Sleep and Physical Performance: A Case Study of Collegiate Women's Division 1 Basketball Players.

In this work, we present a case study to evaluate the connections between sleep, training load, and the perceptions of physical/emotional state of a collegiate, division 1 Women's basketball team. The study took place during the off- (3 weeks) and pre-season (6 weeks) while sleep was tracked using WHOOP wearable straps. Training load was recorded by the strength coach and athletes.

Gait Study of Parkinson's Disease Subjects Using Haptic Cues with A Motorized Walker.

Gait abnormalities are one of the distinguishing symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) that contribute to fall risk. Our study compares the gait parameters of people with PD when they walk through a predefined course under different haptic speed cue conditions (1) without assistance, (2) pushing a conventional rolling walker, and (3) holding onto a self-navigating motorized walker under different speed cues. Six people with PD were recruited at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine to participate in this study.

EEG analysis via multiscale Lempel-Ziv complexity for seizure detection.

Robust seizure detection and seizure prediction continues to be a challenge. Lempel-Ziv Complexity (LZC) is one of the features that has shown to be relevant in seizure detection. Recent work has shown that augmenting LZC can be beneficial to emphasize variations in amplitude or frequency when analyzing biomedical signals.

Classification and visualization tool for gait analysis of Parkinson's disease.

There is no standard diagnostic test for Parkinson's Disease. In this paper, we propose a data mining based statistical diagnostic method towards a standard and accurate diagnostic test. The result shows the proposed regression formula, which only requires patient's stride data, can provide a 90% accuracy to diagnose PD patients.

Compression-ratio-based seizure detection.

For wireless seizure monitoring devices seizure detection and data compression are two critical tasks that need to be carefully designed against a very tight power budget to maximize the battery life. These two tasks are usually considered separately and algorithms for each are developed separately. In this paper, we consider having a single low-power algorithm for implementing both seizure detection and data compression.

Seizure detection methods using a cascade architecture for real-time implantable devices.

Implantable high-accuracy, and low-power seizure detection is a challenge. In this paper, we propose a cascade architecture to combine different seizure detection algorithms to optimize power and accuracy of the overall seizure detection system. The proposed architecture consists of a cascade of two seizure detection stages.

High-efficiency wireless power delivery for medical implants using hybrid coils.

With the exciting developments in the implant technology allowing sophisticated signal processing, stimulation, and drug delivery capabilities, there is new hope for many patients of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and stroke to improve their quality of life. Such implants require high power to deliver the promised rich functionality. Yet, delivering high power to implants without damaging the tissue due to heating while keeping the implant footprint small is a challenge.

Optimizing analog-to-digital converters for sampling extracellular potentials.

In neural implants, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) provides the delicate interface between the analog signals generated by neurological processes and the digital signal processor that is tasked to interpret these signals for instance for epileptic seizure detection or limb control. In this paper, we propose a low-power ADC architecture for neural implants that process extracellular potentials. The proposed architecture uses the spike detector that is readily available on most of these implants in a closed-loop with an ADC.

Spatiotemporal compression for efficient storage and transmission of high-resolution electrocorticography data.

High-resolution Electrocorticography (HR-ECoG) has emerged as a key strategic technology for recording localized neural activity with high temporal and spatial resolution with potential applications in brain-computer interfaces (BCI), and seizure detection for epilepsy. However, HR-ECoG has 400 times the resolution of conventional ECoG, making it a challenge to process, transmit and store the HR-ECoG data. Therefore, simple and efficient compression algorithms are vital for the feasibility of implantable wireless medical devices for HR-ECoG recordings.

COD fractionation and denitrification potential of sonicated waste activated sludge liquids.

This study characterized sonicated waste activated sludge (WAS) liquids as a possible carbon source for nitrogen removal. In this context, the effect of sonication density on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen release was determined by particle size distribution (PSD) analysis and anoxic batch experiments. The increase in ultrasonic density from 0.

Multi-layer coils for efficient Transcutaneous Power Transfer.

TETS (Transcutaneous Energy Transfer System) has been successfully used for powering medical implants for different purposes such as for neural recordings and drug delivery. Yet, due to their low power transfer efficiency, these devices can cause unacceptable increase in skin temperature limiting their scalability to high power levels. Although, the efficiency of these systems can be improved by increasing coil diameter, in many cases this is not practical due to strict physical constraints on the coil diameter.

Experimental evaluation and model assessment of coexistence of PAOs and GAOs.

The study evaluated the competition and co-existence of PAOs and GAOs in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) systems sustaining enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). The SBR operation used acetate as the sole external carbon source and covered a wide range of initial COD/P ratios between 6.5 to 25.

