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Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems typically aim to release drugs locally to tissue in an extended manner. Tissue adhesive alginate-polyacrylamide tough hydrogels are recently demonstrated to serve as an extended-release system for the corticosteroid triamcinolone acetonide. Here, the stimuli-responsive controlled release of triamcinolone acetonide from the alginate-polyacrylamide tough hydrogel drug delivery systems (TADDS) and evolving new approaches to combine alginate-polyacrylamide tough hydrogel with drug-loaded nano and microparticles, generating composite TADDS is described. Stimulation with ultrasound pulses or temperature changes is demonstrated to control the release of triamcinolone acetonide from the TADDS. The incorporation of laponite nanoparticles or PLGA microparticles into the tough hydrogel is shown to further enhance the versatility to control and modulate the release of triamcinolone acetonide. A first technical exploration of a TADDS shelf-life concept is performed using lyophilization, where lyophilized TADDS are physically stable and the bioactive integrity of released triamcinolone acetonide is demonstrated. Given the tunability of properties, the TADDS are a suggested technology platform for controlled drug delivery.

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA’s Perseverance rover. PIXL will acquire high spatial resolution observations of rock and soil chemistry, rapidly analyzing the elemental chemistry of a target surface. In 10 seconds, PIXL can use its powerful 120 μm-diameter X-ray beam to analyze a single, sand-sized grain with enough sensitivity to detect major and minor rock-forming elements, as well as many trace elements. Over a period of several hours, PIXL can autonomously raster-scan an area of the rock surface and acquire a hyperspectral map comprised of several thousand individual measured points. When correlated to a visual image acquired by PIXL’s camera, these maps reveal the distribution and abundance variations of chemical elements making up the rock, tied accurately to the physical texture and structure of the rock, at a scale comparable to a 10X magnifying geological hand lens. The many thousands of spectra in these postage stamp-sized elemental maps may be analyzed individually or summed together to create a bulk rock analysis, or subsets of spectra may be summed, quantified, analyzed, and compared using PIXLISE data analysis software. This hand lens-scale view of the petrology and geochemistry of materials at the Perseverance landing site will provide a valuable link between the larger, centimeter- to meter-scale observations by Mastcam-Z, RIMFAX and Supercam, and the much smaller (micron-scale) measurements that would be made on returned samples in terrestrial laboratories.

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, EMIT, is planned to operate from the International Space Station starting no earlier than the fall of 2021. EMIT will use visible to short wavelength infrared imaging spectroscopy to determine the mineral composition of the arid land dust source regions of the Earth to advance our knowledge of the radiative forcing effect of these aerosols. Mineral dust emitted into the atmosphere under high wind conditions is an element of the Earth system with many impacts to the Earth’s energy balance, atmosphere, surface, and oceans. The Earth’s mineral dust cycle with source, transport, and deposition phases are studied with advanced Earth System Models. Because the chemical composition, optical and surface properties of soil particles vary strongly with the mineral composition of the source, these models require knowledge of surface soil mineral dust source composition to accurately understand dust impacts on the Earth system now and in the future. At present, compositional knowledge of the Earth’s mineral dust source regions from existing data sets is uncertain as a result of limited measurements. EMIT will use spectroscopically-derived surface mineral composition to update the prescribed boundary conditions for state-of-the-art Earth System Models. The EMIT-initialized models will be used to investigate the impact of direct radiative forcing in the Earth system that depends strongly on the composition of the mineral dust aerosols emitted into the atmosphere. These new measurements and related products will be used to address the EMIT science objectives and made available to the science community for additional investigations. An overview of the EMIT science, development, and mission is presented in this paper.

The BGOOD photoproduction experiment accesses forward meson angles and low momentum exchange kinematics in the uds sector, which may be sensitive to molecular-like hadronic structure. Recent highlights are summarised in these proceedings.

This second in a series of three papers [1] , [2] describes the combination of an analytical model with a rule-based approach. The abstract design vocabulary is assembled by the a sequence of rules, making up a design language. After describing the subsystems in the first paper, in this paper the modeling of the FireSat payload is the starting point. The activity diagrams to integrate the payload and the subsystems lead to a generic satellite design cycle which produces a Design Graph containing all relevant information. From the integrated model in the Design Graph, different analyses of the complex system design are derived. The visualization of the constraint network containing all the variables of the design, gives a glimpse on the complexity of the example. Then the design space for the satellite is shown by plotting the mass of the system over different initial requirements. This analysis is completed by a second plot incorporating the design decisions that cannot be reflected analytically but are stored in concrete design rules. Finally a sensitivity analysis of the full equation system of the satellite is presented. The heat map used to visualize the derivative values is a mean to display all influences on the current design point in one graph.

In this third paper of the series [1] , [2] about satellite design languages, the detailed geometry and simulation modeling is described. The definition of the FireSat subsystems in different design languages is presented in the first paper. In the second part, novel analytical design evaluations resulting from these means are shown. This paper focuses on the detailed simulation models that can be generated out of the design languages. These simulation models provide the means to solve the field problems based on differential equations in the specialized engineering applications. From an abstract geometry description the design languages can be exported in different computer aided design tools (CATIA, OpenCascade, etc.). All models shown in this paper are entirely generated out of a description within the UML. The same geometry description is used for a thermal simulation of the satellite in the ESATAN thermal design suite. The third usage of the abstract geometry description is for the automated routing of the harness cables that is presented. As a non-geometric example for a simulation model, the behavioral simulation of the attitude control in a generated Matlab Simulink model is shown. All the information required to generate these models is organized in the different design languages.

Increasing complexity in spacecraft design requires new ways for comprehensive problem formulation. Graph-based design languages are an innovative response to this challenge. Using the Unified Modeling Language (UML), design languages are a formal, executable description of the design knowledge. The FireSat mission given in the textbook [1] from Wertz is used to demonstrate the analysis of more designs in shorter time. For automating the design process, the domain knowledge is mapped onto a hierarchy of different modular design languages. Thereby the couplings between the components of the system are resolved and defined as generic interfaces. The variables and equations for the different subsystems are grouped in classes that describe the decomposition of the system. Rules are defined on the instance-level to recombine the different class-instances into a valid design description of the FireSat satellite. A sequence of these predefined rules specifies the integration of the components to a satellite system. The paper is part of a series of three papers. The second paper [2] describes the analysis of equation systems for the whole satellite system. The third paper [3] shows the integration of detailed simulation models using the description mechanisms of the design language.

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph designed for the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope. PFS will cover a 1.3-degree diameter field with 2394 fibers to complement the imaging capability of Hyper SuprimeCam (HSC). The Fiber Positioning System (FPS) is an automated system that controls the sequences for the operation of the PFS subsystems to achieve accurate positioning of the science fibers for astronomical observations. FPS will be operated continuously for 14 hours a night and accomplish the fiber positioning sequence every 15 minutes. The success rate of each alignment should be 95% or more and FPS should finish the fiber alignment procedure in 105 seconds. A fast centroid algorithm is implemented for measuring 2349 fiber spots within 1 second. In this report, the latest status of the development of FPS system will be given, including the system performance and closed-loop simulations.

PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), a next generation facility instrument on the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope, is a very wide-field, massively multiplexed, optical and near-infrared spectrograph. Exploiting the Subaru prime focus, 2394 reconfigurable fibers will be distributed over the 1.3 deg field of view. The spectrograph has been designed with 3 arms of blue, red, and near-infrared cameras to simultaneously observe spectra from 380nm to 1260nm in one exposure at a resolution of ~ 1.6-2.7Å. An international collaboration is developing this instrument under the initiative of Kavli IPMU. The project recently started undertaking the commissioning process of a subsystem at the Subaru Telescope side, with the integration and test processes of the other subsystems ongoing in parallel. We are aiming to start engineering night-sky operations in 2019, and observations for scientific use in 2021. This article gives an overview of the instrument, current project status and future paths forward.

