Optimization problems have numerous real-life applications in science and engineering. The engineering design are usually subject to various constraints. Although many state-of-the-art metaheuristic optimization algorithms been developed during the last decades, these require additional constraint-handling mechanisms cope with constrained problems. Therefore, selecting a suitable mechanism requ...

Here are our meditation on the art of attracting, keeping, and helping patients. It contains some sections including “Be professional”, “Be reassuring”, “Be confident”, “Be informative”, “Be smart” and “Be responsive”.

Although patient handlers suffer from low-back injuries at an alarming rate worldwide, there has been limited research quantifying the risk for the specific tasks performed by the patient handlers. The current study used both a comprehensive evaluation system (low-back disorder risk model) and theoretical model (biomechanical spinal loading model) to evaluate risk of LBD of 17 participants (12 ...

Tissue engineering of clinically applicable dermo-epidermal skin substitutes is crucially dependent on the three-dimensional extracellular matrix, supporting the biological function of epidermal and dermal cells. This matrix essentially determines the mechanical stability of these substitutes to allow for safe and convenient surgical handling. Collagen type I hydrogels yield excellent biologica...

A virtual environment of design can provide the industrial designer comprehensive power and flexibilities beyond geometrical design by means of enabling modeling, analysis, and simulation of both mechanical and electronic systems in an integrated environment. The design of electronic appliance has specific characteristics distinguished by its hybrid features. To support this kind of design, iss...

Our recent work has described a framework for matching solid of mechanical artifacts models based on scale-space feature decomposition. In this work we adopt a method of comparing solid models based on Multiresolutional Reeb Graphs (MRG) similarity computations. This method was originally proposed by Hilaga et al. in [1]. Reeb Graph technique applies MRG structure to comparisons of approximate ...

Mechanical testing of materials at the microscales is challenging. It requires delicate procedures not only for producing and handling the specimen to be tested, but also for applying an accurate and controlled force. This endeavor is even more challenging when it comes to investigating the behavior of brittle materials such as glass. Here, we present a microtensile tester for investigating sil...

Mechanical alternans refers to the succession of strong and weak heartbeats. It is classically associated with advanced-stage heart failure although it can also be seen in aortic stenosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a sharp increase in cardio post load, a drop in preload, acute ischaemia and the onset of tachycardia. Mechanical alternans have been explained by mechanisms related to the FrankS...