The paper proposes and develops a novel smart ER microactuator with inherent position feedback mechanism. The microactuator consists of a pair of movable and fixed parallel plate electrodes with variable gap length and an upstream restrictor, and ERF (electro-rheological fluid) is supplied as a working fluid. By applying voltage to the electrodes, with the increased pressure drop due to ERF vis...

Phase transitions in Li-ion electrode materials during (dis)charge are decisive for battery performance, limiting high-rate capabilities and playing a crucial role in the cycle life of Li-ion batteries. However, the difficulty to probe the phase nucleation and growth in individual grains is hindering fundamental understanding and progress. Here we use synchrotron microbeam diffraction to disclo...

OBJECTIVE To determine, by means of comparative biomechanical tests, whether greater compressive load resistance and flexion is presented by 95° angled blade plates or by dynamic condylar screws (DCS), and to correlate the failure type presented during the tests with each type of plate. METHODS Sixty-five porcine femurs were subjected to 1 cm medial wedge osteotomy, in the metaphysis, to simu...

The use of allograft struts and cerclage wire, possibly augmented by plate fixation, for the treatment of Vancouver type-B1 peri-prosthetic fractures around a total hip replacement has been strongly advocated. We examined our results using plate fixation without allograft struts and compared them with the results of the use of struts alone or when combined with plate fixation. Of 20 consecutive...

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device that converts organic matter to electricity using microorganisms as the biocatalyst. Most MFCs contain two electrodes separated into one or two chambers that are operated as a completely mixed reactor. In this study, a flat plate MFC (FPMFC) was designed to operate as a plug flow reactor (no mixing) using a combined electrode/proton exchange membrane (PEM...

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is known to be generated in Photosystem II (PSII) via enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways. Detection of H2O2 by different spectroscopic techniques has been explored, however its sensitive detection has always been a challenge in photosynthetic research. During the recent past, fluorescence probes such as Amplex Red (AR) has been used but is known to either lack specifi...

The aim of this paper is to indicate the Electrostatic Treatment – EST (capacitive effect) as a cancer therapy and the studies that were be done by our research group using Electromagnetic Field Theory to explain the effects over the tumors. EST is a original, not expensive and non invasive cancer therapy which consists in to apply on a tumor continuos (dc) voltage (up to 3,000 V) across two el...

Abstract. The Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) is a typical manual process with many dangerous application for the welder (pipe hot tapping, underwater welding, etc.). The process robotization seems to be great for safety associated with the improvement of weld quality and repeatability. This work presents a methodology developed for real time trajectory generation for the robotic SMAW. In thi...

A three-layer poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) electrophoresis microchip integrated with Pt microelectrodes for contactless conductivity detection is presented. A 50 μm-thick PMMA film is used as the insulating layer and placed between the channel plate (containing the microchannel) and the electrode plate (containing the microelectrode). The three-layer structure facilitates the achievement o...

Ozone is well established as an important oxidising agent in many industrial applications and the high-voltage pulsed streamer discharge technique has emerged as an efficient method for its production. The paper investigates the parameters that are important in this process, including the magnitude of the applied pulse voltage, the air flow rate and the electrode dimensions and spacing, when us...