Chromophore-Free Sealing and Repair of Soft Tissues Using Mid-Infrared Light-Activated Biosealants

Poor strength, infection, leakage, long procedure times, and inflammation limit the efficacy of common tissue sealing devices in surgeries and trauma. Light-activated sealing is attractive for tissue sealing and repair, and can be facilitated by the generation of local heat following absorption of nonionizing laser energy by chromophores. Here, the inherent ability of biomaterials is exploited to absorb nonionizing, mid-infrared (midIR) light in order to engender rapid photothermal sealing and repair of soft tissue wounds. In this approach, the biomaterial simultaneously acts as a photothermal convertor as well as a biosealant, which dispenses the need for exogeneous light-absorbing nanoparticles or dyes. Biomechanical recovery, mathematical modeling, histopathology analyses, tissue strain mapping using digital imaging correlation, and visualization of the biosealant-tissue interface using hyperspectral imaging indicate superior performance of midIR sealing in live mice compared to conventional sutures and glue. The midIR-biosealant approach demonstrates rapid sealing of soft tissues, improves cosmesis, lowers potential for scarring, obviates safety concerns because of the nonionizing light used, and allows adoption of a wide diversity of biomaterials. Taken together, the studies demonstrate a novel advance both in biomaterials for surgical sealing along with the use of nonionizing midIR light, with high potential for clinical translation.     

Transfer learning in deep neural network-based receiver coil sensitivity map estimation

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - The success of parallel Magnetic Resonance Imaging algorithms like SENSitivity Encoding (SENSE) depends on an accurate estimation of...     

Nutrient digestibility,performance and carcass traits of growing–finishing pigs fed diets containing graded levels of dehydrated lucerne meal

BACKGROUND: Plant breeders have attempted to improve the nutritonal value of lucerne (alfalfa) by selecting for higher protein and lower fibre concentrations. Although targeted at ruminants, such changes could also improve the nutritional value of lucerne for monogastrics. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of graded levels of dehydrated lucerne meal on nutrient digestibility, performance and carcass traits of swine. RESULTS: The digestibility of dry matter, protein and energy declined linearly (P < 0.05) as the level of lucerne meal in the diet increased. Including lucerne meal at levels greater than 75 g kg^?1 was detrimental to the growth rate of pigs during the growing period. During the finishing period, inclusion of lucerne meal at 75 and 150 g kg^?1 resulted in improvements in weight gain and feed intake. Carcass traits were generally unaffected by lucerne inclusion. CONCLUSION: Lucerne meal may have greater potential for inclusion in diets fed to growing–finishing pigs than previously realized. To maximize pig performance, lucerne meal should be limited to less than 75 g kg^?1 diet during the growing period, while it is possible to go as high as 150 g kg^?1 diet during the finishing period without detrimental effects on performance. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Maleated high oleic sunflower oil‐treated cellulose fiber‐based styrene butadiene rubber composites

Surface treatment of cellulose fibers was performed with maleated high oleic sunflower oil (MSOHO). The MSOHO‐treated cellulose fibers and unmodified cellulose fibers were dispersed in styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) using a two roll mill. Vapor grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNF) were also incorporated at only one parts per hundred rubber (phr) in unmodified cellulose fibers/SBR composites. The curing characteristics, mechanical properties, and water absorption of the resulting composites were determined. MSOHO‐treated fibers completed curing at much slower rate and also decreased the cure density of composites, compared to unmodified fibers. In contrast, the combination of VGCNF and unmodified cellulose fibers accelerated the SBR curing process, but reduced the cure density. MSOHO treatment improved the dispersion of the fibers in the SBR, which resulted in improved mechanical properties of composites. The composite incorporating 1 phr VGCNF and 15 phr unmodified cellulose fibers showed the greatest increase in tensile strength as compared with neat SBR. POLYM. COMPOS. 37:1113–1121, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Laser Melting of Spark Plasma-Sintered Zirconium Carbide: Thermophysical Properties of a Generation IV Very High-Temperature Reactor Material

Melting temperatures of zirconium carbide were investigated in validating a novel thermal analysis technique for refractory materials. Commercial ZrC_0.96 powder was densified by spark plasma sintering to >96% relative density after 6–30 min at 2173–2453 K under 40–100 MPa. Sintered ceramics were heated to >4000 K via pulsed laser heating. Mean values for solidus and liquidus transitions were 3451 and 3608 K, respectively, in fair agreement with the present phase diagram. Postmelting analysis revealed dendritic microstructure and composition consistent with single-phase ZrC. Subsurface gas porosity and ZrC–C eutectic indicate complex processes occurring during melting and freezing.     

