Three-dimensional (3D) printing, medical imaging, and implant design have all advanced significantly in recent years, and these developments may change how modern craniomaxillofacial surgeons use patient data to create tailored treatments. Polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) is often seen as an attractive option over metal biomaterials in medical uses, but a solid PEEK implant often leads to poor osseointegration and clinical failure. Therefore, the objective of this study is to demonstrate the quantitative assessment of a custom porous PEEK implant for cranial reconstruction and to evaluate its fitting accuracy. The research proposes an efficient process for designing, fabricating, simulating, and inspecting a customized porous PEEK implant. In this study, a CT scan is utilized in conjunction with a mirrored reconstruction technique to produce a skull implant. In order to foster cell proliferation, the implant is modified into a porous structure. The implant’s strength and stability are examined using finite element analysis. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is utilized to fabricate the porous PEEK implants, and 3D scanning is used to test its fitting accuracy. The results of the biomechanical analysis indicate that the highest stress observed was approximately 61.92 MPa, which is comparatively low when compared with the yield strength and tensile strength of the material. The implant fitting analysis demonstrates that the implant’s variance from the normal skull is less than 0.4436 mm, which is rather low given the delicate anatomy of the area. The results of the study demonstrate the implant’s endurance while also increasing the patient’s cosmetic value.

In this work, a simple, cost-effective successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) deposition technique has been used to deposit a high-quality tin selenide (SnSe) thin film onto a glass substrate. Structural, morphologic, and thermoelectric properties have been characterized for the prepared thin film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of the SnSe thin film reveal an orthorhombic structure phase. The morphological properties of the prepared thin films have been studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The stoichiometric composition of the deposited thin film and the elemental binding energies of the Sn and Se elements have been investigated with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) spectrum of the SnSe thin film displays vibrational modes of chalcogenides bonds. These results suggest that the developed thin film is crystalline, uniform, and without impurities and is appropriate for energy harvesting applications. The prepared thin film’s Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity were estimated through ZEM-3 from room temperature to 600 K. The power factor was evaluated. A substantially high electrical conductivity is observed, which decreases somewhat with temperature, suggesting a semimetal conducting transport—the absolute values of the Seebeck coefficient increase with temperature. The resulting power factor showed the highest values near room temperature and a somewhat decreasing trend as the temperature increased. Despite lower values of the Seebeck coefficient, the substantially enhanced power factor is due to the higher electrical conductivity of the thin film, superior to that reported previously. This precursor study demonstrates promising results for developing high-performance flexible thermoelectric devices via a simple and facile SILAR strategy.

Additive manufacturing (AM), particularly electron beam melting (EBM), is becoming increasingly common in the medical industry because of its remarkable benefits. The application of personalized titanium alloy implants produced using EBM has received considerable attention in recent times due to their simplicity and efficacy. However, these tailored implants are not cost-effective, placing a tremendous strain on the patient. The use of additional materials as support during the manufacturing process is one of the key causes of its high cost. A lot of research has been done to lessen the use of supports through various types of support designs. There is indeed a noticeable paucity of studies in the literature that have examined customized implants produced without or minimal supports. This research, therefore, reports on the investigation of cranial implants fabricated with and without supports. The two personalized implants are evaluated in terms of their cost, fabrication time, and accuracy. The study showed impressive results for cranial implants manufactured without supports that cost 39% less than the implants with supports. Similarly, the implant’s (without supports) build time was 18% less than its equivalent with supports. The two implants also demonstrated similar fitting accuracy with 0.2613 mm error in the instance of implant built without supports and 0.2544 mm for the implant with supports. The results indicate that cranial implants can be produced without EBM supports, which can minimize both production time and cost substantially. However, the manufacture of other complex implants without supports needs further study. The future study also requires a detailed review of the mechanical and structural characteristics of cranial implants built without supports.

