BMED 2210 – Conservation Principles in Biomedical Engineering

Oxford, Summer 2013

M-Th, 11:20 AM -12:50 PM

Instructors: Prof. Joseph M. Le Doux

Web Page:

BMED-2210-A

Textbook:Basic Principles and Calculations in Chemical Engineering, 8th Edition, D.M. Himmelblau and James B. Riggs, Prentice-Hall (2012)

Tutorials:Tues 7:30-9pm, location to be decided (TBD)

Prereqs:C or better in PHYS 2211, BMED 1300, and CHEM 1310

Course purpose: BMED 2210 prepares you to analyze and solve problems involving complex biological systems by applying principles of mass and energy conservation. More fundamentally, this course introduces you to the engineering approach to problem solving. This includes breaking a system down into its components, establishing the relationships between known and unknown system variables, assembling the information needed to solve for the unknowns, then obtaining the solution.

Course objectives: By the end of the course you should be able to do the following things:

  1. Know the basics of conducting basic engineering calculations:
  2. Convert quantities from one set of units to another quickly and accurately
  3. Define, calculate, and estimate system and material properties such as fluid density, flow rate, chemical composition variables (mass and mole fractions, concentrations), fluid pressure, temperature, enthalpy, work, and heat capacity
  1. Apply these concepts and principles to the analysis of physiological systems:
  2. Draw and label process flowcharts from verbal process descriptions
  3. Carry out degree of freedom analyses
  4. Write and solve mass and energy balance equations for single-unit and multi-unit processes, processes with recycle and bypass, and reactive processes
  5. Perform pressure-volume-temperature calculations for ideal gases
  6. Calculate internal energy and enthalpy changes for fluids undergoing specified changes in temperature, pressure, phase, and chemical composition.
  7. Incorporate the results of these calculations into mass and energy calculations.

Students are expected to:

  • complete all assignments on time without referring to solutions prepared by someone else.
  • work on developing their skills for this course at least 12 hours per week outside of class.
  • Continuously self-evaluate their skills and to proactively seek help when needed
  • Bring the following materials to every class:
  • Textbook and steam tables (good to have the CD too, but not required)
  • Calculator
  • Pencil and eraser for solving problems

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BMED 2210 – Summer 2013

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Academic Integrity. Students are expected to abide by the Honor Code ( The objective of the honor code is “to prevent any students from gaining an unfair advantage over other students through academic misconduct”. It is the instructor’s understanding and expectation that the student’s signature on any assignment, quiz, or test means that the student contributed to the assignment in question (if a group assignment) and that they neither gave nor received unauthorized aid (if an individual assignment). Authorized aid on an individual assignment includes discussing the interpretation of the problem statement, sharing ideas or approaches for solving the problem, and explaining concepts involved in the problem. Any other aid would be unauthorized and a violation of the academic integrity policy. All cases of potential academic misconduct will be reported to the Dean of Students.

Examples of honor code violations:

  • Using notes or “cheat sheets” in any form during an exam or quiz.
  • Looking at another individual’s quiz or exam while the test is in progress.
  • Communicating electronically (e.g., texting or surfing the web) during any quiz or exam.
  • Completing a problem (HW or any other kind of problem) using a solution key prepared by someone else (regardless of where the solution key is acquired: from the publisher’s website, from the course’s T-square website, from a previous student, or from a textbook). Homework problems should represent your original work.

Tutorials. The evening tutorials are held the evening before quizzes and tests. They are a great time to gain more experience solving problems and to ask the professor any questions that you have about the material. Please take advantage of this opportunity! Come to the tutorials prepared. Do not expect the professor to work the problems – just as in the problem-solving studio, you will be expected to work the problems on your own or with a friend, with the professor coaching you through the process.

Homework. Problem sets will be assigned weekly, based on a combination of problems from the book and/or created by the instructor. Typically, the homework assignment will be posted on T-Square early in the week and is due at the beginning of class Tuesday. The homework will be graded for completeness and neatness, NOT for correctness. Solution sets will be posted shortly after the problem set is due, so late homework will not be accepted for any reason. Students may collaborate together to solve problems as described above under “Academic Integrity”, but each student is responsible for completing their own unique solutions. DO NOT USE “WORD” to ‘solve’ these problems – it is a violation of the Honor Code. Besides, the only sure way to perform well in this class is to practice solving problems yourself.

