A Novel Approach to Mid-foot Reconstruction Surgery in Patients with Charcot Arthropathy

This honors project details the design and development of an internal orthopedic implant that surgically corrects the midfoot fracture and subsequent arch collapse in patients with Charcot arthropathy. The client of the project is Dr. David Kay, an orthopedic surgeon with the Crystal Clinic in Akron, Ohio. He presented a problem surrounding surgical implants meant to repair Charcot arthropathy. Implants that repair the midfoot fracture failed at a rate of about 60%. A team of senior biomedical engineering students attending the University of Akron developed a goal to design a new surgical implant that would reduce the failure rate of reconstruction of the midfoot in patients with Charcot Fracture. To meet this goal, the team implemented a methodical design approach consisting of 5 stages. Each stage had specific objectives or outputs that were evaluated for successful completion in relation to the scope of the project. The result of this project is an implant design and alpha prototype that meets customer requirements, engineering requirements, and solves the clinical problem initially presented by Dr. Kay. In addition, a Design History File was developed that documents the entire design process

MODELLING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT FOR ADVANCED NAVAL SIMULATION

This thesis proposes a new virtual simulation environment designed as element of an interoperable federation of simulator to support the investigation of complex scenarios over the Extended Maritime Framework (EMF). Extended Maritime Framework is six spaces environment (Underwater, Water surface, Ground, Air, Space, and Cyberspace) where parties involved in Joint Naval Operations act. The amount of unmanned vehicles involved in the simulation arise the importance of the Communication modelling, thus the relevance of Cyberspace. The research is applied to complex cases (one applied to deep waters and one to coast and littoral protection) as examples to validate this approach; these cases involve different kind of traditional assets (e.g. satellites, helicopters, ships, submarines, underwater sensor infrastructure, etc.) interact dynamically and collaborate with new autonomous systems (i.e. AUV, Gliders, USV and UAV). The use of virtual simulation is devoted to support validation of new concepts and investigation of collaborative engineering solutions by providing a virtual representation of the current situation; this approach support the creation of dynamic interoperable immersive framework that could support training for Man in the Loop, education and tactical decision introducing the Man on the Loop concepts. The research and development of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles requires continuous testing so a time effective approach can result a very useful tool. In this context the simulation can be useful to better understand the behaviour of Unmanned Vehicles and to avoid useless experimentations and their costs finding problems before doing them. This research project proposes the creation of a virtual environment with the aim to see and understand a Joint Naval Scenario. The study will be focusing especially on the integration of Autonomous Systems with traditional assets; the proposed simulation deals especially with collaborative operation involving different types of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The author develops an interoperable virtual simulation devoted to present the overall situation for supervision considering also the sensor capabilities, communications and mission effectiveness that results dependent of the different asset interaction over a complex heterogeneous network. The aim of this research is to develop a flexible virtual simulation solution as crucial element of an HLA federation able to address the complexity of Extended Maritime Framework (EMF). Indeed this new generation of marine interoperable simulation is a strategic advantage for investigating the problems related to the operational use of autonomous systems and to finding new ways to use them respect to different scenarios. The research deal with the creation of two scenarios, one related to military operations and another one on coastal and littoral protection where the virtual simulation propose the overall situation and allows to navigate into the virtual world considering the complex physics affecting movement, perception, interaction and communication. By this approach, it becomes evident the capability to identify, by experimental analysis within the virtual world, the new solutions in terms of engineering and technological configuration of the different systems and vehicles as well as new operational models and tactics to address the specific mission environment. The case of study is a maritime scenario with a representation of heterogeneous network frameworks that involves multiple vehicles both naval and aerial including AUVs, USVs, gliders, helicopter, ships, submarines, satellite, buoys and sensors. For the sake of clarity aerial communications will be represented divided from underwater ones. A connection point for the latter will be set on the keel line of surface vessels representing communication happening via acoustic modem. To represent limits in underwater communications, underwater signals have been considerably slowed down in order to have a more realistic comparison with aerial ones. A maximum communication distance is set, beyond which no communication can take place. To ensure interoperability the HLA Standard (IEEE 1516 evolved) is adopted to federate other simulators so to allow its extensibility for other case studies. Two different scenarios are modelled in 3D visualization: Open Water and Port Protection. The first one aims to simulate interactions between traditional assets in Extended Maritime Framework (EMF) such as satellite, navy ships, submarines, NATO Research Vessels (NRVs), helicopters, with new generation unmanned assets as AUV, Gliders, UAV, USV and the mutual advantage the subjects involved in the scenario can have; in other word, the increase in persistence, interoperability and efficacy. The second scenario models the behaviour of unmanned assets, an AUV and an USV, patrolling a harbour to find possible threats. This aims to develop an algorithm to lead patrolling path toward an optimum, guaranteeing a high probability of success in the safest way reducing human involvement in the scenario. End users of the simulation face a graphical 3D representation of the scenario where assets would be represented. He can moves in the scenario through a Free Camera in Graphic User Interface (GUI) configured to entitle users to move around the scene and observe the 3D sea scenario. In this way, players are able to move freely in the synthetic environment in order to choose the best perspective of the scene. The work is intended to provide a valid tool to evaluate the defencelessness of on-shore and offshore critical infrastructures that could includes the use of new technologies to take care of security best and preserve themselves against disasters both on economical and environmental ones

