Upper-level Design Research Articles

Innovative Service Model of Science and Technology Finance in China

This investigation analyses the financial dependence of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, the effective connection between scientific and technological resources and financial resources, the development of emerging industries, the upgrade of technological levels and the optimization of industrial structures, and the financial support required for technological innovation and R&D of high-tech enterprises as well as small and medium-sized technological enterprises. It is pointed out that the improvement of financial products, the innovation of capital markets and the application of internet finance are the operational basis of the innovation service mode of science and technology finance. Correspondingly, the upper level design at the policy level provides the basis for the development of the appropriate service model of technological and financial innovation.

Multi-Intersection Ecological Cooperative Control of a Pure Electric Vehicle Platoon with Dual-Motor Dual-Axis Drive

The advent of intelligent transportation system technology has expedited the advancement of eco-driving controls. Research on energy-saving cooperative control of intelligent connected vehicles in intelligent transportation environments is still in need of ongoing refinement. This article proposes a dual-level ecological driving control strategy for a pure electric vehicle platoon with dual-motor dual-axis drive in an urban multi-intersection environment. The upper-level design incorporates optimal platoon speed decision-making based on the nonlinear model predictive control algorithm. The multi-objective optimization function considers three scenarios: energy-optimal, time-optimal, and energy-time-optimal. It also takes into account platoon following control and passing efficiency, ensuring smooth passage through multi-intersections without interruptions. Built on the upper level’s optimal speed design, an energy management strategy is proposed for achieving optimal torque distribution of pure electric vehicles with front and rear independent drives. Finally, the upper and lower levels are jointly simulated in real-time. The results indicate that, compared to the energy-optimal mode, the average passage time decreased by 14.6% and 5.97% in the time-optimal and energy-time-optimal modes, respectively. Under average torque distribution, the time-optimal and energy-time-optimal modes increased the energy consumption of the vehicle platoon by 21.05% and 5.44%, respectively, compared to the energy-optimal mode. Under the optimal torque allocation strategy, the time-optimal and energy-time-optimal modes increased energy consumption by 15.31% and 6.11%, respectively, compared to the energy-optimal mode. In contrast to the average torque allocation strategy, the optimal torque allocation strategy for the dual-motor vehicles reduced energy consumption by 10.18%, 14.44%, and 9.61% in the energy-optimal mode, time-optimal mode and energy-time-optimal mode, respectively.

Assessment and Analysis of Citizens’ Perceptions of Visual Corridors in Tehran City

Today, in many cities, urban facades are typically forming according to the high-level codes, while citizens’ expectations and preferences are different from them. According to the studies conducted theory, using a conceptualization technique, related dimensions are assessed. For details, each facade is divided into three parts: ground floor, body, and coping. The individuals’ perceptions are investigated using electronic questionnaires and with panoramic photos. To assess vision while moving, studies are carried out at the sites (6 selected streets in Tehran) using semi-structured interviews as well as photographing the preferred scenes and the worst scenes (VEP method). According to the analyses, the main result of this research shows that overall perception was greater than in partial. The order in urban facades will not necessarily be perceived by the alignment of the openings and the creation of a uniform skyline, or restrictions on the color and type of facade materials. This is the same damage mentioned in the critique of the upper-level design codes in the present study. Therefore, it is better to consider only a limited number of various items in building facades, that people can perceive, fixed and controlled, and leave the rest to the owners and designers. In this way, the private rights of the owners and the art of the designers can be respected by observing the facade as a common area between private privacy and public privacy.

Structural design of distributed energy networks by a hierarchical combination of variable- and constraint-based decomposition methods

A near-optimal solution method of a large-scale design problem of a distributed energy network, consisting of multiple energy-supply systems under power and heat interchanges, is developed by hierarchically combining variable- and constraint-based decompositions. The design problem is formulated using mixed-integer linear programming, and its scale increases with the number of connected energy-supply systems and daily patterns of energy demand. By focusing on the hierarchical relationship between design and operation variables, the original problem is decomposed into an upper-level design problem and lower-level coordinated operation problems based on the Benders decomposition. By focusing on power- and heat-interchange constraints, the coordinated operation problem is further decomposed into a master problem concerning power and heat interchanges and subproblems for energy supply in each energy-supply system based on the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition. A near-optimal solution is calculated through a two-level iterative calculation, consisting of delayed constraint generation between the design problem and the coordinated operation problems and delayed column generation between the master problem and the subproblems in each coordinated operation problem. The near-optimal solution method is applied to the structural design problem of distributed energy networks incorporating 5–100 cogeneration systems, in which suboptimal solutions cannot be found in the conventional solution method.

