This special session is organized to provide an interactive forum for the introduction of a set of curriculum modules developed under IEEE's Real World Engineering Projects (RWEP) program. The modules, available to the public via a RWEP web portal, are designed for use in the first-year engineering and computer science classroom, and are hands-on, teambased projects that emphasize the societal impact of the work that engineers do. After a brief introduction to the RWEP program and the curriculum modules, the authors of the modules will present their ideas and demonstrate the laboratory activities associated with their modules in interactive, informal simultaneous sessions.
In the present study, movement timing of upper lip (UL), lower lip (LL), and jaw (J) was investigated. Twelve nonstutterers and nineteen stutterers were asked to utter the testwords /papapas/ and /sapapple/ under different stress and speech rate conditions. Contrary to earlier reports suggesting an invariant UL–LL–J peak velocity sequence in normal speakers and a more variant pattern in stutterers, it was found that nonstutterers as well as stutterers failed to show an invariant peak velocity sequence for bilabial closure and that stutterers and nonstutterers exhibited almost the same distribution of peak velocity sequences. The present results reveal strong intra- and interindividual variability in peak velocity patterns, and lead to the conclusion that a deviation from the UL–LL–J peak velocity sequence is not an indicator of a disturbed speech motor control process.
As aircraft become quieter, the question arises to what extent the decrease in noise is convertable into an increase in the number of flight movements without enhancing psychological and physiological noise effects. Conventional reasoning has it that it suffices to keep constant the energy equivalent noise level. In a 3×3 design combining three number conditions (3/9/27 overflights during 30 min) with three noise level conditions (aircraft types emitting 71/76/81 dB(A) per overflight), this assumption was tested, using three groups of 12 subjects each for the number conditions, and repeated measurements for the level conditions. Comparisons between the equal-energy conditions (e.g., 3×76 dB vs 9×71 dB) did not show any significant differences regarding systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. Regarding ratings for annoyance in the lab situation, results were the same with a slight tendency for underenergetic number effects, that means, more but softer aircraft were preferred. However, if the subjects imagined to reside in a region continuously exposed to the experienced noise, quality of living was assessed as slightly more negative for residential areas with nine overflights, and clearly more negative for 27 overflights, though energy was fixed. This suggests overenergetic number effects for living quality beginning at about 18 overflights/h.
Interactions between visceral, intestinal stimulation and autonomic cardiovascular function have received increasing attention over the last years. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of long-term continuous rectal distention on rectal tone and cardiovascular function at the threshold for first sensation of distention and moderate urge to defecate compared to a resting period without distention. Continuous isobaric rectal distention was performed in 13 healthy volunteers with a ten minute pressure tracking procedure at each subject's predetermined individual threshold for either moderate urge or first sensation, separated by a ten minute resting period. Rectal volume, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were determined continuously.Rectal tone decreased significantly over time at the threshold for moderate urge and first sensation. Cardiovascular measures remained stable over the distention procedures, except for a significant increase in systolic blood pressure at the threshold for moderate urge.The previously reported rectal accommodation response to rectal distention was confirmed. The increase in systolic blood pressure is most likely mediated through sympathetic efferent pathways.
