Engineering Commons^™

Organization And Signal Processing Of The Descending Tracts In The Cervical Spinal Cord, Yanmei Tie

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the research for the development of spinal cord-computer interface (SCCI). The main objective of SCCI is to generate voluntary motor control signals for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

In the neuroscience aspect, organization of the fibers in the descending tracts of the dorsolateral funiculus of the cervical spinal cord was investigated in cats. The spinal cord was penetrated with silicon substrate microelectrodes at 400 μm intervals in the medio-lateral direction at the C5/C6 and C6/C7 segmental borders. The stimulus consisted of a 20 ms train of charge-balanced biphasic pulses at 330 Hz. The evoked activities from …

Numerical Simulation Of Nanopulse Penetration Of Biological Matter Using The Z -Transform, Shengjun Su

Doctoral Dissertations

Short duration, fast rise time ultra-wide-band (UWB) electromagnetic pulses (“nanopulses”) are generated by numerous electronic devices in use today. Moreover, many novel technologies involving nanopulses are under development and expected to become widely used soon. Study of nanopulse bioeffects is needed to probe their useful range in possible biomedical and biotechnological applications, and to ensure human safety.

Based on the well-known dispersive properties of biological matter and their expression as a summation of terms corresponding to the main polarization mechanisms, the Cole-Cole expression is commonly employed to describe the frequency dependence of the dielectric properties of a tissue. Solving the …

Biosensing With Microcantilever-Based Sensors, Xiaodong Yan

Doctoral Dissertations

Microcantilevers provide an ideal platform for biosensors. The micron-sized transducer brings several advantages, such as high sensitivity, small sample quantity for analysis, portability, implantable sensor devices, and the ability to be mass produced and integrated into standard microelectronic processing technologies like complementary metal oxide seminconductors (CMOS).

The objective of this research is to investigate and develop modification methods of microcanitlevers for biosensing applications.

Two microcantilever modification methods were investigated. They are self-assembly monolayer method and layer-by-layer method. A fundamental procedure for modification of microcantilevers using the layer-by-layer approach was developed for the first time in this research. These modification methods …

Dilation Of The Oropharynx Via Selective Stimulation Of The Hypoglossal Nerve, Jingtao Huang

Doctoral Dissertations

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by the retraction of the tongue to occlude the upper airway (UAW). Electrical stimulation of the tongue protrudor and retractor muscle has been demonstrated as an effective technique to alleviate UAW obstructions and is considered to be a potential treatment for OSA. Recent studies have shown that selective stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve (HG) to activate tongue muscles using a single implantable device presents an attractive approach for treating OSA. In this study, the functional outcome of selective hypoglossal nerve stimulation with a multi-contact peripheral nerve electrode was studied by imaging the airway in …