A knowledge-based advisory system for statistical quality control

Implementation of an effective quality management system requires the ready availability of expert statistical quality control (SQC) practitioners. However, this expertise may be unavailable to many small- and medium-size manufacturing organizations. Knowledge-based systems (KBS) can be used to make SQC expertise easily available to these organizations. This paper describes a KBS that has been developed for providing assistance in: (1) the selection and design of appropriate quality control charts; (2) the process monitoring analyses; and (3) providing corrective advice based on the monitoring analyses results. The KBS runs on a microcomputer and has been developed using a commercially available development shell.     

Knowledge-based systems in the design activity

This paper considers the evolution of knowledge-based systems (KBS) in relation to the design activity. In order to do this effectively it commences with a definition of a core design activity in relation to products which are either conventional or novel. KBS are broken down in sympathy with the decomposition of a design, i.e., whole design, partial or sub-system design, component design. The problem of knowledge elicitation and the variability of the constraints at each level of design are considered and conclusions drawn in terms of conventional and novel products.

A hypothesis—‘to be or not to be’—is proposed covering the conceptual design spectrum which suggests that the way forward is via a system of linked KMs (knowledge modules) to be designed using multi-disciplinary teams, since it is considered that KBS are products in their own right and should be treated as such.     

A prototype knowledge-based system for material selection of ceramic matrix composites of automotive engine components

A prototype knowledge based system (KBS) for material selection of ceramic matrix composites (CMC) for engine components such as piston, connecting rod and piston ring is proposed in this paper. The main aim of this research work is to select the most suitable material for the automotive engine components. The selection criteria are based upon the pre-defined constraint value. The constraint values are mechanical, physical properties and manufacturing techniques. The constraint values are the safety values for the product design. The constraint values are selected from the product design specification. The product design specification values are selected from the past design calculation and some values are calculated by the help of past design data. The knowledge-based system consists of several modules such as knowledge acquisition module, inference module and user interface module. The domains of the knowledge-based system are defined as objects and linked together by hierarchical graph. The system is capable of selecting the most suitable materials and ranks the materials with respect to their properties. The design engineers can choose the required materials related to the materials property.     

Engineering and Philosophy of Engineering

Philosophy of engineering lays the philosophical foundation of recognition, understanding and management of engineering. Being the kernel of philosophy of engineering, engineering ontology becomes the master key to understanding of engineering. The paper proposes and interprets the principal theses of engineering ontology, which differs from understanding of engineering in separate elements. Engineering ontology believes that engineering is the direct, realistic productivity that runs dynamically and feasibly and creates values. Engineering involves the relationship between human beings and the nature as well as the relationship between human beings and the society, and it has been a basic motive force and a basic way of promoting the social development, so that engineering gains the ontological status and fundamental value in social existence and social development. From the historical point of view, the engineering appears before the emergence of technology and science. Engineering has its own basis for existence, its own structure and its own laws for movement and evolution. Engineering should not be simply regarded as the ramification and derivative from science or technology. Engineering ontology is the theoretical basis of the triism of “science, technology, and engineering”. To understand and handle the mutual relationship among engineering, technology and science, by the evaluation criteria of engineering as the direct productivity, the process and effect of engineering-centered selection, integration and construction must be emphasized and the characteristic and mechanism of selection, integration and construction must be paid high attention. Under no circumstance may the engineering be deemed as an unchanged matter, which is constantly evolving and developing, so the studies on engineering ontology are closely and internally related with the theory of engineering evolution.     

Knowledge-based system (KBS) for creep crack growth of high temperature components in HIDA Project

The paper reports current work on the development of a knowledge-based system (KBS) in the BRITE/EURAM project HIDA (project reference: BE 1702). It describes the main concept, architecture, interface and some modules of the system, as well as the data, information and knowledge “sources” used for KBS within the project. The crack assessment part of the system is described in more detail; combination of different modules are within single steps, application of different models within single modules etc. An outlook regarding future use and application of the system among HIDA partners and elsewhere is presented too.     

