Biomechanical Engineering Commons^™

A Survey Of Stainless Steel In Medical And Surgical Application, Noah Slack, Clint Balch

ME 4133/6133 Mechanical Metallurgy

Stainless steels can be separated into four families based on the microstructure of the material: Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic, and Duplex. Each family provides a specific set of advantages and disadvantages, and material selection should be based on the specific application the material will be used for. For this study, the processing, microstructure, and performance of the four families of stainless steels will be compared in the context of medical device applications. The most important factors in medical device materials are biocompatibility, surface properties, mechanical properties and life span/corrosion resistance. This study will focus on medical devices that will be permanently …

Force-Feedback Design For Robotics: Bio-Based Design And Simulation, Husnain Khan, Zhou Zhang

Publications and Research

The great challenge for the Virtual Assembly Platform is how to make the users have the in-person feeling with the augmented tools. Hands are the most important organs that are used to provide touch feeling. In a real assembly scenario, the force from the components and tools will be feedback to the brain via the hands. Unfortunately, the virtual assembly failed to mimic the in-person scenarios since it will not provide such kind of feedback. As a result, the users’ real identities are lost. Then, the users’ slower-progressing wrong habits will prevent them from success in the future. Therefore, it …

Respiratory Compensated Robot For Liver Cancer Treatment: Design, Fabrication, And Benchtop Characterization, Mishek Jair Musa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in the world. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an effective method for treating tumors less than 5 cm. However, manually placing the RFA needle at the site of the tumor is challenging due to the complicated respiratory induced motion of the liver. This paper presents the design, fabrication, and benchtop characterization of a patient mounted, respiratory compensated robotic needle insertion platform to perform percutaneous needle interventions. The robotic platform consists of a 4-DoF dual-stage cartesian platform used to control the pose of a 1-DoF needle insertion module. The active …

Medial And Lateral Tibiofemoral Contact Forces For Individuals With High Body Mass Index In Gait And Cycling Training, Reymil Fernandez

Master's Theses

The prevalence of knee osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease characterized by the degradation of articular cartilage, is correlated with the rise in obesity. The rising rates of obesity in children and adults highlight the need for identifying a sustainable physical activity that promotes fitness while mitigating initiation and progression of osteoarthritis. The objective of this study was to determine an effective rehabilitation and lifelong fitness sustainment exercise regimen that minimize risk of osteoarthritis in individuals with high body mass index (BMI). The aim was to examine knee medial and lateral contact forces in gait and cycling training. Gait at self-selected …

Triangular Cosserat Point Element Method For Reducing Soft Tissue Artifact: Validation And Application To Gait, Jake Edward Deschamps, Stephen Klisch

Master's Theses

Human motion capture technology is a powerful tool for advancing the understanding of human motion biomechanics (Andriacchi and Alexander, 2000). This is most readily accomplished by applying retroreflective markers to a participant’s skin and tracking the position of the markers during motion. Skin and adipose tissue move independently of the underlying bone during motion creating error known as soft tissue artifact (STA), the primary source of error in human motion capture (Leardini et al., 2005).

(Solav et al., 2014) proposed and (Solav et al., 2015) expanded the triangular Cosserat point element (TCPE) method to reduce the effect of STA on …

Using Dynamic In Vivo Kinematics For Subject-Specific Calibration Of Knee Ligament Parameters, Stephen Nelson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In vivo clinical studies are the optimal way to investigate the biomechanical outcomes of new prosthetic devices. This particular style of testing can be difficult and, in certain cases, unethical to perform. The testing of unproven devices, surgical techniques, and materials put patients at risk from unanticipated outcomes in how these devices respond to the in vivo environment and patient-specific loading conditions. Biomechanical computational models were developed to provide validation to new devices prior to clinical testing. Computational models for use in optimizing knee prosthetics frequently include ligament representations, but these representations have inherent uncertainty due to wide intersubject variation …

Collision Tracking And Brain Mapping, Carl Russell Iii

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

État Des Récentes Avancées En Matière De Développement De Sièges À Suspension, Subhash Rakheja, Pierre Marcotte, Karim Hamouda, Krishna Dewangan, Darshan Dorugade

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Dans divers secteurs d’activité du Québec, les conducteurs de véhicules sont exposés à des niveaux notables de vibrations globales du corps (VGC) et à des chocs intermittents, associés dans les deux cas à un risque accru de douleurs lombaires et de dégénérescence de la colonne vertébrale. Les sièges à suspension sont largement utilisés pour limiter l'exposition des conducteurs aux VGC. L’efficacité d'un siège à suspension à réduire les vibrations est fortement dépendante de la nature des vibrations du véhicule (amplitude, direction et fréquence). Un siège à suspension ne peut donc offrir une efficacité optimale que lorsque la suspension est mise …

