Evolving improvised ideation from humour constructs: A new method for collaborative divergence

This paper reviews and applies key principles from improvised comedy (“improv”) to overcome common barriers in effective group ideation, resulting in the formulation and presentation of a new creative idea generation method. The emergence of an innovative product design can be compared to the telling of a funny joke: both combine seemingly unconnected ideas in a way that is both surprising and satisfying. Our research expands upon this link between humour and creativity, and operationalizes the improv principles best suited to the conceptual design process. A workshop‐based methodology was used to select, develop, and refine the method protocol and facilitation technique. Participant feedback and observations have demonstrated how this approach can expand the solution space to support the generation of bold, innovative ideas. Finally, we present a step‐by‐step guide for the new “design improv” method and discuss its potential value in the generation of creative ideas in a group ideation context.     

Modeling simultaneous biological clogging and physical plugging in trickle-bed bioreactors for wastewater treatment

A major drawback limiting the use of trickle-bed bioreactors for biological wastewater treatment is ascribed to the concomitant biological clogging and physical plugging phenomena induced, respectively, by the formation of an excessive amount of biomass and the retention of inert suspended fine particles advected in the liquid influent stream. Biomass growth and fine particles deposition permanently reshape the bed pore structure and narrow the free interstitial space left to the fluids flow thus occasioning progressive bed obstruction often accompanied with pressure drop build-up for the cocurrent gas-liquid flows taking place in trickle-bed biofilters. In these circumstances, for maintaining acceptable operating cycles, the unit must be backwashed and/or shutdown regularly for removing the excess biomass and for cleaning from the specific solid deposit. A predictive two-dimensional dynamic model linking the two-phase flow hydrodynamics to the space-time distribution of bioclogging/biokinetics and of inert fine particles deposition via deep-bed filtration in trickle-bed bioreactors for wastewater treatment was developed. The model was based on the volume-average mass and momentum balance equations for the gas and liquid phases and continuity equation for the solid phase, the volume-average species balance for the fine particles, simultaneous transport and consumption of substrate (pollutant) and oxygen within the biofilm and collecting solid particle, and the volume-average species balance equations in the liquid and gas phases. Phenol biodegradation by Pseudomonas putida as the predominant species immobilized on activated carbon was chosen as a case study to illustrate the incidence of biomass accumulation on trickle-bed bioreactor hydrodynamics.     

Collagen-hydroxyapatite composite enhances regeneration of calvaria bone defects in young rats but postpones the regeneration of calvaria bone in aged rats

The potential differences in bone repair of calvaria defects treated with a collagen sponge (HELISTAT) or a collagen-hydroxyapatite composite (HEALOS) in young and aged rats were evaluated at 8 weeks after surgery. A histomorphometric analysis of new bone formation and an evaluation of angiogenesis, mast cell, and eosinophil local infiltration were performed. Evaluation showed that HELISTAT induced a similar amount of new bone in both young and aged rats. However this occurred to a lesser degree than in young rats treated with HEALOS. The largest number of blood vessels was present in the defects of aged rats treated with HEALOS, and the number of mast cells was highest in the defects treated with HELISTAT in both young and aged rats. Eosinophils were present to the greatest extent in defects treated with HEALOS in comparison to defects treated with HELISTAT in both young and aged rats. Collagen-hydroxyapatite composite (HEALOS) enhances calvarial bone repair more than collagen sponge alone (HELISTAT) in young rats but not in aged rats at 8 weeks after surgery. HEALOS appears to induce a more intense inflammatory response than HELISTAT especially in aged rats.     

High-throughput SNP genotyping by SBE/SBH

Despite much progress over the past decade, current single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping technologies still offer an insufficient degree of multiplexing when required to handle user selected sets of SNPs. In this paper we propose a new genotyping assay architecture combining multiplexed solution-phase single-base extension (SBE) reactions with sequencing by hybridization (SBH) using universal DNA arrays such as all k-mer arrays. Simulation results on datasets both randomly generated and extracted from the NCBI dbSNP database suggest that the SBE/SBH architecture provides a flexible and cost-effective alternative to genotyping assays currently used in the industry, enabling genotyping of up to hundreds of thousands of SNPs per assay     

Structural investigations on TiO2 and Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by laser pyrolysis

Undoped and Fe-doped TiO₂ nanopowders with Fe/Ti (atomic ratio) precursor concentration ranging from 7% up to 25% have been prepared by the IR laser pyrolysis technique. A sensitized mixture of TiCl₄ and Fe (CO)₅ was used as titanium and iron precursor, respectively. Reference undoped titania samples with a major concentration of anatase phase (about 90%) were obtained by the same technique by using very high flows of the oxidizing agent (air). The effects of the iron-dopant concentration on the essential structural properties of the resultant powders such as the phase formation, the crystallinity, the average particle size and distributions were systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The decrease of the TiO₂-anatase crystalline phase, the simultaneous increase of the amorphous phase and the decrease in size of particle mean diameter appear as main effects induced by the Fe-dopant concentration.     

