Engineering Commons^™

Clostridium Difficile Infections In Patients With Severe Burns, Scott J. Crabtree, Janelle L. Robertson, Kevin K. Chung, Evan M. Renz, Steven E. Wolf, Duane R. Hospenthal, Clinton K. Murray

United States Army: Publications

With improved survival in burn patients, Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) remains a significant potential complication. The incidence of, risk factors for, and outcomes of CDI in severely burned patients are poorly studied and remain unclear. This study involves retrospective case control and cohort studies using electronic medical records from February 1, 2002 to January 31, 2009 at the US Department of Defense’s only burn unit. Demographic, risk factor, and outcome data were collected for all C. difficile toxin positive patients in the burn, medical, and surgical intensive care units and the hospital’s step down unit along with an additional analysis …

Determination Of Threshold Adverse Effect Doses Of Percutaneous Vx Exposure In African Green Monkeys, Raymond F. Genovese, Bernard J. Benton, John L. Oubre, Christopher E. Byers, E. Michael Jakubowski, Robert J. Mioduszewski, Timothy J. Settle, Thomas J. Steinbach

United States Army: Publications

Percutaneous exposure to the chemical warfare nerve agent VX was evaluated in African green monkeys (n = 9). Doses of VX (7.5–100 μg/kg) were applied to the skin for 60 min and residual agent was quantified (before decontamination) to estimate the absorbed dose. Monkeys were evaluated for the presence or absence of clinical signs of toxicity and blood was sampled periodically (30 min–12 weeks) following exposure to measure the degree of circulating acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition. Monkeys were also evaluated for behavioral changes fromVXexposure using a serial probe recognition (SPR) task. The lowest observable adverse effect level (LOAEL) for the production …

Mechanical Response Of Pig Skin Under Dynamic Tensile Loading, Jaeyoung Lim, Jihye Hong, Weinong W. Chen, Tusit Weerasooriya

United States Army: Publications

Uniaxial tensile experiments were performed on pig skin to investigate the tensile stressestrain response at both quasi-static and dynamic rates of deformation. A Kolsky tension bar, also called a split Hopkinson tension bar (SHTB), was modified to conduct the dynamic experiments. Semiconductor strain gages were used to measure the low levels of the transmitted signal from pig skin. A pulse shaper technique was used for generating a suitable incident pulse to ensure stress equilibrium and approximate constant strain rate in the specimen of a thin skin sheet wrapped around the ends of the bars for minimizing radial inertia. In order …

Detection Of Six Serotypes Of Botulinum Neurotoxin Using Fluorogenic Reporters, Daniel R. Ruge, F. Mark Dunning, Timothy M. Piazza, Brian E. Molles, Michael Adler, Füsûn N. Zeytin, Ward C. Tucker

United States Army: Publications

Methods that do not require animal sacrifice to detect botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are critical for BoNT antagonist discovery and the advancement of quantitative assays for biodefense and pharmaceutical applications. Here we describe the development and optimization of fluorogenic reporters that detect the proteolytic activity of BoNT/A, B, D, E, F, and G serotypes in real time with femtomolar to picomolar sensitivity. Notably, the reporters can detect femtomolar concentrations of BoNT/A in 4 h and BoNT/E in 20 h, sensitivity that equals that of animal-based methods. The reporters can be used to determine the specific activity of BoNT preparations with intra- …

Prophylaxis With Human Serum Butyrylcholinesterase Protects Guinea Pigs Exposed To Multiple Lethal Doses Of Soman Or Vx, Ashima Saxena, Wei Sun, James M. Fedorko, Irwin Koplovitz, Bhupendra P. Doctor

United States Army: Publications

Human serum butyrylcholinesterase (Hu BChE) is currently under advanced development as a bioscavenger for the prophylaxis of organophosphorus (OP) nerve agent toxicity in humans. It is estimated that a dose of 200 mg will be required to protect a human against 2 × LD₅₀ of soman. To provide data for initiating an investigational new drug application for the use of this enzyme as a bioscavenger in humans, we purified enzyme from Cohn fraction IV-4 paste and initiated safety and efficacy evaluations in mice, guinea pigs, and non-human primates. In mice, we demonstrated that a single dose of enzyme that …

Microstructure And Mechanical Properties At Different Length Scales And Strain Rates Of Nanocrystalline Tantalum Produced By High-Pressure Torsion, Q. Wei, Z. L. Pan, X. L. Wu, B. E. Schuster, L. J. Kecdkes, R. Z. Valiev

United States Army: Publications

Fully dense, nanocrystalline tantalum (average grain size as small as ~40 nm) has been processed for the first time by high-pressure torsion. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals non-equilibrium grain boundaries and grains decorated with high-density dislocations. Microhardness measurements and instrumented nanoindentation experiments indicate that the mechanical property is quite uniform except for the central area of the disks. Nanoindentation experiments at different strain rates suggest that the strain rate sensitivity of nanocrystalline tantalum is increased compared to the coarse- and ultrafine-grained counterparts and is accompanied by an activation energy of the order of a few ~b3 (b is the magnitude …

Focusing Of Longitudinal Ultrasonic Waves In Air With An Aperiodic Flat Lens, John T. Welter, Shamachary Sathish, Daniel Christensen, Philip Brodrick, Jason D. Heebl, Matthew Cherry

United States Air Force: Publications

Modeling and experimental results of an ultrasonic aperiodic flat lens for use in air are presented. Predictive modeling of the lens is performed using a hybrid genetic-greedy algorithm constrained to a linear structure. The optimized design parameters are used to fabricate a lens. A method combining a fiber-disk arrangement and scanning laser vibrometer measurements is developed to characterize the acoustic field distribution generated by the lens. The focal spot size is determined to be 0.88 of the incident wavelength of 8090 kHz at a distance of 2.5 mm from the lens. Theoretically computed field distributions, optimized frequency of operation, and …

Flight Control Design For A Tailless Aircraft Using Eigenstructure Assignment, Clara Nieto-Wire, Kenneth Sobel

Publications and Research

We apply eigenstructure assignment to the design of a flight control system for a wind tunnel model of a tailless aircraft. The aircraft, known as the innovative control effectors (ICEs) aircraft, has unconventional control surfaces plus pitch and yaw thrust vectoring. We linearize the aircraft in straight and level flight at an altitude of 15,000 feet and Mach number 0.4. Then, we separately design flight control systems for the longitudinal and lateral dynamics. We use a control allocation scheme with weights so that the lateral pseudoinputs are yaw and roll moment, and the longitudinal pseudoinput is pitching moment. In contrast …

A Multi-Temporal Analysis Of Amsr-E Data For Flood And Discharge Monitoring During The 2008 Flood In Iowa, Marouane Temimi, Teodosio Lacava, Tarendra Lakhankar, Valerio Tramutoli, Hosni Ghedira, Riadh Ata, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

The objective of this work is to demonstrate the potential of using passive microwave data to monitor flood and discharge conditions and to infer watershed hydraulic and hydrologic parameters. The case study is the major flood in Iowa in summer 2008. A new Polarisation Ratio Variation Index (PRVI) was developed based on a multi-temporal analysis of 37 GHz satellite imagery from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) to calculate and detect anomalies in soil moisture and/or inundated areas. The Robust Satellite Technique (RST) which is a change detection approach based on the analysis of historical satellite records was adopted. A …

Reinforced Chitosan-Based Heart Valve Scaffold And Utility Of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells For Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering, Mohammad Z. Albanna

Wayne State University Dissertations

Recent research has demonstrated a strong correlation between the differentiation profile of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and scaffold stiffness. Chitosan is being widely studied for tissue engineering applications due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, its use in load-bearing applications is limited due to moderate to low mechanical properties. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of a fiber reinforcement method for enhancing the mechanical properties of chitosan scaffolds. Chitosan fibers were fabricated using a solution extrusion and neutralization method and incorporated into porous chitosan scaffolds. The effects of different fiber/scaffold mass ratios, fiber mechanical properties and fiber lengths on …

