Non-contact robotic manipulation of floating objects: exploiting emergent limit cycles.

The study of non-contact manipulation in water, and the ability to robotically control floating objects has gained recent attention due to wide-ranging potential applications, including the analysis of plastic pollution in the oceans and the optimization of procedures in food processing plants. However, modeling floating object movements can be complex, as their trajectories are influenced by various factors such as the object's shape, size, mass, and the magnitude, frequency, and patterns of water waves. This study proposes an experimental investigation into the emergence ofrobotically controlled limit cycles in the movement of floating objects within a closed environment.

Injectable bone cement containing carboxymethyl cellulose microparticles as a silver delivery system able to reduce implant-associated infection risk.

In the challenging quest for a solution to reduce the risk of implant-associated infections in bone substitution surgery, the use of silver ions is promising regarding its broad spectrum on planktonic, sessile as well as multiresistant bacteria. In view of controlling its delivery in situ at the desired dose, we investigated its encapsulation in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) microparticles by spray-drying and included the latter in the formulation of a self-setting calcium phosphate bone cement. We implemented an original step-by-step methodology starting from the in vitro study of the antibacterial properties and cytotoxicity of two silver salts of different solubility in aqueous medium and then in the cement to determine the range of silver loading able to confer anti-biofilm and non-cytotoxic properties to the biomaterial.

The effects of simultaneous exercise and psychotherapy on depressive symptoms in inpatient, psychiatric older adults.

Context: Depression is the leading cause of early death, affecting 15% of Americans older than 65 y and costing $43 billion each year. The current mental health service system for seniors, particularly for the population hospitalized in acute inpatient psychiatric units, is fragmented because of poor funding and a shift to a transitory health care paradigm, leading to inadequate treatment modalities, questionable quality of care, and lack of research demonstrating the superiority of a particular treatment. These issues are likely to lead to a public health crisis in the coming years.

Composition and properties of silver-containing calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate bone cement.

The introduction of silver, either in the liquid phase (as silver nitrate solution: Ag(L)) or in the solid phase (as silver phosphate salt: Ag(S)) of calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate (CaCO3-CaP) bone cement, its influence on the composition of the set cement (C-Ag(L) and C-Ag(S) cements with a Ca/Ag atomic ratio equal to 10.3) and its biological properties were investigated. The fine characterisation of the chemical setting of silver-doped and reference cements was performed using FTIR spectroscopy.

ZnGa2O4:Cr3+: a new red long-lasting phosphor with high brightness.

ZnGa2O4:Cr3+ is shown to be a new bright red UV excited long-lasting phosphor potentially suitable for in vivo imaging due to its 650 nm-750 nm emission range. Photoluminescence and X-ray excited radioluminescence show the 2E → 4A2 emission lines of both ideal Cr3+ and Cr3+ distorted by a neighboring antisite defect while long-lasting phosphorescence (LLP) and thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) almost exclusively occur via distorted Cr3+. The most intense LLP is obtained with a nominal Zn deficiency and is related to a TSL peak at 335K.