About integration opportunities between TRIZ and biomimetics for inventive design

AbstractThis paper presents the first results of a Ph.D. program aimed at investigating the domain interface between TRIZ and Biomimetics within the scope of inventive design. Indeed, a few authors have already proposed as a relevant direction of research the identification of integration opportunities between TRIZ and Biomimetics towards a more effective and efficient inventive design methodology. The paper presents a comparison between the tools based on functional modeling used during the process of problem solving within TRIZ and Biomimetics. This comparison intends to elicit overlaps, complementarities and incongruences of these techniques. The indications about how to improve the process of describing natural solutions in an engineering way and how to describe technical problems in order to use natural information as source of inspiration are given by analyzing few examples. The results are discussed in terms of necessary modifications in the engineering problem description in order to use a database of biological functions (i.e. the Biomimicry Taxonomy) as a source of natural knowledge in the process of inventive design

Network of contradictions analysis and structured identification of critical control parameters

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Natural Language Processing of Patents and Technical Documentation

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Stima della prevalenza di broncopneumopatia cronico-ostruttiva basata su dati sanitari correnti, mediante l\u27uso di un algoritmo comune, in differenti aree italiane

Aim: to estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by integrating various administrative health information systems. Methods: prevalent COPD cases were defined as those reported in the hospital discharge registry (HDR) and cause of mortality registry (CMR) with codes 490*, 491*, 492*, 494* e 496* of the International diseases classification 9th revision. Annual prevalence was estimated in 35+ year-old residents in six Italian areas of different sizes, in the period 2002-2004. We in- Annunziata Faustini,1 Silvia Cascini,1 Massimo Arc?,1 Daniela Balzi,2 Alessandro Barchielli,2 Cristina Canova,3 Claudia Galassi,4 Enrica Migliore,4,5 Sante Minerba,6 Maria Angela Protti,7 Anna Romanelli,7 Roberta Tessari,3,8 Maria Angela Vigotti,9 Lorenzo Simonato3 1Dipartimento di epidemiologia, ASL RME, Roma 2Unit? operativa di epidemiologia, Azienda sanitaria 10, Firenze 3Dipartimento di medicina ambientale e sanit? pubblica, Universit? di Padova 4Servizio di epidemiologia dei tumori, ASO S. Giovanni Battista, CPO Piemonte e Universit? di Torino 5Unit? di pneumologia, CPA-ASL TO2, Torino 6Unit? di statistica ed epidemiologia, ASL 1 Taranto 7Sezione di epidemiologia e ricerca sui servizi sanitari, IFC-CNR, Pisa 8Unit? di epidemiologia, Dipartimento di prevenzione, Azienda ULSS 12 Veneziana 9Dipartimento di biologia, Universit? di Pisa Corrispondenza: Annunziata Faustini, Dipartimento di epidemiologia, ASL RME, via Santa Costanza 53, 00198 Roma; tel. 06 86060486; fax 06 86060463; e-mail [email protected] cluded cases observed in the previous four years who were alive at the beginning of each year. Results: in 2003, age-standardized prevalence rates varied from 1.6% in Venice to 5% in Taranto. Prevalence was higher in males and increased with age. The highest rates were observed in central (Rome) and southern (Taranto) cities, especially in the 35-64 age group. HDR contributed 91% of cases. Healthtax exemption registry would increase the prevalence estimate by 0.2% if used as a third data source. Conclusions: with respect to the National Health Status suraldelvey, COPD prevalence is underestimated by 1%-3%; this can partly be due to the selection of severe and exacerbated COPD by the algorithm used. However, age, gender and geographical characteristics of prevalent cases were comparable to national estimates. Including cases observed in previous years (longitudinal estimates) increased the point estimate (yearly) of prevalence two or three times in each area.Obiettivi: stimare la prevalenza della broncopneumopatia cronico-ostruttiva (BPCO) mediante l\u27utilizzo integrato di dati sanitari correnti. Metodi: la prevalenza ? stata stimata nella popolazione residente di et? superiore ai 34 anni, in sei aree geografiche, per gli anni 2002-2004. I casi prevalenti sono stati individuati dai registri delle schede di dimissione ospedaliera (SDO) e delle cause di morte (RCM), mediante i codici ICD9-CM 490*, 491*, 492*, 494* e 496* della Classificazione internazionale delle malattie 9? revisione (ICD9-CM). Ai casi osservati in ciascun anno sono stati aggiunti i pazienti ricoverati nei quattro anni precedenti e vivi all\u27inizio dell\u27anno di stima. Risultati: la prevalenza della BPCO, stimata mediante tassi standardizzati per et?, varia per il 2003 dall\u271,6% di Venezia sural 5% di Taranto. La prevalenza ? pi? alta negli uomini e aumenta con l\u27et?; Taranto e Roma presentano i valori pi? elevati, specialmente nelle classi d\u27et? dai 35 ai 64 anni. Fonte principale dei casi sono i ricoveri ospedalieri, con un contributo di almeno il 91%. L\u27uso delle esenzioni ticket come terza fonte incrementa la stima di prevalenza dello 0,2%. Conclusioni: la prevalenza della BPCO ? sottostimata dell\u271%-3% rispetto ai dati dell\u27indagine Istat sullo stato di salute; questo ? in parte attribuibile alla selezione dei casi medio- gravi da parte dell\u27algoritmo utilizzato. Tuttavia le stime mantengono le caratteristiche attese nella distribuzione per genere, et? e area geografica. Inoltre, l\u27uso longitudinale dei dati ospedalieri aumenta di 2-3 volte la stima di prevalenza basata sui dati dei singoli anni

