Open Architecture Design Research Articles

Device profile of the FlareHawk interbody fusion system, an endplate-conforming multi-planar expandable lumbar interbody fusion cage

ABSTRACT Introduction The FlareHawk Interbody Fusion System is a family of lumbar interbody fusion devices (IBFDs) that include FlareHawk7, FlareHawk9, FlareHawk11, TiHawk7, TiHawk9, and TiHawk11. These IBFDs offer a new line of multi-planar expandable interbody devices designed to provide mechanical stability, promote arthrodesis, and allow for restoration of disc height and lordosis through a minimal insertion profile during standard open and minimally invasive posterior lumbar fusion procedures. The two-piece interbody cage design consists of a PEEK outer shell that expands in width, height, and lordosis with the insertion of a titanium shim. Once expanded, the open architecture design allows for ample graft delivery into the disc space. Areas covered The design and unique features of the FlareHawk family of expandable fusion cages are described. The indications for their use are discussed. Early clinical and radiographic outcome studies using the FlareHawk Interbody Fusion System are reviewed, and properties of competitor products are outlined. Expert opinion The FlareHawk multi-planar expandable interbody fusion cage is unique amongst the many lumbar fusion cages currently on the market. The multi-planar expansion, open architecture, and adaptive geometry set it apart from its competitors.

Когнитивное моделирование терминосистемы «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства»

На данном этапе развития терминоведения особый интерес лингвистов привлекает изучение терминологии специальных областей знаний с помощью когнитивного подхода. Использование фреймового анализа позволяет наиболее успешно представить модель любой профессиональной терминосистемы. Цель работы заключается в построении когнитивно-фреймовой модели русской терминосистемы предметной области «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства» как фрагмента архитектурно-дизайнерской терминологии профессиональной сферы «дизайн архитектурной среды». Материалом для анализа послужили более 690 лексических единиц области «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства», отобранные приемом сплошной выборки из текстов учебно-научных и интернет-источников по специальности «дизайн архитектурной среды», архитектурно-дизайнерских и лингвистических словарей и справочников. Методология исследования основывается на общенаучных и лингвистических методах и приемах: описательного, сравнительно-сопоставительного методов, приемов классификации и лингвистического моделирования, а также дефиниционного, контекстного и фреймового анализа. Определены основные понятия в рамках когнитивного подхода. Представлена интерпретация терминов «фрейм», «субфрейм», «слот». Освещены теоретические основы фреймового моделирования, обоснована структура фрейма, применяемая в исследовании. Построена иерархическая когнитивно-фреймовая модель терминосистемы «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства», состоящая из макрофрейма «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства» во главе иерархии и трех фреймов на следующем уровне: «дизайн городской среды», «ландшафтный дизайн», «светодизайн». Внутри каждого фрейма выделены единицы более низких уровней – субфреймы, слоты и микрослоты. Изучены межфреймовые процессы: выявлены отношения пересечения внутри макрофрейма «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства», в том числе между единицами разных уровней, а также отношения пересечения макрофреймов «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства» и «дизайн интерьера». Определена особая роль фрейма «светодизайн», состоящего из общей терминологии для макрофреймов «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства» и «дизайн интерьера», а также специфичных терминов для каждого из них. Фреймовая модель терминосистемы «дизайн открытого архитектурного пространства» дает возможность представить иерархически организованную систему терминологии данной предметной области и выявить ее внутрисистемные отношения. Результаты исследования могут быть полезны для терминологов, специалистов в сфере дизайна архитектурной среды, преподавательской практики в вузах. At this stage of the terminology development, terminologists are particularly interested in studying the terminology of special fields of knowledge using a cognitive approach. The use of frame analysis in terms of this approach makes it possible to present the terminology model of any professional field most successfully. The purpose of the paper is to build a cognitive-frame model of the Russian term system of the field “Open architectural space design” as a fragment of the architectural and design terminology of the professional sphere “Design of architectural environment”. The material for the analysis is more than 680 lexical units of the field “Open architectural space design”, selected using a continuous sampling method from texts of educational, scientific and Internet sources of the specialty “Design of the architectural environment”, architectural design and linguistic dictionaries and reference books. The research methodology is based on general scientific and linguistic methods and techniques: descriptive, comparative methods, methods of classification and linguistic modeling, as well as definitional, contextual and frame analysis. The basic concepts within the framework of the cognitive approach are defined. The interpretation of the terms frame, subframe, slot is presented. The theoretical foundations of frame modeling are highlighted, the frame structure used in the study is justified. A hierarchical cognitive-frame model of the term system “Open architectural space design” is constructed, consisting of three frames: “Urban environment design”, “Landscape design”, “Lighting design”. Within each frame, units of lower levels such as subframes, slots and micro-slots are allocated. Interframe processes have been studied: the relations of intersection within the macroframe “Open architectural space design”, including between units of different levels, as well as the relations of intersection with the macroframe “Interior Design” are revealed. The special role of the frame “Lighting Design” is defined, consisting of general terminology for the macroframes “Open architectural space design” and “Interior design” and specific terms for each of them. The frame model of the term system “Open architectural space design” makes it possible to present a hierarchically organized system of the terminology and identify its intra-system relationships. The results of the research can be useful for terminologists, specialists in the field of architectural environment design, for teaching practice in universities.

