Kazuo Hiekata

Scheduling Algorithm for On-Demand Bus System

On-Demand Bus is a Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) service that passengers will be transported by the vehicles after they reserve a seat. The vehicle won’t move if there is no reservation and the efficiency is expected as a new transportation service. It allows potential passengers to request service via the Internet or mobile phone, with requests for ride being processed by a server computer. The requests compose of pick-up location, delivery location and desired delivery time (or pick-up time). The computer executes two main algorithms which are vehicle-choosing algorithm and routing algorithm. Using the vehicle-choosing algorithm was used for decision about which vehicle will accept the new request. And the routing algorithm was used to design the new route and schedule for the vehicle chosen to serve the new request. After calculation, the system will report to the customer whether the request is accepted or not. If it is accepted, the vehicle will pick up and deliver him to his destination within a guaranteed time – not later than the desired delivery time (or not earlier than pick-up time). We also carried out an experiment to evaluate the developed algorithm worked as we designed.

Virtualisation and automation of curved shell plates’ manufacturing plan design process for knowledge elicitation

This paper seeks to propose a brand new system for tacit knowledge elicitation in curved shell plates’ manufacturing process. By virtualising the manufacturing process and automatically suggesting manufacturing plans, the system would allow the knowledge-interrelated information more specific and understandable. Five areas are studied: 1) the extraction of a curved shell plate’s real shape from the point cloud measured by laser scanner; 2) the virtualisation of a curved shell plate’s wooden template; 3) the automatic suggestion of the manufacturing plan; 4) the virtualisation of the manufacturing environment; 5) the knowledge elicitation using ripple-down-rules based on the virtualised manufacturing environment and the evaluation result of the system’s suggested manufacturing plan. The system which integrates the proposed approaches above is evaluated by conducting a series of experiments in the shipyard. The tacit knowledge existent in the curved shell plate’s different situations during the manufacturing process are effectively elicited and represented.

Development and Evaluation of New Interface for Registration of New Bus Stops for the On-Demand Bus System

On-demand Bus is a new public transportation mode which has flexible schedule and flexible routes. Users can ride the bus only after making reservations. It is difficult for the On-demand Bus system without any operators to realize full demand typed service because there is no interaction between users and drivers to inform the concrete information about waiting spots. This paper proposes the new interface for On-demand Bus system through which users can register new bus stops by themselves. The developed interface, namely the developed system realizes CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work), which is a collaboration with the Internet. By developing the new interface, the full demand typed On-demand Bus service is realized and users evaluate the service positively.

CAD Education Support System Based on Workflow

This paper presents a development and experiment of a CAD education support framework providing enhanced design assistance for students undertaking ship design coursework using a document management system called ShareFast. The software offers the following features: 1. CAD education framework for self instruction based on workflow of CAD operation; 2. Network based system for sharing educational materials, and support communication between instructors and students; 3. Sophisticated and flexible contents management feature based on metadata in RDF(Resource Description Framwork) format; and 4. Operations monitoring function to keep track of students’ behavior in finding problems for materials. This educational framework was used for empirical studies with university students and the results show that the framework can hasten students’ learning by means of learning materials improvement, and it also helps the instructor to understand the students’ problems in real time.

Technique for searching tabular form documents using metadata harvested by table structure analysis

Conducting full-text searches on collections of tabular files, in which a single sheet corresponds to a single document and eachfile consists of multiple sheets, typically involves retrieving many candidate files that include the search terms. Opening eachof these tabular files to determine whether it is the desired sheet is labor-intensive. Searching with high precision thus requiresexpert intuition born of operational experience. Therefore, it would be advantageous to enable the pinpointing of desireddocuments with greater accuracy regardless of the operator’s level of experience.In the present study, we propose a method in which operational classifications are assigned as metadata on the basis of thetable structure of a sheet. We obtain the table structure of the sheet and assign metadata based on a set of rules establishedindividually for each pattern in the structure. We propose two methods for representing the table structures obtained: a methodusing node property matrix, and a method in which positional data regarding cells containing specific operation-description dataare indexed. Comparing the results of searches that use assigned metadata to the results of traditional full-text searches revealsthat our method has greater search accuracy.

Development of Accuracy Evaluation System for Curved Shell Plate by Laser Scanner

Accuracy evaluation system for a curved shell plate was developed. In this system, the point cloud data of a curved shell plate measured by a laser scanner and the design data are registered based on the edge of shell plates. Then the errors which mean the distances from the design surface are evaluated and visualized by color map. In addition to the development of the system, some actual curved shell plates are evaluated and visualized by this system. Some correlations between the distribution of the errors and the making process are illustrated.

Knowledge Articulation Method Using Design Data History

This paper proposes a methodology to articulate design knowledge using a design trace. A software system is developed to support the proposed methodology. The system is a kind of design navigator and is also a design data storage. Design data are stored in RDF format which is a standard metadata description language. By incorporating with the software, design knowledge is articulated through the following processes: (1) define initial workflow, (2) record the design trace, (3) generation tree of the design history and (4) interview with the designer to revise workflow and to determine the design knowledge. This methodology and the software were applied to the marine propeller design. Since this is a typical parametric design, all the input and output data are recorded and the articulation was made in the proposed manner. The workflow and knowledge was extracted successfully.

Evaluation of Project Architecture in Software Development Mixing Waterfall and Agile by Using Process Simulation

For software development, especially massive software systems, a waterfall process is used traditionally. A waterfall process can be highly effective on the condition that a master plan is fixed and the possibility of changes and uncertain rework is low. However, in software development projects, many kinds of reworks occur corresponding to uncertain requirement changes and program bugs. In addition, with the advent of cloud-based software platforms and continuous development operations, it is possible to develop a software system while operating the system. To respond to this situation, software development projects often adopt an agile process. Agility may allow conditional response to uncertain rework, yet at the same time it may be difficult to control the achievement of known project targets. Recently, many cases of adopting mixed processes including waterfall and agile have been reported in the massive software development projects. In this paper, we argue that the mixed process architecture should ...

Risk management in the design of engineering projects as sociotechnical systems

This paper reviews risk management as commonly applied in engineering projects, addresses shortcomings, and introduces additional thinking on uncertainty in engineering projects. Despite practices in risk management, unexpected events leading to unacceptable outcomes continue to occur. As practiced, common methods rest upon input and judgement from experts, in particular to evaluate the exposure and systemic effects of risk. Limitations are well known, including errors, disparate use of qualitative measures, biases and overconfidence, prioritization and focus on local effect rather than systemic value, and meaningless combined exposure scores. By viewing the engineering project as a sociotechnical system, we place human expertise not as constraint but as fundamental to the system. Rather than removal of human judgment, we seek to position people to leverage existing judgment within limits of relevance while stimulating attention and learning towards systemically relevant options. We propose the design of projects that incorporate human attention in identification and response to risks as learning and coordination within the projects broader sociotechnical architecture.

Simulation-Assisted Ship Design Method for Maximizing Profit

In ship building, the design objective is based on the performance, in terms of technological aspects such as fuel oil consumption rate, maximum speed or combination of those. The proposed method simulates the detailed cost breakdown based on the developed ship performance model and estimates the operational condition to maximize the profit in the market. The operation condition determines the service speeds at full and empty ship, and the market includes the oil price and the freight market. By considering only the technological indicators and assuming technological systems and the fluctuation of economic situations, the designs give different results. This manuscript illustrates how the proposed method works in a case to determine a propeller of a large tanker.