Automated fit quantification of tibial nail designs during the insertion using computer three-dimensional modelling

Intramedullary nailing is the standard fixation method for displaced diaphyseal fractures of the tibia. An optimal nail design should both facilitate insertion and anatomically fit the bone geometry at its final position in order to reduce the risk of stress fractures and malalignments. Due to the nonexistence of suitable commercial software, we developed a software tool for the automated fit assessment of nail designs. Furthermore, we demonstrated that an optimised nail, which fits better at the final position, is also easier to insert. Three-dimensional models of two nail designs and 20 tibiae were used. The fitting was quantified in terms of surface area, maximum distance, sum of surface areas and sum of maximum distances by which the nail was protruding into the cortex. The software was programmed to insert the nail into the bone model and to quantify the fit at defined increment levels. On average, the misfit during the insertion in terms of the four fitting parameters was smaller for the Expert Tibial Nail Proximal bend (476.3 mm2, 1.5 mm, 2029.8 mm2, 6.5 mm) than the Expert Tibial Nail (736.7 mm2, 2.2 mm, 2491.4 mm2, 8.0 mm). The differences were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05). The software could be used by nail implant manufacturers for the purpose of implant design validation.

A computer generated model of adenosine receptors rationalising binding and selectivity of receptor ligands

Computer graphic analyses on a broad spectrum of adenosine receptor ligands has shown that both the A1 and A2 adenosine receptors have three binding sites. The spatial relationship of these three binding sites has been defined. Adenosine orientation at A1 and A2 is different.

Creating good lives through computer games

In this chapter we aim to explore how videogames can lead to improvements in wellbeing. Following Keyes (2007) and Huppert and So (2012) we view wellbeing as a multidimensional concept with both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects. In this chapter we take a broad approach in terms of exploring the impact of videogames on the psychological, social, and physical components of wellbeing. We explore how videogames have been shown to have an impact in each of these domains. Although there is a great deal of evidence for the actual and potential positive impacts of videogames, there are many unanswered questions regarding the situations in which there is likely to be an impact of videogame play on wellbeing, as well as the aspects of wellbeing that are likely to be impacted by videogame play. We conclude the chapter by outlining the key questions for future research. Our focus in this chapter is on the positive influences of videogames. We do not explore research on contexts in which negative impacts are possible or subgroups for which videogames could cause harm. However, these questions are obviously important and we see balanced engagement with age-appropriate videogames as a key prerequisite for any of the wellbeing benefits discussed below.

An architecture for trustworthy open data services

This paper addresses the development of trust in the use of Open Data through incorporation of appropriate authentication and integrity parameters for use by end user Open Data application developers in an architecture for trustworthy Open Data Services. The advantages of this architecture scheme is that it is far more scalable, not another certificate-based hierarchy that has problems with certificate revocation management. With the use of a Public File, if the key is compromised: it is a simple matter of the single responsible entity replacing the key pair with a new one and re-performing the data file signing process. Under this proposed architecture, the the Open Data environment does not interfere with the internal security schemes that might be employed by the entity. However, this architecture incorporates, when needed, parameters from the entity, e.g. person who authorized publishing as Open Data, at the time that datasets are created/added.

Design of a tablet sized human-computer interface and its effect on situation awareness

Emergency Response Teams increasingly use interactive technology to help manage information and communications. The challenge is to maintain a high situation awareness for different interactive devices sizes. This research specifically compared a handheld interactive device in the form of an iPad with a large interactive multi-touch tabletop. A search and rescue inspired simulator was designed to test operator situation awareness for the two sized devices. The results show that operators had better situation awareness on the tabletop device when the operation related to detecting of moving targets, searching target locations, distinguishing target types, and comprehending displayed information.

Substation Automation Systems – Future possibilities for commissioning

Substation Automation Systems have undergone many transformational changes triggered by improvements in technologies. Prior to the digital era, it made sense to confirm that the physical wiring matched the schematic design by meticulous and laborious point to point testing. In this way, human errors in either the design or the construction could be identified and fixed prior to entry into service. However, even though modern secondary systems today are largely computerised, we are still undertaking commissioning testing using the same philosophy as if each signal were hard wired. This is slow and tedious and doesn’t do justice to modern computer systems and software automation. One of the major architectural advantages of the IEC 61850 standard is that it “abstracts” the definition of data and services independently of any protocol allowing the mapping of them to any protocol that can meet the modelling and performance requirements. On this basis, any substation element can be defined using these common building blocks and are made available at the design, configuration and operational stages of the system. The primary advantage of accessing data using this methodology rather than the traditional position method (such as DNP 3.0) is that generic tools can be created to manipulate data. Self-describing data contains the information that these tools need to manipulate different data types correctly. More importantly, self-describing data makes the interface between programs robust and flexible. This paper proposes that the improved data definitions and methods for dealing with this data within a tightly bound and compliant IEC 61850 Substation Automation System could completely revolutionise the need to test systems when compared to traditional point to point methods. Using the outcomes of an undergraduate thesis project, we can demonstrate with some certainty that it is possible to automatically test the configuration of a protection relay by comparing the IEC 61850 configuration extracted from the relay against its SCL file for multiple relay vendors. The software tool provides a quick and automatic check that the data sets on a particular relay are correct according to its CID file, thus ensuring that no unexpected modifications are made at any stage of the commissioning process. This tool has been implemented in a Java programming environment using an open source IEC 61850 library to facilitate the server-client association with the relay.

Left ventricular volume and valve gradient analysis using an Apple Macintosh computer

A description of a computer program to analyse cine angiograms of the heart and pressure waveforms to calculate valve gradients.

