Digital Commons Network^™

A Magneto-Rheological Platform To Dynamically Control Afterload In Engineered Micro Heart Muscles, David Schuftan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death is the United States, accounting for nearly 1 in 5 deaths. Many types of cardiovascular disease are linked to the mechanical forces placed on the heart. However, how these mechanical forces exactly affect the cellular biology of the heart is not well defined. In vitro models using cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells enable researchers to develop medium throughput systems to study cardiac mechanobiology at the cellular level. Previous models have been developed to enable the study of mechanical forces such as cardiac afterload. However, most of these models require …

Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field Modulates Electron Transport And Mitochondrial Structure And Function, Lucas Nelson Potter

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pulsed power treatment has been used to induce regulated cell death (RCD) in cells or ablate tumors in animals. A subset of pulsed power as electroporation with high voltage and pulse duration of milliseconds is used for biomedical treatment to induce pores in the plasma membrane of cells. Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields (nsPEFs)– an extension of electroporation, uses waveforms with pulse durations on the order of 10-900 nanoseconds. nsPEF treatment has demonstrated intracellular effects for potential biomedical applications. In this work, nsPEF treatment is used to demonstrate changes that affect viability, plasma membrane permeability ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) in the …

Cardiac Ablation And Stimulation With Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields (Nspefs), Federica Serra

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Surgical ablation of cardiac tissue is the definitive treatment for the most common arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation. In current medical practice, myocardial tissue is often ablated by the application of radiofrequency (RF) currents which are delivered through an electrode to create lesions that block the electrical pathways that sustain reentrant arrhythmias and restore the normal heart rhythm. An alternative to RF is cryoablation, during which the endocardial or epicardial tissue is brought in contact with a cryoprobe. Both RF ablation and cryoablation have significant limitations. In RF ablation, tissue is heated in order to ablate it, but it is an open …

Opensim-Based Musculoskeletal Modeling: Foundation For Interactive Obstetric Simulator, Bahador Dodge

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The use of mathematical and computational models to understand complex biological systems, such as the human birth process, is a rapidly growing field in medicine. These models can be used to optimize and personalize medical treatments for individual patients, enhance training, and aid in educational efforts. While recent advancements in healthcare, particularly in obstetrics, have improved care for mothers and babies, studies and government reports indicate a rising rate of maternal mortality in the United States.

Despite this rising trend, there is a lack of detailed studies concerning the use of modeling and simulation to develop an interactive obstetrics simulator …

Systemic Risk Analysis Of Human Factors In Phishing, Mark Guilford

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The scope of this study is the systemic risk of the role of humans in the risk of phishing. The relevance to engineering managers and systems engineers of the risks of phishing attacks is the theft of data which has significantly increased in the past couple of years. Phishing has become a systemic persistent threat to all internet users. Understanding the role of humans in phishing from a systemic perspective is a critical objective towards creating a strong defense against complex and manipulative phishing attacks. The systemic view of phishing concentrates on how phishing affects the entire organizational system, not …

Synthesis, Radiolabeling And Evaluation Of A Suite Of Tracers With 44Sc For Detecting Extracellular Dna, Zhiyao Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Neutrophil extracellular traps involve the rapid translocation of DNA to the outside of the cell under certain stimuli. This structure forms a fibrous network that is able to limit the spread of pathogens and to kill microorganisms. It has also been shown to be present in various pathological processes such as inflammation, autoimmune diseases, and cancer metastasis. Currently, the formation process of NETs in vivo is being extensively studied. However noninvasive detection and quantitation has yet to be achieved. A class of PET tracers are described here that consists of a DNA dye as the backbone that is labeled with …

What If Plants Compute?, Jordi Vallverdú

Animal Sentience

The unexpended cognitive capacities of plants suggest the possibility of combining them with advances in computation. It is important to explore such a new field of research despite the incompleteness of the empirical support for it.

