Soft Plates Research Articles

Design and application of a real-time feedback APP device for cardiopulmonary resuscitation

The rates of recovery of spontaneous circulation, admission survival, and discharge survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients in China are much lower than the world and Asian averages, and the data on the survival of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) patients are also less favorable. The variable quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the low percentage of bystander CPR participation are the main reasons for these phenomena. Real-time feedback devices are an effective strategy to address these issues and have been recommended for use in several guidelines. However, the existing CPR feedback devices have the problems of being inconvenient to operate and expensive to popularize. Therefore, members of the CPR training team of Loudi Central Hospital designed a CPR real-time feedback APP device, which has been granted the right of National Invention Patent of China (patent number: ZL 2021 1 1118500.1). The device consists of a feedback device and a mobile device (there are two versions: healthcare professionals and non-healthcare professionals). The feedback device consists of a pressing plate and a soft rubber plate. The inner side of the soft rubber plate is covered with sensor monitoring points. On each sensor monitoring point, there are micro pressure sensors and micro acceleration sensors. When performing chest compressions, the sensors will transmit the relevant data to the cell phone feedback APP. By sampling and analyzing the data and building a three-dimensional dynamic model, the feedback APP accurately judges the effect of chest compressions based on factors such as the strength of the compressions, the frequency of the compressions and the depth of the compressions, corrects and provides voice guidance for the subsequent CPR process in real time, guides the rescuers to follow the standardized procedures for rescue, and improves the survival rate and neurological recovery of the CPR patients. The device improves CPR with exact effect, real-time accuracy, simple operation, easy to promote, and applicable to all populations. It has good clinical application and socialization popularization value, and can be equipped in medical institutions and public places.

Wrinkling of compressible magnetic soft plates

This paper establishes an analytical method for the wrinkling of compressible magnetic soft (MS) plates subject to an in-plane biaxial stretching and an out-of-plane magnetic induction field. The bifurcation analysis is performed with external Maxwell stress considered by combining the surface impedance matrix method and the Stroh formulation in terms of true magnetic field variables. We decouple the resulting bifurcation equations into antisymmetric and symmetric modes and provide the explicit expressions within a neo-Hookean ideal magnetoelastic model. Numerical examples show that the antisymmetric wrinkling usually occurs prior to the symmetric one, unless the permeability of the plates μ is much smaller than that of the surroundings μ′, i.e., the normalized permeability μ/μ′→0. This observation is consistent with the previous studies on incompressible case. However, for nearly incompressible plates with μ/μ′>1, the compressible constitutive relation may impose an additional deformation constraint that noticeably limits the occurrence and extent of wrinkling in the plates. One intriguing observation in particular is that the critical stretches for the thin-plate instability exhibit a nonmonotonic character as the compressibility of plate varies. Release of compressibility plays a positive role on stabilizing the MS plates when 0<μ/μ′<1, yet a negative role when μ/μ′>1. This phenomenon may be attributed to the coupling effect between the compressibility and the normalized permeability μ/μ′, suggesting a potential way to regulate wrinkling behaviors of MS materials by tuning the surrounding permeability. The present work may serve as benchmark solutions for understanding structural failures in various related functional MS-based devices.

One-Step Soft Agar Enrichment and Isolation of Human Lung Bacteria Inhibiting the Germination of Aspergillus fumigatus Conidia

