scholarly journals Effects of Function-Based Models in Biologically Inspired Design

Author(s):  
Wei Liu ◽  
Francesco Rosa ◽  
Gaetano Cascini ◽  
Runhua Tan

Function-Based (FB) representations of complex systems play an important role in Biologically Inspired Design (BID) by easing the knowledge interchange among biologists, engineers and designers. Many representations have been proposed by scholars over the years, but none of them has ever become a clear favorite. As a matter of fact, each model represents the system from a distinctive perspective. This paper explores the effects of these different representations as creative stimuli for students in order to obtain recommendations for fostering innovation in education and training practices. After introducing a selection of FB models for BID, the paper describes an experiment designed to allow a quantitative comparison of the outcomes of a BID design challenge among undergraduate students attending a course on methods and tools for conceptual design. An analysis of the results of the experiment is followed by the authors’ reflection on directions for educational development.

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lindsey Williams ◽  
Atila Ertas ◽  
Derrick Tate

Inherent in biologically inspired design (BID) is the selection of one or more analogs from which one or more strategies are extracted and transferred into the engineering domain. The selection of an analog is a fundamental step in biomimetic process, but locating relevant biological analogies can be challenging. Often, designers may fixate on an analogy or choose an established analogy without rigorous examination of alternatives. This practice is problematic—as basing a new design on an invalid assumption can lead to suboptimal results. This paper makes contribution to evaluation of analogy utility. The contribution is made by combining stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) with a set of criteria, derived from BID, to assist multidisciplinary decision makers (DMs) in evaluating candidate design analogs. The resulting framework, which we call the biotransferability framework, is being developed to assist multidisciplinary teams to choose, rank, or sort candidate design analogs by assessing biology-to-engineering transfer risk.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Helms ◽  
Hoda Ehsan ◽  
Euisun Kim ◽  
Roxanne Moore ◽  
Meltem Alemdar ◽  
...  

Abstract In this case study we report on the use of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned form of Structure-Behavior-Function, called Structure-Function-Mechanism (SFM), to teach four high school engineering teachers an approach for Biologically Inspired Design (BID). Functional theories of design describe a natural way in which designers solve design problems. They provide support for case-based and analogical-based reasoning systems and have been used successfully to teach BID to undergraduate students. We found that teachers instructed on BID practice and pedagogy using our modified theory were able to grasp the structural concepts and looked for clear markers separating mechanism (behavior) and function. Because of the systems-of-systems nature of most biological entities, these boundaries were often subjective, presenting unique challenge to teachers. As high school engineering teachers look for methods to enhance their pedagogy and to understand multidisciplinary content, these findings will inform future curriculum development and professional learning approaches for engineering education.


2021 ◽  
pp. 216769682110251
Author(s):  
Samantha G. Farris ◽  
Mindy M. Kibbey ◽  
Erick J. Fedorenko ◽  
Angelo M. DiBello

The psychological effect of the pandemic and measures taken in response to control viral spread are not yet well understood in university students; in-depth qualitative analysis can provide nuanced information about the young adult distress experience. Undergraduate students ( N = 624) in an early US outbreak “hotspot” completed an online narrative writing about the impact and distress experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected April-May 2020. A random selection of 50 cases were sampled for thematic analysis. Nine themes were identified: viral outbreak distress, fear of virus contraction/transmission, proximity to virus, dissatisfaction with public response, physical distancing distress, social distancing distress, academic and school-related distress, disruptive changes in health behavior and routines, financial strain and unemployment, worsening of pre-existing mental health problems, and social referencing that minimizes distress. Future work is needed to understand the persistence of the distress, in addition to developing methods for assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of the distress.


2021 ◽  
pp. ebmental-2020-300219
Author(s):  
Winfried Rief

Current education and training in psychological interventions is mostly based on different ‘schools’ (traditions such as cognitive–behavioural or psychodynamic therapy), and strong identification with these specific traditions continuously hinders a scientifically based development of psychotherapy. This review is selective rather than systematic and comprehensive. In addition to the consideration of other influential publications, we relied on a literature search in Web of Science using the following terms (update: 24 December 2020): (psychotherapy AND meta-analy* AND competence*). After summarising current problems, a pathway for solving these problems is presented. First, we have to recategorise psychological interventions according to the mechanisms and subgoals that are addressed. The interventions can be classified according to the foci: (1) skills acquisition (eg, communication, emotion regulation, mentalisation); (2) working with relationship patterns and using the therapeutic relationship to modify them; and (3) clarification of motives and goals. Afterwards, the training of psychotherapists can switch from focusing on one theoretical framework to learning the different competences for modification according to these new categories. The selection of topics to be addressed should follow best evidence-based mechanisms and processes of mental disorders and interventions. Psychology offers knowledge about these mechanisms that can be understood as a basic science for psychological treatments in general. This requires better connection with basic science, new research efforts that focus on treatment subgoals, theory-overarching optimisation of the selection and personalisation of treatments, and new types of training for psychotherapists that are designed to optimise therapists’ competences accordingly, instead of limiting training programmes to one single theoretical framework.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Yohanna Rodriguez-Ortega ◽  
Dora M. Ballesteros ◽  
Diego Renza

With the exponential growth of high-quality fake images in social networks and media, it is necessary to develop recognition algorithms for this type of content. One of the most common types of image and video editing consists of duplicating areas of the image, known as the copy-move technique. Traditional image processing approaches manually look for patterns related to the duplicated content, limiting their use in mass data classification. In contrast, approaches based on deep learning have shown better performance and promising results, but they present generalization problems with a high dependence on training data and the need for appropriate selection of hyperparameters. To overcome this, we propose two approaches that use deep learning, a model by a custom architecture and a model by transfer learning. In each case, the impact of the depth of the network is analyzed in terms of precision (P), recall (R) and F1 score. Additionally, the problem of generalization is addressed with images from eight different open access datasets. Finally, the models are compared in terms of evaluation metrics, and training and inference times. The model by transfer learning of VGG-16 achieves metrics about 10% higher than the model by a custom architecture, however, it requires approximately twice as much inference time as the latter.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Agboola-Dobson ◽  
Guowu Wei ◽  
Lei Ren

Recent advancements in powered lower limb prostheses have appeased several difficulties faced by lower limb amputees by using a series-elastic actuator (SEA) to provide powered sagittal plane flexion. Unfortunately, these devices are currently unable to provide both powered sagittal plane flexion and two degrees of freedom (2-DOF) at the ankle, removing the ankle’s capacity to invert/evert, thus severely limiting terrain adaption capabilities and user comfort. The developed 2-DOF ankle system in this paper allows both powered flexion in the sagittal plane and passive rotation in the frontal plane; an SEA emulates the biomechanics of the gastrocnemius and Achilles tendon for flexion while a novel universal-joint system provides the 2-DOF. Several studies were undertaken to thoroughly characterize the capabilities of the device. Under both level- and sloped-ground conditions, ankle torque and kinematic data were obtained by using force-plates and a motion capture system. The device was found to be fully capable of providing powered sagittal plane motion and torque very close to that of a biological ankle while simultaneously being able to adapt to sloped terrain by undergoing frontal plane motion, thus providing 2-DOF at the ankle. These findings demonstrate that the device presented in this paper poses radical improvements to powered prosthetic ankle-foot device (PAFD) design.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Sobel ◽  
Davis Hartnett ◽  
David Hernandez ◽  
Adam E. M. Eltorai ◽  
Alan H. Daniels

Medical and orthopaedic training varies throughout the world. The pathways to achieve competency in orthopaedic surgery in other countries differ greatly from those in the United States. This review summarizes international educational requirements and training pathways involved in the educational development of orthopaedic surgeons. Understanding the differences in training around the world offers comparative opportunities which may lead to the improvement in education, training, and competency of individuals providing orthopaedic care.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S728-S728
Author(s):  
Chantelle Sharpe ◽  
Carol Weisse

Abstract Clinical training opportunities in end-of-life care are lacking, especially in home settings where death is expected and supported as a natural process. The Community Action, Research and Education (CARE) program provides students who are interested in healthcare a better understanding the challenges of providing end-of-life care. Over 8 weeks, undergraduate students serve as surrogate family members providing care to hospice patients in residential homes for the dying. Additionally, students engage with a formal curriculum by completing online learning modules each emphasizing different skills for providing end-of-life care. This study analyzed data from three cohorts of undergraduate students (n = 21) who participated in the CARE Program. Analyses from assessment surveys revealed that students reported improved knowledge and skills, including enhanced bedside education and training and increased ability to care for someone at the end-of-life after completion of the program. Also, 95% (n = 20) of students over the three cohorts reported that the formal coursework enhanced skills and training related to bedside care. Previous research has examined end of life training in a professional school setting, but the focus was on care in an institutional or facility setting (Billings et al., 2010; Supiano, 2013). The CARE program is a model for experiential learning in a home setting that provides a special lens to the dying experience in a holistic, patient and family centered way.


Author(s):  
Camila Freitas Salgueiredo ◽  
Armand Hatchuel

AbstractIs biologically inspired design only an analogical transfer from biology to engineering? Actually, nature does not always bring “hands-on” solutions that can be analogically applied in classic engineering. Then, what are the different operations that are involved in the bioinspiration process and what are the conditions allowing this process to produce a bioinspired design? In this paper, we model the whole design process in which bioinspiration is only one element. To build this model, we use a general design theory, concept–knowledge theory, because it allows one to capture analogy as well as all other knowledge changes that lead to the design of a bioinspired solution. We ground this model on well-described examples of biologically inspired designs available in the scientific literature. These examples include Flectofin®, a hingeless flapping mechanism conceived for façade shading, and WhalePower technology, the introduction of bumps on the leading edge of airfoils to improve aerodynamic properties. Our modeling disentangles the analogical aspects of the biologically inspired design process, and highlights the expansions occurring in both knowledge bases, scientific (nonbiological) and biological, as well as the impact of these expansions in the generation of new concepts (concept partitioning). This model also shows that bioinspired design requires a special form of collaboration between engineers and biologists. Contrasting with the classic one-way transfer between biology and engineering that is assumed in the literature, the concept–knowledge framework shows that these collaborations must be “mutually inspirational” because both biological and engineering knowledge expansions are needed to reach a novel solution.


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