Neutrosophic Mcdm Methodology For Evaluation Onshore Wind For Electricity Generation And Sustainability Ecological, Karam M. Sallam, Ali Wagdy Mohamed

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

The conviction in the necessity of renewable energy has been prompted by both the constantly increasing need for power production and the ecological issues of recent years. When it comes to generating power in a sustainable manner, wind is among the most essential renewable energy sources. This research attempts to present a structural technique for assessing the performance of operational onshore wind facilities with respect to the three dimensions of sustainability. The energy production, environmental effect, and practicability of onshore wind facilities are all dependent on accurate assessments. Wind resources, site accessibility, environmental impact, permitting and regulatory requirements, turbine technology, …

Mechanical Properties And Morphological Alterations In Fiber-Based Scaffolds Affecting Tissue Engineering Outcomes, James Dolgin, Samerender Nagam Hanumantharao, Stephen Farias, Carl G. Simon, Smitha Rao

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Electrospinning is a versatile tool used to produce highly customizable nonwoven nanofiber mats of various fiber diameters, pore sizes, and alignment. It is possible to create electrospun mats from synthetic polymers, biobased polymers, and combinations thereof. The post-processing of the end products can occur in many ways, such as cross-linking, enzyme linking, and thermal curing, to achieve enhanced chemical and physical properties. Such multi-factor tunability is very promising in applications such as tissue engineering, 3D organs/organoids, and cell differentiation. While the established methods involve the use of soluble small molecules, growth factors, stereolithography, and micro-patterning, electrospinning involves an inexpensive, labor …

Motion Control Simulation Of A Hexapod Robot, Weishu Zhan

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis addresses hexapod robot motion control. Insect morphology and locomotion patterns inform the design of a robotic model, and motion control is achieved via trajectory planning and bio-inspired principles. Additionally, deep learning and multi-agent reinforcement learning are employed to train the robot motion control strategy with leg coordination achieves using a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning framework. The thesis makes the following contributions:

First, research on legged robots is synthesized, with a focus on hexapod robot motion control. Insect anatomy analysis informs the hexagonal robot body and three-joint single robotic leg design, which is assembled using SolidWorks. Different gaits are …

Machine-Learning-Based Model For Hurricane Storm Surge Forecasting In The Lower Laguna Madre, Cesar E. Davila Hernandez, Jungseok Ho, Dong-Chul Kim, Abdoul Oubeidillah

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

During every Atlantic hurricane season, storms represent a constant risk to Texan coastal communities and other communities along the Atlantic coast of the United States. A storm surge refers to the abnormal rise of sea water level due to hurricanes and storms; traditionally, hurricane storm surge predictions are generated using complex numerical models that require high amounts of computing power to be run, which grow proportionally with the extent of the area covered by the model. In this work, a machine-learning-based storm surge forecasting model for the Lower Laguna Madre is implemented. The model considers gridded forecasted weather data on …

Regenerative Medicine For Tendon/Ligament Injuries: De Novo Equine Tendon/Ligament Neotissue Generation And Application, Takashi Taguchi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tendon and ligament injuries are debilitating conditions across species. Poor regenerative capacities of these tissues limit restoration of original functions. The first study evaluated the effect of cellular administration on tendon/ligament injuries in horses using meta-analysis. The cellular administration was effective in restoring ultrasonographic echogenicity and increasing vascularity during early phase of healing. Additionally, it improved microstructural organization of healed tissue in terms of cellularity and fiber alignment. However, the study did not support its use for increasing rate of return to performance, expression/deposition of tendon-specific genes/proteins, or mechanical properties.

The findings led to the second study that engineered implantable …

Investigating The Severity And Rate Of Occurrence Of Motorcycle Crashes Across Different Land Uses In Georgia, Robert Edwards

Symposium of Student Scholars

In 2020, motorcycle crashes reached their highest number of fatalities nationally since 1975, when 5,579 motorcyclists were killed. Georgia, in recent years, has seen an increase in the number of fatal multi-vehicle crashes involving motorcycles. This would be indicative of the general trend and nothing more if the number of motorcycle crashes reported outside of urban populations did not increase—despite lockdown measures—by 1.7% in 2020. In this investigation, employing a thorough examination of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Crash Data (GDOT) compiled from the last ten years and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) compiled from the last five years, …

Development Of A Fish Robot Equipped With Novel 3d-Printed Soft Bending Actuators, Steven Steele, Jorge Diaz Rodriguez, Sharun Sripathy, Turaj Ashuri, Saleh Gharaie, Yusun Chang, Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper reports on design and fabrication of a novel soft fish robot. Application of soft actuators for the fish tail will generates continuum bending motion which resembles the natural motion of the fish. However, most soft actuator mechanisms are complex and have low efficiency. Thus, to address this issue we have developed a 3D printed soft bending actuator which can be actuated with an electromotor. The basic design idea of the soft bending actuator is explained, and iteration of the design showed to create the desired motion for the soft tail. The soft actuator has been successfully integrated with …

Will Power Africa Final Project Report, Kira Lowell, Joshua Geer, Cooper Adams, Luke Willborn

Engineering Senior Design Reports

This report outlines the final design for the Will Power Africa 2022-2023 senior design team and how testing proved that the design meets each determined project requirement and constraint. The Will Power Africa team was tasked with designing a reliable and durable off-grid energy generation source to power an electric fence to deter elephants and provide charging capabilities for portable devices intended to be implemented in Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe near Hwange National Park and along the routes of elephant herds. This design would allow the community to grow food protected from elephant raiding and increase general connectivity with easier access to …

Development Of Detection And Tracking Systems For Autonomous Vehicles Using Machine Learning, Tyler Ward

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Elmer R. Smith College of Business and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science by Tyler Ward April 25, 2023.

