Graphene-calcium carbonate coating to improve the degradation resistance and mechanical integrity of a biodegradable implant

Biodegradable implants are critical for regenerative orthopaedic procedures,but they may suffer from too fast corrosion in human-body environment.This necessitates the synthesis of a suitable coating that may improve the corrosion resistance of these implants without compromising their mechanical integrity.In this study,an AZ91 magnesium alloy,as a representative for a biodegradable Mg implant material,was modified with a thin reduced graphene oxide(RGO)-calcium carbonate(CaCO_(3))composite coating.Detailed analytical and in-vitro electrochemical characterization reveals that this coating significantly improves the corrosion resistance and mechanical integrity,and thus has the potential to greatly extend the related application field.

Fluidization and Transport of Vibrated Granular Matter:A Review of Landmark and Recent Contributions

We present a short retrospective review of the existing literature about the dynamics of(dry)granular matter under the effect of vibrations.The main objective is the development of an integrated resource where vital information about past findings and recent discoveries is provided in a single treatment.Special attention is paid to those works where successful synthetic routes to as-yet unknown phenomena were identified.Such landmark results are analyzed,while smoothly blending them with a history of the field and introducing possible categorizations of the prevalent dynamics.Although no classification is perfect,and it is hard to distillate general properties out of specific observations or realizations,two possible ways to interpret the existing results are defined according to the type of forcing or the emerging(ensuing)regime of motion.In particular,first results concerning the case where vibrations and gravity are concurrent(vertical shaking)are examined,then the companion situation with vibrations perpendicular to gravity(horizontal shaking)is described.Universality classes are introduced as follows:(1)Regimes where sand self-organizes leading to highly regular geometrical“pulsating”patterns(thin layer case);(2)Regimes where the material undergoes“fluidization”and develops an internal multicellular convective state(tick layers case);(3)Regimes where the free interface separating the sand from the overlying gas changes inclination or develops a kind a patterned configuration consisting of stable valleys and mountains or travelling waves;(4)Regimes where segregation is produced,i.e.,particles of a given size tend to be separated from the other grains(deep containers).Where possible,an analogy or parallelism is drawn with respect to the companion field of fluid-dynamics for which the assumption of“continuum”can be applied.

Supposition of graphene stacks to estimate the contact resistance and conductivity of nanocomposites

In this study,the effects of stacked nanosheets and the surrounding interphase zone on the resistance of the contact region between nanosheets and the tunneling conductivity of samples are evaluated with developed equations superior to those previously reported.The contact resistance and nanocomposite conductivity are modeled by several influencing factors,including stack properties,interphase depth,tunneling size,and contact diameter.The developed model's accuracy is verified through numerous experimental measurements.To further validate the models and establish correlations between parameters,the effects of all the variables on contact resistance and nanocomposite conductivity are analyzed.Notably,the contact resistance is primarily dependent on the polymer tunnel resistivity,contact area,and tunneling size.The dimensions of the graphene nanosheets significantly influence the conductivity,which ranges from 0 S/m to90 S/m.An increased number of nanosheets in stacks and a larger gap between them enhance the nanocomposite's conductivity.Furthermore,the thicker interphase and smaller tunneling size can lead to higher sample conductivity due to their optimistic effects on the percolation threshold and network efficacy.

Three Dimensional Coupling between Elastic and Thermal Fields in the Static Analysis of Multilayered Composite Shells

This new work aims to develop a full coupled thermomechanical method including both the temperature profile and displacements as primary unknowns of the model.This generic full coupled 3D exact shell model permits the thermal stress investigation of laminated isotropic,composite and sandwich structures.Cylindrical and spherical panels,cylinders and plates are analyzed in orthogonal mixed curved reference coordinates.The 3D equilibrium relations and the 3D Fourier heat conduction equation for spherical shells are coupled and they trivially can be simplified in those for plates and cylindrical panels.The exponential matrix methodology is used to find the solutions of a full coupled model based on coupled differential relations with respect to the thickness coordinate.The analytical solution is based on theories of simply supported edges and harmonic relations for displacement components and sovra-temperature.The sovra-temperature magnitudes are directly applied at the outer faces through static state hypotheses.As a consequence,the sovra-temperature description is assumed to be an unknown variable of themodel and it is calculated in the sameway as the three displacements.The final systemis based on a set of coupled homogeneous differential relations of second order in the thickness coordinate.This system is reduced in a first order differential relation system by redoubling the number of unknowns.Therefore,the exponential matrix methodology is applied to calculate the solution.The temperature field effects are evaluated in the static investigation of shells and plates in terms of displacement and stress components.After an appropriate preliminary validation,new benchmarks are discussed for several thickness ratios,geometrical data,lamination sequences,materials and sovra-temperature values imposed at the outer faces.Results make evident the accordance between the uncoupled thermo-mechanical model and this new full coupled thermo-mechanical model without the need to separately solve the Fourier heat conduction relation.Both effects connected with the thickness layer and the related embedded materials are included in the conducted thermal stress analysis.

