OBJECTIVE The objective of this biomechanical study was to evaluate the stability provided by a newly developed shape memory alloy hook (SMAH) in a cadaveric transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) model. METHODS Six human cadaveric spines (L1-S2) were tested in an in vitro flexibility experiment by applying pure moments of ±8 Nm in flexion/extension, left/right lateral bending, and lef...

AIM To determine whether transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion aggravate adjacent segmental degeneration more adversely than anterior lumbar interbody fusion. MATERIAL AND METHODS A normal finite element model, an anterior lumbar interbody fusion model and a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion model of L3-5 were developed. 800 N compressive loading plus 10 Nm moments simulating flexion, e...

Laser forming is a thermal forming process which uses laser beam irradiation to produce the desired final forms. In this article, the effect of temperature gradient across  Al 6061-T6 aluminum sheets on bending angle is studied. Input parameters including laser power, scan velocity, beam diameter, and sheet thickness are the effective process parameters which influence the temperature gradient....

Gravitropism, the slow reorientation of plant growth in response to gravity, is a key determinant of the form and posture of land plants. Shoot gravitropism is triggered when statocysts sense the local angle of the growing organ relative to the gravitational field. Lateral transport of the hormone auxin to the lower side is then enhanced, resulting in differential gene expression and cell elong...

This paper presents a numerical investigation and statistical analysis of laser bending of Titanium sheets. The aim of the present simulation is to identify the response through response surface methodology related to bending angle and characterize the effects of input parameters: laser power, spot diameter, scanning speed and plate thickness. The numerical simulations are carried out based on ...

The possibility of simplifying the retrieval scheme required to produce GNSS radio occultation refractivity climatologies is described. In a new, simplified retrieval approach, the main statistical analysis is performed in bending angle space and an estimate of the average bending angle profile is then propagated through an Abel transform. The average is composed of means and medians of ionosph...

This paper presents an industrial application of optical 3-D sensing based on the principle of light sectioning. The presented project aims at an in-process measurement of the bending angle in a commercial bending machine. Air bending is a valuable manufacturing method in a flexible and computer integrated manufacturing system, because it allows forming of sheet metals with a great variety of b...

INTRODUCTION In vivo 3D motion of the cervical spine has not been documented until now, since they are too complicated to follow with conventional radiographs or CT. Although in vitro studies using cadaver specimens reported data on the cervical 3D motion, it might not actually reflect physiological motion due to the lack of tonus of musculature. Moreover, understanding 3D motions with only a n...