Effect of nitrogen limitation on enrichment of activated sludge for PHA production.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are good candidates to plastics because of their material properties similar to conventional plastics and complete biodegradability. The use of activated sludge can be a cheaper alternative to pure cultures for PHA production. In this study, effect of nitrogen limitation during acclimatization period of biomass on production of polyhydroxyalkanoate was investigated.

Transmeningeal muscimol can prevent focal EEG seizures in the rat neocortex without stopping multineuronal activity in the treated area.

Muscimol has potent antiepileptic efficacy after transmeningeal administration in animals. However, it is unknown whether this compound stops local neuronal firing at concentrations that prevent seizures. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that epidurally administered muscimol can prevent acetylcholine (Ach)-induced focal seizures in the rat neocortex without causing cessation of multineuronal activity.

Mechanism and design of intermittent aeration activated sludge process for nitrogen removal.

The paper provided a comprehensive evaluation of the mechanism and design of intermittent aeration activated sludge process for nitrogen removal. Based on the specific character of the process the total cycle time, (T(C)), the aerated fraction, (AF), and the cycle time ratio, (CTR) were defined as major design parameters, aside from the sludge age of the system. Their impact on system performance was evaluated by means of process simulation.

A high-performance transcutaneous battery charger for medical implants.

As new functionality is added to the implantable devices, their power requirements also increase. Such power requirements make it hard for keeping such implants operational for long periods by non-rechargeable batteries. This result in a need for frequent surgeries to replace these batteries.

Effect of aspartate and glutamate on the fate of enhanced biological phosphorus removal process and microbial community structure.

This study investigated the fate of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) and changes in microbial speciation in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) fed with aspartate and glutamate. It involved SBR operation for 288 days, batch tests for observation of metabolic functions together with microscopic and phylogenetic analyses. Polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) were observed in abundance with complete removal of phosphorus.

Effect of anoxic decay process on simultaneous nitrification denitrification in a membrane bioreactor operated without an anoxic tank.

This study was focused on evaluating the role and the effect of anoxic decay on the extent of simultaneous nitrification-denitrification (SNdN) process sustained in a single membrane bioreactor. The membrane bioreactor was fed with relatively strong domestic sewage and operated at steady state at a sludge age of 36 days at a corresponding suspended solids level maintained in the range of 17,500-21,000 mg/L. The SNdN could be sustained due to diffusion limitation of oxygen into the flocs.

Population dynamics in a sequencing batch reactor fed with glucose and operated for enhanced biological phosphorus removal.

The study investigated the effect of glucose feeding as the sole carbon source on population dynamics in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) operated for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). The lab-scale SBR operation was started with a biomass taken from a WWTP plant performing EBPR and continued around two months. It exhibited a sequence of periods with different performance and biomass characteristics.

Effect of biomass concentration on the performance and modeling of nitrogen removal for membrane bioreactors.

The study investigated the effect of biomass concentration on nitrogen removal in a membrane bioreactor by model evaluation of system performance. The steady state operation of a pilot membrane bioreactor fed with domestic sewage at a sludge age of 74 days and an average biomass concentration of 27,000 mg/L was monitored. The results were evaluated by calibration of a suspended growth model designed for this purpose and compared with those of an earlier experiment on the same system operated at a sludge age of 34 days, with a markedly lower biomass concentration.

How does shear affect aggregation in granular sludge sequencing batch reactors? Relations between shear, hydrophobicity, and extracellular polymeric substances.

The objective was to provide an answer to "how to grow/survive in aggregative physiology" through evaluating the relation between physical stress and observed biomass characteristics. For that, a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor was operated at an anaerobic-aerobic mode and under altered hydraulic selection pressures of settling time (10-1 min) and hydrodynamic shear rates due to mechanical mixing (15.5-12.

Modelling of long-term simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SNDN) performance of a pilot scale membrane bioreactor.

Nutrient removal capability of the MBR process has attracted more attention than organics removal in the past few years. Apart from the conventional schemes for nitrogen removal in MBR process, simultaneous nitrification-denitrification (SNDN) requires the most attention for further research. In order to fully understand the fundemantals and mechanism of SNDN in MBRs, a pilot plant was set up.

Model evaluation of temperature dependency for carbon and nitrogen removal in a full-scale activated sludge plant treating leather-tanning wastewater.

Organic carbon and nitrogen removal performance of a full-scale activated sludge plant treating pre-settled leather tanning wastewater was evaluated under dynamic process temperatures. Emphasis was placed upon observed nitrogen removal depicting a highly variable magnitude with changing process temperatures. As the plant was not specifically designed for this purpose, observed nitrogen removal could be largely attributed to simultaneous nitrification and denitrification presumably occurring at increased process temperatures (T>25 degrees C) and resulting low dissolved oxygen levels (DO<0.