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Two types of basalt fibre reinforced epoxy laminates were realized by overlapping flat and twill woven basalt fabrics by resin infusion. Rectangular specimens, cut from the panels were impacted at penetration and at increasing energy values, to investigate the damage onset and propagation. A non-destructive technique, Ultrasound testing (UT), was adopted to investigate the internal damage. Despite the difficulties to obtain information by UT method due to the high amount of signal absorbed, the technique, properly calibrated, proved to be very useful in providing information about the presence, the shape and the extent of the delaminations. The results were compared at the aim to investigate the effect of the fiber architecture (textile). The experimental results indicate a similar impact behavior between basalt flat and twill composites but in the case of the twill a minor delaminated area was detected, even if a higher absorbed energy was recordedTwo types of basalt fibre reinforced epoxy laminates were realized by overlapping flat and twill woven basalt fabrics by resin infusion. Rectangular specimens, cut from the panels were impacted at penetration and at increasing energy values, to investigate the damage onset and propagation. A non-destructive technique, Ultrasound testing (UT), was adopted to investigate the internal damage. Despite the difficulties to obtain information by UT method due to the high amount of signal absorbed, the technique, properly calibrated, proved to be very useful in providing information about the presence, the shape and the extent of the delaminations. The results were compared at the aim to investigate the effect of the fiber architecture (textile). The experimental results indicate a similar impact behavior between basalt flat and twill composites but in the case of the twill a minor delaminated area was detected, even if a higher absorbed energy was recorded

This paper reports the effect of temperature on the bending properties and failure mechanism of 3D MWK (Multiaxial warp knitted) composites. Three-point bending experiments on composites with three fiber architectures were performed at four different temperatures. Then the effect of temperature on the load/deflection curves, bending strength and stiffness were analyzed. Macroscopic fracture morphology and SEM micrographs were also examined to understand the deformation and failure mechanism. The results show that the temperature has great impact on the bending properties of 3D MWK composites and the performance decreases significantly with the increase of the temperature. Meanwhile, the bending properties can be affected greatly by the fiber architecture and these decrease significantly with the increase of fiber orientation angle at room and elevated temperatures. Moreover, the damage and failure patterns of composites vary with the test temperature and fiber architecture. At room temperature, the composite exhibits brittle fracture feature and damages in the breakage and tearing of fibers. But at the higher temperature, the composite becomes more softened, cracked and plastic. It damages in fiber layer delaminating, matrix cracking and fiber/matrix interface debonding.

Three-point bending experiments on 3D multi-axial warp knitted composites with four fiber architectures are performed at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures. Macro-fracture morphology and scanning electron microscope micrographs are examined to understand the deformation and failure mechanism. The results show that the load–deflection curves are significantly different for four types of composites and the bending properties decrease with the increase of fiber orientation angle at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures. Meanwhile, the bending properties at liquid nitrogen temperature have been improved significantly than that of at room temperature. Moreover, the damage and failure patterns of composites vary with the test temperature. At liquid nitrogen temperature, the interfacial adhesion strength is enhanced significantly and the brittle failure feature becomes more obvious. In addition, the failure mechanism at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures can be significantly affected by the fiber architecture.

We demonstrate a high-resolution quantization scheme based on soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) and spectral compression in a bi-directional comb-fiber architecture. Our scheme is composed of a Sagnac-loop-based mirror and a comblike combination of two sections of interleaved single-mode fibers (SMFs) and high nonlinear fibers (HNLFs). The Sagnac-loop-based mirror is placed at the terminal of the bus line to reflect the optical pulses back to the bus line to achieve single-stage SSFS and three-stage spectral compression. Quantization with a resolution of 6.2-bit is obtained in the experiment, which is 1.2-bit higher than that of its uni-directional counterpart. Our bidirectional scheme can achieve higher quantization resolution with a small volume and a low cost compared with its uni-directional counterpart.

Background Structural remodeling of human atria plays a key role in sustaining atrial fibrillation ( AF ), but insufficient quantitative analysis of human atrial structure impedes the treatment of AF . We aimed to develop a novel 3‐dimensional (3D) structural and computational simulation analysis tool that could reveal the structural contributors to human reentrant AF drivers. Methods and Results High‐resolution panoramic epicardial optical mapping of the coronary‐perfused explanted intact human atria (63‐year‐old woman, chronic hypertension, heart weight 608 g) was conducted during sinus rhythm and sustained AF maintained by spatially stable reentrant AF drivers in the left and right atrium. The whole atria (107×61×85 mm 3 ) were then imaged with contrast‐enhancement MRI (9.4 T, 180×180×360‐μm 3 resolution). The entire 3D human atria were analyzed for wall thickness (0.4–11.7 mm), myofiber orientations, and transmural fibrosis (36.9% subendocardium; 14.2% midwall; 3.4% subepicardium). The 3D computational analysis revealed that a specific combination of wall thickness and fibrosis ranges were primarily present in the optically defined AF driver regions versus nondriver tissue. Finally, a 3D human heart–specific atrial computer model was developed by integrating 3D structural and functional mapping data to test AF induction, maintenance, and ablation strategies. This 3D model reproduced the optically defined reentrant AF drivers, which were uninducible when fibrosis and myofiber anisotropy were removed from the model. Conclusions Our novel 3D computational high‐resolution framework may be used to quantitatively analyze structural substrates, such as wall thickness, myofiber orientation, and fibrosis, underlying localized AF drivers, and aid the development of new patient‐specific treatments.

Numerous studies have sought to link craniofacial morphology with behavioral ecology in primates. Extant hard-object feeders have been of particular interest because of their potential to inform our understanding about the diets of early fossil hominins. Sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) are hard-object feeders that frequently generate what have been described as audibly powerful bites at wide jaw gapes to process materially stiff and hard seeds. We address the hypothesis that sooty mangabeys have features of the masticatory apparatus that facilitate this feeding behavior by comparing fiber architecture and leverage of the masseter and temporalis muscles between sooty mangabeys and three papionin primates that do not specialize on hard objects. Contrary to predictions, sooty mangabeys do not have relatively larger muscle physiologic cross-sectional areas or weights compared to other papionins, nor do they consistently display improved leverage. In this regard, sooty mangabeys differ in their morphology from other hard-object feeders such as tufted capuchins. However, males of all four papionin species converge on a shared pattern of relatively longer anterior superficial masseter fibers compared with female conspecifics, suggesting that males are likely prioritizing muscle stretch to improve gape performance as part of a behavioral repertoire that includes agonistic social interactions and intense male-male competition. These findings strengthen support for the hypothesis that gape display behaviors can exert a strong selective influence throughout the musculoskeletal masticatory apparatus. Results also raise questions about the morphological suitability of extant cercopithecines as models for interpreting feeding behavior and diet in fossil hominins with limited jaw gape capacity. Anat Rec, 301:325-342, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This paper is premised on several Australian Aboriginal myths (or sacred histories) from the Georgina River Basin region of Central Australia that concern the Triodia grasses known locally as spinifex (or aywerte). These sacred histories provide an epistemological foundation to the regional intellectual property over traditional spinifex technologies formerly utilized for architectural, material and medicinal functions. Aboriginal uses of spinifex were once widespread but declined in the latter 20th century, and ethno-scientific knowledge has severely diminished. The dominant uses of spinifex in Aboriginal culture were as waterproof roof-thatching material and as a gum for adhesive functions. The chapter explores the contemporary revitalization of this knowledge in collaborative research partnership between a group of traditional tribal owners (the Indjalandji, Alyawarr, Wakaya, and Bularnu peoples) and a team of scientific researchers from the University of Queensland lead by the authors and including nano-biomaterial engineers. The partnership involves engaging with, and resolving an interface between, the respective epistemologies and work cultures of the university researchers and our Aboriginal partners.

We demonstrate a rice leaf-like hierarchically textured polymer fiber array for anisotropic non-wetting surfaces. To provide superhydrophobicity in addition to the anisotropic behavior, fiber surfaces are spray coated with organically modified silica nanoparticles. The resulting micro/nano hierarchically structured fiber surfaces demonstrate anisotropic non- wetting properties. We designed various fiber architectures for droplet transportation, mixing, and guiding exploiting the scalability of the fiber texture during thermal drawing; optional nanoparticle surface modification; and inherent flexibility of the fibers.

Current synthetic vascular grafts have poor patency rates in small diameter applications (

Chondrichthyans (sharks, batoids, and chimaeras) have simple feeding mechanisms owing to their relatively few cranial skeletal elements. However, the indirect association of the jaws to the cranium (euhyostylic jaw suspension) has resulted in myriad cranial muscle rearrangements of both the hyoid and mandibular elements. We examined the cranial musculature of an abbreviated phylogenetic representation of batoid fishes, including skates, guitarfishes and with a particular focus on stingrays. We identified homologous muscle groups across these taxa and describe changes in gross morphology across developmental and functional muscle groups, with the goal of exploring how decoupling of the jaws from the skull has effected muscular arrangement. In particular, we focus on the cranial anatomy of durophagous and nondurophagous batoids, as the former display marked differences in morphology compared to the latter. Durophagous stingrays are characterized by hypertrophied jaw adductors, reliance on pennate versus fusiform muscle fiber architecture, tendinous rather than aponeurotic muscle insertions, and an overall reduction in mandibular kinesis. Nondurophagous stingrays have muscles that rely on aponeurotic insertions onto the skeletal structure, and display musculoskeletal specialization for jaw protrusion and independent lower jaw kinesis, relative to durophagous stingrays. We find that among extant chondrichthyans, considerable variation exists in the hyoid and mandibular muscles, slightly less so in hypaxial muscles, whereas branchial muscles are overwhelmingly conserved. As chondrichthyans occupy a position sister to all other living gnathostomes, our understanding of the structure and function of early vertebrate feeding systems rests heavily on understanding chondrichthyan cranial anatomy. Our findings highlight the incredible variation in muscular complexity across chondrichthyans in general and batoids in particular.

Prior static studies of three-dimensionally woven carbon/epoxy textile composites show that large interlaminar normal and shear strains occur as a result of layer waviness under static compression loading. This study addresses the dynamic response of 3D through-thickness angle interlock textile composites, and how interaction between different layer waviness influences the modal frequencies. The samples have common as-woven textile architecture, but they are cured at varying compaction pressures to achieve varying levels of fiber volume and fiber architecture distortion. Samples produced have varying final cured laminate thickness, which allows observations on the influence of increased fiber volume (generally believed to improve mechanical performance) weighed against the increased fiber distortion (generally believed to decrease mechanical performance). The results obtained from this study show that no added damping was developed in the as-woven identical panels. Furthermore, a linear relation exists between modal frequency and thickness (fiber volume).

3D woven composites offer higher damage tolerance and resistance to delamination. Understanding how the architecture influences the tensile failure of the composite is imperative to ensure proper use. In this work the tensile response of two different woven architectures is investigated to determine how failure initiates in the composite in each case. Z-fiber reinforced materials were compared against layer-to-layer architectures. Details of the failure were examined both through digital image correlation and also through post inspection analysis using a dye penetrant. The results show that there is an architecture dependent strain field and these localizations lead to the onset of failure in these materials.

Recent advances in neuroimaging have led to new insights into the organization of language related networks. Increasing evidence supports the model of dorsal and ventral streams of information flow between language-related areas. Therefore, a review of the descriptions of language-related fiber anatomy in the human and monkey brain was performed. In addition, case studies of macroscopical fiber dissection and polarized light imaging (PLI) with special focus on the ventral stream were done. Several fiber structures can be identified to play a role in language, i.e. the arcuate fasciculus as a part of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, the middle longitudinal fasciculus, the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and extreme and external capsules. Substantial differences between human and monkey fiber architecture have been identified. Despite inconsistencies based on different terminologies used, there can be no doubt that dorsal and ventral language streams have a clear correlation in the structure of white matter tracts.

Three carbon/carbon (C/C) composites modified by Zr–Ti–C, with different fiber architecture in preforms and the same density, were prepared using chemical vapor infiltration and reactive melt infiltration methods. Two other samples with the same architecture in preforms and different density were also fabricated by the same methods. Their ablation behaviors were examined by oxy-acetylene flame. The results showed that the samples with chopped web needled perform had better ablation resistance than that of the samples with needle-integrated and fine-weave pierced perform. In the models of ablation behaviors, the sealing time of pores and gaps on the ablated surfaces has been defined to indirectly estimate the ablation property. The analysis of models also indicated that high density of the composites and appropriate small diameter of bundles of carbon fibers led to the short sealing time and good ablation resistance of the C/C–carbide composites.

The jaw-closing muscles are responsible for generating many of the forces and movements associ- ated with feeding. Muscle physiologic cross-sectional area (PCSA) and fiber length are two architectural parameters that heavily influence muscle function. While there have been numerous comparative studies of hominoid and hominin craniodental and mandibular morphology, little is known about hominoid jaw-muscle fiber architecture. We present novel data on masseter and temporalis inter- nal muscle architecture for small- and large-bodied homi- noids. Hominoid scaling patterns are evaluated and compared with representative New- (Cebus) and Old- World (Macaca) monkeys. Variation in hominoid jaw-mus- cle fiber architecture is related to both absolute size and allometry. PCSAs scale close to isometry relative to jaw length in anthropoids, but likely with positive allometry in hominoids. Thus, large-bodied apes may be capable of generating both absolutely and relatively greater muscle forces compared with smaller-bodied apes and monkeys. Compared with extant apes, modern humans exhibit a reduction in masseter PCSA relative to condyle-M1 length but retain relatively long fibers, suggesting humans may have sacrificed relative masseter muscle force during chewing without appreciably altering muscle excursion/ contraction velocity. Lastly, craniometric estimates of PCSAs underestimate hominoid masseter and temporalis PCSAs by more than 50% in gorillas, and overestimate masseter PCSA by as much as 30% in humans. These findings underscore the difficulty of accurately estimating jaw-muscle fiber architecture from craniometric measures and suggest models of fossil hominin and hominoid bite forces will be improved by incorporating architectural data in estimating jaw-muscle forces. Am J Phys Anthro

With its outstanding specific strength and modulus, over half a century of rapid development, carbon fiber has evolved from a laboratory curiosity to a material of choice for the structural reinforcement of aerospace structures, aircraft, high-performance sporting goods such as formula racing cars, and giant windmill blades.

Mathematical models of ventricular cardiomyocyte orientation provide a simple description of histo-anatomical arrangements that are important for cardiac mechano-electric behaviour. They can be used to analyse interspecies differences, to explore dynamic remodelling such as during development or disease, and they are key for building realistic computational representations of the heart. This study investigates the suitability of regionally optimised models to represent accurately myocardial structure. Using DT-MRI scans as a reference, we calculate an optimised model by finding the parameters that minimise angular differences, both globally and regionally using a 16-segment topography. Results show angular differences between the optimized model and DT-MRI data of up to 15 degrees, with regional optimization providing a clear improvement in model accuracy (up to 52% error reduction). © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Background— Accurate knowledge of the human atrial fibrous structure is paramount in understanding the mechanisms of atrial electric function in health and disease. Thus far, such knowledge has been acquired from destructive sectioning, and there is a paucity of data about atrial fiber architecture variability in the human population. Methods and Results— In this study, we have developed a customized 3-dimensional diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging sequence on a clinical scanner that makes it possible to image an entire intact human heart specimen ex vivo at submillimeter resolution. The data from 8 human atrial specimens obtained with this technique present complete maps of the fibrous organization of the human atria. The findings demonstrate that the main features of atrial anatomy are mostly preserved across subjects although the exact location and orientation of atrial bundles vary. Using the full tractography data, we were able to cluster, visualize, and characterize the distinct major bundles in the human atria. Furthermore, quantitative characterization of the fiber angles across the atrial wall revealed that the transmural fiber angle distribution is heterogeneous throughout different regions of the atria. Conclusions— The application of submillimeter diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging provides an unprecedented level of information on both human atrial structure, as well as its intersubject variability. The high resolution and fidelity of this data could enhance our understanding of structural contributions to atrial rhythm and pump disorders and lead to improvements in their targeted treatment.

