In this paper, methods of differential geometry and properties of Lie groups are used to show that in any conservative system subjected to a non zero external load, if one examines motions in SE(3), the special Euclidean group of rigid body motions in three dimensions, the resulting 6 ́6 stiffness matrix is asymmetric in any inertial (fixed) or body-fixed reference frame. We prove that in any su...

A novel element with arbitrary domain shape by using decoupled scaled boundary finite element (DSBFEM) is proposed for eigenvalue analysis of 2D vibrating rods with different boundary conditions. Within the proposed element scheme, the mode shapes of vibrating rods with variable boundary conditions are modelled and results are plotted. All possible conditions for the rods ends are incorporated ...

Achieving adequate force control is an important problem in the application of robotics technology to manufacturing tasks. This is particularly true for assembly tasks that require constrained interaction between a robotic manipulator and a workpart. One approach to this problem is the use of passive compliance. A number of methods have been proposed for designing a passive compliance mechanism...

Patients with mammographically dense breast tissue have a greatly increased risk of developing breast cancer. Dense breast tissue contains more stromal collagen, which contributes to increased matrix stiffness and alters normal cellular responses. Stromal collagen within and surrounding mammary tumors is frequently aligned and reoriented perpendicular to the tumor boundary. We have shown that a...

Cantilevered or suspended nanowires show promise for force or mass sensing applications due to their small mass, high force sensitivity and high frequency bandwidth. To use these as quantitative sensors, their bending stiffness or mass must be calibrated experimentally, often using thermally driven vibration. However, this can be difficult because nanowires are slightly asymmetric, which result...

Nonenzymatic glycation of connective tissue matrix proteins is a major contributor to the pathology of diabetes and aging. Previously the author and colleagues have shown that nonenzymatic glycation significantly enhances the matrix stability in the Achilles tendon (Reddy et al., 2002, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 399, 174-180). The present study was designed to gain further insight into glycation-...

Leaky guided modes propagating along embedded fibers in a composite material can be used for characterizing the fiber-matrix interface. This principle can be applied to real composites containing small-diameter fibers by using laser interferometric detection of very fine lateral resolution on the order of a few microns. The main purpose of this paper is to develop the analytical tools needed to...

We analyze and compare different techniques to set up the stiffness matrix in the hp-version of the finite element method. The emphasis is on methods for second order elliptic problems posed on meshes including triangular and tetrahedral elements. The polynomial degree may be variable. We present a generalization of the Spectral Galerkin Algorithm of [7], where the shape functions are adapted t...

Hydrogels are widely used as in vitro culture models to mimic 3D cellular microenvironments. The stiffness of the extracellular matrix is known to influence cell phenotype, inspiring work toward unraveling the role of stiffness on cell behavior using hydrogels. However, in many biological processes such as embryonic development, wound healing, and tumorigenesis, the microenvironment is highly d...

In this study, the static stability of the grasp of a single planar object is analyzed using the potential energy method. Inprevious papers, we considered cases in which individual fingers were replaced by a multidimensional translational spring model, inwhich each finger is constructed with prismatic joints. Human hands and the most developed mechanical hands are constructed withre...