scholarly journals A bridge to systems thinking in engineering design: An examination of students’ ability to identify functions at varying levels of abstraction

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Tomko ◽  
Jacob Nelson ◽  
Robert L. Nagel ◽  
Matthew Bohm ◽  
Julie Linsey
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Functional Modeling ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Abstract Function ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Level Function ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Function ◽  
Systems Thinking Approach

AbstractThis paper aims to situate functional abstraction in light of systems thinking. While function does not extensively appear in systems thinking literature, the literature does identify function as part of systems thinking that enables us to recognize and connect that function has a role in building a systems thinking approach for students. A systems thinking approach is valuable for students since it helps them view a system holistically. In this research, we measure how well students are able to abstract function. We asked students to generate functions for two different products and examined how students taught functional modeling and function enumeration compare to students who are only taught function enumeration. The student responses were examined using a rubric that we developed and validated for assessing function. This rubric may be used to classify functions by correctness (correct, partially correct, and incorrect) and categories (high level, interface, low level, and ambiguous). On questions where students were not explicitly asked to write a high-level function or low-level function, and so on, students who were taught functional modeling were able to better demonstrate systems thinking in their responses (low-level and interface functions) than those students who were only taught function enumeration.

L2 acquisition of the bei passive in Mandarin Chinese: A constructionist approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-198
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Feng-hsi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Constructionist Approach ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Function

Abstract A major claim in the constructionist approach to language acquisition is that grammar is learned by pairings of form and function. In this study we test this claim by examining how L2 learners of Mandarin Chinese acquire the bei passive construction, a construction that is associated with the meaning of adversity. Our goal is to find out whether L2 learners make the association between the passive and adversity. Participants performed a sentence choice task under four conditions: an adversative context with an adversative verb, an adversative context with a neutral verb, a neutral context with a neutral verb and a positive context with a neutral verb. In each context participants were asked to select either the bei passive construction or its active counterpart. We found that high-level learners consistently chose the bei passive significantly more in adversative contexts than in non-adversative contexts regardless of the connotations of the verbs, while low-level learners made the distinction half of the time. In addition, while low-level learners did not yet associate adversity with the form of the construction, high-level learners did. We conclude that L2 learners do learn the bei passive construction as a form-meaning pair. The constructionist approach is supported.

scholarly journals Practical Applications of Systems Thinking to Business

Systems ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Jamie Monat ◽  
Matthew Amissah ◽  
Thomas Gannon
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Organizational Management ◽  
System Thinking ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Business Failures ◽  
Hands On ◽  
High Level ◽  
Systems Thinking Approach

In this paper we summarize the research on Systems Thinking for business management and explore several examples of business failures due to a lack of application of Systems Thinking, with an ultimate goal of offering a Systems Thinking approach that is useful to all levels of management. Although there is significant literature aimed at facilitating Systems Thinking in organizational management, there remains a lack of adoption of Systems Thinking in mainstream business practice. This is perhaps because the literature does not reduce high-level Systems Thinking principles to hands-on, practical protocols that are accessible for typical managers, thus limiting the working application of Systems Thinking concepts to researchers and consultants who specialize in the field. The goal of this work is to not only elaborate on the high-level ideals of System Thinking, but also to articulate a more precise and practical hands-on approach that is useful to all levels of business managers.

Affordances in Interior Design: A Case Study of Affordances in Interior Design of Conference Room Using Enhanced Function and Task Interaction

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. S. Kim ◽  
M. K. Kim ◽  
S. W. Lee ◽  
C. S. Lee ◽  
C. H. Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interior Design ◽  
Conference Room ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Function Decomposition ◽  
Level Function ◽  
User Tasks ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Given