Fibrous tissues exist in many parts of the body, where the directional fiber organization is critical in maintaining their normal functions. Disruption of the normal fibrous structure is often linked to tissue dysfunction. An imaging tool that can reveal the detailed fiber architecture will be valuable for our understanding of the structure-function relationship in these tissues. Here, we described a new high-resolution tractography method developed from Jones matrix polarizationsensitive optical coherence tomography. We demonstrated its applications for visualization of fibrous structures in several different animal tissues.

Frontiers in neuroanatomy 10, 40 (2016). doi:10.3389/fnana.2016.00040, Published by Frontiers Research Foundation, Lausanne

A successful application of braiding technology for the manufacturing of an industrial product is shown on the example of a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) manipulator. Due to its lightweight design, the CFRP system offers highly ergonomic advantages for the worker compared to the previously available steel version. In the course of the braided manipulator design, braid-specific manufacturing options were used to improve bending and torsion stiffness by combining design aspects and fiber architecture variations. It is also shown how braid-related manufacturing constraints can be overcome by additional subsystems, eg, to realize strongly curved part geometries. Finally, a process of the mechanical testing procedure for the whole system is presented which follows the classical building-block approach used for the validation of aeronautical structures.

Whole brain models of cellular and fiber architecture will be shown, which are based on advanced ICT. They allow integrating multimodal and multilevel data, thus opening new perspectives to decode the human brain.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows to obtain various types of brain images. A particular MRI method is diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which can visualize nerve fiber pathways. The method is indirect, involving complicated mathematical models to infer this kind of information from the raw data. Therefore, it has to be investigated whether the results match the actual fiber architecture in practice. Parts of this PhD thesis are concerned with this problem: DTI results were compared to microscopical scans of brain tissue, where nerve fibers had been stained. Doing so, it was shown that DTI indeed works as theoretically supposed to.

A new stereotaxic brain atlas of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), an important animal model in neurosciences, is presented. It combines high-quality histological material for identification of brain structures with reliable stereotaxic coordinates. The atlas consists of high-resolution images of frontal sections alternately stained for cell bodies (Nissl) and myelinated fibers (Gallyas) of 62 rostro-caudal levels at intervals of 350 μm. Brain structures were named according to the Paxinos nomenclature for rodents. The accuracy of the stereotaxic coordinate system was improved substantially by comparing and matching the series of histological sections to in vivo brain images of the gerbil obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The skull outlines corresponding to the MR images were acquired using X-ray computerized tomography (CT) and were used to establish the relationship between coordinates of brain structures and skull. Landmarks such as lambda, bregma, ear canals and occipital crest can be used to line up skull and brain in standard atlas coordinates. An easily reproducible protocol allows sectioning of experimental brains in the standard frontal plane of the atlas.

A limitation of GPS positioning is that the vertical component is generally two to three times less precise than the horizontal components. In a previous work by R. Santerre of Laval University and G. Beutler of University of Bern, it was shown in simulations that it is possible to improve the GPS vertical positioning precision by using a multi-antenna GPS receiver and a precise calibration technique of the relative hardware delay between the antennas and the receiver. However, no actual implementation of the system was done to prove the concept until now. A new multi-antenna, GPS-over-fiber architecture with real-time delay monitoring, designed and implemented to improve the vertical precision is presented. The improvement in vertical precision arises from the elimination of the relative receiver clock error in single difference, between antennas, and the precision real-time calibration of the relative hardware delay. Experiments were conducted with a zero baseline and a short baseline configuration. The results show, as expected by the theory and the simulations, a two to three times improvement in the precision of the vertical component such that it reached the same level of performance as the horizontal components. These promising results will enable the use of this type of configuration in several applications where the same precision in all 3D components is essential and could not be achieved before with standard GPS positioning techniques.

The fabrication of novel multilayer electrospun nanofiber web is demonstrated. Under optimized processing conditions, the interface between these webs can be sustained for long time, yielding layers with distinct compartments. Simultaneous control over internal fiber architecture makes these multilayer nano-webs potential candidates for applications such as clothing and industrial filters.

The fatigue behavior of Hi-Nicalon Type-S™/BN/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) was investigated in a combustion environment. Two versions of this CMC were tested. The first version was manufactured by a slurry casting process using woven fiber architecture and the matrix was densified by melt-infiltration (MI) of silicon. The other was a cross-ply laminate prepared by a traditional lamination process from unidirectional prepreg followed by the MI processing. Several tests were conducted at a frequency of 1 Hz and a stress ratio of 0.05 to develop the fatigue life diagrams for both material systems. The Prepreg MI CMC exhibited higher fatigue strength, especially for cycles-to-failure >10,000, in comparison with the slurry cast MI CMC. Micrographic analysis was conducted to document the oxidation and embrittlement, which was observed to be dependent upon the applied stress level and cycles-to-failure. Overall, the prepreg MI CMC was less prone to oxidation and had better fatigue properties, demonstrating the potential for long-term use as a structural high-temperature material for high-temperature oxidative service environments, such as those found in gas turbine engines.

