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Mitigation Of Radiation Induced Pulmonary Vascular Injury By Delayed Treatment With Captopril, Robert C. Molthen, Qingping Wu, Brian L. Fish, John E. Moulder, Elizabeth R. Jacobs, Meetha M. Medhora

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background and Objective: A single dose of 10 Gy radiation to the thorax of rats results in decreased total lung angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity, pulmonary artery distensibility and distal vascular density while increasing pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) at 2 months post-exposure. In this study, we evaluate the potential of a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) modulator, the ACE inhibitor captopril, to mitigate this pulmonary vascular damage.

Methods: Rats exposed to 10 Gy thorax only irradiation and age-matched controls were studied 2 months after exposure, during the development of radiation pneumonitis. Rats were treated, either immediately or 2 weeks after radiation exposure, with …

Optimizing The Mechanical Characteristics Of Bamboo To Improve The Flexural Behavior For Biocomposite Structural Application, Jay Lopez

Master's Theses

Global awareness and preservation have spurred increasing interest in utilizing environmentally friendly materials for high-performance structural applications. Biocomposites pose an appealing solution to this issue and are characterized by their sustainable lifecycles, biodegradable qualities, light weight, remarkable strength, and exceptional stiffness. Many of these structural qualities are found in applications that exhibit flexural loading conditions, and this study focuses on improving the bending performance of engineered biocomposite structures. The current application of biocomposites is increasing rapidly, so this expanding research explores other natural constituent materials for biocomposite structures under flexural loading.

The renewable material investigated in this study was experimentally …

Mechanical Optimization And Buckling Analysis Of Bio-Composites, Cameron D. Chan

Master's Theses

Today’s environmental concerns have led a renewed search in industry to find new sustainable materials to replace non-renewable resources. President Barack Obama also quoted in the recent 2012 Presidential Debate “that there is a need to build the energy sources of the future and invest in solar, wind, and bio-fuels.” Bio-composites are believed to be the future and the new substitute for non-renewable resources. Bio-composites are similar to composites in that they are made up of two constituent materials; however the main difference is that bio-composites are made from natural fibers and a biopolymer matrix. This research investigates the buckling …

Nanobarcoding: Detecting Nanoparticles In Biological Samples Using In Situ Polymerase Chain Reaction, Trisha Eustaquio, James F. Leary

Birck and NCN Publications

Background: Determination of the fate of nanoparticles (NPs) in a biological system, or NP biodistribution, is critical in evaluating an NP formulation for nanomedicine. Current methods to determine NP biodistribution are greatly inadequate, due to their limited detection thresholds. Herein, proof of concept of a novel method for improved NP detection based on in situ polymerase chain reaction (ISPCR), coined "nanobarcoding," is demonstrated. Methods: Nanobarcoded superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NB-SPIONs) were characterized by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, and hyperspectral imaging - measurements. Cellular uptake of Cy5-labeled NB-SPIONs (Cy5-NB-SPIONs) was imaged by confocal microscopy. The feasibility of the nanobarcoding method …

Capacity Planning For Elderly Care In Ireland Using Simulation Modeling, Mohamed Ragab, Waleed Abo Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Global population aging is creating an immense pressure on healthcare facilities making them unable to cope with the growing demand for elderly healthcare services. Current demand-supply gaps result in prolonged waiting times for patients and substantial cost burdens for healthcare systems due to delayed discharges. This paper describes a project aimed at presenting modeling and simulation to address elderly care pathways within the Irish healthcare sector. The management of frail patients admitted to acute hospitals and the introduction of the new intermediate care beds are alternative interventions that healthcare executives are interested in simulating to examine their impact on the …

Docking System Design And Self-Assembly Control Of Distributed Swarm Flying Robots, Hongxing Wei, Ning Li, Yong Tao, Youdong Chen, Jindong Tan

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper presents a novel docking system design and the distributed self-assembly control strategy for a Distributed Swarm Flying Robot (DSFR). The DSFR is a swarm robot comprising many identical robot modules that are able to move on the ground, dock with each other and fly coordinately once self-assembled into a robotic structure. A generalized adjacency matrix method is proposed to describe the configurations of robotic structures. Based on the docking system and the adjacency matrix, experiments are performed to demonstrate and verify the self-assembly control strategy.

Cognitive Architectures And Autonomy: Commentary And Response, Włodzisław Duch, Ah-Hwee Tan, Stan Franklin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper provides a very useful and promising analysis and comparison of current architectures of autonomous intelligent systems acting in real time and specific contexts, with all their constraints. The chosen issue of Cognitive Architectures and Autonomy is really a challenge for AI current projects and future research. I appreciate and endorse not only that challenge but many specific choices and claims; in particular: (i) that “autonomy” is a key concept for general intelligent systems; (ii) that “a core issue in cognitive architecture is the integration of cognitive processes ....”; (iii) the analysis of features and capabilities missing in current …

Combined Heat And Power: Technology Review And Analysis For A Residential Building, Nadine Reinert

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis intends to show the current state of Combined Heat and Power Systems and highlights the different aspects of the technologies. A manufacturer directory was developed and the theoretical principals for planning and analysis of a CHP system are described. In the second part, a case study is analyzed for residential application in the USA. Three Micro-CHP systems are chosen: Otto engine, Stirling engine, and fuel cell. Also two locations, Chicago and Atlanta, are selected to represent the northern and southern region. The calculations are based on models in TRNSYS and BHKW Plan. The results show, that the fuel …

Tyrosine Nitration Of Voltage-Dependent Anion Channels In Cardiac Ischemia-Reperfusion: Reduction By Peroxynitrite Scavenging, Meiying Yang, Amadou K.S. Camara, Bassam T. Wakim, Yifan Zhou, Ashish K. Gadicherla, Wai-Meng Kwok, David F. Stowe

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Excess superoxide (O₂⁻) and nitric oxide (NO) forms peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) during cardiac ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury, which in turn induces protein tyrosine nitration (tyr-N). Mitochondria are both a source of and target for ONOO⁻. Our aim was to identify specific mitochondrial proteins that display enhanced tyr-N after cardiac IR injury, and to explore whether inhibiting O₂⁻/ONOO⁻ during IR decreases mitochondrial protein tyr-N and consequently improves cardiac function. We show here that IR increased tyr-N of 35 and 15 kDa mitochondrial proteins using Western blot analysis with 3-nitrotyrosine antibody. Immunoprecipitation …

Optimization Of Biodiesel Production Plants, Nghi T. Nguyen

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

A conventional biodiesel plant utilizing two distillation columns to purify unreacted reactants and products is considered in this study. Thermodynamic analyses are used to assess the performance of the existing distillation columns, and reduce the costs of operation by appropriate retrofits in a biodiesel production plant. After the retrofits, the overall exergy loss for the two columns has decreased from 2430.87 kW to 1674.12 kW.

A reactive distillation is developed for esterification of lauric acid with methanol using equilibrium and nonequilibrium models. Equilibrium modeling dominated during last few decades due to their straightforward mathematical modeling. In reality, separation depends on …

Combining Emotion And Facial Nonamanual Signals In Synthesized American Sign Language, Jerry Schnepp, Rosalee Wolfe, John Mcdonald, Jorge Toro

Visual Communications and Technology Education Faculty Publications

Conference proceedings from the the 14th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility-2012. ASSETS '12. Boulder, CO, USA, October 22 - 24, 2012. New York, NY, USA: ACM. 249-250.

Thermodynamic Kinetics And Efficiency Analysis Of Methyl Viologen, Chang Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Methyl Viologen (MV) is an electron mediator that has great possibilities to be used with an electrode system in which the electrode system provides electrons towards reducing MV species. MV has three redox states and they can be converted to each other via redox reactions on the surface of the electrode. The concentration of the three species of MV was related to the voltage potential applied to the system through a thermodynamic model. With the thermodynamic model the concentration of the three species can be predicted with different applied voltage potentials towards providing guidance for controlling the redox state of …

Effects Of Non-Newtonian Couple Stresses On The Dynamic Characteristics Of Wide Rayleigh Step Slider Bearings, Jaw-Ren Lin, Li-Ming Chu, Wei-Liang Liaw

