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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Novel Non-Invasive Assessment Of Pulmonary Arterial Impedance Using Velocity Transfer Function And Its Relation With Right Ventricular Remodeling, Ankur Gupta Jan 2015

Novel Non-Invasive Assessment Of Pulmonary Arterial Impedance Using Velocity Transfer Function And Its Relation With Right Ventricular Remodeling, Ankur Gupta

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Pulmonary arterial (PA) impedance takes in to account pulsatile blood flow through elastic pulmonary arteries as compared to static pulmonary vascular resistance. Increased PA impedance is an early physiological manifestation of PA remodeling. Currently PA impedance can only be detected invasively, is expensive and cumbersome to calculate and thus not done in routine clinical practice. The ability to assess PA impedance non-invasively can provide fundamental insights in evaluation of patients with normal PA pressures or mild pulmonary hypertension such as in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. Non-invasive evaluation of right ventricular (RV)-PA axis to detect patients who could develop …


A Comprehensive Assessment Of Possible Links Between Digital Advertising Billboards And Traffic Safety, Md Mozahidul Islam Jan 2015

A Comprehensive Assessment Of Possible Links Between Digital Advertising Billboards And Traffic Safety, Md Mozahidul Islam

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Advertising billboards are a common roadside object and a very efficient medium of outside advertising. For years, static billboards have been adopted by the billboard advertising companies. Most recently, a sizeable portion of the regular (static) billboards have been digitized to convey more information to the drivers, thus raising questions about their potential impact on traffic safety. Frequently changing images on digital advertising billboards may compel more glances, and sequential messages may hold drivers' gazes longer until the entire message is read. Earlier studies sponsored by billboard advertising companies did not report statistically significant correlations between the crash occurrences and …


Joining And Assembly With Long Fiber Thermoplastic Composites, Danila Kaliberov Jan 2015

Joining And Assembly With Long Fiber Thermoplastic Composites, Danila Kaliberov

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Thermoplastic composites are used extensively in automotive, mass transit, aerospace and other commercial industries. Current industry usage is typically limited to short fiber composites formed by injection molding processes, and continuous fiber reinforced composites through processes such as autoclave molding, filament winding etc. Long fiber thermoplastics (LFT) are a class of composites known for their specific strength, corrosion resistance, impact and damping properties, as well as high production rates, recyclability, and ability for complex part fabrication. The overall objective of this research was to investigate viability of joining and assembly with long fiber thermoplastic composites. This research deals with (1) …


Simulation Of Bridge Responses To Heavy Vehicles, Rahul Kalyankar Jan 2015

Simulation Of Bridge Responses To Heavy Vehicles, Rahul Kalyankar

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The main objective of this dissertation is to simulate dynamic heavy vehicle bridge interaction using advanced numerical models of heavy vehicle and bridges for the Next Generation Bridge Weigh in Motion (B-WIM) system. The traditional B-WIM system uses a simplified approach where the bridge is considered as a beam and the heavy vehicle is considered as a stable mass moving with constant speed. On the contrary, the moving heavy vehicle consists of a series of complex parts such as tire assembly, springs and dampers, rigid bodies, and types of materials. Along with the complexities of the heavy vehicle, the bridge …


The Impact Of Roofing Material On Building Energy Performance, Ali Badiee Jan 2015

The Impact Of Roofing Material On Building Energy Performance, Ali Badiee

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The last decade has seen an increase in the efficient use of energy sources such as water, electricity, and natural gas as well as a variety of roofing materials, in the heating and cooling of both residential and commercial infrastructure. Oil costs, coal and natural gas prices remain high and unstable. All of these instabilities and increased costs have resulted in higher heating and cooling costs, and engineers are making an effort to keep them under control by using energy efficient building materials. The building envelope (that which separates the indoor and outdoor environments of a building) plays a significant …


Web Computing For Bioinformatics Applications, Sean Wilkinson Jan 2015

Web Computing For Bioinformatics Applications, Sean Wilkinson

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This work explores web computing as a solution to current problems in informatics, including algorithm delivery, distributed computation, and data visualization. A novel computing platform called QMachine has been developed for use in clinical research environments for computationally intensive applications like medical image processing and genomics sequence processing. In such applications, the emergence of Big Data as the inevitable reference for the analysis of local (“small”) data from individual experiments or patients has presented numerous challenges. In particular, computational workflows that handle Big Data need significantly greater processing and memory resources. Advances in virtualization – especially in cloud computing – …


Lab-On-A-Brane: A Novel Physiologically Relevant Planar Arterial Model To Study Transendothelial Transport, Karim I. Budhwani Jan 2015

Lab-On-A-Brane: A Novel Physiologically Relevant Planar Arterial Model To Study Transendothelial Transport, Karim I. Budhwani

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The tremendous quality of life impact notwithstanding, cardiovascular diseases and Cancer add up to over US$ 700bn each year in financial costs alone. Aging and population growth are expected to further expand the problem space while drug research and development remain expensive. However, preclinical costs can be substantially mitigated by substituting animal models with in vitro devices that accurately model human cardiovascular transport. Here we present a novel physiologically relevant lab-on-a-brane that simulates in vivo pressure, flow, strain, and shear waveforms associated with normal and pathological conditions in large and small blood vessels for studying molecular transport across the endothelial …


Kinomic Profiling And Drug Screening Of Three-Dimensional Glioblastoma Microtumors As A Potential Comparative Model To Orthotopic Xenolines, Ashley Nichole Gilbert Jan 2015

Kinomic Profiling And Drug Screening Of Three-Dimensional Glioblastoma Microtumors As A Potential Comparative Model To Orthotopic Xenolines, Ashley Nichole Gilbert

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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary malignant brain cancer in adults, is a devastating disease for which effective treatment has remained elusive for over 75 years. A likely reason for the minimal progress during this time is the lack of accurate preclinical models to represent the patient in vivo environment, causing a disconnect in drug therapy effectiveness between the laboratory and clinic. Our proposed solution to address this disconnect and the issues of traditional preclinical modeling is to use innovative HuBiogel-based MicroTumors as a three-dimensional (3D) drug screening model for GBM. Six subcutaneous patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) prepared …


Assessment Of Antipsychotic Medication Effects On Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity In Patients With Schizophrenia, Kristin Lottman Jan 2015

Assessment Of Antipsychotic Medication Effects On Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity In Patients With Schizophrenia, Kristin Lottman

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Schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population, is often characterized as a disorder of dysconnectivity. Evaluation of the dysconnectivity hypothesis of schizophrenia has been extensively examined via functional neuroimaging studies in order to enhance insight into the disorder’s pathology. In particular, resting-state functional connectivity analyses have reported widespread aberrant network connectivity between brain regions in patients; however, consistencies in the directionality of abnormalities are often variable across studies. Recent investigations have begun to analyze functional connectivity dynamically as it is likely these inconsistencies may be a result of the static nature of traditional connectivity measures. In this …


Computational Modelling And Surface Charachterization Of Interface In Polymer Composites By Atomic Force Microscopy, Daljeet Kumar Singh Jan 2015

Computational Modelling And Surface Charachterization Of Interface In Polymer Composites By Atomic Force Microscopy, Daljeet Kumar Singh

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Polymer composites are used in numerous industries due to their high specific strength and high specific stiffness. Such composites have markedly different properties than both the reinforcement and the matrix. Of the several factors which govern the final property of the composite, the interface is the single most factor that influences the stress transfer mechanism from the fiber to the matrix. The interface bond strength is also influenced by the surface treatments applied to the fiber during spinning and weaving. The present study is an effort to characterize and model the fiber-matrix interface in polymer matrix composites. Finite element models …


Carbon Fiber Content Measurement In Composite, Qiushi Wang Jan 2015

Carbon Fiber Content Measurement In Composite, Qiushi Wang

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. Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have been widely used in various structural applications in industries such as aerospace and automotive because of their high specific stiffness and specific strength. Their mechanical properties are strongly influenced by the carbon fiber content in the composites. Measurement of the carbon fiber content in CFRPs is essential for product quality control and process optimization. In this work, a novel carbonization-in-nitrogen method (CIN) is developed to characterize the fiber content in carbon fiber reinforced thermoset and thermoplastic composites. In this method, a carbon fiber composite sample is carbonized in a nitrogen environment at elevated …


Orthogonal Pulse Based Wideband Communication For High Speed Data Transfer In Sensor Applications, Kushal Prasad Pradhan Jan 2015

Orthogonal Pulse Based Wideband Communication For High Speed Data Transfer In Sensor Applications, Kushal Prasad Pradhan

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There has been an ever increasing demand and need for high speed and reliable data transfer between a remote transmitter and a receiver station. We have proposed a novel scheme for Ultra Wide Band (UWB) communication technology, to enhance the data rate in single user scenario and to increase the number of sources for simultaneous data transmission in the multi-source scenario. We have proposed to exploit the orthogonal property of Modified Hermite Pulse (MHP) by transmitting the composite pulse (Pulse shape modulation, PSM) instead of transmitting a single orthogonal pulse. With the proposed scheme for data modulation with 4 different …


