Physiologically relevant models of wound healing are essential for understanding the biology of connective tissue repair and healing. They can also be used to identify key cellular processes and matrix characteristics critical for the design of soft tissue grafts. Modeling the various stages of repair post tendon injury, polymer meshes of varying fiber diameter (nano-1 (390 nm) < nano-2 (740 nm...

Optical MEMS found various applications over the last years due to the rapidly increasing data rates in optical networks. As standard single-mode fibers are used, the required alignment tolerances are below 1 μm for optical fiber. The assembly and reliability of MOEMS devices requires increasing attention. Additionally, the trend is going from single-functionality devices to more complex subsys...

Coherent Laser Radar Receiver (CLRR) typically employs high-quality bulk optics to collect and direct light at the photodetector plane. Collection of the back-scattered light from an optically-diffused target requires a large aperture area but it is limited by the atmospheric coherence length. Combining the local laser oscillator (LO) and the received optical signal at the photodetector require...

To evaluate the effects of nontransmural ischemia on epicardial contractile function, we implanted sonomicrometers in 15 open-chest, anesthetized (halothane) dogs. One cylindrical crystal (radiating ultrasound 360 degrees) was used as a transmitter for three conventional flat plate crystals arrayed to measure epicardial segment shortening along three different axes that were deviated 0 degree (...

Native tissue is naturally comprised of highly-ordered cell-matrix assemblies in a multi-hierarchical way, and the nano/submicron alignment of fibrous matrix is found to be significant in supporting cellular functionalization. In this study, a self-designed wet-spinning device appended with a rotary receiving pool was used to continuously produce shear-patterned hydrogel microfibers with aligne...

We demonstrate an experimental setup utilizing fiber-optic detection and coupling of scattered light into existing photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) and Fabry–Perot (F–P) interferometry systems. The performance of the fiber coupled F–P as a high-resolution interferometer is considered in detail. Several practical issues and limitations are discussed, including the selection of optic and fib...

Disease and injury to human tissue, especially musculoskeletal tissue, is a prevalent concern to the public, affecting millions of people each year. Current treatment options involving autografts and allografts are hindered by limited availability and risk of immunogenicity, respectively. In order to overcome these limitations, a transdisiplinary regenerative engineering strategy has emerged wi...

The organization of the major polymers in the wood fiber has a large impact on the properties of the structure. Numerous studies have been devoted to the cellulose microfibril arrangement, providing the longitudinal strength of the fiber, while less is known regarding the structural organization of other components, such as hemicelluloses and lignin. For the hemicelluloses, as being part of the...

Image fiber bundles are employed in fusion experiments and other high radiation environments where they are used to transmit an image from an unprotected objective lens to a radiation shielded camera. Due to their exposure to neutron and gamma radiation the transmission of these expensive image fiber bundles can rapidly degrade, especially at the shorter visible wavelengths, and require costly ...

In contrast to the more common Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) allows superior delineation of angular microstructures of brain white matter, and makes possible multiple-fiber modeling of each voxel for better characterization of brain connectivity. However, the complex orientation information afforded by HARDI makes registration of HARDI images ...