Surface properties of aromatic polymer film during thermal treatment

Aromatic polyimide films are processed from polyamic acid solutions. This process involved the simultaneous loss of solvent and chemical conversion of polyamic acid to polyimide, and implied structural reorganization which led to changed physical properties. Polymer films generated from benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride and 4,4′-diamino-3,3′-dimethyl diphenylmethane have been investigated at different stages of thermal treatment. The surface polarity, which was determined by the presence of polar COOH and CONH groups, changed during polyamic acid thermal treatment. These polar groups were removed step by step by imidization process leading to the modification of the physical properties of the polymer film.     

Influence functions, integral formulas, and explicit solutions for thermoelastic spherical wedges

In this study, new exact Green’s functions and a new exact Green-type integral formula for a boundary value problem (BVP) in thermoelasticity for some spherical wedges with mixed homogeneous mechanical boundary conditions are derived. The thermoelastic displacements are subjected to a heat source applied in the inner points of the spherical wedges and to a mixed non-homogeneous boundary heat conditions. When the thermoelastic Green’s function is derived, the thermoelastic displacements are generated by an inner unit point heat source, described by Dirac’s δ-function. All results are obtained in elementary functions that are formulated in a special theorem. Exact solutions in elementary functions for two particular BVPs of thermoelasticity for spherical wedges also are included. In these particular BVPs, the thermoelastic displacements are subjected to a constant temperature (in the first particular BVP) or to a constant heat source (in the second particular BVP). In both BVPs, the constant temperature or the constant heat source is given on the segment of the radius of the quarter-space. On the boundary half-planes of the quarter-space zero temperature and zero heat flux are prescribed.     

Multicompartment hydrodynamic model for slurry bubble columns

A core-annulus multicompartment two-dimensional two-bubble class model accounting for slurry recirculation and coupled with catalyst transport was developed as a part and parcel of the analysis of the behavior of slurry bubble column reactors at high gas throughputs corresponding to the churn turbulent flow regime. The model analyzed the contributions of bubble-induced turbulence closures, bubble coalescence and breakup phenomena, and catalyst axial distribution as the resultant of sedimentation, advection via liquid-solid slip, per-compartment axial dispersion and core-annulus lateral exchange of catalyst by bubble-induced turbulence. The model was also used to analyze the effects of catalyst loading, gas density and superficial velocity, and column diameter and vessel aspect ratio on the hydrodynamics of slurry bubble column reactors, namely, the per-compartment phase holdups and interstitial velocities, pressure gradient, bubble coalescence and break-up rates, and loci of velocity inversion for the gas and slurry profiles.     

Vibration of circular plate with multiple eccentric circular perforations by the Rayleigh-Ritz method

The free vibration of a circular plate with multiple perforations is analyzed by using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. Admissible functions are assumed to be separable functions of radial and tangential coordinates. Trigonometric functions are assumed in the circumferential direction. The radial shape functions are the boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials generated following the Gram-Schmidt recurrence scheme. The assumed functions are used to estimate the kinetic and the potential energies of the plate depending on the number and the position of the perforations. The eigenvalues, representing the dimensionless natural frequencies, are compared with the results obtained using Bessel functions, where the exact solution is available. Moreover, the eigenvectors, which are the unknown coefficients of the Rayleigh-Ritz method, are used to present the mode shapes of the plate. To validate the analytical results of the plates with multiple perforations, experimental investigations are also performed. Two unique case studies that are not addressed in the existing literature are considered. The results of the Rayleigh-Ritz method are found to be in good agreement with those from the experiments. Although the method presented can be employed in the vibration analysis of plates with different boundary conditions and shapes of the perforations, circular perforations that are free on the edges are studied in this paper. The results are presented in terms of dimensionless frequencies and mode shapes.     

Assessment of cleaning effectiveness for new ecological systems on ancient tempera icon by complementary microscopy techniques

The study presents an old icon painted in egg tempera on lime wood, with a poor conservation condition and clogged dirt deposits. The icon is attributed to an anonymous painter of XIXth century and to the neo‐classical style of painting. The painting layer was done with only a hand full of pigments, earth colors that were often used in painting the icons from XVIIth to XIXth century in Eastern Europe, that have Byzantine influences. Taking into consideration the nature and the structure of the materials from the upper layers of the painting, affected by deposits of dirt over time, a series of cleaning recipes were studied, using the so called cleaning tests with compatible mixtures of different juices and infusion from indigenes plants, that were freshly done and odorless. A low alkaline 95% ethyl alcohol solution, combined with a few drops of ammoniac 25%, was used as a reference system, due to its compatibility with the greasy deposits found on the polychrome layer and on the wood. The cleaning capacity of the new systems used, in comparison with the standard solution, was analyzed through modern analytical methods of evaluating the degree of cleaning, more exactly by means of visible and UV reflectography, CIE L*a*b* colorimetry by reflection assisted by SEM‐EDX and IR spectroscopy. Microsc. Res. Tech. 77:1060–1070, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.