Generators and condensers are the two vital equipment items that determine the output of vapor absorption refrigeration systems. Arid weather conditions produce a significant reduction in the performance of the vapor absorption refrigeration cycle due to low condenser heat dissipation despite high generator temperatures. Although numerous studies on condenser cooling methods in vapor compression systems have been reported in the literature, solar-operated vapor absorption systems have not been studied. Limitations in generator temperatures of solar-operated vapor absorption systems necessitate a focused study in this area. This study makes the selection of the best choice for condenser cooling from among four different condenser cooling methods which have an impact on the performance of the vapor absorption refrigeration system for effective cooling using solar energy. A solar vapor absorption refrigeration system working with low-grade heat using a compound parabolic collector is considered in this study. Analysis of a vapor absorption refrigeration system for cooling in arid weather conditions is carried out using different condenser cooling methods with Engineering Equation Solver. Initially, the model used in the study is compared with a similar study reported in the literature. Techniques considered are air, water, evaporative, and hybrid cooling techniques. The performance of the vapor absorption cooling system was analyzed using experimental values of a solar compound parabolic collector obtained from real-time measurements for simulating the model. Results show that water cooling can provide suitable condenser cooling and improve the coefficient of performance of the solar vapor absorption refrigeration system using the solar collector. The water-cooled condenser has 1.9%, 3.3%, and 2.1% higher COP when compared to air-cooled condensers for spring, summer, and autumn seasons respectively, whereas the water-cooled condenser cooling recorded 6%, 14%, and 8% higher COP relative to the evaporative cooling method. Cost comparison showed maximum cost for water-cooled condensers and minimum cost for hybrid-cooled condensers. The effect of each cooling method on the environment is discussed.

Cranioplasty or cranial reconstruction is always a challenging procedure even for experienced surgeons. In this study, two different design techniques for customized cranial prostheses are assessed for cranial reconstruction. Mirror reconstruction is one of the commonly used reconstruction techniques that fails when cranial defects cross the midline of symmetry. Hence, there is a need for a design technique for the reconstruction of cranial defects irrespective of their location on the symmetrical plane. The anatomical reconstruction technique demonstrates its applicability for a wide spectrum of complex skull defects irrespective of the defective position in the anatomical structure. The paper outlines a methodological procedure involving a multi-disciplinary approach involving physicians and engineers in the design and reconstruction of customized cranial implants for asymmetrical skull defects. The proposed methodology is based on five foundation pillars including the multi-disciplinary approach, implant design process, additive-manufactured implant, implant fitting analysis, and cost and time analysis for the customized implant. The patient’s computed tomography scan data are utilized to model a customized cranial implant, which is then fabricated using electron beam melting technology. The dimensional validation of the designed and fabricated titanium implant based on the anatomical approach results in a precision of 0.6345 mm, thus indicating a better fit than the standard mirroring method. The results of fitting accuracy also reveal that the manufactured implant’s average deviation is very close to the planned reconstruction area with an error less than 1 mm, suggesting that the customized titanium implant fits the skull model quite precisely. The cost and time analysis reports that the cost for producing a customized cranial implant using electron beam melting technology is around USD 217.5 and the time taken to build is approximately 14 h and 27 min, which is low when compared to other studies. The cost and time analysis also demonstrates that the proposed design would be less burdensome to patients when compared to standard practice. Therefore, the new anatomical design process can be used effectively and efficiently to treat a number of diverse cranial abnormalities with the enhanced cranial implant design.

The scientific aim of this work is to encourage energy conservation. This article offers a fresh perspective on renewable energy in the air conditioning sector, the country’s economic growth, and environment-friendly techniques to overcome global warming challenges. In this research, a solar vapor absorption refrigeration (SVAR) system was combined with a conventional vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) system to analyze their combined performance, employing a compound parabolic collector (CPC). The goal was to assess the performance of a solar hybrid cooling system using this non-tracking solar collector. CPC was validated for heat output with 2.9% uncertainty by utilizing an engineering equation solver (EES). Other system components were also validated with EES and then extended to a larger-capacity solar hybrid cooling system. The results of this research indicate that CPC is effective in providing the required heat to SVAR throughout the year without any tracking, and the integration of SVAR in series with the VCR condenser produces 83% higher COP than the system that integrates VCR with the condenser of the SVAR system for Riyadh. The configuration results in high values of exergy COP and an efficiency of 88% and 84%, respectively, increases the cooling capacity of the VCR by 68%, and decreases the carbon emission by 166.4%.