Application Of Mechanism Design Research Articles

Public Projects, Boolean Functions, and the Borders of Border’s Theorem

Border’s theorem gives an intuitive linear characterization of the feasible interim allocation rules of a Bayesian single-item environment, and it has several applications in economic and algorithmic mechanism design. All known generalizations of Border’s theorem either restrict attention to relatively simple settings or resort to approximation. This article identifies a complexity-theoretic barrier that indicates, assuming standard complexity class separations, that Border’s theorem cannot be extended significantly beyond the state of the art. We also identify a surprisingly tight connection between Myerson’s optimal auction theory, when applied to public project settings, and some fundamental results in the analysis of Boolean functions.

Packet assignment under resource constraints with D2D communications

D2D communications offer various benefits such as coverage extension and high energy efficiency. For example, a cluster of in-coverage devices can be recruited to relay packets for an out-of-coverage device. As the helper devices can be subject to varying relay costs and resource constraints, a sequence of packets need to be properly assigned among the helpers. In this article, we study the packet assignment problem from a mechanism design's perspective, taking into account the strategic interactions of self-interested helpers. Fundamental concepts in mechanism design are introduced for general readers to understand the background. Auctions are an important application of mechanism design and widely used in many fields. We develop a reverse auction mechanism, consisting of an allocation rule and a payment rule, to assign packets among helpers and determine payments based on their declared costs and resource constraints. As it is NP-hard to find an optimal packet assignment that minimizes the total cost, we use a low-complexity allocation rule, which performs closely to the optimal allocation on average. The payment rule implements the allocation rule in dominant strategies in which helpers disclose their true costs and resource constraints. This truthful revelation in turn justifies the allocation according to the helpers' declaration. Numerical analysis and simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance.

Assistant Personal Robot (APR): Conception and Application of a Tele-Operated Assisted Living Robot.

This paper presents the technical description, mechanical design, electronic components, software implementation and possible applications of a tele-operated mobile robot designed as an assisted living tool. This robotic concept has been named Assistant Personal Robot (or APR for short) and has been designed as a remotely telecontrolled robotic platform built to provide social and assistive services to elderly people and those with impaired mobility. The APR features a fast high-mobility motion system adapted for tele-operation in plain indoor areas, which incorporates a high-priority collision avoidance procedure. This paper presents the mechanical architecture, electrical fundaments and software implementation required in order to develop the main functionalities of an assistive robot. The APR uses a tablet in order to implement the basic peer-to-peer videoconference and tele-operation control combined with a tactile graphic user interface. The paper also presents the development of some applications proposed in the framework of an assisted living robot.

Can Simple Mechanism Design Results be Used to Implement the Proportionality Standard in Discovery?

In this comment on Gelbach (JITE 2016), I make two points. First, I support Gelbach’s application of mechanism design (MD) to legal design because it takes information requirements and other constraints seriously. MD derives the best rule under the stated constraints. This rigorously confirms the existing rule’s optimality, reveals a superior alternative, or, if the MD solution appears unrealistic, uncovers additional constraints that any real solution must satisfy. Second, I consider implementing the social optimum, rather than the private optimum. In Gelbach’s discovery example, even a court with limited information can objectively implement some social goals; for other social goals, the court can at least do the best it can according to its subjective beliefs.

An efficient position solution for the fourbar linkage

The position analysis of fourbar linkages has a long history, dating from the 1800s to the present day. Here, position analysis is taken to mean: 1) finding the two remaining unknown angles on the linkage with an input angle given; 2) finding the path of a point on the linkage once all angles are known. The efficiency of position analysis has taken on increasing importance in recent years with the widespread use of path optimisation software for robotic and mechanism design applications. With this in mind, we have developed a more efficient method for obtaining the position solution for the fourbar linkage that is well-suited to design optimisation. This paper presents a comparison of the computational complexity of the most common solution algorithms, and shows that the new method is up to 26% faster than the method most commonly shown in the literature.

An Experimental Approach to the Robotized Fabrication of WC-Co Based Layers

The use of laser cladding (LC) technology for the improvement of surface properties in various mechanical design applications has given rise to the development of application-oriented composites. The present paper furnishes relevant notes on an experimental approach to the design optimization of experiments regarding WC-Co based layers obtained by laser cladding. The current paper emphasizes the influence of parameter variation on the characteristics of the deposited layer and reports the manner in which the heat input and the laser power density influence the microstructure.

Simulation of Environmental Pollution Improvement

In recent years, the researches on the theory and application of public articles and mechanism design at home and abroad has attracted more and more attentions. The paper uses the idea of mechanism design and simulation to analyze and solve environmental pollution improvement. By establishing a simple environmental pollution improvement model, the paper transforms pollution control into binary decision established by a sewage treatment plant and different decisions by the fisherman on the establishment of sewage treatment plants. The paper observes the results of applying different mechanisms and proposes the suggestions of implementing various pollution control methods.

On a hybrid particle swarm optimization method and its application in mechanism design

In this article, we propose a hybrid particle swarm optimization method and obtain the optimal solutions of the synthesis of mechanism. We study the mathematics on the four-bar linkage and its objective function on the optimization process and conduct the numerical experiment for four cases of movement of mechanical linkage bars (coupler curves). The result of synthesis of mechanism is not only shown to be in better accuracy but also properly matches the designated mechanical coupler bar curve.

Application of MATLAB in Mechanical Optimal Design

Matlab has a strong scientific computing capabilities in engineering design has been widely applied. This article describes the various optimization model of MATLAB and its application in mechanical optimization design, and gives optimization examples and results. Using MATLAB to solve the problem of mechanical optimization design not only improves the design efficiency, and programming is simple, results reliable.

A Rigidity and Flexibility Coupled Reliability Calculation Method for the Type 6-6 Stewart Parallel Mechanism

Type 6-6 Stewart Parallel Mechanisms have been used widely in industries nowadays. Because of the influence of inevitable flexible deformations of each structural part, the loss of mechanism motion accuracies are obvious. It reported an effective rigidity and flexibility coupled reliability calculation method for this kind of mechanism. Firstly, it built a parameterized 3-D virtual model of this mechanism in ADAMS, and then used user defined function (a function in VC++ software) to simulate the stochastic error distributions; through this method, a Monte Carlo parametric model was built, and this was a basis for subsequent reliability calculation. Secondly, it programmed a reliability calculation system for this mechanism and performed multiple dynamic simulations to obtain the mechanism reliability data. This method took the influence of key parts flexible deformation on mechanism motion accuracy into account, and included simplicity (no need to solve complex mathematic model) and high accuracy which make it highly promising for application in mechanism design.

Revenue Maximization Under Two-Dimensional Buyers with Type Uncertainty Using Dynamic Mechanism Design

I study a decision problem to maximize seller revenue under a two-dimensional buyer with multiple type space with private information. I consider the general case of a single seller with a single good to sell to buyers with private attribute values arriving over 2 time periods. The seller's problem is to determine the optimal time period of allocation. I use mechanism design theory to find an optimal policy for the seller and investigate structural conditions for the optimal seller policy. This paper aims to show that there are tractable and relatively simple ways to deal with multidimensional type space in Revenue Management problems through the application of mechanism design.

