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Pressure-sensitive touch panels can measure pressure and location (3D) information simultaneously and provide an intuitive and natural method for expressing one’s intention with a higher level of controllability and interactivity. However, they have been generally realized by a simple combination of pressure and location sensor or a stylus-based interface, which limit their implementation in a wide spectrum of applications. Here, we report a first demonstration (to our knowledge) of a transparent and flexible 3D touch which can sense the 3D information in a single device with the assistance of functionally designed self-generated multiscale structures. The single 3D touch system is demonstrated to draw a complex three-dimensional structure by utilizing the pressure as a third coordinate. Furthermore, rigorous theoretical analysis is carried out to achieve the target pressure performances with successful 3D data acquisition in wireless and wearable conditions, which in turn, paves the way for future wearable devices. Touch technology holds potential for the development of smartphones and touchscreens, yet the conventional devices are usually built on separate pressure and location sensing units. Kim et al. show a flexible and transparent touch sensor capable of mapping the position and pressure at the same time.

As the size of the chip is getting smaller and the processing speed is getting faster and faster, various smart products are also constantly being upgraded. Multimedia is widely used in teaching. Traditional laser pointers can no longer meet people's needs. Electronic stylus chips can enhance the interaction between human and computer. The smart electronic stylus uses a gyroscope and accelerometer to collect position and speed information, then transmits the information to the smart display device via Bluetooth.

A burgeoning array of digital tools is helping researchers to document experiments with ease. Since at least the 1990s, articles on technology have predicted the imminent, widespread adoption of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) by researchers. ELNs comprise software that helps researchers to document experiments, and that often has features such as protocol templates, collaboration tools, support for electronic signatures and the ability to manage the lab inventory. The researchers, who chose Microsoft's note-taking software OneNote as an ELN, use the tablet's camera to take photographs of instruments and results, and a stylus to annotate images. Michael Gotthardt, a cardiovascular-disease researcher at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association in Berlin, chose OneNote because he wanted a low-cost product with \"essentially no learning curve\" that the IT department could install locally with ease.

Micro monolithic tungsten ball tips are widely used for precision measurements related to high-aspect-ratio microdevices, where submicron accuracy is increasingly required. However, conventional fabrication methods do not effectively meet these precision requirements. This study presents a magnetic field-assisted arc discharge technique to achieve enhanced precision in the fabrication of tungsten styli. By introducing a uniform axial magnetic field generated by a Helmholtz coil, the technique suppresses the asymmetric electromagnetic force that induces center offset and simultaneously enhances the roundness and surface finish. A mathematical model was developed to describe the relationship between eccentricity and electromagnetic force, and was verified through experiments. Under the optimized magnetic field of 25 mT, the roundness error, center offset, and surface roughness were reduced by 43%, 53%, and 51.6%, respectively, achieving submicron precisions of 0.86 μm, 0.70 μm, and R a 1.05 μm, respectively. These results confirm the effectiveness of magnetic field assistance in improving the morphological uniformity and providing a promising route for the high-precision fabrication of tungsten microprobes. Highlights The formation mechanisms of eccentricity, roundness error, and surface roughness in tungsten probe fabrication are investigated. A mathematical model is developed to describe the relationship between the Lorentz force and eccentricity for analyzing the required magnetic field intensity. A Helmholtz coil is designed to generate an axial magnetic field, reducing geometric and surface errors by over 50%, achieving submicron precision.

