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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Modeling And Parameter Estimation Of An Actuator For Prosthetic Joints, Bartholomew J. Brown, Katherine Florek, Hanz Richter
Modeling And Parameter Estimation Of An Actuator For Prosthetic Joints, Bartholomew J. Brown, Katherine Florek, Hanz Richter
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
A mathematical model was developed for a linear actuator to be used in a powered leg prosthesis. The model consists of a differential equation relating motor voltage, external force and velocity. All model parameters were known from manufacturer's data, except inertia and friction. A numerical simulation was prepared to estimate these parameters from experimental data. Experiments were conducted and a numerical search was performed to arrive at parameter values that closely fit the data. The mathematical model will be used in subsequent control development work.
An Autonomous Robotic Indoor Environment Surveillance System, Andrew Gunnerson, Bogdan Olar, Haodong Wang
An Autonomous Robotic Indoor Environment Surveillance System, Andrew Gunnerson, Bogdan Olar, Haodong Wang
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
We developed an autonomous mobile robot platform capable of following a path and gather environmental data, including temperature, humidity, light intensity, etc. The robot is capable of detecting the path using its camera and correct most navigational errors, while the sensors support a limited set of instructions regarding which sensor data to collect and how often. Our experiment consisted of having the robot follow a looped path we set up in BU004 Lab. The robot was able to complete the loop and gather sensor data for light intensity, humidity and temperature at a frequency of once per second, and also …
Controlling Micelle Formation Using Mixtures Of Linear And Foldon-Capped Polypeptides (Elp): Measurements With Uv-Vis Spectroscopy, John P. Gavin, Michael G. Price, Janna Mino, Nolan Holland, Kiril Streletzky
Controlling Micelle Formation Using Mixtures Of Linear And Foldon-Capped Polypeptides (Elp): Measurements With Uv-Vis Spectroscopy, John P. Gavin, Michael G. Price, Janna Mino, Nolan Holland, Kiril Streletzky
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Polymer surfactants developed in our lab have a protein headgroup (foldon) and three elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) tails. They can form micelles smaller than 30 nm, which may be useful in developing targeted drug delivery vehicles. Specifically, ELPs are capped with foldon, which is a 27 amino acid sequence that folds as a homotrimer, resulting in a three-armed star polypeptide. This structure has been shown to form micelles above the transition temperature (Tt) of the ELP. The salt concentration affects the interaction between the headgroups affecting how the micelles assemble. At low salt concentrations the ELP-foldon will form spherical micelles; whereas, …
Live Cell Imaging Of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells On Nano-Pitted And Polished Titanium Surfaces: A Micro-Incubator In Vitro Approach, Zakaria Benmerzouga, Surendra Tewari, Joanne Belovich
Live Cell Imaging Of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells On Nano-Pitted And Polished Titanium Surfaces: A Micro-Incubator In Vitro Approach, Zakaria Benmerzouga, Surendra Tewari, Joanne Belovich
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Current orthopedic implants are not conducive for optimal integration of the biomaterial with newly-formed tissue (osseointegration) inside a patient’s body. In this study, medical-rade Ti-6Al-4V was used as a substrate due to its biocompatibility and ability to facilitate cellular adhesion and proliferation. Live cell imaging was conducted on bone marrow stromal cells, genetically modified to express the green fluorescent protein (GFP), from the 24-96 hours growth period, with the first 24 hours of growth being held inside a lab-scale incubator. Periodic images were recorded on nanopitted anodized and polished Ti-6Al-4V substrates to study how substratestiffness influences adhesion and proliferation. Collected …
Electronic Control Optimization Of A Regenerative Leg Prosthesis, Taylor Barto, Dan Simon
Electronic Control Optimization Of A Regenerative Leg Prosthesis, Taylor Barto, Dan Simon
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Until recently, leg prostheses (artificial legs) operated similarly to a leg without muscles. With recent advances in electronic technology, motorized prostheses have become possible. However, these prostheses require large batteries and have a limited operation time. Our research focuses on using supercapacitors in prostheses to exploit the braking portion of human walking to regenerate energy, thus reducing the dependence on batteries. To use supercapacitors with the knee motor, electronic control circuitry is required. We are using a circuit that is similar to a standard motor controller to manage the flow of energy between the supercapacitor and the knee motor. This …
Computer Vision And Route Planning For Humanoid Robots, Michael Iannicca, Dawei Du, Dan Simon
Computer Vision And Route Planning For Humanoid Robots, Michael Iannicca, Dawei Du, Dan Simon
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Our research focuses on vision-based route planning for the NAO humanoid robot. The robot is required to visually observe a scene and decide the shortest possible route for visiting the points of interest in that scene. A robust method for processing image information is used to determine the locations to be visited. We use a perspective projection algorithm to map points from a camera image to locations in three-dimensional space. A camera calibration algorithm finds the distance from the camera to the image plane. Linear regression is used to obtain the equations of camera calibration lines. Thresholds and binary masks …
3d Cultures Of Human Liver Cell Lines Encapsulated In Puramatrix On A Microarray Chip Platform, Pratap Lama, Alexander D. Roth, Pranav Joshi, Akshata Datar, Moo-Yeal Lee
3d Cultures Of Human Liver Cell Lines Encapsulated In Puramatrix On A Microarray Chip Platform, Pratap Lama, Alexander D. Roth, Pranav Joshi, Akshata Datar, Moo-Yeal Lee
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
A high-throughput cell printing technology has developed to simulate the liver tissue environment using a hydrogel-based chip platform that has potential to shift in vivo drug toxicity models towards in vitro tests. However, the hydrophobic nature of polystyrene chips is not promoting direct adhesion of hydrogels, which created a problem with spot attachment. The main goal of this research is to create a surface chemistry that helps to attach a peptide-based hydrogel, including PuraMatrix, to a polystyrenebased micropillar chip. Seven analogs of maleic anhydride co-polymers were used to coat the micropillar chip to create a functional surface. Then, six ionic …
High-Content, 3d Cell Culture Assays On A Micropillar/Microwell Chip Platform, Pranav Joshi, Akshata Datar, Alexander D. Roth, Pratap Lama, Moo-Yeal Lee
High-Content, 3d Cell Culture Assays On A Micropillar/Microwell Chip Platform, Pranav Joshi, Akshata Datar, Alexander D. Roth, Pratap Lama, Moo-Yeal Lee
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
High content imaging (HCI) is a multi-parametric assay using multiple fluorescent dyes that are relevant to specific cell functions. The HCI assays provide an insight into the mechanisms of toxic drug responses, thus enhancing predictability of drug toxicity. However, current HCI assays are performed on 2D cell monolayer cultures which are physiologically irrelevant, creating a new opportunity for better predictable 3D HCI assays. The goal of this research is to develop HCI assays on 3D cellular microarrays that can be implemented for various toxicity screening, leading to classification of drug toxicity via investigating profiles of cell injury. As a model …
Anatomy-Based Transmission Factors For Technique Optimization In Portable Chest X-Ray, Chris L. Liptak, W. Paul Segars, Ashraf G. Morgan, Frank F. Dong, Xiang Li
Anatomy-Based Transmission Factors For Technique Optimization In Portable Chest X-Ray, Chris L. Liptak, W. Paul Segars, Ashraf G. Morgan, Frank F. Dong, Xiang Li
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Currently, portable x-ray examinations do not employ automatic exposure control (AEC). To aid in the design of a size-specific technique chart, acrylic slabs of various thicknesses are often used to estimate x-ray transmission factors for patients of various body thicknesses. This approach, while simple, does not account for patient anatomy, tissue heterogeneity, and the attenuation properties of the human body. To better account for these factors, in this work, we determined x-ray transmission factors using computational patient models that are anatomically realistic. A Monte Carlo program was developed to model a portable x-ray system. Detailed modeling was done of the …
Monitoring Micelle Formation In Mixtures Of Linear And Foldon-Capped Polypeptides With Light Scattering Spectroscopy, Janna Mino, John P. Gavin, Michael G. Price, Kiril Streletzky, Nolan Holland
Monitoring Micelle Formation In Mixtures Of Linear And Foldon-Capped Polypeptides With Light Scattering Spectroscopy, Janna Mino, John P. Gavin, Michael G. Price, Kiril Streletzky, Nolan Holland
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) polymers are ideal for producing environmentally responsive micellar systems because they exhibit a transition from being water-soluble at low temperatures to phase-separated at high temperatures. For application development of drug delivery vehicles and biosensing nanoparticles, it is important to prepare spherical micelles of controlled diameter and shape. Since at a given salt concentration, the headgroup area for each foldon should be constant, the size of the micelles is expected to be proportional to the volume of the linear ELP available per foldon headgroup. Therefore, adding linear ELPs to a system of ELP-foldon should result in changes of …
Reaction Engineering Routes To Waste Gasification For Sustainable Living Environments, Stephen A. Reeves, Mohammed S. Suleiman, Joshua M. Cmar, Jorge E. Gatica
Reaction Engineering Routes To Waste Gasification For Sustainable Living Environments, Stephen A. Reeves, Mohammed S. Suleiman, Joshua M. Cmar, Jorge E. Gatica
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
There is an increasing pressure to reduce waste generation and dependence upon fossil fuels in our society. The approach investigated in this project aims to address both concerns by formulating a low-temperature gasification process to process long-chain polymers typically found in municipal waste. Gasification routes which convert plastic and bio-waste into useful fuel syngas products has been extensively investigated. The novelty of the approach examined here consists on the use of a variety of catalysts, which can promote high conversion in gasification reactions at much lower temperature and pressure conditions. This route overcomes some of the financial and environmental shortcomings …
Analysis Of Smartphone Traffic, Nick Ruffing, Ye Zhu
Analysis Of Smartphone Traffic, Nick Ruffing, Ye Zhu
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Smartphones have become the central communication and computing devices in our daily life because of their nearly ubiquitous Internet access through various communication capabilities such as WiFi, 3G, or even 4G networks, their user-friendly interfaces supporting touch and gesture based input, and their numerous applications and games. Operating system (OS) detection, the first step to launch security attacks on a target smartphone, enables an adversary to tailor attacks by exploiting the known vulnerabilities of the target system. We investigate OS identification against smartphones that use encrypted traffic. We evaluate the identification algorithms against collected smartphone traffic. The experiments results show …
Comparison Of Electronic And Mechanical Handgrip Devices In Lowering Blood Pressure, Katie Webb, Brandon Musarra, Megan O’Keefe, Shana Strunk, Courtney Perkins, Kenneth E. Sparks, Emily Kullman, Eddie T.C. Lam
Comparison Of Electronic And Mechanical Handgrip Devices In Lowering Blood Pressure, Katie Webb, Brandon Musarra, Megan O’Keefe, Shana Strunk, Courtney Perkins, Kenneth E. Sparks, Emily Kullman, Eddie T.C. Lam
Undergraduate Research Posters 2014
Hypertension causes billions of deaths per year (Millar et al., 2013). The Zona PlusTM is an expensive tool designed to lower blood pressure (BP) using isometric exercise. This exercise may be achieved using a less expensive Handgrip Dynamometer. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research is to determine if the Zona or Handgrip Dynamometer is more efficient at lowering BP and most cost effective for patients. METHODS: Twenty subjects used the Zona and twenty subjects used the dynamometer three times per week for six weeks. BP was taken once per week prior to the treatment. A maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was …