Two-stage design optimization based on artificial immune system and mixed-integer linear programming for energy supply networks

A two-stage optimization approach based on an artificial immune system (AIS) and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) was developed to efficiently solve large-scale structural design problems of energy supply networks and obtain multiple and diverse design candidates. By focusing on a hierarchical relationship between design and operation variables, a structural design problem, formulated using MILP, is decomposed into an upper-level design problem and a lower-level operation problem. The upper-level design problem is solved using an AIS, in which multiple and diverse sets of suboptimal solutions are searched in a short computation time. In the lower-level optimization, design variables are fixed at the values searched in the upper-level optimization and operation variables are optimized using MILP. Moreover, the lower-level optimization for multiple sets of design variables is separately conducted using parallel computing. The developed approach was applied to the structural design of an energy supply network, consisting of candidates of cogeneration units and heat pump water heating units under power and heat interchange, for a housing complex with four dwellings. The diversity and energy-saving performance of multiple design candidates were analyzed. The computational efficiency was also demonstrated in comparison to the results obtained using only a commercial MILP solver.

Accessible Wayfinding: Empathy, Human-Centered Design, and a Blank Slate

Wayfinding and signage are important components of a building’s structure and interior space for visitors with and without a mobile/physical disability, especially on university and college campuses. This paper documents a semester-long project where students in an upper-level design elective course identified a building on campus that had an inconsistent and missing wayfinding system. Documenting their ethnographic research and empathetic experiences, students were able to develop a wayfinding system based on research that focused on individuals with a mobile or physical disability. They produced and installed the system in the fall semester of 2016.

Accessible Wayfinding

Wayfinding and signage are important components of a building's structure and interior space for visitors with and without a mobile/physical disability, especially on university and college campuses. This paper documents a semester-long project where students in an upper-level design elective course identified a building on campus that had an inconsistent and missing wayfinding system. Documenting their ethnographic research and empathetic experiences, students were able to develop a wayfinding system based on research that focused on individuals with a mobile or physical disability. They produced and installed the system in the fall semester of 2016.

Sustainable Transportation Network Design with Stochastic Demands and Chance Constraints

This article proposes a new model for design of sustainable bi-modal transportation networks under demand uncertainty, with chance constraints on emission and equity issues. The proposed model is formulated as a bi-level programming problem. The lower level is a reliability-based traffic assignment problem for bi-modal transportation network, in which the transfer waiting time and non-linear bus fares are considered explicitly so that the passengers' behaviors on mode choice and path choice are simultaneously taken into account under demand uncertainty. The upper-level design objective is to maximize the network reserve capacity in terms of the summation of weighted mean and standard deviation of travel demands. A heuristic solution algorithm based on the particle swarm optimization method is adapted to solve the bi-level model. It is found in the numerical examples that both network reserve capacity and optimal design solution are substantially dependent on travel time reliabilities. It is shown that the proposed model can be used to assess the effects of various emission and demand equity constraints for sustainable development.

Exploring the Utility of Bayesian Truth Serum for Assessing Design Knowledge

Expanding and improving design knowledge is a vital part of higher education due to the growing demand for employees who can think both critically and creatively. However, developing effective methods for assessing what students have learned in design courses is one of the most elusive challenges of design education due to the subjective nature of design. For example, evaluating design outcomes is problematic due to the common pattern of increasing enrollments and reduced resources for design instruction. In this article, we propose and evaluate a new assessment method that uses a novel application of Bayesian Truth Serum (BTS), a scoring algorithm, in order to provide a scalable and reliable measure of design knowledge. This method requires no subjective input from the design instructor, nor does it require answers to questions that have distinct right or wrong answers. We tested this method over a 4-week period with 71 design students in an upper-level design course. For the study, participants were asked to provide responses to multiple-choice BTS survey questions, generate ideas for a design problem, and provide feedback on other participants' ideas. The survey data were used to calculate BTS indices of expertise and statistical tests were performed to determine how the indices correlated with participant ideation and critique proficiency. The results from this study show a modest correlation between the BTS indices of expertise and later performance on generative design tasks and a correlation between the students' ability to critique designs and their BTS scores. These findings suggest that the BTS assessment method can be used to supplement existing evaluation practices for individual design assessment, particularly in courses where group projects are used as the primary means of evaluation. In addition, the results show promise for using the BTS method in classes where design projects or design critiques are not feasible due to time constraints or large class sizes.

An Investigation of Adaptive Expertise and Transfer of Design Process Knowledge

Transfer of knowledge is a common and ongoing area of investigation in many education studies. The topic is of central importance to the education community because it enables educators to understand how knowledge learned in one context can apply, or transfer, to new contexts. This is particularly important in the context of technological innovation and design education. That is, design often requires the generation of solutions that do not already exist. Generating unique solutions requires the ability to recognize when previous knowledge or learning is appropriate, and then to accurately apply previous learning to novel situations. Furthermore, focusing on transfer of knowledge brings a learner-centered approach to education such that learning experiences are designed to reinforce and to build on students’ prior knowledge. This paper presents results from a study that measured the type of design process knowledge that gets transferred into and out of design-focused courses. The study included approximately 100 students in three different courses: one freshman and two upper-level design courses. Results from this study shed light on the nature of students’ design process knowledge, as novice (freshman) as well as more experienced (junior and senior) student designers. In addition, study results show significant increases in pre- and post-measures of design process knowledge as students advance in the curriculum. Finally, we describe our findings in the context of an emerging framework for instruction and assessment: adaptive expertise. The concept of adaptive expertise is relevant to design education since it presents a model that guides the educational experience to have a balance of gaining technical proficiency with opportunities for applying one’s knowledge in innovative ways.

