Large Shape Changes Research Articles

Characterisation of Suspension Precipitated Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite Powders

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a well-known biomaterial for coating on femoral implants, filling of dental cavity and scaffold for tissue replacement. Hydroxyapatite possess limited load bearing capacity due to their brittleness. In this paper, the synthesis of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite powders was prepared by dissolving calcium oxide in phosphoric acid, followed by addition of ammonia liquor in a beaker. The prepared solution was stirred by using magnetic stirrer operated at temperature of 80°C for an hour. This leads to the formation of hydroxyapatite precipitate. The precipitate was dried in oven for overnight at 100°C. The dried agglomerated precipitate was calcined at 800°C in conventional furnace for an hour. The influence of calcium oxide concentration and pH on the resulting precipitates was studied using BET, XRD and SEM. As result, a well-defined sub-rounded morphology of powders size of ∼41 nm was obtained with a salt concentration of 0.02 M. Finally, it can be concluded that small changes in the reaction conditions led to large changes in final size, shape and degree of aggregation of the hydroxyapatite particles.

Effect of non-Newtonian fluid properties on bovine sperm motility

The swimming process by which mammal spermatozoa progress towards an egg within the reproductive organs is important in achieving successful internal fertilization. The viscosity of oviductal mucus is more than two orders of magnitude greater than that of water, and oviductal mucus also has non-Newtonian properties. In this study, we experimentally observed sperm motion in fluids with various fluid rheological properties and investigated the influence of varying the viscosity and whether the fluid was Newtonian or non-Newtonian on the sperm motility. We selected polyvinylpyrrolidone and methylcellulose as solutes to create solutions with different rheological properties. We used the semen of Japanese cattle and investigated the following parameters: the sperm velocity, the straight-line velocity and the amplitude from the trajectory, and the beat frequency from the fragellar movement. In a Newtonian fluid environment, as the viscosity increased, the motility of the sperm decreased. However, in a non-Newtonian fluid, the straight-line velocity and beat frequency were significantly higher than in a Newtonian fluid with comparable viscosity. As a result, the linearity of the sperm movement increased. Additionally, increasing the viscosity brought about large changes in the sperm flagellar shape. At low viscosities, the entire flagellum moved in a curved flapping motion, whereas in the high-viscosity, only the tip of the flagellum flapped. These results suggest that the bovine sperm has evolved to swim toward the egg as quickly as possible in the actual oviduct fluid, which is a high-viscosity non-Newtonian fluid.

Tensor product model-based control of morphing aircraft in transition process

Morphing aircraft can change their shapes in order to acquire enhanced flight performance. In the transition process of shape change, the aerodynamics and dynamics of aircraft would change dramatically, and the aircraft is a time-varying and highly nonlinear system. This article presents a tensor product (TP) modeling method and a TP model-based control design method for a kind of morphing aircraft in transition process. First, a new linear parameter varying (LPV) modeling method is proposed to model the longitudinal dynamics of a kind of morphing aircraft undergoing large shape change. This LPV modeling method does not need trim map and numerical calculation. Then, the LPV model is transformed into a TP type polytopic model. Furthermore, the TP model is augmented by a slow reference dynamics of flight speed. Based on the augmented TP model, a TP model-based LPV controller is designed by using parallel-distributed-compensation (PDC) control techniques and regional pole placement techniques. Finally, simulations are performed on a variable-sweep morphing aircraft undergoing large-scale changes in both shape and flight speed, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

Reliability tests of ionic polymer metallic composites in dry air for actuator applications

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are capable of exhibiting large shape changes in response to electrical stimulation. EAPs can produce a large deformation with a low applied voltage for actuation applications. The IPMC (Ionic Polymer Metal Composite) is a well-known type of ionic EAP. It has numerous attractive advantages, such as low electrical energy consumption and being lightweight. The underlying mechanism of an IPMC actuator is the ionic diffusion when a voltage gradient is applied. As such, the characteristics of the ionic solution have a large impact on the physical properties of the IPMC. In this paper, reliability tests of IPMCs with a non-aqueous ionic solution are demonstrated. The Pt-IPMC with LiOH aqueous solution exhibits the best maximum displacement, but the water in the LiOH solution is electrolyzed easily because of the low electrolysis voltage (1.23V) of water. To ameliorate the electrolysis problems and improve the operation time, more appropriate solvents with a high electrolysis voltage and low vapor pressure should be chosen. Parylene-coating can also protect the IPMC from solvent loss. The reliability tests focus on the durability of IPMCs in dry air. Improvements in IPMC fabrication, such as Ag-IPMC, are discussed in this paper. Through the use of parylene protection and an ionic solution with a high electrolysis voltage, the lifetime of the Ag-IPMC in dry air is up to 15 times greater than that of the uncoated Ag-IPMC with aqueous solution. We have addressed potential issues regarding the dry air actuation of IPMCs, and found that the cracking of electrodes has a major impact on the reliability of the IPMCs in this study.

Biaxial mechanical characterization of bat wing skin

The highly flexible and stretchable wing skin of bats, together with the skeletal structure and musculature, enables large changes in wing shape during flight. Such compliance distinguishes bat wings from those of all other flying animals. Although several studies have investigated the aerodynamics and kinematics of bats, few have examined the complex histology and mechanical response of the wing skin. This work presents the first biaxial characterization of the local deformation, mechanical properties, and fiber kinematics of bat wing skin. Analysis of these data has provided insight into the relationships among the structural morphology, mechanical properties, and functionality of wing skin. Large spatial variations in tissue deformation and non-negligible fiber strains in the cross-fiber direction for both chordwise and spanwise fibers indicate fibers should be modeled as two-dimensional elements. The macroscopic constitutive behavior was anisotropic and nonlinear, with very low spanwise and chordwise stiffness (hundreds of kilopascals) in the toe region of the stress–strain curve. The structural arrangement of the fibers and matrix facilitates a low energy mechanism for wing deployment and extension, and we fabricate examples of skins capturing this mechanism. We propose a comprehensive deformation map for the entire loading regime. The results of this work underscore the importance of biaxial field approaches for soft heterogeneous tissue, and provide a foundation for development of bio-inspired skins to probe the effects of the wing skin properties on aerodynamic performance.

An Anisotropically and Heterogeneously Aligned Patterned Electrospun Scaffold with Tailored Mechanical Property and Improved Bioactivity for Vascular Tissue Engineering

The development of vascular scaffolds with controlled mechanical properties and stimulatory effects on biological activities of endothelial cells still remains a significant challenge to vascular tissue engineering. In this work, we reported an innovative approach to prepare a new type of vascular scaffolds with anisotropically and heterogeneously aligned patterns using electrospinning technique with unique wire spring templates, and further investigated the structural effects of the patterned electrospun scaffolds on mechanical properties and angiogenic differentiation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Results showed that anisotropically aligned patterned nanofibrous structure was obtained by depositing nanofibers on template in a structurally different manner, one part of nanofibers densely deposited on the embossments of wire spring and formed cylindrical-like structures in the transverse direction, while others loosely suspended and aligned along the longitudinal direction, forming a three-dimensional porous microstructure. We further found that such structures could efficiently control the mechanical properties of electrospun vascular scaffolds in both longitudinal and transverse directions by altering the interval distances between the embossments of patterned scaffolds. When HUVECs were cultured on scaffolds with different microstructures, the patterned scaffolds distinctively promoted adhesion of HUVECs at early stage and proliferation during the culture period. Most importantly, cells experienced a large shape change associated with cell cytoskeleton and nuclei remodeling, leading to a stimulatory effect on angiogenesis differentiation of HUVECs by the patterned microstructures of electrospun scaffolds, and the scaffolds with larger distances of intervals showed a higher stimulatory effect. These results suggest that electrospun scaffolds with the anisotropically and heterogeneously aligned patterns, which could efficiently control the mechanical properties and bioactivities of the scaffolds, might have great potential in vascular tissue engineering application.

