Hydroxyapatite cages with aligned pores for bone grafting – Seeding of human osteoblast-like cells in vitro and their response in dynamic culture mode

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a highly regarded synthetic bone graft material. Porous HA ceramics blocks are used to substitute harvested natural bone grafts. Being similar to bone mineral, HA material integrates with the host bone through surface osteointegration and slowly resorb along with the natural bone remodeling process. The blocks in use currently have random and tortuous pore structures. The present work explores the usefulness of cage-like HA ceramic design with end-to-end open pores, with the help of in vitro cell culture methods. Such a structure, on implantation, will take up the blood factors and cells and host the bone remodeling process inside the bulk of the cage, leading to early healing. In the study, HA samples with aligned through-pores were prepared and explored in vitro, with a focus on how the pores host the cells inside and to what level the cells maintain their activity. Human osteoblast-like cells (HOS) were used, at different seeding and culturing approaches. Cell seeding was done through (i) conventional large volume cell suspension, (ii) a confined mini chamber with a limited volume of cell suspension, and (iii) placing a concentrated drop of cell suspension directly on top of the scaffold. The third approach gave the best cell adhesion and proliferation, and hence used for further explorations. A dynamic culture system was designed in-house by bifurcating the cell culture wells using vertical inserts, holding the samples horizontally with their ends open to both sides, and making the media flow across using a rocker platform. The HOS cell adhesion, viability and proliferation were tested in the HA cages, in static and dynamic culture conditions, with conventional porous ceramics as the control. The cell infiltration was deeper and the cell viability over a period of 7 days was significantly higher in dynamic culture conditions in the test samples.     

Selective Coating of SnS on the Bio‐Inspired Moth‐Eye Patterned PEDOT:PSS Polymer Films

A new strategy for the selective coating of tin sulfide (SnS) on the surface of moth‐eye patterned (MEP) conducting polymer film is studied by considering the optical properties of the antireflective moth‐eye pattern and flexibility of polymer films. The semiconductor SnS is selectively coated on the surface of MEP microdomes of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrene‐sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film. The SnS coated MEP film is obtained by using pore selectively SnS thin layer functionalized polystyrene honeycomb‐patterned porous (HCP) film as a template. Aqueous PEDOT:PSS solution is poured on the SnS functionalized HCP films and detached for the fabrication of SnS coated MEP films. The films show a satisfactory photo‐responsive property under solar stimulated light illumination due to the antireflective MEP structure of PEDOT film and homogenous SnS coating on the surface of the conducting polymer.     

On the capacity of the state‐dependent interference relay channel

This paper considers the state‐dependent interference relay channel (SIRC) in which one of the two users may operate as a secondary user and the relay has a noncausal access to the signals from both users. For discrete memoryless SIRC, we first establish the achievable rate region by carefully merging Han‐Kobayashi rate splitting encoding technique, superposition encoding, and Gelfand‐Pinsker encoding technique. Then, based on the achievable rate region that we derive, the capacity of the SIRC is established in many different scenarios including (a) the weak interference regime, (b) the strong interference regime, and (c) the very strong interference regime. This means that our capacity results contain all available known results in the literature. Next, the achievable rate region and the associated capacity results are also evaluated in the case of additive Gaussian noise. Additionally, many numerical examples are investigated to show the value of our theoretical derivations.     

The generalized discrete ‐centroid problem

The ‐centroid problem or leader–follower problem is generalized considering different customer choice rules where a customer may use facilities belonging to different firms, if the difference in travel distance (or time) is small enough. Assuming essential goods, some particular customer choice rules are analyzed. Linear programming formulations for the generalized ‐medianoid and ‐centroid problems are presented and an exact solution approach is applied. Some computational examples are included.     

Flower‐shaped ultra‐wideband fractal antenna

A flower‐shaped ultra‐wideband fractal antenna is presented. It comprises a fourth iterative flower‐shaped radiator, asymmetrical stub‐loaded feeding line, and coplanar quarter elliptical ground planes. A wide operating band of 12.12 GHz (4.58‐16.7 GHz) for S ₁₁ ≤ ? 10 dB is achieved along with an overall antenna footprint of 15.7 × 11.4 mm². In addition, other desirable characteristics, that is, omnidirectional radiation patterns, peak gain upto 5 dB, and fidelity factor more than 75% are achieved. A good agreement exists between the simulation and measured results. The obtained results illustrate that this antenna has wide operating range and compact dimensions than available structures.     

Evolution of Local Structural Ordering and Chemical Distribution upon Delithiation of a Rock Salt–Structured Li1.3Ta0.3Mn0.4O2 Cathode

Lithium‐rich disordered rock‐salt oxides have attracted great interest owing to their promising performance as Li‐ion battery cathodes. While experimental and theoretical efforts are critical in advancing this class of materials, a fundamental understanding of key property changes upon Li extraction is largely missing. In the present study, single‐crystal synthesis of a new disordered rock‐salt cathode material, Li_1.3Ta_0.3Mn_0.4O₂ (LTMO), and its use as a model compound to investigate Li concentration–driven evolution of local cationic ordering, charge compensation, and chemical distribution are reported. Through the combined use of 2D and 3D X‐ray nanotomography, it is shown that Li removal accompanied by oxygen oxidation is correlated with the development of morphological defects such as particle cracking. Chemical heterogeneity, quantified by subparticle level distribution of Mn valence state, is minimal during Mn redox, which drastically increases upon the formation of cracks during oxygen redox. Density functional theory and bond valence sum mismatch calculations reveal the presence of local short‐range ordering in the pristine oxide, which gradually disappears along with the extraction of Li. The study suggests that with cycling the transformation into true cation–disordered state can be expected, which likely impacts the voltage profile and obtainable energy density of the oxide cathodes.     

Near‐Infrared (NIR) Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes (OLEDs): Challenges and Opportunities

The rapid development of the science and technology of organic semiconductors has already led to mass application of organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) in television monitors of outstanding quality as well as in a large variety of smaller displays found in smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets, while introduction of the technology to the illumination sector is imminent. Notably, the requirements of all such applications for emission in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum are well tuned to the optical and electronic properties of typical organic semiconductors, thereby representing relatively “low‐hanging fruits,” in terms of material development and exploitation. However, the question arises as to whether developing materials suited for efficient near‐infrared (NIR, 700–1000 nm) emission is possible, and, crucially, desirable to enable new classes of applications spanning from through‐space, short‐range communications to biomedical sensors, night vision, and more generally security applications to name but a few. Here, the major fundamental hurdles to be overcome to achieve efficient NIR emission from organic π‐conjugated systems are discussed, recent progress is reviewed, and an outlook for further development of both materials and applications is provided.     

A knowledge construction methodology to automate case-based learning using clinical documents

The case-based learning (CBL) approach has gained attention in medical education as an alternative to traditional learning methodology. However, current CBL systems do not facilitate and provide computer-based domain knowledge to medical students for solving real-world clinical cases during CBL practice. To automate CBL, clinical documents are beneficial for constructing domain knowledge. In the literature, most systems and methodologies require a knowledge engineer to construct machine-readable knowledge. Keeping in view these facts, we present a knowledge construction methodology (KCM-CD) to construct domain knowledge ontology (i.e., structured declarative knowledge) from unstructured text in a systematic way using artificial intelligence techniques, with minimum intervention from a knowledge engineer. To utilize the strength of humans and computers, and to realize the KCM-CD methodology, an interactive case-based learning system(iCBLS) was developed. Finally, the developed ontological model was evaluated to evaluate the quality of domain knowledge in terms of coherence measure. The results showed that the overall domain model has positive coherence values, indicating that all words in each branch of the domain ontology are correlated with each other and the quality of the developed model is acceptable.     

Interfacial Crystallization of Diacylglycerols Rich in Medium‐ and Long‐Chain Fatty Acids in Water‐in‐Oil Emulsions

The effects of diacylglycerols rich in medium‐ and long‐chain fatty acids (MLCD) on the crystallization of hydrogenated palm oil (HPO) and formation of 10% water‐in‐oil (W/O) emulsion are studied, and compared with the common surfactants monostearoylglycerol (MSG) and polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR). Polarized light microscopy reveals that emulsions made with MLCD form crystals around dispersed water droplets and promotes HPO crystallization at the oil‐water interface. Similar behavior is also observed in MSG‐stabilized emulsions, but is absent from emulsions made with PGPR. The large deformation yield value of the test W/O emulsion is increased four‐fold versus those stabilized via PGPR due to interfacial crystallization of HPO. However, there are no large differences in droplet size, solid fat content (SFC), thermal behavior or polymorphism to account for these substantial changes, implying that the spatial distribution of the HPO crystals within the crystal network is the driving factor responsible for the observed textural differences. MLCD‐covered water droplets act as active fillers and interact with surrounding fat crystals to enhance the rigidity of emulsion. This study provides new insights regarding the use of MLCD in W/O emulsions as template for interfacial crystallization and the possibility of tailoring their large deformation behavior. Practical Applications: MLCD is applied in preparing W/O emulsion. It is found that MLCD forms unique interfacial Pickering crystals around water droplets, which promote the surface‐inactive HPO nucleation at the oil‐water interface. Thus MLCD‐covered water droplets act as active fillers and interact with surrounding fat crystals, which can greatly enhance the rigidity of emulsion. This observation would provide a theoretical reference and practical basis for the application of the MLCD with appreciable nutritional properties in lipid‐rich products such as whipped cream, shortenings margarine, butter and ice cream, so as to substitute hydrogenated oil. MLCD‐stabilized emulsions can also be explored for the development of novel confectionery products, lipsticks, or controlled release matrices.