Published Article / RP and recently RM have been key factors in the development of the manufacturing industry in assisting in the development of new products. Fortunately, the application of these technologies has been realised in the medical industry. Surgeons all over the world use physical models created from CT or MRI data using some sort of additive manufacturing. The fabrication of these models has exploded into a popular research area combining engineering, material and medical expertise. Long-term growth in the additive fabrication industry will come from designs that are difficult, time-consuming, costly, or impossible to produce using standard techniques. Growth will occur with advances in current additive processes which are coupled with breakthroughs in new materials. The applications of RP and RM are as diverse as the medical issues that arise. RM of custom design medical prostheses proves to be economically viable solution, not only because it is faster to produce but it gives the designer freedom of creation too. The paper discusses some interesting medical case studies.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Eugene Vasserman / The Medical Device Coordination Framework (MDCF) is an open source Medical Application Platform (MAP) that facilitates interoperability between heterogeneous medical devices. The MDCF is designed to be an open test bed for the conceptual architecture described by the Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE) interoperability standard. In contrast to existing medical device connectivity features that only provide data logging and display capabilities, a MAP such as the MDCF also allows medical devices to be controlled by apps. MAPs are predicted to enable many improvements to health care, however they also create new risks to patient safety and privacy that need to be addressed. As a result, MAPs such as the MDCF and other ICE-like systems require the integration of security features. This thesis lays the groundwork for a comprehensive security architecture within the MDCF. Specifically, we address the need for access control, device certification, communication security, and device authentication. We begin by describing a system for ensuring the trustworthiness of medical devices connecting to the MDCF. To demonstrate trustworthiness of a device, we use a chain of cryptographic certificates which uniquely identify that device and may also serve as non- forgeable proof of regulatory approval, safety testing, or compliance testing. Next, we cover the creation and integration of a pluggable, flexible authentication system into the MDCF, and evaluate the performance of proof-of-concept device authentication providers. We also discuss the design and implementation of a communication security system in the MDCF, which enables the creation and use of communication security providers which can provide data confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. We conclude this work by presenting the requirements and a high level design for a Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system within the MDCF.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / John M. Hatcliff / Medical devices have traditionally been designed, built, and certified for use as monolithic units. A new vision of "Medical Application Platforms" (MAPs) is emerging that would enable compositional medical systems to be instantiated at the point of care from a collection of trusted components. This work details efforts to create a development environment for applications that run on these MAPs. The first contribution of this effort is a language and code generator that can be used to model and implement MAP applications. The language is a subset of the Architecture, Analysis and Design Language (AADL) that has been tailored to the platform-based environment of MAPs. Accompanying the language is software tooling that provides automated code generation targeting an existing MAP implementation. The second contribution is a new hazard analysis process called the Systematic Analysis of Faults and Errors (SAFE). SAFE is a modified version of the previously-existing System Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA), that has been made more rigorous, partially compositional, and easier. SAFE is not a replacement for STPA, however, rather it more effectively analyzes the hardware- and software-based elements of a full safety-critical system. SAFE has both manual and tool-assisted formats; the latter consists of AADL annotations that are designed to be used with the language subset from the first contribution. An automated report generator has also been implemented to accelerate the hazard analysis process. Third, this work examines how, independent of its place in the system hierarchy or the precise configuration of its environment, a component may contribute to the safety (or lack thereof) of an entire system. Based on this, we propose a reference model which generalizes notions of harm and the role of components in their environment so that they can be applied to components either in isolation or as part of a complete system. Connections between these formalisms and existing approaches for system composition and fault propagation are also established. This dissertation presents these contributions along with a review of relevant literature, evaluation of the SAFE process, and concludes with discussion of potential future work.

For several decades, pediatricians used to believe that neonates do not feel pain. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recognized neonates' sense of pain in 1987. Since then, there have been many studies reporting a strong association between repeated pain exposure (under-treatment) and alterations in brain structure and function. This association has led to the increased use of anesthetic medications. However, recent studies found that the excessive use of analgesic medications (over-treatment) can cause many side effects. The current standard for assessing neonatal pain is discontinuous and suffers from inter-observer variations, which can lead to over- or under-treatment. Therefore, it is critical to address the shortcomings of the current standard and develop continuous and less subjective pain assessment tools. This dissertation introduces an automatic and comprehensive neonatal pain assessment system. The presented system is different from the previous ones in three principal ways. First, it is specifically designed to assess pain of neonates using data captured while they are hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). Second, it dynamically analyzes neonatal pain as it unfolds in a particular pattern over time. Third, it combines visual, vocal, and physiological signals to create a system that continues to assess pain even when one or more signals become temporarily unavailable. The presented system has four main components. The first three components consist of novel algorithms for analyzing the visual, vocal, and physiological signals separately. The last component combines all the three signals to create a multimodal pain assessment system. The performance of the system in recognizing pain events is comparable to that of trained nurses; hence, it demonstrates the feasibility of automatic pain assessment in typical neonatal care environments.