Regenesorb and polylactic acid hydroxyapatite anchors are associated with similar osseous integration and rotator cuff healing at 2 years.

Commercially available suture anchors for rotator cuff repairs can differ significantly in architecture and material. Clinical data on their osseous integration and its effect on patient-reported outcomes is scarce. Preclinical investigations indicated a higher rate of osseous integration for the open-architecture design of the Healicoil Regenesorb anchor than the closed-threaded design of the Twinfix (Smith & Nephew). The purpose of this study was to investigate these 2 anchors with different architecture and material to determine their effect on osseous integration and clinical outcomes after rotator cuff repair. A prospective randomized controlled trial was performed from 2014 to 2019. Sixty-four patients (39 females, 25 males) with an average age of 58.7 years who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair by one of 4 board-certified, fellowship-trained surgeons were randomized to receive Healicoil Regenesorb (PLGA/ß-TCP/Calcium Sulfate) or Twinfix Ultra HA (PLLA/HA) anchors. Thirty-two patients had Healicoil anchors implanted, and 32 patients had Twinfix anchors implanted. Of the 64 patients, 51 returned at 24 months for computed tomographic (CT) examination (25 Twinfix and 26 Healicoil) to determine osteointegration of the anchors. Patient-reported outcomes, including Penn Shoulder Score (PENN), Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index, visual analog scale, EQ-5D, Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation, Global Rating of Change, were collected at baseline, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months. Ultrasonography was used to assess rotator cuff integrity after 6 months. Two board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons, blinded to the type of anchors, analyzed the CT scans to assess the anchor osteointegration at 24 months using a previously published grading scale. There were no differences in demographics, preoperative outcomes, or baseline characteristics such as tear size, number of anchors, Goutallier classification, or smoking status between groups. There was no difference in osseous integration between the 2 anchors at 24 months (P = .117). Eight patients had rotator cuff retears, of which 2 patients had Twinfix anchors and 6 patients had Healicoil anchors (P = .18). There were no statistically significant differences in patient-reported outcomes or complications between groups. The 2-year PENN scores were 89 with the Twinfix and 88 with Healicoil anchors (P = .55). Despite differences in material and anchor architecture, the rate of healing and patient-reported outcomes were similar between the Twinfix and Healicoil anchor groups. The rate of osteointegration was the same at 2 years.

