Creating flexible and automated production facilities is a complex process that requires high levels of cooperation involving all mechatronics disciplines, where software tools being utilised have to work as closely as their users. Some of these tools are well-integrated but others can hardly exchange any data. This research aims to integrate the software systems applied by the mechatronic engineering disciplines to enable an enhanced design process characterised by a more parallel and iterative work flow. This thesis approaches systems integration from a data modelling point of view because it sees information transfer between heterogeneous data models as a key element of systems integration. A new approach has been developed which is called middle-in data modelling strategy since it is a combination of currently applied top-down and bottom-up approaches. It includes the separation of data into core design data which is modelled top-down and detailed design data modules which are modelled bottom-up. The effectiveness of the integration approach has been demonstrated in a case study undertaken for the mechatronic engineering design process of body shop production lines in the automotive industry. However, the application of the middle-in data modelling strategy is not limited to this use case: it can be used to enhance a variety of system integration tasks. The middle-in data modelling strategy is tested and evaluated in comparison with present top-down and bottom-up data modelling strategies on the basis of three test cases. These test cases simulated how the systems integration solutions based on the different data modelling strategies react to certain disturbances in the data exchange process as they would likely occur during industrial engineering design work. The result is that the top-down data modelling strategy is best in maintaining data integrity and consistency while the bottom-up strategy is most flexibly adaptable to further developments of systems integration solutions. The middle-in strategy combines the advantages of top-down and bottom-up approaches while their weaknesses and disadvantages are kept at a minimum. Hence, it enables the maintenance of data modelling consistency while being responsive to multidisciplinary requirements and adaptive during its step-by-step introduction into an industrial engineering process.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

PLEXPLAN, an automated software system and methodology for Information Systems (IS) planning, is described. The PLEXPLAN methodology and tools are used to integrate information from multiple and dynamic perspectives on the organization. A conceptual and technical software architecture is described which permits storage, integration and manipulation of such information. The PLEXPLAN methodology is consistent with the PLEXPLAN software architecture inasmuch as specific techniques in the methodology are represented in the automated environment as tools. A case is presented where PLEXPLAN was used to address an Information Systems planning task. Use of the PLEXPLAN methodology and tools is specifically described as they relate to the case.

No description available.

No description available.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Computer and Information Science