Developing A Rating Model Using Social Media Data, Suman Silwal Jan 2015

Developing A Rating Model Using Social Media Data, Suman Silwal

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Social Media (SM) is becoming a normal part of everyday life for many people around the world. This new form of communication has helped to close social gaps and bring the world closer. The information generated from Social Networking Sites (SNS) is increasingly utilized as a communication channel for market trend, brand awareness, breaking news, person-to-person online social interaction, etc. As more and more people are using SNS, their reach and power are growing rapidly in daily life. Massive amounts of daily data generated from SNS can be used in many interdisciplinary areas of research such as the Humanities, Art, …


Drive-By Bridge Damage Inspection, Ahmed Ali Elhattab Jan 2015

Drive-By Bridge Damage Inspection, Ahmed Ali Elhattab

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Bridge structures are subjected to continuous degradation due to environmental effects and increase in traffic loading. Bridge monitoring is a key element of any maintenance strategy as it can provide early signs of structural deterioration. In recent years, the demand towards sensor-based bridge monitoring in lieu of visual inspection, has increased. However, sensor-based monitoring is costly and requires significant maintenance. Recent studies on bridge damage monitoring have focused on the instrumentation of a passing vehicle instead of the bridge. This approach is referred to ‘drive-by’ bridge inspection (Kim and Kawatani, 2009). Using this approach, the bridge itself is not instrumented, …


Probing Astrocytes With Carbon Nanotubes And Assessing Their Effects On Astrocytic Structural And Functional Properties, Manoj K. Gottipati Jan 2015

Probing Astrocytes With Carbon Nanotubes And Assessing Their Effects On Astrocytic Structural And Functional Properties, Manoj K. Gottipati

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Single-walled carbon nanotubes, chemically-functionalized with polyethylene glycol (SWCNT-PEG) have been shown to modulate the morphology and proliferation characteristics of astrocytes in culture, when applied to the cells as colloidal solutes or as films upon which the cells can attach and grow. These changes were associated with a change in the immunoreactivity of the astrocyte-specific protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP); the solutes and films caused an increase and a decrease in GFAP levels, respectively. To assess if these morpho-functional changes induced by the SWCNT-PEG modalities are dependent on GFAP or if the changes in GFAP levels are independent events, I …


Application Of Adaptive Albedo Roofing Coatings In The Southeastern United States, Christopher Michael Gray Jan 2015

Application Of Adaptive Albedo Roofing Coatings In The Southeastern United States, Christopher Michael Gray

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In hot climates, such as the Southeastern United States, the roof heat gain of low-rise commercial buildings has led to widespread adoption of high reflectivity, "cool" roofing materials to reduce the building's cooling load. Cooling reduction techniques are of particular interest to electric utilities in the Southeast who are obligated to provide energy infrastructure to supply these loads. Regrettably, a consequence of cool roofs is increased heating load in cool months, thereby reducing their overall value. A potential solution is a roof surface which reversibly and automatically adapts its albedo to the building's thermal profile. Thermochromic polymers, which reversibly change …


Non Destructive Evaluation And Characterization Of Continuous And Long Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites, Ahmed Arabi Tawfic Mohamed Hassen Jan 2015

Non Destructive Evaluation And Characterization Of Continuous And Long Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites, Ahmed Arabi Tawfic Mohamed Hassen

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Thermoplastic composites have advantages over other traditional materials, such as steel, aluminum and ceramics, in terms of lightweight, specific strength, corrosion resistance and superior damping capacity ability to recycle, shorter processing times, and lack of exothermic reactions or toxic emissions. These advantages allow them to be widely used in various high-end products used in many industrial applications such as marine, offshore, mass-transit and automotive industries. There are several factors that affect the mechanical and thermal properties of thermoplastic composites, such as fiber length, fiber volume fraction and fiber orientation to name a few. Fiber orientation plays a critical role in …


Characterization Of Directionally Solidified Gray Iron, Elis Annexy Rivera-Martinez Jan 2015

Characterization Of Directionally Solidified Gray Iron, Elis Annexy Rivera-Martinez

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Even with decades of study, the complex development of solidification microstructures in cast iron is incompletely understood. Because Fe-C eutectic can produce different morphologies, and even different phases, depending on growth velocities and composition, understanding the conditions under which each forms are important. Directional solidification was used to observe the behavior of gray cast iron under carefully controlled solidification conditions. Specifically, alloys with industrially relevant amounts of silicon and manganese were studied, using a Bridgman furnace to investigate the effects of alloying additions and solidification velocity on graphite spacing and growth temperature of gray iron. An experimental technique for measuring …


