1,774 research outputs found
Design and fabrication of 3D-printed anatomically shaped lumbar cage for intervertebra disc (IVD) degeneration treatment
Spinal fusion is the gold standard surgical procedure for degenerative spinal conditions when conservative therapies have been unsuccessful in rehabilitation of patients. Novel strategies are required to improve biocompatibility and osseointegration of traditionally used materials for lumbar cages. Furthermore, new design and technologies are needed to bridge the gap due to the shortage of optimal implant sizes to fill the intervertebral disc defect. Within this context, additive manufacturing technology presents an excellent opportunity to fabricate ergonomic shape medical implants. The goal of this study is to design and manufacture a 3D-printed lumbar cage for lumbar interbody fusion. Optimisations of the proposed implant design and its printing parameters were achieved via in silico analysis. The final construct was characterised via scanning electron microscopy, contact angle, x-ray micro computed tomography (ÎŒCT), atomic force microscopy, and compressive test. Preliminary in vitro cell culture tests such as morphological assessment and metabolic activities were performed to access biocompatibility of 3D-printed constructs. Results of in silico analysis provided a useful platform to test preliminary cage design and to find an optimal value of filling density for 3D printing process. Surface characterisation confirmed a uniform coating of nHAp with nanoscale topography. Mechanical evaluation showed mechanical properties of final cage design similar to that of trabecular bone. Preliminary cell culture results showed promising results in terms of cell growth and activity confirming biocompatibility of constructs. Thus for the first time, design optimisation based on computational and experimental analysis combined with the 3D-printing technique for intervertebral fusion cage has been reported in a single study. 3D-printing is a promising technique for medical applications and this study paves the way for future development of customised implants in spinal surgical applications
A development cooperation Erasmus Mundus partnership for capacity building in earthquake mitigation science and higher education
Successful practices have shown that a communityâs capacity to manage and reduce its seismic risk relies on
capitalization on policies, on technology and research results. An important role is played by education, than contribute to
strengthening technical curricula of future practitioners and researchers through university and higher education programs. EUNICE
is a European Commission funded higher education partnership for international development cooperation with the
objective to build capacity of individuals who will operate at institutions located in seismic prone Asian Countries. The project
involves five European Universities, eight Asian universities and four associations and NGOs active in advanced research on
seismic mitigation, disaster risk management and international development. The project consists of a comprehensive mobility
scheme open to nationals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Maldives, North Korea, Philippines, and Sri Lanka who plan to enroll in school or conduct research at one of five European
partner universities in Italy, Greece and Portugal. During the 2010-14 time span a total number of 104 mobilities are being
involved in scientific activities at the undergraduate, masters, PhD, postdoctoral and academic-staff exchange levels.
Researchers, future policymakers and practitioners build up their curricula over a range of disciplines in the fields of earthquake
engineering, seismology, disaster risk management and urban planning
EU-NICE, Eurasian University Network for International Cooperation in Earthquakes
Despite the remarkable scientific advancements of earthquake engineering and seismology in many countries,
seismic risk is still growing at a high rate in the worldâs most vulnerable communities. Successful practices have shown that a communityâs capacity to manage and reduce its seismic risk relies on capitalization on policies, on
technology and research results. An important role is played by education, than contribute to strengthening
technical curricula of future practitioners and researchers through university and higher education programmes.
In recent years an increasing number of initiatives have been launched in this field at the international and global
cooperation level. Cooperative international academic research and training is key to reducing the gap between
advanced and more vulnerable regions. EU-NICE is a European Commission funded higher education
partnership for international development cooperation with the objective to build capacity of individuals who
will operate at institutions located in seismic prone Asian Countries. The project involves five European
Universities, eight Asian universities and four associations and NGOs active in advanced research on seismic
mitigation, disaster risk management and international development.
The project consists of a comprehensive mobility scheme open to nationals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
China, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, North Korea, Philippines, and
Sri Lanka who plan to enrol in school or conduct research at one of five European partner universities in Italy,
Greece and Portugal. During the 2010-14 time span a total number of 104 mobilities are being involved in
scientific activities at the undergraduate, masters, PhD, postdoctoral and academic-staff exchange levels.
This high number of mobilities and activities is selected and designed so as to produce an overall increase of
knowledge that can result in an impact on earthquake mitigation. Researchers, future policymakers and
practitioners build up their curricula over a range of disciplines in the fields of engineering, seismology, disaster
risk management and urban planning. Specific educational and research activities focus on earthquake risk
mitigation related topics such as: anti-seismic structural design, structural engineering, advanced computer
structural collapse analysis, seismology, experimental laboratory studies, international and development issues in
disaster risk management, social-economical impact studies, international relations and conflict resolution
Accuracy of Molecular Simulation-Based Predictions of koff Values: A Metadynamics Study
The koff values of ligands unbinding to proteins are key parameters for drug discovery. Their predictions based on molecular simulation may under- or overestimate experiment in a system- and/or technique-dependent way. Here we use an established method-infrequent metadynamics, based on the AMBER force field-to compute the koff of the ligand iperoxo (in clinical use) targeting the muscarinic receptor M2. The ligand charges are calculated by either (i) the Amber standard procedure or (ii) B3LYP-DFT. The calculations using (i) turn out not to provide a reasonable estimation of the transition-state free energy. Those using (ii) differ from experiment by 2 orders of magnitude. On the basis of B3LYP DFT QM/MM simulations, we suggest that the observed discrepancy in (ii) arises, at least in part, from the lack of electronic polarization and/or charge transfer in biomolecular force fields. These issues might be present in other systems, such as DNA-protein complexes
Laughlin Wave Function and One-Dimensional Free Fermions
Making use of the well-known phase space reduction in the lowest Landau
level(LLL), we show that the Laughlin wave function for the
case can be obtained exactly as a coherent state representation of an one
dimensional wave function. The system consists of copies of
free fermions associated with each of the electrons, confined in a common
harmonic well potential. Interestingly, the condition for this exact
correspondence is found to incorporate Jain's parton picture. We argue that,
this correspondence between the free fermions and quantum Hall effect is due to
the mapping of the system under consideration, to the Gaussian unitary
ensemble in the random matrix theory.Comment: 7 pages, Latex , no figure
Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon genomes from East England reveal British migration history
British population history has been shaped by a series of immigrations, including the early Anglo-Saxon migrations after 400 CE. It remains an open question how these events affected the genetic composition of the current British population. Here, we present whole-genome sequences from 10 individuals excavated close to Cambridge in the East of England, ranging from the late Iron Age to the middle Anglo-Saxon period. By analysing shared rare variants with hundreds of modern samples from Britain and Europe, we estimate that on average the contemporary East English population derives 38% of its ancestry from Anglo-Saxon migrations. We gain further insight with a new method, rarecoal, which infers population history and identifies fine-scale genetic ancestry from rare variants. Using rarecoal we find that the Anglo-Saxon samples are closely related to modern Dutch and Danish populations, while the Iron Age samples share ancestors with multiple Northern European populations including Britain
Finite-size scaling and the toroidal partition function of the critical asymmetric six-vertex model
Finite-size corrections to the energy levels of the asymmetric six-vertex
model transfer matrix are considered using the Bethe ansatz solution for the
critical region. The non-universal complex anisotropy factor is related to the
bulk susceptibilities. The universal Gaussian coupling constant is also
related to the bulk susceptibilities as , being the
Hessian of the bulk free energy surface viewed as a function of the two fields.
The modular covariant toroidal partition function is derived in the form of the
modified Coulombic partition function which embodies the effect of
incommensurability through two mismatch parameters. The effect of twisted
boundary conditions is also considered.Comment: 19 pages, 5 Postscript figure files in the form of uuencoded
compressed tar fil
Single-stage sealing of ceramic tiles by means of high power diode laser radiation
An investigation has been carried out using a 60 W high power diode laser (HPDL) to determine the feasibility of sealing the void between adjoining ceramic tiles with a specially developed grout material. A single-stage process has subsequently been devised using a new grout material which consists of two distinct components: a crushed ceramic tile mix substrate and a glazed enamel surface; the crushed ceramic tile mix provides a tough, inexpensive bulk substrate, whilst the enamel provides an impervious surface glaze. HPDL processing has resulted in crack and porosity free seals produced in normal atmospheric conditions. The single-stage grout is simple to formulate and easy to apply. Tiles were successfully sealed with power densities as low as 750 W/cm2 and at rates of up to 420 mm/min. Bonding of the enamel to the crushed ceramic tile mix was identified as being primarily due to van der Waals forces and, on a very small scale, some of the crushed ceramic tile mix material dissolving into the glaze
A Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events: Cuore, an Update
CUORE is a proposed tightly packed array of 1000 TeO_{2} bolometers, each
being a cube 5 cm on a side with a mass of 750 gms. The array consists of 25
vertical towers, arranged in a square, of 5 towers by 5 towers, each containing
10 layers of 4 crystals. The design of the detector is optimized for ultralow-
background searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of ^{130}Te (33.8%
abundance), cold dark matter, solar axions, and rare nuclear decays. A
preliminary experiment involving 20 crystals of various sizes (MIBETA) has been
completed, and a single CUORE tower is being constructed as a smaller scale
experiment called CUORICINO. The expected performance and sensitivity, based on
Monte Carlo simulations and extrapolations of present results, are reported.Comment: in press: Nucl. Phys. of Russian Academy of Sc
A New Limit on the Neutrinoless DBD of 130Te
We report the present results of CUORICINO a cryogenic experiment on
neutrinoless double beta decay (DBD) of 130Te consisting of an array of 62
crystals of TeO2 with a total active mass of 40.7 kg. The array is framed
inside of a dilution refrigerator, heavily shielded against environmental
radioactivity and high-energy neutrons, and operated at a temperature of ~8 mK
in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. Temperature pulses induced by
particle interacting in the crystals are recorded and measured by means of
Neutron Transmutation Doped thermistors. The gain of each bolometer is
stabilized with voltage pulses developed by a high stability pulse generator
across heater resistors put in thermal contact with the absorber.
The calibration is performed by means of two thoriated wires routinely
inserted in the set-up. No evidence for a peak indicating neutrinoless DBD of
130Te is detected and a 90% C.L. lower limit of 1.8E24 years is set for the
lifetime of this process. Taking largely into account the uncertainties in the
theoretical values of nuclear matrix elements, this implies an upper boud on
the effective mass of the electron neutrino ranging from 0.2 to 1.1 eV. This
sensitivity is similar to those of the 76Ge experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
- âŠ