Fungi of the genus Aspergillus are widespread in the environment, where they produce large quantities of airborne conidia. Inhalation of Aspergillus spp. conidia in immunocompromised individuals can cause a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from hypersensitivity responses to lethal invasive infections. Upon deposition in the lung epithelial surface, conidia encounter and interact with complex microbial communities that constitute the lung microbiota. The lung microbiota has been suggested to influence the establishment and growth of Aspergillus spp. in the human airways. However, the mechanisms underlying this interaction have not yet been sufficiently investigated. In this study, we aimed to enrich and isolate bacterial strains capable of inhibiting the germination and growth of A. fumigatus conidia from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples of lung transplant recipients using a novel enrichment method. This method is based on a soft agar overlay plate assay in which bacteria are directly in contact with conidia, allowing inhibition to be readily observed during enrichment. We isolated a total of five clonal bacterial strains with identical genotypic fingerprints, as shown by random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR (RAPD–PCR). All strains were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (strains b1–b5). The strains were able to inhibit the germination and growth of Aspergillus fumigatus in a soft agar confrontation assay, as well as in a germination multiplate assay. Moreover, when compared with ten P. aeruginosa strains isolated from expectoration through standard methods, no significant differences in inhibitory potential were observed. Additionally, we showed inhibition of A. fumigatus growth on Calu-3 cell culture monolayers. However, the isolated P. aeruginosa strains were shown to cause significant damage to the cell monolayers. Overall, although P. aeruginosa is a known opportunistic lung pathogen and antagonist of A. fumigatus, we validated this novel one-step enrichment approach for the isolation of bacterial strains antagonistic to A. fumigatus from BALF samples as a proof-of-concept. This opens up a new venue for the targeted enrichment of antagonistic bacterial strains against specific fungal pathogens.

Reconstruction of the shape of a flaw in ferromagnetic plate by solving inverse problem of magnetostatics and series of direct problems

The article presents a verification technique for solving the inverse geometric problem of magnetostatics in a soft magnetic ferromagnet plate. The technique involves solving a number of direct problems, in which the shape of the defect obtained by solving the inverse geometric problem of magnetostatics is used as a first approximation, and then increasing or decreasing the depth of the defect without changing the shape of the boundary surface — comparing the topographies of the magnetic field components obtained during measurements above the plate surface and calculated (as a result of solving the direct problem) at the same points of the components of the magnetic stray field from the reconstructed three-dimensional defect. As a result of applying the technique, the geometric parameters of the defect under study can also be refined. Obtaining the initial conditions for solving the inverse problem and solving direct problems of magnetostatics is carried out using the finite element method in the ELMER program. The technique works with one-sided access to any surface of the plate (a defect-free surface or a surface with a defect).

Chemoreceptor MCP4580 of Vibrio splendidus mediates chemotaxis toward L-glutamic acid contributing to bacterial virulence

Chemotaxis has an essential function in flagellar bacteria that allows them to sense and respond to specific environmental signals, enabling their survival and colonization. Vibrio splendidus is an important opportunistic pathogen that infects a wide range of hosts including fish, bivalve, and sea cucumber. Our study demonstrated that V. splendidus AJ01 exhibited chemotaxis toward L-glutamic acid (L-Glu), an abundant amino acid in the intestinal and respiratory tree tissues of the sea cucumber. Bacterial samples collected from two locations in soft agar swimming plates were subjected to RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis to identify the methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein (MCP) respond to L-Glu. Among the 40 annotated chemoreceptors, MCP4580 was identified as the MCP that mediates L-Glu-response. Molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that L-arginine at residue 81 (R81) and L-glutamine at residue 88 (Q88) in the ligand-binding domain (LBD) are crucial for L-Glu recognition. Bacterial two-hybrid assay (BTH) showed that MCP4580 forms dimers and interacts with the histidine kinase CheA via the coupling protein CheW1 and CheW2. Phosphorylation analysis showed that the binding of L-Glu to MCP4580 results in the inhibition of CheA phosphorylation mainly via CheW1. Notably, sea cucumbers stimulated with each mutant strain of chemotaxis protein exhibited reduced mortality, highlighting the importance of chemotaxis in V. splendidus virulence. The present study provides valuable insights into the molecular components and signal transduction involved in the chemotaxis of V. splendidus toward L-Glu, and highlights the importance of chemotaxis in its virulence.

Assessing Morphological Diversity of Acinic Cell Carcinoma of Salivary Glands at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan.

Acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) is a rare clinical entity and a salivary gland malignancy. It is associated with wide histological variations in the cytomorphological patterns. Sixty cases diagnosed as AciCC from 2002 to 2023 were assessed for diverse cytomorphological patterns. The mean age of patients at the time of diagnosis was 44.35±16.8 years ranging from 15 to 81 years. Females comprised 58.3% for a F: M ratio of 1.4:1. Fifty three cases (88.3%) occurred in the parotid gland, two cases in the nasal region (3.3%), and one case each in the soft plate and upper lip (1.7%). The location of the remaining three cases was not specified. The most common presenting complaint was a well-defined facial swelling associated with pain. The average tumor size was 3.8±1.9 cm. The most predominant architectural pattern was solid (83.3%) followed by microcystic (60%), then follicular (41.7%), papillary cystic (14.3%), and tubulocystic (28.6%), and AciCC with de-differentiation/high-grade transformation was reported in three cases (5%). In 83.3% of the cases (50 out of 60), we noticed a mixture of two or more growth patterns.Other degenerative changes included prominent lymphoid stroma, hemorrhage, and cystic change. Awareness and recognition of diverse cytomorphological patterns of AciCC, especially in institutions of a developing country where there is limited availability of highly specific and sensitive immunohistochemical stains or molecular diagnostics, are crucial and essential.

A finite-strain plate model for the magneto-mechanical behaviors of hard-magnetic soft material plates

In this paper, we propose a plate model, within the framework of finite-strain elasticity, to study the magneto-mechanical behaviors of hard-magnetic soft material plates. The 2D vector plate equation is derived from the 3D governing equations through a series expansion and truncation approach. The displacement and traction boundary conditions on the edges of plate samples are also proposed. Compared with the other plate or shell theories, the current plate model naturally incorporates the elastic incompressibility and the magneto-mechanical coupling effect of the material, which doesn't involve any a priori hypotheses on the geometry and deformation of the plates. Thus, it is applicable for modeling the large deformations of hard-magnetic soft material plates. To show the efficiency of the plate model, we study a benchmark problem, i.e., the plane-strain bending deformations of plate samples induced by magnetic and mechanical loads. Some analytical solutions of the plate equation system are derived, which provide accurate predictions on the magneto-mechanical response of the plate samples with different thickness-length ratios and magnetization directions. To promote applications of the plate model, we further derive a simplified plate equation system and write out its weak form, which is then implemented into the finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics. The efficiency of the simplified plate equation system is also verified through some typical examples. It is found that the numerical results obtained from the 2D plate model show good consistency with those of the 3D volume model, while the plate model exhibits obvious advantages in the aspects of numerical efficiency.

Mathematics-Informed Neural Network for Acoustic Scattering by Parallel Plates

This paper proposes a mathematics-informed neural network (MINN) approach for resolving the long-term challenge in wave scattering modeling. The central innovation lies in integrating Cauchy–Riemann equations into machine learning architectures. By incorporating Cauchy integrals and boundary conditions, the neural network successfully learns to numerically produce matrix kernel factorization for Wiener–Hopf analytical models. To validate and demonstrate the approach, a benchmark case of wave scattering from parallel hard–soft plates is studied by comparing the machine learning results with the available analytical solutions. The proposed MINN approach could provide a new route to extensively enhance the theoretical modeling capability for several wave scattering and fluid mechanics problems. The code can be found at https://github.com/lscapku/MINN.

Measurement of tensile and shear strength of interfacial bonding in fiber reinforced soft composites combining experiments and simulation

Interfacial bonding strength plays a key role in the mechanical performance of fiber reinforced polymers. However, measurement of interfacial bonding strength in fiber reinforced soft composites (FRSCs) becomes a challenging issue, because the large deformation capability of soft matrix invalidates most of current testing methods. This paper demonstrates an advanced method combining experiments and simulation, which provides a convenient and reliable means to measure both tensile strength and shear strength of interfacial bonding for FRSCs. The specimen is made by embedding a fiber bundle in a soft plate for transverse tensile test. Various stress states along the fiber–matrix interface can be realized by controlling the inclination angle of fiber bundle to the stretching direction. Tensile strength and shear strength of interfacial bonding in FRSCs can be estimated based on the analysis of critical stress states. The comparison with the widely adopted fiber pull-out test indicates that the nominal shear strength obtained in pull-out test is severely underestimated.

Joint Resonance Analysis in Multiple Modes of Soft Ferromagnetic Rectangular Thin Plate

In this article, the nonlinear principal and internal resonance properties of a soft ferromagnetic rectangular thin plate are investigated in a magnetic field environment. The nonlinear partial differential equation of motion of a soft ferromagnetic rectangular thin plate is derived under the effect of homogeneous simple harmonic excitation. The system of nonlinear differential equations with multiple degrees of freedom is established by the assumed one-sided fixed trilateral simply support condition using the Galerkin’s method. The system of nonlinear differential equations is solved by the multiscale method to obtain the response of two modes under the simple harmonic force at the principal and internal resonance. The numerical results of the system response show that when the frequency of the simple harmonic force is close to one of the modes (first-order or second-order mode) causing it to resonate, the other mode will also resonate internally. The magnetic field can have an inhibiting effect on the resonant response of the system and also affect the kinematic state of the system. The internal resonance provides a mechanism for transferring energy from a high mode to a lower mode.

Propagation of the Fundamental Lamb Modes in Strain Stiffened Hard-Magnetic Soft Plates

Abstract This study focuses on investigating hard-magnetic soft materials, characterized by magnetoactive polymers containing magnetically polarized particles as fillers. The research utilizes the Gent model of hyperelasticity to analyze the propagation of Lamb waves in a magnetically induced deformed compressible plate. In this investigation, we explore both finite deformations and incremental wave propagation in nonlinear hard-magnetic soft materials. The main objective is to formulate the elastic tensor and relevant wave equations within the framework of Lagrangian space. To assess the dispersion characteristics of the guided wave, the study introduces and discusses an extension of the semi-analytical finite element (SAFE) method. Using this numerical approach, the research further examines the effects of magnetic flux densities and its orientation with respect to wave propagation direction on the dispersion characteristics of the fundamental Lamb modes. The study starts by examining the limiting case of the neo-Hookean material model to explain such inherent dependencies. These dependencies are then further emphasized by including the strain-stiffening effect that the Gent material model describes. The research findings reveal the presence of a threshold applied magnetic flux, beyond which the Gent-type material may undergo a snap-through instability, resulting in changes in the dispersion characteristics of the fundamental symmetric Lamb mode.

Capacitive-Coupling-Responsive Hydrogel Scaffolds Offering Wireless In Situ Electrical Stimulation Promotes Nerve Regeneration.

Electrical stimulation (ES) has shown beneficial effects in repairing injured tissues. However, current ES techniques that use tissue-traversing leads and bulky external power suppliers have significant limitations in translational medicine. Hence, exploring noninvasive in vivo ES to provide controllable electrical cues in tissue engineering is an imminent necessity. Herein, a conductive hydrogel with in situ electrical generation capability as a biodegradable regeneration scaffold and wireless ES platform for spinal cord injury (SCI) repair is demonstrated. When a soft insulated metal plate is placed on top of the injury site as a wireless power transmitter, the conductive hydrogel implanted at the injury site can serve as a wireless power receiver, and the capacitive coupling between the receiver and transmitter can generate an alternating current in the hydrogel scaffold owing to electrostatic induction effect. In a complete transection model of SCI rats, the implanted conductive hydrogels with capacitive-coupling in situ ES enhance functional recovery and neural tissue repair by promoting remyelination, accelerating axon regeneration, and facilitating endogenous neural stem cell differentiation. This facile wireless-powered electroactive-hydrogel strategy thus offers on-demand in vivo ES with an adjustable timeline, duration, and strength and holds great promise in translational medicine.

Pure measures of bending for soft plates.

This paper, originally motivated by a question raised by Wood and Hanna [Soft Matter, 2019, 15, 2411], shows that pure measures of bending for soft plates can be defined by introducing the class of bending-neutral deformations, which represent finite incremental changes in the plate's shape that do not induce any additional bending. This class of deformations is subject to a geometric compatibility condition, which is fully characterized. A tensorial pure measure of bending, which is invariant under bending-neutral deformations, is described in detail. As shown by an illustrative class of examples, the general notion of a pure measure of bending could be useful in formulating direct theories for soft plates, where stretching and bending energies are treated separately.

Chemical Reaction, Radiation and Hall Effects on MHD Rotating Nanofluid Past an Infinite Vertical Moving Smooth Plate

We have explored the uneven normal convection flows of the nanoliquids past an unbounded vertical moving soft plate by the permeable material in the revolving frame by convection as well as diffusion frontier situations and considering Hall current in this paper. We looked at two different forms of nanofluids: Ag–H2O as well as TiO2–H2O, respectively. The controlling calculations were done systematically utilizing the perturbations approach, described in detail below. Finally, with diagrams, the consequences of dissimilar non-dimensional parameters on the velocities, temperatures, as well as concentrations sketches and the shear stress, locally Nusselt as well as Sherwood numbers were studied in detailed. The effect of radiating as well as Hartmann quantity has the potential to slow down the velocity. By an augment in the Hall parameters the velocity amplifies. The convective parameters of the movement contribute to the improvement of the temperatures profile of the flows. The concentration reduces if the suction parameter values are enhanced.

A subwavelength insulation panel for acoustic and aeroacoustic sources

A new kind of panel with strong transmission loss, breaking the mass law by 15 dB and composed by a soft solid plate with embedded solid cylindrical inclusions is studied numerically and experimentally. The presence of the inclusions introduces resonant and antiresonant phenomena in the subwavelength regime (the thickness is 30 times smaller than the equivalent wavelength in air), leading to an elastic band-gap and a destructive modal interference able to interact with each other. We also report on an experimental campaign demonstrating that the panel is very effective at insulating aeroacoustic sources (tested up to Mach 0.6), showing even better performance than with an acoustic source excitation. A new analysis tool, the vibroacoustic band diagram, is introduced to better apprehend theoretically all these results.

Mechanics of hard-magnetic soft materials: A review

Hard-magnetic soft materials are a class of magnetically responsive composites obtained by embedding hard-magnetic particles into a soft polymeric matrix. They have found widespread applications in shape-morphing systems, soft robotics, biomedical devices, and active metamaterials due to their ability to feature complex, untethered, reversible, and rapid deformations in response to magnetic loads. To guide the rational design of these functional applications, extensive efforts have been devoted to studying the mechanical behavior of hard-magnetic soft materials. In this paper, we review the recent progress in the mechanics of hard-magnetic soft materials. First, we introduce existing constitutive models capable of describing the coupled magneto-elastic deformations of hard-magnetic soft materials. Then, we discuss the mechanical response of structures made of hard-magnetic soft materials, including rods, beams, plates, and shells, under mechanical and magnetic loading. Subsequently, we introduce the design and behavior of magneto-mechanical metamaterials with tunable properties enabled by hard-magnetic soft materials. In addition, optimization-guided inverse design strategies for hard-magnetic soft materials to achieve predefined properties or deformations are also briefly reviewed. Finally, we provide our views on the potential future directions in the field of mechanics of hard-magnetic soft materials. We expect the current review to guide researchers to better understand different theoretical and computational frameworks of mechanics of hard-magnetic soft materials and thus aid with designing functional systems using these materials for various applications.

Direct numerical simulation-based vibroacoustic response of plates excited by turbulent wall-pressure fluctuations

We use direct numerical simulation to study the vibroacoustic response of an elastic plate in a turbulent channel at $Re_\tau$ of 180 and 400 for three plate boundary conditions and two materials – synthetic rubber and stainless steel. The fluid–structure–acoustic coupling is assumed to be one-way coupled, i.e. the fluid affects the solid and not vice versa, and the solid affects the acoustic medium and not vice versa. The wall pressure consists of intermittent large-amplitude fluctuations associated with the near-wall, burst-sweep cycle of events. For stainless steel plates, displacement has similar large-amplitude peak events due to comparable time scales of plate vibration and near-wall eddies. For synthetic rubber plates, large-amplitude displacement fluctuations are observed only near clamped or simply supported boundaries. Away from boundaries, plate displacement resembles an amplitude-modulated wave, and no large-amplitude events are observed. We discuss displacement and acoustic pressure spectra over different frequency ranges. For frequencies much smaller than the first natural frequency, the product of plate-averaged displacement spectrum and bending stiffness squared collapses with Reynolds number and plate material in outer units. At high frequencies, displacement and acoustic pressure spectra scale better in inner units, and the scaling depends on the type of damping. For synthetic rubber plates, the spectra display an overlap region that collapses in both outer and inner units. Soft plate deformation displays a range of length scales. However, stiff plate deformation does not exhibit a similar range of scales and resembles plate mode shapes. The soft plate has two distinct deformation structures. Low-speed, large deformation structures with slow formation/break-up time scales are found away from boundaries. High-speed, small deformation structures with fast formation/break-up time scales formed due to boundary reflections exist near the boundaries.