Unmanned Ground Vehicle Dynamics And Energy Efficiency Control, Mostafa Salama Jan 2015

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Dynamics And Energy Efficiency Control, Mostafa Salama

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Nowadays, energy saving is a prominent concern for scientists and researchers in the automobile industry and academic research institutions. The technological development of more efficient vehicles is a relentless quest. Moreover, maximizing such energy efficiency is essential for vehicle design. Although, existing In-Wheel Motor (IWM) vehicles have successfully improved energy efficiency compared to conventional vehicles, those IWM vehicles are lacking the usage of wheel power distribution strategies to maximize slip energy efficiency. There is a need for researching power distribution among driving wheels that would lead to a breakthrough in off-road IWM Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) energy efficiency. UGV energy …


The Effect Of Applied Stress On Knowledge Retention In A Multiwall Virtual Environment, David Wayne Brown Jan 2015

The Effect Of Applied Stress On Knowledge Retention In A Multiwall Virtual Environment, David Wayne Brown

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While the science of medicine continues to grow as new discoveries in the treatment of disease are made, the education of existing procedures has not evolved with the growth of new technology. The training of doctors and nurses is still, primarily, one of classrooms and presentations. In addition, this training is predominately focused on treating the patient once they have reached the hospital, with limited thought given to out of hospital emergencies. Simulation labs are present at most schools, but these are limited in their ability to deliver identical scenarios across the entire student population due to variances in personnel …


Analysis Of Tetragonal To Monoclinic Phase Transformation Caused By Accelerated Artificial Aging And The Effects Of Microstructure In Stabilized Zirconia, Thomas J. Lucas Jan 2015

Analysis Of Tetragonal To Monoclinic Phase Transformation Caused By Accelerated Artificial Aging And The Effects Of Microstructure In Stabilized Zirconia, Thomas J. Lucas

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This investigation addresses the issue that yttria stabilized zirconia is being used as a dental biomaterial without substantial evidence of its long-term viability. Furthermore, stabilized zirconia (SZ) undergoes low temperature degradation (LTD), which can lead to roughening of the surface. A rougher exterior can lead to increased wear of the antagonist in the oral environment. Despite the LTD concerns, SZ is now widely used in restorative dentistry, including full contour crowns. A comparison of aging methods to determine the role of artificial aging on inducing the transformation has not been extensively studied. Therefore, simulations of the transformation process were investigated …


A Bio-Inspired Hybrid Nanosack For Pancreatic Islet Transplantation In The Omentum, Patrick Tj Hwang Jan 2015

A Bio-Inspired Hybrid Nanosack For Pancreatic Islet Transplantation In The Omentum, Patrick Tj Hwang

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Pancreatic islet transplantation (PIT) has demonstrated consistent and sustained reversal of type 1 diabetes, generating optimism for its wider application as a potential cure for type 1 diabetes. However, the clinical efficacy is still lacking because of a substantial loss of islets during or shortly after transplant to the implantation site. The liver has been widely used as an implantation site for PIT, but it has serious risks for islet loss, such as massive islet destruction by instant blood-mediated inflammatory reaction, progressive attrition of islet cells due to exposure to the toxic environment. The omentum has gained significant attention as …


Automated Processing Of Continuous Glucose Monitor (Cgm) Data To Study Onset Of Diabetes, Aman Khatri Jan 2015

Automated Processing Of Continuous Glucose Monitor (Cgm) Data To Study Onset Of Diabetes, Aman Khatri

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Diabetes is a long term condition that causes high levels of blood glucose, and it is necessary to get a complete picture of glucose levels which can lead to better treatment decision and better glucose control. The advent of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) is helping researches to track the blood glucose levels continuously and to understand the effects of impaired glucose levels on human body which in turn can lead to better treatment of diabetes. Current CGM systems process enormous amounts of data and have limitations in regards to data accuracy, precision, and reliability of raw glucose data. The inaccuracy …


Synthesis And Characterization Of A Collagen Based Biodegradable Polymer Initiated By Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticle For Bone Regeneration, Didarul B. Bhuiyan Jan 2015

Synthesis And Characterization Of A Collagen Based Biodegradable Polymer Initiated By Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticle For Bone Regeneration, Didarul B. Bhuiyan

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Synthetic bone graft biomaterials are considered as a potential alternative to the conventional use of bone grafts, due to their limitless supply and lack of disease transmission. Current synthetic bone graft materials generally lack the necessary combination of biological and mechanical properties for use as a bone graft substitute. Bone is a dynamic tissue that serves biological, chemical and mechanical purpose in the body and it is unlikely that a single component synthetic biomaterial can provide the appropriate combination of mechanical integrity and biological stimulation to replace bone. Multicomponent biomaterials need chemical bonding between the components to prevent phase separation …


