Search

Many service systems such as transportation and logistics systems provide multimodal services with various resources, where how a service is provided to customers including the resources assigned to the service is often designed in advance of the service operations. However, due to increasing dynamics and uncertainty in certain situations, the needs for quickly designing and deploying ad hoc service systems in response to urgent and unexpected events occurred during the service provision have become significant. Motivated by this, we present a structural and functional design that supports Ad Hoc Multimodal Service System (AHMSS) deployment with a focus on a structure of the system, constraints governing the decisions involved in the system, and functions required for the system operation. The proposed design solution provides the basis for developing a decision support system for AHMSS deployment.

In order to improve the performance of the dance movement simulation teaching system, cloud computing technology is used to realize the optimization design of the dance movement simulation teaching system from the three aspects of hardware, database and software. In terms of hardware, the system’s network environment, processor and video capture module have been modified and optimized, and the internal connection network of the hardware system has been adjusted. Collect dance moves and related teaching resource data in the teaching system, install them in a certain format to form a database table, and obtain the design result of the system database through the logical relationship between the database tables. With the support of hardware equipment and database, a cloud computing framework is constructed to collect and process complete dance motion simulation video data as the basic content, and to realize the functional design of the system from both the classroom and the students. Through the system test experiment, it is concluded that compared with the traditional teaching system, there is no obvious difference in the function of the design system, but the operating performance of the system has been improved, which effectively improves the safety and stability of the system. The system has certain practicability and can be used in dance teaching to improve the accuracy of dance movements of students.

Technology has become an indispensable and intrinsic element and impacts how we all inhabit and perform tasks. IoT is a structure that permits developers to associate different devices simultaneously for health monitoring. The role of smart device healthcare applications is anticipated to become more predominant with an upsurge in the implementation of devices. In recent years, cellular networks provided uninterrupted access to the Internet. To be utilized for long-term monitoring, smart health monitoring systems are required to persuade explicit medical and functional design prerequisites. Moreover, the restriction of hardware materials is an extensive responsibility for smart health monitoring. Considered as a biomedical instrument, the smart device for remote health monitoring ought to be tremendously advanced and precise and, also, to instigate emergency services in a critical situation.

We build an agent-based model for evaluating the spatial and functional design of supermarket checkout zones and the effectiveness of safety regulations related to distancing that have been introduced after the COVID-19 outbreak. The model is implemented in the NetLogo simulation platform and calibrated to actual point of sale data from one of major European retail chains. It enables realistic modeling of the checkout operations as well as of the airborne diffusion of SARS-CoV-2 particles. We find that opening checkouts in a specific order can reduce epidemic risk, but only under low and moderate traffic conditions. Hence, redesigning supermarket layouts to increase distances between the queues can reduce risk only if the number of open checkouts is sufficient to serve customers during peak hours.

This paper presents the first steps approached for the functional design of a mobile robotic manipulator conceived for home assistance. The main characteristic of the mobile platform is that of owning an innovative architecture conceived to enhance the dynamics performance offered by the present-day solutions for omni-directional planar motions. The mobile robot, named Paquitop.arm, is aimed at working in a domestic unstructured environment and it has been designed to mainly perform monitoring activities. The variety of tasks to whom it can be devoted significantly increases if an on-board manipulation ability is installed. Due to that, it is worth investigating what aspects could be to be considered while designing such a mobile manipulator. The manuscript approaches a simplified kinematics analysis to define the most relevant parameters necessary for implementation of a commercial robot arm on the customized mobile platform Paquitop.

Aerial surveillance systems have become an important aspect in a range of civilian and military applications. For instance, reliable location data of individuals or objects is essential for use cases such as traffic surveillance, search and rescue, relief efforts after natural disasters, or patrol and border control missions. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide great value in such situations but conventionally require at least one human operator whose insights and intuition are necessary for performing the task. With this contribution, we conceptualize a functional design that leverages performance models to track multiple targets and generate situational awareness autonomously. Further, we devise a testing harness for different scheduling schemes and provide some preliminary experimental data on basic scheduling policies found in literature.

SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is a large facility, currently under advanced construction at the INFN-LNL (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro) for the production of Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs). Coordinated efforts are being dedicated to the development and upgrading of both the accelerator complex and the up-to-date experimental set-ups. This paper describes a work of upgrading as far as the inspection and maintenance of the system is concerned, and it deals with human-centered design methods to reduce the time spent in the radioactive environment of the facility during ordinary maintenance operations and to simplify them, also considering stress conditions of the operator and the mandatory wearable radiation protection devices (such as tracksuit, gloves, oxygen tank mask) which make simple operations difficult.

The paper aims to describe a functional design methodology for the development of new products for the passenger transport vehicle sector through an innovative application process. The IBIS (Innovative Bus Integrated and Sustainable) project is part of a specific industrial research and experimental development program in the automotive sector, focused on the construction of an electric-powered modular bus with eco-sustainability characteristics. The project followed a collaborative process that involved researchers, experts in different disciplines and the supply chain of small and medium-sized Campania companies, with a view to integration, collaboration and hybridization of knowledge. The research investigates the evolution of sustainable mobility models in the post-digital scenario, focused on the smart city topic and sharing strategies with the automotive supply chain. Sustainability is the main reference of the research line with reference not only to the product but to the interaction with smart urban systems.

Generation of smart cities that considers environmental pollution, waste management, energy consumption and human activities has become more important in recent years since it was first introduced in the 1990s. In the smart cities, most of the structures, machines, processes and products will be redesigned in terms of technological developments linked to the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. This situation introduces the need of new design models that address extended significant parameters for manufacturing. Data-driven generative design methodology is an algorithmic design approach for developing state-of-the-art designs. Generative design may give the decision-makers more sustainable optimized project solutions with the iterative algorithmic process. Many parameters and constraints can be taken into consideration during the designing process, such as lightness, illumination, solar gain, durability, cost, sustainability, mass, factor of safety, mechanical stresses, resilience etc. In the generative design, an iterative process occurs via cyclic algorithm from ideation to evaluation to reveal possible potential design solutions. The increase in design freedom and complexity boosts the importance of new generation manufacturing methods. Hybrid additive subtractive manufacturing (HASM), a key component of Industry 4.0, offers tailored and personalized production capabilities by combining additive and subtractive processes in the same production unit. In today’s digital era, there is a growing need to create an integrated data-driven digital solution which consists of a multidisciplinary functional design integrated with hybrid additive subtractive manufacturing. Generative design integrated with hybrid additive subtractive manufacturing approach offers creating functional multi-criteria-based product combinations with sustainable organic mechanisms for engineering purpose. Alternatively, this approach provides dozens of different solutions for their studies considering multi-criteria, such as determining the convenient sunlight angles for walkways, computing optimum dimensions of smart structures, enabling transportation vehicles to pass underground or bridges etc. The main objective of this chapter is to introduce the importance of generative design and hybrid additive subtractive manufacturing for smart cities and present the critical advantages of a data-driven generative design concept algorithm integrated with hybrid additive subtractive manufacturing approach that will increase the speed of transition to smart cities. This chapter discusses a concept that integrates hybrid additive subtractive manufacturing with a data-driven generative design for the reliable, cost effective and sustainable design of components that can be used for establishment of secure smart cities. After conceptual explanations, the main aim and advantages of the concept are realized by a case study which is about the design of a drone chassis. A drone chassis is selected as a case study since drones will be used extensively for mainly security and logistics purposes in smart cities and design of drone chassis can be optimized by the proposed concept.

The article outlines mathematical models and mathematical statements needed to solve problems of operational (pragmatic) properties research concerning system changes and appropriate information technology use. Among such properties are system potential, dynamic capability, information technology, and digitalization performance, which are famous for economics problems research regarding information technology use. Suggested models are predictive analytical mathematical models of the system and its changed environment interaction. The purpose of such property estimation is to enable a set of problems of technological, economic, social systems design, and functional design of information technologies to be solved as mathematical problems. The model suggested describes a system of a technological type in which the function adapts to changing environmental demands and impacts (“in changing conditions”). Such changing conditions make it necessary for the system to respond with changes in regular system functioning. Such changes are possible due to some information operations performed by the system. The research hypothesis is that the effects of system functioning in changing conditions can be evaluated analytically, based on predictive mathematical models. Based on estimated effects, the analytical estimation of operational properties indicators depending on the variables and options in the mathematical problems to be solved becomes possible. Results could lead to a solution to contemporary research problems of economics and information technology using predictive analytical mathematical models and methods.

