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As the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States rises, opportunities for children to be physically active become more vital. One opportunity for physical activity involves children walking to and from school. However, children that live in areas with a pedestrian-unfriendly built environment and a low degree of walkability

As the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States rises, opportunities for children to be physically active become more vital. One opportunity for physical activity involves children walking to and from school. However, children that live in areas with a pedestrian-unfriendly built environment and a low degree of walkability are less likely to be physically active and more likely to be overweight. The purpose of this study was to study walking routes from schools in low-income neighborhoods in Southwestern United States to a local community center. Walking routes from the three study schools (South Mountain High School, Percy Julian Middle School, and Rose Linda Elementary School) were determined by distance, popularity, and the presence of a major thoroughfare. Segments and intersections, which formed the routes, were randomly selected from each school's buffer region. The walking routes as a whole, along with the segments and intersections, were audited and scored using built environment assessments tools: MAPS, PEQI and Walkability Checklist. These scores were utilized to develop interactive mapping tools to visualize the quality of the routes, segments and intersections and identify areas for improvement. Results showed that the routes from Percy Julian to the Kroc Center were, overall, rated higher than routes from the other two schools. The highest scoring route, from the seven routes studied, was route 2 from Percy Julian to the Kroc Center along Broadway Road. South Mountain High School was overall the worst starting point for walking to the Kroc Center as those three walking routes were graded as the least walkable. Possible areas for improvement include installing traffic calming features along major thoroughfares and reducing the perceived risk to pedestrian safety by beautifying the community by planting greenery. Future directions include studying the built environment in South Phoenix communities that surround the Kroc Center.
ContributorsZeien, Justin Lee (Author) / Buman, Matthew (Thesis director) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / Fellows, Brian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description

Many people use public transportation in their daily lives, which is often praised at as a healthy and sustainable choice to make. However, in extreme temperatures this also puts people at a greater risk for negative consequences resulting from such exposure to heat. In Phoenix, public transportation riders are faced

Many people use public transportation in their daily lives, which is often praised at as a healthy and sustainable choice to make. However, in extreme temperatures this also puts people at a greater risk for negative consequences resulting from such exposure to heat. In Phoenix, public transportation riders are faced with extreme heat in the summer along with the increased internal heat production caused by the physical activity required to use public transportation. In this study, I estimated total exposure and average exposure per rider for six stops in Phoenix. To do this I used City of Phoenix ridership data, weather data, and survey responses from an ASU City of Phoenix Bus Stop Survey conducted in summer 2016. These data sets were combined by multiplying different metrics to produce various exposure values. During analysis two sets of calculations were made. One keeping weather constant and another keeping ridership constant. I found that there was a large range of exposure between the selected stops and that the thermal environment influences the amount of exposure depending on the time of day the exposure is occurring. During the morning a greener location leads to less exposure, while in the afternoon an urban location leads to less exposure. Know detailed information about exposure at these stops I was also able to evaluate survey participants' thermal comfort at each stop and how it may relate to exposure. These findings are useful in making educated transportation planning decisions and improving the quality of life for people living in places with extreme summer temperatures.

ContributorsGerster, Katrina Ashley (Author) / Hondula, David M. (Thesis director) / Watkins, Lance (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
Gait training therapies are methods for improving the walking stability of individuals who have difficulty walking, whether it is due to injury or neuromuscular conditions. Perturbation training that causes individuals to correct their balance and actively improve their stability could potentially lead to longer term benefits for those with unstable

Gait training therapies are methods for improving the walking stability of individuals who have difficulty walking, whether it is due to injury or neuromuscular conditions. Perturbation training that causes individuals to correct their balance and actively improve their stability could potentially lead to longer term benefits for those with unstable gait. Subjects had the medial lateral movement of their center of mass measured through motion-tracking software (D-Flow 3 and Vicon Nexus 2.2). Perturbation training completed with the GRAIL treadmill randomly triggered medial-lateral sway perturbations of 3 cm a total of fifteen times throughout a five minute training period. Data collected to compare baseline, post-training, and one week follow-up dynamic stabilities were recorded over three minutes without any perturbations. There were no statistically significant differences when comparing the results of all subjects at each instance of data collection with each other. Thus, the perturbation training had no significant impact on the dynamic stability of gait. Major limitations that lend to the inconclusive nature of this study include a small sample size, no repetitions, and only one round of training. Further work can be done to better assess the potential impacts of perturbation training on walking stability for therapeutic use.
ContributorsJamali, Neema (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Soangra, Rahul (Committee member) / School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
Advancements in the field of design and control of lower extremity robotics requires a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanics of the human ankle. The ankle joint acts as an essential interface between the neuromuscular system of the body and the physical world, especially during locomotion. This paper investigates how

Advancements in the field of design and control of lower extremity robotics requires a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanics of the human ankle. The ankle joint acts as an essential interface between the neuromuscular system of the body and the physical world, especially during locomotion. This paper investigates how the modulation of ankle stiffness is altered throughout the stance phase of the gait cycle depending on the environment the ankle is interacting with. Ten young healthy subjects with no neurological impairments or history of ankle injury were tested by walking over a robotic platform which collected torque and position data. The platform performed a perturbation on the ankle at 20%, 40%, and 60% of their stance phase in order to estimate ankle stiffness and evaluate if the environment plays a role on its modulation. The platform provided either a rigid environment or a compliant environment in which it was compliant and deflected according to the torque applied to the platform. Subjects adapted in different ways to achieve balance in the different environments. When comparing the environments, subjects modulated their stiffness to either increase, decrease, or remain the same. Notably, stiffness as well as the subjects’ center of pressure was found to increase with time as they transitioned from late loading to terminal stance (heel strike to toe-off) regardless of environmental conditions. This allowed for a model of ankle stiffness to be developed as a function of center of pressure, independent of whether a subject is walking on the rigid or compliant environment. The modulation of stiffness parameters characterized in this study can be used in the design and control of lower extremity robotics which focus on accurate biomimicry of the healthy human ankle. The stiffness characteristics can also be used to help identify particular ankle impairments and to design proper treatment for individuals such as those who have suffered from a stroke or MS. Changing environments is where a majority of tripping incidents occur, which can lead to significant injuries. For this reason, studying healthy ankle behavior in a variety of environments is of particular interest.
ContributorsBliss, Clayton F (Author) / Lee, Hyunglae (Thesis director) / Marvi, Hamid (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05