The development of protein-functionalised plasma polymer biointerfaces for orthopaedic applications

Orthopaedic implants are an ever-growing global industry with hundreds of thousands of operations performed annually. Titanium is the standard material for load-bearing orthopaedics because of the biocompatibility and favourable mechanical properties. Despite a variety of surgical strategies, a significant number of implants experience post-operative complications or long-term implant loosening. Biomolecule functionalisation is a promising approach to create a biologically-active surface that reduces the potential for adverse post-operative complications and encourages bone formation. The biomolecules commonly utilised for enhancing bone formation either increase cell recruitment or accelerate mineralisation. An ideally functionalised surface would simultaneously enhance both. Biomolecule-functionalisation of Ti surfaces is performed through physical adsorption, chemical linker molecules, or plasma-based technologies that require subsequent chemical processing. Few techniques have provided a simple, reproducible, and scalable approach to transition from the laboratory into industry, and no approach that easily enables permanent immobilisation of multiple biomolecules to a surface. This thesis explores the application of radical-functionalised plasma polymers films (rPPFs) as multifunctional protein biointerfaces for orthopaedics. rPPFs are plasma deposited coatings that covalently bond biomolecules through embedded unpaired electrons. The mechanical and biological properties of rPPF coatings were optimised for titanium substrates, and the effects of the radical fluxes on surface chemistry and cell behaviour were investigated. Two multifunctional protein surfaces were developed and comparatively examined against the component proteins for bone formation potential with primary osteoblasts and mesenchymal stem cells. Overall, this work shows the versatility of rPPFs and opens a potential avenue for translating biomolecule-multifunctionalisation into industry settings

A new perspective on personas and customer journey maps:Proposing systemic UX

© 2021 This article explores user experience research within a consequentialist philosophical framework, where an optimal design depends on users’ resultant levels of satisfaction and pleasure. Personas and customer journey maps can be pragmatic in indicating the requirements of a system by aggregating the overall pleasure of the majority of users. However, a revised approach, focused on minimising displeasures at the expense of reducing the pleasures of others, may level out individuals’ satisfactory experiences with a view toward more holistic, systemic satisfaction for all users. We explore our philosophical thinking and illustrate these premises with a project set out to develop technological innovation for the rail industry. We conclude with recommendations of how designers could think about user experience to incorporate systemic views of pleasure when proposing innovations

Investigation into background levels of small organic samples at the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory

Recent progress in preparation/combustion of submilligram organic samples at our laboratories is presented. Routine methods had to be modified/refined to achieve acceptable and consistent procedural blanks for organic samples smaller than 1000 g C. A description of the process leading to a modified combustion method for smaller organic samples is given in detail. In addition to analyzing different background materials, the influence of different chemical reagents on the overall radiocarbon background level was investigated, such as carbon contamination arising from copper oxide of different purities and from different suppliers. Using the modified combustion method, small amounts of background materials and known-age standard IAEA-C5 were individually combusted to CO2. Below 1000 g C, organic background levels follow an inverse mass dependency when combusted with the modified method, increasing from 0.13 0.05 pMC up to 1.20 0.04 pMC for 80 g C. Results for a given carbon mass were lower for combustion of etched Iceland spar calcite mineral, indicating that part of the observed background of bituminous coal was probably introduced by handling the material in atmosphere prior to combustion. Using the modified combustion method, the background-corrected activity of IAEA-C5 agreed to within 2 s of the consensus value of 23.05 pMC down to a sample mass of 55 g C

Progress in AMS target production in sub-milligram samples at the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory

. Recent progress in graphite target production for sub-milligram environmental samples in our facility is presented. We describe an optimized hydrolysis procedure now routinely used for the preparation of CO2 from inorganic samples, a new high-vacuum line dedicated to small sample processing (combining sample distillation and graphitization units), as well as a modified graphitization procedure. Although measurements of graphite targets as small as 35 µg C have been achieved, system background and measurement uncertainties increase significantly below 150 µg C. As target lifetime can become critically short for targets <150 µg C, the facility currently only processes inorganic samples down to 150 µg C. All radiocarbon measurements are made at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility. Sample processing and analysis are labor-intensive, taking approximately 3 times longer than samples ≥500 µg C. The technical details of the new system, graphitization yield, fractionation introduced during the process, and the system blank are discussed in detail

Development of a novel probe for remote visual inspection of pipework

The interior visual inspection of pipework is a critical inspection activity required to ensure the continued safe, reliable operation of plant and thus avoid costly outages. Typically, the video output from a manually deployed probe is viewed by an operator with the task of identifying and estimating the location of surface defects such as cracks, corrosion and pitting. However, it is very difficult to estimate the nature and spatial extent of defects from the often disorientating small field of view video of a relatively large structure. This paper describes the development of a new visual inspection system designed for inspecting 3 - 6 inch diameter pipes. The system uses a high resolution camera and structure from motion (SFM) algorithm to compute the trajectory of the probe through the pipe. In addition a laser profiler is used to measure the inner surface of the pipe and generate a meshed point cloud. The camera images are projected onto the mesh and the final output of the system is a photorealistic 3-D model of the internal surface of the pipework

