Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science - Volume 11, issue 1

Authors: Madni, Azad M.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: We live in an era in which the world is becoming increasingly more connected or, as Tom Friedman puts it, "flat." The inevitable consequence of this interconnectedness trend is that problems are becoming much too complex to successfully solve by applying methods from within a single discipline. This recognition is most evident in the growing trend toward multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration among traditionally independent disciplines. As such collaboration intensifies, existing disciplines are …being enriched and occasionally new disciplines are beginning to emerge. At the same time, the knowledge gaps among the disciplines are beginning to surface. What appears to be lacking is a new way of thinking that strives to harmonize traditional disciplines by reaching beyond their traditional boundaries to fill the knowledge gaps not addressed by them. Transdisciplinary thinking promises to reach beyond disciplinary boundaries to identify and overcome knowledge voids and incompatibilities in the quest for knowledge unification. Achieving these objectives is key to fostering new relationships among traditionally independent disciplines and, in so doing, begin to address problems of national and global significance. This paper discusses the aims of transdisciplinarity, the road to transdisciplinarity, successes resulting from transdisciplinary thinking, and recommendations for a research and education agenda embracing trandsdisciplinary thinking. Show more

Keywords: intradisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, biomimicry

Citation: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-11, 2007

Authors: Kawabata, Ryo | Kasahara, Toshiharu | Itoh, Kiyoshi

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: In systems analysis, it is important to analyze and describe the target system from the viewpoint of the collaboration task. This paper employs a use case diagram at the beginning of the analysis of the collaboration task. A Use case diagram is used to analyze the interaction between a system and end users. The simple notation of use case diagram facilitates to describe it. The authors propose a method to describe a use case diagram from the viewpoint of …the collaboration task. In the method, a use case diagram is described for each material or information in the system. A use case expresses a state of material or information. By focusing on life cycle of each material and information, use cases can be identified easily. In the analysis of the collaboration task, it is important to analyze relationships among personnel, information and material. In the method, a state that information or material is sent from which personnel to which personnel is described explicitly as a use case. Since the use case is described for representing the collaboration task, components described in the use case diagram can be easily used to next phase in the analysis. The authors developed an editor for describing a use case diagram for the collaboration task. The editor implements a navigator which supports to describe a skeleton of a Petri Net by using components in the use case diagram. Show more

Keywords: use case diagram, collaborative analysis, Petri net

Citation: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 13-27, 2007

Authors: Kumagai, Satoshi | Tomita, Yoshitaka

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Using scenario is an effective way to acquire knowledge about business process. Scenario describes business process in users' perspective using their vocabulary. In cross organizational business process, scenario description is often fragmentary because each expert in the business process tends to be focused within his/her organizational scope. Each expert might be less knowledgeable about cross organizational aspects of business process. His/her description sometimes assumes ambiguous order of events in the scope. Clear …terminology describing collaboration is missing. System analyst needs to supplement the description to obtain a business process model for consensus building beyond the scope. This paper presents a method for refining cross-organizational business process model through the use of complementary relationship in diagrammatic representations of scenario. It allows analyst to grasp the entire view of the business process through interactions with experts. Level of refinement is measured and evaluated. Show more

Keywords: business process modeling, synthetic binding method, scenario

Citation: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 29-39, 2007

Authors: Hsiang, Simon M. | Ekwaro-Osire, Stephen | Jang, Taek Hyun

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Without a doubt, the major concern of vehicle design is safety ¨C increasing the survival chance of driver and passenger during a crash and decreasing the risk of injury. Safety features, such as seat belt, seat cushion with crash tubing, or frontal and side impact airbags, have been proposed to protect the occupants from the secondary impacts. This study adapts a transdisciplinary approach, combining research from epidemiology and injury biomechanics as a basis for identifying design …problem areas and variable trade-offs. The objectives of this paper are to review literature on head injury and neck injury, and to provide suggestions for designing against head injury while considering neck injury. Since the head injury is mainly caused by contact, the fundamental design principle is to minimize any hard surface protrusion. Especially sharp objects, such as dash shade and mirrors, must be removed or kept outside the striking range in any configuration. There are several principles that can be used, in any combination, to achieve the required crush depth: (1) to prevent skull damage and brain trauma, locally modifying the design by removing rigid high points and moving hard assemblies down or under; (2) to decelerate head and torso at the same rate (which will also decrease the risk of neck injury) by modifying hard structures to make them crush or collapsible and obtaining as much clearance. There is a need to design and construct test equipment that can be used to test neck injury and head injury simultaneously. Show more

