| 1. |
- Bayat, Narges, et al.
(author)
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Vascular toxicity of ultra-small TiO2 nanoparticles and single walled carbon nanotubes in vitro and in vivo
- 2015
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In: Biomaterials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0142-9612 .- 1878-5905. ; 63, s. 1-13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ultra-small nanoparticles (USNPs) at 1-3 nm are a subset of nanoparticles (NPs) that exhibit intermediate physicochemical properties between molecular dispersions and larger NPs. Despite interest in their utilization in applications such as theranostics, limited data about their toxicity exist. Here the effect of TiO2-USNPs on endothelial cells in vitro, and zebrafish embryos in vivo, was studied and compared to larger TiO2-NPs (30 nm) and to single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). In vitro exposure showed that TiO2-USNPs were neither cytotoxic, nor had oxidative ability, nevertheless were genotoxic. In vivo experiment in early developing zebrafish embryos in water at high concentrations of TiO2-USNPs caused mortality possibly by acidifying the water and caused malformations in the form of pericardial edema when injected. Myo1C involved in glomerular development of zebrafish embryos was upregulated in embryos exposed to TiO2-USNPs. They also exhibited anti-angiogenic effects both in vitro and in vivo plus decreased nitric oxide concentration. The larger TiO2-NPs were genotoxic but not cytotoxic. SWCNTs were cytotoxic in vitro and had the highest oxidative ability. Neither of these NPs had significant effects in vivo. To our knowledge this is the first study evaluating the effects of TiO2-USNPs on vascular toxicity in vitro and in vivo and this strategy could unravel USNPs potential applications.
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| 2. |
- Mazzotta, Francesco, 1985, et al.
(author)
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Nanoplasmonic biosensing with on-chip electrical detection
- 2010
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In: Biosensors and Bioelectronics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-5663 .- 1873-4235. ; 26:4, s. 1131-1136
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A nanoplasmonic biosensor chip with integrated electrical detection is presented. The concept is based on the local refractive index sensitivity of nanoplasmonic gold nanodisks (110 nm in diameter and 20 nm in height) that are fabricated, through a parallel method, directly on an array of silicon solar cells or photoactive diodes. The nanoplasmonic properties of the sensor chip were investigated both optically and electrically, with excellent agreement between the two. We show that local changes in the refractive index of the surrounding environment gives changes in the nanoplasmonic properties of the gold nanodisks, which induce corresponding changes in the photocurrent at single wavelengths of the nanoplasmonic solar cells. With a simple light-emitting diode as light source, and together with a material-specific modification protocol, the photocurrent output of the nanoplasmonic sensor chip was successfully used to monitor a specific biorecognition reaction in real-time.
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| 3. |
- Karlsson, Stefan, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Effects of deposition temperature on the mechanical and structural properties of amorphous Al-Si-O thin films prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering
- 2023
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In: Thin Solid Films. - : Elsevier. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 787
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aluminosilicate (Al–Si–O) thin films containing up to 31 at.% Al and 23 at.% Si were prepared by reactive RF magnetron co-sputtering. Mechanical and structural properties were measured by indentation and specular reflectance infrared spectroscopy at varying Si sputtering target power and substrate temperature in the range 100 to 500 °C. It was found that an increased substrate temperature and Al/Si ratio give denser structure and consequently higher hardness (7.4 to 9.5 GPa) and higher reduced elastic modulus (85 to 93 GPa) while at the same time lower crack resistance (2.6 to 0.9 N). The intensity of the infrared Si-O-Si/Al asymmetric stretching vibrations shows a linear dependence with respect to Al concentration. The Al–O–Al vibrational band (at 1050 cm−1) shifts towards higher wavenumbers with increasing Al concentration which indicates a decrease of the bond length, evidencing denser structure and higher residual stress, which is supported by the increased hardness. The same Al–O–Al vibrational band (at 1050 cm−1) shifts towards lower wavenumber with increasing substrate temperature indicating an increase in the average coordination number of Al.
