Yes / Herein, we report the preparation of nucleobase-containing synthetic amphiphilic diblock copolymers using RAFT polymerization. Well-defined spherical micelles can be formed in aqueous solutions through the self-assembly of the amphiphilic copolymers, with the nucleobase functionality sequestered in the core of the particles. Following assembly, copolymers with the complementary nucleobase were introduced into the preformed micellar solutions. This addition induced a change in nanostructure size and morphology and this reorganization was fully characterized by DLS, TEM, SLS and SAXS analysis. The insertion of copolymers with the complementary nucleobase into formed micelles was also confirmed by 1 H NMR and UV-vis spectroscopy. For micelles consisting of moderately short hydrophobic blocks, upon the addition of complementary nucleobase copolymer a decrease in size was observed but without any accompanying morphological change. For micelles formed from longer hydrophobic blocks, a morphological transition from spheres to cylinders and then to smaller spheres was observed upon increasing the amount of the complementary copolymer. This work highlights how complementary nucleobase interactions can be used to induce nanostructure reorganization and through a simple mixing process provide access to different nanostructure sizes and morphologies. / University of Warwick, China Scholarship Council (CSC), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), European Research Council (ERC)

Yes / FRET forms the basis for energy transfer in biological systems and organisms and it has become an investigative tool in the analysis of protein‐protein interactions and in the study of semiconductors (SC). Until now, FRET has been restricted to the simultaneous presence of both components in the same phase. Here, we report on the first successful prototype demonstrating interfacial FRET. This innovative FRET between inorganic SC‐nanoparticles and illuminating protein chimeras takes place across an oil/water interface. As a ′proof of concept′ oil droplets were stabilized by hydrophobin‐derivatives in aqueous solution. These proteins possess the ability to attach fused functional domains close to an interface. Moreover, an optically active nanostructure directly docks to the hydrophobin at the oil/water interface. Due to its modular design, this signal amplification array has the potential to be exploited in numerous fields ranging from biosensors, biotechnology to medical applications.

Yes / For the development of applications and novel uses for peptide nanostructures, robust routes for their surface functionalization, that ideally do not interfere with their self‐assembly properties, are required. Many existing methods rely on covalent functionalization, where building blocks are appended with functional groups, either pre‐ or post‐assembly. A facile supramolecular approach is demonstrated for the formation of functionalized nanofibers by combining the advantages of biocatalytic self‐assembly and surfactant/gelator co‐assembly. This is achieved by enzymatically triggered reconfiguration of free flowing micellar aggregates of pre‐gelators and functional surfactants to form nanofibers that incorporate and display the surfactants’ functionality at the surface. Furthermore, by varying enzyme concentration, the gel stiffness and supramolecular organization of building blocks can be varied. / FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission. Grant Number: 289723; EPSRC; HFSP; ERC; Leverhulme Trust

Yes / This paper presents an agent-based framework for reconfiguring modular assembly systems using machine learning and system performance estimates based on previous reconfigurations. During a reconfiguration, system integrators and engineers make changes to the machine to meet new production requirements by increasing capacity or manufacturing new product variants. The framework provides a method for automatically evaluating these changes in terms of impact on the performance of the production system, and building a knowledge base. Such knowledge is used to support future reconfigurations by recommending changes that are likely to improve the performance based on previous reconfigurations. The agent architecture of the framework has two levels, one for individual assembly stations and one for the entire production line. Knowledge bases of changes are built and utilised at both levels using machine learning and performance estimates. A prototype implementation of the proposed framework has been evaluated on an assembly production system in an industrial scenario. Preliminary results show that framework helps to reduce the time and resources required to complete a system reconfiguration and reach the desired production objectives. / This work was supported by the SURE Research Projects Fund of the University of Bradford and the European Commission [grant agreement n. 314762].

This thesis is a treatise on optimal assembly methods for double row ball bearings. As with common single row bearings, double row ball bearings, consist of four general components, namely, an inner ring, an outer ring, a complement of balls and a cage or retainer to keep the balls separate. Unlike single row bearings, however, double row ball bearings have two complements of balls in two distinct parallel races. Although this double row configuration is desirable in a number of applications, it makes the bearings more difficult and expensive to assemble. In addition, current manual assembly procedures require a great deal of digital manipulation, leading to concern about carpal tunnel syndrome and other long-term repetitive motion injuries. This thesis attempts to develop an improved assembly process for all types of double row bearings. Although the work is intended to be general, the Torrington 5203 double row ball bearing is adopted as a specific application example. This bearing's assembly difficulties and additional cost are a result of its manual Conrad assembly method and a rubber O-ring and groove used solely for bearing assembly. In the assembly process, the O-ring supports the upper balls temporarily until the two rings can be aligned concentrically, thus snapping the balls into the bearing races. This thesis addresses the replacement of the rubber O-ring and explores opportunities for bearing assembly automation. Design synthesis of a retractable or reusable assembly component to replace the rubber O-ring supporting the upper balls during assembly is presented. A large group of design concepts are developed and evaluated, resulting in a small group of feasible designs. These feasible solutions are then tested, and a design that has the potential immediate implementation in an improved manual assembly process is proposed. In addition, two design concepts are presented as candidates for possible implementation in an automated assembly process. / Master of Science

In this report a product development process is constructed and used to redesign an omnidirectional treadmill, the Omnideck. The current design of the Omnideck platform is designed without regard for assembly. Using modularity and design for assembly theories, incorporated with the product development process, the Omnideck platforms design is improved in respect to assembly time. The original design required 175 labour hours to install. The result is an improved design which requires ten and a half hours to install at a customer. This is achieved by redesigning the Omnideck into individual modules which allow for a faster installation.