A computer-controlled hyperthermia system

Hyperthermia, raised temperature, has been used as a means of treating cancer for centuries. Hippocrates (400 BC) and Galen (200 BC) used red-hot irons to treat small tumours. Much later, after the Renaissance, there are many reports of spontaneous tumour regression in patients with fevers produced by erysipelas, malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis and influenza. These illnesses produce fevers of about 40 °C which last for several days. Temperatures of at least 40 °C were found to be necessary for tumour regression. Towards the end of the nineteenth century pyrogenic bacteria were injected into patients with cancer. In 1896, Coly used a mixture of erysipelas and B. prodigeosus, with some success...

Dynamics of reverse salience as technological performance gap: An empirical study of the personal computer technology system

The evolution of technological systems is hindered by systemic components, referred to as reverse salients, which fail to deliver the necessary level of technological performance thereby inhibiting the performance delivery of the system as a whole. This paper develops a performance gap measure of reverse salience and applies this measurement in the study of the PC (personal computer) technological system, focusing on the evolutions of firstly the CPU (central processing unit) and PC game sub-systems, and secondly the GPU (graphics processing unit) and PC game sub-systems. The measurement of the temporal behavior of reverse salience indicates that the PC game sub-system is the reverse salient, continuously trailing behind the technological performance of the CPU and GPU sub-systems from 1996 through 2006. The technological performance of the PC game sub-system as a reverse salient trails that of the CPU sub-system by up to 2300 MHz with a gradually decreasing performance disparity in recent years. In contrast, the dynamics of the PC game sub-system as a reverse salient trails the GPU sub-system with an ever increasing performance gap throughout the timeframe of analysis. In addition, we further discuss the research and managerial implications of our findings.

LaTeX Template for Writing QUT Thesis (Research Masters and PhD)

A LATEX style file, named qutthesis.sty, is developed, for writing PhD or Research Masters thesis. Developed by Professor Glen Yu-Chu Tian, it tries to fulfill QUT’s Thesis requirements but it is unofficial.

Computer analysis of impact behavior of concrete filled steel tube columns

This paper presents a numerical study of the response of axially loaded concrete filled steel tube (CFST) columns under lateral impact loading using explicit non-linear finite element techniques. The aims of this paper are to evaluate the vulnerability of existing columns to credible impact events as well as to contribute new information towards the safe design of such vulnerable columns. The model incorporates concrete confinement, strain rate effects of steel and concrete, contact between the steel tube and concrete and dynamic relaxation for pre-loading, which is a relatively recent method for applying a pre-loading in the explicit solver. The finite element model was first verified by comparing results with existing experimental results and then employed to conduct a parametric sensitivity analysis. The effects of various structural and load parameters on the impact response of the CFST column were evaluated to identify the key controlling factors. Overall, the major parameters which influence the impact response of the column are the steel tube thickness to diameter ratio, the slenderness ratio and the impact velocity. The findings of this study will enhance the current state of knowledge in this area and can serve as a benchmark reference for future analysis and design of CFST columns under lateral impact.

Review and future options for computer modelling in the sugar industry

Computer modelling has been used extensively in some processes in the sugar industry to achieve significant gains. This paper reviews the investigations carried out over approximately the last twenty five years, including the successes but also areas where problems and delays have been encountered. In that time the capability of both hardware and software have increased dramatically. For some processes such as cane cleaning, cane billet preparation, and sugar drying, the application of computer modelling towards improved equipment design and operation has been quite limited. A particular problem has been the large number of particles and particle interactions in these…

Response to: Electronic health records and healthcare identifiers : legislation discussion paper

Public submission # 029 to a Australian federal parliamentary committee considering proposed legislative changes to the Commonwealth's Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010 and the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012.

Turning gaming EEG peripherals into trainable brain computer interfaces

Companies such as NeuroSky and Emotiv Systems are selling non-medical EEG devices for human computer interaction. These devices are significantly more affordable than their medical counterparts, and are mainly used to measure levels of engagement, focus, relaxation and stress. This information is sought after for marketing research and games. However, these EEG devices have the potential to enable users to interact with their surrounding environment using thoughts only, without activating any muscles. In this paper, we present preliminary results that demonstrate that despite reduced voltage and time sensitivity compared to medical-grade EEG systems, the quality of the signals of the Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset is sufficiently good in allowing discrimina tion between imaging events. We collected streams of EEG raw data and trained different types of classifiers to discriminate between three states (rest and two imaging events). We achieved a generalisation error of less than 2% for two types of non-linear classifiers.

Computer-assisted sampling of acoustic data for more efficient determination of bird species richness

Bird species richness survey is one of the most intriguing ecological topics for evaluating environmental health. Here, bird species richness denotes the number of unique bird species in a particular area. Factors affecting the investigation of bird species richness include weather, observation bias, and most importantly, the prohibitive costs of conducting surveys at large spatiotemporal scales. Thanks to advances in recording techniques, these problems have been alleviated by deploying sensors for acoustic data collection. Although automated detection techniques have been introduced to identify various bird species, the innate complexity of bird vocalizations, the background noise present in the recording and the escalating volumes of acoustic data pose a challenging task on determination of bird species richness. In this paper we proposed a two-step computer-assisted sampling approach for determining bird species richness in one-day acoustic data. First, a classification model is built based on acoustic indices for filtering out minutes that contain few bird species. Then the classified bird minutes are ordered by an acoustic index and the redundant temporal minutes are removed from the ranked minute sequence. The experimental results show that our method is more efficient in directing experts for determination of bird species compared with the previous methods.