Solid-State NMR Studies of Biomineralization Peptides and Proteins

Nature has evolved sophisticated strategies for engineering hard tissues through the interaction of proteins, and ultimately cells, with inorganic mineral phases. This process, called biomineralization, is how living organisms transform inorganic materials such as hydroxyapatite, calcite, and silica into highly intricate and organized structures. The remarkable material properties of shell, bone, and teeth come from the activities of proteins that function at the organic-inorganic interface. A better understanding of the biomolecular mechanisms used to promote or retard the formation of mineral-based structures could provide important design principles for the development of calcification inhibitors and promoters in orthopedics, cardiology, urology, and dentistry. With the knowledge of the structural basis for control of hard tissue growth by proteins, scientists could potentially develop materials using biomimetic principles with applications in catalysis, biosensors, electronic devices, and chromatographic separations, to name a few. Additionally, biomineralization also has potential applications in electronics, catalysis, magnetism, sensory devices, and mechanical design. Where man-made hard materials require the use of extreme temperatures, high pressure, and pH, biological organisms can accomplish these feats at ambient temperature and at physiological pH. Despite the fact that many researchers want to identify and control the structure of proteins at material and biomineral interfaces, there is a decided lack of molecular-level structure information available for proteins at biomaterial interfaces in general. In particular, this holds for mammalian proteins that directly control calcification processes in hard tissue. The most fundamental questions regarding the secondary and tertiary structures of proteins adsorbed to material surfaces, how proteins catalyze the formation of biomineral composites, or how proteins interact at biomaterial interfaces remain unanswered. This is largely due to a lack of methods capable of providing high-resolution structural information for proteins adsorbed to material surfaces under physiologically relevant conditions. In this Account, we highlight recent work that is providing insight into the structure and crystal recognition mechanisms of a salivary protein model system, as well as the structure and interactions of a peptide that catalyzes the formation of biosilica composites. To develop a better understanding of the structure and interactions of proteins in biomaterials, we have used solid-state NMR techniques to determine the molecular structure and dynamics of proteins and peptides adsorbed onto inorganic crystal surfaces and embedded within biomineral composites. This work adds to the understanding of the structure and crystal recognition mechanisms of an acidic human salivary phosphoprotein, statherin.

A Service Reliability Assessment Method for the Rigidity-Flexibility Coupling Open Arc Welding Robot

The open arc welding robots have been used widely nowadays; however, the elastic deformations of every inner link inevitably affect the welding quality. In this paper, it proposes an effective method of service reliability assessment for the rigidity-flexibility coupling open arc welding robot. Firstly, a parametric virtual model of the robot is built in ADAMS/View-AutoFlex module. Secondly, the stochastic errors generated in the working process are simulated by a program created from pseudo-random numbers which have been written by multiplicative congruence method. Lastly, Monte Carlo sampling calculation is implemented for the virtual model, and large sample data of the dynamic characteristics in welding process are obtained and used to calculate the service reliability of the welding robot. This method includes simplicity (no need to solve complex mathematic model) and high accuracy which make it highly promising for application in mechanism design.

Motion Reliability Analysis of the PUMA560 Series Mechanism

In this paper, we report an effective method for motion reliability analysis of the PUMA560 series mechanism. It firstly builds a Monte Carlo parameterized 3-D virtual model of this mechanism in ADAMS, and uses VC++ to program a pseudo-random number subroutine function that conforms to normal distribution and user defining function to simulate the stochastic error distribution of the mechanism, and a universal reliability analysis program of the PUMA560 series mechanism is then developed. After multiple virtual tests on this parameterized mechanism model, a large mount of test data are obtained and statistically analyzed to calculate the motion reliability; this can evaluate the influence of different stochastic errors on the mechanism dynamic characteristics. The advantages of this new method include simplicity (no need to solve complex mathematic model) and high accuracy which make it highly promising for application in mechanism design.

A Rigidity and Flexibility Coupling Dynamic Analysis Method Applied in the 6-6 Stewart Parallel Mechanism

This paper deals with a method for rigidity and flexibility coupling dynamic analysis of the 6-6 Stewart parallel mechanism with the ADAMS/APDL and VC++ software. Develop a virtual simulation platform for the mechanism, perform dynamic simulations, and the mechanism motion curves are obtained. Using this method, mechanism random errors effect on its motion can be analyzed and the simulation approaches the real value, including simplicity (no need to solve complex mathematic model) and high accuracy which make it highly promising for application in mechanism design.