Potential future Mars Sample Return (MSR) missions could collect planetary samples and launch them into Mars orbit; in a follow-on mission, a spacecraft could rendezvous with the orbital sample (OS) to return the samples to Earth. Due to planetary protection requirements and the need to position the OS in a preferred orientation for Earth re-entry, the rendezvous phase would present a number of technical challenges. To address these challenges, this paper presents a new end-to-end testbed elements demonstrating new technologies for 1. capture of the OS within the spacecraft, 2. orientation of the OS, and 3. stowage of the OS to a Primary Containment Vessel (PCV) and internal transfer of the PCV within the spacecraft to an Earth Return Module (ERM). The end-to-end testbed consists of a 3 DOF planar robotic arm, a capture cone volume, two interchangeable orientation mechanisms, and two interchangeable internal transfer mechanisms. To simulate zero gravity during the capture stage, a cyber-physical approach is used here that fuses simulation, hardware, and autonomy elements. During the capture stage, contact dynamics of the OS with the capture cone and robotic arm end-effector is simulated using high-fidelity multibody dynamics simulation software in-the-loop. The output of the simulation is used to control the state of the physical OS in real-time using a 3 DOF robotic gantry. Additionally, the end-effector of the robotic arm is equipped with a force-torque sensor and camera to detect contact and track the OS. In the second stage, two novel mechanisms demonstrate successful orientation of the OS. In the first orientation mechanism, wipers sweep the surface of a spherical OS to engage a positive feature, thereby manipulating the OS into a preferential orientation. In the second orientation mechanism, two sets of cups selectively engage and rotate a spherical OS about two orthogonal axes; the mechanism can be operated autonomously using computer vision or interactively with a human operator in-the-loop. Finally, in the third stage, two novel mechanisms demonstrate successful internal transfer of the OS within the spacecraft volume. The internal transfer motion requires 3 DOF (rotation, translation and release of the OS). In the first internal transfer mechanism, each DOF is independently controlled using three actuators. In the second internal transfer mechanism, the 3DOF are coupled mechanically using a single actuator.

In this paper, we outline an approach for auto-generating real-time robotics control code from hierarchical state machines and hardware configurations encoded in Systems Modeling Language (SysML). We propose a software architecture that provides an abstract SysML layer with access to device state information and a set of primitive device commands, such as move_actuator and release_brake, allowing a user to build up a complete functional state machine directly in SysML. The SysML diagram is then exported to a standard SCXML file format and subsequently used to auto-generate hardware control code. Once this architecture is in place, the only explicit code elements that need to be written are the primitive device commands, which can be easily unit tested and reused across different systems. The motivation for this work was the need for a test bed that enables the rapid prototyping of mechanisms and control algorithms for a spacecraft that could ultimately be used for preparing Martian rock samples for their return to Earth. To this end, our software system was also designed to allow for the run-time specification of the hardware layout in SysML, with the hardware-level control functions kept agnostic to the specific parameters or communication bus of any particular device. Further, we outline a system for specifying both the state machine and hardware configuration in the MagicDraw IDE in such a way that the system can be simulated before any code is generated. The resultant software system is easy to debug, understand, and allows users to choose how much information is encoded as a visual or text-based representation.

The oxidation of the renewable diols isosorbide and isomannide was successfully achieved using a TEMPO/laccase system. Furthermore, various TEMPO-derivatives were tested leading to conversions of up to >99% for the oxidation of isosorbide, isomannide, indanol and a halohydrin to the corresponding ketone.

While diagnosing an acute prostatitis is usually no problem for the physician, the symptomatic of chronic forms of prostatitis allows no clear differential diagnosis between them. Only in 5 % of the patients with chronic prostatitis uropathogenic bacterias can be found. The most frequent treatment strategies in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome are antibiotics, alphablockers, and antiphlogistics.

A good understanding of laser principles is required to choose the appropriate laser for any medical application. In respect of urological interventions the most important parameters are emission-mode, wavelength of the laser and power emitted (Watt). Whereas pulsed lasers are used for both prostates and stones, continuous wave (cw) lasers are mainly used for soft tissue such as prostates, ureters, urethrae, bladder tumors, and partial nephrectomy.

PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), a next generation facility instrument on the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope, is a very wide-field, massively multiplexed, optical and near-infrared spectrograph. Exploiting the Subaru prime focus, 2394 reconfigurable fibers will be distributed over the 1.3 deg field of view. The spectrograph has been designed with 3 arms of blue, red, and near-infrared cameras to simultaneously observe spectra from 380nm to 1260nm in one exposure at a resolution of ~1.6-2.7A. An international collaboration is developing this instrument under the initiative of Kavli IPMU. The project is now going into the construction phase aiming at undertaking system integration in 2017-2018 and subsequently carrying out engineering operations in 2018-2019. This article gives an overview of the instrument, current project status and future paths forward., 17 pages, 10 figures. Proceeding of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016

The Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS) is a fast, high-uniformity, low-polarization sensitivity imaging spectrometer and telescope system designed for integration on a 6U CubeSat platform. Operating in the 350-1700 nm spectral region with 5.7 nm sampling, SWIS is capable of simultaneously addressing the demanding needs of coastal ocean science and snow and ice monitoring. New key technologies that facilitate the development of this instrument include a linear variable anti-reflection (LVAR) detector coating for stray light management, and a single drive on-board calibration mechanism utilizing a transmissive diffuser for solar calibration. We provide an overview of the SWIS instrument design, spacecraft configuration design, and potential science missions.

