Task currently under way at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The documentation of this effort begins with a very brief status of current injector design tools. MSFC's vision for use of CFD as a tool for combustion devices design is stated and discussed with emphasis on the injector. The concept of the Simulation Readiness Level (SRL), comprised of solution fidelity, robustness and accuracy, is introduced and discussed. This quantitative measurement is used to establish the gap between the current state of demonstrated capability and that necessary for regular use in the design process. MSFC's view of the validation process is presented and issues associated with obtaining the necessary data are noted and discussed. Three current experimental efforts aimed at generating validation data are presented. The importance of uncertainty analysis to understand the data quality is also demonstrated. First, a brief status of current injector design tools is provided as context for the current effort. Next, the MSFC vision for using CFD as an injector design tool is stated. A generic CFD-based injector design methodology is also outlined and briefly discussed. Three areas where MSFC is using injector CFD analyses for program support will be discussed. These include the Integrated Powerhead Development (IPD) engine which uses hydrogen and oxygen propellants in a full flow staged combustion (FFSC) cycle and the TR-107 and the RS84 engine both of which use RP-1 and oxygen in an ORSC cycle. Finally, an attempt is made to

  7. Thinkering through Experiments: Nurturing Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Design of Testing Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathryn B. Francis

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In order to assess and understand human behavior, traditional approaches to experimental design incorporate testing tools that are often artificial and devoid of corporeal features. Whilst these offer experimental control in situations in which, methodologically, real behaviors cannot be examined, there is increasing evidence that responses given in these contextually deprived experiments fail to trigger genuine responses. This may result from a lack of consideration regarding the material makeup and associations connected with the fabric of experimental tools. In a two-year collaboration, we began to experiment with the physicality of testing tools using the domain of moral psychology as a case study. This collaboration involved thinkering and prototyping methods that included direct contact and consideration of the materials involved in experimentation. Having explored the embodied nature of morality, we combined approaches from experimental psychology, moral philosophy, design thinking, and computer science to create a new testing tool for simulated moral behavior. Although the testing tool itself generated fruitful results, this paper considers the collaborative methodology through which it was produced as a route to highlight material questions within psychological research.

  8. Design of automation tools for management of descent traffic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erzberger, Heinz; Nedell, William

    1988-01-01

    The design of an automated air traffic control system based on a hierarchy of advisory tools for controllers is described. Compatibility of the tools with the human controller, a key objective of the design, is achieved by a judicious selection of tasks to be automated and careful attention to the design of the controller system interface. The design comprises three interconnected subsystems referred to as the Traffic Management Advisor, the Descent Advisor, and the Final Approach Spacing Tool. Each of these subsystems provides a collection of tools for specific controller positions and tasks. This paper focuses primarily on the Descent Advisor which provides automation tools for managing descent traffic. The algorithms, automation modes, and graphical interfaces incorporated in the design are described. Information generated by the Descent Advisor tools is integrated into a plan view traffic display consisting of a high-resolution color monitor. Estimated arrival times of aircraft are presented graphically on a time line, which is also used interactively in combination with a mouse input device to select and schedule arrival times. Other graphical markers indicate the location of the fuel-optimum top-of-descent point and the predicted separation distances of aircraft at a designated time-control point. Computer generated advisories provide speed and descent clearances which the controller can issue to aircraft to help them arrive at the feeder gate at the scheduled times or with specified separation distances. Two types of horizontal guidance modes, selectable by the controller, provide markers for managing the horizontal flightpaths of aircraft under various conditions. The entire system consisting of descent advisor algorithm, a library of aircraft performance models, national airspace system data bases, and interactive display software has been implemented on a workstation made by Sun Microsystems, Inc. It is planned to use this configuration in operational

  9. Designing Online Assessment Tools for Disengaged Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brader, Andy; Luke, Allan; Klenowski, Val; Connolly, Stephen; Behzadpour, Adib

    2014-01-01

    This article reports on the development of online assessment tools for disengaged youth in flexible learning environments. Sociocultural theories of learning and assessment and Bourdieu's sociological concepts of capital and exchange were used to design a purpose-built content management system. This design experiment engaged participants in…

  10. Integrated Design Tools for Embedded Control Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jovanovic, D.S.; Hilderink, G.H.; Broenink, Johannes F.; Karelse, F.

    2001-01-01

    Currently, computer-based control systems are still being implemented using the same techniques as 10 years ago. The purpose of this project is the development of a design framework, consisting of tools and libraries, which allows the designer to build high reliable heterogeneous real-time embedded

  11. Advantages of using 3D design tools in the nuclear power plants projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roldan, P.; Melendro, J.; Gomez, A.; Hermana, I.

    2011-01-01

    It there is anything that distinguished Iberdrola Ingeneria y Construccion, as part of the Iberdrola Group, it is its firm commitment to innovation and continuous improvement. This is the philosophy that led the company to its interest in three-dimensional design tools back when they were in an early stage of development : very little international implementation, lack of integration with other applications, absence of previous experiences to understand the best possible configuration for each case, etc. Nevertheless, the company was able to see the tremendous advantage of having a construction program in the early months of a project- a detailed program that could predict, and therefore avoid, the problems that, if not anticipated, would arise in the construction phase when they result in higher costs, longer timeframes and a multitude of complications. This is precisely what 3D design tools offer prediction and this has been proven in the latest combined cycle projects executed with these tools. A project executed without errors not only decreases cost and time overruns, but also necessarily increases the quality of the end result. Efficiency and quality: these are both basic goals of Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construccion. The knowledge of and skill in the use of these tools have grown at the same time that their development has reached increasingly higher levels. As a result, Iberdrola Ingenieria y Conctruccion now has extensive experience in the use of 3D design tools and is prepared for the future challenges posed by these tools, the capabilities of which have attained such heights that it is possible to take on one of the most technically challenging projects that exists a nuclear power plant. And we are ready. (Author)

  12. IT-tools for Mechatronic System Engineering and Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conrad, Finn; Sørensen, Torben; Andersen, T. O.

    2003-01-01

    Companies are facing the on-going challenge that customers always increase their needs for capability of products and machinery. They want improved productivity and efficiency - if possible to lower prices; value for money. The demands often focus on extensions of functionality, faster response......, operation capability, man-machine interface (MMI), robustness, reliability and safety in use. Information Technology (IT) offers both software and hardware for improvement of the engineering design and industrial applications. The latest progress in IT makes integration of an overall design...... the Esprit project SWING on IT-tools for rapid prototyping of fluid power components and systems. A mechatronic test facility for a hydraulic robot and a CNC XY-machine table was implemented. The controller applies digital signal processors (DSPs). The DSP controller utilizes the dSPACE System suitable...

  13. Computer-aided design in power engineering. Application of software tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stojkovic, Zlatan

    2012-01-01

    Demonstrates the use software tools in the practice of design in the field of power systems. Presents many applications in the design in the field of power systems. Useful for educative purposes and practical work. This textbooks demonstrates the application of software tools in solving a series of problems from the field of designing power system structures and systems. It contains four chapters: The first chapter leads the reader through all the phases necessary in the procedures of computer aided modeling and simulation. It guides through the complex problems presenting on the basis of eleven original examples. The second chapter presents application of software tools in power system calculations of power systems equipment design. Several design example calculations are carried out using engineering standards like MATLAB, EMTP/ATP, Excel and Access, AutoCAD and Simulink. The third chapters focuses on the graphical documentation using a collection of software tools (AutoCAD, EPLAN, SIMARIS SIVACON, SIMARIS DESIGN) which enable the complete automation of the development of graphical documentation of a power systems. In the fourth chapter, the application of software tools in the project management in power systems is discussed. Here, the emphasis is put on the standard software MS Excel and MS Project.

  14. Computer-aided design in power engineering. Application of software tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stojkovic, Zlatan

    2012-07-01

    Demonstrates the use software tools in the practice of design in the field of power systems. Presents many applications in the design in the field of power systems. Useful for educative purposes and practical work. This textbooks demonstrates the application of software tools in solving a series of problems from the field of designing power system structures and systems. It contains four chapters: The first chapter leads the reader through all the phases necessary in the procedures of computer aided modeling and simulation. It guides through the complex problems presenting on the basis of eleven original examples. The second chapter presents application of software tools in power system calculations of power systems equipment design. Several design example calculations are carried out using engineering standards like MATLAB, EMTP/ATP, Excel and Access, AutoCAD and Simulink. The third chapters focuses on the graphical documentation using a collection of software tools (AutoCAD, EPLAN, SIMARIS SIVACON, SIMARIS DESIGN) which enable the complete automation of the development of graphical documentation of a power systems. In the fourth chapter, the application of software tools in the project management in power systems is discussed. Here, the emphasis is put on the standard software MS Excel and MS Project.

  15. Keep IT Real : On Tools, Emotion, Cognition and Intentionality in Design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wendrich, R. E.; Kruiper, R.; Marjanović, D.; M., Štorga; Pavković, N.; Bojčetić, N.; Škec, S.

    2016-01-01

    Keep IT real, create, build, and develop design tools that support designers during the early phases of design processing. This paper investigates how, and whether, current technology can afford real-time interaction and affective computing in a HDT(E) design tool that integrates and blends

  16. Program Design Report of the CNC Machine Tool(V-1)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youm, Ki Un; Moon, J. S.; Lee, I. B.; Youn, J. H.

    2010-08-01

    The application of CNC machine tool being widely expanded according to variety of machine work method and rapid promotion of machine tool, cutting tool, for high speed efficient machine work. In order to conduct of the project of manufacture and maintenance of laboratory equipment, production design and machine work technology are continually developed, especially the application of CNC machine tool is very important for the improvement of productivity, quality and clearing up a manpower shortage. We publish technical report which it includes CNC machine tool program and drawing, it contributes to the systematic development of CNC program design and machine work technology

  17. The Development of a Tool for Sustainable Building Design:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tine Ring Hansen, Hanne; Knudstrup, Mary-Ann

    2009-01-01

    for sustainable buildings, as well as, an analysis of the relationship between the different approaches (e.g. low-energy, environmental, green building, solar architecture, bio-climatic architecture etc.) to sustainable building design and these indicators. The paper furthermore discusses how sustainable......The understanding of sustainable building has changed over time along with the architectural interpretation of sustainability. The paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of the indicators found in different internationally acclaimed and Danish certification schemes and standards...... architecture will gain more focus in the coming years, thus, establishing the need for the development of a new tool and methodology, The paper furthermore describes the background and considerations involved in the development of a design support tool for sustainable building design. A tool which considers...

  18. The Development of a Communication Tool to Facilitate the Cancer Trial Recruitment Process and Increase Research Literacy among Underrepresented Populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Samantha; de la Riva, Erika E; Tom, Laura S; Clayman, Marla L; Taylor, Chirisse; Dong, Xinqi; Simon, Melissa A

    2015-12-01

    Despite increasing need to boost the recruitment of underrepresented populations into cancer trials and biobanking research, few tools exist for facilitating dialogue between researchers and potential research participants during the recruitment process. In this paper, we describe the initial processes of a user-centered design cycle to develop a standardized research communication tool prototype for enhancing research literacy among individuals from underrepresented populations considering enrollment in cancer research and biobanking studies. We present qualitative feedback and recommendations on the prototype's design and content from potential end users: five clinical trial recruiters and ten potential research participants recruited from an academic medical center. Participants were given the prototype (a set of laminated cards) and were asked to provide feedback about the tool's content, design elements, and word choices during semi-structured, in-person interviews. Results suggest that the prototype was well received by recruiters and patients alike. They favored the simplicity, lay language, and layout of the cards. They also noted areas for improvement, leading to card refinements that included the following: addressing additional topic areas, clarifying research processes, increasing the number of diverse images, and using alternative word choices. Our process for refining user interfaces and iterating content in early phases of design may inform future efforts to develop tools for use in clinical research or biobanking studies to increase research literacy.

  19. Automatic differentiation as a tool in engineering design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthelemy, Jean-Francois; Hall, Laura E.

    1992-01-01

    Automatic Differentiation (AD) is a tool that systematically implements the chain rule of differentiation to obtain the derivatives of functions calculated by computer programs. AD is assessed as a tool for engineering design. The forward and reverse modes of AD, their computing requirements, as well as approaches to implementing AD are discussed. The application of two different tools to two medium-size structural analysis problems to generate sensitivity information typically necessary in an optimization or design situation is also discussed. The observation is made that AD is to be preferred to finite differencing in most cases, as long as sufficient computer storage is available; in some instances, AD may be the alternative to consider in lieu of analytical sensitivity analysis.

  20. Radiation Mitigation and Power Optimization Design Tools for Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit

    Science.gov (United States)

    French, Matthew; Graham, Paul; Wirthlin, Michael; Wang, Li; Larchev, Gregory

    2005-01-01

    The Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit (RHinO)project is focused on creating a set of design tools that facilitate and automate design techniques for reconfigurable computing in space, using SRAM-based field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) technology. In the second year of the project, design tools that leverage an established FPGA design environment have been created to visualize and analyze an FPGA circuit for radiation weaknesses and power inefficiencies. For radiation, a single event Upset (SEU) emulator, persistence analysis tool, and a half-latch removal tool for Xilinx/Virtex-II devices have been created. Research is underway on a persistence mitigation tool and multiple bit upsets (MBU) studies. For power, synthesis level dynamic power visualization and analysis tools have been completed. Power optimization tools are under development and preliminary test results are positive.

  1. Factors promoting increased rate of tissue regeneration: the zebrafish fin as a tool for examining tissue engineering design concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boominathan, Vijay P; Ferreira, Tracie L

    2012-12-01

    Student interest in topics of tissue engineering is increasing exponentially as the number of universities offering programs in bioengineering are on the rise. Bioengineering encompasses all of the STEM categories: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Inquiry-based learning is one of the most effective techniques for promoting student learning and has been demonstrated to have a high impact on learning outcomes. We have designed program outcomes for our bioengineering program that require tiered activities to develop problem solving skills, peer evaluation techniques, and promote team work. While it is ideal to allow students to ask unique questions and design their own experiments, this can be difficult for instructors to have reagents and supplies available for a variety of activities. Zebrafish can be easily housed, and multiple variables can be tested on a large enough group to provide statistical value, lending them well to inquiry-based learning modules. We have designed a laboratory activity that takes observation of fin regeneration to the next level: analyzing conditions that may impact regeneration. Tissue engineers seek to define the optimum conditions to grow tissue for replacement parts. The field of tissue engineering is likely to benefit from understanding natural mechanisms of regeneration and the factors that influence the rate of regeneration. We have outlined the results of varying temperature on fin regeneration and propose other inquiry modules such as the role of pH in fin regeneration. Furthermore, we have provided useful tools for developing critical thinking and peer review of research ideas, assessment guidelines, and grading rubrics for the activities associated with this exercise.

  2. Robust Unconventional Interaction Design and Hybrid Tool Environments for Design and Engineering Processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wendrich, Robert E.; Kruiper, Ruben

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates how and whether existing or current design tools, assist and support designers and engineers in the early-phases of ideation and conceptualization stages of design and engineering processes. The research explores how fluidly and/or congruously technology affords cognitive,

  3. Designing tools for oil exploration using nuclear modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mauborgne, Marie-Laure; Allioli, Françoise; Manclossi, Mauro; Nicoletti, Luisa; Stoller, Chris; Evans, Mike

    2017-09-01

    When designing nuclear tools for oil exploration, one of the first steps is typically nuclear modeling for concept evaluation and initial characterization. Having an accurate model, including the availability of accurate cross sections, is essential to reduce or avoid time consuming and costly design iterations. During tool response characterization, modeling is benchmarked with experimental data and then used to complement and to expand the database to make it more detailed and inclusive of more measurement environments which are difficult or impossible to reproduce in the laboratory. We present comparisons of our modeling results obtained using the ENDF/B-VI and ENDF/B-VII cross section data bases, focusing on the response to a few elements found in the tool, borehole and subsurface formation. For neutron-induced inelastic and capture gamma ray spectroscopy, major obstacles may be caused by missing or inaccurate cross sections for essential materials. We show examples of the benchmarking of modeling results against experimental data obtained during tool characterization and discuss observed discrepancies.

  4. GIS tools for analyzing accidents and road design: A review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Satria, R.

    2016-07-01

    A significant unexpected outcome of transportation systems is road accidents with injuries and loss of lives. In recent years, the number of studies about the tools for analyzing accidents and road design has increased considerably. Among these tools, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) stand out for their ability to perform complex spatial analyses. However, sometimes the GIS, has been used only as a geographical database to store and represent data about accidents and road characteristics. It has also been used to represent the results of statistical studies of accidents but, these statistical studies have not been carried out with GIS. Owing to its integrated statistical-analysis capabilities GIS provides several advantages. First, it allows a more careful and accurate data selection, screening and reduction. Also, it allows a spatial analysis of the results in pre and post-processing. Second, GIS allows the development of spatial statistics that rely on geographically-referenced data. In this paper, several GIS tools used to model accidents have been examined. The understanding of these tools will help the analyst to make a better decision about which tool could be applied in each particular condition and context. (Author)

  5. The new designs of diamond drill bits for composite polymers tooling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruslan Yu. Melentiev

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The author explores the drilling operation of some new engineering materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP and other polymers that have an anisotropic structure, high-strength and elastic properties combined with low heat endurance. Such combination of properties makes impossible the simple transfer of the existing technologies for classic materials working to considered new class. At the same time, the existing tools cannot assure the specified quality of tooled products at the current productivity and tool life. Aim: The aim of this research is to increase the process efficiency of diamond drilling in composite polymers by developing the new designs of diamond drill bits. Materials and Methods: One of the most promising directions to solve this problem is the diamond coated abrasive type tool. This paper addresses and classifies the existing types of diamond drill bits according to their application and operation. The literature data analysis of known disadvantages during drilling operation, the quality of surface and joining face was performed. Results: The experimental researches of the author prove the negative meaning of the already known but kept out fact – the drill core blocking. The most important factors and structural features affecting the CFRP drilling process are revealed. The accounting of these factors allowed creating the set of unique designs of diamond drill bits for different purposes. The presented patented models has different allowance distribution schemes and cutting forces, thus satisfy the mechanical requirements of quality, productivity, tool life and hole geometry in the tooling of the specified material class.

  6. Computer- Aided Design in Power Engineering Application of Software Tools

    CERN Document Server

    Stojkovic, Zlatan

    2012-01-01

    This textbooks demonstrates the application of software tools in solving a series of problems from the field of designing power system structures and systems. It contains four chapters: The first chapter leads the reader through all the phases necessary in the procedures of computer aided modeling and simulation. It guides through the complex problems presenting on the basis of eleven original examples. The second chapter presents  application of software tools in power system calculations of power systems equipment design. Several design example calculations are carried out using engineering standards like MATLAB, EMTP/ATP, Excel & Access, AutoCAD and Simulink. The third chapters focuses on the graphical documentation using a collection of software tools (AutoCAD, EPLAN, SIMARIS SIVACON, SIMARIS DESIGN) which enable the complete automation of the development of graphical documentation of a power systems. In the fourth chapter, the application of software tools in the project management in power systems ...

  7. Improving Tools and Processes in Mechanical Design Collaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briggs, Clark

    2009-01-01

    Cooperative product development projects in the aerospace and defense industry are held hostage to high cost and risk due to poor alignment of collaborative design tools and processes. This impasse can be broken if companies will jointly develop implementation approaches and practices in support of high value working arrangements. The current tools can be used to better advantage in many situations and there is reason for optimism that tool vendors will provide significant support.

  8. Software tools for the particle accelerator designs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugimoto, Masayoshi

    1988-01-01

    The software tools used for the designs of the particle accelerators are going to be implemented on the small computer systems, such as the personal computers or the work stations. These are called from the interactive environment like a window application program. The environment contains the small expert system to make easy to select the design parameters. (author)

  9. A new design of automatic vertical drilling tool

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanfeng Ma

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In order to effectively improve penetration rates and enhance wellbore quality for vertical wells, a new Automatic Vertical Drilling Tool (AVDT based on Eccentric Braced Structure (EBS is designed. Applying operating principle of rotary steering drilling, AVDT adds offset gravity block automatic induction inclination mechanism. When hole straightening happens, tools take essentric moment to be produced by gravity of offset gravity lock to control the bearing of guide force, so that well straightening is achieved. The normal tool's size of the AVDT is designed as 215.9 mm,other major components' sizes are worked out by the result of theoretical analysis, including the offset angle of EBS. This paper aims to introduce the structure, operating principle, theoretical analysis and describe the key components' parameters setting of the AVDT.

  10. A Tool Supporting Collaborative Data Analytics Workflow Design and Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, J.; Bao, Q.; Lee, T. J.

    2016-12-01

    Collaborative experiment design could significantly enhance the sharing and adoption of the data analytics algorithms and models emerged in Earth science. Existing data-oriented workflow tools, however, are not suitable to support collaborative design of such a workflow, to name a few, to support real-time co-design; to track how a workflow evolves over time based on changing designs contributed by multiple Earth scientists; and to capture and retrieve collaboration knowledge on workflow design (discussions that lead to a design). To address the aforementioned challenges, we have designed and developed a technique supporting collaborative data-oriented workflow composition and management, as a key component toward supporting big data collaboration through the Internet. Reproducibility and scalability are two major targets demanding fundamental infrastructural support. One outcome of the project os a software tool, supporting an elastic number of groups of Earth scientists to collaboratively design and compose data analytics workflows through the Internet. Instead of recreating the wheel, we have extended an existing workflow tool VisTrails into an online collaborative environment as a proof of concept.

  11. Designing Tools for Supporting User Decision-Making in e-Commerce

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutcliffe, Alistair; Al-Qaed, Faisal

    The paper describes a set of tools designed to support a variety of user decision-making strategies. The tools are complemented by an online advisor so they can be adapted to different domains and users can be guided to adopt appropriate tools for different choices in e-commerce, e.g. purchasing high-value products, exploring product fit to users’ needs, or selecting products which satisfy requirements. The tools range from simple recommenders to decision support by interactive querying and comparison matrices. They were evaluated in a scenario-based experiment which varied the users’ task and motivation, with and without an advisor agent. The results show the tools and advisor were effective in supporting users and agreed with the predictions of ADM (adaptive decision making) theory, on which the design of the tools was based.

  12. Status of Design and Manufacturing of ITER 1st batch Assembly Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bae, Jin Ho; Nam, Kyoun Go; Chung, Si Kun; Ha, Min Su [ITER Korea National Fusion Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Geun Hong [ITER Organization, St Paul lez Durance (France)

    2016-05-15

    The ITER tokamak assembly tools are purpose-built and specially designed to complete the ITER tokamak machine which includes; Vacuum Vessel (VV), VV Thermal Shield (VVTS), Toroidal Field Coil (TFC) and other components contained in the cryostat. KODA has carried out the preliminary and final design of these assembly tools. This paper shows that the current status, first quarter of the 2016, including manufacturing of ITER 1st batch assembly tools and briefly summarized the design process through design work of Sector Sub-assembly Tool (SSAT) that is most important tool representing ITER 1st batch assembly tools. KODA (Korea Domestic Agency) should provide 128 kinds of the purpose-built assembly tools for ITER Tokamak machine, and the ITER 1st batch assembly tools are split into 3 groups. The FDR for Group A was performed in December 2014, and design of SSAT has been verified by FE analysis and engineering calculation using EN cords. The SSAT is now under manufacturing phase to meet the ITER milestone. After factory acceptance test of SSAT on end of 2016, the 1st SSAT will be delivered and arrived in ITER site on second quarter of the 2017.

  13. Design for Environment as a Tool for the Development of a Sustainable Supply Chain

    CERN Document Server

    Bevilacqua, Maurizio; Giacchetta, Giancarlo

    2012-01-01

    Environmental Design is becoming an increasingly significant agenda for many manufacturing companies and yet there is no standard to their approaches, strategies or their levels of execution. Applying Design for Environment (DfE) methodologies to develop a more sustainable supply chain has formed procedures and techniques which allow designers to integrate these methods with environmental supply chain management. Design for Environment as a Tool for the Development of a Sustainable Supply Chain aims to define relevant target specifications for a product throughout its life cycle; from conception and design to the end of its operating life.  Be considering this new approach to the supply chain, environmental responsiveness can work in tandem with sounds business management. The usual focus on suppliers, manufacturers and customers is expanded in Design for Environment as a Tool for the Development of a Sustainable Supply Chain to include stakeholders such as government bodies and recycling companies. The infl...

  14. Design principles of a web interface for monitoring tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aiftimiei, C; Pra, S D; Fantinel, S; Andreozzi, S; Fattibene, E; Misurelli, G; Cuscela, G; Donvito, G; Dudhalkar, V; Maggi, G; Pierro, A

    2008-01-01

    A monitoring tool of a complex Grid system can gather a huge amount of information that have to be presented to the users in the most comprehensive way. Moreover different types of consumers could be interested in inspecting and analyzing different subsets of data. The main goal in designing a Web interface for the presentation of monitoring information is to organize the huge amount of data in a simple, user-friendly and usable structure. One more problem is to consider different approaches, skills and interests that all the possible categories of users have in looking for the desired information. Starting from the Information Architecture guidelines for the Web, it is possible to design Web interfaces towards a closer user experience and to deal with an advanced user interaction through the implementation of many Web standard technologies. In this paper, we will present a number of principles for the design of Web interface for monitoring tools that provide a wider, richer range of possibilities for what concerns the user interaction. These principles are based on an extensive review of the current literature in Web design and on the experience with the development of the GridICE monitoring tool. The described principles can drive the evolution of the Web interface of Grid monitoring tools

  15. Software tools to aid Pascal and Ada program design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jankowitz, H.T.

    1987-01-01

    This thesis describes a software tool which analyses the style and structure of Pascal and Ada programs by ensuring that some minimum design requirements are fulfilled. The tool is used in much the same way as a compiler is used to teach students the syntax of a language, only in this case issues related to the design and structure of the program are of paramount importance. The tool operates by analyzing the design and structure of a syntactically correct program, automatically generating a report detailing changes that need to be made in order to ensure that the program is structurally sound. The author discusses how the model gradually evolved from a plagiarism detection system which extracted several measurable characteristics in a program to a model that analyzed the style of Pascal programs. In order to incorporate more-sophistical concepts like data abstraction, information hiding and data protection, this model was then extended to analyze the composition of Ada programs. The Ada model takes full advantage of facilities offered in the language and by using this tool the standard and quality of written programs is raised whilst the fundamental principles of program design are grasped through a process of self-tuition.

  16. Computing tools for implementing standards for single-case designs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Li-Ting; Peng, Chao-Ying Joanne; Chen, Ming-E

    2015-11-01

    In the single-case design (SCD) literature, five sets of standards have been formulated and distinguished: design standards, assessment standards, analysis standards, reporting standards, and research synthesis standards. This article reviews computing tools that can assist researchers and practitioners in meeting the analysis standards recommended by the What Works Clearinghouse: Procedures and Standards Handbook-the WWC standards. These tools consist of specialized web-based calculators or downloadable software for SCD data, and algorithms or programs written in Excel, SAS procedures, SPSS commands/Macros, or the R programming language. We aligned these tools with the WWC standards and evaluated them for accuracy and treatment of missing data, using two published data sets. All tools were tested to be accurate. When missing data were present, most tools either gave an error message or conducted analysis based on the available data. Only one program used a single imputation method. This article concludes with suggestions for an inclusive computing tool or environment, additional research on the treatment of missing data, and reasonable and flexible interpretations of the WWC standards. © The Author(s) 2015.

  17. Impact of design research on industrial practice tools, technology, and training

    CERN Document Server

    Lindemann, Udo

    2016-01-01

    Showcasing exemplars of how various aspects of design research were successfully transitioned into and influenced, design practice, this book features chapters written by eminent international researchers and practitioners from industry on the Impact of Design Research on Industrial Practice. Chapters written by internationally acclaimed researchers of design analyse the findings (guidelines, methods and tools), technologies/products and educational approaches that have been transferred as tools, technologies and people to transform industrial practice of engineering design, whilst the chapters that are written by industrial practitioners describe their experience of how various tools, technologies and training impacted design practice. The main benefit of this book, for educators, researchers and practitioners in (engineering) design, will be access to a comprehensive coverage of case studies of successful transfer of outcomes of design research into practice; as well as guidelines and platforms for successf...

  18. Design tools for computer-generated display of information to operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Brien, J.F.; Cain, D.G.; Sun, B.K.H.

    1985-01-01

    More and more computers are being used to process and display information to operators who control nuclear power plants. Implementation of computer-generated displays in power plant control rooms represents a considerable design challenge for industry designers. Over the last several years, the EPRI has conducted research aimed at providing industry designers tools to meet this new design challenge. These tools provide guidance in defining more 'intelligent' information for plant control and in developing effective displays to communicate this information to the operators. (orig./HP)

  19. Simulation tools for detector and instrument design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kanaki, Kalliopi; Kittelmann, Thomas; Cai, Xiao Xiao

    2018-01-01

    The high performance requirements at the European Spallation Source have been driving the technological advances on the neutron detector front. Now more than ever is it important to optimize the design of detectors and instruments, to fully exploit the ESS source brilliance. Most of the simulation...... a powerful set of tools to tailor the detector and instrument design to the instrument application....

  20. Design Tool for Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leban, Krisztina Monika

    . A comparison of the selected machine types in view of up-scaling to 20 [MW] was performed. As an example fitness criterion, the use of active materials for the generators was considered. Based on this, suggestions for 20 [MW] generators were made. The results are discussed and future work, directions......The current work offers a comparison of the proposed machine geometries for 6 [MW] direct drive wind generator candidates with the prospective of up scaling to 20MW. The suggestions are based on a design tool especially built for this investigation. The in-built flexibility of the design tool gives...

  1. Designing tools for oil exploration using nuclear modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauborgne Marie-Laure

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available When designing nuclear tools for oil exploration, one of the first steps is typically nuclear modeling for concept evaluation and initial characterization. Having an accurate model, including the availability of accurate cross sections, is essential to reduce or avoid time consuming and costly design iterations. During tool response characterization, modeling is benchmarked with experimental data and then used to complement and to expand the database to make it more detailed and inclusive of more measurement environments which are difficult or impossible to reproduce in the laboratory. We present comparisons of our modeling results obtained using the ENDF/B-VI and ENDF/B-VII cross section data bases, focusing on the response to a few elements found in the tool, borehole and subsurface formation. For neutron-induced inelastic and capture gamma ray spectroscopy, major obstacles may be caused by missing or inaccurate cross sections for essential materials. We show examples of the benchmarking of modeling results against experimental data obtained during tool characterization and discuss observed discrepancies.

  2. ANALYSING THE USE OF FOUR CREATIVITY TOOLS IN A CONSTRAINED DESIGN SITUATION

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Snider, C.M.; Dekoninck, E.A.; Yue, H.

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigates creativity tools and their use within highly constrained design tasks. Previously, a coding scheme was developed to classify design changes as ‘Creative Modes of Change’. The coding scheme is used to compare the outcomes from the use of four creative tools (supported design......) against unsupported design within a constrained task. The tools showed design space expansion, developing additional concepts to those from the unsupported stage. All four tools stimulated ‘Creative Modes of Change’, although the type varied depending on their operation. ‘Assumption Smashing......’ and the ‘Contradiction Matrix’ usually stimulate extra function; ‘Analogies’ and ‘Trends of Evolution’ improve design performance. The former two usually produce ‘Creative Modes of Change’ as opposed to routine. The results show some links between the designer’s driving force, mode of change and the design outcome. ‘New...

  3. DELTA.M: A tool for metropolitan designing systems

    OpenAIRE

    Tisma, A.

    2001-01-01

    This research deals with the development of a tool to enable designers, decision-makers and citizens to jointly shape the physical environments they inhabit, through interaction and communication via electronic networks. The designing of physical environment becomes the collective responsibility of all interested societal actors, who together form a "designing system". This research defines a 'designing system' as a temporary alliance of people responsible for decisions about the spatial deve...

  4. How Games are Designed to Increase Students’ Motivation in Learning Physics? A Literature Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tinedi, V.; Yohandri, Y.; Djamas, D.

    2018-04-01

    Game is a promising tool to help students in understanding physics concept. It can motivate and provide the opportunities for students to become independent in learning. In order to fulfil these functions, games should be carefully designed. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present how games are designed to increase students’ motivation in learning physics based on several literature reviews. The results showed that there are several ways to increase students’ motivation in learning physics and to achieve that, game dimensions are needed to be considered when designing a game. This literature review may have useful to assist teachers and contribute in improving the design of games.

  5. Modeling a Decision Support Tool for Buildable and Sustainable Building Envelope Designs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natee Singhaputtangkul

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability and buildability requirements in building envelope design have significantly gained more importance nowadays, yet there is a lack of an appropriate decision support system (DSS that can help a building design team to incorporate these requirements and manage their tradeoffs at once. The main objective of this study is to build such a tool to facilitate a building design team to take into account sustainability and buildability criteria for assessment of building envelopes of high-rise residential buildings in Singapore. Literature reviews were conducted to investigate a comprehensive set of the sustainability and buildability criteria. This also included development of the tool using a Quality Functional Deployment (QFD approach combined with fuzzy set theory. A building design team was engaged to test the tool with the aim to evaluate usefulness of the tool in managing the tradeoffs among the sustainability and buildability criteria. The results from a qualitative data analysis suggested that the tool allowed the design team to effectively find a balance between the tradeoffs among the criteria when assessing multiple building envelope design alternatives. Main contributions of using this tool are achievement of a more efficient assessment of the building envelopes and more sustainable and buildable building envelope design.

  6. iDoRNA: An Interacting Domain-based Tool for Designing RNA-RNA Interaction Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jittrawan Thaiprasit

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available RNA-RNA interactions play a crucial role in gene regulation in living organisms. They have gained increasing interest in the field of synthetic biology because of their potential applications in medicine and biotechnology. However, few novel regulators based on RNA-RNA interactions with desired structures and functions have been developed due to the challenges of developing design tools. Recently, we proposed a novel tool, called iDoDe, for designing RNA-RNA interacting sequences by first decomposing RNA structures into interacting domains and then designing each domain using a stochastic algorithm. However, iDoDe did not provide an optimal solution because it still lacks a mechanism to optimize the design. In this work, we have further developed the tool by incorporating a genetic algorithm (GA to find an RNA solution with maximized structural similarity and minimized hybridized RNA energy, and renamed the tool iDoRNA. A set of suitable parameters for the genetic algorithm were determined and found to be a weighting factor of 0.7, a crossover rate of 0.9, a mutation rate of 0.1, and the number of individuals per population set to 8. We demonstrated the performance of iDoRNA in comparison with iDoDe by using six RNA-RNA interaction models. It was found that iDoRNA could efficiently generate all models of interacting RNAs with far more accuracy and required far less computational time than iDoDe. Moreover, we compared the design performance of our tool against existing design tools using forty-four RNA-RNA interaction models. The results showed that the performance of iDoRNA is better than RiboMaker when considering the ensemble defect, the fitness score and computation time usage. However, it appears that iDoRNA is outperformed by NUPACK and RNAiFold 2.0 when considering the ensemble defect. Nevertheless, iDoRNA can still be an useful alternative tool for designing novel RNA-RNA interactions in synthetic biology research. The source code of i

  7. Tools for Real-Time Control Systems Co-Design - A Survey

    OpenAIRE

    Henriksson, Dan; El-Khoury, Jad; Årzén, Karl-Erik; Törngren, Martin; Redell, Ola

    2005-01-01

    This report presents a survey of current simulation tools in the area of integrated control and real-time systems design. Each tool is presented with a quick overview followed by a more detailed section describing comparative aspects of the tool. These aspects describe the context and purpose of the tool (scenarios, development stages, activities, and qualities/constraints being addressed) and the actual tool technology (tool architecture, inputs, outputs, modeling content, extensibility and ...

  8. Mindfully implementing simulation tools for supporting pragmatic design inquiries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartmann, Timo; olde Scholtenhuis, Léon Luc; Zerjav, Vedran; Champlin, Carissa J

    2015-01-01

    Based upon a conceptualization of the engineering design process as pragmatic inquiry, this paper introduces a framework for supporting designers and design managers with a better understanding of the trade-offs required for a successful implementation of simulation tools. This framework contributes

  9. Nonlinear Shaping Architecture Designed with Using Evolutionary Structural Optimization Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Januszkiewicz, Krystyna; Banachowicz, Marta

    2017-10-01

    The paper explores the possibilities of using Structural Optimization Tools (ESO) digital tools in an integrated structural and architectural design in response to the current needs geared towards sustainability, combining ecological and economic efficiency. The first part of the paper defines the Evolutionary Structural Optimization tools, which were developed specifically for engineering purposes using finite element analysis as a framework. The development of ESO has led to several incarnations, which are all briefly discussed (Additive ESO, Bi-directional ESO, Extended ESO). The second part presents result of using these tools in structural and architectural design. Actual building projects which involve optimization as a part of the original design process will be presented (Crematorium in Kakamigahara Gifu, Japan, 2006 SANAA“s Learning Centre, EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland 2008 among others). The conclusion emphasizes that the structural engineering and architectural design mean directing attention to the solutions which are used by Nature, designing works optimally shaped and forming their own environments. Architectural forms never constitute the optimum shape derived through a form-finding process driven only by structural optimization, but rather embody and integrate a multitude of parameters. It might be assumed that there is a similarity between these processes in nature and the presented design methods. Contemporary digital methods make the simulation of such processes possible, and thus enable us to refer back to the empirical methods of previous generations.

  10. Examination of CRISPR/Cas9 design tools and the effect of target site accessibility on Cas9 activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ciaran M; Davis, Timothy H; Bao, Gang

    2018-04-01

    What is the topic of this review? In this review, we analyse the performance of recently described tools for CRISPR/Cas9 guide RNA design, in particular, design tools that predict CRISPR/Cas9 activity. What advances does it highlight? Recently, many tools designed to predict CRISPR/Cas9 activity have been reported. However, the majority of these tools lack experimental validation. Our analyses indicate that these tools have poor predictive power. Our preliminary results suggest that target site accessibility should be considered in order to develop better guide RNA design tools with improved predictive power. The recent adaptation of the clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system for targeted genome engineering has led to its widespread application in many fields worldwide. In order to gain a better understanding of the design rules of CRISPR/Cas9 systems, several groups have carried out large library-based screens leading to some insight into sequence preferences among highly active target sites. To facilitate CRISPR/Cas9 design, these studies have spawned a plethora of guide RNA (gRNA) design tools with algorithms based solely on direct or indirect sequence features. Here, we demonstrate that the predictive power of these tools is poor, suggesting that sequence features alone cannot accurately inform the cutting efficiency of a particular CRISPR/Cas9 gRNA design. Furthermore, we demonstrate that DNA target site accessibility influences the activity of CRISPR/Cas9. With further optimization, we hypothesize that it will be possible to increase the predictive power of gRNA design tools by including both sequence and target site accessibility metrics. © 2017 The Authors. Experimental Physiology © 2017 The Physiological Society.

  11. Tool for assessing eco-efficiency in urban planning and design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lahti, P., Email: pekka.lahti@vtt.fi

    2012-06-15

    The goal of this project was to develop a fast, comprehensive and user-friendly eco-efficiency estimation method for urban development. A preliminary study concluded that urban planners, designers and architects lack a practical and comprehensive tool for the overall assessment of community-level ecological performance. The report on the tool itself concluded findings concerning the needs of urban planners and designers in the City of Helsinki, which were transferred to the structure and contents of the assessment tool. The project continues the development efforts during the next couple of years, integrating 14 partners. (orig.)

  12. Designing appropriate complementary feeding recommendations: tools for programmatic action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daelmans, Bernadette; Ferguson, Elaine; Lutter, Chessa K; Singh, Neha; Pachón, Helena; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary; Woldt, Monica; Mangasaryan, Nuné; Cheung, Edith; Mir, Roger; Pareja, Rossina; Briend, André

    2013-09-01

    Suboptimal complementary feeding practices contribute to a rapid increase in the prevalence of stunting in young children from age 6 months. The design of effective programmes to improve infant and young child feeding requires a sound understanding of the local situation and a systematic process for prioritizing interventions, integrating them into existing delivery platforms and monitoring their implementation and impact. The identification of adequate food-based feeding recommendations that respect locally available foods and address gaps in nutrient availability is particularly challenging. We describe two tools that are now available to strengthen infant and young child-feeding programming at national and subnational levels. ProPAN is a set of research tools that guide users through a step-by-step process for identifying problems related to young child nutrition; defining the context in which these problems occur; formulating, testing, and selecting behaviour-change recommendations and nutritional recipes; developing the interventions to promote them; and designing a monitoring and evaluation system to measure progress towards intervention goals. Optifood is a computer-based platform based on linear programming analysis to develop nutrient-adequate feeding recommendations at lowest cost, based on locally available foods with the addition of fortified products or supplements when needed, or best recommendations when the latter are not available. The tools complement each other and a case study from Peru illustrates how they have been used. The readiness of both instruments will enable partners to invest in capacity development for their use in countries and strengthen programmes to address infant and young child feeding and prevent malnutrition. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Comfort in using hand tools : theory, design and evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Kuijt-Evers, L.F.M.

    2007-01-01

    Everyone uses hand tools in their daily life, like knife and fork. Moreover, many people use hand tools in their profession as well as during leisure time. It is important that they can work with hand tools that provide comfort. Until now, the avoidance of discomfort was emphasized during the design process of hand tools, like screwdrivers, hand saws and paint brushes. In the near future, the focus will shift towards providing comfort. However, some questions need to be answered to make this ...

  14. New tool holder design for cryogenic machining of Ti6Al4V

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellin, Marco; Sartori, Stefano; Ghiotti, Andrea; Bruschi, Stefania

    2017-10-01

    The renewed demand of increasing the machinability of the Ti6Al4V titanium alloy to produce biomedical and aerospace parts working at high temperature has recently led to the application of low-temperature coolants instead of conventional cutting fluids to increase both the tool life and the machined surface integrity. In particular, the liquid nitrogen directed to the tool rake face has shown a great capability of reducing the temperature at the chip-tool interface, as well as the chemical interaction between the tool coating and the titanium to be machined, therefore limiting the tool crater wear, and improving, at the same time, the chip breakability. Furthermore, the nitrogen is a safe, non-harmful, non-corrosive, odorless, recyclable, non-polluting and abundant gas, characteristics that further qualify it as an environmental friendly coolant to be applied to machining processes. However, the behavior of the system composed by the tool and the tool holder, exposed to the cryogenics temperatures may represent a critical issue in order to obtain components within the required geometrical tolerances. On this basis, the paper aims at presenting the design of an innovative tool holder installed on a CNC lathe, which includes the cryogenic coolant provision system, and which is able to hinder the part possible distortions due to the liquid nitrogen adduction by stabilizing its dimensions through the use of heating cartridges and appropriate sensors to monitor the temperature evolution of the tool holder.

  15. Graphical Acoustic Liner Design and Analysis Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howerton, Brian M. (Inventor); Jones, Michael G. (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    An interactive liner design and impedance modeling tool comprises software utilized to design acoustic liners for use in constrained spaces, both regularly and irregularly shaped. A graphical user interface allows the acoustic channel geometry to be drawn in a liner volume while the surface impedance calculations are updated and displayed in real-time. A one-dimensional transmission line model may be used as the basis for the impedance calculations.

  16. ARCHITECTURAL FORM CREATION IN THE DESIGN STUDIO: PHYSICAL MODELING AS AN EFFECTIVE DESIGN TOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wael Abdelhameed

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available This research paper attempts to shed more light on an area of the design studio, which concerns with the use of physical modeling as a design medium in architectural form creation. An experiment has been carried out during an architectural design studio in order to not only investigate physical modeling as a tool of form creation but also improve visual design thinking that students employ while using this manual tool. To achieve the research objective, a method was proposed and applied to track form creation processes, based upon three types of operation, namely: sketching transformations, divergent physical-modeling transformations, and convergent physical-modeling transformations. The method helps record the innovative transitions of form during conceptual designing in a simple way. Investigating form creation processes and activities associated with visual design thinking enables the research to conclude to general results of the role of physical modeling in the conceptual phase of designing, and to specific results of the methods used in this architectural design studio experiment.

  17. Indoor Air Quality Design Tools for Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    The information available here is presented as a tool to help school districts and facility planners design the next generation of learning environments so that the school facility will help, rather than hinder, schools in achieving their core mission

  18. CRITON : A Hypermedia Design Tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Avgeriou, Paris; Retalis, Symeon

    2005-01-01

    The WWW has turned into a development and run-time environment for large-scale and complex applications. Such sophisticated applications are being deployed in increasing numbers without having been developed according to appropriate methodologies, tools and quality standards. The reason is not only

  19. A Gaussian decision-support tool for engineering design process

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rajabali Nejad, Mohammadreza; Spitas, Christos

    2013-01-01

    Decision-making in design is of great importance, resulting in success or failure of a system (Liu et al., 2010; Roozenburg and Eekels, 1995; Spitas, 2011a). This paper describes a robust decision-support tool for engineering design process, which can be used throughout the design process in either

  20. Status of Conceptual Design Progress for ITER Sector Sub-assembly Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nam, Kyoung O; Park, Hyun Ki; Kim, Dong Jin [National Fusion Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jae Hyuk; Kim, Kyung Kyu [SFA Engineering Corp., Changwon (Korea, Republic of); Im, Ki Hak; Robert, Shaw [ITER Organization, Paul lez Durance (France)

    2010-05-15

    The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Tokamak assembly tools are purpose-built tools to complete the ITER Tokamak machine which includes the cryostat and the components contained therein. Based on the design description document prepared by the ITER organization, Korea has carried out the conceptual design of assembly tools. The 40 .deg. sector assemblies sub-assembled at assembly hall are transferred to Tokamak hall using the lifting tool operated by Tokamak main cranes. In-pit assembly tools are the purpose-built assembly tools for the completion of final sector assembly at Tokamak hall. The 40 .deg. sector sub-assembly tools are composed of the upending tool, the sector sub-assembly tool, the sector lifting tool and the vacuum vessel support and bracing tools. The process of the ITER sector sub-assembly at assembly hall and status of research and development are described in this paper. The ITER Tokamak device is composed of 9 vacuum vessel (VV)/toroidal field coils (TFCs)/vacuum vessel thermal shields (VVTS) 40 .deg. sectors. Each VV/TFCs/VVTS 40 .deg. sector is made up of one 40 .deg. VV, two 20 .deg. TFCs and associated VVTS segments. The 40 .deg. sectors are sub-assembled at assembly hall respectively and then 9 sectors which sub-assembled at assembly hall are finally assembled at Tokamak hall. As a basic assembly component, the assembly strategy and tools for the 40 .deg. sector sub-assembly and final assembly at inpit should be developed to satisfy the basic assembly requirements of the ITER Tokamak device. Accordingly, the purpose-built assembly tools should be designed and manufactured considering assembly plan, available space, safety, easy operation, efficient maintenance, and so on. The 40 .deg. sector assembly tools are classified into 2 groups. One group is the sub-assembly tools including upending tool, lifting tool, sub-assembly tool, VV supports and bracing tools used at assembly hall and the other group is the in

  1. SCALES : A System Level Tool for Conceptual Design of Nano- and Microsatellites

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aas, C.; Zandbergen, B.T.C.; Hamann, R.J.; Gill, E.K.A.

    2009-01-01

    A satellite design tool has been developed offering systems engineers a fast way to analyze the feasibility of a particular design concept. The tool differs from available tools on the market in that it is specifically targeted at small satellites in the mass range of 1-50 kg, and with a limited

  2. Report on design rules of μ-tools for standard insert

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tosello, Guido; Esmoris, Josa Ignacio; Quadroni, A.

    2011-01-01

    -effectively, especially for micro injection moulding. This particular deliverable has the objective to present the design rules for high performance μ-tools and inserts manufacture based on the new standard manufacturing process chains established during the WP 2.2 work. In particular, the achievable features, surfaces......Tooling is one of the critical stages of the process chain for polymer micro products manufacture and in particular for the COTECH process chain. Therefore, within the scope of SP2 “Tooling”, the WP 2.2 “New tool-making solutions for μ-IM and HE” is designed to investigate, develop and standardize...

  3. Designing a tool for curriculum leadership development in postgraduate programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Avizhgan

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Leadership in the area of curriculum development is increasingly important as we look for ways to improve our programmes and practices. In curriculum studies, leadership has received little attention. Considering the lack of an evaluation tool with objective criteria in postgraduate curriculum leadership process, this study aimed to design a specific tool and determine the validity and reliability of the tool. Method: This study is a methodological research.  At first, domains and items of the tool were determined through expert interviews and literature review. Then, using Delphi technique, 54 important criteria were developed. A panel of experts was used to confirm content and face validity. Reliability was determined by a descriptive study in which 30 faculties from two of Isfahan universities and was estimated by internal consistency. The data were analyzed by SPSS software, using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and reliability analysis. Results: At first, considering the definition of curriculum leadership determined the domains and items of the tool and they were developed primary tool. Expert’s faculties’ views were used in deferent stages of development and psychometry. The tool internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha coefficient times was 96.5. This was determined for each domain separately. Conclution: Applying this instrument can improve the effectiveness of curriculum leadership. Identifying the characteristics of successful and effective leaders, and utilizing this knowledge in developing and implementing curriculum might help us to have better respond to the changing needs of our students, teachers and schools of tomorrow.

  4. Appendix to rationally designing of machine tools for example of universal lathe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pejović Branko B.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, for the universal machine tool for turning and function of the thrust of the cutting speed for blasting area efficiency and stability of the tool and sectional filings. These dependencies were used to determine the main characteristics of the optimal and maximum operating power equipment. Based on this, an analysis of the increase in operating power equipment typical cases in order to adapt to the new needs of exploitation properties and improve productivity. Using the previous analysis, it was determined the best solution in terms of the rational design of machines, by ensuring the simultaneous use of the main features on the basis of increase in speed with the use of tools and higher stability. In order to better display problems, an analysis of the appropriate diagrams P-V and V-D. On a typical example of the manufacturing practice at the end of the work, we demonstrate improvement of exploitation characteristics of a universal machine through appropriate calculations in terms of new needs adjustment feature, where it is expected that the reconstruction of the smallest machines.

  5. Integrated Design Tools for Embedded Control Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Jovanovic, D.S.; Hilderink, G.H.; Broenink, Johannes F.; Karelse, F.

    2001-01-01

    Currently, computer-based control systems are still being implemented using the same techniques as 10 years ago. The purpose of this project is the development of a design framework, consisting of tools and libraries, which allows the designer to build high reliable heterogeneous real-time embedded systems in a very short time at a fraction of the present day costs. The ultimate focus of current research is on transformation control laws to efficient concurrent algorithms, with concerns about...

  6. Proverbs : Probabilistic design tools for vertical breakwaters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oumeraci, H.; Allsop, N.W.H.; De Groot, M.B.; Crouch, R.S.; Vrijling, J.K.

    1999-01-01

    Final report and appendices of the European project Proverbs on tools for the design of vertical breakwaters (caisson type breakwaters) and similar hydraulic structures in the coastal zone. It includes the loads (waves) as well as the strength of the structure (geotechnial aspects, structural

  7. An Open-Source Tool Set Enabling Analog-Digital-Software Co-Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Collins

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an analog-digital hardware-software co-design environment for simulating and programming reconfigurable systems. The tool simulates, designs, as well as enables experimental measurements after compiling to configurable systems in the same integrated design tool framework. High level software in Scilab/Xcos (open-source programs similar to MATLAB/Simulink that converts the high-level block description by the user to blif format (sci2blif, which acts as an input to the modified VPR tool, including the code v p r 2 s w c s , encoding the specific platform through specific architecture files, resulting in a targetable switch list on the resulting configurable analog–digital system. The resulting tool uses an analog and mixed-signal library of components, enabling users and future researchers access to the basic analog operations/computations that are possible.

  8. PC Software graphics tool for conceptual design of space/planetary electrical power systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truong, Long V.

    1995-01-01

    This paper describes the Decision Support System (DSS), a personal computer software graphics tool for designing conceptual space and/or planetary electrical power systems. By using the DSS, users can obtain desirable system design and operating parameters, such as system weight, electrical distribution efficiency, and bus power. With this tool, a large-scale specific power system was designed in a matter of days. It is an excellent tool to help designers make tradeoffs between system components, hardware architectures, and operation parameters in the early stages of the design cycle. The DSS is a user-friendly, menu-driven tool with online help and a custom graphical user interface. An example design and results are illustrated for a typical space power system with multiple types of power sources, frequencies, energy storage systems, and loads.

  9. A software tool for design of process monitoring and analysis systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Singh, Ravendra; Gernaey, Krist; Gani, Rafiqul

    2009-01-01

    A well designed process monitoring and analysis system is necessary to consistently achieve any predefined end product quality. Systematic computer aided methods and tools provide the means to design the necessary process monitoring and analysis systems and/or to validate any existing monitoring...... and analysis system. A software to achieve this has been developed. Two developed supporting tools for the design, a knowledge base (consisting of the process knowledge as well as the knowledge on measurement methods & tools) and a model library (consisting of the process operational models) have been extended...... rigorously and integrated with the user interface, which made the software more generic and applicable to a wide range of problems. The software for the design of a process monitoring and analysis system is presented and illustrated with a tablet manufacturing process example....

  10. A tangible design tool for sketching materials in products

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Saakes, D.P.; Stappers, P.J.

    2009-01-01

    Industrial designers make sketches and physical models to start and develop ideas and concept designs. Such representations have advantages that they support fast, intuitive, rich, sensory exploration of solutions. Although existing tools and techniques provide adequate support where the shape of

  11. Virtual reality as a multidisciplinary convergence tool in the product design process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaël Guerlesquin

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays firms have to use concurrent design to meet customers’ expectations. A plural approach to the design process is essential. Unfortunately, the design activity involves experts specialized in various aspects of the product such as aesthetics, ergonomics and mechanics. Thus the collaboration between these experts is particularly difficult in the convergence steps and often results in complex adjustments. This paper details a proposition of design methodology based on a multidisciplinary approach, using virtual reality tools. Our goal is to facilitate the integration of ergonomics and aesthetics in a mechanical design process. In this context, we consider virtual reality as an intermediary design tool useful for collaborative decision support during convergence phases. We present our methodology and associated tools tested during an industrial project, by focusing on an aesthetics-mechanics convergence step.

  12. Design Tools and Workflows for Braided Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestartas, Petras; Heinrich, Mary Katherine; Zwierzycki, Mateusz

    2017-01-01

    the objectives and motivation for our exploration of braid within an architectural context and highlighting both the relevance of braid and current lack of suitable design modelling tools to support our approach. We briefly introduce the state-of-the-art in braid representation and present the characteristics...

  13. On the Integration of Digital Design and Analysis Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klitgaard, Jens; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2006-01-01

    The aim of this research is to look into integrated digital design and analysis tools in order to find out if it is suited for use by architects and designers or only by specialists and technicians - and if not, then to look at what can be done to make them more available to architects and design...

  14. The effect of ergonomic laparoscopic tool handle design on performance and efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tung, Kryztopher D; Shorti, Rami M; Downey, Earl C; Bloswick, Donald S; Merryweather, Andrew S

    2015-09-01

    Many factors can affect a surgeon's performance in the operating room; these may include surgeon comfort, ergonomics of tool handle design, and fatigue. A laparoscopic tool handle designed with ergonomic considerations (pistol grip) was tested against a current market tool with a traditional pinch grip handle. The goal of this study is to quantify the impact ergonomic design considerations which have on surgeon performance. We hypothesized that there will be measurable differences between the efficiency while performing FLS surgical trainer tasks when using both tool handle designs in three categories: time to completion, technical skill, and subjective user ratings. The pistol grip incorporates an ergonomic interface intended to reduce contact stress points on the hand and fingers, promote a more neutral operating wrist posture, and reduce hand tremor and fatigue. The traditional pinch grip is a laparoscopic tool developed by Stryker Inc. widely used during minimal invasive surgery. Twenty-three (13 M, 10 F) participants with no existing upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders or experience performing laparoscopic procedures were selected to perform in this study. During a training session prior to testing, participants performed practice trials in a SAGES FLS trainer with both tools. During data collection, participants performed three evaluation tasks using both handle designs (order was randomized, and each trial completed three times). The tasks consisted of FLS peg transfer, cutting, and suturing tasks. Feedback from test participants indicated that they significantly preferred the ergonomic pistol grip in every category (p < 0.05); most notably, participants experienced greater degrees of discomfort in their hands after using the pinch grip tool. Furthermore, participants completed cutting and peg transfer tasks in a shorter time duration (p < 0.05) with the pistol grip than with the pinch grip design; there was no significant difference between completion

  15. Tool design and materials for electro sinter forging (ESF)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cannella, Emanuele; Nielsen, Chris Valentin

    ) process, the main requirement is the electrical current passing through the electrical conducting powder. To obtain this, a closed-die setup with electrical insulating properties was used. Furthermore, the alignment between the compacting punch and die needed to be ensured by pre-aligning or alternatively...... by using an alignment system. The present work is focused on the designing phase of a tool for the electro sinter forging of a disc, made from titanium powder. By applying a pre-alignment system, the setup resulted suitable for this application. A tool design for sintering rings is also showed....

  16. Design of Friction Stir Welding Tool for Avoiding Root Flaws.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Shude; Xing, Jingwei; Yue, Yumei; Ma, Yinan; Zhang, Liguo; Gao, Shuangsheng

    2013-12-12

    In order to improve material flow behavior during friction stir welding and avoid root flaws of weld, a tool with a half-screw pin and a tool with a tapered-flute pin are suggested. The effect of flute geometry in tool pins on material flow velocity is investigated by the software ANSYS FLUENT. Numerical simulation results show that high material flow velocity appears near the rotational tool and material flow velocity rapidly decreases with the increase of distance away from the axis of the tool. Maximum material flow velocity by the tool with the tapered-flute pin appears at the beginning position of flute and the velocity decreases with the increase of flow length in flute. From the view of increasing the flow velocity of material near the bottom of the workpiece or in the middle of workpiece, the tool with the half-screw pin and the tool with the tapered-flute pin are both better than the conventional tool.

  17. Participatory design of probability-based decision support tools for in-hospital nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffery, Alvin D; Novak, Laurie L; Kennedy, Betsy; Dietrich, Mary S; Mion, Lorraine C

    2017-11-01

    To describe nurses' preferences for the design of a probability-based clinical decision support (PB-CDS) tool for in-hospital clinical deterioration. A convenience sample of bedside nurses, charge nurses, and rapid response nurses (n = 20) from adult and pediatric hospitals completed participatory design sessions with researchers in a simulation laboratory to elicit preferred design considerations for a PB-CDS tool. Following theme-based content analysis, we shared findings with user interface designers and created a low-fidelity prototype. Three major themes and several considerations for design elements of a PB-CDS tool surfaced from end users. Themes focused on "painting a picture" of the patient condition over time, promoting empowerment, and aligning probability information with what a nurse already believes about the patient. The most notable design element consideration included visualizing a temporal trend of the predicted probability of the outcome along with user-selected overlapping depictions of vital signs, laboratory values, and outcome-related treatments and interventions. Participants expressed that the prototype adequately operationalized requests from the design sessions. Participatory design served as a valuable method in taking the first step toward developing PB-CDS tools for nurses. This information about preferred design elements of tools that support, rather than interrupt, nurses' cognitive workflows can benefit future studies in this field as well as nurses' practice. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the United States.

  18. The ORNL Modulating Heat Pump Design Tool User's Guide

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rice, C.K.

    2001-06-01

    The ORNL Modulating Heat Pump Design Tool consists of a Modulating HPDM (Heat Pump Design Model) and a parametric-analysis (contour-data generating) front-end. Collectively the program is also referred to as MODCON which is in reference to the modulating and the contour data generating capabilities. The program was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy to provide a publicly-available system design tool for variable- and single-speed heat pumps.

  19. Automated Design Tools for Integrated Mixed-Signal Microsystems (NeoCAD)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Petre, P; Visher, J; Shringarpure, R; Valley, F; Swaminathan, M

    2005-01-01

    Automated design tools and integrated design flow methodologies were developed that demonstrated more than an order- of-magnitude reduction in cycle time and cost for mixed signal (digital/analoglRF...

  20. tkLayout: a Design Tool for Innovative Silicon Tracking Detectors

    CERN Document Server

    Bianchi, Giovanni

    2014-01-01

    A new CMS tracker is scheduled to become operational for the LHC Phase 2 upgrade in the early 2020's. tkLayout is a software package developed to create 3d models for the design of the CMS tracker and to evaluate its fundamental performance figures. The new tracker will have to cope with much higher luminosity conditions, resulting in increased track density, harsher radiation exposure and, especially, much higher data acquisition bandwidth, such that equipping the tracker with triggering capabilities is envisaged. The design of an innovative detector involves deciding on an architecture offering the best trade-off among many figures of merit, such as tracking resolution, power dissipation, bandwidth, cost and so on. Quantitatively evaluating these figures of merit as early as possible in the design phase is of capital importance and it is best done with the aid of software models. tkLayout is a flexible modeling tool: new performance estimates and support for different detector geometries can be quickly ad...

  1. Research on Key Technologies of Unit-Based CNC Machine Tool Assembly Design

    OpenAIRE

    Zhongqi Sheng; Lei Zhang; Hualong Xie; Changchun Liu

    2014-01-01

    Assembly is the part that produces the maximum workload and consumed time during product design and manufacturing process. CNC machine tool is the key basic equipment in manufacturing industry and research on assembly design technologies of CNC machine tool has theoretical significance and practical value. This study established a simplified ASRG for CNC machine tool. The connection between parts, semantic information of transmission, and geometric constraint information were quantified to as...

  2. Comparative study of electromagnetic compatibility methods in printed circuit board design tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marinova, Galia

    2002-01-01

    The paper considers the state-of-the art in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) oriented printed circuit board (PCB) design. A general methodology of EMC oriented PCB design is synthesized. The main CAD tools available today are estimated and compared for their abilities to treat EMC oriented design. To help non experts a knowledge-base containing more than 50 basic rules for EMC-oriented PCB design is proposed. It can be applied in the PCB design CAD tools that possess rule-builders or it can help interactive design. Trends in this area of EMC-oriented PCB design are deduced. (Author)

  3. Bridging the Design-Science Gap with Tools: Science Learning and Design Behaviors in a Simulated Environment for Engineering Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Jie; Xie, Charles; Nourian, Saeid; Chen, Guanhua; Bailey, Siobhan; Goldstein, Molly H.; Purzer, Senay; Adams, Robin S.; Tutwiler, M. Shane

    2017-01-01

    Many pedagogical innovations aim to integrate engineering design and science learning. However, students frequently show little attempt or have difficulties in connecting their design projects with the underlying science. Drawing upon the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, we argue that the design tools available in a learning environment…

  4. Interactive tool that empowers structural understanding and enables FEM analysis in a parametric design environment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Jesper Thøger; Parigi, Dario; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2014-01-01

    This paper introduces an interactive tool developed to integrate structural analysis in the architectural design environment from the early conceptual design stage. The tool improves exchange of data between the design environment of Rhino Grasshopper and the FEM analysis of Autodesk Robot...... Structural Analysis. Further the tool provides intuitive setup and visual aids in order to facilitate the process. Enabling students and professionals to quickly analyze and evaluate multiple design variations. The tool has been developed inside the Performance Aided Design course at the Master...... of Architecture and Design at Aalborg University...

  5. Instruments of Inquiry: Understanding the Nature and Role of Design Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dalsgaard, Peter

    2017-01-01

    Designers employ a range of tools in most design projects, yet there are few frameworks for understanding how and why they work. On the basis of a well-established school of thought, pragmatism, this paper contributes with a coherent conceptualisation of tools in design, which I label instruments...... of inquiry. This perspective underscores the crucial role that instruments play in design, and the ways in which they scaffold design creativity and exploration. In particular, it highlights that instruments not only augment our capabilities for carrying out intended actions, they also guide our perception...... and understanding of design problems and solutions. I present and discuss a framework consisting of five qualities of instruments of inquiry, which make them valuable in designerly inquiry: perception, conception, externalisation, knowing-through-action, and mediation....

  6. Improving design processes through structured reflection : a prototype software tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reymen, I.M.M.J.; Melby, E.

    2001-01-01

    A prototype software tool facilitating the use of a design method supporting structured reflection on design processes is presented. The prototype, called Echo, has been developed to explore the benefits of using a software system to facilitate the use of the design method. Both the prototype

  7. Climate-responsive design: A framework for an energy concept design-decision support tool for architects using principles of climate-responsive design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remco Looman

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In climate-responsive design the building becomes an intermediary in its own energy housekeeping, forming a link between the harvest of climate resources and low energy provision of comfort. Essential here is the employment of climate-responsive building elements, defined as structural and architectural elements in which the energy infrastructure is far-reaching integrated. This thesis presents the results of research conducted on what knowledge is needed in the early stages of the design process and how to transfer and transform that knowledge to the field of the architect in order for them to successfully implement the principles of climate-responsive design. The derived content, form and functional requirements provide the framework for a design decision support tool. These requirements were incorporated into a concept tool that has been presented to architects in the field, in order to gain their feedback. Climate-responsive design makes the complex task of designing even more complex. Architects are helped when sufficient information on the basics of climate-responsive design and its implications are provided as informative support during decision making in the early design stages of analysis and energy concept development. This informative support on climate-responsive design should address to different design styles in order to be useful to any type of architects. What is defined as comfortable has far-reaching implications for the way buildings are designed and how they operate. This in turn gives an indication of the energy used for maintaining a comfortable indoor environment. Comfort is not a strict situation, but subjective. Diversity is appreciated and comfort is improved when users have the ability to exert influence on their environment. Historically, the provision of comfort has led to the adoption of mechanical climate control systems that operate in many cases indifferent from the building space and mass and its environment

  8. Toxic release consequence analysis tool (TORCAT) for inherently safer design plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shariff, Azmi Mohd; Zaini, Dzulkarnain

    2010-01-01

    Many major accidents due to toxic release in the past have caused many fatalities such as the tragedy of MIC release in Bhopal, India (1984). One of the approaches is to use inherently safer design technique that utilizes inherent safety principle to eliminate or minimize accidents rather than to control the hazard. This technique is best implemented in preliminary design stage where the consequence of toxic release can be evaluated and necessary design improvements can be implemented to eliminate or minimize the accidents to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) without resorting to costly protective system. However, currently there is no commercial tool available that has such capability. This paper reports on the preliminary findings on the development of a prototype tool for consequence analysis and design improvement via inherent safety principle by utilizing an integrated process design simulator with toxic release consequence analysis model. The consequence analysis based on the worst-case scenarios during process flowsheeting stage were conducted as case studies. The preliminary finding shows that toxic release consequences analysis tool (TORCAT) has capability to eliminate or minimize the potential toxic release accidents by adopting the inherent safety principle early in preliminary design stage.

  9. Equipment and special tool design for remote maintenance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Northey, L.M.; Thomson, J.D.

    1985-01-01

    Maintenance tasks performed in locations with hostile environments and/or limited space accesses often require equipment that is operated remotely. This paper discusses considerations that should be addressed in the design of remote maintenance equipment. Some of the topics include proper material selection, interface identifications, operational feedback devices and cost limitations. These considerations add ''human engineering'' to the equipment design to assure protection of the tool and the operating personnel. Examples of remote maintenance and inspection systems that were developed by the Westinghouse Hanford Company and that utilize many of these design considerations are included

  10. Development of design evaluation tools for the JSFR fuel transfer pot

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chikazawa, Yoshitaka, E-mail: chikazawa.yoshitaka@jaea.go.jp [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 4002 Narita, Oarai, Higashi-ibaraki-gun, Ibaraki 311-1393 (Japan); Hirata, Shingo [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 4002 Narita, Oarai, Higashi-ibaraki-gun, Ibaraki 311-1393 (Japan); Obata, Hiroyuki [Japan Atomic Power Company Ltd., 1-1, Mitoshiro-chyo, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0053 (Japan)

    2014-07-01

    Highlights: • JSFR is going to adopt an advanced fuel handling system. • A three dimensional analysis model for heat transfer evaluation of the JSFR fuel transfer pot has been developed. • The heat transfer models inside and outside the pot have been validated by reference experiments. • For a simpler design tool, a two dimensional analysis model has been developed. - Abstract: JSFR is going to adopt an advanced fuel handling system. As for ex-vessel spent fuel handling, a transfer pot with two fuel subassembly positions has been developed so as to shorten refueling period increasing plant availability. The pot is required to provide sufficient cooling capability in case of transportation malfunction. In this study, a three dimensional analysis model for heat transfer evaluation of the JSFR fuel transfer pot has been developed. The heat transfer models inside and outside the pot have been validated by reference experiments. Using the developed three-dimensional model, the JSFR fuel transfer pot has been analyzed. For a simpler design tool, a two dimensional analysis model has been developed. Comparison of the three and two dimensional analyses shows that two dimensional analyses could estimate pot cooling performance conservatively.

  11. Design tool for TOF and SL based 3D cameras.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouquet, Gregory; Thorstensen, Jostein; Bakke, Kari Anne Hestnes; Risholm, Petter

    2017-10-30

    Active illumination 3D imaging systems based on Time-of-flight (TOF) and Structured Light (SL) projection are in rapid development, and are constantly finding new areas of application. In this paper, we present a theoretical design tool that allows prediction of 3D imaging precision. Theoretical expressions are developed for both TOF and SL imaging systems. The expressions contain only physically measurable parameters and no fitting parameters. We perform 3D measurements with both TOF and SL imaging systems, showing excellent agreement between theoretical and measured distance precision. The theoretical framework can be a powerful 3D imaging design tool, as it allows for prediction of 3D measurement precision already in the design phase.

  12. IT-tool Concept for Design and Intelligent Motion Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conrad, Finn; Hansen, Poul Erik; Sørensen, Torben

    2000-01-01

    The paper presents results obtained from a Danish mechatronic research program focusing on intelligent motion control as well as results from the Esprit project SWING on IT-tools for rapid prototyping of fluid power components and systems. A mechatronic test facility with digital controllers for ....... Furthermore, a developed IT-tool concept for controller and system design utilising the ISO 10303 STEP Standard is proposed....

  13. Validation of designing tools as part of nuclear pump development process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klemm, T.; Sehr, F.; Spenner, P.; Fritz, J.

    2010-01-01

    Nuclear pumps are characterized by high safety standards, operational reliability as well as long life cycles. For the design process it is of common use to have a down scaled model pump to qualify operating data and simulate exceptional operating conditions. In case of modifications of the pump design compared to existing reactor coolant pumps a model pump is required to develop methods and tools to design the full scale pump. In the presented case it has a geometry scale of 1:2 regarding the full scale pump size. The experimental data of the model pump is basis for validation of methods and tools which are applied in the designing process of the full scale pump. In this paper the selection of qualified tools and the validation process is demonstrated exemplarily on a cooling circuit. The aim is to predict the resulting flow rate. Tools are chosen for different components depending on the benefit to effort ratio. For elementary flow phenomena such as fluid flow in straight pipes or gaps analytic or empirical laws can be used. For more complex flow situations numerical methods are utilized. Main focus is set on the validation process of the applied numerical flow simulation. In this case not only integral data should be compared, it is also necessary to validate local flow structure of numerical flow simulation to avoid systematic errors in CFD Model generation. Due to complex design internal flow measurements are not possible. On that reason simple comparisons of similar flow test cases are used. Results of this study show, that the flow simulation data closely match measured integral pump and test case data. With this validation it is now possible to qualify CFD simulations as a design tool for the full scale pump in similar cooling circuit. (authors)

  14. Design of a novel parallel reconfigurable machine tool

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Modungwa, D

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available of meeting the demands for high mechanical dexterity adaptation as well as high stiffness necessary for mould and die re-conditioning. This paper presents, the design of parallel reconfigurable machine tool (PRMT) based on both application...

  15. ErgoTMC, A New Tool For Human-Centered TMC Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-04-01

    The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has recently made available a new tool to assist Transportation Management Center (TMC) managers and designers in incorporating human-centered design principles into their TMCs. ErgoTMC, a web site tailored t...

  16. Innovated Conceptual Design of Loading Unloading Tool for Livestock at the Port

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mustakim, Achmad; Hadi, Firmanto

    2018-03-01

    The condition of loading and unloading process of livestock in a number of Indonesian ports doesn’t meet the principle of animal welfare, which makes cattle lose weight and injury when unloaded. Livestock loading and unloading is done by throwing cattle into the sea one by one, tying cattle hung with a sling strap and push the cattle to the berth directly. This process is against PP. 82 year 2000 on Article 47 and 55 about animal welfare. Innovation of loading and unloading tools design offered are loading and unloading design with garbarata. In the design of loading and unloading tools with garbarata, apply the concept of semi-horizontal hydraulic ladder that connects the ship and truck directly. This livestock unloading equipment design innovation is a combination of fire extinguisher truck design and bridge equipped with weightlifting equipment. In 10 years of planning garbarata, requires a total cost of IDR 321,142,921; gets benefits IDR 923,352,333; and BCR (Benefit-Cost Ratio) Value worth 2.88. BCR value >1 means the tool is feasible applied. The designs of this loading and unloading tools are estimated up to 1 hour faster than existing way. It can also minimize risks such as injury and also weight reduction livestock agencies significantly.

  17. Process development and tooling design for intrinsic hybrid composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riemer, M.; Müller, R.; Drossel, W. G.; Landgrebe, D.

    2017-09-01

    Hybrid parts, which combine the advantages of different material classes, are moving into the focus of lightweight applications. This development is amplified by their high potential for usage in the field of crash relevant structures. By the current state of the art, hybrid parts are mainly made in separate, subsequent forming and joining processes. By using the concept of an intrinsic hybrid, the shaping of the part and the joining of the different materials are performed in a single process step for shortening the overall processing time and thereby the manufacturing costs. The investigated hybrid part is made from continuous fibre reinforced plastic (FRP), in which a metallic reinforcement structure is integrated. The connection between these layered components is realized by a combination of adhesive bonding and a geometrical form fit. The form fit elements are intrinsically generated during the forming process. This contribution regards the development of the forming process and the design of the forming tool for the single step production of a hybrid part. To this end a forming tool, which combines the thermo-forming and the metal forming process, is developed. The main challenge by designing the tool is the temperature management of the tool elements for the variothermal forming process. The process parameters are determined in basic tests and finite element (FE) simulation studies. On the basis of these investigations a control concept for the steering of the motion axes and the tool temperature is developed. Forming tests are carried out with the developed tool and the manufactured parts are analysed by computer assisted tomography (CT) scans.

  18. Status of Preliminary Design on the Assembly Tools for ITER Tokamak Machine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nam, Kyoung O; Park, Hyun Ki; Kim, Dong Jin; Moon, Jae Hwan; Kim, Byung Seok; Lee, Jae Hyuk; Shaw, Robert

    2012-01-01

    The ITER Tokamak device is principally composed of nine 40 .deg. sectors. Each 40 .deg. sector is made up of one 40 .deg. vacuum vessel (VV), two 20 .deg. toroidal filed coils (TFC) and associated vacuum vessel thermal shield (VVTS) segments which consist of one inboard and two outboard vacuum vessel thermal shields. Based on the design description document and final report prepared by the ITER organization (IO) and conceptual design, Korea has carried out the preliminary design of these assembly tools. The assembly strategy and relevant tools for the 40 .deg. sector sub-assembly and sector assembly at in-pit should be developed to satisfy the basic assembly requirements of the ITER Tokamak machine. Assembly strategy, preliminary design of the sector sub-assembly and assembly tools are described in this paper

  19. DESIGN OF A SUPERBIKE PADDOCK STAND USING CAD AND CAE TOOLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.H. Mohd Noh

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Two people are required to operate current superbike paddock stands in order to elevate the superbike. Lifting the superbike alone using the current design of paddock stand may be impractical and inconvenient for users. To overcome this limitation, a new design of a superbike paddock stand was conceived that could be operated by a single user. CAD and CAE tools using CATIA V5R18 software were utilised in designing this new stand. A 3D CAD model was developed and analysed through finite element analysis (FEA and a prototype fabricated for verification testing of the design. The use of CAD and CAE tools saved much time in the design work and gave the researchers and designers freedom in producing their own design. However, the most important aspect of this design study was to design a superbike paddock stand that is more practical and convenient for operation by a single user.

  20. Establishing Design Strategies and an Assessment Tool of Home Appliances to Promote Sustainable Behavior for the New Poor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jui-Che Tu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Environmental benefits related to home appliance life cycles depend on how these products are used. Designing home appliances that promote sustainable behavior is an effective way to reduce environmental impacts. This study aimed to increase relevant opportunities for promoting sustainable behavior practices on the new poor through home appliances, which is rarely discussed in the fields of design for sustainable behavior (DfSB and product design. In particular, relevant assessment tools or indicators are lacking in DfSB, and people’s use of home appliances is generally unsustainable. Therefore, repertory grid technology was used to understand the perceptions of the new poor, develop an assessment tool, and construct design strategies for home appliances that promote sustainable behavior. Data were collected from the new poor and from designers. Through cluster and principal component analyses, three strategy types were proposed that corresponded to different product features, suggestions, and guidance. In addition, the effectiveness and potential of an assessment tool were demonstrated using the Wilcoxon rank test. The findings could be used by designers, retailers, and green marketers to propose effective product design programs that promote sustainable behavior of the new poor during product use.

  1. Design of Friction Stir Spot Welding Tools by Using a Novel Thermal-Mechanical Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Zheng-Ming; Qiu, Qi-Hong; Lin, Pai-Chen

    2016-08-09

    A simple thermal-mechanical model for friction stir spot welding (FSSW) was developed to obtain similar weld performance for different weld tools. Use of the thermal-mechanical model and a combined approach enabled the design of weld tools for various sizes but similar qualities. Three weld tools for weld radii of 4, 5, and 6 mm were made to join 6061-T6 aluminum sheets. Performance evaluations of the three weld tools compared fracture behavior, microstructure, micro-hardness distribution, and welding temperature of welds in lap-shear specimens. For welds made by the three weld tools under identical processing conditions, failure loads were approximately proportional to tool size. Failure modes, microstructures, and micro-hardness distributions were similar. Welding temperatures correlated with frictional heat generation rate densities. Because the three weld tools sufficiently met all design objectives, the proposed approach is considered a simple and feasible guideline for preliminary tool design.

  2. Tool-based requirement traceability between requirement and design artifacts

    CERN Document Server

    Turban, Bernhard

    2013-01-01

    Processes for developing safety-critical systems impose special demands on ensuring requirements traceability. Achieving valuable traceability information, however, is especially difficult concerning the transition from requirements to design. Bernhard Turban analyzes systems and software engineering theories cross-cutting the issue (embedded systems development, systems engineering, software engineering, requirements engineering and management, design theory and processes for safety-critical systems). As a solution, the author proposes a new tool approach to support designers in their thinkin

  3. A review of electronic engineering design free software tools

    OpenAIRE

    Medrano Sánchez, Carlos; Plaza García, Inmaculada; Castro Gil, Manuel Alonso; García Sevilla, Francisco; Martínez Calero, J.D.; Pou Félix, Josep; Corbalán Fuertes, Montserrat

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we review electronic design free software tools. We have searched open source programs that help with several tasks of the electronic design flow: analog and digital simulation, schematic capture, printed circuit board design and hardware description language compilation and simulation. Using some rapid criteria for verifying their availability, we have selected some of them which are worth working with. This work intends to perform a deeper analysis of fre...

  4. New tools for the simulation and design of calorimeters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Womersley, W.J.

    1989-01-01

    Two new approaches to the simulation and design of large hermetic calorimeters are presented. Firstly, the Shower Library scheme used in the fast generation of showers in the Monte Carlo of the calorimeter for the D-Zero experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron is described. Secondly, a tool for the design future calorimeters is described, which can be integrated with a computer aided design system to give engineering designers an immediate idea of the relative physics capabilities of different geometries. 9 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab

  5. Hygrothermal Simulation: A Tool for Building Envelope Design Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuel V. Glass; Anton TenWolde; Samuel L. Zelinka

    2013-01-01

    Is it possible to gauge the risk of moisture problems while designing the building envelope? This article provides a brief introduction to computer-based hygrothermal (heat and moisture) simulation, shows how simulation can be useful as a design tool, and points out a number of im-portant considerations regarding model inputs and limita-tions. Hygrothermal simulation...

  6. Justifying the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Whitehead

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justify what they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into best practice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school literacy initiative in New Zealand, together with recent research from cognitive and neuro-psychologists, it is argued that the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools used in elementary schools should be consistent with (i teaching focused (ii learner focused, (iii thought linked (iv neurologically consistent, (v subject specific, (vi text linked, (vii developmentally appropriate, and (viii assessment linked criteria.

  7. DESIGN METHODOLOGIES AND TOOLS FOR SINGLE-FLUX QUANTUM LOGIC CIRCUITS

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-01

    Determine GLOBAL CLK DEF or NETLIST Produce results END STA TOOL Determine clocking scheme Determine system clock Determine slack and other path...times. It also enables the designer to input a target time for the design which produces a slack value. Positive slack meaning that the critical time is...less than the target time and the design meets the speed requirements set by the designer. A negative slack value indicates that the design does

  8. Tools for environmental simulations and calculations in an Integrated Design Process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Mads Dines; Knudstrup, Mary-Ann

    2010-01-01

    to address environmental issues. This paper in specific takes its starting point in a student project where the student is working with a building complex that have to fulfill the passive house standards and through that the student explores the use of the simulation and calculation tools in the design...... the possibilities of interoperability and the different possibilities are utilized pointing towards a heavier focus of the utilization of BIM tools in the design process from the first stages....

