Search Results (289)

Background/Objectives: Routine local gentamicin irrigation has been used during artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) implantation despite limited procedure-specific evidence. We evaluated early outcomes after its calendar-defined discontinuation. Methods: This single-centre retrospective before–after cohort included 173 uncoated AMS 800 procedures in 164 men: 59 under a gentamicin-containing local protocol and 114 after gentamicin withdrawal. Saline device immersion and Betadine-containing intraoperative irrigation of the operative field and both wounds continued in both periods. Clinician-recorded surgical-site infection (SSI) within 90 days was the antimicrobial outcome of greatest direct relevance. Complete explantation within 90 days for SSI and/or urethral erosion was an exploratory device-related endpoint; all-cause complications at 30 and 90 days were secondary safety outcomes. Results: SSI occurred after 1/59 (1.7%) gentamicin-protocol and 2/114 (1.8%) gentamicin-free procedures (risk difference +0.1 percentage points, 95% confidence interval −7.4 to +4.7; p = 1.000). Erosion occurred after 0/59 and 4/114 (3.5%) procedures; all four led to complete explantation. The explantation endpoint occurred after 1/59 versus 4/114 procedures (risk difference +1.8 percentage points, 95% confidence interval −5.8 to +7.2; p = 0.662). Thirty-day all-cause complications occurred after 14/59 versus 16/114 procedures and 90-day complications after 15/59 versus 26/114. Conclusions: No statistically significant between-period difference was detected in SSI, exploratory device-related explantation, or broad all-cause complications. Sparse events, wide confidence intervals and calendar-defined exposure amid concurrent era changes preclude conclusions regarding equivalence or absence of clinically relevant benefit or harm. Full article

Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) is a prominent active material for reconfigurable nanophotonics because its reversible metal-insulator transition produces large changes in complex refractive index and electrical conductivity. The usable phase contrast, however, is not an intrinsic constant: it is governed by defect type and location, vanadium valence, oxygen stoichiometry, strain, crystallographic orientation, dimensionality, and the chemical, electrical, optical, and thermal boundary conditions imposed by interfaces. This focused narrative review develops a defect- and interface-centred framework linking VO₂ phase physics to device-level optical modulation. Bulk, surface, grain-boundary, and heterointerface defects are distinguished, together with their effects on carriers, V-V bonding, phase stability, optical loss, and cycling reliability. Epitaxial and polycrystalline films, ultrathin layers, and nanostructures are compared across the visible, near-infrared, mid-infrared, and terahertz ranges. Thermal, optical, electrical, electrostatic, electrochemical, ionic, strain, and ferroelectric activation pathways are then compared according to volatility, speed, retention, reversibility, and endurance. Representative free-space metasurfaces, guided-wave modulators, adaptive emitters, and photonic memories are benchmarked separately to avoid mixing incomparable performance definitions. The resulting analysis shows that optical modulation, insertion loss, thermal overhead, ambient stability, and endurance are coupled through the same defect and interface landscape. Progress, therefore, requires coordinated control of phase purity, local chemistry, interface energetics, thermal transport, and architecture-specific performance reporting. Full article

Harsh-environment pressure sensing requires piezoelectric materials that can simultaneously withstand elevated temperature, mechanical loading, and structural degradation. GaN is a promising lead-free piezoelectric semiconductor owing to its wide bandgap, high thermal stability, and non-centrosymmetric wurtzite structure. However, its piezoelectric output can be significantly affected by free-carrier compensation in unintentionally n-type GaN. Here, we report a flexible all-inorganic piezoelectric pressure sensor based on a directly grown h-BN/GaN heterostructure thin film. The h-BN layer was deposited on GaN/Si by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, followed by backside Si removal, electrode deposition, and transfer onto a flexible Cu foil substrate. Structural characterizations confirmed the formation of a compact h-BN/GaN interface with clear lattice fringes, preferential out-of-plane orientation, and characteristic Raman signatures of both h-BN and GaN. Compared with the flexible GaN/Cu reference, the h-BN/GaN device exhibits modified interfacial electrical transport behavior, enhanced voltage and current-density outputs, and prolonged transient voltage retention. Finite-element simulations reveal modified electrostatic potential distribution after h-BN integration, while electrical and interfacial characterizations suggest electronic structure modulation and reduced carrier compensation effects at the heterointerface. Raman optothermal analysis indicates an improved relative/local thermal response of the h-BN/GaN device under identical optical excitation conditions, supporting its enhanced thermal robustness. Under 200 psi at 400 °C, the h-BN/GaN sensor maintains an output voltage of approximately 27.65 mV, about 2.32 times that of the GaN reference. This work demonstrates an interfacial engineering strategy based on two-dimensional h-BN integration for constructing flexible, thermally robust, and high-output piezoelectric sensors for harsh-environment monitoring. Full article

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites (OHPs) deliver certified single-junction power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of up to 27.3% and National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR)-certified perovskite–silicon tandem values of 34.85%, yet a substantial gap with the Shockley–Queisser (S–Q) limit persists. Grain-boundary (GB) defects are one principal contributor to this gap, driving non-radiative recombination, ion migration, and degradation alongside bulk, interfacial, contact-related, phase-related, and environmental loss channels. Rational passivation demands a non-contact tool capable of identifying and quantifying specific defect species in device-relevant thin films, a capability that conventional probes deliver only in part. This overview assesses the extent to which terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS, 0.2–2.5 THz) fulfills this role. Across five OHP compositions—MAPbI₃, MAPbBr₃, FAPbI₃, and FAPb(Br,I)₃ fabricated by sequential vacuum evaporation (SVE), together with solution-processed γ-CsPbI₃—the THz spectral window captures both intrinsic phonon modes and GB-localized molecular defect vibrations, enabling species-resolved characterization at room temperature. Notably, the oscillator strength of the SVE-specific 1.58 THz absorption in MAPbI₃ scales linearly with XPS-quantified CH₃NH₂ defect concentration, establishing a calibrated, contact-free proxy for defect concentration rather than an absolute defect count; the observable is the defect-induced perturbation of the Pb–X lattice, not the defect population itself. Building on these findings, we propose a three-pillar framework for THz-guided defect engineering: (I) quantitative defect measurement via oscillator-strength analysis, (II) material-specific fingerprint identification from a systematically constructed THz library, and (III) fingerprint-guided defect elimination with real-time feedback—together defining a closed-loop quality-control cycle that connects spectroscopic diagnosis to passivation strategy and, ultimately, to enhanced solar cell efficiency. Throughout, we distinguish capabilities demonstrated to date from extensions that remain proposals, and we define the measurement requirements needed before the framework can be transferred to inline manufacturing control. Full article

Wearable glucose monitoring demands low-power local processing, but conventional neural networks rely on energy-intensive multiply–accumulate (MAC) operations that limit battery life. This study shows that a Spiking Neural Network (SNN), built on a regression-adapted Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) neuron, can estimate blood glucose from multi-frequency bioimpedance and auxiliary biosignals with clinically auditable accuracy at low computational and memory cost. Using data from 98 patients (717 measurements, eGluco3 device, Azambuja Hospital, Brusque, Brazil) evaluated by 5-fold walk-forward cross-validation under ISO 15197:2013, three main findings emerge. First, a new calibration method—the Patient Fingerprint, built from each patient’s first K sensor readings—outperforms conventional one-hot patient encoding (14.2 ± 2.6 mg/dL vs. 15.4 ± 3.3 mg/dL mean absolute error) and, unlike one-hot, requires only these K readings rather than the patient’s presence in the training set; a leave-patients-out analysis confirms that the fingerprint captures individual physiology and that unseen-patient accuracy improves with calibration depth but remains clinically insufficient (MAE $94.8\to 65.9$ mg/dL from $K=3$ to $K=5$), positioning clinical-grade cross-patient generalization on a larger cohort as the primary scaling axis. Second, the direct-injection fingerprint model reaches 100% of the samples within Consensus Error Grid Zones A+B across all validation folds (the rate-coding variant reaches 98.8%, just below the 99% Criterion B threshold), without requiring any demographic or clinical metadata; sensor history alone renders such records redundant; and Criterion A, however, stays below the 95% normative threshold, so the results support clinical safety rather than formal certification. Third, replacing the analog input encoding with a multiplication-free rate-coding scheme removes all first-layer MAC operations at a cost of 2.7 mg/dL additional error; because the additional microticks raise the total operation count, this defines a design lever whose energy payoff is specific to neuromorphic hardware rather than a net saving on conventional microcontrollers. Together, these results demonstrate that SNNs offer a clinically auditable, self-calibrating, and memory-efficient path to continuous glucose estimation on embedded wearable devices. Full article