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

To provide more information in fluid-film lubricated bearings, the effects of non-Newtonian couple stresses on the dynamic characteristics of Rayleigh step slider bearings have been presented in this paper. According to the results, the effects of non-Newtonian couple stresses signify an improvement in the bearing characteristics. Comparing with the Newtonian-lubricant Rayleigh step bearing, the nonNewtonian couple stress effects provide an increase in the steady load-carrying capacity, the dynamic stiffness coefficient and the dynamic damping coefficient, as well as a reduction in the steady volume flow rate required. In order to guide the use of the present study, a numerical example …

Monosynaptic Functional Connectivity In Cerebral Cortex During Wakefulness And Under Graded Levels Of Anesthesia, Jeannette A. Vizuete, Siveshigan Pillay, Kamran Diba, Kristina M. Ropella, Anthony G. Hudetz

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The balance between excitation and inhibition is considered to be of significant importance for neural computation and cognitive function. Excitatory and inhibitory functional connectivity in intact cortical neuronal networks in wakefulness and graded levels of anesthesia has not been systematically investigated. We compared monosynaptic excitatory and inhibitory spike transmission probabilities using pairwise cross-correlogram (CCG) analysis. Spikes were measured at 64 sites in the visual cortex of rats with chronically implanted microelectrode arrays during wakefulness and three levels of anesthesia produced by desflurane. Anesthesia decreased the number of active units, the number of functional connections, and the strength of excitatory connections. …

Force Optimization And Flow Field Characterization From A Flapping Wing Mechanism, Nathaniel Stephen Naegle

Theses and Dissertations

Flapping flight shows promise for micro air vehicle design because flapping wings provide superior aerodynamic performance than that of fixed wings and rotors at low Reynolds numbers. In these flight regimes, unsteady effects become increasingly important. This thesis explores some of the unsteady effects that provide additional lift to flapping wings through an experiment-based optimization of the kinematics of a flapping wing mechanism in a water tunnel. The mechanism wings and flow environment were scaled to simulate the flight of the hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) at hovering or near-hovering speeds. The optimization was repeated using rigid and flexible wings …

A Model For Designing M-Agriculture Applications For Dairy Farming, Amos Gichamba, Ismail A. Lukandu

The African Journal of Information Systems

In the recent past, developing countries have experienced major technological advancements including high mobile phone penetration. With the implementation of innovative technological solutions (e.g. mobile-based systems in key economic activities such as agriculture), there is need to develop models that software developers and researchers can use to design solutions. This paper aims to study the implementation of mobile systems in agriculture and presents a model for designing such applications. This study shows that models exist for general mobile applications design and development, although none specifically suits mobile agriculture applications. A model for designing and implementing M-Agriculture applications is presented. The …

Development And Implementation Of A Calibration Procedure For Complex Impedance Spectrum Measurements With Applications To Embedded Battery Health Monitoring And Management Systems, William H. Morrison

Master's Theses

Energy storage devices such as rechargeable Lithium ion batteries are assuming an increasingly prominent role in society, covering applications from electric / hybrid electric vehicles to personal portable electronics. In response to this increasing demand, technologies that monitor battery health and remaining useful life have developed. One such system is the Smart Battery Status Monitor (SBSM), developed by the Idaho National Laboratory, Montana Tech and Qualtech Systems, Inc. The SBSM utilizes impedance spectrum measurements using a subsystem called the Impedance Measurement Box (IMB). The impedance measurements are complex quantities (having both a resistive and a reactive component) and are made …

Acuta Enews October 2012 Vol. 41, No. 10

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

A New Mission, A New Vision & a New Seminar

ACUTA Staff Changes

Institutional Excellence Award Deadline Nears

How to Be a Hero When You Roll Out UC

What's on Your Desk?

ACUTA Member Benefit: Website Press Room

New Media Literacy Brings Life to Digital Age 2.0

Info Links

Board Report

Welcome New Members

Check It Out

Rapid Temporal Changes In The Expression Of A Set Of Neuromodulatory Genes During Alcohol Withdrawal In The Dorsal Vagal Complex: Molecular Evidence Of Homeostatic Disturbance., Kate Freeman, Mary M. Staehle, Zeynep H Gümüş, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, Gregory E Gonye, Carmen N Nichols, Babatunde A Ogunnaike, Jan B Hoek, James S Schwaber

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

BACKGROUND: Chronic alcohol exposure produces neuroadaptation, which increases the risk of cellular excitotoxicity and autonomic dysfunction during withdrawal. The temporal progression and regulation of the gene expression that contributes to this physiologic and behavioral phenotype is poorly understood early in the withdrawal period. Further, it is unexplored in the dorsal vagal complex (DVC), a brainstem autonomic regulatory structure.

