Resilience Engineering

Recent advancements in the field of biomedical engineering have underscored the pivotal role of biodegradable materials in addressing the challenges associated with tissue regeneration therapies. The spectrum of biodegradable materials presently encompasses ceramics, polymers, metals, and composites, each offering distinct advantages for the replacement or repair of compromised human tissues. Despite their utility, these biomaterials are not devoid of limitations, with issues such as suboptimal tissue integration, potential cytotoxicity, and mechanical mismatch (stress shielding) emerging as significant concerns...

Urban pluvial flooding is becoming a global concern, exacerbated by urbanization and climate change, especially in rapidly developing areas where existing sewer systems lag behind growth. In order to minimize a system's functional failures during extreme rainfalls, localized engineering solutions are required for urban areas chronically suffering from pluvial floods. This study critically evaluates the Deep Tunnel Sewer System (DTSS) as a robust grey infrastructure solution for enhancing urban flood resilience, with a case study in the Gangnam region of Seoul, South Korea...

This paper presents a multidisciplinary analysis of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Along with the latest observations and simulation studies, we synthesize the time-series and event progressions during the accident across multiple disciplines, including in-plant physics and engineering systems, operators' actions, emergency responses, meteorology, radionuclide release and transport, land contamination, and health impacts. We identify three key factors that exacerbated the consequences of the accident: (1) the failure of Unit 2 containment venting, (2) the insufficient integration of radiation measurements and meteorology data in the evacuation strategy, and (3) the limited risk assessment and emergency preparedness...

PROBLEM: All trainees, especially those from historically minoritized backgrounds, experience stresses that may reduce their continuation in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) careers. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is one of ∼45 institutions with a National Institutes of Health funded Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) that provides mentoring and a year of fulltime research to prepare students from historically excluded groups for graduate school...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is an emerging material for high-end applications due to its biocompatibility and physicochemical characteristics. However, the scale-up production of this material is still expensive, with the culture medium constituting one-third of the total cost. Herein, four different media (yeast nitrogen base, YNB; Murashige and Skoog, MSO; black tea; and NPK fertilizer solution) were compared while using sucrose as an additional carbon source. The yields of BC were best for YNB and fertilizer with 0...

Amidst the burgeoning interest in multifunctional superhydrophobic wood-based composites (SWBCs) for their varied applications and the need for improved environmental resilience, recent efforts focus on enhancing their utility by integrating features such as mechanical and chemical stability, self-healing capabilities, flame resistance, and antimicrobial properties. Research indicates that various external conditions can influence the wettability and additional characteristics of SWBCs. This comprehensive review outlines three critical factors affecting SWBCs' performance: synthesis methods, wood taxonomy, and chemical agents...

Microbial community assembly (MCA) processes that shape microbial communities in environments are being used to analyze engineered bioreactors such as activated sludge systems and anaerobic digesters. The goal of studying MCA is to be able to understand and predict the effect of design and operation procedures on bioreactor microbial composition and function. Ultimately, this can lead to bioreactors that are more efficient, resilient, or resistant to perturbations. This review summarizes the ecological theories underpinning MCA, evaluates MCA analysis methods, analyzes how these MCA-based methods are applied to engineered bioreactors, and extracts lessons from case studies...

Climate change is increasingly affecting the nutritional content and structural integrity of horticultural crops, leading to challenges such as diminished fruit quality and the exacerbation of fruit cracking. This manuscript systematically explores the multifaceted impacts of these changes, with a particular focus on the nutritional quality and increased incidence of fruit cracking. An exhaustive review of current research identifies the critical role of transcription factors in mediating plant responses to climatic stressors, such as drought, temperature extremes, and saline conditions...

Global crop yield has been affected by a number of abiotic stresses. Heat, salinity, and drought stress are at the top of the list as serious environmental growth-limiting factors. To enhance crop productivity, molecular approaches have been used to determine the key regulators affecting stress-related phenomena. MYB transcription factors (TF) have been reported as one of the promising defensive proteins against the unfavorable conditions that plants must face. Different roles of MYB TFs have been suggested such as regulation of cellular growth and differentiation, hormonal signaling, mediating abiotic stress responses, etc...

Given the ongoing development of the global economy, the demand for hazardous materials, which serve as essential components for numerous industrial products, is steadily increasing. Consequently, it becomes imperative to devise a methodology for mitigating the risks associated with the road transportation of hazardous materials. The objective of this study is to establish an integrated quality function deployment and multicriteria decision-making (QFD-MCDM) framework and identify the pivotal factors that propel Industry 5...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a personalized adaptive training program designed for stress prevention using graduated stress exposure. BACKGROUND: Astronauts in the high-risk space mission environment are prone to performance-impairing stress responses, making preemptive stress inoculation essential for their training. METHODS: This work developed an adaptive virtual reality-based system that adjusts environmental stressors based on real-time stress indicators to optimize training stress levels...

The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing systems has accelerated in recent years, with a shift towards understanding operators' well-being and resilience within the context of creating a human-centric manufacturing environment. In addition to measuring physical workload, monitoring operators' cognitive workload is becoming a key element in maintaining a healthy and high-performing working environment in future digitalized manufacturing systems. The current approaches to the measurement of cognitive workload may be inadequate when human operators are faced with a series of new digitalized technologies, where their impact on operators' mental workload and performance needs to be better understood...

Recent explosions and impact events have highlighted the exposure of civil structures, prompting the need for resilient new constructions and retrofitting of existing ones. Laminated glass panels, particularly in glazed facades, are increasingly used to enhance blast resistance. However, the understanding of glass fragments and their interaction with the interlayer is still incomplete. This paper investigates experimentally the quasi-static and dynamic responses of cured and uncured polymers for seven different materials-two different products of polyvinyl butyral (PVB), two ethylene vinyl acetate products (EVA), one product of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and two SentryGlas products (SG)-that were tested between 21 and 32 °C (69...

In the pursuit of creating more sustainable and resilient structures, the exploration of construction materials and strengthening methodologies is imperative. Traditional methods of relying on steel for strengthening proved to be uneconomical and unsustainable, prompting the investigation of innovative composites. Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs), known for their lightweight and high-strength properties, gained prominence among structural engineers in the 1980s. This period saw the development of novel approaches, such as near-surface mounted and externally bonded reinforcement, for strengthening of concrete structures using FRPs...

Therapeutic antibodies (Abs) which act on a broader range of epitopes may provide more durable protection against the genetic drift of a target, typical of viruses or tumors. When these Abs exist concurrently on the targeted antigen, several mechanisms of action (MoAs) can be engaged, boosting therapeutic potency. This study selected combinations of four and five Abs with non- or partially overlapping epitopes to the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, on or outside the crucial receptor binding domain (RBD), to offer resilience to emerging variants and trigger multiple MoAs...

The essence of compartmentalization in cells is the inspiration behind the engineering of synthetic counterparts, which has emerged as a significant engineering theme. Here, we report the formation of ultra-stable water-in-water (W/W) emulsion droplets. These W/W droplets demonstrate previously unattained stability across a broad pH spectrum and exhibit resilience at temperatures up to 80℃, overcoming the challenge of insufficient robustness in dispersed droplets of aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS). The exceptional robustness is attributed to the strong anchoring of micelle-like casein colloidal particles at the PEO/DEX interface, which maintains stability under varying environmental conditions...

Plastic pollution and ongoing climatic changes exert considerable pressure on coastal ecosystems. Unravelling the combined effects of these two threats is essential to management and conservation actions to reduce the overall environmental risks. We assessed the capacity of a coastal ecosystem engineer, the blue mussel Mytilus edulis , to cope with various levels of aerial heat stress (20, 25, 30 and 35°C) after an exposure to substances leached from beached and virgin low-density polyethylene pellets...

A holistic biointegration of percutaneous bone-anchored metallic prostheses with both hard and soft tissues dictates their longevity in the human body. While titanium (Ti) has nearly solved osseointegration, soft tissue integration of percutaneous metallic prostheses is a perennial problem. Unlike the firm soft tissue sealing in biological percutaneous structures (fingernails and teeth), foreign body response of the skin to titanium (Ti) leads to inflammation, epidermal downgrowth and inferior peri-implant soft tissue sealing...

This review examines the escalating issue of plastic pollution, specifically highlighting the detrimental effects on the environment and human health caused by microplastics and nanoplastics. The extensive use of synthetic polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polystyrene (PS) has raised significant environmental concerns because of their long-lasting and non-degradable characteristics. This review delves into the role of enzymatic and microbial strategies in breaking down these polymers, showcasing recent advancements in the field...

As the demand for high-bandwidth Internet connections continues to surge, industries are exploring innovative ways to harness this connectivity, and smart agriculture stands at the forefront of this evolution. In this paper, we delve into the challenges faced by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in efficiently managing bandwidth and traffic within their networks. We propose a synergy between two pivotal technologies, Multi-Protocol Label Switching-Traffic Engineering (MPLS-TE) and Diffserv Quality of Service (Diffserv-QoS), which have implications beyond traditional networks and resonate strongly with the realm of smart agriculture...