1-Agricultural engineering
2-Biochemical engineering
3-Biomedical engineering
4-Biomechanical engineering
5-Computer engineering
6-Clinical engineering
7-Ergonomics
8-Food engineering
9-Bioprocess engineering
10-Bioenergy
11-Genetic engineering
12-Human genetic engineering
13-Metabolic engineering
14-Molecular engineering
15-Neural engineering
16-Protein engineering
17-Rehabilitation engineering
18-Tissue engineering
1- AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
Agricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural and biorenewables production and processing, living systems, and to the management of natural resources. The first curriculum in Agricultural Engineering was established at Iowa State University by J. B. Davidson in 1905. The American Society of Agricultural Engineers, now known as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, was founded in 1907.
Agricultural engineers design agricultural machinery, equipment, and agricultural structures. Agricultural Engineers may perform tasks as planning, supervising and managing the building of dairy effluent schemes, irrigation, drainage, flood and water control systems, perform environmental impact assessments and interpret research results and implement relevant practices.
Some specialties include power systems and machinery design; structures and environmental science; and food and bioprocess engineering. They develop ways to conserve soil and water and to improve the processing of agricultural, food, and biorenewable products.
A large percentage of agricultural engineers work in academia or for government agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture or state agricultural extension services. Many are employed by manufacturers of agricultural machinery and equipment. Agricultural engineers work in production, sales, management, research and development, or applied science.
2- BIO-CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Biochemical engineering is a branch of chemical engineering or biological engineering that mainly deals with the design and construction of unit processes that involve biological organisms or molecules, such as bioreactors. Biochemical engineering is often taught as a supplementary option to chemical engineering or biological engineering due to the similarities in both the background subject curriculum and problem-solving techniques used by both professions. Its applications are used in the food, feed, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and water treatment industries.
3- BIO-MEDICAL ENGINEERING
Biomedical engineering (BME) is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve healthcare diagnosis and treatment.
A JARVIK-7 artificial heart, an example of a biomedical engineering application of mechanical engineering with biocompatible materials for cardiothoracic surgery using an artificial organ
Biomedical engineering has only recently emerged as its own discipline, compared to many other engineering fields; such an evolution is common as a new field transitions from being an interdisciplinary specialization among already-established fields, to being considered a field in itself.
Much of the work in biomedical engineering consists of research and development, spanning a broad array of subfields (see below). Prominent biomedical engineering applications include the development of biocompatible prostheses, various diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, common imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, biotechnologies such as regenerative tissue growth, and pharmaceutical drugs & biopharmaceuticals.
4- BIO-MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
engineering is a subdiscipline in engineering that applies principles of mechanics to biological systems. It stems from the scientific discipline of biomechanics and usually uses the tools and approaches of mechanical engineering. Many cases are related to Biomedical engineering and Agricultural engineering.
5- COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Computer Engineering (also called Electronic and Computer Engineering or Computer Systems Engineering) is a discipline that combines elements of both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Computer engineers usually have training in electrical engineering, software design and hardware-software integration instead of only software engineering or electrical engineering. Computer engineers are involved in many aspects of computing, from the design of individual microprocessors, personal computers, and supercomputers, to circuit design. This field of engineering not only focuses on how computer systems themselves work, but also how they integrate into the larger picture.
Usual tasks involving computer engineers include writing software and firmware for embedded microcontrollers, designing VLSI chips, designing analog sensors, designing mixed signal circuit boards, and designing operating systems.[citation needed] Computer engineers are also suited for robotics research, which relies heavily on using digital systems to control and monitor electrical systems like motors, communications, and sensors.
6- CLINICAL ENGINEERING
Clinical engineering is a specialty within Biomedical engineering responsible primarily for applying and implementing medical technology to optimize healthcare delivery. Roles of clinical engineers include training and supervising biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), working with governmental regulators on hospital inspections/audits, and serving as technological consultants for other hospital staff (i.e. physicians, administrators, I.T., etc.). Clinical engineers also advise medical device producers regarding prospective design improvements based on clinical experiences, as well as monitor the progression of the state-of-the-art in order to redirect hospital procurement patterns accordingly.
Their inherent focus on practical implementation of technology has tended to keep them oriented more towards incremental-level redesigns and reconfigurations, as opposed to "revolutionary" R&D or cutting-edge ideas that would be many years from clinical adoptability; however, there is nonetheless an effort to expand this time-horizon over which clinical engineers can influence the trajectory of biomedical innovation. In their various roles, they form a sort of "bridge" between product originators and end-users, by combining the perspectives of being both 1) close to the point-of-use ("front lines"), while also 2) trained in product and process design. Clinical Engineering departments at large hospitals will sometimes hire not just biomedical engineers, but also industrial/systems engineers to help address operations research, human factors, cost analyses, safety, etc.
7- ERGONOMICS ENGINEERING
Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with designing according to human needs, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. The field is also called human engineering, and human factors.
Ergonomic research is performed by those who study human capabilities in relationship to their work demands. Information derived from these studies contributes to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people.
Ergonomics is the science of designing the job, equipment, and workplace to fit the worker. Proper ergonomic design is necessary to prevent repetitive strain injuries, which can develop over time and can lead to long-term disability
8- FOOD ENGINEERING
Food engineering is a multidisciplinary program which combines science, microbiology, and engineering education for food and related industries. Food engineering includes, but is not limited to, the application of agricultural engineering and chemical engineering principles to food materials.
Food engineering is a very wide field of activities. Prospective major employers for food engineers include companies involved in food processing, food machinery, packaging, ingredient manufacturing, instrumentation and control. Firms that design and build food processing plants, consulting firms, government agencies, pharmaceutical, and health-care firms also hire food engineers. Among its domain of knowledge and action are:
research and development of new foods, biological and pharmaceutical products
development and operation of manufacturing, packaging and distributing systems for drug/food products
design and installation of food/biological/pharmaceutical production processes
design and operation of environmentally responsible waste treatment systems
marketing and technical support for manufacturing plants.
9- BIO-PROCESS ENGINERING
Bioprocess Engineering is a specialization of Chemical Engineering or of Agricultural Engineering. It deals with the design and development of equipment and processes for the manufacturing of products such as food, feed, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, chemicals, and polymers and paper from biological materials.
10- BIO-ENERGY
Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. In its most narrow sense it is a synonym to biofuel, which is fuel derived from biological sources. In its broader sense it includes biomass, the biological material used as a biofuel, as well as the social, economic, scientific and technical fields associated with using biological sources for energy. This is a common misconception, as bioenergy is the energy extracted from the biomass, as the biomass is the fuel and the bioenergy is the energy contained in the fuel.
Stirling engine capable of producing electricity from biomass combustion heat
Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugar cane, and many other byproducts from a variety of agricultural processes.
There is a slight tendency for the word bioenergy to be favoured in Europe compared with biofuel in North America.
11- GENETIC ENGINEERING
Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM) and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct manipulation of an organism's genes. Genetic engineering is different from traditional breeding, where the organism's genes are manipulated indirectly. Genetic engineering uses the techniques of molecular cloning and transformation to alter the structure and characteristics of genes directly. Genetic engineering techniques have found some successes in numerous applications. Some examples are in improving crop technology, the manufacture of synthetic human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the manufacture of erythropoietin in hamster ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the oncomouse (cancer mouse) for research.
Elements of genetic engineering
The term "genetic engineering" was coined in Jack Williamson's science fiction novel Dragon's Island, published in 1951, two years before James Watson and Francis Crick showed that DNA could be the medium of transmission of genetic information.
12- HUMAN GENETIC ENGINEERING
Human genetic engineering is the modification of an individual's genotype with the aim of choosing the phenotype of a newborn or changing the existing phenotype of a child or adult. It holds the promise of curing genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis and increasing the immunity of people to viruses. It is speculated that genetic engineering could be used to change physical appearance, metabolism, and even improve mental faculties like memory and intelligence, although for now these uses are relegated to science fiction.
13- METABOLIC ENGINEERING
Metabolic engineering is the practice of optimizing genetic and regulatory processes within cells to increase the cells' production of a certain substance. Metabolic engineers commonly work to reduce cellular energy use (ie, the energetic cost of cell reproduction or proliferation) and to reduce waste production. Producing beer, wine, cheese, pharmaceuticals, and other biotechnology products often involves metabolic engineering.
Cellular metabolism can be optimized for industrial use.
Cells are complex systems; genetic and regulatory changes can have drastic effects on the cells' ability to survive. Therefore, trade-offs become apparent during metabolic engineering.
14- MOLECULAR ENGINEERING
Molecular engineering is any means of manufacturing molecules. It may be used to create, on an extremely small scale, most typically one at a time, new molecules which may not exist in nature, or be stable beyond a very narrow range of conditions.
Today this is an extremely difficult process, requiring manual manipulation of molecules using such devices as a scanning tunneling microscope. Eventually it is expected to exploit life-like self-replicating 'helper molecules' that are themselves engineered. Thus the field can be seen as a precision form of chemical engineering that includes protein engineering, the creation of protein molecules, a process that occurs naturally in biochemistry, e.g., prion reproduction. However, it provides far more control than genetic modification of an existing genome, which must rely strictly on existing biochemistry to express genes as proteins, and has little power to produce any non-proteins.
Molecular engineering is an important part of pharmaceutical research and materials science.
Emergence of scanning tunneling microscopes and picosecond-burst lasers in the 1990s, plus discovery of new carbon nanotube applications to motivate mass production of these custom molecules, drove the field forward to commercial reality in the 2000s.
As it matures, it is seeming to converge with mechanical engineering, since the molecules being designed often resemble small machines. A general theory of molecular mechanosynthesis to parallel that of photosynthesis and chemosynthesis (both used by living things) is the ultimate goal of the field. This may lead to a molecular assembler, according to some, such as K. Eric Drexler, Ralph Merkle, and Robert Freitas, and of the potential for integrating vast numbers of assemblers into a kg-scale nanofactory.
Molecular engineering is sometimes called generically "nanotechnology", in reference to the nanometre scale at which its basic processes must operate. That term is considered to be vague, however, due to misappropriation of the word in association with other techniques, such as X-ray lithography, that are not used to create new free-floating ions or molecules.
Future developments in molecular engineering hold out the promise of great benefits, as well as great risks. See the nanotechnology article for an extensive discussion of the more speculative aspects of the technology. Of these, the one that sparks the most controversy is that of the molecular assembler.
15- NEURAL ENGINEERING
Neural engineering also known as Neuroengineering is a discipline that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, enhance, or treat the diseases of neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs.
16- PROTEIN ENGINEERING
Protein engineering is the process of developing useful or valuable proteins. It is a young discipline, with much research currently taking place into the understanding of protein folding and protein recognition for protein design principles.
There are two general strategies for protein engineering. The first is known as rational design, in which the scientist uses detailed knowledge of the structure and function of the protein to make desired changes. This has the advantage of being generally inexpensive and easy, since site-directed mutagenesis techniques are well-developed. However, there is a major drawback in that detailed structural knowledge of a protein is often unavailable, and even when it is available, it can be extremely difficult to predict the effects of various mutations.
Computational protein design algorithms seek to identify amino acid sequences that have low energies for target structures. While the sequence-conformation space that needs to be searched is large, the most challenging requirement for computational protein design is a fast, yet accurate, energy function that can distinguish optimal sequences from similar suboptimal ones. Using computational methods, a protein with a novel fold has been designed, as well as sensors for un-natural molecules.
The second strategy is known as directed evolution. This is where random mutagenesis is applied to a protein, and a selection regime is used to pick out variants that have the desired qualities. Further rounds of mutation and selection are then applied. This method mimics natural evolution and generally produces superior results to rational design. An additional technique known as DNA shuffling mixes and matches pieces of successful variants in order to produce better results. This process mimics recombination that occurs naturally during sexual reproduction. The great advantage of directed evolution techniques is that they require no prior structural knowledge of a protein, nor it is necessary to be able to predict what effect a given mutation will have. Indeed, the results of directed evolution experiments are often surprising in that desired changes are often caused by mutations that no one would have expected. The drawback is that they require high-throughput, which is not feasible for all proteins. Large amounts of recombinant DNA must be mutated and the products screened for desired qualities. The sheer number of variants often requires expensive robotic equipment to automate the process. Furthermore, not all desired activities can be easily screened for.
Rational design and directed evolution techniques are not mutually exclusive; good researchers will often apply both. In the future, more detailed knowledge of protein structure and function, as well as advancements in high-throughput technology, will greatly expand the capabilities of protein engineering. Eventually even unnatural amino acids may be incorporated thanks to a new method that allows the incorporation of novel amino acids in the genetic code.
17- REHABILITATION ENGINEERING
Rehabilitation engineering is the systematic application of engineering sciences to design, develop, adapt, test, evaluate, apply, and distribute technological solutions to problems confronted by individuals with disabilities. Functional areas addressed through rehabilitation engineering may include mobility, communications, hearing, vision, and cognition, and activities associated with employment, independent living, education, and integration into the community.
While some rehabilitation engineers have master’s degrees in rehabilitation engineering, usually a subspecialty of biomedical engineering, most rehabilitation engineers have undergraduate or graduate degrees in biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, or electrical engineering. A Portuguese university provides an undergraduate degree in Accessibility and Rehabilitation Engineering .
The rehabilitation process for people with disabilities often entails the design of assistive devices intended to promote inclusion of their users into the mainstream of society, commerce, and recreation.
Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, whose mission is to "improve the potential of people with disabilities to achieve their goals through the use of technology", is the main professional society for rehabilitation engineers.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers conduct research in the rehabilitation engineering, each focusing on one general area or aspect of disability.For example, the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute conducts research for the blind and visually impaired. Many of the Veterans Administration Rehabilitation Research & Development Centers conduct rehabilitation engineering research.
18- TISSUE ENGINEERING
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions. While most definitions of tissue engineering cover a broad range of applications, in practice the term is closely associated with applications that repair or replace portions of or whole tissues (i.e., bone, cartilage, blood vessels, bladder, etc.). Often, the tissues involved require certain mechanical and structural properties for proper functioning. The term has also been applied to efforts to perform specific biochemical functions using cells within an artificially-created support system (e.g. an artificial pancreas, or a bioartificial liver). The term regenerative medicine is often used synonymously with tissue engineering, although those involved in regenerative medicine place more emphasis on the use of stem cells to produce tissues.
BOOKS ON BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
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