The harmonic resonance and singularity analysis of bifurcation for the magnetized elastic plate with action of time-varying magnetic potential

This paper deals with the superharmonic resonance of a ferromagnetic thin rectangular plate in the air-gap magnetic field excited by armature magnetic potential. Electromagnetic forces applied on the plate by the air-gap magnetic field cause the plate to transversal vibrate, which affects the air-gap magnetic field in turn, resulting the vibration and magnetic field coupling. According to the basic electromagnetic field theory and considering the magnetoelastic coupling effect, the air-gap magnetic field intensity is obtained by solving the Laplace's equation satisfied the air-gap magnetic boundary conditions. The electromagnetic force model of soft ferromagnetic plates is determined based on theories of electromagnetic and elasticity. According to the large deflection theory of plates, basic energy relationships and variational equations of the elastic plate are given. Eventually, the nonlinear magnetoelastic vibration equation of ferromagnetic thin plates is derived using Hamilton's principle and Galerkin method. The multi-scale method is used to solve the superharmonic resonance to obtain the amplitude-frequency response equation and the stability discriminant of solutions. The topological analysis of amplitude-frequency equation is carried out using singularity theory, and the bifurcation characteristics of systems on physical parameter planes in different regions are obtained according to the transition set. The correctness of analytical solutions is verified by comparison with numerical solutions. Through numerical calculations, curves of the static deflection and equivalent magnetic force of plate with parameters are given, and the amplitude curves, dynamic phase plane trajectories and time history diagrams of system response with changes in electromagnetic and structural parameters are plotted. Results show that both the decrease of armature magnetic potential amplitude and the increases of plate thickness and initial air-gap thickness reduce the static deflection. The increase of armature magnetic potential amplitude increases the equivalent magnetic force. As the decrease of initial air-gap thickness and the increases of armature magnetic potential amplitude and excitation force amplitude, the amplitudes of the upper branch and lower branch curves representing stable solutions decrease and increase, respectively, and the single-value solution region increases.

Soft solid subwavelength plates with periodic inclusions: Effects on acoustic Transmission Loss

Dispersion and scattering properties of a soft solid plate with solid cylindrical inclusions embedded in are theoretically and numerically reported in this work. The system is numerically analyzed considering both the vibroacoustic coupling and the presence of viscoelastic losses. In addition to the mechanical properties of the soft solid plate that allows the shift of the higher order Lamb modes to the low audible frequency domain, the presence of the inclusions introduces resonant and antiresonant phenomena in the subwavelength regime, leading to an elastic band-gap and a destructive modal interference in the soft solid plate able to interact with each other. These phenomena are used to design a system with strong transmission loss, breaking the mass law by 15 dB, and with subwavelength dimensions as the thickness is 32 times smaller than the equivalent wavelength in air. These performances are both computed and tested experimentally using a standard measuring process.

Free vibration analysis of delaminated soft-core sandwich plates

This paper presents a numerical solution for analyzing the free vibration of delaminated soft core sandwich plates. The delaminated sandwich plate was modeled as six interconnected sub-plates, with the delamination serving as their boundaries. To account for the compressibility of the core, a semi-layerwise approach was adopted. The first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) was applied to the face sheets, while higher-order polynomial terms were used to model the displacement field of the core. Hamilton's principle was utilized to derive the equation of motion and relevant boundary conditions. To solve the problem, four novel layerwise C0 efficient nine-node quadrilateral elements were introduced. The elements were selected based on the thickness-wise position of the delamination. The delamination region was modeled using the point continuity method, while various boundary conditions were simulated using the penalty method. The study concludes that the developed elements and proposed procedure are accurate and efficient, as demonstrated by a comparative analysis with previous research. The effects of delamination on the vibration behaviour of the system were investigated in detail through a parametric analysis. The study found that the natural frequencies of the structure were predominantly influenced by the longer delamination, and this issue was more significant in higher modes. The results for various length-to-thickness ratios, boundary conditions, and the size, planar and thickness-wise position of delamination were reported, which can be used as a benchmark in future studies.