This is the 2nd volume of the new conference series Design Computing and Cognition (DCC) that takes over from and subsumes the successful series Artificial Intelligence in Design (AID) published by Kluwer since 1992. The AID volumes have become standard reference texts for the field. It is expected that the DCC volumes will perform the same role. The conference proceedings will form a continuing archive of design computing and cognition research. Design is a fundamentally important topic in disciplines ranging from the more commonly associated fields of architecture and engineering to emerging areas in the social sciences and life sciences. Design is the key to economic competitiveness and the fundamental precursor to objects - both physical and virtual - and services. The conference theme of design computing and cognition recognizes the relationship between human cognitive processes as models of computation but how the models of inspire realizations of human cognition.

Ontologies are increasingly recognized as essential tools in information science. Although the concepts are well understood theoretically , the practical implementation of ontologies remains challenging. In this book, researchers in computer science, information systems, ontology engineering, urban planning and design, civil and building engineering, and architecture present an interdisciplinary study of ontology engineering and its application in urban development projects. The first part of the book introduces the general notion of ontology, describing variations in abstraction level, coverage, and formality. It also discusses the use of ontologies to achieve interoperability, and to represent multiple points of view and multilingualism. This is illustrated with examples from the urban domain. The second part is specific to urban development. It covers spatial and geographical knowledge representation, the creation of urban ontologies from various knowledge sources, the interconnection of urban models and the interaction between standards and domain models. The third part presents case studies of the development of ontologies for urban mobility, urban morphological processes, road systems, and cultural heritage. Other cases report on the use of ontologies to solve urban development problems, in construction business models, building regulations and urban regeneration. It concludes with a discussion of key challenges for the future deployment of ontologies in this domain. This book bridges the gap between urban practitioners and computer scientists. As the essence of most urban projects lies in making connections between worldviews, ontology development has an important role to play, in promoting interoperability between data sources, both formal (urban databases, Building Integrated Models, Geographical Information Systems etc.) and less formal (thesauri, text records, web sources etc.). This volume offers a comprehensive introduction to ontology engineering for urban development. It is essential reading for practitioners and ontology designers working in urban development.

IFIP Working Group 5.2 has organized a series of workshops aimed at presenting and discussing current issues and future perspectives of Geometric Modeling in the CAD environment. From Geometric Modeling to Shape Modeling comprises the proceedings of the seventh GEO workshop, which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in Parma, Italy in October 2000. The workshop looked at new paradigms for CAD including the evolution of geometric-centric CAD systems, modeling of non-rigid materials, shape modeling, geometric modeling and virtual prototyping, and new methods of interaction with geometric models. The seventeen included papers provide an interesting overview of the evolution of geometric centric modeling into shape modeling. Also included is an invited speaker paper, which discusses the foundation of the next generation of CAD systems, where shape and function enhance geometric descriptions. The main topics discussed in the book are: Theoretical foundation for solids and surfaces; Computational basis for geometric modeling; Methods of interaction with geometric models; Industrial and other applications of geometric modeling; New paradigms of geometric modeling for CAD; Shape modeling. From Geometric Modeling to Shape Modeling is essential reading for researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, systems developers of advanced computer-aided design and manufacturing systems, and engineers involved in industrial applications.

Anthony Dear argues that just-in-time is essentially a philosophy rather than a rigid methodology and that the important thing is to grasp the fundamental ideas involved and then to see where, how and to what extent they can be applied in the context of any particular enterprise. The book is written in a refreshingly direct manner and the discussion focuses on the kind of practical issues which are likely to concern working managers. Illustrated with a wealth of examples drawn from the author's own experience, Working Towards Just-in-Time tackles its subject in a fashion which has direct and immediate relevance to managers of small and medium-sized companies and to middle management in larger firms. This book should be of interest to managers of small and medium-sized companies; middle management in larger firms.

The chapters of this book summarize the lectures delivered du ring the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Computational Methods in Mechanisms, that took place in the Sts. Constantin and Elena Resort, near Varna, on the Bulgarian Coast of the Black Sea, June 16-28, 1997. The purpose of the ASI was to bring together leading researchers in the area of mechanical systems at large, with special emphasis in the computational issues around their analysis, synthesis, and optimization, during two weeks of lectures and discussion. A total of 89 participants from 23 count ries played an active role during the lectures and sessions of contributed papers. Many of the latter are being currently reviewed for publication in specialized journals. The subject of the book is mechanical systems, Le., systems composed of rigid and flexible bodies, coupled by mechanical means so as to constrain their various bodies in a goal-oriented manner, usually driven under computer con trol. Applications of the discipline are thus of the most varied nature, ranging from transportation systems to biomedical devices. U nder normal operation conditions, the constitutive bodies of a mechanical system can be consid ered to be rigid, the rigidity property then easing dramatically the analysis of the kinematics and dynamics of the system at hand. Examples of these systems are the suspension of a terrestrial vehicle negotiating a curve at speeds within the allowed or recommended limits and the links of multiaxis industrial robots performing conventional pick-and-place operations."

This book contains 24 technical papers presented at the fourth edition of the Advances in Architectural Geometry conference, AAG 2014, held in London, England, September 2014. It offers engineers, mathematicians, designers, and contractors insight into the efficient design, analysis, and manufacture of complex shapes, which will help open up new horizons for architecture. The book examines geometric aspects involved in architectural design, ranging from initial conception to final fabrication. It focuses on four key topics: applied geometry, architecture, computational design, and also practice in the form of case studies. In addition, the book also features algorithms, proposed implementation, experimental results, and illustrations. Overall, the book presents both theoretical and practical work linked to new geometrical developments in architecture. It gathers the diverse components of the contemporary architectural tendencies that push the building envelope towards free form in order to respond to multiple current design challenges. With its introduction of novel computational algorithms and tools, this book will prove an ideal resource to both newcomers to the field as well as advanced practitioners.

Theory and practice of tolerances are very important for designing and manufacturing engineering artifacts on a rational basis. Tolerance specifies a degree of "discrepancy" between an idealized object and its physical realization. Such discrepancy inevitably comes into our product realization processes because of practical cost consideration or our inability to fully control manufacturing processes. Major product and production characteristics which are affected by tolerances are product quality and cost. For achieving high precision machines tight tolerance specification is necessary, but this will normally increase product cost. In order to optimally compromise the conflicting requirements of quality and cost, it is essential to take into account of the total product life cycle throughout product planning, design, manufacturing, maintenance and recycling. For example, in order to construct durable products under severe working conditions, low sensitivity of product functionality with respect to tolerances is required. In future, re-use of components or parts will become important, and tolerance synthesis with respect to this aspect will be an interesting future research topics.

"Beginning AutoCAD 2006" is a course based on learning and practising the essentials of 2D drawing using AutoCAD. Bob McFarlane's hands-on approach is uniquely suited to independent learning and use on courses. The focus on 2D drawing in one book ensures the reader gets a thorough grounding in the subject, with a greater depth of coverage than tends to be available from general introductions to AutoCAD. As a result, this book provides a true, step-by-step, detailed exploration of the AutoCAD functions required at each stage of producing a 2D drawing - an approach often not found in the many software reference guides available.
The emphasis on learning through doing makes this book ideal for anyone involved in engineering, construction or architecture - where the focus is on productivity and practical skills. The author has also matched the coverage to the requirements of City and Guilds, Edexcel (BTEC) and SQA syllabuses.
New features in AutoCAD 2006 are covered in this book including: DYN (dynamic input showing coordinate position and lengths - an important new feature of the latest AutoCAD software), as well as new commands in the Modify and Dimension tool set. The result is a useful refresher course for anyone using AutoCAD at this level, and those upgrading to the new software release. The course is also designed to be fully relevant to anyone using other recent releases, including AutoCAD 2005.
* A complete course on 2D design with AutoCAD in one book - ideal for independent learning
* Exercises aid student learning and self assessment
* Focus on 2D drawing provides in-depth coverage to this key introductory-level use of AutoCAD

CAAD Futures is a biennial conference that aims to promote the advancement of computer-aided architectural design research and teaching. The conferences are organised under the auspices of the CAAD Futures Foundation. The conference series started in 1985 in Delft and has since traveled to major cities in Europe, Asia, and USA.

