Design Process Research Articles

Oswald Mathias Ungers and Sol LeWitt: Variations

One of the fundamentals of Oswald Mathias Ungers work is the definition of a new unity between art and architecture. What this investigation is focused on is the identification of the intersection point between art and architecture, considering the project for the Entrance to the Kaiserthermen in Trier (2003-2007) as case study, revealing the system of theoretical, methodological and compositional correspondences. Plastic art is Ungers' main interlocutor: one of the author's most important references is Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), an artist he admired and collected. Setting the work of Oswald Mathias Unger and Sol LeWitt side by side, offers the opportunity to underline the shared interpretation that the two authors have of the world of forms postulated by Henri Focillon (1881-1943) in Life of Forms, according to which form, autonomous with respect to time and place, has its own universe, governed by its own laws, space and matter. According to these premises, we propose to read Trier's building through the instruments of art, following the hypothesis that in this project art embodies a creative and positive component in the definition of architecture, a cultural stimulus that guides the author in the design process.

Feelings and Physics: Emotional, Psychological, and Other Soft Human Requirements, by Model‐Based Systems Engineering

ABSTRACTTraditionally, engineering encourages requirements statements that are objective, testable, quantitative, atomic descriptions of system technical behavior. But what about “soft” requirements? When products deliver psychologically or emotionally based human experiences, subjective descriptions may frustrate engineers. This challenge is important for products appealing to senses of style, enjoyment, fulfillment, stimulation, power, safety, awareness, comfort, or similar emotional or psychological factors. Automobiles, buildings, consumer products, packaging, graphic user interfaces, airline passenger compartments and flight decks, and hospital equipment provide typical examples. This paper shows how model‐based systems engineering helps solve three related problems: (1) integrating models of “soft” human experience with hard technical product requirements, (2) describing how to score traditional “hard” technology products in terms of “fuzzier” business and competitive marketplace issues, and (3) coordinating marketing communication and promotion with the design process. The resulting framework integrates the diverse perspectives of engineers, stylists, industrial designers, human factors experts, and marketing professionals.

INTEGRATION OF DIGITAL FABRICATION LABORATORIES AND COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN INTO THE ARCHITECTURE CURRICULUM IN TÜRKİYE

The discipline of architecture undergoes transformation practically, cognitively, and pedagogically due to the widespread use of digital design and fabrication technologies in design processes. This paper aims to eluctade the integration of digital fabrication and computational design with architectural design education at undergraduate level. For this purpose, this study examined the undergraduate course contents and spatial conditions of leading universities with digital fabrication laboratories under three headings: digital design, digital fabrication, and spatial reflections. In addition, this research applied semi-structured interviews with the relevant faculty members of three universities that have robotic tools to obtain more detailed information about their pedagogical approaches. According to this study, the curriculum and laboratories are rapidly changing. As a result, architecture departments are expanding their facilities by building laboratories and tools that have the potential for architectural education to fill the gap between practice and theory. However, there are economic limitations to implementing digital fabrication technologies in terms of the tools and materials used by hundreds of students. This research discusses the requirements, potentials, and limitations of theoretical and practical training through digital fabrication tools that should be included in these courses in the curriculum.

Snap-through and indirect reduced-order modelling

Snap-through is a nonlinear jump phenomenon that is increasingly being designed into engineering structures. The rich and varied dynamics of snap-through present a significant bottleneck in the design process as costly dynamic simulations are required to ensure predictable behaviour. The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of a recent projection-based, reduced-order modelling technique, namely, implicit condensation and expansion with inertial compensation, to reproduce the snap-through behaviours found in bistable finite element systems in analogous models with minimal degrees of freedom. In this work, the free response of a simple mass-spring oscillator is used to differentiate different types of snap-through. This provides a framework for discussing the dynamics of a family of buckled beams. The ability of the reduced-order models to faithfully reproduce these dynamics is investigated by testing the existence and stability of predicted periodic orbits. It is shown that the minimum projection basis required to capture snap-through accurately can be found through considering the minimum energy required for different types of snap-through. For bistable beams, this can be further simplified to just requiring an eigenvalue analysis at the most unstable equilibrium.

Integration of structural designers workflows into BIM

BIM has revolutionized architectural design workflows. In this process, the work of structural engineers is based on the work of many other disciplines, and their decisions are input data for them. However, these data are not always provided in a structured form. Live load and composite load values are typically such data, which may change very frequently during the design process. This research explores BIM-based tools for interdisciplinary collaboration between architectural and structural disciplines, focusing on managing design changes. In this article, automatic load definition possibilities were explored and adapted to the BIM methodology by using Archicad, Revit and Allplan. The software options and their logic differed greatly, but the principled methodology can be applied in each case. It was demonstrated that by linking the database-based load values to the model, the load cases can be generated more or less automatically for which the structural analysis can be run.

Design of a Contactless Inductive Flow Tomography system for a large Rayleigh-Bénard convection cell with aspect ratio [formula omitted]

Contactless inductive flow tomography (CIFT) is a flow measurement technique that is able to reconstruct the time-dependent three-dimensional velocity field in electrically conducting fluids, e.g., liquid metals, from magnetic field measurements. The paper describes the design of a specific CIFT measurement set-up for flow studies in liquid metal Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) in a large cylinder of aspect ratio (diameter/height) of Γ=0.5 filled with the ternary alloy GaInSn as model fluid. An optimized configuration for the CIFT excitation system and magnetic field sensor layout under consideration of the specific requirements for the application in turbulent RBC is determined by numerical simulations. The new experimental CIFT-RBC system resulting from the design process is constructed and a preliminary experiment at a Rayleigh number of Ra=2.13×107 and a Prandtl number of Pr=0.03 is performed and evaluated.

Designing spongy-bone-like cellular materials: Matched topology and anisotropy

Bone is a natural material with properties such as high specific stiffness and strength. These exceptional mechanical properties are attributed to the meso-scale structure and elastic anisotropy of spongy bone. Replicating the topological traits and mechanical properties of spongy bone presents a novel opportunity to develop high-performance cellular materials. To achieve this, we propose an innovative framework for designing biomimetic cellular materials that match the trabecular structure and elastic anisotropy of spongy bone. This framework introduces a forward-flow design process that utilizes gradient-based feature tuning on a low-dimensional feature vector, transforming the complex inverse design problem into an efficient iterative process. A key innovation in our approach is the use of a pre-trained generative model, SliceGAN, to reconstruct 3D unit cells from 2D micro-CT images. This significantly reduces the cost and time associated with traditional layer-by-layer CT scans typically required for 3D training data. Numerical homogenization is then used to determine the effective elastic stiffness matrix, and a Fourier neural operator is trained to predict these matrices efficiently, greatly enhancing the computational efficiency of the design process. Using this framework, we successfully designed unit cells with topological traits and elastic anisotropy that closely approximate those of natural spongy bone. This opens new avenues for developing spongy-bone-mimetic cellular materials with exceptional mechanical properties. Moreover, the framework's versatility allows it to be extended to the design of other bio-inspired cellular materials.

Swarm electrification for Raqaypampa: Impact of different battery control setpoints on energy sharing in interconnected solar homes systems

In rural electrification, decentralized systems have proven to bring fast, affordable, and sustainable electricity supply for the last mile of energy access. Especially, solar home systems (SHS) have lately increased in number and impact. Recently, a new concept promises even better utilization of SHS and the potential for higher access to electricity. This concept is found under the name of swarm electrification, also known as interconnected SHS, nanogrids, or decentralized DC systems in rural areas. This paper studies the benefits of such interconnected SHS for a case study in the indigenous rural Highlands of Bolivia, an area called Raqaypampa. Our study emphasizes analyzing the energy sharing setpoints for the decentralized battery control and how the choice of these values influences energy distribution in the community. We draw concepts of energy justice into our discussion to evaluate different combinations of battery state of charge setpoints. Our study finds four types of households in Raqaypampa based on their demand for electricity. The modeled and simulated results of a potential energy sharing through interconnected SHS reveal three outcomes for the households based on the battery state of charge setpoints: Outcome I - Improving households, Outcome II - Depending households, and Outcome III - Deteriorating households. We conclude that a common approach of e.g. minimization of total unmet demand alone will not necessarily lead to just energy distribution, and it is crucial to integrate discussions about justice and community goals into the design process from the beginning.

The In vitro evaluation of in silico-designed synthetic peptides AKVUAM-1 and AKVUAM-2 on human lung fibroblast cell line MRC5 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates

Tuberculosis is a major global health problem caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the increase in drug resistance is driving the need for new treatments. Today, various approaches are being applied in the development of drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis. Computer-aided drug design (CADD) enables the prediction of pharmacological efficacy for potential drug molecules during the design process. Thus, new therapeutic compounds can be developed that are more potent, less toxic and have fewer side effects than existing drugs. In this study, we investigated the in vitro activities of AKVUAM-1 and AKVUAM-2 synthetic peptides designed in silico by computer-aided drug design method to inhibit the interaction between M. tuberculosis outer membrane protein Cpn T and macrophage surface receptor CR-1 and Surfactant D protein. Notably, these synthetic peptides do not show cytotoxic effect on normal lung tissue and do not kill M. tuberculosis directly. The MIC values for AKVUAM-1 were higher than 512 μg/ml for all bacterial strains except IST-16 strain (128 μg/ml). According to our results, AKVUAM-1 and AKVUAM-2 synthetic peptides have the potential to be successful candidates for investigating their potential to block macrophage entry of bacilli as targeted.

The Arena Liga Portugal: aiming for SMART design

The new Portuguese Football League headquarters – Arena Liga Portugal – is a high-profile, prestigious project located in the city of Porto. LAIII was presented with a brief to deliver the architectural vision of a 'floating' cube against a challenging programme, incorporating a diverse range of uses, including office space, auditorium, museum, sports hall, and a vast green podium. The result is a striking head office whose structural design, detailing and complexity are masked by the simplicity of its concept. As engineers, we see ourselves as more than just designers. We believe true value can only be delivered if we share common drivers with other stakeholders and work together to create answers that balance our overall goals, to arrive at the most suitable solutions possible. Throughout the design process, our main goal was to ensure we reached a cost-effective solution for Arena Liga Portugal, by balancing design drivers; in particular, we sought to avoid jeopardising the project vision in any way. This mindset was particularly important during the early stages of the design process. At this point, not only are the opportunities to create an impact the greatest, and the ideas the most abundant, but the exploration of these is the most rewarding. The challenge was to find the 'best' design options for the project. The best structural design is something that is very difficult to define and achieve, since every stakeholder has its own definition of 'best'. Some might define it as the most efficient in terms of cost and time/programme, while others judge it in terms of performance or sustainability credentials. There is not a single correct definition. The best solution is the one that gathers the most value among all the stakeholders for a given project. The entire building aims to be a fluid and open space, with strong links to the city and the local community. Arena Liga Portugal HQ will be an urban beacon, visible day and night. Expected to be completed by the end of 2024 as a landmark institutional building that is simultaneously a sports, cultural and leisure facility. it will raise the profile of an area of the city that is sometimes forgotten.

Study on flow characteristics and structural properties of vertical axial pump with low guide vane height

Abstract With the full construction of the South to North Water Diversion Project and the renovation of pumping stations, vertical axial flow pump devices have been widely used in various pumping station projects. This article uses the streamlined method to design the impeller and guide vanes of a vertical axial flow pump device. To analyze the hydraulic and structural characteristics, this paper uses CFD numerical simulation and fluid-structure interaction calculation methods. And the trend of output power change under different flow conditions was divided into three stages, elucidating the reasons for the sudden change in output power under flow conditions of 0.8Q-1.0Q. This article focuses on analyzing the internal flow state of the designed lower height guide vane segment to explore the problem of low guide vane height that is prone to occur during the design process. According to the research results, it is found that the lower height guide vane can also play a good role in stabilizing flow and recovering circulation under certain operating conditions. This article also studied the structural characteristics of the impeller and guide vanes, explaining the stress and strain distribution under design flow conditions.

Exploring the relationship of building area and GHGe: a mitigation strategy?

Abstract Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) from new constructions must be reduced to address the climate change crisis. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely applied to document the environmental impacts of buildings, often reporting results by dividing the total emissions over the measured building area, such as the gross floor area. The appropriateness of this approach has been debated in the building LCA research community and the construction industry, with concerns about the potential consequence of designing larger buildings to reduce emissions over the buildings’ life cycle and if this entails easier compliance with limit values in regulations. With a large collection of 291 case studies divided into four weight categories, potential correlations between constructing larger areas and GHGe are explored by fitting linear models. The results show that theoretically, GHGe reported per area can be decreased due to increased building area. However, this requires significant increases in area, which realistically results in increased costs, resource use, and related environmental impacts, which is not feasible. Therefore, the findings do not support the notion that interpreting LCA results per square meter encourages the enlargement of buildings to reduce emissions over their life cycle. It should be noted that the study’s conclusions are drawn from the end results of individual LCAs. The potential decrease in GHGe by enlarging the building area during the design process is not possible to derive without involving stakeholders. Thus, this study underlines the need for future research to achieve a nuanced relationship between building size, design choices, and environmental impacts.

On-chip Wi-Fi filter with FBW of 16.3 % and IL of 1.8 dB using novel T-type transmission zeros structure

A novel T-type topology is proposed for the first time to generate a pair of transmission zeros (TZs), enabling a wide range of resistive band rejection within a specific range. The working mechanism is elucidated through its even- and odd-mode equivalent circuits, and the design process is outlined. Moreover, an enhanced third-order high-pass filter is integrated with the T-type circuit to form a bandpass filter (BPF). This proposed BPF is fabricated using on-chip integrated passive device (IPD) technology. The measured and simulated results confirm its performance. Notably, the proposed IPD BPF has fractional bandwidth (FBW) of only 16.3 % and an insertion loss (IL) of 1.8 dB within the passband, thereby making it promising for narrowband applications. In addition, its compact size makes it suitable for Wi-Fi applications.

How does Building Information Modeling influence decision-making process in the project design? Input, decision and output analysis.

Decision-making is critical throughout the entire project cycle, particularly during the project design stage, where the detailed concept is developed based on stakeholders’ requirements and project constraints. To improve project design, various digital technologies are employed to provide stakeholders with comprehensive data for informed decision-making. The paper aims to understand how BIM influence the decision-making process – input, decision and output - during the project design. More specifically, we aim to answer the following question: which decision-making challenges could restrict BIM benefits during the project design stage? Utilizing two embedded case studies and a focus group, we explore the perceived benefits and challenges of BIM in decision-making among project actors. This research contributes to the field of digital technologies in project management by highlighting specific benefits and challenges, such as decision validation and the transformation of decision makers’ roles. Our findings illustrate the interconnected nature of these benefits and challenges through the Input-Process-Output model. We specifically emphasize that the advantages of BIM in the decision-making process can be significantly affected if project organizations do not adapt the roles and competencies of decision makers to effectively utilize BIM. The use of BIM therefore brings novel decision-making challenges, which are presented in the discussion.

INVESTIGATION OF TYPOGRAPHY USE AND FONT DESIGN IN VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENT

Thanks to developing technology, the use of virtual reality has become increasingly widespread. With the widespread use of virtual reality, design in virtual reality has become increasingly important. One of the design elements that should be considered in the virtual reality environment is typography. Different design and production processes have occurred in the use of typography in the virtual reality environment. Nowadays, typography can be used more uniquely in different forms in virtual reality environments. This article focuses on the relationship between virtual reality and typography, one of the new medium that emerged with the development of technology. This article is a qualitative study and the usage of typography in the virtual reality environment is examined. Based on the reviews, a font design was created. The project produced was produced as an example project for the use of the font in the virtual reality environment.

Optical pump magnetometers parametric correction method based on three-axis coil arrays

Optical pump magnetometers (OPMs), based on the SERF principle, are increasingly prevalent in biomagnetic field detection and localization studies. However, cross-axis crosstalk is an unavoidable consequence of the non-ideal factors introduced during the development of the sensor array, whether during the initial design or manufacturing process. This study introduce a novel method to compensate for cross-axis crosstalk by a set of three-axis coils.The gain matrix of each sensor in an OPM array is calibrated by the magnetic field generated by the activation of the three-axis coils. The results showed that the correlation coefficients between the corrected coil distribution field measurements and the true values improved substantially, exceeding 0.99. Similarly, the similarity between the forward-field simulation and the measured results for the localization of a physical model of a current dipole improved significantly, from 0.78 to 0.96. This work presents the first report of the simultaneous calibration of a large OPM array comprising 64 OPMs. The suppression of cross-axis crosstalk errors improves the sensor measurement accuracy and the consistency of the array. This method is expected to further improve the accuracy of OPM array-based source localization.

Empowering decentralized production: A distributed manufacturing system for additive manufacturing processes

This work presents a pilot distributed manufacturing system for decentralized additive manufacturing, focusing on the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems (ICAMS) capabilities at Auburn University. The paper outlines the first phase of a multi-phase implementation plan and demonstrates the developed capabilities. The vision is to coordinate geographically separated manufacturing facilities as a cohesive unit. In our work, we prioritize instantaneous communication for file and information sharing. The Manufacturing Hub and Remote Cell, two facilities within driving distance, are coordinated in terms of part design, printing, and inspection procedures for a distributed Additive Manufacturing process. To enable coordination between the two facilities, ICAMS addresses three technological needs. These needs consider information sharing, process standardization, and data collection and monitoring. A network attached storage facilitates information sharing, a database-connected graphical user interface streamlines and standardizes the manufacturing process, and a data collection system facilitates process monitoring. The graphical user interface allows for order placement, progress monitoring, and communication updates. The developed phased plan, collaborative workflow, technological solutions, and production protocols demonstrate the potential for decentralized additive manufacturing. Successful integration of communication, design, printing, and quality assurance processes sets the foundation for future advancements in decentralized manufacturing systems.

Accurate solar radiation site adaptation: Harnessing satellite data and in situ measurements

Accurate solar radiation data are essential to optimize solar energy systems and assess their feasibility. In this study, we propose a site-adaptation procedure based on a machine learning model trained to enhance the accuracy of solar radiation data using a combination of the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) and in situ data collected in southern Colombia. The NSRDB provides high temporal and spatial resolution data, while in situ data offer accurate localized measurements specific to the study area. Our machine learning models were trained to learn the relationships between NSRDB data and in situ meteorological station data. The results demonstrate promising predictive capabilities, with the extreme grading boosting model effectively reducing mean absolute error, while a neural network model trained with the triplet loss function proved effective in minimizing mean bias error (MBE) and improving correlation between model-adjusted and in situ collected data. These findings make significant contributions to the field of solar radiation prediction, highlighting the effectiveness of amalgamating NSRDB and in situ data for precise solar radiation estimation, and promote the advancement of solar energy system design and decision-making processes.

Describing Qualitative Research in ASIS&T Publications, 2018–2022

ABSTRACTThe Information Science/LIS research community welcomes research across the methodological spectrum, including qualitative methods featuring human subject research. This poster presents the research design and data collection process for an exploratory study examining qualitative research published as both long and short papers in ASIS&T Annual Meeting proceedings from 2018–2022.

Label-Free Detection of Programmed Death-Ligand 1 for Prognosis Using a Truncated Aptamer and SYBR Green I.

The rapid and accurate detection of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression is of great value in the diagnosis and treatment of tumors. ELISA-based traditional method is the gold standard for protein detection, but there are still some shortcomings, especially the antigen-antibody dependence, greatly increased the detection time and cost. This work constructed a label-free fluorescent probe for rapid and sensitive detection of PD-L1 using a truncated aptamer as recognition molecules and double-stranded DNA specific dyes (SYBR Green I) as signal units. After a series of optimization conditions, this probe has good detection capability for PD-L1 in buffer solution with the detection limit as low as 0.68 ng/mL. Due to the specific recognition ability of aptamer and target, this method also has good selectivity for PD-L1 detection. The recovery of PD-L1 in human serum samples ranges from 86.20 to 96.36%. Compared with other methods, this strategy does not need to be marked, and does not need other complex design and purification process, but simple operation process and strong anti-interference ability. The whole detection process can be completed within 20min and has good application prospect. This work will provide reference for drug dosage and prognosis evaluation of specific tumor therapy.