Engineering structures that bridge between elements with disparate mechanical properties are a significant challenge. Organisms reap synergy by creating complex shapes that are intricately graded. For instance, the wear-resistant cusp of the chiton radula tooth works in concert with progressively softer microarchitectural units as the mollusk grazes on and erodes rock. Herein, we focus on the stylus that connects the ultrahard and stiff tooth head to the flexible radula membrane. Using techniques that are especially suited to probe the rich chemistry of iron at high spatial resolution, in particular synchrotron Mössbauer and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, we find that the upper stylus of Cryptochiton stelleri is in fact a mineralized tissue. Remarkably, the inorganic phase is nano disperse santabarbaraite, an amorphous ferric hydroxyphosphate that has not been observed as a biomineral. The presence of two persistent polyamorphic phases, amorphous ferric phosphate and santabarbaraite, in close proximity, is a unique aspect that demonstrates the level of control over phase transformations in C. stelleri dentition. The stylus is a highly graded material in that its mineral content and mechanical properties vary by a factor of 3 to 8 over distances of a few hundred micrometers, seamlessly bridging between the soft radula and the hard tooth head. The use of amorphous phases that are low in iron and high in water content may be key to increasing the specific strength of the stylus. Finally, we show that we can distill these insights into design criteria for inks for additive manufacturing of highly tunable chitosan-based composites.

Food consumption and waste elimination are vital functions for living systems. Although how feeding impacts animal form and function has been studied for more than a century since Darwin, how its obligate partner, excretion, controls and constrains animal behavior, size, and energetics remains largely unexplored. Here we study millimeter-scale sharpshooter insects ( Cicadellidae ) that feed exclusively on a plant’s xylem sap, a nutrient-deficit source (95% water). To eliminate their high-volume excreta, these insects exploit droplet superpropulsion, a phenomenon in which an elastic projectile can achieve higher velocity than the underlying actuator through temporal tuning. We combine coupled-oscillator models, computational fluid dynamics, and biophysical experiments to show that these insects temporally tune the frequency of their anal stylus to the Rayleigh frequency of their surface tension-dominated elastic drops as a single-shot resonance mechanism. Our model predicts that for these tiny insects, the superpropulsion of droplets is energetically cheaper than forming jets, enabling them to survive on an extreme energy-constrained xylem-sap diet. The principles and limits of superpropulsion outlined here can inform designs of energy-efficient self-cleaning structures and soft engines to generate ballistic motions. Sharpshooters can catapult their droplet excreta with a speed faster than their own movement speed. Challita et al. find that superpropulsion is achieved by the temporal tuning between the droplet and the stylus.

Analytical contact mechanics theories depend on surface roughness through the surface roughness power spectrum. In the present study, we evaluated the usability of various experimental methods for studying surface roughness. Our findings indicated that height data obtained from optical methods often lack accuracy and should not be utilized for calculating surface roughness power spectra. Conversely, engineering stylus instruments and atomic force microscopy (AFM) typically yield reliable results that are consistent across the overlapping roughness length scale region. For surfaces with isotropic roughness, the two-dimensional (2D) power spectrum can be derived from the one-dimensional (1D) power spectrum using several approaches, which we explored in this paper. Graphical Abstract

Uncertainties in rock abrasivity often result in the failure of mechanical excavation and excessive cutter wear during TBM tunnelling. Cerchar abrasivity characteristic tests on weakly cemented sandstones (WCS) in western China revealed that their abrasivity changed with physical state and exhibited fuzzy randomness. In the dry state, the abrasivity index reaches its maximum, with the mud-saturated state being intermediate, and the water-saturated state showing the lowest value. In the dry state, the sandstone’s Cerchar Abrasivity Index(CAI) increased (CAI) by 10.64% compared to the mud-saturated state, and by 19.23% compared to the water-saturated state. Studies on the microstructure of WCS in different states indicated that the higher CAI value in the dry state is attributable to its well-preserved internal structure, strong cementation, and high strength. In the water-saturated state, the presence of a slurry film on the sandstone surface led to a higher steel stylus wear than in the fully saturated state. The conventional RBF neural network model was improved by introducing neurone fuzzy splitting and stochastic adjustment of connection weights. Compared to MLR, SVR, and traditional RBF: the MSE of improved RBF is reduced by up to 65.7%, the MAE is reduced by up to 47.4%, and the occurrence rate of local optimality is decreased by 53.8%. Based on this, an improved fuzzy stochastic RBF neural network model was established to predict rock abrasivity using hardness, wave velocity, porosity, and equivalent quartz content as inputs, and the CAI and Cerchar Abrasivity Ratio (CAR) of WCS as outputs. Engineering examples show that the improved RBF fuzzy stochastic model’s prediction of rock abrasivity rate has an error of less than 5% compared to the actual measured values, and the predicted Coefficient of Determination (R 2 ) reaches 0.967. Therefore, the enhanced prediction model successfully addressed the uncertainty in abrasivity characteristics of WCS in western China.

Background This study aims to investigate bacterial adhesion on different titanium and ceramic implant surfaces, to correlate these findings with surface roughness and surface hydrophobicity, and to define the predominant factor for bacterial adhesion for each material. Methods Zirconia and titanium specimens with different surface textures and wettability (5.0 mm in diameter, 1.0 mm in height) were prepared. Surface roughness was measured by perthometer ( R a ) and atomic force microscopy, and hydrophobicity according to contact angles by computerized image analysis. Bacterial suspensions of Streptococcus sanguinis and Staphylococcus epidermidis were incubated for 2 h at 37 °C with ten test specimens for each material group and quantified with fluorescence dye CytoX-Violet and an automated multi-detection reader. Results Variations in surface roughness ( R a ) did not lead to any differences in adhering S. epidermidis , but higher R a resulted in increased S. sanguinis adhesion. In contrast, higher bacterial adhesion was observed on hydrophobic surfaces than on hydrophilic surfaces for S. epidermidis but not for S. sanguinis . The potential to adhere S. sanguinis was significantly higher on ceramic surfaces than on titanium surfaces; no such preference could be found for S. epidermidis . Conclusions Both surface roughness and wettability may influence the adhesion properties of bacteria on biomaterials; in this context, the predominant factor is dependent on the bacterial species. Wettability was the predominant factor for S. epidermidis and surface texture for S. sanguinis . Zirconia did not show any lower bacterial colonization potential than titanium. Arithmetical mean roughness values R a (measured by stylus profilometer) are inadequate for describing surface roughness with regard to its potential influence on microbial adhesion.

The application of bioprinting allows precision deposition of biological materials for bioengineering applications. Here we propose a 2 stage methodology for bioprinting using a back pressure-driven, automated robotic dispensing system. This apparatus can prepare topographic guidance features for cell orientation and then bioprint cells directly onto them. Topographic guidance features generate cues that influence adhered cell morphology and phenotype. The robotic dispensing system was modified to include a sharpened stylus that etched on a polystyrene surface. The same computer-aided design (CAD) software was used for both precision control of etching and bioink deposition. Various etched groove patterns such as linear, concentric circles, and sinusoidal wave patterns were possible. Fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were able to sense the grooves, as shown by their elongation and orientation in the direction of the features. The orientated MSCs displayed indications of lineage commitment as detected by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. A 2% gelatin bioink was then used to dispense cells onto the etched features using identical, programmed co-ordinates. The bioink allows the cells to contact sense the pattern while containing their deposition within the printed pattern.The application of bioprinting allows the precision deposition of biological material for bioengineering applications. Here we propose a 2 stage methodology for bioprinting using a back pressure driven automated robotic dispensing system. This apparatus can prepare topographic guidance features for cell orientation and then bioprint cells directly to them. Topographic guidance features generate cues that influence adhered cell morphology and phenotype. The robotic dispensing system was modified to include a sharpened stylus that etched a polystyrene surface. The same CAD software was used for both precision control of etching and bioink deposition. Various etched groove patterns were possible, such as linear, concentric circles and sinusoidal wave patterns. Fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) could sense the grooves, elongating and orientating themselves in the direction of the features, with the MSCs displaying indications of lineage commitment. A 2% gelatin bioink was then used to dispense cells onto the etched features using identical programmed co-ordinates. The bioink allows the cells to contact sense the pattern while containing their deposition within the printed pattern.