Applications of Silk in Biomedical and Healthcare Textiles

Global trends are shifting towards environmental friendly materials and manufacturing methods. Therefore, natural fiber applications are gaining traction globally. Silk, a natural protein fiber is one of the textile fibers that have recently received more attention due to the new frontiers brought about by technological advancement that has expanded the use of silk fiber beyond the conventional textile industry. The simple and versatile nature of silk fibroin process-ability has made silk appealing in wide range of applications. Silk is biocompatible, biodegradable, easy to functionalize and has excellent mechanical properties, in addition to optical transparency. This review chapter explores the use of silk in biomedical applications and healthcare textiles. Future trends in silk applications are also highlighted.

Unidirectional Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Tape in Automated Tape Placement Process

Thermoplastic matrix composites are finding new applications in the different industrial areas, thanks to their intrinsic advantages related to environmental compatibility and process-ability. The tape placement process is one of the few techniques that have the potential to continuously process thermoplastic composites in large industrial applications. Fiber-reinforced thermoplastic tapes are subjected to high heating and cooling rates during the tape placement process. The application of laser heating for the tape placement process requires a thorough understanding of the factors involved in the process. Qualitative experimental analysis is presented to identify the important phenomena during the tape placement of carbon (PEEK, PEKK, PAEK PPS) tapes. The present chapter focuses on the input parameters in the process of manufacturing composite parts. The mechanical performance of the final parts depend on a number of parameters. It should be void-free and well consolidated for reliable use in the structure. In the present work, it is becoming increasingly wiser to introduce the production of high-quality laminates, using laser AFP and ATL with quality consolidation during the laying process. The experimental results in this chapter help to better understand the consolidation process during LATP.

HISTORY OF TUTORING AS EFFECTIVE METHODS OF EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

The article deals with interpretation of terminological concepts of tutoring as effective methods of educational process individualization. Changes in learning models contribute to expansion of teacher’s role, who serves not only as educator, but also provides pedagogical support of individual curricula for the learners are characterized in this article. Tutoring covers these tasks and the tutor is a co-developer of academic projects and programs, an advisor in education services, combining the roles of a mentor and developer of educational schemes. The main stages of tutoring origin in the context of historical development are clarified. It is emphasized that the implementation of tutoring is an integral aspect of individualization of education in medical schools and is carried out by mastering the ability to motivate educational and pedagogical activities of students. Attention is placed on the need to analyse various methods and approaches to the implementation of tutoring trends in the educational process. The most important criteria of educational process, created by the tutor and student are examined: implementation of the successful tutorial support of training, formation of the personality and lifestyle of the future specialist; multiplicity and variability of educational proposals satisfaction; design and implementation of an individual educational and training program. The basic skills necessary for valuable professional activity are characterized: the formation of fundamental methodological knowledge and the ability to apply them in the process of professional activity; the ability to deal with pedagogical problems and perform tasks in the methodology of teaching subjects in higher educational institutions; mastering of strategies for the implementation and using of information and communication technologies in the educational process; ability to design and project activity; skills to motivate learning activity; ability to manage project activities of students; motivation for continuous self-education and self-improvement.

Advancement in the Production and Applications of Conductive Polymers (CPs)

Conductive polymers are a class of engineering materials which possess remarkably reversible redox property and atypical combination of characteristics of plastics and metals. The potential usefulness of conductive polymers has grown exceedingly in the technological field such as telecommunication, electronics, storage systems and protective devices. The prospective of conductive polymers has further deepened the interest of researchers for their applications in several areas. Some of the popular types of conductive polymers are polythiophene, polyindole, polyacetylene, polypyrrole, polyphenyl vinylene, polyaniline, Poly (3,4ethylenedioxythiophene), which are produced via redox and chemical (CM) or electrochemical (ECM) oxidation processes. Polymers are doped to introduce charge carriers known as polarons and bipolarons into them, to make them conductive. Conductive polymers have limitations such as a poor mechanical characteristic or poor flexibility, low process-ability and poor biocompatibility, which have made researchers investigate different chemical modification methods. Conductive polymers have potential applications in the field of supercapacitors, solar cells, biosensors, chemical sensors and actuators, tissue engineering, e.t.c. This article has attempted to provide an up to date review on different aspects of conductive polymers such as production, doping, applications and conductivity of selected conductive polymers.

An OLE Centred Production Line Maintenance Prioritisation: Guided by the Criticalities of the Specific Characteristics of Equipment Operational Reliability

Maintenance task prioritisation is essential for production system, especially when available resources are limited. Related studies take either system safety or productivity as the objective of system maintenance prioritisation. While since improper system maintenance can make bad equipment cooperation thus induce unstable manufacturing process and big equipment operation time loss, system process ability is also necessary to be improved in production line maintenance. Therefore, the overall line efficiency (OLE) which comprehensively evaluates production line productivity and process ability is adopted as the objective to develop maintenance prioritisation in this study. Specifically, an OLE centred maintenance prioritisation policy which assigns priorities according to the influences of the specific characteristics of equipment operational reliability on OLE is proposed: To correctly allocate limited maintenance resources to truly critical equipment and achieve good maintenance effect, equipment influences on OLE are analysed from the level of the specific performances of their operational reliability: equipment mean time between stops (mtbs), mean time to resume from stops (mttr) and buffer size N. Considering the interactions between these parameters, a surrogate modelextended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test (SM-EFAST) process is integrated to accurately and rapidly analyse the total effects of them on OLE. In the end, an application case adopting the proposed OLE centred maintenance prioritisation method achieved higher OLE and lower total maintenance cost than two current popular maintenance prioritisation methods.

Discussion on the Reform of Comprehensive Practice Evaluation Model for Physical Geography Courses in Chinese Universities

In this paper, the comprehensive practice evaluation system for physical geography courses is reformed for its shortage as the goal of teacher certification and course target evaluation. We put forward a set of evaluation model of process performance evaluation including 11 participating indicators from usual grades, practice reports and teaching skills, which comprehensively considers students’ multifaceted literacy and ability. This model not only evaluates the practice content, results and knowledge mastery but also evaluates the practice process, ability training and knowledge application transfer and transformation. It strengthens the subjectivity and participation of students and can better support the course goals and graduation requirements.

A Research on Strength Characteristics of Compact Tension Specimens with Heterogeneous Composite Materials Bonded by Adhesives

With CT specimen models of CFRP with cracks and adhesive interfaces, this study aims at investigating the strength characteristics of heterogeneous composite materials bonded by adhesives through the analyses. Even minor cracks or defects that may occur inside a composite material in the manufacturing process can result in the stress concentration, and this will lead to the material breakage. So, we designed CT specimen models with CFRP alone and CFRP with stainless steel or aluminum by using their material properties of CFRP, stainless steel, and aluminum. The simulation analyses were carried out and their strength characteristics were investigated. It is necessary to prepare a way to relieve stress concentration at the stage of design under the assumption those cracks actually occur at manufacturing process. By combining CFRP with stainless steel or aluminum, both of which have good ductility, we found that the deformation and deformation energy increased and the maximum equivalent stress decreased. It is thought that this material can lower the risk of material breakage by changing some of the impact energy which may damage CFRP, into the deformation energy. This deformation energy brings about the good ductility by utilizing stainless steel and aluminum under the situations where the sudden tension and impact loads are expected or applied. The results revealed that when CFRP was combined with the heterogeneous metal, it was possible for CFRP to be used where otherwise it could not be used alone and provided CFRP with better material property and more diverse process-ability So, this composite material can be prevented from breakage in the process of manufacturing and increase the safe use. As CFRP with the rigidity better than metals can be applied to composites, the composites with CFRP can be improved to have better material property and more diverse process-ability

Improving reliability of pneumatic braking system of automobile with compressor air injection

This article proposes a method of improving reliability of a pneumatic braking system of an automobile with compressor air injection by using combined compression piston rings with high operational characteristics, low cost and high process ability adapted to the possibilities of domestic production.

Organic Polymer and Metal Nano-particle Based Composites for Improvement of the Analytical Performance of Electrochemical Biosensors

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) are described in the nanoscale and made from either pure metals or their compounds such as oxides. Metallic NPs have certain indistinct functional groups due to which these can bind with any type of ligand, antibody and drugs. Organic polymers, which conduct electricity, are called conducting polymers (intrinsically conducting polymers). They behave like semiconductors by exhibiting metallic conductivity. Process-ability is the major advantage of conducting polymers. Nanocomposite is a novel material having nano-fillers scattered in a matrix with morphology and interfacial characteristics of nano-composites including their individual property that influence their characteristics. Conducting polymers and NP composites can enhance the rate of electron transport between the current collector material (electrode) and the electrolyte; therefore they have been employed in the construction of improved electrochemical sensors such as amperometric, catalytic and potentiodynamic affinity sensors.