Prototyping Methodology Research Articles

Adaptation patterns as a conceptual tool for designing the adaptive operation of CSCL systems

While adaptive collaboration support has become the focus of increasingly intense research efforts in the CSCL domain, scarce, however, remain the research-based evidence on pedagogically useful ideas on what and how to adapt during the collaborative learning activity. Based principally on two studies, this work presents a compilation of adaptation patterns, which offer the basis for designing the adaptive operation of a CSCL system. In the first study 12 postgraduate students were engaged in a pyramid-type scripted collaborative activity, while in the second study 36 undergraduate students worked in dyads, being adaptively supported by domain-specific prompts in the LAMS environment. The analysis of the learning experiences provided the basis for identifying a number of possible adaptation patterns. An adaptation pattern is described as a pedagogically useful and well-targeted adjustment process that can be initiated by the teacher or the CSCL system, in order to foster an improved learning setting when specific conditions occur during the collaborative learning activity. This pattern-based approach is presented within the notion of adaptive collaboration support. Adaptive collaboration support systems model various entities and processes of the collaborative activity to adaptively support students during run time, in order to provide enhanced learning experiences. Additionally, a prototype methodology (DeACS) is suggested for identifying and evaluating useful adaptation patterns for possible implementation in CSCL systems.

Fabless Prototyping Methodology for the Development of SOI based MEMS Microgripper

In this paper, Fabless Prototyping Methodology is introduced for the design and analysis of MEMS devi ces. Conventionally Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is performed before system level simulation. In our proposed methodology, system level simulation is performed earlier than FEA as it is c omputationally less extensive and low cost. System level simulations ar e based on equivalent behavioral models of MEMS device. Electrostatic actuation based MEMS Microgripper is chosen as case study to implement this methodology. This paper addresses th e behavioral model development and simulation of actuator part of an electrostatically actuated Microgripper. Simulation results show that the actuator part of Microgripper works efficiently for a voltage range of 0-45V with the corresponding jaw displacement of 0-4.5425µm. With some minor changes in design, this range can b e enhanced to 15µm at 85V. level while at system level, constituent components of the MEMS are integrated to study the dynamic behavior of the complete system under the given operating conditions (1)-(2). Process level is rigorously related to fabrication process simulation. The 3D model of a MEMS device can be generated by using a process definition, an associa ted material properties database and a designer created 2D layou t. Process level is necessary to proceed ahead to physical lev el simulation. ANSYS, COMSOL, CoventorWare Analyzer based on Finite Element Methods (FEM) are usually used at physical level to find the 3D solution. These simul ations take very long time to execute even in days and weeks. T his elongates the design cycle time and increases compu tational cost. Reduce Order Modeling (ROM) can be used to overcome above mentioned problems (3)-(4) but optimization at device

Basic tuning of hydrogen powered car and artificial intelligent prediction of hydrogen engine characteristics

Many studies of renewable energy have shown hydrogen is one of the major green energy in the future. This has lead to the development of many automotive application of using hydrogen as a fuel especially in internal combustion engine. Nonetheless, there has been a slow growth and less knowledge details in building up the prototype and control methodology of the hydrogen internal combustion engine [1]. In this paper, The Toyota Corolla 4 cylinder, 1.8l engine running on petrol was systematically modified in such a way that it could be operated on either gasoline or hydrogen at the choice of the driver. Within the scope of this project, several ancillary instruments such as a new inlet manifold, hydrogen fuel injection, storage system and leak detection safety system were implemented. Attention is directed towards special characteristics related to the basic tuning of hydrogen engine such as: air to fuel ratio operating conditions, ignition timing and injection timing in terms of different engine speed and throttle position. Based on the experimental data, a suite of neural network models were tested to accurately predict the effect of different engine operating conditions (speed and throttle position) on the hydrogen powered car engine characteristics. Predictions were found to be ±3% to the experimental values for all of case studies. This work provided better understanding of the effect of hydrogen engine characteristic parameters on different engine operating conditions.

Template for a system design file using OODPM version 2010

Object Oriented Design by Prototype Methodology (OODPM) inte-grates two known technologies: the object approach and the prototype concept. Object oriented methodology is used for internal system de-sign, and prototype methodology is used for external system design. This document is a template for a system design file using OODPM version 2010 (titles of paragraphs only). For full explanations for each paragraph look at [1]. This version developed after tens of projects that developed and plan using 5.1 version in a very vast projects for national information systems. This version companion by "User Guide OODPM Methodology for Planning Information Systems Version 2010" -- meanwhile only in Hebrew.

