Personalization of cardiac motion and contractility from images using variational data assimilation

Personalization is a key aspect of biophysical models in order to impact clinical practice. In this paper, we propose a personalization method of electromechanical models of the heart from cine-MR images based on the adjoint method. After estimation of electrophysiological parameters, the cardiac motion is estimated based on a proactive electromechanical model. Then cardiac contractilities on two or three regions are estimated by minimizing the discrepancy between measured and simulation motion. Evaluation of the method on three patients with infarcted or dilated myocardium is provided.     

Efficient Pattern Generation for Small-Delay Defects Using Selection of Critical Faults

Testing for small-delay defects (SDDs) has become necessary as technology further scales. Existing tools and methodologies for generating SDD patterns suffer from: limited long-paths sensitization capability, overwhelming pattern volume, time-consuming pattern generation process, and vague evaluations of pattern quality. Such situation places patterns in a dilemma where the generation and application effort are huge yet the results cannot reflect the physical phenomena clearly enough for correct binning and diagnosis. In this paper, we focus on establishing a pattern generation flow that produces patterns of high application value. Firstly, critical faults are identified in order to generate high-quality original pattern repository with n-detect ATPG.A novelpattern evaluation and selection method that further minimizes pattern count while maintaining the SDD detection ability is then presented. Top-off ATPG is then performed to ensure meeting the target fault coverage. Along with the flow, multiple evaluation metrics are also proposed to measure the pattern’s efficiency on SDD coverage, unique SDD detection, detectable SDD size, long path distribution, etc. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed critical fault-based method improves long path sensitization efficiency by 2.5× without impairing its average delay and saves approximately 80 % CPU runtime compared with total fault-based method. Comparing with timing-aware ATPG, the generated pattern set detects equivalent or even more SDDs with significantly reduced pattern count.     

Radio-over-free space optical space division multiplexing system using 3-core photonic crystal fiber mode group multiplexers

Wireless Networks - Radio over free space optics (Ro-FSO) systems have previously relied on the signal intensity, wavelength and polarization for multiplexing data streams in...     

Assessment of triboelectricity in colossal-surface-area-lanthanum oxide nanocrystals synthesized via low-temperature hydrothermal process

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have marked their applications in various fields, most importantly, in medical devices. The electrical...     

Fracture behavior dependence on load-bearing capacity of filler in nano- and microcomposites of polypropylene containing calcium carbonate

The fracture toughness and deformation mechanism of PP/CaCO₃ (15 wt.%) composites were studied and related to load-bearing capacity of the particles. To alter the load-bearing capacity of the particles, different particle sizes (0.07–7 μm) with or without stearic acid coating were incorporated. The fracture toughness of the composites was determined using J-Integral method and the deformation mechanism was studied by transmission optical microscopy of the crack tip damage zone. It was observed that the load-bearing capacity of the particles decreased by reduction of particle size and application of coating. A linear relationship between normalized fracture toughness and inverse of load-bearing capacity of particles was found. The crack tip damage zone in composites, which consists in massive crazing, further grows by reduction in load-bearing capacity.     

The role of grain orientation in microstructure evolution of pure aluminum processed by equal channel angular pressing

A new approach describing the role of crystallographic orientation in the microstructural refinement of commercially pure aluminum during the successive passes of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is introduced. The study is based on analysis of X-ray diffraction texture data that is used to calculate the geometrical position of crystallographic slip planes with respect to the shearing plane of the ECAP die. The angular deviations of {111} slip planes from the macroscopic deformation plane for different processing routes were calculated and compared. The microstructure evolution was investigated using electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The grain size and grain boundary character distribution obtained for each processing route are related to the angles between {111} planes and the shearing plane. It was shown that the more effective routes in grain refinement have higher angles between {111} slip planes and the shearing plane.     

Design of Semi-composite Pressure Vessel using Fuzzy and FEM

The present study attempts to present a new method to design a semi-composite pressure vessel (known as hoop-wrapped composite cylinder) using fuzzy decision making and finite element method. A metal-composite vessel was designed based on ISO criteria and then the weight of the vessel was optimized for various fibers of carbon, glass and Kevlar in the cylindrical vessel. Failure criteria of von-Mises and Hoffman were respectively employed for the steel liner and the composite reinforcement to characterize the yielding/ buckling of the cylindrical pressure vessel. The fuzzy decision maker was used to estimate the thickness of the steel liner and the number of composite layers. The ratio of stresses on the composite fibers and the working pressure as well as the ratio of stresses on the composite fibers and the burst (failure) pressure were assessed. ANSYS nonlinear finite element solver was used to analyze the residual stress in the steel liner induced due to an auto-frettage process. Result of analysis verified that carbon fibers are the most suitable reinforcement to increase strength of cylinder while the weight stayed appreciably low.     

Nanoalumina-supported Mn2O3 as efficient adsorbent for removal of fluoride and arsenic from water: a study from lab to field

Journal of Materials Science - Water pollution with heavy metals has been a problem for the environment and human health. The cohabitation of As(III) and fluoride in groundwater has gotten...