Engineering Commons^™

Healthcare Robotics: Key Factors That Impact Robot Adoption In Healthcare, Sujatha Alla, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In the current dynamic business environment, healthcare organizations are focused on improving patient satisfaction, performance, and efficiency. The healthcare industry is considered a complex system that is highly reliant of new technologies to support clinical as well as business processes. Robotics is one of such technologies that is considered to have the potential to increase efficiency in a wide range of clinical services. Although the use of robotics in healthcare is at the early stages of adoption, some studies have shown the capacity of this technology to improve precision, accessibility through less invasive procedures, and reduction of human error during …

Scaffolding Project-Based Learning In An Engineering And Education Partnership Using Open-Access Technology, Pilar Pazos, Stacie I. Ringleb, Jennifer Kidd, Rachel Jones

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes the use of a freely-accessible open-source platform based on Google Apps for Education that combines Google Sites, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Hangouts and script language in a custom-based interface that supports collaborative service-learning projects for teams of Engineering and Education students. The approach discussed in this paper was successful in promoting collaboration among students from two different disciplines working remotely. The analysis suggests that balanced participation in the team, presence of shared goals and clear roles that emphasized individual and collective responsibilities were key to a successful interdisciplinary project experience. While many students still reported struggling …

Walking Biomechanics And Energetics Of Individuals With A Visual Impairment: A Preliminary Report, Hunter J. Bennett, Kevin A. Valenzuela, Kristina Fleenor, Steven Morrison, Justin A. Haegele

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

Purpose.

Although walking gait in sighted populations is well researched, few studies have investigated persons with visual impairments (VIs). Given the lack of physical activity in people with VIs, it is possible that reduced efficiency in walking could adversely affect activity. The purposes of this preliminary study were to (1) examine the biomechanics and energetics utilized during independent and guided walking in subjects with VIs, and (2) compare gait biomechanics between people with VIs and sighted controls.

Methods.

Three-dimensional motion capture and force platforms were used during independent and guided walking at self-selected speeds. Joint angles, moments, external work, and …

Initiation Of Action Potential In Murine Ventricular Myocytes By Bursts Of Nanosecond Pulses, Iurii Semenov

Bioelectrics Publications

[First slide] Current situation

I. Among 300,000 persons die from sudden cardiac arrest every year over 40% are victims of fibrillation

II. Defibrillation by an electric shock is the effective therapy against sudden cardiac death

III. Current approach to stop fibrillation may involve disruption of plasma membrane (PM) by an electroporation

IV. Electroporation is damaging, it can: I. Induce post shock arrhythmias II. Complicate patient's recovery III. Lead to death after initially successful resuscitation

Mechanisms And Immunogenicity Of Nspef-Induced Cell Death In B16f10 Melanoma Tumors, Alessandra Rossi, Olga N. Pakhomova, Andrei G. Pakhomov, Samantha Weygandt, Anna A. Bulysheva, Len E. Murray, Peter A. Mollica, Claudia Muratori

Bioelectrics Publications

Accumulating data indicates that some cancer treatments can restore anticancer immunosurveillance through the induction of tumor immunogenic cell death (ICD). Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) have been shown to efficiently ablate melanoma tumors. In this study we investigated the mechanisms and immunogenicity of nsPEF-induced cell death in B16F10 melanoma tumors. Our data show that in vitro nsPEF (20-200, 200-ns pulses, 7 kV/cm, 2 Hz) caused a rapid dose-dependent cell death which was not accompanied by caspase activation or PARP cleavage. The lack of nsPEF-induced apoptosis was confirmed in vivo in B16F10 tumors. NsPEF also failed to trigger ICD-linked responses such …

Quantifying The Concentration And Penetration Depth Of Long-Lived Rons In Plasma Activated Water By Uv Absorption Spectroscopy, Zhijie Liu, Chunxi Zhou, Dingxin Liu, Tongtong He, Li Guo, Dehui Xu, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

Reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species (RONS) are believed to play a key role in biomedical applications, which means that RONS must reach the target tissue to produce a therapeutic effect. Existing methods (electron spin spectrometry and microplate reading) to determine the RONS concentration are not suitable for experimental real-time measurements because they require adding an indicating reagent to the plasma-treated medium, which may alter the chemical composition of the medium. In this paper, we propose a method to measure the long-lived RONS concentration in plasma-activated water (PAW) by using UV absorption spectroscopy. Based on an analysis and fit of …

Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Signals Can Affect Electrostatic Environment Of Protiens Below The Threshold Of Conformational Effects: The Case Study Of Sod1 With A Molecular Simulation Study, Elena Della Valle, Paolo Marracino, Olga Pakhomova, Micaela Liberti, Francesca Apollonio

Bioelectrics Publications

Electric fields can be a powerful tool to interact with enzymes or proteins, with an intriguing perspective to allow protein manipulation. Recently, researchers have focused the interest on intracellular enzyme modifications triggered by the application of nanosecond pulsed electric fields. These findings were also supported by theoretical predictions from molecular dynamics simulations focussing on significant variations in protein secondary structures. In this work, a theoretical study utilizing molecular dynamics simulations is proposed to explore effects of electric fields of high intensity and very short nanosecond duration applied to the superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD or SOD-1), an important enzyme involved in the …

Selective Distant Electrostimulation By Synchronized Bipolar Nanosecond Pulses, Elena C. Gianulis, Maura Casciola, Carol Zhou, Enbo Yang, Shu Xiao, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

A unique aspect of electrostimulation (ES) with nanosecond electric pulses (nsEP) is the inhibition of effects when the polarity is reversed. This bipolar cancellation feature makes bipolar nsEP less efficient at biostimulation than unipolar nsEP. We propose to minimize stimulation near pulse-delivering electrodes by applying bipolar nsEP, whereas the superposition of two phase-shifted bipolar nsEP from two independent sources yields a biologically-effective unipolar pulse remotely. This is accomplished by electrical compensation of all nsEP phases except the first one, resulting in the restoration of stimulation efficiency due to cancellation of bipolar cancellation (CANCAN-ES). We experimentally proved the CANCAN-ES paradigm by …

Intratumoral Delivery Of Plasmid Il12 Via Electroporation Leads To Regression Of Injected And Noninjected Tumors In Merkel Cell Carcinoma, Shailender Bhatia, Natalie V. Longino, Natalie J. Miller, Rima Kulikauskas, Jayasri G. Iyer, Dafina Ibrani, Astrid Blom, David R. Byrd, Upendra Parvathaneni, Christopher Twitty, Jean S. Campbell, Mai H. Le, Sharron Gargosky, Robert H. Pierce, Richard Heller, Adil Daud, Paul Nghiem

Bioelectrics Publications

Purpose: Interleukin-12 (IL12) promotes adaptive type I immunity and has demonstrated antitumor efficacy, but systemic administration leads to severe adverse events (AE), including death. This pilot trial investigated safety, efficacy, and immunologic activity of intratumoral delivery of IL12 plasmid DNA (tavo) via in vivo electroporation (i.t.-tavo-EP) in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), an aggressive virus-associated skin cancer.

Experimental Design: Fifteen patients with MCC with superficial injectable tumor(s) received i.t.-tavo-EP on days 1, 5, and 8 of each cycle. Patients with locoregional MCC (cohort A, N = 3) received one cycle before definitive surgery in week 4. …

Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields Induce Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Accompanied By Immunogenic Cell Death In Murine Models Of Lymphoma And Colorectal Cancer, Alessandra Rossi, Olga N. Pakhomova, Peter A. Mollica, Maura Casciola, Uma Mangalanathan, Andrei G. Pakhomov, Claudia Muratori

Bioelectrics Publications

Depending on the initiating stimulus, cancer cell death can be immunogenic or non-immunogenic. Inducers of immunogenic cell death (ICD) rely on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress for the trafficking of danger signals such as calreticulin (CRT) and ATP. We found that nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF), an emerging new modality for tumor ablation, cause the activation of the ER-resident stress sensor PERK in both CT-26 colon carcinoma and EL-4 lymphoma cells. PERK activation correlates with sustained CRT exposure on the cell plasma membrane and apoptosis induction in both nsPEF-treated cell lines. Our results show that, in CT-26 cells, the activity of …

An Interdisciplinary Research-Based Education Program For Engaging Plant/Agriculture Sciences, Chemical Sciences, And Engineering Students (Irep-4-Pace) At Minority Institutions, Sharanabasaweshwara Asundi, Gregory C. Bernard, Willard E. Collier

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

An interdisciplinary Research-based Education Program for Engaging Plant/Agriculture sciences, Chemical sciences and Engineering students (iREP-4-PACE) is envisioned with the underlying intent to improve Tuskegee University's (TU’s) STEM retention through the introduction of interdisciplinary, guided, inquiry experiments focused on the production of high-value chemicals from plants. At large, chemicals are synthesized from petroleum resources and it is well established that the continued extraction of these resources is detrimental to the environment. On the contrary, synthesizing chemicals from "plant factories" may be a boon to the environment and have a negative carbon …

Wake Vortex Pair Formation As An Analog For Dust Devil And Tornado Genesis, Robert L. Ash

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

In 1966, meteorologist R.S. Scorer attempted to explain how large-scale oceanic tropical depressions become hurricanes or typhoons. His model was based on the idea that when these large-scale tropical depression structures begin to rotate, mostly due to Coriolis effects, an annular outer portion of that structure changes suddenly to a potential vortex segment, with the same outer radial limit as the low-pressure structure, but with an inner radius that conserves the overall system angular momentum and kinetic energy. By analogy with the "jump" instability describing sudden buckling of a vertical column, this paper shows that his conjecture merits additional consideration. …

Special Collection On Electroporation-Based Therapies: A Selection Of Papers From The Second World Congress On Electroporation, Richard Heller, Rafael V. Davalos

Bioelectrics Publications

No abstract provided.

Parametric Study Of A Turbofan Engine With An Auxiliary High-Pressure Bypass, Sharanabasaweshwara A. Asundi, Syed Firasat Ali

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A parametric study of a novel turbofan engine with an auxiliary high-pressure bypass (AHPB) is presented. The underlying motivation for the study was to introduce and explore a configuration of a turbofan engine which could facilitate clean secondary burning of fuel at a higher temperature than conventionally realized. The study was also motivated by the developments in engineering materials for high-temperature applications and the potential utility of these developments. The parametric study is presented in two phases. Phase I presents a schematic of the turbofan engine with AHPB and the mathematics of the performance parameters at various stations. The proposed …

Management Strategy Evaluation: Transdisciplinary And Transparent Natural Resource Management, Eileen Hofmann, Lisa Maddison, Ingrid Van Putten

CCPO Publications

Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) is a modelling tool used to evaluate sufficiently realistic simulations of potential policy choices in complex systems. As a contribution to the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) project IMBIZO V, which occurred in October 2017, a workshop was convened with the goal of developing a coherent understanding of best-practice approaches for MSEs. MSEs are becoming standard approaches to characterizing risk across fisheries management organizations globally. MSEs are important tools that aid in delineating objectives, costs, and constraints that define risk and provide a possible mechanism to meet assessment challenges. The MSE workshop considered case studies drawn …

Doctoral Engineering Grant Writing Experience To Prepare Future Professionals And Faculty, Katherine Smith, Nathapon Siangchokyoo, Erika Gamarra, Ashish Tamhane, Anthony W. Dean

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

While there have been many efforts to broaden opportunities for all STEM students by engaging in interdisciplinary endeavors and education focusing on professional development, there are particular problems facing students pursuing doctoral degrees in engineering disciplines. Doctoral programs of the future need to become better equipped to prepare students for future careers as engineering professionals or faculty. It has been noted recently that many doctoral degree recipients are turning to jobs outside of academia but increases in undergraduate enrollment and the average age of the professoriate indicate an increase in demand for new faculty. Both future faculty and professionals can …

Software Design Considerations For Mathematics In Mobile Games, Katherine Smith, Yuzhong Shen, Anthony Dean

VMASC Publications

A software system has been designed and developed to allow for the display, symbolic manipulation, and player entry of mathematics expressions in mobile games. Display, manipulation, and entry of mathematical expressions are traditionally difficult tasks. Increased limitations on screen space and user input when developing for mobile devices only exacerbate these difficulties. The developed software system balances considerations for ease of use and user interaction with the desire for players to be able to enter answers in a way that is more flexible and interactive than multiple choice, which is the dominant method of interactions in serious games. The software …

A Fully-Flexible Solution-Processed Autonomous Glucose Indicator, Jonathan D. Yuen, Ankit Baingane, Qumrul Hasan, Lisa C. Shriver-Lake, Scott A. Walper, Daniel Zabetakis, Joyce C. Breger, David A. Stenger, Gymama Slaughter

