Osteoconductive Effect of a Nanocomposite Membrane Treated with UV Radiation

Modulation of the bio-regenerative characteristics of materials is an indispensable requirement in tissue engineering. Particularly, in bone tissue engineering, the promotion of the osteoconductive phenomenon determines the elemental property of a material be used therapeutically. In addition to the chemical qualities of the constituent materials, the three-dimensional surface structure plays a fundamental role that various methods are expected to modulate in a number of ways, one most promising of which is the use of different types of radiation. In the present manuscript, we demonstrate in a calvarial defect model, that treatment with ultraviolet irradiation allows modification of the osteoconductive characteristics in a biomaterial formed by gelatin and chitosan, together with the inclusion of hydroxyapatite and titanium oxide nanoparticles.

Soft Self-Healing Fluidic Tactile Sensors with Damage Detection and Localization Abilities

Self-healing sensors have the potential to increase the lifespan of existing sensing technologies, especially in soft robotic and wearable applications. Furthermore, they could bestow additional functionality to the sensing system because of their self-healing ability. This paper presents the design for a self-healing sensor that can be used for damage detection and localization in a continuous manner. The soft sensor can recover full functionality almost instantaneously at room temperature, making the healing process fully autonomous. The working principle of the sensor is based on the measurement of air pressure inside enclosed chambers, making the fabrication and the modeling of the sensors easy. We characterize the force sensing abilities of the proposed sensor and perform damage detection and localization over a one-dimensional and two-dimensional surface using multilateration techniques. The proposed solution is highly scalable, easy-to-build, cheap and even applicable for multi-damage detection.

Theoretical And Experimental Research On 3D Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted Turning Driven By a Single Actuator

In this paper, the peak heights of several turning methods were analyzed theoretically. Based on the results of theoretical analysis, a 3D-UVAT device driven by a single actuator was developed. To validate this design, the theory and experiment of 3D-UVAT have been undertaken. The FEA results show that design is safe, and can achieve obvious displacements in X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis. In the experiment, 304 stainless steel was chosen as experimental material. For comparison, CT, UVAT, and UEVT experiments were also carried out. The experimental results show that with the help of ultrasonic vibration, the surface grooves and defects are significantly reduced. This phenomenon is more obvious on machined surface obtained by 3D-UVAT. Three-dimensional surface topography shows that the roughness value Sa obtained by 3D-UVAT is smaller than CT and UVAT. Under some cutting conditions, the roughness value Sa of machined surface obtained by 3D-UVAT is smaller than UEVT. Thus, the results of theory and experiment proved that the 3D ultrasonic vibration-assisted turning driven by a single actuator has a great potential in improving the quality of machined surface.

Three-Dimensional Surface Crack Growth of Maraging Steel Spherical Pressure Shell

This study focused on the three-dimensional surface crack growth of a spherical pressure shell. Eight maraging steel 18Ni (250) samples were fabricated and tested, and the fatigue crack growth rate curves were obtained. Considering the influence of plastic closure effect and sample thickness on crack growth, the fitting formula of fatigue crack growth only related to materials was obtained. Based on the three-dimensional crack closure theory and the strip yield model, a three-dimensional surface crack growth model of spherical pressure shell was established. By using a self-written program and FRANC3D, the three-dimensional surface crack growth simulations of the spherical shell were completed. The influence of the initial shape ratio and initial depth of the crack on the crack growth and the fatigue life of the spherical shell was analyzed.

Investigation of Faddeev variant of embedding theory

Faddeev variant of embedding theory is an example of using the embedding approach for the description of gravity. In the original form of the embedding approach, the gravity is described by an embedding function of a four-dimensional surface representing our spacetime. In Faddeev variant, the independent variable is a non-square vielbein, which is a derivative of embedding function in embedding theory. We study the possibility of the existence of extra solutions in Faddeev variant, which makes this theory non-equivalent to GR. To separate the degrees of freedom corresponding to extra matter, we propose a formulation of this theory as GR with an additional contribution to the action. We analyze the equations of motion for a specific class of solutions corresponding to a weak gravitational field. We construct a simple exact solution corresponding to arbitrary matter and nontrivial torsion, which is an extra solution in Faddeev variant in the absence of real matter.