Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

A Validated Software Application To Measure Fiber Organization In Soft Tissue, Erica E. Morrill, Azamat N. Tulepbergenov, Christina J. Stender, Roshani Lamichhane, Raquel J. Brown, Trevor J. Lujan

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The mechanical behavior of soft connective tissue is governed by a dense network of fibrillar proteins in the extracellular matrix. Characterization of this fibrous network requires the accurate extraction of descriptive structural parameters from imaging data, including fiber dispersion and mean fiber orientation. Common methods to quantify fiber parameters include fast Fourier transforms (FFT) and structure tensors, however, information is limited on the accuracy of these methods. In this study, we compared these two methods using test images of fiber networks with varying topology. The FFT method with a band-pass filter was the most accurate, with an error of 0.71 …

Parameter Estimation For Hvac System Models From Standard Test Data, Hannah Luthman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Nearly all cooling systems, and an increasing proportion of heating systems, utilize the vapor compression cycle (VCC) to provide and remove heat from conditioned spaces. Even though the application of VCC’s throughout the building environment is ubiquitous, effective and accessible models of the performance of these systems remains elusive. Such models could be important tools for VCC designers, building designers and building energy managers as well as those who are attempting to optimize building energy performance through the use of model-based control systems.

Strides have been made in developing lumped parameter models for VCC’s. In spite of these contributions, widespread …

Thermoelectric Material Property Measurement For Flexible Films, Courtney Hollar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The market for wearable electronics and implantable medical devices continues to grow. Within the next several years, the wearable electronic and implantable medical devices market will reach $31.2 billion and $73.9 billion, respectively. Currently, the most commonly used power source is the rigid lithium ion battery. In order to further optimize the devices, flexible autonomous power sources, such as thermoelectric generators, can replace traditional battery systems.

Flexible thermoelectric films were created using a wet deposition approach and synthesized into ink suitable for either spin coating or screen printing. This study focuses on Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity measurements. …

Automated Measurement Of Fracture Callus In Radiographs Using Portable Software, Stephen M. Porter, Hannah L. Dailey, Katharine A. Hollar, Karina Klein, James A. Harty, Trevor J. Lujan

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The development of software applications that assist the radiographic evaluation of fracture healing could advance clinical diagnosis and expedite the identification of effective treatment strategies. A radiographic feature regularly used as an outcome measure for basic and clinical fracture healing research is new bone growth, or fracture callus. In this study, we developed OrthoRead, a portable software application that uses image-processing algorithms to detect and measure fracture callus in plain radiographs. OrthoRead utilizes an optimal boundary tracking algorithm to semi-automatically segment the cortical surface, and a novel iterative thresholding selection algorithm to then automatically segment the fracture callus. The software …

Multidisciplinary Game-Based Approach For Generating Student Enthusiasm For Addressing Critical Infrastructure Challenges, John F. Gardner

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Building upon experiences from past course offering,¹ several universities across the United States (U.S) have incorporated a critical infrastructure educational game platform as a unifying platform to integrate different disciplines to a common goal. The critical infrastructure backbones of the world provide the delivery mechanisms for energy and other utilities that provide the lifestyle we have come to expect in our society. As these critical infrastructure systems have evolved, the complexity of their integration has generated numerous challenges as a side effect of increased automation that are more pronounced as the infrastructure ages. Although still a modern technological wonder, …