中国农业生态工程的主要技术类型

农业生态工程是生态农业建设的重要内容,是实施生态农业建设的重要措施和技术手段。其实质是应用生态学原理,结合系统工程方法和现代技术手段,建立农业资源高效利用的生产方式和实施农业可持续发展的技术体系。作者在理论研究和多年实践的基础上,系统总结、介绍了当前我国农业生态工程10种主要的技术类型：充分利用空间和土地资源的农林立体结构生态系统;物质能量多层分级利用系统;水陆交换的物质循环生态系统;相互促进的生物物种共生生态系统;农-渔-禽水生生态系统;多功能的污水自净工程系统;山区综合开发的复合生态系统;沿海滩涂和荡滩资源开发利用的湿地生态系统;以庭院经济为主的院落生态系统;多功能的农副工联合生态系统。     

Integrated Optimization and Management of Mining Engineering—Coordinative Operation and Optimal Management of Five processes in Mining Engineering

In the view of engineering philosophy, the mining engineering is a dynamic operating process of ferrous material flow, in which the ferrous material flow is processed orderly through a series of continual coordinated procedures. It is also a process of discarding the dross, selecting the essential, and extracting the original metal. The object of management is to fulfill the multi-objective optimization. The proportion of lean ores in iron ore resources is 82% in the world and even 97% in China but their utilization is very low. Aiming at the bottleneck and weakness of China’s resource development, this paper analyzes and plans the mining engineering system as a whole based on the ideas and methods of system theory and engineering philosophical thinking. And the paper proposes the “grade decision-based multi-system integration” engineering management mode, which considers the relationship between engineering and environment and complies with the natural law. In the mode, the mining engineering, including geologic mining, ore blending, concentration and pelleting, can be viewed as a whole and the geological grade, mined ore grade, feed grade, concentrate grade and feed grade of blast furnace can be considered comprehensively. The mode reflected the overall structural optimization idea, realized the analysis, coordination and optimization among the multiple functions and processes, and thus drove the overall efficient and profit optimization throughout the processing flow. The establishment and the application of the “grade decision-based multi-system integration” mode have solved the lean iron ores exploitation problem and supported the “self-sufficiency” resource strategy.     

基于相对关联度的工程选材决策模型及应用

 根据灰色关联度反映候选材料的理想解之间曲线形状的相似性,在综合考虑正、负理想解影响的基础上,通过构造相对关联度,建立工程选材决策模型.以低温存储罐材料选择为例,根据专家评分得到所选8种评价指标的权重,确定理想解和负理想解,继而分别计算10种候选低温材料的相对关联度,进行选材决策.结果表明：全硬态301型不锈钢的相对关联度最高,是最佳的低温存储罐材料,这与实际应用和加权性质分析法得出的选择结果一致,而且所得其他候选材料的测评效果排序也更加合理.该模型同时反映候选材料的理想解和负理想解之间曲线的相似性,物理含义更加明确,分析问题更加全面、客观,是工程选材决策的有力工具.     

《园林工程制图》课程教材的若干问题

阐述了园林工程专业的《园林工程制图》教材的课程体系与内容安排,提出了园林工程图的分类,图形表达方法的特点,以及对园林工程图绘图技能的教学特点。     

工程图学课程信息化改革的探讨

在分析了与工程图学相关的科学和技术,特别是计算机图形学、信息化、制造技术的发展和应用等基础上,指出了工程图学信息化改革是工程图学的发展趋势.探讨了适应这种发展趋势的工程图学理论、课程教学内容,以及与之相适应的课程体系、教学方法与手段.提出了将工程图学、设计学,计算机图形学有机结合,将产品的信息描述与建模,将工程信息的可视化贯穿于整个图学教学中的教学思想.     

生物机械工程研究进展

论述了生物机械工程的重要意义、研究现状、发展趋势、存在问题及对策，旨在推动我国生物机械工程的研究和学术地位的确立，推动生物医学工程学的进步，提高人民的健康水平。     

工程制图课程的工程性改革实践

在教学内容上,分析了现代工程图学的教学要求,提出了工程制图课程新的教学体系.在教材上,以贯彻国家标准为出发点,重新组织了相关教学内容.在教学过程中,强调了制图课程的工程性,调动了学生学习工程知识和进行工程实践的积极性.     

Development of an Instrument to Measure Perspectives of Engineering Education Among College Students

The number of engineering students has been declining for decades and attracting qualified students has become an urgent task for engineering schools in The United States. Perspectives students hold towards engineering play an important role in their college major selection. An effective standardized instrument measuring general perspectives about engineering among college students is designed in this project and survey development, instrument administration, and factor analysis are presented. The statistical analysis reveals that college students in general agree that engineering is beneficial to the society; however, they tend to believe that it takes too much effort to gain an engineering degree and that engineering is a demanding career. Further, they are neutral about the personal benefits of pursuing a degree in engineering, and finally, they do not feel that studying engineering or making engineering as their profession is particularly interesting. These findings provide a good explanation to the declining enrollment and increasing dropout rates in engineering schools in the United States.     

