Coupling piezoceramics with civil-structures represents an important approach for the development of cost-effective, fully automated damage detection systems. Such systems are particularly suited integration autonomic technologies self-sensing and self-healing cementitious members. Here we present a novel study investigating both effect (cracking) crack-closure, on electromechanical response mo...

This work demonstrates the feasibility of using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for selective ablation of renal tissue through laparoscopic procedures. Two laparoscopic HIFU probe prototypes were developed and tested. Probe 1: It is a hand-held probe with no integrated ultrasound imaging capability. It consists of two focused rectangular HIFU piezoceramic crystals mounted on a stainles...