research list
Written by Daniel Herber on December 12, 2017.
Finally done!
This blog post contains some general information and musings related to my dissertation.
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## Word Cloud and Other Statistics
A word cloud is an image composed of words used in a particular text, in which the size of each word indicates its frequency.
Below is a word cloud generated from the text in my dissertation (filtering out common words, see [[link]](http://www.danielherber.com/python.php?option=post_1) for the methodology used).
[](blogs/research/post_1/wordcloud.svg){data-lightbox="blog_imgs"}
The fifteen most common words were:
<center>
| Counts | Word | Comment |
| ----: | :---- | :---- |
| 628 | problem | Problem is used in every chapter |
| 621 | design | This is combines both *design* and *co-design* |
| 396 | graph | |
| 355 | constraint | |
| 301 | method | |
| 286 | component | |
| 278 | control | Most popular of the three design domains |
| 270 | architecture | The *plant* design domain doesn't appear |
| 250 | solution | |
| 234 | number | |
| 227 | example | |
| 227 | circuit | Maybe the most surprising in top 15 |
| 209 | fig | Cross-referencing figures |
| 191 | system | |
| 180 | time | |
</center>
Some other statistics:
- Approximately 55,500 words (not including math or references)
- 97 figures, 30 tables, and 20 algorithms
- 9 chapters, 4 appendices, and 59 sections
- 308 pages (263 content, 19 references, and 26 other)
- 303 references
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## Citation
Daniel R Herber. <font color="#AE81FF">*'Advances in Combined Architecture, Plant, and Control Design.'*</font> Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, Dec 2017. <a class="biburl" title="Herber2017e" href="/plugins/bibtexbrowser/bibtexbrowser.php?key=Herber2017e&bib=danielherber_refs.bib">[bibtex]</a> <a href="">[url]</a> <a href="http://systemdesign.illinois.edu/publications/Her17e.pdf">[pdf]</a>
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#### Slides
The slides (without the transitions) I used during my defense are available at [[link]](blogs/research/post_1/defense-presentation-drh-handout.pdf). Here was my title slide:
[](blogs/research/post_1/slide1.png){data-lightbox="blog_imgs"}
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## Summary of Available Code
One of the goals I have for my research is ensuring the availability of the developed tools and replicability of the examples/case studies.
Here we summarize the available code developed as a part of my dissertation (see Appendix D).
All code is primarily written in the ``Matlab`` language.
- **(pm architectures project)** [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/pm-architectures-project) contains the code for Chapter 2 and Appendix A. It generates the set of unique useful graphs with a perfect matching-based approach.
A recursive algorithm for the $(N − 1)!!$ perfect matchings of $K_N$ and incomplete listings for large $N$ is available in [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/perfect-matchings-of-a-complete-graph) and used in the main code.
- **(co-design examples repository)** [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/co-design-examples-repository) contains the code for the examples in Chapters 3, 4, and 7 including the SASA case study.
- **(dt qp project)** [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/dt-qp-project) contains the code for Chapter 5, the automated problem generation for linear-quadratic dynamic optimization using direct transcription and quadratic programming. [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/optimal-control-direct-method-examples) and [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/basic-multiple-interval-pseudospectral) are useful teaching aids for direct methods of optimal control.
- **(pm circuits)** [(not yet available) [link]]() contains the code for Chapter 6, the passive analog circuits case study including the automated model generator for creating the transfer function given the graph and automated optimization problem generation for the sizing task.
- **(pm suspensions)** [(not yet available) [link]]() contains the code for Chapter 8 including the automated model generator for creating the linearized state-space system given the graph and automated optimization problem generation utilizing [[link]](https://github.com/danielrherber/dt-qp-project).
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## Included Epigraphs
An [epigraph](https://www.google.com/search?q=epigraph) is a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.
Epigraphs are certainly not required, but I made the decision to include them for a number reasons.
Some discussions/comments on this idea are at [[link]](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12565) and [[link]](http://www.judicialaccountabilityinstitute.com/5-points-to-know-when-using-an-epigraph-in-a-dissertation/).
Many of my chapters dealt with different subjects, sometimes quite different from the previous chapter (for example, the content between Chapters 2 and 3).
Including epigraphs added fun, gentle introductions to the chapters.
I also hoped the epigraphs provide some insights into my state of mind when developing and writing the content of the chapter. Each included epigraph is now listed below in their order of appearance:
1. > "Nevertheless, the design method is as inherent to the design process as the scientific method is to scientific exploration."
*R. J. McCrory* <font color="#75715E">
[p. 12; R. J. McCrory, “The Design Method in Practice,” in The Design Method, S. A. Gregory, Ed., Springer, 1966, pp. 11–18]
</font>
2. > "Central to design is the creative act. This is not to imply that all needs are met creatively. Some are met by found solutions, found in handbooks, catalogues, department stores, etc. However, if a need is met through design, then creativity is involved."
*Raymond A. Willem* <font color="#75715E">
[R. A. Willem, “Design and Science,” Design Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 43–47, Jan. 1990]
</font>
3. > "If we want to solve problems effectively. . . we must keep in mind not only many features but also the influences among them. Complexity is the label we will give to the existence of many interdependent variables in a given system. The more variables and the greater their interdependence, the greater the system’s complexity. Great complexity places high demands on a planner’s capacity to gather information, integrate findings, and design effective actions."
*D. Dörner* <font color="#75715E">
[p. 38; D. Dörner, The Logic Of Failure: Recognizing And Avoiding Error In Complex Situations, revised edition. Basic Books, 1997]
</font>
4. > "Behind complexity, there is always simplicity to be revealed. Inside simplicity, there is always complexity to be discovered."
*G. Yu* <font color="#75715E">
[G. Yu. (2004). Syllabus for Algorithm Design and Implementations]
</font>
5. > "Since all the effects of Nature follow a certain law of maxima or minima, there is no doubt that, on the curved paths, which the bodies describe under the action of certain forces, some maximum or minimum property ought to obtain. What this property is, nevertheless, does not appear easy to define a priori by proceeding from the principles of metaphysics;"
*L. Euler* <font color="#75715E">
[p. 106; H. H. Goldstine, A History of the Calculus of Variations from the 17th through the 19th Century, Springer, 1980]
</font>
6. > "It will be remarked that no attention is paid to the actual values of the resistances, but only to the forms in which they can be combined. The enumeration of the forms of combinations of a given number of resistances is of considerable interest."
*P. A. Macmahon* <font color="#75715E">
[P. A. Macmahon, “The Combinations of Resistances,” Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 54, no. 2–3, pp. 225–228, Oct. 1994, Reprinted from The Electrician, 1892]
</font>
7. > "What we usually consider are impossible are simply engineering problems. . . there’s no law of physics preventing them."
*M. Kaku* <font color="#75715E">
[A. Jha. (Jun. 2009). Science Weekly with Michio Kaku: Impossibility is Relative, The Guardian]
</font>
8. > "Systems engineering should be, first and foremost, a state of mind and an attitude taken when dealing with complexity."
*J.-L. Wippler* <font color="#75715">
[p. 208; D. Luzeaux, J.-R. Ruault, and J.-L. Wippler, Eds., Large Scale Complex Systems and Systems of Systems Engineering: Case Studies. Wiley, 2013]
</font>
9. > "Design, on the other hand, is concerned with how things ought to be..."
*H. A. Simon* <font color="#75715">
[p. 114; H. A. Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd ed. The MIT Press, 1996]
</font>