Digital twins-based remote semi-physical commissioning of flow-type smart manufacturing systems

The COVID-19 has become a global pandemic that dramatically impacted human lives and economic activities. Due to the high risk of getting affected in high-density population areas and the implementation of national emergency measures under the COVID-19 pandemic, both travel and transportation among cities become difficult for engineers and equipment. Consequently, the costly physical commissioning of a new manufacturing system is greatly hindered. As an emerging technology, digital twins can achieve semi-physical simulation to avoid the vast cost of physical commissioning of the manufacturing system. Therefore, this paper proposes a digital twins-based remote semi-physical commissioning (DT-RSPC) approach for open architecture flow-type smart manufacturing systems. A digital twin system is developed to enable the remote semi-physical commissioning. The proposed approach is validated through a case study of digital twins-based remote semi-physical commissioning of a smartphone assembly line. The results showed that combining the open architecture design paradigm with the proposed digital twins-based approach makes the commissioning of a new flow-type smart manufacturing system more sustainable.

SMMARTS: An Open Architecture Development Platform for Modular, Mixed, and Augmented Reality Procedural and Interventional Simulators.

Different simulators often share elements, resulting in different laboratories doing redundant work. This can lead to higher development and acquisition costs, proprietary, incompatible technology, lack of interoperability, and large inventories that reduce accessibility to the benefits of simulation. Simulation technology can become more affordable and scalable with open architecture and modular design. We describe the System of Modular Mixed and Augmented Reality Tracking Simulators (SMMARTS) open architecture, rapid development platform for designing and building modular procedural and guided-intervention simulators. A modular stand provides mechanical indexing (registration) of a modular anatomical block representing the anatomy relevant to the simulated intervention. A software development kit (SDK) integrated with the hardware (stand and hand-held tracked tools such as a needle and ultrasound probe) facilitates software development. The SMMARTS SDK at https://github.com/UF-CSSALT/SMMARTS-SDK developed in Unity Technologies' Unity game engine includes Arduino microcontroller and NDI's 6 degrees of freedom tracking connectivity along with software tools such as a replayer, user interface templates, 3D visualization of the virtual counterparts of physical elements, scoring monitors, cognitive aids, common error messages, and Experience Application Programming Interface compatibility. We used SMMARTS to develop 9 different simulators internally (instructor-less central venous access currently deployed to Iraq, prostate biopsy, epidural loss-of-resistance, ventriculostomy, pterygopalatine fossa block, lumbar/chronic pain blocks, chest tube insertion) and externally (intravenous access). As a living tool, SMMARTS now has sufficient functionality and benefits that we can share it to help clinicians and engineers focus more on content specific to learning objectives rather than back-end tasks.

Incorporating customer personalization preferences in open product architecture design

Open product architecture is a key enabler for product personalization, as it allows the integration of personalized modules in a product architecture to satisfy individual customer needs and preference. A critical challenge for integrating personalized modules into a product architecture is determining the optimal assembly architecture when considering market expectations and manufacturing constraints. In this paper, an optimization method is proposed for determining the personalized product design architecture that incorporates individual customer preferences. First, a decision hierarchy is presented to describe the integrated design decisions of the product architecture, including product variety determination, module variant selection, and personalized module configuration. Next, a profit model is formulated as an overall performance metric that incorporates customer preferences and manufacturing cost. The systematic patterns and randomness of diverse customer preferences are modeled by combining conjoint analysis and market segmentation with a multivariate normal mixture model. Individual customer product utilities in the target market and their product purchase intent probability are estimated through Monte-Carlo simulation, which is incorporated into the profit calculation. Manufacturing limitations on processes and materials are included as they influence manufacturer’s planning on candidate module variants and production strategies of personalized modules. These models are used to determine a product family architecture that maximizes profit by optimally determining its offering of product variants, module combinations, and personalized module configuration through a genetic algorithm. The proposed method is demonstrated by a personalized bicycle architecture design example.

A conceptual alternative forecasting model for alternative investments

In this article we present a conceptual model for forecasting purposes that can be used from fund managers or investors. Our conceptual model is a hybrid model and borrows concepts from machine learning; more specifically, from artificial neural networks (ANN) and fuzzy logic (FL). We propose the use of the nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous inputs (NARX) which is a recurrent dynamic network, with feedback connections enclosing several layers of the network. This ANN is combined with a FL component to deal with uncertainties when considering various market conditions. The proposed conceptual forecasting model has an open architecture design so as to be extended and optimized based on investors’ needs.

