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A novel and compact interferometric refractive index (RI) point sensor is developed using hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) and experimentally demonstrated for high sensitivity detection and measurement of pure gases. To construct the device, the sensing element fiber (HC-PCF) was placed between two single-mode fibers with airgaps at each side. Great measurement repeatability was shown in the cyclic test for the detection of various gases. The RI sensitivity of 4629 nm/RIU was demonstrated in the RI range of 1.0000347–1.000436 for the sensor with an HC-PCF length of 3.3 mm. The sensitivity of the proposed Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) sensor increases when the length of the sensing element decreases. It is shown that response and recovery times of the proposed sensor inversely change with the length of HC-PCF. Besides, spatial frequency analysis for a wide range of air-gaps revealed information on the number and power distribution of modes. It is shown that the power is mainly carried by two dominant modes in the proposed structure. The proposed sensors have the potential to improve current technology's ability to detect and quantify pure gases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrophobic surface properties are sought after in many areas of research, engineering, and consumer product development. Traditionally, hydrophobic surfaces are produced by using various types of coatings. However, introduction of foreign material onto the surface is often undesirable as it changes surface chemistry and cannot provide a long lasting solution (i.e. reapplication is needed). Therefore, surface modification by transforming the base material itself can be preferable in many applications. Femtosecond laser ablation is one of the methods that can be used to create structures on the surface that will exhibit hydrophobic behavior. The goal of the presented research was to create micro and nano-scale patterns that will exhibit hydrophobic properties with no additional post treatment. As a result, dual scale patterned structures were created on the surface of steel aluminum and tungsten carbide samples. Ablation was performed in the open air with no subsequent treatment. Resultant surfaces appeared to be strongly hydrophobic or even superhydrophobic with contact angle values of 140° and higher. In conclusion, the nature of surface hydrophobicity proved to be highly dependent on surface morphology as the base materials used are intrinsically hydrophilic. It was also proven that the hydrophobicity inducing structures could be manufactured using femtosecond laser machining in a single step with no subsequent post treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular disease is a significant health concern worldwide, and varied effective treatment and prevention methods have been developed. Among these, tailored biomaterials-based strategies such as stents, scaffolds, patches, and drug delivery systems have emerged as a promising avenue. These devices are designed to match the mechanical and biological mechanisms of the cardiovascular system, ensuring optimal performance and compatibility. By effectively treating or preventing cardiovascular diseases, these devices have the potential to improve patient health outcomes significantly. They can restore blood flow by addressing blocked arteries and regenerate damaged cardiac tissue by delivering bioactive agents or cells directly to the affected area in a targeted, sustained, and controllable manner. Therefore, the objective of this article is to summarize the available evidence on these tailored biomaterial-based tunable cardiovascular devices. This knowledge can help to transform cardiovascular medicine for the treatment or prevention of cardiovascular disease and restore cardiac function to improve patients' quality of life.

This article presents the influence of machining conditions on typical process performance indicators, namely cutting force, specific cutting energy, cutting temperature, tool wear, and fine dust emission during dry milling of CFRPs. The main goal is to determine the machining process window for obtaining quality parts with acceptable tool performance and limited dust emission. For achieving this, the cutting temperature was examined using analytical and empirical models, and systematic cutting experiments were conducted to assess the reliability of the theoretical predictions. A full factorial design was used for the experimental design. The experiments were conducted on a CNC milling machine with cutting speeds of 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000 rpm and feed rates of 2, 4, and 6 µm/tooth. Based on the results, it was ascertained that spindle speed significantly affects the cutting temperature and fine particle emission while cutting force, specific cutting energy, and tool wear are influenced by the feed rate. The optimal conditions for cutting force and tool wear were observed at a cutting speed of 10,000 rpm. The cutting temperature did not exceed the glass transition temperature for the cutting speeds tested and feed rates used. The fine particles emitted ranged from 0.5 to 10 µm aerodynamic diameters with a maximum concentration of 2776.6 particles for those of 0.5 µm diameters. Finally, results of the experimental optimization are presented, and the model is validated. The results obtained may be used to better understand specific phenomena associated with the milling of CFRPs and provide the means to select effective milling parameters to improve the technology and economics of the process.