In this paper, an innovative UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), named Agri.q, is presented. The rover is specifically designed for precision agriculture applications and is able to work in unstructured environment on irregular soil, cooperating with drones, if necessary. It is equipped with specific tools and sensors to per-form specific tasks, i.e. mapping the field, monitoring the crops and collecting soil and leaf samples. In addition, it is provided with a two degrees of freedom landing platform able to self-orient to ensure a safe drone docking or even to maximize the sunrays collection during the auto-charging phase. In this way, the rover autonomy and sustainability are increased. The functional design of the rover and the design of its actuation system are reported herein; furthermore, the first prototype is described and some preliminary results obtained during experimental tests are discussed.

The aim of the project in which this work was conceived is the design of a climbing robot for pruning spruce trees without damaging the bark. According to the requirements and pruning methods for avoiding the flaws of the finished timber, guidelines and constraints for the mechatronic design of a new climbing robot for spruce-pruning activities were deduced. A 3-wheeled-driven system able to cope with the tree bark thanks to compression springs is chosen for the first functional design; a force-balance analysis is performed for understanding the climbing and equilibrium requirements also considering the additional weight of a pruning system installed on a cart moving on a guide placed on the robot main structure. The quasi-static model, the mechanical design and the related electronic and driver systems are here presented. The preliminary scaled mechatronic prototype is experimentally evaluated on poles with diameters in the range of the young spruces, i.e. 100–200 mm, in its main climbing features. These results will serve as basis for the further development of the system .

The increasing number of functions in vehicles and their intensive interdependencies leads to a more complex e/e-architecture. This complexity increases the probability of error and influences system reliability significantly. Therefore, it is necessary to detect risks at early stages. In course of this, new methods are needed to carry out a reliability-oriented transfer of logical functions to the technical architecture. This paper presents an approach that derives a set of key figures for assessing logical reliability of functional concepts by using metrics from network theory. For this purpose, a control loop is introduced. After the functional design in a model-based environment, suitable metrics are applied. Based on the reference criterion Survival Probability, structural metrics are interpreted. With reference to the structural indicators, action strategies can be traced back to system model to increase logical reliability. First results showed that the logical reliability of functional concepts were improved by conceptual adjustments and partitioning recommendations.

Currently, school furniture used in preschool classrooms counts with a solid and functional design that has stayed practically invariant for the last 20 years, although it does not invite children to interact much with it. This furniture fills a great part of the classroom’s functional space, and it is normally destined to a specific use, which avoids that it was used at other moments of the day, or in other activity zones. Moreover, last tendencies relative to preschool classroom’s space organization demand more flexible layouts that allow a quick adaptation, which is impossible with traditional furniture. This work shows the result of the conceptual design of a new line of modular, foldable and stackable preschool furniture, destined for its use indoors in schools, kindergartens, or even at home, composed by a highchair, a desk and a chair. The design has been made following ergonomic, functional and easiness of assembly criteria, as well as the ones of health and safety. Finally, optimal materials have been selected, and the manufacturing cost of each product has been studied, in order to evaluate its competiveness.

As the concept of “double innovation” is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, consumers will pay more attention to the innovation of products. In order to satisfy consumers’ pursuit of innovation, there are various designs of enterprise products. To explore the influence of product design on purchase intention, the SEM is utilized to carry out an empirical research on the drive and influence of customer engagement on continued purchase intention based on the multi-dimensional product design perspective of functional design, aesthetic design and symbolic design with the introduction of customer satisfaction as a mediator variable. The empirical results show that the function, aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of product design have a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction; customer satisfaction has a significant positive impact on purchase intention; product design function, aesthetics and symbolism directly promote purchase intention effect. When the whole industry is custom-made for furniture, the multi-dimensional perspective research based on customer satisfaction can not only make up for the shortcomings of existing research, but also has certain significance for guiding enterprises to carry out product design practice.

Backpack pressure comfort is an important comfort indicator for backpack. In recent years, there have appeared many functional design on backpack products such as burden reduction, pressure relief, and protection of the spine. This paper studies the effect of functional design elements by comparing two different backpacks with one functional backpack and one non-functional backpack. And it discusses the effects from three indexes including the maximum pressure on the shoulders, the balance of the pressure on the shoulders and the pressure dispersion. The results show that functional backpack is not better than non-functional backpack for these three indicators. In addition, an experiment was carried out to test whether the one-piece shoulder belt plays a substantial role in the pressure balance of shoulders. Through the test, we found that the effective link of the shoulder belt can significantly improve the ability of the shoulder balance. Therefore, this paper considers that the backpack is a whole system, a single design element may be conducive to improving the pressure comfort, but the synthesis of multiple design elements may not have the effect.

This paper explores representational capabilities of S-BPM for task-based CPS design, in order to meet Cyber-Physical System particularities throughout development and operation. Essential functional properties of CPS are derived from conceptual and empirical studies. As tasks are the foundation for functional design of operational support systems, they need to be captured when developing CPS. In this contribution, we focus on representing tasks that form the basis of stakeholder communication. The analysis of notational S-BPM capabilities reveals the need for contextual introduction and application of interaction and behavior diagrams, when S-BPM models should add value to CPS development activities.

The minimal genome is a theoretical concept asking what is the minimal gene set that defines life under a given environment. Experimental efforts show that stripping off most non-essential genes results in fragile organisms with “minimal genomes”. By contrast, eliminating cryptic genes and mobile DNA results in strains with “minimized genomes” suitable for biotechnological applications because they display enhanced productivity, robust growth and upscalability. While it is believed that a minimal genome could be used to plug in “metabolic modules”, we argue that there is no universal “chassis” because different organisms are suited to different environments. A further issue with the minimal genome is that it places DNA at the top of the hierarchy that led to the origin of life, ignoring metabolism and supporting a gene-centric view of evolution. This hardly accommodates the fact that the invention of nucleotides must have been a late event in prebiotic evolution. In this work, we take a “metabolism first” approach to describe the emergence of the first cells and the evolution of selected metabolic pathways that provided different solutions to the same problem. Understanding such processes provides insights for developing platform strains in metabolic engineering and industrial biotechnology.

We have developed and piloted a method that can be used to create planning and learning environments that fuse buildings design with game programming. The method also allows e.g. to design and different simulations of building usage (like emergency evacuation by rescue teams). The method also brings together the students of game programming and buildings design with building users and construction professionals to work together towards mutual goals. This way they all learn in addition to group work to act in projects with students, building users and professionals of many disciplines. This is increasingly a key skill in the modern work life that relies heavily on projects. In this environment it is important for the actors to learn how to understand and appreciate the specialists of other disciplines and their professional skills. The gamified information model of a building can be used after its completion as a learning and testing space for the construction professionals. In the gamification we utilize our patented Functional Design Method for Buildings that enables to take into account the space needed for human actions in buildings or other targets under design in information model based (BIM) design of buildings. The objects to be dimensioned could e.g. be related to safety, loading and unloading areas or production processes and their requirements for space. An inverse approach is also possible. The method helps all actors of construction business, building users and students to better take into account and understand operational spatial requirements in a building and about safety.

In this paper, based on the evolution of the functional solution model, a number of different (function-behavior-structure) FBS functional design mapping models are presented. It has found many limitations of the existing function solving model. The reuse of knowledge and mapping of post-redesign are separated. The order of mapping is difficult to judge in the image, cannot be integrated into the innovation redesign stage. The order of mapping is blurry. And the changing environment is not expressed in the image. Therefore, this paper optimizes the design of the FBS mapping model for knowledge reuse, as well as images. An innovative design model S-FES including the above structure or behavior is proposed, which overcomes the above shortcomings and improves the efficiency of the FBS model. The practicality of the new model is illustrated by taking a shoe washing machine as an example.

With the rapid development of Space Information Network and users’ demand for communication services, interconnecting heterogeneous space networks becomes a new trend of SIN development. Networks using different protocols, such as TCP/IP, CCSDS and DTN, cannot communicate directly. In order to interconnect heterogeneous networks and face the problems brought by the challenged environment, this paper designs a multi-protocol onboard router which depends on the “store-and-forward” mechanism in DTN network protocol, as a relay with the ability of multi-protocol switching in order to support communication services among heterogeneous networks.

A new approach for quantifying “good enough” for the behaviour of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is presented here. It is deducted from general behaviour guidelines for (human) behaviour in traffic, and especially the wording of §1 of the German Traffic Code (“Strasenverkehrsordnung, StVO”) is taken into account. The German traffic code generally requires constant caution and mutual consideration; in a second paragraph, it more specifically requires, that “no one is harmed, endangered or unnecessarily hindered or bothered.” The here presented approach proposes a way how to specify and finally quantify those key words. These quantifications can be derived from normal (i.e. safe) traffic practice, which has ever since been established based on the human capabilities to cope with traffic situations. First, this quantification defines the guidelines for a safe own behaviour of an AV, for normal (avoid hindering or bothering others, but never endanger them) and extraordinary (never harming others) traffic situations. It establishes behaviour rules and thus testable performance guidelines for a single vehicle. Second, based on the fact, that everybody should comply with §1, certain behaviour of traffic partners can be trustfully expected in any interactive traffic situation (even an AV should not be harmed or endangered by any other traffic participant), but a safe and robust reaction on (rare) expectable situations (collision free, if only being hindered or bothered by other participants) needs to be ensured. The quantifications can help to define the functional design space for AV behaviour in normal traffic scenarios, with the goal of “not endangering” traffic partners. This leads to more robust behaviour than the “no collision” goal for extraordinary situations. The concept allows to deduct testable performance goals in reference situations, with reasonable passing criteria. The quantification of the key words is mainly based on the reaction times for safety-relevant actions in traffic scenarios, in combination with manageable reaction patterns. Human reactions are generally limited by necessary perception, interpretation, reasoning and action times. Thus, the requirement for AVs must ensure equal or better total performance. This cannot (and is not required to) be tested in every conceivable situation; but typical traffic reference situations must be agreed on, which define borderline cases. Some outer conditions must be summarized by testing for the extreme case. Any testing procedure should include verification of the ability for autonomous stopping; for the worst case of total sensor loss under extreme weather conditions, the “Blind stopping procedure” is proposed. It must be accepted that there exist conceivable situations, in which a single traffic participant will not be able to avoid an accident (loss of own controllability), once a situation has evolved to a certain criticality. The quantifications help to draw a limit line between “avoidable” and “unavoidable” (force majeure, natural disaster) accidents. In order to stay away as much as possible from getting into such uncontrollable situations, an AV needs to demonstrate a perception of “level of danger” and a sense for its own capabilities (“self-awareness”). Testing for these skills should be part of release and certification procedures.

In this paper the development of an innovative system of propulsion for manual wheelchair is described. It can be applied to sports wheelchairs and to wheelchair employed in everyday life. Regarding sports wheelchair, the use of this system of propulsion for racing wheelchair and hand bike is shown. The innovative system of propulsion tries to solve the injuries on the upper limb, caused by the other manual system of propulsion: push-rim system and levers system, employing traction movement applied on a cable transmission and ratchet device. The paper describes the functional design of different solutions, identifying the main involved parameters. In addition, the first prototype of wheelchair for everyday life is described and tested.

