5153 research outputs found
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Prenatal Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Allergic Risk
No full textThe prevalence of allergic diseases has increased immensely over the past 2-3 decades, leading to significant decrease in the quality of life in patients who suffer from such disease states. The proposal of certain dietary changes during gestation to enhance the immune system in utero has been brought to light, specifically in the form of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA). This meta-analysis poses to provide a conclusion to if high levels of prenatal n-3 PUFA will have an immunological effect on the fetus thus decreasing their allergic risk later in life
Interaction of Graphene and Polycaprolactone at Atomic Level
No full textPolycaprolactone (PCL) is a material widely used in regenerative medicine because of biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. Applications of PCL are mainly focused on tissue engineering, wound healing, drug encapsulation and delivery etc. PCL scaffolds have been used for stem cell differentiation into various cellular lineages. However, the hydrophobicity of PCL scaffolds possess some limitation to cellular attachment. Graphene which is a single sheet of sp2 hybridized carbon atoms can enhance cellular attachment by establishing π-π interaction. Here we investigate the interaction of PCL and graphene by molecular dynamics simulation and hence fabrication of PCL scaffolds with graphene nano-inclusions for neuronal differentiation. Correlated conformational and energetic analysis are implemented. During 10ns simulation, randomly assigned PCL chains adsorbed onto the surface of graphene and the size of PCL also tended to fit graphene sheet. Wrapping phenomenon was detected after 10ns interaction. The dominant force is Van der Waal’s force and hydrophobic interaction
Roadmap to a Successful Product Development: From Concept to Launch
No full textTechnological companies are frequently developing new products. The marketing success rate is very often very poor for these new products. Many of the product failures can be traced to the lack of a disciplined process to follow from the concept of the product to the market research required to determine the attributes and price points that the market desires. The purpose of this research is to develop and test a disciplined step by step process with feedback paths to accomplish a successful product launch. A New Product Development (NPD) process typically involves a number of stages required to design a product and bring it to market. These stages start at the planning or scoping stage, followed by the market planning stage, the product concept stage, the product design stage, and finally the testing and the launch stages. This manuscript describes and evaluates three of the six stages from the NPD process that include, product concept (Stage 3), product design (Stage 4) and testing (Stage 5). The product concept stage generates the bulk of the ground work in preparation for the design of the near final product which takes place during the product design stage. While all NPD process stages are necessary, the product concept stage involves numerous complex and intricate steps that are critical to the design of a successful product. The primary purpose of the research described herein is to design two adjoining methods that consist of systematic and rational multi-phase platforms with feedback mechanisms that allow for adjustments. The first method is termed the product concept process (Stage 3) which informs on project viability during the early steps of the product development process and before the initiation of the final product design. The second method is termed the product design process (Stage 4) with logical steps that ensure a balance between market needs and product performance and reliability. The product concept process (Stage 3) consists of different phases with detailed interconnected steps that carry a product concept through a conceptual stage (Phase I), into the generation of a “proof-of-concept” or an alpha prototype that allows for the initiation of Phase II steps. Steps within each phase describe estimates for development cost, market risk analysis, performance evaluation, and product manufacturing cost estimation. The final steps of the product concept process describe the pre-product design stage (Phase III), which is an expansion of the broader development cost estimates generated in Phase II and thus provides additional rigorous estimates for product development costs. Notably, modification or re-design of the product concept at any step within the three Phases resulting in their conversion into successful prospects that garner market acceptance and potential profitability is another tangible objective of this product development process. The second method described in this research is the product design process (Stage 4). This process starts after the successful evaluation of all steps from the previous product concept process. The product design process includes the Initial Design: Path 1. This Phase involves the execution of product industrial design, market evaluation, mechanical and customer interface design, electronic and software design as well as cost analysis. Upon successful completion of the Initial Design Path, the Final Design (Path 2) is initiated. Path 2 serves to integrate various components interconnections. Path 2 also accommodates customer options which is capstoned by a thorough manufacturing cost analysis. Path 1 and Path 2 of the product design process employ feedback loops so that the process retains a balance between market needs, costs and eventually product performance and reliability. These two methods terminate in Stage 5, the fabrication and testing stage. This is the Stage that demonstrates the effectiveness or lack thereof of the two methods. It is intended that these methods be followed in sequence but as will be described in some of the cases, if the essence of each step of each Phase or Path is accomplished, even if out of sequence, the NPD can be successful. The two processes described in this study are used to evaluate a number of small/medium electronic products. Currently, For the purpose of this study, “small” implies a development project that would cost less than 250,000 and 5,000 or less. A medium electronic product is one that sells to the end user for 25,000 will require additional examination steps that are not described in the product development process. This study examines the successes and failures of several small/medium product development processes with respect to their submission and compliance to the disciplines of the product development process tool and the product design process tool
