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Articles 81781 - 81810 of 196718

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Electroceutical Therapy In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Novel Preliminary Study, Morgan Michelle Highlander Jan 2018

Electroceutical Therapy In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Novel Preliminary Study, Morgan Michelle Highlander

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by the death of motoneurons. Life expectancy is only 3-5 years from diagnosis and current treatments only extend survival by 2-3 months. The mechanism of motoneuron death in ALS is still largely unknown, but abnormal motoneuron excitability has been extensively documented. Because the intrinsic excitability of a motoneuron is a defining measure of its normal function, characterizing and regulating motoneuron excitability has become one of the primary aims of ALS research. Although not previously explored in ALS, other clinical applications show the ability of certain electroceutical techniques to …


Regulation Of The Motor Output Of The Spinal Cord: Burst Firing Generation And Sensorimotor Integration, Amr A. Mahrous Jan 2018

Regulation Of The Motor Output Of The Spinal Cord: Burst Firing Generation And Sensorimotor Integration, Amr A. Mahrous

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Spinal motoneurons are the final common path for motor signals. Thus, the firing activity recorded from spinal motoneurons or their axons in the ventral roots represents the motor output of the nervous system. This dissertation investigates two major phenomena that help generate and shape the neuronal motor output. Specialized groups of spinal neurons called central pattern generators (CPGs) are capable of orchestrating rhythmic bursting activity without involvement of the brain. This activity underlies stereotyped movements such as locomotion. If known, the ionic mechanisms responsible for generating this activity can offer new pharmacological interventions to restore walking in paralyzed patients with …


Consequences Of Trpm7 Kinase Inactivation In Immune Cells, Pavani Beesetty Jan 2018

Consequences Of Trpm7 Kinase Inactivation In Immune Cells, Pavani Beesetty

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The characteristic feature of ubiquitously expressed transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) protein is the presence of a C-terminal atypical kinase domain fused to a cation channel domain. Even though this protein has been implicated in a number of physiological and pathological processes, the mechanisms regulating TRPM7 channel activity are poorly understood. In the present study, regulation of TRPM7 channel by its kinase activity was investigated using the TRPM7 kinase-dead knock-in mouse (KD mouse). These mice have a point mutation Lys1646Arg in the kinase region abrogating the kinase activity. Examining TRPM7 channel activity in KD peritoneal macrophages revealed that TRPM7 …


Steady-State And Small-Signal Modeling Of A-Source Converter, Agasthya Ayachit Jan 2018

Steady-State And Small-Signal Modeling Of A-Source Converter, Agasthya Ayachit

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As the trend towards vehicle electrification, renewable energy, smart systems is increasing, the key enabling technology such as power electronics are becoming ever more important. Power electronics is the vital component of many applications in automotive, computer, data-centers, medical, aerospace, communication, green-energy, and manufacturing sectors. Major advancements in high efficiency, high power density, high voltage conversion ratio, and fast dynamic response power-electronic converters is evident both in research and industry, particularly at the topology level. A major contribution of this dissertation is the analysis, design, development, and dynamic modeling of a novel impedance-source topology termed as A-source converter, which potentially …


Characterization And Design Of Voltage-Mode Controlled Full-Bridge Dc/Dc Converter With Current Limit, Nathaniel R. Smith Jan 2018

Characterization And Design Of Voltage-Mode Controlled Full-Bridge Dc/Dc Converter With Current Limit, Nathaniel R. Smith

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Advancements in Direct Current (DC) electrical power systems have enabled new functionality in many, varied applications. Discrete power semiconductor devices are increasing in efficiency, switching frequency, and power density, resulting in greater usage of DC power management and distribution methods, including DC/DC conversion. DC distribution lacks inherent capability to safely and effectively break fault current, particularly in mobile solutions, where larger and slower electromechanical switching devices are not optimal or feasible. One solution is to design a low-energy breaking point into a switching power supply. Simpler converter designs, with a lower number of switching devices, have been modeled and can …