  9. A critical review of environmental assessment tools for sustainable urban design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ameen, Raed Fawzi Mohammed; Mourshed, Monjur; Li, Haijiang

    2015-01-01

    Cities are responsible for the depletion of natural resources and agricultural lands, and 70% of global CO 2 emissions. There are significant risks to cities from the impacts of climate change in addition to existing vulnerabilities, primarily because of rapid urbanization. Urban design and development are generally considered as the instrument to shape the future of the city and they determine the pattern of a city's resource usage and resilience to change, from climate or otherwise. Cities are inherently dynamic and require the participation and engagement of their diverse stakeholders for the effective management of change, which enables wider stakeholder involvement and buy-in at various stages of the development process. Sustainability assessment of urban design and development is increasingly being seen as indispensable for informed decision-making. A sustainability assessment tool also acts as a driver for the uptake of sustainable pathways by recognizing excellence through their rating system and by creating a market demand for sustainable products and processes. This research reviews six widely used sustainability assessment tools for urban design and development: BREEAM Communities, LEED-ND, CASBEE-UD, SBTool PT –UP, Pearl Community Rating System (PCRS) and GSAS/QSAS, to identify, compare and contrast the aim, structure, assessment methodology, scoring, weighting and suitability for application in different geographical contexts. Strengths and weaknesses of each tool are critically discussed. The study highlights the disparity in local and international contexts for global sustainability assessment tools. Despite their similarities in aim on environmental aspects, differences exist in the relative importance and share of mandatory vs optional indicators in both environmental and social dimensions. PCRS and GSAS/QSAS are new incarnations, but have widely varying shares of mandatory indicators, at 45.4% and 11.36% respectively, compared to 30% in

  10. A critical review of environmental assessment tools for sustainable urban design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ameen, Raed Fawzi Mohammed, E-mail: MohammedAmeenRF@cardiff.ac.uk [BRE Centre of Sustainable Construction, School of Engineering, The Parade, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom); Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Karbala (Iraq); Mourshed, Monjur, E-mail: MourshedM@cardiff.ac.uk [BRE Centre of Sustainable Construction, School of Engineering, The Parade, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom); Li, Haijiang, E-mail: LiH@cardiff.ac.uk [BRE Centre of Sustainable Construction, School of Engineering, The Parade, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)

    2015-11-15

    Cities are responsible for the depletion of natural resources and agricultural lands, and 70% of global CO{sub 2} emissions. There are significant risks to cities from the impacts of climate change in addition to existing vulnerabilities, primarily because of rapid urbanization. Urban design and development are generally considered as the instrument to shape the future of the city and they determine the pattern of a city's resource usage and resilience to change, from climate or otherwise. Cities are inherently dynamic and require the participation and engagement of their diverse stakeholders for the effective management of change, which enables wider stakeholder involvement and buy-in at various stages of the development process. Sustainability assessment of urban design and development is increasingly being seen as indispensable for informed decision-making. A sustainability assessment tool also acts as a driver for the uptake of sustainable pathways by recognizing excellence through their rating system and by creating a market demand for sustainable products and processes. This research reviews six widely used sustainability assessment tools for urban design and development: BREEAM Communities, LEED-ND, CASBEE-UD, SBTool{sup PT}–UP, Pearl Community Rating System (PCRS) and GSAS/QSAS, to identify, compare and contrast the aim, structure, assessment methodology, scoring, weighting and suitability for application in different geographical contexts. Strengths and weaknesses of each tool are critically discussed. The study highlights the disparity in local and international contexts for global sustainability assessment tools. Despite their similarities in aim on environmental aspects, differences exist in the relative importance and share of mandatory vs optional indicators in both environmental and social dimensions. PCRS and GSAS/QSAS are new incarnations, but have widely varying shares of mandatory indicators, at 45.4% and 11.36% respectively, compared to

  11. The PDS4 Data Dictionary Tool - Metadata Design for Data Preparers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raugh, A.; Hughes, J. S.

    2017-12-01

    One of the major design goals of the PDS4 development effort was to create an extendable Information Model (IM) for the archive, and to allow mission data designers/preparers to create extensions for metadata definitions specific to their own contexts. This capability is critical for the Planetary Data System - an archive that deals with a data collection that is diverse along virtually every conceivable axis. Amid such diversity in the data itself, it is in the best interests of the PDS archive and its users that all extensions to the IM follow the same design techniques, conventions, and restrictions as the core implementation itself. But it is unrealistic to expect mission data designers to acquire expertise in information modeling, model-driven design, ontology, schema formulation, and PDS4 design conventions and philosophy in order to define their own metadata. To bridge that expertise gap and bring the power of information modeling to the data label designer, the PDS Engineering Node has developed the data dictionary creation tool known as "LDDTool". This tool incorporates the same software used to maintain and extend the core IM, packaged with an interface that enables a developer to create his extension to the IM using the same, standards-based metadata framework PDS itself uses. Through this interface, the novice dictionary developer has immediate access to the common set of data types and unit classes for defining attributes, and a straight-forward method for constructing classes. The more experienced developer, using the same tool, has access to more sophisticated modeling methods like abstraction and extension, and can define context-specific validation rules. We present the key features of the PDS Local Data Dictionary Tool, which both supports the development of extensions to the PDS4 IM, and ensures their compatibility with the IM.

  12. On Computational Fluid Dynamics Tools in Architectural Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Hougaard, Mads; Stærdahl, Jesper Winther

    engineering computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation program ANSYS CFX and a CFD based representative program RealFlow are investigated. These two programs represent two types of CFD based tools available for use during phases of an architectural design process. However, as outlined in two case studies...

  13. Ecological Interface Design of a Tactical Airborne Separation Assistance Tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Dam, S.; Mulder, M.; Van Paassen, M.M.

    2008-01-01

    In a free-flight airspace environment, pilots have more freedom to choose user-preferred trajectories. An onboard pilot support system is needed that exploits travel freedom while maintaining spatial separation with other traffic. Ecological interface design is used to design an interface tool that

  14. A Conceptual Design and Structural Analysis for ITER Mid-plane Brace Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nam, Kyoung O; Park, Hyun Ki; Kim, Dong Jin [National Fusion Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jae Hyuk; Kim, Kyung kyu [SFA Engineering Corp., Changwon (Korea, Republic of); Im, Kihak; Robert, Shaw [ITER Organization, St Paul lez Durance Cedex (France)

    2010-10-15

    The ITER, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, Tokamak machine is mainly composed of 9 vacuum vessel (VV)/toroidal field coils (TFCs)/vacuum vessel thermal shields (VVTS) 40 .deg. sectors. Each VV/TFCs/VVTS 40 .deg. sector is made up of one 40 .deg. VV, two 20 .deg. TFCs and associated VVTS segments. The ITER Tokamak assembly tools are purpose-built tools to assemble the ITER Tokamak machine which includes the cryostat and the components contained therein. Based on the design description document prepared by the IO (ITER international organization), Korea has carried out the conceptual design of assembly tools with IO cooperation. The 40 .deg. sector assemblies attached mid-plane brace tools sub-assembled at assembly hall are transferred to Tokamak hall using the lifting tool operated by Tokamak main cranes. The sector sub-assembly tools are composed of the upending tool, the sector sub-assembly tool, the sector lifting tool and the vacuum vessel support and mid-plane brace tools. The mid-plane brace tool is assembled to inner surface of VV and TFCs in phase of sector sub-assembly after completion of all sector components. VV, TFC and VVTS are separated fully before completion of 9 sectors at Tokamak in-pit. In this paper the mid-plane brace tools is introduced about function, structure and status of research and development are also described

  15. Providing guidance in virtual lab experimentation : the case of an experiment design tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Efstathiou, Charalampos; Hovardas, Tasos; Xenofontos, Nikoletta A.; Zacharia, Zacharias C.; de Jong, Ton A.J.M.; Anjewierden, Anjo; van Riesen, Siswa A.N.

    2018-01-01

    The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to assess a computer-based tool, which was intended to scaffold the task of designing experiments when using a virtual lab for the process of experimentation. In particular, we assessed the impact of this tool on primary school students’

  16. The design process and the use of computerized tools in control room design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wahlstroem, B.; Heinonen, R.; Ranta, J.; Haarla, J.

    1985-09-01

    Control room design has proven an important component when the safety and availability of a complex industrial process plant are considered. Many control room deficiencies can be traced back to oversights and other errors during the design process. The introduction of powerful computers and software for computer-aided design (CAD) offers one possibility when tools for improving the quality of design are being selected. The report gives a broad assessment of problems of design and the benefits of using computer-aided design. One proposal for a structure of a computer-aided design system is considered in more detail. In this system special emphasis has been laid on dealing with requirements during design process. A demonstration system has been built and sample system user dialogues are described. The report is the final report of the LIT3.1 project of the Nordic cooperation on human reliability in the energy production field. (author)

  17. Development of reactor design aid tool using virtual reality technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mizuguchi, N.; Tamura, Y.; Imagawa, S.; Sagara, A.; Hayashi, T.

    2006-01-01

    A new type of aid system for fusion reactor design, to which the virtual reality (VR) visualization and sonification techniques are applied, is developed. This system provides us with an intuitive interaction environment in the VR space between the observer and the designed objects constructed by the conventional 3D computer-aided design (CAD) system. We have applied the design aid tool to the heliotron-type fusion reactor design activity FFHR2m [A. Sagara, S. Imagawa, O. Mitarai, T. Dolan, T. Tanaka, Y. Kubota, et al., Improved structure and long -life blanket concepts for heliotron reactors, Nucl. Fusion 45 (2005) 258-263] on the virtual reality system CompleXcope [Y. Tamura, A. Kageyama, T. Sato, S. Fujiwara, H. Nakamura, Virtual reality system to visualize and auralize numerical imulation data, Comp. Phys. Comm. 142 (2001) 227-230] of the National Institute for Fusion Science, Japan, and have evaluated its performance. The tool includes the functions of transfer of the observer, translation and scaling of the objects, recording of the operations and the check of interference

  18. Synthetic RNAs for Gene Regulation: Design Principles and Computational Tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laganà, Alessandro; Shasha, Dennis; Croce, Carlo Maria

    2014-01-01

    The use of synthetic non-coding RNAs for post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression has not only become a standard laboratory tool for gene functional studies but it has also opened up new perspectives in the design of new and potentially promising therapeutic strategies. Bioinformatics has provided researchers with a variety of tools for the design, the analysis, and the evaluation of RNAi agents such as small-interfering RNA (siRNA), short-hairpin RNA (shRNA), artificial microRNA (a-miR), and microRNA sponges. More recently, a new system for genome engineering based on the bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 system (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), was shown to have the potential to also regulate gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional level in a more specific way. In this mini review, we present RNAi and CRISPRi design principles and discuss the advantages and limitations of the current design approaches.

  19. Synthetic RNAs for Gene Regulation: Design Principles and Computational Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laganà, Alessandro [Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States); Shasha, Dennis [Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, NY (United States); Croce, Carlo Maria [Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)

    2014-12-11

    The use of synthetic non-coding RNAs for post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression has not only become a standard laboratory tool for gene functional studies but it has also opened up new perspectives in the design of new and potentially promising therapeutic strategies. Bioinformatics has provided researchers with a variety of tools for the design, the analysis, and the evaluation of RNAi agents such as small-interfering RNA (siRNA), short-hairpin RNA (shRNA), artificial microRNA (a-miR), and microRNA sponges. More recently, a new system for genome engineering based on the bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 system (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), was shown to have the potential to also regulate gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional level in a more specific way. In this mini review, we present RNAi and CRISPRi design principles and discuss the advantages and limitations of the current design approaches.

  20. Logical Framework Analysis (LFA): An Essential Tool for Designing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Logical Framework Analysis (LFA): An Essential Tool for Designing Agricultural Project ... overview of the process and the structure of the Logical Framework Matrix or Logframe, derivable from it, ..... System Approach to Managing The Project.

  1. Improving sustainability during hospital design and operation a multidisciplinary evaluation tool

    CERN Document Server

    Bottero, Marta; Buffoli, Maddalena; Lettieri, Emanuele

    2015-01-01

    This book describes the Sustainable High Quality Healthcare (SustHealth) project, which had the goal of developing an original multidisciplinary evaluation tool that can be applied to assess and improve hospitals’ overall sustainability. The comprehensive nature of the appraisal offered by this tool exceeds the scope of most current rating systems, which typically permit a thorough evaluation of relevant environmental factors when designing a new building but fail to consider social and economic impacts of the design phase or the performance of the hospital’s operational structure in these fields. The multidisciplinary evaluation system was developed, from its very inception through to its testing, by following a scientific experimental method in which a global perspective was constantly maintained, as opposed to a focus only on specific technical issues. Application of the SustHealth rating tool to a currently functioning hospital, or one under design, will identify weaknesses and guide users to potentia...

  2. AGILE, a tool for interactive lattice design

    CERN Document Server

    Bryant, P J

    2000-01-01

    AGILE is a program that works in the IBM-PC, MS-Windows environment and is dedicated to the interactive design of alternating-gradient lattices for synchrotrons and transfer lines. The program was originally intended as a teaching tool, but has been used mostly for professional design work and is subject to continuous development. It contains original algorithms for coupling, scattering and eddy currents, and some slightly unusual algorithms for off-axis orbits and space charge. There are also additional features such as engineering design aids, calculators for relativistic and synchrotron radiation parameters, expert routines for optimising slow extraction, fitting and matching, and the internal storage of constants for over 1000 stable and quasi-stable charged particles. The program is object-oriented and fully integrated into the Windows environment - it is not a shell. Apart from office work, AGILE is ideal for home use, design workshops and when travelling. It is particularly suited to practical problems...

  3. Metal Cutting Theory and Friction Stir Welding Tool Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payton, Lewis N.

    2003-01-01

    Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a relatively new industrial process that was invented at The Weld Institute (TWI, United Kingdom) and patented in 1992 under research funded by in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Often quoted advantages of the process include good strength and ductility along with minimization of residual stress and distortion. Less well advertised are the beneficial effects of this solid state welding process in the field of occupational and environmental safety. It produces superior weld products in difficult to weld materials without producing any toxic fumes or solid waste that must be controlled as hazardous waste. In fact, it reduces noise pollution in the workspace as well. In the early days of FSW, most welding was performed on modified machine tools, in particular on milling machines with modified milling cutters. In spite of the obvious milling heritage of the process, the techniques and lessons learned from almost 250 years of successful metalworking with milling machines have not been applied in the field of modern Friction Stir Welding. The goal of the current research was to study currently successful FSW tools and parameterize the process in such a way that the design of new tools for new materials could be accelerated. Along the way, several successful new tooling designs were developed for current issues at the Marshall Space Flight Center with accompanying patent disclosures

  4. Performance Evaluation of a Software Engineering Tool for Automated Design of Cooling Systems in Injection Moulding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jauregui-Becker, Juan M.; Tosello, Guido; van Houten, Fred J.A.M.

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a software tool for automating the design of cooling systems for injection moulding and a validation of its performance. Cooling system designs were automatically generated by the proposed software tool and by applying a best practice tool engineering design approach. The two...

  5. SEQ-POINTER: Next generation, planetary spacecraft remote sensing science observation design tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyer, Jeffrey S.

    1994-11-01

    Since Mariner, NASA-JPL planetary missions have been supported by ground software to plan and design remote sensing science observations. The software used by the science and sequence designers to plan and design observations has evolved with mission and technological advances. The original program, PEGASIS (Mariners 4, 6, and 7), was re-engineered as POGASIS (Mariner 9, Viking, and Mariner 10), and again later as POINTER (Voyager and Galileo). Each of these programs were developed under technological, political, and fiscal constraints which limited their adaptability to other missions and spacecraft designs. Implementation of a multi-mission tool, SEQ POINTER, under the auspices of the JPL Multimission Operations Systems Office (MOSO) is in progress. This version has been designed to address the limitations experienced on previous versions as they were being adapted to a new mission and spacecraft. The tool has been modularly designed with subroutine interface structures to support interchangeable celestial body and spacecraft definition models. The computational and graphics modules have also been designed to interface with data collected from previous spacecraft, or on-going observations, which describe the surface of each target body. These enhancements make SEQ POINTER a candidate for low-cost mission usage, when a remote sensing science observation design capability is required. The current and planned capabilities of the tool will be discussed. The presentation will also include a 5-10 minute video presentation demonstrating the capabilities of a proto-Cassini Project version that was adapted to test the tool. The work described in this abstract was performed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  6. Analytical Modelling Of Milling For Tool Design And Selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fontaine, M.; Devillez, A.; Dudzinski, D.

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents an efficient analytical model which allows to simulate a large panel of milling operations. A geometrical description of common end mills and of their engagement in the workpiece material is proposed. The internal radius of the rounded part of the tool envelope is used to define the considered type of mill. The cutting edge position is described for a constant lead helix and for a constant local helix angle. A thermomechanical approach of oblique cutting is applied to predict forces acting on the tool and these results are compared with experimental data obtained from milling tests on a 42CrMo4 steel for three classical types of mills. The influence of some tool's geometrical parameters on predicted cutting forces is presented in order to propose optimisation criteria for design and selection of cutting tools

  7. Model-Based Fault Diagnosis Techniques Design Schemes, Algorithms and Tools

    CERN Document Server

    Ding, Steven X

    2013-01-01

    Guaranteeing a high system performance over a wide operating range is an important issue surrounding the design of automatic control systems with successively increasing complexity. As a key technology in the search for a solution, advanced fault detection and identification (FDI) is receiving considerable attention. This book introduces basic model-based FDI schemes, advanced analysis and design algorithms, and mathematical and control-theoretic tools. This second edition of Model-Based Fault Diagnosis Techniques contains: ·         new material on fault isolation and identification, and fault detection in feedback control loops; ·         extended and revised treatment of systematic threshold determination for systems with both deterministic unknown inputs and stochastic noises; addition of the continuously-stirred tank heater as a representative process-industrial benchmark; and ·         enhanced discussion of residual evaluation in stochastic processes. Model-based Fault Diagno...

  8. Matlab as a robust control design tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory, Irene M.

    1994-01-01

    This presentation introduces Matlab as a tool used in flight control research. The example used to illustrate some of the capabilities of this software is a robust controller designed for a single stage to orbit air breathing vehicles's ascent to orbit. The global requirements of the controller are to stabilize the vehicle and follow a trajectory in the presence of atmospheric disturbances and strong dynamic coupling between airframe and propulsion.

  9. Virtual reality solutions for the design of machine tools in practice

    OpenAIRE

    Zickner, H.; Neugebauer, Reimund; Weidlich, D.

    2006-01-01

    At the Virtual Reality Centre Production Engineering (VRCP) the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Processes (IWP) of the Chemnitz University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (IWU) have developed several practical Virtual Reality (VR) based solutions for the industry. Some practical examples will show the benefits gained by the application of Virtual Reality techniques in the design process of machine tools and assembly lines.

  10. Quantitative and creative design tools for urban design in cold and windy climates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koss, Holger; Jensen, Lotte Bjerregaard; Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

    2014-01-01

    between the design processes and the academic knowledge available is a focus area. The effects of climate change and a general higher demand for quantitative assessment of urban planning proposals in hard climatic locations have created a demand for research based design advice. The paper will present......In cold and windy climates, the quality of the urban spaces is severely challenged. A design process with a very high level of information regarding wind, sun, daylight and water from the earliest of the design process will help create the most optimized design. For the last couple of years...... in academic ‘silos’ where little attention has been made in regards to architectural design processes. Simulation tools were developed that can render a larger amount of information available in a short time and thus can keep pace with an ongoing design process in an architectural studio. Bridging the gap...

  11. Computational protein design-the next generation tool to expand synthetic biology applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gainza-Cirauqui, Pablo; Correia, Bruno Emanuel

    2018-05-02

    One powerful approach to engineer synthetic biology pathways is the assembly of proteins sourced from one or more natural organisms. However, synthetic pathways often require custom functions or biophysical properties not displayed by natural proteins, limitations that could be overcome through modern protein engineering techniques. Structure-based computational protein design is a powerful tool to engineer new functional capabilities in proteins, and it is beginning to have a profound impact in synthetic biology. Here, we review efforts to increase the capabilities of synthetic biology using computational protein design. We focus primarily on computationally designed proteins not only validated in vitro, but also shown to modulate different activities in living cells. Efforts made to validate computational designs in cells can illustrate both the challenges and opportunities in the intersection of protein design and synthetic biology. We also highlight protein design approaches, which although not validated as conveyors of new cellular function in situ, may have rapid and innovative applications in synthetic biology. We foresee that in the near-future, computational protein design will vastly expand the functional capabilities of synthetic cells. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  12. Design support document for the K Basins Vertical Fuel Handling Tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bridges, A.E.

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of this document is to provide the design support information for the Vertical Fuel Handling Tools, developed for the removal of N Reactor fuel elements from their storage canisters in the K Basins storage pool and insertion into the Single Fuel Element Can for subsequent shipment to a Hot Cell for examination. Examination of these N Reactor fuel elements is part of the overall characterization effort. These new hand tools are required since previous fuel movement has involved grasping the fuel in a horizontal position. These tools are required to lift an element vertically from the storage canister. Additionally, a Mark II storage canister Lip Seal Protector was designed and fabricated for use during fuel retrieval. This device was required to prevent damage to the canister lip should a fuel element accidentally be dropped during its retrieval, using the handling tools. Supporting documentation for this device is included in this document

  13. Experience with case tools in the design of process-oriented software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novakov, Ognian; Sicard, Claude-Henri

    1994-12-01

    In Accelerator systems such as the CERN PS complex, process equipment has a life time which may exceed the typical life cycle of its related software. Taking into account the variety of such equipment, it is important to keep the analysis and design of the software in a system-independent form. This paper discusses the experience gathered in using commercial CASE tools for analysis, design and reverse engineering of different process-oriented software modules, with a principal emphasis on maintaining the initial analysis in a standardized form. Such tools have been in existence for several years, but this paper shows that they are not fully adapted to our needs. In particular, the paper stresses the problems of integrating such a tool into an existing data-base-dependent development chain, the lack of real-time simulation tools and of Object-Oriented concepts in existing commercial packages. Finally, the paper gives a broader view of software engineering needs in our particular context.

  14. Design and validation of an improved graphical user interface with the 'Tool ball'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kuo-Wei; Lee, Ying-Chu

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this research is introduce the design of an improved graphical user interface (GUI) and verifies the operational efficiency of the proposed interface. Until now, clicking the toolbar with the mouse is the usual way to operate software functions. In our research, we designed an improved graphical user interface - a tool ball that is operated by a mouse wheel to perform software functions. Several experiments are conducted to measure the time needed to operate certain software functions with the traditional combination of "mouse click + tool button" and the proposed integration of "mouse wheel + tool ball". The results indicate that the tool ball design can accelerate the speed of operating software functions, decrease the number of icons on the screen, and enlarge the applications of the mouse wheel. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  15. Reliability Oriented Design Tool For the New Generation of Grid Connected PV-Inverters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sintamarean, Nicolae Cristian; Blaabjerg, Frede; Wang, Huai

    2015-01-01

    is achieved and is further used as an input to the lifetime model. The proposed reliability-oriented design tool is used to study the impact of mission profile (MP) variation and device degradation (aging) in the PV inverter lifetime. The obtained results indicate that the MP of the field where the PV...... inverter is operating has an important impact (up to 70%) on the converter lifetime expectation, and it should be considered in the design stage to better optimize the converter design margin. In order to have correct lifetime estimation, it is crucial to consider also the device degradation feedback (in......This paper introduces a reliability-oriented design tool for a new generation of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The proposed design tool consists of a real field mission profile (RFMP) model (for two operating regions: USA and Denmark), a PV panel model, a grid-connected PV inverter...

  16. A Simulation Tool for the Conceptual Design of Thermonuclear Pulsors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramos, R.; Gonzalez, J.; Clausse, A.

    2003-01-01

    We worked with an effective model that calculates the neutron production of Plasma Focus devices.From experimental data we obtained different fitting functions for the model lumped parameters.By this way, we obtained a simple tool for neutron yield calculation.This tool is very useful at a conceptual design stage, because it can predict easily if a given PF device would be suitable for a certain application

  17. Process Improvement Through Tool Integration in Aero-Mechanical Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briggs, Clark

    2010-01-01

    Emerging capabilities in commercial design tools promise to significantly improve the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary design and analysis coverage for aerospace mechanical engineers. This paper explores the analysis process for two example problems of a wing and flap mechanical drive system and an aircraft landing gear door panel. The examples begin with the design solid models and include various analysis disciplines such as structural stress and aerodynamic loads. Analytical methods include CFD, multi-body dynamics with flexible bodies and structural analysis. Elements of analysis data management, data visualization and collaboration are also included.

  18. Mechanical System Analysis/Design Tool (MSAT) Quick Guide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, HauHua; Kolb, Mark; Madelone, Jack

    1998-01-01

    MSAT is a unique multi-component multi-disciplinary tool that organizes design analysis tasks around object-oriented representations of configuration components, analysis programs and modules, and data transfer links between them. This creative modular architecture enables rapid generation of input stream for trade-off studies of various engine configurations. The data transfer links automatically transport output from one application as relevant input to the next application once the sequence is set up by the user. The computations are managed via constraint propagation - the constraints supplied by the user as part of any optimization module. The software can be used in the preliminary design stage as well as during the detail design of product development process.

  19. A Revised Interface for the ARL Topodef Mobility Design Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-01

    designed paths as though moving down a conveyor belt . Giving paths an existence independent of the nodes that travel along them not only makes their...A Revised Interface for the ARL Topodef Mobility Design Tool by Andrew J. Toth and Michael Christensen ARL-TR-5980 April 2012...Disclaimers The findings in this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other

  20. Service users' perspectives in the design of an online tool for assisted self-help in mental health: a case study of implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gammon, Deede; Strand, Monica; Eng, Lillian Sofie

    2014-01-09

    The involvement of persons with lived experiences of mental illness and service use is increasingly viewed as key to improving the relevance and utility of mental health research and service innovation. Guided by the principles of Community-Based Participatory Research we developed an online tool for assisted self-help in mental health. The resulting tool, PsyConnect, is ready for testing in two communities starting 2014. This case study reports from the design phase which entailed clarifying very basic questions: Who is the primary target group? What are the aims? What functions are priorities? Roles and responsibilities? What types of evidence can legitimize tool design decisions? Here we highlight the views of service users as a basis for discussing implications of user involvement for service design and research. PsyConnect has become a tool for those who expect to need assistance over long periods of time regardless of their specific condition(s). The aim is to support service users in gaining greater overview and control, legitimacy, and sense of continuity in relationships. It has a personalized "my control panel" which depicts status → process → goals. Functionality includes support for: mapping life domains; medication overview; crisis management; coping exercises; secure messaging; and social support. While the types of evidence that can legitimize design decisions are scattered and indirectly relevant, recent trends in recovery research will be used to guide further refinements. PsyConnect has undoubtedly become something other than it would have been without careful attention to the views of service users. The tool invites a proactive approach that is likely to challenge treatment cultures that are reactive, disorder-focused and consultation-based. Service user representatives will need to play central roles in training peers and clinicians in order to increase the likelihood of tool usage in line with intentions. Similarly, their influence on tool

  1. Resources for Indoor Air Quality Design Tools for Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    The information available here is presented as a tool to help school districts and facility planners design the next generation of learning environments so that the school facility will help schools in achieving their core mission of educating children.

  2. Justifying the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Whitehead

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justifywhat they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into bestpractice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designedto evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school literacy initiative in New Zealand, togetherwith recent research from cognitive and neuro-psychologists, it is argued that the design andselection of literacy and thinking tools used in elementary schools should be consistent with (iteaching focused (ii learner focused, (iii thought linked (iv neurologically consistent, (vsubject specific, (vi text linked, (vii developmentally appropriate, and (viii assessment linkedcriteria.

  3. An Accurate and Efficient Design Tool for Large Contoured Beam Reflectarrays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhou, Min; Sørensen, Stig B.; Jørgensen, Erik

    2012-01-01

    An accurate and efficient tool for the design of contoured beam reflectarrays is presented. It is based on the Spectral Domain Method of Moments, the Local Periodicity approach, and a minimax optimization algorithm. Contrary to the conventional phase-only optimization techniques, the geometrical...... parameters of the array elements are directly optimized to fulfill the far-field requirements. The design tool can be used to optimize reflectarrays based on a regular grid as well as an irregular grid. Both coand cross-polar radiation can be optimized for multiple frequencies, polarizations, and feed...... illuminations. Two offset contoured beam reflectarrays that radiate a highgain beam on an European coverage have been designed, manufactured, and measured at the DTU-ESA Spherical Near-Field Antenna Test Facility. An excellent agreement is obtained for the simulated and measured patterns. To show the design...

  4. The ORNL Modulating Heat Pump Design Tool -- Mark IV User's Guide

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rice, C.K.

    2001-09-27

    The ORNL Modulating Heat Pump Design Tool consists of a Modulating HPDM (Heat Pump Design Model) and a parametric-analysis (contour-data generating) front-end. Collectively the program is also referred to as MODCON which is in reference to the modulating and the contour data generating capabilities. The program was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy to provide a publicly-available system design tool for variable- and single-speed heat pumps.

  5. tkLayout: a design tool for innovative silicon tracking detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bianchi, G.

    2014-03-01

    A new CMS tracker is scheduled to become operational for the LHC Phase 2 upgrade in the early 2020's. tkLayout is a software package developed to create 3d models for the design of the CMS tracker and to evaluate its fundamental performance figures. The new tracker will have to cope with much higher luminosity conditions, resulting in increased track density, harsher radiation exposure and, especially, much higher data acquisition bandwidth, such that equipping the tracker with triggering capabilities is envisaged. The design of an innovative detector involves deciding on an architecture offering the best trade-off among many figures of merit, such as tracking resolution, power dissipation, bandwidth, cost and so on. Quantitatively evaluating these figures of merit as early as possible in the design phase is of capital importance and it is best done with the aid of software models. tkLayout is a flexible modeling tool: new performance estimates and support for different detector geometries can be quickly added, thanks to its modular structure. Besides, the software executes very quickly (about two minutes), so that many possible architectural variations can be rapidly modeled and compared, to help in the choice of a viable detector layout and then to optimize it. A tracker geometry is generated from simple configuration files, defining the module types, layout and materials. Support structures are automatically added and services routed to provide a realistic tracker description. The tracker geometries thus generated can be exported to the standard CMS simulation framework (CMSSW) for full Monte Carlo studies. tkLayout has proven essential in giving guidance to CMS in studying different detector layouts and exploring the feasibility of innovative solutions for tracking detectors, in terms of design, performance and projected costs. This tool has been one of the keys to making important design decisions for over five years now and has also enabled project engineers

  6. Impact assessment as a design tool

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lyhne, Ivar

    Research and development (R&D) programmes constitute a pivotal arena for shaping technologies of the future. In order to make qualified decisions, R&D programmes ought to be subject to impact assessment (IA). It seems, however, that only a few countries have developed a systematic practice. One r...... reason for the limited practice might be that IA of R&D policy is said to be particularly difficult. This paper reports on experiences from a voluntary IA application in Danish with point of departure in the question: How does IA work as a design tool in terms of R&D programmes?...

  7. Towards life-cycle awareness in decision support tools for engineering design

    OpenAIRE

    Nergård, Henrik; Sandberg, Marcus; Larsson, Tobias

    2009-01-01

    In this paper a decision support tool with the focus on how to generate and visualize decision base coupled to the business agreement is outlined and discussed. Decision support tools for the early design phases are few and especially tools that visualize the readiness level of activities throughout the product life-cycle. Aiming for the sustainable society there is an indication that business-to-business manufacturers move toward providing a function rather than selling off the hardware and ...

  8. Computer Aided Design Tools for Extreme Environment Electronics, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This project aims to provide Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for radiation-tolerant, wide-temperature-range digital, analog, mixed-signal, and radio-frequency...

  9. The Design of Tools for Sketching Sensor-Based Interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brynskov, Martin; Lunding, Rasmus; Vestergaard, Lasse Steenbock

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we motivate, present, and give an initial evaluation of DUL Radio, a small wireless toolkit for sketching sensor-based interaction. In the motivation, we discuss the purpose of this specific platform, which aims to balance ease-of-use (learning, setup, initialization), size, speed......, flexibility and cost, aimed at wearable and ultra-mobile prototyping where fast reaction is needed (e.g. in controlling sound), and we discuss the general issues facing this category of embodied interaction design tools. We then present the platform in more detail, both regarding hard- ware and software....... In the brief evaluation, we present our initial experiences with the platform both in design projects and in teaching. We conclude that DUL Radio does seem to be a relatively easy-to-use tool for sketching sensor-based interaction compared to other solutions, but that there are many ways to improve it. Target...

  10. A Method for Design of Modular Reconfigurable Machine Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhengyi Xu

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Presented in this paper is a method for the design of modular reconfigurable machine tools (MRMTs. An MRMT is capable of using a minimal number of modules through reconfiguration to perform the required machining tasks for a family of parts. The proposed method consists of three steps: module identification, module determination, and layout synthesis. In the first step, the module components are collected from a family of general-purpose machines to establish a module library. In the second step, for a given family of parts to be machined, a set of needed modules are selected from the module library to construct a desired reconfigurable machine tool. In the third step, a final machine layout is decided though evaluation by considering a number of performance indices. Based on this method, a software package has been developed that can design an MRMT for a given part family.

  11. Development of a software tool and criteria evaluation for efficient design of small interfering RNA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaudhary, Aparna; Srivastava, Sonam; Garg, Sanjeev

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → The developed tool predicted siRNA constructs with better thermodynamic stability and total score based on positional and other criteria. → Off-target silencing below score 30 were observed for the best siRNA constructs for different genes. → Immunostimulation and cytotoxicity motifs considered and penalized in the developed tool. → Both positional and compositional criteria were observed to be important. -- Abstract: RNA interference can be used as a tool for gene silencing mediated by small interfering RNAs (siRNA). The critical step in effective and specific RNAi processing is the selection of suitable constructs. Major design criteria, i.e., Reynolds's design rules, thermodynamic stability, internal repeats, immunostimulatory motifs were emphasized and implemented in the siRNA design tool. The tool provides thermodynamic stability score, GC content and a total score based on other design criteria in the output. The viability of the tool was established with different datasets. In general, the siRNA constructs produced by the tool had better thermodynamic score and positional properties. Comparable thermodynamic scores and better total scores were observed with the existing tools. Moreover, the results generated had comparable off-target silencing effect. Criteria evaluations with additional criteria were achieved in WEKA.

  12. SSME Investment in Turbomachinery Inducer Impeller Design Tools and Methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoladz, Thomas; Mitchell, William; Lunde, Kevin

    2010-01-01

    Within the rocket engine industry, SSME turbomachines are the de facto standards of success with regard to meeting aggressive performance requirements under challenging operational environments. Over the Shuttle era, SSME has invested heavily in our national inducer impeller design infrastructure. While both low and high pressure turbopump failures/anomaly resolution efforts spurred some of these investments, the SSME program was a major benefactor of key areas of turbomachinery inducer-impeller research outside of flight manifest pressures. Over the past several decades, key turbopump internal environments have been interrogated via highly instrumented hot-fire and cold-flow testing. Likewise, SSME has sponsored the advancement of time accurate and cavitating inducer impeller computation fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. These investments together have led to a better understanding of the complex internal flow fields within aggressive high performing inducers and impellers. New design tools and methodologies have evolved which intend to provide confident blade designs which strike an appropriate balance between performance and self induced load management.

  13. A tool for early workstation design for small and medium enterprises evaluated in five cases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hallbeck, M.S.; Bosch, T.; Rhijn, J.W.van; Krause, F.; Looze, M.P.de; Vink, P.

    2010-01-01

    Five case studies on production line design were described to study the effect of an early design support tool. Based on these case studies, the simple, interactive, real-time, medium-fidelity, mixed-reality methodology was not only found to be a good early design stage evaluative tool for

  14. Design of Scalable and Effective Earth Science Collaboration Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maskey, M.; Ramachandran, R.; Kuo, K. S.; Lynnes, C.; Niamsuwan, N.; Chidambaram, C.

    2014-12-01

    Collaborative research is growing rapidly. Many tools including IDEs are now beginning to incorporate new collaborative features. Software engineering research has shown the effectiveness of collaborative programming and analysis. In particular, drastic reduction in software development time resulting in reduced cost has been highlighted. Recently, we have witnessed the rise of applications that allow users to share their content. Most of these applications scale such collaboration using cloud technologies. Earth science research needs to adopt collaboration technologies to reduce redundancy, cut cost, expand knowledgebase, and scale research experiments. To address these needs, we developed the Earth science collaboration workbench (CWB). CWB provides researchers with various collaboration features by augmenting their existing analysis tools to minimize learning curve. During the development of the CWB, we understood that Earth science collaboration tasks are varied and we concluded that it is not possible to design a tool that serves all collaboration purposes. We adopted a mix of synchronous and asynchronous sharing methods that can be used to perform collaboration across time and location dimensions. We have used cloud technology for scaling the collaboration. Cloud has been highly utilized and valuable tool for Earth science researchers. Among other usages, cloud is used for sharing research results, Earth science data, and virtual machine images; allowing CWB to create and maintain research environments and networks to enhance collaboration between researchers. Furthermore, collaborative versioning tool, Git, is integrated into CWB for versioning of science artifacts. In this paper, we present our experience in designing and implementing the CWB. We will also discuss the integration of collaborative code development use cases for data search and discovery using NASA DAAC and simulation of satellite observations using NASA Earth Observing System Simulation

  15. Structure for Categorization of EcoDesign Methods and Tools

    OpenAIRE

    Lindahl, Mattias; Ekermann, Sara

    2013-01-01

    This edited volume presents the proceedings of the 20th CIRP LCE Conference, which cover various areas in life cycle engineering such as life cycle design, end-of-life management, manufacturing processes, manufacturing systems, methods and tools for sustainability, social sustainability, supply chain management, remanufacturing,

  16. Software simulation: a tool for enhancing control system design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sze, B.; Ridgway, G.H.

    2008-01-01

    The creation, implementation and management of engineering design tools are important to the quality and efficiency of any large engineering project. Some of the most complicated tools to develop are system simulators. The development and implementation of system simulators to support replacement fuel handling control systems is of particular interest to the Canadian nuclear industry given the current age of installations and the risk of obsolescence to many utilities. The use of such simulator tools has been known to significantly improve successful deployment of new software packages and maintenance-related software changes while reducing the time required for their overall development. Moreover, these simulation systems can also serve as operator training stations and provide a virtual environment for site engineers to test operational changes before they are uploaded to the actual system. (author)

  17. Rapid Design and Navigation Tools to Enable Small-Body Missions

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Rapid design and navigation tools broaden the number and scope of available missions by making the most of advances in astrodynamics and in computer software and...

  18. Cooling Systems Design in Hot Stamping Tools by a Thermal-Fluid-Mechanical Coupled Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tao Lin

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Hot stamping tools with cooling systems are the key facilities for hot stamping process of Ultrahigh strength steels (UHSS in automotive industry. Hot stamping tools have significant influence on the final microstructure and properties of the hot stamped parts. In serials production, the tools should be rapidly cooled by cooling water. Hence, design of hot stamping tools with cooling systems is important not only for workpieces of good quality but also for the tools with good cooling performance and long life. In this paper, a new multifield simulation method was proposed for the design of hot stamping tools with cooling system. The deformation of the tools was also analyzed by this method. Based on MpCCI (Mesh-based parallel Code Coupling Interface, thermal-fluid simulation and thermal-fluid-mechanical coupled simulation were performed. Subsequently, the geometrical parameters of the cooling system are investigated for the design. The results show that, both the distance between the ducts and the distance between the ducts and the tools loaded contour have significant influence on the quenching effect. And better quenching effect can be achieved with the shorter distance from the tool surface and with smaller distance between ducts. It is also shown that, thermal expansion is the main reason for deformation of the hot forming tools, which causes the distortion of the cooling ducts, and the stress concentration at corner of the ducts.

  19. Streamlining the Design-to-Build Transition with Build-Optimization Software Tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberortner, Ernst; Cheng, Jan-Fang; Hillson, Nathan J; Deutsch, Samuel

    2017-03-17

    Scaling-up capabilities for the design, build, and test of synthetic biology constructs holds great promise for the development of new applications in fuels, chemical production, or cellular-behavior engineering. Construct design is an essential component in this process; however, not every designed DNA sequence can be readily manufactured, even using state-of-the-art DNA synthesis methods. Current biological computer-aided design and manufacture tools (bioCAD/CAM) do not adequately consider the limitations of DNA synthesis technologies when generating their outputs. Designed sequences that violate DNA synthesis constraints may require substantial sequence redesign or lead to price-premiums and temporal delays, which adversely impact the efficiency of the DNA manufacturing process. We have developed a suite of build-optimization software tools (BOOST) to streamline the design-build transition in synthetic biology engineering workflows. BOOST incorporates knowledge of DNA synthesis success determinants into the design process to output ready-to-build sequences, preempting the need for sequence redesign. The BOOST web application is available at https://boost.jgi.doe.gov and its Application Program Interfaces (API) enable integration into automated, customized DNA design processes. The herein presented results highlight the effectiveness of BOOST in reducing DNA synthesis costs and timelines.

  20. WASP: a Web-based Allele-Specific PCR assay designing tool for detecting SNPs and mutations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Assawamakin Anunchai

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Allele-specific (AS Polymerase Chain Reaction is a convenient and inexpensive method for genotyping Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs and mutations. It is applied in many recent studies including population genetics, molecular genetics and pharmacogenomics. Using known AS primer design tools to create primers leads to cumbersome process to inexperience users since information about SNP/mutation must be acquired from public databases prior to the design. Furthermore, most of these tools do not offer the mismatch enhancement to designed primers. The available web applications do not provide user-friendly graphical input interface and intuitive visualization of their primer results. Results This work presents a web-based AS primer design application called WASP. This tool can efficiently design AS primers for human SNPs as well as mutations. To assist scientists with collecting necessary information about target polymorphisms, this tool provides a local SNP database containing over 10 million SNPs of various populations from public domain databases, namely NCBI dbSNP, HapMap and JSNP respectively. This database is tightly integrated with the tool so that users can perform the design for existing SNPs without going off the site. To guarantee specificity of AS primers, the proposed system incorporates a primer specificity enhancement technique widely used in experiment protocol. In particular, WASP makes use of different destabilizing effects by introducing one deliberate 'mismatch' at the penultimate (second to last of the 3'-end base of AS primers to improve the resulting AS primers. Furthermore, WASP offers graphical user interface through scalable vector graphic (SVG draw that allow users to select SNPs and graphically visualize designed primers and their conditions. Conclusion WASP offers a tool for designing AS primers for both SNPs and mutations. By integrating the database for known SNPs (using gene ID or rs number

  1. Bioinformatic tools and guideline for PCR primer design | Abd ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Bioinformatics has become an essential tool not only for basic research but also for applied research in biotechnology and biomedical sciences. Optimal primer sequence and appropriate primer concentration are essential for maximal specificity and efficiency of PCR. A poorly designed primer can result in little or no ...

  2. The Design of Tools for Sketching Sensor-Based Interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brynskov, Martin; Lunding, Rasmus; Vestergaard, Lasse Steenbock

    2012-01-01

    , flexibility and cost, aimed at wearable and ultra-mobile prototyping where fast reaction is needed (e.g. in controlling sound), and we discuss the general issues facing this category of embodied interaction design tools. We then present the platform in more detail, both regarding hard- ware and software...

  3. Health impact assessment in planning: Development of the design for health HIA tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forsyth, Ann; Slotterback, Carissa Schively; Krizek, Kevin J.

    2010-01-01

    How can planners more systematically incorporate health concerns into practical planning processes? This paper describes a suite of health impact assessment tools (HIAs) developed specifically for planning practice. Taking an evidence-based approach the tools are designed to fit into existing planning activities. The tools include: a short audit tool, the Preliminary Checklist; a structured participatory workshop, the Rapid HIA; an intermediate health impact assessment, the Threshold Analysis; and a set of Plan Review Checklists. This description provides a basis for future work including assessing tool validity, refining specific tools, and creating alternatives.

  4. Design and Analysis of a Collision Detector for Hybrid Robotic Machine Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan ZHANG

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Capacitive sensing depends on the physical parameter changing either the spacing between the two plates or the dielectric constant. Based on this idea, a capacitive based collision detection sensor is proposed and designed in this paper for the purpose of detecting any collision between the end effector and peripheral equipment (e.g., fixture for the three degrees of freedom hybrid robotic machine tools when it is in operation. One side of the finger-like capacitor is attached to the moving platform of the hybrid robotic manipulator and the other side of the finger-like capacitor is attached to the tool. When the tool accidently hits the peripheral equipment, the vibration will make the distance of the capacitor change and therefore trigger the machine to stop. The new design is illustrated and modelled. The capacitance, sensitivity and frequency response of the detector are analyzed in detail, and finally, the fabrication process is presented. The proposed collision detector can also be applied to other machine tools.

  5. Adobe creative cloud design tools all-in-one for dummies

    CERN Document Server

    Smith, Jennifer

    2013-01-01

    Your all-in-one guide to Adobe's new Creative CloudPacked with more than a thousand pages of content, Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies is exactly what you need to get your head in the Creative Cloud. Written by designers for designers, this book is filled with useful information and expert instruction that spans eight minibooks to help you get started with Adobe Creative Cloud, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Photoshop CC, Acrobat XI, Dreamweaver CC, Flash Professional CC, and Fireworks CC. You'll learn the latest graphic design and web development tools, t

  6. Design and field test of collaborative tools in the service of an innovative organization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Beler, N.; Parfouru, S.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents the design process of collaborative tools, based on ICT, aiming at supporting the tasks of the team that manages an outage of an energy production plant for maintenance activities. The design process follows an iterative and multidisciplinary approach, based on a collective tasks modeling of the outage management team in the light of Socio Organizational and Human (SOH) field studies, and on the state of the art of ICT. Field test of the collaborative tools designed plays a great place in this approach, allowing taking into account the operational world but involves also some risks which must be managed. To implement tools on all the production plants, we build an 'operational concept' with a level of description which authorizes the evolution of tools and allows some local adaptations. The field tests provide lessons on the ICT topics. For examples: the status of the remote access tools, the potential of use of a given information input by an actor for several individual and collective purposes, the actors perception of the tools meaning, and the requirements for supporting the implementation of change. (authors)

  7. Design of a Power Tool Attachment for Sawing Operation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mayur Appaiah

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The Design of a Power Tool Attachment for Sawing Operation is discussed. First, the Target Specifications are established. The Design work is carried out, especially that of the Main Shaft and Support Tube. Calculations and Finite Element Analysis (FEA are also done. The Prototype is fabricated and assembled. The Testing of the prototype is done, by Sawing commercial plywood of maximum thickness 25mm. Weight of the Attachment is 1.3 kg, and the Machine is easy to use, benefitting unskilled users.

  8. The Application of Concurrent Engineering Tools and Design Structure Matrix in Designing Tire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginting, Rosnani; Fachrozi Fitra Ramadhan, T.

    2016-02-01

    The development of automobile industry in Indonesia is growing rapidly. This phenomenon causes companies related to the automobile industry such as tire industry must develop products based on customers’ needs and considering the timeliness of delivering the product to the customer. It could be reached by applying strategic planning in developing an integrated concept of product development. This research was held in PT. XYZ that applied the sequential approach in designing and developing products. The need to improve in one stage of product development could occur re-designing that needs longer time in developing a new product. This research is intended to get an integrated product design concept of tire pertaining to the customer's needs using Concurrent Engineering Tools by implementing the two-phased of product development. The implementation of Concurrent Engineering approach results in applying the stage of project planning, conceptual design, and product modules. The product modules consist of four modules that using Product Architecture - Design Structure Matrix to ease the designing process of new product development.

  9. Collaboratively Conceived, Designed and Implemented: Matching Visualization Tools with Geoscience Data Collections and Geoscience Data Collections with Visualization Tools via the ToolMatch Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoebelheinrich, N. J.; Lynnes, C.; West, P.; Ferritto, M.

    2014-12-01

    Two problems common to many geoscience domains are the difficulties in finding tools to work with a given dataset collection, and conversely, the difficulties in finding data for a known tool. A collaborative team from the Earth Science Information Partnership (ESIP) has gotten together to design and create a web service, called ToolMatch, to address these problems. The team began their efforts by defining an initial, relatively simple conceptual model that addressed the two uses cases briefly described above. The conceptual model is expressed as an ontology using OWL (Web Ontology Language) and DCterms (Dublin Core Terms), and utilizing standard ontologies such as DOAP (Description of a Project), FOAF (Friend of a Friend), SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) and DCAT (Data Catalog Vocabulary). The ToolMatch service will be taking advantage of various Semantic Web and Web standards, such as OpenSearch, RESTful web services, SWRL (Semantic Web Rule Language) and SPARQL (Simple Protocol and RDF Query Language). The first version of the ToolMatch service was deployed in early fall 2014. While more complete testing is required, a number of communities besides ESIP member organizations have expressed interest in collaborating to create, test and use the service and incorporate it into their own web pages, tools and / or services including the USGS Data Catalog service, DataONE, the Deep Carbon Observatory, Virtual Solar Terrestrial Observatory (VSTO), and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In this session, presenters will discuss the inception and development of the ToolMatch service, the collaborative process used to design, refine, and test the service, and future plans for the service.

  10. Use of Software Tools in Teaching Relational Database Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIntyre, D. R.; And Others

    1995-01-01

    Discusses the use of state-of-the-art software tools in teaching a graduate, advanced, relational database design course. Results indicated a positive student response to the prototype of expert systems software and a willingness to utilize this new technology both in their studies and in future work applications. (JKP)

  11. MURMoT: Design and Application of Microbial Uranium Reduction Monitoring Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pennell, Kurt [Tufts Univ., Medford, MA (United States)

    2014-12-31

    The overarching project goal of the MURMoT project was the design of tools to elucidate the presence, abundance, dynamics, spatial distribution, and activity of metal- and radionuclide-transforming bacteria. To accomplish these objectives, an integrated approach that combined nucleic acid-based tools, proteomic workflows, uranium isotope measurements, and U(IV) speciation and structure analyses using the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory was developed.

  12. MURMoT: Design and Application of Microbial Uranium Reduction Monitoring Tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pennell, Kurt

    2014-01-01

    The overarching project goal of the MURMoT project was the design of tools to elucidate the presence, abundance, dynamics, spatial distribution, and activity of metal- and radionuclide-transforming bacteria. To accomplish these objectives, an integrated approach that combined nucleic acid-based tools, proteomic workflows, uranium isotope measurements, and U(IV) speciation and structure analyses using the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory was developed.

  13. TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING THE MODULAR FIXTURE DESIGN IN AUTODESK INVENTOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PĂUNESCU Rodica

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents some strategies achieving significant productivity gains in modular fixture design like: intelligent tools iParts, iAssembly, iProperties, Constraint and Joint, Interference, Relationships tools, working with subassemblies, using Autodesk Inventor new releases. Another objective is to minimize modular fixture systems databases and to optimize searching and inserting components. All this techniques and tools are exemplified by a modular fixture based on grid patterns with multipurpose holes.

  14. Service design : Tuning the industrial design profession

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sleeswijk Visser, F.

    2013-01-01

    Design is not only about the design and production of goods, but is increasingly addressing complex social issues nowadays. Roles of designers are becoming more and more varied, and at the same time other professionals are increasingly using design tools in their business, organizational or other

  15. A Clinical Reasoning Tool for Virtual Patients: Design-Based Research Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hege, Inga; Kononowicz, Andrzej A; Adler, Martin

    2017-11-02

    Clinical reasoning is a fundamental process medical students have to learn during and after medical school. Virtual patients (VP) are a technology-enhanced learning method to teach clinical reasoning. However, VP systems do not exploit their full potential concerning the clinical reasoning process; for example, most systems focus on the outcome and less on the process of clinical reasoning. Keeping our concept grounded in a former qualitative study, we aimed to design and implement a tool to enhance VPs with activities and feedback, which specifically foster the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills. We designed the tool by translating elements of a conceptual clinical reasoning learning framework into software requirements. The resulting clinical reasoning tool enables learners to build their patient's illness script as a concept map when they are working on a VP scenario. The student's map is compared with the experts' reasoning at each stage of the VP, which is technically enabled by using Medical Subject Headings, which is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary published by the US National Library of Medicine. The tool is implemented using Web technologies, has an open architecture that enables its integration into various systems through an open application program interface, and is available under a Massachusetts Institute of Technology license. We conducted usability tests following a think-aloud protocol and a pilot field study with maps created by 64 medical students. The results show that learners interact with the tool but create less nodes and connections in the concept map than an expert. Further research and usability tests are required to analyze the reasons. The presented tool is a versatile, systematically developed software component that specifically supports the clinical reasoning skills acquisition. It can be plugged into VP systems or used as stand-alone software in other teaching scenarios. The modular design allows an extension with new

  16. Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization Tool Development Using a Genetic Algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pak, Chan-gi; Li, Wesley

    2009-01-01

    Multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization using a genetic algorithm is being developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) to automate analysis and design process by leveraging existing tools to enable true multidisciplinary optimization in the preliminary design stage of subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic aircraft. This is a promising technology, but faces many challenges in large-scale, real-world application. This report describes current approaches, recent results, and challenges for multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization as demonstrated by experience with the Ikhana fire pod design.!

  17. Colossal Tooling Design: 3D Simulation for Ergonomic Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Steve L.; Dischinger, Charles; Thomas, Robert E.; Babai, Majid

    2003-01-01

    The application of high-level 3D simulation software to the design phase of colossal mandrel tooling for composite aerospace fuel tanks was accomplished to discover and resolve safety and human engineering problems. The analyses were conducted to determine safety, ergonomic and human engineering aspects of the disassembly process of the fuel tank composite shell mandrel. Three-dimensional graphics high-level software, incorporating various ergonomic analysis algorithms, was utilized to determine if the process was within safety and health boundaries for the workers carrying out these tasks. In addition, the graphical software was extremely helpful in the identification of material handling equipment and devices for the mandrel tooling assembly/disassembly process.

  18. Implementation of straight and curved steel girder erection design tools construction : summary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-05

    Project 0-5574 Curved Plate Girder Design for Safe and Economical Construction, resulted in the : development of two design tools, UT Lift and UT Bridge. UT Lift is a spreadsheet-based program for analyzing : steel girders during lifting while ...

  19. DSC: software tool for simulation-based design of control strategies applied to wastewater treatment plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruano, M V; Ribes, J; Seco, A; Ferrer, J

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a computer tool called DSC (Simulation based Controllers Design) that enables an easy design of control systems and strategies applied to wastewater treatment plants. Although the control systems are developed and evaluated by simulation, this tool aims to facilitate the direct implementation of the designed control system to the PC of the full-scale WWTP (wastewater treatment plants). The designed control system can be programmed in a dedicated control application and can be connected to either the simulation software or the SCADA of the plant. To this end, the developed DSC incorporates an OPC server (OLE for process control) which facilitates an open-standard communication protocol for different industrial process applications. The potential capabilities of the DSC tool are illustrated through the example of a full-scale application. An aeration control system applied to a nutrient removing WWTP was designed, tuned and evaluated with the DSC tool before its implementation in the full scale plant. The control parameters obtained by simulation were suitable for the full scale plant with only few modifications to improve the control performance. With the DSC tool, the control systems performance can be easily evaluated by simulation. Once developed and tuned by simulation, the control systems can be directly applied to the full-scale WWTP.

  20. Logical Framework Analysis (LFA): An Essential Tool for Designing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Evaluation of a project at any stage of its life cycle, especially at its planning stage, is necessary for its successful execution and completion. The Logical Framework Analysis or the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) is an essential tool in designing such evaluation because it is a process that serves as a reference guide in ...

  1. Development and Validation of a Hypersonic Vehicle Design Tool Based On Waverider Design Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dasque, Nastassja

    Methodologies for a tool capable of assisting design initiatives for practical waverider based hypersonic vehicles were developed and validated. The design space for vehicle surfaces was formed using an algorithm that coupled directional derivatives with the conservation laws to determine a flow field defined by a set of post-shock streamlines. The design space is used to construct an ideal waverider with a sharp leading edge. A blunting method was developed to modify the ideal shapes to a more practical geometry for real-world application. Empirical and analytical relations were then systematically applied to the resulting geometries to determine local pressure, skin-friction and heat flux. For the ideal portion of the geometry, flat plate relations for compressible flow were applied. For the blunted portion of the geometry modified Newtonian theory, Fay-Riddell theory and Modified Reynolds analogy were applied. The design and analysis methods were validated using analytical solutions as well as empirical and numerical data. The streamline solution for the flow field generation technique was compared with a Taylor-Maccoll solution and showed very good agreement. The relationship between the local Stanton number and skin friction coefficient with local Reynolds number along the ideal portion of the body showed good agreement with experimental data. In addition, an automated grid generation routine was formulated to construct a structured mesh around resulting geometries in preparation for Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis. The overall analysis of the waverider body using the tool was then compared to CFD studies. The CFD flow field showed very good agreement with the design space. However, the distribution of the surface properties was near CFD results but did not have great agreement.

  2. A simulator-independent optimization tool based on genetic algorithm applied to nuclear reactor design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abreu Pereira, Claudio Marcio Nascimento do; Schirru, Roberto; Martinez, Aquilino Senra

    1999-01-01

    Here is presented an engineering optimization tool based on a genetic algorithm, implemented according to the method proposed in recent work that has demonstrated the feasibility of the use of this technique in nuclear reactor core designs. The tool is simulator-independent in the sense that it can be customized to use most of the simulators which have the input parameters read from formatted text files and the outputs also written from a text file. As the nuclear reactor simulators generally use such kind of interface, the proposed tool plays an important role in nuclear reactor designs. Research reactors may often use non-conventional design approaches, causing different situations that may lead the nuclear engineer to face new optimization problems. In this case, a good optimization technique, together with its customizing facility and a friendly man-machine interface could be very interesting. Here, the tool is described and some advantages are outlined. (author)

  3. Ares I-X Flight Test Validation of Control Design Tools in the Frequency-Domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Matthew; Hannan, Mike; Brandon, Jay; Derry, Stephen

    2011-01-01

    A major motivation of the Ares I-X flight test program was to Design for Data, in order to maximize the usefulness of the data recorded in support of Ares I modeling and validation of design and analysis tools. The Design for Data effort was intended to enable good post-flight characterizations of the flight control system, the vehicle structural dynamics, and also the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle. To extract the necessary data from the system during flight, a set of small predetermined Programmed Test Inputs (PTIs) was injected directly into the TVC signal. These PTIs were designed to excite the necessary vehicle dynamics while exhibiting a minimal impact on loads. The method is similar to common approaches in aircraft flight test programs, but with unique launch vehicle challenges due to rapidly changing states, short duration of flight, a tight flight envelope, and an inability to repeat any test. This paper documents the validation effort of the stability analysis tools to the flight data which was performed by comparing the post-flight calculated frequency response of the vehicle to the frequency response calculated by the stability analysis tools used to design and analyze the preflight models during the control design effort. The comparison between flight day frequency response and stability tool analysis for flight of the simulated vehicle shows good agreement and provides a high level of confidence in the stability analysis tools for use in any future program. This is true for both a nominal model as well as for dispersed analysis, which shows that the flight day frequency response is enveloped by the vehicle s preflight uncertainty models.

  4. Testing the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET) in Australia: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foureur, Maralyn J; Leap, Nicky; Davis, Deborah L; Forbes, Ian F; Homer, Caroline E S

    2011-01-01

    To pilot test the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET) in an Australian maternity care setting to determine whether such an instrument can measure the optimality of different birth settings. Optimally designed spaces to give birth are likely to influence a woman's ability to experience physiologically normal labor and birth. This is important in the current industrialized environment, where increased caesarean section rates are causing concerns. The measurement of an optimal birth space is currently impossible, because there are limited tools available. A quantitative study was undertaken to pilot test the discriminant ability of the BUDSET in eight maternity units in New South Wales, Australia. Five auditors trained in the use of the BUDSET assessed the birth units using the BUDSET, which is based on 18 design principles and is divided into four domains (Fear Cascade, Facility, Aesthetics, and Support) with three to eight assessable items in each. Data were independently collected in eight birth units. Values for each of the domains were aggregated to provide an overall Optimality Score for each birth unit. A range of Optimality Scores was derived for each of the birth units (from 51 to 77 out of a possible 100 points). The BUDSET identified units with low-scoring domains. Essentially these were older units and conventional labor ward settings. The BUDSET provides a way to assess the optimality of birth units and determine which domain areas may need improvement. There is potential for improvements to existing birth spaces, and considerable improvement can be made with simple low-cost modifications. Further research is needed to validate the tool.

  5. Learning Asset Technology Integration Support Tool Design Document

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-11

    language known as Hypertext Preprocessor ( PHP ) and by MySQL – a relational database management system that can also be used for content management. It...Requirements The LATIST tool will be implemented utilizing a WordPress platform with MySQL as the database. Also the LATIST system must effectively work... MySQL . When designing the LATIST system there are several considerations which must be accounted for in the working prototype. These include: • DAU

  6. Research on Key Technologies of Unit-Based CNC Machine Tool Assembly Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongqi Sheng

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Assembly is the part that produces the maximum workload and consumed time during product design and manufacturing process. CNC machine tool is the key basic equipment in manufacturing industry and research on assembly design technologies of CNC machine tool has theoretical significance and practical value. This study established a simplified ASRG for CNC machine tool. The connection between parts, semantic information of transmission, and geometric constraint information were quantified to assembly connection strength to depict the assembling difficulty level. The transmissibility based on trust relationship was applied on the assembly connection strength. Assembly unit partition based on assembly connection strength was conducted, and interferential assembly units were identified and revised. The assembly sequence planning and optimization of parts in each assembly unit and between assembly units was conducted using genetic algorithm. With certain type of high speed CNC turning center, as an example, this paper explored into the assembly modeling, assembly unit partition, and assembly sequence planning and optimization and realized the optimized assembly sequence of headstock of CNC machine tool.

  7. Remediating a Design Tool: Implications of Digitizing Sticky Notes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Mads Møller; Rädle, Roman; Klokmose, Clemens Nylandsted

    2018-01-01

    digital sticky notes setup. The paper contributes with a nuanced understanding of what happens when remediating a physical design tool into digital space, by emphasizing focus shifts and breakdowns caused by the technology, but also benefits and promises inherent in the digital media. Despite users...... their use and understanding, yielding new concerns regarding cross-device transfer and collaboration....

  8. MODEST: a web-based design tool for oligonucleotide-mediated genome engineering and recombineering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bonde, Mads; Klausen, Michael Schantz; Anderson, Mads Valdemar

    2014-01-01

    Recombineering and multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE) offer the possibility to rapidly modify multiple genomic or plasmid sites at high efficiencies. This enables efficient creation of genetic variants including both single mutants with specifically targeted modifications as well......, which confers the corresponding genetic change, is performed manually. To address these challenges, we have developed the MAGE Oligo Design Tool (MODEST). This web-based tool allows designing of MAGE oligos for (i) tuning translation rates by modifying the ribosomal binding site, (ii) generating...

  9. Engineering Design Tools for Shape Memory Alloy Actuators: CASMART Collaborative Best Practices and Case Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeler, Robert W.; Benafan, Othmane; Gao, Xiujie; Calkins, Frederick T; Ghanbari, Zahra; Hommer, Garrison; Lagoudas, Dimitris; Petersen, Andrew; Pless, Jennifer M.; Stebner, Aaron P.; hide

    2016-01-01

    The primary goal of the Consortium for the Advancement of Shape Memory Alloy Research and Technology (CASMART) is to enable the design of revolutionary applications based on shape memory alloy (SMA) technology. In order to help realize this goal and reduce the development time and required experience for the fabrication of SMA actuation systems, several modeling tools have been developed for common actuator types and are discussed herein along with case studies, which highlight the capabilities and limitations of these tools. Due to their ability to sustain high stresses and recover large deformations, SMAs have many potential applications as reliable, lightweight, solid-state actuators. Their advantage over classical actuators can also be further improved when the actuator geometry is modified to fit the specific application. In this paper, three common actuator designs are studied: wires, which are lightweight, low-profile, and easily implemented; springs, which offer actuation strokes upwards of 200 at reduced mechanical loads; and torque tubes, which can provide large actuation forces in small volumes and develop a repeatable zero-load actuation response (known as the two-way shape memory effect). The modeling frameworks, which have been implemented in the design tools, are developed for each of these frequently used SMA actuator types. In order to demonstrate the versatility and flexibility of the presented design tools, as well as validate their modeling framework, several design challenges were completed. These case studies include the design and development of an active hinge for the deployment of a solar array or foldable space structure, an adaptive solar array deployment and positioning system, a passive air temperature controller for regulation flow temperatures inside of a jet engine, and a redesign of the Corvette active hatch, which allows for pressure equalization of the car interior. For each of the presented case studies, a prototype or proof

  10. Electronic circuit design with HEP computational tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaz, Mario

    1996-01-01

    CPSPICE is an electronic circuit statistical simulation program developed to run in a parallel environment under UNIX operating system and TCP/IP communications protocol, using CPS - Cooperative Processes Software , SPICE program and CERNLIB software package. It is part of a set of tools being develop, intended to help electronic engineers to design, model and simulate complex systems and circuits for High Energy Physics detectors, based on statistical methods, using the same software and methodology used by HEP physicists for data analysis. CPSPICE simulates electronic circuits by Monte Carlo method, through several different processes running simultaneously SPICE in UNIX parallel computers or workstation farms. Data transfer between CPS processes for a modified version of SPICE2G6 is done by RAM memory, but can also be done through hard disk files if no source files are available for the simulator, and for bigger simulation outputs files. Simulation results are written in a HBOOK file as a NTUPLE, to be examined by HBOOK in batch model or graphics, and analyzed by statistical procedures available. The HBOOK file be stored on hard disk for small amount of data, or into Exabyte tape file for large amount of data. HEP tools also helps circuit or component modeling, like MINUT program from CERNLIB, that implements Nelder and Mead Simplex and Gradient with or without derivatives algorithms, and can be used for design optimization.This paper presents CPSPICE program implementation. The scheme adopted is suitable to make parallel other electronic circuit simulators. (author)

  11. New tools for extracting cork from Quercus suber L.: increasing productivity and reducing damage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesus Beira Davila

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Aim of study: The aim of this study is to test new tools designed to debark cork oak trees: mechanized tools to perform cutting operations (IPLA-Morell, Stihl MC200 and COVELESS and manual tools to separate and extract the cork (cork pincers, MIJURO.Area of study: Southwestern Spain.Material and methods: One of the longstanding problems affecting the sector is the shortage of skilled labor to perform debarking due to the difficulty of handling axes and the temporary nature of the work. To overcome these problems, four debarking systems using the new tools were designed according to the morphological properties of cork oak. The viability of the debarking systems were evaluated based on productivity (kg · person–1 · hour–1, production costs (€ · t1 and percentage of pieces smaller than 400 cm2 (%, and compared with the traditional system. Debarking quality and operator experience were also evaluated. A total of 204 trees were debarked.Main results: The new systems obtain better results: productivity is higher, the percentage of pieces is slightly lower and production costs are reduced, except for one system. Debarking quality improves with the new tools as cork is extracted in a more precise and cleaner manner, thus permitting cork manufacturers to obtain higher yields from the cork planks.Research highlights: Semi-skilled operators using the new tools obtain very similar results to skilled operators using axes. This would therefore resolve the problem of the lack of skilled labor, while improving the working conditions of operators. The results demonstrate that the new tools are viable for cork debarking and can bring potential benefits to the sector.Key words: Q. suber L.; cork debarking; mechanization; productivity; cork stripping damage; axe; IPLA_Morell, Sthil MC 200, COVELESS.

  12. A Shape Optimization Study for Tool Design in Resistance Welding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bogomolny, Michael; Bendsøe, Martin P.; Hattel, Jesper Henri

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to apply shape optimization tools for design of resistance welding electrodes. The numerical simulation of the welding process has been performed by a simplified FEM model implemented in COMSOL. The design process is formulated as an optimization problem where...... the objective is to prolong the life-time of the electrodes. Welding parameters like current, time and electrode shape parameters are selected to be the design variables while constraints are chosen to ensure a high quality of the welding. Surrogate models based on a Kriging approximation has been used in order...

  13. Computational Tools for RF Structure Design

    CERN Document Server

    Jensen, E

    2004-01-01

    The Finite Differences Method and the Finite Element Method are the two principally employed numerical methods in modern RF field simulation programs. The basic ideas behind these methods are explained, with regard to available simulation programs. We then go through a list of characteristic parameters of RF structures, explaining how they can be calculated using these tools. With the help of these parameters, we introduce the frequency-domain and the time-domain calculations, leading to impedances and wake-fields, respectively. Subsequently, we present some readily available computer programs, which are in use for RF structure design, stressing their distinctive features and limitations. One final example benchmarks the precision of different codes for calculating the eigenfrequency and Q of a simple cavity resonator.

  14. Improved Design Tools for Surface Water and Standing Column Well Heat Pump Systems (DE-EE0002961)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spitler, J. D.; Culling, J. R.; Conjeevaram, K.; Ramesh, M.; Selvakumar, M.

    2012-11-30

    Ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems are perhaps the most widely used “sustainable” heating and cooling systems, with an estimated 1.7 million installed units with total installed heating capacity on the order of 18 GW. They are widely used in residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. Standing column wells (SCW) are one form of ground heat exchanger that, under the right geological conditions, can provide excellent energy efficiency at a relatively low capital cost. Closed-loop surface water heat pump (SWHP) systems utilize surface water heat exchangers (SWHE) to reject or extract heat from nearby surface water bodies. For building near surface water bodies, these systems also offer a high degree of energy efficiency at a low capital cost. However, there have been few design tools available for properly sizing standing column wells or surface water heat exchangers. Nor have tools for analyzing the energy consumption and supporting economics-based design decisions been available. The main contributions of this project lie in providing new tools that support design and energy analysis. These include a design tool for sizing surface water heat exchangers, a design tool for sizing standing column wells, a new model of surface water heat pump systems implemented in EnergyPlus and a new model of standing column wells implemented in EnergyPlus. These tools will better help engineers design these systems and determine the economic and technical feasibility.

  15. Materials modelling - a possible design tool for advanced nuclear applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoffelner, W.; Samaras, M.; Bako, B.; Iglesias, R.

    2008-01-01

    The design of components for power plants is usually based on codes, standards and design rules or code cases. However, it is very difficult to get the necessary experimental data to prove these lifetime assessment procedures for long-term applications in environments where complex damage interactions (temperature, stress, environment, irradiation) can occur. The rules used are often very simple and do not have a basis which take physical damage into consideration. The linear life fraction rule for creep and fatigue interaction can be taken as a prominent example. Materials modelling based on a multi-scale approach in principle provides a tool to convert microstructural findings into mechanical response and therefore has the capability of providing a set of tools for the improvement of design life assessments. The strength of current multi-scale modelling efforts is the insight they offer as regards experimental phenomena. To obtain an understanding of these phenomena it is import to focus on issues which are important at the various time and length scales of the modelling code. In this presentation the multi-scale path will be demonstrated with a few recent examples which focus on VHTR applications. (authors)

  16. VisBOL: Web-Based Tools for Synthetic Biology Design Visualization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaughlin, James Alastair; Pocock, Matthew; Mısırlı, Göksel; Madsen, Curtis; Wipat, Anil

    2016-08-19

    VisBOL is a Web-based application that allows the rendering of genetic circuit designs, enabling synthetic biologists to visually convey designs in SBOL visual format. VisBOL designs can be exported to formats including PNG and SVG images to be embedded in Web pages, presentations and publications. The VisBOL tool enables the automated generation of visualizations from designs specified using the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) version 2.0, as well as a range of well-known bioinformatics formats including GenBank and Pigeoncad notation. VisBOL is provided both as a user accessible Web site and as an open-source (BSD) JavaScript library that can be used to embed diagrams within other content and software.

  17. Paper-based mixed reality sketch augmentation as a conceptual design support tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    dos Santos, G.J.D.; van Dijk, E.M.A.G.; Vyas, D.M.; Backwell, Alan

    2009-01-01

    This undergraduate student paper explores usage of mixed reality techniques as support tools for conceptual design. A proof-of-concept was developed to illustrate this principle. Using this as an example, a small group of designers was interviewed to determine their views on the use of this

  18. Designing the Urban Microclimate. A framework for a design-decision support tool for the dissemination of knowledge on the urban microclimate to the urban design process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marjolein Pijpers-van Esch

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This doctoral thesis presents research on the integration and transfer of knowledge from the specialized field of urban microclimatology into the generic field of urban design. Both fields are studied in order to identify crosslinks and reveal gaps. The main research question of the research is: How can the design of urban neighbourhoods contribute to microclimates that support physical well-being and what kind of information and form of presentation does the urban designer need in order to make design decisions regarding such urban microclimates? This question consists of two parts, which are addressed separately in the first two parts of the dissertation. Part 1 concerns an assessment of relevant knowledge on urban design by literature review, followed by a field study into the use of expert information in the urban design process. Part 2 discusses the influence of the urban environment on its microclimate and, consequently, the living quality of its inhabitants – both by means of literature review. Combined, Parts 1 and 2 serve as a basis for a framework for a design-decision support tool, which is discussed in Part 3. This tool is proposed as a means to integrate knowledge of the urban microclimate into the urban design process, bridging an observed gap. Urban design is concerned with shaping the physical environment to facilitate urban life in all its aspects. This is a complex task, which requires the integration and translation of different stakeholder interests into a proposition for the realization of physical-spatial constructs in the urban environment. Such a proposition comprises different planning elements in the following categories: spatial-functional organization, city plan, public space design and rules for architecture. During the design process, the urban designer has to deal with incomplete, often contradictory and/or changing constraints and quality demands as well as other uncertainties. He/ she handles this complexity by

  19. Framework for Multidisciplinary Analysis, Design, and Optimization with High-Fidelity Analysis Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orr, Stanley A.; Narducci, Robert P.

    2009-01-01

    A plan is presented for the development of a high fidelity multidisciplinary optimization process for rotorcraft. The plan formulates individual disciplinary design problems, identifies practical high-fidelity tools and processes that can be incorporated in an automated optimization environment, and establishes statements of the multidisciplinary design problem including objectives, constraints, design variables, and cross-disciplinary dependencies. Five key disciplinary areas are selected in the development plan. These are rotor aerodynamics, rotor structures and dynamics, fuselage aerodynamics, fuselage structures, and propulsion / drive system. Flying qualities and noise are included as ancillary areas. Consistency across engineering disciplines is maintained with a central geometry engine that supports all multidisciplinary analysis. The multidisciplinary optimization process targets the preliminary design cycle where gross elements of the helicopter have been defined. These might include number of rotors and rotor configuration (tandem, coaxial, etc.). It is at this stage that sufficient configuration information is defined to perform high-fidelity analysis. At the same time there is enough design freedom to influence a design. The rotorcraft multidisciplinary optimization tool is built and substantiated throughout its development cycle in a staged approach by incorporating disciplines sequentially.

  20. Design tool for offshore wind farm cluster planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Madsen, Peter Hauge; Giebel, Gregor

    2015-01-01

    In the framework of the FP7 project EERA DTOC: Design Tool for Offshore wind farm Cluster, a new software supporting the planning of offshore wind farms was developed, based on state-of-the-art approaches from large scale wind potential to economic benchmarking. The model portfolio includes WAs......P, FUGA, WRF, Net-Op, LCoE model, CorWind, FarmFlow, EeFarm and grid code compliance calculations. The development is done by members from European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and guided by several industrial partners. A commercial spin-off from the project is the tool ‘Wind & Economy’. The software...... by the software and several tests were performed. The calculations include the smoothing effect on produced energy between wind farms located in different regional wind zones and the short time scales relevant for assessing balancing power. The grid code compliance was tested for several cases and the results...

  1. Agricultural Farm-Related Injuries in Bangladesh and Convenient Design of Working Hand Tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parvez, M S; Shahriar, M M

    2018-01-01

    Injuries during cultivation of land are the significant causes of recession for an agricultural country like Bangladesh. Thousands of tools are used in agricultural farm having much probability of getting injury at their workplaces. For the injury prevention, proper hand tool designs need to be recommended with ergonomic evaluations. This paper represents the main causes of agricultural injuries among the Bangladeshi farmers. Effective interventions had been discussed in this paper to reduce the rate of injury. This study was carried out in the Panchagarh district of Bangladesh. Data on 434 agricultural injuries were collected and recorded. About 67% injuries of all incidents were due to hand tools, and the remaining 33% were due to machinery or other sources. Though most of the injuries were not serious, about 22% injuries were greater than or equal to AIS 2 (Abbreviated Injury Scale). The practical implication of this study is to design ergonomically fit agricultural hand tools for Bangladeshi farmers in order to avoid their injuries.

  2. Agricultural Farm-Related Injuries in Bangladesh and Convenient Design of Working Hand Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. S. Parvez

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Injuries during cultivation of land are the significant causes of recession for an agricultural country like Bangladesh. Thousands of tools are used in agricultural farm having much probability of getting injury at their workplaces. For the injury prevention, proper hand tool designs need to be recommended with ergonomic evaluations. This paper represents the main causes of agricultural injuries among the Bangladeshi farmers. Effective interventions had been discussed in this paper to reduce the rate of injury. This study was carried out in the Panchagarh district of Bangladesh. Data on 434 agricultural injuries were collected and recorded. About 67% injuries of all incidents were due to hand tools, and the remaining 33% were due to machinery or other sources. Though most of the injuries were not serious, about 22% injuries were greater than or equal to AIS 2 (Abbreviated Injury Scale. The practical implication of this study is to design ergonomically fit agricultural hand tools for Bangladeshi farmers in order to avoid their injuries.

  3. Design Compass

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stokholm, Marianne Denise J.

    2006-01-01

    Design is moreover recognised as an important strategic tool in achieving competitive business´, products and services in a global market. As design becomes a more complex matter, due to a general increase in knowledge, requirements and internationalisation, more professions are involved....... As such it acts a managing tool for both leaders and participants in the design process. This paper builds on long term practical experiment with development and use of a simple tool to support management of complex design matters in diverse groups. Concerning education it has supported the development of new...

  4. New design-tools for energy efficient commercial buildings. Neue Planungsinstrumente fuer energiegerechte Verwaltungsgebaeude

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Erhorn, H [Fraunhofer-Inst. fuer Bauphysik, Stuttgart (Germany); Szerman, M [Fraunhofer-Inst. fuer Bauphysik, Stuttgart (Germany)

    1993-03-01

    Aim of SHC-Task 12 is to develop and hand out design tools to designers, architects and engineers for the integrated evaluation of daylighting and heating/cooling concepts on an early stage of the actual design process. Concerning the software for the lighting and daylighting evaluation, the following international validated programmes are used: SUPERLITE (Radiosity); RADIANCE (Raytracing); SUPERLINK (linkage between daylighting an energy analysis). The thermal and energetic behaviour of buildings can be analysed with the simulation tools: - SUNCODE; - TRNSYS; - tsbi. The input of the programmes is handled by a common CAD programme and special converters. The software package is produced in international collaboration and will be distributed in 1993. (orig./BWI)

  5. Development of hybrid lifecycle cost estimating tool (HLCET) for manufacturing influenced design tradeoff

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirirojvisuth, Apinut

    In complex aerospace system design, making an effective design decision requires multidisciplinary knowledge from both product and process perspectives. Integrating manufacturing considerations into the design process is most valuable during the early design stages since designers have more freedom to integrate new ideas when changes are relatively inexpensive in terms of time and effort. Several metrics related to manufacturability are cost, time, and manufacturing readiness level (MRL). Yet, there is a lack of structured methodology that quantifies how changes in the design decisions impact these metrics. As a result, a new set of integrated cost analysis tools are proposed in this study to quantify the impacts. Equally important is the capability to integrate this new cost tool into the existing design methodologies without sacrificing agility and flexibility required during the early design phases. To demonstrate the applicability of this concept, a ModelCenter environment is used to develop software architecture that represents Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) methodology used in several aerospace systems designs. The environment seamlessly integrates product and process analysis tools and makes effective transition from one design phase to the other while retaining knowledge gained a priori. Then, an advanced cost estimating tool called Hybrid Lifecycle Cost Estimating Tool (HLCET), a hybrid combination of weight-, process-, and activity-based estimating techniques, is integrated with the design framework. A new weight-based lifecycle cost model is created based on Tailored Cost Model (TCM) equations [3]. This lifecycle cost tool estimates the program cost based on vehicle component weights and programmatic assumptions. Additional high fidelity cost tools like process-based and activity-based cost analysis methods can be used to modify the baseline TCM result as more knowledge is accumulated over design iterations. Therefore, with this

  6. A Virtual Tool for Minimum Cost Design of a Wind Turbine Tower with Ring Stiffeners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatih Karpat

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Currently, renewable energy resources are becoming more important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency. Researchers have focused on all components of wind turbines to increase reliability and minimize cost. In this paper, a procedure including a cost analysis method and a particle swarm optimization algorithm has been presented to efficiently design low cost steel wind turbine towers. A virtual tool is developed in MATLAB for the cost optimization of wind turbine steel towers with ring stiffeners using a particle swarm optimization algorithm. A wind turbine tower optimization problem in the literature is solved using the developed computer program. In the optimization procedure the optimization results match very well with the optimization results obtained previously. The wall thickness of the shell segments and the dimensions of the ring stiffeners are selected as the design variables, and the limits of the local buckling for the flat ring stiffeners, the local shell buckling limit, the panel ring buckling limit and the limitation of the frequency are considered the design constraints. Numerical examples are presented to understand the impacts of the design variables on the total cost of the wind turbine tower.

