For students interested in studying biomechanical engineering, especially in the field of surgery, this lesson serves as an anatomy and physiology primer of the abdominopelvic cavity. Students are introduced to the abdominopelvic cavity—a region of the body that is the focus of laparoscopic surgery—as well as the benefits and drawbacks of laparoscopic surgery. Understanding the abdominopelvic environment and laparoscopic surgery is critical for biomechanical engineers who design laparoscopic surgical tools.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Some pain after a major operation is expected -- but some patients suffer more than others. More than 60% of surgical patients have moderate-to-severe postoperative pain, potentially predisposing them to persistent postsurgical pain. But who falls into which category? To better predict patients’ pain -- and thereby provide better treatment -- researchers at the University of Florida studied a large group of surgical patients to identify different pain trajectories. The team’s work published in _Anesthesiolog_y revealed five distinct patterns determined in large part by patient-specific factors such as age, sex, and psychologic features. The researchers monitored patents’ pain reports for 7 days in 360 patients recovering from a variety of different surgeries. Pain was evaluated using the [Brief Pain Inventory], which asks for a patient’s average, worst, and least pain in the last 24 hours on a scale from zero to 10..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Objectives: Students will be able to comprehend the steps necessary to solve addition problems in 3 different ways (logical, physical, visual).  Students will be completing a worksheet activity in groups of 4-5. Students should complete this assignment by the end of class. 

Carrier systems involve the design, operation and management of transportation networks, assets, personnel, freight and passengers. In this course, we will present models and tools for analyzing, optimizing, planning, managing and controlling carrier systems.

Students teams use a laparoscopic surgical trainer to perform simple laparoscopic surgery tasks (dissections, sutures) using laparoscopic tools. Just like in the operating room, where the purpose is to perform surgery carefully and quickly to minimize patient trauma, students' surgery time and mistakes are observed and recorded to quantify their performances. They learn about the engineering component of surgery.

Student teams create laparoscopic surgical robots designed to reduce the invasiveness of diagnosing endometriosis and investigate how the disease forms and spreads. Using a synthetic abdominal cavity simulator, students test and iterate their remotely controlled, camera-toting prototype devices, which must fit through small incisions, inspect the organs and tissue for disease, obtain biopsies, and monitor via ongoing wireless image-taking. Note: This activity is the core design project for a semester-long, three-credit high school engineering course. Refer to the associated curricular unit for preparatory lessons and activities.

Students will learn and practice the correct order of operations. The lesson will begin with a motivational group-art activity. Students will then take notes and do a "pass the paper" activity for practice. This will be followed by students creating their own problems.

Governments at every level assume a measure of responsibility for seeking good design. Some of that responsibility is exercised directly—through the design and construction of government buildings, for example. But most changes to our environments are neither designed nor built by governments. Rather, they are the result of the actions and investments of private individuals, institutions, corporations, joint ventures, or private/public collaborations. Yet, the actions of all of these actors are affected by the design policies of government and the interventions that are undertaken to implement those policies. In this advanced graduate-level seminar we will explore new ways of thinking about urban design policy in an attempt to better understand just what government does—and what it can do effectively—in the realm of design policy.