Wear and surface analysis of 38 mm ceramic-on-metal total hip replacements under standard and severe wear testing conditions

The purpose of this study was to compare the wear of zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) and alumina femoral heads tested against as-cast CoCrMo alloy acetabular cups under both standard and severe wear conditions. A new severe test, which included medio-lateral displacement of the head and rim impact upon relocation, was developed. This resulted in an area of metal transfer and an area of increased wear on the superior-anterior segment of the head that were thought to be due to dislocation and rim impact respectively. While the wear of all ceramic heads was immeasurable using the gravimetric method, the wear rates for the metallic cups from each test were readily calculated. An average steady state wear rate of 0.023 +/- 0.005 mm3/10(6) cycles was found for the cups articulating against ZTA under standard wear conditions. A similar result had previously been obtained for the wear of cups articulated against alumina heads of the same size (within the same laboratory). Under severe wear conditions an increase in the metallic cup steady state wear rate was found with the ZTA and alumina tests giving 0.623 +/- 0.252 and 1.35 +/- 0.154 mm3/10(6) cycles respectively. Wear of the ceramic heads was detected using atomic force microscopy which showed, under severe wear conditions, a decrease in polishing marks and occasional grain removal. The surfaces of the ZTA heads tested under standard conditions were virtually unchanged from the unworn samples. Friction tests showed low friction factors for all components, pre and post wear.     

A methodology for systematic geometric error compensation in five-axis machine tools

To enhance the accuracy, an efficient methodology was developed and described for systematic geometric error correction and their compensation in five-axis machine tools. The methodology is capable of compensating the overall effect of all position-dependent and position-independent errors which contribute to volumetric workspace. It was implemented on a five-axis grinding machine for error compensation and for the check of its effectiveness. Error compensation algorithm was designed, and a routine was written in Matlab software. The developed technique and software are based on an error table which interprets the function of axis through cubic spline technique and synthesis modeling of a machine tool. Recursive compensation methodology was used to remove the machine errors from the actual tool path and inverse technique was implemented to find the corrected positions of prismatic and rotary joints. Moreover, it can convert the corrected tool paths into practical compensated NC codes. The generated, corrected and modified NC codes directly fed to the controller of a five-axis machine tool. Validation of the technique was preceded by repeated experimentation of measurement and through machining of typical standard workpieces with some additional specific features. Experimental results exhibit effective compensation and remarkable improvement in the parametric and volumetric-workspace accuracy of the five-axis machine tool.     

Erratum to: Conductivity Sensors Based System Development and Application to Investigate the Interfacial Behaviour between Supersonic Steam Jet and Water

Instruments and Experimental Techniques - An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0020441221050249     

Palyno‐morphological characteristics of gymnosperm flora of pakistan and its taxonomic implications with LM and SEM methods

The present study is intended to assess gymnosperms pollen flora of Pakistan using Light Microscope (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for its taxonomic significance in identification of gymnosperms. Pollens of 35 gymnosperm species (12 genera and five families) were collected from its various distributional sites of gymnosperms in Pakistan. LM and SEM were used to investigate different palyno‐morphological characteristics. Five pollen types (i.e., Inaperturate, Monolete, Monoporate, Vesiculate‐bisaccate and Polyplicate) were observed. Six In equatorial view seven types of pollens were observed, in which ten species were sub‐angular, nine species were Traingular, six species were Perprolate, three species were Rhomboidal, three species were semi‐angular, two species were rectangular and two species were prolate. While five types of pollen were observed in polar view, in which ten species were Spheroidal, nine species were Angular, eight were Interlobate, six species were Circular, two species were Elliptic. Eighteen species has rugulate and 17 species has faveolate ornamentation. Eighteen species has verrucate and 17 have gemmate type sculpturing. The data was analysed through cluster analysis. The study showed that these palyno‐morphological features have significance value in classification and identification of gymnosperms. Based on these different palyno‐morphological features, a taxonomic key was proposed for the accurate and fast identifications of gymnosperms from Pakistan.     

An improved strategy for skin lesion detection and classification using uniform segmentation and feature selection based approach

Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer with highest mortality rate. However, the annihilation in early stage implies a high survival rate therefore, it demands early diagnosis. The accustomed diagnosis methods are costly and cumbersome due to the involvement of experienced experts as well as the requirements for highly equipped environment. The recent advancements in computerized solutions for these diagnoses are highly promising with improved accuracy and efficiency. In this article, we proposed a method for the classification of melanoma and benign skin lesions. Our approach integrates preprocessing, lesion segmentation, features extraction, features selection, and classification. Preprocessing is executed in the context of hair removal by DullRazor, whereas lesion texture and color information are utilized to enhance the lesion contrast. In lesion segmentation, a hybrid technique has been implemented and results are fused using additive law of probability. Serial based method is applied subsequently that extracts and fuses the traits such as color, texture, and HOG (shape). The fused features are selected afterwards by implementing a novel Boltzman Entropy method. Finally, the selected features are classified by Support Vector Machine. The proposed method is evaluated on publically available data set PH2. Our approach has provided promising results of sensitivity 97.7%, specificity 96.7%, accuracy 97.5%, and F‐score 97.5%, which are significantly better than the results of existing methods available on the same data set. The proposed method detects and classifies melanoma significantly good as compared to existing methods.     

Effects of Using Alternative Extreme Pressure (EP) and Anti-Wear (AW) Additives with Oxy-Nitrided Samples

Oxy-nitriding is a widely used industrial process aiming to improve the tribological properties and performance of components. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of the treatment with friction and wear performance, but very few have focussed on optimising this behaviour. The lubrication properties of several EP and AW additives were examined to investigate their effectiveness in improving the tribological properties of the layers formed after treatment. Previous studies showed the presence of an oxide layer on the sample could improve the effectiveness of the sulphurised olefin (SO) and tricresyl phosphate (TCP) additives. The friction and wear behaviour of oxy-nitrided samples were analysed using a tribometer and surface profiler. Scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to identify the morphologies and chemical compositions of the treated surface before and after testing. No real effect on friction was observed when using the SO or TCP additives, mostly due to lack of interaction with the less reactive iron nitride layer and their roles as anti-wear additives. However, when the zinc dialkyldithiophosphate-containing lubricant was used, a higher friction coefficient was observed. Greater improvements in anti-wear properties with the presence of additives in comparison with only using base oil were reported, with the TCP additive producing the lowest wear rates. The study effectively demonstrated that the additive package type used could impact the tribological and tribochemical properties of oxy-nitrided surfaces.     

Effects of substitutions in the binding surface of an antibody on antigen affinity

The interactions between the Fab and single-chain Fv (scFv) fragments of an antibody (NC10) and its antigen, influenza virus neuraminidase, were analysed in the crystal structures of the Fab-neuraminidase and scFv-neuraminidase complexes. To investigate the contribution to binding made by cavities, salt links and hydrogen bonds in the antibody- antigen interface, 14 single amino acid replacements were made at six contact residues in the scFv fragment by site-directed mutagenesis. The binding affinity of each mutant scFv antibody for neuraminidase was determined with a BIAcore optical biosensor. Four of the mutations resulted in large changes in the free energy of binding to neuraminidase (deltadeltaG > 1 kcal/mol) and together may account for approximately 70% of the free energy of binding. Hence these data support the theory that a small number of residues form the 'functional epitope' and are most important for binding of NC10 to neuraminidase. The salt link between antibody residue (Asp)H56 and (Lys)N432 from neuraminidase was demonstrated to be important for affinity, since substitution of (Asp)H56 with Asn caused a large reduction in the free energy of binding (deltadeltaG = +2.8 kcal/mol). Hydrogen bonds provided by (Tyr)L32 and (Asp)H56 were also important for binding: mutation of (Tyr)L32 to Phe resulted in a significant reduction in binding affinity (deltadeltaG = +1.7 kcal/mol). Disruption of hydrophobic interactions (van der Waals contacts) led to significant reductions in affinity also ((Tyr)H99 to Ala, deltadeltaG = +1.5 kcal/mol; (Leu)L94 to Ala, deltadeltaG > +3.0 kcal/mol). An attempt to increase binding affinity by filling a cavity in the interface with a larger antibody side chain was unsuccessful, as the free energy gained by new antibody-antigen interactions did not compensate for the removal of cavity-bound water molecules.      

Stepwise transplantation of an active site loop between heat-labile enterotoxins LT-II and LT-I and characterization of the obtained hybrid toxins

Members of the cholera toxin family, including Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxins LT-I and LT-II, catalyze the covalent modification ofintracellular proteins by transfer of ADP-ribose from NAD to a specificarginine of the target protein. The ADP-ribosylating activity of thesetoxins is located in the A-subunit, for which LT-I and LT-II share a 63%sequence identity. The flexible loop in LT-I, ranging from residue 47 to56, closes over the active site cleft. Previous studies have shown thatpoint mutations in this loop have dramatic effects on the activity of LT-I.Yet, in LT-II the sequence of the equivalent loop differs at four positionsfrom LT-I. Therefore five mutants of the active site loop were created by astepwise replacement of the loop sequence in LT-I with virtually all thecorresponding residues in LT- II. Since we discovered that LT-II had noactivity versus the artificial substratediethylamino-benzylidine-aminoguanidine (DEABAG) while LT-I does, ouractive site mutants most likely probe the NAD binding, not the argininebinding region of the active site. The five hybrid toxins obtained (Q49A,F52N, V53T, Q49V/F52N and Q49V/F52N/V53T) show (i) great differences inholotoxin assembly efficiency; (ii) decreased cytotoxicity in Chinesehamster ovary cells; and (iii) increased in vitro enzymatic activitycompared with wild type LT-I. Specifically, the three mutants containingthe F52N substitution display a greater Vmax for NAD than wild type LT-I.The enzymatic activity of the V53T mutant is significantly higher than thatof wild type LT-I. Apparently this subtle variation at position 53 isbeneficial, in contrast to several other substitutions at position 53 whichpreviously had been shown to be deleterious for activity. The most strikingresult of this study is that the active site loop of LT- I, despite greatsensitivity for point mutations, can essentially be replaced by the activesite loop of LT-II, yielding an active 'hybrid enzyme' as well as 'hybridtoxin'.     

A First-Principle Study of Monolayer Transition Metal Carbon Trichalcogenides

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - Monolayer MnCX3 metal–carbon trichalcogenides have been investigated by using the first-principle calculations. The compounds show...     

Introduction,production, characterization and applications of defects in graphene

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The successful preparation of graphene in research laboratory has brought a revolutionary progress in almost all the research fields...