The Coflex device may provide stability to the surgical segment in extension but does not restore stability in other motion. Recently, a modified version called the Coflex rivet has been developed. The effects of Coflex and Coflex rivet implantation on the adjacent segments are still not clear; therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the biomechanical differences between Coflex and Coflex rivet implantation by using finite element analyses. The results show that the Coflex implantation can provide stability in extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation at the surgical segment, and it had no influence at adjacent segments except for extension. The Coflex rivet implantation can provide stability in all motions and reduce disc annulus stress at the surgical segment. Therefore, the higher range of motion and stress induced by the Coflex rivet at both adjacent discs may result in adjacent segment degeneration in flexion and extension.

Lumbar interbody fusion is a common procedure for treating lower back pain related to degenerative disc diseases. The Coflex-F is a recently developed interspinous spacer, the makers of which claim that it can provide stabilisation similar to pedicle screw fixation. Therefore, this study compares the biomechanical behaviour of the Coflex-F device and pedicle screw fixation with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) or anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) surgeries by using finite element analysis. The results show that the Coflex-F device combined with ALIF surgery can provide stability similar to the pedicle screw fixation combined with TLIF or ALIF surgery. Also, the posterior instrumentations (Coflex-F and pedicle screw fixation) combined with TLIF surgery had lower stability than when combined with ALIF surgery.

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) comprised of amorphous indiumgallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) as the active channel layers were prepared by sputtering process at various Ar/O 2 gas flow ratios and their electrical properties were investigated. Device characterizations indicated that the TFT sample prepared at the condition of Ar/O 2 ratio = 20:0.6 exhibits the best performance with field-effect mobility (μ FE) = 5.2 cm 2 ⋅V −1 ⋅sec −1 , threshold voltage (V th) = 0.7 V, subthreshold gate swing (S.S.) = 0.9 V⋅decade −1 and on/off ratio = 5×10 6. Such a sample also exhibited the lowest interface trap density (D it = 2.8×10 10 eV −1 ⋅cm −2) and the highest capacitance density (334 nF⋅cm −2) as revealed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) analysis and the lowest leakage current density of 25 nA/cm 2 at 10 MV/cm (in case of positive bias on top electrode) as revealed by current-voltage (I-V) measurement.

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The tube spinning process is a metal forming process used in the manufacture of axisymmetric products, and has been widely used in various applications. In this paper, the neck-spinning process was applied to form the neck part of the tube end at an elevated temperature. The spun tube was used as a high pressure CO2 vessel, which is a component of motorcycle airbag jackets. An uneven surface will occur on the tube surface if the thickness distribution of the tube is not uniform after the neck-spinning process. This is because different thicknesses result from different contractions during the cooling stage. For this reason, the aim of this research was to numerically investigate the roller forming path to improve the thickness distribution of the tube during the neck-spinning process. The finite element method was used to simulate the neck-spinning process of the tube at an elevated temperature. For the construction of the material model, special uni-axial tensile tests were conducted at elevated temperatures and various strain rates, because the material is sensitive to strain rates at high temperatures. This paper compares the experimental and simulation results of the thickness distribution and the outer contour of the spun tube. The validated finite element model was used to investigate the influence of the roller forming path on the thickness distribution of the tube. The thickness distribution of the tube formed by a curved path was found to be more uniform than for the tube formed by a straight path. Finally, the optimization technique was used to find the optimal forming path, and the optimal result was verified experimentally.