Effects of mean shear on the vortex identification and the orientation statistics

This work compares the threshold applied to the swirling strength as well as the vortex orientation statistics in the total and fluctuating velocity fields using direct numerical simulations of compressible and incompressible turbulent channel flows.It is concluded that the difference in the swirling strength for vortex identification is minimal in the logarithmic region such that these two situations share the same threshold.Regarding the vortex orientation,the inclination angle remains similar.However,as the wall-normal distance increases,a more and more obvious distinction is noticed for its orientation with respect to the spanwise(z)direction.It is mainly due to their intrinsic differences and attendant contrasting preference for the vortex identification,i.e.,vortices rotating in the−z direction for the total velocity field and in the z direction for the fluctuating one.These observations function as a reasonable explanation for various remarks in previous studies.

Mechanical responses, texture and microstructural evolution of high purity aluminum deformed by equal channel angular pressing

Ultrafine-grained(UFG) high purity aluminum exhibits a variety of attractive mechanical properties and special deformation behavior. Equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) process can be used to easily and effectively refine metals. The microstructure and microtexture evolutions and grain boundary characteristics of the high purity aluminum(99.998%) processed by ECAP at room temperature are investigated by means of TEM and EBSD. The results indicate that the shear deformation resistance increases with repeated EACP passes, and equiaxed grains with an average size of 0.9 μm in diameter are formed after five passes. Although the orientations distribution of grains tends to evolve toward random orientations, and microtextures(80°, 35°, 0°),(40°, 75°, 45°) and(0°, 85°, 45°) peak in the sample after five passes. The grain boundaries in UFG aluminum are high-angle geometrically necessary boundaries. It is suggested that the continuous dynamic recrystallization is responsible for the formation of ultrafine grains in high purity aluminum. Microstructure evolution in the high purity aluminum during ECAP is proposed.

Numerical simulation and printability analysis of fused deposition modeling with dual-temperature control

Ideal tissue engineering scaffolds need interconnected pores and high porosity to enable cell survival,migration,proliferation,and differentiation.However,obtaining a high-resolution structure is difficult with traditional one-temperature control fused deposition modeling(FDM).In this study,we propose a dual-temperature control method to improve printability.A numerical model is developed in which the viscosity is a function of temperature and shear rate to study the influence of two different temperature control modes.Quantitative tests are used to assess filament formation and shape fidelity,including one-dimensional filament printing,deposition at corners,fusion,and collapse.By using dual-temperature control,the width of the deposited poly(ε-caprolactone)filament is reduced to 50μm.The comparative results of both the experimental method and numerical simulation suggest that the dual-temperature control FDM can manufacture spatially arranged constructs and presents a promising application in tissue engineering。

Modeling and Validation of Base Pressure for Aerodynamic Vehicles Based on Machine Learning Models

The application of abruptly enlarged flows to adjust the drag of aerodynamic vehicles using machine learning models has not been investigated previously.The process variables(Mach number(M),nozzle pressure ratio(η),area ratio(α),and length to diameter ratio(γ))were numerically explored to address several aspects of this process,namely base pressure(β)and base pressure with cavity(βcav).In this work,the optimal base pressure is determined using the PCA-BAS-ENN based algorithm to modify the base pressure presetting accuracy,thereby regulating the base drag required for smooth flow of aerodynamic vehicles.Based on the identical dataset,the GA-BP and PSO-BP algorithms are also compared to thePCA-BAS-ENNalgorithm.The data for training and testing the algorithmswas derived using the regression equation developed using the Box-Behnken Design(BBD).The results show that the PCA-BAS-ENN model delivered highly accurate predictions when compared to the other two models.As a result,the advantages of these results are two-fold,providing:(i)a detailed examination of the efficiency of different neural network algorithms in dealing with a genuine aerodynamic problem,and(ii)helpful insights for regulating process variables to improve technological,operational,and financial factors,simultaneously.