Rethinking Process To Design A Compelling Editorial Publication, Erik Furtado

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

During the Fall semester of 2022, Symbiotic Creations competed in the Future Food All-Star’s competition and mentorship program with the main goal to create a probiotic snack made from 100% culinary by-products. Our three objectives were to create a hydrocolloid structure within the gummies (properly thickened gummy), use only vegan products, and provide a probiotic benefit to the final product. Most products in the market rely on animal-based thickeners like gelatin. Initially, we experimented with agar agar, tapioca powder, and cornstarch but none of these starches actually formed the hydrocolloid structure. After many trials, we succeeded in forming the hydrocolloid …

Heartpaws - A Company Focused On Connecting Pets With Their New Fur-Ever Families, Alyssa Audino

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

HeartPaws was created as a new approach to pet adoption. The company would work with shelters across the nation to successfully connect these animals with their fur-ever homes. HeartPaws’ purpose is to create more visibility outside the immediate vicinity of the shelter, and with more people seeing them, the higher the chance of adoption. When establishing the branding attention to typography and color palette were integral. Focusing on softer, rounded letter forms, and warm inviting colors emphasized the friendly, loving nature of the brand. Utilizing browns & pinks not only fit the brand feel but are also common colors of …

Analysis Impact Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation On Job Satisfaction In Logistics Service Sector: An Intelligent Neutrosophic Model, Zenat Mohamed, Mahmoud M. Ismail, Amal F. Abd El-Gawad

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

The success of every company relies heavily on the happiness of its workforce, and the logistics service sector is no exception. The capacity of logistics suppliers to satisfy the demands of their clients depends on the efficiency and efficacy of operations, which in turn is affected by the level of employee satisfaction. This paper aims to analyze the factors of employee satisfaction in the logistic service industry to achieve productivity and a satisfied workforce. This paper used the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology to handle various factors. The SWARA method is an MCDM method used to compute the importance of factors. …

Nematocidal And Bactericidal Activities Of Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Mediated By Ficus Sycomorus Leaf Extract, Dina Elkobrosy, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Hamada El-Gendi, Yiming Su, Rokaia Nabil, Ahmed Abdelkhalek, Said Behiry

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Nanoparticles effectively control most plant pathogens, although research has focused more on their antimicrobial than their nematocidal properties. This study synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) through a green biosynthesis method using an aqueous extract of Ficus sycomorus leaves (FS-Ag-NPs). The nanoparticles were characterized using SEM, TEM, EDX, zeta sizer, and FTIR. The TEM results showed that the synthesized NPs were nanoscale and had an average particle size of 33 ± 1 nm. The elemental silver signal at 3 keV confirmed the formation of Ag-NPs from an aqueous leaf extract of F. sycomorus. The FTIR analysis revealed the existence of several …

An Introductory Investigation Of Dust Devils On Mars: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling, Alexios Nicolas Philippou, Kakkattukuzhy M. Issac

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

This report investigates the flow characteristics of tornado like vortices which can be used to describe an array of axisymmetric rotating vertical columns of fluid such as dust devils, steam devils and tornadoes. These vortices have been recreated within vortex chambers in research facilities, but in focus of this report the investigation is conducted through numerical simulations using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software package provided by ANSYS. By varying the main governing nondimensional parameter of swirl ratio through the computational domain’s boundary conditions, different flow characteristics appear which confirm theories presented in previous papers. This enables the research conducted …

Effect Of Foliar Application Of Dse Fungal Solution On Growth Of Morus Alba And Its Prospects Of Ecological Restoration Application, Bi Yinli, Wang Zhuoyou, Ke Zengming

Coal Geology & Exploration

Microbial reclamation technology has been widely used in the ecological restoration of western arid and semi-arid coal mining areas. Convenient application of microbial agent has important significance for improving the efficiency of ecological management in coal-mining subsidence. Herein, this study tested with Morus alba as the study object, and the dark septate endophyte (DSE) as the test fungus. using a greenhouse pot experiment with three treatments, which including the root inoculation of DSE fungus (GXZR), foliar application of DSE fungus (YMTM) and control Morus alba (CK), this study investigated the effects of different inoculation methods on the growth of Morus …

