Engineering Commons^™

Improving Cardiovascular Stent Design Using Patient-Specific Models And Shape Optimization, Timothy J. Gundert

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Stent geometry influences local hemodynamic alterations (i.e. the forces moving blood through the cardiovascular system) associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is frequently used to quantify stent-induced hemodynamic disturbances, but previous CFD studies have relied on simplified device or vascular representations. Additionally, efforts to minimize stent-induced hemodynamic disturbances using CFD models often only compare a small number of possible stent geometries. This thesis describes methods for modeling commercial stents in patient-specific vessels along with computational techniques for determining optimal stent geometries that address the limitations of previous studies.

An efficient and robust method was developed for virtually …

Fitting Model Parameters To Patient Data Automatically Through Evolutionary Computation, Michael Wesley Sagan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center (O.R.E.C) has been studying two conditions which can wreak havoc on the human body's balance control system. The conditions being studied are cerebral palsy (CP) and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS)[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. A greater understanding of postural deficits in children with these conditions and the causes for these conditions may help researchers achieve better interventions and treatments [3]. A tool used to characterize postural stability is a bi-planar postural stability model. This model is designed where 10 parameter values have to be adjusted until the simulated data is statistically the same …