Computation of Stiffness and Damping Derivatives of an Ogive in a Limiting Case of Mach Number and Specific Heat Ratio

This work aims to compute stability derivatives in the Newtonian limit in pitch when the Mach number tends to infinity.In such conditions,these stability derivatives depend on the Ogive’s shape and not the Mach number.Generally,the Mach number independence principle becomes effective from M=10 and above.The Ogive nose is obtained through a circular arc on the cone surface.Accordingly,the following arc slopes are consideredλ=5,10,15,−5,−10,and−15.It is found that the stability derivatives decrease due to the growth inλfrom 5 to 15 and vice versa.Forλ=5 and 10,the damping derivative declines with an increase inλfrom 5 to 10.Yet,for the damping derivatives,the minimum location remains at a pivot position,h=0.75 for large values ofλ.Hence,whenλ=−15,the damping derivatives are independent of the cone angles for most pivot positions except in the early twenty percent of the leading edge.

Green Fabrication of Freestanding Piezoceramic Films for Energy Harvesting and Virus Detection

Most electronics such as sensors,actuators and energy harvesters need piezoceramic films to interconvert mechanical and electrical energy.Transferring the ceramic films from their growth substrates for assembling electronic devices commonly requires chemical or physical etching,which comes at the sacrifice of the substrate materials,film cracks,and environmental contamination.Here,we introduce a van der Waals stripping method to fabricate large-area and freestanding piezoceramic thin films in a simple,green,and cost-effective manner.The introduction of the quasi van der Waals epitaxial platinum layer enables the capillary force of water to drive the separation process of the film and substrate interface.The fabricated lead-free film,Ba_(0.85)Ca_(0.15)Zr_(0.1)Ti_(0.9)O_(3)(BCZT),shows a high piezoelectric coefficient d_(33)=209±10 pm V−1 and outstanding flexibility of maximum strain 2%.The freestanding feature enables a wide application scenario,including micro energy harvesting,and covid-19 spike protein detection.We further conduct a life cycle analysis and quantify the low energy consumption and low pollution of the water-based stripping film method.

Design and realization of lung organoid cultures for COVID-19 applications

Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19),caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,has spread globally and threatens public health.Advanced in vitro models that recapitulate the architecture and functioning of specific tissues and organs are in high demand for COVID-19-related pathology studies and drug screening.Since three-dimensional in vitro cultures,such as self-assembled and engineered organoid cultures,surpass conventional two-dimensional cultures and animal models with respect to increased cellular complexity,an environment more relevant to humans,and reduced cost,they are promising platforms for understanding viral pathogenesis and developing new therapeutics.This review highlights the recent advances in self-assembled and engineered organoid technologies that are used for COVID-19 studies.The challenges and future perspectives are also discussed.

Architectural Design and Additive Manufacturing of Mechanical Metamaterials:A Review

Mechanical metamaterials can be defined as a class of architected materials that exhibit unprecedented mechanical properties derived from designed artificial architectures rather than their constituent materials.While macroscale and simple layouts can be realized by conventional top-down manufacturing approaches,many of the sophisticated designs at various length scales remain elusive,due to the lack of adequate manufacturing methods.Recent progress in additive manufacturing(AM)has led to the realization of a myriad of novel metamaterial concepts.AM methods capable of fabricating microscale architectures with high resolution,arbitrary complexity,and high feature fidelity have enabled the rapid development of architected meta materials and drastically reduced the design-computation and experimental-validation cycle.This paper first provides a detailed review of various topologies based on the desired mechanical properties,including stiff,strong,and auxetic(negative Poisson’s ratio)metamaterials,followed by a discussion of the AM technologies capable of fabricating these metamaterials.Finally,we discuss current challenges and recommend future directions for AM and mechanical metamaterials.

Integration of Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence for Classifying Cardiac Ischemia

Despite advances in intelligent medical care,difficulties remain.Due to its complicated governance,designing,planning,improving,and managing the cardiac system remains difficult.Oversight,including intelligent monitoring,feedback systems,and management practises,is unsuccessful.Current platforms cannot deliver lifelong personal health management services.Insufficient accuracy in patient crisis warning programmes.No frequent,direct interaction between healthcare workers and patients is visible.Physical medical systems and intelligent information systems are not integrated.This study introduces the Advanced Cardiac Twin(ACT)model integrated with Artificial Neural Network(ANN)to handle real-time monitoring,decision-making,and crisis prediction.THINGSPEAK is used to create an IoT platform that accepts patient sensor data.Importing these data sets into MATLAB allows display and analysis.A myocardial ischemia research examined Health Condition Tracking’s(HCT’s)potential.In the case study,75%of the training sets(Xt),15%of the verified data,and 10%of the test data were used.Training set feature values(Xt)were given with the data.Training,Validation,and Testing accuracy rates were 99.9%,99.9%,and 99.9%,respectively.General research accuracy was 99.9%.The proposed HCT system and Artificial Neural Network(ANN)model gather historical and real-time data to manage and anticipate cardiac issues.