Task Analysis for a Food Processing Facility: A Social Enterprise for Persons from Underemployed Populations

Social enterprises aim to be agents of recovery for consumers of mental health services but lack knowledge of how to accurately identify workplace supports, accommodations, and modifications that are appropriate for their clients. Graduate occupational therapy students were contacted to assist with an activity analysis at a food processing facility that serves persons with mental illnesses. Occupational therapy is well suited to assist with task analysis and consult on work environments for persons with mental illnesses. In three sessions over five months a task-oriented analysis of work tasks at a food processing facility that employed people with mental illnesses was conducted. In the first visit project managers conducted an initial interview of workers and supervisors and observed work tasks. They then presented a report of the findings that included recommendations for modifying tools for safety and ways to improve communication between workers and supervisors. In the second visit, project managers identified the physical aspects of the job tasks that could cause musculoskeletal injuries and collaborated with workers to alter the physical environment to improve task ergonomics. In the final session, workers and supervisors were filmed and photographed performing tasks with and without new modifications of the work environment. The product of the analysis was a report that made recommendations to improve food processing safety and an educational manual that provided resources on best practices for hiring and retaining employees with mental illnesses. Managers of the social enterprise said that they strongly agreed with the statement that they anticipated the manual and report would help them to hire or retain employees in the future

The Sexual Objectification Experiences of Non-Binary People

Transgender people are a historically marginalized and disenfranchised group, leading to discriminatory interpersonal treatment such as sexual objectification experiences (SOEs), a type of objectification. Women look at themselves the way men look at them, reducing themselves to objects for someone else’s viewing. This flattening of oneself to value your bodily presentation over functioning increases dissociative states and promotes disordered eating behaviors. Non-binary people experience additive stressors within objectification experiences as people with less social power than cisgender women. This thesis is composed of three separate studies aimed at understanding the SOEs of non-binary people. The first of three studies recruited 10 non-binary people to explore their SOEs through interviews. Non-binary participants shared sexual objectification experiences, the impact SOEs had on their wellbeing, and the resilience they cultivated in the face of SOEs. The second study used a flow chart tool to process SOEs in a sample of 10 non-binary people, instructing participants to use the chart in real time to move through a SOE. Participants described an emotionally rich experience with this tool and generally found it helpful as well as challenging. Finally, the third study used body maps, or the artistic expression of participants’ relationships with their bodies, to further explore the impact that SOEs had on the participants’ relationship with their bodies with 10 non-binary participants. It is our hope that findings from these thesis studies will be used for increased awareness and advocacy on the experiences of non-binary people in clinical practice and research

Evaluating Children\u27s Competency to Testify: Developing a Rational Method to Assess a Young Child\u27s Capacity to Offer Reliable Testimony in Cases Alleging Child Sex Abuse

This Article discusses the testimony of young children, the inadequacy of the traditional hearing used to determine the competency of such children to testify, and the ways in which the hearing might be changed to make it a meaningful process for determining the ability of a child to give reliable testimony

Deep learning models for 3D mesh saliency prediction.

El estudio de la atención visual humana ha sido ampliamente explorado en muchos trabajos. Consiste en detectar e identificar las regiones del estímulo que más llaman la atención del usuario, generalmente utilizando un eye tracker para recolectar los datos. Esta medida de las regiones de interés se conoce como saliencia, y su detección y modelado es un problema fundamental en gráficos por computadora y visión por computadora. Esta tesis de fin de máster presenta un modelo de predicción de salienia para nubes de puntos basado en aprendizaje profundo.<br /