Tool Building on the Shoulders of Others

At the first International Workshop on Advanced Software Development Tools and Techniques, four emerging trends in academic tool building were evident. First, tools are increasingly constructed on the basis of external code, reusing, for instance, existing frameworks and integrated development environments. Second, researchers often choose dynamic languages such as Smalltalk to implement prototype tools. Third, Web-based tools are starting to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies to improve user interaction. Finally, increasing computational resources allow tools to tackle larger, real-world code bases.     

Synthesis and Vanilloid Receptor (TRPV1) Activity of the Enantiomers of α‐Fluorinated Capsaicin

Spicing it up with fluorine : Enantiomers of α‐fluorinated capsaicin 2 , have been prepared by organocatalytic electrophilic fluorination and have been used as probes for the binding conformation of capsaicin to the TRPV1 pain receptor. No enantiomeric bias is observed, thus suggesting an extended binding conformation along the molecular axis.

     

Semiochemicals from bark beetles: New results,remarks, and reflections

A brief survey is given about recent results in the identification of semiochemicals in bark beetles: Males ofIps sexdentatus (Boern.), stressed by the attack on resinous trees produce large amounts of 3(S)-1-methyl-5-(1-hydroxyl-1-methylethyl)-cyclohexa-1,3-diene. The compound appears to be derived from ³-carene and acts as a repellent. Males ofIps typographus (L.), stressed through the attack on unsuitable host material release 3-methyl-7-methylene-1,3(E), 8-nonatriene, which seems to act as a repellent. The odor bouquet of three species ofPityogenes is described. The occurrence of (+)-grandisol and other compounds related to weevil pheromones points to a close relation between Scolytidae and Curculionidae. Females ofDendroctonus simplex (Le Conte) use (–)-frontalin as the main pheromone. 6-Methyl-6-hepten-2-one, a minor component among the volatile compounds released by the females, is regarded as a possible precursor of frontalin. Similarly, (2R,5S)-2(1-hydroxyl-1-methylethyl)-5-methyltetrahydrofuran, pityol, a pheromone ofPityophthorus spp., is regarded to at least share a common biogenetic precursor with 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-ol, sulcatol. A new bicylic acetal, 2-ethyl-1,5-dimethyl-6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane, is described as an aggregation pheromone of the beech bark beetle,Taphrorychus bicolor (Herbst). Structural relationships between bark beetle pheromones and plant volatiles are discussed.     

Das schwebende Dach – Die neue Hauptpforte der Firma Trumpf in Ditzingen

Die Firma Trumpf ist Weltmarktführer für Laserschneide‐ und ‐schweißanlagen. Der Hauptsitz der Firma befindet sich in Ditzingen bei Stuttgart. Um den Zugang zum stetig wachsenden Betriebsgelände neu zu fassen, wurde im Eingangsbereich ein neues Pfortengebäude errichtet, das durch seine Formensprache, seine Transparenz und seinen technischen Standard jedem Besucher bereits bei Betreten des Firmengeländes die Kompetenz und Philosophie des Unternehmens anschaulich vermitteln soll. The floating roof – The new gatehouse of the company Trumpf in Ditzingen, Germany. Trumpf is a world market leader for laser‐cutting and laser‐welding machines. The headquarters of the company are situated at Ditzingen near Stuttgart. In order to make the entrance to the continuously growing premises more attractive, a new gatehouse was constructed. The gatehouse is to communicate the company's transparency, technological know‐how and technical standards even before the visitors enter the premises themselves. Particular features of the gatehouse are its thin roof cantilevering by about 20?m and the highly transparent façade.     

Membranversteifte Bogentragwerke

Der Einsatz von flächigen Zugversteifungen wie Membrane ist ein neues Konzept zur Stabilisierung von Bogentragwerken. Die Effizienz dieses Ansatzes konnte in Tests an einem ersten Prototyp gezeigt werden. In einer Studie wurden die wesentlichen Einflussgrößen und ihre Auswirkungen untersucht. Es zeigte sich, dass die Entwurfsparameter das Tragverhalten entscheidend beeinflussen. Bei einer sinnvollen Parameterwahl lassen sich Bogentragwerke durch Membrane sehr effizient stabilisieren. Membrane restrained arches. The application of plane restraining systems such as membranes is a new approach for stabilizing arches. The effectiveness of that concept was proven in tests on a first prototype. A study analyses the essential parameters and their implication. Parameter choice has a crucial effect on the structural behaviour. If the parameters are chosen reasonably, membranes can stabilize arches very efficiently.     

Tailoring biosensors for Brazil: Detection of insecticides in foods

An acetylcholinesterase (AChE) B multisensor from Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nb) was developed, able to detect the most frequently used insecticides in Brazil. The objective was to establish a fast screening-out method, separating the negative samples from the positive ones. The four mutants, which together presented the widest sensitivity spectrum, were: F345A, M301A, W346V and W346A. The combination of these four mutants in a multienzyme biosensor array enabled the detection of 11 out of the 12 most important insecticides at concentrations below 10 μg/kg. The biosensor test was compared with traditional analysis methods, and validated with food samples previously analyzed. The storage stability revealed that the enzyme activity remained stable for 40 weeks; however the sensitivity decreased with time. The biosensor screened out samples with an analysis duration of about 2 h.     

Complexity and Approximability of the Cover Polynomial

The cover polynomial and its geometric version introduced by Chung & Graham and D??Antona & Munarini, respectively, are two-variate graph polynomials for directed graphs. They count the (weighted) number of ways to cover a graph with disjoint directed cycles and paths, can be thought of as interpolations between determinant and permanent, and are proposed as directed analogues of the Tutte polynomial. Jaeger, Vertigan, and Welsh showed that the Tutte polynomial is #P-hard to evaluate at all but a few special points and curves. It turns out that the same holds for the cover polynomials: We prove that, in almost the whole plane, the problem of evaluating the cover polynomial and its geometric version is #P-hard under polynomial time Turing reductions, while only three points in the cover polynomial and two points in the geometric cover polynomial are easy. We also study the complexity of approximately evaluating the geometric cover polynomial. Under the reasonable complexity assumptions RP ?? NP and RFP ?? #P, we give a succinct characterization of a large class of points at which approximating the geometric cover polynomial within any polynomial factor is not possible.     

My hands? Importance of personalised virtual hands in a neurorehabilitation scenario

We have developed a novel and affordable way to texture virtual hands from individually taken photographs and integrated the virtual hands into a mixed reality neurorehabilitation system. This mixed reality system allows for serious game play with mirrored and non-mirrored hands, designed for patients with unilateral motor impairments. Before we can ethically have patients use the system, we must show that embodiment can be achieved for healthy users. We compare our approach’s results to previous work in the field and present a study with 48 healthy (non-clinical) participants targeting visual fidelity and self-location. We show that embodiment can be achieved for mirrored and non-mirrored hand representations and that the higher realism of virtual hands achieved by our texturing approach alters perceived embodiment. We further evaluate whether using virtual hands resized to the individual’s hand size affects embodiment. We present a 16-participant study where we could not find a significant difference with personal resized hands. In addition to rehabilitation contexts, our findings have implications for the design and development of applications where embodiment is of high importance, such as surgical training and remote collaboration.

     

General and specific formalization approach for a Balanced Scorecard: An expert system with application in health care

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) presents the essentials of strategic and performance management in clear, straightforward manner which is also usable in health care. If a BSC for a clinical department is an agreement, the first question to consider is the method by which it can be ascertained whether a strategy has been accomplished. There are many different techniques like AHP (analytic hierarchy process) and fuzzy systems to calculate indices.However, how does a formalized mathematical groundwork looks like that integrates current approaches and is still general enough to incorporate future expert systems with applications?The purpose of this paper is the formalization of BSC evaluation by respecting current research. The formalized expert system was implemented in an information system for health care management.