Design support tools

The adoption of systems-focused risk assessment techniques has not led to measurable improvement in the rate of patient harm. Why? In part, because these tools focus solely on understanding problems, and provide no direct support for designing and managing solutions (i.e., risk control). This second installment of a 2-part series on rebalancing risk management describes a structured approach to bridging this gap: The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit. A pilot study is presented to show how ARC Toolkit can improve the quality of risk management practice.

Current practice in healthcare risk management is supported by many tools for risk assessment (understanding problems), but none for risk control (solving problems).  The results: a failure to improve safety, and a waste of the investment made in risk assessment.  The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit, available for free, fills this void with a systematic, structured approach to risk control.

We have been witnessing an increased interest in a more holistic approach to urban design practice and education. In this paper we present a spatial data model for urban design that proposes the combination of urban environment feature classes with design process feature classes. This data model is implemented in a spatial database that becomes the backbone of a City Information Model (CIM), integrating urban neighbourhood formulation, design, and evaluation methods into a comprehensive urban design support system. We demonstrate its application to urban design analysis and evaluation through the development of a tool for AutoCAD Map 3D that is integrated with the PostGIS spatial database.

La trayectoria de los ganaderos y su permanencia en la actividad es, un tema de interés para distintos actores e investigadores.
En Uruguay, la ganadería ha sido desde los inicios de la República, una  actividad no solo de gran importancia desde el punto de vista socio-económico.
La globalización y los avances de actividades que compiten por recursos como lo son la agricultura y la forestación, ponen en la mesa de discusión cual es la capacidad de adaptación de los ganaderos y la ganadería como actividad.

We present a novel, low-cost haptic feedback device for spatial design tasks that provides proprioceptive and tactile feedback. It uses the Manus VR datagloves and a custom VR CAD environment. Here, tactile feedback is provided to the index finger through a vibrating motor, which helps users in identifying points on a grid. This grid allows for alignment during the creation and manipulation of geometric shapes. Models can be adjusted by pinching at a vertex of the shape with index finger and thumb, and moving this to a different point on the grid. Here, proprioceptive feedback is provided by a solenoid locking mechanism. The system was evaluated through preliminary user testing. Results indicate that the device leads to more natural and intuitive interactions for both the point grid and vertex adjustment, but that the ergonomics needs to be improved. Future challenges involve further integration of the physical device and datagloves and refined, multi-finger feedback.

Our discussion focuses on the design of creativity support systems. We describe a dedicated support system and the results of its evaluation. We then analyze a creative collaboration that was carried out without such a dedicated support system. We propose a new goal for designers of creativity support systems: facilitating creative presence. In addition, we describe four key aspects that such support systems should address: speed, status, synthesis and sketching.

This paper particularly deals with the way in which computer tools are used by students in their design studio's projects. Four institutions of architecture education in Algeria are considered as a case study to evaluate the impact of such tools on student design process. This aims to inspect in depth such use, to sort out its advantages and shortcomings in order to suggest some solutions. A field survey was undertaken on a sample of students and their teachers at the same institutions. The analysed results mainly show that computer tools are highly focusing on improving the quality of drawings representation and images seeking observers' satisfaction hence influencing their decision. Some teachers are not very keen to overuse the computer during the design phase; they prefer the "traditional" approach. This is the present situation that Algerian university is facing which leads to conflict and disagreement between students and teachers. Meanwhile, there was no doubt that computer tools have effectively contributed to improve the competitive level among students.

This paper presents an assessment of a selection software tools for urban design confronting their capabilities with the goals of the CityInduction research project. The goal of this paper is the assessment of existing platforms for computer aided urban design to select one as the basis for implementing the urban design model proposed in the CityInduction project. This model includes three sub-models that support the formulation of design programs from contextual information, the exploration of designs solutions through a grammarbased generative approach, and the validation of designs against the program through the use of evaluation tools. To each of these sub-models corresponds a module in the envisioned platform and so, existing platforms are assessed in terms of their ability to support the implementation of each module. The current goal is a proof-of-concept implementation, but the final goal is the development of a complete platform for supporting urban design.

To support the construction sector in its transition to a circular economy, many design instruments and decision support tools have been and are still being developed. This development is uncoordinated and raises confusion among building designers and advising engineers, slowing down the tools' adoption in practice. Moreover, it is unclear if the available design tools are able to fulfil the needs of design professionals at all. Therefore, this research identifies the knowledge challenges for the "supply and demand" of design tools for a circular construction practice. It focuses on Flanders, given the importance the topic receives in the region's policy programme and among practitioners. This study builds on a thorough literature review, and on inventorying and categorising instruments and ongoing developments. By comparing that review with the needs that were identified during interviews with a focus group, it was possible to pinpoint designers' needs for support tools and outline three urgent research tracks. More generally, it was found that the needs of our focus group are only partially reflected by the available design tools and the ongoing developments. This identified mismatch advocates for a more participatory and practice-oriented research approach when developing design support tools for circular building.

Problem solving systems incorporating a truth or reason
maintenance component have been developed for a number of
different domains, including hypothetical reasoning,
diagnosis, planing and circuit design.  Almost without
exception, the problems addressed by these systems are well
structured, that is, there exists a complete and consistent
statement of the problem requirements when the problem solving
begins.  In this paper we argue that RMS (an in particular
assumption-based truth maintenance systems) can also be
applied to ill structured problems.  We describe a hybrid
ATMS-blackboard architecture which has been employed in the
development of a number of design support systems in different
domains and briefly outline some of the questions raised by
our experience with the architecture.  (August 1992)

The problem of controlling inference is a common one in AI
systems.  It is particularly acute in AI-based design support
systems, which to be effective must not only produce the right
answer, but must also produce it at the right time.  In this
paper we discuss these problems in the context of a particular
implementation, the Edinburgh Designer System (EDS), a design
support system for mechanical design problems.  We present an
approach to the control problem which utilises the context of
a task to determine which inferences the system should
perform.  We describe a hybrid architecture, an
assumption-based truth maintained blackboard system and its
associated context management system which partitions the
blackboard into a series of views containing the information
relating to a particular design task.  The resulting system
integrates truth maintenance and the control of inference with
the framework of an assumption-based truth maintenance system
(ATMS). (May 1991)

The application of Artificial Intelligence to the support of
engineering design is now an active area of Artificial
Intelligence research.  This paper introduces and describes
the approach to AI-based design being developed at the
Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University.
It identifies the requirements of one particular aspect of the
design support system being built at Edinburgh, and suggests
that Persistent Object System techniques offer a means of
meeting these requirements. (August 1987)

Abstract Our discussion focuses on the design of creativity support systems. We describe a dedicated support system and the results of its evaluation. We then analyze a creative collaboration that was carried out without such a dedicated support system. We propose a new goal for designers of creativity support systems: facilitating creative presence. In addition, we describe four key aspects that such support systems should address: speed, status, synthesis and sketching.