Effect Of Process Parameters On The Surface Roughness And Mechanical Performance Of Additively Manufactured Alloy 718, Bo Ryan Whip Jan 2018

Effect Of Process Parameters On The Surface Roughness And Mechanical Performance Of Additively Manufactured Alloy 718, Bo Ryan Whip

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Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is a method to create complex components in a layer-by-layer process. Currently, there is a lack of understanding in the processing-structure-properties-performance relationship, particularly related to defects inherent to the AM process. This work investigates the relationship of process parameters, as-built surface roughness, and mechanical performance for nickel-based superalloy 718 built using laser powder bed fusion. The surface roughness of components built using varied processing parameters was characterized using both nondestructive and destructive measurement techniques. Finite element analysis was used to study the stress concentration on surface profiles. Statistical correlations are presented between contour processing parameters and …


Effect Of Pyrolysis On The Removal Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes And Class I Integrons From Municipal Wastewater Biosolids, Lee Kimbell, Anthony D. Kappell, Patrick J. Mcnamara Jan 2018

Effect Of Pyrolysis On The Removal Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes And Class I Integrons From Municipal Wastewater Biosolids, Lee Kimbell, Anthony D. Kappell, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Wastewater biosolids represent a significant reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). While current biosolids treatment technologies can reduce ARG levels in residual wastewater biosolids, observed removal rates vary substantially. Pyrolysis is an anoxic thermal degradation process that can be used to convert biosolids into energy rich products including py-gas and py-oil, and a beneficial soil amendment, biochar. Batch pyrolysis experiments conducted on municipal biosolids revealed that the 16S rRNA gene, the ARGs erm(B), sul1, tet(L), tet(O), and the integrase gene of class 1 integrons (intI1) were significantly reduced at pyrolysis temperatures ranging from 300–700 …


Construction Engineering Education Committee: Past, Present, And Future, Yong Bai Jan 2018

Construction Engineering Education Committee: Past, Present, And Future, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Amplifying The Social Intelligence Of Teams Through Human Swarming, Louis Rosenberg, Gregg Willcox, David Askay, Lynn Metcalf Jan 2018

Amplifying The Social Intelligence Of Teams Through Human Swarming, Louis Rosenberg, Gregg Willcox, David Askay, Lynn Metcalf

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Artificial Swarm Intelligence (ASI) is a method for amplifying the collective intelligence of human groups by connecting networked participants into real-time systems modeled after natural swarms and moderated by AI algorithms. ASI has been shown to amplify performance in a wide range of tasks, from forecasting financial markets to prioritizing conflicting objectives. This study explores the ability of ASI systems to amplify the social intelligence of small teams. A set of 61 teams, each of 3 to 6 members, was administered a standard social sensitivity test —"Reading the Mind in the Eyes” or RME. Subjects took the test both as …


Investigation Of Compression Strength Of Bliss Style Corrugated Fiberboard Boxes, Javier De La Fuente, Jay Singh, Rebecca Kisch, Soma Roy, Daan Peleman Jan 2018

Investigation Of Compression Strength Of Bliss Style Corrugated Fiberboard Boxes, Javier De La Fuente, Jay Singh, Rebecca Kisch, Soma Roy, Daan Peleman

Industrial Technology and Packaging

The global demand for corrugated fiberboard is projected to experience a significant upsurge in the near future. Based on the end-use, packaging for processed and fresh food categories accounted for approximately 39% of the overall consumption of corrugated fiberboard in 2015. With key advantages such as providing an uninterrupted bottom, laminated corners for higher stacking strength, increased material use efficiency, side cutout options for display at retail and a wide range of styles over other styles of containers, Bliss style boxes find prominence in the agriculture sector. While numerous predictive strength models associating corrugated fiberboard material specifications to the box …


Characterization Of Directionally Solidified Cast Iron, Subhojit Chakraborty Jan 2018

