Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shape, time variety and intensity of applied electric stress are often responsible for material structural modifications, these variations capable of being transient and reversible (restoring the original material\u2019s behavior) or irreversible (leading to a \u201cnew material\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, electrical and thermal characterization is typically performed in low-field conditions in order to limit the number of measurement-induced artefacts, and in a steady-state condition in order to derive the material properties to be used in the linear time-invariant (LTI) hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, in several biomedical applications such us electroporation or hyperthermia, the use of a suitable EM field is considered just in order to induce a desired material modification, both reversible and irreversible. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms responsible for the corresponding modifications are still under study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With such working condition material stresses being far from the conventional ones used in characterization procedures, the study of nonlinear electrical and thermal properties of biological materials with regards to the applied field represents an issue in this research context; in these applications, biological materials become a \u201cnonlinear time-varying load\u201d, whose behavior influences the power given by the EM source itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MDPI Special Issue of Design<\/em> (subsection Bioengineering), titled \u201cElectrical and Thermal Behavior of Biological Materials in Nonstandard Working Conditions: Model and Measurement Methods for Biomedical Applications Design\u201d, aims to collect both method descriptions and measurement results in nonstandard conditions to assess the thermal and electrical behavior of biological materials, as well as to help with the design of specific applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Theoretical and experimental results concerning animal and vegetal tissues will be considered, jointly with engineered biomaterials obtained in nonstandard working conditions. Examples include, but are not limited to, electroporation, hyperthermia, high temperature, stress, pulsed stimuli and high magnetic or electric field applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n