计算机工程制图课程教学模式试探

目前工程制图课程体系改革的研究,一个重要的课题是如何将计算机绘图课程与工程制图课程相的结合的问题,也就量如何建立新的课程体系－－计算机工程制图课程的问题。我校出版《计算机工程制图》教材,为改革研究创造了一个有利的条件,但要达到预期的目标,必须在教学模式（方式）方面有较大的改革,本文讨论了有关教学模式的改革。     

A novel approach to materials selection strategy case study: Wave energy extraction impulse turbine blade

This paper considers a new way for optimal material selection strategy using a combination of three well known methods; the Cambridge Material Selector based method, the adapted value engineering techniques and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution. Using this approach allows the user to combine the strength of each separate method, allowing the material selection process to be streamlined. The novel method is applied in a case study that considers the optimal selection of wave energy extraction turbine blade material. The results are consistent for such an application, where the optimum material for manufacturing an impulse turbine blade would be GFRP, with titanium alloys in second place.This rational method is used directly for choosing a turbine blade component material and can also be extended to cover other rotating machinery (fans, pumps) or any industrial interest where the common goal is to make an informed decision.     

骨组织工程支架材料的研究进展

骨组织工程的发展,要求充分结合材料工程与生物工程相关知识,对植入材料进行分子及细胞水平的设计.细胞外基质材料(支架材料)的选择与制备是骨组织工程的一项重要而关键的任务.如何找到能促进并指导细胞黏附、增殖的支架材料是目前骨组织工程研究的热点之一.介绍了骨组织工程相关原理,并综述了几种支架材料的发展研究现状.     

Material screening and choosing methods – A review

The selection of a material for a specific engineering purpose is a lengthy and expensive process. Approximately always more than one material is suitable for an engineering application, and the final selection is a compromise that brings some advantages as well as disadvantages. One of the issues that emerges from this review is that regardless of the relation of design stages and process selection with material selection, screening and ranking are two vital steps in the material selection. A variety of quantitative selection procedures have been developed to solve this issue, so that a systematic evaluation can be made. This paper seeks to address the following questions: (1) what is the contribution of the literature in the field of screening and choosing the materials? (2) What are the methodologies/systems/tools for material selection of engineering components? (3) Which approaches were prevalently applied? (4) Is there any inadequacy of the approaches? This research not only provides evidence that the multi-criteria decision making approaches has the potential to greatly improve the material selection methodology, but also aids the researchers and decision makers in applying the approaches effectively.     

A target-based normalization technique for materials selection

Ranking and selection of the optimal material is an important stage in the engineering design process. However, most of the methods proposed for ranking in materials selection have tended to focus on cost and benefit criteria, with target values receiving much less attention in spite of their importance in many practical decision-making problems such as selecting materials to best match the properties of human tissue in biomedical engineering applications. In response to this perceived gap, the development of a new normalization technique is considered in this paper that provides an extension of the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method and objective weighting in materials selection. There are four example cases included to validate the accuracy of outcomes from the proposed model. It is believed that the proposed decision-making model is suitable for linking to material databases and has the potential to enhance the efficiency of computer-aided materials selection systems.     

Concurrent engineering approach in the development of composite products: A review

Concurrent Engineering (CE) is regarded as a systematic design approach which integrates concurrent design of product with the related processes which is able to accomplish product that can be produced at lower cost, shorter time and with higher quality and this achievement was termed as cost, time and quality (CTQ) improvement. Since its establishment, CE philosophy was well implemented in product development with traditional materials such as metals but up to date, the work on CE in composite product development is still limited. Hence, a review on the implementation of Concurrent Engineering (CE) approach in the development of composite products is presented in this paper which includes review of various studies of CE techniques in composite product development. In addition, the relationship between CE and Pugh total design method is discussed in the context of composite design. Moreover, publications related to materials selection, life cycle analysis and sustainability issues of composite materials are also reviewed whereby a section is devoted to highlight previous work on materials selection using Analytical Hierarchy Process method. It was observed that materials selection of composite materials is a very important activity as far as CE in composite product development. The use of various techniques and computer aided materials selection tools such as Analytical Hierarchy Process has helped designers to select the most optimum composite materials for engineering components. Furthermore, based on current trends in composites product development, the role of CE is expected to be more crucial to assist composites designers in achieving the design requirements from various stakeholders effectively and efficiently considering the expanding range of composite materials availability as well as realizing new potential for biocomposites applications through introduction of innovative alternative problem solving methods as part of the CE family.     

A tool for meaning driven materials selection

There are several tools used in materials selection processes by designers. However, they are mostly engineering based tools, which are dominated by numerical (or technical) material data that is mostly of use in embodiment or detailed design phases of new product development. On the other hand, product designers consider certain aspects such as product personality, user-interaction, meanings, emotions in their material decisions. In this regard, existing tools and methods do not fully support designers in their materials selection processes. This paper describes the development of a new materials selection tool holding the idea of [meaning driven materials selection]. In addition, the paper consists of a study conducted to create data for a dummy application.