Characterization Of Directionally Solidified Cast Iron, Subhojit Chakraborty

All ETDs from UAB

Cast iron solidifies with various morphologies of the graphite phase, which directly influences its mechanical behavior. Hence, it is crucial to control the graphite morphol- ogy in order to tailor the properties of the iron to specific applications. This makes it crucial to understand the effect of solidification velocity and composition, the two main factors affecting graphite morphology. To study the influence of velocity and composi- tion, particularly nodularizing elements (Mg) and cerium (Ce), a number of batches of iron were produced. The majority of analysis was conducted on those batches where the carbon equivalent was very close to the …


Progress Towards The Study Of Self-Repaired Nanocomposites: Generating Single Chirality Species Of Metallic Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes, Chunxu Chen Jan 2018

Progress Towards The Study Of Self-Repaired Nanocomposites: Generating Single Chirality Species Of Metallic Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes, Chunxu Chen

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis is dedicated to exploring the separation technique of single wall carbon nanotube (SWNTs). Limited by the commercial synthesis method and required by the self-repaired nanocomposites project, the SWNTs was separated by length and chirality. In length separation, the density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) technique was applied. We have optimized the processing procedure for sorting single wall carbon nanotubes by length. A good length distribution was obtained from ~600nm to ~60 nm by layers. A new approach, aqueous two-phase separation (ATPS), was used for metallic-semiconducting separation of SWNTs. We studied the surfactants’ influence in a two-phase system, polyethylene glycol (PEG) …


Endothelialization Of Microchannels In A Three Dimensional Breast Cancer Tumor Surrogate Model, Derek Van Vessem Jan 2018

Endothelialization Of Microchannels In A Three Dimensional Breast Cancer Tumor Surrogate Model, Derek Van Vessem

All ETDs from UAB

Drug discovery and testing commonly employs two dimensional (2D) human cell line monolayers for lead compound identification before becoming a candidate therapy to be studied in animal models. Culturing cells in 2D produces a homogenous disbursement of nutrients and anticancer-therapeutics resulting in a response specific to 2D that does not necessarily translate to a three dimensional (3D) response. This method unfortunately distorts the in vivo human drug response. The lack of physiologic dimensionality in 2D cell monolayers distort cellular responses relative to 3D systems that can be attributed to minimal drug approvals. Oncology drugs are the least successful with only …


Effects Of Stored Red Blood Cells On The Components Of The Lung-Capillary Membrane, Kaitlyn S. Ryan Jan 2018

Effects Of Stored Red Blood Cells On The Components Of The Lung-Capillary Membrane, Kaitlyn S. Ryan

All ETDs from UAB

Trauma is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 1 and 44. Implementation of massive transfusion protocols has improved early mortality due to traumatic hemorrhage; however, long-term complication rates associated with hemorrhagic shock remain high due to the development of multiple organ failure. In particular, resuscitation with large volumes of stored red blood cells (RBC) introduces high concentrations of free heme, which contributes to the development of acute lung injury (ALI) after trauma. Angiopoietin-2 (Agpt-2) is a mediator of trauma-related lung injury, but the effect of RBC storage-derived free heme on Agpt-2 regulation is unknown. The …


Drive-By Bridge Damage Inspection And Monitoring, Ahmed Elhattab Jan 2018

Drive-By Bridge Damage Inspection And Monitoring, Ahmed Elhattab

All ETDs from UAB

Recently, drive-by bridge inspection has become an intriguing topic in the bridge health monitoring domain. The technique utilizes indirect measurements from the suspension system of a vehicle passes over the bridge to infer the bridge structural health condition. A number of studies have given confidence, hypothetically, in the feasibility of the approach in detecting, quantifying and localizing the damage. However, there is a scarcity of work investigating the fidelity of this technique to full-scale field applications. Whereas the wide number of uncertainties that governs the vehicle bridge interaction dynamics could significantly impact hypothetical techniques when applied in the field, the …


Role Of Diminished Pulsatility From Continous Flow Ventricular Assist Devices On Small Vessel Endothelial Dysfunction, Thomas Haglund Jan 2018

Role Of Diminished Pulsatility From Continous Flow Ventricular Assist Devices On Small Vessel Endothelial Dysfunction, Thomas Haglund

All ETDs from UAB

Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are standard therapy for patients with advanced heart failure that is refractory to medical therapy. VADs can be categorized as pulsatile flow VADs (PF-VADs) and continuous flow VADs (CF-VADs). Both PF-VADs and CF-VADs are similarly effective in providing hemodynamic benefit and improving the quality of life and functional capacity of patients. CF-VADs are preferred over the PF-VADs due to advantages such as compact size, reliability, energy efficiency, installation and operation. However, CF-VAD support results in non-physiological diminished arterial pressure and flow pulsatility. Using the endothelial cell culture model (ECCM), we previously established that diminished pulsatility resulted …


Prohealing Multifunctional Endothelium Nanomatrix Coated Stents, Grant Alexander Jan 2018

Prohealing Multifunctional Endothelium Nanomatrix Coated Stents, Grant Alexander

All ETDs from UAB

Cardiovascular disease is currently the number one cause of death in the United States, and indeed, worldwide. Stents are the most commonly implanted devices used to treat cardiovascular disease. Bare metal stent use remains limited by relatively high rates of in-stent restenosis, a re-narrowing of the artery after stent deployment. Restenosis within stents is a result of neointimal proliferation of smooth muscle cells and the accom-panying extracellular matrix deposition in response to vessel injury. To address this, drug-eluting stents have been developed to reduce restenosis; however, difficulties with late stent thrombosis, inflammation, and poor re-endothelialization remained. Thus, alt-hough numerous approaches …


Wireless Communication Systems Modeling And Design Using Communication Theory, Saleh Saeed S Allehaibi Jan 2018

Wireless Communication Systems Modeling And Design Using Communication Theory, Saleh Saeed S Allehaibi

All ETDs from UAB

The demand for reliable wireless communication systems has dramatically increased in recent years. Developing new methods, that exploit limited resources of power and bandwidth, is necessary to satisfy such a huge communication demand. Thus, the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is considered an efficient solution for wireless communication systems. MIMO system provides high data rates by exploiting the spatial domain under the constraints of limited transmit power and bandwidth. One of the MIMO systems transmitting strategy is the Space-Time Block Codes (STBCs) that exploits transmit diversity and high reliability. Also, the least action principle (LAP) of information theory seeks optimal effectiveness …


Organic Inkjet-Printed Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor Dc Model For Sensing Applications, Steven Gardner Jan 2018

Organic Inkjet-Printed Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor Dc Model For Sensing Applications, Steven Gardner

All ETDs from UAB

A technological renaissance is underway, allowing large-area displays, paper thin sensors, flexible electronics and printable circuits. A new circuit manufacturing technique has the potential for a plethora of promising applications from non-invasive biosensors to radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs). Functional layers are printed onto a planar substrate by inkjet printers retrofit with conductive inks, resulting in the inkjet-printed circuit (iPC). Functional RLC components have been designed with relatively high reliability, paving the way for fully printed passive and active analog filters. The main electrical component being researched to meet industrial standards is the printed transistor. This thesis establishes a digital model …


Automated Image Analysis Of Ternary Eutectic Microstructures, Elizabeth Gauntt Jan 2018

Automated Image Analysis Of Ternary Eutectic Microstructures, Elizabeth Gauntt

All ETDs from UAB

Detailed descriptions of complex microstructures are necessary for detailed understanding of their production and consequences. However, there is no consensus on how to characterize microstructures with even three phases. Invariant ternary eutectics have greater complexity than binary eutectics, require more variables to completely describe, may change morphology due to processing conditions, and are deceptively difficult to characterize automatically. For these reasons, a program has been developed which can partition a ternary image into regions of its three phases (using a segmentation and correction process prescribed by the user), then return an assortment of measurements characterizing the microstructure. These measurements have …


Modeling And Experimental Study Of Fluid Dynamics Of Sand Granular Flow For Core Making, Jun Ge Jan 2018

Modeling And Experimental Study Of Fluid Dynamics Of Sand Granular Flow For Core Making, Jun Ge

All ETDs from UAB

Sand core making is one of the essential parts of the manufacturing process in the metal casting industry. Blowing a sand granule mixture on the core machine determines the quality of the core. This filling process under air pressure can be simulated with commercial numerical packages for granular flow modeling. However, many areas are still unclear for further establishing the numerical-to-practical correlation in industrial-scale processes where specific granule materials and conditions are presented. Continuum and discrete approach are popular methodologies to simulate granular flow. In continuum method, coefficient of restitution (COR) is introduced as a scalar parameter to represents the …


Preliminary Thermal And Stress Analysis Of An Electrical Connection Acting As A Thermal Dam On A Nitinol Wire, Lloyd D. Balfour Jan 2018

Preliminary Thermal And Stress Analysis Of An Electrical Connection Acting As A Thermal Dam On A Nitinol Wire, Lloyd D. Balfour

All ETDs from UAB

The type of actuator studied in this paper is a joule heated shape memory alloy (SMA) thermal actuator. The electrical connections of the actuator electrically partition the SMA in a binary fashion with the section either fully actuated or not. This method creates a digital actuator rather than an analog actuator. Heat from an energized partitioned section will conduct to adjacent partition sections which may partially activate the adjacent partitioned sections. The connections will act as heat sinks to mitigate this effect. The thermal SMA actuator is referred to as a Diginol actuator. This paper includes the thermal analysis of …


Wear, Corrosion, And Micromotion In Retrieval And Autopsy Components Of Tkr, Heath Mitchell Baskin Jan 2018

Wear, Corrosion, And Micromotion In Retrieval And Autopsy Components Of Tkr, Heath Mitchell Baskin

All ETDs from UAB

Total knee replacement (TKR) is used to remedy end-stage joint deterioration. Despite advancements in TKR design, thousands of patients still experience aseptic loosening and the revision surgeries that follow. Wear and corrosion processes can lead to the harmful production of debris, causing osteolysis in the periprosthetic space. This study seeks to quantify the relationships of wear, corrosion, and micromotion as it relates to aseptic loosening in TKR. 17 TKR devices harvested at revision surgeries and 6 necropsy devices available through UAB’s retrieval program were scored for wear and inflammatory cell-induced corrosion (ICIC). All devices were implanted ≤ 10 years. All …


A Computational Approach To Analyze Vortex Induced Vibration For A Flexible Riser, Ibrahim Bilgin Jan 2018

A Computational Approach To Analyze Vortex Induced Vibration For A Flexible Riser, Ibrahim Bilgin

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT Vortex shedding is an oscillating flow behind blunt bodies when fluid flows past it. One of the consequences of vortex shedding is the vortex-induced vibrations (VIV), which happens in numerous engineering structures such as bridge, heat exchangers, marine cables, electrical power lines, and risers in petroleum production. A critical application of VIV is the risers used in petroleum industries, which connects between sea surface and sea base. A failure of risers and platforms can result in enormous economic and catastrophic environmental problems. Therefore, understanding VIV is essential to estimate fatigue damage of the offshore systems. This thesis describes a …


Multi-Generation Modeling Based On A Natural Gas Driven Internal Combustion Engine, Nnamdi Gabriel Okafor Jan 2018

Multi-Generation Modeling Based On A Natural Gas Driven Internal Combustion Engine, Nnamdi Gabriel Okafor

All ETDs from UAB

Science and technological advancement, environmental pollution, government policies and rising energy costs have long since begun redefining the way power is generated, distributed and utilized. Considering the much higher standards relative to common practices, distributed energy power generation has proven to be a viable alternative to centralized power generation due to the many advantages such as energy generation and control independence, lower greenhouse emissions and significant reduction in transmission losses. This research considers a natural gas-powered internal combustion engine with trigeneration capabilities or combined cooling heating and power (CCHP) as well as renewable energy incorporation including solar panels and possibly …