Complex hollow metallic microstructures are essential for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), lab-on-a-chip microfluidics, and bio-integrated devices, yet their fabrication remains challenging because geometric complexity, microscale precision, and high aspect ratios must be satisfied simultaneously. This study proposes filament-guided electrolyte–column electrodeposition (FG-ECD), which couples a removable filament template with a nozzle-confined electrolyte column to define internal channels in situ during localized metal growth, thereby avoiding the collapse risks associated with conventional template removal routes. A two-dimensional axisymmetric multiphysics model reveals that the embedded filament reorganizes the electrolyte into a stable annular flow and shifts the cathodic current density maximum from the substrate toward the advancing dome front, establishing a self-consistent, quasi-stable localized reaction zone, while a parametric sweep shows that the total current scales the current density magnitude without altering its spatial profile. Experiments demonstrate that a current of 3.6 mA produces smooth dome front growth at approximately 20 μm/min, whereas 5.5 mA triggers sustained hydrogen evolution and a transition to cellular deposition. Under optimized conditions, straight, 540° spiral, and R-shaped dual-channel hollow nickel microstructures were fabricated with continuous, collapse-free internal channels of 50 ± 5 μm, aspect ratios exceeding 10:1, and dimensional accuracy within ±35 μm. FG-ECD provides a low-temperature processing route for complex hollow metallic architectures and offers process regulation principles based on co-regulation of the flow field and current density for electrochemical microfabrication. Full article

Zn–Sn–O (ZTO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) are promising indium-free oxide semiconductor devices, but their electrical stability is limited by oxygen-related defect states. In this study, Ga and Si incorporated ZTO TFTs were systematically compared using an identical bottom-gate top-contact device architecture to investigate dopant-dependent defect modulation and bias-temperature stability. Both Ga and Si incorporation induced a positive threshold-voltage shift and reduced the relative contribution of oxygen-deficient bonding components, suggesting modification of oxygen-related defect environments in the ZTO channel. Optical analysis further showed reduced Urbach energies after dopant incorporation, suggesting a decrease in localized band tail states and reduced structural disorder. Under negative bias temperature stress (NBTS), SZTO exhibited the smallest threshold-voltage shift, demonstrating the most effective stability enhancement. These results indicate that Ga incorporation preserves high field-effect mobility while improving stability, whereas Si incorporation more effectively reduces oxygen-related defect features and provides enhanced NBTS stability. This study provides insight into the dopant-dependent defect engineering for the improved reliability of indium free oxide TFTS. Full article

