Biomechanics and Biotransport Commons^™

Multidimensional Determinants Of Gait, Balance, And Softball Performance In Female Youth: Biomechanics, Resource Access, And Psychosocial Factors, Allie G. Mcauliffe

Master's Theses

Movement quality is a fundamental indicator of healthy childhood development and supports physical, emotional, psychosocial, and cognitive well-being. Movement quality is influenced by multiple biomechanical, environmental, and psychosocial factors, yet the relationships among them remain poorly understood in underrepresented populations such as female youth, particularly in softball. Previous studies have largely examined biomechanics, resource access, and psychosocial experience independently, and few have investigated how these factors interact in female youth softball players. To address this gap, this study compared gait and balance characteristics between softball (N = 34) and non-softball (N = 7) female youth, examined associations between resource access, …

Pet Mobility Project, John Shelby, Lily-Rose Jolie Bacon, Andrea Yasmine Reyes

Biomedical Engineering

The Pet Mobility Project, sponsored by Terri Smith and Jasper Jackson, is an initiative aimed at providing a custom mobility aid to a pet in the San Luis Obispo community. Amber Rappozo’s young German Shepherd, LeDoux, was selected as the project’s recipient. LeDoux suffers from hindleg weakness and, as a result, has limited mobility. This document provides a comprehensive overview of the Pet Mobility Project, detailing the motivation, background, and design approach behind the development of a LeDoux’s custom mobility aid.

Baseline Cervical Intervertebral Disc Biomechanics And Implications For Allograft Preservation, Nathan F. Buchweitz

All Dissertations

Neck pain has become an increasingly common orthopaedic healthcare issue. Evidence shows that degeneration of cervical intervertebral discs (the cartilage between the spinal vertebrae in the neck) may be associated. While disc degeneration in the lumbar spine has been extensively studied in relation to low back pain, it has received less attention in the cervical spine. Biomechanically, the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) regions of the spine differ in function. Lumbar discs resist a greater burden of body weight, whereas cervical discs are adapted for mobility to aid flexible head orientation. Despite these key differences, disc injury and degeneration …

Investigation Into The Effects Of Moderate-Dose Radiation On Ligament Biomechanics, Andrew Landefeld

All Theses

Recent advances in arthritis treatment pin ionizing X-ray radiation as a useful tool in reducing joint pain and immune response. However, due to a lack of fundamental research in the effects of low-dose ionizing radiation on tendon and ligament biomechanics, the safety of these studies is rather unknown. While most related studies investigated cellular response to low dose treatment, surrounding tissue physiology is left out of the picture. Additionally, moderate range doses of irradiation are rarely studied, as most uses of radiation on tendons and ligaments are for sterilization of cadaver tendons for allografts. This study provides a preliminary investigation …

Using Ai To Predict Energy Expenditure In Lower Limb Prosthesis Users, Nelly Diaz, Siem Hadish

Posters - 2026

• Computer vision has evolved from simple image classification and object detection to analyzing human motion and biomechanics (1). • CNN’s are usually focused on image classification, but, in this case, we are not asking the model if a person is walking. • Many real-world problems require regression: Predicting a continuous number like energy expenditure of walking is a complex task. • It is essential for Prosthetists to understand energy expenditure of their prosthetic patients (2). • An amputee may use 20-30% more energy to walk. • In this project, we developed an AI model to analyze human motion and …

Mechanical-Medical Convergence In Heart Failure: Artificial Intelligence, Finite-Element Modeling, And 3d Printing For Diagnosis And Prognosis, Quazi Noor E. Sabrina, Quazi Md Zobaer Shah, Quazi Noor E. Sohela, Md Mahabub Hasan Mousum, Md. Moyeen Uddin Chisty, Quazi Md. Akbar Shah

