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Development Of A Computational Model To Predict The In Vivo Contact Mechanics Of Modern Total Knee Arthroplasty, Adrija Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the development of a computationally efficient and fast method that incorporates the kinematics obtained from fluoroscopy and extends it to the prediction of the in-vivo contact mechanics at the femoro-tibial articulation in modern knee implants for the deep knee bend activity. In this endeavor, this dissertation deals with the use of an inverse dynamic rigid body model characterizing the slip and roll behavior observed in the femoro-polyethylene articulation and a coupled deformation model where the polyethylene in knee implants are modeled as hexahedral discrete element networks. The performance of this method is tested by comparing force …

The Future Of The Operating Room: Surgical Preplanning And Navigation Using High Accuracy Ultra-Wideband Positioning And Advanced Bone Measurement, Brandon C. Merkl

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation embodies the diversity and creativity of my research, of which much has been peer-reviewed, published in archival quality journals, and presented nationally and internationally. Portions of the work described herein have been published in the fields of image processing, forensic anthropology, physical anthropology, biomedical engineering, clinical orthopedics, and microwave engineering.

The problem studied is primarily that of developing the tools and technologies for a next-generation surgical navigation system. The discussion focuses on the underlying technologies of a novel microwave positioning subsystem and a bone analysis subsystem. The methodologies behind each of these technologies are presented in the context …

Synergistic Effect Of Retinoic Acid, Nerve Growth Factor And Laminin For Enhanced Neurite Extension, Shrarath Ashwin Sriman

Masters Theses

Peripheral Nerve Injury is one of the most common and serious traumatic injuries. About 300,000 cases of peripheral nerve injury are reported annually in Europe and another 50,000 procedures performed annually in the United States. Peripheral nerve injury can lead to lifelong disability and also death in severe cases. Repair techniques remain a major challenge because of lack of efficient regeneration. Though techniques like autografts are highly efficient, they face a lot of drawbacks. Alternate methods focus on the use of growth supporting and enhancement components in nerve guidance channels. Current research necessitates the use of a combination of compounds …

Flow And Transport In Unsaturated Porous Media: Fractal Modeling, Analytical Solutions And Experimentation, Abdullah Cihan

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of five parts, each describing a specific topic of unsaturated flow and transport. The first three parts describe the development of soil hydraulic function models with the effects of partial drainage by using fractal and probabilistic approaches. During drainage of a porous medium, both the pore size distribution and the connectivity of pores determine the drained pore volume as function of suction. New analytical expressions were presented for the water retention (part 1), intrinsic permeability (part 2), and relative permeability (part 3) functions. Predictions based on the analytical models are compared with estimates of the intrinsic permeability …

A Study Of Irrigation, Fertigation And Plasticulture In Burley Tobacco, With A Focus On Yield, Quality And Tsna Reduction, Eric F. Caldwell

Masters Theses

Nitrogen fertilization is important in attaining high yielding, quality tobacco. However, practices that use excessive N can be uneconomical, threaten the environment and produce leaves that are high in nitrates. Leaves high in nitrates have been positively correlated with leaves that are high in tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNA), which are considered potent carcinogens. Competition from cheaper, foreign leaf, increasing costs of fertilizers and new market structures which show purchasers seeking low TSNA leaf demand that producers become more efficient in their N use. The objective of this study is an examination of burley (TN 90) and dark (KY 171) tobacco …

Ultra-Wideband Frequency Surgical Navigation Probe, Stuart J. Deaderick

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.