Digital Commons Network^™

Failure Simulations At Multiple Length Scales In High Temperature Structural Alloys, Chao Pu

Doctoral Dissertations

A number of computational methodologies have been developed to investigate the deformation and damage mechanism of various structural materials at different length scale and under extreme loading conditions, and also to provide insights in the development of high-performance materials.

In microscopic material behavior and failure modes, polycrystalline metals of interest include heterogeneous deformation field due to crystalline anisotropy, inter/intra grain or phase and grain boundary interactions. Crystal plasticity model is utilized to simulate microstructure based polycrystalline materials, and micro-deformation information, such as lattice strain evolution, can be captured based on crystal plasticity finite element modeling (CPFEM) in ABAQUS. The comparison …

Joint Optimization Of Allocation And Release Policy Decisions For Surgical Block Time Under Uncertainty, Mina Loghavi

Doctoral Dissertations

The research presented in this dissertation contributes to the growing literature on applications of operations research methodology to healthcare problems through the development and analysis of mathematical models and simulation techniques to find practical solutions to fundamental problems facing nearly all hospitals.

In practice, surgical block schedule allocation is usually determined regardless of the stochastic nature of case demand and duration. Once allocated, associated block time release policies, if utilized, are often simple rules that may be far from optimal. Although previous research has examined these decisions individually, our model considers them jointly. A multi-objective model that characterizes financial, temporal, …

Newly Licensed Registered Nurses' Experiences With Clinical Simulation, Carrie Ann Bailey

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand how new graduate nurses perceive the value of simulation in making the transition into professional practice. This study will use a descriptive qualitative approach with a sample of first year nurses. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model serves as this study’s conceptual framework. For the current study, the sample consisted of 10 newly graduated, female nurses with less than one year of experience working in the hospital setting were interviewed. Data analysis included interviews and transcription by the researcher. Finally, participants were asked about themes to increase rigor. Four themes emerged from this research: …

Computational Framework For Small Animal Spect Imaging: Simulation And Reconstruction, Sang Hyeb Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

Small animal Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) has been an invaluable asset in biomedical science since this non-invasive imaging technique allows the longitudinal studies of animal models of human diseases. However, the image degradation caused by non-stationary collimator-detector response and single photon emitting nature of SPECT makes it difficult to provide a quantitative measure of 3D radio-pharmaceutical distribution inside the patient. Moreover, this problem exacerbates when an intra-peritoneal X-ray contrast agent is injected into a mouse for low-energy radiotracers.

In this dissertation, we design and develop a complete computational framework for the entire SPECT scan procedure from the radio-pharmaceutical …