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| 4. |
- Pant, Prabhat, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Mapping of residual stresses in as-built Inconel 718 fabricated by laser powder bed fusion : A neutron diffraction study of build orientation influence on residual stresses
- 2020
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In: Additive Manufacturing. - : Elsevier B.V.. - 2214-8604 .- 2214-7810. ; 36
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Manufacturing of functional (ready to use) parts with the powder bed fusion method has seen an increase in recent times in the field of aerospace and in the medical sector. Residual stresses (RS) induced due to the process itself can lead to defects like cracks and delamination in the part leading to the inferior quality of the part. These RS are one of the main reasons preventing the process from being adopted widely. The powder bed methods have several processing parameters that can be optimized for improving the quality of the component, among which, build orientation is one. In this current study, influence of the build orientation on the residual stress distribution for the Ni-based super-alloy Inconel 718 fabricated by laser-based powder bed fusion method is studied by non- destructive technique of neutron diffraction at selected cross-sections. Further, RS generated in the entire part was predicted using a simplified layer by layer approach using a finite element (FE) based thermo-mechanical numerical model. From the experiment, the part printed in horizontal orientation has shown the least amount of stress in all three directions and a general tendency of compressive RS at the center of the part and tensile RS near the surface was observed in all the samples. The build with vertical orientation has shown the highest amount of RS in both compression and tension. Simplified simulations results are in good agreement with the experimental value of the stresses. © 2020 The Authors
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| 5. |
- Kim, Kyung Ho, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Chemical Sensing with Atomically Thin Platinum Templated by a 2D Insulator
- 2020
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In: Advanced Materials Interfaces. - : Wiley. - 2196-7350. ; 7:12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Boosting the sensitivity of solid‐state gas sensors by incorporating nanostructured materials as the active sensing element can be complicated by interfacial effects. Interfaces at nanoparticles, grains, or contacts may result in nonlinear current–voltage response, high electrical resistance, and ultimately, electric noise that limits the sensor read‐out. This work reports the possibility to prepare nominally one atom thin, electrically continuous platinum layers by physical vapor deposition on the carbon zero layer (also known as the buffer layer) grown epitaxially on silicon carbide. With a 3–4 Å thin Pt layer, the electrical conductivity of the metal is strongly modulated when interacting with chemical analytes, due to charges being transferred to/from Pt. The strong interaction with chemical species, together with the scalability of the material, enables the fabrication of chemiresistor devices for electrical read‐out of chemical species with sub part‐per‐billion (ppb) detection limits. The 2D system formed by atomically thin Pt on the carbon zero layer on SiC opens up a route for resilient and high sensitivity chemical detection, and can be the path for designing new heterogenous catalysts with superior activity and selectivity.
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| 6. |
- Lopes, Viviana R, et al.
(author)
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Dose-dependent autophagic effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in human HaCaT cells at non-cytotoxic levels
- 2016
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In: Journal of Nanobiotechnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1477-3155. ; 14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Interactions between nanoparticles and cells are now the focus of a fast-growing area of research. Though many nanoparticles interact with cells without any acute toxic responses, metal oxide nanoparticles including those composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2-NPs) may disrupt the intracellular process of macroautophagy. Autophagy plays a key role in human health and disease, particularly in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. We herein investigated the in vitro biological effects of TiO2-NPs (18 nm) on autophagy in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells at non-cytotoxic levels. Results: TiO2-NPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering techniques. Cellular uptake, as evaluated by TEM and NanoSIMS revealed that NPs internalization led to the formation of autophagosomes. TiO2-NPs treatment did not reduce cell viability of HaCaT cells nor increased oxidative stress. Cellular autophagy was additionally evaluated by confocal microscopy using eGFP-LC3 keratinocytes, western blotting of autophagy marker LC3I/II, immunodetection of p62 and NBR1 proteins, and gene expression of LC3II, p62, NBR1, beclin1 and ATG5 by RT-qPCR. We also confirmed the formation and accumulation of autophagosomes in NPs treated cells with LC3-II upregulation. Based on the lack of degradation of p62 and NBR1 proteins, autophagosomes accumulation at a high dose (25.0 mu g/ml) is due to blockage while a low dose (0.16 mu g/ml) promoted autophagy. Cellular viability was not affected in either case. Conclusions: The uptake of TiO2-NPs led to a dose-dependent increase in autophagic effect under non-cytotoxic conditions. Our results suggest dose-dependent autophagic effect over time as a cellular response to TiO2-NPs. Most importantly, these findings suggest that simple toxicity data are not enough to understand the full impact of TiO2-NPs and their effects on cellular pathways or function.
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| 7. |
- Cubo, Rubén, et al.
(author)
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Electric field modeling and spatial control in Deep Brain Stimulation
- 2015
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In: Proc. 54th Conference on Decision and Control. - Piscataway, NJ : IEEE. - 9781479978847 - 9781479978861 ; , s. 3846-3851
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an established treatment, in e.g. Parkinson's Disease, whose underlying biological mechanisms are unknown. In DBS, electrical stimulation is delivered through electrodes surgically implanted into certain regions of the brain of the patient. Mathematical models aiming at a better understanding of DBS and optimization of its therapeutical effect through the simulation of the electrical field propagating in the brain tissue have been developed in the past decade. The contribution of the present study is twofold: First, an analytical approximation of the electric field produced by an emitting contact is suggested and compared to the numerical solution given by a Finite Element Method (FEM) solver. Second, the optimal stimulation settings are evaluated by fitting the field distribution to a target one to control the spread of the stimulation. Optimization results are compared to those of a geometric approach, maximizing the intersection between the target and the activated volume in the brain tissue and reducing the stimulated area beyond said target. Both methods exhibit similar performance with respect to the optimal stimuli, with the electric field control approach being faster and more versatile.
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| 8. |
- Amouzgar, Kaveh, 1980-, et al.
(author)
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Multi-objective optimization of a disc brake system by using SPEA2 and RBFN
- 2013
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In: ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. - New York : ASME Press. - 9780791855898
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Many engineering design optimization problems involve multiple conflicting objectives, which today often are obtained by computational expensive finite element simulations. Evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) methods based on surrogate modeling is one approach of solving this class of problems. In this paper, multi-objective optimization of a disc brake system to a heavy truck by using EMO and radial basis function networks (RBFN) is presented. Three conflicting objectives are considered. These are: 1) minimizing the maximum temperature of the disc brake, 2) maximizing the brake energy of the system and 3) minimizing the mass of the back plate of the brake pad. An iterative Latin hypercube sampling method is used to construct the design of experiments (DoE) for the design variables. Next, thermo-mechanical finite element analysis of the disc brake, including frictional heating between the pad and the disc, is performed in order to determine the values of the first two objectives for the DoE. Surrogate models for the maximum temperature and the brake energy are created using RBFN with polynomial biases. Different radial basis functions are compared using statistical errors and cross validation errors (PRESS) to evaluate the accuracy of the surrogate models and to select the most accurate radial basis function. The multi-objective optimization problem is then solved by employing EMO using the strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA2). Finally, the Pareto fronts generated by the proposed methodology are presented and discussed.
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| 9. |
- Cubo, Rubén, et al.
(author)
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Optimization-Based Contact Fault Alleviation in Deep Brain Stimulation Leads
- 2018
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In: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering. - : IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC. - 1534-4320 .- 1558-0210. ; 26:1, s. 69-76
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical treatment in, e.g., Parkinsons Disease. Electrical stimulation in DBS is delivered to a certain target through electrodes implanted into the brain. Recent developments aiming at better stimulation target coverage and lesser side effects have led to an increase in the number of contacts in a DBS lead as well as higher hardware complexity. This paper proposes an optimization-based approach to alleviation of the fault impact on the resulting therapeutical effect in field steering DBS. Faulty contacts could be an issue given recent trends of increasing number of contacts in DBS leads. Hence, a fault detection/alleviation scheme, such as the one proposed in this paper, is necessary ensure resilience in the chronic stimulation. Two alternatives are considered and compared with the stimulation prior to the fault: one using higher amplitudes on the remaining contacts and another with alleviating contacts in the neighborhood of the faulty one. Satisfactory compensation for a faulty contact can be achieved in both ways. However, to designate alleviating contacts, a model-based optimization procedure is necessary. Results suggest that stimulating with more contacts yields configurations that are more robust to contact faults, though with reduced selectivity.
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| 10. |
- Dong, Zhihua, et al.
(author)
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MnxCr0.3Fe0.5Co0.2Ni0.5Al0.3 high entropy alloys for magnetocaloric refrigeration near room temperature
- 2021
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In: Journal of Materials Science & Technology. - : Chinese Society of Metals. - 1005-0302. ; 79, s. 15-20
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High entropy alloys (HEAs) based on transition metals display rich magnetic characteristics, however attempts on their application in energy efficient technologies remain scarce. Here, we explore the magnetocaloric application for a series of MnxCr0.3Fe0.5Co0.2Ni0.5Al0.3 (0.8 < x < 1.1) HEAs by integrated theoretical and experimental methods. Both theory and experiment indicate the designed HEAs have the Curie temperature close to room temperature and is tunable with Mn concentration. A non-monotonic evolution is observed for both the entropy change and the relative cooling power with changing Mn concentration. The underlying atomic mechanism is found to primarily emerge from the complex impact of Mn on magnetism. Advanced magnetocaloric properties can be achieved by tuning Mn concentration in combination with controlling structural phase stability for the designed HEAs.
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