Exploring The Effects Of Direct Contact Compression On Osteogenesis, Shannel Wright Jan 2015

Exploring The Effects Of Direct Contact Compression On Osteogenesis, Shannel Wright

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Clinically, the concept of bone building being the result of mechanical adaptation in healthy individuals has been accepted since Wollf’s Law in 1892. Despite many attempts to understand this mechanism, very little is known about the role mechanical forces play on bone molecularly. Current biomechanical theory supports the concept of osteocytes and bone lining cells creating a three-dimensional network that provides biochemical signaling as a result of mechanical loading. With pressure gradient and interstitial fluid flow models being used as methods of mechanical loading, yet there are still unanswered questions about the validity of both models. The suggested solution lies …


Fiber Metal Laminate With Thickness Reinforcement, Pritesh S. Yeole Jan 2015

Fiber Metal Laminate With Thickness Reinforcement, Pritesh S. Yeole

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In this study, a new hybrid fiber metal laminate (FML) material is developed in which fiber composites (both thermoset and thermoplastic matrix composites) and metal are bonded together mechanically using the hooks integrated on the metal. The hooks function as through thickness reinforcement and are used to enhance the bonding strength between the fiber composites and the metal. Process optimization is performed for the VARTM process used in manufacturing the thermoset composite FML in order to gain full benefit of the through thickness reinforcement. Extra pressure in addition to the vacuum is applied to push fiber tows inside the hooks …


The Utilization Of Blue - Green Algae Lyngbya Recovered From Local Ponds As Natural Reinforcement Of Composite Materials, Ninfa Alejandra Constante Perez Jan 2015

The Utilization Of Blue - Green Algae Lyngbya Recovered From Local Ponds As Natural Reinforcement Of Composite Materials, Ninfa Alejandra Constante Perez

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The abundance of blue - green algae (BGAs) has created a social and industrial problem. The overgrowth of algae blooms in water bodies across the U.S. reduces the quality of water for ecological and recreational purposes. The production of algae biofuels is forecasted to exponentially grow in the coming years, but waste residual algal biomass represents a challenge to biofuel producers. This work explores possible avenues for the utilization of BGAs as an effective reinforcement of natural fiber composites. Natural fiber composites (NFCs) are of great importance for the automotive industry in applications such as interior door panels, headliners, and …


Dynamic Simulation Of Concrete Barriers, Adel Badiee Jan 2015

Dynamic Simulation Of Concrete Barriers, Adel Badiee

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The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Bridge Specifications proposes “Yield Line Theory Analysis” in order to determine the structural capacity of concrete barriers based on their static strength. However, it appears that this method conservatively underestimates the structural capacity of concrete barriers to endure high vehicle impacts. Typically, this deficiency has been compensated for artificial reductions in bridge rail design loads used in the design code. Existing barrier design guidelines - static design methods incorporated into the AASHTO Bridge Specifications - are based upon National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350. The Manual for Assessing …


Bio-Hybrid Tubular Electrospun Scaffold For Vascular Tissue Engineering Application, Harsh Narendrakumar Patel Jan 2015

Bio-Hybrid Tubular Electrospun Scaffold For Vascular Tissue Engineering Application, Harsh Narendrakumar Patel

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Atherosclerosis is an asymmetric thickening of the intima (innermost layer) of the artery due to plaque (a combination of lipids, debris, connective tissue elements and cells) build up causing the artery to become narrower and stiffer, resulting in a major hemodynamic disturbance[1, 2]. When atherosclerosis affects coronary arteries and prevents blood flow to the heart muscles posing a threat of, or a actual myocardial infarction, that condition is identified as coronary artery disease (CAD). To treat severely blocked coronary arteries,coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) have became the gold standard for when angioplasty and stent placement has failed to unclog the …


Microstructural Analysis Of Aluminum High Pressure Die Castings, Maria Diana David Jan 2015

Microstructural Analysis Of Aluminum High Pressure Die Castings, Maria Diana David

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Microstructural analysis of aluminum high pressure die castings (HPDC) is challenging and time consuming. Automating the stereology method is an efficient way in obtaining quantitative data; however, validating the accuracy of this technique can also pose some challenges. In this research, a semi-automated algorithm to quantify microstructural features in aluminum HPDC was developed. Analysis was done near the casting surface where it exhibited fine microstructure. Optical and Secondary electron (SE) and backscatter electron (BSE) SEM images were taken to characterize the features in the casting. Image processing steps applied on SEM and optical micrographs included median and range filters, dilation, …