Open architecture time of flight 3D SWIR camera operating at 150 MHz modulation frequency.

In the past two decades 3-D cameras have proven to be one of the next revolutions in machine vision. However, these devices are still an emerging technology with a particularly narrow set of commercially available devices. In this paper, the concept and execution of the first short wavelength infrared (SWIR) time-of-flight (ToF) 3-D camera system operating at a wavelength of 1550 nm is presented. By decoupling the optical and electrical components of the system in an open architecture we not only surpass many of the limitations of an on-chip integrated solution, but also can easily change the imaging device based on the requirements of the application. We achieve modulation frequencies up to 150 MHz, which exceeds the conventional values currently published for other large format modulators by about five times. This increase in the modulation frequency allows for a TOF camera with significantly higher depth resolution, while the open architecture design allows for a highly reconfigurable device that can be modified for specific working conditions.

An open-architecture metal powder bed fusion system for in-situ process measurements

We report the design of a metal powder bed fusion system for in-situ monitoring of the build process during additive manufacture. Its open-architecture design was originally determined to enable access for x-rays to the melt pool, but it also provides access to the build area for a range of other in-situ measurement techniques. The system is sufficiently automated to enable single tracks and high-density, multiple layer components to be built. It is easily transportable to enable measurements at different measurement facilities and its modular design enables straightforward modification for the specific measurements being made. We demonstrate that the system produces components with >99% density. Hence the build conditions are representative to observe process fundamentals and to develop process control strategies.

The preschool bathroom: making ‘problem bodies’ and the limit of the disciplinary regime over children

In this paper we study the effects of power in a bathroom, which is a rarely analysed space in preschools, using empirical examples from a semi-ethnographic study conducted in New South Wales, Australia. We demonstrate that educators’ understanding and practices mostly consider their own positioning in discourses and come short in accounting for children’s practices in and expressed views on the bathroom. Educators also remain distant from children’s bodily experiences. The interplay of the open architectural design of the bathroom space and dominant discourses operating in the preschool constitute some children as ‘problem bodies’ apparently requiring (and justifying) direct intervention. Following this reasoning we argue that the surveillance, regularisation and normalisation in the bathroom is far from total, which leads us to question the adequacy of understanding the bathroom as forming a part of a modern (disciplinary) institution.

A high computational power wireless sensor network for distributed structural health monitoring

This paper presents the design of a wireless sensor network consisting of high computational power sensor nodes to support distributed structural health monitoring. The unique features of the presented sensor nodes are their high computational capability, multi–modality sensing, and combined ability for both active and passive sensing. These embedded computer–based sensor nodes include Linux operating system; integrate with C numerical libraries; embed a mobile agent–based network middleware; and provide web services at sensor node level. The software development of wireless sensor nodes utilises a two–layer approach. The open software architecture design of the upper layer promotes software reuse and speeds up the development cycle by employing available numerical algorithms in open software packages such as CLAPACK and Numerical Recipes in C. Several experimental tests are presented including accelerometer test using a scaled steel bridge, strain gauge measurement on a deflectometer, and relative humidity and temperature tests.

Flexible open architecture design for power system control centers

That the new generation power system control centers need a paradigm shift in their architectural design to meet new challenges, is an established conclusion of many researchers. However, literature on comprehensive architectural design towards this direction is scarce. In this paper, an information architecture design is proposed for the power system control centers. Appropriate adoption of open standards such as the common information model (CIM) is endorsed. Further, initial development of an event information model for modeling high level power system events is mentioned. Proposed architecture focuses on the desired features such as openness, interoperability, flexibility, scalability, vendor independence and event orientation. The architecture comprises services arranged in layers, viz., data integration and access, event processing and plug-in services. The details of this architecture along with the intricate relationships between various layers and services depicting how the technologies could be integrated into a coherent whole are described in this paper. An illustrative example, from the Indian power sector domain has been used to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed architecture.

