Degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is a phenomenon that has yet to be adequately addressed. Treatment options remain limited and incomplete. The ability to effectively cryopreserve IVDs would allow for better allograft transplantations and storage of samples for research purposes. This study aimed to assess how cryopreservation with different...
Rapid and effective treatment of burn injuries is critical to prevent long term damage. Besides the pain associated with the burn injury due to damage and death of surrounding tissue and cells, there is a large risk for complications, particularly infection, following a burn injury. To address these risks, Meta...
Sepsis is a blood infection caused by circulating pathogens and cell wall fragments that affects over 1 million patients per year in the United States. When bacterial cell membranes are lysed by antibiotics, cell wall fragments containing lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are released. As a result, the capture of LPS is critical...
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a relatively new manufacturing technique that can create high complexity parts out of many materials in low volume. The fused filament fabrication (FFF) is the lowest cost AM process and is capable of producing only thermoplastic components. Powder injection molding (PIM) is a high volume low...
The use of ureolytic bacteria for the remediation of contaminated groundwater aquifers by inducing calcium carbonate precipitation is being studied in order to establish a better understanding of the modeling and prediction of how the bacteria will act in situ. This research has pursued the use of various ureolytic bacteria...
This thesis investigates the applicability of the finite element method to model wave energy converter (WEC) hydroelasticity using LS-DYNA. The proposed methodology uses the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation to model Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) between the WEC and the fluid elements. This formulation allows for time-domain modeling of higher order effects such...
This work describes a method for incorporating patient data into a nutrient transport model of the intervertebral disc.This data was collected using MRI diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), and was converted into an apparent diffusion coefficient map (ADC map). This map was used to define the diffusion behavior of water within...
Platelets undergo morphological changes essential to hemostasis upon activation at sites of vascular injury. The Rho GTPases Rac1, Cdc42, and RhoA drive these changes. Rho guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors (RhoGDIs) bind to the Rho GTPases to block the GDP from dissociating from the Rho GTPases, as well as anchoring the...
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Adam Higgins, Committee Member, representing the school of Chemical, Biological, and
Oxide growth is a common phenomenon on aluminum alloy cladding surfaces in nuclear research and test reactors. Without better understanding of oxide growth, excessive oxide build up on the cladding surface reduces heat transfer capability from fuel to coolant and causes safety concerns due to the potential cladding rupture or...
Spray impingement cooling has been shown to be a leading candidate for future high heat flux cooling applications. In general, spray cooling curves consist of three heat flux regimes; single-phase, two-phase and critical heat flux (CHF). CHF is considered the design limit for almost all two-phase cooling applications, as a...