Tools and techniques for product design

For product designers, tools and techniques are essential in driving the design cycle. Nevertheless, their employment usually is implicit, while passing over e.g. the design and project environments empowering their adequate use. This publication presents an overview of approaches in structuring and using tools/techniques, based on the effectuation of creativity and decision-making in the design environment. In elaborating on characteristics of tools/techniques and ensuing ways of selecting them, the designer's portfolio of tools/techniques is characterised. Representative problems of tool/technique usage are depicted and contextualised by illustrating their industrial application. Prospects for future developments are also reviewed.     

Neutronic characterization of the MEGAPIE target

The MEGAPIE project aimed to design, build and operate a liquid metal spallation neutron target of about 1 MW beam power in the SINQ facility at the Paul Scherrer Institut (Villigen, Switzerland). This project is an important step in the roadmap towards the demonstration of the accelerator driven system (ADS) concept and high power liquid metal targets in general. Following the design phase, an experimental program was defined to provide a complete characterization of the facility by performing a “mapping” of the neutron flux at different points, from the center of the target to the beam lines. The neutronic performance of the target was studied using different experimental techniques with the goals of validating the Monte Carlo codes used in the design of the target; additionally, the performance was compared with the solid lead targets used before and after the MEGAPIE experiment.     

Anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide with cryptates as counterions: 2

A kinetic study of the anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide has been made in tetrahydrofuran at 20°C, with the cryptate Cs⁺ + [TC] as counterion, [TC] being a spheroidal macrotricyclic ligand. Conductance measurements have been made on THF solutions of ?₄BCs + [TC]. Ionic associations higher than cryptated ion pairs are negligible for living end concentrations lower than 3 × 10^?4 moll^?1. k_± and the alkoxide ion pair dissociation constant K_D were determined from both sets of kinetic data obtained with and without added salt knowing the value of k_? from kinetic data performed with K⁺ + [222] as counterion. Free alkoxide ions are about twenty times more reactive than cryptated caesium ion pairs.     

Complex mental arithmetic: The contribution of the number sense.

Young adults were asked to solve two-digit addition problems and to say aloud the result of each calculation step to allow the identification of computation strategies. We manipulated the position of the largest addend (e.g., 25 + 48 vs. 48 + 25) to assess whether strategies are modulated by magnitude characteristics. With some strategies, participants demonstrated a clear preference to take the largest addend as the starting point for the calculation. Hence, rather than applying strategies in an inflexible manner, participants evaluated and compared the operands before proceeding to calculation. Further, mathematically skilled participants tended to use those magnitude-based strategies more often than less skilled ones. The findings demonstrate that magnitude information plays a role in complex arithmetic by guiding the process of strategy selection, and possibly more so for mathematically skilled participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lipid nutrition and eye health

According to demographic forecasts, the elderly population will represent a growing part of the developed societies in the near future. Eye diseases are the second most prevalent pathologies after the age of 65 years. Age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in western countries. The number of people suffering from ocular pathologies is expected to increase sharply in the near future, becoming a socio‐economic burden. Recent data indicate that lipid nutrients may represent new tools in the prevention of eye diseases, and especially AMD.     

Integrating a Decision Tree Perspective at the Operational-Level of BPM+

Decision trees are among the best-known decision-making techniques and have been used extensively for both data analysis and predictive modeling. BPM+ is a novel process modeling approach that helps represent business process models in a consistent and structured way to meet different stakeholders’ process representation needs. This paper reports on the outcomes of an ontological analysis of the potential use of decision-tree representations as a new BPM+ perspective for the operational level of abstraction. This new perspective effectively demonstrates how a specialized/operational BPM stakeholder perspective can be used to improve the existing organizational business process model repository.     

Epoxide Hydrolase‐Catalysed Kinetic Resolution of a Spiroepoxide,a Key Building Block of Various 11‐Heterosteroids

Two microbial epoxide hydrolases – i.e., Aspergillus niger (AnEH) and Rhodococcus erythropolis (the so‐called “Limonene EH”: LEH) were used to achieve, for the first time, the biocatalysed hydrolytic kinetic resolution (BHKR) of spiroepoxide rac‐ 1 . This compound is a strategic key building block allowing the synthesis of 11‐heterosteroids. Interestingly enough, the two enzymes exhibited opposite and therefore complementary enantioselectivity allowing us to isolate the residual (R,R)‐ 1 (from AnEH) and the residual (S,S)‐ 1 (from LEH) in nearly enantiopure forms (>98 %). Their absolute configurations were determined by X‐ray crystallography. An opposite regioselectivity of the oxirane ring opening for both enantiomers of substrate 1 , determined using H₂¹⁸O labelling and chiral GC‐MS analysis, was also observed, corresponding to an attack at the less substituted carbon atom using AnEH, and at the most substituted carbon atom using LEH. A chemical process‐improving methodology was also developed. This allowed us to obtain both enantiomers of the substrate in high enantiomeric purity (99 %) and optimised quantity. In the case of the AnEH, the use of a biphasic (water/isooctane) reaction medium allowed us to increase the global substrate concentration up to 200 g/ L. The preparation of both enantiomers of 1 clearly paves the way to the preparative scale synthesis and biochemical evaluation of the corresponding 11‐heterosteroid enantiomers.     

Experimental study of inlet manifold water injection on combustion and emissions of an automotive direct injection Diesel engine

This paper describes an experimental study conducted on a modern high speed common-rail automotive Diesel engine in order to evaluate the effects on combustion and pollutant emissions of water injected as a fine mist in the inlet manifold.     

Enzymatic Transformations 62. Preparative Scale Synthesis of Enantiopure Glycidyl Acetals using an Aspergillus niger Epoxide Hydrolase‐Catalysed Kinetic Resolution

The hydrolytic kinetic resolution of five glycidaldehyde acetal derivatives was examined using the recombinant Aspergillus niger epoxide hydrolase as biocatalyst. This could successfully be performed, at room temperature, using solely demineralised water as solvent and following a two‐phase methodology allowing us to operate at a global substrate concentration as high as 200 g/L in the reactor. The observed E values were shown to be modest to excellent, depending on the structure of the acetal moiety, indicating that it is possible to achieve this resolution very efficiently just by choosing the right substituents. Both the unreacted (R)‐epoxide and the formed (S)‐diol could thus be obtained in good to excellent ee (ee>99 % for the epoxide). For the best substrates, the reaction could be performed within a few hours by using a biocatalyst over substrate molecular ratio of about 9 to 10×10⁻⁴ mol %. The turnover frequency (TOF) as well as the total turnover number (TON) of the enzyme proved to be excellent as compared to chemical catalysts – reaching respectively values in the order of 6×10² mol sub/mol enz/min and 6×10⁴ mol sub/mol enz. The space‐time yield of the best (two‐phase) reactor could thus reach a value as high as 56 g/L/hour. As a demonstration experiment, a 50‐g scale resolution of glycidaldehyde 2,2‐dimethyltrimethylene acetal was performed.