This volume is the proceedings of the 12th International Conference of CAAD Futures, which took place in Sydney, Australia. The internationally refereed papers in this book present the state of the art in computer-aided architectural design research. The papers in this year's conference theme, Integrating Technologies for Computer-Aided Design, provide the technological foundation for new ways of thinking about using computers in designing and the use of computers in design itself as well as in the education of designers.

Information about the 2007 Conference and this book is available at: http: //www.arch.usyd.edu.au/kcdc/conferences/cf07

Since the establishment of the CAAD Futures Foundation in 1985, CAAD experts from all over the world meet every two years to present and document the state of the art of research in Computer Aided Architectural Design. Together, the series provides a good record of the evolving state of research in this area over the last fourteen years. The Proceedings this year is the eighth in the series. The conference held at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, includes twenty-five papers presenting new and exciting results and capabilities in areas such as computer graphics, building modeling, digital sketching and drawing systems, Web-based collaboration and information exchange. An overall reading shows that computers in architecture is still a young field, with many exciting results emerging out of both greater understanding of the human processes and information processing needed to support design and also the continuously expanding capabilities of digital technology.

This book takes the reader from the basic operating principles of the microwave MESFET and HEMT to the application of device models in modern CAD programmes. In addition to explaining device operation and modelling, the book provides detailed specific algorithms which can be used to efficiently determine the parameters needed to utilize the available device models. Detailed comparisons of MESFET and HEMT performance are presented, and ultimate limitations to these devices are discussed. This book is designed for microwave device and circuit design engineers, GaAs device and MMIC design engineers, MMIC and Hybrid circuit design engineers, and researchers in large signal device modelling.

Isogeometric Analysis is a groundbreaking computational approach that promises the possibility of integrating the finite element method into conventional spline-based CAD design tools. It thus bridges the gap between numerical analysis and geometry, and moreover it allows to tackle new cutting edge applications at the frontiers of research in science and engineering. This proceedings volume contains a selection of outstanding research papers presented at the second International Workshop on Isogeometric Analysis and Applications, held at Annweiler, Germany, in April 2014.

After a brief introduction to low-power VLSI design, the design space of ASIP instruction set architectures (ISAs) is introduced with a special focus on important features for digital signal processing. Based on the degrees of freedom offered by this design space, a consistent ASIP design flow is proposed: this design flow starts with a given application and uses incremental optimization of the ASIP hardware, of ASIP coprocessors and of the ASIP software by using a top-down approach and by applying application-specific modifications on all levels of design hierarchy. A broad range of real-world signal processing applications serves as vehicle to illustrate each design decision and provides a hands-on approach to ASIP design. Finally, two complete case studies demonstrate the feasibility and the efficiency of the proposed methodology and quantitatively evaluate the benefits of ASIPs in an industrial context.

Many real-world systems in engineering are composed of multi-state components that have different performance levels and several failure modes. These have effects on the entire system 's performance.

Most books on reliability theory are devoted to traditional binary models that only allow a system either to function perfectly or fail completely.

The Universal Generating Function in Reliability Analysis and Optimization is the first book that gives a comprehensive description of the universal generating function technique and its applications in both binary and multi-state system reliability analysis.

Features:

• an introduction to the basic tools used in multi-state system reliability and optimisation;
• applications of the universal generating function in the most widely used multi-state systems;
• several examples of how the universal generating function can be adapted to different systems in mechanical, industrial and software engineering

The Universal Generating Function in Reliability Analysis and Optimization will be of value to all those interested in multi-state systems in industrial, electrical and nuclear engineering.

This book introduces a holistic approach to ship design and its optimisation for life-cycle operation. It deals with the scientific background of the adopted approach and the associated synthesis model, which follows modern computer aided engineering (CAE) procedures. It integrates techno-economic databases, calculation and multi-objective optimisation modules and s/w tools with a well-established Computer-Aided Design (CAD) platform, along with a Virtual Vessel Framework (VVF), which will allow virtual testing before the building phase of a new vessel. The resulting graphic user interface (GUI) and information exchange systems enable the exploration of the huge design space to a much larger extent and in less time than is currently possible, thus leading to new insights and promising new design alternatives. The book not only covers the various stages of the design of the main ship system, but also addresses relevant major onboard systems/components in terms of life-cycle performance to offer readers a better understanding of suitable outfitting details, which is a key aspect when it comes the outfitting-intensive products of international shipyards. The book disseminates results of the EU funded Horizon 2020 project HOLISHIP.

The world we live in is pervaded with uncertainty and imprecision. Is it likely to rain this afternoon? Should I take an umbrella with me? Will I be able to find parking near the campus? Should I go by bus? Such simple questions are a c- mon occurrence in our daily lives. Less simple examples: What is the probability that the price of oil will rise sharply in the near future? Should I buy Chevron stock? What are the chances that a bailout of GM, Ford and Chrysler will not s- ceed? What will be the consequences? Note that the examples in question involve both uncertainty and imprecision. In the real world, this is the norm rather than exception. There is a deep-seated tradition in science of employing probability theory, and only probability theory, to deal with uncertainty and imprecision. The mon- oly of probability theory came to an end when fuzzy logic made its debut. H- ever, this is by no means a widely accepted view. The belief persists, especially within the probability community, that probability theory is all that is needed to deal with uncertainty. To quote a prominent Bayesian, Professor Dennis Lindley, "The only satisfactory description of uncertainty is probability.

Uncertainty in key parameters within a chip and between different chips in the deep sub micron area plays a more and more important role. As a result, manufacturing process spreads need to be considered during the design process. Quantitative methodology is needed to ensure faultless functionality, despite existing process variations within given bounds, during product development. This book presents the technological, physical, and mathematical fundamentals for a design paradigm shift, from a deterministic process to a probability-orientated design process for microelectronic circuits. Readers will learn to evaluate the different sources of variations in the design flow in order to establish different design variants, while applying appropriate methods and tools to evaluate and optimize their design.

Human action analyses and recognition are challenging problems due to large variations in human motion and appearance, camera viewpoint and environment settings. The field of action and activity representation and recognition is relatively old, yet not well-understood by the students and research community. Some important but common motion recognition problems are even now unsolved properly by the computer vision community. However, in the last decade, a number of good approaches are proposed and evaluated subsequently by many researchers. Among those methods, some methods get significant attention from many researchers in the computer vision field due to their better robustness and performance. This book will cover gap of information and materials on comprehensive outlook - through various strategies from the scratch to the state-of-the-art on computer vision regarding action recognition approaches. This book will target the students and researchers who have knowledge on image processing at a basic level and would like to explore more on this area and do research. The step by step methodologies will encourage one to move forward for a comprehensive knowledge on computer vision for recognizing various human actions.

In the summer of 1981 I was asked to consider the possibility of manufacturing a 600,000 transistor microprocessor in 1985. It was clear that the technology would only be capable of manufacturing 100,000-200,000 transistor chips with acceptable yields. The control store ROM occupied approximately half of the chip area, so I considered adding spare rows and columns to increase ROM yield. Laser-programmed polysilicon fuses would be used to switch between good and bad circuits. Since only half the chip area would have redundancy, I was concerned that the increase in yield would not outweigh the increased costs of testing and redundancy programming. The fabrication technology did not yet exist, so I was unable to experimentally verify the benefits of redundancy. When the technology did become available, it would be too late in the development schedule to spend time running test chips. The yield analysis had to be done analytically or by simulation. Analytic yield analysis techniques did not offer sufficient accuracy for dealing with complex structures. The simulation techniques then available were very labor-intensive and seemed more suitable for redundant memories and other very regular structures [Stapper 80J. I wanted a simulator that would allow me to evaluate the yield of arbitrary redundant layouts, hence I termed such a simulator a layout or yield simulator. Since I was unable to convince anyone to build such a simulator for me, I embarked on the research myself.

The construction enterprise is being transformed by visual modelling. Once principally used by researchers and in niche industries, tools such as 3D/4D CAD and virtual reality are now in widespread use in construction. This book is both a survey of the changes being made in practice and a detailed guide to future directions for research and development bringing together the work of leading practitioners and academics. A particular strength of the book is its many detailed case studies and examples, making it an excellent resource for practitioners, researchers, and students seeking to understand the details of how new tools and methods are applied in a business context. The 11 chapters address following topics: - Uses of 3D/4D CAD and its costs and benefits, - Applications of visual modelling at the work face, - Applications of visual modelling in the designer office, - Technical integration of visual modelling tools such as 3D/4D CAD and virtual reality.

