Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Digital Twins Of The Living Knee: From Measurements To Model, Thor Erik Andreassen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern medicine has dramatically improved the lives of many. In orthopaedics, robotic surgery has given clinicians superior accuracy when performing interventions over conventional methods. Nevertheless, while these and many other methods are available to ensure treatments are performed successfully, far fewer methods exist to predict the proper treatment option for a given person. Clinicians are forced to categorize individuals, choosing the best treatment on “average.” However, many individuals differ significantly from the “average” person, for which many of these treatments are designed. Going forward, a method of testing, evaluating, and predicting different treatment options' short- and long-term effects on an …

Patient Movement Monitoring Based On Imu And Deep Learning, Mohsen Sharifi Renani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability among the aging population in the United States and is frequently treated by replacing deteriorated joints with metal and plastic components. Developing better quantitative measures of movement quality to track patients longitudinally in their own homes would enable personalized treatment plans and hasten the advancement of promising new interventions. Wearable sensors and machine learning used to quantify patient movement could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders. The purpose of this dissertation was to overcome technical challenges associated with the use of wearable sensors, specifically Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), as a …

Novel Approach For Non-Invasive Prediction Of Body Shape And Habitus, Emma Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While marker-based motion capture remains the gold standard in measuring human movement, accuracy is influenced by soft-tissue artifacts, particularly for subjects with high body mass index (BMI) where markers are not placed close to the underlying bone. Obesity influences joint loads and motion patterns, and BMI may not be sufficient to capture the distribution of a subject’s weight or to differentiate differences between subjects. Subjects in need of a joint replacement are more likely to have mobility issues or pain, which prevents exercise. Obesity also increases the likelihood of needing a total joint replacement. Accurate movement data for subjects with …

Observation Of New Particle Formation In The Northern Hemisphere At Altitude From 4 To 20 Km, Mohamed Saad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

New particle formation (NPF) is investigated using measurements of aerosol size distributions and meteorological variables made in two continents, including USA and Europe. Despite the considerably different aerosol particle abundances among the sites, a common relationship was found between the characteristics of NPF events and the air mass convective and/or advective transport. CO and O3 act as tracers of tropospheric and stratospheric air, respectively, their statistical relationship can be used to quantify air mass characteristics and origins. The mixing ratio values of CO increased within the upper troposphere layer before/during NPF events, which may serve as an indicator of occurring …

Investigating New Methods To Develop Perovskite Solar Cells, Amani Hussain Alfaifi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Discovering the potential of organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites (MHP) as a harvesting material in solar cells has strongly affected the research direction in solar energy. The fascinating optical and electronic properties offered by MHP combined with tremendous effort from scientists around the world have improved the efficiency to about 25% in a decade.

In the first part of the dissertation, we studied the lamination process as a new fabrication method for producing self-encapsulated perovskite solar cells based on laminating half stacks,as opposed to the conventional layer-by-layer method. Our work focused on optimizing the lamination process of complex triple cations perovskite …

Satellite Constellation Deployment And Management, Joseph Ryan Kopacz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper will review results and discuss a new method to address the deployment and management of a satellite constellation. The first two chapters will explorer the use of small satellites, and some of the advances in technology that have enabled small spacecraft to maintain modern performance requirements in incredibly small packages.

The third chapter will address the multiple-objective optimization problem for a global persistent coverage constellation of communications spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit. A genetic algorithm was implemented in MATLAB to explore the design space – 288 trillion possibilities – utilizing the Satellite Tool Kit (STK) software developers kit. …

Automated Cfd Optimization To Maximize Wind Farms Performance And Land Use, Rafael Valotta Rodrigues

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, a computational system was designed to analyze and optimize the layout of wind farms under variable operational conditions. At first, a wind turbine computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed covering the near wake. The near wake flow field was validated against near wake velocity data from the MEXICO experiment. The CFD simulation demonstrated that the tip speed ratio and the pitch angle greatly influence the near wake behavior, affecting the velocity deficit and the turbulence intensity profile in this region. The CFD model was extended to cover the far wake, aiming to become a computational tool …

Anatomy, Implant Selection And Placement Influence Spine Mechanics Associated With Total Disc Replacement, Justin F.M. Hollenbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through aging and injury, the intervertebral disc of the lumbar spine can undergo degeneration, leading to collapse of the vertebrae and low back pain, a symptom that affects half the adult population in any given year. In an effort to reduce low back pain, total disc replacement treatment removes the degenerated disc, restores natural height and lordosis of the segment, and preserves motion at the joint. Patient anatomy, implant selection, and implant placement play significant roles in a patient's outcomes after total disc replacement surgery. Thus, the objective of the work presented in this thesis was to develop a suite …

Degradation Of High Voltage Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites By Aggressive Environmental Conditions, Tianyi Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polymer matrix composites reinforced with either E glass or ECR glass fibers-reinforced are used in a variety of high voltage electrical applications because of their advantages like lower weight and cost. However, they can be damaged by aggressive in-service conditions such as high temperature, ultraviolet radiation, moisture, ozone and corrosive environments. Different degradation mechanisms can develop in high voltage PMCs under those extreme environments, which, in turn, can affect the long term structural durability of the composites. A set of PMCs reinforced with ECR-glass and E-glass fibers embedded in four different resins has been investigated in this study. In addition, …