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Numerical And Experimental Investigation Of Vascular Suture Closure, Linxia Gu, Ananth Ram Mahanth Kasavajhala, Haili Lang, James M. Hammel

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Purpose — In order to optimize the performance of the suture for tissue closure, it is essential to develop strategies for devising new and improved techniques that can visualize and compare various suturing techniques. This paper describes an experimental and numerical investigation on the performance of sutured tissue.

Methods — In the experiments, two pieces of glutaraldehyde cross-linked bovine pericardium were sutured together through simple running suture and tensioned to study the performance of the sutured tissue. During testing, the tension load and the total displacement of the specimen were recorded. The strain field of the specimen was simultaneously captured …

Sustainable Design Of Complex Industrial And Energy Systems Under Uncertainty, Zheng Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Depletion of natural resources, environmental pressure, economic globalization, etc., demand seriously industrial organizations to ensure that their manufacturing be sustainable. On the other hand, the efforts of pursing sustainability also give raise to potential opportunities for improvements and collaborations among various types of industries.

Owing to inherent complexity and uncertainty, however, sustainability problems of industrial and energy systems are always very difficult to deal with, which has made industrial practice mostly experience based. For existing research efforts on the study of industrial sustainability, although systems approaches have been applied in dealing with the challenge of system complexity, most of them …

Metal Chalcogenide Nanoparticle Gel Networks: Their Formation Mechanism And Application For Novel Material Generation And Heavy Metal Remediation Via Cation Exchange Reactions, Irina Ramona Pala

Wayne State University Dissertations

METAL CHALCOGENIDE NANOPARTICLE GEL NETWORKS: THEIR FROMATION MECHANISM AND APPLICATION FOR NOVEL MATERIAL GENERATION AND HEAVY METAL REMEDIATION VIA CATION EXCHANGE REACTIONS

by

IRINA R. PALA

February 2012

Advisor: Dr. Stephanie L. Brock

Major: Chemistry

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The dissertation research is focused on (1) uncovering the mechanism of metal chalcogenide nanoparticle gel formation; (2) extending the cation exchange reaction protocol to zinc sulfide gel networks, with the goal of accessing new aerogel chemistries and understanding the factors that drive the process; and (3) conducting a quantitative analysis of the ability of ZnS aerogels to remove heavy metal ions …

Biofuels Production From Hydrotreating Of Vegetable Oil Using Supported Noble Metals, And Transition Metal Carbide And Nitride, Huali Wang

Wayne State University Dissertations

The focus of this research is to prepare non-sulfided hydrotreating catalysts, supported noble metal and transition metal carbide/ nitride, and evaluate their hydrocracking activities and selectivities by using soybean oil as the feedstock. For comparison study, catalytic cracking of soybean oil over a commercialized ZSM-5 was investigated. However, steady state could not be reached because significant amounts of tar and coke were generated during the reaction though a high yield (21%) of jet fuel was obtained from the process. Compared to the catalytic cracking process, less tar and coke were formed during the hydrocracking process and stable continuous flow reaction …

Dynamic Endothelialization Of Aortic Heart Valve Scaffolds, Richard Pascal

All Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer worldwide affecting both the heart and blood vessels. Valvular heart disease can arise from calcification, and structural deterioration resulting in a stenotic or regurgitant valve incapable of proper function. With approximately 275,000 valve replacements performed annually worldwide, the need for replacement heart valves is well established. Currently, treatment of valvular heart disease is limited to two options (mechanical and bioprosthetic). Both replacement valves have their own drawbacks, which have driven research in the bioengineering field to focus on the development of a tissue engineered heart valve (TEHV) capable of growth and self-repair.
A …

Data Driven Intelligent Agent Networks For Adaptive Monitoring And Control, Wenjia Liu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

To analyze the characteristics and predict the dynamic behaviors of complex systems over time, comprehensive research to enable the development of systems that can intelligently adapt to the evolving conditions and infer new knowledge with algorithms that are not predesigned is crucially needed. This dissertation research studies the integration of the techniques and methodologies resulted from the fields of pattern recognition, intelligent agents, artificial immune systems, and distributed computing platforms, to create technologies that can more accurately describe and control the dynamics of real-world complex systems. The need for such technologies is emerging in manufacturing, transportation, hazard mitigation, weather and …

Pore Scale Analysis Of The Impact Of Mixing-Induced Reaction Dependent Viscosity Variations, S.M. Davison, H. Yoon, M. J. Martinez

