4D Printing of Shape Memory Materials for Textiles: Mechanism,Mathematical Modeling,and Challenges

Shape memory materials (SMMs) in 3D printing (3DP) technology garnered much attention due to their ability to respond to external stimuli, which direct this technology toward an emerging area of research, “4D printing (4DP) technology.” In contrast to classical 3D printed objects, the fourth dimension, time, allows printed objects to undergo significant changes in shape, size, or color when subjected to external stimuli. Highly precise and calibrated 4D materials, which can perform together to achieve robust 4D objects, are in great demand in various fields such as military applications, space suits, robotic systems, apparel, healthcare, sports, etc. This review, for the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, focuses on recent advances in SMMs (e.g., polymers, metals, etc.) based wearable smart textiles and fashion goods. This review integrates the basic overview of 3DP technology, fabrication methods, the transition of 3DP to 4DP, the chemistry behind the fundamental working principles of 4D printed objects, materials selection for smart textiles and fashion goods. The central part summarizes the effect of major external stimuli on 4D textile materials followed by the major applications. Lastly, prospects and challenges are discussed, so that future researchers can continue the progress of this technology.     

Progressive NO2 Sensors with Rapid Alarm and Persistent Memory-Type Responses for Wide-Range Sensing Using Antimony Triselenide Nanoflakes

Antimony triselenide (Sb₂Se₃) nanoflake-based nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) sensors exhibit a progressive bifunctional gas-sensing performance, with a rapid alarm for hazardous highly concentrated gases, and an advanced memory-type function for low-concentration (<1 ppm) monitoring repeated under potentially fatal exposure. Rectangular and cuboid shaped Sb₂Se₃ nanoflakes, comprising van der Waals planes with large surface areas and covalent bond planes with small areas, can rapidly detect a wide range of NO₂ gas concentrations from 0.1 to 100 ppm. These Sb₂Se₃ nanoflakes are found to be suitable for physisorption-based gas sensing owing to their anisotropic quasi-2D crystal structure with extremely enlarged van der Waals planes, where they are humidity-insensitive and consequently exhibit an extremely stable baseline current. The Sb₂Se₃ nanoflake sensor exhibits a room-temperature/low-voltage operation, which is noticeable owing to its low energy consumption and rapid response even under a NO₂ gas flow of only 1 ppm. As a result, the Sb₂Se₃ nanoflake sensor is suitable for the development of a rapid alarm system. Furthermore, the persistent gas-sensing conductivity of the sensor with a slow decaying current can enable the development of a progressive memory-type sensor that retains the previous signal under irregular gas injection at low concentrations.     

Design of Smart Door Closer System with Image Classification over WLAN

Wireless Personal Communications - A dual purpose system is presented in this paper which serves not only as a door closer, but is equally effective for surveillance purposes. The currently...     

Engineering New Microvascular Networks On-Chip: Ingredients,Assembly, and Best Practices

Tissue engineered grafts show great potential as regenerative implants for diseased or injured tissues within the human body. However, these grafts suffer from poor nutrient perfusion and waste transport, thus decreasing their viability post-transplantation. Graft vascularization is therefore a major area of focus within tissue engineering because biologically relevant conduits for nutrient and oxygen perfusion can improve viability post-implantation. Many researchers used microphysiological systems as testing platforms for potential grafts owing to an ability to integrate vascular networks as well as biological characteristics such as fluid perfusion, 3D architecture, compartmentalization of tissue-specific materials, and biophysical and biochemical cues. Although many methods of vascularizing these systems exist, microvascular self-assembly has great potential for bench-to-clinic translation as it relies on naturally occurring physiological events. In this review, the past decade of literature is highlighted, and the most important and tunable components yielding a self-assembled vascular network on chip are critically discussed: endothelial cell source, tissue-specific supporting cells, biomaterial scaffolds, biochemical cues, and biophysical forces. This paper discusses the bioengineered systems of angiogenesis, vasculogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis and includes a brief overview of multicellular systems. It concludes with future avenues of research to guide the next generation of vascularized microfluidic models.     

Benchmarks of simple, generic, shaped plates for validation oflow-frequency electromagnetic computational codes

The validation of low-frequency measurements and electromagnetic (EM) scattering computations for several simple, generic shapes, such as an equilateral-triangular plate, an equilateral-triangular plate with a concentric equilateral-triangular hole, and diamond- and hexagonal-shaped plates, is discussed. The plates were constructed from a thin aluminium sheet with a thickness of 0.08 cm. EM scattering by the planar plates was measured in the experimental test range (ETR) facility of NASA Langley Research Center. The dimensions of the plates were selected such that, over the frequency range of interest, the dimensions were in the range of λ₀ to 3λ₀. In addition, the triangular plate with a triangular hole was selected to study internal-hole resonances     

The effect of biphasic waveform tilt in transvenous atrial defibrillation

Atrial defibrillation can be accomplished using low energy shocks and transvenous catheters. The biphasic waveform tilt required to achieve optimal atrial defibrillation thresholds (ADFTs) is, however, not known. The effect of single capacitor biphasic waveform tilt modification on ADFT was assessed in 20 patients. Following AF induction the defibrillation pulses were delivered between the catheters positioned in the coronary sinus and the right atrium. The single capacitor biphasic waveform shocks, delivered over the same pathways, consisted of 65% tilt (65/65 biphasic waveform) to produce an overall tilt of 88%, or 50% tilt (50/50 biphasic waveform) to produce an overall tilt of 75%. Although 65/65 biphasic waveform delivers more energy, the shorter duration 50/50 biphasic waveform reduced stored energy ADFT 21%, from 1.34 +/- 0.82 J with 65/65 biphasic to 1.06 +/- 0.81 J. These differences were not statistically significant. Nine patients had lower ADFT with 50/50 biphasic waveform while five patients had lower ADFT with 65/65 biphasic waveform. Equivalent reduction in ADFT was seen in the remaining six patients. The ADFT was 0.83 +/- 0.65 J when both tilts were considered. In conclusion, biphasic waveform tilt modification may affect the ADFT in an individual patient. The optimal biphasic waveform for ADFT is not known.     

Microarchitectures for Managing Chip Revenues under Process Variations

As transistor feature sizes continue to shrink intothe sub-90nm range and beyond, the effects of process variationson critical path delay and chip yields have amplified. A commonconcept to remedy the effects of variation is speed-binning, bywhich chips from a single batch are rated by a discrete range offrequencies and sold at different prices. In this paper, we discussstrategies to modify the number of chips in different bins andhence enhance the profits obtained from them. Particularly, wepropose a scheme that introduces a small Substitute Cacheassociated with each cache way to replicate the data elementsthat will be stored in the high latency lines. Assuming a fixedpricing model, this method increases the revenue by as much as13.8% without any impact on the performance of the chips.     

Fast RCS computation over a frequency band using method of momentsin conjunction with asymptotic waveform evaluation technique

The method of moments (MoM) in conjunction with the asymptotic waveform evaluation (AWE) technique is applied to obtain the radar cross section (RCS) of an arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional (3-D) perfect electric conductor (PEC) body over a frequency band. The electric field integral equation (EFIE) is solved using the MoM to obtain the equivalent surface current on the PEC body. In the AWE technique, the equivalent surface current is expanded in a Taylor's series around a frequency in the desired frequency band. The Taylor series coefficients are then matched via the Pade approximation to a rational function. Using the rational function, the surface current is obtained at any frequency within the frequency range, which is in turn used to calculate the RCS of the 3-D PEC body. A rational function approximation is also obtained using the model-based parameter estimation (MBPE) method and compared with the Pade approximation. Numerical results for a square plate, a cube, and a sphere are presented over a frequency bandwidth. Good agreement between the AWE and the exact solution over the bandwidth is observed     

Robust pose invariant face recognition using coupled latent space discriminant analysis

We propose a novel pose-invariant face recognition approach which we call Discriminant Multiple Coupled Latent Subspace framework. It finds the sets of projection directions for different poses such that the projected images of the same subject in different poses are maximally correlated in the latent space. Discriminant analysis with artificially simulated pose errors in the latent space makes it robust to small pose errors caused due to a subject’s incorrect pose estimation. We do a comparative analysis of three popular latent space learning approaches: Partial Least Squares (PLSs), Bilinear Model (BLM) and Canonical Correlational Analysis (CCA) in the proposed coupled latent subspace framework. We experimentally demonstrate that using more than two poses simultaneously with CCA results in better performance. We report state-of-the-art results for pose-invariant face recognition on CMU PIE and FERET and comparable results on MultiPIE when using only four fiducial points for alignment and intensity features.