Accessible Vehicle for Kids

The purpose of this document is to outline the process of developing a Go Baby Go vehicle for use by children with disabilities who experience limited or delayed mobility. The purpose of the project is to adapt the Wild Thing, a 12V commercially available ride-on toy car, so that young children with limited mobility can have similar opportunities to independently and actively explore their world for participation, play, learning, and engagement like their same-aged peers. The motivation for undertaking this project is to create a safe and universally designed form of active mobility for children who do not have access to a power wheelchair due to the lack of availability of appropriate products and funding sources for children with disabilities. The original design of the Wild Thing has two joysticks which can be moved by pushing the joysticks either both forward to go forward, both backwards to go backwards and one forward and one backwards in order to spin left or right. Because of this original design, children with limited mobility could have a difficult time navigating the Wild Thing platform. In order to meet this need, the vehicle will be redesigned to support varying options to control the vehicle. These include a single joystick, head array buttons, or hand-pushed buttons. Dependent on the child’s needs, these options can be chosen from, and implemented as the user sees fit. An app will also be utilized that allows control of the vehicle through the use of directional buttons and an emergency stop button. The app will also have the ability to log the usage data of the vehicle. This document contains the design aspects and process of this project

RWU Alumni Launch a New Way to Wage the Fight Against Malaria

For two Roger Williams University alumni, seeing the first thriving crops of the sweet wormwood plant in the fields of Kentucky represent seeds of hope that their company’s new method of producing antimalarial medicine will revolutionize the fight against malaria

The Campaign for Urban Eco-Literacy: Communicating ecological principles in the urban landscape

Though built by humans, a native species to the planet, the city is often seen as something unnatural. Cities are perceived as being separate from nature. Humans may think of “nature” as places that are separate from where they live and work. Organisms thrive and biological processes persist in urbanized environments in spite of the concrete, air, water pollution, dense human population and otherwise seemingly harsh conditions. This condition of the city as nature illustrates the ecological principles of survival, adaptation and resilience. Through a deeper understanding of these complex interconnections between other organisms, our physical surroundings and ourselves, we as a society become more ecologically literate. Cities provide a wealth of opportunities, a venue and an audience to accomplish this. Landscape architects, dedicated “stewards of land,” have a history of integrating ecologically educational elements into public spaces. However, the educational messages integrated into designs are often left to interpretation. It remains unclear whether these messages are being received, or whether the intent behind these designs is fully understood by the public. This thesis investigates how the application of proven communication theories and mass media communication strategies can enhance the ability of landscape architects to reach a wider audience with their ecological messages. The result of this investigation is the “Campaign for Urban Eco-literacy.” The Campaign is a series of virtual, spatial, and experiential interventions that will appeal to a wide audience by utilizing visual and interactive communication techniques, increasing the reach and effectiveness of the campaign’s overall message. The interventions intend to increase awareness of the ecological concepts of adaptation, evolution, and interconnectedness within the urban landscape. The Campaign’s message will be integrated into the urban fabric of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, to reach the diverse mix of people present in the space. Taking this approach to increasing eco-literacy allows for multiple levels of interaction from the audience, thus enhancing their experience in the urban landscape and imparting important ecological lessons

What is a Real Document, Anyway?

Documents, those materials that are reproducible and ostensibly ‘non-live’, are ubiquitous in the everyday to the degree that the experiencing and recording of life has become a tangled process. What follows the other – the act or its record? The many projects and writings that have emerged in recent years concerning the role documentation practices play in performance processes has resulted in a vital critique of how the live medium is not antithetical to but is indeed imbricated with archivalism. The Real time live performances unfold in can be understood as a temporal manifold that exists in records, the animate bodies of the performers, and in the memories of the audience. Documentation is now a fundamental part of our contemporary experience, leading some commentators to claim that “we are all archivists now”. If this is true then what dramaturgies can be constructed to embrace this aspect of the Real? What would a performance based on the practices and principles of archiving look like? In this paper I will consider the potential documents generated from performance have for engendering spectators to participate in a networked dialogue that stretches beyond any one event. I posit that such a practice would present a challenge to the authority of mediated events deemed of historical significance (however this judgement is determined) by placing documentation practices within a fictive framework, thereby demonstrating the level of artifice that is present in our perception of Reality

The Pan American (1995-06-29)

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/panamerican/1333/thumbnail.jp