Ce mémoire présente la synthèse et la caractérisation du matériau composite Ce-TZP/Al2O3 et l’étude de ce matériau dans une mise en forme par impression 3D de type stéréolithographie (SLA). Le matériau Ce-TZP présente une résistance au vieillissement en milieu aqueux (par transformation martensitique de la phase tétragonale vers la phase monoclinique) accrue en comparaison à Y-TZP. L’ajout d’alumine (Al2O3) comme seconde phase confère au matériau des propriétés mécaniques (résistance à la flexion en particulier) similaires à Y-TZP. La mise en forme par SLA offre la possibilité de fabriquer des objets avec des structures complexes tout en limitant l’utilisation et la perte de matière en comparaison à la fabrication soustractive, bien connue dans le domaine dentaire.Le composite Ce-TZP/Al2O3 a été synthétisé à partir d’une poudre Ce-TZP à laquelle est ajoutée de l’Al2O3 selon deux protocoles : la méthode Pechini modifiée et la méthode Isopropoxyde. Les études dilatométriques et microstructurales des composites ont montré que le matériau obtenu selon la méthode Isopropoxyde était plus homogène. Cette synthèse a donc été sélectionnée pour réaliser l’étude du frittage. Les conditions optimales résultants de cette étude (rampe de 300 °C/h, T°palier de 1500 °C pendant 1h, air), permettent d’atteindre une densité relative de l’ordre de 98% avec une taille de grains submicronique pour les deux phases.Des formulations photoréticulables sous exposition UV, chargées avec ce composite ainsi qu’avec le matériau de référence Y-TZP, ont été développées et étudiées afin de pouvoir mettre en forme ces matériaux par SLA. Avant utilisation dans le procédé, les formulations ont été caractérisées d’un point de vue rhéologique, thermique et également d’un point de vue de la réactivité sous exposition UV. Ces caractérisations ont permis de déterminer l’influence de la nature et de la taille des particules sur la réactivité principalement, paramètre également gouvernée par la composition des résines et notamment par le système amorceur, composé de un ou plusieurs photoinitiateur(s). Pour finir, les pièces fabriquées par SLA ont été frittées et caractérisées d’un point de vue mécanique et microstructural. / This thesis presents the synthesis and characterization of Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composite material and the study of this material in stereolithography process (SLA). Ce-TZP material exhibits an enhanced resistance to low temperature degradation (materialized by the tetragonal/monoclinic phase transformation) compared to Y-TZP. The addition of alumina (Al2O3) as a second phase gives to the material mechanical properties (especially flexural strength) similar to Y-TZP. SLA shaping offers the ability to make objects with complex structures while limiting the use and loss of material compared to subtractive manufacturing, well known in the dental field.The Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composite was synthesized from a Ce-TZP powder mixed with Al2O3 added according to two protocols: the modified Pechini method and the Isopropoxide method. The dilatometric and microstructural studies of the composites have showed that the material obtained by the Isopropoxide method was more homogeneous. This synthesis was therefore selected to carry out the sintering study. The optimal conditions resulting from this study (heating rate of 300 °C/h, T°soak of 1500 °C for 1h, air) allow to reach a relative density of 98 % with a submicron grain size for the two phases.Photocurable under UV exposure formulations, loaded with this composite as well as with the reference material Y-TZP, have been developed and studied in order to be able to shape these materials by SLA. Prior to use in the process, the formulations were characterized from a rheological, thermal and also from a viewpoint of reactivity under UV exposure. These characterizations made it possible to determine the influence of the nature and the size of the particles on the reactivity mainly, also governed by the composition of the resins and in particular by the initiator system, composed of one or more photoinitiator(s). Finally, the parts manufactured by SLA were sintered and characterized from a mechanical and microstructural point of view.

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The ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has a vast unlicensed frequency spectrum, which can support precise indoor positioning in orders of centimeters. The features of UWB signals can be utilized for variety of applications. In this project first we present an empirical channel models to analyze the localization accuracy of the UWB technology for interactive electronic gaming (Ping-Pong) in Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Obstructed LOS (OLOS) scenarios. Then we introduce a new concept that we refer to as micro-gesture detection to handle the more refined motions of the hand, such as rotation, while one antenna is held by the user using features of UWB signal. We use four specific features of the UWB signals: time of arrival, power of the first peak, total power, and the Root-Mean Square (RMS) of the delay spread, for this purpose. As the hand rotates the position of the antenna in the hand and the external antenna changes from LOS to OLOS. We demonstrate that features of the UWB signals are more useful than the RSS signal of the Wi-Fi to detect this class of micro-gestures. We foresee this micro-gesture detection capabilities become helpful for the people with limited ability or visually impaired for implementation of simplified sign language to communication with electronic devices located away from a person. We compare gesture detection using multiple features of the UWB signal with traditional gesture detection using the received signal strength (RSS) of the Wi-Fi signal.

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This thesis is focused on the development and characterization of hydrogels containing humic substances with possible use in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. This work follows on the bachelor thesis, theoretical and experimental part is based on already acquired knowledge. The aim of this work was to develop a literature review focusing on the potential use humic gels in practice and also to enhance the consistency of other active ingredients. Based on this literature review, the main aim was to prepare model humic hydrogels with selected active ingredients and their characterization by basic methods of material analysis. These basic methods were especially rheology and visual assessment of consistency during the preparation, then the samples were subjected process of drying and swelling. Experimental results showed considerable influences during the preparation and composition of each sample, which then reflected in their structure and consistency. Furthermore, it was found that the suitable composition and combination of ingredients form hydrogels acceptable characteristics for further use in cosmetic or pharmaceutical applications.