Drag Minimization Based on the Navier–Stokes Equations Using a Newton–Krylov Approach

A methodology is presented for performing numerical aerodynamic shape optimization based on the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. An initial multiblock structured mesh is first fit with B-spline volumes that form the basis for a hybrid mesh movement scheme that is tightly integrated with the geometry parameterization based on B-spline surfaces. The RANS equations and the one-equation Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model are solved in a fully coupled manner using an efficient parallel Newton–Krylov algorithm with approximate-Schur preconditioning. Gradient evaluations are performed using the discrete-adjoint approach with analytical differentiation of the discrete flow and mesh movement equations. The overall methodology remains robust even in the presence of large shape changes. Several examples of lift-constrained drag minimization are provided, including a study of the common research model wing geometry, a wing–body–tail geometry with a prescribed spanwise load distribution, and a blended-wing–body configuration. An example is provided that demonstrates that a wing optimized based on the Euler equations exhibits substantially inferior performance when subsequently analyzed based on the RANS equations relative to a wing optimized based on the RANS equations.

Real-time airborne gamma-ray background estimation using NASVD with MLE and radiation transport for calibration

Helicopter-mounted gamma-ray detectors can provide law enforcement officials the means to quickly and accurately detect, identify, and locate radiological threats over a wide geographical area. The ability to accurately distinguish radiological threat-generated gamma-ray signatures from background gamma radiation in real time is essential in order to realize this potential. This problem is non-trivial, especially in urban environments for which the background may change very rapidly during flight. This exacerbates the challenge of estimating background due to the poor counting statistics inherent in real-time airborne gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements. To address this challenge, we have developed a new technique for real-time estimation of background gamma radiation from aerial measurements without the need for human analyst intervention. The method can be calibrated using radiation transport simulations along with data from previous flights over areas for which the isotopic composition need not be known. Over the examined measured and simulated data sets, the method generated accurate background estimates even in the presence of a strong, 60Co source. The potential to track large and abrupt changes in background spectral shape and magnitude was demonstrated. The method can be implemented fairly easily in most modern computing languages and environments.

H- and J-aggregation of fluorene-based chromophores.

Understanding of H- and J-aggregation behaviors in fluorene-based polymers is significant both for determining the origin of various red-shifted emissions occurring in blue-emitting polyfluorenes and for developing polyfluorene-based device performance. In this contribution, we demonstrate a new theory of the H- and J-aggregation of polyfluorenes and oligofluorenes, and understand the influence of chromosphere aggregation on their photoluminescent properties. H- and J-aggregates are induced by a continuous increasing concentration of the oligofluorene or polyfluorene solution. A relaxed molecular configuration is simulated to illustrate the spatial arrangement of the bonding of fluorenes. It is indicated that the relaxed state adopts a 21 helical backbone conformation with a torsion angle of 18° between two connected repeat units. This configuration makes the formation of H- and J-aggregates through the strong π-π interaction between the backbone rings. A critical aggregation concentration is observed to form H- and J-aggregates for both polyfluorenes and oligofluorenes. These aggregates show large spectral shifts and distinct shape changes in photoluminescent excitation (PLE) and emission (PL) spectroscopy. Compared with "isolated" chromophores, H-aggregates induce absorption spectral blue-shift and fluorescence spectral red-shift but largely reduce fluorescence efficiency. "Isolated" chromophores not only refer to "isolated molecules" but also include those associated molecules if their conjugated backbones are not compact enough to exhibit perturbed absorption and emission. J-aggregates induce absorption spectral red-shift and fluorescence spectral red-shift but largely enhance fluorescence efficiency. The PLE and PL spectra also show that J-aggregates dominate in concentrated solutions. Different from the excimers, the H- and J-aggregate formation changes the ground-state absorption of fluorene-based chromophores. H- and J-aggregates show changeable absorption and emission derived from various interchain interactions, unlike the β phase, which has relatively fixed absorption and emission derived from an intrachain interaction.

Engineering the shape and structure of materials by fractal cut.

In this paper we discuss the transformation of a sheet of material into a wide range of desired shapes and patterns by introducing a set of simple cuts in a multilevel hierarchy with different motifs. Each choice of hierarchical cut motif and cut level allows the material to expand into a unique structure with a unique set of properties. We can reverse-engineer the desired expanded geometries to find the requisite cut pattern to produce it without changing the physical properties of the initial material. The concept was experimentally realized and applied to create an electrode that expands to >800% the original area with only very minor stretching of the underlying material. The generality of our approach greatly expands the design space for materials so that they can be tuned for diverse applications.

