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The use of 3D models of the human bone system has great utility in the biomechanical study, due to the fact that these structures cannot be analyzed or tested in vivo. Within this paper, taking into consideration its real bone structure, the human femur CAD modelling is established. Firstly, a preliminary anatomical study is done, in order to highlight the fact that the thigh bone is a heterogeneous structure, consisting of several entities with different mechanical characteristics. The modelling starts from a homogenous 3D model of the femur, from which, every single separate entity is designed and finally they are assembled within a single product assembly. Therefore, the final result ensures a complex CAD structure, able to get assigned different material properties, specific for each entity this modelling furtherly allows the characteristic pathological structures studies of the referred entity or to simulate specific surgical interventions.

In this paper we present a design method for a modular device used in different types of HIGH TIBIAL OSTEOTOMY surgical procedures. The requirements, necessities and functions of this modular device are presented in the first part of the article. An important aspect is the fact that the device must be designed in a manner which permit to use it for all types of HIGH TIBIAL OSTEOTOMY: opening wedge osteotomies, closing wedge osteotomies, medial osteotomies, lateral osteotomies, uniplanar osteotomies or biplanar osteotomies. This fact is possible using modular elements for the main parts of the devices. The researches could be the starting point for others researches regarding the appropriate materials and the possibility to execution customized several parts of the modular device using Additive Manufacturing facilities.

Cycloid reducers are gear trains which can be classified as planetary transmissions. These transmissions have a very wide range of uses in industry in transporters, robots, satellites, etc. This research presents a comparative analysis of three analytical methods for determining cycloid drive efficiency. The paper explores every mathematically formulated method and compares them to experimental results from literature. The presented methods for determining efficiency have a common property, in that they all determine losses due to friction on the bearing cam surface of the shaft, the rollers of the central gear and the output rollers. The calculation of efficiency values is done for standard power values. The methods differ primarily in the way they calculate losses. For each method of calculating efficiency there is an analysis of pros and cons. The paper concludes with suggestions as well as possible directions for further research.

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) consist of a gate dielectric and an organic semiconductor film. The performance of organic electronic devices substantially depends on the dielectric properties of the insulating gate layer. Only a few key parameters, primarily the dielectric constant and the resulting device capacitance, have been regarded to be of central importance. Many insulating layers are however not simple dielectrics, an example are space charge gate electrets with internally trapped charges. Space charge gate electrets affect the electrical characteristics of diodes and transistors in a much more sophisticated manner, they are for example the key element in flash memories. We present impedance measurements of an organic metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diode and corresponding measurements of a related organic field effect transistor. Both devices have a comparable design, with polyvinylaicohol as gate electret and the methanofullerene PCBM as organic semiconductor. Pronounced electret effects of charge injection and trapping are observed by impedance measurements of the MIS structure and these effects are found equally expressed in the electrical characteristics of the OFET configuration, reflecting first steps towards organic flash memories. Index Terms--OFET, electret, space charges, gate dielectrics, organic semiconductors, hysteresis.

The contemporary Teaching-learning based optimization method (TLBO), is used for solving machine design optimization problems. The method consists of two phases, teaching phase and learning phase. This method requires a small number of known facts which describe the problem in order to be able to find a solution. This research is oriented on software implementation of TLBO methods and problems in real world application for solving optimization problems. An original software has been developed which uses TLBO method. Testing the method is conducted on machine design examples from literature, and the results are compared to optimal solutions from literature. TLBO is a modern and very significant method, and this paper shows its convergence characteristics and practical implementation for engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The transfer of benchtop knowledge into large scale industrial production processes represents a challenge in the field of organic electronics. Large scale industrial production of organic electronics is envisioned as roll to roll (R2R) processing which nowadays comprises usually solution-based large area printing steps. The search for a fast and reliable fabrication process able to accommodate the deposition of both insulator and semiconductor layers in a single step is still under way. Here we report on the fabrication of organic field effect transistors comprising only evaporable small molecules. Moreover, both the gate dielectric (melamine) and the semiconductor (C60) are deposited in successive steps without breaking the vacuum in the evaporation chamber. The material characteristics of evaporated melamine thin films as well as their dielectric properties are investigated, suggesting the applicability of vacuum processed melamine for gate dielectric layer in OFETs. The transistor fabrication and its transfer and output characteristics are presented along with observations that lead to the fabrication of stable and virtually hysteresis-free transistors. The extremely low price of precursor materials and the ease of fabrication recommend the evaporation processes as alternative methods for a large scale, R2R production of organic field effect transistors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We report on organic n-channel field-effect transistors and circuits based on C60 films grown by hot wall epitaxy. Electron mobility is found to be dependent strongly on the substrate temperature during film growth and on the type of the gate dielectric employed. Top-contact transistors employing LiF/Al electrodes and a polymer dielectric exhibit maximum electron mobility of 6 cm2/V s. When the same films are employed in bottom-contact transistors, using SiO2 as gate dielectric, mobility is reduced to 0.2 cm2/V s. By integrating several transistors we are able to fabricate high performance unipolar (n-channel) ring oscillators with stage delay of 2.3 μs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction solar cells using novel nanoparticles of 6-palmitate ascorbic acid surface modified TiO(2) as an electron acceptor embedded into the donor poly(3-hexyl)thiophene (P3HT) matrix. Devices were fabricated by using P3HT with varying amounts of red TiO(2) nanoparticles (1:1, 1:2, 1:3 w-w ratio). The devices were characterized by measuring current-voltage characteristics under simulated AM 1.5 conditions. Incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) was spectrally resolved. The nanoscale morphology of such organic/inorganic hybrid blends was also investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM).