Publications by authors named "Karl Dearn"

Urbanisation, population growth, and climate change have put unprecedented pressure on water resources, leading to a global water crisis and the need for water reuse. However, water reuse is unsafe unless persistent chemical pollutants are removed from reclaimed water. State-of-the-art technologies for the reduction of persistent chemical pollutants in wastewater typically impose high operational and energy costs and potentially generate toxic by-products (e.

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The condition of a joint in a human being is prone to wear and several pathologies, particularly in the elderly and athletes. Current means towards assessing the overall condition of a joint to assess for a pathology involve using tools such as X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging, to name a couple. These expensive methods are of limited availability in resource-constrained environments and pose the risk of radiation exposure to the patient.

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The highly efficient exudation of lubricant in porous self-lubricating materials significantly influences the formation of self-lubricating films. In this paper, micropores with inner spiral bulge structures are considered, and their influence on the capillary behaviors of the lubricant is discussed to reveal the capillary rising mechanism. The results show that the Taylor capillary lift phenomenon is produced in the spiral bulge structure of the micropore, and the capillary lift force is enhanced.

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Hysterosalpingographies (HSGs) have formed an essential part of the fertility workup for more than a century. More recently, tubal flushing, especially with oil-based contrast, has been shown to significantly improve the natural conception rates. Critically, the mechanism of this fertility-enhancing effect during tubal flushing is still unclear.

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Acoustic emission (AE) testing detects the onset and progression of mechanical flaws. AE as a diagnostic tool is gaining traction for providing a tribological assessment of human joints and orthopaedic implants. There is potential for using AE as a tool for diagnosing joint pathologies such as osteoarthritis and implant failure, but the signal analysis must differentiate between wear mechanisms-a challenging problem! In this study, we use supervised learning to classify AE signals from adhesive and abrasive wear under controlled joint conditions.

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Calculating an accurate diameter of arbitrary vessel-like shapes from 2D images is of great use in various applications within medical and biomedical fields. Understanding the changes in morphological dimensioning of the biological vessels provides a better understanding of their properties and functionality. Estimating the diameter of the tubes is very challenging as the dimensions change continuously along its length.

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Replacement biomaterials for articular cartilage should encourage a coefficient of friction similar to the natural joint. Whilst the literature has assessed the coefficient of friction of articular cartilage against that of a potential biomaterial, it is unknown what the friction of articular cartilage in sliding against a surface defect, repaired with a biomaterial is. This evaluation is crucial to allow for the development of effective biomaterials to closely have the behaviour of articular cartilage.

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The degeneration of the intervertebral disc is one of the principal causes of low back pain. Total disc replacement is a surgical treatment that aims to replace the degenerated disc with a dynamic implant to restore spine biomechanics. This paper proposes the first design of an elastomeric lumbar disc replacement that is implanted as a pair of devices via unilateral transforaminal surgical approach.

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