  7. MATHEMATICS COURSES AND NEW EMERGING DESIGN TOOL AN OVERVIEW OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION IN INDONESIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aswin Indraprastha

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Since the beginning, mathematics courses are inherent within architecture education. In Indonesia, the legacy from Dutch education system has influenced most of the architectural schools and this courses stand as one of basic engineering courses for architecture education system. This situation has been remaining well adopted until recently, some of architectural schools are tailoring mathematics to shape with contemporary challenges particularly regards to the digital tools. This paper aims to present brief information about mathematics courses in architectural schools in Indonesia, the importance of mathematics in learning digital design tools and propose thoughts to upgrade mathematics content in architectural education towards new emerging design tools.

  8. Multi-diameter pigging: factors affecting the design and selection of pigging tools for multi-diameter pipelines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dawson, Karl [Pipeline Engineering and Supply Co. Ltd., Richmond, NY (United States)

    2009-07-01

    This paper will consider the process involved in pigging tool selection for pipelines with two or more significant internal diameters which require pigging tools capable of negotiating the different internal diameters whilst also carrying out the necessary pipeline cleaning operation. The paper will include an analysis of pipeline features that affect pigging tool selection and then go on to look at other variables that determine the pigging tool design; this will include a step by step guide outlining how the tool is designed, the development of prototype pigs and the importance of testing and validation prior to final deployment in operational pigging programmes. (author)

  9. Predictive tools for designing new insulins and treatment regimens

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klim, Søren

    The thesis deals with the development of "Predictive tools for designing new insulins and treatments regimens" and consists of two parts: A model based approach for bridging properties of new insulin analogues from glucose clamp experiments to meal tolerance tests (MTT) and a second part that des......The thesis deals with the development of "Predictive tools for designing new insulins and treatments regimens" and consists of two parts: A model based approach for bridging properties of new insulin analogues from glucose clamp experiments to meal tolerance tests (MTT) and a second part...... that describes an implemented software program able to handle stochastic differential equations (SDEs) with mixed effects. The thesis is supplemented with scientific papers published during the PhD. Developing an insulin analogue from candidate molecule to a clinical drug consists of a development programme...... and efficacy are investigated. Numerous methods are used to quantify dose and efficacy in Phase II - especially of interest is the 24-hour meal tolerance test as it tries to portray near normal living conditions. Part I describes an integrated model for insulin and glucose which is aimed at simulating 24-hour...

  10. TNO-ADVANCE: a modular power train simulation and design tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Venne, J.W.C. van de; Hendriksen, P.; Smokers, R.T.M.; Verkiel, M.

    1998-01-01

    To support its activities in the field of conventional and hybrid vehicles, TNO has developed ADVANCE, a modular simulation tool for the design and evaluation of advanced power trains. In this paper the various features and the potential of ADVANCE are described and illustrated by means of two case

  11. Design tool for the thermal energy potential of asphalt pavements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Loomans, M.G.L.C.; Oversloot, H.P.; Bondt, A. de; Jansen, R.; Rij, H. van

    2003-01-01

    This paper describes the development of a design tool for the calculation of the thermal energy potential of a so-called asphalt collector. Two types of numerical models have been developed and validated against experimental results from a full-scale test-site. The validation showed to be a tedious

  12. Criticism on Environmental Assessment Tools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Abdalla, G.; Maas, G.J.; Huyghe, J.; Oostra, M.; Saji Baby, xx; Bogdan Zygmunt, xx

    2011-01-01

    Using environmental assessment tools to assess the sustainability of buildings, homes and mixed- use area is increasing. Environmental tools assign scores to projects using some sustainability (sub) aspects according to design and realization documents and evidences. Six European sustainable urban

  13. Performance Aided Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Parigi, Dario

    2014-01-01

    paradigm where the increasing integration of parametric tools and performative analysis is changing the way we learn and design. The term Performance Aided Architectural Design (PAD) is proposed at the Master of Science of Architecture and Design at Aalborg University, with the aim of extending a tectonic...... tradition of architecture with computational tools, preparing the basis for the creation of the figure of a modern master builder, sitting at the boundary of the disciplines of architecture and engineering. Performance Aided Design focuses on the role of performative analysis, embedded tectonics......, and computational methods tools to trigger creativity and innovative understanding of relation between form material and a increasingly wide range of performances in architectural design. The ultimate goal is to pursue a design approach that aims at embracing rather than excluding the complexity implicit...

  14. Integration of numerical analysis tools for automated numerical optimization of a transportation package design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Witkowski, W.R.; Eldred, M.S.; Harding, D.C.

    1994-01-01

    The use of state-of-the-art numerical analysis tools to determine the optimal design of a radioactive material (RAM) transportation container is investigated. The design of a RAM package's components involves a complex coupling of structural, thermal, and radioactive shielding analyses. The final design must adhere to very strict design constraints. The current technique used by cask designers is uncoupled and involves designing each component separately with respect to its driving constraint. With the use of numerical optimization schemes, the complex couplings can be considered directly, and the performance of the integrated package can be maximized with respect to the analysis conditions. This can lead to more efficient package designs. Thermal and structural accident conditions are analyzed in the shape optimization of a simplified cask design. In this paper, details of the integration of numerical analysis tools, development of a process model, nonsmoothness difficulties with the optimization of the cask, and preliminary results are discussed

  15. TESPI (Tool for Environmental Sound Product Innovation): a simplified software tool to support environmentally conscious design in SMEs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misceo, Monica; Buonamici, Roberto; Buttol, Patrizia; Naldesi, Luciano; Grimaldi, Filomena; Rinaldi, Caterina

    2004-12-01

    TESPI (Tool for Environmental Sound Product Innovation) is the prototype of a software tool developed within the framework of the "eLCA" project. The project, (www.elca.enea.it)financed by the European Commission, is realising "On line green tools and services for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)". The implementation by SMEs of environmental product innovation (as fostered by the European Integrated Product Policy, IPP) needs specific adaptation to their economic model, their knowledge of production and management processes and their relationships with innovation and the environment. In particular, quality and costs are the main driving forces of innovation in European SMEs, and well known barriers exist to the adoption of an environmental approach in the product design. Starting from these considerations, the TESPI tool has been developed to support the first steps of product design taking into account both the quality and the environment. Two main issues have been considered: (i) classic Quality Function Deployment (QFD) can hardly be proposed to SMEs; (ii) the environmental aspects of the product life cycle need to be integrated with the quality approach. TESPI is a user friendly web-based tool, has a training approach and applies to modular products. Users are guided through the investigation of the quality aspects of their product (customer"s needs and requirements fulfilment) and the identification of the key environmental aspects in the product"s life cycle. A simplified check list allows analyzing the environmental performance of the product. Help is available for a better understanding of the analysis criteria. As a result, the significant aspects for the redesign of the product are identified.

  16. Design and simulation of thermal residual stresses of coatings on WC-Co cemented carbide cutting tool substrate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Anhai; Zhao, Jun; Zang, Jian; Zheng, Wei

    2016-01-01

    Large thermal residual stresses in coatings during the coating deposition process may easily lead to coating delamination of coated carbide tools in machining. In order to reduce the possibility of coating delamination during the tool failure process, a theoretical method was proposed and a numerical method was constructed for the coating design of WC-Co cemented carbide cutting tools. The thermal residual stresses of multi-layered coatings were analytically modeled based on equivalent parameters of coating properties, and the stress distribution of coatings are simulated by Finite element method (FEM). The theoretically calculated results and the FEM simulated results were verified and in good agreement with the experimental test results. The effects of coating thickness, tool substrate, coating type and interlayer were investigated by the proposed geometric and FEM model. Based on the evaluations of matchability of tool substrate and tool coatings, the basic principles of tool coating design were proposed. This provides theoretical basis for the selection and design of coatings of cutting tools in high-speed machining

  17. A Combinational Digital Logic Design Tool for Practice and Assessment in Engineering Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rasha Morsi

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available As technology advances, computers are being used almost everywhere. In a 2013 US Census report (File and Ryan, 2014, 83.8% (up from 78.9% in 2012 of U.S. households reported owning a computer with 74.4% reporting internet use (73.4% high speed internet. In recent years, the shift in educational technologies has been moving towards gaming, more specifically serious gaming. Although this is an important trend, there is still much to be said about e-learning through a step-by-step interactive process using an online practice tool. This paper presents a detailed description of the Combinational Logic Design Tool (CLDT (Morsi and Russell (2007. CLDT was designed and developed under the CCLI project, #0737242, funded by the National Science Foundation, which aimed to develop and disseminate a novel online practice tool for on demand review and assessment in Electrical and Computer Engineering education. The paper also reports on a formal assessment conducted in a Digital Logic Design Classroom and presents the results of this assessment.

  18. A Design Tool for Matching UAV Propeller and Power Plant Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangio, Arion L.

    A large body of knowledge is available for matching propellers to engines for large propeller driven aircraft. Small UAV's and model airplanes operate at much lower Reynolds numbers and use fixed pitch propellers so the information for large aircraft is not directly applicable. A design tool is needed that takes into account Reynolds number effects, allows for gear reduction, and the selection of a propeller optimized for the airframe. The tool developed in this thesis does this using propeller performance data generated from vortex theory or wind tunnel experiments and combines that data with an engine power curve. The thrust, steady state power, RPM, and tip Mach number vs. velocity curves are generated. The Reynolds number vs. non dimensional radial station at an operating point is also found. The tool is then used to design a geared power plant for the SAE Aero Design competition. To measure the power plant performance, a purpose built engine test stand was built. The characteristics of the engine test stand are also presented. The engine test stand was then used to characterize the geared power plant. The power plant uses a 26x16 propeller, 100/13 gear ratio, and an LRP 0.30 cubic inch engine turning at 28,000 RPM and producing 2.2 HP. Lastly, the measured power plant performance is presented. An important result is that 17 lbf of static thrust is produced.

  19. A basic tool for computer-aided sail design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thrasher, D.F.; Dunyak, T.J.; Mook, D.T.; Nayfeh, A.H.

    1985-01-01

    Recent developments in modelling lifting surfaces have provided a tool that also can be used to model sails. The simplest of the adequate models is the vortex-lattice method. This method can fully account for the aerodynamic interactions among several lifting surfaces having arbitrary platforms, camber, and twist as long as separation occurs only along the edges and the phenomenon known as vortex bursting does not occur near the sails. This paper describes this method and how it can be applied to the design of sails

  20. Validation of RetroPath, a computer-aided design tool for metabolic pathway engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fehér, Tamás; Planson, Anne-Gaëlle; Carbonell, Pablo; Fernández-Castané, Alfred; Grigoras, Ioana; Dariy, Ekaterina; Perret, Alain; Faulon, Jean-Loup

    2014-11-01

    Metabolic engineering has succeeded in biosynthesis of numerous commodity or high value compounds. However, the choice of pathways and enzymes used for production was many times made ad hoc, or required expert knowledge of the specific biochemical reactions. In order to rationalize the process of engineering producer strains, we developed the computer-aided design (CAD) tool RetroPath that explores and enumerates metabolic pathways connecting the endogenous metabolites of a chassis cell to the target compound. To experimentally validate our tool, we constructed 12 top-ranked enzyme combinations producing the flavonoid pinocembrin, four of which displayed significant yields. Namely, our tool queried the enzymes found in metabolic databases based on their annotated and predicted activities. Next, it ranked pathways based on the predicted efficiency of the available enzymes, the toxicity of the intermediate metabolites and the calculated maximum product flux. To implement the top-ranking pathway, our procedure narrowed down a list of nine million possible enzyme combinations to 12, a number easily assembled and tested. One round of metabolic network optimization based on RetroPath output further increased pinocembrin titers 17-fold. In total, 12 out of the 13 enzymes tested in this work displayed a relative performance that was in accordance with its predicted score. These results validate the ranking function of our CAD tool, and open the way to its utilization in the biosynthesis of novel compounds. Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  1. Some tooling for manufacturing research reactor fuel plates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knight, R.W.

    1999-01-01

    This paper will discuss some of the tooling necessary to manufacture aluminum-based research reactor fuel plates. Most of this tooling is intended for use in a high-production facility. Some of the tools shown have manufactured more than 150,000 pieces. The only maintenance has been sharpening. With careful design, tools can be made to accommodate the manufacture of several different fuel elements, thus, reducing tooling costs and maintaining tools that the operators are trained to use. An important feature is to design the tools using materials with good lasting quality. Good tools can increase return on investment. (author)

  2. Some Tooling for Manufacturing Research Reactor Fuel Plates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knight, R.W.

    1999-01-01

    This paper will discuss some of the tooling necessary to manufacture aluminum-based research reactor fuel plates. Most of this tooling is intended for use in a high-production facility. Some of the tools shown have manufactured more than 150,000 pieces. The only maintenance has been sharpening. With careful design, tools can be made to accommodate the manufacture of several different fuel elements, thus, reducing tooling costs and maintaining tools that the operators are trained to use. An important feature is to design the tools using materials with good lasting quality. Good tools can increase return on investment

  3. Integrated Design and Analysis Tools for Reduced Weight, Affordable Fiber Steered Composites

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Hale, Richard

    2004-01-01

    This report describes geometric design tools which encompass the overall process flow for fiber placed and fiber steered structures, to allow parallel considerations for manufacturability and mechanical performance...

  4. A novel gripper design for multi hand tools grasping under tight clearance constraints and external torque effect

    KAUST Repository

    Shaqura, Mohammad; Shamma, Jeff S.

    2017-01-01

    A robotic multi tool gripper design and implementation is presented in this paper. The proposed design targets applications where an actuation task is performed using a wide selection of standard hand tools. The manipulation motion is assumed

  5. Tools and procedures for a “maintenance oriented” design for buildings of worship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia Talamo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes the results, achieved in the first year, of a three years research dealing with the themes connected with the methods and the tools for planned maintenance and concerning the proposal of a system of supports for a design “maintenance oriented”. The starting hypothesis is that most of maintenance problems emerging during the life time of a building are due to a lack of attention towards the use phase that both clients and designers demonstrate. Starting from this point of view the aim of the research was to develop and to check a system of supports, useful both for clients and for designs of buildings of worship, consisting in guide lines, procedures and evaluation tools, graduate according to the different steps of design process and carried out in order to assume and to verify the requirement of maintainability.

  6. Rivalry between the collective use of IT tools and working methods of design teams

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Otter, den A.F.H.J.; Pels, H.J.

    2008-01-01

    Nowadays a high variety of IT tools is available for communication purposes in design processes on individual and group level. Despite this, the exchange and sharing of design documents collectively in design and engineering teams might be limited mainly, due to habits, preferences, working methods

  7. Design of Contactlessly Powered and Piezoelectrically Actuated Tools for Non-Resonant Vibration Assisted Milling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Silge

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This contribution presents a novel design approach for vibration assisted machining (VAM. A lot of research has already been done regarding the influence of superimposed vibrations during a milling process, but there is almost no information about how to design a VAM tool where the tool is actually rotating. The proposed system consists of a piezoelectric actuator for vibration excitation, an inductive contactless energy transfer system and an electronic circuit for powering the actuated tool. The main benefit of transferring the required power without mechanical contact is that the maximum spindle speed is no longer restricted by friction of slip rings. A detailed model is shown that enables for preliminary estimation of the system’s response to different excitation signals. Experimental data are provided to validate the model. Finally, some parts are shown that have been manufactured using the contactlessly actuated milling tool.

  8. SCREAMER: a single-line pulsed-power design tool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiefer, M.L.; Widner, M.M.

    1985-01-01

    SCREAMER is a special purpose circuit code developed as a design tool for single module accelerators. It is fast, accurate, flexible, and user-friendly. Its development was motivated by the excessive costs and long turn-around times incurred when using the SCEPTRE circuit analysis code to perform simulations of circuits with large numbers of nodes and with nonlinear components. Comparable simulations between SCREAMER running on a VAX 11/780 and SCEPTRE running on a CRAY-1S show that turn-around times and costs can be two orders of magnitude lower when using SCREAMER

  9. SCREAMER - A single-line pulsed-power design tool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiefer, M.L.; Widner, M.M.

    1985-01-01

    SCREAMER is a special purpose circuit code developed as a design tool for single module accelerators. it is fast, accurate, flexible, and user-friendly. Its development was motivated by the excessive costs and long turn-around times incurred when using the SCEPTRE circuit analysis code to perform simulations of circuits with large numbers of modes and with nonlinear components. Comparable simulations between SCREAMER running on a VAX 11/780 and SCEPTRE running on a CRAY-1S show that turn-around times and costs can be two orders of magnitude lower when using SCREAMER

  10. Amail : design and evaluation of an accessible email tool for persons with Aphasia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mahmud, Al A.; Martens, J.B.O.S.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we describe the iterative design and exploratory evaluation of 'Amail', an email tool designed for persons with aphasia. It is inspired by interviews with persons with aphasia and their partners and has been improved through discussions with experienced speech therapists. Our user

  11. Physics-Based Probabilistic Design Tool with System-Level Reliability Constraint, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The work proposed herein would develop a set of analytic methodologies and a computer tool suite enabling aerospace hardware designers to rapidly determine optimum...

  12. HTP-OligoDesigner: An Online Primer Design Tool for High-Throughput Gene Cloning and Site-Directed Mutagenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camilo, Cesar M; Lima, Gustavo M A; Maluf, Fernando V; Guido, Rafael V C; Polikarpov, Igor

    2016-01-01

    Following burgeoning genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data, biochemical and molecular biology groups worldwide are implementing high-throughput cloning and mutagenesis facilities in order to obtain a large number of soluble proteins for structural and functional characterization. Since manual primer design can be a time-consuming and error-generating step, particularly when working with hundreds of targets, the automation of primer design process becomes highly desirable. HTP-OligoDesigner was created to provide the scientific community with a simple and intuitive online primer design tool for both laboratory-scale and high-throughput projects of sequence-independent gene cloning and site-directed mutagenesis and a Tm calculator for quick queries.

  13. A conceptual design of assembly strategy and dedicated tools for assembly of 40o sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, H.K.; Nam, K.O.; Kim, D.J.; Ahn, H.J.; Lee, J.H.; Im, K.; Shaw, R.

    2010-01-01

    The International Thermanuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) tokamak device is composed of 9 vacuum vessel (VV)/toroidal field coils (TFCs)/vacuum vessel thermal shields (VVTS) 40 o sectors. Each VV/TFCs/VVTS 40 o sector is made up of one 40 o VV, two 20 o TFCs and associated VVTS segments. The 40 o sectors are sub-assembled at assembly hall respectively and then nine 40 o sectors sub-assembled at assembly hall are finally assembled at tokamak in-pit hall. The assembly strategy and tools for the 40 o sector sub-assembly and final assembly should be developed to satisfy the basic assembly requirements of the ITER tokamak device. Accordingly, the purpose-built assembly tools should be designed and manufactured considering assembly plan, available space, cost, safety, easy operation, efficient maintenance, and so on. The 40 o sector assembly tools are classified into 2 groups. One group is the sub-assembly tools including upending tool, lifting tool, sub-assembly tool, VV supports and bracing tools used at assembly hall and the other group is the in-pit assembly tools including lifting tool, central column, radial beams and their supports. This paper describes the current status of the assembly strategy and major tools for the VV/TFCs/VVTS 40 o sector assembly at in-pit hall and assembly hall. The conceptual design of the major assembly tools and assembly process at assembly hall and tokamak in-pit hall are presented also.

  14. Roots of Performance - Aided Design in Utzon´s design principles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Parigi, Dario

    2014-01-01

    on paper, to an evolving paradigm where the increasing integration of parametric tools, performative analysis and computational methods is changing the way we learn and design. Its constitutive factors are: 1) embedded tectonics, 2) performance simulation 3) computational methods.......This paper discuss an emerging paradigm here identified as PAD, acronym of Performance-Aided Design, that aims at embracing complexity in the design process, and tackling it with digital tools. Computer Aided Design tools are gradually shifting from the mere translation of the work once carried...

  15. A Reference Architecture for Provisioning of Tools as a Service: Meta-Model, Ontologies and Design Elements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chauhan, Muhammad Aufeef; Babar, Muhammad Ali; Sheng, Quan Z.

    2016-01-01

    Software Architecture (SA) plays a critical role in designing, developing and evolving cloud-based platforms that can be used to provision different types of services to consumers on demand. In this paper, we present a Reference Architecture (RA) for designing cloud-based Tools as a service SPACE...... (TSPACE) for provisioning a bundled suite of tools by following the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. The reference architecture has been designed by leveraging information structuring approaches and by using well-known architecture design principles and patterns. The RA has been documented using view...

  16. A data-driven design evaluation tool for handheld device soft keyboards.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthieu B Trudeau

    Full Text Available Thumb interaction is a primary technique used to operate small handheld devices such as smartphones. Despite the different techniques involved in operating a handheld device compared to a personal computer, the keyboard layouts for both devices are similar. A handheld device keyboard that considers the physical capabilities of the thumb may improve user experience. We developed and applied a design evaluation tool for different geometries of the QWERTY keyboard using a performance evaluation model. The model utilizes previously collected data on thumb motor performance and posture for different tap locations and thumb movement directions. We calculated a performance index (PITOT, 0 is worst and 2 is best for 663 designs consisting in different combinations of three variables: the keyboard's radius of curvature (R (mm, orientation (O (°, and vertical location on the screen (L. The current standard keyboard performed poorly (PITOT = 0.28 compared to other designs considered. Keyboard location (L contributed to the greatest variability in performance out of the three design variables, suggesting that designers should modify this variable first. Performance was greatest for designs in the middle keyboard location. In addition, having a slightly upward curve (R = -20 mm and orientated perpendicular to the thumb's long axis (O = -20° improved performance to PITOT = 1.97. Poorest performances were associated with placement of the keyboard's spacebar in the bottom right corner of the screen (e.g., the worst was for R = 20 mm, O = 40°, L =  Bottom (PITOT = 0.09. While this evaluation tool can be used in the design process as an ergonomic reference to promote user motor performance, other design variables such as visual access and usability still remain unexplored.

  17. Integration of life cycle assessment software with tools for economic and sustainability analyses and process simulation for sustainable process design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kalakul, Sawitree; Malakul, Pomthong; Siemanond, Kitipat

    2014-01-01

    The sustainable future of the world challenges engineers to develop chemical process designs that are not only technically and economically feasible but also environmental friendly. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for identifying and quantifying environmental impacts of the chemical product...... with other process design tools such as sustainable design (SustainPro), economic analysis (ECON) and process simulation. The software framework contains four main tools: Tool-I is for life cycle inventory (LCI) knowledge management that enables easy maintenance and future expansion of the LCI database; Tool...... and/or the process that makes it. It can be used in conjunction with process simulation and economic analysis tools to evaluate the design of any existing and/or new chemical-biochemical process and to propose improvement options in order to arrive at the best design among various alternatives...

  18. Applying CBR to machine tool product configuration design oriented to customer requirements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Pengjia; Gong, Yadong; Xie, Hualong; Liu, Yongxian; Nee, Andrew Yehching

    2017-01-01

    Product customization is a trend in the current market-oriented manufacturing environment. However, deduction from customer requirements to design results and evaluation of design alternatives are still heavily reliant on the designer's experience and knowledge. To solve the problem of fuzziness and uncertainty of customer requirements in product configuration, an analysis method based on the grey rough model is presented. The customer requirements can be converted into technical characteristics effectively. In addition, an optimization decision model for product planning is established to help the enterprises select the key technical characteristics under the constraints of cost and time to serve the customer to maximal satisfaction. A new case retrieval approach that combines the self-organizing map and fuzzy similarity priority ratio method is proposed in case-based design. The self-organizing map can reduce the retrieval range and increase the retrieval efficiency, and the fuzzy similarity priority ratio method can evaluate the similarity of cases comprehensively. To ensure that the final case has the best overall performance, an evaluation method of similar cases based on grey correlation analysis is proposed to evaluate similar cases to select the most suitable case. Furthermore, a computer-aided system is developed using MATLAB GUI to assist the product configuration design. The actual example and result on an ETC series machine tool product show that the proposed method is effective, rapid and accurate in the process of product configuration. The proposed methodology provides a detailed instruction for the product configuration design oriented to customer requirements.

  19. A new tool for quantifying the impacts of water sensitive urban design – the power of simplicity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lerer, Sara Maria; Sørup, Hjalte Jomo Danielsen; Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten

    2015-01-01

    simulation tools. Emphasis is put on reducing complexity in order to help drainage engineers communicate their priorities to other stakeholders. The tool outputs include two key indicators: The first is the amount of runoff held back in stormwater control measures on event basis, presented graphically......We present a prototype for a new software tool which enables quantification of impacts of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) plans in a simplifying manner. The tool is designed to fill a gap between the needs of utility companies for assessing WSUD performance and available urban drainage...

  20. A novel gripper design for multi hand tools grasping under tight clearance constraints and external torque effect

    KAUST Repository

    Shaqura, Mohammad

    2017-08-29

    A robotic multi tool gripper design and implementation is presented in this paper. The proposed design targets applications where an actuation task is performed using a wide selection of standard hand tools. The manipulation motion is assumed to be rotational which requires a firm grip to account for external torque on the grasped tool. The setup is assumed to be a conventional workshop panel with hand tools being hanged close to each other, which constraints lateral clearance around the target, and near the wall of the panel, which constraints the depth clearance. Off the shelf grippers are mostly heavy and bulky which make them unsuitable for these requirements. Moreover, they are not optimized in terms of power consumption, simplicity and compactness. These generic grippers are mostly designed for pick and place tasks where no external torques other than those caused by the object weight affects the gripper. The design challenge involves building a gripper that is capable of operating in limited clearance space, firmly grip a variety of standard hand tools with different sizes and shapes. The proposed design is optimized for these objectives and offers a low cost and power consumption solution. The design has been validated in lab and outdoor experiments and has been deployed in real operating platform used in an international robotics competition.

  1. Designing an Intelligent Mobile Learning Tool for Grammar Learning (i-MoL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Munir Shuib

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available English is the most important second language in most non-English speaking countries, including Malaysia. A good English proficiency comes from good grasp of grammar. To conquer the problems of low English proficiency among Malaysians, it is important to identify the key motivators that could facilitate the process of grammar learning. In this digital age, technology can play a very important role and mobile technology could be one of it. Thus, this study aims at designing a mobile learning tool, namely the Intelligent Mobile Learning Tool for Grammar Learning (i-MoL to act as the “on-the-go” grammar learning support via mobile phones. i-MoL helps reinforce grammar learning through mobile phone with game-like applications, inquiry-based activities and flashcard-like information. The intelligent part of i-MoL lies in its ability to map the mobile-based grammar learning content to individual’s preferred learning styles based on Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM. The instructional system design through the ADDIE model was used in this study as a systematic approach in designing a novel and comprehensive mobile learning tool for grammar learning. In terms of implications, this study provides insights on how mobile technologies can be utilized to meet the mobility demand among language learners today.

  2. Electronic Systems for Spacecraft Vehicles: Required EDA Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachnak, Rafic

    1999-01-01

    The continuous increase in complexity of electronic systems is making the design and manufacturing of such systems more challenging than ever before. As a result, designers are finding it impossible to design efficient systems without the use of sophisticated Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools. These tools offer integrated simulation of the electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing functions and lead to a correct by design methodology. This report identifies the EDA tools that would be needed to design, analyze, simulate, and evaluate electronic systems for spacecraft vehicles. In addition, the report presents recommendations to enhance the current JSC electronic design capabilities. This includes cost information and a discussion as to the impact, both positive and negative, of implementing the recommendations.

  3. Advanced Design Tools for the Lifetime of Power Electronics – Study Case on Motor Drive Application

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ma, Ke; Vernica, Ionut; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2016-01-01

    assessment of reliability performance for the power electronics is a crucial and emerging need, because it is the essential information for the reliability improvements, and thus reduction of the cost-of-energy. Unfortunately, there is still lack of suitable tools for the reliability assessment in power...... electronics. In this paper, an advanced design tool structure, which can acquire various reliability metrics of the power electronics, is proposed. The proposed design tool is based on the failure mechanisms in the critical components of the power electronics, and the mission profiles in the converter...

  4. a design to digitalize hydraulic cylinder control of a machine tool

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Dr Obe

    1995-09-01

    Sep 1, 1995 ... Department of Mechanical Engineering. FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OWERRI,. P.M.B. 1526, OWERRI. ABSTRACT. Conventionally hydraulic piston - cylinder servos are actuated using analogue controls for machine tool axis drives. In this paper a design of the axis control system of an NC ...

  5. Reflective Drawing as a Tool for Reflection in Design Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvo, Mirian

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the role of drawing as a tool for reflection. It reports on a PhD research project that aims to identify and analyse the value that co-design processes can bring to participants and their communities. The research is associated with Leapfrog, a three-year project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).…

  6. Design of sampling tools for Monte Carlo particle transport code JMCT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shangguan Danhua; Li Gang; Zhang Baoyin; Deng Li

    2012-01-01

    A class of sampling tools for general Monte Carlo particle transport code JMCT is designed. Two ways are provided to sample from distributions. One is the utilization of special sampling methods for special distribution; the other is the utilization of general sampling methods for arbitrary discrete distribution and one-dimensional continuous distribution on a finite interval. Some open source codes are included in the general sampling method for the maximum convenience of users. The sampling results show sampling correctly from distribution which are popular in particle transport can be achieved with these tools, and the user's convenience can be assured. (authors)

  7. The acoustic performance of double-skin facades: A design support tool for architects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batungbakal, Aireen

    This study assesses and validates the influence of measuring sound in the urban environment and the influence of glass facade components in reducing sound transmission to the indoor environment. Among the most reported issues affecting workspaces, increased awareness to minimize noise led building designers to reconsider the design of building envelopes and its site environment. Outdoor sound conditions, such as traffic noise, challenge designers to accurately estimate the capability of glass facades in acquiring an appropriate indoor sound quality. Indicating the density of the urban environment, field-tests acquired existing sound levels in areas of high commercial development, employment, and traffic activity, establishing a baseline for sound levels common in urban work areas. Composed from the direct sound transmission loss of glass facades simulated through INSUL, a sound insulation software, data is utilized as an informative tool correlating the response of glass facade components towards existing outdoor sound levels of a project site in order to achieve desired indoor sound levels. This study progresses to link the disconnection in validating the acoustic performance of glass facades early in a project's design, from conditioned settings such as field-testing and simulations to project completion. Results obtained from the study's facade simulations and facade comparison supports that acoustic comfort is not limited to a singular solution, but multiple design options responsive to its environment.

  8. Surface characteristics analysis of dry EDMed AISI D2 steel using modified tool design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pragadish, N.; Kumar, M. Pradeep [Anna University, Chennai (China)

    2015-04-15

    A modified tool design is proposed which helps in drilling holes without any central core, and also enables the effective removal of the debris particles. Experiments were conducted on AISI D2 Steel using copper electrode as tool in both conventional EDM and dry EDM processes and the performance of both processes is compared. Experiments were designed using Taguchi's L27 orthogonal array. Discharge current (I), gap voltage (V), pulse on time (T{sub ON}), gas pressure (P) and tool rotational speed (N) were chosen as the various input parameters, and their effect on the material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR), surface morphology, microstructure and elemental composition of the machined surface is analyzed. The experimental results show better surface characteristics in the surface machined under dry EDM process.

  9. Surface characteristics analysis of dry EDMed AISI D2 steel using modified tool design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pragadish, N.; Kumar, M. Pradeep

    2015-01-01

    A modified tool design is proposed which helps in drilling holes without any central core, and also enables the effective removal of the debris particles. Experiments were conducted on AISI D2 Steel using copper electrode as tool in both conventional EDM and dry EDM processes and the performance of both processes is compared. Experiments were designed using Taguchi's L27 orthogonal array. Discharge current (I), gap voltage (V), pulse on time (T ON ), gas pressure (P) and tool rotational speed (N) were chosen as the various input parameters, and their effect on the material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR), surface morphology, microstructure and elemental composition of the machined surface is analyzed. The experimental results show better surface characteristics in the surface machined under dry EDM process.

  10. TacTool: a tactile rapid prototyping tool for visual interfaces

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keyson, D.V.; Tang, H.K.; Anzai, Y.; Ogawa, K.; Mori, H.

    1995-01-01

    This paper describes the TacTool development tool and input device for designing and evaluating visual user interfaces with tactile feedback. TacTool is currently supported by the IPO trackball with force feedback in the x and y directions. The tool is designed to enable both the designer and the

  11. A climate responsive urban design tool: a platform to improve energy efficiency in a dry hot climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Dallal, Norhan; Visser, Florentine

    2017-09-01

    In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, new urban developments should address the climatic conditions to improve outdoor comfort and to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. This article describes a design tool that supports climate responsive design for a dry hot climate. The approach takes the climate as an initiator for the conceptual urban form with a more energy-efficient urban morphology. The methodology relates the different passive strategies suitable for major climate conditions in MENA region (dry-hot) to design parameters that create the urban form. This parametric design approach is the basis for a tool that generates conceptual climate responsive urban forms so as to assist the urban designer early in the design process. Various conceptual scenarios, generated by a computational model, are the results of the proposed platform. A practical application of the approach is conducted on a New Urban Community in Aswan (Egypt), showing the economic feasibility of the resulting urban form and morphology, and the proposed tool.

  12. Designing a Tool System for Lowering Friction during the Ejection of In-Die Sintered Micro Gears

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emanuele Cannella

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The continuous improvements in micro-forging technologies generally involve process, material, and tool design. The field assisted sintering technique (FAST is a process that makes possible the manufacture of near-net-shape components in a closed-die setup. However, the final part quality is affected by the influence of friction during the ejection phase, caused by radial expansion of the compacted and sintered powder. This paper presents the development of a pre-stressed tool system for the manufacture of micro gears made of aluminum. By using the hot isostatic pressing (HIP sintering process and different combinations of process parameters, the designed tool system was compared to a similar tool system designed without a pre-stressing strategy. The comparison between the two tool systems was based on the ejection force and part fidelity. The ejection force was measured during the tests, while the part fidelity was documented using an optical microscope and computed tomography in order to obtain a multi-scale characterization. The results showed that the use of pre-stress reduced the porosity in the gear by 40% and improved the dimensional fidelity by more than 75% compared to gears produced without pre-stress.

  13. Don't Be a Stranger-Designing a Digital Intercultural Sensitivity Training Tool that is Culture General

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Degens, Nick; Hofstede, Gert Jan; Beulens, Adrie; Krumhuber, E.; Kappas, Arvid

    2016-01-01

    Digital intercultural training tools play an important role in helping people to mediate cultural misunderstandings. In recent years, these tools were made to teach about specific cultures, but there has been little attention for the design of a tool to teach about differences across a wide range

  14. Development of 3D CAD system as a design tool for PEACER development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Kwang Jin; Lee, Hyoung Won; Jeong, Seung Ho; Shin, Jong Gye; Hwang, Il Soon

    2003-01-01

    In an effort to resolve generic concerns with current power reactors, PEACER has been developed as a proliferation-resistant waste transmutation reactor based on a unique combination of technologies of a proven fast reactor and the heavy liquid metal coolant. In order to develop engineering design and visualize its performance, a three-dimensional computer aided design (3D CAD) method has been devised. Based on conceptual design, system, structure and components of PEACER are defined. Using results from finite element stress analyzer, computational fluid dynamics tool, nuclear analysis tool, etc, 3D visualization is achieved on the geometric construct based on CATIA. A 3D visualization environment is utilized not only to overcome the integration complexity but also to manipulate data flow such as meshing information used in analysis codes. The 3D CAD system in this paper includes an open language, Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), to deliver analyses results on 3D objects, interactively. Such modeling environment is expected to improve the efficiency of designing the conceptual reactor, PEACER, reducing time and cost. Results of 3D design and stress analysis simulation will be presented as an example case. (author)

  15. Development of 3D CAD system as a design tool for PEACER development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, H. W.; Jung, K. J.; Jung, S. H.; Hwang, I. S.

    2003-01-01

    In an effort to resolve generic concerns with current power reactors, PEACER[1] has been developed as a proliferation-resistant waste transmutation reactor based on a unique combination of technologies of a prove a fast reactor and the heavy liquid metal coolant. In order to develop engineering design and visualize its performance, a three dimensional computer aided design (3D CAD) method has been devised. Based on conceptual design, system, structure and components of PEACER are defined. Using resuIts from finite element stress analyzer, computational fluid dynamics tool, nuclear analysis tool, etc, 3D visualization is achieved on the geometric construct based on CATIA[3]. A 3D visualization environment is utilized not only to overcome the integration complexity but also to manipulate data flow such as meshing information used in analysis codes. The 3D CAD system in this paper includes an open language, Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)[4,5], to deliver analyses results on 3D objects, interactively. Such modeling environment is expected to improve the efficiency of designing the conceptual reactor, PEACER, reducing time and cost. ResuIts of 3D design and system performance simulation will be presented

  16. Gathering Requirements for Teacher Tools: Strategies for Empowering Teachers Through Co-Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matuk, Camillia; Gerard, Libby; Lim-Breitbart, Jonathan; Linn, Marcia

    2016-02-01

    Technology can enhance teachers' practice in multiple ways. It can help them better understand patterns in their students' thinking, manage class progress at individual and group levels, and obtain evidence to inform modifications to curriculum and instruction. Such technology is most effective when it is aligned with teachers' goals and expectations. Participatory methods, which involve teachers closely in the design process, are widely recommended for establishing accurate design requirements that address users' needs. By collaborating with researchers, teachers can contribute their professional expertise to shape the tools of their practice, and ultimately ensure their sustained use. However, there is little guidance available for maintaining effective teacher-researcher design partnerships. We describe four strategies for engaging teachers in designing tools intended to support and enhance their practice within a web-based science learning environment: discussing physical artifacts, reacting to scenarios, customizing prototypes, and writing user stories. Using design artifacts and documents of teachers' reflections, we illustrate how we applied these techniques over 5 years of annual professional development workshops, and examine their affordances for eliciting teachers' ideas. We reflect on how these approaches have helped inform technology refinements and innovations. We moreover discuss the further benefits these strategies have had in encouraging teachers to reflect on their own practice and on the roles of technology in supporting it; and in allowing researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between technology, teaching, and design.

  17. A Conceptual Framework for Integration of Evidence-Based Design with Lighting Simulation Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anahita Davoodi

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The use of lighting simulation tools has been growing over the past years which has improved lighting analysis. While computer simulations have proven to be a viable tool for analyzing lighting in physical environments, they have difficulty in assessing the effects of light on occupant’s perception. Evidence-based design (EBD is a design method that is gaining traction in building design due to its strength in providing means to assess the effects of built environments on humans. The aim of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for integrating EBD with lighting simulation tools. Based on a literature review, it was investigated how EBD and lighting simulation can be combined to provide a holistic lighting performance evaluation method. The results show that they can mutually benefit from each other. EBD makes it possible to evaluate and/or improve performance metrics by utilizing user feedback. On the other hand, performance metrics can be used for a better description of evidence, and to analyze the effects of lighting with more details. The results also show that EBD can be used to evaluate light simulations to better understand when and how they should be performed. A framework is presented for integration of lighting simulation and EBD.

  18. An Engineering Educator's Decision Support Tool for Improving Innovation in Student Design Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozaltin, Nur Ozge; Besterfield-Sacre, Mary; Clark, Renee M.

    2015-01-01

    Learning how to design innovatively is a critical process skill for undergraduate engineers in the 21st century. To this end, our paper discusses the development and validation of a Bayesian network decision support tool that can be used by engineering educators to make recommendations that positively impact the innovativeness of product designs.…

  19. Building performance simulation as a design tool for refurbishment of buildings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hensen, J.L.M.; Bartak, M.; Drkal, F.; Dunovska, T.; Lain, M.; Matuska, T.; Schwarzer, J.; Sourek, B.; Bednar, T.