The Quality of Expertise

Policy makers and managers often turn to experts when in need of information, but we should expect experts to be systematically biased. This is because the decision to research a question implies a belief that research will be fruitful. If priors about the impact of one’s work are correct on average, then those who choose to research a question are optimistic about the quality of their work. The bias varies predictably with attributes of the question being studied. This fact has implications for a variety of mechanism design applications and yields predictions in accordance with a large literature in psychology. This paper was accepted by Teck-Hua Ho, behavioral economics.

A Novel Chaotic PSO Algorithm Based on Tent Map and Its Application to Mechanical Design

To prevent the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) plunging into the local minima with low convergence speed in the later stage of iteration, especially for multimodal functions with lots of local minima, a novel hybrid algorithm combining PSO with the chaotic optimization algorithm based on Tent map is proposed in this paper. In view of the advantages of Tent map, the chaotic sequences generated by it are used to implement chaotic searching at zones nearby individual and global optimum points for particles escaping from the local minima. Optimization results of typical test functions and practical application in mechanical design show that the new algorithm has higher global search capability, convergence precision and faster speed for multimodal functions.

Law and Mechanism Design: Procedures to Induce Honest Bargaining

A classic challenge in contract and property law is unstructured negotiation between two parties with asymmetric information (i.e., each party has different private information) under bilateral monopoly (each party must negotiate with the other to try to reach an agreement), which often leads to prohibitively high transaction costs and, if the parties fail to agree, social costs as well. In these situations, the law should incorporate principles of mechanism design, a methodology that employs structured procedures to give the parties incentives to reach agreement. In terms of contract theory, mechanisms constitute algorithmic altering rules that reduce if not eliminate inefficient transaction costs. We review two bargaining mechanisms that inherently elicit honesty by making it a dominant strategy and discuss two extensions for legal applications. In particular, we show that algorithmic procedures would reduce transaction costs and lead to more efficient bargaining in pretrial settlement negotiations and blockholder disclosure under section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The former is a straightforward application of mechanism design to a negotiation situation where the social externalities of non-agreement justify inducing the honest disclosure of reservation prices, or “bottom lines.” The latter is an example of using mechanism design to facilitate negotiated settlements in situations presently subject to a suboptimal mandatory rule.

Special Issue on Robotic Technologies Towards Industrial Applications

Robotics technologies have come to be widely developed for and applied to a variety of industrial areas, including the manufacturing, transportation, and public security fields. Broadly defined, the robotics technologies implemented in industry involve numerous flexible mechanisms, high-precision control, multi-sensor integration and fusion, high-performance computation, and intelligent software. The collection of articles featured in this special issue concerns several of the robotics technologies touched upon above, such as the mechanical design methodology and applications of manipulators in joint compliance research, the reliability design and implementation of robots utilized to feed glassmaking-materials in the glass industry, and the sensing techniques and navigation algorithm design in multi-floor structural environments, to mention just a few. These papers include too many subjects to all be mentioned here, and have presented exemplifications and applicable approaches to both conventional and cutting-edge industry. They have also greatly enhanced the research and development of robotic technologies. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the authors, the reviewers, and the editors for their invaluable contributions in making this issue possible.

Bi‐Objective Optimization Method and Application of Mechanism Design Based on Pigs′ Payoff Game Behavior

It takes two design goals as different game players and design variables are divided into strategy spaces owned by corresponding game player by calculating the impact factor and fuzzy clustering. By the analysis of behavior characteristics of two kinds of intelligent pigs, the big pig′s behavior is cooperative and collective, but the small pig′s behavior is noncooperative, which are endowed with corresponding game player. Two game players establish the mapping relationship between game players payoff functions and objective functions. In their own strategy space, each game player takes their payoff function as monoobjective for optimization. It gives the best strategy upon other players. All the best strategies are combined to be a game strategy set. With convergence and multiround game, the final game solution is obtained. Taking bi‐objective optimization of luffing mechanism of compensative shave block, for example, the results show that the method can effectively solve bi‐objective optimization problems with preferred target and the efficiency and accuracy are also well.