It’s becoming more and more difficult to make smaller, denser, and faster computer chips. There’s an increasing demand to design new materials to be applied in current lithographic process to get higher patterning performance. In this work, the aqueous developable single molecule resists were introduced, synthesized and patterned. A new group of epoxide other than glycidyl ether, cyclohexene oxide was introduced to functionalize a molecular core and 15 nm resolution was obtained. The directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers as an alternative lithographic technique has received growing interest in the last several years for performing higher levels of pitch subdivision. A 3-step simplified process for DSA by using a photodefinable substrate was introduced by using a functionalized polyphenol with an energy switchable group and a crosslinkable group. Two high χ block copolymers PS-b-PAA and PS-b-PHEMA were successfully designed and synthesized via ATRP with controlled Mw and PDI. The size of the same PS-b-PAA polymer was tunable by varying the thermal annealing time. PS-b-PHEMA shows to be a suitable block polymer for the industry-friendly thermal annealing process. A self-complementary hydrogen-bonding urea group as a center group was used to facilitate the self-assembly of polymers. “Click” chemistry is promising for synthesis of PS-Urea-Urea-PMMA.

Regeneration is a relatively widespread phenomenon in nature, although different organisms exhibit different abilities to reconstitute missing structures. Due to the diversity in the extent of damage the organisms can repair it has been debated for a long time whether those abilities are evolutionary traits that arose independently in multiple organisms or whether they represent a by-product of more basic processes. To date, due to constant increase in the amount of available genomic information this question can be approached by means of comparative genomics by comparing several taxa that have different regenerative capabilities. Two relatively closely related salamander species, newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, and the Mexican axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum, offer a unique opportunity to compare two organisms with well-known regenerative capabilities. Despite their importance for regeneration research, relatively little sequence information was available until recently, owing mainly to the large sizes of the respective genomes. In this work I aimed to create a comprehensive transcriptome assembly of the axolotl by sequencing and then assembling the sequence data from a number of tissues and developmental stages. I also incorporated available sequence information that mostly comes from cDNA libraries sequenced previously. I assessed the completeness of the transcriptome by comparing it to a set of available axolotl sequences and found that 96% of those have homologs in the assembly. Additionally, I found that 7,568 of 7,695 protein families common to vertebrates are also represented in the transcriptome. In order to turn the assembly from a merely collection of sequences into a valuable and useful resource for the entire research community I first annotated the sequences, predicted the open reading frames and protein domains and additionally put together multiple bits of information available for each sequence including but not limited to time-course and tissue- specific expression data and in situ hybridization results. The assembly was thereafter made available for the entire axolotl research community through a web portal I developed. Not only does the web portal provide access to the transcriptome data, it is also equipped with an engine for automated data retrieval, which could facilitate automated cross-species bioinformatics analyses. The study crossed the boundary between pure bioinformatics and biology as the transcriptome allowed for computational comparison of the axolotl and the newt in order to identify salamander-specific genes possibly implicated in regeneration and subsequent functional analysis thereof in the lab. Since regeneration closely resembles embryonic development in terms of genes involved in both processes, I first identified approximately 200 homologous contigs in axolotl and newt, which had a predicted open reading frame, but did not have homologs in non-regenerating species. The expression profile of one of those candidate genes suggested that it had a role in regeneration. I studied the molecular function of that gene using CRISPR/Cas system to confirm that it was protein-coding and to create knock-out animals to study the effect of gene knock-down and knock-out. Knock-out animals exhibited significant delays in both, limb development and tail regeneration. The exact mechanism causing this delay is currently being investigated.

This thesis describes a set of computer program control structures which permits the application of certain structured programming techniques to the IBM/360 assembly language (ALC). The control structures are implemented by programmerdefined instructions known as macros. A history of computer software is presented, providing a basis for the emergence of structured programming. A survey of the major concepts of structured programming with special attention to control structures and their significance to structured programming follows. The macros developed in this study include DO, ENDDO, LEAVE, CASE, and ENDCASE. They provide a looping control structure, a loop-escape construct, and a selective control structure. Examples of usage are given.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a case study of the controller function of one of the assembly plants, which is typical in organization and functions of all the assembly plants within the Ford Division. The Controllership of the Dallas Assembly Plant of the Ford Motor Company was studied, and its functions and relationship to management were shown.