Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for February
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Diffusion-Weighted and NMR Imaging of Porous Media
Thu, Feb 12, 2009 @ 11:00 AM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
A non-invasive study of translational dynamics requires a kind of "marking" or "labeling" of the traveling atoms or molecules for tracing their displacements. Magnetic field is a superb experimental tool for encoding the motion of spin-bearing particles. Moreover, since a geometrical confinement considerably affects diffusive motion, the geometry of porous media can be indirectly accessed by measuring the signal attenuation due to restricted diffusion in inhomogeneous magnetic fields. In this talk, we focus on some theoretical and numerical aspects of this problem. Starting from the classical Bloch-Torrey equation, we obtain the NMR signal in a compact matrix form. Each attenuation mechanism (restricted diffusion, gradient dephasing, surface or bulk relaxation) is represented by a matrix which is constructed from the Laplace operator eigenbasis and thus depending only on the geometry of the confinement. In turn, the physical parameters (free diffusion coefficient, gradient intensity, surface or bulk relaxivity) characterize the "strengths" of the underlying attenuation mechanisms and naturally appear as coefficients in front of these matrices. We illustrate the use of this matrix technique by considering restricted diffusion in simple domains: a slab, a cylinder, and a sphere. Further investigation of irregularly-shaped confinements is discussed.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Spitzer lecture presents Professor George M. Whitesides
Thu, Feb 19, 2009 @ 03:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Professor George M. Whitesides
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University Cambridge, MA PresentsSimple Bioanalytical SystemsSimplicity and economy are often the keys to successful technologies. ¡°Simple solutions¡± is the phrase we apply to the idea of using science to provide easily used solution to a variety of problems in bioanalysis, with a particular focus on problems in developing economies. The requirements for low cost, ruggedness, and independence of infrastructure characteristic of problems in developing economies pose remarkably challenging problems for advanced science and technology¡ªand the area is one that will benefit enormously from new ideas. Successful solutions will also be useful both in developing economies and in the developed world: low cost and simplicity are advantages almost everywhere. The flow of problems, ideas, and solutions stimulated by considering these problems is thus a most interesting two-way street. This talk will discuss this class of problems within the specific context of medical diagnostics (how close can one come to ¡°Zero-cost Diagnostics¡±?), and with a focus on three technologies: microfluidic systems based on patterned paper, microanalytical systems using magnetic levitation, and simple microfluidics devices for use with simple organisms.
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Surgical Planning of the Total Cavopulmonary Connection Using MRI
Mon, Feb 23, 2009 @ 12:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Distinguished Lectures SeriesPresents Ajit Yoganathan,
Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Chair
Biomedical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GeorgiaLecturer's Webpage:
http://www.bme.gatech.edu/facultystaff/faculty_record.php?id=5Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Richard D. James presents Objective molecular dynamics
Thu, Feb 26, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Distinguished Lecture SeriesRichard D. James
Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
University of MinnesotaAbstractPerhaps the most important deformations in elasticity are those that represent the bending, twisting and extension of beams. The most important flows in fluid mechanics are viscometric flows. In both cases these are the motions that, when compared with the corresponding experiments, are used to measure the material constants. We give a universal (i.e., independent of the material) molecular level interpretation of these motions. From this viewpoint the bending and twisting of beams and the viscometric flows of fluids are parts of the same subject: in both cases these motions are associated at molecular level with a time-dependent invariant manifold of the equations of molecular dynamics. The presence of this manifold can be used to simplify molecular-level computations. Its presence also suggests a modification of the laws of macroscopic physics. Interesting links to theories of turbulence, to the Boltzmann equation, to the dynamics of nanostructures, and to the Langevin equation will be discussed. Lecturer's Webpage:http://aem.umn.edu/people/faculty/bio/james.shtmlLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir