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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [113]-116).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-167).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 131 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-131).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Roger T. Bonnecaze. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This research was originally conceived under the auspices of the UK Government's Foresight Initiative, which aimed to translate the significant body of process tomography knowledge, residing in various British universities, towards applications of generic benefit to industry. In collaboration with the sponsoring life science company, Zeneca Ltd, a number of potential demonstrator projects were identified. Ultimately on-line imaging within pressure filtration was selected by virtue of its direct and broad benefit to the chemical sector and the opportunity to extrapolate the techniques developed towards other batch production processes. The research programme is centred around three empirical studies. These progress from an initial phase, where the early laboratory instrumentation was exposed to a constrained set of filtration conditions, through to the installation of a novel prototype industrial tomography system on to an existing large scale production unit, which was fabricated from an electrically conducting alloy and located in a potentially flammable atmosphere. During the course of these investigations electrical impedance tomography (EIT) was identified as the most viable modality for this class of application. The challenges associated with transferring the EIT technology into the manufacturing environment were addressed by taking advantage of the lenient frame rates acceptable within chemical batch monitoring to develop an instrument structure which was intrinsically safe, suitable for use with earthed metal vessels, tolerant to chemically aggressive media and amenable to three-dimensional image reconstruction via irregular, process compliant, electrode architectures. In the subject production filter a planar sensor array was exploited to provide a relatively uniform electrical field distribution within the process material, whilst not adversely affecting the normal operation of the plant item.

Mechanical ventilation is vital for the treatment of patients in respiratory intensive care and can be life saving. However, the risks of regional pressure gradients and over-distension must be balanced with the need to maintain function. For these reasons mechanical ventilation can benefit from the regional information provided by bedside imaging such as electrical impedance tomography (EIT). In this thesis we develop and test methods to retrieve clinically meaningful measures of lung function from EIT and examine the feasibility of closing the feedback loop to enable EIT-guided control of mechanical ventilation. Working towards this goal we develop a reconstruction algorithm capable of providing fast absolute values of conductivity from EIT measurements. We couple the resulting conductivity time series to a compartmental ordinary differential equation (ODE) model of lung function in order to recover regional parameters of elastance and airway resistance. We then demonstrate how these parameters may be used to generate optimised pressure controls for mechanical ventilation that expose the lungs to minimal gradients of pressure and are stable with respect to EIT measurement errors. The EIT reconstruction algorithm we develop is capable of producing low dimensional absolute values of conductivity in real time after a limited additional setup time. We show that this algorithm retains the ability to give fast feedback on regional lung changes. We also describe methods of improving computational efficiency for general Gauss-Newton type EIT algorithms. In order to couple reconstructed conductivity time series to our ODE model we describe and test the recovery of regional ventilation distributions through a process of regularised differentiation. We prove that the parameters of our ODE model are recoverable from these ventilation distributions apart from the degenerate case where all compartments have the same parameters. We then test this recovery process under varying levels of simulated EIT measurement and modelling errors. Finally we examine the ODE lung model using control theory. We prove that the ODE model is controllable for a wide range of parameter values and link controllability to observable ventilation patterns in the lungs. We demonstrate the generation and optimisation of pressure controls with minimal time gradients and provide a bound on the resulting magnitudes of these pressures. We then test the control generation process using ODE parameter values recovered through EIT simulations at varying levels of measurement noise. Through this work we have demonstrated that EIT reconstructions can be of benefit to the control of mechanical ventilation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-191). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-124).

Graphite bricks make up a significant part of the core of an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR). The graphite moderates the neutrons vital to the continuation of the fission chain reaction and provides support and stability for the entire core. During operation, the graphite can be oxidised due to the extreme conditions inside the core and so undergo weight loss. Differential shrinkage caused by neutron interaction throughout the brick can also cause radial cracking to occur. The effects of the oxidation, weight loss and cracking reduce the ability of the graphite to function as a moderator. The effects also have the potential of reducing the structural integrity of the brick, causing movement and structural instability of the entire core. It is, therefore, vital to monitor the condition of the graphite bricks and to understand how the changes in the graphite's properties and structure may affect the safe operation of the reactor. This report firstly looks briefly at the effect of irradiation on the graphite brick; the mechanisms leading to weight loss and cracking. The report then considers various methods which can be used to inspect the deterioration of graphite blocks within the cores of AGRs deriving quantitative and qualitative information on density and crack profiling. These methods will be considered for use both on small samples trepanned from the core and in-situ blocks within the reactor core, requiring non-destructive techniques. The inspection methods considered in this report are: Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT); Four point probes; Eddy Current Tomography; and Electromagnetic Inductance Tomography (EMT).There are two main contributions of this thesis. First, the development an EIT methodology using outward facing probes, which were best suited to the geometry of the graphite bricks within the AGR. Proof of principle was established using both modelling and laboratory testing. The second contribution is the development of commercial grade EMT equipment, which can be used on-site to determine the conductivity of trepanned samples. The method was successfully demonstrated in the laboratory; however, further development will be required for use on-site, due to the sampling speed required.