Bionano Electronics: Magneto-Electric Nanoparticles For Drug Delivery, Brain Stimulation And Imaging Applications, 2013 Florida International University
Bionano Electronics: Magneto-Electric Nanoparticles For Drug Delivery, Brain Stimulation And Imaging Applications, Rakesh Guduru
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Nanoparticles are often considered as efficient drug delivery vehicles for precisely dispensing the therapeutic payloads specifically to the diseased sites in the patient’s body, thereby minimizing the toxic side effects of the payloads on the healthy tissue. However, the fundamental physics that underlies the nanoparticles’ intrinsic interaction with the surrounding cells is inadequately elucidated. The ability of the nanoparticles to precisely control the release of its payloads externally (on-demand) without depending on the physiological conditions of the target sites has the potential to enable patient- and disease-specific nanomedicine, also known as Personalized NanoMedicine (PNM). In this dissertation, magneto-electric nanoparticles (MENs) …
Development Of A Novel Handheld Device For Active Compensation Of Physiological Tremor, 2013 The University of Western Ontario
Development Of A Novel Handheld Device For Active Compensation Of Physiological Tremor, Abhijit Saxena
Abhijit Saxena
In microsurgery, the human hand imposes certain limitations in accurately positioning the tip of a device such as scalpel. Any errors in the motion of the hand make microsurgical procedures difficult and involuntary motions such as hand tremors can make some procedures significantly difficult to perform. This is particularly true in the case of vitreoretinal microsurgery. The most familiar source of involuntary motion is physiological tremor. Real-time compensation of tremor is, therefore, necessary to assist surgeons to precisely position and manipulate the tool-tip to accurately perform a microsurgery. In this thesis, a novel handheld device (AID) is described for compensation …
Automated Channel Assessment For Single Chip Medradio Transceivers, 2013 Portland State University
Automated Channel Assessment For Single Chip Medradio Transceivers, Mark Alexander Hillig
Dissertations and Theses
Modern implantable and body worn medical devices leverage wireless telemetry to improve patient experience and expand therapeutic options. Wireless medical devices are subject to a unique set of regulations in which monitoring of the available frequency spectrum is a requirement. To this end, implants use software protocols to assess the in-band activity to determine which channel should be used. These software protocols take valuable processing time and possibly degrade the operational lifetime of the battery. Implantable medical devices often take advantage of a single chip transceiver as the physical layer for wireless communications. Embedding the channel assessment task in the …
Applied Hw/Sw Co-Design: Using The Kendall Tau Algorithm For Adaptive Pacing, 2013 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Applied Hw/Sw Co-Design: Using The Kendall Tau Algorithm For Adaptive Pacing, Kenneth W. Chee
Master's Theses
Microcontrollers, the brains of embedded systems, have found their way into every aspect of our lives including medical devices such as pacemakers. Pacemakers provide life supporting functions to people therefore it is critical for these devices to meet their timing constraints. This thesis examines the use of hardware co-processing to accelerate the calculation time associated with the critical tasks of a pacemaker. In particular, we use an FPGA to accelerate a microcontroller’s calculation time of the Kendall Tau Rank Correlation Coefficient algorithm. The Kendall Tau Rank Correlation Coefficient is a statistical measure that determines the pacemaker’s voltage level for heart …
Computational Modeling To Evaluate Helical Electrode Designs For Use In Vagus Nerve Stimulation, 2013 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Computational Modeling To Evaluate Helical Electrode Designs For Use In Vagus Nerve Stimulation, Anthony W. Cowley
Master's Theses
An estimated 0.5% of world’s population has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Of these patients 20-30% will be unable to achieve seizure control with anti-epileptic drugs. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) may be an appropriate treatment option for some patients with pharmaceutically refractory, partial-onset seizures.
VNS therapy uses a helical electrode to interface between the implantable pulse generator and the vagus nerve. While there have been several studies related to the mechanical and electrical safety of such electrodes, little work has been done toward understanding the effectiveness of the helical electrode in nerve stimulation. A better understanding of the voltage field and …
Eye "R" Glasses: Development Of An Infrared Sensor System For Detecting The Human Body, 2013 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Eye "R" Glasses: Development Of An Infrared Sensor System For Detecting The Human Body, Rick Wong
Master's Theses
Throughout the years, sensors have been an integral part of automation, alert, and medical systems. Many of these systems measure physiological characteristics of the human body to alert themselves of their current conditions. Drowsy driver systems, for instance, measure the eyes and facial movements with a camera to determine if the driver is falling asleep at the wheel. Electroencephalography (EEG), electrooculography (EOG), and electromyography (EMG) employ electrodes on the human body to measure electrical activity of a patient’s REM sleep cycle patterns. Pulse oximeters use optical light through a process called photoplethysmography (PPG) to measure heart rate.
As diverse as …
Electrochemical Immunosensing Of Cortisol In An Automated Microfluidic System Towards Point-Of-Care Applications, 2013 Florida International University
Electrochemical Immunosensing Of Cortisol In An Automated Microfluidic System Towards Point-Of-Care Applications, Abhay Vasudev
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation describes the development of a label-free, electrochemical immunosensing platform integrated into a low-cost microfluidic system for the sensitive, selective and accurate detection of cortisol, a steroid hormone co-related with many physiological disorders. Abnormal levels of cortisol is indicative of conditions such as Cushing’s syndrome, Addison’s disease, adrenal insufficiencies and more recently post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Electrochemical detection of immuno-complex formation is utilized for the sensitive detection of Cortisol using Anti-Cortisol antibodies immobilized on sensing electrodes. Electrochemical detection techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) have been utilized for the characterization and sensing of the …
A Knowledge-Based Clinical Toxicology Consultant For Diagnosing Multiple Exposures, 2013 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
A Knowledge-Based Clinical Toxicology Consultant For Diagnosing Multiple Exposures, Joel D. Schipper, Douglas D. Dankel Ii, A. Antonio Arroyo, Jay L. Schauben
Publications
Objective: This paper presents continued research toward the development of a knowledge-based system for the diagnosis of human toxic exposures. In particular, this research focuses on the challenging task of diagnosing exposures to multiple toxins. Although only 10% of toxic exposures in the United States involve multiple toxins, multiple exposures account for more than half of all toxin-related fatalities. Using simple medical mathematics, we seek to produce a practical decision support system capable of supplying useful information to aid in the diagnosis of complex cases involving multiple unknown substances.
Methods: The system is automatically trained using data mining …
Design And Fabrication Of Nanofluidic Systems With Integrated Sensing Electrodes For Rapid Biomolecule Characterization, 2013 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Design And Fabrication Of Nanofluidic Systems With Integrated Sensing Electrodes For Rapid Biomolecule Characterization, Taylor Bradley Busch
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
A transparent nanofluidic system with embedded sensing electrodes was designed and fabricated by integrating Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) nanolithography, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling and metal deposition, and standard microfabrication processing. The fabrication process started with the evaporation of chrome/gold (Cr/Au) onto a Pyrex 7740 wafer followed by photolithography and wet etching of the microchannels. The wafer was patterned a second time to form Au microelectrodes with 15-45 micrometer separation gaps in the nanochannel region. Sensing electrodes (up to one micron wide) were then deposited using FIB to bridge the gaps. The nanochannels were realized through both AFM nanolithography and …
The Geometry And Sensitivity Of Ion-Beam Sculpted Nanopores For Single Molecule Dna Analysis, 2013 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
The Geometry And Sensitivity Of Ion-Beam Sculpted Nanopores For Single Molecule Dna Analysis, Ryan Connor Rollings
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation, the relationship between the geometry of ion-beam sculpted solid-state nanopores and their ability to analyze single DNA molecules using resistive pulse sensing is investigated. To accomplish this, the three dimensional shape of the nanopore is determined using energy filtered and tomographic transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that this information enables the prediction of the ionic current passing through a voltage biased nanopore and improves the prediction of the magnitude of current drop signals when the nanopore interacts with single DNA molecules. The dimensional stability of nanopores in solution is monitored using this information and is improved …
Design And Testing Of Novel Mouthguard With Intermediate Nitinol And Foam Layers, 2013 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Design And Testing Of Novel Mouthguard With Intermediate Nitinol And Foam Layers, Adam Kessler
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
It is the aim of this study to investigate a novel mouthguard design that incorporates the use of a nickel-titanium (Nitinol) layer and thin foam layer in addition to EVA layers. It is thought that the Nitinol layer can distribute the force of an impact and that the thin foam layer may absorb this distributed force better than a solid EVA mouthguard of the same thickness. Rectangular, flat coupons representative of several mouthguard configurations were constructed for testing using an instrumented drop-weight impact tower. The coupon configurations include a control made of laminated EVA, a group of laminated EVA and …
Closed Loop Control Of A Cylindrical Tube Type Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (Ipmc), 2013 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Closed Loop Control Of A Cylindrical Tube Type Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (Ipmc), Benjamin Mead
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
The goal of this research is to provide a framework for the integration of tube type, cylindrical Ionic Polymer Metal-Composite (IPMC) into conventional devices. IPMCs are one of the most widely used types of electro-active polymer actuator, due to their low electric driving potential and large deformation range. For this research a tube type IPMC was investigated. This IPMC has a circular cross section with four separate electrodes on its surface and a hole through the middle. The four electrodes allow for biaxial bending and accurate control of the tip location. One of the main advantages of using this type …
Robotics-Assisted Needle Steering For Percutaneous Interventions: Modeling And Experiments, 2013 The University of Western Ontario
Robotics-Assisted Needle Steering For Percutaneous Interventions: Modeling And Experiments, Ali Asadian
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Needle insertion and guidance plays an important role in medical procedures such as brachytherapy and biopsy. Flexible needles have the potential to facilitate precise targeting and avoid collisions during medical interventions while reducing trauma to the patient and post-puncture issues. Nevertheless, error introduced during guidance degrades the effectiveness of the planned therapy or diagnosis. Although steering using flexible bevel-tip needles provides great mobility and dexterity, a major barrier is the complexity of needle-tissue interaction that does not lend itself to intuitive control. To overcome this problem, a robotic system can be employed to perform trajectory planning and tracking by manipulation …
Enhanced Diagnostic Accuracy Of Mammograms On A Mobile Device, 2013 Purdue University
Enhanced Diagnostic Accuracy Of Mammograms On A Mobile Device, Sharanya Padmanabhan
Open Access Theses
With the death of a woman every 13 minutes in the US, and one every minute worldwide, due to breast cancer, the need for early detection cannot be overstated. Mammography is a boon for both early detection and screening of breast tumors. It is an imaging system that uses low dose (9mrem) x-rays for examining the breasts, by the electrons reflected from the tissues (thermoelectric effect). However, there are 20% false positives and 10% false negatives in current practice. Hence, there is a critical need for enhancing the accuracy of these mammograms. Towards this, this thesis was aimed at enhancing …
Activity Intent Recognition Of The Torso Based On Surface Electromyography And Inertial Measurement Units, 2013 University of Massachusetts Amherst
Activity Intent Recognition Of The Torso Based On Surface Electromyography And Inertial Measurement Units, Zhe Zhang
Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
This thesis presents an activity mode intent recognition approach for safe, robust and reliable control of powered backbone exoskeleton. The thesis presents the background and a concept for a powered backbone exoskeleton that would work in parallel with a user. The necessary prerequisites for the thesis are presented, including the collection and processing of surface electromyography signals and inertial sensor data to recognize the user’s activity. The development of activity mode intent recognizer was described based on decision tree classification in order to leverage its computational efficiency. The intent recognizer is a high-level supervisory controller that belongs to a three-level …
Rbc Lifespan Uncertainty: Models And Anemia Management Robustness, 2013 University of Massachusetts Amherst
Rbc Lifespan Uncertainty: Models And Anemia Management Robustness, Rui Dai
Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
This thesis discusses the modeling of uncertainty of red blood cell (RBC) lifespan distribution in patients suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease(CKD) patients, whose anemia is managed through periodic dosing of erythropoietin (EPO).
In healthy individuals, RBCs containing hemoglobin (Hgb) are produced in the bone marrow. When oxygen carried by hemoglobin is transported to human tissues throughout the body, the kidneys sense reduced level of Hgb and secretes EPO that simulates proliferation of red cell precursors and eventually producing red blood cells. However, in CKD patients, their kidneys fail to secrete enough EPO, so that too few of RBCs are produced …
Inkjet Based Personalized Screening Platform For Cancer Therapy, 2013 University of Texas at El Paso
Inkjet Based Personalized Screening Platform For Cancer Therapy, Jorge Ivan Rodriguez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
The new paradigm of personalized medicine is beginning to affect clinical practice. In particular, many of the advances in genomics and proteomics have made personalized screening and therapeutic inventions possible. On chip, cellomics approaches to screening and intervention are becoming more commonplace. Cancer therapies may benefit from the rise in `-omics' technologies. In addition, the availability of rapid screening data is crucial to mitigate cancer propagation and increase the possibility of patient recovery. This study is an endeavor to develop a cellomic anticancer drug screening process based on inkjet printing. Previous research has demonstrated that inkjet based screening can reliably …
Printable Biodegradable Hydrogel For Skin Wound Dressing Using Inkjet Printing Technology, 2013 University of Texas at El Paso
Printable Biodegradable Hydrogel For Skin Wound Dressing Using Inkjet Printing Technology, Maria G. Yanez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Chronic wounds are becoming more frequent. Foot ulcers affect approximately 10% - 15% of patients with diabetes throughout their lifetimes, and by 2025, it is estimated the prevalence of diabetes will be 250 million people in the worldwide. There is increased potential for patients with peripheral neuropathy and peripheral vascular disease to suffer more foot injuries. These conditions reduce the normal pain sensations and healing of minor traumas, allowing the development of chronic non-healing ulcers, often preceding lower-extremity amputation. These types of wounds are very difficult to treat and sometimes take months or even years to heal because of many …
Manufacturing Nerve Guidance Conduits By Stereolithography For Use In Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, 2013 University of Texas at El Paso
Manufacturing Nerve Guidance Conduits By Stereolithography For Use In Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Mireya Aidee Perez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Nerve regeneration techniques have been studied in great depth in recent years. Peripheral nerve injuries, in particular, can be caused by accidents, falls, athletic injuries, etc. Current methods of repair include direct suturing of the 2 injured nerve ends or the use of autografts, when a nerve section is taken from another area of the body. Both methods have a series of limitations which have led researchers to study alternative methods of repair. Nerve guidance conduits may provide a viable solution because they can be modified and adapted to the patient's needs. Some conduits already exist on the market and …
Multi-Mode Self-Referencing Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensors, 2013 University of Kentucky
Multi-Mode Self-Referencing Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensors, Jing Guo
Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering
Surface-plasmon-resonance (SPR) sensors are widely used in biological, chemical, medical, and environmental sensing. This dissertation describes the design and development of dual-mode, self-referencing SPR sensors supporting two surface-plasmon modes (long- and short-range) which can differentiate surface binding interactions from bulk index changes at a single sensing location. Dual-mode SPR sensors have been optimized for surface limit of detection (LOD). In a wavelength interrogated optical setup, both surface plasmons are simultaneously excited at the same location and incident angle but at different wavelengths. To improve the sensor performance, a new approach to dual-mode SPR sensing is presented that offers improved differentiation …