Achieving lightweight construction through only material substitution does not realize the full potential of producing a lightweight material, hence, it is no longer sufficient. Weight-saving goals are best achieved through additional function integration. In order to implement this premise for mass production, a manufacturing process for joining and forming hybrid laminates using a new tool concept is presented. All materials used are widely producible and processable. The manufactured cover of an automotive center console serves to demonstrate a human interface device with impact detection and action execution. This is only possible through a machine learning system, which is implemented on a small—and thus space- and energy-saving—embedded system. The measurement results confirm the objective and show that localization was sufficiently accurate.

Intracardiac microcavitations consist of airy microbubbles. They are typically found in patients with an intravascular line or device, mechanical heart valves or in decompression sickness. We report a case of a patient in mid-70s who was admitted due to weakness in both legs, left-thoracic pain and fever. Despite the lack of any of the risk factors mentioned above, spontaneous microcavitations were detected in the right sided cardiac cavities. After the detection of liver lesions suspicious for a metastatic disease, a colonoscopy was performed. An ulcerated colonic carcinoma at the ileocoecal valve was diagnosed and highly suspicious for being the entry port of the microcavitations. This unusual presentation of microcavitations together with a colonic neoplasia leads to hypotheses about the journey of the microbubbles from the ascending colon into the right heart. Gastrointestinal tumours are described as being the causes of microbubbles. Translocation of microbubbles through hepatopulmonary shunting are described in the context of locally applied particles of similar size during radioembolisation. A thorough aetiological workup is of importance since the underlying cause is potentially dangerous due to its own nature of disease and due the complications of the microcavitations such as paradoxical emboli or pulmonary sequelae.

This work investigates a new generation structural health monitoring (SHM) system for fibre metal laminates (FML) based on an embedded thermoplastic film with compounded piezoceramics, termed piezo-active fibre metal laminate (PFML). The PFML is manufactured using near-series processes and its potential as a passive SHM system is being investigated. A commercial Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sensor film is used for comparative evaluation of the sensor signals. Furthermore, thermoset and thermoplastic-based FML are equipped with the sensor films and evaluated. For this purpose, static and dynamic three-point bending tests are carried out and the data are recorded. The data obtained from the sensors and the testing machine are compared with the type and time of damage by means of intelligent signal processing. By using a smart sensor system, further investigations are planned which the differentiation between various failure modes, e.g., delamination or fibre breakage.

Background: Distal tibia fractures are common in the pediatric patient population. Recent reports suggest that patients with closed low-energy distal tibial fractures treated with short leg casts (SLCs) have similar radiographic outcomes with improved functional outcomes compared to those treated with long leg casts (LLCs). However, to date there has not been a study comparing these treatment modalities for Salter-Harris (SH) II distal tibia fractures. The purpose of this study was to compare the radiographic and time to weightbearing outcomes between patients with SH-II tibial ankle fractures treated with an SLC vs an LLC. Methods: A retrospective review on SH-II distal tibia fractures was performed at a Level I pediatric trauma center from 2013 to 2020. Primary outcomes included final coronal angulation, sagittal angulation, and time to weightbearing. Results: A total of 59 patients with SH-II distal tibia fractures were treated with an SLC (22 patients, median age 11.79 years) or an LLC (37 patients, median age 12.17 years). There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 treatment groups for coronal angulation at final follow-up, sagittal angulation at final follow-up, or percentage of patients fully weightbearing at 6 weeks ( P > .05). No patients required subsequent remanipulation or operative treatment in either treatment group. Conclusion: In this retrospective review with relatively short-term follow-up, SLCs were found to be noninferior to LLCs for treatment of reduced SH-II distal tibia fractures. This casting option may still be considered by surgeons who are nonoperatively managing pediatric distal tibia fractures. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective comparative study.

Given the use of high-strength steels to achieve lightweight construction goals, conventional shear-cutting processes are reaching their limits. Therefore, so-called high-speed impact cutting (HSIC) is used to achieve the required cut surface qualities. A new machine concept consisting of linear motors and an impact mass is presented to investigate HSIC. It allows all relevant parameters to be flexibly adjusted and measured. The design and construction of the test bench, as well as the mechanism for coupling the impact mass, are described. To validate the theoretically determined process speeds, the cutting process was recorded with high-speed cameras, and HSIC with a mild deep-drawing steel sheet was performed. It was discovered that very good cutting edges could be produced, which showed a significantly lower hardening depth than slowly cut reference samples. In addition, HSIC was numerically modelled in LS-DYNA, and the calculated cutting edges were compared with the real ones. With the help of adaptive meshing, a very good agreement for the cutting edges could be achieved. The results show the great potential of using a linear motor in HSIC.