In Vivo Biological Behavior of Polymer Scaffolds of Natural Origin in the Bone Repair Process

Autologous bone grafts, used mainly in extensive bone loss, are considered the gold standard treatment in regenerative medicine, but still have limitations mainly in relation to the amount of bone available, donor area, morbidity and creation of additional surgical area. This fact encourages tissue engineering in relation to the need to develop new biomaterials, from sources other than the individual himself. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of an elastin and collagen matrix on the bone repair process in critical size defects in rat calvaria. The animals (Wistar rats, n = 30) were submitted to a surgical procedure to create the bone defect and were divided into three groups: Control Group (CG, n = 10), defects filled with blood clot; E24/37 Group (E24/37, n = 10), defects filled with bovine elastin matrix hydrolyzed for 24 h at 37 °C and C24/25 Group (C24/25, n = 10), defects filled with porcine collagen matrix hydrolyzed for 24 h at 25 °C. Macroscopic and radiographic analyses demonstrated the absence of inflammatory signs and infection. Microtomographical 2D and 3D images showed centripetal bone growth and restricted margins of the bone defect. Histologically, the images confirmed the pattern of bone deposition at the margins of the remaining bone and without complete closure by bone tissue. In the morphometric analysis, the groups E24/37 and C24/25 (13.68 ± 1.44; 53.20 ± 4.47, respectively) showed statistically significant differences in relation to the CG (5.86 ± 2.87). It was concluded that the matrices used as scaffolds are biocompatible and increase the formation of new bone in a critical size defect, with greater formation in the polymer derived from the intestinal serous layer of porcine origin (C24/25).     

Oxidative Epigallocatechin Gallate Coating on Polymeric Substrates for Bone Tissue Regeneration

Plant derived flavonoids have not been well explored in tissue engineering applications due to difficulties in efficient formulations with biomaterials for controlled presentation. Here, the authors report that surface coating of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) on polymeric substrates including poly (L‐lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers can be performed via oxidative polymerization of EGCG in the presence of cations, enabling regulation of biological functions of multiple cell types implicated in bone regeneration. EGCG coating on the PLLA nanofiber promotes osteogenic differentiation of adipose‐derived stem cells (ADSCs) and is potent to suppress adipogenesis of ADSCs while significantly reduces osteoclastic maturation of murine macrophages. Moreover, EGCG coating serves as a protective layer for ADSCs against oxidative stress caused by hydrogen peroxide. Finally, the in vivo implantation of EGCG‐coated nanofibers into a mouse calvarial defect model significantly promotes the bone regeneration (61.52 ± 28.10%) as compared to defect (17.48 ± 11.07%). Collectively, the results suggest that EGCG coating is a simple bioinspired surface modification of polymeric biomaterials and importantly can thus serve as a promising interface for tuning activities of multiple cell types associated with bone fracture healing.     

托卡马克工程试验混合堆等离子体性能的等值线图分析

本文简要叙述托卡马克工程试验混合堆等离子体概念设计的物理基础,对等离子体性能进行了等值线图(Plasma Operation Contour)分析。根据工程试验混合堆的要求,得出一组等离子体参数。     

Interface-related effects on confined excitons in GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs single quantum wells

Confined excitons in non-abrupt GaAs/Al_xGa_1−xAs single quantum wells are studied. The graded interfaces are described taking into account fluctuations in their thickness a and positioning with respect to the abrupt interface picture. Numerical results for confined (0,0),(1,1) and (0,2) excitons in GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As quantum wells show that while the interfacial fluctuations produce small changes (<0.5 meV) in the exciton binding energies, the confined exciton energies can be red- or blue-shifted as much as 25 meV for wells with mean width of 50 Å and 2 ML wide interfaces.     

Exciton energy broadening due to interface fluctuations in ZnSe/ZnSxSe1−x strained quantum wells

The excitonic properties of a ZnSe/ZnS_xSe_1−x strained quantum well (QW) are calculated taking into account interface effects. Numerical results obtained with ZnS_0.18Se_0.82/ZnSe QWs show that graded interfaces can be responsible for a strong broadening of excitonic spectra.     

Comparison of two models for managing reliability growth during product design

Relying on reliability growth testing to improve system designis neither usually effective nor efficient. Instead it is importantto design in reliability. This requires models to estimate reliabilitygrowth in the design that can be used to assess whether goalreliability will be achieved within the target timescale forthe design process. Many models have been developed for analysisof reliability growth on test, but there has been much lessattention given to reliability growth in design. This paperdescribes and compares two models: one motivated by the practicalengineering process; the other by extending the reasoning ofstatistical reliability growth modelling. Both models are referencedin the recently revised edition of international standard IEC61164. However, there has been no reported evaluation of theirproperties. Therefore, this paper explores the commonalitiesand differences between these models through an assessment oftheir logic and their application to an industrial example.Recommendations are given for the use of reliability growthmodels to aid management of the design process and to informproduct development.     

彩票发行方案的合理性评价

本文根据目前常见的彩票销售规则及相应的奖金设置方案，综合分析了高项奖奖金额和低项奖中奖率对彩民的吸引力等因素，将发行方案的合理性问题归结为发行方案对彩民的吸引力上，引入了表示彩民心理趋向的偏好系数，构造了吸引力函数，同时综合考虑了封顶值等因素，对现行常见的29种彩票发行方案进行了综合评价。     

Database reverse engineering: From requirements to CARE tools

This paper analyzes the requirements that CASE tools should meet for effective database reverse engineering (DBRE), and proposes a general architecture for data-centered applications reverse engineering CASE environments. First, the paper describes a generic DBMS-independent DBRE methodology, then it analyzes the main characteristics of DBRE activities in order to collect a set of desirable requirements. Finally, it describes DB-MAIN, an operational CASE tool developed according to these requirements. The main features of this tool that are described in this paper are its unique generic specification model, its repository, its transformation toolkit, its user interface, the text processors, the assistants, the methodological control and its functional extensibility. Finally, the paper describes five real-world projects in which the methodology and the CASE tool were applied. This is a heavily revised and extended version of “Requirements for Information System Reverse Engineering Support” by J.-L. Hainaut, V. Englebert, J. Henrard, J.-M. Hick, D. Roland, which first appeared in the Proceedings of the Second Working Conference on Reverse Engineering, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 136–145, July 1995. This paper presents some results of the DB-MAIN project. This project is partially supported by the Région Wallonne, the European Union, and by a consortium comprising ACEC-OSI (Be), ARIANE-II (Be), Banque UCL (Lux), BBL (Be), Centre de recherche public H. Tudor (Lux), CGER (Be), Cockerill-Sambre (Be), CONCIS (Fr), D'Ieteren (Be), DIGITAL, EDF (Fr), EPFL (CH), Groupe S (Be), IBM, OBLOG Software (Port), ORIGIN (Be), Ville de Namur (Be), Winterthur (Be), 3 Suisses (Be). The DB-Process subproject is supported by the Communauté Fran?aise de Belgique.     

Investigation of annealing effects on the structural, magnetic and transport properties of Co/GaAs(0 0 1) thin films

Present paper deals with the structural, magnetic and transport studies of as-deposited as well as annealed Co/GaAs(0 0 1) thin film at different temperatures. The X-ray diffraction measurements show oriented growth of as-deposited Co film in the hcp (0 0 2) direction. However, the sample annealed at higher temperatures shows formation of ternary Co₂GaAs phase at the interface. Corresponding magnetic and transport measurements show decrement in magnetization and resistivity with annealing temperatures. The observed reductions in magnetization and resistivity values are mainly attributed to the formation of ternary Co₂GaAs phase at the interface.