Engineering Commons^™

Classifying Common Knee Rehabilitation Exercise Mistakes Using Imu Data, Fedor Myagkov

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

Physical therapy following major surgeries is a branch of medicine that has seen its fair share of technologically inspired advances. One important facet of physical therapy, the “at-home exercises” patients are prescribed to do, is still somewhat of a “black box” to many physical therapists (PTs). PTs have no way of knowing (1) whether the patient is doing the home exercises, or (2) whether the patient is doing the exercises in the correct and healthy manner. This lack of awareness makes it difficult for the PT to guide the patient, which can often lead to prolonged rehabilitation periods or (sometimes) …

Physically Based Rendering Techniques To Visualize Thin-Film Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Fluid Simulations, Aditya H. Prasad

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

This thesis introduces a methodology and workflow I developed to visualize smoothed hydrodynamic particle based simulations for the research paper ’Thin-Film Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Fluid’ (2021), that I co-authored. I introduce a physically based rendering model which allows point cloud simulation data representing thin film fluids and bubbles to be rendered in a photorealistic manner. This includes simulating the optic phenomenon of thin-film interference and rendering the resulting iridescent patterns. The key to the model lies in the implementation of a physically based surface shader that accounts for the interference of infinitely many internally reflected rays in its bidirectional surface …

The Discrete-Event Modeling Of Administrative Claims (Demac) System: Dynamically Modeling The U.S. Healthcare Delivery System With Medicare Claims Data To Improve End-Of-Life Care, Rachael Chacko

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

The shift of the U.S. healthcare delivery system from the treatment of acute conditions to chronic diseases requires a new method of healthcare system analysis to properly assess end- of-life (EOL) quality throughout the country. In this paper, we propose the Discrete-Event Modeling of Administrative Claims (DEMAC) system, which relies on a hetero-functional graph theory and discrete event-driven framework to dynamically model EOL care on multiple levels. The heat map visualizations produced by the DEMAC system enable the elucidation of not only patient-specific EOL care but also broader treatment patterns among providers and hospitals. As a whole, the DEMAC system …

Object Manipulation With Modular Planar Tensegrity Robots, Maxine Perroni-Scharf

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the creation of a novel two-dimensional tensegrity-based mod- ular system. When individual planar modules are linked together, they form a larger tensegrity robot that can be used to achieve non-prehensile manipulation. The first half of this dissertation focuses on the study of preexisting types of tensegrity mod- ules and proposes different possible structures and arrangements of modules. The second half describes the construction and actuation of a modular 2D robot com- posed of planar three-bar tensegrity structures. We conclude that tensegrity modules are suitably adapted to object manipulation and propose a future extension of the modular 2D …

Patella Resection In Total Knee Arthroplasty: An Analytical Comparison Of Three Techniques, Kelsey Cushway

Medical Engineering Theses

Patella resection, as a routine component of TKA, can be both difficult to plan and difficult to execute. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of three unique patellar resection techniques used in total knee arthroplasty. The secondary purpose of this study was to establish whether different surgical techniques were able to reproduce preoperative plans made by each surgeon. We used radiographic measurements to evaluate patellar thickness and patellar cut angle preoperatively and postoperatively. Three techniques (45 cases in total) were evaluated, revealing qualitative differences between surgical techniques and significant quantitative differences between average patellar thickness …

Analysis Of The Use Of Waste Material In 3d Printing, Alexander Laurence

Materials Engineering

Globally, only 9% of plastic by mass is recycled. Allowing consumers to directly convert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into 3D filament can increase the recycling rate by reducing contamination and costs from traditional large-scale recycling methods. This was tested by heating strips of PET to various temperatures within its glass transition region and pressing a roller with a 1.75 mm indentation against it to observe strip deformation. PET was also placed in a hemispherical well with a 1.75 mm diameter hole at the bottom and heated above its melting temperature to determine the mass of PET required to extrude 3D …

A Practical Framework To Assess The Sustainability And Resiliency Of Civil Infrastructure, Thomas Adam Robbins, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research within civil engineering is focusing on newer ideas and philosophies such as sustainability and resiliency (S&R). This is evident in the development of frameworks for assessing the sustainability or the resiliency of civil infrastructures. Several frameworks have been developed by researchers to quantify the S&R of civil infrastructures. It is evident that the S&R are not mutually exclusive, and it is important to assess these aspects at the same time and that frameworks are able to accommodate simultaneous assessments. While there are other frameworks that follow a unified approach to S&R assessments, they do not account for the risk …

