Taming complexity of industrial printing systems using a constraint-based DSL: An industrial experience report

Flexible printing systems are highly complex systems that consist of printers, that print individual sheets of paper, and finishing equipment, that processes sheets after printing, for example, assembling a book. Integrating finishing equipment with printers involves the development of control software that configures the devices, taking hardware constraints into account. This control software is highly complex to realize due to (1) the intertwined nature of printing and finishing, (2) the large variety of print products and production options for a given product, and (3) the large range of finishers produced by different vendors. We have developed a domain-specific language called CSX that offers an interface to constraint solving specific to the printing domain. We use it to model printing and finishing devices and to automatically derive constraint solver-based environments for automatic configuration. We evaluate CSX on its coverage of the printing domain in an industrial context, and we report on lessons learned on using a constraint-based DSL in an industrial context

Using hyperpolarised NMR and DFT to rationalise the unexpected hydrogenation of quinazoline to 3,4-dihydroquinazoline

PHIP and SABRE hyperpolarized NMR methods are used to follow the unexpected metal-catalysed hydrogenation of quinazoline (Qu) to 3,4-dihydroquinazoline as the sole product. A solution of [IrCl(IMes)(COD)] in dichloromethane reacts with H2 and Qu to form [IrCl(H)2(IMes)(Qu)2] (2). The addition of methanol then results in its conversion to [Ir(H)2(IMes)(Qu)3]Cl (3) which catalyses the hydrogenation reaction. Density functional theory calculations are used to rationalise a proposed outer sphere mechanism in which (3) converts to [IrCl(H)2(H2)(IMes)(Qu)2]Cl (4) and neutral [Ir(H)3(IMes)(Qu)2] (6), both of which are involved in the formation of 3,4-dihydroquinazoline via the stepwise transfer of H+ and H−, with H2 identified as the reductant. Successive ligand exchange in 3 results in the production of thermodynamically stable [Ir(H)2(IMes)(3,4-dihydroquinazoline)3]Cl (5)

Multiscale scenarios for nature futures

Targets for human development are increasingly connected with targets for nature, however, existing scenarios do not explicitly address this relationship. Here, we outline a strategy to generate scenarios centred on our relationship with nature to inform decision-making at multiple scales

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: a global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions’ effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior—several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people’s initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors

Pd(O2CCF2CF3-O)2(dppf) and PdAg(μ-O2CCF2CF3)2(O 2CCF2CF3-O)- (dppf)[dppf = 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene]: A stable Pd(II) phosphine carboxylate as a precursor to heterobimetallic carboxylates

Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions3337-34

Nucleophilicity of the selenide ligands in [Pt2(μ-Se)2(PPh3)4]. Molecular assembly of a novel {In2Pt4Se6} core

10.1016/S0022-328X(02)01707-2Journal of Organometallic Chemistry6591-292-94JORC

Probing the Lewis basicity of the metalloligand [Pt2(μ-Se)2(PPh3)4] on tin substrates by electrospray mass spectrometry

10.1039/b006907hJournal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions3315-32

A whole engine optimization based on medial object transformations

This paper presents, for the first time, an automated process to optimize a whole engine assembly model using medial object transformations. Five new techniques have been developed to accelerate the generation and assembly of medial meshes. Firstly, geometry surfaces leading to medial mesh branches are automatically identified and removed. This branch-reduced medial mesh takes less time to calculate and represents the original geometry more accurately. Secondly, mesh coarsening technique is developed to reduce the medial mesh element count by up to 90%. Thirdly, new methods which permit the splitting of the original CAD geometry and the rejoining of medial mesh sections are developed. This permits the medial mesh generation to be parallelized by taking advantage of symmetric and axisymmetric features within the geometry. Fourthly, the joints between multiple engine components are created automatically from a database of medial meshes and full fidelity 3D meshes thereby enabling the seamless generation of mixed fidelity (2D and 3D element) models. Finally, boundary conditions are automatically mapped from the CAD geometry onto both medial and 3D meshes. Together these developments make the structural optimization of a whole engine possible at the preliminary design stage. The presented optimization work has been focused on the compressor tip clearance control based on Kriging model but the developed process can be easily applied to other part of the engine and adopting other optimization algorithms