The activity of designing and developing large, complex, discrete, physical, and engineered products faces the challenges in the physical product system, the organization of people, and the larger systems in which the product resides-the natural and societal systems. This thesis…

by Antoine D. Guivarch., Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2003., Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-152).

Cartilage functions as a load bearing and friction reducing material in synovial joints and it is constantly exposed to in vivo loading which is coupled to electromechanical and physicochemical forces. The swelling pressure of cartilage originates from proteoglycans containing negatively…