State-Of-The-Art In Recent Developments Concerning Suspension Seats, Subhash Rakheja, Pierre Marcotte, Karim Hamouda, Krishna Dewangan, Darshan Dorugade

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Dans divers secteurs d’activité du Québec, les conducteurs de véhicules sont exposés à des niveaux notables de vibrations globales du corps (VGC) et à des chocs intermittents, associés dans les deux cas à un risque accru de douleurs lombaires et de dégénérescence de la colonne vertébrale. Les sièges à suspension sont largement utilisés pour limiter l'exposition des conducteurs aux VGC. L’efficacité d'un siège à suspension à réduire les vibrations est fortement dépendante de la nature des vibrations du véhicule (amplitude, direction et fréquence). Un siège à suspension ne peut donc offrir une efficacité optimale que lorsque la suspension est mise …

Creating Reel Designs: Reflecting On Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita In The Community, Iris Layadi

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Because of its extreme rarity, the genetic disease arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) and the needs of individuals with the diagnosis are often overlooked. AMC refers to the development of nonprogressive contractures in disparate areas of the body and is characterized by decreased flexibility in joints, muscle atrophy, and developmental delays. Colton Darst, a seven-year-old boy from Indianapolis, Indiana, was born with the disorder, and since then, he has undergone numerous surgical interventions and continues to receive orthopedic therapy to reduce his physical limitations. His parents, Michael and Amber Darst, have hopes for him to regain his limbic motion and are …

Numerical Study Of Fully Coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction Of Stented Ureter By Varying The Stent Side-Holes, Erick Martinez, Ben Xu, Jianzhi Li, Yingchen Yang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Ureteral stents are a measure used for many medical issues involving urology, such as kidney stones or kidney transplants. The purpose of applying stents is to help relieve the urine flow while the ureter is either blocked or trying to close itself, which creates blockages. These ureteral stents, while necessary, cause pain and discomfort to patients due to them being a solid that moves around inside the patients’ body. The ureter normally moves urine to the bladder through peristaltic forces. Due to the ureter being a hyperelastic material, these peristaltic forces cause the ureter to deform easily, making it necessary …

Building A Biomechanical Model Of A Rat Forelimb, Joshua Nathaniel Eric Mak

Dissertations and Theses

This paper presents a biomechanical model of the rat forelimb to test theories of determining viscoelastic muscle parameters. Several biomechanical models of rat hindlimbs have been developed and have explored the effects of multi-muscle control during locomotion. The forelimb model uses two ball-and-socket joints to model clavicle and scapula movement. A third ball-and-socket joint is used at the shoulder and two hinge joints are used at the elbow and wrist. Scapula motion is further constrained by muscle and spring elements. Each forelimb has 11 degrees of freedom, and 23 Hill-type muscles. The model has been created in Animatlab, which includes …

Use Of Pressure-Measuring Insoles To Characterize Gait Parameters In Simulated Reduced-Gravity Conditions, Christian Ison, Connor Neilsen, Jessica Deberardinis, Mohamed B. Trabia, Janet S. Dufek

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Prior researchers have observed the effect of simulated reduced-gravity exercise. However, the extent to which lower-body positive-pressure treadmill (LBPPT) walking alters kinematic gait characteristics is not well understood. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of LBPPT walking on selected gait parameters in simulated reduced-gravity conditions. Twenty-nine college-aged volunteers participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants wore pressure-measuring insoles (Medilogic GmBH, Schönefeld, Germany) and completed three 3.5-min walking trials on the LBPPT (AlterG, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA) at 100% (normal gravity) as well as reduced-gravity conditions of 40% and 20% body weight (BW). The resulting insole data were …

Build Your Own Body Mod: Empowerment Through Prototyping And Design, Anaiss Arreola, Katherine R. Ganim

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

When you don’t have a hand, what could you have instead? This article introduces the impact of inviting youth with disabilities to learn tools and technology to design their own solutions and advocate for their own future. This approach to programming is rooted in a mindset of designing WITH, not FOR. Not only are design outcomes improved when users are incorporated into the process, but this approach has been shown to improve confidence in creating one’s own solutions. These programs include hands-on “design-your-own-body-mod” workshops, as well as a budding inclusive design consultancy led by youth with disabilities. Through this programming, …

Influence Of Extracellular Matrix Stiffness And Topography On Neuronal Cell Behavior And Neurite Outgrowth, Mohan Yasodharababu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The focus of regeneration therapy for traumatic brain injuries and Alzheimer's disease is on the promotion and growth of neuronal cells. In vitro research attempts to improve this by modifying the stiffness and topography of the extracellular matrix (ECM). However, the limitations of in vitro experiments make it difficult to control the individual factors influencing neuronal cell growth. A computational model can be used to decouple individual factors and study them individually to gain a better understanding of the mechanics between the neuronal cell and ECM, which will aid in the design of in vitro experimental studies.