Homework format. Use plain white paper or engineering paper (8.5” x 11”). Write on only one side of each page. Begin each problem on a new page (unless the problems that are assigned are short answer, as often occurs early in the course). Use black ink (ball point) or medium-weight pencil. Don’t crowd your work. Margin on the left side of the paper should be at least 1”. Clearly mark the final answers by boxing them. Staple the pages together. At the top of the first page write your name, the problem set number and date, and the course number. If your name appears on a solution set, it certifies that you personally solved the problems. If this turns out to not be the case, you will get a zero for that assignment. Points will be deducted if your problem set does not conform to these standards.

Problem-solving studio. Most of the class time students will spend working problems as part of a team or at the board in front of the class. The professor will coach you through the problems, but he will not (except when demonstrating a problem for the entire class) work the problems, do the writing, crunch numbers, or show you the solution. Solution keys will not be provided for problems worked during class (although often the final numerical answer may be provided). Students are encouraged to ask questions that will help them to progress through a problem. Students are expected to bring their textbook, calculator, steam tables, and writing materials to every class. DO NOT TEXT DURING CLASS – it is not fair to your partner, it is a distraction to the other students, and it is not a good use of valuable PSS time. In addition, although I want you to enjoy yourself in PSS, please keep on-task. Don’t get caught up in prolonged conversations with your friends about topics that are not related to BMED 2210. If you finish a problem – ask for another. We have a bottomless cup of problems here in Café PSS.

Tests. There will be one mid-term exam during the semester and a comprehensive final exam. All tests will be open-book, closed-notes. No make-up exams will be given. The final exam date and time are scheduled by the Program Director and cannot be changed. You may not request to take the final exam at an alternative time or date. Note: if the grade on your final exam is higher than your mid-term exam or higher than your average quiz score, than your final exam grade will be substituted for the mid-term exam score or half of your average quiz score (whichever option gives you the highest final grade).

Quizzes. Weekly quizzes will be given throughout the semester on material covered in the recent lectures, reading assignments, or homework sets. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. The quizzes will be given as soon as the Wednesday problem solving studio begins. Extra time will not be given to students who show up late – so be on time!

Reading. All learning activities will be designed assuming that you have completed the assigned reading BEFORE class. You are not expected to master the reading material in advance of PSS, but you should read it over, try one or more worked out examples, and take the end-of-chapter self-assessment quiz. While doing this, jot down the questions that you have and bring them to class. Come to PSS having grappled with the material and ready to begin solving problems that involve this stuff.

Regrades. The number of points awarded for each part of an assignment is decided by the instructor and is not open for debate. However, if you believe, using the grading rubric designed by the instructor, that you should have been assigned more points than you were, please submit a regrade request in writing to the person who graded the assignment within one week after receiving the graded assignment. Regrade requests can only be made in writING. NOTE: whenever an assignment is regraded, the entire assignment is regraded. Do not approach the professor to verbally request a regrade.

Calculation of course grade. A weighted average grade will be calculated as follows:

Mid-term tests20%

Quiz average40%

HW 10%

Final exam 30%*(cumulative; *could be worth 50% - see “Tests”)

The minimum grades that will be assigned for a given course average are:

>83%A

>74%-83%B

>65%-74%C

60%-65%D

<60%F

Miscellaneous.

  • Duration of exams. Exams will be administered during regularly scheduled problem-solving studio sessions and are therefore limited to a maximum of 90 minutes in duration. Quizzes will be 25-30 minutes long. All students are required to finish working once time has been called by the instructor. If students do not immediately put their pencil or pen down and stop working on the exam or quiz when time is called, their exam grade will be reduced by 20 points (on a scale of 100).
  • Boxing final answers. Box your final answer(s) for any homework, quiz, or exam problem you complete and expect to be graded. The absence of a boxed answer, or the presence of multiple boxed answers, indicates the inability to define a final solution and will significantly reduce the partial credit that will be given for that problem.
  • Calculators. Onlycalculators may be used during PSS, quizzes and exams. Laptops, notebooks, cell phones or similar handheld devices may NOT BE USED AT ANY TIME. Students that text during class distract other students. If you feel you must use an electronic device, please leave the room. Each student is responsible for bringing a calculator to every PSS, quiz, and exam. During quizzes and exams, calculators may not be borrowed from the professor or TA and they may not be shared with other students.
  • Parental inquiries. Based on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) ( the performance of students in class and their grades can not be legally discussed with the parents of undergraduate students.
  • Email etiquette. All emails to the instructor must be addressed “Dear Dr. Le Doux” or “Dear Professor Le Doux” and signed with the student’s full name in order to receive a response.

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