Experiment-based prototyping to design and assess cotton management systems in West Africa

Designing innovative combinations of techniques to improve the sustainability of cropping systems in poor countries is a major challenge. Here, we developed a prototyping methodology to design, assess and adapt a crop management system for a specific set of constraints. It was applied in Mali with the aim of designing innovative prototypes of cotton management systems to be further tested and adapted by farmers. The prototype aimed at shortening the cotton cycle to overlap the rainy season. The prototype is particularly suited for late sowing and for regions where rainfall is often insufficient. We propose a conceptual model that organizes technical interventions to shorten the cotton cycle. We developed a set of indicators to evaluate the relevance of each modified technical intervention, by comparison with current farmer practices. We evaluated the overall performances of the prototype by taking into account economic, environmental and social factors. The prototype was tested and adjusted in six trials between 2002 and 2004. Our results show that the cotton growth cycle was reduced by 15 days on average, mainly through the shortening of the flowering period. The combination of much higher stand density than currently applied in the region and application of the growth regulator mepiquat chloride produced a much higher number of bolls per hectare of +69%. The prototype produced higher seed-cotton yields, of +44% on average, and much higher gross margin than the standard cotton management system. The method was therefore successful in designing a new cotton management system that helps farmers to adapt to diverse cropping conditions.

Knowledge-Based Integration Between Virtual and Physical Prototyping for Identifying Behavioral Constraints of Embedded Real-Time Systems

Rapid prototyping methods are in need of autonomous decision making and analysis during the product development stages so that the ldquotime-to-marketrdquo can be reduced faster than traditional product development methodologies. Therefore, new methods of prototyping are inevitably essential. This paper proposes an approach to utilize the benefits of virtual prototyping (VP) and physical prototyping (PP) methodologies by integrating them into knowledge-based systems (KBSs) by providing seamless connection. This approach is termed autonomous integrated prototyping. The main contribution of this paper is the development of an intelligent system architecture to facilitate and guide the product development autonomously and simultaneously in both VP and PP environments. The seamless connection between VP and PP, along with KBSs, enables the exploration of new behaviors of developing systems and analyzing different behaviors. The architecture is applicable to embedded real-time systems (ERTSs), sensor applications, robotics, and ubiquitous applications where system interaction with the external environment is necessary.

The carbon emissions of selected airlines and aircraft types in three geographic markets

Various carbon calculators developed by airlines and carbon offset companies have become available since the environmental impact of the air transport industry started to receive strong attention. This paper details a prototype methodology for carbon calculation emission levels in the three air transport markets; the UK domestic routes, the intra-EU routes serving UK and the North Atlantic routes that enables the assessment of key environmental performance differences between air carriers whereas they would be measured as identical using the often used DEFRA-type measurement approach. The results show differences in airlines' strategies such as aircraft type used, load factors and seat configurations.

Targets of commitment in service provider‐consumer relationships: a prototyping study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the question of whether or not there are three distinct targets of commitment in consumers' relationships with their service providers; commitment to the service company, commitment to the individual service provider, and commitment to the individual provider as a friend or acquaintance.Design/methodology/approachInitial theories regarding targets of commitment in service relationships are developed with reference to the literature in psychology, organizational behavior, and marketing. Exploratory research into the commitment construct in service relationships is conducted using a prototyping approach. The prototyping approach involves the exploration of natural language concepts including the identification of a concept's attributes, and the concept's relationship to other concepts.FindingsThe results of the prototyping analysis give us preliminary evidence to suggest that that the three targets of commitment while related, are independent. Each target of commitment has a number of unique and central attributes.Originality/valueCommitment is an important variable in the study of relationship marketing; however, in most marketing studies, the target of a customer's commitment is not clearly defined, nor have potential differences between various targets of commitment been fully explored. This research highlights the fact that relationship commitment is a multi‐level variable. In addition, this research demonstrates the effectiveness of the prototyping methodology in the exploration of abstract concepts and the relationship between them.

