Leading Departments with Contingent and Tenure-Eligible Faculty: Strategies and Solutions

Leadership and communication strategies for leading departments that include both contingent and tenure-eligible faculty through three case studies, dealing with 1) voting rights and other claims upon resources; 2) a lack of career milestones, making contingent faculty feel “stuck”; and 3) ways to value contributions of contingent faculty

Are You Ready for a Crisis? Communication and Continuity in the Aftermath

Institutions of higher education face numerous crises from natural disasters to mass shootings to sexual abuse scandals. Our interactive workshop will engage participants in planning, negotiating, and recovering from a variety of institutional crises. Participants will develop concrete plans for crisis preparation and recovery, including retrospective sensemaking

The role of the chemical composition of monetite on the synthesis and properties of α-tricalcium phosphate

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Characterization of bone repair in rat femur after treatment with calcium phosphate cement and autogenous bone graft

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this study, the biocompatibility, stability and osteotransductivity of a new cement based on alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP) were investigated in a bone repair model using a rat model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The potential of alpha-TCP on bone repair was compared to autogenous bone grafting, and unfilled cavities were used as negative control. Surgical cavities were prepared and designated as test (T), implanted with alpha-TCP blocks; negative control (C - ), unfilled; and positive control (C + ), implanted with autogenous bone graft. Results were analyzed on postoperative days three, seven, 14, 21 and 60.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The histological analyses showed the following results. Postoperative day three: presence of inflammatory infiltrate, erythrocytes and proliferating fibroblasts in T, C - and C + samples. Day seven: extensive bone neoformation in groups T and C + , and beginning of alpha-TCP resorption by phagocytic cells. Days 14 and 21: osteoblastic activity in the three types of cavities. Day 60: In all samples, neoformed bone similar to surrounding bone. Moderate interruption on the ostectomized cortical bone.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Bone neoformation is seen seven days after implantation of alpha-TCP and autogenous bone. Comparison of C - with T and C + samples showed that repair is faster in implanted cavities; on day 60, control groups presented almost complete bone repair. Alpha-TCP cement presents biocompatibility and osteotransductivity, besides stability, but 60 days after surgery the cavities were not closed.</p

Porous magnesium-based scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Significant amount of research efforts have been dedicated to the development of scaffolds for tissue engineering. Although at present most of the studies are focused on non-load bearing scaffolds, many scaffolds have also been investigated for hard tissue repair. In particular, metallic scaffolds are being studied for hard tissue engineering due to their suitable mechanical properties. Several biocompatible metallic materials such as stainless steels, cobalt alloys, titanium alloys, tantalum, nitinol and magnesium alloys have been commonly employed as implants in orthopedic and dental treatments. They are often used to replace and regenerate the damaged bones or to provide structural support for healing bone defects. Among the common metallic biomaterials, magnesium (Mg) and a number of its alloys are effective because of their mechanical properties close to those of human bone, their natural ionic content that may have important functional roles in physiological systems, and their in vivo biodegradation characteristics in body fluids. Due to such collective properties, Mg based alloys can be employed as biocompatible, bioactive, and biodegradable scaffolds for load-bearing applications. Recently, porous Mg and Mg alloys have been specially suggested as metallic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. With further optimization of the fabrication techniques, porous Mg is expected to make a promising hard substitute scaffold. The present review covers research conducted on the fabrication techniques, surface modifications, properties and biological characteristics of Mg alloys based scaffolds. Furthermore, the potential applications, challenges and future trends of such degradable metallic scaffolds are discussed in detail

A high precision laser refractometer for geological applications

Precision index of refraction measurements are valuable in mineralogical and geological ap plications for the insights they offer into composition and crystal structure. Historically, these measurements have been performed in a variety of ways; current preferred methods suffer from either their inherent complexity or imprecision. Building on work by C.S. Hurbut and F.D. Bloss in particular, we are developing a method based on total internal reflection for such measure ments, offering a way for quick and simple, yet highly precise index of refraction measurements. An analysis of errors in index measurement resulting from misalignments of the instrument is presented below, in the hopes that such errors can be understood and minimized in the future, allowing us to attain the desired precision. At present, we believe our error in index measure ment is in the third decimal place, although further work is necessary to quantify it exactly. Ultimately we aim for precision in the fourth decimal place or better