Evaluating The Use Of Steady Burn Warning Lights On Drums For Workzone Safety, Prasad Nannapaneni

Wayne State University Dissertations

Abstract

EVALUATING THE USE OF

STEADY BURN WARNING LIGHTS ON DRUMS

FOR WORK ZONE SAFETY

by

PRASAD LAKSHMI VARA NANNAPANENI

May 2011

Advisor: Dr. Timothy Gates

Major: Civil Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Roadway maintenance and repair has become increasingly commonplace in the United States over the past several decades as our roadway infrastructure has continued to age and deteriorate. Maintenance and repair work on an existing roadway often presents the challenge of maintaining traffic on the existing roadway while work is being performed, thereby necessitating the use of what is commonly referred to as a roadway "work zone". One …

Characteristics And Causal Factors Of Claims In Michigan Highway Construction Projects, Abel K. Sahlool

Wayne State University Dissertations

The US highway system is the largest road network system in the world. MDOT administers about 9,722 route-miles, (28,000 lane-miles) of roadway networks in Michigan. Every year, hundreds of projects worth millions of dollars are let by the State Transportation Agency (STA).

Majority of these projects are successfully completed within the original scope of work, budget, schedule, and without litigation. However; some projects end up in litigation and disputes costing tax payers a great amount of money and the STA a great amount of resources. The number and cost of these construction claims has been substantially increasing in recent years. …

Self Learning Strategies For Experimental Design And Response Surface Optimization, Adel Alaeddini

Wayne State University Dissertations

Most preset RSM designs offer ease of implementation and good performance over a wide range of process and design optimization applications. These designs often lack the ability to adapt the design based on the characteristics of application and experimental space so as to reduce the number of experiments necessary. Hence, they are not cost effective for applications where the cost of experimentation is high or when the experimentation resources are limited. In this dissertation, we present a number of self-learning strategies for optimization of different types of response surfaces for industrial experiments with noise, high experimentation cost, and requiring high …

Artificial And Natural Nucleic Acid Self Assembling Systems, Marcus Wood

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nucleic acids are good candidates for nanomachine construction. They participate in all the processes of life, and so can function as structural building blocks and dynamic catalysts. However, to use nucleic acids as nanomachines, a better understanding of their material properties, how to design structures using them, and their dynamics is needed. We have tried to address these issues, in a small way, with nucleic acid force field development, an attempt at nanostructural design and synthesis using DNA, and a study of the RNA/protein regulatory dynamics of the tryptophan regulatory attenuation protein.

Novel Models And Algorithms For Systems Reliability Modeling And Optimization, Dingzhou Cao

Wayne State University Dissertations

Recent growth in the scale and complexity of products and technologies in the defense and other industries is challenging product development, realization, and sustainment costs. Uncontrolled costs and routine budget overruns are causing all parties involved to seek lean product development processes and treatment of reliability, availability, and maintainability of the system as a true "design parameter". To this effect, accurate estimation and management of the system reliability of a design during the "earliest stages" of new product development is not only critical for managing product development and manufacturing costs but also to control life cycle costs (LCC). In this …

Methodological Study On Technology Integration For Sustainable Manufacturing In The Surface Finishing Industry, Tamer Girgis

Wayne State University Dissertations

Today, industries explore advanced techniques to enhance their development efforts to meet the goals of sustainability due to various challenges which is caused by industrial globalization, high energy and raw material costs, increased environmental regulations and social pressures, and new technological innovations. In order for an industrial process to become sustainable, it is essential to improve the process inputs efficiency from raw materials and energy while maintaining highest productivity and quality; in addition to, minimizing waste generation and the impact on the environment. Engaging in industrial sustainability requires major efforts from decision makers to implement advanced technologies to satisfy each …

An Investigation Of The Biomechanical Response From Shock Wave Loading To The Head, Alessandra Dal Cengio Leonardi