Developing a new drug costs up to US$2.6B and 13.5 years. To save money and time, we have developed a toolset for computer-aided drug discovery, and utilized our toolset to discover drugs for the treatment of cancers and influenza. / We first implemented a fast protein-ligand docking tool called idock, and obtained a substantial speedup over a popular counterpart. To facilitate the large-scale use of idock, we designed a heterogeneous web platform called istar, and collected a huge database of more than 23 million small molecules. To elucidate molecular interactions in web, we developed an interactive visualizer called iview. To synthesize novel compounds, we developed a fragment-based drug design tool called iSyn. To improve the predictive accuracy of binding affinity, we exploited the machine learning technique random forest to re-score both crystal and docked poses. To identify structurally similar compounds, we ported the ultrafast shape recognition algorithms to istar. All these tools are free and open source. / We applied our novel toolset to real world drug discovery. We repurposed anti-acne drug adapalene for the treatment of human colon cancer, and identified potential inhibitors of influenza viral proteins. Such new findings could hopefully save human lives. / 開發一種新藥需要多至26億美元和13年半的時間。為節省金錢和時間，我們開發了一套計算機輔助藥物研發工具集，並運用該工具集尋找藥物治療癌症和流感。 / 我們首先實現了一個快速的蛋白與配體對接工具idock，相比一個同類流行軟件獲得了顯著的速度提升。為輔助idock 的大規模使用，我們設計了一個異構網站平台istar，收集了多達兩千三百萬個小分子的大型數據庫。為在網頁展示分子間相互作用，我們開發了一個交互式可視化軟件iview。為生成全新的化合物，我們開發了一個基於分子片段的藥物設計工具iSyn。為改進結合強度預測的精度，我們利用了機器學習技術隨機森林去重新打分晶體及預測構象。為尋找結構相似的化合物，我們移植了超快形狀識別算法至istar。所有這些工俱全是免費和開源。 / 我們應用了此創新工具集至現實世界藥物尋找中。我們發現抗痤瘡藥阿達帕林可用於治療人類結腸癌，亦篩選出流感病毒蛋白的潛在抑制物。這些新發現可望拯救人類生命。 / Li, Hongjian. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 340-394). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 15, September, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Ho Chi Kit. / Thesis submitted in: September 2005. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-70). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.9 / Chapter 1.1 --- Aims and Contribution --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2 --- Dissertation Overview --- p.10 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- ATPG-based Alternative Wiring --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Post-Layout Logic Restructuring for Performance Optimization --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Timing Optimization by an Improved Redundancy Addition and Removal Technique --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2 --- Logic Synthesis --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Local Logic Substitution Algorithm for Post-Layout Re-synthesis --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- SIS: A System for Sequential Circuit Synthesis --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3 --- Fanout Optimization --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Efficient Global Fanout Optimization Algorithms --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Fanout Optimization under a Submicron Transistor-Level Delay Model --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4 --- Genetic Algorithm --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Scalability and Efficiency of Genetic Algorithms for Geometrical Applications --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- "The Gambler's Ruin Problem, Genetic Algorithms, and the Sizing of Populations" --- p.16 / Chapter 3 --- Background --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1 --- Redundancy Addition and Removal --- p.18 / Chapter 3.2 --- REWIRE --- p.19 / Chapter 4 --- Standard Cell Logic Synthesis --- p.20 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.20 / Chapter 4.2 --- Objective --- p.22 / Chapter 4.3 --- Use Standard Patterns for Logic Synthesis --- p.22 / Chapter 4.4 --- Optimization --- p.25 / Chapter 4.5 --- Proposed Scheme --- p.26 / Chapter 4.6 --- Criteria for Selection of Wire --- p.28 / Chapter 4.7 --- Experimental Results --- p.30 / Chapter 4.8 --- Conclusion --- p.34 / Chapter 5 --- Theory on GBAW --- p.35 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.35 / Chapter 5.2 --- Notations and Definitions --- p.36 / Chapter 5.3 --- Minimality and Duality --- p.37 / Chapter 5.4 --- Topological Property of GBAW patterns --- p.41 / Chapter 5.5 --- Experimental Results --- p.47 / Chapter 5.6 --- Conclusion --- p.51 / Chapter 6 --- Multi-way GBAW Partitioning Scheme --- p.52 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.52 / Chapter 6.2 --- Algorithm of GBAW Partitioning Scheme --- p.55 / Chapter 6.3 --- Experimental Results --- p.56 / Chapter 6.4 --- Conclusion --- p.63 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.64 / Bibliography --- p.66

This thesis is concerned with the application of computation in the context of professional architectural practice and specifically towards defining complex buildings that are highly integrated with respect to design and engineering performance. The thesis represents applied research undertaken whilst in practice at Foster + Partners. It reviews the current state of the art of computational design techniques to quickly but flexibly model and analyse building options. The application of parametric design tools to active design projects is discussed with respect to real examples as well as methods to then link the geometric definitions to structural engineering analysis, to provide performance data in near real time. The practical interoperability between design software and engineering tools is also examined. The role of performance data in design decision making is analysed by comparing manual work-flows with methods assisted by computation. This extends to optimisation methods which by making use of design automation actively make design decisions to return optimised results. The challenges and drawbacks of using these methods effectively in real deign situations is discussed, especially the limitations of these methods with respect to incomplete problem definitions, and the design exploration resulting in modified performance requirements. To counter these issues a performance driven design work flow is proposed. This is a mixed initiative whereby designer centric understanding and decisions are computer assisted. Flexible meta-design descriptions that encapsulate the variability of the design space under consideration are explored and compared with existing optimisation approaches. Computation is used to produce and visualise the performance data from these large design spaces generated by parametric design descriptions and associated engineering analysis. Novel methods are introduced that define a design and performance space using cluster computing methods to speed up the generation of large numbers of options. The use of data visualisation is applied to design problems, showing how in real situations it can aid design orientation and decision making using the large amount of data produced. Strategies to enable these work-flows are discussed and implemented, focusing on re-appropriating existing web design paradigms using a modular approach concentrating on scalable data creation and information display.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries