Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Assessment Of Bore-Cone Taper Junctions In Explanted Modular Total Hip Replacements, Christine Margaret Stamer

All Theses

For people with chronic hip pain due to arthritis or other conditions, a total hip replacement (THR) is a common procedure used to eliminate the pain. Due to the natural variation in patient anatomy, THR prostheses are becoming increasingly more modular to allow for a more customized initial replacement and for an easier revision if needed in the future. Currently, THR prostheses routinely have modular femoral heads to provide surgeons with intraoperative flexibility. This modularity allows the surgeons to maintain the proper leg length and restore hip biomechanics for the patient and insert the components more easily and precisely. Modular …

Endothelialization Using Protein Substrates And Hydrogels For Aortic Valve Applications, Elizabeth A. Fontaine

All Theses

Aortic valve disease is currently the leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity in the United States.1 In 2003, approximately 290,000 patients required heart valve replacement and that number is estimated to continue to rise as the average age of the population continues to increase.2 However, the current valve replacement options have multiple limitations. Tissue engineering hopes to address these shortcomings by providing a viable valve that more closely mimics the native valve, structurally and functionally.3 An ideal valve replacement should contain endothelial and interstitial cells, with the ability to remodel the extra-cellular matrix. While tissue-engineered heart valves are not uncommon in …

Understanding The Fusion And Maturation Of Tissue Engineered Linear Blood Vessels Using Magnetic Cellular Spheroids, Timothy R. Olsen

All Dissertations

Cellular spheroids are attractive for tissue fabrication due to having precise control over cell and extracellular matrix (ECM) composition, the ability for upscaled production and repeatability, their three-dimensional nature and the fact that spheroids will produce their own ECM over time. A critical process in the fabrication of complex tissue structures with cellular spheroids is related to their fusion and maturation. Tissue fusion is a self-assembly process in which two or more distinct cell populations, or tissues, make contact and coalesce to form a single cohesive structure. Maturation of tissue engineered constructs involves developing the mechanical properties and ECM compositions …

Molecular Sensing And Imaging Of Human Disease Cells And Their Responses To Biochemical Stimuli, Lifu Xiao

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Advancement in microscopic and spectroscopic techniques could significantly improve our ability in the study and diagnosis of diseases. Especially, being able to image and detect human diseases at the cellular and molecular level allows people to diagnose diseases at early stages and to study the molecular mechanisms behind various diseases. Currently, histopathological techniques are most widely used for prognosis and diagnosis of human diseases. However, conventional histopathology requires a complex process of sample preparation, which limits the diagnostic efficiency of this technique. More importantly, it requires fixation of tissue or cell sample, making it unsuitable for the study of dynamic …

Mitochondrial Dysfunction And Loss Of Glutamate Uptake In Primary Astrocytes Exposed To Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles, Christina L. Wilson

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The proper function of astrocytes is critical for brain health as they are the most abundant cells in the brain which monitor ion homeostasis, recycle neurotransmitters and respond to tissue damage therefore disruption in astrocyte function can result in overall detrimental effects and has been linked with neurodegenerative diseases. Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles are currently the second most produced engineered nanomaterial in the world with vast usage in consumer products leading to recurrent human exposure. Animal studies indicate significant nanoparticle accumulation in the brain while cellular toxicity studies demonstrate negative effects on neuronal cell viability and function. However, …

Hand Pattern Recognition Using Smart Band, Theerth Raj Munusamy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Importance of gesture recognition has widely spread around the world. Many research strategies have been proposed to study and recognize gestures, especially facial and hand gestures. Distinguishing and recognizing hand gestures is vital in hotspot fields such as bionic parts, powered exoskeleton, diagnosing muscle disorders, etc. Recognizing such gesture patterns can also create a stress-free and fancy user interface for mobile phones, gaming consoles and other such devices.

The objective is to design a simple yet efficient wearable hand gesture recognizing system. This thesis also shows that by taking both EMG and accelerometer data into account, can improve the …

Microfabrication Of Electrochemical Analytical Devices For Detection Of Pathogen Species Dna And Toxic Metal Ions, Spencer Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water quality is a crucial factor in determining the health of an environment, and in turn the health of all those living in the given environment. Early detection of potential hazards in source water used for drinking would help to avoid outbreaks of sickness and even death. Contaminants, found in contact and drinking water, having negative effects on human health may include pathogenic microorganisms, and metal ion pollutants such as lead or cadmium. Lead and cadmium were selected due to well-known electrochemical properties providing easy references for developing new detection devices. Current methods for detection of these contaminants are extremely …

Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis Of Whole Field Pennycress Biomass, Yonas Afewerki Kidane

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

To satisfy the energy demand of the ever-increasing world population as well as to prevent environmental pollution arising from the use of fossil fuels, an alternate source of energy has to be developed. Biomass has the potential to provide a renewable energy source that is inexpensive and environmentally friendly. Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.), previously considered as a weed, has now been found to be an ideal source of bio-fuel production. The focus of this research was to produce upgraded bio-oil by a process known as catalytic fast pyrolysis. A characterization and a temperature degradation profile study helped to …

Anaerobic Co-Digestion Of Algal Biomass And A Supplemental Carbon Source Material To Produce Methane, Yousef Soboh

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The demand on alternative energy is rapidly increasing because the reserves of conventional fuel are decreasing and their impacts on the environment are increasing.
Developing renewable energy sources should receive utmost attention. The production of biofuels like methanol, biodiesel, and methane from various kinds of abundant biomass represents a very attractive energy source that can reduce the dependence on conventional fossil fuels energy.

Since algae contains high amounts of nitrogen and low carbon content, this research focused on anaerobic fermentation of algae to produce methane by blending algae with a supplemental carbon source material, sodium acetate. This was done to …

In Vitro, Non-Invasive Imaging And Detection Of Single Living Mammalian Cells Interacting With Bio-Nano-Interfaces, Qifei Li

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Study of bio-nano-interfaces of living mammalian cells will help the identification of cellular alterations (e.g. nucleic acids, amino acids, biomechanics, etc.) due to external stimuli, the design of biomaterials (e.g. nanoparticles, nanotubes) and the investigation on the interaction between cells and bio-nano-interfaces (e.g. cell differentiation on 3D nanostructured materials). The chemical, physical, and mechanical changes of mammalian cells interacting with biomaterials can be investigated by analytical techniques. In this dissertation, cellular responses and property changes are evaluated by non-invasive spectroscopic technique, Raman microscopy (RM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with traditional biological methods. This dissertation includes the biophysical, biochemical …

Bio-Inspired Materials And Micro/Nanostructures Enabled By Peptides And Proteins, Swathi Swaminathan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bio-nanotechnology refers to the field of science that intersects nanotechnology with biology. The study involves in the creation of bio-mimetic devices that emulate elements and systems of nature finding use in various applications. Nanotechnology involves the characterization of nanomaterials along with the study of molecular self-assembly and nanoelectronics. Controlled binding and assembly of proteins onto nanomaterials is at the core of biological materials science and engineering with wide-ranging applications. This hybrid technology opens up several avenues in the field of sensors, pharmaceuticals, artificial implants and so on.

In this work, different biomaterials and polymers were characterized for phage displayed peptide …

Non-Catalytic Co-Gasification Of Sub-Bituminous Coal And Biomass, Guevara Che Nyendu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utilization of coal as a low-cost domestic energy source is becoming a subject of utmost importance due to fluctuating crude oil prices. However, coal use emits pollutants such as nitrous oxides (NO_x), sulfur oxides (SO_x), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and particulates that have negative environmental impact and significant issues on health. To minimize the harmful effects of coal use, renewable and sustainable biological or green materials called biomass are processed with coal to produce synthetic gas (syngas) that can be processed into clean energy fuels and value-added products.

Currently, coal is converted using combustion technology; …

Microfabrication Of Bio-Analytical Devices: Microelectrode Array And Traveling-Wave Electrophoresis, Neil Draper

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The need for potable water is increasing with the ever-increasing world population. Further development of fast, portable, and cost effective analytical tools is necessary in order to create diagnostic techniques capable of supporting the water needs of the world’s population. Within the last decade microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) technologies have increased the portability and speed of detection for aqueous samples. Photolithography techniques serve as a cost effective fabrication tool to create LOC electrodes on the micron scale.

An in-depth look at the fabrication process is undertaken in this paper in order to further the development of micro-scale detection techniques. An …

Clinical Correlates Of High Cervical Fractional Anisotropy In Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury, Aditya Vedantam, Gerald Eckardt, Marjorie C. Wang, Brian D. Schmit, Shekar N. Kurpad

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: Fractional anisotropy (FA) of the high cervical cord (C1-C2), rostral to the injury site, correlates with upper limb function in patients with chronic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). In acute cervical SCI, this relationship has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to identify functional correlates of FA of the high cervical cord in a series of patients with acute cervical SCI.

Methods: Traumatic cervical SCI patients who underwent presurgical cervical spine diffusion tensor imaging at our institution were reviewed for this study. FA of the whole cord as well as the lateralcorticospinal tracts (CSTs) was calculated …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Cranial Molding For Treatment Of Positional Plagiocephaly Using Finite Element Analysis, Maziyar Keshtgar

Master's Theses

Since the advent of recommendations for placing infants in the supine position during sleep to reduce the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome, clinicians have noted an increase in the frequency of cranial asymmetry due to deformation of suture sections of the infants’ skulls as a result of constant concentrated stress in one area at the back of their head. This specific form of cranial deformation is known as positional plagiocephaly and its rate of occurrence has increased from 0.3% in 8.2% within the past 30 years.

Current treatments and methodologies for preventing and correcting positional plagiocephaly such as stretching …

Tactile Proprioceptive Input In Robotic Rehabilitation After Stroke, Emmanouil Tzorakoleftherakis, Maria C. Bengston, Ferdinando A. Mussa-Ivaldi, Robert A. Scheidt, Todd D. Murphey

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Stroke can lead to loss or impairment of somatosensory sensation (i.e. proprioception), that reduces functional control of limb movements. Here we examine the possibility of providing artificial feedback to make up for lost sensory information following stroke. However, it is not clear whether this kind of sensory substitution is even possible due to stroke-related loss of central processing pathways that subserve somatosensation. In this paper we address this issue in a small cohort of stroke survivors using a tracking task that emulates many activities of daily living. Artificial proprioceptive information was provided to the subjects in the form of vibrotactile …

Electrospinning Of Polycaprolactone Core-Shell Nanofibers With Anti-Cancer Drug, Sakib Iqbal, Mujibur Khan, Saheem Absar, Andrew Diamanduros, Samuel Chambers

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

Encapsulation of a model anti-cancer drug, 5-Fluorouracul (5-FU) into biocompatible core-shell nanofibers of polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers was fabricated using a coaxial electrospinning process. Our work aims to solve these issues using a novel method of fabrication of fibers featuring confinement of drugs within a biodegradable core-shell structure, thereby permitting sustained release of drugs to specific sites of treatment, such as tissues affected with tumor cells. The coaxial electrospinning was performed using a sheath polymer solution consisting of a 14 wt% PCL solution and a 5 wt% solution of 5-FU as the core solution. Dimethylformamide (DMF) was used as the solvent …

Oculomotor Neurocircuitry, A Structural Connectivity Study Of Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome, Nasser H. Kashou, Angelica R. Zampini

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome (INS) is one of the leading causes of significant vision loss in children and affects about 1 in 1000 to 6000 births. In the present study, we are the first to investigate the structural pathways of patients and controls using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Specifically, three female INS patients from the same family were scanned, two sisters and a mother. Six regions of interest (ROIs) were created manually to analyze the number of tracks. Additionally, three ROI masks were analyzed using TBSS (Tract-Based Spatial Statistics). The number of fiber tracks was reduced in INS subjects, compared to …

Assessing Viscoelastic Properties Of Polydimethylsiloxane (Pdms) Using Loading And Unloading Of The Macroscopic Compression Test, Mustafa Fincan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mechanical properties were measured using custom-built compression test device. PDMS elastic modulus can be varied with the elastomer base to the curing agent ratio, i.e. by changing the cross-linking density. PDMS samples with different crosslink density in terms of their elastic modulus were measured. In this project the PDMS samples with the base/curing agent ratio ranging from 5:1 to 20:1 were tested. The elastic modulus varied with the amount of the crosslinker, and ranged from 0.8 MPa to 4.44 MPa. The compression device was modified by adding digital displacement gauges to measure the lateral strain of the sample, …

Man Made Organs: Technology Made It Possible But Can The Fda Keep Up?, Amanda Chatman

North Carolina Central University Science & Intellectual Property Law Review

No abstract provided.