Wayne State University Dissertations

There is a pressing need for a comprehensive explanation of the mechanism of brain injury after exposure to blast and several hypotheses have been suggested. The focus of this research was to investigate one of the hypotheses for primary brain injury due to blast: multimodal skull flexure. The significance of this research is twofold. First, resolution of the mode of energy transfer and of the induced stresses within the skull-brain system will allow for creations of mitigation/protective techniques/equipment, as well as design of experiments investigating live-cell response using more reliable physical models. Second, the data obtained experimentally will be available …

Finite Element Reconstruction Of Real World Aortic Injury In Near-Side Lateral Automotive Crashes With Conceptual Countermeasures, Aditya Neelakanta Belwadi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Traumatic rupture of the aorta (TRA) remains the second most common cause of death associated with motor vehicle crashes after brain injury. On an average, nearly 8,000 people die annually in the United States due to blunt injury to the aorta. It is observed that more than 80% of occupants who suffer an aortic injury die at the scene due to exsanguination into the chest. With the advent of more accurate and established human body finite element (FE) models, FE crash reconstruction methods may become a valuable tool when assessing crash scenarios and occupant injury mechanisms.

The current study is …

Pamam Dendrimer-Based Therapeutic And Diagnostic Nanodevices, Admira Bosnjakovic

Wayne State University Dissertations

Dendrimers are ideal materials to be used in the emerging field of nanomedicine. Their nanoscale size and high density of functional groups on their peripheries allow them to be used for various biomedical applications. This work exploits dendrimers as drug delivery vehicles and a versatile platform for capturing biomarkers with improved sensitivity and specificity. Hydroxyl terminated poly(amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM-OH) was modified with a linker having amine group at the end and conjugated to two drugs, erythromycin (EM) and allopregnanonolne, respectively and evaluated in vitro. Both drugs were provided with a linker having carboxylic group required for conjugation reaction with dendrimer. …

An Optimization Of On-Line Monitoring Of Simple Linear And Polynomial Quality Functions, Galal M. Abdella

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research aims to introduce a number of contributions for enhancing

the statistical performance of some of Phase II linear and polynomial profile monitoring techniques.

For linear profiles the idea of variable sampling size (VSS) and variable

sampling interval (VSI) have been extended from multivariate control charts to the profile monitoring framework to enhance the power of the traditional T^2 chart in detecting shifts in linear quality models. Finding the optimal settings of the proposed schemes has been formulated as an optimization problem solved by using a Genetic Approach (GA). Here the average time to signal (ATS) and the average …

Hazard Rate Models For Early Warranty Issue Detection Using Upstream Supply Chain Information, Chongwen Zhou

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research presents a statistical methodology to construct an early automotive warranty issue detection model based on upstream supply chain information. This is contrary to extant methods that are mostly reactive and only rely on data available from the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). For any upstream supply chain information with direct history from warranty claims, the research proposes hazard rate models to link upstream supply chain information as explanatory covariates for early detection of warranty issues. For any upstream supply chain information without direct warranty claims history, we introduce Bayesian hazard rate models to account for uncertainties of the explanatory …

Differences Between Adult And Pediatric Neck Muscle Stress Due Muscle Recruitment Patterns, Renee Dawson

Wayne State University Dissertations

In 2000 and 2001 an estimated 150,000 children between the ages of 0 and 8 years old were injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident. Despite advances in child safety restraints and vehicle restraints, automobile accidents remain the primary cause of death for children in the 0-8 year old age group. In 1982, in an attempt to reduce the number of deaths and injuries of children, the first child crash test dummy was developed. The responses of this dummy were scaled from the adult response data based on the assumption that children were similar to adults both anatomically and …

The Rock 2011, School Of Engineering And Computer Science

The Rock

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Damköhler Number On Flame Extinction And Reignition In Turbulent Non-Premixed Flames Using Dns, David Lignell, Jacqueline Chen, Hans Schmutz

