Modelling procedures and properties of rubber in rolling contact

Rubber covered cylinders in rolling contact are studied in two cases; rolling over a flat surface and rolling over a groove. In the first case, two different finite element procedures are compared for the purpose of investigating if computational savings can be made when taking amplitude dependent effects into account by using a modified viscoelastic steady state rolling procedure. This procedure is compared with using a more expensive overlay method with an elastoplastic-viscoelastic material model. The two procedures and material models are shown two give equal results in the flat surface case. For the case of rolling over a groove, it is shown how the non-linear dynamic material characteristics of the rubber layer influence the rolling contact. The groove filling capacity of the rubber is shown to be strongly dependent on the material model. It is shown that amplitude dependent rubber materials have better ability to fill out contact surface irregularities such as a groove.     

Modification of σ‐Donor Properties of Terminal Carbide Ligands Investigated Through Carbide–Iodine Adduct Formation

The terminal carbide ligands in [(Cy₃P)₂X₂Ru≡C] complexes (X=halide or pseudohalide) coordinate molecular iodine, affording charge‐transfer complexes rather than oxidation products. Crystallographic and vibrational spectroscopic data show the perturbations of iodine to vary with the auxiliary ligand sphere on ruthenium, demonstrating the σ‐donor properties of carbide complexes to be tunable.     

Topology optimization of 3D shell structures with porous infill

This paper presents a 3D topology optimization approach for designing shell structures with a porous or void interior. It is shown that the resulting structures are significantly more robust towards load perturbations than completely solid structures optimized under the same condi-tions. The study indicates that the potential benefit of using porous structures is higher for lower total volume fractions. Compared to earlier work dealing with 2D topology opti-mization, we found several new effects in 3D problems. Most notably, the opportunity for designing closed shells signifi-cantly improves the performance of porous structures due to the sandwich effect. Furthermore, the paper introduces improved filter boundary conditions to ensure a completely uniform coating thickness at the design domain boundary.     

Negative-pressure wound therapy induces endothelial progenitor cell mobilization in diabetic patients with foot infection or skin defects

Non healing chronic wounds are difficult to treat in patients with diabetes and can result in severe medical problems for these patients and for society. Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has been adopted to treat intractable chronic wounds and has been reported to be effective. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of this treatment have not been elucidated. To assess the vasculogenic effect of NPWT, we evaluated the systemic mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) during NPWT. Twenty-two of 29 consecutive patients who presented at the clinic of Seoul National Universty Hospital between December 2009 and November 2010 who underwent NPWT for diabetic foot infections or skin ulcers were included in this study. Peripheral blood samples were taken before NPWT (pre-NPWT) and 7–14 days after the initiation of NPWT (during-NPWT). Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis showed that the number of cells in EPC-enriched fractions increased after NPWT, and the numbers of EPC colony forming units (CFUs) significantly increased during NPWT. We believe that NPWT is useful for treating patients with diabetic foot infections and skin ulcers, especially when these conditions are accompanied by peripheral arterial insufficiency. The systemic mobilization of EPCs during NPWT may be a mechanism for healing intractable wounds in diabetic patients with foot infections or skin defects via the formation of increased granulation tissue with numerous small blood vessels.     

Lipases,liposomes and lipid-prodrugs

Colloidal and interfacial phenomena lie at the core of drug formulation, drug delivery, as well as drug binding and action at diseased sites, e.g., in cancer therapy. We review a class of liposome-based drug-delivery systems whose design and functional properties are intimately controlled by the stability of sub-micron structures, lipid-bilayer interfaces, and interfacially activated enzymes that can be exploited to target and deliver drugs. Moreover these drugs can themselves be special lipid molecules in the form of lipid prodrugs that both form the liposomal carrier as well as the substrate for endogenously upregulated lipases that turn the prodrugs into potent drugs precisely at the diseased site.