An Integrated and Secure System for Wearable Devices

Health services are under increasing pressure to reduce large waiting times for appointments. The delayed diagnosis of a human illnesses could have profound consequences for the patient. The large waiting times may be attributed to lack of data, the accuracy of the data or the timeliness of the availability of the data. In addition to this people often priorities their busy lives over their health. Other factors that affect delayed diagnosis of patients could be attributed to ill-health and the difficulty in the patient visiting the health-care practitioner, this is more evident in elderly patients that may have suffered a deterioration of their health. To overcome these obstacles eHealth systems could be put in place to facilitate the transmission of real-time and accurate data regarding a patient’s health directly to secure database that can be accessed by authorized practitioners. This paper outlines the use of eHealth (electronic health) to improve health care services which makes use of a wearable set of secure sensors and a secure database that is accessible using a web application. The proposed wearable system records and stores encrypted data which is related to the body’s physical parameters. Then, the encrypted data are transmitted using wireless technologies from the wearable device to a secure relational multi-user database using a protected protocol. The data can be accessed by the patient and professionals, such as general practitioners, using a web interface once authentication has taken place. This secure wearable architecture alleviates the problems of the lack of data, the inaccuracy of data and the timeliness of data by recording vital body parameters throughout the day and by sending real-time live data to a system that can be immediately accessed by the practitioner. The system also allows for the automatic analysis of data and presentation of the data using graphs which could aid the practitioner in determining patterns in the patients’ health statistics

Asymmetric Internal Tide Generation in the Presence of a Steady Flow

The generation of topographic internal waves (IWs) by the sum of an oscillatory and a steady flow is investigated experimentally and with a linear model. The two forcing flows represent the combination of a tidal constituent and a weaker quasi-steady flow interacting with an abyssal hill. The combined forcings cause a coupling between internal tides and lee waves that impacts their dynamics of IWs as well as the energy carried away. An asymmetry is observed in the structure of upstream and downstream IW beams due to a quasi-Doppler shift effect. This asymmetry is enhanced for the narrowest ridge on which a superbuoyancy (ω > N) downstream beam and an evanescent upstream beam are measured. Energy fluxes are measured and compared with the linear model, that has been extended to account for the coupling mechanism. The structure and amplitude of energy fluxes match well in most regimes, showing the relevance of the linear prediction for IW wave energy budgets, while the energy flux toward IW beams is limited by the generation of periodic vortices in a particular experiment. The upstream-bias energy flux-and consequently net horizontal momentum-described in Shakespeare (2020, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0179.1) is measured in the experiments. The coupling mechanism plays an important role in the pathway to IW-induced mixing, that has previously been quantified independently for lee waves and internal tides. Hence, future parameterizations of IW processes ought to include the coupling mechanism to quantify its impact on the global distribution of mixing.This work was supported partly by theFrench PIA project LorraineUniversité d' Excellence, referenceANR-15-IDEX-04-LUE. Y. D.acknowledges support from theEmbassy of France in Australia. C. J. S.acknowledges support from an ARCDiscovery Early Career ResearcherAward DE180100087 and ANU Futures Scheme awar

Sessile and mobile components of a benthic ecosystem display mixed trends within a temperate marine reserve

Despite recent efforts to increase the global coverage of marine protected areas (MPAs), studies investigating the effectiveness of marine protected areas within temperate waters remain scarce. Furthermore, out of the few studies published on MPAs in temperate waters, the majority focus on specific ecological or fishery components rather than investigating the ecosystem as a whole. This study therefore investigated both the dynamics of benthic communities as well as fish populations within a recently established, fully protected marine reserve in Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran, United Kingdom, over a four year period. A combination of photo and diver surveys revealed live maerl (Phymatolithon calcareum), macroalgae, sponges, hydroids, feather stars and eyelash worms (Myxicola infundibulum) to be significantly more abundant within the marine reserve than on surrounding fishing grounds. Likewise, the overall composition of epifaunal communities in and outside the reserve was significantly different. Both results are consistent with the hypothesis that protecting areas from fishing can encourage seafloor habitats to recover. In addition, the greater abundance of complex habitats within the reserve appeared to providing nursery habitat for juvenile cod (Gadus morhua) and scallops (Pecten maximus and Aequipecten opercularis). In contrast, there was little difference in the abundance of mobile benthic fauna, such as crabs and starfish, between the reserve and outside. Similarly, the use of baited underwater video cameras revealed no difference in the abundance and size of fish between the reserve and outside. Limited recovery of these ecosystem components may be due to the relatively small size (2.67 km2) and young age of the reserve (< 5 years), both of which might have limited the extent of any benefits afforded to mobile fauna and fish communities. Overall, this study provides evidence that fully protected marine reserves can encourage seafloor habitats to recover, which in turn, can create a number of benefits that flow back to other species, including those of commercial importance

Non-destructive, high-content analysis of wheat grain traits using X-ray micro computed tomography

Background: Wheat is the most widely grown crop in temperate climates for food and animal feed. In order to meet the demands of the predicted population increase in an ever-changing climate, wheat production needs to dramatically increase. Spike and grain traits are critical determinants of final yield and grain uniformity a commercially desired trait, but their analysis is laborious and often requires destructive harvest. One of the current challenges is to develop an accurate, non-destructive method for spike and grain trait analysis capable of handling large populations. Results: In this study we describe the development of a robust method for the accurate extraction and measurement of spike and grain morphometric parameters from images acquired by X-ray micro-computed tomography (?CT). The image analysis pipeline developed automatically identiies plant material of interest in ?CT images, performs image analysis, and extracts morphometric data. As a proof of principle, this integrated methodology was used to analyse the spikes from a population of wheat plants subjected to high temperatures under two diferent water regimes. Temperature has a negative efect on spike height and grain number with the middle of the spike being the most afected region. The data also conirmed that increased grain volume was correlated with the decrease in grain number under mild stress. Conclusions: Being able to quickly measure plant phenotypes in a non-destructive manner is crucial to advance our understanding of gene function and the efects of the environment. We report on the development of an image analysis pipeline capable of accurately and reliably extracting spike and grain traits from crops without the loss of positional information. This methodology was applied to the analysis of wheat spikes can be readily applied to other economically important crop species.publishersversionPeer reviewe