No description available.

Yes / We present a technique for automatically acquiring operational knowledge on how to adapt assembly systems to new production demands or recover from disruptions. Dealing with changes and disruptions affecting an assembly station is a complex process which requires deep knowledge of the assembly process, the product being assembled and the adopted technologies. Shop-floor operators typically perform a series of adjustments by trial and error until the expected results in terms of performance and quality are achieved. With the proposed approach, such adjustments are captured and their effect on the station is measured. Adaptation knowledge is then derived by generalising from individual cases using a variant of the k-nearest neighbour algorithm. The operator is informed about potential adaptations whenever the station enters a state similar to one contained in the experience base, that is, a state on which adaptation information has been captured. A case study is presented, showing how the technique enables to reduce adaptation times. The general system architecture in which the technique has been implemented is described, including the role of the different software components and their interactions.

No description available.

Atualmente pode-se verificar um aumento na demanda por estudos de simulação causado principalmente por dois fatores: necessidade de otimização ele produtos e processos decorrente do crescimento do grau de competição entre as empresas, e aumento da facilidade do uso dos sistemas simuladores gerado pela incorporação de novos recursos como inteligência artificial, programação gráfica, realidade virtual, etc. Esta situação induz a uma falsa impressão que este tipo de sistema simulador diminui a demanda de conhecimentos que o analista ou projetista de simulação precisa dominar para obter resultados válidos e consistentes da realização do estudo de simulação. O objetivo deste trabalho é construir uma base de conhecimentos a respeito da realização de estudos de simulação que permita sistematizar uma metodologia apropriada para realização de estudos de simulação de eventos discretos, e realizar uma investigação sobre os conhecimentos que o analista/projetista de um estudo de simulação deve dominar para obter resultados consistentes do mesmo. / Recently an increase demand by simulation studies can be verified, caused mainly by two factor: - need of products and processes optimization due to the growth of the competition degree among the companies, and - an increase of the easiness of the systems simulators use generated by the incorporation of new resources as artificial intelligence, graphic programming, virtual reality, etc. This situation induces to a false impression that this type of system simulator decreases the demand of knowledge that the simulation analyst or planner needs to dominate to obtain valid and consistent results of the accomplishment of the simulation study. The objective of this work is to build a base of knowledge regarding the accomplishment of simulation studies that allows to systematize a methodology adapted for accomplishment of studies of simulation of discreet events, and to accomplish an investigation on the knowledge that the analyst/planner of a simulation study should dominate to obtain consistent results of the same.

En este estudio convergen conocimientos de neuropsicología y tecnologías de la información para el desarrollo de una aplicación informática que optimice una batería de identificación de disfunciones cognitivas en pacientes adultos con esclerosis múltiple. Esta aplicación informática es presentada como respuesta a una clara necesidad de los centros médicos especializados en neurología de proveer herramientas que permitan la inclusión del mayor número de pacientes con esclerosis múltiple a la administración de baterías de identificación de disfunciones cognitivas. El desarrollo de un sistema informático que contenga y permita rendir las pruebas que conforman la batería, la posterior calificación de las mismas, la interpretación de los resultados, el almacenamiento y la actualización de la historia clínica del paciente conforman la sistematización de la batería de identificación de disfunciones cognitivas brindando beneficios reales al segmento en estudio manteniendo la eficacia de la administración. Además, se espera crear un precedente de la adherencia de los pacientes frente a la solución informática propuesta con el fin de ser base favorable para futuras soluciones informáticas que decidan incursionar en temas médicos. Con la meta de cumplir adecuadamente el desarrollo de la aplicación informática basada en el conocimiento, el presente documento ha sido estructurado en ocho capítulos: 1) fundamentos teóricos del negocio, las tendencias y tecnologías actuales, el objeto de estudio, el campo de acción y el análisis crítico de los problemas de información; 2) propuesta de solución indicando los objetivos y beneficios del proyecto; 3). modelado del negocio bajo la metodología del Proceso Unificado de Rational; 4) requerimientos y modelado de la aplicación informática; 5) arquitectura de software; 6) construcción del sistema; 7) muestra la calidad y pruebas del producto; y 8) la gestión del proyecto. / In this study, knowledge of neuropsychology and information technologies converge for the development of a computer application that optimizes a battery of identification of cognitive dysfunctions in adult patients with multiple sclerosis. This computer application is presented as a response to a clear need of medical centers specialized in neurology, to provide tools that allow the inclusion of a largest number of patients with multiple sclerosis in the administration of batteries of identification of cognitive dysfunctions. The development of a computer system which contains and allows perform the tests that conform the battery, the subsequent qualification of the same tests, the interpretation of the results, the storage and the updating of the patient's clinical history make up the systematization of the battery of identification of cognitive dysfunctions providing real benefits to the segment under study maintaining the effectiveness of the administration. In addition, it is expected to create a precedent for the adherence of patients to the proposed computer solution in order to be a favorable basis for future IT solutions that decide to explore medical issues. Considering the goal of fulfilling the development of the knowledge-based computer application properly, this document has been structured in eight chapters: 1) theoretical foundations of the business, current trends and technologies, the object of study, the field of action and the critical analysis of information problems; 2) proposed solution indicating the objectives and benefits of the project; 3). modeling the business under the Rational Unified Process methodology; 4) requirements and model of the computer application; 5) software architecture; 6) system construction; 7) shows the quality and testing of the product; and 8) project management. / Tesis

This thesis presents a new approach to building a design for testability (DFT) system. The system takes a digital circuit description, finds out the problems in testing it, and suggests circuit modifications to correct those problems. The key contributions of the thesis research are (1) setting design for testability in the context of test generation (TG), (2) using failures during FG to focus on testability problems, and (3) relating circuit modifications directly to the failures. A natural functionality set is used to represent the maximum functionalities that a component can have. The current implementation has only primitive domain knowledge and needs other work as well. However, armed with the knowledge of TG, it has already demonstrated its ability and produced some interesting results on a simple microprocessor.

Atualmente pode-se verificar um aumento na demanda por estudos de simulação causado principalmente por dois fatores: necessidade de otimização ele produtos e processos decorrente do crescimento do grau de competição entre as empresas, e aumento da facilidade do uso dos sistemas simuladores gerado pela incorporação de novos recursos como inteligência artificial, programação gráfica, realidade virtual, etc. Esta situação induz a uma falsa impressão que este tipo de sistema simulador diminui a demanda de conhecimentos que o analista ou projetista de simulação precisa dominar para obter resultados válidos e consistentes da realização do estudo de simulação. O objetivo deste trabalho é construir uma base de conhecimentos a respeito da realização de estudos de simulação que permita sistematizar uma metodologia apropriada para realização de estudos de simulação de eventos discretos, e realizar uma investigação sobre os conhecimentos que o analista/projetista de um estudo de simulação deve dominar para obter resultados consistentes do mesmo. / Recently an increase demand by simulation studies can be verified, caused mainly by two factor: - need of products and processes optimization due to the growth of the competition degree among the companies, and - an increase of the easiness of the systems simulators use generated by the incorporation of new resources as artificial intelligence, graphic programming, virtual reality, etc. This situation induces to a false impression that this type of system simulator decreases the demand of knowledge that the simulation analyst or planner needs to dominate to obtain valid and consistent results of the accomplishment of the simulation study. The objective of this work is to build a base of knowledge regarding the accomplishment of simulation studies that allows to systematize a methodology adapted for accomplishment of studies of simulation of discreet events, and to accomplish an investigation on the knowledge that the analyst/planner of a simulation study should dominate to obtain consistent results of the same.

No description available.

Formulation of polyurethanes is a complex problem poorly understood as it has developed more as an art rather than a science. Only a few experts have mastered polyurethane (PU) formulation after years of experience and the major raw material manufacturers largely hold such expertise. Understanding of PU formulation is at present insufficient to be developed from first principles. The first principle approach requires time and a detailed understanding of the underlying principles that govern the formulation process (e.g. PU chemistry, kinetics) and a number of measurements of process conditions. Even in the simplest formulations, there are more that 20 variables often interacting with each other in very intricate ways. In this doctoral thesis the use of the Case-Based Reasoning and Artificial Neural Network paradigm is proposed to enable support for PUs formulation tasks by providing a framework for the collection, structure, and representation of real formulating knowledge. The framework is also aimed at facilitating the sharing and deployment of solutions in a consistent and referable way, when appropriate, for future problem solving. Two basic problems in the development of a Case-Based Reasoning tool that uses past flexible PU foam formulation recipes or cases to solve new problems were studied. A PU case was divided into a problem description (i. e. PU measured mechanical properties) and a solution description (i. e. the ingredients and their quantities to produce a PU). The problems investigated are related to the retrieval of former PU cases that are similar to a new problem description, and the adaptation of the retrieved case to meet the problem constraints. For retrieval, an alternative similarity measure based on the moment's description of a case when it is represented as a two dimensional image was studied. The retrieval using geometric, central and Legendre moments was also studied and compared with a standard nearest neighbour algorithm using nine different distance functions (e.g. Euclidean, Canberra, City Block, among others). It was concluded that when cases were represented as 2D images and matching is performed by using moment functions in a similar fashion to the approaches studied in image analysis in pattern recognition, low order geometric and Legendre moments and central moments of any order retrieve the same case as the Euclidean distance does when used in a nearest neighbour algorithm. This means that the Euclidean distance acts a low moment function that represents gross level case features. Higher order (moment's order>3) geometric and Legendre moments while enabling finer details about an image to be represented had no standard distance function counterpart. For the adaptation of retrieved cases, a feed-forward back-propagation artificial neural network was proposed to reduce the adaptation knowledge acquisition effort that has prevented building complete CBR systems and to generate a mapping between change in mechanical properties and formulation ingredients. The proposed network was trained with the differences between problem descriptions (i.e. mechanical properties of a pair of foams) as input patterns and the differences between solution descriptions (i.e. formulation ingredients) as the output patterns. A complete data set was used based on 34 initial formulations and a 16950 epochs trained network with 1102 training exemplars, produced from the case differences, gave only 4% error. However, further work with a data set consisting of a training set and a small validation set failed to generalise returning a high percentage of errors. Further tests on different training/test splits of the data also failed to generalise. The conclusion reached is that the data as such has insufficient common structure to form any general conclusions. Other evidence to suggest that the data does not contain generalisable structure includes the large number of hidden nodes necessary to achieve convergence on the complete data set.

Adoption of a streamlined BIM workflow throughout the AEC projects’ lifecycle will provide the project stakeholders with the rich information embedded in the parametric design models. Users can incorporate this rich information in various activities, improving efficiency and productivity of project activities and potentially enhancing accuracy and reducing errors and reworks. Two main challenges for such a streamlined information flow throughout the AEC projects that haven’t been sufficiently addressed by previous research efforts include lack of semantic interoperability and a large gap and misalignment of information between available BIM information provided by design activities and the required information for performing preconstruction and construction activities. This research effort proposes a framework for a knowledge-based system (KBS) that encapsulates domain experts’ knowledge and represents it through modularized rule set libraries as well as connected design automation and optimization solutions. The research attempts to provide a methodology for automatic semantic enrichment of design models as well as automated detailed design to fill the information gap between design and preconstruction project activities, streamlining BIM workflow and enhancing its value in the AEC projects.