Keywords: head injury criterion, HIC, neck injury, whiplash

Citation: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 41-59, 2007

Authors: Gonsalves, Tad | Itoh, Kiyoshi

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Much research has been done on Design Rationale (DR) in software development. DR consists of the decisions made during the design process and the reasons behind them. It is useful for revising, maintaining, documenting, evaluating, and learning the design. In collaboration, rational methods act as catalysts in clarifying issues and their related trade-offs for the involved participants. The three main issues in DR are the capture, representation and use of DR. However, each of these issues …is rather difficult to pursue in practice mostly because of the overhead they create in the design process. In this paper, we discuss the extension of design rationale (DR) to performance design rationale (PDR) for the development of collaborative systems. The Performance Design Rationale Framework (PDRF) addresses the issues of capture, representation and use, and presents an integrated solution. In collaborative systems, near-optimum performance under the given constraints is a requirement. However, performance design is at best taken for granted, or a patch-work solution is worked out when operational problems are discovered in the deployed system. At the planning and design level, the designers hope and expect that the system will function as per the specifications after its implementation. In other words, the designer's knowledge about the system's performance is not explicit; it is only implicit. PDRF aims at capturing this tacit knowledge and representing it explicitly so that it can be used effectively. PDRF consists of three phases – (1) system modelling, (2) performance evaluation, and (3) performance improvement. It is implemented as an integrated environment with each stage seamlessly flowing into the next stage. Real-life collaborative engineering systems are too complex and too messy to allow a neat mathematical formulation. As an alternative strategy, we adopt a descriptive modelling technique known as Multi-Context Map (Map). Since collaborative systems are discrete-event in nature, performance evaluation is carried on by means of a discrete-event simulator. Finally, the performance improvement or parameter-tuning is accomplished by the application of Qualitative Reasoning (QR). The qualitative rules in the performance improvement expert system are the representation of the domain experts' heuristics or rationale for performance design. Especially through the utilization of PDRF in the development of collaborative systems, the design engineers are utilizing the performance design rationale that is embedded in the PDRF. Show more

Keywords: design rationale, collaborative systems, performance evaluation, performance improvement, performance design rationale

Citation: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 61-74, 2007

Authors: Kettleborough, C.F. | Masudi, H.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The helix grooved elastomeric pump (HGEP) is a cylindrical viscous screw pump which will pump high viscosity fluids at high pressures and low flow rates. It incorporates an elastomeric O-ring as part of the pumping mechanism. The theory is developed using the smoothed pressure method. Numerical methods are used to develop data for the HGEP performance. Results are presented for a given pump. The results include the effect of film thickness clearances, groove angles, groove depths, …and ridge-to-groove width ratios. The aim of the investigation is to provide a theoretical background for the design of an HGEP. The theory is developed for the smoothed pressure formulation and an elastomeric O-ring model is established. The smoothed pressure formulation and the elastomeric O-ring model is set up for numerical solutions; the data obtained show the effects of various film thickness, clearances, groove angles, groove depths, and ridge-to-groove ratios for a given size pump and pumping fluid. The total volumetric flow rate increases with the reduction of the film thickness clearances. The maximum flow rate is obtained with -.0894 mm film thickness clearances. The computer solution is unstable for clearances less than -.0894 mm. The smaller the ridge-to-groove ratio, the performance is better. Show more

Keywords: pump, helix grooved elastomeric, design

Citation: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 75-93, 2007