Bioelectrics Publications

We present the first demonstration of a fully-flexible, self-powered glucose indicator system that synergizes two flexible electronic technologies: a flexible self-powering unit in the form of a biofuel cell, with a flexible electronic device - a circuit-board decal fabricated with biocompatible microbial nanocellulose. Our proof-of-concept device, comprising an enzymatic glucose fuel cell, glucose sensor and a LED indicator, does not require additional electronic equipment for detection or verification; and the entire structure collapses into a microns-thin, self-adhering, single-centimeter-square decal, weighing less than 40 mg. The flexible glucose indicator system continuously operates a light emitting diode (LED) through a capacitive charge/discharge …

Effect Of Cold Atmospheric Plasma Treatment On The Metabolites Of Human Leukemia Cells, Dehui Xu, Ning Ning, Yujing Xu, Bingchuan Wang, Qingjie Cui, Zhijie Liu, Xiaohua Wang, Dingxin Liu, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

Background

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a typically fatal malignancy and new drug and treatment need to be developed for a better survival outcome. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a novel technology, which has been widely applied in biomedicine, especially in various of cancer treatment. However, the changes in cell metabolism after CAP treatment of leukemia cells have been rarely studied.

Methods

In this study, we investigated the metabolite profiling of plasma treatment on leukemia cells based on Gas Chromatography Tandem Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (GC-TOFMS). Simultaneously, we conducted a series of bioinformatics analysis of metabolites and metabolic pathways with significant …

Charge Storage In Wo³ Polymorphs And Their Application As Supercapacitor Electrode Material, Vaibhav Lokhande, Abhishek Lokhande, Gon Namkoong, Jin Hyeok Kim, Taeksoo Ji

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Tungsten oxide is a versatile material with different applications. It has many polymorphs with varying performance in energy storage application. We report simple and facile way to synthesize four phases of tungsten oxide from same precursor materials only by changing the pH and temperature values. Monoclinic, hexagonal, orthorhombic and tetragonal phase obtained, were analyzed and tested for supercapacitor application. The electrochemical analysis of four phases indicates that the hexagonal phase is best-suited electrode material for supercapacitor. The hexagonal phase exhibits higher specific capacitance (377.5 Fg^-1 at 2 mVs^-1), higher surface capacitive contribution (75%), better stability and rate …

Numerical Study On The Dynamic Process Of Single Plume Flow In Thermal Convection With Polymers, Jian-Ping Cheng, Wei-Hua Cai, Hong-Na Zhang, Feng-Chen Li, Lian Shen, Shi-Zhi Qian

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A direct numerical simulation of single plume flow in thermal convection with polymers was carried out in a domain with 1:3 as the width to height ratio. The heat transport ability is weakened by adding polymers within the here-investigated governing parameter range. However, it is promoted when the maximum polymer extension L is increased. The distribution of vertical velocity and temperature indicates that the plume in the polymer solution case is speeded up and widens bigger as compared to that in the Newtonian fluid case. Inside the plume, polymer chains tend to release energy at the position where the …

Analysis Of Blended And Multi-Modal Instruction And Its Effects On Spatial Visualization Ability, Diana Bairaktarova, Daron Williams, Petros Katsioloudis

STEMPS Faculty Publications

For the last decade, remedial spatial visualization training has been offered to first-year engineering students in traditional classroom settings where students attend class and interact face-to-face with an instructor and peers. An alternative to the traditional pedagogical approach is a multi-modal blended learning format that combines in-class instruction with videos that can be viewed at the student’s convenience. The new setting affords students the opportunity to repeatedly revisit the basic instruction at the time and place of their choosing. This case study investigated student outcomes in a blended multi-modal Introduction to Spatial Visualization course that integrated video lectures; free-hand sketching …

Foundations For A Game Theoretic Framework For Agile Acquisition, Scott Rosen, Kelly Horinek, Alexander Odeh, Les Servi, Andreas Tolk

VMASC Publications

This article investigates the concept of developing a game theoretic framework that is based on the application of buyer and seller utility functions to support the bidding process in government acquisition. The results of a literature survey of utility function approaches, with potential to provide a suitable foundation to a game theory framework for acquisition, are presented. The utility function methods found most promising were further adapted and tested: the Best-Worst method, the Multi-Swing Method, and Functional Dependency for Network Analysis. To test the scalability of the approach, the Best-Worst method is applied to a larger problem to show the …

A Network Agent-Based Model Of Ethnocentrism And Intergroup Cooperation, Carlos M. Lemos, Ross J. Gore, Laurence Lessard-Phillips, F. Leron Shults