Characterization Of Top Three Nonfatal Occupational Injuries, 2012-2014, Levent Onat Jan 2018

Characterization Of Top Three Nonfatal Occupational Injuries, 2012-2014, Levent Onat

All ETDs from UAB

Characterization of nonfatal occupational contact with object or equipment injuries, falls on same level injuries, and overexertion injuries involving outside sources that are considered as the top three occupational injuries comprise this study. The injury data from 2012 to 2014 have been obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System - Occupational Supplement (NEISS-Work) which collects the data from a national probability-based sample of U.S. Hospital Emergency Departments (EDs). The data for selected variables were queried for the three most-occurring injury categories by using Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System (WORK-RISQS). Worker demographics and their impacts on injury characteristics have been …


Through Thickness Property Variations Of Compression Molded Long Glass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene With Different Thicknesses, Vikas Patel Jan 2018

Through Thickness Property Variations Of Compression Molded Long Glass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene With Different Thicknesses, Vikas Patel

All ETDs from UAB

Composite materials are on the verge of becoming primary materials choices for many applications due to their promising features of achieving high strength and stiffness and lightweighting of many components. Thermoplastic matrix composites have been gaining favor due to their superior toughness and energy dissipation properties coupled with corrosion resistance and ease of processing. Long fiber thermoplastics (LFTs) are a class of composites, which contain discontinuous reinforcements at a length above the critical fiber length for efficient load transfer to the reinforcement. These materials are gaining steady favor due to their positive aspects of tailorable properties, intrinsic recyclability, high specific …


Efficiency Of Structurally Integrated Surface Articulation (Sisa) Panels For Structural Engineering Applications, Feyza Nur Yildirim Jan 2018

Efficiency Of Structurally Integrated Surface Articulation (Sisa) Panels For Structural Engineering Applications, Feyza Nur Yildirim

All ETDs from UAB

The objective of this project is to investigate the efficiency of a newly developed structurally integrated surface articulation (SISA) building system for encapsulating an extensive range of specific and multi-purpose functions such as exterior panels for buildings and solar panels for structural engineering applications. SISA is a modular system, consisting of a 3-space, dynamically configured, geometrically need renewal surface panels that are internally supported by a "wire-frame" space frame structure. The appropriate articulations to these different methods will vary from one element to another. Surface articulation development is an efficiently developing issue, especially in continuing research on new generational frame …


Design And Development Of An Affordable Telemetry System For Navigation Of Autonomous Vehicle, An Liu Jan 2018

Design And Development Of An Affordable Telemetry System For Navigation Of Autonomous Vehicle, An Liu

All ETDs from UAB

Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, which is on average 3,287 deaths a day. An addition to the death toll, another 20-50 million are injured or disabled [1]. These are the huge deal of damage to the human’s body. Therefore, in this thesis, we implement autonomous navigation and find the safe path for travel, in which the vehicle can find the most feasible path and drive along this path independently. In order to gain insight and have an opportunity to investigate further on autonomous vehicles field, we define the aim of this project to design, develop, …


Utilization And Environmental Durability Of Advanced Composite Design Of Seismic Foundation For All-Soil Site Classes, Qian Huang Jan 2018

Utilization And Environmental Durability Of Advanced Composite Design Of Seismic Foundation For All-Soil Site Classes, Qian Huang

All ETDs from UAB

Three bridge sites in Alabama are investigated for potential seismic-foundation retrofit. A new seismic foundation method that uses Fiber Reinforcement Polymer (FRP) to strengthen the head of pile (FSHP) is proposed. Two FRP specifically, Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Hybrid-Polymer-Matrix Composite (CHMC) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP), are used in this new seismic retrofit method. Finite Element Seismic simulation (FEM) is used to examine the seismic retrofit performance of bridge foundation. Both CHMC and CFRP FSHP retrofitted piles are shown to survive the design-earthquake, but it is shown that CHMC, which is a wrap / epoxy / spray-on material, provides markedly better …