Simulation of 3D parachute fluid–structure interaction based on nonlinear finite element method and preconditioning finite volume method

A fluid–structure interaction method combining a nonlinear finite element algorithm with a preconditioning finite volume method is proposed in this paper to simulate parachute transient dynamics. This method uses a three-dimensional membrane–cable fabric model to represent a parachute system at a highly folded configuration. The large shape change during parachute inflation is computed by the nonlinear Newton–Raphson iteration and the linear system equation is solved by the generalized minimal residual (GMRES) method. A membrane wrinkling algorithm is also utilized to evaluate the special uniaxial tension state of membrane elements on the parachute canopy. In order to avoid large time expenses during structural nonlinear iteration, the implicit Hilber–Hughes–Taylor (HHT) time integration method is employed. For the fluid dynamic simulations, the Roe and HLLC (Harten–Lax–van Leer contact) scheme has been modified and extended to compute flow problems at all speeds. The lower–upper symmetric Gauss–Seidel (LU-SGS) approximate factorization is applied to accelerate the numerical convergence speed. Finally, the test model of a highly folded C-9 parachute is simulated at a prescribed speed and the results show similar characteristics compared with experimental results and previous literature.

Molecular Engineering of Azobenzene-Functionalized Polyimides To Enhance Both Photomechanical Work and Motion

Photomechanical effects in polymeric materials directly convert input photonic energy into a macroscopic mechanical output. The photoinitiated mechanical output of these materials is typically dominated by classical mechanics, primarily derived from the material stiffness and sample geometry. Accordingly, large magnitude shape change (e.g., motion) is typically traded for large magnitude force generation. Here, we report on the systematic preparation and comparison of photomechanical effects in a set of isomerically varied linear and cross-linked azobenzene-functionalized materials that demonstrate the critical role of segmental mobility (evident in the magnitude of the β-transition) to assimilate the typically exclusive properties of large force generation and large shape change in a single material.

Hypercompliant Apical Membranes of Bladder Umbrella Cells

Urinary bladder undergoes dramatic volume changes during filling and voiding cycles. In the bladder the luminal surface of terminally differentiated urothelial umbrella cells is almost completely covered by plaques. These plaques (500 to 1000 nm) are made of a family of proteins called uroplakins that are known to form a tight barrier to prevent leakage of water and solutes. Electron micrographs from previous studies show these plaques to be interconnected by hinge regions to form structures that appear rigid, but these same structures must accommodate large changes in cell shape during voiding and filling cycles. To resolve this paradox, we measured the stiffness of the intact, living urothelial apical membrane and found it to be highly deformable, even more so than the red blood cell membrane. The intermediate cells underlying the umbrella cells do not have uroplakins but their membranes are an order of magnitude stiffer. Using uroplakin knockout mouse models we show that cell compliance is conferred by uroplakins. This hypercompliance may be essential for the maintenance of barrier function under dramatic cell deformation during filling and voiding of the bladder.

Modern Practice Patterns and Survival for Testicular Seminoma: Results from the National Cancer Data Base

Purpose/Objective(s): Large changes in bladder shape and size during a course of radiation therapy (RT) make adaptive RT (ART) appealing in the treatment of this tumor site. We are conducting a two-center clinical phase II trial of daily plan selection based ART for bladder cancer with the primary aim of reducing gastro-intestinal morbidity due to sparing of the bowel and the rectum. We here report early dose/volume outcomes from the first twenty patients treated in this trial. Materials/Methods: All patients received 60 Gy in 30 fractions to the bladder; in thirteen of the patients the pelvic lymph nodes were simultaneously treated to 48 Gy. Daily patient set-up was by use of cone-beam CT (CBCT) guidance and treatment was delivered by volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). The first five fractions were delivered using large, population-based margins; the bladder contours from the CBCTs acquired prior to the first four fractions were used to create a library of three plans, corresponding to a small, medium and large size bladder. All patients were from fraction no. 6 treated using daily online plan selection, where the smallest plan covering the bladder was selected prior to each treatment delivery. Volume ratios of PTV for ART vs. non-ART averaged over the treatment course were calculated. DVHs for bowel cavity and rectum were derived by summation of the selected plans and these were compared to standard non-adaptive RT plans using population-based margins. Results: The frequencies of which the small, medium, and large size plans were used over the (total of 600) fractions were similar; plans were used at a median of 9, 9.5 and 10 fractions, respectively. The median volume ratio of PTV-ART vs. non-ART across the treatment course was 0.70 (range: 0.46-0.89). The median rectal volume receiving 50 Gy or more was 5% (range: 0-41%), compared to 17% (range: 0-62%) if the patients had been treated with standard, non-adaptive RT. For the bowel cavity, the median volume receiving more than 45 Gy was 392 cm3 (range: 84-625 cm3), compared to 487 cm3 (range: 126-710 cm3) if not treated with adaptation. Conclusions: Daily adaptive plan selection in RT of bladder cancer results in a considerable normal tissue sparing, which is expected to reduce the risk of gastro-intestinal morbidity. Author Disclosure: L.P. Muren: None. E. Research Grant; Research grant from Varian Medical Systems to our dept., but not to the project described in the abstract. A. Vestergaard: None. H. Lindberg: None. K.L. Jakobsen: None. J.B.B. Petersen: None. U.V. Elstrom: None.M. Hoyer: None.

An adaptive radiotherapy planning strategy for bladder cancer using deformation vector fields

PurposeAdaptive radiotherapy (ART) has considerable potential in treatment of bladder cancer due to large inter-fractional changes in shape and size of the target. The aim of this study was to compare our clinically applied method for plan library creation that involves manual bladder delineations (Clin-ART) with a method using the deformation vector fields (DVFs) resulting from intensity-based deformable image registrations (DVF-based ART). Materials and methodsThe study included thirteen patients with urinary bladder cancer who had daily cone beam CTs (CBCTs) acquired for set-up. In both ART strategies investigated, three plan selection volumes were generated using the CBCTs from the first four fractions; in Clin-ART boolean combinations of delineated bladders were used, while the DVF-based strategy applied combinations of the mean and standard deviation of patient-specific DVFs. The volume ratios (VRs) of the course-averaged PTV for the two ART strategies relative the non-adaptive PTV were calculated. ResultsBoth Clin-ART and DVF-based ART considerably reduced the course-averaged PTV, compared to non-adaptive RT. The VR for DVF-based ART was lower than for Clin-ART (0.65 vs. 0.73; p<0.01). ConclusionsDVF-based ART for bladder irradiation has a considerable normal tissue sparing potential surpassing our already highly conformal clinically applied ART strategy.

Origin and Nature of Spontaneous Shape Fluctuations in “Small” Nanoparticles

Normally chemically inert materials such as Au have been found to be catalytically active in the form of particles whose size is about 1 nm. Direct and indirect observations of various types of metal nanoparticles (NPs) in this size range, under catalytically relevant conditions for fuel-cell operation and catalysis, have indicated that such “small” particles can exhibit large spontaneous shape fluctuations and significant changes in shape and chemical activity in response to alterations in environmental conditions. NPs also normally exhibit facile coalescence when in proximity, impacting their stability and reactivity in applications. We perform molecular dynamics simulations on Ni nanoparticles, a commonly used NP in catalytic applications and carbon nanotube growth, in the ≈1 nm size regime where large-scale shape fluctuations have been observed experimentally. An analysis of the large-scale shape fluctuations observed in our simulations of these “small” NPs indicates that they are accompanied by collective motion of Ni atoms through the NP center, and we quantify these dynamic structures and their impact on NP shape. In contrast, stringlike collective atomic motion is confined to the NP interfacial region of NPs having a diameter greater than a few nanometers, and correspondingly, the overall NP shape remains roughly spherical, a case studied in our prior Ni NP simulations. Evidently, the large spontaneous NP shape fluctuations reflect a change in character of the collective atomic dynamics when the NPs become critically small in size.

