Modelling of patient-specific femur with osteogenesis imperfecta to determine the fracture risk under various loads

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a fragile bone disease characterized by easy fractures. The femur consists of cortical and cancellous bone, each with different mechanical properties. Bone fractures often occur throughout patients’ lifetime. However, doctors still have no quantitative method to predict fractures. Therefore, this project’s purpose is to investigate the OI femoral fracture risk to help prevent fractures. The project consists of three sections; cortical and cancellous segmentation, reconstruction of 3D OI femoral model and finite element analysis (FEA) of the OI femur to obtain fracture risk. The fracture risk in daily activities and the fracture load were examined. All the stress values were judged by the fracture criteria, assumed as 115 MPa. The exercises that exerted force more than 6 times of body weight can cause fractures. In addition, the optimal compressive force and tensile force were 919.7 N and 912.1 N, respectively, while medial and lateral impact were 230.8 N. Cancellous bone was not affected even a fracture happen. Based on these findings, we can conclude that when the OI femur is subjected to lateral or medial forces, the femur breaks easily. The bone can be reconstructed into a solid body without having to separate bone into cortical and cancellous

Microwave Reflection Based Dielectric Spectroscopy for Moisture Content in Melele Mango Fruit (Mangifera Indica L.)

The Melele mango is one of the special local fruit Malaysia and it has high commercial value. However, the current methods are not efficient in determining optimum period to harvest. The optimum harvest time has close relationship with moisture content in fruit. The reflection based dielectric spectroscopic technique is conducted to measure moisture in Melele mango fruits. Dielectric and reflection measurements were conducted over a frequency range from 200 MHz to 8 GHz on clone Melele mango. Dielectric constant, loss factor and complex reflection coefficient of Melele mango with different moisture content were measured using an Agilent E8362B PNA Network Analyzer in conjunction with an Agilent 85070E High Temperature Probe over a frequency range from 200 MHz to 8 GHz. The measured reflection coefficient is presented in magnitude and phase. Dielectric constant and loss factor decreases when the moisture content in mango fruit decreases. The magnitude of the reflection coefficient descends due to increment of the dielectric constant. The results show that the measured dielectric properties and complex reflection coefficient provides the ability to predict fruit moisture content