Using the FireSat mission from literature (see Larson 1999), the satellite design process is analyzed. Prior to this analysis, the physical and functional properties of the satellite system are encoded in a graph-based design language. During the automated design language compilation process several graph representations are generated. These graph representations are generated from the design constraints. From the mathematical analysis of the graphs three important interpretations can be derived. The first interpretation concerns the derivation of the exchange rates based on the analysis of the functional coupling. The second interpretation yields a feasible design sequence. Third, a generic backtracking method for resolving engineering design conflicts is presented and illustrated with an antenna example. All three interpretations are illustrated through a detailed view into the FireSat communication subsystem. Furthermore, the demonstration of the method closes with a system-level analysis of the satellite design process to show its applicability to all levels of detail in system design.

The Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS) is a science-grade imaging spectrometer designed for CubeSat integration, spanning a 350- to 1700-nm spectral range with 5.7-nm sampling, a 10-degree field-of-view, and 0.3-mrad spatial resolution. The system operates at F / 1.8, providing the high throughput for low-reflectivity (

Various bacterial cells were tested to identify ω-transaminase activity. For this purpose, the kinetic resolution of a rac-amine was chosen as an assay reaction transforming, in the ideal case, one enantiomer into the corresponding ketone and leaving the other enantiomer untouched. Sodium pyruvate was employed as an amino acceptor. To test also for the amination of the prochiral ketone various amino donors were investigated. Alanine proved to be the most suitable amino donor especially when coupled with a pyruvate decarboxylase to shift the reaction equilibrium; however, much lower conversions were achieved compared to the kinetic resolution. Janibacter terrae DSM 13953 was identified as the most suitable microorganism to possess ω-transaminase activity.

Biocatalysts suitable for the reduction of ketones bearing two sterically demanding substituents (bulky–bulky ketones) at elevated substrate concentration (10 g L–1) were identified. The biocatalysts can be employed in a substrate-coupled approach; thus, a simple alcohol such as ethanol or 2-propanol serves as a hydrogen donor. Both enantiomers are accessible by using either Rhodococcus ruber DSM 44541 and ethanol or Ralstonia sp. DSM 6428 and Sphingobium yanoikuyae DSM 6900 and ethanol or 2-propanol as the hydrogen source. For Rhodococcus ruber DSM 44541, it was found that bulky–bulky ketones were only transformed when ethanol was used as a hydrogen source, whereas no conversion was observed when 2-propanol was employed. From the substrate spectrum, as well as from the cosubstrate preference, it became clear that a different alcohol dehydrogenase than the previously described ADH-“A” is active in the presence of ethanol in Rhodococcus ruber.(© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)

The oxidative cleavage of a C C double bond adjacent to an aryl moiety was achieved in the presence of a protein preparation of Trametes hirsuta G FCC 047 to yield the corresponding aldehydes. Molecular oxygen was the only oxidant required. All positive substrates had a C C bond conjugated to an aromatic system, all other compounds tested not fulfilling this requirement were non-substrates. The optimum reaction conditions are 20 °C, pH 6–6.5, 15% v/v ethanol as co-solvent at an apparent oxygen pressure of 2 bar.

The Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS) is a fast, high-uniformity, low-polarization sensitivity imaging spectrometer and telescope system designed for integration on a 6U CubeSat platform. Operating in the 350-1700 nm spectral region with 5.7 nm sampling, SWIS is capable of simultaneously addressing the demanding needs of coastal ocean science and snow/ice monitoring. We discuss progress in the SWIS optomechanical design, thermal analysis, and mission plan. We also describe an innovative single drive on-board calibration system capable of addressing the stringent radiometric stability and knowledge these missions require. The spectrometer features a new Teledyne CHROMA array, optimized for high temperature operation, with a linear variable anti-reflection coating to enhance quantum efficiency and minimize backscatter.

