INSIDES – A new Virtual Prototyping Platform of Human Machine Interactions Systems for Automotive and Aerospace Applications

International audienceHuman Machine Interactions Systems are decisive for the acceptance and the safety of new cockpits in the automotive as well as in the aerospace industries. A new design and simulation platform called INSIDES will be presented where virtual cockpit prototypes are being built based on 3D CAD geometry e.g. from CATIA and integrated with logical interaction data derived from UML specifications. This new development platform enables the continuous validation and check of new interaction concepts by involving usability engineers in the very early stage of the development cycle. Since the simulation work is being done in the context of the entire aircraft cockpit/car interior with all instruments, control commands as well displays devices a better validation of the HMI systems can be achieved

Fast, Ratiometric FRET from Quantum Dot Conjugated Stabilized Single Chain Variable Fragments for Quantitative Botulinum Neurotoxin Sensing

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) presents a significant hazard under numerous realistic scenarios. The standard detection scheme for this fast-acting toxin is a lab-based mouse lethality assay that is sensitive and specific, but slow (∼2 days) and requires expert administration. As such, numerous efforts have aimed to decrease analysis time and reduce complexity. Here, we describe a sensitive ratiometric fluorescence resonance energy transfer scheme that utilizes highly photostable semiconductor quantum dot (QD) energy donors and chromophore conjugation to compact, single chain variable antibody fragments (scFvs) to yield a fast, fieldable sensor for BoNT with a 20–40 pM detection limit, toxin quantification, adjustable dynamic range, sensitivity in the presence of interferents, and sensing times as fast as 5 min. Through a combination of mutations, we achieve stabilized scFv denaturation temperatures of more than 60 °C, which bolsters fieldability. We also describe adaptation of the assay into a microarray format that offers persistent monitoring, reuse, and multiplexing