INTERMITTENCY OF SOLAR WIND DENSITY FLUCTUATIONS FROM ION TO ELECTRON SCALES

The intermittency of density fluctuations in the solar wind at kinetic scales has been examined using high time resolution Faraday cup measurements from the Spektr-R spacecraft. It was found that the probability density functions (PDFs) of the fluctuations are highly non-Gaussian over this range, but do not show large changes in shape with scale. These properties are statistically similar to those of the magnetic fluctuations and are important to understanding the dynamics of small scale turbulence in the solar wind. Possible explanations for the behavior of the density and magnetic fluctuations are discussed.

A planar rod model with flexible cross-section for the folding and the dynamic deployment of tape springs: Improvements and comparisons with experiments

A planar rod model with flexible cross-section has been recently proposed in literature (Guinot et al., 2012). This model is especially suitable for the modeling of tape springs, which develop localized folds due to the flattening of the cross-section. Starting from a complete non-linear elastic shell model, original kinematics assumptions (inspired from the elastica model) have been made to describe the important in-plane changes of the cross-section shape. In the present work, the choice of the position of the rod reference line is discussed. This choice plays an important role in the overall behavior because of the large changes of the cross-section shape. We show that the model published in Guinot et al. (2012) can be improved by considering the centerline as the rod reference line. This enhanced model is then validated through quantitative comparisons with experimental results of dynamic deployments taken from literature.

Automatic whole brain MRI segmentation of the developing neonatal brain.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is increasingly being used to assess brain growth and development in infants. Such studies are often based on quantitative analysis of anatomical segmentations of brain MR images. However, the large changes in brain shape and appearance associated with development, the lower signal to noise ratio and partial volume effects in the neonatal brain present challenges for automatic segmentation of neonatal MR imaging data. In this study, we propose a framework for accurate intensity-based segmentation of the developing neonatal brain, from the early preterm period to term-equivalent age, into 50 brain regions. We present a novel segmentation algorithm that models the intensities across the whole brain by introducing a structural hierarchy and anatomical constraints. The proposed method is compared to standard atlas-based techniques and improves label overlaps with respect to manual reference segmentations. We demonstrate that the proposed technique achieves highly accurate results and is very robust across a wide range of gestational ages, from 24 weeks gestational age to term-equivalent age.

Comprehensive Analyses of Ventricular Myocyte Models Identify Targets Exhibiting Favorable Rate Dependence

Reverse rate dependence is a problematic property of antiarrhythmic drugs that prolong the cardiac action potential (AP). The prolongation caused by reverse rate dependent agents is greater at slow heart rates, resulting in both reduced arrhythmia suppression at fast rates and increased arrhythmia risk at slow rates. The opposite property, forward rate dependence, would theoretically overcome these parallel problems, yet forward rate dependent (FRD) antiarrhythmics remain elusive. Moreover, there is evidence that reverse rate dependence is an intrinsic property of perturbations to the AP. We have addressed the possibility of forward rate dependence by performing a comprehensive analysis of 13 ventricular myocyte models. By simulating populations of myocytes with varying properties and analyzing population results statistically, we simultaneously predicted the rate-dependent effects of changes in multiple model parameters. An average of 40 parameters were tested in each model, and effects on AP duration were assessed at slow (0.2 Hz) and fast (2 Hz) rates. The analysis identified a variety of FRD ionic current perturbations and generated specific predictions regarding their mechanisms. For instance, an increase in L-type calcium current is FRD when this is accompanied by indirect, rate-dependent changes in slow delayed rectifier potassium current. A comparison of predictions across models identified inward rectifier potassium current and the sodium-potassium pump as the two targets most likely to produce FRD AP prolongation. Finally, a statistical analysis of results from the 13 models demonstrated that models displaying minimal rate-dependent changes in AP shape have little capacity for FRD perturbations, whereas models with large shape changes have considerable FRD potential. This can explain differences between species and between ventricular cell types. Overall, this study provides new insights, both specific and general, into the determinants of AP duration rate dependence, and illustrates a strategy for the design of potentially beneficial antiarrhythmic drugs.