Agile and Bright Intracardiac Catheters

Intracardiac imaging catheters represent unique instruments to diagnose and treat a diseased heart. While there are imminent advances in medical innovation, many of the commercially available imaging catheters are outdated. Some of them have been designed more than 20 years and therefore they lack novel sensor technology, multi-functionality, and often require manual assembly process. Introduction chapter of this thesis discusses clinical needs and introduces new technological concepts that are needed to progress the functionality and clinical value of the intracardiac catheters along with efficient and simple designs to make the catheters affordable for the patients. The following chapters are grouped into two parts that explore complementary transducer technology and a novel optical fiber-link solution for catheter-based intracardiac imaging. _Part I_ focuses on developing a new intracardiac catheter that has an advanced functionality, which provides clinician with high penetration or close-up high resolution ultrasound imaging in a single device. This agile ultrasound visualization is enabled by a capacitive-micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT), operated in collapse-mode, of which the operating frequency can be tuned. Acoustic performance of a fabricated CMUT is modelled and measured. Imaging performance of the CMUT array is quantified on a tissue-mimicking phantom and demonstrated both ex vivo and in vivo experiments. It is found that the combination of the forward-looking design, frequency-tuning and agile deflectability of the catheter allow for visualizing intracardiac structures of various sizes at different distances relative to the catheter tip, providing both wide overviews and detailed close-ups. _Part II_ is devoted to a novel optical technology for transmitting signals and transferring power inside catheters. A novel concept of an all-optical fiber link is introduced. A key insight obtained is that a blue light-emitting diode (LED) may be used as a photo-voltaic converter. Used in reverse under illumination with violet light, it converts significant amount of photonic energy to electricity and at the same time it may emit blue light back, which makes it a unique miniature power and communication channel for catheters. A pressure-sensing catheter prototype is built to demonstrate the concept of transmitting signals and delivering power using a single optical fiber and an LED. The potential of the power and signal fiber link solution is exploited further for ultrasound imaging. A bench-top demonstrator scalable to catheter dimensions is built, in which electrical wires for ultrasound-sensor signal and power tra

Analysis, modeling and design of energy management and multisource power systems

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 581-596).Transformative impacts on our energy security rely on creative approaches for consumption and generation of electricity. Technological contributions can impact both areas if they focus on problems of scale. For example, occupancy-based electrical loads (HVAC and lighting) accounted for roughly 50% of the total consumed electricity in the U.S. in 2008. Meanwhile, roughly 50% of consumed oil in the U.S. is imported. The U.S. Department of Energy has appropriately identified "sensing and measurement" as one of the "five fundamental technologies" essential for achieving energy security. Complementing reductions in consumption with increases in deployment of fossil-fuel-independent generation (solar and wind) and energy storage (batteries, capacitors and fuel cells) will yield a two-fold impact. Lofty energy security goals can be made realizable by aggressive application of inexpensive technologies for minimizing waste and by maximizing energy availability from desirable sources. Long-standing problems in energy consumption and generation can be addressed by adding degrees of freedom to sensing and power conversion systems using multiple electrical sources. This principal drove the invention of the hybrid electric vehicle, which achieves efficiency increases by combining the energy capacity of gasoline with the flexible storage capability of batteries. Similarly, fresh strategies for electrical circuit design, control, and estimation in systems with multiple electrical sources can minimize consumption, extend the useful life of storage, and improve the efficiency of generation. A solar array constitutes a grid or network of panels or cells that may best be modeled and treated as independent sources needing careful control to maximize overall power generation. A fuel cell stack, an array of sources in its own right, is best used in a hybrid arrangement with batteries or capacitors to mitigate the impact of electrical transients. Meanwhile, room lighting constitutes a network of multiple electrostatic field sources that can be particularly useful for occupancy detection. Exploiting performance benefits of multi-source electrical networks requires an increased flexibility in the analysis required to make informed design choices. This thesis addresses the added complexity with linear analytical and modeling approaches that reveal the salient features of complicated multisource systems. Examples and prototypes are presented in capacitive sensing occupancy detectors, hybrid power systems and multi-panel solar arrays.by John Jacob Cooley.Ph.D

Fire performance of residential shipping containers designed with a shaft wall system

seven story building made of shipping containers is planned to be built in Barcelona, Spain. This study mainly aimed to evaluate the fire performance of one of these residential shipping containers whose walls and ceiling will have a shaft wall system installed. The default assembly consisted of three fire resistant gypsum boards for vertical panels and a mineral wool layer within the framing system. This work aimed to assess if system variants (e.g. less gypsum boards, no mineral wool layer) could still be adequate considering fire resistance purposes. To determine if steel temperatures would attain a predetermined temperature of 300-350ºC (a temperature value above which mechanical properties of steel start to change significantly) the temperature evolution within the shaft wall system and the corrugated steel profile of the container was analysed under different fire conditions. Diamonds simulator (v. 2020; Buildsoft) was used to perform the heat transfer analysis from the inside surface of the container (where the fire source was present) and within the shaft wall and the corrugated profile. To do so gas temperatures near the walls and the ceiling were required, so these temperatures were obtained from two sources: (1) The standard fire curve ISO834; (2) CFD simulations performed using the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). Post-flashover fire scenarios were modelled in FDS taking into account the type of fuel present in residential buildings according to international standards. The results obtained indicate that temperatures lower than 350ºC were attained on the ribbed steel sheet under all the tested heat exposure conditions. When changing the assembly by removing the mineral wool layer, fire resistance was found to still be adequate. Therefore, under the tested conditions, the structural response of the containers would comply with fire protection standards, even in the case where insulation was reduced.Postprint (published version

ATHENA Research Book, Volume 2

ATHENA European University is an association of nine higher education institutions with the mission of promoting excellence in research and innovation by enabling international cooperation. The acronym ATHENA stands for Association of Advanced Technologies in Higher Education. Partner institutions are from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia: University of Orléans, University of Siegen, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Niccolò Cusano University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Polytechnic Institute of Porto and University of Maribor. In 2022, two institutions joined the alliance: the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University from Poland and the University of Vigo from Spain. Also in 2022, an institution from Austria joined the alliance as an associate member: Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. This research book presents a selection of the research activities of ATHENA University's partners. It contains an overview of the research activities of individual members, a selection of the most important bibliographic works of members, peer-reviewed student theses, a descriptive list of ATHENA lectures and reports from individual working sections of the ATHENA project. The ATHENA Research Book provides a platform that encourages collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects by advanced and early career researchers

GSI Scientific Report 2016

PLEASE GO TO FILES TO SELECT YOUR DOWNLOAD SECTION. Lience: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Incidence of Injury in Professional Female Soccer

The epidemiology of injury in male professional football is well documented and has been used as a basis to monitor injury trends and implement injury prevention strategies. There are no systematic reviews that have investigated injury incidence in women’s professional football. Therefore, the extent of injury burden in women’s professional football remains unknown. PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study was to calculate an overall incidence rate of injury in senior female professional soccer. The secondary aims were to provide an incidence rate for training and match play. METHODS: PubMed, Discover, EBSCO, Embase and ScienceDirect electronic databases were searched from inception to September 2018. Two reviewers independently assessed study quality using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement using a 22-item STROBE checklist. Seven prospective studies (n=1137 professional players) were combined in a pooled analysis of injury incidence using a mixed effects model. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the Cochrane Q statistic and I2. RESULTS: The epidemiological incidence proportion over one season was 0.62 (95% CI 0.59 - 0.64). Mean total incidence of injury was 3.15 (95% CI 1.54 - 4.75) injuries per 1000 hours. The mean incidence of injury during match play was 10.72 (95% CI 9.11 - 12.33) and during training was 2.21 (95% CI 0.96 - 3.45). Data analysis found a significant level of heterogeneity (total Incidence, X2 = 16.57 P < 0.05; I2 = 63.8%) and during subsequent sub group analyses in those studies reviewed (match incidence, X2 = 76.4 (d.f. = 7), P <0.05; I2 = 90.8%, training incidence, X2 = 16.97 (d.f. = 7), P < 0.05; I2 = 58.8%). Appraisal of the study methodologies revealed inconsistency in the use of injury terminology, data collection procedures and calculation of exposure by researchers. Such inconsistencies likely contribute to the large variance in the incidence and prevalence of injury reported. CONCLUSIONS: The estimated risk of sustaining at least one injury over one football season is 62%. Continued reporting of heterogeneous results in population samples limits meaningful comparison of studies. Standardising the criteria used to attribute injury and activity coupled with more accurate methods of calculating exposure will overcome such limitations

Друга міжнародна конференція зі сталого майбутнього: екологічні, технологічні, соціальні та економічні питання (ICSF 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна, 19-21 травня 2021 року

Second International Conference on Sustainable Futures: Environmental, Technological, Social and Economic Matters (ICSF 2021). Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, May 19-21, 2021.Друга міжнародна конференція зі сталого майбутнього: екологічні, технологічні, соціальні та економічні питання (ICSF 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна, 19-21 травня 2021 року