Creating autologous tissues with on-demand and native-like biomechanical properties is the ultimate challenge in functional heart valve tissue engineering. A promising approach toward this goal is to induce development of native-like tissue structure in vitro by mimicking the diastolic loading phase in a bioreactor. Heart valves cultured with this approach showed in vitro sufficient strength to withstand systemic pressures. This study aims to link global functioning of these valves to the development of a native-like fiber architecture induced by in vitro diastolic loading. It is hypothesized that increased loading magnitude during culture will lead to increased collagen fiber alignment. To test this hypothesis, 10 tissue-engineered heart valves were subjected to different loading protocols in vitro. Local fiber distribution and mechanics were determined in an inverse numerical-experimental approach, combining indentation tests with confocal imaging. Indentation tests on native ovine heart valves were used as a comparison. Although the effect of loading magnitude was small within the tested range, results indicated that the local fiber architecture indeed developed toward native structural properties for all loading protocols. However, apparent fiber mechanics were much stiffer compared with native. This confirms that in vitro mechanical conditioning induces development of a native-like tissue architecture, which underlines its importance for functional heart valve tissue engineering.

Effect of siliconization conditions on thermal diffusivity of 3D-stitched fiber architecture-based C–SiC composites was investigated to select desired conditions. Several 3D-stitched C–SiC composite blocks were prepared using coal–tar pitch as a carbon precursor and siliconization was carried out at 1450 and 1650 °C for 10 and 120 min. Thermal diffusivity of blocks was investigated using laser-flash equipment in in-plane and through-thickness directions. It varies from 77 mm 2 /s at room-temperature to 14.7 mm 2 /s at 1500 °C in in-plane and 36–6.1 mm 2 /s in through-thickness direction. A model was developed to estimate thermal diffusivity in in-plane and through-thickness directions based on the volume fraction of the constituents and porosity of the composite blocks. The estimated thermal-diffusivity values were compared with the measured values. The values were found to be close to the experimental values in entire testing temperature range at all the siliconization conditions.

Common (Callithrix jacchus) and pygmy (Cebuella pygmaea) marmosets and cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) share broadly similar diets of fruits, insects, and tree exudates. Marmosets, however, differ from tamarins in actively gouging trees with their anterior dentition to elicit tree exudates flow. Tree gouging in common marmosets involves the generation of relatively wide jaw gapes, but not necessarily relatively large bite forces. We compared fiber architecture of the masseter and temporalis muscles in C. jacchus (N = 18), C. pygmaea (N = 5), and S. oedipus (N = 13). We tested the hypothesis that tree-gouging marmosets would exhibit relatively longer fibers and other architectural variables that facilitate muscle stretch. As an architectural trade-off between maximizing muscle excursion/contraction velocity and muscle force, we also tested the hypothesis that marmosets would exhibit relatively less pinnate fibers, smaller physiologic cross-sectional areas (PCSA), and lower priority indices (I) for force. As predicted, marmosets display relatively longer-fibered muscles, a higher ratio of fiber length to muscle mass, and a relatively greater potential excursion of the distal tendon attachments, all of which favor muscle stretch. Marmosets further display relatively smaller PCSAs and other features that reflect a reduced capacity for force generation. The longer fibers and attendant higher contraction velocities likely facilitate the production of relatively wide jaw gapes and the capacity to generate more power from their jaw muscles during gouging. The observed functional trade-off between muscle excursion/contraction velocity and muscle force suggests that primate jaw-muscle architecture reflects evolutionary changes related to jaw movements as one of a number of functional demands imposed on the masticatory apparatus.

Die Kniegelenkmenisken vergrosern die Kontaktflache zwischen Femur und Tibia und verhindern dadurch Stresskonzentrationen im zentralen Anteil des jeweiligen Kompartiments. Daneben haben die Menisken eine unterstutzende Wirkung auf die Stabilisierung des Kniegelenks. Wesentliche Grundlage fur diese Funktionen ist die spezielle Faserarchitektur. Die Hauptmasse der Kollagenfasern verlauft in Form zirkumferenter Bundel von der vorderen zur dorsalen tibialen Insertion. Durch den keilformigen Querschnitt werden tibiofemorale Druckkrafte in Zugspannungen umgewandelt und zum Meniskusvorder- und -hinterhorn weitergeleitet. Die raumliche Ausrichtung der Kollagenfasern bewirkt eine starke Anisotropie der mechanischen Eigenschaften. Zug- und Scherfestigkeit sind in Langsrichtung der zirkumferenten Fasern um einige Grosenordnungen hoher als senkrecht dazu. Fur eine erfolgreiche Wiederherstellung der Funktion muss die spezielle Anatomie der Menisken bei der Refixation von Rissen bzw. dem Ersatz von Menisken Berucksichtigung finden.

Behavior of short and deep beams made of concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tubes (CFFT) was compared experimentally to that of their slender counterparts. Ten specimens made from four types of glass FRP tubes with different fiber architecture and lamina lay-up were tested with shear span to depth ratio between 0.9 and 6.25, diameter to thickness ratio between 16 and 63, and reinforcement index between 0.11 and 2.2. The study extended the test database of CFFTs to the lowest practical limit of shear span to depth ratio. None of the CFFT beams tested, even with the lowest shear span to depth ratio of 0.9, failed in shear. Tensile bending strains at the bottom of the midspan section of the beams always remained higher than the respective diagonal tensile strain at the midpoint of the shear span. Web shear cracks were observed only in the concrete core of deep CFFT beams with high reinforcement index. Following the first flexural crack, the concrete core began to slip relative to the FRP tube. Th...

Although tibial external rotation and abduction do not load the ACL strongly in cadaver-based biomechanical studies, such knee positions are associated with ACL injuries in clinical practice. We hypothesized the ACL could be injured in such knee positions because of its impingement against the intercondylar notch. We developed a three-dimensional geometric ACL impingement model through segmentation of MR images of individual knees. We investigated impingement by determining the deformed geometry and elongation of the ligament as it wrapped around the notch surface during impingement. When impingement did not occur, the gap width separating the ligament and the notch surface was computed. Tibial external rotation/abduction could cause the ACL to impinge against the lateral notch wall and elongate as it wraps around the surface of the notch wall. The impingement occurred between the middle portion of the ligament (at 45% +/- 8% [mean +/- standard deviation] of the ligament length) and the convex surface of the lateral notch wall. Considering the multiband fiber architecture of the ligament, the anteromedial band of the ACL sustained greater elongation during impingement and showed a smaller gap width from the notch surface than the intermediate band or the posterolateral band.

The investigation of the micro fiber structures of the heart provides a new approach to explaining heart disease and investigating effective therapy means. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance (DTMR) imaging or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) currently provides a unique tool to image the three-dimensional (3D) fiber structures of the heart in vivo. However, DTI is known to suffer from long acquisition time, which greatly limits its practical and clinical use. Classical acquisition and reconstruction methods do not allow coping with the problem. The main motivation of this thesis is then to investigae fast imaging techniques by reconstructing high-quality images from highly undersampled data. The methodology adopted is based on the recent theory of compressed sensing (CS). More precisely, we address the use of CS for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cardiac DTI. First, we formulate the magnetic resonance (MR) image reconstruction as a problem of optimization with data-driven tight frame (TF) and total generalized variation (TGV) constraints in the framework of CS, in which the data-driven TF is used to adaptively learn a set of filters from the highly under-sampled data itself to provide a better sparse approximation of images and the TGV is devoted to regularizing adaptively image regions and thus supprressing staircase effects. Second, we propose a new CS method that employs joint sparsity and rank deficiency prior to reconstruct cardiac DTMR images from highly undersampled k-space data. Then, always in the framework of CS theory, we introduce low rank constraint and total variation (TV) regularizations in the CS reconstruction formulation, to reconstruct cardiac DTI images from highly undersampled k-space data. Two TV regularizations are considered: local TV (i.e. classical TV) and nonlocal TV (NLTV). Finally, we propose two randomly perturbed radial undersampling schemes (golden-angle and random angle) and the optimization with low rank constraint and TV regularizations to deal with highly undersampled k-space acquisitons in cardiac DTI, and compare the proposed CS-based DTI with existing radial undersampling strategies such as uniformity-angle, randomly perturbed uniformity-angle, golden-angle, and random angle.; L’étude de la structure microscopique des fibres du coeur offre une nouvelle approche pour expliquer les maladies du coeur et pour trouver des moyens de thérapie efficaces. L’imagerie de tenseur de diffusion par résonance magnétique (DTMR) ou l’imagerie de tenseur de diffusion (DTI) fournit actuellement un outil unique pour étudier les structures tridimensionnelles (3D) de fibres cardiaques in vivo. Cependant, DTI est connu pour souffrir des temps d'acquisition longs, ce qui limite considérablement son application pratique et clinique. Les méthodes traditionnelles pour l’acquisition et la reconstruction de l’image ne peuvent pas résoudre ce problème. La motivation principale de cette thèse est alors d’étudier des techniques d'imagerie rapide en reconstruisant des images de haute qualité à partir des données fortement sous-échantillonnées. La méthode adoptée est basée sur la nouvelle théorie de l’acquisition comprimée (CS). Plus précisément, nous étudions l’utilisation de la théorie de CS pour l’imagerie par résonance magnétique (IRM) et DTI cardiaque. Tout d'abord, nous formulons la reconstruction de l’image par résonance magnétique (MR) comme un problème d'optimisation avec les contraintes de trames ajustées guidées par les données (TF) et de variation totale généralisée (TGV) dans le cadre de CS, dans lequel, le TF guidé par les données est utilisé pour apprendre de manière adaptative un ensemble de filtres à partir des données fortement sous-échantillonné afin d’obtenir une meilleure approximation parcimonieuse des images, et le TGV est dédié à régulariser de façon adaptative les régions d'image et à réduire ainsi les effets d'escalier. Ensuite, nous proposons une nouvelle méthode CS qui emploie conjointement la parcimonie et la déficience de rang pour reconstruire des images de DTMR cardiaques à partir des données de l'espace k fortement sous-échantillonnées. Puis, toujours dans le cadre de la théorie CS, nous introduisons la contrainte de rang faible et la régularisation de variation totale (TV) dans la formulation de la reconstruction par CS. Deux régularisations TV sont considérées: TV locale (i.e. TV classique) et TV non locale (NLTV). Enfin, nous proposons deux schémas de sous-échantillonnage radial aléatoire (angle d’or et angle aléatoire) et une méthode d’optimisation avec la contrainte de faible rang et la régularisation TV pour traiter des données espace k fortement sous-échantillonnées en DTI cardiaque. Enfin, nous comparons nos méthodes avec des stratégies existantes de sous-échantillonnage radial telles que l’angle uniforme, l’angle uniforme perturbé aléatoirement, l’angle d’or et l’angle aléatoire.

Today, in vitro cardiac cultures are widely exploited to investigate several aspects of the electromechanical behavior of the cardiac tissue. Thus, new forecasts may derive from modelling their properties. In particular, in this paper, we focus on the fiber architecture of cultures, i.e. on the way cellular sarcomeres are locally oriented, when they are designed to be cardiac patches. We employ a three-dimensional model to simulate the bioelectrical activity and the biomechanics of a multilayered culture made of ventricular cells and with four possible architectures consisting of: i) random fibers in all cells; ii) randomly rotating fibers among layers; iii) structurally rotating fibers from the bottom layer to the top one; iv) parallel fibers among layers. Our results suggest that the best configuration for a patch may be the architecture with structurally rotating fibers, which is the one that most approaches the anisotropic structure of the in vivo heart, thanks to its better electrical and mechanical performances.

This chapter presents the fundamental considerations in treating durability of composite materials with fibrous reinforcement. General concepts underlying irreversibility in stress–strain behavior are addressed and the associated dissipative mechanisms are discussed. Particular focus is placed on fatigue, for which a conceptual framework for interpretation of the roles of fibers, matrix, and fiber/matrix interface, introduced by the author in a 1981 paper, is described. The extension and variation of the baseline framework, called the fatigue life diagram, to general cases of loading and fiber architecture are treated. Finally, guidelines are offered for modeling changes in material response and consequent loss of functionality under different fatigue conditions.

The investigation of the micro fiber structures of the heart provides a new approach to explaining heart disease and investigating effective therapy means. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance (DTMR) imaging or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) currently provides a unique tool to image the three-dimensional (3D) fiber structures of the heart in vivo. However, DTI is known to suffer from long acquisition time, which greatly limits its practical and clinical use. Classical acquisition and reconstruction methods do not allow coping with the problem. The main motivation of this thesis is then to investigae fast imaging techniques by reconstructing high-quality images from highly undersampled data. The methodology adopted is based on the recent theory of compressed sensing (CS). More precisely, we address the use of CS for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cardiac DTI. First, we formulate the magnetic resonance (MR) image reconstruction as a problem of optimization with data-driven tight frame (TF) and total generalized variation (TGV) constraints in the framework of CS, in which the data-driven TF is used to adaptively learn a set of filters from the highly under-sampled data itself to provide a better sparse approximation of images and the TGV is devoted to regularizing adaptively image regions and thus supprressing staircase effects. Second, we propose a new CS method that employs joint sparsity and rank deficiency prior to reconstruct cardiac DTMR images from highly undersampled k-space data. Then, always in the framework of CS theory, we introduce low rank constraint and total variation (TV) regularizations in the CS reconstruction formulation, to reconstruct cardiac DTI images from highly undersampled k-space data. Two TV regularizations are considered: local TV (i.e. classical TV) and nonlocal TV (NLTV). Finally, we propose two randomly perturbed radial undersampling schemes (golden-angle and random angle) and the optimization with low rank constraint and TV regularizations to deal with highly undersampled k-space acquisitons in cardiac DTI, and compare the proposed CS-based DTI with existing radial undersampling strategies such as uniformity-angle, randomly perturbed uniformity-angle, golden-angle, and random angle., L’étude de la structure microscopique des fibres du coeur offre une nouvelle approche pour expliquer les maladies du coeur et pour trouver des moyens de thérapie efficaces. L’imagerie de tenseur de diffusion par résonance magnétique (DTMR) ou l’imagerie de tenseur de diffusion (DTI) fournit actuellement un outil unique pour étudier les structures tridimensionnelles (3D) de fibres cardiaques in vivo. Cependant, DTI est connu pour souffrir des temps d'acquisition longs, ce qui limite considérablement son application pratique et clinique. Les méthodes traditionnelles pour l’acquisition et la reconstruction de l’image ne peuvent pas résoudre ce problème. La motivation principale de cette thèse est alors d’étudier des techniques d'imagerie rapide en reconstruisant des images de haute qualité à partir des données fortement sous-échantillonnées. La méthode adoptée est basée sur la nouvelle théorie de l’acquisition comprimée (CS). Plus précisément, nous étudions l’utilisation de la théorie de CS pour l’imagerie par résonance magnétique (IRM) et DTI cardiaque. Tout d'abord, nous formulons la reconstruction de l’image par résonance magnétique (MR) comme un problème d'optimisation avec les contraintes de trames ajustées guidées par les données (TF) et de variation totale généralisée (TGV) dans le cadre de CS, dans lequel, le TF guidé par les données est utilisé pour apprendre de manière adaptative un ensemble de filtres à partir des données fortement sous-échantillonné afin d’obtenir une meilleure approximation parcimonieuse des images, et le TGV est dédié à régulariser de façon adaptative les régions d'image et à réduire ainsi les effets d'escalier. Ensuite, nous proposons une nouvelle méthode CS qui emploie conjointement la parcimonie et la déficience de rang pour reconstruire des images de DTMR cardiaques à partir des données de l'espace k fortement sous-échantillonnées. Puis, toujours dans le cadre de la théorie CS, nous introduisons la contrainte de rang faible et la régularisation de variation totale (TV) dans la formulation de la reconstruction par CS. Deux régularisations TV sont considérées: TV locale (i.e. TV classique) et TV non locale (NLTV). Enfin, nous proposons deux schémas de sous-échantillonnage radial aléatoire (angle d’or et angle aléatoire) et une méthode d’optimisation avec la contrainte de faible rang et la régularisation TV pour traiter des données espace k fortement sous-échantillonnées en DTI cardiaque. Enfin, nous comparons nos méthodes avec des stratégies existantes de sous-échantillonnage radial telles que l’angle uniforme, l’angle uniforme perturbé aléatoirement, l’angle d’or et l’angle aléatoire.

