The delight design platform (DDP) is a vision of a new integrated design environment that would enable design engineers to consistently design delightful products. Such delightful products satisfy an attractive quality as well as the performance and must-have qualities of the Kano model. The attractive quality depends on a customer’s subjective evaluation involving emotion. To implement DDP, we...

Biogerontology is sometimes viewed as similar to other forms of biomedical research in that it seeks to understand and treat a pathological process. Yet the prospect of treating ageing is extraordinary in terms of the profound changes to the human condition that would result. Recent advances in biogerontology allow a clearer view of the ethical issues and dilemmas that confront humanity with re...

Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) varieties differ in a range of physical and chemical attributes. Aroma is one of the most important factors determining fruit quality and consumer preference. Volatile esters, a major class of compounds contributing to the aroma of muskmelon fruit, are synthesized by alcohol acyl-transferases (AATs). We demonstrate here that volatile aldehydes are most abundant in un...