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Expanding interest in enhanced subsurface natural resource recovery and carbon sequestration motivates study of reacting flows in porous media. In this work, we examine the case of reaction products that increase or decrease the viscosity of the fluid. Parallel reactant streams flow through porous media and react transversely along the centerline. We utilize a pore scale, finite element numerical method that couples the reaction with fluid flow through two arrangements of porous media at three Damkohler (Da) numbers and two viscosity conditions. When the product increases the fluid viscosity, the flow velocity is reduced and higher amounts of …

The Fundamental Equation Of Eddy Covariance And Its Application In Flux Measurements, Lianhong Gu, William J. Massman, Ray Leuning, Stephen Pallardy, Tilden Meyers, Paul Hanson, Jeffery Riggs, Kevin Hosman, Bai Yang

United States Department of Energy: Publications

A fundamental equation of eddy covariance (FQEC) is derived that allows the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) N̅s of a specified atmospheric constituent s to be measured with the constraint of conservation of any other atmospheric constituent (e.g. N2, argon, or dry air). It is shown that if the condition │N̅s│ ˃˃ │X̅s│ │N̅co2│is true, the conservation of mass can be applied with the assumption of no net ecosystem source or sink of dry air and the FQEC is reduced to the following equation and its approximation for horizontally homogeneous mass fluxes:

N̅_s = c̅_dw’X’_{s …}

A Functional Description Of Cyma, An Electron-Transfer Hub Supporting Anaerobic Respiratory Flexibility In Shewanella, Sophie J. Marritt, Thomas G. Lowe, Jordan Bye, Duncan G. G. Mcmillan, Liang Shi, James K. Fredrickson, John M. Zachara, David J. Richardson, Myles R. Cheesman, Lars J. C. Jeuken, Julea N. Butt

United States Department of Energy: Publications

CymA (tetrahaem cytochrome c) is a member of the NapC/NirT family of quinol dehydrogenases. Essential for the anaerobic respiratory flexibility of shewanellae, CymA transfers electrons from menaquinol to various dedicated systems for the reduction of terminal electron acceptors including fumarate and insoluble minerals of Fe(III). Spectroscopic characterization of CymA from Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 identifies three lowspin His/His co-ordinated c-haems and a single high-spin chaem with His/H₂O co-ordination lying adjacent to the quinolbinding site. At pH 7, binding of the menaquinol analogue, 2-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide, does not alter the midpoint potentials of the high-spin (approximately −240 mV) …

Exploring The Biochemistry At The Extracellular Redox Frontier Of Bacterial Mineral Fe(Iii) Respiration, David J. Richardson, Marcus J. Edwards, Gaye F. White, Nanakow Baiden, Robert S. Hartshorne, James K. Fredrickson, Liang Shi, John M. Zachara, Andrew J. Gates, University Of East Anglia, Thomas Clarke

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Many species of the bacterial Shewanella genus are notable for their ability to respire in anoxic environments utilizing insoluble minerals of Fe(III) and Mn(IV) as extracellular electron acceptors. In Shewanella oneidensis, the process is dependent on the decahaem electron-transport proteins that lie at the extracellular face of the outer membrane where they can contact the insoluble mineral substrates. These extracellular proteins are charged with electrons provided by an inter-membrane electron-transfer pathway that links the extracellular face of the outer membrane with the inner cytoplasmic membrane and thereby intracellular electron sources. In the present paper, we consider the common structural …

Img: The Integrated Microbial Genomes Database And Comparative Analysis System, Victor M. Markowitz, I-Min A. Chen, Krishna Palaniappan, Ken Chu, Ernest Szeto, Yuri Grechkin, Anna Ratner, Biju Jacob, Jinghua Huang, Peter Williams, Marcel Huntemann, Iain Anderson, Konstantinos Mavromatis, Natalia N. Ivanova, Nikos C. Kyrpides

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system serves as a community resource for comparative analysis of publicly available genomes in a comprehensive integrated context. IMG integrates publicly available draft and complete genomes from all three domains of life with a large number of plasmids and viruses. IMG provides tools and viewers for analyzing and reviewing the annotations of genes and genomes in a comparative context. IMG’s data content and analytical capabilities have been continuously extended through regular updates since its first release in March 2005. IMG is available at http://img.jgi.doe.gov. Companion IMG systems provide support for expert review of genome annotations …

Complete Genome Sequence Of Thauera Aminoaromatica Strain Mz1t, Ke Jiang, John Sanseverino, Archana Chauhan, Susan Lucas, Alex Copeland, Alla Lapidus, Tijana Glavina Del Rio, Eileen Dalin, Hope Tice, David Bruce, Lynne Goodwin, Sam Pitluck, David Sims, Thomas Brettin, John C. Detter, Cliff Han, Y.J. Chang, Frank Larimer, Miriam Land, Loren Hauser, Nikos C. Kyrpides, Natalia Mikhailova, Scott Moser, Patricia Jegier, Dan Close, Jennifer M. Debruyn, Ying Wang, Alice C. Layton, Michael S. Allen, Gary S. Sayler

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Thauera aminoaromatica strain MZ1T, an isolate belonging to genus Thauera, of the family Rhodocyclaceae and the class the Betaproteobacteria, has been characterized for its ability to produce abundant exopolysaccharide and degrade various aromatic compounds with nitrate as an electron acceptor. These properties, if fully understood at the genome-sequence level, can aid in environmental processing of organic matter in anaerobic cycles by short-circuiting a central anaerobic metabolite, acetate, from microbiological conversion to methane, a critical greenhouse gas. Strain MZ1T is the first strain from the genus Thauera with a completely sequenced genome. The 4,496,212 bp chromosome and 78,374 bp plasmid …

The Crystal Structure Of The Extracellular 11-Heme Cytochromeundareveals A Conserved 10-Heme Motif And Defined Binding Site For Soluble Iron Chelates, Marcus J. Edwards, Andrea Hall, Liang Shi, James K. Fredrickson, John M. Zachara, Julea N. Butt, David J. Richardson, Thomas A. Clarke

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Members of the genus Shewanella translocate decaor undeca-heme cytochromes to the external cell surface thus enabling respiration using extracellular minerals and polynuclear Fe(III) chelates. The high resolution structure of the first undeca-heme outer membrane cytochrome, UndA, reveals a crossed heme chain with four potential electron ingress/ egress sites arranged within four domains. Sequence and structural alignment of UndA and the deca-heme MtrF reveals the extra heme of UndA is inserted between MtrF hemes 6 and 7. The remaining UndA hemes can be superposed over the heme chain of the decaheme MtrF, suggesting that a ten heme core is conserved between …

Investigations Into Causes Of Failure Of Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interfaces, R. Collins Watson

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

All highly selective methods of neural interfacing for mental control of a robotic prosthesis tested to date have exhibited high rates of failure over time. Regenerative peripheral nerve interfaces (RPNIs) may offer the greatest potential among the proposed technologies for providing the number of degrees of freedom necessary to control a robotic limb, but are unacceptable for clinical use due to several shortcomings of current technology: (1) all RPNIs tested to date have exhibited signal loss over time due to biological mechanisms of rejection of implanted electrodes; (2) all chronically tested interfaces have suffered from high rates of device failure …

Magnetic-Based Theranostic Nanoparticles For Prostate Cancer Management, Aniket Sharadrao Wadajkar

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

With an increasing rate of cancers, the need for effective cancer management has led to the development of theranostic systems for diagnosis and therapy. Conventional techniques for cancer management have limited success due to inaccurate diagnosis and treatment side effects. Development of magnetic-based theranostic nanoparticles (MBTN) may overcome these limitations with the advantages of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) such as magnetic targeting, hyperthermia, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents; and advantages of polymer coatings for carrying payloads and allowing bioconjugation for active targeting applications. Aim of this research was to develop multifunctional MBTNs for prostate cancer management. First, biodegradable photoluminescent …

Direct Measurement Of Thicknesses, Volumes Or Compositions Of Nanomaterials By Quantitative Atomic Number Contrast In High-Angle Annular Dark-Field Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Biao Yuan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The sizes, shapes, volumes and compositions of nanoparticles are very important parameters determining many of their properties. Efforts to measure these parameters for individual nanoparticles and to obtain reliable statistics for a large number of nanoparticles require a fast and reliable method for 3-D characterization. In this dissertation, a direct measurement method for thicknesses, volumes or compositions of nanomaterials by quantitative atomic number contrast in High-Angle Annular Dark-Field (HAADF) Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) is presented. A HAADF detector collects electrons scattered incoherently to high angles. The HAADF signal intensity is in first-order approximation proportional to the sample thickness and …