    2004-01-01

    This paper attempts to outline the current state-of-the-art regarding the use of building performance simulation as a design tool for refurbishment of buildings. This is illus-trated by means of three recent studies for conversion of historical buildings (an early 20th century factory, and a water

  20. A Java-based tool for the design of classification microarrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Broschat Shira L

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Classification microarrays are used for purposes such as identifying strains of bacteria and determining genetic relationships to understand the epidemiology of an infectious disease. For these cases, mixed microarrays, which are composed of DNA from more than one organism, are more effective than conventional microarrays composed of DNA from a single organism. Selection of probes is a key factor in designing successful mixed microarrays because redundant sequences are inefficient and limited representation of diversity can restrict application of the microarray. We have developed a Java-based software tool, called PLASMID, for use in selecting the minimum set of probe sequences needed to classify different groups of plasmids or bacteria. Results The software program was successfully applied to several different sets of data. The utility of PLASMID was illustrated using existing mixed-plasmid microarray data as well as data from a virtual mixed-genome microarray constructed from different strains of Streptococcus. Moreover, use of data from expression microarray experiments demonstrated the generality of PLASMID. Conclusion In this paper we describe a new software tool for selecting a set of probes for a classification microarray. While the tool was developed for the design of mixed microarrays–and mixed-plasmid microarrays in particular–it can also be used to design expression arrays. The user can choose from several clustering methods (including hierarchical, non-hierarchical, and a model-based genetic algorithm, several probe ranking methods, and several different display methods. A novel approach is used for probe redundancy reduction, and probe selection is accomplished via stepwise discriminant analysis. Data can be entered in different formats (including Excel and comma-delimited text, and dendrogram, heat map, and scatter plot images can be saved in several different formats (including jpeg and tiff. Weights

  1. A Java-based tool for the design of classification microarrays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Da; Broschat, Shira L; Call, Douglas R

    2008-08-04

    Classification microarrays are used for purposes such as identifying strains of bacteria and determining genetic relationships to understand the epidemiology of an infectious disease. For these cases, mixed microarrays, which are composed of DNA from more than one organism, are more effective than conventional microarrays composed of DNA from a single organism. Selection of probes is a key factor in designing successful mixed microarrays because redundant sequences are inefficient and limited representation of diversity can restrict application of the microarray. We have developed a Java-based software tool, called PLASMID, for use in selecting the minimum set of probe sequences needed to classify different groups of plasmids or bacteria. The software program was successfully applied to several different sets of data. The utility of PLASMID was illustrated using existing mixed-plasmid microarray data as well as data from a virtual mixed-genome microarray constructed from different strains of Streptococcus. Moreover, use of data from expression microarray experiments demonstrated the generality of PLASMID. In this paper we describe a new software tool for selecting a set of probes for a classification microarray. While the tool was developed for the design of mixed microarrays-and mixed-plasmid microarrays in particular-it can also be used to design expression arrays. The user can choose from several clustering methods (including hierarchical, non-hierarchical, and a model-based genetic algorithm), several probe ranking methods, and several different display methods. A novel approach is used for probe redundancy reduction, and probe selection is accomplished via stepwise discriminant analysis. Data can be entered in different formats (including Excel and comma-delimited text), and dendrogram, heat map, and scatter plot images can be saved in several different formats (including jpeg and tiff). Weights generated using stepwise discriminant analysis can be stored for

  2. ED-WAVE tool design approach: Case of a textile wastewater treatment plant in Blantyre, Malawi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chipofya, V.; Kraslawski, A.; Avramenko, Y.

    The ED-WAVE tool is a PC based package for imparting training on wastewater treatment technologies. The system consists of four modules viz. Reference Library, Process Builder, Case Study Manager, and Treatment Adviser. The principles of case-based design and case-based reasoning as applied in the ED-WAVE tool are utilised in this paper to evaluate the design approach of the wastewater treatment plant at Mapeto David Whitehead & Sons (MDW&S) textile and garments factory, Blantyre, Malawi. The case being compared with MDW&S in the ED-WAVE tool is Textile Case 4 in Sri Lanka (2003). Equalisation, coagulation and rotating biological contactors is the sequencing of treatment units at Textile Case 4 in Sri Lanka. Screening, oxidation ditches and sedimentation is the sequencing of treatment units at MDW&S textile and garments factory. The study suggests that aerobic biological treatment is necessary in the treatment of wastewater from a textile and garments factory. MDW&S incorporates a sedimentation process which is necessary for the removal of settleable matter before the effluent is discharged to the municipal wastewater treatment plant. The study confirmed the practical use of the ED-WAVE tool in the design of wastewater treatment systems, where after encountering a new situation; already collected decision scenarios (cases) are invoked and modified in order to arrive at a particular design alternative. What is necessary, however, is to appropriately modify the case arrived at through the Case Study Manager in order to come up with a design appropriate to the local situation taking into account technical, socio-economic and environmental aspects.

  3. 3D Printing as a Didactic Tool for Teaching some Engineering and Design Concepts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edwin Blasnilo Rua Ramirez

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Context: 3D printing can be used for a wide range of tasks such as the design and testing of prototypes and finished products in a shorter time. In mechanical engineering, prototype designs are continuously generated in academic class activities and final coursework projects by students and teachers. However, students show limitations while understanding the abstract concepts represented with such designs. Method: Firstly, a large scale 3D printer with improved technical specifications compared to traditional market options and similar price, was fabricated. By means of free software and hardware tools and easy-to-obtain alternative manufacturing materials, it was possible to decrease its manufacturing and operating costs. Then a set of study cases utilising the 3D printer in three different subject classes were designed and tested with two cohorts of students of Mechanical Engineering programme. Results: It was feasible to fabricate a cost-effective and practical 3D printer for constructing prototypes and pieces that benefit teaching and learning concepts in engineering and design areas. The experiments carried out in three subjects of engineering courses with second-year students, showed a similar trend of improving the average course grades, as it was observed in two cohorts in different terms. Conclusions: This type of low cost 3D printer obtained academic advantages as a didactic tool for the learning process in engineering and design subjects. Future work will consider applying this tool to other courses and subjects to further evaluate its convenience and effectivity.

  4. Evaluating comfort with varying temperatures: a graphic design tool

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, J.M. [Research Centre Habitat and Energy, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria (Argentina)

    2002-07-01

    This paper considers the need to define comfort of indoor and outdoor spaces in relation to the daily variations of temperature. A graphical tool is presented, which indicates the daily swings of temperature, shown as a single point on a graph representing the average temperature and the maximum temperature swing. This point can be compared with the comfort zones for different activity levels, such as sedentary activity, sleeping, indoor and outdoor circulation according to the design proposals for different spaces. The graph allows the representation of climatic variables, the definition of comfort zones, the selection of bio climatic design resources and the evaluation of indoor temperatures, measured in actual buildings or obtained from computer simulations. The development of the graph is explained and examples given with special emphasis on the use of thermal mass. (author)

  5. Optimal Design of Multitype Groundwater Monitoring Networks Using Easily Accessible Tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wöhling, Thomas; Geiges, Andreas; Nowak, Wolfgang

    2016-11-01

    Monitoring networks are expensive to establish and to maintain. In this paper, we extend an existing data-worth estimation method from the suite of PEST utilities with a global optimization method for optimal sensor placement (called optimal design) in groundwater monitoring networks. Design optimization can include multiple simultaneous sensor locations and multiple sensor types. Both location and sensor type are treated simultaneously as decision variables. Our method combines linear uncertainty quantification and a modified genetic algorithm for discrete multilocation, multitype search. The efficiency of the global optimization is enhanced by an archive of past samples and parallel computing. We demonstrate our methodology for a groundwater monitoring network at the Steinlach experimental site, south-western Germany, which has been established to monitor river-groundwater exchange processes. The target of optimization is the best possible exploration for minimum variance in predicting the mean travel time of the hyporheic exchange. Our results demonstrate that the information gain of monitoring network designs can be explored efficiently and with easily accessible tools prior to taking new field measurements or installing additional measurement points. The proposed methods proved to be efficient and can be applied for model-based optimal design of any type of monitoring network in approximately linear systems. Our key contributions are (1) the use of easy-to-implement tools for an otherwise complex task and (2) yet to consider data-worth interdependencies in simultaneous optimization of multiple sensor locations and sensor types. © 2016, National Ground Water Association.

  6. A Design to Digitalize Hydraulic Cylinder Control of a Machine Tool ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Conventionally hydraulic piston - cylinder servos are actuated using analogue controls for machine tool axis drives. In this paper a design of the axis control system of an NC milling machine which employs a small stepping motor to digitally actuated hydraulic piston - cylinder servo drives existing on the machines Y-axis is ...

  7. Wireless and photonic high-speed communication technologies, circuits and design tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krozer, Viktor; Johansen, Tom Keinicke; Jiang, Chenhui

    2009-01-01

    were reported. These communication systems present new challenges for circuit designers. The presentation will be devoted to technologies and various aspects of circuit design for 100 G applications. We will present overview on wired and wireless systems demonstrating the challenges of this research...... including design challenges, relevant trade-offs and the present bottlenecks. Different system architectures will be presented with their impact on component requirements. Similarities and differences of wired and wireless applications will be pointed out. Design methodologies, necessary tools and circuit...... are fundamental to emerging consumer and professional applications. These systems start to emerge as near future applications and are subject of ongoing research activities in Europe, for example within the EU FP6 GIBON project. Wireless systems with over 100 GHz carriers as well as first over 100-G fibre systems...

  8. Visualization in simulation tools: requirements and a tool specification to support the teaching of dynamic biological processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jørgensen, Katarina M; Haddow, Pauline C

    2011-08-01

    Simulation tools are playing an increasingly important role behind advances in the field of systems biology. However, the current generation of biological science students has either little or no experience with such tools. As such, this educational glitch is limiting both the potential use of such tools as well as the potential for tighter cooperation between the designers and users. Although some simulation tool producers encourage their use in teaching, little attempt has hitherto been made to analyze and discuss their suitability as an educational tool for noncomputing science students. In general, today's simulation tools assume that the user has a stronger mathematical and computing background than that which is found in most biological science curricula, thus making the introduction of such tools a considerable pedagogical challenge. This paper provides an evaluation of the pedagogical attributes of existing simulation tools for cell signal transduction based on Cognitive Load theory. Further, design recommendations for an improved educational simulation tool are provided. The study is based on simulation tools for cell signal transduction. However, the discussions are relevant to a broader biological simulation tool set.

  9. A Strategic Planning Tool for Increasing African American Blood Donation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singleton, Ashley; Spratling, Regena

    2018-05-01

    Historically, African Americans (AAs) have been underrepresented as blood donors. Having a lack of racially diverse blood donors contributes to transfusion complications, particularly in patients with sickle cell disease, who are both disproportionately AA and the recipients of frequent transfusions. Increasing AA blood donation is a complex public health issue. This review article serves to fill a gap in translating research regarding known hindrances and facilitators of AA blood donation to improve real-world donation practice and ultimately, patient outcomes. We incorporate findings from a literature review to develop a tool that blood centers, provider organizations, and patient advocacy groups can use to aid strategic planning efforts aimed at increasing AA blood donation.

  10. Two tools for environmentally conscious designers and product developers of electrical & electronic equipment (EEE)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poll, Christian; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky; Olsen, Stig Irving

    2002-01-01

    The paper presents the two tools 1)"Product families - short cuts to environmental knowledge" and 2)"Eco-conscious design of electrical & electronic equipment (EEE)". Tool 1) comes in form of a handbook. The purpose of this handbook is to ease the work with developing more environmentally sound...... products, thus giving guidelines for development of new products without the companies themselves having to perform an LCA. The handbook describes 5 productfamilies: mobile phones, vacuum cleaners, industrial valves with electronic controls, lighting, ventilation. Tool 2) comes in form of a software tool...... with built in training, guidance, references, calculator and database. The tool provides the basic understanding of how EEE-products in general interact with the environment. The tool gives an overview of the tasks and responsibilities involved in Eco-Desing, and examples of how to choose and quantify...

  11. Don't Be a Stranger--Designing a Digital Intercultural Sensitivity Training Tool That Is Culture General

    Science.gov (United States)

    Degens, Nick; Hofstede, Gert Jan; Beulens, Adrie; Krumhuber, Eva; Kappas, Arvid

    2016-01-01

    Digital intercultural training tools play an important role in helping people to mediate cultural misunderstandings. In recent years, these tools were made to teach about specific cultures, but there has been little attention for the design of a tool to teach about differences across a wide range of cultures. In this work, we take the first steps…

  12. Model-Based Design Tools for Extending COTS Components To Extreme Environments, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovation in this project is model-based design (MBD) tools for predicting the performance and useful life of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components and...

  13. Tool steels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højerslev, C.

    2001-01-01

    On designing a tool steel, its composition and heat treatment parameters are chosen to provide a hardened and tempered martensitic matrix in which carbides are evenly distributed. In this condition the matrix has an optimum combination of hardness andtoughness, the primary carbides provide...... resistance against abrasive wear and secondary carbides (if any) increase the resistance against plastic deformation. Tool steels are alloyed with carbide forming elements (Typically: vanadium, tungsten, molybdenumand chromium) furthermore some steel types contains cobalt. Addition of alloying elements...... serves primarily two purpose (i) to improve the hardenabillity and (ii) to provide harder and thermally more stable carbides than cementite. Assuming proper heattreatment, the properties of a tool steel depends on the which alloying elements are added and their respective concentrations....

  14. From FUELCON to FUELGEN: tools for fuel reload pattern design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nissan, E.; Zhao, J.; Knight, B.; Soper, A.; Galperin, A.

    2000-01-01

    FUELGEN is an effective tool for refuelling design, i.e., for solving the incore fuel management problem at nuclear power plants. Devising good fuel allocations for reloading the core of a given nuclear reactor, for a given operation cycle, is crucial for keeping down operation costs at plants. Fuel comes in different types, and is positioned in a grid representing the core of a reactor. The starting point was Galperin and Nissan's prototype which eventually led to FUELCON, a rule-based expert system with the same task. FUELGEN, instead, is based on a genetic algorithm for optimization, and is at the current forefront of research in refuelling design, where genetic techniques are now getting increasing recognition. The end result of over a decade of research within this sequence of projects yielded a set of alternative, partly overlapping architectures. Nodal algorithms to carry out parameter prediction by simulation, heuristic rules in FUELCON's ruleset and metal-level refinement ergonomic techniques by which the ruleset can be refined during a session with FUELCON, attempts with neural computation on top of the latter, and then, replacing the ruleset altogether by resorting to genetic algorithms, are the sequence of techniques that were in turn applied, in the development of FUELCON and the FUELGEN. This actually reflects the sequence of emergence of expert systems and then neural computation methods, then genetic and hybrid methods, in knowledge engineering in general and in its application to nuclear engineering in particular. (orig.)

  15. Concepts and tools for the design of semantical databases

    CERN Document Server

    Meersman, Robert A

    1991-01-01

    The design and implementation of modern more "semantical" databases involves the use of high-level conceptual abstraction mechanisms and methodologies. An illustration of this process is given using the NIAM method and notation (lecture 1), its transformation into relational database with triggers (e.g. using SYBASE0 (lecture 2) and a study of the requirements for suitable tools (RIDL*) and their extension and applicability for e.g. object-oriented databases. A case study defined by a complex database for document handling will be used as example (lecture 3).

  16. Model-Based Design Tools for Extending COTS Components To Extreme Environments, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovation in this Phase I project is to prove the feasibility of using model-based design (MBD) tools to predict the performance and useful life of...

  17. The Individual-Practice Framework as a design tool to understand consumer behaviour

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Piscicelli, L.; Moreno, Mariale; Cooper, Tim; Fisher, Tom

    2016-01-01

    Design for behaviour change is a growing research field which aims at providing methods and tools to foster pro-environmental and pro-social action through the application of diverse theories, models and approaches from the social sciences. This chapter presents the Individual-Practice Framework,

  18. Design Facilitation as Emerging Practice: Analyzing How Designers Support Multi-stakeholder Co-creation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuela Aguirre

    Full Text Available Designers increasingly find themselves facilitating large-scale design events. Yet few have explored design facilitation as an emerging practice. This article examines the design facilitation practices used in two Norwegian case studies of multi-stakeholder events. We focus on the contextually designed tools designers create to help them facilitate. We then explore some critical dimensions of design facilitation. When used as visual overlays, facilitators’ explicit knowledge of these dimensions can improve their capacity to analyze, evaluate, and plan how to design and use contextual tools during design events. By plotting how designers use facilitation tools sequentially during events, we render the flow of design facilitation practice visible and accessible. We suggest that an explicit awareness of these dimensions and flows can enable designers to build more inclusive and inspiring tools, orchestrate the flow of long-term participatory processes more deliberately, and better equip participants to work with complex systemic change.

  19. DESIGN OF LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE RISK IN MONGOLIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Oba

    2012-08-01

    Nevertheless it needs to consider about management, we have to research information about each management under different conditions of each area in all Mongolia. Thus, it needs to survey livestock management workflows of regional administration and GIS data about rangeland areas and their attributes in order to evaluate their nomadic life and their livestock objectively. It is essential to use some tools that have the function of processing the spatial data. It could cover wide areas and have different abilities for spatial relations. To solve this problem; we analyzed management workflows of herder and regional administration working in Mongolia, and designed a hierarchical structure of tables and data layers with the relational database. With this structure, we developed the structure of a WebGIS tool on the Adobe Flex platform for livestock management visually. It will be also useful for them to improve the accountability of activities. This system is a versatile WebGIS tool which can interact with various spatial scales.

  20. Model-based fault diagnosis techniques design schemes, algorithms, and tools

    CERN Document Server

    Ding, Steven

    2008-01-01

    The objective of this book is to introduce basic model-based FDI schemes, advanced analysis and design algorithms, and the needed mathematical and control theory tools at a level for graduate students and researchers as well as for engineers. This is a textbook with extensive examples and references. Most methods are given in the form of an algorithm that enables a direct implementation in a programme. Comparisons among different methods are included when possible.

  1. Design of an instrumented smart cutting tool and its implementation and application perspectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Chao; Cheng, Kai; Chen, Xun; Minton, Timothy; Rakowski, Richard

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents an innovative design of a smart cutting tool, using two surface acoustic wave (SAW) strain sensors mounted onto the top and the side surface of the tool shank respectively, and its implementation and application perspectives. This surface acoustic wave-based smart cutting tool is capable of measuring the cutting force and the feed force in a real machining environment, after a calibration process under known cutting conditions. A hybrid dissimilar workpiece is then machined using the SAW-based smart cutting tool. The hybrid dissimilar material is made of two different materials, NiCu alloy (Monel) and steel, welded together to form a single bar; this can be used to simulate an abrupt change in material properties. The property transition zone is successfully detected by the tool; the sensor feedback can then be used to initiate a change in the machining parameters to compensate for the altered material properties. (paper)

  2. No perfect tools: trade-offs of sustainability principles and user requirements in designing support tools for land-use decisions between greenfields and brownfields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartke, Stephan; Schwarze, Reimund

    2015-04-15

    The EU Soil Thematic Strategy calls for the application of sustainability concepts and methods as part of an integrated policy to prevent soil degradation and to increase the re-use of brownfields. Although certain general principles have been proposed for the evaluation of sustainable development, the practical application of sustainability assessment tools (SATs) is contingent on the actual requirements of tool users, e.g. planners or investors, to pick up such instruments in actual decision making. We examine the normative sustainability principles that need to be taken into account in order to make sound land-use decisions between new development on greenfield sites and the regeneration of brownfields - and relate these principles to empirically observed user requirements and the properties of available SATs. In this way we provide an overview of approaches to sustainability assessment. Three stylized approaches, represented in each case by a typical tool selected from the literature, are presented and contrasted with (1) the norm-oriented Bellagio sustainability principles and (2) the requirements of three different stakeholder groups: decision makers, scientists/experts and representatives of the general public. The paper disentangles some of the inevitable trade-offs involved in seeking to implement sustainable land-use planning, i.e. between norm orientation and holism, broad participation and effective communication. It concludes with the controversial assessment that there are no perfect tools and that to be meaningful the user requirements of decision makers must take precedence over those of other interest groups in the design of SATs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Detecting variants with Metabolic Design, a new software tool to design probes for explorative functional DNA microarray development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gravelat Fabrice

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Microorganisms display vast diversity, and each one has its own set of genes, cell components and metabolic reactions. To assess their huge unexploited metabolic potential in different ecosystems, we need high throughput tools, such as functional microarrays, that allow the simultaneous analysis of thousands of genes. However, most classical functional microarrays use specific probes that monitor only known sequences, and so fail to cover the full microbial gene diversity present in complex environments. We have thus developed an algorithm, implemented in the user-friendly program Metabolic Design, to design efficient explorative probes. Results First we have validated our approach by studying eight enzymes involved in the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the model strain Sphingomonas paucimobilis sp. EPA505 using a designed microarray of 8,048 probes. As expected, microarray assays identified the targeted set of genes induced during biodegradation kinetics experiments with various pollutants. We have then confirmed the identity of these new genes by sequencing, and corroborated the quantitative discrimination of our microarray by quantitative real-time PCR. Finally, we have assessed metabolic capacities of microbial communities in soil contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbons. Results show that our probe design (sensitivity and explorative quality can be used to study a complex environment efficiently. Conclusions We successfully use our microarray to detect gene expression encoding enzymes involved in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation for the model strain. In addition, DNA microarray experiments performed on soil polluted by organic pollutants without prior sequence assumptions demonstrate high specificity and sensitivity for gene detection. Metabolic Design is thus a powerful, efficient tool that can be used to design explorative probes and monitor metabolic pathways in complex environments

  4. Computing tools for accelerator design calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fischler, M.; Nash, T.

    1984-01-01

    This note is intended as a brief, summary guide for accelerator designers to the new generation of commercial and special processors that allow great increases in computing cost effectiveness. New thinking is required to take best advantage of these computing opportunities, in particular, when moving from analytical approaches to tracking simulations. In this paper, we outline the relevant considerations

  5. Overheating and Daylighting; Assessment Tool in Early Design of London’s High-Rise Residential Buildings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bachir Nebia

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available High-rise residential buildings in dense cities, such as London, are a common response to housing shortage. The apartments in these buildings may experience different levels of thermal and visual comfort, depending on their orientation and floor level. This paper aims to develop simplified tools to predict internal temperatures and daylighting levels, and propose a tool to quickly assess overheating risk and daylight performance in London’s high-rise residential buildings. Single- and double-sided apartments in a high-rise building were compared, and the impact of their floor level, glazing ratio, thermal mass, ventilation strategy and orientation was investigated. Using Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES VE, temperature and daylight factor results of each design variable were used to develop early design tools to predict and assess overheating risks and daylighting levels. The results indicate that apartments that are more exposed to solar radiations, through either orientation or floor level, are more susceptible to overheat in the summer while exceeding the daylighting recommendations. Different design strategies at different levels and orientations are subsequently discussed.

  6. Application of the QFD as a design approach to ensure comfort in using hand tools: can the design team complete the House of Quality appropriately?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuijt-Evers, L F M; Morel, K P N; Eikelenberg, N L W; Vink, P

    2009-05-01

    Quality Function Deployment is proposed as an effective design method to integrate ergonomics needs and comfort into hand tool design because it explicitly addresses the translation of customer needs into engineering characteristics. A crucial step during QFD concerns the linking of engineering characteristics to customer needs in the House of Quality by the design team. It is generally assumed (looking at all the QFD success stories) that design teams can accurately predict the correlations between customer needs and engineering characteristics (also referred to as "Whats"/"Hows" correlations). This paper explicitly tests this assumption by comparing the "Whats"/"Hows" correlations estimated by a design team with those observed in a systematic user evaluation study, which has not been done before. Testing the assumption is important, because inaccurate estimates may lead to ergonomically ineffective (re)design of hand tools and a waste of company resources. Results revealed that the design team's correlation estimates were not as accurate as is generally assumed. Twenty-five percent of the estimates differed significantly with those observed in the user evaluation study. Thus, QFD is a useful method to assist design teams in designing ergonomically more comfortable hand tools, but only on the condition that the correlations between customer needs and engineering characteristics are validated, preferably by means of a systematic user evaluation study.

  7. MVPACK: a computer-aided design tool for multivariable control systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mensah, S.; Frketich, G.

    1985-10-01

    The design and analysis of high-performance controllers for complex plants require a collection of interactive, powerful computer software. MVPACK, an open-ended package for the computer-aided design of control systems, has been developed in the Reactor Control Branch of the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories. The package is fully interactive and includes a comprehensive state-of-the-art mathematical library to support development of complex, multivariable, control algorithms. Coded in RATFOR, MVPACK is portable with minimal changes. It operates with a flexible data structure which makes efficient use of minicomputer resources and provides a standard framework for program generation. The existence of a help mechanism enhances the simplicity of package utilization. This paper provides a brief tutorial overview of the package. It reviews the specifications used in the design and implementation of the package and briefly describes the database structure, supporting libraries and some design and analysis modules of MVPACK. Several application examples to illustrate the capability of the package are given. Experience with MVPACK shows that the package provides a synergistic environment for the design of control and regulation systems, and that it is a unique tool for training of control system engineers

  8. fMRI paradigm designing and post-processing tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, Jija S; Rajesh, PG; Chandran, Anuvitha VS; Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we first review some aspects of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm designing for major cognitive functions by using stimulus delivery systems like Cogent, E-Prime, Presentation, etc., along with their technical aspects. We also review the stimulus presentation possibilities (block, event-related) for visual or auditory paradigms and their advantage in both clinical and research setting. The second part mainly focus on various fMRI data post-processing tools such as Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) and Brain Voyager, and discuss the particulars of various preprocessing steps involved (realignment, co-registration, normalization, smoothing) in these software and also the statistical analysis principles of General Linear Modeling for final interpretation of a functional activation result

  9. indCAPS: A tool for designing screening primers for CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodgens, Charles; Nimchuk, Zachary L; Kieber, Joseph J

    2017-01-01

    Genetic manipulation of organisms using CRISPR/Cas9 technology generally produces small insertions/deletions (indels) that can be difficult to detect. Here, we describe a technique to easily and rapidly identify such indels. Sequence-identified mutations that alter a restriction enzyme recognition site can be readily distinguished from wild-type alleles using a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) technique. If a restriction site is created or altered by the mutation such that only one allele contains the restriction site, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by a restriction digest can be used to distinguish the two alleles. However, in the case of most CRISPR-induced alleles, no such restriction sites are present in the target sequences. In this case, a derived CAPS (dCAPS) approach can be used in which mismatches are purposefully introduced in the oligonucleotide primers to create a restriction site in one, but not both, of the amplified templates. Web-based tools exist to aid dCAPS primer design, but when supplied sequences that include indels, the current tools often fail to suggest appropriate primers. Here, we report the development of a Python-based, species-agnostic web tool, called indCAPS, suitable for the design of PCR primers used in dCAPS assays that is compatible with indels. This tool should have wide utility for screening editing events following CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis as well as for identifying specific editing events in a pool of CRISPR-mediated mutagenesis events. This tool was field-tested in a CRISPR mutagenesis experiment targeting a cytokinin receptor (AHK3) in Arabidopsis thaliana. The tool suggested primers that successfully distinguished between wild-type and edited alleles of a target locus and facilitated the isolation of two novel ahk3 null alleles. Users can access indCAPS and design PCR primers to employ dCAPS to identify CRISPR/Cas9 alleles at http://indcaps.kieber.cloudapps.unc.edu/.

  10. NeoCASS: An integrated tool for structural sizing, aeroelastic analysis and MDO at conceptual design level

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavagna, Luca; Ricci, Sergio; Travaglini, Lorenzo

    2011-11-01

    This paper presents a design framework called NeoCASS (Next generation Conceptual Aero-Structural Sizing Suite), developed at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of Politecnico di Milano in the frame of SimSAC (Simulating Aircraft Stability And Control Characteristics for Use in Conceptual Design) project, funded by EU in the context of 6th Framework Program. It enables the creation of efficient low-order, medium fidelity models particularly suitable for structural sizing, aeroelastic analysis and optimization at the conceptual design level. The whole methodology is based on the integration of geometry construction, aerodynamic and structural analysis codes that combine depictive, computational, analytical, and semi-empirical methods, validated in an aircraft design environment. The work here presented aims at including the airframe and its effect from the very beginning of the conceptual design. This aspect is usually not considered in this early phase. In most cases, very simplified formulas and datasheets are adopted, which implies a low level of detail and a poor accuracy. Through NeoCASS, a preliminar distribution of stiffness and inertias can be determined, given the initial layout. The adoption of empirical formulas is reduced to the minimum in favor of simple numerical methods. This allows to consider the aeroelastic behavior and performances, as well, improving the accuracy of the design tools during the iterative steps and lowering the development costs and reducing the time to market. The result achieved is a design tool based on computational methods for the aero-structural analysis and Multi-Disciplinary Optimization (MDO) of aircraft layouts at the conceptual design stage. A complete case study regarding the TransoniCRuiser aircraft, including validation of the results obtained using industrial standard tools like MSC/NASTRAN and a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code, is reported. As it will be shown, it is possible to improve the degree of

  11. Simple Design Tool for Development of Well Insulated Window Frames and Optimization of the Frame Geometry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zajas, Jan Jakub; Heiselberg, Per

    2012-01-01

    in order to approach an optimal solution. The program was also used to conduct an optimization process of the frame geometry. A large number of various window frame designs were created and evaluated, based on their insulation properties. The paper presents the investigation process and some of the best......This paper describes a design tool created with the purpose of designing highly insulated window frames. The design tool is based on a parametric model of the frame geometry, where various parameters describing the frame can be easily changed by the user. Based on this input, geometry of the frame...... is generated by the program and is used by the finite element simulator to calculate the thermal performance of the frame (the U value). After the initial design is evaluated, the user can quickly modify chosen parameters and generate a new design. This process can then be repeated in multiple iterations...

  12. The mechanical design of a transfemoral prosthesis using computational tools and design methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Sánchez Otero

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Artificial limb replacement with lower limb prostheses has been widely reported in current scientific literature. There are many lower limb prosthetic designs ranging from a single-axis knee mechanism to complex mechanisms involving microcontrollers, made from many materials ranging from lightweight, high specific strength ones (e.g., carbon fibre to traditional forms (e.g., stainless steel. However, the challenge is to design prostheses whose movement resembles the human body’s natural movement as closely as possible. Advances in prosthetics have enabled many amputees to return to their everyday activities; however, such prostheses are expensive, some costing as much as $60,000. Many of the affected population in Colombia have scarce economic resources; there is therefore a need to develop affordable functional prostheses.The Universidad del Norte’s Materials, Processes and Design Research Group and the Robotics and Intelligent Systems Group have been working on this line of research to develop modular prostheses which can be adjusted to each patient’s requirements. This research represents an initial methodological approach to developing a prosthesis in which software tools have been used (the finite element method with a criteria relationship matrix for selecting the best alternative while considering different aspects such as mod-ularity, cost, stiffness and weight.

  13. Communicating embedded systems software and design

    CERN Document Server

    Jard, Claude

    2013-01-01

    The increased complexity of embedded systems coupled with quick design cycles to accommodate faster time-to-market requires increased system design productivity that involves both model-based design and tool-supported methodologies. Formal methods are mathematically-based techniques and provide a clean framework in which to express requirements and models of the systems, taking into account discrete, stochastic and continuous (timed or hybrid) parameters with increasingly efficient tools. This book deals with these formal methods applied to communicating embedded systems by presenting the

  14. Functional design and implementation proposal of a tool to support collaborative knwoledge building

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iolanda Garcia Gonzalez

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available 0 0 1 147 810 USAL 6 1 956 14.0 Normal 0 21 false false false ES JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:ES; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} This article describes the process of conceptualization and functional design of an electronic forum, which aims to facilitate learning processes based on communication, but also on collaboration and social knowledge building, and their monitoring and evaluation. The experience is based on an innovation project involving the design, development and pilot implementation of an asynchronous communication tool, in the context of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC virtual campus. The design of the tool is based on the analysis of different reference models regarding the use of technology to support collaborative learning and social knowledge building processes. In parallel, and after analyzing some models for the study of collaborative knowledge building processes in virtual environments, the article presents a proposal for the analysis and assessment of such processes mediated by asynchronous communication tools similar to the one designed.

  15. Learning Axes and Bridging Tools in a Technology-Based Design for Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrahamson, Dor; Wilensky, Uri

    2007-01-01

    We introduce a design-based research framework, "learning axes and bridging tools," and demonstrate its application in the preparation and study of an implementation of a middle-school experimental computer-based unit on probability and statistics, "ProbLab" (Probability Laboratory, Abrahamson and Wilensky 2002 [Abrahamson, D., & Wilensky, U.…

  16. User-centered design of discharge warnings tool for colorectal surgery patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naik, Aanand D; Horstman, Molly J; Li, Linda T; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K; Campbell, Bryan; Mills, Whitney L; Herman, Levi I; Anaya, Daniel A; Trautner, Barbara W; Berger, David H

    2017-09-01

    Readmission following colorectal surgery, typically due to surgery-related complications, is common. Patient-centered discharge warnings may guide recognition of early complication signs after colorectal surgery. User-centered design of a discharge warnings tool consisted of iterative health literacy review and a heuristic evaluation with human factors and clinical experts as well as patient end users to establish content validity and usability. Literacy evaluation of the prototype suggested >12th-grade reading level. Subsequent revisions reduced reading level to 8th grade or below. Contents were formatted during heuristic evaluation into 3 action-oriented zones (green, yellow, and red) with relevant warning lexicons. Usability testing demonstrated comprehension of this 3-level lexicon and recognition of appropriate patient actions to take for each level. We developed a discharge warnings tool for colorectal surgery using staged user-centered design. The lexicon of surgical discharge warnings could structure communication among patients, caregivers, and clinicians to improve post-discharge care. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the United States.

  17. A design tool for predicting the capillary transport characteristics of fuel cell diffusion media using an artificial neural network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumbur, E. C.; Sharp, K. V.; Mench, M. M.

    Developing a robust, intelligent design tool for multivariate optimization of multi-phase transport in fuel cell diffusion media (DM) is of utmost importance to develop advanced DM materials. This study explores the development of a DM design algorithm based on artificial neural network (ANN) that can be used as a powerful tool for predicting the capillary transport characteristics of fuel cell DM. Direct measurements of drainage capillary pressure-saturation curves of the differently engineered DMs (5, 10 and 20 wt.% PTFE) were performed at room temperature under three compressions (0, 0.6 and 1.4 MPa) [E.C. Kumbur, K.V. Sharp, M.M. Mench, J. Electrochem. Soc. 154(12) (2007) B1295-B1304; E.C. Kumbur, K.V. Sharp, M.M. Mench, J. Electrochem. Soc. 154(12) (2007) B1305-B1314; E.C. Kumbur, K.V. Sharp, M.M. Mench, J. Electrochem. Soc. 154(12) (2007) B1315-B1324]. The generated benchmark data were utilized to systematically train a three-layered ANN framework that processes the feed-forward error back propagation methodology. The designed ANN successfully predicts the measured capillary pressures within an average uncertainty of ±5.1% of the measured data, confirming that the present ANN model can be used as a design tool within the range of tested parameters. The ANN simulations reveal that tailoring the DM with high PTFE loading and applying high compression pressure lead to a higher capillary pressure, therefore promoting the liquid water transport within the pores of the DM. Any increase in hydrophobicity of the DM is found to amplify the compression effect, thus yielding a higher capillary pressure for the same saturation level and compression.

  18. Bridging the Gap between Actors and Digital tools in a Furnishing Design Process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Mai; Gade, Anne Nørkjær; Jensen, Rasmus Lund

    2017-01-01

    The high level of complexity in today’s building design requires a high level of interdisciplinary collaboration, which historically is an uncommon working method in the building industry. To support the interdisciplinary collaboration, new digital tools such as Building Information Models (BIM......) and Virtual Reality (VR) can be implemented in various phases of the building project. The implementation of BIM is expected to support the designers and improve the collaboration among multiple actors, but the social aspects related to the use of BIM in the design process needs further investigation...

  19. Rethinking the Fashion Collection as a Design Strategic Tool in a Circular Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ræbild, Ulla; Bang, Anne Louise

    2017-01-01

    The fashion industry is currently undergoing a radical change towards an overall sustainable paradigm shift. This paper investigates how the fashion collection, as a particular design framework, might be reconfigured as a strategic driver for garment longevity furthering sustainable fashion design....... The study builds on a case study of a company offering a subscription service for baby clothing, exploring in detail whether and how the collection is used as a strategic design tool. In the analysis and discussion, feedback from users, manufacturers and the garments themselves plays a crucial role...

  20. Application of a GIS-BIOLOCO tool for the design and assessment of biomass delivery chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Geijzendorffer, I.R.; Annevelink, E.; Elbersen, B.S.; Smidt, R.A.; Mol, de R.M.

    2008-01-01

    The spatial fragmentation of different biomass sources in one or more regions makes design and assessment of sustainable biomass delivery chains rather complicated. This paper presents a GIS tool that supports the design and facilitates a sustainability assessment of biomass delivery chains at a

  1. Design of Mobile e-Books as a Teaching Tool for Diabetes Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Sophie Huey-Ming

    2017-01-01

    To facilitate people with diabetes adopting information technologies, a tool of mobile eHealth education for diabetes was described in this paper, presenting the validity of mobile eBook for diabetes educators. This paper describes the design concepts and validity of this mobile eBook for diabetes educators delivering diabetes electronic…

  2. Design of Launch Vehicle Flight Control Systems Using Ascent Vehicle Stability Analysis Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Jiann-Woei; Alaniz, Abran; Hall, Robert; Bedossian, Nazareth; Hall, Charles; Jackson, Mark

    2011-01-01

    A launch vehicle represents a complicated flex-body structural environment for flight control system design. The Ascent-vehicle Stability Analysis Tool (ASAT) is developed to address the complicity in design and analysis of a launch vehicle. The design objective for the flight control system of a launch vehicle is to best follow guidance commands while robustly maintaining system stability. A constrained optimization approach takes the advantage of modern computational control techniques to simultaneously design multiple control systems in compliance with required design specs. "Tower Clearance" and "Load Relief" designs have been achieved for liftoff and max dynamic pressure flight regions, respectively, in the presence of large wind disturbances. The robustness of the flight control system designs has been verified in the frequency domain Monte Carlo analysis using ASAT.

  3. The Use of Computer Tools in the Design Process of Students’ Architectural Projects. Case Studies in Algeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saighi, Ouafa; Salah Zerouala, Mohamed

    2017-12-01

    This The paper particularly deals with the way in which computer tools are used by students in their design studio’s projects. Four institutions of architecture education in Algeria are considered as a case study to evaluate the impact of such tools on student design process. This aims to inspect in depth such use, to sort out its advantages and shortcomings in order to suggest some solutions. A field survey was undertaken on a sample of students and their teachers at the same institutions. The analysed results mainly show that computer tools are highly focusing on improving the quality of drawings representation and images seeking observers’ satisfaction hence influencing their decision. Some teachers are not very keen to overuse the computer during the design phase; they prefer the “traditional” approach. This is the present situation that Algerian university is facing which leads to conflict and disagreement between students and teachers. Meanwhile, there was no doubt that computer tools have effectively contributed to improve the competitive level among students.

  4. Design of a real-time open architecture controller for a reconfigurable machine tool

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Masekamela, I

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the design and the development of a real-time, open architecture controller that is used for control of reconfigurable manufacturing tools (RMTs) in reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). The controller that is presented can...

  5. An Update on Design Tools for Optimization of CMC 3D Fiber Architectures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, J.; DiCarlo, J.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: Describe and up-date progress for NASA's efforts to develop 3D architectural design tools for CMC in general and for SIC/SiC composites in particular. Describe past and current sequential work efforts aimed at: Understanding key fiber and tow physical characteristics in conventional 2D and 3D woven architectures as revealed by microstructures in the literature. Developing an Excel program for down-selecting and predicting key geometric properties and resulting key fiber-controlled properties for various conventional 3D architectures. Developing a software tool for accurately visualizing all the key geometric details of conventional 3D architectures. Validating tools by visualizing and predicting the Internal geometry and key mechanical properties of a NASA SIC/SIC panel with a 3D orthogonal architecture. Applying the predictive and visualization tools toward advanced 3D orthogonal SiC/SIC composites, and combining them into a user-friendly software program.

  6. Review of software tools for design and analysis of large scale MRM proteomic datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colangelo, Christopher M; Chung, Lisa; Bruce, Can; Cheung, Kei-Hoi

    2013-06-15

    Selective or Multiple Reaction monitoring (SRM/MRM) is a liquid-chromatography (LC)/tandem-mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method that enables the quantitation of specific proteins in a sample by analyzing precursor ions and the fragment ions of their selected tryptic peptides. Instrumentation software has advanced to the point that thousands of transitions (pairs of primary and secondary m/z values) can be measured in a triple quadrupole instrument coupled to an LC, by a well-designed scheduling and selection of m/z windows. The design of a good MRM assay relies on the availability of peptide spectra from previous discovery-phase LC-MS/MS studies. The tedious aspect of manually developing and processing MRM assays involving thousands of transitions has spurred to development of software tools to automate this process. Software packages have been developed for project management, assay development, assay validation, data export, peak integration, quality assessment, and biostatistical analysis. No single tool provides a complete end-to-end solution, thus this article reviews the current state and discusses future directions of these software tools in order to enable researchers to combine these tools for a comprehensive targeted proteomics workflow. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Enhancing Formal Modelling Tool Support with Increased Automation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lausdahl, Kenneth

    Progress report for the qualification exam report for PhD Student Kenneth Lausdahl. Initial work on enhancing tool support for the formal method VDM and the concept of unifying a abstract syntax tree with the ability for isolated extensions is described. The tool support includes a connection to ...... to UML and a test automation principle based on traces written as a kind of regular expressions....

  8. Topology and boundary shape optimization as an integrated design tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bendsoe, Martin Philip; Rodrigues, Helder Carrico

    1990-01-01

    The optimal topology of a two dimensional linear elastic body can be computed by regarding the body as a domain of the plane with a high density of material. Such an optimal topology can then be used as the basis for a shape optimization method that computes the optimal form of the boundary curves of the body. This results in an efficient and reliable design tool, which can be implemented via common FEM mesh generator and CAD type input-output facilities.

  9. Design tool for offgrid hydrogen refuelling systems for aerospace applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Troncoso, E.; Lapeña-Rey, N.; Gonzalez, M.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A simulation tool for offgrid CPV-based hydrogen refuelling systems is presented. • Simulations of system configurations with specific UAS hydrogen demand scenarios. • Regarding system size & reliability the most critical components are the CPV array and batteries. • In terms of energy efficiency the most critical component is the electrolyser. - Abstract: To develop an environmentally acceptable refuelling solution for fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to operate in remote areas, hydrogen fuel must be produced on-site from renewable energy sources. This paper describes a Matlab-based simulation tool specifically developed to pre-design offgrid hydrogen refuelling systems for UAS applications. The refuelling system comprises a high concentrated PV array (CPV), an electrolyser, a hydrogen buffer tank and a diaphragm hydrogen compressor. Small composite tanks are also included for fast refuelling of the UAV platforms at any time during the year. The novel approach of selecting a CPV power source is justified on the basis of minimizing the system footprint (versus flat plat or low concentration PV), aiming for a containerized remotely deployable UAS offgrid refuelling solution. To validate the simulation tool a number of simulations were performed using experimental data from a prototype offgrid hydrogen refuelling station for UAVs developed by Boeing Research & Technology Europe. Solar irradiation data for a selected location and daily UAS hydrogen demands of between 2.8 and 15.8 Nm"3 were employed as the primary inputs, in order to calculate a recommended system sizing solution and assess the expected operation of the refuelling system across a given year. The specific energy consumption of the refuelling system obtained from the simulations is between 5.6 and 8.9 kW h_e per kg of hydrogen delivered to the UAVs, being lower for larger daily hydrogen demands. Increasing the CPV area and electrolyser size in order to supply higher

  10. Interdisciplinary semantic model for managing the design of a steam-assisted gravity drainage tooling system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Leitch

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Complex engineering systems often require extensive coordination between different expert areas in order to avoid costly design iterations and rework. Cyber-physics system (CPS engineering methods could provide valuable insights to help model these interactions and optimize the design of such systems. In this work, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD, a complex oil extraction process that requires deep understanding of several physical-chemical phenomena, is examined whereby the complexities and interdependencies of the system are explored. Based on an established unified feature modeling scheme, a software modeling framework is proposed to manage the design process of the production tools used for SAGD oil extraction. Applying CPS methods to unify complex phenomenon and engineering models, the proposed CPS model combines effective simulation with embedded knowledge of completion tooling design in order to optimize reservoir performance. The system design is expressed using graphical diagrams of the unified modelling language (UML convention. To demonstrate the capability of this system, a distributed research group is described, and their activities coordinated using the described CPS model.

  11. Preliminary Design Through Graphs: A Tool for Automatic Layout Distribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlo Biagini

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Diagrams are essential in the preliminary stages of design for understanding distributive aspects and assisting the decision-making process. By drawing a schematic graph, designers can visualize in a synthetic way the relationships between many aspects: functions and spaces, distribution of layouts, space adjacency, influence of traffic flows within a facility layout, and so on. This process can be automated through the use of modern Information and Communication Technologies tools (ICT that allow the designers to manage a large quantity of information. The work that we will present is part of an on-going research project into how modern parametric software influences decision-making on the basis of automatic and optimized layout distribution. The method involves two phases: the first aims to define the ontological relation between spaces, with particular reference to a specific building typology (rules of aggregation of spaces; the second entails the implementation of these rules through the use of specialist software. The generation of ontological relations begins with the collection of data from historical manuals and analyses of case studies. These analyses aim to generate a “relationship matrix” based on preferences of space adjacency. The phase of implementing the previously defined rules is based on the use of Grasshopper to analyse and visualize different layout configurations. The layout is generated by simulating a process involving the collision of spheres, which represents specific functions of the design program. The spheres are attracted or rejected as a function of the relationships matrix, as defined above. The layout thus obtained will remain in a sort of abstract state independent of information about the exterior form, but will still provide a useful tool for the decision-making process. In addition, preliminary results gathered through the analysis of case studies will be presented. These results provide a good variety

  12. Evaluation of a clinical decision support tool for osteoporosis disease management: protocol for an interrupted time series design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kastner, Monika; Sawka, Anna; Thorpe, Kevin; Chignel, Mark; Marquez, Christine; Newton, David; Straus, Sharon E

    2011-07-22

    Osteoporosis affects over 200 million people worldwide at a high cost to healthcare systems. Although guidelines on assessing and managing osteoporosis are available, many patients are not receiving appropriate diagnostic testing or treatment. Findings from a systematic review of osteoporosis interventions, a series of mixed-methods studies, and advice from experts in osteoporosis and human-factors engineering were used collectively to develop a multicomponent tool (targeted to family physicians and patients at risk for osteoporosis) that may support clinical decision making in osteoporosis disease management at the point of care. A three-phased approach will be used to evaluate the osteoporosis tool. In phase 1, the tool will be implemented in three family practices. It will involve ensuring optimal functioning of the tool while minimizing disruption to usual practice. In phase 2, the tool will be pilot tested in a quasi-experimental interrupted time series (ITS) design to determine if it can improve osteoporosis disease management at the point of care. Phase 3 will involve conducting a qualitative postintervention follow-up study to better understand participants' experiences and perceived utility of the tool and readiness to adopt the tool at the point of care. The osteoporosis tool has the potential to make several contributions to the development and evaluation of complex, chronic disease interventions, such as the inclusion of an implementation strategy prior to conducting an evaluation study. Anticipated benefits of the tool may be to increase awareness for patients about osteoporosis and its associated risks and provide an opportunity to discuss a management plan with their physician, which may all facilitate patient self-management.

  13. Ergonomic design intervention strategy for work tools development for women agro based workers in Northeast India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakrabarti, Debkumar; Bhattachheriya, Nandita

    2012-01-01

    Strategy for finding the appropriate strategy for work tool development has become a crucial issue in occupational wellness of varied nature of women workforce of Northeast India. This paper deals with ergonomics intervention through sustainable work tool design development process. Workers who frequently shift to different activities quite often in unorganised small-scale fruit processing units where productivity is directly related to the harvesting season require different work tools relevant to specific tasks and mostly workers themselves manage work tools of their own with available local resources. Whereas in contrast the tea-leaf pluckers are engaged in a single task throughout the year, and the work schedule and work equipment is decided and supplied to them based on the corporate decision where the workers do not have any individual control. Observations confirm the need for organising participatory workshops specific to trade based occupational well-being and different work tools for different tasks in mostly private owned unorganised sector. Implementation of single variety work tool development that supports a crucial component in tea-leaf plucking for which they are engaged in full time employment; and through a corporate decision a single design with its number of users makes a good effect.

  14. APRON: A Cellular Processor Array Simulation and Hardware Design Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, David R. W.; Dudek, Piotr

    2009-12-01

    We present a software environment for the efficient simulation of cellular processor arrays (CPAs). This software (APRON) is used to explore algorithms that are designed for massively parallel fine-grained processor arrays, topographic multilayer neural networks, vision chips with SIMD processor arrays, and related architectures. The software uses a highly optimised core combined with a flexible compiler to provide the user with tools for the design of new processor array hardware architectures and the emulation of existing devices. We present performance benchmarks for the software processor array implemented on standard commodity microprocessors. APRON can be configured to use additional processing hardware if necessary and can be used as a complete graphical user interface and development environment for new or existing CPA systems, allowing more users to develop algorithms for CPA systems.

  15. APRON: A Cellular Processor Array Simulation and Hardware Design Tool

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R. W. Barr

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a software environment for the efficient simulation of cellular processor arrays (CPAs. This software (APRON is used to explore algorithms that are designed for massively parallel fine-grained processor arrays, topographic multilayer neural networks, vision chips with SIMD processor arrays, and related architectures. The software uses a highly optimised core combined with a flexible compiler to provide the user with tools for the design of new processor array hardware architectures and the emulation of existing devices. We present performance benchmarks for the software processor array implemented on standard commodity microprocessors. APRON can be configured to use additional processing hardware if necessary and can be used as a complete graphical user interface and development environment for new or existing CPA systems, allowing more users to develop algorithms for CPA systems.

  16. Multispectral analysis tools can increase utility of RGB color images in histology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fereidouni, Farzad; Griffin, Croix; Todd, Austin; Levenson, Richard

    2018-04-01

    Multispectral imaging (MSI) is increasingly finding application in the study and characterization of biological specimens. However, the methods typically used come with challenges on both the acquisition and the analysis front. MSI can be slow and photon-inefficient, leading to long imaging times and possible phototoxicity and photobleaching. The resulting datasets can be large and complex, prompting the development of a number of mathematical approaches for segmentation and signal unmixing. We show that under certain circumstances, just three spectral channels provided by standard color cameras, coupled with multispectral analysis tools, including a more recent spectral phasor approach, can efficiently provide useful insights. These findings are supported with a mathematical model relating spectral bandwidth and spectral channel number to achievable spectral accuracy. The utility of 3-band RGB and MSI analysis tools are demonstrated on images acquired using brightfield and fluorescence techniques, as well as a novel microscopy approach employing UV-surface excitation. Supervised linear unmixing, automated non-negative matrix factorization and phasor analysis tools all provide useful results, with phasors generating particularly helpful spectral display plots for sample exploration.

  17. Geo-environmental mapping tool applied to pipeline design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andrade, Karina de S.; Calle, Jose A.; Gil, Euzebio J. [Geomecanica S/A Tecnologia de Solo Rochas e Materiais, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Sare, Alexandre R. [Geomechanics International Inc., Houston, TX (United States); Soares, Ana Cecilia [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2009-07-01

    The Geo-Environmental Mapping is an improvement of the Geological-Geotechnical Mapping used for basic pipeline designs. The main purpose is to assembly the environmental, geotechnical and geological concepts in a methodological tool capable to predict constrains and reduce the pipeline impact to the environment. The Geo-Environmental mapping was built to stress the influence of soil/structure interaction, related to the physical effect that comes from the contact between structures and soil or rock. A Geological-Geotechnical-Environmental strip (chart) was presented to emphasize the pipeline operational constrains and its influence to the environment. The mapping was developed to clearly show the occurrence and properties of geological materials divided into geotechnical domain units (zones). The strips present construction natural properties, such as: excavability, stability of the excavation and soil re-use capability. Also, the environmental constrains were added to the geological-geotechnical mapping. The Geo-Environmental Mapping model helps the planning of the geotechnical and environmental inquiries to be carried out during executive design, the discussion on the types of equipment to be employed during construction and the analysis of the geological risks and environmental impacts to be faced during the built of the pipeline. (author)

  18. Achieving informed decision-making for net zero energy buildings design using building performance simulation tools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Attia, S.G.; Gratia, E.; De Herde, A.; Hensen, J.L.M.

    2013-01-01

    Building performance simulation (BPS) is the basis for informed decision-making of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) design. This paper aims to investigate the use of building performance simulation tools as a method of informing the design decision of NZEBs. The aim of this study is to evaluate the

  19. Drive Cost Reduction, Increase Innovation and Mitigate Risk with Advanced Knowledge Discovery Tools Designed to Unlock and Leverage Prior Knowledge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchell, I.

    2016-01-01

    Full text: The nuclear industry is knowledge-intensive and includes a diverse number of stakeholders. Much of this knowledge is at risk as engineers, technicians and project professionals retire, leaving a widening skills and information gap. This knowledge is critical in an increasingly complex environment with information from past projects often buried in decades-old, non-integrated systems enterprise. Engineers can spend 40% or more of their time searching for answers across the enterprise instead of solving problems. The inability to access trusted industry knowledge results in increased risk and expense. Advanced knowledge discovery technologies slash research times by as much as 75% and accelerate innovation and problem solving by giving technical professionals access to the information they need, in the context of the problems they are trying to solve. Unlike traditional knowledge management approaches, knowledge discovery tools powered by semantic search technologies are adept at uncovering answers in unstructured data and require no tagging, organization or moving of data, meaning a smaller IT footprint and faster time-to-knowledge. This session will highlight best-in-class knowledge discovery technologies, content, and strategies to give nuclear industry organizations the ability to leverage the corpus of enterprise knowledge into the future. (author

  20. Methods for Increasing the Material Resistance of the Mulching Tool Body Against its Deformation in Operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ľuptáčiková, Veronika; Ťavodová, Miroslava

    2017-12-01

    Instruments working in the cultivation of forest areas, for example under the guidance of high stress, are exposed to factors of heterogeneous environment which are soil, wood, various types of rocks, sometimes waste - metal, plastics or glass as well. The mulching tool body, the forging, deforms and worsens rapidly after loss of the WC toe-caps. Currently used tools have a non-heat-treated body material with a ferritic-pearlitic structure that has low abrasion resistance. One of the possibilities is to heat the tool body. Another possibility is to apply suitable welds to exposed areas. By correctly selecting the thermal mode of the tool material or by applying the welded material to the exposed body part of the tool, we can ensure that the tool's operating time is increased.

  1. Ropossum: An Authoring Tool for Designing, Optimizing and Solving Cut the Rope Levels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shaker, Mohammad; Shaker, Noor; Togelius, Julian

    2013-01-01

    We present a demonstration of Ropossum, an authoring tool for the generation and testing of levels of the physics-based game, Cut the Rope. Ropossum integrates many features: (1) automatic design of complete solvable content, (2) incorporation of designer’s input through the creation of complete...... or partial designs, (3) automatic check for playability and (4) optimization of a given design based on playability. The system includes a physics engine to simulate the game and an evolutionary framework to evolve content as well as an AI reasoning agent to check for playability. The system is optimised...

  2. Comparative Investigation on Tool Wear during End Milling of AISI H13 Steel with Different Tool Path Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adesta, Erry Yulian T.; Riza, Muhammad; Avicena

    2018-03-01

    Tool wear prediction plays a significant role in machining industry for proper planning and control machining parameters and optimization of cutting conditions. This paper aims to investigate the effect of tool path strategies that are contour-in and zigzag tool path strategies applied on tool wear during pocket milling process. The experiments were carried out on CNC vertical machining centre by involving PVD coated carbide inserts. Cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut were set to vary. In an experiment with three factors at three levels, Response Surface Method (RSM) design of experiment with a standard called Central Composite Design (CCD) was employed. Results obtained indicate that tool wear increases significantly at higher range of feed per tooth compared to cutting speed and depth of cut. This result of this experimental work is then proven statistically by developing empirical model. The prediction model for the response variable of tool wear for contour-in strategy developed in this research shows a good agreement with experimental work.

  3. Augmented reality as a design tool for mobile interfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bertelsen, Olav Wedege; Nielsen, Christina

    2000-01-01

    applications derived from the classification of augmented reality interfaces. The focus on physical interaction with objects of work and with the mobile device provides us with a range of interaction styles, based on e.g. gestures and manipulation of objects. Furthermore, issues of transparency and directness......This paper challenges user interface paradigms for mobile devices, by using the technical classification of augmented reality interfaces as a thinking tool to develop ideas for interaction with mobile devices. The paper presents future work scenarios from a wastewater treatment plant embodying PDA...... are addressed. The future scenarios indicate that the concepts of augmented reality support solving context problems in mobile design....

  4. Method and Tool for Design Process Navigation and Automatic Generation of Simulation Models for Manufacturing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakano, Masaru; Kubota, Fumiko; Inamori, Yutaka; Mitsuyuki, Keiji

    Manufacturing system designers should concentrate on designing and planning manufacturing systems instead of spending their efforts on creating the simulation models to verify the design. This paper proposes a method and its tool to navigate the designers through the engineering process and generate the simulation model automatically from the design results. The design agent also supports collaborative design projects among different companies or divisions with distributed engineering and distributed simulation techniques. The idea was implemented and applied to a factory planning process.

  5. Tools for Material Design and Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wehage, Kristopher

    The present thesis focuses on applications of numerical methods to create tools for material characterization, design and selection. The tools generated in this work incorporate a variety of programming concepts, from digital image analysis, geometry, optimization, and parallel programming to data-mining, databases and web design. The first portion of the thesis focuses on methods for characterizing clustering in bimodal 5083 Aluminum alloys created by cryomilling and powder metallurgy. The bimodal samples analyzed in the present work contain a mixture of a coarse grain phase, with a grain size on the order of several microns, and an ultra-fine grain phase, with a grain size on the order of 200 nm. The mixing of the two phases is not homogeneous and clustering is observed. To investigate clustering in these bimodal materials, various microstructures were created experimentally by conventional cryomilling, Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), Extrusion, Dual-Mode Dynamic Forging (DMDF) and a new 'Gradient' cryomilling process. Two techniques for quantitative clustering analysis are presented, formulated and implemented. The first technique, the Area Disorder function, provides a metric of the quality of coarse grain dispersion in an ultra-fine grain matrix and the second technique, the Two-Point Correlation function, provides a metric of long and short range spatial arrangements of the two phases, as well as an indication of the mean feature size in any direction. The two techniques are implemented on digital images created by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Electron Backscatter Detection (EBSD) of the microstructures. To investigate structure--property relationships through modeling and simulation, strategies for generating synthetic microstructures are discussed and a computer program that generates randomized microstructures with desired configurations of clustering described by the Area Disorder Function is formulated and presented. In the computer program, two

  6. Designing a data-driven decision support tool for nurse scheduling in the emergency department: a case study of a southern New Jersey emergency department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otegbeye, Mojisola; Scriber, Roslyn; Ducoin, Donna; Glasofer, Amy

    2015-01-01

    A health system serving Burlington and Camden Counties, New Jersey, sought to improve labor productivity for its emergency departments, with emphasis on optimizing nursing staff schedules. Using historical emergency department visit data and operating constraints, a decision support tool was designed to recommend the number of emergency nurses needed in each hour for each day of the week. The pilot emergency department nurse managers used the decision support tool's recommendations to redeploy nurse hours from weekends into a float pool to support periods of demand spikes on weekdays. Productivity improved significantly, with no unfavorable impact on patient throughput, and patient and staff satisfaction. Today's emergency department manager can leverage the increasing ease of access to the emergency department information system's data repository to successfully design a simple but effective tool to support the alignment of its nursing schedule with demand patterns. Copyright © 2015 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Tool application CAD / CAM for design and construction of a prototype of plastic injection mold

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert Miyer Suárez Castrillón

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The study, development and production of injection molds comes with the implementation of CAD and CAM tools available on the market; using these tools, a prototype injection mold for thermoplastic materials was designed and built, based on a mold is injection in the laboratory of the University of Pamplona, in which a couple of modifications were made in order to experiment with its design. The prototype was manufactured through a 3D scan of the original mold to provide the CAD / CAM files with the simulated 3D printing technique for performing an experimental study with the prototype for adjusting temperature and pressure sensors and for coatings metallic materials for use in the injection molding process.

  8. Materials selection for cutting tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burkhis, Adel M.

    2008-01-01

    The selection of proper tool steel for a given application is a difficult task. So; the most important selection factors in choosing cutting tool materials are based on their tool material requirements, cutting tool design and service conditions which is mainly considered as functional requirements. The processability requirements concerns in heat treat ability of the material tool. The classification of these tool materials were discussed with their properties requirement and percent of alloying element which is added to give best properties with a little increase in cost that highly appear in comparison of the selection. The cutting tool materials were evaluated based on two cases; The first was in case of rough surface; the high speed steels is the best material and the other was the ceramic material is the highest performance in cutting of soft or high rate of metal removal. (author)

  9. Standard guide for hot cell specialized support equipment and tools

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2010-01-01

    1.1 Intent: 1.1.1 This guide presents practices and guidelines for the design and implementation of equipment and tools to assist assembly, disassembly, alignment, fastening, maintenance, or general handling of equipment in a hot cell. Operating in a remote hot cell environment significantly increases the difficulty and time required to perform a task compared to completing a similar task directly by hand. Successful specialized support equipment and tools minimize the required effort, reduce risks, and increase operating efficiencies. 1.2 Applicability: 1.2.1 This guide may apply to the design of specialized support equipment and tools anywhere it is remotely operated, maintained, and viewed through shielding windows or by other remote viewing systems. 1.2.2 Consideration should be given to the need for specialized support equipment and tools early in the design process. 1.2.3 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conv...

  10. Hybrid Design Tools in a Social Virtual Reality Using Networked Oculus Rift: A Feasibility Study in Remote Real-Time Interaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wendrich, Robert E.; Chambers, Kris-Howard; Al-Halabi, Wadee; Seibel, Eric J.; Grevenstuk, Olaf; Ullman, David; Hoffman, Hunter G.

    2016-01-01

    Hybrid Design Tool Environments (HDTE) allow designers and engineers to use real tangible tools and physical objects and/or artifacts to make and create real-time virtual representations and presentations on-the-fly. Manipulations of the real tangible objects (e.g., real wire mesh, clay, sketches,

  11. Material Choice for spindle of machine tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gouasmi, S.; Merzoug, B.; Abba, G.; Kherredine, L.

    2012-02-01

    The requirements of contemporary industry and the flashing development of modern sciences impose restrictions on the majority of the elements of machines; the resulting financial constraints can be satisfied by a better output of the production equipment. As for those concerning the design, the resistance and the correct operation of the product, these require the development of increasingly precise parts, therefore the use of increasingly powerful tools [5]. The precision of machining and the output of the machine tools are generally determined by the precision of rotation of the spindle, indeed, more this one is large more the dimensions to obtain are in the zone of tolerance and the defects of shape are minimized. During the development of the machine tool, the spindle which by definition is a rotating shaft receiving and transmitting to the work piece or the cutting tool the rotational movement, must be designed according to certain optimal parameters to be able to ensure the precision required. This study will be devoted to the choice of the material of the spindle fulfilling the imposed requirements of precision.

  12. Material Choice for spindle of machine tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gouasmi, S; Merzoug, B; Kherredine, L; Abba, G

    2012-01-01

    The requirements of contemporary industry and the flashing development of modern sciences impose restrictions on the majority of the elements of machines; the resulting financial constraints can be satisfied by a better output of the production equipment. As for those concerning the design, the resistance and the correct operation of the product, these require the development of increasingly precise parts, therefore the use of increasingly powerful tools [5]. The precision of machining and the output of the machine tools are generally determined by the precision of rotation of the spindle, indeed, more this one is large more the dimensions to obtain are in the zone of tolerance and the defects of shape are minimized. During the development of the machine tool, the spindle which by definition is a rotating shaft receiving and transmitting to the work piece or the cutting tool the rotational movement, must be designed according to certain optimal parameters to be able to ensure the precision required. This study will be devoted to the choice of the material of the spindle fulfilling the imposed requirements of precision.

  13. The Digital Design Process - Reflections on a Single Design Case

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Achten, H.H.; Joosen, G.; Dokonal, W.; Hirschberg, U.

    2003-01-01

    CAD tools are increasing their expressive and geometric power to enable a design process in which the computer model can be used throughout the whole design process for realizing the design. Such a process, in which other media such as physical scale models or drawings are no longer required by

  14. Development of Ecogeomorphological (EGM Stream Design and Assessment Tools for the Piedmont of Alabama, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian Helms

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Regional data needed for effective stream restoration include hydraulic geometry relationships (i.e., regional curves and reference channel morphology parameters. Increasingly ecological conditions are being considered when designing, implementing, and assessing restoration efforts. We provide morphology relationships and associated ecological endpoint curves for reference streams in the Alabama piedmont. Twenty-one reference stream reaches were identified in the Tallapoosa drainage of Alabama, ranging from 0.2 to 242 km2 drainage area. Geomorphic surveys were conducted in each stream to measure riffle cross-sections and longitudinal profiles and related to drainage area to develop regional curves. Fish, crayfish, and benthic macroinvertebrates were collected from each surveyed reach and related to drainage area and geomorphic data to provide associated biological community endpoints. Bankfull channel cross-section area, width, mean depth, and estimated discharge were strongly correlated to watershed drainage area, similar to efforts in other areas of the Piedmont ecoregion. Multiple measures of fish assemblages and crayfish size were strongly predicted by drainage area and geomorphic dimensions. Macroinvertebrates showed no taxonomic and limited functional relationships with drainage area and geomorphic dimension. These tools, which integrate geomorphological and ecological conditions, can result in improved stream evaluations and designs increasing the effectiveness of stream restoration projects.

  15. A Metric Tool for Predicting Source Code Quality from a PDL Design

    OpenAIRE

    Henry, Sallie M.; Selig, Calvin

    1987-01-01

    The software crisis has increased the demand for automated tools to assist software developers in the production of quality software. Quality metrics have given software developers a tool to measure software quality. These measurements, however, are available only after the software has been produced. Due to high cost, software managers are reluctant, to redesign and reimplement low quality software. Ideally, a life cycle which allows early measurement of software quality is a necessary ingre...

  16. Feedback Conversations: Creating Feedback Dialogues with a New Textual Tool for Industrial Design Student Feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funk, Mathias; van Diggelen, Migchiel

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, the authors describe how a study of a large database of written university teacher feedback in the department of Industrial Design led to the development of a new conceptual framework for feedback and the design of a new feedback tool. This paper focuses on the translation of related work in the area of feedback mechanisms for…

  17. A new tool for quantifying the hydrological effects of LID retrofit designs – the power of simplicity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lerer, Sara Maria; Sørup, Hjalte Jomo Danielsen; Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten

    We developed a new tool to address the needs of utility companies in the early planning and design phase of LID for retrofitting in existing urban areas, where a high degree of collaboration among stakeholders with different professional backgrounds is needed. The tool uses simplified methods...

  18. Culturally Accepted Green Architecture Toolbox : pre-design helping tool and rating system for new built environment in Egypt

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    El Fiky, Usama; Cox, Mark; Leeuwen, J.P.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2006-01-01

    This paper describes and analyses the process of developing computer software to incorporate both green architecture design strategies and their cultural indicators in one easy tool to help a designer to match his / her design with green architectural principles in the pre-design stage. The three

  19. Consumer Intervention Mapping—A Tool for Designing Future Product Strategies within Circular Product Service Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matt Sinclair

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Re-distributed manufacturing presents a number of opportunities and challenges for New Product Development in a future Circular Economy. It has been argued that small-scale, flexible and localised production systems will reduce resource consumption, lower transport emissions and extend product lifetimes. At the same time smart products within the Internet of Things will gather and report data on user behaviour and product status. Many sustainable design tools have previously been developed but few are able to imagine and develop visions of how future sustainable product service systems might be manifested. This paper introduces the concept of Consumer Intervention Mapping as a tool for creating future product strategies. The tool visualises the points within a product’s lifecycle where stakeholders are able to intervene in the product’s expected journey. This perspective enables the rapid construction of scenarios that explore and describe future circular product service systems. Validation of the tool in three workshops is described and the outcomes are presented. Consumer Intervention Mapping is successful in creating scenarios that describe existing product service systems and new product concepts adapted to a Circular Economy paradigm. Further work is required to refine the tool’s performance in more focused and reflective design exercises.

  20. Design-Thinking, Making, and Innovating: Fresh Tools for the Physician's Toolbox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albala, L.; Bober, T.; Mallozzi, M.; Koeneke-Hernandez, L.; Ku, B.

    2018-01-01

    Medical school education should foster creativity by enabling students to become "makers" who prototype and design. Healthcare professionals and students experience pain points on a daily basis, but are not given the tools, training, or opportunity to help solve them in new, potentially better ways. The student physician of the future…

  1. MURMoT. Design and Application of Microbial Uranium Reduction Monitoring Tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loeffler, Frank E. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

    2014-12-31

    Uranium (U) contamination in the subsurface is a major remediation challenge at many DOE sites. Traditional site remedies present enormous costs to DOE; hence, enhanced bioremediation technologies (i.e., biostimulation and bioaugmentation) combined with monitoring efforts are being considered as cost-effective corrective actions to address subsurface contamination. This research effort improved understanding of the microbial U reduction process and developed new tools for monitoring microbial activities. Application of these tools will promote science-based site management decisions that achieve contaminant detoxification, plume control, and long-term stewardship in the most efficient manner. The overarching hypothesis was that the design, validation and application of a suite of new molecular and biogeochemical tools advance process understanding, and improve environmental monitoring regimes to assess and predict in situ U immobilization. Accomplishments: This project (i) advanced nucleic acid-based approaches to elucidate the presence, abundance, dynamics, spatial distribution, and activity of metal- and radionuclide-detoxifying bacteria; (ii) developed proteomics workflows for detection of metal reduction biomarker proteins in laboratory cultures and contaminated site groundwater; (iii) developed and demonstrated the utility of U isotopic fractionation using high precision mass spectrometry to quantify U(VI) reduction for a range of reduction mechanisms and environmental conditions; and (iv) validated the new tools using field samples from U-contaminated IFRC sites, and demonstrated their prognostic and diagnostic capabilities in guiding decision making for environmental remediation and long-term site stewardship.

  2. A Web-Based Treatment Decision Support Tool for Patients With Advanced Knee Arthritis: Evaluation of User Interface and Content Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Hua; Rosal, Milagros C; Li, Wenjun; Borg, Amy; Yang, Wenyun; Ayers, David C; Franklin, Patricia D

    2018-04-30

    Data-driven surgical decisions will ensure proper use and timing of surgical care. We developed a Web-based patient-centered treatment decision and assessment tool to guide treatment decisions among patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis who are considering total knee replacement surgery. The aim of this study was to examine user experience and acceptance of the Web-based treatment decision support tool among older adults. User-centered formative and summative evaluations were conducted for the tool. A sample of 28 patients who were considering total knee replacement participated in the study. Participants' responses to the user interface design, the clarity of information, as well as usefulness, satisfaction, and acceptance of the tool were collected through qualitative (ie, individual patient interviews) and quantitative (ie, standardized Computer System Usability Questionnaire) methods. Participants were older adults with a mean age of 63 (SD 11) years. Three-quarters of them had no technical questions using the tool. User interface design recommendations included larger fonts, bigger buttons, less colors, simpler navigation without extra "next page" click, less mouse movement, and clearer illustrations with simple graphs. Color-coded bar charts and outcome-specific graphs with positive action were easiest for them to understand the outcomes data. Questionnaire data revealed high satisfaction with the tool usefulness and interface quality, and also showed ease of use of the tool, regardless of age or educational status. We evaluated the usability of a patient-centered decision support tool designed for advanced knee arthritis patients to facilitate their knee osteoarthritis treatment decision making. The lessons learned can inform other decision support tools to improve interface and content design for older patients' use. ©Hua Zheng, Milagros C Rosal, Wenjun Li, Amy Borg, Wenyun Yang, David C Ayers, Patricia D Franklin. Originally published in JMIR Human

  3. Technique for Increasing Accuracy of Positioning System of Machine Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sh. Ji

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of research is to improve the accuracy of positioning and processing system using a technique for optimization of pressure diagrams of guides in machine tools. The machining quality is directly related to its accuracy, which characterizes an impact degree of various errors of machines. The accuracy of the positioning system is one of the most significant machining characteristics, which allow accuracy evaluation of processed parts.The literature describes that the working area of the machine layout is rather informative to characterize the effect of the positioning system on the macro-geometry of the part surfaces to be processed. To enhance the static accuracy of the studied machine, in principle, two groups of measures are possible. One of them points toward a decrease of the cutting force component, which overturns the slider moments. Another group of measures is related to the changing sizes of the guide facets, which may lead to their profile change.The study was based on mathematical modeling and optimization of the cutting zone coordinates. And we find the formula to determine the surface pressure of the guides. The selected parameters of optimization are vectors of the cutting force and values of slides and guides. Obtained results show that a technique for optimization of coordinates in the cutting zone was necessary to increase a processing accuracy.The research has established that to define the optimal coordinates of the cutting zone we have to change the sizes of slides, value and coordinates of applied forces, reaching the pressure equalization and improving the accuracy of positioning system of machine tools. In different points of the workspace a vector of forces is applied, pressure diagrams are found, which take into account the changes in the parameters of positioning system, and the pressure diagram equalization to provide the most accuracy of machine tools is achieved.

  4. ICTs as a Tool to Increase the Attractiveness of Public Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reinhold Lehel Stadler

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, ICTs is one of the major factors influencing urban development. Consequently, public spaces – an important urban subsystem – are shaped by interaction with the new technologies. This paper aims to present the ways, in which different ICT tools can increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of public spaces, in opposition to several approaches stating that technologies can only encourage segregation of individuals. The article is focused on possibilities to open the public realm for functions and activities that are usually regarded as private. The major roles that ICTs can play in the public space are: education, information, art and entertainment. Based on this classification various examples and proposals of ICTs interventions in public spaces are presented and analysed, including the Zaragoza’s Digital Mile, the Cloud at Athens and the concept of Flux Space. The specificity of this paper rests on a constant parallel drawn between the interventions around the globe and Romania, aiming to highlight the potential for competitiveness of Romanian public spaces, as a result of using various ICTs tools.

  5. Tool coupling for the design and operation of building energy and control systems based on the Functional Mock-up Interface standard

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nouidui, Thierry Stephane; Wetter, Michael

    2014-03-01

    This paper describes software tools developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) that can be coupled through the Functional Mock-up Interface standard in support of the design and operation of building energy and control systems. These tools have been developed to address the gaps and limitations encountered in legacy simulation tools. These tools were originally designed for the analysis of individual domains of buildings, and have been difficult to integrate with other tools for runtime data exchange. The coupling has been realized by use of the Functional Mock-up Interface for co-simulation, which standardizes an application programming interface for simulator interoperability that has been adopted in a variety of industrial domains. As a variety of coupling scenarios are possible, this paper provides users with guidance on what coupling may be best suited for their application. Furthermore, the paper illustrates how tools can be integrated into a building management system to support the operation of buildings. These tools may be a design model that is used for real-time performance monitoring, a fault detection and diagnostics algorithm, or a control sequence, each of which may be exported as a Functional Mock-up Unit and made available in a building management system as an input/output block. We anticipate that this capability can contribute to bridging the observed performance gap between design and operational energy use of buildings.

  6. Designing an ICT tool platform to support SME business model innovation: Results of a first design cycle

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Reuver, G.A.; Athanasopoulou, A.; Haaker, T.I.; Roelfsema, M.; Riedle, M; Breitfuss, G.

    2016-01-01

    Business model innovation (BMI) is becoming increasingly relevant for enterprises as they are faced with profound changes like digitalization. While business model thinking in academia has advanced, practical tooling that supports business model innovation for small and medium sized enterprises

  7. A Process Framework for Designing Software Reference Architectures for Providing Tools as a Service

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chauhan, Muhammad Aufeef; Babar, Muhammad Ali; Probst, Christian W.

    2016-01-01

    of software systems need customized and systematic SRA design and evaluation methods. In this paper, we present a software Reference Architecture Design process Framework (RADeF) that can be used for analysis, design and evaluation of the SRA for provisioning of Tools as a Service as part of a cloud......Software Reference Architecture (SRA), which is a generic architecture solution for a specific type of software systems, provides foundation for the design of concrete architectures in terms of architecture design guidelines and architecture elements. The complexity and size of certain types......-enabled workSPACE (TSPACE). The framework is based on the state of the art results from literature and our experiences with designing software architectures for cloud-based systems. We have applied RADeF SRA design two types of TSPACE: software architecting TSPACE and software implementation TSPACE...

  8. Feasibility study tool for semi-rigid joints design of high-rise buildings steel structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagautdinov, Ruslan; Monastireva, Daria; Bodak, Irina; Potapova, Irina

    2018-03-01

    There are many ways to consider the final cost of the high-rise building structures and to define, which of their different variations are the most effective from different points of view. The research of Jaakko Haapio is conducted in Tampere University of Technology, which aims to develop a method that allows determining the manufacturing and installation costs of steel structures already at the tender phase while taking into account their details. This paper is aimed to make the analysis of the Feature-Based Costing Method for skeletal steel structures proposed by Jaakko Haapio. The most appropriate ways to improve the tool and to implement it in the Russian circumstances for high-rise building design are derived. Presented tool can be useful not only for the designers but, also, for the steel structures manufacturing organizations, which can help to utilize BIM technologies in the organization process and controlling on the factory.

  9. Using naturalistic driving films as a design tool for investigating driver requirements in HMI design for ADAS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Minjuan; Sun, Dong; Chen, Fang

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, there are many naturalistic driving projects have been conducted, such as the 100-Car Project (Naturalistic Driving study in United State), EuroFOT(European Large-Scale Field Operational Tests on Vehicle Systems), SeMi- FOT(Sweden Michigan Naturalistic Field Operational Test and etc. However, those valuable naturalistic driving data hasn't been applied into Human-machine Interaction (HMI) design for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), a good HMI design for ADAS requires a deep understanding of drive environment and the interactions between the driving car and other road users in different situations. The results demonstrated the benefits of using naturalistic driving films as a mean for enhancing focus group discussion for better understanding driver's needs and traffic environment constraints. It provided an efficient tool for designers to have inside knowledge about drive and the needs for information presentation; The recommendations for how to apply this method is discussed in the paper.

  10. Contingency Contractor Optimization Phase 3 Sustainment Software Design Document - Contingency Contractor Optimization Tool - Prototype

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Durfee, Justin David; Frazier, Christopher Rawls; Bandlow, Alisa; Jones, Katherine A

    2016-05-01

    This document describes the final software design of the Contingency Contractor Optimization Tool - Prototype. Its purpose is to provide the overall architecture of the software and the logic behind this architecture. Documentation for the individual classes is provided in the application Javadoc. The Contingency Contractor Optimization project is intended to address Department of Defense mandates by delivering a centralized strategic planning tool that allows senior decision makers to quickly and accurately assess the impacts, risks, and mitigation strategies associated with utilizing contract support. The Contingency Contractor Optimization Tool - Prototype was developed in Phase 3 of the OSD ATL Contingency Contractor Optimization project to support strategic planning for contingency contractors. The planning tool uses a model to optimize the Total Force mix by minimizing the combined total costs for selected mission scenarios. The model optimizes the match of personnel types (military, DoD civilian, and contractors) and capabilities to meet mission requirements as effectively as possible, based on risk, cost, and other requirements.

  11. Advantages of using 3D design tools in the nuclear power plants projects; Ventajas del uso de herramientas de diseno 3D en los proyectos de centrales nucleares

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roldan, P.; Melendro, J.; Gomez, A.; Hermana, I.

    2011-07-01

    It there is anything that distinguished Iberdrola Ingeneria y Construccion, as part of the Iberdrola Group, it is its firm commitment to innovation and continuous improvement. This is the philosophy that led the company to its interest in three-dimensional design tools back when they were in an early stage of development : very little international implementation, lack of integration with other applications, absence of previous experiences to understand the best possible configuration for each case, etc. Nevertheless, the company was able to see the tremendous advantage of having a construction program in the early months of a project- a detailed program that could predict, and therefore avoid, the problems that, if not anticipated, would arise in the construction phase when they result in higher costs, longer time frames and a multitude of complications. This is precisely what 3D design tools offer prediction and this has been proven in the latest combined cycle projects executed with these tools. A project executed without errors not only decreases cost and time overruns, but also necessarily increases the quality of the end result. Efficiency and quality: these are both basic goals of Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construccion. The knowledge of and skill in the use of these tools have grown at the same time that their development has reached increasingly higher levels. As a result, Iberdrola Ingenieria y Conctruccion now has intensive experience in the use of 3D design tools and is preprared for the future challenges posed by these tools, the capabilities of which have attained such heights that it is possible to take on one of the most technically challenging projects that exists a nuclear power plant. And we are ready. (Author)

  12. Technology and Jobs: Computer-Aided Design. Numerical-Control Machine-Tool Operators. Office Automation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanton, Michael; And Others

    1985-01-01

    Three reports on the effects of high technology on the nature of work include (1) Stanton on applications and implications of computer-aided design for engineers, drafters, and architects; (2) Nardone on the outlook and training of numerical-control machine tool operators; and (3) Austin and Drake on the future of clerical occupations in automated…

  13. The design of a visual history tool to help users refind information within a website

    OpenAIRE

    Do, TV; Ruddle, RA

    2012-01-01

    On the WWW users frequently revisit information they have previously seen, but "keeping found things found" is difficult when the information has not been visited frequently or recently, even if a user knows which website contained the information. This paper describes the design of a tool to help users refind information within a given website. The tool encodes data about a user's interest in webpages (measured by dwell time), the frequency and recency of visits, and navigational association...