Automated Identification of Diagnosis and Co-morbidity in Clinical Records

Automated understanding of clinical records is a challenging task involving various legal and technical difficulties. Clinical free text is inherently redundant, unstructured, and full of acronyms, abbreviations and domain-specific language which make it challenging to mine automatically. There is much effort in the field focused on creating specialized ontology, lexicons and heuristics based on expert knowledge of the domain. However, ad-hoc solutions poorly generalize across diseases or diagnoses. This paper presents a successful approach for a rapid prototyping of a diagnosis classifier based on a popular computational linguistics platform. The corpus consists of several hundred of full length discharge summaries provided by Partners Healthcare. The goal is to identify a diagnosis and assign co-morbidi-ty. Our approach is based on the rapid implementation of a logistic regression classifier using an existing toolkit: LingPipe (http://alias-i.com/lingpipe). We implement and compare three different classifiers. The baseline approach uses character 5-grams as features. The second approach uses a bag-of-words representation enriched with a small additional set of features. The third approach reduces a feature set to the most informative features according to the information content. The proposed systems achieve high performance (average F-micro 0.92) for the task. We discuss the relative merit of the three classifiers. Supplementary material with detailed results is available at: http:// decsai.ugr.es/~ccano/LR/supplementary_ material/ We show that our methodology for rapid prototyping of a domain-unaware system is effective for building an accurate classifier for clinical records.

Commentary on Sprock and Fredendall's (2008), “Comparison of Prototypic Cases of Depressive Personality Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder”

AbstractIn this commentary, the author discusses the merits and contributions of Sprock and Fredendall's (2008) study of depressive personality and dysthymia using a prototype methodology with experienced clinicians. Their article demonstrates the difficulty in differentiating depressive personality disorder from dysthymia, though it seems to raise even more salient questions about the current ways by which personality disorders are assessed and diagnosed. In light of these findings, the author offers some ways by which personality disorder assessment could be improved. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 64:1–5, 2008.

Prototypes and personal templates: Collective wisdom and individual differences.

This article concerns individual differences in the associative meaning of psychological concepts. Associative meaning may be assessed with prototype methodology, which yields a list of features of the concept ordered according to their rated importance. Our theory concerns individual differences in a concept's associative meaning: A personal template reveals a person's idiosyncratic associative meaning. It is possible to assess the degree to which a personal template matches the corresponding prototype. The theory distinguishes among three types of concepts. One type, for example, specifies a particular behavior to be predicted, for example, a person who is likely to commit suicide, and features of the prototype would include predictors of suicidal behavior. According to the theory, the most prototypical features are (under specifiable conditions) valid predictors, and people with a strong template-to-prototype match possess more valid knowledge about the concept than do people with a weak template-to-prototype match. Other types of concepts cannot be validated (e.g., those describing subjective experiences). In that case, a strong template-to-prototype match does not reflect a person's degree of valid knowledge. The authors provide three applications of the theory.

Can I count on you to be there for me? Individual differences in a knowledge structure.

In Study 1, the authors applied the prototype methodology to identify indicators that people use to predict whether a potential partner will "be there" for them at future times of stress. Using these indicators, the authors constructed a new type of measure of individual differences, the Knowledge of Indicators (KNOWI) Scale. It assesses knowledge of indicators that lead to an expectation that a partner will be there when needed. This measure applies signal detection methods to assess each participant's ability to discriminate good from poor indicators. Two studies showed that the KNOWI Scale predicts performance on two laboratory tasks. In Study 2, participants interacted with a confederate who described a problem revealing subtle cues that another person will not be there when needed. High-scoring participants on the KNOWI Scale recognized the cues more readily. In Study 3, participants read stories about spouses that portrayed a "secure base script." They then read stories about the interaction of inanimate objects and judged which story best matched the human story. High-scoring participants on the KNOWI Scale made more correct matches. In Study 4, the KNOWI Scale was shown to possess convergent and discriminant validity.