GEANT4 as a simulation framework in

GEANT4 is a Monte Carlo radiation transport toolkit which includes a complete range of functionalities required to build flexible simulation frameworks. Taking advantage of its open architecture and object-oriented design, we could develop a software suite, able to simulate μSR experiments and instrumentation. The versatility offered by this new tool has permitted us to model the existing instruments, thus allowing a fuller understanding of their operation. It has guided also the design and construction of new types of spectrometers, as those equipped for high-field μSR, where numerical simulations proved decisive in understanding the complex behaviour of the incoming muon beam and of the outgoing positrons in a high magnetic field environment. The developed μSR simulation framework, with its fully flexible and customizable design, will allow potential users not familiar with programming to focus exclusively on physics, by building and running their own applications without the need to modify the source code.

Software integration in national measurement-standards laboratories

The development and integration of measurement-automation applications in a unified software solution is analysed with particular emphasis on national measurement-standards laboratories. Measurement-automation software in a typical measurement laboratory has several applications for data acquisition, data processing, data presentation and data management, which are more or less compatible with each other. The proposed unified solution is based on central database approach. The concept of structurally storing all the data in a single location, where it can be dynamically accessed by all applications, eliminates compatibility issues between applications, introduces inherent data concurrency and through efficient data and program code separation simplifies development and maintenance of the software. The concepts for the implementation of the central database approach, as well as open architecture and efficient modular design of applications are presented. The proposed solutions are determined by the specifics and requirements of national measurement-standards laboratories, such as diversity of measurements and measurement equipment, flexibility, traceability, modularity, reliability and error detection. This is opposed to the calibration software for the commercial laboratories, where the main emphasis is on the calibration throughput in a closed solution calibration system. The implementation of the integrated software solution for measurement-automation has benefits not only in reduced workload, but also in improved insight in the measurement process and data processing, increased reliability of measurement results as a result of reduction of human errors, and the data mining at a higher level.

MapLibrarian—Map Index Querying

MapLibrarian is a digital and online solution for interactive spatial querying and management of map and spatial data collections. MapLibrarian opens access to map collections to a global audience and offers searching services twenty-four hours a day. The MapLibrarian software solution removes the burden of paper-based index maintenance and improves the accuracy of collection inventory data. Built using industry standards and an open-architecture design, MapLibrarian is a unique application of spatial information technology in the traditional world of map collection management.

DIABCARE Quality Network in Europe--a model for quality management in chronic diseases.

The DIABCARE Q-Net project developed a complete and integrated information technology system to monitor diabetes care, according to the gold standards of the St Vincent Declaration Action Program. This is the first Telematic platform for standardized documentation on medical quality and evaluation across Europe, which will serve as a model for other chronic diseases. Quality development starts from the comparison of diabetes services, based on the key data on diabetes care in the basic information sheet. This is a 141 field form, which is to be completed once a year for each patient under the care of the diabetes team. The system performs an analysis of the local data and compares the data with peer teams by means of telecommunication of anonymous data. These data are collected regionally. At the next level these regional data are compared on a national basis across Europe using dedicated communication lines. National data can be compared transnationally by the use of the Internet and the DIABCARE benchmarking servers. These different lines are used according to the necessary security standards. Medical data are transferred via dedicated lines, aggregated data via the Internet. The architecture follows the open-platform concept in order to allow for heterogeneous technical environments. Already at the start of the project, the necessity for expanding the quality approach to telemedicine methodology was identified and included. For each level, specific programs are available to improve the performance of diabetes care delivery: DIABCARE data as client and DIABCARE server as regional and DIABCARE 'international server' as transnational server. Functioning pilots were established across all levels. The clients have been linked to the servers on a routine basis. According to the open architecture design, the various countries decided on different systems at the entry point: full system--Portugal; fax systems--Italy, Bavaria; implementation into doctor's office systems--Norway; paper forms and chip cards--France. This system can improve the local, regional and national diabetes care. Initiatives in several countries proved the feasibility of the system. The most extensive use, from Portugal, will be reported later in this paper. The exploitation of the DIABCARE Q-Net system will be performed with the DIABCARE International European Economic Interest Grouping as a co-ordinator and several commercial companies as contractors to market the products inside the system. The key project participants are: DIABCARE Office EURO, DIABCARE Portugal, DIABCARE France, DIABCARE Bavaria, DIABCARE UK, DIABCARE Netherlands, DIABCARE Norway, DIABCARE Italy, DIABCARE Sweden, DIABCARE Austria, DIABCARE Spain, GSF Research Centre for Health and Environment, FAST Research Institute for Applied Software Technology, Tromsø University Hospital, Stavanger Technical College, Technical University of Ilmenau, World Health Organisation (WHO), Regional Office for Europe.