Interior design of space is somewhat different from product design in view of followings: the space should afford the multiple users at the same time and afford appropriate interactions with human and objects which exist inside the space. This paper presents a case study of interior design of a conference room based on affordance concept. We analyzed all of users’ tasks in a conference room based on the human activities that are divided into human-object and human-human interactions. Function decomposition of an every object in conference room was conducted. The concept of a high-level function is used such as “configure the space” to satisfy the given condition of the number of humans, the types of conference, and so forth. The Function-Task Interaction (FTI) method was enhanced to analyze the interactions between functions and user tasks. Many low-level affordances were extracted, and high-level affordances such as enter/exitability, prepare-ability, present-ability, discuss-ability and conclude-ability were also extracted by grouping low-level affordances in the enhanced FTI matrix. In addition, the benchmarking simulation was conducted for several existing conference rooms and the results confirmed that the extracted affordances can be used for checklist and also for good guidance on interior design process.

A Function-Based Scoring Method for Evaluating Student Mental Models of Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob T. Nelson ◽  
Alexander R. Murphy ◽  
Julie S. Linsey ◽  
Matt R. Bohm ◽  
Robert L. Nagel
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Functional Modules ◽  
Functional Modeling ◽  
Scoring Method ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Holistic Thinking ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Interactive Simulations

Mental models are loosely-defined constructs people form to reason and make predictions about their surroundings. These models are an important aspect of systems thinking for engineers, a concept that emphasizes holistic thinking when working with complex systems which is increasingly important in multiple engineering disciplines. Methods to evaluate systems thinking and mental models of systems traditionally rely on questionnaires, or detailed interactive simulations of specific processes. This work presents a method based on functional modules for evaluating student responses to an instrument based on Lawson’s bicycle problem, intended to elicit students’ mental models of two systems. Students were given a simple outline of the two systems, a hair dryer and a car radiator, and were prompted to fill and label the components required for the system to fulfil the functionality described. This was done in two sessions, once before learning functional modeling, and once after, to utilize the method of scoring to evaluate any changes in their mental models due to exposure to functional modeling. The scoring method identifies common functional modules between two systems using Module Heuristics, and then identifies students’ recognition of those modules. This allows a direct comparison of the functional similarity between the two systems identified by the students and can capture a wider variety of correct answers than simply counting the components a student provides.

Evaluation of Techniques to Describe Device Complexity in Pre and Post Design Stages

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Mountain ◽  
Matt R. Bohm ◽  
Marie K. Riggs
Keyword(s):  
Design Stage ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Functional Modeling ◽  
Product Complexity ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Initial Attempt ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Design Cycle ◽  
Realization Complexity ◽  
High Level

Electro-Mechanical device complexity exists in everyday items from cell phones to automobiles to vacuum cleaners. Generally, product complexity is one of the least quantifiable characteristics in the design cycle with arguably some of the greatest implications. A high level of device complexity carries a negative connotation and is usually considered an attribute a designer should attempt to mitigate. Alternatively, a low level of device complexity may induce designers and marketers to question a product’s usefulness. Whether complexity is a necessary aspect of a design or a hindrance needing to be minimized or eliminated, depends upon how complexity is framed. Some instances in literature attempt to measure complexity yet there is no unified measure that captures the complexity of a product or system during design phases or upon product/system realization. Complexity is defined in many ways, at different levels of abstraction, and different stages of design therefore, becoming highly contextual and subjective at best. An established and repeatable methodology for calculating complexity of existing products in the marketplace is necessary. Once a measure of complexity is agreed upon at the post design stage we can look to earlier phases in design to see whether insights are observable. Identifying complexity early in the design cycle is paramount to strategic resource allocation. This study considers the Generalized Complexity Index (GCI) measure put forth by Jacobs [1] and expands upon it to include functional modeling as a key component in determining an indicative complexity metric. Functional modeling is a method used to abstract system or product specifications to a general framework that represents a function based design solution. Complexity metrics are developed at the functional and completed design levels and used for comparison. Thirty common household products retrieved from an online design repository [2] as well as seven senior capstone design projects were evaluated using the GCI. A modification to the GCI equation is proposed and to gain a relative scale of complexity within the data, a ranked complexity metric was developed and utilized. The magnitude of the ranked complexity metric was only indicative of hierarchical status of a product within the data set and therefore is not comparable to GCI values. Though Jacobs GCI worked well in his study, the GCI does not represent a meaningful complexity measure when applied to the data in this study. This study is an initial attempt to apply an independent data set to Jacobs GCI model with perhaps greater implications, with respect to products, that complexity is multifaceted and is not accurately represented by only interconnectedness, multiplicity, and diversity.