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Heart failure remains a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, yet routine clinical indices often miss the regional biomechanical disturbances that drive progression and shape treatment response. This State-of-the-Art review examines how finite-element (FE) modeling, additive manufacturing, and artificial intelligence (AI) are converging to improve the diagnosis, phenotyping, procedural planning, and prognostic assessment of heart failure (HF). Although these technologies have matured in structural heart disease and transcatheter intervention research, their greatest translational potential may lie in HF, where patient-specific ventricular remodeling, myocardial stress–strain heterogeneity, valve-ventricular coupling, and device-tissue interaction are incompletely captured by conventional clinical indices. We synthesize …

Combining Haptic Feedback With Electromyography To Study Knee Injury In Stationary Cycling, Christopher Kirby

Honors Theses

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is the most prevalent overuse injury in cycling, often linked to altered neuromuscular activation patterns of the quadriceps and hamstrings. While sensory feedback has successfully modified cyclists posture, there is a critical lack of evidence-based interventions targeting the underlying muscle activation imbalances associated with chronic knee pain. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel, real-time biofeedback system that utilizes electromyography (EMG) to trigger vibrotactile cues, aiming to shift muscle onset timing earlier in the pedal stroke to mitigate PFPS-related imbalances. A closed-loop system was engineered by integrating a Delsys EMG system with a SageMotion …

Reverse (Bio)Engineering: A Machine Learning Approach To Optimize Baseball Pitcher Health And Performance, Robert C. Moore

All Dissertations

Ball tracking systems are becoming ubiquitous in sport, creating an unprecedented opportunity for big data applications to optimize human health and performance. These applications are especially common in baseball, a sport known for analyzing ball flight data to quantify performance. Analysts routinely use ball flight data to identify the attributes of top performing pitchers, finding that the best pitchers throw with optimal combinations of release speed and spin to precise locations. However, for certain pitchers, the throwing motion required to produce optimal ball flight places exceedingly high biomechanical load on the elbow, and consequently injury rates continue to rise. This …

Investigation Of A Divergent Triangle Construct For Internal Fixation Of Vertical Femoral Neck Fractures Using Experimental And Finite Element Analysis Methods, Hannah Rainey

Masters Theses

Hip fractures are a significant public health issue as they are a commonly encountered problem and have a high rate of mortality. The fracture of the femoral neck is difficult to treat due to the geometry of the proximal femur and the weight-bearing capacity that the structure must comply with. Internal fixation of the femoral neck is often accomplished with three screws inserted along the axis of the femoral neck. The optimal configuration and number of these screws is not agreed upon in the literature. The purpose of this study was to conduct a pilot investigation on the biomechanical performance …

A Wearable-Based Approach To Spinal Posture Tracking And Assessment, Sydney Marie Sherman, Noah Jeffery

Biomedical Engineering: Graduate Reports and Projects

This paper describes the design, manufacturing, and testing of a novel spinal posture tracking wearable device with embedded sensors. Currently on the market, most of the spinal posture tracking devices only focus on one segment of the spine and therefore do not track the entirety of human posture. The objective for this project was to create a wearable device in the form of a “smart shirt” that offers insights into posture trends throughout the day by tracking the entire spine. To begin the project, multiple designs were developed for the sensor array and wearable materials. These concepts were compared against …

Opensim Analysis Of The Aymara Indigenous People Performing Ancestral Tasks: Exploring Trends Of Muscle Activity With Tiwanaku Skeletal Indicators, Noah M. Taylor

Master's Theses

The Tiwanaku civilization (AD 500-1100) of the Andean highlands exhibited occupational specialization in communities, with archeological evidence suggesting the existence of labor- and residential-communities, or “taskscapes”, based on an individual’s livelihood. Prior bioarcheological studies have examined Tiwanaku skeletal remains for musculoskeletal stress markers, osteoarthritis, and cross-sectional geometry to infer activity patterns. Their descendants, the Aymara Indigenous people, currently live in the same highlands and until recently lived a lifestyle like their ancestors. Over the past 20 years, the global quinoa demand has risen, thrusting the Aymara into globalization and moving them away from the traditional tasks previously performed. This study …

Advancing Tka Biomechanics: From Joint Simulator To Boundary Condition Development, Yashar Ali Behnam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses four specific aims that collectively attempted to advance the experimental and computational analysis of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) components. The first study focused on the development of a novel whole knee joint simulator capable of simultaneous tibiofemoral and patellofemoral knee loading. This simulator employs custom fixturing to facilitate dynamic, unconstrained, muscle-driven PF articulation alongside controlled TF contact mechanics. Validation against experimental measurements showed strong agreement, demonstrating the simulator's potential as a valuable tool for future TKA design and surgical technique investigations.