English

Digital geospatial data describing past, present, and proposed coal mining operations can provide significant benefits to government agencies, business interests, and the public when planning land use activities in coal- bearing areas of the nation. In September 2005, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) established the National Coal Mining Geospatial Committee (NCMGC) to promote the use of geospatial technology for implementing the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). The NCMGC is supported by OSM's Technical Innovation and Professional Services (TIPS) program and operates as a partnership between OSM and the states authorized to implement SMCRA. Committee members represent the geospatial technology interests of the states, tribes, and OSM offices. SMCRA organizations with representation in the NCMGC include the Interstate Mining Compact Commission (IMCC), National Association of Abandoned Mine Lands Programs (NAAMLP), and the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB). In June 2006, the NCMGC hosted the first National Meeting of SMCRA Geospatial Data Stewards in Denver, CO. These stewards are designated by each state/tribe regulatory and/or AML program to represent their geospatial technology interests and provide national coordination. Meeting accomplishments included identifying local needs for advancing use of geospatial data; identifying goals within organizations to obtain and use geospatial data; and identifying NCMGC activities at a national level to advance the use of geospatial technology within SMCRA organizations. The stewards approved development of the first two national coal mining data layers: coal surface mining boundaries and coal underground mining boundaries. The NCMGC formed a Coal Mining Spatial Data Standards ASTM Task Group to establish voluntary standards for these two layers. The NCMGC also created a Coal Mining Spatial Data Infrastructure Team to prototype methodology to collect selected coal mining datasets contributed by each participating state/tribe. These data will be assembled into national datasets for use in SMCRA business processes and distribution to the nation. Automation, reuse, and dissemination of coal mining geospatial data will bring multiple benefits to government, the coal mining industry, other business interests, academia, and the public. These benefits will include improved regulation of active coal mining operations, more successful reclamation of abandoned mine lands, and better public policy at local, state, and national levels.

Using Patient Care Quality Measures to Assess Educational Outcomes

ObjectivesTo report the results of a project designed to develop and implement a prototype methodology for identifying candidate patient care quality measures for potential use in assessing the outcomes and effectiveness of graduate medical education in emergency medicine. MethodsA workgroup composed of experts in emergency medicine residency education and patient care quality measurement was convened. Workgroup members performed a modified Delphi process that included iterative review of potential measures; individual expert rating of the measures on four dimensions, including measures quality of care and educational effectiveness; development of consensus on measures to be retained; external stakeholder rating of measures followed by a final workgroup review; and a post hoc stratification of measures. The workgroup completed a structured exercise to examine the linkage of patient care process and outcome measures to educational effectiveness. ResultsThe workgroup selected 62 measures for inclusion in its final set, including 43 measures for 21 clinical conditions, eight medication measures, seven measures for procedures, and four measures for department efficiency. Twenty-six measures met the more stringent criteria applied post hoc to further stratify and prioritize measures for development. Nineteen of these measures received high ratings from 75% of the workgroup and external stakeholder raters on importance for care in the ED, measures quality of care, and measures educational effectiveness; the majority of the raters considered these indicators feasible to measure. The workgroup utilized a simple framework for exploring the relationship of residency program educational activities, competencies from the six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education general competency domains, patient care quality measures, and external factors that could intervene to affect care quality. ConclusionsNumerous patient care quality measures have potential for use in assessing the educational effectiveness and performance of graduate medical education programs in emergency medicine. The measures identified in this report can be used as a starter set for further development, implementation, and study. Implementation of the measures, especially for high-stakes use, will require resolution of significant measurement issues.

Environmental Detectives—the development of an augmented reality platform for environmental simulations

The form factors of handheld computers make them increasingly popular among K-12 educators. Although some compelling examples of educational software for handhelds exist, we believe that the potential of this platform are just being discovered. This paper reviews innovative applications for mobile computing for both education and entertainment purposes, and then proposes a framework for approaching handheld applications we call “augmented reality educational gaming.” We then describe our development process in creating a development platform for augmented reality games that draws from rapid prototyping, learner-centered software, and contemporary game design methodologies. We provide a narrative case study of our development activities spread across five case studies with classrooms, and provide a design narrative explaining this development process and articulate an approach to designing educational software on emerging technology platforms. Pedagogical, design, and technical conclusions and implications are discussed.

MAGIC-HAND: A bottle and jar opening machine for people with severe disabilities

This paper describes the development of a prototype product named MAGIC-HAND that has been developed to open bottles, jars and packages that require a twisting action. Its intended users are people with severe disabilities, who are not capable of using the current range of package opening tools. MAGIC-HAND is a kitchen accessory device that fits into standard kitchen furniture. The machine uses novel design approaches applying human-centred virtual prototyping methodology. It is highly automated so users need only place the package in the machine, close the door and activate the machine with a single touch of a button. The machine automatically centres the package, grips its base, senses the height of the closure, grips it and twists it open. Safety features are provided to ensure fingers cannot get trapped accidentally. User trials have highlighted both the advantages and disadvantages of the machine. A comparison with current jar and bottle opening machines is provided. Routes to commercialisation are discussed.