Current practice dictates the separation of the hardware and software development paths early in the design cycle. These paths remain independent with very little interaction occurring between them until system integration. In particular, hardware is often specified without fully appreciating the computational requirements of the software. Also, software development does not influence hardware development and does not track changes made during the hardware design phase. Thus, the ability to explore hardware/software tradeoffs is restricted, such as the movement of functionality from the software domain to the hardware domain (and vice-versa) or the modification of the hardware/software interface. As a result, problems that are encountered during system integration may require modification of the software and/or hardware, resulting in potentially significant cost increases and schedule overruns. To address the problems described above, a cooperative design approach, one that utilizes a unified view of hardware and software, is described. This approach is called hardware/software codesign. The Codesign of Embedded Systems develops several fundamental hardware/software codesign concepts and a methodology that supports them. A unified representation, referred to as a decomposition graph, is presented which can be used to describe hardware or software using either functional abstractions or data abstractions. Using a unified representation based on functional abstractions, an abstract hardware/software model has been implemented in a common simulation environment called ADEPT (Advanced Design Environment Prototyping Tool). This model permits early hardware/software evaluation and tradeoff exploration. Techniques have been developed which support the identification of software bottlenecks and the evaluation of design alternatives with respect to multiple metrics. The application of the model is demonstrated on several examples. A unified representation based on data abstractions is also explored. This work leads to investigations regarding the application of object-oriented techniques to hardware design. The Codesign of Embedded Systems: A Unified Hardware/Software Representation describes a novel approach to a topic of immense importance to CAD researchers and designers alike.

SYROM conferences have been organized since 1973 by the Romanian branch of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanisms and Machine Science IFToMM, Year by year the event grew in quality. Now in its 10th edition, international visibility and recognition among the researchers active in the mechanisms science field has been achieved.

SYROM 2009 brought together researchers and academic staff from the field of mechanisms and machine science from all over the world and served as a forum for presenting the achievements and most recent results in research and education. Topics treated include conceptual design, kinematics and dynamics, modeling and simulation, synthesis and optimization, command and control, current trends in education in this field, applications in high-tech products.

The papers presented at this conference were subjected to a peer-review process to ensure the quality of the paper, the engineering significance, the soundness of results and the originality of the paper. The accepted papers fulfill these criteria and make the proceedings unique among the publications of this type.

Hardware Software Co-Design of a Multimedia SOC Platform is one of the first of its kinds to provide a comprehensive overview of the design and implementation of the hardware and software of an SoC platform for multimedia applications. Topics covered in this book range from system level design methodology, multimedia algorithm implementation, a sub-word parallel, single-instruction-multiple data (SIMD) processor design, and its virtual platform implementation, to the development of an SIMD parallel compiler as well as a real-time operating system (RTOS). Hardware Software Co-Design of a Multimedia SOC Platform is written for practitioner engineers and technical managers who want to gain first hand knowledge about the hardware-software design process of an SoC platform. It offers both tutorial-like details to help readers become familiar with a diverse range of subjects, and in-depth analysis for advanced readers to pursue further.

The step-by-step instructions and clear explanations make the book ideal for courses with limited contact time, and for independent study. Numerous exercises throughout enable students to develop their own CAD skills as well as reinforcing their understanding of AutoCAD commands.
Ian Mawdsley has drawn on his own extensive teaching experience to produce material for use in a CAD suite where the lecturer will be supporting a number of students who are progressing at different rates. His book is the only AutoCAD resource available written with a real understanding of teaching requirements - a breath of fresh air for lecturers who have been working with hefty application manuals or superficial software guides.
This book has been carefully designed to meet the needs of AutoCAD courses run by universities, colleges and an increasing number of schools. Anyone who completes Ian Mawdsley's course will have gained a thorough grounding in 2D techniques and explored the basics of 3D work. The content of the course covers the requirements of the new City & Guilds 4351 scheme and the new Edexcel Advanced Award in AutoCAD (level 3).
Content matched precisely to new syllabuses from City & Guilds and Edexcel (BTEC)
Author understands needs of UK college courses/students
An ideal introduction for all users - not just college students