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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Tooth Cusp Radius Of Curvature As A Dietary Correlate In Primates, Michael Anthony Berthaume
Tooth Cusp Radius Of Curvature As A Dietary Correlate In Primates, Michael Anthony Berthaume
Open Access Dissertations
Tooth cusp radius of curvature (RoC) has been hypothesized to play an important role in food item breakdown, but has remained largely unstudied due to difficulties in measuring and modeling RoC in multicusped teeth. We tested these hypotheses using a parametric model of a four cusped, maxillary, bunodont molar in conjunction with finite element analysis. When our data failed to support existing hypotheses, we put forth and tested the Complex Cusp Hypothesis which states that, during brittle food items breakdown, an optimally shaped molar would be maximizing stresses in the food item while minimizing stresses in the enamel. After gaining …
Application Of Finite Element Method In Protein Normal Mode Analysis, Chiung-Fang Hsu
Application Of Finite Element Method In Protein Normal Mode Analysis, Chiung-Fang Hsu
Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
This study proposed a finite element procedure for protein normal mode analysis (NMA). The finite element model adopted the protein solvent-excluded surface to generate a homogeneous and isotropic volume. A simplified triangular approximation of coarse molecular surface was generated from the original surface model by using the Gaussian-based blurring technique. Similar to the widely adopted elastic network model, the finite element model holds a major advantage over standard all-atom normal mode analysis: the computationally expensive process of energy minimization that may distort the initial protein structure has been eliminated. This modification significantly increases the efficiency of normal mode analysis. In …