Verification of security policies represents one of the most critical, complex, and expensive steps of modern SoC design validation. SoC security policies are typically implemented as part of functional design flow, with a diverse set of protection mechanisms sprinkled across various IP blocks. An obvious upshot is that their verification requires comprehension and analysis of the entire system, representing a scalability bottleneck for verification tools. The scale and complexity of industrial SoC is far beyond the analysis capacity of state-of-the-art formal tools; even simulation-based security verification is severely limited in effectiveness because of the need to exercise subtle corner cases across the entire system. We address this challenge by developing a novel security architecture that accounts for verification needs from the ground up. Our framework, ArtiFact, provides an alternative architecture for security policy implementation that exploits a flexible, centralized, infrastructure IP and enables scalable, streamlined verification of these policies. With our architecture, verification of system-level security policies reduces to analysis of this single IP and its interfaces, enabling off-the-shelf formal tools to successfully verify these policies. We introduce a CAD flow that supports both formal and dynamic (simulation-based) verification, and is built on top of such off-the-shelf tools. We demonstrate reduced bug detection as well as verification time with our approach on illustrative policies.

This chapter describes the next phase of the MBSAP process, showing how the top-level architecture from the Operational Viewpoint (OV) is transformed into a functional design of the system in a Logical/Functional Viewpoint (LV). We familiarize the reader with the concepts and techniques involved in carrying the five Perspectives of the OV to the level of a functional architecture, using the E-X example for illustration. We discuss design patterns, making the point that although these arose in the world of software, they have great applicability and payoff when applied to entire systems. For example, we show how Domains are decomposed to the level of actual system components, modeled as Blocks. Similarly, we will take the representation of system behaviors down to individual Blocks or groups of Blocks and begin to look at the timing of system functions. In the Data Perspective, we illustrate the use of Inheritance to specialize Foundation Classes from the Conceptual Data Model into actual system data entities in a Logical Data Model. We introduce the key subject of layered architectures that are organized on the basis of services to create a computing platform on which applications software and user interfaces can be hosted. Next, we show what the LV looks like in the Smart Microgrid. When the LV is complete and fully documented, the system architect can furnish a set of functional specifications and other architecture artifacts to hardware and software developers, procurement and material management specialists, and others to use in implementing, integrating, testing, producing, and sustaining the system. We end the chapter with a discussion of executable architectures and a summary of key points in the LV. Chapter objective: the reader will be able to transform the high-level architecture of an OV into a functional design in an LV with supporting implementation documentation.

In this chapter, we develop the Physical Viewpoint (PV) of the MBSAP methodology, which models the actual implementation of a system. The PV builds on the artifacts of the Operational and Logical/Functional Viewpoints (OV and LV). We discuss underlying concepts and techniques, especially trade studies, involved in transforming function to physical design. Functional specifications from the LV support the development, or selection and procurement, of products. Blocks become Block Instances as design data is added to their specifications and the Structural and Behavioral Perspectives of the earlier Viewpoints combine into a Design Perspective. Concentrated attention on the choice and application of standards yields the Standards Perspective. We describe the key elements of a Design Perspective and illustrate them with the E-X system example. Because integration of physical components from multiple sources is a vital concern in PV development, we provide a detailed discussion of this subject. We then address the remaining Perspectives of the PV, modeling the Standards, Data, Services, and Contextual dimensions of a physical architecture. Next, we expand on a variety of Focused Viewpoints that may be needed by various stakeholders and carry the discussion of executable architecture to the level of physical simulations. Finally, we present some considerations that are important in ensuring that a system can evolve over its lifetime to remain operationally effective and supportable as requirements, environments, and other real-world influences impact it. Chapter objective: the reader will be able to take the functional design resulting from an LV and use specifications and other artifacts as the basis for building, integrating, and evaluating the real system.

Chinese urban sanitation workers have a higher incidence. The dressing system is relatively incomplete and clothing design still lack some functional protection design. This article takes Guangzhou urban sanitation workers as the investigation objects, from the design point of view, analyzes the functional and identity status of urban sanitation workers’ overalls in Guangzhou, discusses the present situation of the functional design. To investigate the satisfaction with the clothing style structure, fabric, sizes, colours and other details by interviews and questionnaires. Taking the work of the urban sanitation workers as the starting point and the foothold, on the basis of their personal safety, the key play a role of man’s subjective and subject consciousness, with “comfort”, “protection”, “efficient” as the first priority and design final aim, puts forward more about human body comfort and field solving, propose relevant design strategies.

