Bioactive composites for bone tissue engineering

One of the major challenges of bone tissue engineering is the production of a suitable scaffold material. In this review the current composite materials options available are considered covering both the methods of both production and assessing the scaffolds. A range of production routes have been investigated ranging from the use of porogens to produce the porosity through to controlled deposition methods. The testing regimes have included mechanical testing of the materials produced through to in vivo testing of the scaffolds. While the ideal scaffold material has not yet been produced, progress is being made

Mixed Phase in Compact Starts : M-R relations and radial oscillations

It is believed that quark stars or neutron stars with mixed phase in the core have smaller radii compared to ordinary compact stars. With the recent observation of several low radius objects, typically a radius of $<10 Km.$ for star of mass $< 1M_0$ in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), it has become very important to understand the nature of these objects. An accurate determination of mass-radius relationship of these objects provide us with a physical laboratory to study the composition of high density matter and the nature of phase transition. We study the effect of quark and nuclear matter mixed phase on mass radius relationship and radial oscillations of neutron stars. We find that the effect of the mixed phase is to decrease the maximum mass of a stable neutron star and to decrease the radial frequencies .Comment: guest contribution at Int. Workshop on Astronomy & Relativistic Astrophysics (IWARA 03)held at Olinda-PE (Brazil) from Oct. 12-17,200

Acceleration and Deceleration in Curvature Induced Phantom Model of the Late and Future Universe, Cosmic Collapse as Well as its Quantum Escape

Here, cosmology of the late and future universe is obtained from $f(R)$-gravity with non-linear curvature terms $R^2$ and $R^3$ ($R$ being the Ricci scalar curvature). It is different from $f(R)$-dark enrgy models, where non-linear curvature terms are taken as gravitational alternative of dark energy. In the present model, neither linear nor no-linear curvature terms are taken as dark energy. Rather, dark energy terms are induced by curvature terms in the Friedmann equation derived from $f(R)$-gravitational equations. It has advantage over $f(R)$- dark energy models in the sense that the present model satisfies WMAP results and expands as $\sim t^{2/3}$ during matter-dominance. So, it does not have problems due to which $f(R)$-dark energy models are criticized. Curvature-induced dark energy, obtained here, mimics phantom. Different phases of this model, including acceleration and deceleration during phantom phase, are investigated here.It is found that expansion of the universe will stop at the age $(3.87 t_0 + 694.4 {\rm kyr})$ ($t_0$ being the present age of the universe) and after this epoch, it will contract and collapse by the time $(336.87 t_0 + 694.4 {\rm kyr})$. Further,it is shown that universe will escape predicted collapse (obtained using classical mechanics) on making quantum gravity corrections relevant near collapse time due to extremely high energy density and large curvature analogous to the state of very early universe. Interestingly, cosmological constant is also induced here, which is very small in classical domain, but very high in quantum domain.Comment: 33 page

The young cluster NGC 2282 : a multi-wavelength perspective

We present the analysis of the stellar content of NGC~2282, a young cluster in the Monoceros constellation, using deep optical $BVI$ and IPHAS photometry along with infrared (IR) data from UKIDSS and $Spitzer$-IRAC. Based on the stellar surface density analysis using nearest neighborhood method, the radius of the cluster is estimated as $\sim$ 3.15\arcmin. From optical spectroscopic analysis of 8 bright sources, we have classified three early B-type members in the cluster, which includes, HD 289120, a previously known B2V type star, a Herbig Ae/Be star (B0.5 Ve) and a B5 V star. From spectrophotometric analyses, the distance to the cluster has been estimated as $\sim$ 1.65 kpc. The $K$-band extinction map is estimated using nearest neighborhood technique, and the mean extinction within the cluster area is found to be A$_V$ $\sim$ 3.9 mag. Using IR colour-colour criteria and H$_\alpha$-emission properties, we have identified a total of 152 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in the region, of which, 75 are classified as Class II, 9 are Class I YSOs. Our YSO catalog also includes 50 H$_\alpha$-emission line sources, identified using slitless spectroscopy and IPHAS photometry data. Based on the optical and near-IR colour-magnitude diagram analyses, the cluster age has been estimated to be in the range of 2 $-$ 5 Myr, which is in agreement with the estimated age from disc fraction ($\sim$ 58\%). Masses of these YSOs are found to be $\sim$ 0.1$-$2.0 M$_\odot$. Spatial distribution of the candidate YSOs shows spherical morphology, more or less similar to the surface density map.Comment: 16 pages, 19 Figure

Incidence of HI 21-cm absorption in strong FeII systems at 0.5<z<1.50.5<z<1.5

We present the results from our search for HI 21-cm absorption in a sample of 16 strong FeII systems ($W_{\rm r}$(MgII $\lambda2796$) $\ge1.0$ \AA\ and $W_{\rm r}$(FeII $\lambda2600$) or $W_{\rm FeII}$ $\ge1$ \AA) at $0.5<z<1.5$ using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the Green Bank Telescope. We report six new HI 21-cm absorption detections from our sample, which have increased the known number of detections in strong MgII systems at this redshift range by $\sim50$%. Combining our measurements with those in the literature, we find that the detection rate of HI 21-cm absorption increases with $W_{\rm FeII}$, being four times higher in systems with $W_{\rm FeII}$ $\ge1$ \AA\ compared to systems with $W_{\rm FeII}$ $<1$ \AA. The $N$(HI) associated with the HI 21-cm absorbers would be $\ge 2 \times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$, assuming a spin temperature of $\sim500$ K (based on HI 21-cm absorption measurements of damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems at this redshift range) and unit covering factor. We find that HI 21-cm absorption arises on an average in systems with stronger metal absorption. We also find that quasars with HI 21-cm absorption detected towards them have systematically higher $E(B-V)$ values than those which do not. Further, by comparing the velocity widths of HI 21-cm absorption lines detected in absorption- and galaxy-selected samples, we find that they show an increasing trend (significant at $3.8\sigma$) with redshift at $z<3.5$, which could imply that the absorption originates from more massive galaxy haloes at high-$z$. Increasing the number of HI 21-cm absorption detections at these redshifts is important to confirm various trends noted here with higher statistical significance.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA