We made a three-dimensional (3-D) nanofibrous fibroin scaffold (NFS) with high porosity (94%) and examined its feasibility in bone regeneration. Under scanning electron microscopy, MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts on the scaffold showed more spread on the first day after seeding compared with a 2-D scaffold. MTT assay showed significantly increased proliferation in 3-D NFS compared with 2-D NFS 7 days after seeding (P < 0.05). Western immunoblotting for activated paxillin, FAK, AKT, C-Src, and ERK1/2 antibodies showed signals from the extracellular matrix were significantly increased in 3-D NFS. Newly developed 3-D electrospun NFS may be a good candidate for use in bone regeneration.

The universal criterion for ultrafast vortex-core switching between the up- and down-core bistates in soft magnetic nanodots is investigated by micromagnetic simulations along with vortex-core switching that occurs whenever the velocity of vortex-core motion reaches its critical velocity, upsilon cri = (1.66 +/- 0.18) gamma mean square root of Aex (e.g., upsilon cri = 330 +/- 37 m/s for Permalloy), with the exchange stiffness Aex and the gyromagnetic ratio gamma. On the basis of the universality of upsilon cri, phase diagrams for the vortex-core switching event and switching time with respect to both the amplitude and frequency of a circularly rotating magnetic field are calculated.

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Logic operations based on coupled magnetic vortices were experimentally demonstrated. We utilized a simple chain structure consisting of three physically separated but dipolar-coupled vortex-state Permalloy disks as well as two electrodes for application of the logical inputs. We directly monitored the vortex gyrations in the middle disk, as the logical output, by time-resolved full-field soft X-ray microscopy measurements. By manipulating the relative polarization configurations of both end disks, two different logic operations are programmable: the XOR operation for the parallel polarization and the OR operation for the antiparallel polarization. This work paves the way for new-type programmable logic gates based on the coupled vortex-gyration dynamics achievable in vortex-state networks. The advantages are as follows: a low-power input signal by means of resonant vortex excitation, low-energy dissipation during signal transportation by selection of low-damping materials, and a simple patterned-array structure.

A wide variety of coupled harmonic oscillators exist in nature. Coupling between different oscillators allows for the possibility of mutual energy transfer between them and the information-signal propagation. Low-energy input signals and their transport with negligible energy loss are the key technological factors in the design of information-signal processing devices. Here, utilizing the concept of coupled oscillators, we experimentally demonstrated a robust new mechanism for energy transfer between spatially separated dipolar-coupled magnetic disks - stimulated vortex gyration. Direct experimental evidence was obtained by a state-of-the-art experimental time-resolved soft X-ray microscopy probe. The rate of energy transfer from one disk to the other was deduced from the two normal modes' frequency splitting caused by dipolar interaction. This mechanism provides the advantages of tunable energy transfer rates, low-power input signals and negligible energy loss in the case of negligible intrinsic damping. Coupled vortex-state disks might be implemented in applications for information-signal processing.