Research on synthesis of reversible circuits has found substantial consideration in the past. Corresponding methods can be categorized into functional approaches (which often require a prior embedding step) and structural ones (which are often based on mapping). While functional approaches are less scalable and yield circuits with significantly larger costs, structural approaches typically yield circuits where the number of circuit lines is magnitudes above the minimum. Recently, also the idea of a one-pass design flow has been proposed, which aims to overcome the contradictory shortcomings of both approaches by combining the embedding and the synthesis step of the functional design flow. While this yields further opportunities for a more efficient synthesis, the actually available degree of freedom has not fully been explored yet—not to mention fully exploited. In this work-in-progress-report, we are discussing this issue and explore in detail the potential offered by the one-pass design flow. To this end, we consider the implementation of this flow using QMDD-based synthesis as a representative. The conducted investigations provide a more detailed understanding of this recently proposed flow and demonstrate its potential to be exploited in future work.

One of the greatest concerns nowadays is the growth of the world population. This is the main reason for the continuously increase of the electrical and thermal energy demand and consumption. It is a fact that the reserves of fossil fuels are limited and the exponentially pollution expansion imposes the development and the implementation of renewable based energy production technologies. Thus, the solar energy use represents one of the most promising of the available answers. The solar energy conversion into electricity or heat for remote area applications with different functionalities imposes the design and implementation of transportable (mobile) based on stand-alone photovoltaic modules and solar thermal systems. The paper evaluates the availability of the solutions for this type of products. The research formulates a set of design criteria through constructive and functional design quality requirements meant to generate novel concepts for mobile solutions. The paper proposes several concepts for deployable mobile units for photovoltaic and solar thermal conversion systems. The concepts of mechanisms suitable for deployable PV and solar thermal arrays are developed through embodiment design by using 3D CAD tools. The analysis and the conceptual design process results lead to the conclusion that the use deployable/transportable systems is covering a wide range of applications starting with telecommunication systems up to domestic lighting, heating etc., washing facilities and several concepts are proposed in the paper.

In this chapter, a set of optimal control problems are formulated and the appropriate algorithms described in this book will be applied to their solution. Results are then compared and the applicability of each algorithm is discussed. Yet, obtaining information for the calibration and functional design of energy management from the solution of an optimal control problem is a rather heuristic and cumbersome process and it is rather unlikely that a satisfying calibration will be obtained in a reasonable time span. Also, this process does not exploit the full potential of the underlying theory. With some further assumptions that have only minor effects on the quality of the solution, results from the optimal control problem solution can be used directly to obtain parameters and lookup tables for rule-based energy management, which dramatically facilitates the calibration process and improves the quality of the results obtained.

Engineering of nucleic acids has been a goal in research for many years. Since the discovery of catalytic nucleic acids (ribozymes and DNAzymes), this field has attracted even more attention. One reason for the increased interest is that a large number of ribozymes have been engineered that catalyze a broad range of reactions of relevance to the origin of life. Another reason is that the structures of ribozymes or DNAzymes have been modulated such that activity is dependent on allosteric regulation by an external cofactor. Such constructs have great potential for application as biosensors in medicinal or environmental diagnostics, and as molecular tools for control of cellular processes. In addition to the development of nucleic acid enzymes by in vitro selection, rational design is a powerful strategy for the engineering of ribozymes or DNAzymes with tailored features. The structures and mechanisms of a large number of nucleic acid catalysts are now well understood. Therefore, specific design of their functional properties by structural modulation is a good option for the development of custom-made molecular tools. For rational design, several parameters have to be considered, and a number of tools are available to help/guide sequence design. Here, we discuss sequence, structural and functional design using the example of hairpin ribozyme variants to highlight the challenges and opportunities of rational nucleic enzyme engineering.