The photocatalytic activity of Fe-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles is significantly increased by an acid-treatment process. The photocatalyst nanoparticles were prepared using sol-gel method with 0.5 mol% ratio of Fe:Ti in acidic pH of 3. The nanoparticles were structurally characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). It was observed that the photocatalytic activity suffered from an iron oxide contaminating layer deposited on the surface of the nanoparticles. This contamination layer was removed using an HCl acid-treatment process. The photocatalytic activity using 500 mg/L of Fe 0.5 -TiO 2 in a 10 mg/L of phenol solution increased significantly from 33% to 57% (about 73% increase in the performance), within 90 min of reaction time under visible light irradiation. This significant improvement was achieved by removing the iron oxide contamination layer from the surface of the nanoparticles and adjusting pH to mild acidic and basic pHs., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Glutamate excitotoxicity is a pathology in which excessive glutamate can cause neuronal damage and degeneration. It has also been linked to secondary injury mechanisms in traumatic spinal cord injury. Conventional bioanalytical techniques used to characterize glutamate levels in vivo, such as microdialysis, have low spatiotemporal resolution, which has impeded our understanding of this dynamic event. In this study, we present an amperometric biosensor fabricated using a simple direct ink writing technique for the purpose of in vivo glutamate monitoring. The biosensor is fabricated by immobilizing glutamate oxidase on nanocomposite electrodes made of platinum nanoparticles, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and a conductive polymer on a flexible substrate. The sensor is designed to measure extracellular dynamics of glutamate and other potential biomarkers during a traumatic spinal cord injury event. Here we demonstrate good sensitivity and selectivity of these rapidly prototyped implantable biosensors that can be inserted into a spinal cord and measure extracellular glutamate concentration. We show that our biosensors exhibit good flexibility, linear range, repeatability, and stability that are suitable for future in vivo evaluation., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based fiberoptic refractive index (RI) sensor is constructed by uniformly tapering standard single mode fiber (SMF) for RI measurement. A custom flame-based tapering machine is used to fabricate microfiber MZI sensors directly from SMFs. The fabricated MZI device does not require any splicing of fibers and shows excellent RI sensitivity. The sensor with a cladding diameter of 35.5 µm and length of 20 mm exhibits RI sensitivity of 415 nm/RIU for RI range of 1.332 to 1.384, 1103 nm/RIU for RI range of 1.384 to 1.4204 and 4234 nm/RIU for RI range of 1.4204 to 1.4408, respectively. The sensor reveals a temperature sensitivity of 0.0097 nm/°C, which is relatively low in comparison to its ultra-high RI sensitivity. The proposed inexpensive and highly sensitive optical fiber RI sensors have numerous applications in chemical and biochemical sensing fields.

Highly porous poly (ϵ-caprolactone) microfiber scaffolds can be fabricated using electrospinning for tissue engineering applications. Melt electrospinning produces such scaffolds by direct deposition of a polymer melt instead of dissolving the polymer in a solvent as performed during solution electrospinning. The objective of this study was to investigate the significant parameters associated with the melt electrospinning process that influence fiber diameter and scaffold morphology, including processing temperature, collection distance, applied, voltage and nozzle size. The mechanical properties of these microfiber scaffolds varied with microfiber diameter. Additionally, the porosity of scaffolds was determined by combining experimental data with mathematical modeling. To test the cytocompatability of these fibrous scaffolds, we seeded neural progenitors derived from murine R1 embryonic stem cell lines onto these scaffolds, where they could survive, migrate, and differentiate into neurons; demonstrating the potential of these melt electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.