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Abstract [en]Customization and product development are crucial for competitiveness, and modular product architectures enable adaptation and improvement without extensive changes. Originally introduced by Starr in 1965, modular solutions aim to minimize costs through maximum part combination. In sanitation engineering, where water and sewage systems are critical, high-quality, and customized solutions are required. Uponor, a leading player in the field, offers prefabricated water cabinet units to distribute water to various devices. Based on this, a question has been formulated for the study to address: How can a modular product architecture be applied to water cabinets in plumbing and HVAC systems to reduce component costs and production time? The study introduces fundamental concepts in product architecture and modularity, detailing how products can be divided into modules and designed to function independently yet collaboratively. Modularity enables increased flexibility, lower costs, and simpler product development, while component standardization streamlines manufacturing and facilitates adaptation to customer requirements. Additionally, pipe flow and its impact on water distribution systems are discussed, focusing on pressure drops and legionella risks. The study resulted in two new components contributing to cost reduction within the product family, thanks to the modular product architecture. The components enable the company to reduce costs by 38 - 46 SEK per cabinet. This is a cost reduction of 7.5% to 9% for the specific subsystem. Abstract [sv]Kundanpassning och produktutveckling är avgörande för konkurrenskraft, och modulära produktarkitekturer möjliggör anpassning och förbättring utan omfattande ändringar (Modrak & Soltysova, 2018 ,Bouchard, et al, 2023). Ursprungligen introducerades modulära lösningar av Starr ((1965, refererad i Amend, et al, 2022).) för att minimera kostnader genom maximal kombination av delar. Inom sanitetsteknik, där vatten- och avloppssystem är avgörande, krävs högkvalitativa och kundanpassade lösningar. Uponor, en ledande aktör inom området, erbjuder prefabricerade tappvattenskåp för att distribuera vatten i olika enheter. Baserat på det här har en fråga formulerats som studien syftar till att besvara: Hur kan en modulär produktarkitektur för tappvattenskåp inom VVS tillämpas för att minska komponentkostnader och produktionstiden? Den teoretiska referensramen presenterar grundläggande begrepp inom produktarkitektur och modularitet, samt hur produkter kan delas upp i moduler och designas för att fungera oberoende men samverka. Modularitet möjliggör ökad flexibilitet, lägre kostnader och enklare produktutveckling, medan standardisering av komponenter effektiviserar tillverkning och möjliggör anpassning till kundkrav. Dessutom diskuteras rörströmning och dess påverkan på vattenledningssystem, med fokus på tryckfall och risker för legionella bakterier. Studien resulterade i två nya komponenter som bidrar till sänkta kostnader inom produktfamiljen, tack vare den modulära produktarkitekturen. Komponenterna möjliggör för företaget att reducera kostnaderna med 38 - 46 kronor per skåp.

Teaching simulated biped robots to walk is a popular problem in machine learning. However, until this thesis, evolving a biped controller has not been attempted through an indirect encoding, i.e. a compressed representation of the solution, despite the fact that natural bipeds such as humans evolved through such an indirect encoding (i.e. DNA). Thus the promise for indirect encoding is to evolve gaits that rival those seen in nature. In this thesis, an indirect encoding called HyperNEAT evolves a controller for a biped robot in a computer simulation. To most effectively explore the deceptive behavior space of biped walkers, novelty search is applied as a fitness metric. The result is that although the indirect encoding can evolve a stable bipedal gait, the overall neural architecture is brittle to small mutations. This result suggests that some capabilities might be necessary to include beyond indirect encoding, such as lifetime adaptation. Thus this thesis provides fresh insight into the requisite ingredients for the eventual achievement of fluid bipedal walking through artificial evolution.

Ce mémoire se veut un examen épistémologique de la thèse psychoévolutionniste de Leda Cosmides et John Tooby, principalement en ce qui concerne la modularité massive. Nous avons tâché de voir si la modularité massive permet de rendre compte des processus mentaux complexes en nous penchant plus particulièrement sur le cas des émotions. Nous explorons d'abord la thèse de Cosmides et Tooby en la distinguant d'avec d'autres conceptions comme l'écologie béhaviorale et en expliquant le rôle particulier que jouent les émotions au sein de la théorie. Nous analysons ensuite la thèse de la modularité massive et les différents arguments théoriques ou empiriques qui l'appuient, et évaluons finalement des critiques de la modularité émises par certains philosophes, dont David Buller. / In this thesis, we enquired about the philosophical and empirical foundations of the psycho-evolutionary model of Cosmides and Tooby, especially with regards their Massive Modularity Thesis (MMT). We wanted to determine whether the MMT can account for complex mental processes such as emotions. The thesis first gives a general explanation of evolutionary psychology (as opposed to behavioral ecology or sociobiology) then evaluates different lines of argument for MMT. We then turn to the philosophical criticism of MMT by David Buller.

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Commodity brain-computer interfaces (BCI) are beginning to accompany everything from toys and games to sophisticated health care devices. These contemporary interfaces allow for varying levels of interaction with a computer. Not surprisingly, the more intimately BCIs are integrated into the nervous system, the better the control a user can exert on a system. At one end of the spectrum, implanted systems can enable an individual with full body paralysis to utilize a robot arm and hold hands with their loved ones [28, 62]. On the other end of the spectrum, the untapped potential of commodity devices supporting electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) technologies require innovative approaches and further research. This thesis proposes a modularized software architecture designed to build flexible systems based on input from commodity BCI devices. An exploratory study using a commodity EEG provides concrete assessment of the potential for the modularity of the system to foster innovation and exploration, allowing for a combination of a variety of algorithms for manipulating data and classifying results. Specifically, this study analyzes a pipelined architecture for researchers, starting with the collection of spatio temporal brain data (STBD) from a commodity EEG device and correlating it with intentional behaviour involving keyboard and mouse input. Though classification proves troublesome in the preliminary dataset considered, the architecture demonstrates a unique and flexible combination of a liquid state machine (LSM) and a deep belief network (DBN). Research in methodologies and techniques such as these are required for innovation in BCIs, as commodity devices, processing power, and algorithms continue to improve. Limitations in terms of types of classifiers, their range of expected inputs, discrete versus continuous data, spatial and temporal considerations and alignment with neural networks are also identified. / Graduate / 0317 / 0984 / jasoncummer@gmail.com

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Embedded parallel processing provides unique advantages over sequential and symmetrical processing architectures. During the past decade, the architecture of ground control systems has evolved from utilizing sequential embedded processors to modular parallel, distributed, and/or symmetrical processing. The concept of utilizing embedded parallel processing exhibits key features such as modularity, flexibility, scalability, host independence, non-contention of host resources, and no requirement for an operating system. These key features provide the performance, reliability and efficiency while at the same time lowering costs. Proper utilization of embedded parallel processing on a host computer can provide fault tolerance and can greatly reduce the costs and the requirement of utilizing high-end workstations to perform the same level of real-time processing and computationally intensive tasks.

Nowadays, large-scale software systems consist of multiple applications, which interact with each other to fulfill desired system-level requirements. It is usually required to coordinate the interactions of the constituent applications to ensure that the system-level requirements are fulfilled. In this paper, we outline a set of requirements that must be fulfilled to facilitate the modular composition of multiple applications. We introduce the concept of architectural event modules, which are abstractions to represent constituent applications and their coordination logic in a modular and uniform way. We explain the implementation of this concept in the EventReactor language, and define their formal semantics in processing events using the UPPAAL toolset. We illustrate the suitability of architectural event modules in achieving modularity and loose coupling in the composition of multiple applications by means of a case study in the domain of energy-efficient computing.