The distributed mission training integrated threat environment system architecture and design

We describe the architecture, design, components, and functionality of the Distributed Mission Training Integrated Threat Environment (DMTITE) software. The DMTITE architecture and design support the development and run-time operation of computer-generated actors (CGAs) in distributed simulations. The architecture and design employ object-oriented techniques, component software, object frameworks, containerization, and rapid prototyping technologies. The DMTITE architecture and design consist of highly modular components where interdependencies are well defined and minimized. DMTITE is an open architecture and open design, and most component and framework code is open source. The DMTITE architecture and design have been implemented (including all system components and frameworks) and currently support a number of types of computer-generated actors. The DMTITE architecture, design, and implementation are capable of supporting multiple reasoning, vehicle dynamics, skill level, and migration requirements for any type of CGA.

ORCHID: building linguistic resources in Thai

ORCHID (Open linguistic Resources CHanelled toward InterDisciplinary research) is a project aimed at building linguistic resources to support research in, but not limited to, natural language processing. Based on the concept of an open architecture design, the resources must be fully compatible with those which already exist, and software tools must also be made available. This paper describes the construction of a Thai part-of-speech (POS) tagged corpus, a preliminary stage in the construction of a Thai speech corpus. The paper also details the development of a POS tagger to be used in the construction of the POS-tagged corpus. Additionally, we describe a proposal for a new tagset, based on the results of a prior multilingual machine translation project. The corpus is annotated on three levels: paragraph, sentence, and word. Text information is maintained in the form of the text information lines and the number lines, which are both utilized in data retrieval. Finally, we describe a POS neuro tagger, which consists of a three-layer perceptron with elastic input. Computer experiments show that the neuro tagger has an accuracy of 94.4 per cent for tagging ambiguous words when tested on a small Thai training corpus containing 22,311 ambiguous words. A series of comparative experiments further show that the neuro tagger is superior to the statistical models including the frequency model (a baseline model), local n-gram model, and HMM (Hidden Markov Model).

A multi-agent system for computer science education

In this paper, we present a multi-agent system for supporting student-centered, self-paced, and highly interactive learning in undergraduate computer science education. The system is based on a hybrid problem-based and case-based learning model, for both creative problem solving and mechanical experience simulation. It aims at enhancing the effectiveness of the undergraduate learning experience in computer science. Implemented using the prevalent Internet, Web, and digital library technologies, the system adopts an open architecture design and targets at large-scale, distributed operations. In the initial implementation of the system, a number of prototypes using different Java-based software environments have been developed. They offer tradeoffs in system performance and design complexity.

Building a Thai part-of-speech tagged corpus (ORCHID).

ORCHID (Open linguistic Resources CHanelled toward InterDisciplinary research) is an initiative project aimed at building linguistic resources to support research in, but not limited to, natural language processing. Based on the concept of an open architecture design, the resources must be fully compatible with similar resources, and software tools must also be made available. This paper presents one result of the project, the construction of a Thai part-of-speech (POS) tagged corpus, which is a preliminary stage in the construction of a Thai speech corpus. The POS-tagged corpus is the result of collaborative research between the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) in Japan and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) in Thailand, with technical support from the Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) in Japan. In this paper, we propose a new tagset, based on the results of a prior multilingual machine translation project. The corpus is annotated on three levels: the paragraph, sentence, and word levels. Text information is maintained in the form of the text information lines and the number lines, which are both utilized in data retrieval. Both word segmentation and POS tagging were carried out by way of a probabilistic trigram model. Rules for syllable demarkation were additionally used to reduce the number of candidates in computing tagging probabilities