Optoregulated Drug Release from an Engineered Living Material: Self‐Replenishing Drug Depots for Long‐Term,Light‐Regulated Delivery

On‐demand and long‐term delivery of drugs are common requirements in many therapeutic applications, not easy to be solved with available smart polymers for drug encapsulation. This work presents a fundamentally different concept to address such scenarios using a self‐replenishing and optogenetically controlled living material. It consists of a hydrogel containing an active endotoxin‐free Escherichia coli strain. The bacteria are metabolically and optogenetically engineered to secrete the antimicrobial and antitumoral drug deoxyviolacein in a light‐regulated manner. The permeable hydrogel matrix sustains a viable and functional bacterial population and permits diffusion and delivery of the synthesized drug to the surrounding medium at quantities regulated by light dose. Using a focused light beam, the site for synthesis and delivery of the drug can be freely defined. The living material is shown to maintain considerable levels of drug production and release for at least 42 days. These results prove the potential and flexibility that living materials containing engineered bacteria can offer for advanced therapeutic applications.     

Virtual engineering of cyber-physical automation systems: The case of control logic

Mastering the fusion of information and communication technologies with physical systems to cyber-physical automation systems is of main concern to engineers in the industrial automation domain. The engineering of these systems is challenging as their distributed nature and the heterogeneity of stakeholders and tools involved in their engineering contradict the need for the simultaneous engineering of their cyber and physical parts over their life cycle. This paper presents a novel approach based on the virtual engineering method, which provides support for the simultaneous engineering of the cyber and physical parts of automation systems. The approach extends and integrates the life cycle centered view mandated by current conceptual architectures and the digital twin paradigm with an integrated, iterative engineering method. The benefits of the approach are highlighted in a case study related to the engineering of the control logic of a cyber physical automation system originating from the process engineering domain. We describe for the first time a modular domain ontology, which formally describes the cyber and physical part of the system. We present cyber services built on top of the ontology layer, which allow to automatically verify different control logic types and simultaneously verify cyber and physical parts of the system in an incremental manner.     

煤直接液化反应中分散相催化剂研究进展

煤直接液化工艺中催化剂作用十分重要,粒径小、分散性高的催化剂能够有效提升煤转化效率。将流动反应介质中小颗粒的固体催化剂命名为分散相催化剂,综述煤直接液化中常用的几种分散相催化剂,包括金属卤化物催化剂、过渡金属氧化物催化剂和铁系催化剂,提出可能的催化机理。     

Predictive association of metal–organic systems in the solid-state: the molecular electrostatic potential based approach

Designing crystalline solids with improved properties or performances remains a challenging task, despite great strides that have been made within the field of crystal engineering since its birth several decades ago. Herein, we are bringing examples that illustrate recent successes in taking supramolecular synthetic guidelines from the organic crystal engineering and adjusting those to metal-containing systems, particularly to the lower-dimensional ones. The versatility of calculated molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) as a new crystal engineering tool is demonstrated.     

What is a crystal to the new chemical crystallographer,after that first,automated structure analysis?

This educational review postulates the importance of maintaining an adequate level of crystallographic education among structure-dependent scientists whose interests are not primarily in crystallography, at a time when automation and validation have made it possible to obtain high-quality structure analyses in many cases with a minimum of crystallographic background. The topics addressed are intended to form a second round of crystallographic education for a novice user whose first round involved hands-on experience with structure solution and an introduction to elementary concepts. The specific topics, chosen for their relevance as basic knowledge and their lack of emphasis in many formal treatments, are (1) crystallographic reference frames and the utility of the reciprocal cell in geometrical calculations; (2) the relationship between the two concepts that constitute our model of the crystal, namely the unit cell and the lattice; (3) the manner in which an atom is represented in concept and in practice; (4) the importance of interleaved symmetry elements required by the presence of additional symmetry on a lattice; (5) the harnessing of the natural properties of the crystalline state for the potential manipulation of properties of synthetic crystals; and (6) useful terminology for navigating a crystal structure.     

Silicon-doped hydroxyapatite prepared by a thermal technique for hard tissue engineering applications

Hydroxyapatite (HA, Ca₅(PO₄)₃OH) has been extensively used for bone implantation due to its similarity to the mineral component of bone, which makes it strongly osteoconductive. However, HA has low resorbability, and it is difficult to replace by a newly regenerated bone. Si doping can enhance the resorbability of HA by modifying its crystal structure. Here, we developed a simple thermal technique for preparing Si-doped HA from silica (SiO₂) and HA precursors, both of which are inexpensive and commercially available. This method included the physical binding of SiO₂ and HA particles, followed by pressing and sintering the mixture at an elevated temperature, which enhanced the atomic diffusion of Si into HA unit cells. We also evaluated the simulated body fluid (SBF) activity of the Si-doped HA prepared by this technique and showed that it significantly had higher resorbability and mineralizing potential compared to the pure HA. Our experimental design including, the individual precipitation and resorption assays enabled us to explain the mechanism behind the improved activity of Si-doped HA in SBF. This was attributed to the formation of new phases, such as β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and calcium silicate (Ca₂SiO₄) with higher solubility than HA on the SiO₂-contating HA during the sintering stage. This can provide some guidelines for designing new calcium phosphate-based materials for hard tissue engineering applications.     

Knowledge-Based Virtual Modeling and Simulation of Manufacturing Processes for Industry 4.0

Abstract

Industry 4.0 aims at providing a digital representation of a production landscape, but the challenges in building, maintaining, optimizing, and evolving digital models in inter-organizational production chains have not been identified yet in a systematic manner. In this paper, various Industry 4.0 research and technical challenges are addressed, and their present scenario is discussed. Moreover, in this article, the novel concept of developing experience-based virtual models of engineering entities, process, and the factory is presented. These models of production units, processes, and procedures are accomplished by virtual engineering object (VEO), virtual engineering process (VEP), and virtual engineering factory (VEF), using the knowledge representation technique of Decisional DNA. This blend of the virtual and physical domains permits monitoring of systems and analysis of data to foresee problems before they occur, develop new opportunities, prevent downtime, and even plan for the future by using simulations. Furthermore, the proposed virtual model concept not only has the capability of Query Processing and Data Integration for Industrial Data but also real-time visualization of data stream processing.     

地质探矿工程安全解决措施探讨

随着社会的不断发展,矿产资源为我国带来了巨大的经济效益,并在社会经济发展中占有重要的地位。但在矿山资源开发的过程中,威胁人身安全的事故经常发生。因此,本文对探矿工程安全措施进行了研究和分析。     

刍议广西岩土工程勘察常见问题

岩土工程勘察工作在工程建设中是十分重要的一环,本文旨在分析岩土工程勘察工作中常见的问题,并做出有关结论,以供参考。     

低能量密度炸药连续装药光面爆破技术研究

为了提高光面爆破成型质量，提出了一种低能量密度炸药连续装药光面爆破技术，利用LS DYNA进行数值模拟，对比2#岩石乳化炸药间隔装药和低能量密度炸药连续装药的应力场，然后将此技术用于长九（神山）灰岩矿四号隧洞控制爆破和露天边坡光面爆破。结果表明：2#岩石乳化炸药间隔装药模型中，装药段与非装药段测点应力峰值相差很大；而在低能量密度炸药连续装药模型中，沿炮孔轴向相同爆心距的测点应力峰值保持一致；使用低能量密度炸药进行连续装药，能够避免装药段的过度破坏和非装药段的欠挖，提高残孔率，且省去了导爆索捆绑时间，提高周边孔装药效率，节省了爆破成本。