Every year, thousands of aortic valve replacements must take place due to valve diseases. Tissue-engineered heart valves represent promising valve substitutes with remodeling, regeneration, and growth capabilities. However, the accurate reproduction of the complex three-dimensional (3D) anatomy of the aortic valve remains a challenge for current biofabrication methods. We present a novel technique for rapid fabrication of native-like tricuspid aortic valve scaffolds made of an alginate-based hydrogel. Using this technique, a sodium alginate hydrogel formulation is injected into a mold produced using a custom-made sugar glass 3D printer. The mold is then dissolved using a custom-made dissolving module, revealing the aortic valve scaffold. To assess the reproducibility of the technique, three scaffolds were thoroughly compared. CT (computed tomography) scans showed that the scaffolds respect the complex native geometry with minimal variations. The scaffolds were then tested in a cardiac bioreactor specially designed to reproduce physiological flow and pressure (aortic and ventricular) conditions. The flow and pressure profiles were similar to the physiological ones for the three valve scaffolds, with small variabilities. These early results establish the functional repeatability of this new biofabrication method and suggest its application for rapid fabrication of ready-to-use cell-seeded sodium alginate scaffolds for heart valve tissue engineering.

The effects of pavement characteristics on rolling resistance of heavy vehicles have gained more interest in recent years. Rolling resistance is the result of the combination of independent (but sometimes correlated) physical phenomena that dissipate energy, which can be regrouped under three different main themes. Road roughness (wavelengths between 0.5 and 50 m) causes movements in vehicle suspensions, which dissipate energy. Pavement macrotexture (wavelengths between 0.5 and 50 mm) creates additional viscoelastic deformations on tire treads. The viscoelastic behavior of the flexible pavement structure, which is referred to as structure-induced rolling resistance, is responsible for a perpetual upward slope perceived by heavy vehicle tires. Secondary aspects can also affect rolling resistance, such as road wetness and snow. This paper addresses each of these three main phenomena from three angles of analysis: (1) theoretical modeling, (2) laboratory experiments, and (3) in situ measurements. The literature on road roughness and structure-induced rolling resistance modeling is extensive compared to macrotexture-effect modeling, as the underlying physical mechanisms are still not well understood. There is, however, strong experimental evidence that the pavement macrotexture can significantly affect rolling resistance, but these studies are mostly related to cars. There are many in situ approaches, but the results are usually based on an indirect method and the different studies are difficult to compare and sometimes inconsistent. It appears that the bottleneck of scientific research on this topic is the fundamental inability to measure the rolling resistance of heavy vehicles with a direct in situ approach under real driving conditions.

The prefabricated construction industry, also known as off-site construction, has been operating in North America for several years now and differs from traditional construction in its much shorter project timelines, lower costs, and increased build quality. However, the lack of a suitable and efficient assembly solution has been identified by many as a barrier to the use of off-site construction for larger buildings. To maximise the benefits of off-site manufacturing for multistorey buildings, an automated connection solution is presented in this paper. A new plug-in self-locking device was developed according to the following product design phases: on-site observations, definition of the problem and product specifications, solution generation, prototyping, fabrication, and testing. The plug-in self-locking device allows the assembly process to be accelerated by eliminating the fastening steps and a higher completion of modules off-site to be achieved. The design bears the compressive, tensile, and shear loads and contributes to the load path of the building.

Alginate-based hydrogels are widely used for the development of biomedical scaffolds in regenerative medicine. The use of sugar glass as a sacrificial template for fluidic channels fabrication within alginate scaffolds remains a challenge because of the premature dissolution of sugar by the water contained in the alginate as well as the relatively slow internal gelation rate of the alginate. Here, a new and simple method, based on a sugar glass fugitive ink loaded with calcium chloride to build sacrificial molds, is presented. We used a dual calcium cross-linking process by adding this highly soluble calcium source in the printed sugar, thus allowing the rapid gelation of a thin membrane of alginate around the sugar construct, followed by the addition of calcium carbonate and gluconic acid δ-lactone to complete the process. This innovative technique results in the rapid formation of "on-demand" alginate hydrogel with complex fluidic channels that could be used in biomedical applications such as highly vascularized scaffolds promoting pathways for nutrients and oxygen to the cells.

SpectIR-fluidics merges any microfluidic design with sensitive ATR-FTIR. The sensor integration within the larger device enables complete freedom for fluidic connections, opening the way for high throughput point of application assays and more.