Neurocontroller alternatives for "fuzzy" ball-and-beam systems with nonuniform nonlinear friction

The ball-and-beam problem is a benchmark for testing control algorithms. In the World Congress on Neural Networks, 1994, Prof. L. Zadeh proposed a twist to the problem, which, he suggested, would require a fuzzy logic controller. This experiment uses a beam, partially covered with a sticky substance, increasing the difficulty of predicting the ball's motion. We complicated this problem even more by not using any information concerning the ball's velocity. Although it is common to use the first differences of the ball's consecutive positions as a measure of velocity and explicit input to the controller, we preferred to exploit recurrent neural networks, inputting only consecutive positions instead. We have used truncated backpropagation through time with the node-decoupled extended Kalman filter (NDEKF) algorithm to update the weights in the networks. Our best neurocontroller uses a form of approximate dynamic programming called an adaptive critic design. A hierarchy of such designs exists. Our system uses dual heuristic programming (DHP), an upper-level design. To our best knowledge, our results are the first use of DHP to control a physical system. It is also the first system we know of to respond to Zadeh's challenge. We do not claim this neural network control algorithm is the best approach to this problem, nor do we claim it is better than a fuzzy controller. It is instead a contribution to the scientific dialogue about the boundary between the two overlapping disciplines.

Disjunctive multiperiod optimization methods for design and planning of chemical process systems

In this paper, we present a general disjunctive multiperiod nonlinear optimization model, which incorporates design, as well as operation and expansion planning, and takes into account the corresponding costs incurred in each time period. This model is formulated with the use of logic and disjunctive programming, and includes Boolean variables for design, operation planning and expansion planning. We propose two algorithms for the solution of these problems. The first is a logic-based Outer Approximation (OA) algorithm for multiperiod problems. The second is a bilevel decomposition algorithm, that exploits the problem structure by decomposing it into an upper level design problem and a lower level operation and expansion planning problem, each of which is solved with the logic-based OA algorithm. Applications are considered in the areas of design and planning of process networks, as well as retrofit design for multiproduct batch plants. The results show that the disjunctive logic-based OA algorithm performs best for small problems, while the disjunctive bilevel decomposition algorithm is superior for larger problems. In both cases, a significant decrease in MILP solution time and total solution time is achieved compared to DICOPT++. Results also show that problems with a significant number of time periods can be solved in reasonable time.

Integration of Student Owned Computers into the Design Curriculum: Policy, Issues, and Experience

Issue Incorporation of computing into design practice increases the need for interior design programs to integrate this technology into their curricula. Goal Prepare students to understand the ways in which information technology can be used in design and teach them how to use computers for design problem solving, in the classroom and in professional practice. Application This report discusses one program's approach to integrating computers into their curriculum: requiring student purchase of laptop computers upon entering the third year of the curriculum and using computer–aided design (CAD) modeling programs as a central element in upper–level design studios. In adopting this policy, decisions were made about how computers would be integrated into the curriculum, how computing resources were to be funded, and what infrastructure support was required. Description Three years of experience with this policy by both students and faculty are reviewed. Topics addressed are (1) the original policy and subsequent changes, (2) the computer infrastructure created by the college to support this policy, (3) faculty and student reactions to the policy, and (4) issues and implications of the policy. Surveys of students taken in 1995 and 1997 provide comparative information on changes in student perceptions over time. A survey of recent computer trained graduates provides information on job market experience and reception of these skills in professional practice. Conclusion Recent graduates support the policy and report that it helped in their securing employment. Using CAD modeling programs especially helped the 3D visualization of design problems. Maintaining an adequate infrastructure of support has been a continuing source of frustration for both students and faculty.

Component mode synthesis-based design optimization method for local structural modification

This research integrates component mode synthesis with a multilevel design optimization strategy to develop a design methodology for making the dynamical modification of complex structures simpler and tractable. The component mode synthesis formulates the eigenvalue equation of the entire structure in terms of vibration characteristics of local structure components. With this particular feature, the component mode synthesis helps to facilitate a two-stage procedure for the dynamic modification of a complex structure; the lower-level design optimization modifies the local structure components whose performances are prescribed by the optimal solution of the upper-level design optimization. The paper first discusses the formulation and the derivation of the Kuhn-Tucker necessary conditions for the proposed design optimization procedure and then presents numerical examples to demonstrate its numerical implementation and applicability.