Application of TRIZ to develop an in-service diagnostic system for a synchronous belt transmission for automotive application

Development of robust diagnostic solutions to monitor the health of systems and components to ensure through life cost effectiveness is often technically difficult, requiring an effective integration of design development with research and innovation. This paper presents a structured application of TRIZ and USIT (Unified Structured Inventive Thinking) to generate concept solutions for an in-service diagnostic system for a synchronous belt drive system for an automotive application. The systematic exploration through TRIZ and USIT methods has led to the development of six concept solution ideas directed at the functional requirement to determine the state or condition of the belt. The paper demonstrates that the combined deployment of TRIZ and USIT frameworks is a valuable approach addressing difficult design problem

Technology adoption and management innovation in construction

© ASCE 2014. This paper examines the adoption of object-based modeling software across design and construction team members during project delivery. Drawing on insights from sociology, management theory and innovation studies, the paper investigates changes surrounding technology adoption and subsequent management-based innovation. Using empirical data from a case study, analysis focuses on adoption of software, the evolution of new digital and social networks, and subsequent innovations in management. The paper has three main contributions. First, it identifies related literature and examines change processes surrounding software adoption and the management innovations that are triggered. Second, it explores rigidities in existing routines that challenge adoption and deployment, highlighting innovations that reconcile change conflicts. Third, it shows how the concept of management innovation in construction is valuable to an understanding IT adoption processes

Visual style: Qualitative and context-dependent categorization

Style is an ordering principle by which to structure artifacts in a design domain. The application of a visual order entails some explicit grouping property that is both cognitively plausible and contextually dependent. Central to cognitive-contextual notions are the type of representation used in analysis and the flexibility to allow semantic interpretation. We present a model of visual style based on the concept of similarity as a qualitative context-dependent categorization. The two core components of the model are semantic feature extraction and self-organizing maps (SOMs). The model proposes a method of categorizing two-dimensional unannotated design diagrams using both low-level geometric and high-level semantic features that are automatically derived from the pictorial content of the design. The operation of the initial model, called Q-SOM, is then extended to include relevance feedback (Q-SOM:RF). The extended model can be seen as a series of sequential processing stages, in which qualitative encoding and feature extraction are followed by iterative recategorization. Categorization is achieved using an unsupervised SOM, and contextual dependencies are integrated via cluster relevance determined by the observer's feedback. The following stages are presented: initial per feature detection and extraction, selection of feature sets corresponding to different spatial ontologies, unsupervised categorization of design diagrams based on appropriate feature subsets, and integration of design context via relevance feedback. From our experiments we compare different outcomes from consecutive stages of the model. The results show that the model provides a cognitively plausible and context-dependent method for characterizing visual style in design. Copyright © 2006 Cambridge University Press

Performance-based Design of Tall Building Envelopes using Competing Wind Load and Wind Flow Criteria

© 2017 The Authors. This paper investigates performance-based tall building design and the development of a combined architectural-urban design method focusing on the effects of wind loads on- and wind flows around tall buildings. The paper provides an overview of related buildings codes and city development design guidelines that define requirements for structural façade wind loading and urban ventilation. A review of performance-based design methods for the generation, analysis and optimization of buildings is also presented. Within this frame, an approach to performance-based tall building envelope design is proposed. The approach is aimed at addressing wind loading and wind impact requirements based on generative parametric modelling and performance analysis that integrates physical parameters at the architectural and urban scales and performance criteria can support filtering and optimization relative to prevailing wind conditions

Bed Bug Infestations in an Urban Environment

Bed bug infestations adversely affect health and quality of life, particularly among persons living in homeless shelters

Towards a value-centric approach to education: Implications of changing practices in construction project management

This article explores two interdependent subjects underpinning how the built environment is produced: value and integrated teamwork. The concept of value is defined as the relationship between benefits received and costs incurred. Value thereby derives from the values of the judge and in multi-stakeholder construction projects, understanding each membera??s unique value proposition is complex, forming a catalyst for integrated teamwork and interdisciplinary ways of working. These subjects are reviewed in relation to the changes occurring in practice and how they can help inform new approaches to the education of built environment professionals, giving specific attention to construction project management education. In exploring these themes, the authors first review related project management research, before focusing on construction and current trends in practice. The paper then summarises research aimed at developing better theories of value and advancing integrated teamwork in construction. A framework aimed at facilitating a move to an educational model that encompasses a value-based and multidisciplinary approach is presented, followed by discussion and future work

The stimulus control of local enclosures and barriers over head direction and place cell spatial firing

This research was supported by a grant to P.A.D. and E.R.W. from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/P002455/1).Objective: Head direction cell and place cell spatially tuned firing is often anchored to salient visual landmarks on the periphery of a recording environment. What is less well understood is whether structural features of an environment, such as orientation of a maze sub-compartment or a polarising barrier, can likewise control spatial firing. Method: We recorded from 54 head direction cells in the medial entorhinal cortex and subicular region of male Lister Hooded rats while they explored an apparatus with four parallel or four radially-arranged compartments (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we recorded from 130 place cells (in Lister- and Long-Evans Hooded rats) and 30 head direction cells with 90° rotations of a cue card and a barrier in a single environment (Experiment 2). Results: We found that head direction cells maintained a similar preferred firing direction across four separate maze compartments even when these faced different directions (Experiment 1). However, in an environment with a single compartment, we observed that both a barrier and a cue card exerted comparable amounts of stimulus control over head direction cells and place cells (Experiment 2). Conclusion: The maintenance of a stable directional orientation across maze compartments suggests that the head direction cell system has the capacity to provide a global directional reference that allows the animal to distinguish otherwise similar maze compartments based on the compartment’s orientation. A barrier is, however, capable of controlling spatially tuned firing in an environment in which it is the sole polarising feature.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe