Managing information for concurrent engineering: Challenges and barriers

An ongoing research project with a large international manufacturing company has uncovered many critical issues for the development and introduction of systems that supportconcurrent engineering. Several of these issues can be solved through careful interface design, while others require significant technical and organizational changes. To reduce training costs and support a broad spectrum of users, computer system developers must create a single system image, giving the users the impression that they are accessing a single database through a consistent and easy to use interface. This interface, and the tools it contains, may be used to support concurrent engineering activities even when a company is geographically distributed over a large area. The complexity of the firm's products and processes and the need for rapid access to relevant performance information make it essential that developers identify suitable frameworks for organizing database queries.Design hierarchies, representations of the structure and function of the firm's products and processes, have proven to be powerful tools for effective query management, and for efficient navigation through the database. The database interface must also produce integrated displays of data drawn from a number of sources in response to prestructured queries. Beyond these interface design issues, there are a number of technical and organizational barriers to the implementation of large-scale engineering systems. In particular, the existence of many incompatible databases in different parts of an organization makes the introduction of a new, uniform system very difficult. Organizational issues also play a major role in achieving, or hindering, the implementation of new computer systems. This paper describes some of the technical innovations, and the motivations behind them, from one particular engineering design system. It also discusses the reactions of engineers and management, and explains why management may oppose innovation even when engineers enthusiastically support it.     

Children's construction of horizontals, verticals, and diagonals: An operational explanation of the "oblique effect."

Used a computer-based task to investigate the problem that young children have in constructing diagonals. The computer made it feasible to change how lines of different orientations had to be formed. It was predicted that if diagonals are difficult to construct because of the operations required to conceptualize them, then changing how they had to be formed might make it possible for children to construct diagonals better than horizontals and verticals. 20 5-yr-olds, 20 8-yr-olds, and 20 undergraduates attempted to construct horizontal, vertical, 45° left diagonal, and 45° right diagonal lines in either horizontal/vertical-easy or diagonal-easy configurations of the apparatus. Results support the operational explanation of the oblique effect. The 5-yr-olds performed in accordance with the configuration of the drawing system. On the whole, they could not make diagonals in the horizontal/vertical-easy configuration, thus demonstrating the oblique effect. When diagonals were made easy to produce, 5-yr-olds could form them but had difficulty with horizontals and verticals, indicating a nonoblique effect in the diagonal-easy configuration. There was only an oblique effect with the 8-yr-olds. Undergraduates made virtually no errors on any of the lines. Findings confirm the claim that the difficulty that the 5-yr-olds had was in combining separate spatial components. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibiting word generation with word presentations.

The ability to generate words of a given category is found to be impaired when other words of the same category are being heard (Experiments 1–4). Little if any impairment arises from hearing words of a different category (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). This pattern of results occurs with categories defined both semantically (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) and graphemically (Experiment 3). The extent of the impairment is found to be comparable to that which occurs when other words of the same category are studied and recalled prior to generation (Experiment 4). These findings are discussed in the context of other inhibitory phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antithrombotic effect of recombinant truncated tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI1-161) in experimental venous thrombosis--a comparison with low molecular weight heparin

The aim was to investigate whether a truncated recombinant Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor (TFPI1-161), which lacked the third Kunitz-type domain and the basic c-terminal region, had an antithrombotic effect comparable to LMWH in a randomised double-dummy study. The experimental thrombosis was induced in jugular veins, in a total of 40 rabbits by a combination of destruction of the endothelium and restricted blood flow. Group 1: placebo, gr 2: LMWH 60 anti-FXa IU/kg, gr 3-5: 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 mg/kg TFPI1-161. TFPI1-161 reduced the thrombus weights in all treated groups, significantly in doses of 1.0 and 10.0 mg/kg compared to placebo. The frequency of thrombosis and occlusive thrombosis were also significantly reduced in those doses. The antithrombotic properties of TFPI1-161 (1.0-10.0 mg/kg) measured as thrombus weight, frequency of thrombosis and frequency of occlusive thrombosis was equivalent to the anti-thrombotic properties of LMWH. In the anti-FXa, APTT and PT-assays TFPI1-161 displayed a dose dependent increase of activity. Recombinant-TFPI1-161 did not influence the anti-FIIa-assay. No haemorrhagic side effects were noted.     

Restoration of PEX2 peroxisome assembly defects by overexpression of PMP70

OBJECTIVES: To investigate articular cartilage collagen network, thickness of birefringent cartilage zones, and glycosaminoglycan concentration in macroscopically normal looking knee joint cartilage of young beagles subjected to experimental slowly progressive osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: OA was induced by a tibial 30 degree valgus osteotomy in 15 female beagles at the age of 3 months. Fifteen sisters were controls. Cartilage specimens were collected seven (Group 1) and 18 months (Group 2) postoperatively. Collagen induced optical path difference and cartilage zone thickness measurements were determined from histological sections of articular cartilage with smooth and intact surface by computer assisted quantitative polarised light microscopy. Volume density of cartilage collagen fibrils was determined by image analysis from transmission electron micrographs and content of glycosaminoglycans by quantitative digital densitometry from histological sections. RESULTS: In the superficial zone of the lateral tibial and femoral cartilage, the collagen induced optical path difference (birefringence) decreased by 19 to 71% (p < 0.05) seven months postoperatively. This suggests that severe superficial collagen fibril network deterioration took place, as 18 months postoperatively, macroscopic and microscopic OA was present in many cartilage areas. Thickness of the uncalcified cartilage increased while the superficial zone became thinner in the same sites. In operated dogs, glycosaminoglycan content first increased (Group 1) in the lateral tibial condyle and then decreased (Group 2) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In this OA model, derangement of the superficial zone collagen network was the probable reason for birefringence reduction. This change occurred well before macroscopic OA.