Master of Science in Engineering (MSEgr), Wright State University, 2006, Biomedical Engineering

A controversy has long existed about an alternate below knee amputation procedure that may be more beneficial than the traditional transtibial amputation. The proponents of this alternate procedure that stabilizes the distal tibia and fibula claim it reduces excessive movement of the fibula relative to the tibia that occurs with common movements, such as walking. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology for quantifying excessive movement of the fibula bone relative to the tibia bone in traditional below the knee amputations. The methodology will measure the movement and rotation of the fibula relative to the tibia. These results can be compared to the bone movement from below the knee distal tibiofibular fusion procedure in order to observe if the excessive movement has been reduced. Matlab was used to analyze CT data from a traditional transtibial amputation subject and a distal tibiofibular fusion subject under four loading conditions. Distance and rotation measurements were collected using preexisting and generated Matlab programs. The measurements include locations from several regions on the limb to try to establish a trend for motion. A repeatable methodology with high precision was developed to quantify the movement of the fibula relative to the tibia for both distance and rotation measurements; the average standard deviation for distance measurement is 0.374 mm and the average standard deviation for rotation measurement is 0.131 degrees.

Committee: Ping He PhD (Advisor); David Reynolds PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Engineering, Biomedical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Industrial and Systems Engineering

The safety of the American workplace has improved dramatically over the past 30 years. This improvement is directly correlated with the adoption and enforcement of OSHA regulations (OSHA, “OSHA Facts”). However, despite the great strides that have been achieved, some industry sectors continue to produce unnecessarily high numbers of serious and preventable injuries. Machine-related injuries are responsible for nearly half of the thousands of amputation injuries that occur each year. Most machine injuries are preventable through known methods that are well documented. For most machines, OSHA provides guarding and operational requirements that are very general and broadly applicable. However, in the case of mechanical power presses the codes are quite specific and intended to address the specific hazards associated with such presses. This study proposes that the OSHA codes related to mechanical power presses are adequate and address most of the guarding concerns, but employers often fail to comply with the codes, apparently out of a lack of understanding of their implementation. It is hypothesized that an effective tool to help guide personnel through the evaluation of press safety hazards will improve the likelihood of an individual in accurately identifying press hazards. Based on the perceived need, a software tool was developed to assist in the hazard identification process. This tool was tested experimentally to determine its effectiveness. The hazard evaluation performance of a software-assisted group of novices was compared with the performances of a peer group and a group of press professionals, both comparison groups using traditional evaluation methods (specifically ANSI B11.TR3). Each of the experimental groups evaluated three different mechnical power presses. The hazards identified by each experimental group were to address the specific requirements of the applicable OSHA codes for guarding of mechanical power presses (29CFR1910.212 and 29CFR1910.217). Th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Gary Maul (Advisor) Subjects: