Advanced product planning: a comprehensive process for systemic definition of new product requirements

This paper reports results of research into the definition of requirements for new consumer products––specifically, electro-mechanical products. The research dealt with the derivation of design requirements that are demonstrably aligned with stakeholder needs. The paper describes a comprehensive process that can enable product development teams to deal with statements of product requirements, as originally collected through market research activities, in a systematic and traceable manner from the early, fuzzy front end, stages of the design process. The process described has been based on principles of systems engineering. A case study from its application and evaluation drawn from the power sector is described in this paper. The case study demonstrates how the process can significantly improve product quality planning practices through revision of captured product requirements, analysis of stakeholder requirements and derivation of design requirements. The paper discusses benefits and issues from the use of the process by product development teams, and identifies areas for further research. Finally, the conclusions drawn from the reported research are presented.

Insights into virus capsid assembly from non-covalent mass spectrometry

The assembly of viral proteins into a range of macromolecular complexes of strictly defined architecture is one of Nature's wonders. Unraveling the details of these complex structures and the associated self-assembly pathways that lead to their efficient and precise construction will play an important role in the development of anti-viral therapeutics. It will also be important in bio-nanotechnology where there is a plethora of applications for such well-defined macromolecular complexes, including cell-specific drug delivery and as substrates for the formation of novel materials with unique electrical and magnetic properties. Mass spectrometry has the ability not only to measure masses accurately but also to provide vital details regarding the composition and stoichiometry of intact, non-covalently bound macromolecular complexes under near-physiological conditions. It is thus ideal for exploring the assembly and function of viruses. Over the past decade or so, significant advances have been made in this field, and these advances are summarized in this review, which covers the literature up to the end of 2007.     

Bithalamic hyperintensity on T2-weighted MR: vascular causes and evaluation with MR angiography

PURPOSE: To determine whether MR angiography can be used to differentiate between the two vascular causes of bithalamic hyperintensity on T2-weighted MR images: "top of the basilar" artery occlusion and deep cerebral vein thrombosis. METHODS: A retrospective review identified six patients with bithalamic T2 hyperintensity of vascular causes. MR angiography was performed in four patients, MR angiography and conventional angiography in one patient, and conventional angiography in one patient. Data pertaining to clinical presentation and hospital course were collected. MR angiographic techniques were multislab overlapping three-dimensional time-of-flight, 2-D time-of-flight, and 2-D phase-contrast. RESULTS: Three cases of top of the basilar artery occlusion and three cases of deep cerebral vein thrombosis were recognized. In all cases, T2 hyperintensity in a vascular distribution suggested cerebral occlusive disease. Infarction involving the thalami and basal ganglia was present in two cases of deep cerebral vein thrombosis. Infarction of the thalami, mesodiencephalic region, and cerebellar hemispheres was present in two cases of basilar artery occlusion. Bithalamic infarction alone was seen in one case of deep cerebral vein thrombosis and one case of basilar artery occlusion. In the five cases in which MR angiography was used, this technique accurately distinguished the vessels involved (arterial or venous). CONCLUSION: MR angiography is a useful adjunct to MR imaging in the evaluation of bithalamic T2 hyperintensity. It does help distinguish between the two vascular causes: top of basilar artery occlusion and deep cerebral vein thrombosis.     

Occupational factors and renal disease

The male-to-female ratio of patients requiring dialysis treatment commonly approaches 2:1. It is proposed that environmental factors, particularly occupational exposure to hydrocarbons, may account for the excess number of male patients. The term "hydrocarbon" refers to the aliphatic, alicyclic, aromatic, and halogenated hydrocarbons (carbon tetrachloride, chloroform); glycols (ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, dioxane, glycerol); and organic solvents. Hydrocarbons commonly find use as solvents in industrial manufacturing practices because of their lipid solubility. Hydrocarbons have long been known to be neurotoxicants, affecting both peripheral and central nervous systems. Although benzene and its derivative have a known association with uroepithelial tumors, there is now a considerable body of evidence suggesting a possible role for hydrocarbon exposure in the development of non-neoplastic renal diseases. This article presents an epidemiological case for such an association and critically reviews the literature.     

Kinetic study of the aqueous electropolymerization of acrylamide,acrylonitrile andN,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide on an aluminium alloy cathode

This study concerns the potassium persulphate electroinitiated polymerization of acrylamide, acrylonitrile andN, N-methylene-bisacrylamide on a 5182 aluminium-magnesium alloy. Kinetic studies of the polymerization gave the polymerization as -d[M]/dt=K(CD)^0.99 [Persulphate]^1.12 [M]^2.33, whereCD is current density (mA cm^–2), [M] is monomer concentration (mol cm^–3),K is a constant andt is time (s). It is proposed that the thick swollen polymer coating restricted the diffusion of monomers and initiators to the electrode. The problem of mass transfer by diffusion in the present system was confirmed by measurements of the diffusion coefficient and by electron transfer fraction experiments carried out through the use of a cyclic voltammetry technique.     

Physics-guided machine learning from simulated data with different physical parameters

Knowledge and Information Systems - Physics-based models are widely used to study dynamical systems in a variety of scientific and engineering problems. However, these models are necessarily...     

Learning the higher-order structure of a natural sound

Unsupervised learning algorithms paying attention only to second-order statistics ignore the phase structure (higher-order statistics) of signals, which contains all the informative temporal and spatial coincidences which we think of as 'features'. Here we discuss how an Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithm may be used to elucidate the higher-order structure of natural signals, yielding their independent basis functions. This is illustrated with the ICA transform of the sound of a fingernail tapping musically on a tooth. The resulting independent basis functions look like the sounds themselves, having similar temporal envelopes and the same musical pitches. Thus they reflect both the phase and frequency information inherent in the data.     

Towards inverse modeling of turbidity currents: The inverse lock-exchange problem

A new approach is introduced for turbidite modeling, leveraging the potential of computational fluid dynamics methods to simulate the flow processes that led to turbidite formation. The practical use of numerical flow simulation for the purpose of turbidite modeling so far is hindered by the need to specify parameters and initial flow conditions that are a priori unknown. The present study proposes a method to determine optimal simulation parameters via an automated optimization process. An iterative procedure matches deposit predictions from successive flow simulations against available localized reference data, as in practice may be obtained from well logs, and aims at convergence towards the best-fit scenario. The final result is a prediction of the entire deposit thickness and local grain size distribution. The optimization strategy is based on a derivative-free, surrogate-based technique. Direct numerical simulations are performed to compute the flow dynamics. A proof of concept is successfully conducted for the simple test case of a two-dimensional lock-exchange turbidity current. The optimization approach is demonstrated to accurately retrieve the initial conditions used in a reference calculation.     

Why Audit a Web Server?: Auditing Web servers: IIS 4.0 — Part 1

A Web server is a wonderful business communication channel — it relays information cheaply, conveniently and, in theory, to almost everyone. Traditionally, in my experience at least, the Web is not an area auditors have taken particularly seriously: until recently, it has not been used to transact business, but simply to publicize the organization. Most companies run their Web applications on a firewall interface or interfaces outside the internal network, so the audit, more concerned with the core business applications, could rely on the firewall to protect against hackers, and treat the Web server as, at worst, a bastion host.