Investigating The Relationship Between The Fatigue Cracking Resistance And Thermal Characteristics Of Asphalt Binders Extracted From Field Mixes Containing Recycled Materials, Eslam Deef-Allah, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Asphalt components have a significant contribution to the fatigue cracking resistance of asphalt mixes. Softer asphalt binders, characterized through the Superpave grading system, resist fatigue cracking more than stiffer binders. During the long-term aging, the binders’ components changed from lower- to higher-molecular-weight constituents that increased binders’ stiffnesses. Using recycled materials in the mixes increases the stiffnesses of the binders inside these mixes by altering the binders’ components. The binders were extracted and recovered (E & R) from field mixes containing different percentages of recycled materials [reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled asphalt shingles] and binders’ performance grades. The fatigue resistance …

Design Of An Automatic Fish Processing Line Using Machine Learning, Sangam Mainali

Master's Theses

This thesis presents an approach to automatic fish processing in the fishing industry using artificial intelligence. Using transfer learning approach (VGG16 model), convolutional neural network (CNN), and image processing, this thesis demonstrates the series of steps from intake of fishes, chopping of head and tail to collecting the body parts of fishes separately thus making it ready for post-processing or direct packaging as per the industrial and consumer needs. To present the idea of the classification of fishes, we have considered five different fishes and one shrimp, altogether six classes. After the classification, the fishes are sorted out according to …

Learning Medical Materials From Radiography Images, Carson Molder, Benjamin Lowe, Justin Zhan

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Deep learning models have been shown to be effective for material analysis, a subfield of computer vision, on natural images. In medicine, deep learning systems have been shown to more accurately analyze radiography images than algorithmic approaches and even experts. However, one major roadblock to applying deep learning-based material analysis on radiography images is a lack of material annotations accompanying image sets. To solve this, we first introduce an automated procedure to augment annotated radiography images into a set of material samples. Next, using a novel Siamese neural network that compares material sample pairs, called D-CNN, we demonstrate how to …

Center Pivot Project Specifications, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This note provides an example of items that are included in a specification for center pivots. It is a supplement to design drawings that have numerous additional details. This example combines items from various ITRC jobs, and therefore the units are not consistent (there is a mix of metric and English units). The intention, however, is not to provide a precise specification that can be replicated, but rather to show the key items that are typically included.

In such projects, there are two primary sets of specifications:

• The details of the center pivots themselves and warranties for the pivots
• The …

B-91 Fire Protection Analysis, Evan Phillips

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

B-91 is a multiuse building on a Department of Defense installation rented out to a defense contractor consisting of laboratory, office, storage, and utility spaces. To determine the adequacy of the building’s fire protection systems as determined by the state-adopted 2015 International Building Code, a prescriptive analysis was performed with specific areas of focus on the building construction and occupancy, emergency egress capacity, fire suppression systems, and fire alarm systems. The building is compliant with code requirements in its construction and the fire alarm systems are adequately designed to provide notice, but the egress from the building’s main conference room …

Fire Protection Analysis For The Tritium Engineering Building, Jack Smeck

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report analyzed several different aspects of the fire protection and life safety strategy for the Tritium Engineering Building (TEB) at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC. The TEB is a single-story, Type IIB building that primarily houses engineering and technical staff. The building is approximately 15,560 ft2 and consists of two large “open areas” enclosed by hard- wall offices. Modular workstations are located in both “open areas” and accommodate the majority of the building occupants. This analysis provided both a prescriptive and a performance-based approach for analyzing fire hazards within the building. The prescriptive- based analysis evaluated the …

College Sports Center Fire Protection Analysis, Elijah Kimmig

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The purpose of this project was to analyze and compare the existing fire protection systems in the college sports center to current applicable codes and standards. Both prescriptive based analysis and performance based analyses were performed.

The prescriptive based analyses included analyzing the structural fire protection, fire suppression, fire alarm, and egress systems. Overall, the majority of the fire protection systems appeared to meet the requirements of the current codes but there are a few items that were found that appear to not meet current code. These items are listed below along with recommendations to mitigate: (1) Placement of certain …

The Effects Of Artificial Intelligence On Competitive Sports, Qiyu Pu

School of Professional Studies

This Research thesis is to explore the application and impact of artificial intelligence in the field of competitive sports, discover the risks and problems in it, and discuss solutions. Nowadays, artificial intelligence has been applied to all walks of life, and the field of competitive sports is no exception, such as VR video technology, artificial intelligence for competition and player data analysis, artificial intelligence equipment to help players train, artificial intelligence to develop tactics, etc. But artificial intelligence has also brought about problems such as disrupting game viewing, making intellectual competitive sports meaningless, and threatening the status of industry practitioners. …

