modelled and simulated using computers. However prior to production commencing a non-computer model or prototype is commonly built and tested; a prototype being a full size model of the final product. For example, motorcycle and car manufacturers create prototypes of each new vehicle prior to its production. The prototype is used for testing as well as for market research.
Why are such non-computer models and simulations built?
• To demonstrate feasibility – a working model or prototype clearly demonstrates that the product in fact operates and fulfils its objectives.
• To resolve design unknowns – not all variables can be included in a computer model. Non-computer models or prototypes allow the product to be tested in real world conditions.
• To resolve human factors issues – a non-computer model is needed to test the product is human friendly. For example, do people like the look of the product and can they understand how it will be used? A real world model or prototype is needed to answer such questions.
• To market an idea – an actual example or model of a proposed product is invaluable when trying to assess or create a market for a new product. Without a real world example most will view the product more as a theoretical idea rather than a product design ready for production.
GROUP TASK Discussion
Identify and categorise each of the information processes occurring in the above scenario as either collecting, organising, analysing, storing and retrieving, processing or displaying.
GROUP TASK Discussion
The motel owner wishes to determine the effectiveness of an
advertisement placed in the NRMA’s accommodation guide. Their advert has been in the guide for the past 10 months. Discuss analysis techniques the motel owner could use to determine the ads effectiveness.
Fig 5.20 Motorcycle prototypes.
Consider the following:
Mars Mice
In 2006 a group of mice-astronauts will orbit Earth inside a spinning spacecraft.
Their mission: to learn what its like to live on Mars.
Humans need gravity. Without it, as astronauts have vividly demonstrated, our bodies change strangely. Muscles lose mass, and bones lose density. Even the ability to balance deteriorates.
From long experience on the space shuttle and various space stations, we have some knowledge of how mammals, especially people, respond to 0-g. We have even more experience with 1-g on Earth. But we still don't know what happens in between.
What, for example, will happen to humans on Mars where the surface gravity is 0.38-g? Is that enough to keep human explorers functioning properly? And, importantly, how easily will they readapt to 1-g, once they return to Earth?
A team of scientists and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Washington, and the University of Queensland, in Australia, plans to explore these questions. They're going to do it by launching mice into orbit.
"What we're doing," explains Paul Wooster, of MIT, and program manager of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite project "is developing a spacecraft that is going to spin to create artificial gravity." The satellite will spin at the rate of about 34 times each minute, which will generate 0.38-g, the same as gravity on Mars.
The team hopes to launch the Biosatellite in 2006. The mice will be exposed to Mars-gravity for about five weeks.
Then, says Wooster, they'll return to Earth alive and well. The mice will descend by parachute and land near Woomera, Australia, inside a small capsule reminiscent of NASA's old Apollo capsules.
The research will focus on bone loss, changes in bone structure, on muscle atrophy, and on changes in the inner ear, which affects balance. "The main thing we're trying to do," says Wooster, "is to chart a data-point between zero-gravity and one-gravity."
As they orbit the earth, the mice, each in its own tiny habitat, will be painstakingly observed. Each habitat will have a camera, so that the researchers can monitor mouse activity. Each will have its own pump-driven water supply, so each mouse's water consumption can be tracked.
Each mouse's wastes will be collected in a compartment beneath its habitat; the compartment will contain a urinalysis system checking for biomarkers that indicate bone loss.
Each habitat will also be equipped with a body mass sensor, which will take frequent readings. This will also allow the researchers to track how the weight of the mice changes over the course of the five weeks.
Each mouse will also have toys to keep it busy. "We may give them a wooden block to chew on," says Wooster. That'll keep them happy, and will also prevent them from chewing on the habitat. They might have a small tube to run through.
No wheels, though, says Wooster, because NASA has learned that exercise can counteract some of the effects of low-gravity on astronauts. A mouse with a wheel in its cage can actually run several miles a day. "We don't want to give the mice a countermeasure in terms of exercise."
(Source: science.nasa.gov)
10/2009 Update: The satellite is yet to be launched. The project was discontinued on 24/6/2009, however there are indications that it may be recommenced with assistance from the MarsDrive organisation.
A mouse-astronaut candidate poses atop a model solar panel.
Credit: MarsGravity.org
An artist's rendering of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite in Earth orbit.
Credit: MarsGravity.org
GROUP TASK Discussion
Read the above article and discuss reasons why such a non-computer simulation would be necessary.
GROUP TASK Discussion
Make a list of the data to be collected and describe how this data could best be analysed to produce the required information.
SET 5B
1. A simulation:
(A) imitates the behaviour of a real or imagined system or object.
(B) is a specific application of a model.
(C) represents a real world system or thing.
(D) Both A and B.
2. Altering the inputs in a spreadsheet and observing the outputs is an example of:
(A) a simulation.
(B) data processing.
(C) what-if analysis.
(D) creating a model.
3. Pie charts are suitable for communicating:
(A) multiple data series.
(B) the different percentages each data item makes to the total of all data items.
(C) future trends likely to occur in the data.
(D) the relationship of a pair of data sets to each other.
4. An advantage of manual filing systems over similar computer-based systems is:
(A) sorting and searching is more efficient and accurate.
(B) each record can contain media of different types.
(C) all records must have an identical structure.
(D) more extensive training is needed to use manual filing systems.
5. Software that replaces files with more recent versions are likely to be:
(A) comparing the contents of files.
(B) comparing the dates files were created.
(C) comparing the dates files were modified.
(D) comparing each corresponding line of data within the files.
6. Non-computer models and simulations are built to:
(A) demonstrate feasibility.
(B) resolve human factors.
(C) market an idea.
(D) All of the above.
7. The data series plotted along the X axis must always be sorted when using a:
(A) line or XY graph.
(B) column or bar graph.
(C) pie chart.
(D) All of the above.
8. Which of the following is true?
(A) there can be many models created using a single simulation.
(B) there can be many simulations created using a single model.
(C) each simulation must use a different model.
(D) modelling is the process of creating a simulation.
9. The best chart type for displaying the number of cars, trucks, buses and motorbikes passing a given point would be a:
(A) line graph.
(B) column graph.
(C) pie chart.
(D) XY graph.
10. Spreadsheets are commonly used for creating ‘What-if’ scenarios because:
(A) they automatically recalculate all outputs each time an input is altered.
(B) most scenarios involve processing numeric data.
(C) commonly the processing utilises mathematical and statistical functions.
(D) All of the above.
11. Define each of the following terms:
(a) model (b) simulation (c) What-if scenario
12. The profit made by Eclectus Software Pty. Ltd. has risen each year. In 1997 profit was $1.2 million, in 1998 it was $1.5 million, 1999 $2.1 million, 2000 $2.4 million, 2001 $2.8 million, 2002 $3.5 million, and in 2003 profit was $4.0 million.
(a) Graph the above data. Justify the type of graph you use.
(b) Use your graph to estimate likely profits for 2004, 2005 and 2006.
(c) Do you think your profit estimates in (b) will prove to be accurate? Discuss.
13. Comparing the modified date of files is commonly used as the basis for synchronising files on a desktop computer with those on a laptop. Why is this a suitable technique when there is a single user of both machines but not when there are multiple users?
14. Why would a new business choose to use a manual filing system rather than a computer-based filing system? Discuss.
15. Imagine the RTA proposed to replace all practical driving tests with realistic simulator tests.
Discuss advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal.
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