We explore the technological bases for argumentation combined with information fusion techniques to improve intelligence analyses. We review various tools framed by several examples of modern intelligence analyses drawn from different environments. Current tools fail to support computational associations needed for fusion of relations among entities needed for the assembly of an integrated situational picture. Most tools are single-sourced for entity streams, with tools automatically linking analyses between bounded entity-pairs and enabling levels of “data fusion”, but the rigor is limited. Yet these tools often accept the pre-processed extractions from these entities as correct. These tools can identify the intuitive associations among entities, but mostly as if uncertainty did not exist. However, in their attempt to discover relations among entities with little uncertainty and few entity associations, the complexities are left to the human analysts to be resolved. This situation leads to cognitive overloading of the analysts who must manually assemble the selected situational interpretations into a comprehensive narrative. Our goal is automating the integration of complex hypotheses. We review the literature of computational support for argumentation and, for an integrated functional design, as part of a combined approach, we nominate a unique, belief- and story-based subsystem designed to support hybrid argumentation. To deal with the largely textual data foundation of these intelligence analyses, we describe how a previously, author-developed, ‘hard plus soft’ information fusion system (combining sensor/hard and textual/soft information) could be integrated into a functional design. We combine these two unique capabilities into a scheme that arguably overcomes many of the deficiencies we cite to provide considerable improvement in efficiency and effectiveness for intelligence analyses.

In this chapter, the development of a Use Case Management Repository (UCMR) and a three-dimensional SGAM visualisation by OFFIS are introduced. Firstly, a part of the requirements specification and the functional design of the UCMR are shown. For this purpose, several functional and non-functional requirements for the UCMR are described as well as visualised by a functional design. Secondly, basic functions of the tool-support are illustrated by the previous use case example Behaviour monitoring system in the kitchen of private households with an own energy storage. The UCMR and the three-dimensional SGAM visualisation are depicted as screen-shots.

Straw bale construction is considered an appropriate technique for improving housing condition in developing Countries and for rebuilding in emergency condition. However, balers suitable for this purpose are not available nowadays. This paper presents a method for functional design of a human powered baler for straw bale building, based on the straw mechanical characteristic, experimentally measured. A prototype has been realized and tested.

Nowadays, automated production systems are rapidly changing to increase flexibility. However, robot end effectors are usually designed to accomplish specific tasks and to handle a limited family of parts, and flexibility can only be obtained by using tool changing systems. The main drawbacks of such systems are increased cost of automation and reduced productivity. This paper presents the functional design of a flexible robotic gripper, capable of adaptively changing its aperture (grasp width) to different handling demands, without affecting the cycle time of the production system, as it can be actuated in hidden time. The solution proposed consists of (1) an electrically-actuated mechanism for adapting aperture, which allows to satisfy the flexibility requirements; (2) a pneumatically-actuated mechanism for open/close operations, which ensures comparably fast motion of jaws if compared to traditional, non-adaptive robotic grippers.

This paper addresses a 2PRP-2PPR planar parallel manipulator and, its implementation in the design and development of a new lower limb rehabilitation robot (LLRR). The difficulty and limitation of the existing mechanisms has been analysed and a new mechanism is proposed. Some limitation of the proposed manipulator, namely limited effective workspace, has also been overcome by gear arrangement to make it suitable for the application. The proposed mechanism is able to perform like a serial LLRR with the same clinical space with advantages of parallel manipulators like better accuracy, speed and stiffness. The proposed manipulator consist of a vertical planar parallel manipulator (2PRP-2PPR)which is driver mechanism and a lower limb orthosis which is driven and actuator-free mechanism has a RRR serial planar configuration, is designed to treat the patient in sitting/lying postures. Validation of the functional design and working of the proposed system has been done analytically by using the clinical gait pattern data.

Excellent driving and steering feel can be achieved only by a sufficiently precise steering system. Therefore, on the one hand, the design of a steering system has to be able to transfer high forces while on the other hand achieving little free travel, few elasticities and low friction in the movable parts. In addition, the steering system, supported by its power-assistance unit, should be able to realize sufficient steering dynamics. Adhering to these constraints is the only way to enable quick and precise steering of a car. In the following chapters the basic functional design of steering systems and the aspects of steering power and friction will be discussed in more detail.