This study aimed to provide a simulation model for virtual ablation of soft tissue, focusing on simulating soft tissue deformation and destruction. The authors applied two hypotheses, the maximum shear stress hypothesis and the crack stress hypothesis, to simulate soft tissue rupture progression based on stress distribution. This combination of hypotheses realizes dynamic definition of the dire...

This paper presents the fracture analyses conducted on the FAA/NASA stiffened and unstiffened panels using the STAGS (STructural Analysis of General Shells) code with the critical crack-tip-opening angle (CTOA) fracture criterion. The STAGS code with the “plane-strain” core option was used in all analyses. Previous analyses of wide, flat panels have shown that the high-constraint conditions aro...

Widely used 1-D guided wave phased arrays can only scan within 0°~180° range due to the intrinsic structural limitation. To overcome this limitation, multiple installations are unavoidable. However, by using 2-D configuration phased arrays, large structural interrogation can be conducted from a single location with a single scanning covering the entire 0°~360° range through omnidirectional beam...

BACKGROUND Little is known about crack injection and its temporal trends in North America. This article describes the extent of crack injection and examines temporal trends among injection drug users (IDUs) recruited from 2003 to 2010 in the SurvUDI network. METHODS IDUs who injected recently (past 6 months) were recruited in harm reduction and health programs in eastern central Canada. Trend...

After years of service, bridges could lose their expected functions. Considering the significant number and adverse inspecting environment, urgent requirement for timely efficient inspection solutions, such as computer vision techniques, have been attractive in recent years, especially those bridge components with poor accessibility. In this paper, a lightweight procedure apparent-defect detect...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the situation regarding crack cocaine use in the city of São Paulo, along with the sociodemographic profile of its users. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES Qualitative ethnographic study carried out with an intentional sample of crack cocaine users (n=45) and former users (n=17). The participants were recruited by means of the chain sampling method and they underwent a semi-...

Crack-free inverse opals exhibit a sharply defined threshold wettability for infiltration that has enabled their use as colourimetric indicators for liquid identification. Here we demonstrate direct and continuous photo-tuning of this wetting threshold in inverse opals whose surfaces are functionalized with a polymer doped with azobenzene chromophores.

AIM The study investigates patterns of cocaine powder and crack cocaine use of different groups in nine European cities. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS Multi-centre cross-sectional study conducted in Barcelona, Budapest, Dublin, Hamburg, London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Zurich. Data were collected by structured face-to-face interviews. The sample comprises 1,855 cocaine users out of three subg...

Crack cocaine has been a major public health problem in Brazil due to the individual and social harms and risks deriving from its use. This article aims to assess the characteristics of drug scenes in the capital and Midwest of Santa Catarina state. The project used the Time-Location Sampling. Between January and June 2011, 41 crack cocaine scenes were mapped in capital of Santa Catarina, where...