During growth and development, the skin expands to cover the growing skeleton and soft tissues by constantly responding to the intrinsic forces of underlying skeletal growth as well as to the extrinsic mechanical forces from body movements and external supports. Mechanical forces can be perceived by two types of skin receptors: (1) cellular mechanoreceptors/mechanosensors, such as the cytoskele...

The surface of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibres contains embedded silica bodies or protrusions. The mechanical contribution of the protrusions towards the integrity of the fibres is still not clearly investigated. In this work, 2D and 3D finite element simulations on the surface and cross section of the fibres, respectively, were performed. The information for the models was obtained from scan...

Dry-snow slab avalanches initiate from a failure in a weak snow layer below a cohesive slab. Snow is considered as a porous ice structure, and the strength distribution of the single elements of this structure, i.e. grains and bonds between grains, shows a high degree of disorder. On the bond or microstructural level, the failure process is believed to start if the fracturing of bonds between s...

Inspired by the adhesion mechanisms of several animal species such as geckos, beetles and flies, several efforts in designing and fabricating surface engineering strategies have been made recently to mimic the adhesive and frictional behaviour of biological foot pads. An important feature of such biological adhesion systems is the ability to switch between strong attachment and easy detachment,...

The anterior byssal retractor muscle (ABRM) of the bivalve Mytilus edulis shows a prolonged tonic contraction, called the catch state. To investigate the catch mechanism, details of which still remain obscure, we studied the mechanical responses of ABRM fibres to quick increases in load applied during maximum active isometric force (P(0)) generation and during the catch state. The mechanical re...

The mechanical stability of the culms of monocotyledonous bamboos is highly attributed to the proper embedding of the stiff fibre caps of the vascular bundles into the soft parenchymatous matrix. Owing to lack of a vascular cambium, bamboos show no secondary thickening growth that impedes geometrical adaptations to mechanical loads and increases the necessity of structural optimization at the m...

The aortic arch and the descending aorta in the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) are structurally and mechanically very different from comparable vessels in other mammals. Although the external diameter of the whale's descending thoracic aorta (approximately 12 cm) is similar to that predicted by scaling relationships for terrestrial mammals, the wall thickness:diameter ratio in the whale (0.0...

Repair success for injuries to the flexor tendon in the hand is often limited by the in vivo behaviour of the suture used for repair. Common problems associated with the choice of suture material include increased risk of infection, foreign body reactions, and inappropriate mechanical responses, particularly decreases in mechanical properties over time. Improved suture materials are therefore n...

Light microscopic analysis of the mural structure of the common carotid artery (CCA), external carotid artery (ECA) and occipital artery (OA) in Lori Bakhtiari sheep and goats revealed variability in the average values of vascular diameter and the thickness of the intimal plus medial coats and adventitial coat. Based on the histological characteristics and organization of connective tissue fibr...

In spite of their popularity in fulfilling aesthetic requirements, plastic brackets still present some disadvantages because of their low elastic modulus, decreased fracture toughness, and reduced wear resistance. Fibre-reinforced composites are well established in dentistry and consist of a polymer matrix in which reinforcing fibres are embedded. Stress is transferred from the polymer matrix t...