The effect of collagen fibril orientation on the biphasic mechanics of articular cartilage

The highly inhomogeneous distribution of collagen fibrils may have important effects on the biphasic mechanics of articular cartilage. However, the effect of the inhomogeneity of collagen fibrils has mainly been investigated using simplified three-layered models, which may have underestimated the effect of collagen fibrils by neglecting their realistic orientation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the realistic orientation of collagen fibrils on the biphasic mechanics of articular cartilage. Five biphasic material models, each of which included a different level of complexity of fibril reinforcement, were solved using two different finite element software packages (Abaqus and FEBio). Model 1 considered the realistic orientation of fibrils, which was derived from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images. The simplified three-layered orientation was used for Model 2. Models 3–5 were three control models. The realistic collagen orientations obtained in this study were consistent with the literature. Results from the two finite element implementations were in agreement for each of the conditions modelled. The comparison between the control models confirmed some functions of collagen fibrils. The comparison between Models 1 and 2 showed that the widely-used three-layered inhomogeneous model can produce similar fluid load support to the model including the realistic fibril orientation; however, an accurate prediction of the other mechanical parameters requires the inclusion of the realistic orientation of collagen fibrils.</p

Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story

Presented on September 16th, 2018 from 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Student Center Theater.Wyomia Tyus was born and raised in Griffin, Georgia. She attended Tennessee State University in Nashville and ran track under the tutelage of legendary coach Ed Temple as a member of the Tigerbelles until she graduated in 1968. The holder of three gold and one silver medal, Tyus was the first person to win the 100-meter dash in back to back Olympic Games (1964 and 1968). She was also a supporter of the Olympic Project for Human Rights during the 1968 Olympics, doing her part to promote justice for oppressed people around the world. A founding member of the Women’s Sports Foundation, she continues to advocate for women’s equality in sports to this day. She has recently written a memoir (with Elizabeth Terzakis), Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story (Akashic Books, 2018).Dr. Damion Thomas (Interviewer) is Curator of Sports at the Smithsonian Institute. He received his PhD in History from the University of California-Los Angeles and is the author of Globetrotting: African American Athletes and Cold War Politics (University of Illinois Press, 2012).Dr. Jacqueline Jones Royster is Dean of Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. She holds the Ivan Allen Jr. Dean’s Chair in Liberal Arts and Technology, and is Professor of English in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.Dr. Mary G. McDonald, Professor, Homer C. Rice Chair of Sports and Society in the School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology. As Homer C. Rice Chair, she directs the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts initiative in Sports, Society, and Technology.Bill Curry, former Georgia Tech football player and head football coach, will provide introductions.Runtime: 81:02 minutesIn marking the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, media coverage has focused on John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s courageous stance in raising black fists to protest racial injustice on the 200-meter victory stand. This event will highlight Wyomia Tyus’ role in this protest as she dedicated her Olympic medals to Carlos and Smith’s efforts. As a Georgia native who grew up in the Jim Crow South, Ms. Tyus is uniquely positioned to discuss the continuing need for gender and racial justice as well as to reflect upon the importance of sport’s role in helping to promote social change

A Community Indicator Project for Morehead-Rowan County, Kentucky

This project focuses on better understanding what factors contribute to community quality of life and economic development in Morehead-Rowan County in eastern Kentucky. While several factors have been identified in the literature and through prior student research, we still do not have a clear answer to the question “Why is this area so persistently distressed?” Moreover, there are very few studies in the literature that have focused on this question with particular reference to the eastern Kentucky region and/or our local community. What we have realized is that the greatest obstacle to answering this question is the lack of appropriate scholarly data to serve as the foundation for such studies. Therefore, we are working closely with officials and other leaders in our community to identify, collect, and analyze key data from local, regional, state and federal sources that they need to help them understand and improve the community’s economic condition and quality of life. Specifically, we are conducting a Community Indicator Project that will serve as the foundation for an ongoing initiative to collect and make available information that is useful to area citizens and community leaders as they work toward their shared long-term objectives for building a more sustainable community. The long-term objective of this research, which future students will continue, is to identify definitively the causal factors at work that account for the persistent distress of this community and the eastern Kentucky region

The Development of a Testbed for Evolutionary Learning Algorithms for Mobile Robotic Colonies

There exist many applications in military, commercial and civilian scenarios where multiple robots are required to perform complex tasks in a coordinated manner. For example, autonomous intelligent robot colonies may be used in reconnaissance missions or seek-and-capture scenarios involving a complex set of interactions between machines as well as between machines and humans and may cover long distances to remote sites. Because of the nature of the tasks, new classes of robotic systems will be required that have a high level of specification for efficiency and reliability. This, we believe, can only be accomplished through sophisticated intelligent control and efficient sensor integration as an integral part of the design of the robot and the robot&apos;s supporting systems. This paper presents an overview of a mobile robotic system testbed that is being developed at San Diego State University in partnership with North Carolina State University and SPAWAR Systems Center. Further some initial results of our work are presented. Key words: coordinated robots, evolutionary algorithms, swarm technology I

Conducting expeditionary operations in the contested littorals

Reissued 21 Oct 2015 to revise figure cross references in body text.The United States armed services have identified capability gaps in the areas of company-sized raid and sustainment operations in contested littoral environments. Multiple joint platform packages can be employed to provide the required mission capabilities to fill the gap. This thesis identifies the operational, functional, and physical architecture and effectiveness of mission packages necessary to provide capabilities associated with littoral sustainment operations. Physical architecture configurations are evaluated using discrete event modeling. Cost and performance estimates for the mission packages are presented in order to provide the decision maker tools for identifying which alternative provides the most cost-effective solution for the needs of a scenario’s stakeholders. This thesis report concludes by identifying potential assets that would provide cost-effective support of littoral operations. Feasible alternatives provide varying levels of effectiveness in terms of average deployment time and percentage of threats successfully affected.http://archive.org/details/conductingexpedi1094546910Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited