A gauge invariant combination of LLe sleptons within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is one of the few inflaton candidates that can naturally explain population of the observable sector and creation of matter after inflation. After the end of inflation, the inflaton oscillates coherently about the minimum of its potential, which is a point of enhanced gauged symmetry. This results in bursts of non-perturbative production of the gauge/gaugino and (s)lepton quanta. The subsequent decay of these quanta is very fast and leads to an extremely efficient transfer of the inflaton energy to (s)quarks via instant preheating. Around 20% of the inflaton energy density is drained during every inflaton oscillation. However, all of the Standard Model degrees of freedom (and their supersymmetric partners) do not thermalize immediately, since the large inflaton vacuum expectation value breaks the electroweak symmetry. After about 100 oscillations -albeit within one Hubble time -the amplitude of inflaton oscillations becomes sufficiently small, and all of the degrees of freedom will thermalize. This provides by far the most efficient reheating of the universe with the observed degrees of freedom.

The Toyota production system, on which lean production is based, emerged as the unplanned result of unrelated improvements and innovations. Although the related practices and principles are now widely reported, the theories and philosophical premises underlying lean production are not commonly known. This also applies to lean construction, which, although it originated as a set of countermeasures to specific problems in construction, has more recently evolved in alignment with lean production. For example, there is a stark but unexplained contradiction between lean and traditional construction management models regarding the importance of learning and improvement. In view of this, the aim here is to determine the epistemological orientation in these two models. It is found that two different starting points for epistemology, Platonism and Aristotelianism, have also played a major role in the formation of the fundamental ideas of engineering and management generally and in construction. An overly Platonic influence on engineering and management has created a number of problems. It is contended that one major explanation for the evident benefits of lean construction is related to its Aristotelian epistemology.

In the assessment of wood charring, it was believed for a long time that physicochemical processes were responsible for the creation of cracking patterns on the charring wood surface. This implied no possibility to rigorously explain the crack topology. In this paper we show instead that below the pyrolysis temperatures, a primary global macro-crack pattern is already completely established by means of a thermomechanical instability phenomenon. First we report experimental observations of the crack patterns on orthotropic (wood) and isotropic (Medium Density Fibreboard) materials in inert atmosphere. Then we solve the 3D thermomechanical buckling problem numerically by using the Finite Element Method, and show that the different crack topologies can be explained qualitatively by the simultaneous thermal expansion and softening, taking into account the directional dependence of the elastic properties. Finally, we formulate a 2D model for a soft layer bonded to an elastic substrate, and find an equation predicting the inter-crack distance in the main crack-pattern for the orthotropic case. We also derive a formula for the critical thermal stress above which the plane surface will wrinkle and buckle. The results can be used for finding new ways to prevent or delay the crack formation, leading to improved fire safety of wood-based products.