METHODS: We use a quantitative polymerase chain reaction platform to precisely and simultaneously measure the expression of 145 neuromodulatory genes in more than 100 rat DVC samples from control, chronically alcohol-exposed, and withdrawn rats. To gain insight into the dynamic progression and …

The Contribution Of Oxidative Stress In The Protein Damage And Dna Lesion In Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathology, Cheng Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

Glutathione (GSH) plays an essential role in the intracellular antioxidant defense against the oxidant radicals, especially the ·OH radical. To understand the early and progressive cellular changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) development, we investigated reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) status in a double mutated AD transgenic mouse model (B6.Cg-Tg), which carries Swedish amyloid precursor protein mutation (APPswe) and exon 9 deletion of the PSEN1 gene. Likewise, S-glutathionylation (Pr-SSG) is a specific post-translational modification (PTM) of cysteine residues by the addition of glutathione. S-glutathionylated proteins induced by oxidative stress play an essential role in understanding the pathogenesis of the aging …

A Novel Microfluidic Enrichment Technique For Carbonylated Proteins, Bryant C. Hollins

Doctoral Dissertations

Proteins are the building blocks of cells in living organisms, and are composed of amino acids. The expression of proteins is regulated by the processes of transcription and translation. Proteins undergo post-translational modifications in order to dictate their role physiologically within a cell.

Not all post-translational modifications are beneficial for the protein or the cell. One type of post-translational modification, called carbonylation, irreversibly places a carbonyl group onto an amino acid residue, most commonly proline, lysine, arginine, and threonine. This modification can have severe consequences physiologically, including loss of solubility, loss of function, and protein aggregation.

Carbonylated proteins have commonly …

Initial Changes In Species Cover Following Savanna Restoration Treatments In Western Iowa, David A. Mckenzie, Thomas B. Bragg, David M. Sutherland

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Study areas in the Iowa Loess Hills were used to evaluate short-term responses of understory species to three treatment methods designed to facilitate restoration of Quercus macrocarpa savanna. Treatments included burning alone, burning with thinning, and burning with clear-cutting. Plant abundance and diversity were compared before treatment and one year after treatment. Ninety-nine plant species were identified during the study, of which 40 were new following treatment, although most of these were forest associates. Increases in diversity of understory species were observed after treatment, particularly in plots with combined burning and thinning. The forb group was most consistent in response …

Oscillator-Based Neuronal Modeling For Seizure Progression Investigation And Seizure Control Strategy, Wu Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

The coupled oscillator model has previously been used for the simulation of neuronal activities in in vitro rat hippocampal slice seizure data and the evaluation of seizure suppression algorithms. Each model unit can be described as either an oscillator which can generate action potential spike trains without inputs, or a threshold-based unit. With the change of only one parameter, each unit can either be an oscillator or a threshold-based spiking unit. This would eliminate the need for a new set of equations for each type of unit. Previous analysis has suggested that long kernel duration and imbalance of inhibitory feedback …

Spherical Lamina Emergent Mechanisms, Samuel E. Wilding, Larry L. Howell, Spencer P. Magleby

Faculty Publications

Lamina emergent mechanisms (LEMs) are compliant mechanisms that can be manufactured from planar materials and are capable of motion out of the plane of manufacture. Spherical LEMs combine the unique motion of spherical mechanisms with the compactness and simple topology of LEMs. The fundamentals of spherical LEMs are discussed in this work. It is found that 21 of the 33 possible spherical 4R types can be spherical LEMs. A classification based on these 21 possible types is developed. This classification is used to predict motion capabilities of spherical 6R, and Equintet mechanisms. It is also applied to arrays of spherical …

Rat Brain Pro-Oxidant Effects Of Peripherally Administered 5 Nm Ceria 30 Days After Exposure, Sarita S. Hardas, Rukhsana Sultana, Govind Warrier, Mo Dan, Rebecca L. Florence, Peng Wu, Eric A. Grulke, Michael T. Tseng, Jason M. Unrine, Uschi M. Graham, Robert A. Yokel, D. Allan Butterfield

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to determine the residual pro-or anti-oxidant effects in rat brain 30 days after systemic administration of a 5 nm citrate-stabilized ceria dispersion. A ∼4% aqueous ceria dispersion was iv-infused (0 or 85 mg/kg) into rats which were terminated 30 days later. Ceria concentration, localization, and chemical speciation in the brain was assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), light and electron microscopy (EM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), respectively. Pro- or anti-oxidant effects were evaluated by measuring levels of protein carbonyls (PC), 3-nitrotyrosine (3NT), and protein-bound-4-hydroxy-2-trans-nonenal (HNE) in the hippocampus, cortex, and …

3d Differentiation Of Neural Stem Cells In Macroporous Photopolymerizable Hydrogel Scaffolds, Nic Leipzig

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering Faculty Research

Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) are the stem cell of the adult central nervous system (CNS). These cells are able to differentiate into the major cell types found in the CNS (neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes), thus NSPCs are the mechanism by which the adult CNS could potentially regenerate after injury or disorder. Microenviromental factors are critical for guiding NSPC differentiation and are thus important for neural tissue engineering. In this study, D-mannitol crystals were mixed with photocrosslinkable methacrylamide chitosan (MAC) as a porogen to enhance pore size during hydrogel formation. D-mannitol was admixed to MAC at 5, 10 and 20 wt% D-mannitol …

Characterization Of Runoff In Two Urban Watersheds In Lincoln, Nebraska, Michael J. Florek Iii

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Characterization of runoff water quality and conditions for two urban watersheds in Lincoln, NE, was performed using data collected from 2008-2012. Water quality data from in-stream probes and storm sampling was combined with soil sample data, geographic information system (GIS) modeling, and nutrient isotope composition analysis to provide a more detailed picture of runoff mechanisms in the Taylor Park and Colonial Hills watersheds.

Soil sample data and GIS modeling were used to compare physical characteristics of the urban watersheds. Taylor Park and Colonial Hills are relatively similar, save for Colonial Hills being six times as large. Its time of concentration, …

Stem Cell Based Tissue Engineering And Regenerative Medicine: A Review Focusing On Adult Stem Cells, Jordan Greenberg, Veronica R. Fortino, Daniel Pelaez, Herman S. Cheung

Biology Faculty Articles

Tissue engineering has emerged as a field that attempts to harness the bodies' own developmental and repair features to treat diseases and illnesses. Many of these illnesses are caused by necrosis or loss of functionality of complete organs or specific cell types. Early discoveries in embryonic stem cells fueled a wave of research that led to claims about possibly regenerating nonfunctioning organs. Although we are still far away from being able to grow functional organs in a Petri dish, the field continues to progress forward, and new clinical trials have been approved for using both embryonic and adult stem cell …

Electroluminescence From Zno Nanostructure Synthesizes Between Nanogap, Cheng Jiang

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis presents the investigation of a nanoscale light-emitting diode (LED) device. The nanoscale LED has a great potential to be used as a light source for biomedical screening and fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy. It can also be developed to a single photon emitter for the application of quantum computing. The nano-LED has the electrical structure of a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) junction. The MSM junction has been formed on the nanogap device that is fabricated on a SOI wafer by optical lithography and KOH solution silicon etching. The Ni evaporated on the surface of the nanogap device performs the metal contact for …

Functional Integration In The Cortical Neuronal Network Of Conscious And Anesthetized Animals, Jeannette A. Vizuete

Dissertations (1934 -)

General anesthesia consists of amnesia, analgesia, areflexia and unconsciousness. How anesthetics suppress consciousness has been a mystery for more than one and a half centuries.

The overall goal of my research has been to determine the neural correlates of anesthetic-induced loss of consciousness. I hypothesized that anesthetics induce unconsciousness by interfering with the functional connectivity of neuronal networks of the brain and consequently, reducing the brain's capacity for information processing. To test this hypothesis, I performed experiments in which neuronal spiking activity was measured with chronically implanted microelectrode arrays in the visual cortex of freely-moving rats during wakefulness and at …