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Preparation For Nerve Membrane Potential Readings Of A Leech, Laboratory Setup And Dissection Process, Jason Patrick Caulfield

Master's Theses

A well documented laboratory setup, leech preparation process, and bio-potential data recording process are needed. Repeatability and quality data recordings are essential and thus dictate the requirements of the laboratory setup and processes listed above. Advances in technology have both helped and hindered this development. While very precise equipment is required to record the low voltage bio-potentials, noisy electronic equipment and wires surrounding the work area provide high levels of interference. Proper laboratory setup and data recording processes, however, limit the unwanted interference. Quality data can only be recorded from a properly handled and prepared leech subject. Proper setup and …

Preparation And Characterization Of Electrospun Poly(D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Scaffolds For Vascular Tissue Engineering And The Advancement Of An In Vitro Blood Vessel Mimic, Tiffany Richelle Pena

Master's Theses

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ELECTROSPUN POLY(D,L-LACTIDE-CO-GLYCOLIDE) SCAFFFOLDS FOR VASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF AN IN VITRO BLOOD VESSEL MIMIC

Tiffany Richelle Peña

Currently, an estimated 1 in every 3 adult Americans are affected by one or more cardiovascular complications. The most common complication is coronary artery disease, specifically atherosclerosis. Outcomes of balloon angioplasty treatments have been significantly improved with the addition of drug eluting stents to the process. Although both bare metal and drug eluting stents have greatly increased the effectiveness of angioplasty and decreased the occurrence of restenosis, several complications still exist. For this reason, the stent …

Pitch Dynamics Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, W. F. Phillips, Doug F. Hunsaker, N. R. Alley, R. J. Niewoehner

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Dynamic stability requirements for manned aircraft have been in place for many years. However, we cannot expect stability constraints for UAVs to match those for manned aircraft; and dynamic stability requirements specific to UAVs have not been developed. The boundaries of controllability for both remotely-piloted and auto-piloted aircraft must be established before UAV technology can reach its full potential. The development of dynamic stability requirements specific to UAVs could improve flying qualities and facilitate more efficient UAV designs to meet specific mission requirements. As a first step to developing UAV stability requirements in general, test techniques must be established that …

Design Of Sea Water Heat Exchanger For Miniature Vapor Compression Cycle, James Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent advances in the development of miniature vapor compression cycle components have created unique opportunities for heating and cooling applications, specifically to human physiological requirements that arise in extreme environments. Diving in very cold water between 1.7 and 5°C requires active heating because passive thermal insulation has proven inadequate for long durations. To maintain diver mobility and cognitive performance, it is desirable to provide 250 to 300 W of heat from an untethered power source. The use of a miniature vapor compression cycle reduces the amount of power (batteries or fuel cell) that the diver must carry by 2.5 times …

A Predictive Model Of Cognitive Performance Under Acceleration Stress, Richard Andrew Mckinley

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Extreme acceleration maneuvers encountered in modern agile fighter aircraft can wreak havoc on human physiology thereby significantly influencing cognitive task performance. Increased acceleration causes a shift in local arterial blood pressure and profusion causing declines in regional cerebral oxygen saturation. As oxygen content continues to decline, activity of high order cortical tissue reduces to ensure sufficient metabolic resources are available for critical life-sustaining autonomic functions. Consequently, cognitive abilities reliant on these affected areas suffer significant performance degradations. This goal of this effort was to develop and validate a model capable of predicting human cognitive performance under acceleration stress. An Air …

An Intelligent Face Features Generation System From Fingerprints, Şeref Sağiroğlu, Necla Özkaya

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this study, a novel intelligent system based on artificial neural networks was designed and introduced for generating faces from fingerprints with high accuracy. The proposed system has a number of modules including two feature enrolment modules for acquiring the fingerprints and faces into the system, two feature extractors for extracting the feature sets of fingerprint and face biometrics, an artificial neural network module that was configured with the help of Taguchi experimental design method for establishing relationships among the biometric features, a face re-constructor for building up face features from the results of the system, and a test module …

Congestion Mitigation In Wireless Sensor Networks Using Single-Hop Backpressure Algorithm, Vijay Shekar Mangilipalli Gangu Sham

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks consist of a group of small components with limited resources allocated to sense the environment and transmit data to the user or interpreter. This concept is technically evolved from Sensors that are basically used to sense the environment around and collect data based on the sensing application incorporated in them. An extension to functionality of the sensors leads to the concept of sensor networks, where, in addition to gathering information at individual sensors, the data is processed and transmitted to a central station or Base station. This concept of transmitting the information from one node to the …

Engineering@Nebraska - Spring 2008

Engineering@Nebraska (Alumni Magazine)

Table of Contents:

Front & Center
Engineering Students Enjoy Spain Firsthand: With Nebraska Engineering’s focus on international education, “live and learn” happens in amazing settings. Warm up to the wonders of winter break in Spain.
Spring Break at 35,000 Feet: Nebraska Engineering’s undergraduate research reaches new heights in service to NASA. Ride along with blog posts from an uplifting experience in microgravity.
UNL Experts Build Better Bridges: Atorod Azizinamini—professor of Civil Engineering, researcher and director of UNL's National Bridge Research Organization (NABRO)—leads a team in applying a $2 million grant for safer spans.
Tiny Fibers, Huge Potential: The longterm research …

Six Dimensions Of Expertise: A More Comprehensive Definition Of Cognitive Expertise For Team Coordination, S K. Garrett, Barrett S. Caldwell, E C. Harris, M C. Gonzalez

School of Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Looking at expertise from the vantage point of many knowledge domains allows the observations and resulting definitions to be useful across a broad range of subject areas. A stable set of definitions that work on a higher, more comprehensive level than the current literature offers is needed for an integrated description of expertise. A cohesive cross-domain definition and explanation of expertise can be used to optimise group interactions. Since group performance incorporates additional components of expertise that are not present in individual performance situations, these additional components must be examined in order to see a full picture of the successful …

Microfluidic Power Generation, Aaron J. Sprecher

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis includes the detailed mathematical calculations used to determine the feasibility of harnessing electrical energy from the blood flow through human capillaries. The designs are inspired by human physiology and well established electromagnetic energy harvesting techniques and the fabrication methods have been proposed for the various components of the device. The fabrication and the design of these components have also been extensively analyzed using calculations based on the governing principles of microfluidics, kinetics, and electromagnetics. The analysis has confirmed that this design can produce sufficient energy to power a MEMS device using non-standard materials and fabrication methods. The designs …

Color Filter Array Image Analysis For Joint Denoising And Demosaicking, Keigo Hirakawa

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Noise is among the worst artifacts that affect the perceptual quality of the output from a digital camera. While cost-effective and popular, single-sensor solutions to camera architectures are not adept at noise suppression. In this scheme, data are typically obtained via a spatial subsampling procedure implemented as a color filter array (CFA), a physical construction whereby each pixel location measures the intensity of the light corresponding to only a single color. Aside from undersampling, observations made under noisy conditions typically deteriorate the estimates of the full-color image in the reconstruction process commonly referred to as demosaicking or CFA interpolation in …

Delay Sensitive Routing For Real Time Traffic Over Ad-Hoc Networks, Dipika Darshana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wireless ad hoc network consists of inexpensive nodes that form a mobile communication network. Due to limitations of the transmission range, the nodes rely on each other to forward packets such that messages can be delivered across the network. The selection of the path along which a packet is forwarded from the source node to the destination node is done by the routing algorithm. Most commonly used routing algorithms, though effective for non-real time applications, cannot handle real-time applications that require strict delay bounds on packet delivery. In this thesis, we propose a routing protocol that ensures timely delivery of …

Patient-Centred Laboratory Validation Using Software Agents, John Mcgrory, Jane Grimson, Frank Clarke, Peter Gaffney

Conference Papers

Guidelines are self-contained documents which healthcare professionals reference to obtain knowledge about a specific condition or process. They interface with these documents and apply known facts about specific patients to gain useful supportive information to aid in developing a diagnosis or manage a condition. To automate this process a series of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and workflow processes are constructed using the contents of these documents in order to manage the validation flow of a patient sample. These processes decompose the guidelines into workflow plans, which are then called using condition triggers controlled by a centralised management engine. The software …

Analytical Modeling With Decoupled Optimal Control Of Biomechanical Sit -To -Stand Movement, Asif Mahmood Mughal

Theses and Dissertations

Biomechanical movements with multiple degrees of freedom exhibit complex coordination and control mechanisms in the presence of physiological constraints. A human body biomechanical model which can mimic diverse 3D physiological movements is a challenging task. In this study, we develop a mathematical framework to study human sit-to-stand (STS) movement using 2D biomechanical models. This analytical framework models the physiological system for feedback controller design. A 2D 4-segment biomechanical model with optimal feedback controller design provides a motivation to extend this scheme for analytical 3D bipedal modeling. We used a newly developed mathematical modeling toolbox (Maple’s DynaFlexPro) to generate 3D 8-segment …