Innovative approaches and models for Green Supply Chain Management: from Design for Environment to Reverse Logistics

Emerging environmental, social and economic issues have attracted increasing global concern over the course of the last decade. Many entities, such as governments and companies have taken on the label of “sustainable” to attempt to conciliate the public or try to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, but still struggle in effectively integrating sustainability principles into their project or development. Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is a comprehensive philosophy developed in the last years to support companies and governments to improve their environmental sustainability. Green Supply Chain Management implies the pursuit of eco-efficiency for supply chains in their entirety, as a global purpose shared by all stakeholders. Topics like Green Purchasing, Design for Environment (DfE), Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Green Manufacturing, Waste Management, Reuse, Remanufacturing, Refurbishment, and Reverse Logistics (RL) fall under the main umbrella of GSCM. The objective of this research is the study, adaptation, integration, development and application of innovative approaches and models for decision-making support in the context of GSCM. Such methodologies are expected to lead decision-makers, in particular companies, in the management of product and service design. In particular, this thesis focuses on the integration of LCA methodology in the DfE of prototypal devices and mechanical plants, on application and integration of LCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) in the analysis of economic and environmental performances of supply chains, on the modelling by single- and multi-objective optimisation problems in the design and planning of CLSCs. In this research, the role of LCA as methodological central thread clearly emerges. As a start, LCA has been adopted as supporting tool in DfE of products. Then, combined with LCC, as part of a comprehensive economic-environmental evaluation of multiple options in the logistics of the distribution of products. Finally, through the implementation in a Multi-objective optimisation model, LCA has been included in a decision support tool for the optimal design and planning of a CLSC. In summary, this research can be also understood as a path, in which LCA has evolved from ex post assessment method, to ex ante optimisation tool.L’ultimo decennio è stato caratterizzato dalle emergenti questioni ambientali, sociali ed economiche che hanno attirato una crescente preoccupazione globale. Molte organizzazioni, come governi ed imprese, hanno assunto l'etichetta di "sostenibile" per tentare di conciliare l’opinione pubblica o cercare di ottenere un vantaggio competitivo sul mercato, ma non sono riusciti a integrare efficacemente i principi della sostenibilità nel loro progetto di sviluppo. Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) è una filosofia globale sviluppata negli ultimi anni per sostenere imprese ed organizzazioni governative nel miglioramento della loro sostenibilità ambientale. GSCM implica il perseguimento dell’ eco-efficienza delle Supply Chain nella loro interezza, come obiettivo globale, condiviso da tutte gli stakeholder coinvolti. GSCM contiene temi cruciali quali Green Purchasing, Design for Environment (DfE), Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Green Manufacturing, Waste Management, Reuse, Remanufacturing, Refurbishment, e Reverse Logistics. L'obiettivo di questa ricerca è lo studio, l'adattamento, l'integrazione, lo sviluppo e l'applicazione di approcci e modelli innovativi per il supporto decisionale nel contesto di GSCM. Tali metodologie sono orientate a guidare i decision-makers, in particolare le imprese, nella progettazione e gestione di prodotti e servizi. In particolare, questa tesi si concentra sulla integrazione della metodologia LCA nel processo di DfE di dispositivi prototipali e impianti meccanici, sull'applicazione e l'integrazione di LCA e Life Cycle Costing (LCC) nell'analisi delle prestazioni economiche e ambientali di supply chain, sulla modellazione di problemi di ottimizzazione singolo e multi-obiettivo per la progettazione e pianificazione di filiere ad anello chiuso. In questa ricerca, il ruolo di LCA come filo conduttore metodologico emerge chiaramente. Dapprima, LCA è stato adottato come strumento di supporto nel DfE di prodotti. A seguire, in combinazione con LCC, come parte di una valutazione economica-ambientale globale delle diverse opzioni nella logistica della distribuzione di prodotti. Infine, attraverso la realizzazione di un modello di ottimizzazione multi-obiettivo, la metodologia LCA è stato inclusa in uno strumento di supporto alle decisioni per la progettazione e la pianificazione ottimale di una filiera a ciclo chiuso. In sintesi, questa ricerca può essere inteso come un percorso che guida l’evoluzione della metodologia LCA da metodo di valutazione ex post, a strumento di ottimizzazione ex ante