Physical design method of MPSoC

Floorplan, clock network and power plan are crucial steps in deep sub-micron system-on-chip design. A novel diagonal floorplan is integrated to enhance the data sharing between different cores in system-on-chip. Custom clock network containing hand-adjusted buffers and variable routing rules is constructed to realize balanced synchronization. Effective power plan considering both IR drop and electromigration achieves high utilization and maintains power integrity in our MediaSoC. Using such methods, deep sub-micron design challenges are managed under a fast prototyping methodology, which greatly shortens the design cycle.

Using Patient Care Quality Measures to Assess Educational Outcomes

To report the results of a project designed to develop and implement a prototype methodology for identifying candidate patient care quality measures for potential use in assessing the outcomes and effectiveness of graduate medical education in emergency medicine. A workgroup composed of experts in emergency medicine residency education and patient care quality measurement was convened. Workgroup members performed a modified Delphi process that included iterative review of potential measures; individual expert rating of the measures on four dimensions, including measures quality of care and educational effectiveness; development of consensus on measures to be retained; external stakeholder rating of measures followed by a final workgroup review; and a post hoc stratification of measures. The workgroup completed a structured exercise to examine the linkage of patient care process and outcome measures to educational effectiveness. The workgroup selected 62 measures for inclusion in its final set, including 43 measures for 21 clinical conditions, eight medication measures, seven measures for procedures, and four measures for department efficiency. Twenty-six measures met the more stringent criteria applied post hoc to further stratify and prioritize measures for development. Nineteen of these measures received high ratings from 75% of the workgroup and external stakeholder raters on importance for care in the ED, measures quality of care, and measures educational effectiveness; the majority of the raters considered these indicators feasible to measure. The workgroup utilized a simple framework for exploring the relationship of residency program educational activities, competencies from the six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education general competency domains, patient care quality measures, and external factors that could intervene to affect care quality. Numerous patient care quality measures have potential for use in assessing the educational effectiveness and performance of graduate medical education programs in emergency medicine. The measures identified in this report can be used as a starter set for further development, implementation, and study. Implementation of the measures, especially for high-stakes use, will require resolution of significant measurement issues.

Prototyping and farm system modelling—Partners on the road towards more sustainable farm systems?

Farm system modelling and prototyping are two research methods proposed to enhance the process of developing sustainable farm systems. Farm system models provide means to formalize, expand and refine expert knowledge and to integrate this with scientific agro-ecological knowledge at the farm level. The prototyping methodology was developed for the design of more sustainable farm systems, either on experimental or commercial farms. The main features of prototyping are: (1) quantification of goals; (2) emphasis on multiple societal goals; (3) designing as an organizing principle; (4) iteration of system analysis, design and on-farm testing. Hypothetically, farm system modelling could enrich the prototyping methodology and vice versa. Taking a goal-oriented stance, a modelling exercise could reveal design options otherwise overlooked and extrapolation of prototyping results to other conditions and scenarios. The on-farm prototyping work could serve as a source of inspiration and information for farm system modelers. However, little cross-pollination between the modelling and prototyping efforts has occurred, even though the methodologies have been applied in parallel and in one country. Existing reports on prototyping projects merely present their methodological set-up and results, but lack description of the implementation of the methodology. We deemed insight into the implementation of prototyping essential to understand the discrepancy between theory and practice and to investigate the potential for cross-pollination between modelling and prototyping in the future. Three promising leads were identified to assess this potential, i.e. (1) exploring goals of farm systems; (2) exploring options for a change and improvement of farm systems; (3) communication and extrapolation of project output. Analysis of more than two decades of Dutch prototyping research both on experimental and commercial farms indicated that prototyping on commercial farms is a highly localized process. Moreover, although the methodology manual suggests differently, goal formulation was not a distinctive phase of prototyping on commercial farms, so cross-pollination with farm system modelling could not occur (lead 1). As the timely operationalization and the localization of a farm system model demand considerable effort, contributions of farm model explorations to the localized change process on commercial farms (lead 2) seem impractical and unlikely. For communication and extrapolation of prototyping output (lead 3), issue-specific (i.e. focus on a component of the system) models are increasingly used. For this purpose, we hypothesize that there may also be a role for farm system models.

Virtual and rapid prototyping for rapid die-casting development

An integrated virtual and rapid prototyping methodology is proposed for advanced die-casting manufacturing using a hot-chamber process. This methodology involves virtual prototyping, rapid prototyping, P-Q² analysis and a Numerical Control (NC) connected to transducers to control in real-time the die-casting manufacturing parameters. This approach optimises the die-casting manufacturing technology parameters reducing the lead-time of die-casting designs. A case study is presented to validate the proposed methodology.