Numerical Simulations Of Flow And Mass Transport In Micro-Fluidic Components For Modular Bio-Analytic Chip Applications, Sudheer D. Rani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Microfluidics has received a great deal of attention in the past decade. The ability of modular microfluidic chips to miniaturize integrate chemical and biological systems (µTAS) can be greatly productive in terms of cost and efficiency. During the design of these modular devices, misalignment of materials, geometrical or both is one of the most common problems. These misalignments can have adverse effect in both pressure driven and electrokinetically driven flows. In the present work, Numerical Simulations have been performed to study the effect of material and geometrical mismatch on the flow behavior and species progression in microfluidic interconnects. In the …

Integrating Game Technology And Discrete Event Simulation To Analyze Mass Casualty Scenarios, Jason Loveland

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In the last 10 years, video games have become complex simulation environments with high resolution 3D graphics enabled by powerhouse rendering engines, multi-player client server networks, user friendly displays and graphical user interface , while remaining relatively inexpensive. There is a critical need for systems engineering analysis and rapid trade studies due to changes in operations caused by current events such as terrorist attacks, asymmetric threats, natural disasters, etc. Modem games provide a unique way to visualize and interact with these complex environments, scenarios, missions, and operations. A discrete event simulator (DES) provides an environment to model system architecture behavior, …

Space Suit Concepts And Vehicle Interfaces For The Constellation Program, D. M. Klaus, J. Metts, R. Kobrick, M. Mesloh, T. Monk, Et Al.

Publications

In carrying out NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration, a number of different environments will be encountered that will require the crew to wear a protective space suit. Specifically, four suited mission phases are identified as Launch, Entry & Abort profiles, Contingency 0g (orbital) Extravehicular Activity (EVA), Lunar Surface EVA and Martian Surface EVA. This study presents conceptual design solutions based on a previous architecture assessment that defined space suit operational requirements for four proposed space suit configuration options. In addition, a subset of vehicle interface requirements are defined for enabling umbilical and physical connections between the suits and the various …

Love Canal Tragedy, Alicia Saunte Phillips, Yung-Tse Hung, Paul A. Bosela

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this environmental failure case study paper is to provide educational materials for environmental engineering courses dealing with design and operation of landfills for hazardous waste. In 1978, it was discovered that hazardous waste had contaminated homes and schools in the Love Canal area, a former chemical landfill which became a 15 acre neighborhood of the City of Niagara Falls, New York. On August 7, 1978, the United States President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at the Love Canal. The Love Canal became the first man-made disaster to receive such a designation based on a variety of …

Central And Peripheral Autonomic Influences : Analysis Of Cardio-Pulmonary Dynamics Using Novel Wavelet Statistical Methods, Anne Marie Petrock

Dissertations

The development and implementation of novel signal processing techniques, particularly with regard to applications in the clinical environment, is critical to bringing computer-aided diagnoses of disease to reality. One of the most confounding factors in the field of cardiac autonomic response (CAR) research is the influence of the coupling of respiratory oscillations with cardiac oscillations.

This research had three objectives. The first was the assessment of central autonomic influence over heart rate oscillations when the pulmonary system is damaged. The second was to assess the link between peripheral and central autonomic control schema by evaluating the heart rate variability (HRV) …

The Smart Helmet, Michael Walsh

Theses

This thesis addresses the design, development and testing of a wireless sensor network for a sports helmet. The objective is to monitor an athlete's physiology and also physical impacts using a sensor network. A detailed literature review is presented addressing currently available appropriate wireless technologies, sensors and their operation, packaging, interconnections and applications. It gives a brief introduction to each sensor used in the smart helmet, accelerometers, temperature sensors, heart rate and blood oxygen sensors, along with a review of possible sensors which could be added at a later stage. The specific sensors and other related components for the helmets …

Composite Data From Centrifugal Experimentation Regarding Human Information Processing, Ronald K. Butcher

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A cognitive model illustrating decrement in human performance as a function of increased G-forces has been highly sought after by the Department of Defense (DoD) for various reasons. The F-16 and other air combat platforms are super-agile aircraft that are easily capable of imposing G-forces on a pilot that are beyond human physiological limitations. Knowledge of these physiological limits and more importantly the resultant restrictions in cognitive function could prove invaluable to those who design and pilot such aircraft. The model may be utilized in the construction of improved flight simulators that incorporate more realistically performing enemy targets and therefore …

Nutrient Recycling: Rural On-Site Wastewater Disposal And Treatment In Can Tho City, Viet Nam, Micah Johnson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In order to research a topic a holistic perspective is important. Often experiments are performed absent from the environment that is being observed. It is like thrusting one’s hand into an ocean to grope around for a specimen, extract it, and examine it apart from its native habitat. Although this is possible and often primarily the method, to immerse oneself into where one is studying is to increase one’s ability to obtain a more holistic perspective. I have come to believe that the more practical and accurate scientific experiments are a combination of laboratories and on the field. Not only …

