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| Dr. Duane Dombek | $1.8 Million USDA/DOE
Grant to Support Joint Project
MATRIC has teamed with the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in a successful bid for research and development funding. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have awarded a $1.76 million grant to support a project on biomass derived polymer additives. ICPB, the lead organization on the proposal, is committing additional funds to the project. The Iowa Corn Promotion Board has been supporting research for several years designed to develop cost-effective corn-based chemistries and a process relevant to the commercial polymer industry. The new project will seek to further expand technology developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), funded by ICPB, USDA, and DOE. Work at NJIT will identify and assess potential polymer applications for isosorbide. MATRIC’s role is to develop and scale up the isosorbide manufacturing processes. Isosorbide, which is derived from corn sugar, is a polymer precursor or additive that can significantly improve the performance characteristics of plastics. For isosorbide-based materials to be attractive for commercial production, stable markets based on cost and performance must be identified. Previous work at NJIT has led to the identification of several attractive opportunities including new polymer compositions, monomers for existing polymer modifications and corn-derived chemistries to replace existing commercial polymer additives (plasticizers, epoxies, and UV stabilizers). Initially these applications could require nearly 1 billion pounds of isosorbide and would annually consume about 30 to 40 million bushels of corn. These large volumes of materials will diversify the market for corn and for wet-mill bio-refineries. | |||||
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| Mark Dehlin | Effective Life-Cycle
IV&V for Auto-Generated Software
MATRIC is teamed with L3 Corporation and the Institute for Scientific Research on a project to determine effective life-cycle Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) strategies for auto-generated software. Developing auto-generated software is usually accomplished through Model-Based Development (MBD) methodologies. These methodologies use diagrams, notations, and tools to describe computer- based systems in order to produce auto-generated code. Commonly used MBD tools include Rational Rose and Simulink. Others exist, some for very specialized environments, such as the SCADE methodology for safety-critical applications. A number of focused efforts have been undertaken to provide insight into requirements modeling, architecture modeling, and auto-generated code verification. However, there has been little effort to consolidate findings from current/past research, industry best-practices, and capabilities of existing and emerging analytical tools to provide a broad-perspective life-cycle based “road-map” for IV&V practitioners. This research effort will provide a comprehensive view of the best-practices and tool capabilities with which to perform IV&V on systems developed with MBD methodologies across the development life-cycle, exposing the gaps where future research is needed. Photo Credit: NASA | |||||
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University of Copenhagen “Are there diminishing returns for R&D?” Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want by Curtis R. Carlson and William W. Wilmot Ocean Tomo Conducts Live IP Auction WV's Most Complete News Headline Aggregation Service Biodiesel Plant Planned in Cashton, Wisconsin http://www.rivervalleynewspapers.co m/articles/2006/11/12/business/11-12% 20biodiesel.txt | ||||||
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