Raman Spectroscopy And Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For Diagnosis Of Human Cancer And Acanthosis Nigricans, Suneetha Devpura

Wayne State University Dissertations

Cancer and diabetes are common chronic diseases in today's world causing numerous deaths in adults as well as children. Most common types of cancers in adults include prostate, lung, breast, colorectal and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, while among children; leukemia, and brain and central nervous system cancers are quite common. In each of these cases, early detection of the cancer or disease dramatically increases the chances of successful treatment. In recent years, there has been much interest in using Raman spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy as analytical optical spectroscopic methods for early diagnosis of diseases. Raman spectroscopy can …

Rfid-Based Business Process And Workflow Management In Healthcare:Design And Implementation, Xiaoyu Ma

Wayne State University Dissertations

The healthcare system in the United States is considered one of the most complex systems and has encountered challenges related to patient safety concerns, escalating costs, and unpredictable outcomes. Many of these problems share a common cause - a lack of efficient business process management and visibility into the real-time location, status, and condition of medical resources. The goal of this research is to propose a newly integrated system to model, automate, and monitor healthcare business processes using an automatic data collection technology to record the timing and location of activities and identify their various resources.

This dissertation makes several …

Third Order Nonlinearity Of Organic Molecules, Honghua Hu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main goal of this dissertation is to investigate the third-order nonlinearity of organic molecules. This topic contains two aspects: two-photon absorption (2PA) and nonlinear refraction (NLR), which are associated with the imaginary and real part of the third-order nonlinearity (χ (3)) of the material, respectively. With the optical properties tailored through meticulous molecular structure engineering, organic molecules are promising candidates to exhibit large third-order nonlinearities. Both linear (absorption, fluorescence, fluorescence excitation anisotropy) and nonlinear (Z-scan, two-photon fluorescence, pump-probe) techniques are described and utilized to fully characterize the spectroscopic properties of organic molecules in solution or solid-state form. These properties …

Optical Microresonator Based On Hollow Sphere With Porous Wall For Chemical Sensing, Hanzheng Wang, Lei Yuan, Cheol Woon Kim, Qun Han, Tao Wei, Xinwei Lan, Hai Xiao

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

A porous-wall hollow glass microsphere (PW-HGM) was investigated as an optical resonator for chemical vapor sensing. a single mode optical fiber taper was used to interrogate the micro resonator. Adsorption of chemical molecules into the nanosized pores induced a refractive index change of the thin wall and thus a shift in its resonance spectrum. the PW-HGM resonator had shown higher vapor detection sensitivity in comparison with a solid microsphere under similar test conditions. © 2011 Optical Society of America.

Design, Microfabrication And Characterization Of A Microheater Platform For Studying Dna-Surface Interactions, Annas Javed

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

The past few decades have witnessed significant research towards developing DNA biosensors and gene chips. These devices obtain sequence-specific DNA information in a faster, simpler and cheaper manner compared to traditional hybridization assays. Miniaturization of DNA handling and processing devices has contributed significantly towards this effort. Despite the large amount of work in this research direction, much more needs to be understood about the fundamental interactions of DNA and other biological macromolecules with their microenvironment, particularly with inorganic surfaces. For example, a basic understanding of thermal interactions of DNA with surfaces may help develop novel strategies for probing, purifying and …

Antimicrobial Properties Of Citric Acid Based Polymers, Lee-Chun Su

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

A series of citric acid derived polymers synthesized in our lab were investigated and compared for their physiochemical and antimicrobial properties. We selected citric acid based polymers since citric acid is a product of natural metabolism. These polymers are not only biocompatible but also possess an antimicrobial effect. In polymer synthesis, citric acid (CA) provides profound functional groups available for binding and crosslinking to allow the controllable crosslinking degrees of polymers. A number of citric acid based polymers has been synthesized and studied for their chemical, mechanical, and biological characteristics for use in various biomedical applications. Since bacterial infections became …

Development Of A Measurement System For Quantifying Ultrasound Field Distribution Of Different Transducers, Jayanth Kandukuri

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Ultrasound has been widely used in many fields, such as nondestructive examination and medical imaging. Ultrasound is mostly characterized by its pressure and, dynamic pressure wave can be considered to be the foundation of ultrasound physics and imaging techniques. It is thus important for understanding ultrasound pressure properties to that of ultrasound intensity. Moreover, there are many applications that require mainly characterizing ultrasound pressure field (instead of intensity field alone). Therefore, reconstruction of an ultrasound pressure field is highly desirable not only for education but also for research. There may be some commercially available systems that can be used for …

Cell Permeabilization And Inhibition Of Voltage-Gated Ca²+ And Na+ Channel Currents By Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields, Vasyl Nesin, Angela M. Bowman, Shu Xiao, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Previous studies have found that nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) exposure causes long-term permeabilization of the cell plasma membrane. In this study, we utilized the whole-cell patch-clamp method to study the nsPEF effect on currents of voltage-gated (VG) Ca²⁺ and Na⁺ channels (I_Ca and I_Na) in cultured GH3 and NG108 cells. We found that a single 300 or 600 ns pulse at or above 1.5-2 kV/cm caused prolonged inhibition of I_Ca and I_Na. Concurrently, nsPEF increased a non-inactivating leak current (I_leak), presumably due to the formation of nanoelectropores or larger …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2012, 132nd Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Twenty-Second Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Applied Science and Technology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Nebraska Wesleyan University Health and Sciences Graduate School Fair

Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session

Maiben Memorial Lecture: "The Status of Nebraska's Native Aspen," "Buffalo" Bruce McIntosh, Western Nebraska Resources Council

Aeronautics

Anthropology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Chemistry and Physics

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Earth Science

History/Philosophy of Science

Junior Academy, Senior High Competition

Teaching of Science and Math

Junior Academy, Junior High Competition

Algorithms For Community Identification In Complex Networks, Mahadevan Vasudevan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First and foremost, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor Narsingh Deo, for his excellent guidance and encouragement, and also for introducing me to this wonderful science of complex networks. Without his support this dissertation would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the members of my research committee, professors Charles Hughes, Ratan Guha, Mainak Chatterjee and Yue Zhao for their advice and guidance during the entire process. I am indebted to the faculty and the staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for providing me the resources and …

A Laser Radar Employing Linearly Chirped Pulses From A Mode-Locked Laser For Long Range, Unambiguous, Sub-Millimeter Resolution Ranging And Velocimetry, Mohammad Umar Piracha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Light detection and ranging (lidar) is used for various applications such as remote sensing, altimetry and imaging. In this talk, a linearly chirped pulse source is introduced that generates wavelength-swept pulses exhibiting ~6 nm optical bandwidth with > 20 km coherence length. The chirped pulses are used in an interferometric lidar setup to perform distance measurements with sub-millimeter resolution (using pulses that are a few meters long), at target distances > 10 km, with at least 25 dB signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver. A pulse repetition rate of 20 MHz provides fast update rates, while chirped pulse amplification allows easy amplification of …

Evolution Through The Search For Novelty, Joel Lehman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I present a new approach to evolutionary search called novelty search, wherein only behavioral novelty is rewarded, thereby abstracting evolution as a search for novel forms. This new approach contrasts with the traditional approach of rewarding progress towards the objective through an objective function. Although they are designed to light a path to the objective, objective functions can instead deceive search into converging to dead ends called local optima. As a significant problem in evolutionary computation, deception has inspired many techniques designed to mitigate it. However, nearly all such methods are still ultimately susceptible to deceptive local optima because they …

Bst-Inspired Smart Flexible Electronics, Ya Shen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The advances in modern communication systems have brought about devices with more functionality, better performance, smaller size, lighter weight and lower cost. Meanwhile, the requirement for newer devices has become more demanding than ever. Tunability and flexibility are both long-desired features. Tunable devices are ‘smart’ in the sense that they can adapt to the dynamic environment or varying user demand as well as correct the minor deviations due to manufacturing fluctuations, therefore making it possible to reduce system complexity and overall cost. It is also desired that electronics be flexible to provide conformability and portability. Previously, tunable devices on flexible …

4d-Ct Lung Registration And Its Application For Lung Radiation Therapy, Yugang Min

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Radiation therapy has been successful in treating lung cancer patients, but its efficacy is limited by the inability to account for the respiratory motion during treatment planning and radiation dose delivery. Physics-based lung deformation models facilitate the motion computation of both tumor and local lung tissue during radiation therapy. In this dissertation, a novel method is discussed to accurately register 3D lungs across the respiratory phases from 4D-CT datasets, which facilitates the estimation of the volumetric lung deformation models. This method uses multi-level and multi-resolution optical flow registration coupled with thin plate splines (TPS), to address registration issue of inconsistent …