@article{kuniholm_buckner_nifong_orrico_2005, title={Automated knot tying for fixation in minimally invasive, robot-assisted cardiac surgery}, volume={127}, ISSN={["1528-8951"]}, DOI={10.1115/1.2055307}, abstractNote={Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is perhaps the most significant worldwide health issue. While open-heart surgery remains the predominant treatment, significant advancements have been made in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and minimally invasive robot-assisted (MIRA) surgery. MIRA techniques offer many advantages over open-heart procedures and have extended the capabilities of MIS. However, these benefits come at the cost of increased operating times due to time spent tying knots. The additional bypass time limits patient access and is the most significant barrier to the adoption of MIRA techniques. This research seeks to overcome this barrier by designing a device for MIRA cardiac procedures that automates the knotting of sutures. If this task can be automated while ensuring the delivery of high-quality knots, great progress can be made in transforming the field. MIRA cardiac procedures can move from novel procedures performed by a select group of surgeons on a limited pool of patients to a viable alternative available to the majority of patients with CVD. In this research we propose a design for a self-contained device that delivers a locking knot. Results suggest that consistent knots can be delivered at a time savings of 12.5% and 26.4% over manual knots for trained and untrained users of a surgical robot, respectively.}, number={6}, journal={JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME}, author={Kuniholm, JF and Buckner, GD and Nifong, W and Orrico, M}, year={2005}, month={Nov}, pages={1001–1008} }
 @article{kuniholm_ma_2003, title={Natural convection in a liquid-encapsulated molten semiconductor with a steady magnetic field}, volume={24}, ISSN={["0142-727X"]}, DOI={10.1016/S0142-727X(02)00205-9}, abstractNote={This paper treats the buoyant convection in a layer of boron oxide, called a liquid encapsulant, which lies above a layer of a molten compound semiconductor (melt) between cold and hot vertical walls in a rectangular container with a steady horizontal magnetic field B. The magnetic field provides an electromagnetic damping of the molten semiconductor which is an excellent electrical conductor but has no direct effect on the motion of the liquid encapsulant. The temperature gradient drives counter-clockwise circulations in both the melt and encapsulant. These circulations alone would lead to positive and negative values of the horizontal velocity in the encapsulant and melt, respectively, near the interface. The competition between the two buoyant convections determines the direction of the horizontal velocity of the interface.}, number={1}, journal={INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND FLUID FLOW}, author={Kuniholm, JF and Ma, N}, year={2003}, month={Feb}, pages={130–136} }