A Proactive Approach to Integrated Synthesis of Components and Realization Systems

Product designers are under increasing pressure to reduce lead time, improve quality and reduce cost of a product. An important approach is to generate not only design solutions of a component, but also manufacturing models for the component at the same time so that a designer can make design decisions whilst having access to evolving “virtual” manufacturing system models. This paper presents such an approach that proactively supports designers to make informed design decisions, by revealing knowledge of component related manufacturing and assembly processes. Knowing the manufacturing and assembly implications of design decisions during design, designers are aided to avoid negative implications and promote positive ones. Based on the approach a Knowledge Intensive CAD (KICAD) prototype tool, named FORESEE has been developed. FORESEE allows designers to foresee and explore manufacturing and assembly consequences caused by design decisions, co-evolving during mechanical component design decision making. The paper presents an outline of the KICAD’s approach, its architecture, system requirements of such a system and its implementation. The application of the prototype is also demonstrated through a thermoplastic component design session

Predicting product aesthetic quality using virtual environments

This paper describes a previously unreported application of virtual environments, the prediction of product aesthetic quality. Successful prediction of aesthetic quality without the production of a physical prototype requires the integration of a number of 'software' models: an assembly model representing the manner in which the product is put together; an environment model providing a real world graphical context for the product; a behavior model representing how the product moves and deforms under use conditions; and a tolerance model representing the allowable variation in the product due to manufacturing variation. This paper presents the results of applying these models within an automotive design and manufacturing process during the development of a new automobile

Mechanism of drug‐induced gingival overgrowth revisited: a unifying hypothesis

Drug-induced gingival overgrowth (DIGO) is a disfiguring side effect of anti-convulsants, calcineurin inhibitors, and calcium channel blocking agents. A unifying hypothesis has been constructed which begins with cation flux inhibition induced by all three of these drug categories. Decreased cation influx of folic acid active transport within gingival fibroblasts leads to decreased cellular folate uptake, which in turn leads to changes in matrix metalloproteinases metabolism and the failure to activate collagenase. Decreased availability of activated collagenase results in decreased degradation of accumulated connective tissue which presents as DIGO. Studies supporting this hypothesis are discussed

Contribuição ao estudo da microinfiltração in vitro de lesões cervicais não cariosas restauradas com diferentes materiais adesivos e técnicas In vitro evaluation of microleakage of noncarious cervical lesions restored with different adhesive materials and techniques

A restauração de lesões cervicais não cariosas é um procedimento comum na clínica diária, havendo uma alta incidência de casos de perda da restauração, descoloração marginal e recidiva de cárie. A etiologia desse tipo de lesão é considerada multifatorial. Neste trabalho, avaliou-se a microinfiltração diante das seguintes variáveis: tipo de material utilizado (dois adesivos de quarta geração utilizados em conjunto com duas resinas compostas de tipos diferentes, &copy;microfillª e híbrida), dois métodos de polimerização dos sistemas adesivos (foto e dual) e duas técnicas restauradoras (incremental e do incremento único). Na metodologia deste trabalho, utilizaram-se ciclagem térmica e mecânica, técnica de infiltração com nitrato de prata, cortes seriados e leitura dos resultados através de escala de escores. A microinfiltração foi menor quando se utilizou uma resina composta híbrida comparada à resina &copy;microfillª. Ao se utilizar o método de polimerização dual do sistema adesivo, a microinfiltração foi menor do que com o método somente fotopolimerizável. A técnica restauradora não exerceu influência sobre o padrão de microinfiltração encontrado nas restaurações de lesões cervicais não cariosas<br>Restoration of noncarious cervical lesions is a usual clinical procedure, and there is a high incidence of restoration loss, marginal discoloration, and recurrent caries. All the factors that play an important role in this process have to be considered when studying this kind of lesion of complex multifactorial etiology. Microleakage was evaluated related to the type of material used (two fourth generation bonding systems used with two types of composite resins: hybrid and microfill), two polymerization methods for bonding systems (photo and dual cure) and two restorative techniques (incremental and bulk). This study used thermal and mechanical cycling procedures, infiltration tests with silver nitrate solution, longitudinal multiple sections, and the results were measured by a scale of scores. Less microleakage was found with hybrid composite resin when compared to the microfill composite. Microleakage was lower with dual polymerization of the adhesive system than with photopolymerization only. Restorative techniques used did not influence the microleakage pattern of restorations of noncarious cervical lesion