The stress-dependent material behavior of carbon fiber reinforced ceramic matrix composites (C/C–SiC) was investigated with modal acoustic emission (AE) technique. AE observation is a promising health monitoring method which provides accurate location and identification of the recorded damage-related AE events. For a better understanding and identification of different damage mechanisms C/C–SiC composites with different fiber orientations were studied. Load/unload/reload tensile tests were performed and measurements were made over the entire stress range in order to determine the stress-dependence of acoustic activity for increasing damage states. In general it was found that in C/C–SiC composites a significant damage-related increase in AE energy was observed close to the ultimate tensile stress. Also, fiber architecture dependent differences during damage accumulation in terms of total number of AE events and their typical AE energy could be determined and correlated to different damage mechanisms.

This article reports on an experimental study to evaluate the effect of fabric structures on the mechanical properties of three-dimensional (3-D) textile composites reinforced with 3-D braid, 3-D woven fabric, and 3-D woven fabric with twisted yarns. The mechanical properties are tested in uniaxial tension, compression, three-point flexure, and short-beam shear. The failure modes and mechanisms under such loading conditions are examined. While the mechanical properties and failure modes of these composites vary considerably, they are directly influenced by the fiber architecture of the perform fabrics. When more fibers are placed to strengthen the composite in a given direction, the composite could be weakened by the shift of fiber placement in some other directions. The structure–property relations of such 3-D composites are discussed in this article.

Left ventricular shape and shape change are easy to measure and their analysis has been proposed as a noninvasive method to determine myocardial anisotropy. In preparation for applying this approach to studies of rats with experimentally induced cardiac hypertrophy, the goals of this study were to describe normal shape changes during diastolic filling in the rat and to utilize a finite-element model to estimate the relative importance of three factors that determine left ventricular shape change during filling: global chamber compliance, fiber to crossfiber stiffness ratio, and fiber architecture. The results suggest that left ventricular shape change is least sensitive to fiber to cross fiber stiffness ratio, and that this will likely limit the practical utility of using shape changes to diagnose changes in myocardial anisotropy.

Analytical models for textile materials are typically unit cell abstractions, which are incapable of assessing the effects of common fiber architecture defects. Experimental characterization of common defects is thought to be a way to assess the relative importance of a feature for inclusion in more complex analytical models. This paper addresses moire interferometry experiments on idealized textile samples of decreasing abstraction (increasing reality of local features). Since interferometry measures displacements (strains) at a free surface, one must be careful to separate the effects due to textile architecture from those due to free-edge effects. Moire interferometry techniques are shown to be ineffective for testing edges (surfaces which include interlaminar boundaries) of most real-world (non-idealized) textiles due to the inability to characterize the mechanical response due to local variations in microstructure. Thus, there is a need for fabricating samples of a very idealized nature.

The focus of this article is the investigation of the electrical behavior of the normal myocardium following the delivery of high-strength defibrillation shocks. To achieve its goal, the study employs a complex three-dimensional defibrillation model of a slice of the canine heart characterized with realistic geometry and fiber architecture. Defibrillation shocks of various strengths and electrode configurations are delivered to the model preparation in which a sustained ventricular tachycardia is induced. Instead of analyzing the post-shock electrical events as progressions of transmembrane potential maps, the study examines the evolution of the postshock phase singularities (PSs) which represent the organizing centers of reentry. The simulation results demonstrate that the shock induces numerous PSs the majority of which vanish before the reentrant wavefronts associated with them complete half of a single rotation. Failed shocks are characterized with one or more PSs that survive the initial period of PS annihilation to establish a new postshock arrhythmia. The increase in shock strength results in an overall decrease of the number of PSs that survive over 200 ms after the end of the shock; however, the exact behavior of the PSs is strongly dependent on the shock electrode configuration. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

During respiration, abdominal muscles experience loads, not only in the muscle-fiber direction but also transverse to the fibers. We wondered whether the abdominal muscles exhibit a fiber architecture that is similar to the diaphragm muscle, and, therefore, we chose two adjacent muscles: the internal oblique (IO), with about the same muscle length as the diaphragm, and the transverse abdominis (TA), which is twice as long as the diaphragm. First, we used acetylcholinesterase staining to examine the distribution of neuromuscular junctions on both surfaces of the TA and IO muscles in six dogs. A maximum of four irregular bands of neuromuscular junctions crossed the IO, and as many as six bands crossed the TA, which is consistent with a discontinuous fiber architecture. In six additional dogs, we examined fiber architecture of these muscles by microdissecting 103 fascicles from the IO and 139 from the TA. Each fascicle contained between 20 and 30 muscle fibers. The mean length of nonspanning fibers (NSF) ranged from 2.8 ± 0.3 cm in the IO to 4.3 ± 0.5 cm in the TA, and the mean length of spanning fibers ranged from 4.3 ± 0.5 cm in the IO to 7.6 ± 1.4 cm in the TA. NSF accounted for 89.6 ± 1.5% of all fibers dissected from the IO and 99.1 ± 0.2% of all fibers dissected from the TA. The percentage of NSF with both ends tapered was 6.2 ± 1.0 and 41.0 ± 2.3% for IO and TA, respectively. These data show that fiber architecture in either IO or TA is discontinuous, with much more short-tapered fibers in the TA than in the IO. When abdominal muscles are submaximally activated, as during both normal expiration and maximal expiratory efforts, muscle force could be transmitted to the cell membrane and to the extracellular intramuscular connective tissue by shear linkage, presumably via structural transmembrane proteins.