Evaluation of bacterial hosts for conversion of lignin-derived p-coumaric acid to 4-vinylphenol

Hydroxycinnamic acids such as p-coumaric acid (CA) are chemically linked to lignin in grassy biomass with fairly labile ester bonds and therefore represent a straightforward opportunity to extract and valorize lignin components. In this work, we investigated the enzymatic conversion of CA extracted from lignocellulose to 4-vinylphenol (4VP) by expressing a microbial phenolic acid decarboxylase in Corynebacterium glutamicum, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis. The performance of the recombinant strains was evaluated in response to the substrate concentration in rich medium or a lignin liquor and the addition of an organic overlay to perform a continuous product extraction in batch cultures. We found that using undecanol as an overlay enhanced the 4VP titers under high substrate concentrations, while extracting > 97% of the product from the aqueous phase. C. glutamicum showed the highest tolerance to CA and resulted in the accumulation of up to 187 g/L of 4VP from pure CA in the overlay with a 90% yield when using rich media, or 17 g/L of 4VP with a 73% yield from CA extracted from lignin. These results indicate that C. glutamicum is a suitable host for the high-level production of 4VP and that further bioprocess engineering strategies should be explored to optimize the production, extraction, and purification of 4VP from lignin with this organism.

TOWARDS A RESILIENCE ASSURANCE MODEL FOR ROBOTIC AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

Applications of autonomous systems are becoming increasingly common across the field of engineered systems from cars, drones, manufacturing systems and medical devices, addressing prevailing societal changes, and, increasingly, consumer demand. Autonomous systems are expected to self-manage and self-certify against risks affecting the mission, safety and asset integrity. While significant progress has been achieved in relation to the modelling of safety and safety assurance of autonomous systems, no similar approach is available for resilience that integrates coherently across the cyber and physical parts. This paper presents a comprehensive discussion of resilience in the context of robotic autonomous systems, covering both resilience by design and resilience by reaction, and proposes a conceptual model of a system of learning for resilience assurance in a continuous product development framework. The resilience assurance model is proposed as a composable digital artefact, underpinned by a rigorous model-based resilience analysis at the system design stage, and dynamically monitored and continuously updated at run time in the system operation stage, with machine learning based knowledge extraction and validation.

Bio-Waste Curd Water as a Greener Protocol for the Synthesis of Biginelli Products at Ambient Temperature

A highly efficient, greener and reusable protocol has been developed for the Biginelli reaction. The biowaste curd water employed as a green solvent as well as catalyst for the synthesis of dihydropyrimidinones derivatives. The soluble organic acid (i.e. lactic acid) responsible for the acidity to curd water which adequately fulfills the purpose of acid catalyzed reaction, where three component coupling of aldehyde, urea and ethyl acetoacetate reacted together in the presence of curd water at a low temperature and yields classical dihydropyrimidinones derivatives. During the reaction, continuous product formation and isolation was observed. The product precipitate was separated by the successive method of filtration. This bio-waste water catalyzed method is highly retrievable and advantageous over the trend of high-temperature Bronsted acid/metal acid catalyzed reactions offering the product. Compared with the classical Biginelli reaction conditions, this new method has the advantage of good yields (76-82%) and short reaction time (2-3 hours)

The role of change agents in the adaptation and use of mobile money services in Kenya

Kenya’s M-Pesa has arguably become the most recognizable symbol of mobile money globally. The success of M-Pesa can be partially attributed to Safaricom’s continuous product innovation. However, few studies have examined the role of M-Pesa employees (called agents) in the adaptation of M-Pesa. To address this gap, we explore the role of M-Pesa agents in Kenya’s mobile money ecosystem by using observations and interviews with agents in Western Kenya. Drawing on technology adaptation and using literature, we explore the role of M-Pesa agents as innovators and facilitators of mobile money services. Findings suggest that although Safaricom expects agents to follow certain protocols, agents revealed that they push back on these expectations by bending corporate procedures to align with the social, economic and cultural realities of their customers. As such, they play a key role in the innovation and adoption process, and arguably, have contributed to the long-term success of M-Pesa.

Data-Driven, Data-Informed, Data-Augmented: How Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Wildlands Live Unit Uses Data for Continuous Product Innovation

To stay ahead of the competition, firms must continuously learn from their customers and swiftly adopt those lessons to improve their products. A unit at Ubisoft, a leading game publisher headquartered in Paris, has established a three-pronged approach to drive product innovation based on three practices: data-driven exploration, data-augmented ideation, and data-informed validation. By establishing processes and capabilities for these practices and blending them in a portfolio approach to product design, they maximize the value generation potential of the data at their disposal. Product development in a variety of industries can benefit from the lessons of these data-oriented innovation practices.

Stress Induced in Low Carbon Steel Tubes of Kids Bicycle Upon Impact

The market environment is characterized by keen competition, an oversupply of goods, rapidly shifting tastes and a high rate of product innovation ad obsolescence. The long term profitability or the very survival of a company depends on new products and on commitments to continuous product innovation. Firms are seeking differential advantage and their actions continue to segment large market into smaller sub-segments. There is often a back and forth action between market reconsolidation based on innovation and fragmentation based on competition.