An Algorithmic Logic Approach to Formalizing Database Update Semantics

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate that modern computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer-aided engineering (CAE) systems can be used in the Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Weapons Complex (NWC) to design new and remodel old products, fabricate old and new parts, and reproduce legacy data within the inspection uncertainty limits. In this study, two two-dimensional splines are compared with several modern CAD curve-fitting modeling algorithms. The first curve-fitting algorithm is called the Wilson-Fowler Spline (WFS), and the second is called a parametric cubic spline (PCS). Modern CAD systems usually utilize either parametric cubic and/or B-splines.

To evaluate the design and manufacture accuracy of a domestic computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacture (CAM) system, and to compare it with similar foreign products. Thirty models of posterior-teeth-single-crown preparations were collected, and STL data of these preparations was collected by Denmark 3Shape scanner. Three copings were made for each preparation, the one designed and manufactured using commercial CAD/CAM system (3Shape CAD software and Wieland T1 CAM equipment) was assigned into control group T0, the one designed and manufactured using domestic CAD software (developed by Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) and Wieland T1 CAM equipment was assigned into experimental group TCAD for design accuracy evaluation, and the one designed and manufactured using 3Shape CAD software and domestic CAM equipment (developed by Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Tsinghua University and ShanDong XinHua Incorporated Company of medical apparatus and instruments) was assigned into experimental group TCAM for manufacture accuracy evaluation. Finally, the marginal fitness were compared and evaluated by using 3D & Profile measurement microscope laser. The marginal fitness of TCAD was 27.98 (19.10, 46.57) µm in buccal, 32.67 (20.65, 50.82) µm in lingual, 27.38 (22.53, 52.61) µm in mesial, 29.50 (22.68, 53.65) µm in distal; of TCAM was 21.69 (15.87, 30.21) µm in buccal, 18.51 (13.50, 22.51) µm in lingual, 19.15 (15.42, 26.89) µm in mesial, 22.77 (18.58, 32.15) µm in distal; and there were no statistical differences compared with T0 [20.16 (17.16, 48.00) µm in buccal, 21.51 (17.05, 28.31) µm in lingual, 23.54 (17.89, 30.04) µm in mesial and 23.94 (17.93, 28.19) µm in distal] except lingual data of TCAD. The design and machining precision of this domestic CAD/CAM system is at the same level of those comparable foreign products.

Ship repair, as a technological "lesser brother" of shipbuilding, still contains major elements of manual labor. In the past years, ship repair and the conversion of ships and offshore structures came to rely increasingly on modern computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD and CAM) information systems for speedy generation of the required engineering information. An often-encountered problem is the lack of product information in electronic form or in any other form. Such information is needed for engineering of new parts for damaged or converted ships and platforms. In such cases one needs to build the virtual product model from the existing as-built object up to an engineering-detail level; hence, the terms "as-built modeling" and "reverse engineering." The paper presents the results of a multiyear project with the code name AMORES, which focuses on improving lead time and economic efficiency in ship and offshore platform repair and conversion in the Netherlands. Existing and newly developed photogrammetric measuring techniques were used to generate as-built models of double curved three-dimensional surfaces of ships and platforms. These were fed into standard CAD/CAM systems to engineer and manufacture new ship hull or platform parts to replace damaged areas. The main advantages of the new method are savings in lead time (measurements, engineering) and the replacing of costly manual labor by modern digital photogrammetry. The paper will focus on the new developments, the experienced difficulties, and the advantages of this new technique in ship repair.

Business process (BP) designs and enterprise information system (IS) designs are often not well aligned. Missing alignment may result in performance problems at run-time, such as large process execution time or overloaded IS resources. The complex interrelations between BPs and ISs are not adequately understood and considered in development so far. Simulation is a promising approach to predict performance of both BP and IS designs. Based on prediction results, design alternatives can be compared and verified against requirements. Thus, BP and IS designs can be aligned to improve performance. In current simulation approaches, BP simulation and IS simulation are not adequately integrated. This results in limited prediction accuracy due to neglected interrelations between the BP and the IS in simulation. In this paper, we present the novel approach Integrated Business IT Impact Simulation (IntBIIS) to adequately reflect the mutual impact between BPs and ISs in simulation. Three types of mutual impact between BPs and ISs in terms of performance are specified. We discuss several solution alternatives to predict the impact of a BP on the performance of ISs and vice versa. It is argued that an integrated simulation of BPs and ISs is best suited to reflect their interrelations. We propose novel concepts for continuous modeling and integrated simulation. IntBIIS is implemented by extending the Palladio tool chain with BP simulation concepts. In a real-life case study with a BP and IS from practice, we validate the feasibility of IntBIIS and discuss the practicability of the corresponding tool support.

