Research ShowCASE

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  Co-occurring Gland Tensors in Localized Cluster Graphs: Quantitative Histomorphometry for Predicting Biochemical Recurrence for Intermediate Grade Prostate Cancer

  Sahirzeeshan Ali and Anant Madabhushi

  We present a novel descriptor of gland orientation patterns in prostate whole mounts for the purpose of identifying prostate cancer patients at risk for aggressive recurrence.

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  Delineation of Enhancer-Gene Interactions with Prestige Accurately Identifies Gene Targets of Non-Coding Common Disease Variants

  Olivia Corradin, Alina Saiakhova, Batool Akhtar-Zaidi, Lois Myeroff, Joseph Willis, Sanford Markowitz, and Peter C. Scacheri1

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  Wild and Domesticated Strains of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae in the Brewing Industry

  Austin Fowler

  Brewing yeast project at market garden brewery & distillery.

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  Investigation of Dental Care Mobile Services in the Amish

  Marc Harrison, Masahiro Heima, Gerald A. Ferretti, and Amritha Minisandram

  To investigate the impact of the Dental Care Mobile on Amish children?s oral health and to gain a greater understanding of the oral health of Amish children.

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  Automated Curved Hair Detection and Removal in Skin Images to Support Automated Melanoma Detection

  Madison Kretzler and Marc Buchner

  If detected early, skin cancer has a 95-100 percent successful treatment rate; therefore early detection is crucial and several computer-aided methods have been developed to assist dermatologists. In skin images removing hairs without altering the lesion is important to effectively apply detection algorithms. This research focuses on the use of image processing techniques to remove hairs by identifying hair pixels contained within a binary image mask using the Generalized Radon Transform. The Radon Transform was adapted to find quadratic curves characterized by rotational angle and scaling. The method detects curved hairs in the image mask for removal and replacement through pixel interpolation. Implementing this technique in MATLAB gives the ability to perform tests rapidly on both simulated and actual images. The quadratic Radon transform performs well in curve detection; however, the research points out the need for better algorithms to improve hair masking, peak detection, and interpolation replacement

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  Evaluating Rain Barrel Garden Irrigation Effectiveness across Climate Zones of the United States

  Alexandra Litofsky and Aaron Jennings

  Stormwater management tactics are becoming increasingly important as communities realize the problems caused by accelerated stormwater runoff. Employing rain barrels to capture roof runoff is one such strategy, but to be effective, this requires a beneficial use for the captured water. One effective use is to divert the captured water to an urban garden to accomplish the required irrigation. A previous analysis of the effectiveness of this rain barrel-urban garden system for the meteorological conditions of Cleveland, Ohio indicated that this strategy would only accomplish a modest reduction in stormwater runoff. The analysis presented here seeks to extend that analysis to the full range of meteorological conditions found in the contiguous United States by applying the same model to 70 cities across the country. The model uses the precipitation record from 2000-2009 and growing season data based on first and last freeze for each of the cities and applies a flow-balance analysis to determine the percent stormwater runoff reduction as a measure of effectiveness of the strategy. The results of this modeling effort are represented as a map of rain barrel effectiveness across the United States, and they show that the strategy is most effective in areas that have little precipitation and long growing seasons, such as in the Southwest. These are also the areas that are least in need stormwater runoff reduction. This approach and the results should help communities evaluate their stormwater management efforts, as they decide the usefulness of encouraging rain barrel use for residential stormwater reduction.

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  Parkinson's Disease and Tandem Cycling

  Hassan Mohammadi-Abdar, Angela Ridgel, and Fred Discenzo

  Recent studies in rehabilitation of Parkinson's Disease (PD) have shown that cycling on a tandem bike at a high pedaling rate can reduce the symptoms of the disease. Variability in severity and progression of Parkinson's disease symptoms makes it challenging to design therapy interventions that provide maximal benefit. The precise mechanism for differences in function following exercise is unknown. We examined the complexity of biomechanical and physiological features of forced and voluntary cycling and correlated these features to improvements in motor function as measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Heart rate, cadence and power were analyzed using entropy signal processing techniques. This study shows how time series analysis methods of biomechanical and physiological parameters of exercise can be used to predict improvements in motor function. In the next phase of the research, these analysis results have been used to design and test a smart motorized bicycle that could assess individual effort, performance, skill level, and therapeutic value in order to maximize the benefit. The designed exercise bike can safely control the rider's experience at an accelerated pedaling rate while capturing real-time test data.

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  Bifunctional Electrolytes For Lithium-Ion Batteries

  Michael Rectenwald, Daniel A. Scherson, and John D. Protasiewicz

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  Using Respiration Data to Predict Oxygen Saturation for Sleep Apnea Detection

  Prapan Shewinvanakitkul, Marc Buchner, and Kenneth A. Loparo

  We present and evaluate a dynamic model to predict blood oxygen saturation from respiration signals for use in automated sleep apnea detection. The model uses the averaged integral of a signal representing the respiration magnitude entering the lungs. This signal affects changes in blood oxygen saturation level through standard respiration processes. The results demonstrate that the approach provides reliable and robust estimation of blood oxygen saturation using only the respiration signal. Furthermore, the model may be incorporated in automated sleep apnea detection algorithms that can lead to inexpensive and reliable sleep apnea detection that do not require an overnight stay in the hospital for polysomnogram recordings.

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  An Experiment in Library and University Archives Collaboration to Chronicle the History of CWRU through Online Audio Biography

  Mark Eddy

  This is a poster that was presented at the 2009 Research ShowCASE poster session. It addresses the CASE Stories project that originated in the Kelvin Smith Library to highlight historic leadership at Case Western Reserve University through a series of podcasts that combine the best features of oral history, knowledge capture and the web 2.0 environment.

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  Online Historical Archives: Kelvin Smith Library, Digital Case, and the Future of Electronic Open Source Research Respositories.

  Mark Eddy

  This is a poster that was presented at the 2007 Research ShowCASE poster session. It addresses the growing trend in open source digital archiving of research production in higher education institutions. The poster also highlights plans for creating online archives of primary historical resources. In this case, the Kelvin Smith Library plans to digitize and make available the collected papers of Charles F. Brush (1849-1929), a Cleveland inventor and businessman.

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  Advocacy Paper of Health, Ageing, and Development in Africa

  Chinelo N. Enwonwu

  Study of aging, disease, and health promotion in Nigeria.

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  Knovel - Tool for Engineering Research and Education

  Brian Gray and Mohan Sankaran

  Knovel is a library database that provides interactive features that blends itself well to instruction and research.

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  Cleveland Urban Gardens and Local Food Production

  Matt Russell, K. Przepyszny, and E. Borawski

  Study of urban community gardens in the City of Cleveland, Ohio.