  14. Application of the QFD as a design approach to ensure comfort in using hand tools : Can the design team complete the House of Quality appropriately?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuijt-Evers, L.F.M.; Morel, K.P.N.; Eikelenberg, N.L.W.; Vink, P.

    2009-01-01

    Quality Function Deployment is proposed as an effective design method to integrate ergonomics needs and comfort into hand tool design because it explicitly addresses the translation of customer needs into engineering characteristics. A crucial step during QFD concerns the linking of engineering

  15. Design of Monitoring Tool Heartbeat Rate and Human Body Temperature Based on WEB

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalinas

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body. One way to know heart health is to measure the number of heart beats per minute and body temperature also shows health, many heart rate and body temperature devices but can only be accessed offline. This research aims to design a heart rate detector and human body temperature that the measurement results can be accessed via web pages anywhere and anytime. This device can be used by many users by entering different ID numbers. The design consists of input blocks: pulse sensor, DS18B20 sensor and 3x4 keypad button. Process blocks: Arduino Mega 2560 Microcontroller, Ethernet Shield, router and USB modem. And output block: 16x2 LCD and mobile phone or PC to access web page. Based on the test results, this tool successfully measures the heart rate with an average error percentage of 2.702 % when compared with the oxymeter tool. On the measurement of body temperature get the result of the average error percentage of 2.18 %.

  16. Simulation and visualization tool design for robot software

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lu, Zhou; Ran, Tjalling; Broenink, Johannes F.; Chalmers, K.; Pedersen, J.B.

    2016-01-01

    Modern embedded systems are designed for multiple and increasingly demanding tasks. Complex concurrent software is required by multi-task automated service robotics for implementing their challenging (control) algorithms. TERRA is a communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) algebra-based Eclipse

  17. The relationships between ceramic tool life and different machining parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Axir, M.H.; El-Masry, A.A.; Mashal, Y.A.H.

    2001-01-01

    With the increasing use of ceramic tool materials in applications, has come an increasing need for experimental data to assign the behavior of the life of these tool materials. Experimental results during turning operation show that it is possible to increase cutting tool life substantially by a proper variation of the cutting parameters used in this work. The tool lives (tool flank wear land length) of three different ceramic materials, namely; Silicon carbide (SiC), Alumina (Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) and partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) in addition to, Titanium carbide and high speed steel tools are investigated in this work. Also, The effect of varying the cutting speed, feed rate and tool rake angle on tool life of each tool material is studied. The experimental work was carried out utilizing one of the experimental design techniques based on response surface methodology. It was found that the SiC cutting tool showed the highest tool life among all materials tested in this work. It was also noticed that increasing the cutting speed has led to an increase in tool life for ceramic tools only. However, increasing the feed rate and tool rake angle resulted in a reduction in tool life in all materials examined in the present study. Further analysis conducted on SiC tool material to examine the effect of the interaction of cutting parameters on the tool life. (author)

  18. Danish experience with the EDIP tool for environmental design of industrial products

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wenzel, Henrik; Alting, Leo

    1999-01-01

    Since its publication in, 1996, the Danish method and tools for the environmental design of industrial products (EDIP) have been used in companies in Denmark and abroad, and experience has been gained with a variety of product categories such as electronics, electromechanical products, furniture......, foodstuffs, packaging, textiles, building equipment, energy systems and railway systems. The experience shows that large environmental improvement potentials can be found in all product categories. As a broad average, 30-50% environmental improvement of products have been implemented over few years...... by companies working with the EDIP tools. The paper presents examples from pumps, refrigerator, high pressure cleaners audio/video products, book shelves and moulded cardboards. A questionnaire investigation of the experience with life cycle assessment (LCA) and ecodesign within the Danish pioneer companies...

  19. 42: An Open-Source Simulation Tool for Study and Design of Spacecraft Attitude Control Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoneking, Eric

    2018-01-01

    Simulation is an important tool in the analysis and design of spacecraft attitude control systems. The speaker will discuss the simulation tool, called simply 42, that he has developed over the years to support his own work as an engineer in the Attitude Control Systems Engineering Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 42 was intended from the outset to be high-fidelity and powerful, but also fast and easy to use. 42 is publicly available as open source since 2014. The speaker will describe some of 42's models and features, and discuss its applicability to studies ranging from early concept studies through the design cycle, integration, and operations. He will outline 42's architecture and share some thoughts on simulation development as a long-term project.

  20. Microgrid Analysis Tools Summary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jimenez, Antonio [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Haase, Scott G [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Mathur, Shivani [Formerly NREL

    2018-03-05

    The over-arching goal of the Alaska Microgrid Partnership is to reduce the use of total imported fuel into communities to secure all energy services by at least 50% in Alaska's remote microgrids without increasing system life cycle costs while also improving overall system reliability, security, and resilience. One goal of the Alaska Microgrid Partnership is to investigate whether a combination of energy efficiency and high-contribution (from renewable energy) power systems can reduce total imported energy usage by 50% while reducing life cycle costs and improving reliability and resiliency. This presentation provides an overview of the following four renewable energy optimization tools. Information is from respective tool websites, tool developers, and author experience. Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT) Renewable Energy Optimization (REopt) Tool Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER).

  1. Scalable Multi-core Architectures Design Methodologies and Tools

    CERN Document Server

    Jantsch, Axel

    2012-01-01

    As Moore’s law continues to unfold, two important trends have recently emerged. First, the growth of chip capacity is translated into a corresponding increase of number of cores. Second, the parallalization of the computation and 3D integration technologies lead to distributed memory architectures. This book provides a current snapshot of industrial and academic research, conducted as part of the European FP7 MOSART project, addressing urgent challenges in many-core architectures and application mapping.  It addresses the architectural design of many core chips, memory and data management, power management, design and programming methodologies. It also describes how new techniques have been applied in various industrial case studies. Describes trends towards distributed memory architectures and distributed power management; Integrates Network on Chip with distributed, shared memory architectures; Demonstrates novel design methodologies and frameworks for multi-core design space exploration; Shows how midll...

  2. Designing a Tool for History Textbook Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katalin Eszter Morgan

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the process by which a five-dimensional tool for history textbook analysis was conceptualized and developed in three stages. The first stage consisted of a grounded theory approach to code the content of the sampled chapters of the books inductively. After that the findings from this coding process were combined with principles of text analysis as derived from the literature, specifically focusing on the notion of semiotic mediation as theorized by Lev VYGOTSKY. We explain how we then entered the third stage of the development of the tool, comprising five dimensions. Towards the end of the article we show how the tool could be adapted to serve other disciplines as well. The argument we forward in the article is for systematic and well theorized tools with which to investigate textbooks as semiotic mediators in education. By implication, textbook authors can also use these as guidelines. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130170

  3. IdeMatch – a digital tool for innovative, social and transdisciplinary learning designs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Gitte Riis

    This paper presents IdeMatch which is a digital tool implemented in University College Zealand (UCZ) in spring 2015. IdeMatch is based on educational policies and educational structural intentions and needs, and this paper examines and offers an outline for the learning perspective and the impact...... that IdeMatch has got concerning teaching and learning designs....

  4. A drilling tool design and in situ identification of planetary regolith mechanical parameters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Weiwei; Jiang, Shengyuan; Ji, Jie; Tang, Dewei

    2018-05-01

    The physical and mechanical properties as well as the heat flux of regolith are critical evidence in the study of planetary origin and evolution. Moreover, the mechanical properties of planetary regolith have great value for guiding future human planetary activities. For planetary subsurface exploration, an inchworm boring robot (IBR) has been proposed to penetrate the regolith, and the mechanical properties of the regolith are expected to be simultaneously investigated during the penetration process using the drilling tool on the IBR. This paper provides a preliminary study of an in situ method for measuring planetary regolith mechanical parameters using a drilling tool on a test bed. A conical-screw drilling tool was designed, and its drilling load characteristics were experimentally analyzed. Based on the drilling tool-regolith interaction model, two identification methods for determining the planetary regolith bearing and shearing parameters are proposed. The bearing and shearing parameters of lunar regolith simulant were successfully determined according to the pressure-sinkage tests and shear tests conducted on the test bed. The effects of the operating parameters on the identification results were also analyzed. The results indicate a feasible scheme for future planetary subsurface exploration.

  5. The service blueprint as a tool for designing innovative pharmaceutical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holdford, D A; Kennedy, D T

    1999-01-01

    To describe service blueprints, discuss their need and design, and provide examples of their use in advancing pharmaceutical care. Service blueprints are pictures or maps of service processes that permit the people involved in designing, providing, managing, and using the service to better understand them and deal with them objectively. A service blueprint simultaneously depicts the service process and the roles of consumers, service providers, and supporting services. Service blueprints can be useful in pharmacy because many of the obstacles to pharmaceutical care are a result of insufficient planning by service designers and/or poor communication between those designing services and those implementing them. One consequence of this poor design and communication is that many consumers and third party payers are uninformed about pharmacist roles. Service blueprints can be used by pharmacists to promote the value of pharmaceutical care to consumers and other decision makers. They can also assist in designing better pharmaceutical services. Blueprints are designed by identifying and mapping a process from the consumer's point of view, mapping employee actions and support activities, and adding visible evidence of service at each consumer action step. Key components of service blueprints are consumer actions, "onstage" and "backstage" employee actions, and support processes. Blueprints can help pharmacy managers identify and correct problems with the service process, provide pharmacy employees an opportunity to offer feedback in the planning stages of services, and demonstrate the value of pharmaceutical services to consumers. Service blueprints can be a valuable tool for designing, implementing, and evaluating pharmacy services.

  6. Increasing marketability and profitability of product line thru PATRAN and NASTRAN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyatt, Art

    1989-01-01

    Starting with the design objective the operational cycle life of the Swaging Tool was increased. To accomplish this increase in cycle life without increasing the size or weight of the tool would be engineering achievement. However, not only was the operational cycle life increased between 2 to 10 times but simultaneously the size and weight of the Swage Tool was decreased by about 50 percent. This accomplishment now becomes an outstanding engineering achievement. This achievement was only possible because of the computerized Patran, Nastran and Medusa programs.

  7. Development of effective tool for iterative design of human machine interfaces in nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakagawa, Takashi; Matsuo, Satoko; Yoshikawa, Hidekazu; Wu, Wei; Kameda, Akiyuki; Fumizawa, Motoo

    2000-01-01

    The authors have developed SEAMAID, which is a Simulation-based Evaluation and Analysis support system for MAn-machine Interface Design (SEAMAID) in the domain of nuclear power plants. The SEAMAID simulated the interaction between an operator and human machine interfaces (HMI), and supports to evaluate the HMI by using the simulation results. In this paper, a case study of evaluation for conventional center control room design was conducted. The authors were confirmed that SEAMAID is a useful tool for improvements of HMI design (J.P.N.)

  8. Finite Element Analysis as a response to frequently asked questions of machine tool mechanical design-engineers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kehl Gerhard

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The finite element analysis (FEA nowadays is indispensable in the product development of machining centres and production machinery for metal cutting processes. It enables extensive static, dynamic and thermal simulation of digital prototypes of machine tools before production start-up. But until now less reflection has been made about what are the most pressing questions to be answered in this application field, with the intention to align the modelling and simulation methods with substantial requirements. Based on 3D CAD geometry data for a modern machining centre (Deckel-Maho-Gildemeister DMG 635 V eco merely the basic steps of a static analysis are reconstructed by FEA. Particularly the two most frequently asked questions by the design departments of machine tool manufacturers are discussed and highlighted. For this authentic simulation results are used, at which their selection is a consequence of long lasting experience in the industrial application of FEA in the design process chain. Noticing that such machine tools are mechatronic systems applying a considerable number of actuators, sensors and controllers in addition to mechanical structures, the answers to those core questions are required for design enhancement, to save costs and to improve the productivity and the quality of machined workpieces.

  9. The multi-copy simultaneous search methodology: a fundamental tool for structure-based drug design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schubert, Christian R; Stultz, Collin M

    2009-08-01

    Fragment-based ligand design approaches, such as the multi-copy simultaneous search (MCSS) methodology, have proven to be useful tools in the search for novel therapeutic compounds that bind pre-specified targets of known structure. MCSS offers a variety of advantages over more traditional high-throughput screening methods, and has been applied successfully to challenging targets. The methodology is quite general and can be used to construct functionality maps for proteins, DNA, and RNA. In this review, we describe the main aspects of the MCSS method and outline the general use of the methodology as a fundamental tool to guide the design of de novo lead compounds. We focus our discussion on the evaluation of MCSS results and the incorporation of protein flexibility into the methodology. In addition, we demonstrate on several specific examples how the information arising from the MCSS functionality maps has been successfully used to predict ligand binding to protein targets and RNA.

  10. Feasibility study tool for semi-rigid joints design of high-rise buildings steel structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bagautdinov Ruslan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available There are many ways to consider the final cost of the high-rise building structures and to define, which of their different variations are the most effective from different points of view. The research of Jaakko Haapio is conducted in Tampere University of Technology, which aims to develop a method that allows determining the manufacturing and installation costs of steel structures already at the tender phase while taking into account their details. This paper is aimed to make the analysis of the Feature-Based Costing Method for skeletal steel structures proposed by Jaakko Haapio. The most appropriate ways to improve the tool and to implement it in the Russian circumstances for high-rise building design are derived. Presented tool can be useful not only for the designers but, also, for the steel structures manufacturing organizations, which can help to utilize BIM technologies in the organization process and controlling on the factory.

  11. DESIGN & ANALYSIS TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR AEROSPACE STRUCTURES IN A 3D VISUAL ENVIRONMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radu BISCA

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this project is to develop a set of tools and to integrate techniques in a software package which is build on structure analysis applications based on Romanian engineers experience in designing and analysing aerospace structures, consolidated with the most recent methods and techniques. The applications automates the structure’s design and analysis processes and facilitate the exchange of technical information between the partners involved in a complex aerospace project without limiting the domain.

  12. Using CFD as a Rocket Injector Design Tool: Recent Progress at Marshall Space Flight Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Kevin; West, Jeff; Williams, Robert; Lin, Jeff; Canabal, Francisco; Rocker, marvin; Robles, Bryan; Garcia, Robert; Chenoweth, James

    2005-01-01

    New programs are forcing American propulsion system designers into unfamiliar territory. For instance, industry s answer to the cost and reliability goals set out by the Next Generation Launch Technology Program are engine concepts based on the Oxygen- Rich Staged Combustion Cycle. Historical injector design tools are not well suited for this new task. The empirical correlations do not apply directly to the injector concepts associated with the ORSC cycle. These legacy tools focus primarily on performance with environment evaluation a secondary objective. Additionally, the environmental capability of these tools is usually one-dimensional while the actual environments are at least two- and often three-dimensional. CFD has the potential to calculate performance and multi-dimensional environments but its use in the injector design process has been retarded by long solution turnaround times and insufficient demonstrated accuracy. This paper has documented the parallel paths of program support and technology development currently employed at Marshall Space Flight Center in an effort to move CFD to the forefront of injector design. MSFC has established a long-term goal for use of CFD for combustion devices design. The work on injector design is the heart of that vision and the Combustion Devices CFD Simulation Capability Roadmap that focuses the vision. The SRL concept, combining solution fidelity, robustness and accuracy, has been established as a quantitative gauge of current and desired capability. Three examples of current injector analysis for program support have been presented and discussed. These examples are used to establish the current capability at MSFC for these problems. Shortcomings identified from this experience are being used as inputs to the Roadmap process. The SRL evaluation identified lack of demonstrated solution accuracy as a major issue. Accordingly, the MSFC view of code validation and current MSFC-funded validation efforts were discussed in

  13. Design Tool for Estimating Chemical Hydrogen Storage System Characteristics for Light-Duty Fuel Cell Vehicles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brooks, Kriston P.; Sprik, Sam; Tamburello, David; Thornton, Matthew

    2018-05-03

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a vehicle framework model to simulate fuel cell-based light-duty vehicle operation for various hydrogen storage systems. This transient model simulates the performance of the storage system, fuel cell, and vehicle for comparison to DOE’s Technical Targets using four drive cycles/profiles. Chemical hydrogen storage models have been developed for the Framework model for both exothermic and endothermic materials. Despite the utility of such models, they require that material researchers input system design specifications that cannot be easily estimated. To address this challenge, a design tool has been developed that allows researchers to directly enter kinetic and thermodynamic chemical hydrogen storage material properties into a simple sizing module that then estimates the systems parameters required to run the storage system model. Additionally, this design tool can be used as a standalone executable file to estimate the storage system mass and volume outside of the framework model and compare it to the DOE Technical Targets. These models will be explained and exercised with existing hydrogen storage materials.

  14. Comparison of High-Fidelity Computational Tools for Wing Design of a Distributed Electric Propulsion Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deere, Karen A.; Viken, Sally A.; Carter, Melissa B.; Viken, Jeffrey K.; Derlaga, Joseph M.; Stoll, Alex M.

    2017-01-01

    A variety of tools, from fundamental to high order, have been used to better understand applications of distributed electric propulsion to aid the wing and propulsion system design of the Leading Edge Asynchronous Propulsion Technology (LEAPTech) project and the X-57 Maxwell airplane. Three high-fidelity, Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics codes used during the project with results presented here are FUN3D, STAR-CCM+, and OVERFLOW. These codes employ various turbulence models to predict fully turbulent and transitional flow. Results from these codes are compared for two distributed electric propulsion configurations: the wing tested at NASA Armstrong on the Hybrid-Electric Integrated Systems Testbed truck, and the wing designed for the X-57 Maxwell airplane. Results from these computational tools for the high-lift wing tested on the Hybrid-Electric Integrated Systems Testbed truck and the X-57 high-lift wing presented compare reasonably well. The goal of the X-57 wing and distributed electric propulsion system design achieving or exceeding the required ?? (sub L) = 3.95 for stall speed was confirmed with all of the computational codes.

  15. Design Tool for Estimating Chemical Hydrogen Storage System Characteristics for Light-Duty Fuel Cell Vehicles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thornton, Matthew J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sprik, Samuel [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Brooks, Kriston P. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Tamburello, David A. [Savannah River National Laboratory

    2018-04-07

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed a vehicle Framework model to simulate fuel cell-based light-duty vehicle operation for various hydrogen storage systems. This transient model simulates the performance of the storage system, fuel cell, and vehicle for comparison to Technical Targets established by DOE for four drive cycles/profiles. Chemical hydrogen storage models have been developed for the Framework for both exothermic and endothermic materials. Despite the utility of such models, they require that material researchers input system design specifications that cannot be estimated easily. To address this challenge, a design tool has been developed that allows researchers to directly enter kinetic and thermodynamic chemical hydrogen storage material properties into a simple sizing module that then estimates system parameters required to run the storage system model. Additionally, the design tool can be used as a standalone executable file to estimate the storage system mass and volume outside of the Framework model. These models will be explained and exercised with the representative hydrogen storage materials exothermic ammonia borane (NH3BH3) and endothermic alane (AlH3).

  16. Optimal Vehicle Design Using the Integrated System and Cost Modeling Tool Suite

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-01

    Space Vehicle Costing ( ACEIT ) • New Small Sat Model Development & Production Cost O&M Cost Module  Radiation Exposure  Radiation Detector Response...Reliability OML Availability Risk l l Tools CEA, SRM Model, POST, ACEIT , Inflation Model, Rotor Blade Des, Microsoft Project, ATSV, S/1-iABP...space STK, SOAP – Specific mission • Space Vehicle Design (SMAD) • Space Vehicle Propulsion • Orbit Propagation • Space Vehicle Costing ( ACEIT ) • New

  17. A design and performance analysis tool for superconducting RF systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schilcher, T.; Simrock, S.N.; Merminga, L.; Wang, D.X.

    1997-01-01

    Superconducting rf systems are usually operated with continuous rf power or with rf pulse lengths exceeding 1 ms to maximize the overall wall plug power efficiency. Typical examples are CEBAF at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) and the TESLA Test Facility at DESY. The long pulses allow for effective application of feedback to stabilize the accelerating field in presence of microphonics, Lorentz force detuning, and fluctuations of the beam current. In this paper the authors describe a set of tools to be used with MATLAB and SIMULINK, which allow to analyze the quality of field regulation for a given design. The tools include models for the cavities, the rf power source, the beam, sources of field perturbations, and the rf feedback system. The rf control relevant electrical and mechanical characteristics of the cavity are described in form of time-varying state space models. The power source is modeled as a current generator and includes saturation characteristics and noise.An arbitrary time structure can be imposed on the beam current to reflect a macro-pulse structure and bunch charge fluctuations. For rf feedback several schemes can be selected: Traditional amplitude and phase control as well as I/Q control. The choices for the feedback controller include analog or digital approaches and various choices of frequency response. Feed forward can be added to further suppress repetitive errors. The results of a performance analysis of the CEBAF and the TESLA Linac rf system using these tools are presented

  18. Design and Implementation of a Novel Web-Based E-Learning Tool for Education of Health Professionals on the Antibiotic Vancomycin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bond, Stuart Evan; Crowther, Shelley P; Adhikari, Suman; Chubaty, Adriana J; Yu, Ping; Borchard, Jay P; Boutlis, Craig Steven; Yeo, Wilfred Winston; Miyakis, Spiros

    2017-03-30

    Traditional approaches to health professional education are being challenged by increased clinical demands and decreased available time. Web-based e-learning tools offer a convenient and effective method of delivering education, particularly across multiple health care facilities. The effectiveness of this model for health professional education needs to be explored in context. The study aimed to (1) determine health professionals' experience and knowledge of clinical use of vancomycin, an antibiotic used for treatment of serious infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and (2) describe the design and implementation of a Web-based e-learning tool created to improve knowledge in this area. We conducted a study on the design and implementation of a video-enhanced, Web-based e-learning tool between April 2014 and January 2016. A Web-based survey was developed to determine prior experience and knowledge of vancomycin use among nurses, doctors, and pharmacists. The Vancomycin Interactive (VI) involved a series of video clips interspersed with question and answer scenarios, where a correct response allowed for progression. Dramatic tension and humor were used as tools to engage users. Health professionals' knowledge of clinical vancomycin use was obtained from website data; qualitative participant feedback was also collected. From the 577 knowledge survey responses, pharmacists (n=70) answered the greatest number of questions correctly (median score 4/5), followed by doctors (n=271; 3/5) and nurses (n=236; 2/5; Puser feedback from 51 participants following completion of the VI. Feedback was predominantly positive with themes of "entertaining," "engaging," and "fun" identified; however, there were some technical issues identified relating to accessibility from different operating systems and browsers. A novel Web-based e-learning tool was successfully developed combining game design principles and humor to improve user engagement. Knowledge

  19. Designing Experiences to Increase Stadium Capacity Utilisation in Football

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Junghagen, Sven; Besjakov, Simon D; Lund, Anders Alrø

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to show in what way football clubs in smaller leagues with limited capacity utilisation can increase their per-game revenue by increasing the attendance frequency. A sequential mixed method research design was employed, involving both qualitative and quantitative methods...

  20. Methods and tools for sustainable chemical process design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Loureiro da Costa Lira Gargalo, Carina; Chairakwongsa, Siwanat; Quaglia, Alberto

    2015-01-01

    As the pressure on chemical and biochemical processes to achieve a more sustainable performance increases, the need to define a systematic and holistic way to accomplish this is becoming more urgent. In this chapter, a multilevel computer-aided framework for systematic design of more sustainable...

  1. Design of a cam-form tool in precision reuse of a digital paper display

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pa, Pai-Shan

    2010-01-01

    A reuse fabrication module that uses micro electroremoving as a precision machining process with a new design of the cam-form tool to remove defective indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin film from the optical PET surfaces of a digital paper display is presented. A small diameter of the cathode of the cam-form tool corresponds to a higher removal rate for the ITO nanostructure. A small edge radius of the anode and a small gap width between the cathode and the ITO surface takes less time for the same amount of ITO removal. A higher feed rate of the optical PET diaphragm combines with enough electric power to drive fast micro-electroremoving. The high rotational speed of the cam-form tool can improve the effect of dreg discharge and is advantageous to associate with the fast feed rate of the optical PET diaphragm.

  2. Use of an interdisciplinary, participatory design approach to develop a usable patient self-assessment tool in atrial fibrillation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MacCallum L

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Lori MacCallum,1,2 Heather McGaw,1 Nazanin Meshkat,3 Alissia Valentinis,4 Leslie Beard Ashley,5 Rajan Sacha Bhatia,3,6,7 Kaye Benson,7 Noah Ivers,6,8 Kori Leblanc,2,7 Dante Morra3,5,7 1Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, 2Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 3Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, 4Taddle Creek Family Health Team, Toronto, 5Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, 6Women's College Hospital, Toronto, 7Centre for Innovation in Complex Care, University Health Network, Toronto, 8Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Abstract: After identifying that significant care gaps exist within the management of atrial fibrillation (AF, a patient-focused tool was developed to help patients better assess and manage their AF. This tool aims to provide education and awareness regarding the management of symptoms and stroke risk associated with AF, while engaging patients to identify if their condition is optimally managed and to become involved in their own care. An interdisciplinary group of health care providers and designers worked together in a participatory design approach to develop the tool with input from patients. Usability testing was completed with 22 patients of varying demographics to represent the characteristics of the patient population. The findings from usability testing interviews were used to further improve and develop the tool to improve ease of use. A physician-facing tool was also developed to help to explain the tool and provide a brief summary of the 2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Society atrial fibrillation guidelines. By incorporating patient input and human-centered design with the knowledge, experience, and medical expertise of health care providers, we have used an approach in developing the tool that tries to more effectively meet patients' needs. Keywords: patient education, atrial fibrillation, care gaps

  3. A Mapping of Tools for Informing Water Sensitive Urban Design Planning Decisions—Questions, Aspects and Context Sensitivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Maria Lerer

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD poses new challenges for decision makers compared with traditional stormwater management, e.g., because WSUD offers a larger selection of measures and because many measures are multifunctional. These challenges have motivated the development of many decision support tools. This review shows that the tools differ in terms of the types of questions they can assist in answering. We identified three main groups: “How Much”-tools, “Where”-tools and “Which”-tools. The “How Much”-tools can further be grouped into tools quantifying hydraulic impacts, hydrologic impacts, water quality impacts, non-flow-related impacts and economic impacts. Additionally, the tools differ in terms of how many aspects of water they address, from those focused only on bio-physical aspects to those attempting to find the best WSUD based on multiple criteria. Finally, we suggest that variability among the tools can partly be explained by variability in local context including conditions such as type of existing stormwater systems, groundwater conditions and legislative frameworks.

  4. Tall-Building Projects Sustainability Indicator (TPSI: A New Design and Environmental Assessment Tool for Tall Buildings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hasim Altan

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the features of Tall-building Projects Sustainability Indicator (TPSI—a “Sustainability Rating System” that specializes in tall-building projects. The system comprises two components; the “Technical Manual” in the form of a booklet and the “Calculator” in the form of an Excel tool. It can be used as a “design tool” and/or as a “checklist” to compare and to improve the sustainable performance of tall-building design schemes. At the same time, the system can be used to evaluate the sustainability of existing tall-building projects. The first version of the TPSI rating system (TPSI 2012 Version was released as an online tool (GreenLight and thoroughly examined and validated by multiple parties.

  5. SustainPro - A tool for systematic process analysis, generation and evaluation of sustainable design alternatives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carvalho, Ana; Matos, Henrique A.; Gani, Rafiqul

    2013-01-01

    the user through the necessary steps according to work-flow of the implemented methodology. At the end the design alternatives, are evaluated using environmental impact assessment tools and safety indices. The extended features of the methodology incorporate Life Cycle Assessment analysis and economic....... The software tool is based on the implementation of an extended systematic methodology for sustainable process design (Carvalho et al. 2008 and Carvalho et al. 2009). Using process information/data such as the process flowsheet, the associated mass / energy balance data and the cost data, SustainPro guides...... analysis. The application and the main features of SustainPro are illustrated through a case study of ß-Galactosidase production....

  6. Development of tools to manage the operational monitoring and pre-design of the NPP-LV cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perusquia, R.; Arredondo S, C.; Hernandez M, J. L.; Montes T, J. L.; Castillo M, A.; Ortiz S, J. J.

    2015-09-01

    This paper presents the development of tools to facilitate the management so much, the operational monitoring of boiling water reactors (BWR) of the nuclear power plant of Laguna Verde (NPP-LV) through independent codes, and how to carry out the static calculations corresponding to process of optimized pre-design of the reference cycle next to current cycle. The progress and preliminary results obtained with the program SACal, developed at Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (ININ), central tool to achieve provide a management platform of the operational monitoring and pre-design of NPP-LV cycle are also described. The reached preliminary advances directed to get an Analysis center and automated design of fuel assembly cells are also presented, which together with centers or similar modules related with the fuel reloads form the key part to meet the targets set for the realization of a Management Platform of Nuclear Fuel of the NPP-LV. (Author)

  7. Systematic methods and tools for design of sustainable chemical processes for CO2 utilization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kongpanna, Pichayapan; Babi, Deenesh K.; Pavarajarn, Varong

    2016-01-01

    A systematic computer-aided framework for sustainable process design is presented together with its application to the synthesis and generation of processing networks for dimethyl carbonate (DMC) production with CO2 utilization. The framework integrated with various methods, tools, algorithms......-stage involves selection and analysis of the identified networks as a base case design in terms of operational feasibility, economics, life cycle assessment factors and sustainability measures, which are employed to establish targets for improvement in the next-stage. The innovation-stage involves generation...

  8. A TOOL FOR EMOTIONAL USER EXPERIENCE ASSESSMENT OF WEB-BASED MEDICAL SERVICES

    OpenAIRE

    Alexander Nikov; Tramaine Alaina Gumaia

    2016-01-01

    Emotional User Experience Design (eUXD) has become increasingly important for web-based services. The primary objective of this study is to enable users to use websites that are easy to understand and operate and pleasing to use. A checklist tool for an emotional user experience (eUX) assessment that supports web-based medical services is proposed. This tool measures user moods while using medical services’ websites. The tool allocates emotive design-oriented problems and thus defines relevan...

  9. Dropout Rates, Student Momentum, and Course Walls: A New Tool for Distance Education Designers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christensen, Steven S.; Spackman, Jonathan S.

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores a new tool for instructional designers. By calculating and graphing the Student Momentum Indicator (M) for 196 university-level online courses and by employing the constant comparative method within the grounded theory framework, eight distinct graph shapes emerged as meaningful categories of dropout behavior. Several of the…

  10. Design and testing of a heat transfer sensor for well exploration tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Soprani, Stefano; Just Nørgaard, Anders; Nesgaard, Carsten

    2018-01-01

    The exploration of oil, gas, and geothermal wells is moving towards increasingly harsher downhole environments, requiring more and more advanced drilling and intervention tools. The high downhole temperatures threaten the correct functionality of intervention equipment and of standard downhole...

  11. Adaption of commercial off the shelf modules for reconfigurable machine tool design

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mpofu, K

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available . University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) Machine Design Approach. Butala and Sluga [4] view the architecture of the machine tool as a system structure which is reflected in its configuration and which impacts the systems performance. The interfaces... process movements. This approach was also implemented in a computer aided planning system, they clarify the need of having the features to be implemented embedded in the collective drives that constitute it. This resulted in an adaption...

  12. NASA System-Level Design, Analysis and Simulation Tools Research on NextGen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bardina, Jorge

    2011-01-01

    A review of the research accomplished in 2009 in the System-Level Design, Analysis and Simulation Tools (SLDAST) of the NASA's Airspace Systems Program is presented. This research thrust focuses on the integrated system-level assessment of component level innovations, concepts and technologies of the Next Generation Air Traffic System (NextGen) under research in the ASP program to enable the development of revolutionary improvements and modernization of the National Airspace System. The review includes the accomplishments on baseline research and the advancements on design studies and system-level assessment, including the cluster analysis as an annualization standard of the air traffic in the U.S. National Airspace, and the ACES-Air MIDAS integration for human-in-the-loop analyzes within the NAS air traffic simulation.

  13. Cognitive ergonomics of operational tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luedeke, A.

    2012-01-01

    Control systems have become increasingly more powerful over the past decades. The availability of high data throughput and sophisticated graphical interactions has opened a variety of new possibilities. But has this helped to provide intuitive, easy to use applications to simplify the operation of modern large scale accelerator facilities? We will discuss what makes an application useful to operation and what is necessary to make a tool easy to use. We will show that even the implementation of a small number of simple application design rules can help to create ergonomic operational tools. The author is convinced that such tools do indeed help to achieve higher beam availability and better beam performance at all accelerator facilities. (author)

  14. The use of the digital smile design concept as an auxiliary tool in periodontal plastic surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Felipe Rychuv; Kamarowski, Stephanie Felice; Lopez, Camilo Andres Villabona; Storrer, Carmen Lucia Mueller; Neto, Alexandre Teixeira; Deliberador, Tatiana Miranda

    2017-01-01

    Periodontal surgery associated with prior waxing, mock-up, and the use of digital tools to design the smile is the current trend of reverse planning in periodontal plastic surgery. The objective of this study is to report a surgical resolution of the gummy smile using a prior esthetic design with the use of digital tools. A digital smile design and mock-up were used for performing gingival recontouring surgery. The relationship between the facial and dental measures and the incisal plane with the horizontal facial plane of reference were evaluated. The relative dental height x width was measured, and the dental contour drawing was inserted. Complementary lines are drawn such as the gingival zenith, joining lines of the gingival and incisal battlements. The periodontal esthetic was improved according to the established design digital smile pattern. These results demonstrate the importance of surgical techniques and are well accepted by patients and are easy to perform for the professional. When properly planned, they provide the desired expectations. Periodontal Surgical procedures associated with the design digital smile facilitate the communication between the patient and the professional. It is, therefore, essential to demonstrate the reverse planning of the smile and periodontal parameters with approval by the patient to solve the esthetic problem.

  15. Designing a Pediatric Severe Sepsis Screening Tool

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert eSepanski

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available We sought to create a screening tool with improved predictive value for pediatric severe sepsis and septic shock that can be incorporated into the electronic medical record and actively screen all patients arriving at a pediatric Emergency Department (ED. Gold standard severe sepsis cases were identified using a combination of coded discharge diagnosis and physician chart review from 7,402 children who visited a pediatric ED over two months. The tool’s identification of severe sepsis was initially based on International Consensus Conference on Pediatric Sepsis (ICCPS parameters that were refined by an iterative, virtual process that allowed us to propose successive changes in sepsis detection parameters in order to optimize the tool’s predictive value based on receiver operating curve (ROC characteristics. Age-specific normal and abnormal values for heart rate (HR and respiratory rate (RR were empirically derived from 143,603 children seen in a second pediatric ED over three years. Univariate analyses were performed for each measure in the tool to assess its association with severe sepsis and to characterize it as an early or late indicator of severe sepsis. A split-sample was used to validate the final, optimized tool. The final tool incorporated age-specific thresholds for abnormal HR and RR and employed a linear temperature correction for each category. The final tool’s positive predictive value was 48.7%, a significant, nearly three-fold improvement over the original ICCPS tool. False positive Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS identifications were nearly six-fold lower.

  16. ASTRID© - Advanced Solar Tubular ReceIver Design: A powerful tool for receiver design and optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frantz, Cathy; Fritsch, Andreas; Uhlig, Ralf

    2017-06-01

    In solar tower power plants the receiver is one of the critical components. It converts the solar radiation into heat and must withstand high heat flux densities and high daily or even hourly gradients (due to passage of clouds). For this reason, the challenge during receiver design is to find a reasonable compromise between receiver efficiency, reliability, lifetime and cost. There is a strong interaction between the heliostat field, the receiver and the heat transfer fluid. Therefore, a proper receiver design needs to consider these components within the receiver optimization. There are several design and optimization tools for receivers, but most of them focus only on the receiver, ignoring the heliostat field and other parts of the plant. During the last years DLR developed the ASTRIDcode for tubular receiver concept simulation. The code comprises both a high and a low-detail model. The low-detail model utilizes a number of simplifications which allow the user to screen a high number of receiver concepts for optimization purposes. The high-detail model uses a FE model and is able to compute local absorber and salt temperatures with high accuracy. One key strength of the ASTRIDcode is its interface to a ray tracing software which simulates a realistic heat flux distributions on the receiver surface. The results generated by the ASTRIDcode have been validated by CFD simulations and measurement data.

  17. Using GREENSCOPE Indicators for Sustainable Computer-Aided Process Evaluation and Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manufacturing sustainability can be increased by educating those who design, construct, and operate facilities, and by using appropriate tools for process evaluation and design. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's GREENSCOPE methodology and tool, for evaluation and design ...

  18. FGMReview: design of a knowledge management tool on female genital mutilation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez Pérez, Guillermo; Turetsky, Risa

    2015-11-01

    Web-based literature search engines may not be user-friendly for some readers searching for information on female genital mutilation. This is a traditional practice that has no health benefits, and about 140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone it. In 2012, the website FGMReview was created with the aim to offer a user-friendly, accessible, scalable, and innovative knowledge management tool specialized in female genital mutilation. The design of this website was guided by a conceptual model based on the use of benchmarking techniques and requirements engineering, an area of knowledge from the computer informatics field, influenced by the Transcultural Nursing model. The purpose of this article is to describe this conceptual model. Nurses and other health care providers can use this conceptual model to guide their methodological approach to design and launch other eHealth projects. © The Author(s) 2014.

  19. Soft qualities in healthcare. Method and tools for soft qualities design in hospitals' built environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capolongo, S; Bellini, E; Nachiero, D; Rebecchi, A; Buffoli, M

    2014-01-01

    The design of hospital environments is determined by functional requirements and technical regulations, as well as numerous protocols, which define the structure and system characteristics that such environments need to achieve. In order to improve people's well-being and the quality of their experience within public hospitals, design elements (soft qualities) are added to those 'necessary' features. The aim of this research has been to experiment a new design process and also to create health care spaces with high environmental quality and capable to meet users' emotional and perceptual needs. Such needs were investigated with the help of qualitative research tools and the design criteria for one of these soft qualities - colour - were subsequently defined on the basis of the findings. The colour scheme design for the new San Paolo Hospital Emergency Department in Milan was used as case study. Focus groups were fundamental in defining the project's goals and criteria. The issues raised have led to believe that the proper procedure is not the mere consultation of the users in order to define the goals: users should rather be involved in the whole design process and become co-agents of the choices that determine the environment characteristics, so as to meet the quality requirements identified by the users themselves. The case study has shown the possibility of developing a designing methodology made by three steps (or operational tools) in which users' groups are involved in the choices, loading to plan the environments where compliance with expectations is already implied and verified by means of the process itself. Thus, the method leads to the creation of soft qualities in Healthcare.

  20. Universal design pedagogy through a charrette to increase professional sensitivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doris C.C.K. Kowaltowski

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a design Charrette conducted in a graduate course on Universal Design (UD in which students developed a design project for a public-service centre. The Charrette involved potential users with various disabilities, evaluating the design proposal, using tactile maps, as well as other communication media. Wayfinding issues relating to the design of a service centre were transformed into flowcharts, both as diagrams and tactile representations. The participation of disabled users was evaluated. The goal of the Charrette was to understand the effectiveness of this type of teaching method to increase designers’ sensitivity to UD issues and gain knowledge on participatory processes with users who have varied disabilities. The results showed that the Charrette as a teaching method was successful in making the student group focus on the questions of UD. However, students continued to be primarily concerned with the design’s formal aesthetic aspects, and the process differed little from traditional designerly ways of doing things. This demonstrates the need to improve design education, adopting multidisciplinary approaches, which strengthen design considerations for UD. An analysis of the participatory phase showed that potential users with visual disabilities had difficulties understanding the design and wheelchair users criticized various aspects of access and barrier-free wayfinding. Recommendations are presented. To increase the sensitivity of professional designers to UD issues, potential users with disabilities should participate from the start in the design process to give input as the proposal is developed. Introducing a multidisciplinary design team should also be tested to include a larger variety of viewpoints in the design process, which may strengthen the concern for elements of a building design that directly affect person-environment relationships.