Cellular-based Computational Model of hMSC Differentiation into Neuronal Lineage on Nanofibrous PCL- Graphene Scaffolds
No full textIn the last decade, stem cell research and nanotechnology have played a crucial role in the rapid advancement of tissue engineering. In this project, we utilize biological observations and develop a computational model, using Cellular Potts Model (a.k.a the Glazier-Graner-Hogeweg model), a lattice-based, cellular level computational framework that accurately describes biological phenomena including stem cell differentiation. Particularly we focus on cellular level interactions of hMSC derived neuronal cells on a Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-graphene scaffolds which are proven to provide better protein and cell adhesion. In this study, the Cellular Potts Model is used to design a dynamic microenvironment for cellular organization and its functioning at a Nano-scale level and also study the cells-biomaterial interactions
Blockchain and Wearables Integration: A New Approach for Supply Chain Management
No full textToday, manufacturing companies are forced to find smart ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs in their supply chain because of the ever increasing competition. There are many players in a supply chain and managing vast amounts of transactions in the supply network is a tedious and costly activity. Visibility, trust, timeliness, quality, and traceability are all important aspects that need to be closely monitored and continuously improved. Innovative approaches to enable a seamless information flow throughout the chain is of great importance. The newly emerging blockchain technology is a strong candidate in answering some of these challenges. MIB LLC is a technology company idea focused on blockchain technology applied to the manufacturing and logistics industry. Our goal as a start-up is to support companies in their supply chain management activities with our cutting-edge, secure, efficient blockchain system idea that can be implemented on any wearable device. We will create value for our customers by bringing visibility, speed, traceability and trust into their supply chains
Election Voting Using Blockchain Technology
No full textThe process after casting the votes has always remained uncertain. We know for a fact that there are a lot of malicious and illegitimate practices surrounding the voting system and election results. This paper proposes a method using decentralized blockchain technology, in which voting data are distributed over many servers, where its harder to destroy or alter results. Also the government and the voters would have better transparency and can be assured that the votes are not tampered. Blockchain technology in voting application could be safe, secure and efficient
Quality Control and Material Handling System Using Cognex Vision
No full textProgrammable logic controllers have been an integral part of factory automation and industrial process control for decades. These systems perform many functions, providing a variety of analog and digital input and output interfaces, signal processing, data conversion and various communication protocols. The sole purpose is to develop a material inspection and sorting system prototype and also demonstrate the Cognex camera methodology on the Human Machine Interface (HMI). This system can handle a series of metallic and non-metallic objects with the barcode encoded. Mitsubishi controller FX3U-16MR/ES manufactured is the brain of this system. To control the speed of the conveyor variable frequency drive (VFD) is programmed and used. E-Designer-7 software is used to design the screen. We scanned the barcode on the metallic tin via Cognex vision system. The material of the metallic tin is scanned by the inductive sensor and if the barcode is good and the material of the metallic tin is metal, the metallic tin is considered as good metallic tin and will pass on conveyor till the good part section and if the metallic tin is nonmetal or the barcode is bad, it continues on conveyor till bad part section. The whole operation can be controlled using the HMI. This application can be implemented in various manufacturing industries such as but not limited to packaging industries, automobile industry. The Cognex camera have variety of application in pharmaceutical, electronic industries, who wants to keep a track data and product on the conveyor. The HMI has been designed to read all important data and control and monitor the system
R, SAS or Python in Business Analytics
Get PDFR, SAS, and python are the most used statistical programming languages. Analytics market has been growing up with the double pace and there are many tools available in the market. This study will be conducted to show how data analytics are using these tools to make use of the data in the organization. This study will detailly analyze these three analytics tools on the basis of their uses, functions, and capabilities. Furthermore, the comparisons between these tools will be done to show the differentiation and effectiveness of their use in the different organizations. So, this study will moreover focus on analyzing R, SAS, and Python, explaining their uses and specialties in business analytics
SpeedVision: Maximum-Speed-Weighted Voronoi Diagrams for the NFL
No full textPhilip Z. Maymin's examining the decision making process of wide receivers using standard and weighted Voronoi diagrams
Strategy Oriented Project Management for New Business Development
No full textBusiness Strategy Management deals with maximizing the competitive advantage of an organization. The future of any firm is always approached by the management from a strategic view point. The goal is to create business value and more importantly retain it. Customers run the business and approaching all, is not possible, what is plausible is strategically targeting specific customers who will benefit from the product and retain them in future. These strategic decisions consider financial constraints and activities that add value to the organization. We discuss the roles firms play to succeed in the market, how business strategy adds to organizational value and also understand the Porter Five Forces of competitiveness that yields profitability