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Results from a parametric study of flame extinction and reignition with varying Damköhler number using direct numerical simulation are presented. Three planar, non-premixed ethylene jet flames were simulated at a constant Reynolds number of 5120. The fuel and oxidizer stream compositions were varied to adjust the steady laminar extinction scalar dissipation rate, while maintaining constant flow and geometric conditions. Peak flame extinction varies from approximately 40% to nearly global blowout as the Damköhler number decreases. The degree of extinction significantly affects the development of the jets and the degree of mixing of fuel, oxidizer, and combustion products prior to reignition. …

Michigan Cone Test : A Reliability Study, Karl M. Krueger

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

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Mesh Distortion On The Accuracy Of High Order Vorticity-Velocity Cfd Approaches, Anurag Rajan

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

The numerical solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations offers an alternative to experimental analysis of fluid-structure interaction (FSI). We would save a lot of time and effort and help cut back on costs, if we are able to accurately model systems by these numerical solutions. These advantages are even more obvious when considering huge structures like bridges, high rise buildings or even wind turbine blades with diameters as large as 200 meters. The modeling of such processes, however, involves complex multiphysics problems along with complex geometries. This thesis focuses on a novel vorticity-velocity formulation called the Kinematic Laplacian Equation (KLE) …

Development Of A Physically-Based Method For Delineation Of Hydrologically Homogeneous Regions And Flood Quantile Estimation In Ungauged Basins Via The Index Flood Method, Fredline Ilorme

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

Regional flood frequency techniques are commonly used to estimate flood quantiles when flood data is unavailable or the record length at an individual gauging station is insufficient for reliable analyses. These methods compensate for limited or unavailable data by pooling data from nearby gauged sites. This requires the delineation of hydrologically homogeneous regions in which the flood regime is sufficiently similar to allow the spatial transfer of information. It is generally accepted that hydrologic similarity results from similar physiographic characteristics, and thus these characteristics can be used to delineate regions and classify ungauged sites. However, as currently practiced, the delineation …

Creep And Shrinkage Behavior Of Ultra High-Performance Concrete Under Compressive Loading With Varying Curing Regimes , Jason C. Flietstra

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

This Ultra High Performance Concrete research involves observing early-age creep and shrinkage under a compressive load throughout multiple thermal curing regimes. The goal was to mimic the conditions that would be expected of a precast/prestressing plant in the United States, where UHPC beams would be produced quickly to maximize a manufacturing plant’s output. The practice of steam curing green concrete to accelerate compressive strengths for early release of the prestressing tendons was utilized (140°F [60°C], 95% RH, 14 hrs), in addition to the full thermal treatment (195°F [90°C], 95% RH, 48 hrs) while the specimens were under compressive loading. Past …

Variational Theory And Domain Decomposition For Nonlocal Problems, Burak Aksoylu, Michael L. Parks

United States Department of Energy: Publications

In this article we present the first results on domain decomposition methods for nonlocal operators. We present a nonlocal variational formulation for these operators and establish the well-posedness of associated boundary value problems, proving a nonlocal Poincaré inequality. To determine the conditioning of the discretized operator, we prove a spectral equivalence which leads to a mesh size independent upper bound for the condition number of the stiffness matrix. We then introduce a nonlocal two-domain variational formulation utilizing nonlocal transmission conditions, and prove equivalence with the single-domain formulation. A nonlocal Schur complement is introduced. We establish condition number bounds for the …

Automated Analysis Of Mouse Serum Peptidome Using Restricted Access Media And Nanoliquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Geun-Cheol Gil, Jim Brennan, Dan Throckmorton, Steven Branda, Gabriela Chirica

United States Department of Energy: Publications

We demonstrate use of restricted access media with reversed phase functionality (RAM-RP) for analysis of low molecular weight proteins and peptides in mouse serum (75ml) using a custom designed modular automated processing system (MAPS). RAM-RP fractionation with simultaneous removal of high molecular weight and high abundance proteins is integrated with a follow-on buffer exchange module (BE) to ensure compatibility with subsequent processing steps (trypsin digestion and intact peptide separation prior to mass spectrometric analysis). The high sample capacity afforded by chromatographic methods generates enough sample to achieve comprehensive serum peptidome identification (357 proteins) through tandem mass spectrometric analysis of both …