Radio Frequency Direction Finding System, Jacob Taub, Austin Colon

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

In certain terrain types It is difficult to locate people, objects, animals, etc. In particular, using one’s eyes and ears to locate something has certain disadvantages. Visible light propagates at high frequencies and is easily stopped by terrain. Also, sound waves do not propagate as effectively as electromagnetic waves in open air because they are mechanical waves. Therefore, our goal is to create a system that can locate emitters that output electromagnetic waves in the radio frequency (RF) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). RF operates at a lower frequency than visible light and will diffract around mountains and pass …

Data Integrity Preservation Schemes In Smart Healthcare Systems That Use Fog Computing Distribution, Abdulwahab Fahad S. Alazeb, Brajendra Panda, Sultan Ahmed A Almakdi, Mohammed Saleh H. Alshehri

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The volume of data generated worldwide is rapidly growing. Cloud computing, fog computing, and the Internet of things (IoT) technologies have been adapted to compute and process this high data volume. In coming years information technology will enable extensive developments in the field of healthcare and offer health care providers and patients broadened opportunities to enhance their healthcare experiences and services owing to heightened availability and enriched services through real-time data exchange. As promising as these technological innovations are, security issues such as data integrity and data consistency remain widely unaddressed. Therefore, it is important to engineer a solution to …

The State Of Artificial Intelligence In Medical Imaging, Catalin Cristian Veghes

School of Professional Studies

This study explores the current state of Artificial Intelligence in medical imaging and provides an accessible assessment of how radiologists perceive the emerging technologies. Throughout the research, we analyze different aspects such as the adoption rate of Artificial Intelligence or the performance of state-of-the-art models, and we identify some of the significant barriers that prevent a wider adoption, such as the lack of collaboration between radiologists and computer scientists. Additionally, we provide a brief theoretical background that explains how deep learning works and how it can be helpful in medical imaging. We describe the architecture of a binary classifier in …

Development Of Novel Deep Learning Models In The Detection Of Breast Cancer And Brain Aneurysm, Pradnya Patel

Bioengineering Master's Theses

Three deep learning models using convolutional neural network (CNN) were developed for the early detection of breast cancer and brain aneurysm. Model 1 was built for the detection of breast mass; it consists of 20 total layers including 5 convolutional layers, 5 maxpool layers with Rectifier Linear Unit as the activation function for feature extraction, one flatten layer, 4 batch normalization with fully connected layers, and one output layer. This CNN model was trained and validated on an open-source breast ultrasound dataset that contains a total of 830 images categorized into three classes: normal (133 images), benign (487 images), and …

Predictive Model For Design Of A 3d Developmental Neurotoxicity Platform, Emma Barrett-Catton, Murial Ross, Cameron Read

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Exposure to developmental toxins during gestation have been shown to be linked to neurological disorders such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, and dyslexia [1] . In this report we describe efforts that represent the ground work to develop a predictive neurotoxicity model to test developmental toxicity on early neuronal differentiation from drugs and toxins for human consumption or exposure. Developmental toxins are toxins that prevent stem cell differentiation into neurons by impacting neural development [2] . Currency technologies used to evaluate a compound's potential as a developmental toxin are centered around culturing stem cells in a two-dimensional environment or exposing animal models …

Fire Protection Analysis Of Johnson Controls Office Building, Derek Driscoll

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This project report contains a fire and life safety analysis of the Johnson Controls Office Building. The building is located in Los Angeles, California. The building is a mixed use occupancy with office spaces, meeting rooms, training rooms, and a warehouse for storing fire sprinkler and fire alarm materials. The building is one level with a mezzanine. It is attached to another building and separated by fire barrier so that they are considered separate buildings. This report contains a prescriptive analysis and a performance-based design analysis of the building.

The prescriptive code requirements were determined based on the 2019 edition …

Construction Innovation Center At California Polytechnic State University, James Hunter Gildart

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The building of interest for this project is the Construction Innovation Center (CIC) at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The CIC consists of 3 structures (buildings A, B, and C) equipped throughout with a wet pipe automatic sprinkler system and a fire alarm system with smoke detection. This report reviews the prescriptive and performance-based requirements along with providing a fire safety management plan. The prescriptive based portion of this report covers egress, fire alarm, automatic fire sprinklers, flammability, and structural fire protection requirements. Upon completion of the prescriptive code analysis comparing the CIC to the 2015 International Building …

Husky Union Building - University Of Washington Fire And Life Safety Overview And Analysis, Dan Quatier

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

A fire and life safety analysis was performed on the Husky Union Building, which is the student union building on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. This analysis was performed for the fulfillment of requirements for the Master of Science in Fire Protection Engineering degree from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo.

