Team 2​ Honors Project:​ Sugardale​

In this project, we strive to market Sugardale\u27s Products to a consumer group that they have had trouble marketing to in the recent years. In this submission, the outline of the project is laid out. The file included lays out the project\u27s marketing goals and the research questions

Hands Free Fitted Shoe

The ability to don and doff fitted shoes can be a challenge for many people including those diagnosed with diabetes, obesity, limb loss, pregnancy, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, surgical complications, and aging. Though these actions may seem trivial, the ability to independently put on shoes is necessary because it can significantly impact one’s capacity to complete everyday tasks, hold relationships, and maintain mental health. Current competitors in the market are excessively expensive, not completely hands-free, or not fully enclosed shoes, so a new design for an accessible and affordable hands-free fitted shoe could be of great benefit to the general population. In this biomedical engineering senior design project, the team, PodAl, found a way to increase the user- friendliness of fitted shoes for those with mobility issues, deformities, or other maladies to increase independence, safety, comfort, and functionality of fitted shoes for targeted populations. This design has undergone verification and validation testing and was proven to meet customer and engineering requirements

Mucopolysaccharidosis Type 1 (MPS 1)

Course Code: Biochemistry 5614Biochemistr

A review of the corrective power of personal comfort systems in non-neutral ambient environments

This paper discusses a spectrum of systems that cool or heat occupants personally, termed ‘personal comfort systems’ (PCS), in order to quantify their ability to produce comfort in ambient temperatures that are above or below the subjects’ neutral temperatures.The comfort-producing effectiveness may be quantified in terms of a temperature difference, coining the index ‘corrective power’ (CP). CP is defined as difference between two ambient temperatures at which equal thermal sensation is achieved - one with no PCS (the reference condition), and one with PCS in use.  CP represents the degree to which a PCS system may “correct” the ambient temperature toward neutrality. CP can alternatively be expressed in terms of thermal sensation and comfort survey scale units.Published studies of PCS are reviewed to extract their CP values. Cooling CP ranges from -1 to -6K, and heating CP from 2K to 10K.  The physical characteristics of the particular PCS systems are not reported in detail here, but are presented as prototypes of what is possible.  Deeper understanding of PCS will require new physiological and psychological information about comfort in local body segments and subsegments, and about spatial and temporal alliesthesia.  These topics present many opportunities for productive future research

Development and demonstration of a comfort index program with a microprocessor to control year-round comfort in a residential bedroom in a hot arid climate.

This study addressed the improvement of year-round comfort in residences in the hot, arid climate of the Southwestern United States. Control systems available today do not incorporate: the latest knowledge of comfort, appropriate environmental systems, or microprocessor technology. Conventional automatic comfort control relies on the thermostat, a device actuated by temperature and designed, first in the 1850's, to be responsive to temperature. Temperature, however, is only one of six variables that can affect a person's comfort sensation. The five others are mean radiant temperature, relative humidity, air motion, activity level and clothing insulation value. Recent research by P. O. Fanger has combined all six comfort variables into a mathematical model that predicts thermal comfort sensation--a comfort prediction index. Fanger's prediction model, in combination with technological developments in sensors and microcomputers, makes a more sophisticated method of comfort control possible. This research developed and demonstrated a year-round comfort control method using a microprocessor which repeatedly calculated a comfort index. Based on more than the comfort index, the control program also utilized "expert system" methods to select and control appropriate environmental control devices during the heating, cooling, and intermediate seasons. This newly developed control method--comfort index control or CI control--was compared to standard thermostatic control in a case study demonstration. Environmental control systems were operated for multiple days during each of three Phoenix seasons; hot, humid; hot, dry; and winter. The two control methods were compared based on their operational characteristics on similar climatic days. Data were collected to compare the comfort level maintained, the percentage of time within the acceptable comfort envelope, and the energy consumed. The results showed that for comfort index control, conditions are within the comfort range for a greater percentage of time and are generally more consistent. Also, since the most efficient method of maintaining comfort conditions can be constantly evaluated and selected, comfort can be maintained at a lower operating cost. For the Phoenix based demonstration, the greatest savings were obtained because of proper evaporative cooler/ventilator control in the hot, dry season and because of ceiling fan control in the hot, humid season.Arch.Dr.ArchitectureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104527/1/9116094.pdfDescription of 9116094.pdf : Restricted to UM users only

A mind -heart connection: A study of vagal reactivity to a prompt of perseverative cognition of personally relevant stress

The experience of stress is commonly associated with development of cardiovascular disease; however, biological mechanisms through which this occurs is still unclear. The present research sought to illuminate the biocognitive pathway through which psychosocial stress and physiology integrate to influence cardiovascular health. Current theoretical positions on parasympathetic influence, the Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 1995) and the model of neurovisceral integration (Thayer & Lane, 2000), suggest that attention to and engagement with the environment is cardiovascularly mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system through the main neural highway of that system, the vagus nerve. Both theoretical positions contend that vagal regulation reflects the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system on cardiovascular functioning and can be assessed through measure of heart rate variability (HRV). Based on the proposition that parasympathetic influence may play a greater role in moderation of stress-related physiological responses than has traditionally been assumed, the current study examined parasympathetic influence by assessing directional modes of vagal reactivity (HRV-R) in 25 healthy, pre-menopausal women following a task to prompt perseverative cognition of personally relevant stress, reflecting the ability of humans to cognitively represent stressors or stressful situations in the absence of the stressor or event. Results supported the hypothesis that women who were able to "dampen" physiological response to perseverative cognition by an increase in vagal functioning (vagal augmenters) would show cardiovascular benefits. Vagal augmenters demonstrated a trend toward lower resting heart rate (HR) and significantly increased HRV following the task; while women who demonstrated decreased or unchanged vagal regulation (vagal suppressors) tended to have higher resting HR and significantly lower HRV. Congruent with reactivity hypotheses, results suggest that vagal regulation may be sensitive to an exercise effect that can strengthen the ability to moderate physiological responses to stress. It is feasible that characteristically dampening physiological responses to perseverative cognition of stress by increased vagal regulation might assist in lowering cardiovascular risk by helping to maintain or lower heart rate over time