The second study verified implant-specific physiological boundary conditions which accurately simulate activities of daily living using …

Intervertebral Lateral Bending Moment Differences In The Lumbar Spine Of Baseball Pitchers Across Throwing Velocities, Justin Humenay

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction Baseball pitching imposes substantial mechanical demands on the lumbar spine, a crucial link in the kinetic chain responsible for transferring energy from the lower body to the upper extremity. While increased pitch velocity is associated with greater trunk forces the specific intervertebral loading patterns during high-velocity pitching remain unclear. This study investigates differences in lateral bending moments across lumbar spinal segments between collegiate pitchers throwing at high versus low velocities.

Methods Twenty right-handed collegiate pitchers were divided into two groups: high-velocity (n = 10, 90.3 ± 1.6 mph) and low-velocity (n = 10, 81.6 ± 1.1 mph). Motion capture …

Traction Force Microscopy Using An Epifluorescence Microscope: Experimental Considerations And Caveats, Zaria Booth, Mazen Mezher, Rudra Patel, Venkat Maruthamuthu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Forces exerted by cells due to their internal contractility play fundamental roles in a host of processes, including adhesion, migration, survival and differentiation. Traction force microscopy (TFM) enables the determination of forces exerted by cells or cell collectives on their environment, which is typically taken to be an extra-cellular matrix (ECM)-coated substrate. Sample preparation for TFM involves the plating of cells onto an environment embedded with fiducial markers. The imaging of these fiducial markers in the presence and absence of the cells then enables calculation of the displacement of localized regions of the environment, and, consequently, the spatial distribution of …

Measuring Gait Of Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients Pre-Op And Post-Op Using A Smartphone, Celeste A. Thai

Master's Theses

Motion capture technology is a tool often used in orthopedic applications, including measuring gait dysfunctions. However, gait analysis research focused on total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients is limited, especially using motion capture systems. This may be due to a multitude of factors, such as inaccessibility to gait labs to the general public, difficulty of travel post-surgery, and overall costs of care and maintenance of motion lab equipment. New emerging novel methods use wearable devices such as smartphones and inertial measurement devices (IMUs) to perform gait assessment and are becoming favorable due to their increasingly ubiquitous nature. One such method using …

A Pilot Study Comparing Muscle Activation And Kinematic Parameters Between Professional And Non-Professional Tennis Players, Anton S. Petrenko

Masters Theses

Tennis, a widely played sport across various age and skill groups, prompts continual skill improvement among competitive players seeking a competitive edge. This study explores two approaches for enhancing playing style: motion capture (MoCap) and surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals. The study addresses a gap in simultaneous examination of MoCap and entire dominant leg muscle activation, particularly concerning the influence of skill level and gender on various tennis strokes. To fill this void, the research records and analyzes MoCap and dominant leg sEMG data during serves and strokes on both court sides. The hypothesis posits differences in muscle activation and body …

Advances In Bone And Orthopedics 2024 Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet

Publications and Research

We are delighted to present the latest edition of ”Advances in Bone and Orthopedics,” a comprehensive compilation of pioneering research and innovative developments in the field. This volume brings together a selection of peer-reviewed abstracts from BONITOS 2024, the Fourth Season of the Bone and Orthopedics Interdisciplinary Symposium, held on May 31st, 2024, at the College of Staten Island in New York. This symposium, a hallmark event in the calendar of professionals dedicated to bone health and orthopedic excellence. The contributions within this volume reflect the breadth and depth of research presented at BONITOS 2024. These abstracts represent cutting-edge studies …

