Size-dependent nonlinear vibration of an electrostatic nanobeam actuator considering surface effects and inter-molecular interactions

In this paper, the size-dependent nonlinear vibration of an electrostatic nanobeam actuator is investigated based on the nonlocal strain gradient theory, incorporating surface effects. A comprehensive model regarding the von Karman geometrical nonlinearity, inter-molecular forces and both components of the electrostatic excitation (AC and DC) is proposed to explore the system behavior near the primary resonance. Utilizing Hamilton’s principle, the nonlinear equation of motion of the system is derived. The natural frequency and dynamic response of the system, comprising frequency and force response diagrams, are obtained analytically via multiple scales technique in conjunction with the differential quadrature method and validated through a numerical approach. The roles of the nonlocal and strain gradient parameters, surface elasticity, inter-molecular forces and quality factor on the system oscillations are examined. The acquired results unveiled that the size-dependent parameters can significantly displace the multi-valued portions and instability thresholds of the dynamical response. Furthermore, it is deduced that the surface effects induce the stiffness hardening of the nanobeam, whereas the inter-molecular forces impose the stiffness softening effect.

     

Two-Photon Polymerized Shape Memory Microfibers: A New Mechanical Characterization Method in Liquid

Two-photon polymerization (TPP) is widely used to create 3D micro- and nanoscale scaffolds for biological and mechanobiological studies, which often require the mechanical characterization of the TPP fabricated structures. To satisfy physiological requirements, most of the mechanical characterizations need to be conducted in liquid. However, previous characterizations of TPP fabricated structures are all conducted in air due to the limitation of conventional micro- and nanoscale mechanical testing methods. In this study, a new experimental method is reported for testing the mechanical properties of TPP-printed microfibers in liquid. The experiments show that the mechanical behaviors of the microfibers tested in liquid are significantly different from those tested in air. By controlling the TPP writing parameters, the mechanical properties of the microfibers can be tailored over a wide range to meet a variety of mechanobiology applications. In addition, it is found that, in water, the plasticly deformed microfibers can return to their predeformed shape after tensile strain is released. The shape recovery time is dependent on the size of microfibers. The experimental method represents a significant advancement in mechanical testing of TPP fabricated structures and may help release the full potential of TPP fabricated 3D tissue scaffolds for mechanobiological studies.     

5-Fluorouracil-loaded poly(vinyl alcohol)/chitosan blend nanofibers: morphology,drug release and cell culture studies

Electrospun polymeric nanofibers as carriers for anticancer drugs have received a great deal of attention to treat tumor cells. This work was aimed to prepare an optimized nanofibrous sample based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/chitosan (CS) blend, and then evaluate it containing 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in terms of morphology, drug release, and cell culture. The electrospinning conditions to produce PVA/CS (50/50) blend nanofibers with an average diameter of approximately 150.8 nm were adjusted as follows: applied voltage 17 kV, needle tip to collector distance 60 cm, and flow rate 0.1 mL/h. The obtained results from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that there were no chemical interactions between the polymers and drug during the electrospinning process and the uniform morphology without beads. Moreover, to prolong 5-FU release from the blend nanofibers, three layered samples consisting of PVA/CS blend and poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) [PVA/CS-PCL 3-layers] were electrospun. On the other hand, by adding PCL in the PVA/CS blend nanofibers, the samples showed more hydrophobic property. Eventually, thiazolyl blue (MTT) assay along with NIH 3T3 cells culture proved that the sample could kill more than 80% of the cells. This formulation could be a promising candidate for cancer therapy potentially.

     

Effect of treating atmosphere in plasma post-oxidation of nitrocarburized AISI 5115 steel

In this study quenched and tempered AISI 5115 steel was plasma-nitrided and nitrocarburized at 550 °C for 5 h in atmospheres of 80% N₂ balanced with various amounts of CO₂ and H₂ gases. The amount of CO₂ varied from 0 to 10 vol%. The highest amount of ε phases was formed in the compound layer after treating in atmosphere containing 7 vol% CO₂. Optimized compound layer was post-oxidized for 1 h at 450 °C under O₂/H₂ volume ratios of 1/1 and 3/1 as well as 100% oxygen. The treated samples were characterized using metallographic techniques, XRD, SEM, roughness measurement and potentiodynamic methods. The results showed that the growth rate of the oxide layer increased with increasing O₂ in the oxidizing gas mixture. X-ray diffraction analysis of oxidized layers confirmed the formation of highest amount of magnetite at post-oxidation in an atmosphere with the O₂/H₂ volume ratio of 1/1. Electrochemical polarization tests proved the enhancement of corrosion resistance by plasma post-oxidation and the highest corrosion resistance obtained after oxidizing under an O₂/H₂ volume ratio of 1/1.     

Time as a variable in perception of flat and curved type traffic markers.

In a comparison of the signaling capacity of flat and curved markers placed at angles representing traffic intersections, curved markers were superior regardless of inspection time (100, 500, or 2,000 msec.). (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Re-engineering of traffic markers to fit driving space.

The results of numerous empirical investigations comparing the signalling efficiency of conventional flat markers and an experimental curved-surface marker are reported. The curved marker was developed on the hypothesis that its three-dimensional form may alleviate perceptual difficulties produced by the flat shape of conventional markers. An on-site study compared the efficiency of marker types, as have numerous laboratory studies. These studies have a common result, in that the reference aspect of markers is always improved by the curved surface. Several variables other than marker type were tested. Those proved relevant to the perception of markers are their angle of orientation, and colouration and lettering characteristics. The most recent study comprised a traffic count of highway intersections on one major highway. Results proved that many situations can be found in which the curved marker may prove useful in accident prevention and aid the smooth flow of traffic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic segmentation of thalamus from brain MRI integrating fuzzy clustering and dynamic contours

Thalamus is an important neuro-anatomic structure in the brain. In this paper, an automated method is presented to segment thalamus from magnetic resonance images (MRI). The method is based on a discrete dynamic contour model that consists of vertices and edges connecting adjacent vertices. The model starts from an initial contour and deforms by external and internal forces. Internal forces are calculated from local geometry of the model and external forces are estimated from desired image features such as edges. However, thalamus has low contrast and discontinues edges on MRI, making external force estimation a challenge. The problem is solved using a new algorithm based on fuzzy C-means (FCM) unsupervised clustering, Prewitt edge-finding filter, and morphological operators. In addition, manual definition of the initial contour for the model makes the final segmentation operator-dependent. To eliminate this dependency, new methods are developed for generating the initial contour automatically. The proposed approaches are evaluated and validated by comparing automatic and radiologist's segmentation results and illustrating their agreement.     

Vibration analysis of a circular thin polymeric piezoelectric diaphragm with fluid interaction

This paper presents vibration analysis of a circular piezoelectric micro-plate in fluidic environment. PVDF film is used as the piezoelectric material. PVDF is a material with asymmetric matrix of piezoelectric constants and shows different piezoelectric properties in different directions. The governing equations, which are more complicated compared to piezo-ceramics, are derived. The boundary conditions for the plate are assumed fully clamped at outer edge, as is the case in many micro devices. Liquid is modeled as a damping foundation under the plate. The equations of motion are solved using generalized differential quadrature method to obtain Eigen frequencies and mode shapes of the plate. The results are compared by developed finite element analysis.     

A robust and high-performance queue management controller for large round trip time networks

Congestion management for transmission control protocol is of utmost importance to prevent packet loss within a network. This necessitates strategies for active queue management. The most applied active queue management strategies have their inherent disadvantages which lead to suboptimal performance and even instability in the case of large round trip time and/or external disturbance. This paper presents an internal model control robust queue management scheme with two degrees of freedom in order to restrict the undesired effects of large and small round trip time and parameter variations in the queue management. Conventional approaches such as proportional integral and random early detection procedures lead to unstable behaviour due to large delay. Moreover, internal model control–Smith scheme suffers from large oscillations due to the large round trip time. On the other hand, other schemes such as internal model control–proportional integral and derivative show excessive sluggish performance for small round trip time values. To overcome these shortcomings, we introduce a system entailing two individual controllers for queue management and disturbance rejection, simultaneously. Simulation results based on Matlab/Simulink and also Network Simulator 2 (NS2) demonstrate the effectiveness of the procedure and verify the analytical approach.