RC Baja: Drivetrain

Students and faculty of the mechanical engineering department of Central Washington University annually host an RC Baja challenge each spring, testing a RC car in three events: slalom, acceleration and Baja. The RC car that was tested in these events was designed, engineered and manufactured in teams of two teammates. The work was divided by choosing one teammate to work on the drivetrain and the other teammate to work on the chassis and steering. Twelve different analyses were performed to ensure the RC car was optimized and functional. These analyses used FBD’s, statics, mechanics of materials and dynamics to ensure all the requirements specified for the RC vehicle were met. This included finding the top speed of the vehicle, the stress and component sizes and the loads/forces on designed mounts. Another important aspect analyzed was the torque transmitted from the motor, torque on the axle, and the total weight of the drivetrain. The drivetrain of the RC car was designed by Rachel Krill. All electronic drivetrain components have been assembled into the chassis, designed by Joe Fritz, and fit accordingly. Two mounts were 3D printed to hold the motor in place as well as to hold the center spool in place. The results included testing the speed which achieved the predicted top speed of 40MPH, the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle which were 7.25 ft/s2 and -6.90 ft/s2, respectively

Evaluation of the relationship of Dairy and Meat consumption (as CLA content) with resting metabolic rate

The primary goal of this research was to extract the dietary milk and meat consumption from three day food records of a previous study entitled "Food Habits and Behaviors, Metabolic Rate and Body Composition in College Females ages 18-26" to estimate the ingested conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). (1) In addition to the three day food records, the original data included using The Nutrition Electronic Tool (NET) with 38 college females to include self-reported markers of food habits, nutrition attitudes and dieting behaviors. Body fat was estimated using the BodPod® two compartment model, and resting metabolic rate was estimated using the MedGem® indirect calorimeter. The three day food records had been previously evaluated using Food Processor SQL. This current study used the quantities of foods recorded on the three day food records to estimate CLA content of the diet. The main focus was to examine the data for predictive value of estimated CLA consumption (from lean meat and low fat milk) for resting metabolic rate. Previous evaluation of this data indicated that consumption of lean meats and low fat dairy products improved body fatness and resting metabolic rate. These findings begged the question if CLA found in these food substances was a potential bioactive predictor of increased RMR. Once meat and milk products were recorded from the three day food records, total CLA content was manually estimated for each record using published values (2). CLA exists in various isomers with the c9t11 and t10c12 isomers as the most commonly studied. Published values of CLA content in foods allowed for estimation of the two more popular isomers for separate evaluation in this study. Evaluation for influence of CLA and the primary isomers in the diet followed a manual stepwise regression for the dependent variable Resting Metabolic Rate. Independent variables of interest considered in the resting metabolic rate modeling process included: waist, age, markers of nutrition attitudes, dieting behaviors, total food habits marker, body image, projected energy balance, BMI and weight alongside the CLA and CLA isomer variables. Results indicated that the best models of regression did not include CLA or the c9t11 isomer in the models. The best model for resting metabolic rate included the variables waist, height, age, meat preference, and Food Habit Questionnaire total. This study remains consistent with the previous findings. The data does not support an influential role for the CLA as estimated from three-day dietary records, but it does support a strong role for dietary habits and attitudes. Surprisingly, the insignificant beta values obtained for CLA suggests an inverse relationship of what was originally hypothesized. This study was more specific to the CLA dietary components than the original study. Electronic estimation of dietary CLA was not possible using current Food Processor SQL so this estimation was carried out manually. For future studies to be more accurate, database software that contains CLA content would be highly desirable and would likely produce more accurate values to include all foods.No embarg

Seniority Layoffs: The Bitter Fruits of Victory

IT IS UNDENIABLE that the inertia of the civil rights laws has speeded the progress of equal employment opportunity. Minorities and women at last have enjoyed some measure of increased job entries and upward mobility. The current recession threatens to reverse this process. Seniority is the ambrosia of the working classes conferring a kind of employment immortality in return for their efforts. Those who have drunk deeply from the cup are secure, for their longer service renders them impervious to the furies of economic change. In many instances, those who have merely whetted their thirst are the more recently hired women and minorities. Seniority offers them only partial protection; when a slowing economy necessitates layoffs, they must be cast out according to the sacred last hired, first fired rule

Music Therapy in the Treatment of Dementia

Dementia is a degenerative neurological disease affecting 3.4 million people worldwide. The symptoms of the disease are debilitating to the patient causing the eventual inability to care for oneself. The current mainstay of treatment is with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors which aim to slow the progression of the disease. However, not only do these medications cause multiple side effects negatively impacting the patient’s quality of life, but they are only at best shown to provide mild stabilization of cognition. Music therapy as a novel method of treatment without negative side effects, is an alternative option to pharmacological therapy. This paper will address the efficacy of music therapy (I), in contrast to the standard of care (C), in improving the quality of life (O) of older adults with dementia (P)

Seniority Layoffs: The Bitter Fruits of Victory

IT IS UNDENIABLE that the inertia of the civil rights laws has speeded the progress of equal employment opportunity. Minorities and women at last have enjoyed some measure of increased job entries and upward mobility. The current recession threatens to reverse this process. Seniority is the ambrosia of the working classes conferring a kind of employment immortality in return for their efforts. Those who have drunk deeply from the cup are secure, for their longer service renders them impervious to the furies of economic change. In many instances, those who have merely whetted their thirst are the more recently hired women and minorities. Seniority offers them only partial protection; when a slowing economy necessitates layoffs, they must be cast out according to the sacred last hired, first fired rule

Universal graphs with forbidden wheel minors

Let $W$ be any wheel graph and $\mathcal{G}$ the class of all countable graphs not containing $W$ as a minor. We show that there exists a graph in $\mathcal{G}$ which contains every graph in $\mathcal{G}$ as an induced subgraph.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Mechanically driven alloying and grain size changes in nanocrystalline Fe-Cu powders

Highly supersaturated nanocrystalline FexCu100-x alloys (10 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 95) have been prepared by mechanical alloying of elemental crystalline powders. The development of the microstructure is investigated by x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and transmission electron microscopy. The results are compared with data for ball-milled elemental Fe and Cu powders, samples prepared by inert gas condensation, and sputtered films. The deformation during milling reduces the grain size of the alloys to 6-20 nm. The final grain size of the powders depends on the composition of the material. Single-phase fcc alloys with x less-than-or-equal-to 60 and single-phase bcc alloys with x greater-than-or-equal-to 80 are formed even though the Fe-Cu system exhibits vanishingly small solid solubilities under equilibrium conditions. For 60 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 80, fcc and bcc solid solutions coexist. The alloy formation is discussed with respect to the thermodynamic conditions of the material. The role of the large volume fraction of grain boundaries between the nanometer-sized crystals, as well as the influence of internal strains and stored enthalpies introduced by ball milling, is critically assessed