Electroencephalography And Biomechanics Of The Basketball Throw, Phong Ky Phan

Theses and Dissertations

According to various studies, compared with novice athletes, experts exhibit superior integration of perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills. This superior ability has been associated with the focused and efficient organization of task-related neural networks. Specifically, skilled individuals demonstrate a spatially localized or relatively lower response in brain activity, characterized as ‘neural efficiency’, when performing within their domain of expertise. Previous works also suggested that elite basketball players can predict successful free throws more rapidly and accurately based on cues from body kinematics. These traits are the result of a prolonged training of specific motor skills and focused excitability of the …

Computational Methodology For Generating Patient-Specific Soft Tissue Representations, Ahilan Anantha Krishnan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focused on modeling specimen-specific soft tissue structures in the context of joint replacement surgery. The research addressed four key aspects. The first study involved developing a workflow for creating finite element models of the hip capsule to replicate its torque-rotational response. Experimental data from ten cadaveric hips were used to calibrate the models, resulting in improved accuracy and relevance for surgical planning and implant design. The second study tackled the challenge of expediting the calibration of mechanical properties of the hip capsule to match patient-specific laxities. A statistical shape function model was proposed to generate patient-specific finite element …

Digital Twins Of The Living Knee: From Measurements To Model, Thor Erik Andreassen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern medicine has dramatically improved the lives of many. In orthopaedics, robotic surgery has given clinicians superior accuracy when performing interventions over conventional methods. Nevertheless, while these and many other methods are available to ensure treatments are performed successfully, far fewer methods exist to predict the proper treatment option for a given person. Clinicians are forced to categorize individuals, choosing the best treatment on “average.” However, many individuals differ significantly from the “average” person, for which many of these treatments are designed. Going forward, a method of testing, evaluating, and predicting different treatment options' short- and long-term effects on an …

Patient Movement Monitoring Based On Imu And Deep Learning, Mohsen Sharifi Renani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability among the aging population in the United States and is frequently treated by replacing deteriorated joints with metal and plastic components. Developing better quantitative measures of movement quality to track patients longitudinally in their own homes would enable personalized treatment plans and hasten the advancement of promising new interventions. Wearable sensors and machine learning used to quantify patient movement could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders. The purpose of this dissertation was to overcome technical challenges associated with the use of wearable sensors, specifically Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), as a …

Mitral Valve Imaging And Biomechanics: A Workflow Towards Computational Modeling And Validation, Sam Stephens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The mitral valve serves a critical role in healthy cardiac function by ensuring the unidirectional flow of oxygenated blood from the left atrium into the left ventricle. It experiences the highest pressures found within the heart and its closure is the result of a complex interaction of several different structures that, furthermore, are unique to each individual. Despite the valve’s vital role however, the specific function of these constituent structures is not fully understood. This, confounded by its asymmetric, personalized nature, make surgical interventions for the mitral valve far less effective than for its neighboring aortic valve. Efforts to overcome …

Quantifying Fibronectin Mechanical Properties Using Antibody-Mediated Optical Tweezing (Amot), Caleb Dalton

Theses and Dissertations

Despite decades of investigations into fibronectin (FN) fibrillogenesis, fibril mechanics remain unclear. One of the most important roles for FN fibrils is in the arena of cellular mechanotransduction. Numerous studies have demonstrated that cells sense and respond to the mechanical properties of their surroundings; since FN fibrils are a major constituent of the ECM that links cells to their surroundings, mechanotransduction cannot be fully understood without understanding the mechanical properties of FN fibrils. In this proposal, a novel biomechanical assay is developed to probe isolated FN fibrils and quantify their response to specific loading conditions. This will be accomplished by …

Making Sense Of Big (Kinematic) Data: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Movement Parameters In A Diverse Population, Naomi Wilma Nunis

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine how kinematic, big data can be evaluated using computational, comprehensive analysis of movement parameters in a diverse population.