In this paper we will show an integration of a JPL-internal multi body simulation tool within the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) tool MagicDraw. The SysML provides the means to model requirements, functions, structure and behavior of a system. Integrating a multi body physics simulation with this language creates a seamless way to combine system level questions with the detailed design. The integration allows for the import and export of the simulation models as well as the definition of metrics on the simulation. The system model can be used to express the requirements, the tests that verify the satisfaction and the implementation of the system according to these requirements. Having all the different aspects in one central model reduces the thread of inconsistencies through reuse and linking of model elements. The SysML model allows for an easier creation of large models and the integration with other disciplines is already prepared.Copyright © 2015 by ASME

The scientific discussion of heurism concentrates on the solving of tasks. One of its specific aims is to emphasize the general reasons for choosing certain aspects of a problem that helps us to find the solution (Polya, 1964). The elements that are detected in such analyses are known as “heuristic operations” or “heuristics” (Bruder & Collet, 2011). These terms, however, are understood as rules of thumb, which can be utilized for problem solving without guaranteeing a solution (Rasch, 2001). Because the operations are supposed to be independent of the specific content, they can be used by problem solvers for a variety of tasks and transferred to various contexts (Konig, 1992).

The oxidations of alcohols via hydrogen transfer represents an environmental benign ‘green’ redox protocol. In this context biocatalytic hydrogen transfer employing the alcohol dehydrogenase ADH-‘A’ from Rhodococcus ruber DSM 44541 results in oxidation of sec-alcohols in aqueous medium at room temperature. High concentrations of the hydrogen acceptor (acetone, up to 50% v/v) are tolerated by the enzyme. Examples for the enantio-, and regioselective oxidation of sec-alcohols employing ADH-‘A’ in the wild type strain as well as over-expressed ADH-‘A’ in E. coli are given.

We report on a ‘green’ method for the utilization of carbon dioxide as C1 unit for the regioselective synthesis of (E)‐cinnamic acids via regioselective enzymatic carboxylation of para‐hydroxystyrenes. Phenolic acid decarboxylases from bacterial sources catalyzed the β‐carboxylation of para‐hydroxystyrene derivatives with excellent regio‐ and (E/Z)‐stereoselectivity by exclusively acting at the β‐carbon atom of the C=C side chain to furnish the corresponding (E)‐cinnamic acid derivatives in up to 40% conversion at the expense of bicarbonate as carbon dioxide source. Studies on the substrate scope of this strategy are presented and a catalytic mechanism is proposed based on molecular modelling studies supported by mutagenesis of amino acid residues in the active site. WILEY-VCH

Several decarboxylases are tested for exclusively selective ortho-carboxylation of phenols under ambient reaction conditions using bicarbonate as CO2 source.

The Cobra fiber positioner is being developed by the California Institute of Technology (CIT) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) instrument that will be installed at the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. PFS is a fiber fed multi-object spectrometer that uses an array of Cobra fiber positioners to rapidly reconfigure 2394 optical fibers at the prime focus of the Subaru Telescope that are capable of positioning a fiber to within 5um of a specified target location. A single Cobra fiber positioner measures 7.7mm in diameter and is 115mm tall. The Cobra fiber positioner uses two piezo-electric rotary motors to move a fiber optic anywhere in a 9.5mm diameter patrol area. In preparation for full-scale production of 2550 Cobra positioners an Engineering Model (EM) version was developed, built and tested to validate the design, reduce manufacturing costs, and improve system reliability. The EM leveraged the previously developed prototype versions of the Cobra fiber positioner. The requirements, design, assembly techniques, development testing, design qualification and performance evaluation of EM Cobra fiber positioners are described here. Also discussed is the use of the EM build and test campaign to validate the plans for full-scale production of 2550 Cobra fiber positioners scheduled to begin in late-2014.

We sketch and evaluate a new, conserving approximation scheme for the quantum magnetotransport in a two-dimensional electron system with a one-dimensional periodic modulation, which is based on the self-consistent Born approximation. Unlike the usual c-number approximation, it incorporates anisotropic scattering and obeys the Ward identities between self-energy and current vertex corrections. For a modulation in x direction, the vertex corrections lead to a strong enhancement of ρxx and suppression of ρyy which can be understood in terms of “scattering” and “band” conductivities.