Automated Retrieval of Non-Engineering Domain Solutions to Engineering Problems

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityBiological inspiration for engineering design has occurred through a variety of techniques such as creation and use of databases, keyword searches of biological information in natural-language format, prior knowledge of biology, and chance observations of nature. This research focuses on utilizing the reconciled Functional Basis function and flow terms to identify suitable biological inspiration for function based design. The organized search provides two levels of results: (1) associated with verb function only and (2) narrowed results associated with verb-noun (function-flow). A set of heuristics has been complied to promote efficient searching using this technique. An example for creating smart flooring is also presented and discussed.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica - A Mars Phoenix Mission Analog

The Phoenix mission (PHX; May 25 - Nov. 2, 2008) studied the north polar region of Mars (68deg N) to understand the history of water and potential for habitability. Phoenix carried with it a wet chemistry lab (WCL) capable of determining the basic solution chemistry of the soil and the pH value, a thermal and evolved-gas analyzer capable of determining the mineralogy of the soil and detecting ice, microscopes capable of seeing soil particle shapes, sizes and colors at very high resolution, and a soil probe (TECP) capable of detecting unfrozen water in the soil. PHX coincided with an international effort to study the Earth s polar regions named the International Polar Year (IPY; 2007-2008). The best known Earth analog to the Martian high-northern plains, where Phoenix landed, are the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica (Fig. 1). Thus, the IPY afforded a unique opportunity to study the MDV with the same foci - history of water and habitability - as PHX. In austral summer 2007, our team took engineering models of WCL and TECP into the MDV and performed analgous measurements. We also collected sterile samples and analyzed them in our home laboratories using state-of-the-art tools. While PHX was not designed to perform biologic analyses, we were able to do so with the MDV analog samples collected

Effects of parental imprisonment on child antisocial behaviour and mental health: a systematic review

Parental imprisonment can cause many problems for the family left behind, including difficulty organising childcare, loss of family income, trouble maintaining contact with the imprisoned parent, stigma, and home, school and neighbourhood moves. Children and parents can be distressed by the separation. Children may respond by acting out or becoming withdrawn, anxious or depressed. We conducted an exhaustive search for studies that examined children's antisocial behaviour and mental health after parental imprisonment. We found 16 studies with appropriate evidence. These studies all showed that children of prisoners are more likely than other children to show antisocial and mental health problems. However, it was unclear whether parental imprisonment actually caused these problems. They might have been caused by other disadvantages in children's lives that existed before parental imprisonment occurred. Children of prisoners are a vulnerable group. More research is required to determine whether or not parental imprisonment causes an increase in child antisocial behaviour and mental health problems

An Engineering-to-Biology Thesaurus To Promote Better Collaboration, Creativity and Discovery

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityBiological inspiration for engineering design has occurred through a variety of techniques such as database searches, keyword and antonym searches, knowledge of biology, observations of nature and other “aha” moments. This research aims to alleviate the knowledge gap problem by providing a link between engineering and biology with a thesaurus. The biologically connotative terms that comprise the thesaurus were collected utilizing an organized verb-noun search; collocated words were extracted from texts based on a functional search word. This thesaurus should enable the engineering and biology communities to better collaborate, create and discover.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan