A Highly Translatable Dual-arm Local Delivery Strategy To Achieve Widespread Therapeutic Coverage in Healthy and Tumor-bearing Brain Tissues

Drug delivery nanoparticles (NPs) based entirely on materials generally recognized as safe that provide widespread parenchymal distribution following intracranial administration via convection-enhanced delivery (CED) are introduced. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) NPs are coated with various poloxamers, including F68, F98, or F127, via physical adsorption to render particle surfaces non-adhesive, thereby resisting interactions with brain extracellular matrix. F127-coated PLGA (F127/PLGA) NPs provide markedly greater distribution in healthy rat brains compared to uncoated NPs and widespread coverage in orthotopically-established brain tumors. Distribution analysis of variously-sized F127/PLGA NPs determines the average rat brain tissue porosity to be between 135 and 170 nm while revealing unprecedented brain coverage of larger F127/PLGA NPs with an aid of hydraulic pressure provided by CED. Importantly, F127/PLGA NPs can be lyophilized for long-term storage without compromising their ability to penetrate the brain tissue. Further, 65- and 200-nm F127/PLGA NPs lyophilized-reconstituted and administered in a moderately hyperosmolar infusate solution show further enhance particle dissemination in the brain via osmotically-driven enlargement of the brain tissue porosity. Combination of F127/PLGA NPs and osmotic tissue modulation provides a means with a clear regulatory path to maximize the brain distribution of large NPs that enable greater drug loading and prolong drug release.     

EA-RDSP: Energy Aware Rapidly Deployable Wireless Ad hoc System for Post Disaster Management

In post disaster scenarios such as war zones floods and earthquakes, the cellular communication infrastructure can be lost or severely damaged. In such emergency situations, remaining in contact with other rescue response teams in order to provide inputs for both headquarters and disaster survivors becomes very necessary. Therefore, in this research work, a design, implementation and evaluation of energy aware rapidly deployable system named EA-RDSP is proposed. The proposed research work assists the early rescue workers and victims to transmit their location information towards the remotely located servers. In EA-RDSP, two algorithms are proposed i.e., Hop count Assignment (HCA) algorithm and Maximum Neighbor Selection (MNS) algorithm. The EA-RDSP contains three types of nodes; the client node sends information about casualty in the disaster area to the server, the relay nodes transmit this information from client node to server nodes via multi-hop transmission, the server node receives messages sent by client node to alert rescue teams. The EAM-RDSP contains three types of nodes; the client node sends information about casualty in the disaster area to the server, the relay nodes transmit this information from client node to server nodes via multi-hop transmission, the server node receives messages sent by client node to alert rescue teams. The proposed EA-RDSP scheme is simulated using NS-2 simulator and its performance is compared with existing scheme in terms of end-to-end delay, message delivery ratio, network overhead and energy consumption.     

Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition: A Versatile Tool for Various Device Applications

Advances in device technology have been accompanied by the development of new types of materials and device fabrication methods. Considering device design, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) inspires innovation as a platform technology that extends the application range of a material or device. iCVD serves as a versatile tool for surface modification using functional thin film. The building of polymeric thin films from vapor phase monomers is highly desirable for the surface modification of thermally sensitive substrates. The precise control of thin film thicknesses can be achieved using iCVD, creating a conformal coating on nano‐, and micro‐structured substrates such as membranes and microfluidics. iCVD allows for the deposition of polymer thin films of high chemical functionality, and thus, substrate surfaces can be functionalized directly from the iCVD polymer film or can selectively gain functionality through chemical reactions between functional groups on the substrate and other reactive molecules. These beneficial aspects of iCVD can spur breakthroughs in device fabrication based on the deposition of robust and functional polymer thin films. This review describes significant implications of and recent progress made in iCVD‐based technologies in three fields: electronic devices, surface engineering, and biomedical applications.

     

Input feature selection for classification problems

Feature selection plays an important role in classifying systems such as neural networks (NNs). We use a set of attributes which are relevant, irrelevant or redundant and from the viewpoint of managing a dataset which can be huge, reducing the number of attributes by selecting only the relevant ones is desirable. In doing so, higher performances with lower computational effort is expected. In this paper, we propose two feature selection algorithms. The limitation of mutual information feature selector (MIFS) is analyzed and a method to overcome this limitation is studied. One of the proposed algorithms makes more considered use of mutual information between input attributes and output classes than the MIFS. What is demonstrated is that the proposed method can provide the performance of the ideal greedy selection algorithm when information is distributed uniformly. The computational load for this algorithm is nearly the same as that of MIFS. In addition, another feature selection algorithm using the Taguchi method is proposed. This is advanced as a solution to the question as to how to identify good features with as few experiments as possible. The proposed algorithms are applied to several classification problems and compared with MIFS. These two algorithms can be combined to complement each other's limitations. The combined algorithm performed well in several experiments and should prove to be a useful method in selecting features for classification problems.     

Optimal dynamic design of anthropomorphic robot module with redundant actuators

In this paper, a study on the optimal dynamic design for an anthropomorphic robot module with redundant actuators is performed. Musculoskeletal structure of human body is a typical example of redundantly actuated mechanism, and provides superior features than general robotic mechanisms. An anthropomorphic robot module that resembles the structure of human upper limb is introduced to utilize the advantages of redundant actuation system. Optimal dynamic design of the proposed robot module that follows optimal kinematic design is carried out to maximize the advantages. Five design indices are introduced, which are associated with inertia matrix, inertia power array representing nonlinear terms and gravity terms of the dynamic modeling equation. A concept of composite design index based on max-min principle of fuzzy theory is employed to deal with multi-criteria based design. As a result of dynamic optimization, a set of dynamic parameters, representing optimal mass distribution of the manipulator is obtaind. It is shown that the dynamic optimization yields a notable enhancement in dynamic performances, as compared to the case of kinematic optimization only.     

Shape design sensitivity analysis based on boundary integral equation method considering general shape variations

This work is based upon the general formula for the shape design sensitivity of the elliptical operator. The classical engineering problems of potential, elasticity, and plate bending will be addressed. The derived formulas are suitable for computational purposes in conjunction with the boundary element method. Specific individual problems serve as illustration and their results are compared with those obtained by a different approach which is based on a variational method over the domain.     

Topographic effects on adhesive force mapping of stretched DNA molecules by pulsed-force-mode atomic force microscopy

Adhesive interaction between a tip and a sample surface was examined on a microscopic scale by pulsed-force-mode atomic force microscopy (PFM-AFM). The signal measured by monitoring pull-off force is influenced by various factors such as topography, elasticity, electrostatic charges, and adsorbed water on surfaces. Here, we focus on the topographic effects on the adhesive interaction. To clarify the topographic influence, the adhesive force measurement of a stretched DNA molecule with a smaller radius of curvature than that of a tip was carried out at low relative humidity (RH) with an alkanethiol-modified tip. The experimental conditions such as low RH and the use of the alkanethiol-modified tip were required to minimise the influence of water capillary force on hydrated DNA strands. The hydrophobic modification of a substrate surface was also important to minimise the adsorbed water effect. The DNA molecules were stretched on the substrate surfaces by an immobilisation process called a dynamic molecular combing method. The two-component vapour-phase surface modification with an alkylsilane mixed with a silane derivative containing an amino end group enhanced the DNA adsorption due to the electrostatic interaction. The experimental results for the topographic effects on the adhesive force mapping were reproducible.     

Evaluation of wheel life by grinding ratio and static force

A degree of sharpness in wheel grains affects the surface roughness and dimensional accuracy in the grinding process. If a wheel with dull grains is used, the grinding force is increased and the surface roughness is deteriorated. In ovder to produce a precision component economically, the magnitude of the wear amount in the grinding wheel has to be limited. In this study, experimental evaluation of a wheel life varying with the grinding ratio and static grinding force was conducted. The grinding ratio and grinding force were measured to seek the grinding performance of the WA wheel. The relationship between the grinding ratio and static grinding force was presented.     

Uncertainty analysis and ANOVA for the measurement reliability estimation of altitude engine test

The altitude engine test is carried out to measure the performance of the engine of flight vehicle at the high altitude environment prior to the flight test. During the test, The measured pressures and temperatures at various positions, air flow rate, fuel flow rate, thrust of the engine are measured. These measured values are used to calculate the representative performance values such as the net thrust and the specific fuel consumption. Hence each of the measured parameter has effects on the total uncertainly of the performance values. In this paper, the combined standard uncertainties of the net thrust and the specific fuel consumption were estimated from the uncertainties of the various measured values. Also, by estimating the repeatability and the reproducibility, the confidence levels of the altitude engine test were validated by the analysis of variation on the repeated test data by different tester groups.     

Dynamic response analysis of rotating composite-VEM thin-walled beams incorporating viscoelastic materials in the time domain

This paper addresses the analytical modeling and dynamic response of the advanced composite rotating blade modeled as thin-walled beams and incorporating viscoelastic material. The blade model incorporates non-classical features such as anisotropy, transverse shear, rotary inertia and includes the centrifugal and coriolis force fields. The dual technology including structural tailoring and passive damping technology is implemented in order to enhance the vibrational characteristics of the blade. Whereas structural tailoring methodology uses the directionality properties of advanced composite materials, the passive material technology exploits the damping capabilities of viscoelastic material (VEM) embedded into the host structure. The VEM layer damping treatment is modeled by using the Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) method, which is employed to account for the frequency-dependent characteristics of the VEM. The case of VEM spread over the entire span of the structure is considered. The displayed numerical results provide a comprehensive picture of the synergistic implications of both techniques, namely, the tailoring and damping technology on the dynamic response of a rotating thin-walled beam exposed to external time-dependent excitations.