Data exchange between different computer-aided design (CAD) systems is a major problem inhibiting information integration in collaborative engineering environments. Existing CAD data format standards such as STEP and IGES enable geometric data exchange. However, they ignore construction history, features, constraints, and other parametric-based CAD data. As a result, they are inadequate for supporting modification, extension and other important higher-level functionality when accessing an imported CAD model from another CAD system. Achieving such higher-level functionality therefore often requires a time-consuming, error-prone, tedious process of manually recreating the model in the target CAD system. Based on techniques adapted from programming language research, this paper presents an approach to exchanging parametric data between CAD systems using formally-defined conversion semantics. We have demonstrated the utility of our approach by developing a prototype implementation that automates the conversion of 2D sketches between two popular CAD systems: Pro/ENGINEER and SolidWorks. We present examples showing that our approach is able to accurately convert parametric CAD data even in cases where models were constructed using operations from the source CAD system that have no direct counterpart in the target CAD system. Although the case study focuses on 2D interoperability, our approach provides formal foundations for supporting 3D and semantic interoperability between CAD systems.

Conceptual model is considered to be essential in simulation development activities. However, there are only a few research studies on how to develop conceptual models, the problems of model's low reusability and lacking management are presented in the conceptual model's development of simulation system. To solve the above problems, the concept of conceptual model (MCM) is presented for realizing the conceptual model's abstract in the higher arrangement. The ontology conception is introduced to design the MCM, and the MCM's architecture and modeling process are given too. By mapping the MCM to conceptual model (CM), the conceptual model's modeling process is realized. Finally, the method is applied in the conceptual model's modeling of equipment support simulation system, and the better validation is obtained. Conceptual Model. Meta means overtaking or basic, which often be used with other nouns such as language, model and data. The concepts of language, model and data are formed. When developing the conceptual models of some specific domains, the meta may be used before CM, and the concept of conceptual model (MCM) is presented. In brief, MCM is the model of CM and has the higher abstract degree. By using the MOF (Meta Object Facility) for reference (3), the four levels MCM architecture is presented, which is shown in Table 1. Table 1 MCM's Architecture

Most information systems development methodologies are based on conceptual modeling of static and dynamic views, which are represented by totally different types of diagrams. Understanding of the interplay among interactive, behavioral and structural aspects of specifications is necessary for identification of semantic integrity problems between business process and business data. Typically, semantic inconsistencies and discontinuities between collections of conceptual representations are not easy to detect and to comprehend for information system designers due to static and dynamic aspects of models being visualized in isolation. The goal of this paper is to present a modeling approach for semantic integration and evolution of static and dynamic aspects of conceptual models. Visualization of interplay among structural, interactive and behavioral aspects of computation-neutral representations helps to understand crosscutting concerns and integrity problems of information system conceptualizations. The main advantage of the presented conceptual modeling approach is stability and flexibility of diagrams in dealing with the evolutionary changes of requirements. Therefore, the developed modeling foundation is targeted to both business managers and information system designers for the purpose of computation-neutral integration and evolution of information systems specifications.

Conceptual models for coordinating the design of user work with the design of information systems

Congenital defect, posttraumatic asymmetries, and depressive deformities in craniofacial skeleton are common in the craniomaxillofacial surgical practice. In these patients, the injury or hypoplasty zone and precise shape of the implant that will fill the bone defect must be determined preoperatively, and an appropriate estimate of the quantity of bone needed must be made before plastic surgery. A combination of digital medical technology and tissue engineering has shown great promise for repairing these defects. Computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems can manipulate three-dimensional (3D) computed tomographic (CT) images of bone, using a virtual reality force feedback device. Rapid prototyping (RP) is an exceptional innovation in engineering that has been applied to medicine to build models that provide both visual and tactile information. CAD/CAM and RP techniques allow the generation of scaffolds for cell delivery that are custom-made to fit into given bone defects. Craniomaxillofacial bone is irregular and has a subtle 3D structure, and individualized repair of bone defects is very important. CAD, CAM, laser scanning and RP technologies have therefore been applied in craniomaxillofacial surgery. The scaffolds employed must fit into the anatomical defect and must have sufficient mechanical integrity as well as a controllable degradation rate. The synthetic biodegradable polymers poly (lactic acid) (PLA), poly (glycolic acid) (PGA) and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) have attracted much attention in tissue engineering because of their excellent biocompatibility, ease of fabrication into desired shapes, uniform quality and controllable degradation timescales compared to natural macromolecules. The cells for bone tissue engineering must be available in large numbers and must be able to express the cartilage and bone phenotypes. Bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) can differentiate into fibroblastic, osteogenic and adipogenic cells. The method for harvesting these cells is well established, and BMSC lines can be readily propagated for long periods without losing their potency. Many BMSCs can be cultured, enabling fabrication of

Sheet metal product design, processes planning and manufacturing are normally carried out in a sequence of stages using different computer-aided software tools. There are many computer-aided design (CAD) systems to take care of product design, computer-aided process planning (CAPP) systems to generate optimal tool paths and plans and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems for various manufacturing requirements such as punching or cutting. According to our literature search, there is no platform or system available that can efficiently integrate the CAPP and CAM and computer numerical control (CNC systems) in sheet metal product development processes. Although ISO 10303 AP207 was formally published by the ISO, its application is limited. This research attempts to develop a prototype STEP-compliant process planning system for sheet metal product development. The system has an interface to input CAD product data. It integrates software modules for nesting optimization, path optimization and planning, simulation, and machining parameters set-up and CNC machining. The focus of the paper is placed on the structure of the prototype STEP-compliant system, as well as the definition of STEP-compliant product data models and interfaces for creating a STEP-compliant programming environment, where the abovementioned software modules are integrated.

Looking backwards, it makes sense to discuss the value that Conceptual Modeling has provided to the Information Systems Design and Development area. Thinking about the present, the most advanced Software Engineering approaches oriented to producing quality software propose using extensively conceptual model-based approaches. Conceptual Modeling is widely used in the Information Systems domain. Nevertheless, in terms of Conceptual Model Evolution, we should wonder which new application domains will become more challenging for Conceptual Modeling in the very near future. In an attempt to answer that question, one path to follow is associated to the Bioinformatics domain and specifically, to confront the problem of precise understanding of the Human Genome. The problems related to this topic have become first-order issues in which, curiously, the role of Conceptual Modeling has not yet been fully exploited. The comprehension of the Human Genome is an extremely attractive topic for future research taking into account the continuous and increasing interest that is being generated. Therefore, it is worth analyzing how Conceptual Modeling principles, methods and techniques could help to face the problem and how Conceptual Modeling could aid to provide more efficient solutions. The basic goal of this talk will be the introduction and the discussion of these ideas. If we look at the Human Genome as the representation of some Conceptual Model ---which is not yet known-, interesting analogies with the modern Model-Driven Software Development principles appear. As a precise interpretation of the Human Genome would be much easier if the underlying model were known, Conceptual Modeling can provide new ways of facing that problem in order to obtain new and better strategies and solutions.

Influence of managerial control on performance in medical information system projects: The moderating role of organizational environment and team risks

Computer-aided design (CAD)/computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)/computer-aided engineering (CAE) integration offers designers, analysts, and manufacturers the opportunity to share data efficiently throughout the product development process. CAM for NC programing and tool design integrated with solid model data from CAD systems represents a large portion of the CAD/CAM/CAE domain. Sustained integration whereby successive changes to a CAD model are reintegrated with downstream applications is considered the most advanced and useful integration. Sustained integration is typically maintained when working in a homogeneous CAD/CAM environment. However, when working with applications that do not share a common environment (i.e., heterogeneous integration), sustained integration fails, and this lack of sustained integration can result in a loss of detailed information as a design progresses through the engineering design process. In the current paper, the authors discuss and demonstrate a novel approach to achieve sustained integration when working in heterogeneous CAD/CAM environments. After providing basic background information to establish a context, then discussing state-of-the-art and emerging solutions, the paper discusses virtual persistent identifiers as described via design change vectors (VPI/DCV). A series of three case studies shows sustained integration based on neutral formats like STEP working as well as that observed in homogeneous environments. This novel approach demonstrates success as a generic solution using common export formats from the current CAD systems and avoids the need to establish any new standards to achieve sustained integration. The paper finishes with a summary of observations learned from these case studies along with possible future research topics.

In the former VLDB Conference we have presented a global model for the design of a complete information system (IS). This model constitutes an original attempt to integrate at the conceptual level, data, processes and dynamics in the design of IS. In the same way, we now present a system of tools allowing IS definition, creation and functionning compatible with the general model previously defined. This system is an extension of the DBMS approach for the design and management of IS. The goal of those tools is to create an IS functioning and evolving as the dynamic reality it represents.

This study examines the potential of computer-aided design (CAD) systems equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) in reducing the workload of dental technicians. We aimed to compare the accuracy and design time of crowns designed using conventional CAD with those designed using AI-equipped CAD. Abutment tooth models of a maxillary right second premolar (FDI classification #15) and a maxillary left first molar (FDI classification #26) were mounted on a dental model to form the master model. Stereolithography data were acquired using an intraoral scanner, and five dental technicians designed one crown each for #15 and #26 using both conventional and AI-equipped CAD systems. With the #15 and #26 crowns, six measuring points were established for comparing the accuracy of the occlusal surfaces and design time of the crowns designed by the two CAD systems. The occlusal surfaces were also compared for the buccal and palatal sides. The accuracy of the occlusal surface was 275.5 ± 116.8 µm and 25.7 ± 13 µm for the conventional CAD and AI-equipped CAD systems, respectively. For the buccal and palatal surface comparisons, the conventional CAD system revealed larger misfits on the palatal side for both #15 and #26, with significant differences observed. No significant differences were noted with the AI-equipped CAD system. The AI-equipped CAD resulted in significantly faster design time for both #15 and #26. The AI-based CAD system significantly reduced design time and enabled the fabrication of uniform crowns regardless of the dental technician's experience and skill.