APOC

2011 ◽  
pp. 290-311
Author(s):  
Matthias Scheutz
Keyword(s):  
Unified Framework ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Agent Architectures ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Architecture Framework ◽  
High Level ◽  
Different Levels

In this chapter, we introduce an architecture framework called APOC (Activating-Processing-Observing-Components) for the analysis, evaluation, and design of complex agents. APOC provides a unified framework for the specification of agent architectures at different levels of abstraction. As such, it permits intermediary levels of architectural specification between high-level functional descriptions and low-level mechanistic descriptions that can be used to connect these two levels in a systematic way.

scholarly journals Disordered information processing dynamics in experimental epilepsy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Clawson ◽  
Tanguy Madec ◽  
Antoine Ghestem ◽  
Pascale P Quilichini ◽  
Demian Battaglia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Brain State ◽  
Experimental Epilepsy ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Neural Firing ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Brain States ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Function

AbstractNeurological disorders share common high-level alterations, such as cognitive deficits, anxiety, and depression. This raises the possibility of fundamental alterations in the way information conveyed by neural firing is maintained and dispatched in the diseased brain. Using experimental epilepsy as a model of neurological disorder we tested the hypothesis of altered information processing, analyzing how neurons in the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex store and exchange information during slow and theta oscillations. We equate the storage and sharing of information to low level, or primitive, information processing at the algorithmic level, the theoretical intermediate level between structure and function. We find that these low-level processes are organized into substates during brain states marked by theta and slow oscillations. Their internal composition and organization through time are disrupted in epilepsy, loosing brain state-specificity, and shifting towards a regime of disorder in a brain region dependent manner. We propose that the alteration of information processing at an algorithmic level may be a mechanism behind the emergent and widespread co-morbidities associated with epilepsy, and perhaps other disorders.

scholarly journals A Service-Oriented Component-Based Framework for Dynamic Reconfiguration Modeling Targeting SystemC/TLM

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Khaled Allem ◽  
El-Bay Bourennane ◽  
Youcef Khelfaoui
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Reconfiguration ◽  
Model Transformations ◽  
Context Model ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Dynamically Reconfigurable ◽  
Abstraction Level ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
On Chip ◽  
High Level

To deal with the complex design issues of Dynamically Reconfigurable Systems-on-Chip (DRSoCs), it is extremely relevant to raise the abstraction level in which models are expressed. A high abstraction level allows great flexibility and reusability while bypassing low-level implementation details. In this context, model-driven engineering (MDE) provides support to build and transform precise and structured models for a particular purpose at different levels of abstraction. Indeed, high-level models are successively refined to low-level models until reaching the executable ones. Thus, this paper presents an MDE-based framework for DRSoCs design enabling the transformation of UML/MARTE specifications to SystemC/TLM implementation. To achieve a high degree of expressiveness for modeling dynamic reconfiguration, we use a suitable software engineering approach based on service-oriented component architecture. Since MARTE does not cover the common features of dynamic reconfiguration domain and service orientation concepts, new stereotypes are created by refinement to add missing capabilities to the profile. Likewise, SystemC does not provide native support for dynamic reconfiguration, thus leading us to adopt a design pattern based solution for DRSoCs implementation in compliance with standards. The proposed framework is validated through a reconfigurable active 3-way crossover case study in which we demonstrate the practicability of the approach by gradual model transformations with reduced implementation effort and significant design productivity gain.

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