Computational Modeling Of The Dielectric Barrier Discharge (Dbd) Device For Aeronautical Applications, Christopher S. Charles

Theses and Dissertations

Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) type devices, when used as plasma actuators, have shown significant promise for use in many aeronautical applications. Experimentally, DBD actuator devices have been shown to induce motion in initially still air, and to cause re-attachment of air flow over a wing surface at a high angle of attack. This thesis explores the numerical simulation of the DBD device in both a lD and 2D environment. Using well established fluid equation techniques, along with the appropriate approximations for the regime under which these devices will be operating, computational results for various conditions and geometries are explored. In …

Enhancing Situational Awareness Through Haptics Interaction In Virtual Environment Training Systmes, Kelly Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual environment (VE) technology offers a viable training option for developing knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) within domains that have limited live training opportunities due to personnel safety and cost (e.g., live fire exercises). However, to ensure these VE training systems provide effective training and transfer, designers of such systems must ensure that training goals and objectives are clearly defined and VEs are designed to support development of KSAs required. Perhaps the greatest benefit of VE training is its ability to provide a multimodal training experience, where trainees can see, hear and feel their surrounding environment, thus engaging them in …

Design Of Near-Optimal Waveforms For Chest And Abdominal Compression And Decompression In Cpr Using Computer-Simulated Evolution, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Objective: To discover design principles underlying the optimal waveforms for external chest and abdominal compression and decompression during cardiac arrest and CPR. Method: A 14-compartment mathematical model of the human cardiopulmonary system is used to test successive generations of randomly mutated external compression waveforms during cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Mutated waveforms that produced superior mean perfusion pressure became parents for the next generation. Selection was based upon either systemic perfusion pressure (SPP=thoracic aortic minus right atrial pressure) or upon coronary perfusion pressure (CPP=thoracic aortic pressure minus myocardial wall pressure). After simulations of 64,414 individual CPR episodes, 40 highly evolved waveforms …

Synthesising Life-Sciences And Control Engineering: An Outline Survey And A Practical Example, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

There is an increasing interest in life science related areas in the electrical and control engineering community [1]. One manifestation of this interest is the development of interdisciplinary programmes, such as the B.Sc. in Medical Physics and Bioengineering, offered by the Dublin Institute of Technology from September 2005. A significant amount of research work in control engineering has focused on aspects of human physiological system, for example blood glucose regulation [2], cardiovascular modelling and control [3], and limb control [4]. There is an increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary research; in recognition of this, the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) has starting …

Multifractal Analysis Of Heart Rate Variability Using Wavelet-Transform Modulus-Maxima Method, Chirag Jani

Theses

Physiological signals are complex and carry information of human health. Recent studies reveal that under normal conditions, the heart rate time series shows multifractal behavior. In contrast, HRV in the pathological state such as congestive heart failure exhibits more monofractal-like structure. Recent advances in the assessment of heart rate variability (HRV) uses a nonlinear dynamics approach. In this study, the main objective is to use the wavelet-transform modulus-maxima method for the multifractal analysis of the heart rate time senes.

The degree of the multifractality is defined by the singularities (a point in time series where a mathematical function is not …

An Investigation Into Palladium-Catalyzed Reduction Of Perchlorate In Water, Eric G. Barney

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, application of a catalytic reactor to facilitate chemical reduction of perchlorate was investigated. Palladium-coated pellets were used as the catalyst, and formic acid was used as the reductant. Reactor performance was evaluated under a variety of operating conditions (influent pH, reductant concentration, residence time). Very little perchlorate reduction was observed under any operating condition. At best, approximately 8% perchlorate reduction was observed. This small reduction efficiency is clearly not sufficient for environmental treatment applications. Perchlorate strongly adsorbed to the catalyst at low pH (3 - 3.3). At higher pH (4 - 10), little adsorption was observed. This …

Effects Of An Impedance Threshold Valve Upon Hemodynamics In Standard Cpr: Studies In A Refined Computational Model, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

An impedance threshold valve (ITV) is a new airway adjunct for resuscitation that permits generation of a small vacuum in the chest during the recoil phase of chest compression. Objectives: To explore in detail the expected magnitude and the hemodynamic mechanisms of circulatory augmentation by an ITV in standard CPR. Method: A 14-compartment mathematical model of the human cardiopulmonary system—upgraded to include applied chest compression force, elastic recoil of the chest wall, anatomic details of the heart and lungs, and the biomechanics of mediastinal compression—is exercised to explore the conditions required for circulatory augmentation by an ITV during various modes …

Medical Technology: Contexts And Content In Science And Technology, Michael A. De Miranda, Mark Doggett, Jane T. Evans

Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.