Interactions of Fibroblasts with Different Morphologies Made of an Engineered Spider Silk Protein

Spider silk has been investigated for decades due to the intriguing mechanical and also biomedical properties of the silk fibers. Previously, it has been shown that recombinant silk proteins can also be processed into other morphologies. Here, we characterized scaffolds made of the recombinant spider silk protein eADF4(C16) concerning their surface interactions with fibroblasts. Studies of BALB/3T3 cells on hydrogels and films made of eADF4(C16) showed low cell adhesion without observable duplication. Electro‐spun non‐woven scaffolds made of eADF4(C16), however, enabled both their adhesion and proliferation. Since eADF4(C16) lacks specific motifs for cell attachment, fibroblasts cannot generate focal adhesions with the material's surface, and, therefore, other cell–interface interactions such as topographical anchorage or cell attachment mediated by adhesion of extracellular matrix proteins are discussed in this paper. On non‐woven meshes protrusion of filopodia and/or lamellipodia between individual fibers increase the surface contact area, which depends on the diameter of the fibers of the non‐woven meshes. In contrast, at flat (film) or microstructured surfaces (hydrogels) such interactions seem to be precluded.     

On an alleged philosophers' stone concerning variational principles with subsidiary conditions

In general, the Lagrange multiplier method (LMM) is used to incorporate subsidiary conditions into variational principles. The Lagrange multipliers represent an additional field of independent variables. The attempt to satisfy subsidiary conditions without employing additional independent unknowns has led to the development of simplified variational principles (SVP). They are characterized by expressing Lagrange multipliers in terms of original field variables by means of the Euler-Lagrange equations for the multipliers, providing their physical interpretation. In the first part of the theoretical investigation, systems with infinitely many degrees-of-freedom are studied. It is shown that the Euler-Lagrange equations of a LMM based on a modification of the principle of minimum of potential energy (PMIPE) do not hold unconditionally, that is, for arbitrary subsidiary conditions, for the corresponding SVP. The second part of the theoretical investigation is concerned with systems with a finite number of degrees-of-freedom. The finite element method (FEM) is employed to discuss and compare the characteristics of the LMM and of the corresponding SVP. Contrary to the former, the latter are found to be problem-dependent. Several shortcomings of the SVP are listed, including the possibility of obtaining an infinite sequence of singular coefficient matrices in the process of a systematic mesh refinement. Consequently, convergence of finite element solutions to the true solution in the limit of finite element representations is not guaranteed. The theoretical findings are corroborated by the results of a detailed numerical study.     

Observation of temperature-independent longitudinal-mode patterns in violet-blue InGaN-based laser diodes

We present measurements on an aperiodic device-specific longitudinal-mode pattern in InGaN laser diodes. The characteristic shape of this pattern occurs only if the laser is driven slightly above threshold; in addition, it tunes with temperature at exactly the same rate as the cavity modes. By careful selection of the collection optics and averaging ten rapid scans over 15 min in a high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer, we could exclude possible explanations like beating of mode families, self-pulsation, or external reflections. A naive simulation of the longitudinal modes profiting from their individual "gain profile" along the cavity suggests that we see the signature of quantum-well thickness fluctuations.     

The BER analysis of OFDMA and SC‐FDMA under pilot‐assisted channel estimation and pilot jamming in rayleigh slow‐fading channel

In this paper, the authors derived the analytical bit error rate expressions for orthogonal frequency division multiple access and single‐carrier frequency‐division multiple access (SC‐FDMA) in Rayleigh slow‐fading channel for binary phase‐shift keying/quadrature phase‐shift keying/16‐quadrature amplitude modulations under pilot jamming and pilot symbol‐assisted channel estimation. Beginning with the bit error rate analysis from the general case of pilot symbol‐assisted channel estimation technique in Rayleigh slow‐fading channel, the expressions are first modified for different modulations and then further customized to account for the Zero‐Forcing equalization in frequency or time direction with application respectively to orthogonal frequency division multiple access or SC‐FDMA without and with pilot jamming. Piecewise‐linear interpolation is used for its simplicity. The simulation results match perfectly with the theoretical predictions except for some discrepancies with SC‐FDMA, which imply that the generalized equations developed here have to be further modified to account for system‐specific features like discrete Fourier transform precoding for SC‐FDMA. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Material requirements for the adoption of unconventional silicon crystal and wafer growth techniques for high‐efficiency solar cells

Silicon wafers comprise approximately 40% of crystalline silicon module cost and represent an area of great technological innovation potential. Paradoxically, unconventional wafer‐growth techniques have thus far failed to displace multicrystalline and Czochralski silicon, despite four decades of innovation. One of the shortcomings of most unconventional materials has been a persistent carrier lifetime deficit in comparison to established wafer technologies, which limits the device efficiency potential. In this perspective article, we review a defect‐management framework that has proven successful in enabling millisecond lifetimes in kerfless and cast materials. Control of dislocations and slowly diffusing metal point defects during growth, coupled to effective control of fast‐diffusing species during cell processing, is critical to enable high cell efficiencies. To accelerate the pace of novel wafer development, we discuss approaches to rapidly evaluate the device efficiency potential of unconventional wafers from injection‐dependent lifetime measurements. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) Mg–Zn–Ca Alloys with Excellent Biodegradation Performance

This article deals with the development of fine-grained high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) magnesium alloys intended for use as biodegradable implant material. The alloys contain solely low amounts of Zn and Ca as alloying elements. We illustrate the development path starting from the high-Zn-containing ZX50 (MgZn5Ca0.25) alloy with conventional purity, to an ultrahigh-purity ZX50 modification, and further to the ultrahigh-purity Zn-lean alloy ZX10 (MgZn1Ca0.3). It is shown that alloys with high Zn-content are prone to biocorrosion in various environments, most probably because of the presence of the intermetallic phase Mg₆Zn₃Ca₂. A reduction of the Zn content results in (Mg,Zn)₂Ca phase formation. This phase is less noble than the Mg-matrix and therefore, in contrast to Mg₆Zn₃Ca₂, does not act as cathodic site. A fine-grained microstructure is achieved by the controlled formation of fine and homogeneously distributed (Mg,Zn)₂Ca precipitates, which influence dynamic recrystallization and grain growth during hot forming. Such design scheme is comparable to that of HSLA steels, where low amounts of alloying elements are intended to produce a very fine dispersion of particles to increase the material’s strength by refining the grain size. Consequently our new, ultrapure ZX10 alloy exhibits high strength (yield strength R _p = 240 MPa, ultimate tensile strength R _m = 255 MPa) and simultaneously high ductility (elongation to fracture A = 27%), as well as low mechanical anisotropy. Because of the anodic nature of the (Mg,Zn)₂Ca particles used in the HSLA concept, the in vivo degradation in a rat femur implantation study is very slow and homogeneous without clinically observable hydrogen evolution, making the ZX10 alloy a promising material for biodegradable implants.     

Distributed-feedback quantum cascade lasers emitting in the 9-μmband with InP top cladding layers

Two different high performance quantum cascade distributed-feedback lasers with four quantum-well-based active regions and InP top cladding layers are presented. The first device, which emitted at 9.5 μm, was mounted junction down in order to get high average powers of up to 71 mW at -30°C and 30 mW at room temperature. The other device, which lased at 9.1 μm, was optimized for high pulsed operating temperatures and tested up to 150°C at 1.5% duty cycle. The emission of both lasers stayed single mode with more than 20-dB side-mode suppression ratio over the entire investigated power and temperature range     

Optical displacement measurement with GaAs/AlGaAs-basedmonolithically integrated Michelson interferometers

Two monolithically integrated optical displacement sensors fabricated in the GaAs/AlGaAs material system are reported. These single-chip microsystems are configured as Michelson interferometers and comprise a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser, photodetectors, phase shifters, and waveguide couplers. While the use of a single Michelson interferometer allows measurement of displacement magnitude only, a double Michelson interferometer with two interferometer signals in phase quadrature also permits determination of movement direction. In addition, through the use of two 90° phase-shifted interferometer signals in the latter device, a phase interpolation of 2π/20 is possible, leading to a displacement resolution in the range of 20 nm. The integration of these complex optical functions could be realized with a relatively simple fabrication process