Fault Estimation for a Class of Markov Jump Piecewise-Affine Systems: Current Feedback Based Iterative Learning Approach

In this paper, the issues of stochastic stability analysis and fault estimation are investigated for a class of continuoustime Markov jump piecewise-affine(PWA) systems against actuator and sensor faults. Firstly, a novel mode-dependent PWA iterative learning observer with current feedback is designed to estimate the system states and faults, simultaneously, which contains both the previous iteration information and the current feedback mechanism. The auxiliary feedback channel optimizes the response speed of the observer, therefore the estimation error would converge to zero rapidly. Then, sufficient conditions for stochastic stability with guaranteed performance are demonstrated for the estimation error system, and the equivalence relations between the system information and the estimated information can be established via iterative accumulating representation.Finally, two illustrative examples containing a class of tunnel diode circuit systems are presented to fully demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed iterative learning observer with current feedback.

Highly Efficient Aligned Ion‑Conducting Network and Interface Chemistries for Depolarized All‑Solid‑State Lithium Metal Batteries

Improving the long-term cycling stability and energy density of all-solid-state lithium(Li)-metal batteries(ASSLMBs)at room temperature is a severe challenge because of the notorious solid–solid interfacial contact loss and sluggish ion transport.Solid electrolytes are generally studied as two-dimensional(2D)structures with planar interfaces,showing limited interfacial contact and further resulting in unstable Li/electrolyte and cathode/electrolyte interfaces.Herein,three-dimensional(3D)architecturally designed composite solid electrolytes are developed with independently controlled structural factors using 3D printing processing and post-curing treatment.Multiple-type electrolyte films with vertical-aligned micro-pillar(p-3DSE)and spiral(s-3DSE)structures are rationally designed and developed,which can be employed for both Li metal anode and cathode in terms of accelerating the Li+transport within electrodes and reinforcing the interfacial adhesion.The printed p-3DSE delivers robust long-term cycle life of up to 2600 cycles and a high critical current density of 1.92 mA cm^(−2).The optimized electrolyte structure could lead to ASSLMBs with a superior full-cell areal capacity of 2.75 mAh cm^(−2)(LFP)and 3.92 mAh cm^(−2)(NCM811).This unique design provides enhancements for both anode and cathode electrodes,thereby alleviating interfacial degradation induced by dendrite growth and contact loss.The approach in this study opens a new design strategy for advanced composite solid polymer electrolytes in ASSLMBs operating under high rates/capacities and room temperature.

Unexpected divergence in magnetoreceptor MagR from robin and pigeon linked to two sequence variations

Birds exhibit extraordinary mobility and remarkable navigational skills,obtaining guidance cues from the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and long-distance movement.Bird species also show tremendous diversity in navigation strategies,with considerable differences even within the same taxa and among individuals from the same population.The highly conserved iron and iron-sulfur cluster binding magnetoreceptor(MagR)protein is suggested to enable animals,including birds,to detect the geomagnetic field and navigate accordingly.Notably,MagR is also implicated in other functions,such as electron transfer and biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters,raising the question of whether variability exists in its biochemical and biophysical features among species,particularly birds.In the current study,we conducted a comparative analysis of MagR from two different bird species,including the migratory European robin(Erithacus rubecula)and the homing pigeon(Columba livia).Sequence alignment revealed an extremely high degree of similarity between the MagRs of these species,with only three sequence variations.Nevertheless,two of these variations underpinned significant differences in metal binding capacity,oligomeric state,and magnetic properties.These findings offer compelling evidence for the marked differences in MagR between the two avian species,potentially explaining how a highly conserved protein can mediate such diverse functions.

Inhibition of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma growth by melatonin:Studies with micro-CT