METHODS

Retrospective data was collected, cleaned, and reviewed for further analysis of biomechanical movement in an active population using 3D collinear resistance loads. The active sample of the population involved in the study ranged from age 7 to 82 years old and respectively identified as active in 13 different sports. Moreover, a series of exercises were conducted by each participant across multiple sessions. Exercises were measured and recorded based on 6 distinct biometric …

Integrating Shear Flow And Trypsin Treatment To Assess Cell Adhesion Strength, Antra Patel, Bhavana Bhavanam, Trevor Keenan, Venkat Maruthamuthu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Cell adhesion is of fundamental importance in cell and tissue organization and for designing cell-laden constructs for tissue engineering. Prior methods to assess cell adhesion strength for strongly adherent cells using hydrodynamic shear flow either involved the use of specialized flow devices to generate high shear stress or used simpler implementations like larger height parallel plate chambers that enable multihour cell culture but generate low wall shear stress and are, hence, more applicable for weakly adherent cells. Here, we propose a shear flow assay for adhesion strength assessment of strongly adherent cells that employs off-the-shelf parallel plate chambers for shear …

Recent Advances In Bone Research 2022 Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet

Publications and Research

More and more scientific and engineering applications in bone research make pivotal advances in treating patients with orthopedics issues. Hence, bone research in the 21st century combines, inter alia, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and mechanics with complementary characteristics that help a holistic approach to bone-related pathologies. Nowadays, it is hard to connect new evidence when jargoning and money remain two significant obstacles to sharing knowledge. “Recent Advances In Bone Research” is a free book – no money involved at any stage - that combines the most recent efforts in bone research from several experts with different backgrounds, every expert seeks to …

Biomechanical Analysis Of Athletes Sprinting With Varying Degrees Of Resistance, Michaela Ott

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Utilizing resistance methods for sprinters is a common approach to their training. In this study, six athletes from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Women’s Track and Field Team ran a series of sprints using a resistance machine to collect data regarding the change in power output, stride length, level of trunk tilt with respect to the ground, and acceleration throughout a distance of ten meters when different amounts of resistant forces were applied to the athlete. It was hypothesized that as resistance increased, power output would increase, stride length would decrease, the runners would become more horizontal resulting in a larger …

Youth Pitching Kinematics: Associations With Body Overweight Parameters, Christina K. Fong

Master's Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate associations between injury-related kinematic parameters and overweight measures for youth baseball pitchers. The injury-related kinematic parameters considered were measurements 1) at foot contact: stride length, front foot position, shoulder external rotation, shoulder abduction, and elbow flexion; 2) between FC and ball release: peak knee extension; and 3) at BR: shoulder abduction. Data from three separate collection sites examined pitching mechanics of 18 10- to 11-year-old pitchers, 11 14- to 16-year-old pitchers, and 104 16- to 18-year-old pitchers Linear regression analyses were performed to determine significant correlations between kinematic parameters and body mass …

Effect Of Viscoelasticity On Cellular Morphology And Activity, Thomas J. Petet Jr

Theses and Dissertations

It has been well established that there is a link between substrate stiffness and cellular activities such as proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Less characterized is the link between the time-dependent viscosity of a substrate with those cellular activities. To explore this, PDMS substrates were created with predictably tunable stiffness and viscosity parameters. A simulated model was also developed in parallel to explore the potential effects of viscosity in a computationally predictive way. It was found that the inclusion of viscosity caused a major paradigm shift to a non-zero substrate equilibrium that was sensitive to increases in the substrate stiffness. Finally, …

Characterizing Locomotor Disturbance Perception In Young Adults, Daniel James Liss

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Falls during walking are a leading cause of injuries across aging. Many of these falls are due to slips and trips. The ability to perceive disturbances to ongoing motion may play an important role in the control of walking balance. However, disturbance perception has been investigated in standing balance, but its role in walking balance due to slip- and trip-like disturbances remains largely unknown. Characterizing locomotor disturbance perception in young adults may lead to a more comprehensive understanding of sensorimotor walking balance control.

This work defined locomotor disturbance perception in response to slip and trip-like disturbances in young adults. We …