A Product Design Approach to Prosthetic Design: A Case Study

Author(s):  
Susan L. Sokolowski ◽  
Zach Meyer

Evidence of prosthetic use can be dated back to the second Punic War [1]. However, state-of-the-art devices have advanced very little, especially for individuals who need forearm and hand functionality, and have little financial support for high-end, custom robotic devices. This is particularly the case for military veterans. The prosthetics prescribed are thermally hot, heavy in weight, fit poorly, restrict mobility and are unattractive. This paper will review how the aforementioned design challenge was addressed through 3D body scanning and rapid prototyping technologies, for an undergraduate product design student’s capstone project.

Designs ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charul Chadha ◽  
Kathryn Crowe ◽  
Christina Carmen ◽  
Albert Patterson

This work explores an additive-manufacturing-enabled combination-of-function approach for design of modular products. AM technologies allow the design and manufacturing of nearly free-form geometry, which can be used to create more complex, multi-function or multi-feature parts. The approach presented here replaces sub-assemblies within a modular product or system with more complex consolidated parts that are designed and manufactured using AM technologies. This approach can increase the reliability of systems and products by reducing the number of interfaces, as well as allowing the optimization of the more complex parts during the design. The smaller part count and the ability of users to replace or upgrade the system or product parts on-demand should reduce user risk, life-cycle costs, and prevent obsolescence for the user of many systems. This study presents a detailed review on the current state-of-the-art in modular product design in order to demonstrate the place, need and usefulness of this AM-enabled method for systems and products that could benefit from it. A detailed case study is developed and presented to illustrate the concepts.


Author(s):  
Charul Chadha ◽  
Kathryn Crowe ◽  
Christina Carmen ◽  
Albert Patterson

This work explores an additive-manufacturing-enabled combination-of-function approach for design of modular products. AM technologies allow the design and manufacturing of nearly free-form geometry, which can be used to create more complex, multi-function or multi-feature parts. The approach presented here replaces sub-assemblies within a modular product or system with more complex single parts that are designed and manufactured using AM technologies. This approach can increase the reliability of systems and products by reducing the number of interfaces, as well as allowing the optimization of the more complex parts during the design. The smaller part count and the ability of users to replace or upgrade the system or product parts on-demand should reduce user risk, life-cycle costs, and prevent obsolescence for the user of many systems. This study presents a detailed review on the current state-of-the-art in modular product design in order to demonstrate the place, need and usefulness of this AM-enabled method for systems and products that could benefit from it. A detailed case study is developed and presented to demonstrate the concepts.


Author(s):  
Ginestra Bianconi

Defining the centrality of nodes and layers in multilayer networks is of fundamental importance for a variety of applications from sociology to biology and finance. This chapter presents the state-of-the-art centrality measures able to characterize the centrality of nodes, the influences of layers or the centrality of replica nodes in multilayer and multiplex networks. These centrality measures include modifications of the eigenvector centrality, Katz centrality, PageRank centrality and Communicability to the multilayer network scenario. The chapter provides a comprehensive description of the research of the field and discusses the main advantages and limitations of the different definitions, allowing the readers that wish to apply these techniques to choose the most suitable definition for his or her case study.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1862
Author(s):  
Alexandros-Georgios Chronis ◽  
Foivos Palaiogiannis ◽  
Iasonas Kouveliotis-Lysikatos ◽  
Panos Kotsampopoulos ◽  
Nikos Hatziargyriou

In this paper, we investigate the economic benefits of an energy community investing in small-scale photovoltaics (PVs) when local energy trading is operated amongst the community members. The motivation stems from the open research question on whether a community-operated local energy market can enhance the investment feasibility of behind-the-meter small-scale PVs installed by energy community members. Firstly, a review of the models, mechanisms and concepts required for framing the relevant concepts is conducted, while a clarification of nuances at important terms is attempted. Next, a tool for the investigation of the economic benefits of operating a local energy market in the context of an energy community is developed. We design the local energy market using state-of-the-art formulations, modified according to the requirements of the case study. The model is applied to an energy community that is currently under formation in a Greek municipality. From the various simulations that were conducted, a series of generalizable conclusions are extracted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5768
Author(s):  
Hugo A López ◽  
Pedro Ponce ◽  
Arturo Molina ◽  
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya ◽  
Edgar Lopez-Caudana

Nowadays, engineering students have to improve specific competencies to tackle the challenges of 21st-century-industry, referred to as Industry 4.0. Hence, this article describes the integration and implementation of Education 4.0 strategies with the new educational model of our university to respond to the needs of Industry 4.0 and society. The TEC21 Educational Model implemented at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico aims to develop disciplinary and transversal competencies for creative and strategic problem-solving of present and future challenges. Education 4.0, as opposed to traditional education, seeks to provide solutions to these challenges through innovative pedagogies supported by emerging technologies. This article presents a case study of a Capstone project developed with undergraduate engineering students. The proposed structure integrates the TEC21 model and Education 4.0 through new strategies and laboratories, all linked to industry. The results of a multidisciplinary project focused on an electric vehicle racing team are presented, composed of Education 4.0 elements and competencies development in leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The project was a collaboration between academia and the productive sector. The results verified the students’ success in acquiring the necessary competencies and skills to become technological leaders in today’s modern industry. One of the main contributions shown is a suitable education framework for bringing together the characteristics established by Education 4.0 and achieved by our educational experience based on Education 4.0.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5466
Author(s):  
Federico Pasquaré Mariotto ◽  
Varvara Antoniou ◽  
Kyriaki Drymoni ◽  
Fabio Luca Bonali ◽  
Paraskevi Nomikou ◽  
...  

We document and show a state-of-the-art methodology that could allow geoheritage sites (geosites) to become accessible to scientific and non-scientific audiences through immersive and non-immersive virtual reality applications. This is achieved through a dedicated WebGIS platform, particularly handy in communicating geoscience during the COVID-19 era. For this application, we selected nine volcanic outcrops in Santorini, Greece. The latter are mainly associated with several geological processes (e.g., dyking, explosive, and effusive eruptions). In particular, they have been associated with the famous Late Bronze Age (LBA) eruption, which made them ideal for geoheritage popularization objectives since they combine scientific and educational purposes with geotourism applications. Initially, we transformed these stunning volcanological outcrops into geospatial models—the so called virtual outcrops (VOs) here defined as virtual geosites (VGs)—through UAV-based photogrammetry and 3D modeling. In the next step, we uploaded them on an online platform that is fully accessible for Earth science teaching and communication. The nine VGs are currently accessible on a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet. Each one includes a detailed description and plenty of annotations available for the viewers during 3D exploration. We hope this work will be regarded as a forward model application for Earth sciences' popularization and make geoheritage open to the scientific community and the lay public.


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