Engineering Commons^™

Fabrication And Characterization Of Thinner Solid-State Nanopores, Denis Forbi Tita

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Solid State nanopores that are fabricated by the ion beam sculpting process and electron beam drilling have shown great promise as a sensing device for DNA and protein molecules. Even though biological pores such as the alpha-Haemolysin have been in use for quite some time, the use of solid state Nanopores in single biomolecule detection has been on the rise since the mid 1990s. Solid State nanopores have an advantage over biological pores in that they are more robust, stable, and can be sculpted to any desired size for use in translocation experiments. One of the major challenges in Nanopore …

Evaluation Of Autonomous Robotic Milling Methodology For Natural Tooth-Shaped Implants Based On Sko Optimization, Yongki Yoon

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Robotic surgery is one of the most demanding and challenging applications in the field of automatic control. One of the conventional surgeries, the dental implantation, is the standard methodology to place the artificial tooth root composed of titanium material into the upper or lower jawbone. During the dental implant surgery, mechanical removal of the bone material is the most critical procedure because it may affect the patient's safety including damage to the mandibular canal nerve and/or piercing the maxillary sinus. With this problem, even though short term survival rates are greater than 95%, long term success rate of the surgery …

Development And Validation Methodology Of The Nuss Procedure Surgical Planner, Krzysztof J. Rechowicz

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pectus excavatum (PE) is a congenital chest wall deformity which is characterized, in most cases, by a deep depression of the sternum. A minimally invasive technique for the repair of PE (MIRPE), often referred to as the Nuss procedure, has been proven to be more advantageous than many other PE treatment techniques. The Nuss procedure consists of placement of a metal bar(s) underneath the sternum, thereby forcibly changing the geometry of the ribcage. Because of the prevalence of PE and the popularity of the Nuss procedure, the demand to perform this surgery is greater than ever. Therefore, a Nuss procedure …

Analysis Of Bar Deformation Under Sternum Forces During Surgical Correction Of Pectus Excavatum In Children, Rohit N. Nikam

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pectus excavatum (PE) also known as sunken or funnel chest is the most common chest wall deformity and affects 1 in every 1,000 children. In PE patients, the middle lower portion of the sternum is depressed producing concave appearance of the anterior part of the chest wall. This problem can be corrected with minimally invasive surgery developed by Dr. Donald Nuss in 1986. A specially made steel bar is implanted to lift the sternum to its normal position. This technique has been modified several times to improve safety and effectiveness of the bar placement and removal. One of the significant …

Towards Omni-Tomography -- Grand Fusion Of Multiple Modalities For Simultaneous Interior Tomography, Ge Wang, Jie Zhang, Hao Gao, Victor Weir, Hengyong Yu, Wenxiang Cong, Xiaochen Xu, Haiou Shen, James Bennett, Mark Furth, Yue Wang, Michael Vannier

Radiology Faculty Publications

We recently elevated interior tomography from its origin in computed tomography (CT) to a general tomographic principle, and proved its validity for other tomographic modalities including SPECT, MRI, and others. Here we propose "omni-tomography", a novel concept for the grand fusion of multiple tomographic modalities for simultaneous data acquisition in a region of interest (ROI). Omni-tomography can be instrumental when physiological processes under investigation are multi-dimensional, multi-scale, multi-temporal and multi-parametric. Both preclinical and clinical studies now depend on in vivo tomography, often requiring separate evaluations by different imaging modalities. Over the past decade, two approaches have been used for multimodality …

Efficient Algorithms For Fast Integration On Large Data Sets From Multiple Sources, Tian Mi, Sanguthevar Rajasekaran, Robert H. Aseltine

Open Access Author Fund Awardees' Articles

Background

Recent large scale deployments of health information technology have created opportunities for the integration of patient medical records with disparate public health, human service, and educational databases to provide comprehensive information related to health and development. Data integration techniques, which identify records belonging to the same individual that reside in multiple data sets, are essential to these efforts. Several algorithms have been proposed in the literatures that are adept in integrating records from two different datasets. Our algorithms are aimed at integrating multiple (in particular more than two) datasets efficiently.

Methods

Hierarchical clustering based solutions are used to integrate …

Human Motion Tracking For Assisting Balance Training And Control Of A Humanoid Robot, Ahmad Adli Manasrah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This project illustrates the use of the human's ability to balance according to his center of gravity as demonstrated in two applications. The center of gravity of a human is explained in detail in order to use it in controlling the Aldebaran NAO robot and in the robot-assisted balance training.

The first application explains how a humanoid robot can mimic a human's movements via a three dimensional depth sensor where the sensor analyzes the position of a user's limbs and how the robot can lift one foot and balance on the other by redistributing the its body mass when …

A Knowledge-Based Clinical Toxicology Consultant For Diagnosing Single Exposures, Joel D. Schipper, Douglas D. Dankel Ii, A. Antonio Arroyo, Jay L. Schauben

Publications

Objective: Every year, toxic exposures kill twelve hundred Americans. To aid in the timely diagnosis and treatment of such exposures, this research investigates the feasibility of a knowledge-based system capable of generating differential diagnoses for human exposures involving unknown toxins.

Methods: Data mining techniques automatically extract prior probabilities and likelihood ratios from a database managed by the Florida Poison Information Center. Using observed clinical effects, the trained system produces a ranked list of plausible toxic exposures. The resulting system was evaluated using 30,152 single exposure cases. In addition, the effects of two filters for refining diagnosis based on …

Development Of A Protocol To Measure Gene Expression In The Mouse Tibia, Daniel Hoover

Biomedical Engineering

Numerous molecular factors active in bone tissue direct fracture repair and remodeling which can be altered by disease conditions such as Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) and Osteoporosis. Methods of molecular biology are commonly applied to investigate the expression and role of these molecular factors. This project presents a robust three-step protocol for examining gene expression in the mouse tibia. The protocol begins with isolating RNA from a flash frozen tibia sample. The isolated RNA is reverse transcribed into cDNA. Finally, PCR is performed to indentify expressed genes. Establishing this protocol will allow further research into the mechanisms of bone remodeling …

Esem Analysis Of Mice Femurs With Varying Sost Levels, Patrick K. Mcclay

Biomedical Engineering

This project’s goal was to analyze the properties of the cortical femur on 100 mice bones from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Analysis was limited to imaging which determined the ratio of bone volume to total volume (BV/TV) and osteocyte lacunae density. Mice were altered to knock out their SOST gene: a negative regulator of bone formation. Twelve groups were created to differentiate their treatment, duration, and phenotype. Transgenic (TG) mice had an overexpression of the SOST gene: they carried a bacterial artificial chromosome. Mice with limb defects (DEF) were the offspring of two TG mice and carried twice the amount …

Hydrodynamic Effects Of An Arch-Shaped Fiber Optic Probe In A Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2, Yiran Zhang

Theses

Dissolution testing is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry to evaluate newly developed drug formulations and as a quality control method to insure that solid dosage forms have consistent dissolution property. Typically, samples are manually drawn from the dissolution vessel prior to analysis. An approach to overcome the limitations of manual sampling consists in the use of sampling probes, such as fiber optic probes, permanently inserted in the dissolution medium and continually sampling the drug concentration in it as the solid dosage form dissolves. Despite their advantages, permanently inserted fiber optic probes can alter the normal fluid flow within the …

Growth And Expression Of Halorhodopsin For Application In A Protein-Based Artificial Retina, Megan Ryan Gillespie

Honors Scholar Theses

Halorhodopsin (HR), a light-activated chloride ion pump, demonstrates potential for use as the scaffolding in an artificial retina. Retinal implants are needed to restore vision to people afflicted with ophthalmic diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). A protein-based chloride ion-patch would be utilized by the eye to create an influx of chloride ions, similar to ion concentrations in healthy retinas during the conversion of light stimuli to electrochemical signals. This protein-based retinal prosthesis will directly stimulate the bipolar cells of the retina, replacing the function of damaged photoreceptor cells. Other alternative treatments for AMD and …

Improved Tumor Contrast Achieved By Single Time Point Dual-Reporter Fluorescence Imaging, Kenneth M. Tichauer, Kimberley S. Samkoe, Kristian J. Sexton, Jason R. Gunn, Tayyaba Hasan, Brian W. Pogue

Dartmouth Scholarship

In this study, we demonstrate a method to quantify biomarker expression that uses an exogenous dual-reporter imaging approach to improve tumor signal detection. The uptake of two fluorophores, one nonspecific and one targeted to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), were imaged at 1 h in three types of xenograft tumors spanning a range of EGFR expression levels (n  =  6 in each group). Using this dual-reporter imaging methodology, tumor contrast-to-noise ratio was amplified by >6 times at 1 h postinjection and >2 times at 24 h. Furthermore, by as early as 20 min postinjection, the dual-reporter imaging signal …

Aptamer-Based Spr Biosensor For Detection Of Avian Influenza Virus, Hua Bai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid and specific detection of avian influenza (AI) virus is urgently needed with the concerns over the outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in animal and human infection. Aptamers are artificial oligonucleic acid that can specifically bind to target molecules. They show comparable affinity for target virus and better thermal stability than monoclonal antibodies. Those advantages make aptamers promising candidates in diagnostic and detection applications. The goal of this research was to use DNA&ndashaptamer as the specific recognition element in a portable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor for detection of AI H5N1 virus in poultry.

A SPR biosensor was …

Improving Health Care Quality And Safety: The Development And Assessment Of Laparoscopic Surgery Instrumentation, Practices And Procedures, Bernadette Mccrory

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adverse events due to medical errors are a leading cause of death in the United States exceeding the mortality rates of motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer and AIDS. Improvements can and should be made to reduce the rates of preventable surgical errors since they account for nearly half of all adverse events within hospitals. Although minimally invasive surgery has proven patient benefits such as reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay, its operative environment imposes substantial physical and cognitive strain on the surgeon increasing the risk of error. In order to mitigate errors and protect patients, a multidisciplinary approach was taken …

Development Of A Microfluidic Device Coupled To Microdialysis Sampling For The Pre-Concentration Of Cytokines, Randy Francisco Espinal Cabrera

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A proof-of-concept microfluidic device combined with heparin-immobilized magnetic beads was created to concentrate cytokine proteins collected from microdialysis samples. Cytokines are known to be related to several diseases such as cancer, and Parkinson's diseases, so to be able to develop more effective diseases treatments their interactions have to be well understood. Amine-functionalized polystyrene and carboxyl-functionalized magnetic microspheres of ~6.0 ìm in diameter were used to immobilize heparin. The amount of heparin immobilized on polystyrene beads was 5.82 x 10-8 ± 0.36 x 10-8 M per 1.0 x 106 beads and for magnetic beads was 0.64 x 10-8 ± 0.01 x …

Novel Phantoms And Post-Processing For Diffusion Spectrum Imaging, Vaibhav Juneja

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) techniques, including Diffusion Spectrum Imaging (DSI), have been proposed to resolve crossing and other complex fiber architecture in the human brain white matter. In these methods, directional information of diffusion is inferred from the peaks in the orientation distribution function (ODF). Extensive studies using histology on macaque brain, cat cerebellum, rat hippocampus and optic tracts, and bovine tongue are qualitatively in agreement with the DSI-derived ODFs and tractography. However, there are only two studies in the literature which validated the DSI results using physical phantoms and both these studies were not performed on a …

Patient And Nurse Considerations In Home Health Routing With Remote Monitoring Devices, Jessica Spicer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We build on the current consistent vehicle routing problem literature by formulating a novel multi- objective mathematical model of the home health scheduling and routing problem that includes the option of assigning some patient visits to remote monitoring devices, with the objectives of mini- mizing total cost, achieving nurse consistency and creating balanced nurse workloads. A heuristic solution approach that approximates the efficient frontier of this multiobjective problem is pre- sented and validated, and the results of using this methodology to solve several realistic instances are included. We also analyze the assignment of patients to devices and present some managerial …

The Use Of A Pylon Mounted Transducer For Investigating The Gait Of Transtibial Amputees, Justin Robert Brink

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Two areas of research interest in the design and use of lower limb prosthetic devices are how foot performance varies with design and how prosthesis alignment affects gait. The current study addressed both of these areas through the use of the JR3 triaxial transducer mounted at the base of the socket. The transducer is an innovative form of instrumentation that measures forces and moments at the end of the socket. Traditional measurement of gait uses a force plate buried in the floor of a gait laboratory. The study established that the transducer offers a viable means of instrumentation for amputee …

Electrical & Magnetic Stimulation And Health, Yiyan Li

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

1, Introduction Most of the patients with neural diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Stroke and Depression, cannot be cured by taking pills or conducting surgery. In contrast to the conventional therapies, physical therapies such as TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) (Fig. 1) and tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation) (Fig. 2) are the most popular methods in treating neural disorders with a non-invasive way. TMS employs electromagnetic (1-3 Tesla) induction generates an Electric field suitable for neural stimulation; tDCS employs a weak current (1-2 mA) to modulate neuronal excitabilities.

11th Annual Undergraduate Student Symposium, Farquhar Honors College

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The Undergraduate Student Symposium, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, presents student projects through presentations, papers, and poster displays. The event serves as a “showcase” demonstrating the outstanding scholarship of undergraduate students at NSU. The Symposium is open to undergraduate students from all disciplines. Projects cover areas of student scholarship ranging from the experimental and the applied to the computational, theoretical, artistic, and literary. They are taken from class assignments as well as from independent projects. The projects do not have to be complete; presentations can represent any stage in the concept’s evolution, from proposal and literature …

Wright State University Celebration Of Research, Scholarship And Creative Activities Book Of Abstracts Friday, April 13, 2012, Wright State University Office Of Undergraduate Research And Stemm Activities

Celebration of Undergraduate & Graduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

The student abstract booklet is a compilation of abstracts from students' oral and poster presentations at Wright State University's second annual Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 13, 2012.

2012 - The Seventeenth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Seventeenth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 10, 2012. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Systems And Devices For Isothermal Biochemical Reactions And / Or Analysis, Robert W. Doebler Ii, Christopher Cooney, Anna Hickerson, James D. Sterling, Ali Nadim

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

An isothermal reaction and analysis system may include a receiver to receive sample holders, a thermal control sub system to control a temperature of the receiver, an excitation Subsystem, a detection Subsystem and an analysis Subsystem. Excitation Sources and/or detectors are positioned to enhance data collection. Sample holders may include filters, selectively blocking and passing wavelengths or bands of electromagnetic radiation.

Safety, Ergonomics And Human Factors Engineering On Biomedical Devices Design, Alejandra Sandoval Vazquez^, Noe Vargas Hernandez*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

Copyright Page

The Journal of Tennessee State University

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

The Journal of Tennessee State University

No abstract provided.

Forward

The Journal of Tennessee State University

No abstract provided.

The Economic Impact Of Tennessee State University On The State Of Tennessee 2010-2011, Soumendra Ghosh, Anis Mnif, Sabeen Fahim

The Journal of Tennessee State University

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board Page

The Journal of Tennessee State University

No abstract provided.