Forearm design for a myoelectric prosthetic hand

Due to the rapid growth of children and the complexity of myoelectric technology, children are often not given the same opportunities to use myoelectric prosthetics as adults. The Muscle Activated Prosthesis (MAP) team is working to create an affordable, transradial myoelectric prosthesis for a twelve-year-old girl. The basic mechanism by which this device operates is as follows: a muscle contraction emits an electrical signal that will be detected and processed through a microcontroller. Then the onboard software determines whether the hand opens or closes based on the level of muscle intensity. If the software determines to close or open the hand, a signal from the microcontroller is sent to linear actuators that control the tendon system running through the fingers. Currently the team has a working prototype that we plan to give to our client in the fall of 2020 to test.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2020/1016/thumbnail.jp

Constituting Vegetarian Audiences: Orchestrations of Egocentric, Anthropocentric, Ecocentric Exigencies in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals

Employing Jonathan Safran Foer’s bestseller Eating Animals as a case study, this chapter forwards the rhetorical technique of “orchestrated appeals,” as a persuasive strategy for communicating vegetarianism to potentially resistant audiences. Orchestration, an overlaying of egocentric, anthropocentric, and ecocentric appeals, addresses a seemingly singular issue like food choice from multiple perspectives. In Foer’s case, the argument for vegetarianism resonates more broadly by way of its connections to family, ethics, health, and the environment. By mapping the web of relationships between food and varied life areas, rhetors can identify with values already held by audiences with diverse ideological commitments and explore alignments between existing beliefs and exigencies for change