How would nature design and implement nature-based solutions?

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are gaining momentum as potential solutions to restore, preserve and enhance ecosystem services for societal challenges, in general. In particular they improve ecological, social and economic urban resilience. As nature provides structure and carries out functions in NbS, from a designer's perspective, it is beneficial to explore and understand the strategies and mechanisms that living systems deploy to carry out those functions (ecosystem services) we are looking for. To date, exploration of the biological and ecological domains has mainly been instrumental in answering the question: how does nature provide ecosystem services? This type of broad inquiry, however, may not allow the identification of best practices to set up successful NbS projects. What if the question was: how would nature design and implement NbS? This inquiry falls within the domain of biomimicry. This work mainly aims at introducing the benefits that biomimicry or a biologically-inspired design (BID) approach could bring to address technological barriers and knowledge gaps currently hampering NbS diffusion. The work starts by clarifying if and how bio-inspiration is embedded within the main definitions of NbS (which also lead to determining the official definition of NbS by the European Commission). Furthermore, initial elements are provided to apply a bio-inspired approach to NbS. The approach is demonstrated on three levels: i) Formulation of broad principles/guidelines for NbS (based on Life Principles); ii) Generation of bio-inspired ideas (for green-grey, blue-green infrastructure) and identification of existing bio-inspired solutions which could improve various phases of the NbS project cycle (through multiple inquiries in Asknature.org); and iii) Indication of on-going biomimetic research and development, which could assist in innovating NbS.As the scientific literature seems rather dry on this specific topic, this work, far from being exhaustive, aims to contribute to kick-starting the missing dialogue surrounding NbS and bio-inspiration; a dialogue among the scientific community, as well as among all the actors involved in the NbS project cycle

Network of contradictions analysis and structured identification of critical control parameters

reserved3ETRIA has launched a partnership project with the publisher Elsevier; its Procedia Engineering publishing model was perfectly suited for this objective. For the first edition of publishing TRIZ Future papers under the Procedia flag, a subset of scientific contributions from ETRIA’s conferences has been selected. The papers selected focus on TRIZ science, originate from the years 2006 to 2010 and show contributions in the areas of design science, information and software as well as in sciences of education and management sciences. This collection of articles is composed by contributions of some 90 researchers in a dozen of different scientific fields. Through 70 articles, this book is therefore intended to be an image of the past and recent contributions of the TRIZ world in various disciplines and will encourage, we hope, other researchers to contribute to ETRIA’s TRIZ Future event in coming years.Alessandro Baldussu;Niccolò Becattini;Gaetano CasciniAlessandro, Baldussu; Becattini, Niccolo'; Cascini, Gaetan

Environmental assessment of an innovative agricultural machinery

The reduction in the use of raw materials and the diffusion of energy efficient processes/components are necessary, nowadays, from both the economic and the sustainable viewpoints. This paper presents the design of a new and innovative multi-functional agricultural machinery able to integrate three separate traditional implements used for hay raking, hay baling and bale wrapping (i.e. hay rake, round baler, bale wrapper machines) with the aim of speeding up the harvesting operations and reducing both the energy consumption and the whole environmental impact. A comparative analysis of the environmental burden related to the adoption of traditional implements together with the new multi-functional device is reported and a significant reduction of fuel consumption, labor and environmental impact is observed close to 28%. The study is conducted by the adoption of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, through which impact indicators of different damage categories (human health, ecosystem quality and resource depletion) are carefully quantified and highlighted