Search for: All records

Two-phase porous media flow is important in many applications from drug delivery to groundwater diffusion and oil recovery and is of particular interest to biomedical diagnostic test developers using cellulose and nitrocellulose membranes with limited fluid sample volumes. This work presents a new two-phase porous media flow model based on the incompressible Navier−Stokes equation. The model aims to address the limitations of existing methods by incorporating a partial saturation distribution in porous media to account for limited fluid volumes. The basic parameters of the model are the pore size distribution and the contact angle. To validate the model, we solved five analytical solutions and compared them to corresponding experimental data. The experimentally measured penetration length data agreed with the model predictions, demonstrating model accuracy. Our findings suggest that this new two-phase porous media flow model can provide a valuable tool for researchers developing fluidic assays in paper and other porous media. 

A shift in the traditional technocentric view of medical device design to a human-centered one is needed to bridge existing translational gaps and improve health equity. To ensure the successful and equitable adoption of health technology innovations, engineers must think beyond the device and the direct end user and must seek a more holistic understanding of broader stakeholder needs and the intended context of use early in a design process. The objectives of this review article are ( a) to provide rationale for the need to incorporate meaningful stakeholder analysis and contextual investigation in health technology development and biomedical engineering pedagogy, ( b) to review existing frameworks and human- and equity-centered approaches to stakeholder engagement and contextual investigation for improved adoption of innovative technologies, and ( c) to present case studyexamples of medical device design that apply these approaches to bridge the gaps between biomedical engineers and the contexts for which they are designing.