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Two student projects are described including the intended goals, the approaches taken, the tools used, and what was learned from the exercises. An international collaborative teaching protocol between Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) was exercised in aircraft design education. Poignantly, a novel instructive design process using the analogue of contemporary concurrent engineering practices in industry was implemented. The idea was to strategically assign multi-disciplinary design tasks to each Partner University in accordance with their respective competencies. The university-industry coupling was initiated by request for proposals and corresponding marketing requirements and objectives produced by Bombardier Aerospace in Montreal, Canada. Two MATLAB™-based tools were prominent in facilitating the capstone aircraft design projects. They included: Quick Conceptual Aircraft Research and Design, a computer-aided conceptual design engineering system; and TORNADO, a Vortex-Lattice code for computing aerodynamic characteristics. The result of the two exercises was found to benefit the participating industry, the educational establishments involved, and the students carrying out the projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative versus intraoperative mandibular contouring using rapid prototyping technology., Methods: Ten patients requiring mandibular reconstruction had a preoperative mandibular plate contoured to a fabricated 3D mandibular model based on preoperative imaging. A traditional intraoperative plate was also contoured. Two surgeons blinded to the study compared the plates with respect to conformance, surface-area contact, and best overall match. A cost-benefit analysis was then performed., Results: The average time to contour was 867 ± 243 seconds and 833 ± 289 seconds for the preoperative and intraoperative plates, respectively (p = .83). Interobserver analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in conformance (p = .38) or surface area contact (p = .14). In 7 of 9 cases, the preoperative plate was selected for the final reconstruction. In 1 case, an intraoperative plate was not contoured because of the lateral extent of the tumor., Conclusion: In cases of mandibular distortion secondary to disease, pathologic fracture or defects involving multiple mandibular subsites this method is particularly advantageous., (© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)