Cancer is one of the top life‐threatening dangers to the human survival, accounting for over 10 million deaths per year. Bioactive glasses have developed dramatically since their discovery 50 years ago, with applications that include therapeutics as well as diagnostics. A new system within the bioactive glass family, mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs), has evolved into a multifunctional platform, thanks to MBGs easy‐to‐functionalize nature and tailorable textural properties—surface area, pore size, and pore volume. Although MBGs have yet to meet their potential in tumor treatment and imaging in practice, recently research has shed light on the distinguished MBGs capabilities as promising theranostic systems for cancer imaging and therapy. This review presents research progress in the field of MBG applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy, including synthesis of MBGs, mechanistic overview of MBGs application in tumor diagnosis and drug monitoring, applications of MBGs in cancer therapy ( particularly, targeted delivery and stimuli‐responsive nanoplatforms), and immunological profile of MBG‐based nanodevices in reference to the development of novel cancer therapeutics.

The equine distal forelimb is a common location of injuries related to mechanical overload. In this study, a two-dimensional model of the musculoskeletal system of the region was developed and applied to kinematic and kinetic data from walking and trotting horses. The forces in major tendons and joint reaction forces were calculated. The components of the joint reaction forces caused by wrapping of tendons around sesamoid bones were found to be of similar magnitude to the reaction forces between the long bones at each joint. This finding highlighted the importance of taking into account muscle-tendon wrapping when evaluating joint loading in the equine distal forelimb.

Macro fiber composite (MFC) actuators developed by the NASA have been increasingly used in engineering structures due to their high actuation power, compatibility, and flexibility. In this study, an efficient two dimensional quadratic multi-layer shell element by using first order shear deformation theory (FOSDT) is developed to predict the linear strain–displacement static deformation of laminated composite plates induced by MFC actuators. FOSDT is adapted from the Reissner–Mindlin plate theory. An eight-node quadratic piezoelectric multi-layer shell element with five degrees of freedom is introduced to prevent locking effect and zero energy modes observed in nine-node degenerated shell element. Two types of MFC actuators are used: (1) MFC-d31 and (2) MFC-d33, which differ in their actuation forces. For result verification, the electro-mechanically coupled quadratic finite element (FE) model is compared with the ABAQUS results in various examples. Comparison of the results showed good agreement. The proposed quadratic FE formulation is simple and accurate, which eliminates the need for costly FE commercial software packages. It was observed that earlier studies have mostly emphasized on the effect of actuation power and MFC fiber orientations on mechanical shape deformation of smart composite plates. In this study, a more comprehensive, in-depth investigation is conducted into host structure performance such as boundary conditions, laminate stacking sequence configuration, and symmetry/asymmetry layups.

No abstract

Knowledge and technologies play an essential part in this rapid-response capability, by maintaining opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation needed in the development of sustainable competitive advantage. However, the low capability of SMEs to provide the required resources is a barrier to the in-house technology development. Consequently, external resources such as government, businesses, and universities, to support their performance in developing technological capabilities utilize so-called 'knowledge and technology transfer' programs, which are needed as a shortcut to improve technological process innovation. This study provides theoretical and empirical support for the role of government, businesses, and universities in transferring knowledge and technology for SMEs' innovativeness in emerging economies and the impact of process innovation on SMEs' competitiveness. The results suggest policy directions for governments to support SMEs in emerging economies.