Melatonin is a versatile indolamine synthesized and secreted by the pineal gland in response to the photoperiodic information received by the retinohypothalamic signaling pathway.Melatonin has many benefits,such as organizing circadian rhythms and acting as a powerful hormone.We aimed to show the antitumor effects of melatonin in both in vivo and in vitro models through the mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR)signaling pathway and the Argyrophilic Nucleolar Regulatory Region(AgNOR),using the Microcomputed Tomography(Micro CT).Ehrlich ascites carcinoma(EAC)cells were administered into the mice by subcutaneous injection.Animals with solid tumors were injected intraperitoneally with 50 and 100 mg/kg melatonin for 14 days.Volumetric measurements for the taken tumors were made with micro-CT imaging,immunohistochemistry(IHC),real-time polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and AgNOR.Statistically,the tumor tissue volume in the Tumor+100 mg/kg melatonin group was significantly lower than that in the other groups in the data obtained from micro-CT images.In the IHC analysis,the groups treated with Tumor+100 mg/kg melatonin were compared when the mTOR signaling pathway and factor 8(F8)expression were compared with the control group.It was determined that there was a significant decrease(p<0.05).Significant differences were found in the total AgNOR area/nuclear area(TAA/NA)ratio in the treatment groups(p<0.05).Furthermore,there were significant differences between the amount of mTOR mRNA for the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K),AKT Serine/Threonine Kinase(PKB/AKT)genes(p<0.05).Cell apoptosis was evaluated with Annexin V in an in vitro study with different doses of melatonin;It was observed that 100µg/mL melatonin dose caused an increase in the apoptotic cell death.In this study,we have reported anti-tumor effects of melatonin in cell culture studies as well as in mice models.Comprehensive characterization of the melatonin-mediated cancer inhibitory effects will be valuable in advancing our fundamental molecular understanding and translatability of pre-clinical findings to earlier phases of clinical trials.

Effects of Thermo-Mechanical Loads on Aeroelastic Instabilities of Metallic and Composite Panels

Panel flutter phenomena can be strongly affected by thermal loads,and so a refined aeroelastic model is presented.Higher-order shell theories are used as structural models.The aerodynamic forces are described using the Piston theory.The temperature is considered uniform over the thickness of the panel.The aero-thermo-elastic model is derived in the framework of the Carrera unified formulation(CUF),therefore the matrices are expressed in a compact form using the″fundamental nuclei″.Composite and sandwich structures are considered and different boundary conditions are taken into account.The effects of the thermal load on the aeroelastic behavior are investigated.

Implementation of Fuzzy Logic Control into an Equivalent Minimization Strategy for Adaptive Energy Management of A Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle

As government agencies continue to tighten emissions regulations due to the continued increase in greenhouse gas production, automotive industries are seeking to produce increasingly efficient vehicle technology. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have been introduced to mitigate problems while improving fuel economy. HEVs have led to the demand of creating more advanced controls software to consider multiple components for propulsive power in a vehicle. A large section in the software development process is the implementation of an optimal energy management strategy meant to improve the overall fuel efficiency of the vehicle. Optimal strategies can be implemented when driving conditions are known a prior. The Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) is an optimal control strategy that uses an equivalence factor to equate electrical to mechanical power when performing torque split determination between the internal combustion engine and electric motor for propulsive and regenerative torque. This equivalence factor is determined from offline vehicle simulations using a sensitivity analysis to provide optimal fuel economy results while maintaining predetermined high voltage battery state of charge (SOC) constraints. When the control hierarchy is modified or different driving styles are applied, the analysis must be redone to update the equivalence factor. The goal of this work is to implement a fuzzy logic controller that dynamically updates the equivalence factor to improve fuel economy, maintain a strict charge sustaining window of operation for the high voltage battery, and reduce computational time required during algorithm development. The adaptive algorithm is validated against global optimum fuel economy and charge sustaining results from a sensitivity analysis performed for multiple drive cycles. Results show a maximum fuel economy improvement of 9.82% when using a mild driving style and a 95% success rate when maintaining an ending SOC within 5% of the desired SOC regardless of starting SOC.

Experimental evaluation of mechanical compression of lattice trusses made with Ti6Al4V for aerospace use

Lattice structures are three-dimensional structures composed of repeated geometrical shapes with multiple interconnected nodes,providing high strength-to-weight ratios,customizable properties,and efficient use of materials.A smart use of materials leads to reduced fuel consumption and lower operating costs,making them highly desirable for aircraft manufacturers.Furthermore,the customizable properties of lattice structures allow for tailoring to specific design requirements,leading to improved performance and safety for aircraft.These advantages make lattice structures an important focus for research and development in the aviation industry.This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the mechanical compression properties of lattice trusses made with Ti6Al4V,designed for use in an anti-ice system.The truss structures were manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques and tested under compressive loads to determine mechanical properties.Results showed that lattice trusses exhibited high levels of compressive strength,making them suitable for use in applications where mechanical resistance and durability are critical,such as in anti-ice systems.We also highlight the potential of additive manufacturing techniques for the fabrication of lattice trusses with tailored mechanical properties.The study provides valuable insights into the mechanical behavior of Ti6Al4V lattice trusses and their potential applications in anti-ice systems,as well as other areas where high strength-to-weight ratios are required.The results of this research contribute to the development of lightweight,efficient,and durable anti-ice systems for use in aviation and other industries.