Evaluating the Efficiency of CBAM-Resnet Using Malaysian Sign Language

The deaf-mutes population is constantly feeling helpless when others do not understand them and vice versa. To fill this gap, this study implements a CNN-based neural network, Convolutional Based Attention Module (CBAM), to recognise Malaysian Sign Language (MSL) in videos recognition. This study has created 2071 videos for 19 dynamic signs. Two different experiments were conducted for dynamic signs, using CBAM-3DResNet implementing ‘Within Blocks’ and ‘Before Classifier’ methods. Various metrics such as the accuracy, loss, precision, recall, F1-score, confusion matrix, and training time were recorded to evaluate the models’ efficiency. Results showed that CBAM-ResNet models had good performances in videos recognition tasks, with recognition rates of over 90% with little variations. CBAM-ResNet ‘Before Classifier’ is more efficient than ‘Within Blocks’ models of CBAM-ResNet. All experiment results indicated the CBAM-ResNet ‘Before Classifier’ efficiency in recognising Malaysian Sign Language and its worth of future research.     

Extended Kalman Filter-based localization algorithm by edge computing in Wireless Sensor Networks

The Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) has received abundant attention with the growing demands for robotic localization. The EKF algorithm is more realistic in non-linear systems, which has an autonomous white noise in both the system and the estimation model. Also, in the field of engineering, most systems are non-linear. Therefore, the EKF attracts more attention than the Kalman Filter (KF). In this paper, we propose an EKF-based localization algorithm by edge computing, and a mobile robot is used to update its location concerning the landmark. This localization algorithm aims to achieve a high level of accuracy and wider coverage. The proposed algorithm is helpful for the research related to the use of EKF localization algorithms. Simulation results demonstrate that, under the situations presented in the paper, the proposed localization algorithm is more accurate compared with the current state-of-the-art localization algorithms.     

Microstructural evolution during high-temperature oxidation of spark plasma sintered Ti2AlN ceramics

Microstructures of Ti₂AlN ceramics synthesized and simultaneously consolidated from starting mixtures of Ti/Al/TiN powders by spark plasma sintering (SPS) were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, focused ion beam (FIB) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). When sintered for 10 min at 1300 °C, nearly single-phase Ti₂AlN ceramics with elongated (∼22 × 6 × 6 μm) grains were obtained. After sintering for 10 min at 1200 °C and chemical etching, Ti₂AlN nanowhiskers (150-200 nm dia., 1-5 μm long) were exposed in pores coexisting with TiAl, TiN and Ti₂AlN grains. FIB-TEM studies revealed single-crystal Ti₂AlN nanowhiskers in a TiAl matrix with orientation relationship [1 1 −2 0]_H//[−1 0 1]_γ, (0 0 0 1)_H//(1 1 1)_γ, γ = TiAl, H = Ti₂AlN. The nanowhiskers are believed to form by diffusion of TiN into TiAl during SPS and to be exposed during the chemical etch. Microstructural development during high-temperature oxidation of dense Ti₂AlN ceramics for 1 h at <1200 °C involves gradual formation on the surface of layered microstructures containing anatase, rutile and α-Al₂O₃. After 1 h at >1200 °C, more complex layered microstructures containing Al₂TiO₅, rutile, α-Al₂O₃ and continuous voids layers form. After heating to 1100 °C for 1 h and cooling to room temperature, planar defects are observed in surface TiO₂ grains identified as stacking faults bounded by partial dislocations. After heating for 1 h at 1400 °C and cooling to room temperature, cracks propagate in TiO₂ grains. It is believed that planar defects and cracks arise from stress generation in the oxide scale. Thermal stresses formed on cooling may arise from thermal expansion mismatch of phases (TiO₂, Al₂O₃ and Al₂TiO₅) in the oxide scale, the high anisotropy of thermal expansion in Al₂TiO₅ and thermal expansion mismatch between the oxide scale and Ti₂AlN substrate. Growth stresses formed during the isothermal oxidation treatment may arise from the volume changes associated with oxidation reactions of Ti₂AlN. An oxidation mechanism for Ti₂AlN ceramics is proposed, which involves initial reaction with atmospheric oxygen to form oxide phases, demixing of the mixed oxide phases, void formation due to the Kirkendall effect and gaseous NO_x release. Oxidation of Ti₂AlN <1200 °C with 1 h hold times is limited, while above this temperature the oxide scale grows rapidly, and Ti₂AlN ceramics undergo heavy oxidation.