ITC/USA 2012 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Eighth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2012 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / When developing a video compression system in black box for aircraft, it is necessary to consider the characteristic of the images and the surrounding environment. The images captured in and out of aircraft have excessive movement-related issues, which make the results difficult to analyze and interpret. Failure to remove the tremors in the video component inevitably leads to poor compression efficiency and degrades the video imaging performance in the airborne black box. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a Compression System which can stabilize the video-image and efficiently utilize high compression recording for aircraft without special hardware. Based on the current situation, we suggest a real-time electronic video stabilization algorithm for airborne recorder which recovers shaky images simply and efficiently to work beside a developed stabilization system based on the H.264 Encoder using DSP.

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Posterior pedicle screw and rod fixation has become standard in the treatment of oncological resections requiring stabilization, deformity correction and unstable thoracolumbar fractures. Given the high mechanical stress at the points of highest instability, some clinicians have utilized dual rods on each side to augment the construct. The added advantage of this type of construct has not been previously evaluated in-vitro. The goal of this study is to evaluate the biomechanical advantage of a dual rod construct in the thoracolumbar spine, using a burst fracture cadaveric model. Methods: Seven fresh human cadaveric (T9-L3) spines were tested in normal conditions, after an iatrogenic T12 burst fracture, and successively after laminectomy and standard two rod pedicle screw stabilization (two level above and two below) and two different dual rod overlapping constructs. Pure moment torque was applied quasistatically, while 3D motion was measured optoelectronically. Thoracolumbar range of motion was measured during flexion, extension, left / right lateral bending, and left / right axial rotation. Results: All constructs significantly stabilized the simulated burst fracture in all modes of testing. There was no statistically significant difference, however, in the ability to restrict motion between the 3 different constructs, either from T10-L2, or across the fracture segment of T11-L1. Conclusions: There does not appear to be a biomechanical advantage to using dual rods over standard single rods for immediate fixation in an unstable segment. Whether dual rods protect the construct against long-term failure is not yet known.

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Many materials and biological systems in nature are suspensions composed of disks, such as clay, asphaltenes, and red blood cells. Despite their natural abundance and wide industrial application, disks are least studied compared to spheres and rods, due to the lack of model systems. In our research, disks at micro-scale were mass-produced with unprecedented uniformity in size and shape, and unique flexibility in the control of lateral size, lateral size polydispersity, shape, and aspect ratio (ξ = diameter/thickness). This dissertation focuses on two main areas: the study of the discotic colloidal liquid crystal phase transitions and the application of disk-like colloidal systems as Pickering emulsion and Pickering foam stabilizers. First, we engineered two discotic colloidal systems made from organic and inorganic materials. The former is made of α-eicosene, which is an alkene of 20 carbons. The latter is composed of nano-sheets from exfoliated zirconium phosphate (α-ZrP). Both discotic systems were used to experimentally investigate the liquid crystalline phase transitions (Isotropic-Nematic, Isotropic-Cubic and Isotropic-Columnar). Also, the nematic crystalline phase was studied in detail by embedding it in a translucent and thermo-sensitive hydrogel. This was possible since nematic textures could be formed instantly by ZrP nano-sheets due to their high diameter-thickness ratio. Second, we developed Pickering emulsions and Pickering foams stabilized by high-aspect-ratio nano-sheets. We have also demonstrated for the first time the fabrication of the thinnest amphiphilic Janus and Gemini nano-sheets, which are either surface- or edge-modified plates with a thickness at atomic scale. These nano-sheets were obtained by exfoliating α-ZrP crystals grafted with a coupling agent of hydrophobic molecules on their edges and outer surfaces. Extending this work, we studied crucial fundamental mechanisms that allow Pickering interfacial stabilization, including the effect on the adsorption properties of particle aspect ratio, concentration, and hydrophobicity. Our study is of great interest in the scientific community due to the difficulty in generating a discotic colloidal system of controllable parameters.