Application of the Finite Cell Method to patient-specific femur simulations

Standard methods for predicting the mechanical response of a human femur bone from quantitative computer-tomography (qCT) scans are classically based on the h-version of the finite element method. These methods are often limited in accuracy and efficiency due to the need for segmentation and the slow convergence rate. With the Finite Cell Method (FCM) a high-order fictitious domain method has been developed that overcomes the aforementioned problems and provides accurate results when compared to high-order finite element methods and experimental results. Herein the FCM applied to the analysis of a patient-specific femur is presented. The femur model is determined based on qCT-scans and the elastic response under compression is presented in terms of strains and displacements. The results are compared with a p-FE analysis and validated by results from an in-vitro test of the modeled femur. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Reduced Redlich–Kister functions and interaction studies of Dehpa + Petrofin binary mixtures at 298.15 K

In order to understand the effect of different types of interactions in liquid mixtures by applying the correlative reduced Redlich–Kister equation, excess molar volume, excess dielectric constant, deviation in refractive index, deviation in molar refraction and molar polarisation were calculated at the temperature 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure P = 101.325 kPa for the binary mixture Petrofin (1) + Dehpa (2). The experimentally determined data of density and refractive index which were published earlier were used for these calculations. The results were interpreted in terms of structural effects of the solvents.     

Groups with some restrictions on non-Baer subgroups

Ricerche di Matematica - It is proved that if G is an $$\mathfrak {X}$$ -group of infinite rank whose proper subgroups of infinite rank are Baer groups, then so are all proper subgroups of G, where...     

FE simulation of human trachea swallowing movement before and after the implantation of an endoprothesis

Background and aims

Nowadays interventions associated to the implantation of tracheal stents in patients with airway pathologies, are a very common surgery that in the post-operating period can bear many problems such as migration of the stent, development of granulation tissue at the edges of the stent with overgrowth of the tracheal lumen, or accumulation of secretions inside the prosthesis. Among the movements that trachea carries out, swallowing seems to drive harmful consequences for the tracheal tissues surrounding the prosthesis. In this work a finite element model of a human trachea has been developed and used to analyze its behavior during swallowing.

Material and methods

In the present work, a complete human trachea finite element model based on experimental study was developed. The real swallowing movement of two patients before and after the implantation of Dumon prosthesis was used to simulate and then analyze the effect that the tracheal implant has on the stress response of the trachea and on the physiological capacity to swallow.

Results

In both studied cases with an implanted Dumon prosthesis, patients showed a decrease of their ability to swallow; one lost 26.4% and the other one 18.9% of their tracheal ascending movements. Besides, the prosthesis implantation caused an increase of the stresses located in the superior contact border between the tracheal wall and the prosthesis. It could be seen that the resulting force equivalent to the elevating tracheal muscle forces for degluting, was around F = 13.5 N for the two patients both before and after the stent implantation.

Conclusion

The implantation of a Dumon prosthesis modifies the mechanical response of the trachea altering its stress distribution and its ascending movement.     

Global-in-time existence of solutions to the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree–Fock equations: A sufficient condition

The multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree–Fock (MCTDHF for short) system is an approximation of the linear many-particle Schrödinger equation with a binary interaction potential by nonlinear “one-particle” equations. MCTDHF methods are widely used for numerical calculations of the dynamics of few-electron systems in quantum physics and quantum chemistry, but the time-dependent case still poses serious open problems for the analysis, e.g. in the sense that global-in-time existence of solutions is not proved yet. In this letter we present the first result ever where global existence is proved under a condition on the initial datum that it has to be somewhat close to the “ground state”.     

Adsorption Strategy of Plasmid DNA Nanoparticulate: Preparative Purification by a Simple Custom Expanded Bed Column

This paper summarizes the critical examination of the hydrodynamic performance of the NBG expanded bed contactor operated with streamline-DEAE adsorbent under various operating conditions for expanded bed adsorption of plasmid DNA nanoparticles from alkaline lysate. The purification process is not RNase-free. In this study, a rapid and efficient scaleable purification protocol obtaining, plasmid DNA nanoparticles (average size of 40 nm) with a high purity level for use as therapeutic agent in customized NBG expanded bed columns was developed. This technique allows efficient levels of binding to the column media and vector purification without centrifugation or filtration steps. Residence time distribution (RTD) studies were exploited to achieve the optimal condition of plasmid DNA nanoparticle (pDNA) recovery upon anion exchange adsorbent in this contactor. In addition, the purification experiments were carried out in the expanded bed columns with settle bed height of 6.0 ± 0.2 cm. NaCl gradient elution enabled the isolation of supercoiled plasmid from low-Mr RNA, cDNA and plasmid variants. Subsequently dynamic binding capacity of the adsorbent was calculated while these values decreased with increase in flow velocity. Moreover, the effect of pH upon the performance of this recovery process and the feedstock volume upon the expanded bed anion exchange purification was investigated. The results demonstrated that separation of low-Mr RNA from plasmid DNA isoforms in the range of pH between 5.5 and 7.5 is achievable in this column. The yield of recovery of pDNA in optimal condition was higher than 88.51% which was a superior result in one-pass frontal chromatography. The generic application of simple customized NBG expanded bed column and its potential for the purification and recovery of plasmid DNA as a nanoparticulate bioproduct is strongly discussed.     

Copper nanoparticles incorporated on a mesoporous carbon nitride,an excellent catalyst in the Huisgen 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition and N‐arylation of N‐heterocycles

Cu nanoparticles with average particles size around 10 nm were incorporated on the surface of a mesoporous carbon nitride support. The XRD and N₂ adsorption isotherms show that it maintains a hexagonal mesoporous structure with a high surface area (600.03 m² g^?1). The embedded Cu nanoparticles exhibit extremely high catalytic performance in two different kinds of organic reactions. The Huisgen 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition and N‐arylation of N‐heterocycles were all accomplished.     

Clay‐Na as a sorbent for the extraction of anti‐inflammatory compounds in water samples

In this work, clay‐Na particles are used as the adsorbent for the solid‐phase extraction of acidic compounds. The novel sorbent under study is based on high‐specific surface area, cation‐exchange capacity designed specifically to offer ion‐exchange properties with the goal being to selectively extract a group of acidic compounds. The effects of the extraction parameters including extraction elution solvent, sample volume and pH. In optimum conditions, the repeatability for one fiber (n = 3), expressed as % relative standard deviation, was between 0.3 and 4.3% for the acid compounds. The detection limits for the studied acidic compounds were between 0.1–0.6 μg/L. The developed method offers the advantages of being simple to use and having a low cost of equipment.     

L 2 -discrete hedging in a continuous-time model

In the setting of the Black-Scholes option pricing market model, the seller of a European option must trade continuously in time. This is, of course, unrealistic from the practical viewpoint. He must then follow a discrete trading strategy. However, it does not seem natural to hedge at deterministic times regardless of moves of the spot price. In this paper, it is supposed that the hedger trades at a fixed number N of rebalancing (stopping) times. The problem (P^N) of selecting the optimal hedging times and ratios which allow one to minimize the variance of replication error is considered. For given N rebalancing, the discrete optimal hedging strategy is identified for this criterion. The problem (P^N) is then transformed into a multidimensional optimal stopping problem with boundary constraints. The restrictive problem (P^N _BS) of selecting the optimal rebalancing for the same criterion is also considered when the ratios are given by Black-Scholes. Using the vector-valued optimal stopping theory, the existence is shown of an optimal sequence of rebalancing for each one of the problems (P^N) and (P^N _BS). It also shown BS that they are asymptotically equivalent when the number of rebalances becomes large and an optimality criterion is stated for the problem (P^N). The same study is made when more realistic restrictions are imposed on the hedging times. In the special case of two rebalances, the problem (P² _BS) is solved and the problems (P² _BS) and (P²) are transformed into two optimal stopping problems. This transformation is useful for numerical purposes.