The Toxicology Of Particulate Matter Emitted From Coal Combustion And The Geological Origin Of Lung Cancer Epidemic In Xuanwei City, Yunan Province, China, Shao Longyi, Zhang Mengyuan, Feng Xiaolei, Jiao Jiewei, Wang Wenhua, Zhou Yiping

Coal Geology & Exploration

Xuanwei City in Yunnan Province is the area struck by the most severe lung cancer in China, with the incidence and mortality of lung cancer ranking first in the world. The study of genomics of lung cancer patients has shown that lung cancer in Xuanwei City has distinctive genetic characteristics and a unique incidence mode related to the environment. This study reviewed the epidemiological characteristics of the lung cancer epidemic in Xuanwei, as well as the level of pollution and toxicological characteristics of emissions from coal combustion. Moreover, this study discussed the geological origins of the lung cancer epidemic in …

Geothermal Energy Exploitation And Storage In Coal Field Under The Dual Carbon Goal, Wang Jiyang, Kong Yanlong, Duan Zhongfeng, Zhang Jixiong, Luo Xilian, Huang Yonghui, Luo Naning, Cheng Yuanzhi, Zhou Nan, Zhang Weizun, Pang Zhonghe

Coal Geology & Exploration

The development of geothermal energy in coalfield can not only improve the temperature environment of coal mining, but also turn waste into treasure through the clean utilization of geothermal energy. Especially, it is of great prospect to store energy in the mined-out area of coalfield under the “dual carbon” goal at present. Herein, in this paper, it was estimated that the geothermal reserves in the main coal-bearing areas of China were 1.12 × 10¹⁹ kJ, equivalent to 379.539 billion tons of standard coal, and the recoverable geothermal reserves were 1.71 × 10¹⁸ kJ, equivalent to 56.931 billion tons …

Design Of A Manufacturing Process For The Fabrication And Testing Of Electromechanical Transduction In Stretchable Electronics, Matthew Marcinko

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Applied

Exploding Banana Puree, Daniel Wilson

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Applied

Drone Maneuverability Around Built And Natural Structures: Phase I, Fabrication And Testing Of Mock Environments, Hannah Deter

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Applied

Recent Advances In Antimicrobial Peptide Hydrogels, Aryanna Copling, Maxwell Akantibila, Raaha Kumaresan, Gilbert Fleischer, Dennise Cortes, Rahul S Tripathi, Valerie J. Carabetta, Sebastian Vega

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University Departmental Research

Advances in the number and type of available biomaterials have improved medical devices such as catheters, stents, pacemakers, prosthetic joints, and orthopedic devices. The introduction of a foreign material into the body comes with a risk of microbial colonization and subsequent infection. Infections of surgically implanted devices often lead to device failure, which leads to increased patient morbidity and mortality. The overuse and improper use of antimicrobials has led to an alarming rise and spread of drug-resistant infections. To overcome the problem of drug-resistant infections, novel antimicrobial biomaterials are increasingly being researched and developed. Hydrogels are a class of 3D …

The Effectiveness Of Visualization Techniques For Supporting Decision-Making, Cansu Yalim, Holly A. H. Handley

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Although visualization is beneficial for evaluating and communicating data, the efficiency of various visualization approaches for different data types is not always evident. This research aims to address this issue by investigating the usefulness of several visualization techniques for various data kinds, including continuous, categorical, and time-series data. The qualitative appraisal of each technique's strengths, weaknesses, and interpretation of the dataset is investigated. The research questions include: which visualization approaches perform best for different data types, and what factors impact their usefulness? The absence of clear directions for both researchers and practitioners on how to identify the most effective visualization …

Automatic Generation Of Virtual Work Guide For Complex Procedures: A Case, Shan Liu, Yuzhong Shen

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Practical work guides for complex procedures are significant and highly affect the efficiency and accuracy of on-site users. This paper presents a technique to generate virtual work guides automatically for complex procedures. Firstly, the procedure information is extracted from the electronic manual in PDF format. And then, the extracted procedure steps are mapped to the virtual model parts in preparation for animation between adjacent steps. Next, smooth animations of the procedure are generated based on a 3D natural cubic spline curve to improve the spatial ability of the work guide. In addition, each step's annotation is automatically adjusted to improve …