A Research Roadmap Toward a Holistic and Structured Top-Down Concept Selection Methodology

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Takai
Keyword(s):  
Human Cognition ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Concept Selection ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
System Concept ◽  
Concept Evaluation ◽  
System Components ◽  
Thinking Process ◽  
Selection Methodology

In the field of human cognition, thinking consists of problem-solving and decision-making. In cognitive thinking, top-down processing is an approach used by experts that enables them to solve problems and make decisions efficiently. This paper attempts to apply cognitive top-down thinking process to the concept evaluation of systems and their components. In the top-down concept evaluation approach, engineers first evaluate system concepts. Once a system concept is selected, engineers then identify system components (modules) that they can design independently for the chosen system concept. Engineers generate concepts for system modules and select one concept for each module. The objective of this paper is first to identify characteristics needed for a holistic and structured top-down concept evaluation methodology for a system and its components, and second to propose a research roadmap for establishing the proposed framework.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing and Fostering the Quality of CES Through a Dutch National Network on CES (NEON)

HEC Forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hartman ◽  
Guy Widdershoven ◽  
Eva van Baarle ◽  
Froukje Weidema ◽  
Bert Molewijk
Keyword(s):  
Quality Standards ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Clinical Ethics Support ◽  
National Network ◽  
Responsive Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Ethics Support ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe prevalence of Clinical ethics support (CES) services is increasing. Yet, questions about what quality of CES entails and how to foster the quality of CES remain. This paper describes the development of a national network (NEON), which aimed to conceptualize and foster the quality of CES in the Netherlands simultaneously. Our methodology was inspired by a responsive evaluation approach which shares some of our key theoretical presuppositions of CES. A responsive evaluation methodology engages stakeholders in developing quality standards of a certain practice, instead of evaluating a practice by predefined standards. In this paper, we describe the relationship between our theoretical viewpoint on CES and a responsive evaluation methodology. Then we describe the development of the network (NEON) and focus on three activities that exemplify our approach. In the discussion, we reflect on the similarities and differences between our approach and other international initiatives focusing on the quality of CES.

A Decision-Analytic Concept Selection for a Commercial System Using Objective Data to Model Uncertainty

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Takai ◽  
Swithin S. Razu ◽  
Karan Banga
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Uncertainty Modeling ◽  
Case Based Reasoning ◽  
Objective Data ◽  
Concept Selection ◽  
Commercial System ◽  
System Concept ◽  
Cost Distribution ◽  
Selection Framework

This paper presents decision-analytic concept selection framework for a commercial system and an uncertainty modeling using objective data. The selection of a system concept for which a final system is designed and manufactured is a decision making process with incomplete information. Decision analysis is a prescriptive approach for decision making under uncertainty. While realizing that humans make decisions violating the expected utility axioms, decision analysis uses a set of tools to guide a decision maker toward an unbiased and rational decision making. The objective of this research is to propose a decision-analytic framework for commercial system concept selection, and an approach to utilize as much objective data as possible in the uncertainty modeling. Toward this objective, this paper construct cost distribution using case-based reasoning and market share distribution applying bootstrap to customers’ preference data obtained from conjoint analysis. The proposed approach is demonstrated in an illustrative example: a decision-analytic automobile concept selection.

scholarly journals A Novel Approach to Quantifying Designer’s Mental Stress in the Conceptual Design Process

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Zhu ◽  
Shengji Yao ◽  
Yong Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Mental Stress ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Passenger Compartment ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Formal Tool ◽  
Thinking Process

The objective of this paper is to quantify designer’s mental stress during the conceptual design process. Quantifying the designer’s mental stress would assist the effort of understanding the designer’s creative and innovative process. In this paper, Recursive Object Modelling (ROM) is used as a formal tool to represent the designer’s mental state in each step of the conceptual design process. During the conceptual design process, designers usually describe the design states using natural language, combined with sketches. The description based on natural language will be transformed into ROM diagram through the lexical, syntactic, and structure analysis. A cognitive experiment, which is to design a new litter-disposal system in a passenger compartment located in the trains of NS (Dutch Railways), is built to study designer’s thinking process. ROM is used to analyze and quantify the designer’s mental stress based on the protocol data collected in the experiment. The validation through the cognitive experiment shows that ROM is an efficient design evaluation methodology, which reflects the nature and the characteristics of the design process. The designer’s mental stress presents dynamic, nonlinear, and spiral trend.

scholarly journals Using top-down gating to optimally balance shared versus separated task representations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Verbeke ◽  
Tom Verguts
Keyword(s):  
Human Cognition ◽  
Time Sharing ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Gating Model ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Separated Representations ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
State Models ◽  
Partial Overlap ◽  
Task Representations

Human adaptive behavior requires continually learning and performing a wide variety of tasks, often with very little practice. To accomplish this, it is crucial to separate neural representations of different tasks in order to avoid interference. At the same time, sharing neural representations supports generalization and allows faster learning. Therefore, a crucial challenge is to find an optimal balance between shared versus separated representations. Typically, models of human cognition employ top-down gating signals to separate task representations, but there exist surprisingly little systematic computational investigations of how such gating is best implemented. We identify and systematically evaluate two crucial features of gating signals. First, top-down input can be processed in an additive or multiplicative manner. Second, the gating signals can be adaptive (learned) or non-adaptive (random). We cross these two features, resulting in four gating models which are tested on a variety of input datasets and tasks with different degrees of stimulus-action mapping overlap. The multiplicative adaptive gating model outperforms all other models in terms of accuracy. Moreover, this model develops hidden units that optimally share representations between tasks. Specifically, different than the binary approach of currently popular latent state models, it exploits partial overlap between tasks.

scholarly journals Alternate shutdown system concept selection

1973 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. McKeehan ◽  
B. Shawver ◽  
W. Taft
Keyword(s):  
Concept Selection ◽  
System Concept

Integrating Concept Selection in a Software Development Process

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Singiresu ◽  
Kumar Boggavarapu ◽  
Shun Takai
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Product Development ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Software Requirements ◽  
Customer Requirements ◽  
Concept Selection ◽  
Software Module ◽  
Concept Evaluation ◽  
Development Processes

Although a similarity between software and product development processes exists, concept selection is not treated as a core stage in software development whereas it is an important stage in product development. In this paper, we propose to apply concept selection methodologies in design engineering (modularized Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and perceptual concept evaluation methodologies) to software development. In particular, we demonstrate how these methods may be used for software architecture and software module concept selections. Modularized QFD matrices help software developers relate customer requirements to software requirements, and then to software module requirements. At the same time, importance of customer requirements is allocated to software requirements and then to software module requirements. These requirements and normalized worth serve as concept evaluation criteria and their weights. The proposed approach is illustrated using image search software as an example.

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