This study develops …

Handwriting Correction System Using Wearable Sleeve With Optimal Tactor Configuration, Dhanya Nair, Grant Stankaitis, Sean Duback, Robert Geoffrion, Justin B. Jackson

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Handwriting remains an elusive skill with practice worksheets being the common method of learning. Since these worksheets provide only visual feedback and no quantitative feedback, it can often be a challenge to improve. For children with learning disabilities, learning handwriting skills is one of the most difficult tasks. We propose a handwriting training system that uses off-the-shelf webcam, a pen tracking software and a haptic sleeve which provides active feedback to the user based on their deviation from the original pattern. The sleeve has 4 individual motors that vibrate at different intensities based on the direction (right, left, up or …

Scalability Of The Size Of Patterns Drawn Using Tactile Hand Guidance, Dhanya Nair

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Haptic feedback for handwriting training has been extensively studied, but with primary focus on kinematic feedback. We provide vibrotactile feedback through a wrist worn sleeve to guide the user to recreate unknown patterns and study the impact of vibrational duration (1, 2, 3 seconds) on pattern scaling. User traces a line at 90° angles, while attempting to maintain a constant speed, in the direction of the motor activated till a different motor activation is perceived. Shape and size are two features of good letter formation. Study performed on three subjects showed the ability to utilize four vibrotactile motors to guide …

Experimental Investigation Of The Performance Of A Hybrid Self-Healing System In Porous Asphalt Under Fatigue Loadings, Shi Xu, Liu Xueyan, Amir Tabakovic, Erik Schlangen

Articles

Self-healing asphalt, which is designed to achieve autonomic damage repair in asphalt pavement, offers a great life-extension prospect and therefore not only reduces pavement maintenance costs but also saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions. The combined asphalt self-healing system, incorporating both encapsulated rejuvenator and induction heating, can heal cracks with melted binder and aged binder rejuvenation, and the synergistic effect of the two technologies shows significant advantages in healing efficiency over the single self-healing method. This study explores the fatigue life extension prospect of the combined healing system in porous asphalt. To this aim, porous asphalt (PA) test specimens with …

F34 Beekeeper Assist, Kyle Ladtkow, Javier Guerra, Jose Velazquez, Ryan Heryford

Mechanical Engineering

Alejandro Jauregui is a veteran who now works as a commercial beekeeper. He lost both of his legs during his service. While his current prostheses allow him to fully complete his work, he has found that inspection of the bee boxes causes him severe hip and back pain. Bee box inspection is a critical task for beekeeping, especially since he maintains about 200 hives every day. Our senior project team was tasked with designing and building a device that would help him move the top bee box out of the way to allow for inspection. We performed preliminary research into …

Design And Implementation Of A Modular Human-Robot Interaction Framework, Michael J. Juri

Master's Theses

With the increasing longevity that accompanies advances in medical technology comes a host of other age-related disabilities. Among these are neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and stroke, which significantly reduce the motor and cognitive ability of affected individuals. As these diseases become more prevalent, there is a need for further research and innovation in the field of motor rehabilitation therapy to accommodate these individuals in a cost-effective manner. In recent years, the implementation of social agents has been proposed to alleviate the burden on in-home human caregivers. Socially assistive robotics (SAR) is a new subfield of research …

Adaptive Vehicle Control, Brian L. Finger, Maria Vargas, Jacob T. Larson, Christopher J. Villa

Mechanical Engineering

This report presents the final design for our device made for Mrs. Laura Jagels. Mrs. Jagels, who has an above the knee amputation, needed a device that would allow her to operate a manual car in a safe and reliable way that still gives her the traditional driving experience. This report takes into consideration the shortcomings of current market devices that enable amputees to operate vehicles. From this research and through interviews with Mrs. Jagels, we were able to decide on our device specifications, giving us a basis to objectively evaluate designs. Ideation and concept prototype building was performed for …

3-D Positioning System For Trackable Adjustments Of Papillary Muscles, Ryan Michael Winters, Micaela Andrea Bataclan, Christine Do, Giselle Morales

Biomedical Engineering

Redacted.

Hand Strength And Dexterity Enhancer, Julia Ann Denison, Autumn B. Rexford, Melissa A. Kurani, Christina K. Fong

Biomedical Engineering

Good Grips created the hand strength and dexterity enhancer project to meet the challenge presented by Bill Phelps. He has Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), an inflammatory muscle disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. Bill has limited strength in both hands and lost the ability to bend his fingers, making it difficult to grip anything. He needed a device that would help with everyday tasks such as writing, lifting, and holding various objects.

Our team consists of four engineering students attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. We researched, designed, manufactured, and tested a device that would fulfill the problem …

Composite Pegboard, Asa J. Cusick, Luis Corrales, Joelle Hylton, Wyatt Pauley

Mechanical Engineering

Many of those with mobility limitations who are told they will need a wheelchair for the rest of their lives can actually begin to stand and walk again given the proper tools and support. The current design for a wheelchair seeking to support this process is overly complex, heavy, and exhibits some features that could potentially pose a serious health hazard to those using it. The scope of this project is to aid in the design of an adaptable composite wheelchair frame that can be both lightweight and strong, while still allowing for physical diversity of potential users. Through research …

The Application Of Post-Hoc Correction Methods For Soft Tissue Artifact And Marker Misplacement In Youth Gait Knee Kinematics, Kaila L. Lawson

Master's Theses

Biomechanics research investigating the knee kinematics of youth participants is very limited. The most accurate method of measuring knee kinematics utilizes invasive procedures such as bone pins. However, various experimental techniques have improved the accuracy of gait kinematic analyses using minimally invasive methods. In this study, gait trials were conducted with two participants between the ages of 11 and 13 to obtain the knee flexion-extension (FE), adduction-abduction (AA) and internal-external (IE) rotation angles of the right knee. The objectives of this study were to (1) conduct pilot experiments with youth participants to test whether any adjustments were necessary in the …

Fatigue Monitoring Through Wearable Sensors For Construction Workers, Srikanth Sagar Bangaru

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

About 40% of the US construction workforce experiences high-level fatigue, which leads to poor judgment, increased risk of injuries, a decrease in productivity, and a lower quality of work. Excessive fatigue from working in unpleasant working conditions, long working hours, or heavy workloads can aggravate fatigue's adverse effects, leading to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and productivity loss. Therefore, it is essential to monitor fatigue to reduce the adverse effects and preventing long-term health problems. However, since fatigue demonstrates itself in several complex processes, there is no single standard measurement method for fatigue detection. This research aims to develop a system …

Magnetic Gradient-Based Magnetic Tweezer System For 3d And Swarm Control Of Microswimmer, Xiao Zhang

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

Microscale manipulation has very promising potential in medical applications such as drug delivery, minimal and invasion surgery. Contactless control is preferable as remote manipulation is necessary for in vivo applications. Among different control methods, magnetic power source is more suitable and robust for the applications mentioned above. Presented here is a magnetic tweezer system, which manipulates microscale magnetic particles using magnetic forces created by magnetic field gradient. The proposed system has three advantages: First, force applied by the magnetic tweezer system does not contact with the target object and can be generated in different directions. Second, the magnetic tweezer system …

Development Of A Solidworks Simulation Toolkit For A Sophomore Level Biomedical Engineering Course, Jordan Crosby

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the engineering industry, computer-aided design (CAD) programs are used to create models and create virtual experiments or studies that allow engineers to observe the real behavior of parts or assemblies under certain conditions. Companies hire students with experience in CAD, as professionals believe that CAD experience is beneficial [1,2]. SolidWorks is among the most popular CAD software used by engineers. SolidWorks has multiple functionalities that also allow for finite element analysis dependent on the license. Users can create simulation studies in SolidWorks Simulation that can be used as an accurate approximation for real results.

The goal of this study …

A Model-Based Approach To Predict Neuromuscular Control Patterns That Minimize Acl Forces During Jump Landing, Dieter Heinrich, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Robert Csapo, Werner Nachbauer

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Jump landing is a common situation leading to knee injuries involving the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in sports. Although neuromuscular control is considered as a key injury risk factor, there is a lack of knowledge regarding optimum control strategies that reduce ACL forces during jump landing. In the present study, a musculoskeletal model-based computational approach
is presented that allows identifying neuromuscular control patterns that minimize ACL forces during jump landing. The approach is demonstrated for a jump landing maneuver in downhill skiing, which is one out of three main injury mechanisms in competitive skiing.

Healthy Aging In Place: An Integrated Smart Home Using Alexa-Compatible Technology, Tyler Kryst

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to address current healthcare concerns among the aging population. Around the globe, the average life expectancy is projected to continue increasing resulting in a higher prevalence of age-related disease. With the ever-increasing capabilities of modern technology, it is necessary to apply this technology to increase the health and safety of older adults. This work had three objectives. The first objective was the establishment of an integrated smart home aimed at creating a healthy aging-in-place environment through the use of Alexa. The second objective was the development and integration of a completely custom health device …