Developing a Framework for Measuring Community Wellbeing in Central Massachusetts

The goal of this project was to provide the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) with a recommended framework for measuring community wellbeing. Community wellbeing measurements, known as indicators, enhance visibility of quality of life trends within the community, highlighting opportunities for improvement. We conducted interviews with indicators project organizers from around the country and analyzed reports published by existing indicators projects. At the conclusion of our project, we recommended a framework which emphasizes planning for sustainability and fulfilling the needs of specific community leaders to maximize the use of results. If successfully implemented, the CMRPC will provide a useful, sustainable indicators project for Central Massachusetts

Electrify Atwater Kent

The Electrify Atwater Kent project aims to breathe new life into the dull, dreary building of Atwater Kent. LED stairs, bringing a modern look to the front stairwell, as well as the RasPiano, with customizable filters and visualizations to demonstrate the discipline of signal processing, will be installed in the building. With a full installation the project aimsto make Atwater Kent not just a more welcoming space that students feel comfortable studying in, but an inspiration for future engineers as well

Ambulance Reliability Problems and Potential Technological Advancements to Solve Them

The goal of this IQP project was to discover flaws within the current ambulance design and outline solutions to fix them. The IQP team conducted interviews, polling, and participated in data collection. Through these methods it was discovered that the main problems in ambulance design are associated with the lack of dampening of road surface induced vibrations transmitted into the patient compartment. These vibrations decrease the ability of paramedics to perform the tests and treatments needed while simultaneously increasing the stress experienced by patients. The IQP focuses on technological advancements and design alternatives which may be implemented to decrease the road induced vibrations and increase ambulance efficiency

Designing a Central Resource for Environmental Management in Costa Rica

In order to mitigate climate change, Costa Rica set a national goal to become carbon neutral by 2021. To help achieve this goal, organizations within Costa Rica could become carbon neutral through the use of environmental management systems to improve their sustainability and environmental product declarations to communicate the environmental impacts of products. Using information obtained through research and interviews with large organizations, our project created a central location of information in the form of a website that contains relevant standards, resources, and guidelines to help small and medium-sized organizations move towards carbon neutrality

Artificial pancreas systems for people with type 2 diabetes: Conception and design of the european CLOSE project

In the last 10 years tremendous progress has been made in the development of artificial pancreas (AP) systems for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The pan-European consortium CLOSE (Automated Glucose Control at Home for People with Chronic Disease) is aiming to develop integrated AP solutions (APplus) tailored to the needs of people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). APplus comprises a product and service package complementing the AP system by obligatory training as well as home visits and telemedical consultations on demand. Outcome predictors and performance indicators shall help to identify people who could benefit most from AP usage and facilitate the measurement of AP impact in diabetes care. In a first step CLOSE will establish a scalable APplus model case working at the interface between patients, homecare service providers, and payers in France. CLOSE will then scale up APplus by pursuing geographic distribution, targeting additional audiences, and enhancing AP functionalities and interconnectedness. By being part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Health public-private partnership, CLOSE is committed to the EIT “knowledge triangle” pursuing the integrated advancement of technology, education, and business creation. Putting stakeholders, education, and impact into the center of APplus advancement is considered key for achieving wide AP use in T2D care

IWM Digital Resource for Volunteers

The Interaction Volunteers at Imperial War Museums London engage with visitors in the exhibits and discuss about certain artifacts. The communication of information among the Interaction Volunteer team, however, has been inefficient as the system relied on paper resources. Our IQP team surveyed volunteers and conducted a focus group to gather input about layout and features for a potential digital resource which the Interaction Volunteers could use in management of artifactual content and digital forms. This information was then used to design a website utilizing a content management system in order to make the communication of information more simple and efficient for the Interaction Volunteer team

Programming PC-Based Multi-Function Oscilloscopes: A User-Friendly Approach to Rapid Prototyping of Spectral Analysis Code

Personal computer (PC)-based multi-function oscilloscopes are compact and low-cost programmable instruments that typically combine a multi-channel data acquisition unit, a signal generator and a USB interface to the PC. Although general purpose functions for spectral analysis based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) are usually provided by the manufacturer in the accompanying software, the development of code for particular needs still remains a critical issue. This paper shows how new or more specific algorithms for frequency domain measurements can be easily implemented and tested for this class of instruments without spending time on a long and expensive training with dedicated development environments. The proposed approach is based on a recently introduced software shell, called DSPrototyper, where user interface and basic operations (for signal acquisition, processing and display) are already built-in and new measurement functions can be easily added by users having only a basic knowledge of programming languages. Some application examples are discussed in the paper focussing on the spectral analysis of a periodic signal and the implementation of algorithms that do not adopt the conventional time-domain windowing to reduce the spectral leakage

Teacher Professional Development in Tennessee, Part 1

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-comptroller-office-research-education-accountability/1130/thumbnail.jp

Neuromodulation by Mechanical Strain in C. elegans

Current computational models for traumatic brain injury are limited by a lack of understanding of the changes in neuronal function following repeated strain, highlighting the need for large datasets characterizing neuronal response to stretch. To provide a platform capable of gathering these datasets, an apparatus to strain embedded neuronal samples and monitor the subsequent neural response optogenetically was developed. The apparatus enables loading and immobilization of live Caenorhabditis elegans specimen, delivers stretch stimulus to the embedded animals, and provides sufficient image resolution to analyze neuronal calcium activity fluorescently both pre- and post-stretch