Integrated avionics for near-space airships increasingly consolidate multiple functions on shared multicore platforms, creating risks of cross-functional interference and fault propagation. This study develops a multicore static-partitioning architecture based on the PRTOS Type-1 hypervisor and implements static mappings among four Linux guest partitions, processor cores, independent memory regions, and devices on an Intel Atom x6425RE platform. Fault-free baseline, partition-local computational overload, 16 MiB cyclic memory access, inter-partition communication, and native-Linux multicore-propagation experiments evaluate response time, deadline misses, and communication completeness. Under PRTOS, increasing pressure causes deadline misses in the faulty partition, while the other partitions retain zero misses. Severe pressure reduces communication completeness of the faulty partition but produces no integrity error or residual backlog on the other channels. Under native Linux, one functional anomaly expands to multiple cores and causes deadline misses in all tasks. PRTOS static partitioning therefore bounds the propagation of local faults and provides an engineering basis for isolated deployment of integrated airship–avionics functions. Full article

Localized surface plasmon resonance biosensors are promising devices for label-free detection of live cells and biomolecules. However, typical plasmonic sensors have limited surface area, planar electromagnetic fields, and poor compatibility with three-dimensional (3D) interactions with cells or biomolecules. In this study, a 3D plasmonic sensor around microposts was developed using reversal nanoimprint lithography for highly sensitive cell and DNA detection. Au nanopillars were conformally integrated onto the bottom, sidewall, and top of microposts, forming additional sensing surface area along the sidewall of microposts for plasmonic sensing. The 3D plasmonic sensors exhibited tunable resonance peaks and refractive index (RI) sensitivities by varying the micropost height. The highest sensitivity of 1306 nm per RI unit was obtained from the sensor with 10 μm-tall microposts at a resonance wavelength of 1315 nm, which was significantly higher than that of typical planar plasmonic sensors. The platform was applied to live MC3T3-E1 cell detection, showing a resonance peak shift of 71 ± 11.6 nm at a cell concentration of 10⁶ cells/mL with a cell concentration ranging from 10² to 10⁶ cells/mL. In addition, DNA hybridization detection was demonstrated over a concentration range of 10⁻¹⁵–10⁻⁷ M complementary target DNA, with a resonance shift of 68 ± 2.5 nm observed at 10⁻⁷ M target DNA concentration. The 3D plasmonic sensor provides a scalable device for additional plasmonic biointerfaces with enhanced analyte accessibility and light–matter interactions. This platform offers high-sensitivity biosensing involving live cells, nucleic acids, and other biological targets. Full article

Conventional microsphere drug carriers for ulcerative colitis (UC) face challenges such as limited residence time, variable drug release, and an increased risk of systemic exposure and side effects. In this study, pH-sensitive, core–shell hydrogel microcapsules were designed and fabricated using a BUCHI B-390 microsphere preparation device via electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonds. Olsalazine sodium was encapsulated in the microcapsules, allowing for pH-responsive drug release in colon tissue for UC treatment in mice. XRD studies demonstrated the amorphous state of the drug in the formulation. The preparation of SCO microcapsules was optimized based on the drug encapsulation efficiency and the drug loading capacity, with the S₂C₁O microcapsule having the highest drug encapsulation efficiency (59.2%) and drug loading capacity (21.3%), and the production yield was approximately 62.5%. The degradation experiment results indicated that the alginate/CMCS hydrogel shell has anti-resistant and colon-targeted properties, with minimal drug leakage under acidic conditions (0.1% release at 2 h, pH 1.2) and rapid, controlled release at colonic pH (7.4) (cumulative release of 68.7% at 12 h), protecting the drug from gastric degradation. An in vivo experiment suggested that treatment with these microcapsules in UC mice significantly reduced inflammatory markers (NF-κB p65 was reduced by 18.8% relative to the free drug group) and histological damage in UC models relative to free drug administration. The improved therapeutic efficacy is linked to precise localization in inflamed tissue, reducing systemic exposure and off-target effects. Overall, in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that this microcapsule system provides a promising alternative to existing UC drug delivery systems. Full article

Glow-discharge plasma (GDP) poling is revisited as an electrode-free method for activating piezoelectricity in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films. Although this method was proposed several decades ago, its effect on the properties of PVDF films has remained poorly understood. In this work, we demonstrate that GDP enables efficient poling of oriented PVDF films without pre-deposited electrodes and investigate the relationship between plasma treatment time, structural evolution, and piezoelectric response. Commercially available 25 μm-thick oriented PVDF films (PolyK) were treated in a DC glow discharge for 15 s to 15 min and characterized using FTIR, DSC, piezoresponse force microscopy, UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometry, quasi-static d₃₃ measurements and water contact-angle measurements. GDP poling produced a side-averaged piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ of up to ~25 pC/N within 1–5 min, with local maxima at approximately 1, 2.5, and 5 min. This behavior was accompanied by pronounced changes in the domain structure, including an increase in the ferroelectric domain size from 86 to 552 nm, while the crystallinity and electroactive phase fraction changed only moderately. Plasma treatment also increased the wettability of the plasma-facing surface, reducing the water contact angle from about 85° to 42° within 3 min. At longer treatment times (>5 min), however, the piezoelectric response decreased and the optical transparency deteriorated because of increased haze and turbidity, most likely associated with plasma-induced chemical modification of the surface layers. These results indicate that GDP poling has an effective processing window of 1–5 min. The proposed approach provides a vacuum-compatible and electrode-free route for preparing PVDF films with increased surface wettability for flexible piezoelectric sensors, wearable electronics, and integrated polymer-based devices, because it is compatible with electrode deposition on an already activated polymer surface within a single vacuum cycle. Full article

Continuous and noninvasive body fluid monitoring has attracted increasing attention in personalized healthcare, chronic disease management, and wearable point-of-care testing. Fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors are particularly promising for this purpose because they combine label-free and real-time with miniaturization and low sample volume requirements. However, current body fluid sensing technologies and conventional bare metal SPR interfaces still face critical challenges, including insufficient analytical accuracy in complex biofluids, broad resonance linewidths, weak signal readability for trace biomarkers, and mechanical perturbations during wearable operation. These limitations highlight the need for nanomaterial-engineered fiber-optic SPR platforms that can convert interfacial molecular events into stable and sensitive signals. The review summarizes recent progress in nanomaterial-enabled fiber-optic SPR biosensors for continuous body fluid monitoring. Emphasis is first placed on nanomaterial mediated local electromagnetic field enhancement and plasmonic mode regulation. Subsequent discussion focuses on their functions in interfacial recognition, analyte enrichment, rapid mass transport, antifouling protection, and flexible integration for continuous operation. On this basis, representative sensing targets, material strategies, and device architectures for tears, urine, exhaled breath condensate, saliva and sweat are systematically analyzed. Finally, current challenges and future opportunities are discussed from the perspective of sensing reliability, wearable integration, and real sample validation. Full article

Objective: Current pharmacological treatments for prostate diseases are limited by poor drug penetration into the prostate and systemic adverse effects. This study evaluated whether a novel vas-deferens injection device could improve targeted delivery of levofloxacin to the prostate. Methods: Healthy adult male Sprague–Dawley rats received a single dose of levofloxacin by either intravenous administration (IV) or trans-vas-deferens administration using a novel disposable device (VS). Plasma and prostate samples were collected from 0.5 to 24 h and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Iodixanol micro-CT imaging was used to visualize the local delivery pathway. Pharmacokinetic evaluation included observed composite-profile Cmax/Tmax, AUC0-24, and fT. Time-dependent tissue selectivity was evaluated through partial AUC analyses, prostate-to-plasma exposure ratios, and pointwise concentration ratios. A bioequivalence-style framework was applied to compare relative exposure parameters using geometric mean ratios (GMRs) with the 80.00–125.00% reference interval. Exploratory PK/PD evaluation combined literature-derived free-drug fractions (fut_plasma = 0.55, fut_prostate = 0.080) to estimate fAUC/MIC against representative uropathogens, supplemented by Monte Carlo simulation (n = 5000) to estimate probability of target attainment (PTA) at an fAUC/MIC ≥ 30 threshold. Results: Imaging confirmed selective distribution within the reproductive tract after vas-deferens delivery. In plasma, VS substantially reduced systemic exposure compared with IV: Cmax was 4.74 μg/mL (VS) versus 10.72 μg/mL (IV), and AUC0-24 was 15.47 versus 28.59 μg·h/mL. In the prostate, VS maintained comparable or numerically higher exposure: Cmax was 61.96 μg/g (VS) versus 52.02 μg/g (IV), and AUC0-24 was 235.77 versus 208.77 μg·h/g. The tissue distribution factor fT was substantially elevated in VS (2.26; 95% CI: 1.58–3.19) compared with IV (1.06; 95% CI: 0.89–1.30). Bioequivalence-style analysis demonstrated that plasma GMRs for AUC0-24 and Cmax fell well below 80%, confirming reduced systemic burden, while prostate GMRs were maintained, and the prostate-to-plasma AUC ratio GMR was increased. Time-dependent partial AUC analyses revealed that VS significantly elevated the prostate-to-plasma exposure ratio. PK/PD evaluation showed that at 24 h, prostate fAUC/MIC against Enterobacteriaceae (MIC = 0.5 μg/mL) was 37.7 (VS) versus 33.4 (IV), with corresponding PTA values of 97% and 94%, while plasma fAUC/MIC remained substantially lower in the VS group. Conclusions: Trans-vas-deferens administration of levofloxacin via a novel injection device effectively reduced systemic drug exposure while maintaining or enhancing prostate tissue concentrations, thereby widening the therapeutic window and reducing systemic drug exposure. Full article

The nematic mesogens within dielectric liquid crystal elastomers (DLCEs) rotate in response to external electric fields, thereby driving macroscopic active shape morphing. This work establishes a rigorous theoretical framework to investigate the electro-mechanical bending mechanics of cantilevered DLCE sheets governed by this actuation mechanism. By theoretically formulating the electromechanical effect as a localized spontaneous strain field, we analytically correlate the stress-free deformation with the local nematic director alignment. We demonstrate that the macroscopic bending morphology of the DLCE sheet can be deterministically programmed by tailoring the principal bending directions via this microscopic director design. Our findings reveal that the synergistic interplay between the tailored spontaneous curvature and cantilever boundary constraints generates a rich variety of three-dimensional configurations, enabling active regulation of both deflection and out-of-plane tilting at the free edge. Furthermore, we explicitly highlight the critical, yet often overlooked, role of spontaneous shear strain, which significantly governs the bending response even within the thin-plate limit. These theoretical insights establish a robust foundation for the structural design of DLCE-based directional soft actuators and flexible devices. Full article

This paper investigates collaborative trajectory planning and tracking control for semi-trailer-mounted lifting vehicles used in wind turbine blade transport on complex mountainous roads. The proposed approach addresses the challenging problem of coordinating the articulated chassis with a three-degree-of-freedom upper operating device during ultra-long blade transport. First, a unified kinematic model of the articulated chassis and the three-degree-of-freedom upper operating device is established for collaborative trajectory planning and tracking control under low-speed transport conditions. In addition, a dynamic formulation is provided to describe the inertial coupling characteristics of the vehicle-blade system. Second, a continuous trajectory planning method driven by task gradients is proposed to generate collision-free trajectories satisfying multiple constraints, including kinematic feasibility, obstacle avoidance, and actuator limits. A damping injection strategy is introduced to improve numerical conditioning during the iterative optimization process. Third, a linear time-varying model predictive controller is designed based on local linearization along the reference trajectory, which handles system constraints explicitly and achieves high-precision trajectory tracking. Simulation and hardware-in-the-loop experiments show that the proposed method generates smooth and feasible trajectories, while the tracking controller achieves engineering-level position accuracy and joint-angle tracking errors below 3 degrees, satisfying practical requirements for wind turbine blade transport on mountainous roads. Full article