VMASC Publications

We present a network agent-based model of ethnocentrism and intergroup cooperation in which agents from two groups (majority and minority) change their communality (feeling of group solidarity), cooperation strategy and social ties, depending on a barrier of “likeness” (affinity). Our purpose was to study the model’s capability for describing how the mechanisms of preexisting markers (or “tags”) that can work as cues for inducing in-group bias, imitation, and reaction to non-cooperating agents, lead to ethnocentrism or intergroup cooperation and influence the formation of the network of mixed ties between agents of different groups. We explored the model’s behavior via four …

Energy Intensity As An Ecological Factor In The Selection Of The Manufacturing Process, Artur Soroczyński, Roman Haratym, Krzystof Rechowicz

VMASC Publications

The article presents the analysis of the implementation of selected elements of car transport in the aspect of ecology. The basic issue that affects the protection of the environment (ecology) is the value of energy intensity in the manufacture of products. The elements made in the production process of plastic mouldings were compared. The amount of energy in kJ needed to produce 1 kg of a given product was estimated. Next, the dependencies between the value of computational energy intensity and the emission of gases affecting the environment of CO₂, SO₂, NO_x were presented. As …

Tsunamigenic Potential Of The Baiyun Slide Complex In The South China Sea, Linlin Li, Fengyan Shi, Gangfeng Ma, Qiang Qiu

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Baiyun slide complex contains geological evidence for some of the largest landslide ever discovered in the continental slopes of the South China Sea. High-resolution seismic data suggest that a variety of landslides with varied scales have occurred repeatedly in this area. The largest landslide reconstructed from bathymetric and seismic data has an estimated spatial coverage of ~5,500 km² and a conservative volume of ~1,035 km³. Here, using geomorphological and geotechnical data, we construct a series of probable landslide scenarios and assess their tsunamigenic capacity. By treating the slides as deformable mudflows, we simulate the dynamics of …

Marine Quay Crane Scheduling Using A Combined Modified Genetic Algorithm And Priority Rules Approach, V. H. Nguyen, D. T. Nguyen

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Quay crane scheduling problem (QCSP) is the problem of the allocation of quay cranes to handle the unloading and loading of containers at seaport container terminals and defining the service sequence of vessel bays of each quay crane. The treatment of crane interference constraints and the increased in vessel size make the problem difficult to solve. Due to the growing interest in applied research for this problem, many researchers have used different algorithms and methods to obtain some solutions. This paper will propose a modified genetic algorithm combined with priority rules to deal with it. The advantage of the proposed …

A Blockchain-Enabled Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading Platform For Managing Complex Exchange Of Kilowatt-Hours And Negawatts, Murat Kuzlu, Rasheq Rahman, Jason Lin

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Under the Department of Energy’s STTR funding, BEM Controls LLC performed research from July 2, 2018 to April 1, 2019. The purpose of this research was to design, develop and demonstrate the technical feasibility of the blockchain enabled energy trading platform for managing complex exchange of kilowatt hours and negawatts. The energy trading platform was developed in the open-source HyperLedger Fabric blockchain framework and the performance of the blockchain network was evaluated. Key research findings and results include (1) the successful design and development of an open-architecture blockchain-based energy trading platform able to execute smart contract transactions across eight use …

1995-2005: A Decade Of Innovation In Low Temperature Plasma And Its Applications, Mounir Laroussi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Scientific breakthroughs tend to come in spurts when unique societal, economical, and political circumstances conspire (knowingly or unknowingly) and create an environment ripe for creativity. The field of low temperature plasma (LTP) recently experienced such an upheaval, which this paper attempts to relate in some details. There have been “roadmap” papers published before, which look towards the future of the field, but all roads start somewhere and even “new” roads are often paved over older roads that were discovered and traveled by early pioneers. With the sharp decrease in funding for fusion research in the USA in the early 1990s …

Carbon Multicharged Ion Generation From Laser-Spark Ion Source, Md. Mahmudur Rahman, Oguzhan Balki, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Multicharged carbon ions are generated by using a laser-assisted spark-discharge ion source. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pulse (1064 nm, 7 ns, ≤ 4.5 × 10⁹ W/cm²) focused onto the surface of a glassy carbon target results in its ablation. The spark-discharge (∼1.2 J energy, ∼1 µs duration) is initiated along the direction of the plume propagation between the target surface and a grounded mesh that is parallel to the target surface. Ions emitted from the laser-spark plasma are detected by their time-of-flight using a Faraday cup. The ion energy-to-charge ratio is analyzed by a three-mesh retarding field …