The analysis includes both a prescriptive-based and a performance-based design. The prescriptive analysis includes the following elements: (1) Building Code Overview, (2) Egress Analysis and Design, (3) Fire Alarm and Detection, (4) Water-Based Suppression Systems, and (5) Structural Fire Protection

The prescriptive analysis …

Tucson Student Housing, Abraham Coria

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The purpose of this report is to perform a two-part analysis of Tucson Student Housing’s fire protection design components. The two-part analysis consists of a prescriptive analysis, and a performance-based analysis. The purpose of the prescriptive-based analysis is to verify Tucson Student Housing meets or exceeds applicable construction standards. The prescriptive based analysis reviews the fire resistance of building elements, flammability of interior finishes, wet suppression system, fire alarm system, voice evacuation system, and occupant egress requirements. The performance-based analysis evaluates the performance of Tucson Student Housing’s fire protection systems when subjected to specified design fires. The design fire scenarios …

Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis Of Art ‘N Motion, Jordan Albrecht

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This report includes a fire protection and life safety analysis for the Art ‘n Motion building. This analysis was done to fulfill the requirement for the Master of Science Degree in Fire Protection Engineering from California Polytechnic State University. The Art ‘n Motion building is two (2) stories, approximately 17,720 sqft, and is Type III-B construction. The building’s primary use is a vehicle showroom business where multiple exotic and antique vehicles are on display, and can be bought and sold. The building is also used as a home base for a NASCAR team, that operates out of the garage area …

Nursing Home Study- Culminating Project Final Report, Ed Hale

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

This project report is a component of the culminating project required by the California Polytechnic State University, Master of Science, Fire Protection Engineering program. The purpose is to demonstrate the student’s comprehensive knowledge, skill, and ability to evaluate fire and life safety engineering principles utilizing both prescriptive and performance- based design as applied to the built environment. The student project building is a two-story, 78-bed, federally funded, government owned, skilled nursing facility with 90% of the occupants being mobility impaired.

The project building was designed and constructed using prescriptive codes. Fire and life safety structural components, means of egress, fire …

Fire Protection And Life Safety Analysis: Canyon Vista Dining Renovation- University Of California San Diego, Paul Ian Jungco Cabasag

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The Canyon Vista Dining project is a renovation of an existing two-story dining facility located in the Warren College area of the University of California San Diego campus for the owners, Housing, Dining and Hospitality. The renovation scope of work comprised a new dining experience with a better diversity of food options and indoor and outdoor seating, which upgraded the first floor, second floor, and mechanical penthouse. In the course of the design and construction, the prescriptive, performance, wildfire, and due diligence design results were utilized during discussions with design team and building permit approval. The project construction was completed …

Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center Fire Protection And Fire Life Safety Analysis, Alex Dowdy

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center Fire Protection and Life Safety Report evaluates the building’s prescriptive compliance and provides a performance-based analysis. The original construction documents were completed in 1993 in line with UBC 1991 requirements, however, the 2016 Edition of the California Building Code was used for the purpose of this analysis.

The Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center was constructed as a Type I-B building, fully protected with a sprinkler system and an emergency voice alarm system. The building is located far enough from surrounding buildings as to not require a fire-resistance rated exterior, with the exception of a …

Effect Of Distal Core Flattening On 304 Stainless Steel Guide Wires, Khanh Phan

Materials Engineering

Abbott Vascular produces a variety of medical guide wires to accommodate a wide array of minimally invasive medical procedures. Certain types of these wires have the distal core flattened to improve specific properties such as flexibility and steerability. However, it is unknown how this affects the other mechanical properties of the wire. Abbott Vascular provided two types of wire to test the effects of distal core flattening on the mechanical performance of the wires. One group of wires was made from 304 single spring stainless steel with no flattening performed. The other group of wires was made from 304 triple …

Influence Of Seawater On Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete, Yubin Jun, Jae Hong Kim, Seong Ho Han, Taewan Kim

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines the use of natural seawater as mixing water for alkali-activated slag concrete and reports the characteristics of alkali-activated slag concrete with exposure to seawater. Preliminary experiments were conducted on pastes in order to measure pH and select optimum activator content under the experimental conditions. Wet-sieved pastes from fresh concrete were used to evaluate the mineralogical and microstructural characteristics of reaction products. Compressive strengths and chloride contents were measured with the hardened concrete samples. The activators used in alkali-activated slag concrete were sodium hydroxide (5% weight of slag) and liquid sodium silicate (5% weight of slag). The alkali-activated …