The 5th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium will take place on March 10, 2010 beginning at 1:00 p.m. in the McKimmon’s Center on NC State University’s campus.
Eleven graduate students from the College of Design will be participating during the poster session and competition. Those students are: Tim Bennett (Industrial Design), Peter Carrasquillo (Industrial Design), Brooke Chornyak (Graphic Design), Melissa Church (Art + Design), Meghan Holliday (Art + Design), Amber Howard (Design), Paulina Iturralde (Industrial Design), Precious Lovell (Art + Design), Matthew Peterson (Design), Marc Russo (Art + Design) and Lauren Waugh (Graphic Design).
Abstracts:
Tim Bennett
Graduate Program: Industrial Design
Advisor: Haig Khachatoorian
The Design of a Telemedical Full-Body Imaging System to Promote Regular Skin Examinations: A Simulation of Professional Design Practices
Over one million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed annually within the United States with skin melanoma accounting for approximately 8,650 deaths a year. If detected early, the survival rate of patients with skin melanoma is 99%. Unfortunately, a low availability of dermatologists, an uneven spread of medical facilities, and a general lack of public awareness allow for an unnecessarily high rate of mortality. The objective of my research is to employ strategic design methods to uncover an appropriate solution to this issue in the form of a marketable product as a simulation of the professional product development process. A mixture of data collection and visualization methods such as product analyses, field observations, geographical mapping, behavioral mapping, PACT analyses, value propositioning, task analyses, two dimensional visualizations, and three-dimensional prototyping were used to uncover and develop potential product solutions. To further realize a solution, a brand in the form of a technologically capable manufacturer was chosen to guide product placement strategy and program vision. The resulting design is a full-body imaging system that electronically transmits high-resolution images of a patient to a doctor or dermatologist of choice. The device, intended for use in local health clinics, allows for a convenient and quick solution to citizens looking to have a regular skin examination without the hassle of having to make an appointment or travel to urban medical centers.
Peter J. Carrasquillo1, Lion Shaw2, Christina Clark2, Rohan Hangekar3, and Richard Nguyen4
Graduate Programs: Industrial Design1; Business Administration2; Mechanical Engineering3; Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill4
Advisor: Haig Khachatoorian
The Celina Autoblend: Design of and Proposal for a Closed-Loop Oxygen Blending and Delivery Module for Neonatal Oxygen Therapy
It has been known for decades that low blood oxygen saturation can lead to Hypoxia which can cause brain damage or death. For that reason almost all prematurely born infants require supplemental oxygen therapy due to underdeveloped lungs. More recently it has been found that too much oxygen can lead to Hyperoxia which can cause cell damage to the heart and lungs and cause blindness due to retinopathy. Multiple studies have shown that avoiding episodes of hypoxia and hyperoxia by maintaining very precise blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) thresholds during the first few weeks of life is vital to preventing long-term developmental problems in children born prematurely. Current methods of oxygen delivery management do not offer the level of precision that newer data show is desirable. Currently Medical Air and pure Oxygen are blended to a specific ratio in a manually controlled unit. The flow of that enriched air is then also controlled manually before being sent to the patient. The patient wears a pulse oximeter sensor that uses infrared light to measure their blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2). If the patient’s SpO2 reading drops below or rises above preset thresholds an alarm sounds. False alarms are often triggered by SpO2 “signal artifacts” which have many causes such as a sensor becoming dislodged or even just the child’s movement. A medical staff member then needs to respond to each alarm and, if necessary, adjust the mixture of Medical Air and Oxygen (referred to as FiO2) based on the pulse oximeter reading. This is known as an “Open-Loop System” where the medical staff member acts as the liaison between the oxygen blender and pulse oximeter. Since nurse-to-patient ratios in the NICU tend to be between 3:1 and 6:1 alarm response time can be negatively affected by workload and increase the likelihood of hypoxic or hyperoxic episodes. In response to these conditions research was conducted into the feasibility of a closed-loop oxygen blending and delivery device. The results are a proposal for such a device based on business, engineering, and design considerations. The Celina Autoblend is a device that combines a pulse oximeter, electronic oxygen blender, electronic gas flow controller, and a microcontroller unit. The Celina Autoblend would be capable of monitoring a patient’s SpO2 level, of isolating and ignoring signal artifacts, of determining when adjustments to the FiO2 are necessary, and of automatically making any necessary adjustments. Additionally the Celina Autoblend is a networkable device capable of maintaining an electronic patient history that can be automatically stored to a hospital database. We propose that such capabilities would eliminate delayed responses to alarms, cut down on the number of false alarms, provide precise control of oxygen delivery, minimize the occurrence of hypoxic and hyperoxic episodes, and help staff better manage multiple patients.
Brooke ChornyakGraduate
Program: Graphic Design
Advisors: Scott Townsend and Denise Gonzales Crisp
In what ways can design mediate and augment communication for those with aphasia?
Few people think about how they use language, so by damaging discourse, aphasia reveals the complexity and skill of communication. It is vital for our society to realize the importance of language and the power it holds. Reshaping our cultural framework can’t be achieved overnight however change can occur through redesigning our current interactions to accommodate varying abilities. This can be accomplished through an investigation of altering conversational pace for an increasingly reflective experience, the use of multiple modes of language and finally through supporting internal speech and thought.
Communication acts as an inclusive affordance that shapes the actions, building process, and degree of an individual’s control or influence over the things that matter within a group. This degree of agency for an individual can be enabled, tailored and supported through a design approach that results in the creation of open-ended tools that allow for the audience to become designers and stakeholders, reconfiguring their lives to fit new needs.
That being said this thesis exploration will take an unconventional approach. Human knowledge about our current communication channels is limited. Our philosophies and methods for creating shared understanding will remain stagnant and exclusive if we do not challenge them in a conceptual manner. Though rooted in traditional design research methods, case studies, scenario development, concept mapping and rapid prototyping, posing questions about the feasibility of designing for our underused communication channels such as touch, gesture, body language stretches the definition of graphic design and increases the range of possibilities for meaning making.
As design progress into the second decade of the 21st century the profession must reshape itself, seeking a new role. Graphic Design, in its best possible form, might not be an entity all to itself, but an occupation that exists in a symbiotic relationship with medicine, physics, engineering, architecture, and government.
Melissa Church
Graduate Program: Art and Design
Advisor: Patrick Fitzgerald
Then/Now: 3D Virtual Space as Temporal Telescope
While Unity3D has mostly served as a tool for creating and publishing iPhone applications, there is untapped potential in the area of educational games. Unity gives developers a platform that is inexpensive and easily accessible to the general public. What value is there in using an inexpensive platform to bring innovative interaction design to a mass audience? This question, along with an exploration of successful and optimal design strategies, is the focus of this research. Using 3D models of downtown Raleigh, an experience has been created within Unity that not only shows an understanding of the software, but also contains customized graphical user interface (GUI) widgets. These widgets have been designed as smart pathways to aid in the user’s decision-making process. Through the exploration of Unity’s potential, the larger issues of how aesthetic and functional choices influence positive user behavior, and how this behavior enhances the educational value of a game, have been addressed. Audio, video and graphic elements showcase the effect of time on North Carolina’s capital city. Through their interactions with Then/Now, users can view historical information in a virtual setting, thus rendering the interface a sort of “temporal telescope” through which to explore Raleigh. Multimedia is strategically placed in the same camera location as the original archived photos, giving viewers a chance to see displays of the past, and participate in a new, virtual experience. Then/Now does not provide a straight and narrow path, but it allows the user to navigate toward a unique perspective on Raleigh’s history, while also presenting them with the opportunity to quickly “zip line” through virtual space to specific locations. Additionally, there is the potential to introduce users to Unity, an innovative and modern platform for creating educational materials.
Meghan Holliday
Graduate Program: Art and Design
Advisor: Susan Brandeis
Woven Wool to Felt: Researching the Materiality of Woven Wool Fibers through Art and Design Practice
This research project assesses the fabric properties of a woven textile with a 100% cotton warp and 100% wool and/or cotton blended weft on the TC-1 (Thread-Controller number 1) technology, a loom that allows weavers to hand-weave complex imagery with the aid of a computer. The research intends to provide hands-on experience in fabric production and manipulation using wool fibers to understand felt’s properties first-hand. The experiments are designed to quantify observations for the purpose of controlling the fabric properties of future textiles woven on the TC-1. The results and findings will appeal to the textile industry, educators, scholars, and artists alike, as it will provide guidelines on how to achieve particular results using the specified materials and technology.
Amber Howard
Graduate Program: Design
Advisor: Meredith Davis
Feedforward: Interactive Design conditions that support emotive learning for enduring lifestyle change
In 2008, lifestyle diseases accounted for 50% of the reported deaths in the U.S., which were preventable by changing daily behaviors. Among the diseases, Obesity affects 32% of the current population. While many health programs provide information and tools for diet, fitness, and stress management, most participants relapse after the first year. The high relapse rate may be due in part to the disconnect between rational and emotive learning—participants “know” which behaviors are healthy, but “feel” compelled to act in accordance with unhealthy habits. Designed conditions that support emotive learning may enable participants to change deepseated emotional biases and experience enduring lifestyle change. While cognitive neuroscientific research provides the backdrop for this study, the recent emergence of mobile technologies positions possible applications within the subtle contexts of daily life. The purpose of this study will be to test whether situated interaction with designed priming conditions can reduce personal distress biases.
I will use experimental and quasi-experimental methodologies to perform three tests, measuring for change in physiological stress response. The first test will use a Solomon Four-Group Design in a controlled setting with one session of interaction; the second test will use a pre-test post-test control group design in which participants engage daily in situated interactions for two weeks; and the third phase will use a multi-time series control group design to measure enduring influence over ten weeks.
I will conduct a paired difference statistical analysis to determine if a significant change occurs after interaction in all tests. I will also conduct a regression analysis to estimate the percentage of change in stress bias that the designed priming conditions explain. Given interaction with designed priming conditions, I hypothesize that emotional biases can change to match intended lifestyle goals and lead to enduring lifestyle change.
Paulina Jauregui Iturralde1, Zack Cashion2, Priyesh Malegaonkar3, John McCaleb4, Darlene Nyce4, and Kaete Piccirilli4
Graduate Programs: Industrial Design1; Biomedical Engineering1; Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering1; Business Administration1
Advisor: Haig Khachatoorian
Sensory Testing Device for Use in the Manufacturing Industry
A sensory testing device has been developed from a general problem identified by a physician and approaching it to a specific need found in the market. Sensory tests used by employers provide a way to assess an applicant’s sensory qualifications. Analyzing the sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and balance senses gives information regarding the ability of the candidate to perform specific tasks required for the position. It is also a good way to ensure current employees can perform their specific job function and are not experiencing physiological damage due to work environment. For example, a warehouse worker needs good hearing to be able to hear the warning sounds emitted by a forklift backing up in their direction. Working in some environments can damage hearing, and knowing who is affected can help keep the workplace safer and save employees from long-term sensory damage.
The designed device is able to analyze senses (vision, listening and touch) and provides results in a digital format that is easy to apply to the needs of the employer. Small, hand-held computing technology is advancing at such a rate that this device is not only ideal, it is completely practical. Moreover, it’s an open opportunity to expand to other sensory tests that can give a objective evaluation for an area of therapeutic interest.
The procedure used to manage this project was a interdisciplinary development program using problem-solving methods from different fields and taking care of the Voice of the Costumer data, derived directly from possible users. Then, the final product is formed of two elements, goggles and the controls. These, can join together in one unit that can be carried as a single object and can pursue individual and integrated tests for the three senses in an easy way without the need of training and time consuming processes on the part of the employer. It will help to keep a record of each employee with a low invest.
Precious Lovell
Graduate Program: Art and Design
Advisor: Susan Brandeis
The Narrative Potential of Cloth in Artistic Expression
This research explores the narrative potential of cloth and clothing in artistic expression. According to the Christian Science Monitor (12/27/2004) the traditional textile industries in many African countries have been devastated by the importation of used clothing…clothing that was originally donated to charities in the US and Europe are being sold for profit in many African countries at more affordable prices than traditional clothing and textiles. This project sought to utilize textiles, so highly revered in most African societies, to tell this story. Traditional Ghanaian textiles, as well as used clothing, in combination with the genre of quilts, were the materials and forms used. Design process was used to explore pattern, color and surface manipulation. Authenticity verses imitation was juxtaposed to determine their importance in relaying the story. Through design process, multiple outcomes were explored through hand and computer sketching, collage, fabric and paper model-making. Traditional hand printing and stitching were generated through materials and processes. The result was a three dimensional quilt portraying a tense standoff and invasion between the past and the present without a clear picture of who will be victorious in the end. The outcome of this research project suggests that narrative can be created and achieved in and through cloth and clothing to tell complex stories and serve artistic expression. The objective of this study was to inform a final project for the Master of Art and Design in the Fibers and Surface Design concentration.
Matthew Peterson
Graduate Program: Design
Advisor: Meredith Davis
Comprehension and Learning with Instructional Print Media for Middle School Science: Cognitive Load and Performative Design
K-12 science textbooks have great instructional potential because reading illustrated material requires a high degree of involvement at the cognitive level. Cognitive load theory seeks to explain the interpretative process through the architecture and significant limitations of working memory. Cognitive load theory is well established in psychology as a framework for understanding instructional print media such as textbooks. However, research designs have tended to be strictly experimental, with minimal design components, and so must be limited as to what they can conclude about authentic, classroom-based reading situations. This study seeks to extend the purview of cognitive load theory by working with complete, authentic and holistic instructional print media. Three discrete text–image integration strategies are identified and employed to produce alternate instructional print media that address the NC science course of study at the 7th grade level. A prose primary strategy is most often employed by textbooks, which though heavily illustrated, are driven by a dominant prose. Less common prose subsumed and fully integrated strategies are compared with this dominant model. Student (subject) interaction with the different forms is modeled through tasks in the form of review questions. The goal of this in-progress study is to probe any affects of design strategy on comprehension and learning, as defined by cognitive load theory. The effect of familiarity with a given strategy is also important. This study will be conducted with all 7th grade students at a local middle school, in the form of regular classroom deskwork activities.
Marc E. Russo
Graduate Program: Art and Design
Advisors: Patrick Fitzgerald and James Lester
Creating Virtual Agents That Communicate Through Facial Expressions for the Unity3d Gaming Engine
Within the education and computer science research communities, there has been a growing interest in the use of interactive virtual environments to foster engaging, effective learning experiences. In these environments, students navigate rich, 3D worlds and interact with virtual characters while completing problem solving scenarios and learning curricular content. An important element of these systems are believable virtual characters that exercise multimodal communication abilities - text, audio, gesture, facial expression - to support student learning activities. However, the development of expressive, virtual characters for interactive learning environments poses a number of notable challenges. In particular, the demands of real-time game environments and the limitations of modern graphics hardware impose limitations on the design of virtual characters, and therefore impact agent expressiveness and communicative ability.
Within the last several years, the Unity3d game engine has become a tool of choice for many organizations developing educational games. While the incorporation of audio and gesture to a character is well documented in Unity3d, there is little support, or common practice, for the creation of believable facial expressions for virtual characters in the tool set. Effective communication through facial expression requires that a character be capable of emoting at least the six universal expressions (McCloud 2006; Ekman 2003). The work presented in this poster demonstrates a bone structure developed for use in the Unity3d game engine to move the eyes, lips, and brow in an attempt to approximate these expressions, while accounting for the compromises involved in working with a real-time gaming environment. This facial bone structure can be evaluated based on its ability to closely approximate the universal facial expressions, alongside its ability to meet the performance constraints of interactive virtual learning environments.
Lauren Waugh
Graduate Program: Graphic Design
Advisors: Kermit Bailey and Meredith Davis
How can interactive visualization tools in a digital writing space help citizen journalists construct an argument when articulating
opinions about national political issues? As social media becomes ubiquitous within the modern American culture, the average consumer has access to a variety of tools to create, remediate, and disseminate information.
One effect of this shift from consumption to production is the democratization of news media. With the evolution of free channels of broadcast such as blogs, social networking, forums, and participatory news sites, media conglomerates are no longer the only source of daily news. Citizen journalism has grown out of this phenomenon—citizen journalists contribute to the media landscape by writing about, photographing, and videotaping personally meaningful news and events.
Even though citizen journalists have the means to produce and broadcast their work, they don’t always have an understanding of how to construct an argument, establish credibility, and compel audiences to view their work, nor do they always have the educational tools to guide them through the process. This disconnect between the pre- and post-internet world of news media hascreated a need for consumer guidance toward producing content with a purpose.
Design has a role to play in this education. This investigation seeks to explore how the introduction of visual thinking into the writing process could help citizen journalists learn to construct an argument. In The Uses of Argument, Stephen Toulmin frames the phases of an argument from a procedural rather than formal perspective. I’m applying Toulmin’s model of argumentation to a series of studies exploring visual thinking through data visualization, mapping, storyboarding, annotation, and the design of conversational spaces.
This research seeks to evaluate the role of design within the writing process by proposing a set of tools to guide citizen journalists through methods of argument building.