SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
Location: Ballroom, A. Ray Olpin University Union

Intra-Sensor Variability and the Effects of Carbon Monoxide Concentration, Temperature, and Relative Humidity on Low-Cost Carbon Monoxide Sensors
Evan Blanchard, University of Utah

Faculty Mentor: Kerry Kelly, University of Utah

SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
POSTER D78

Poor air quality is linked to numerous adverse health effects, including heart attacks and premature death.  Microclimates of poor air quality can occur in areas with concentrated vehicle emissions, such as pickup/drop off zones. Air quality monitoring in these microclimates can provide helpful insight about environmental, health, and safety concerns. However, these monitors can be costly and require specialized training. The purpose of this research is to characterize low-cost sensor performance with an emphasis on identifying emissions from idling vehicles.  Specifically, we examined inter-sensor variability and the effects of temperature and relative humidity on the Alphasense CO-B4 carbon monoxide (CO) sensors. We designed and conducted laboratory testing to analyze each sensor’s response to varying levels of carbon monoxide concentration, as well as atmospherically relevant temperatures and relative humidity levels. We found that there was low inter-sensor variability among twelve sensors. The average R-squared value from our linear regression of all sensors versus a reference measurement of carbon monoxide was 0.933. The average root mean square error (RMSE) was 118,979 microVolts. We also found that the temperature and relative humidity both affected sensor readings (in microVolts) and adding these two parameters improved the linear regression fit of the low-cost CO sensors compared to reference CO measurements. This research shows that we can measure CO concentration relatively accurately at $138 per sensor. Cost effective, accurate air quality measurements can allow individuals, communities, and policy makers to make informed decisions about exposure levels.

Characterization of fluorine-free ski waxes
Lorenz Cushman, University of Utah

Faculty Mentor: Jeffrey Bates, University of Utah

SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
POSTER D80

Fluorocarbon-based ski waxes are known sources of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which accumulate in both the human body and watershed during the application and use of many high-performance ski waxes. Fluorine is used to enhance the performance of the ski wax by altering its material properties. This project studies how to scientifically measure waxes’ standard of performance and how this standard can be achieved with sustainable, fluorine free ski wax. By comparing commercial fluorine free waxes, we report which material properties are responsible for ski wax’s performance and how materials characterization techniques can be utilized to quantitatively compare the performance properties of commercial ski waxes. Additionally, we demonstrate how these characterization techniques can be modified to account for the temperature dependence of the wax and its performance in a variety of snow conditions. Finally, we investigate how the addition of colloidal metals can impact the specific material properties of ski wax. Overall, this project will aid industry face the challenge of creating a sustainable, high performance ski wax by introducing quantitative, rather than qualitative, scientific testing and analysis.

Colorimetric Assay for Pneumonia Screening Via the Volatile Organic Breath Biomarker, Heptane
Bailey Doucette, University of Utah

Faculty Mentor: Swomitra Mohanty, University of Utah

SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
POSTER D82

Pneumonia is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide. Diagnosing pneumonia through a rapid and proactive method would increase the speed at which patients are treated and can recover. Volatile organic biomarkers (VOBs) are present in the breath of patients infected with pneumonia. One such VOB is heptane, which has been proven to be present in the breath of pneumonia patients. Pneumonia is usually diagnosed via chest X-ray, an expensive method of examination. This method of diagnosis is done after patients begin to exhibit symptoms. By engineering an inexpensive device that would detect heptane from the breath in an efficient way through colorimetry, patients could be diagnosed before symptom onset and treatments could start before damage could be done. To confirm the presence of heptane as one of the VOBs associated with pneumonia, staphylococcus aureus was cultured in our laboratory and the released VOBs were measured using GCMS. Heptane is of particular interest as it reacts with water bromine when exposed to UV light in a halogenation reaction. The water bromine loses its characteristic orange-red color during the reaction. Thus, this reaction can detect heptane in patients’ breaths in a point-of-care Pneumonia screening device. Colorimetric methods are used to analyze the concentrations of compounds. The concentration of a colored compound can be determined with a spectrophotometer. Utilizing a blue LED and an OPT101 monolithic photodiode, the concentration over time of water bromine within the water bromine heptane reaction was attained in a spectrophotometer. The engineered spectrophotometer in the initial part of this project was designed to run the heptane water bromine reaction within a cuvette between a blue LED and OPT101 monolithic photodiode. The spectrophotometer was characterized via calibration and used to detect concentration changes from the water bromine and heptane reaction.

Developing Vibrotactile Sensory Feedback for TetraSki Adaptive Sport Equipment
Jeremi Godbout, University of Utah

Faculty Mentor: Monika Buczak, University of Utah

SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
POSTER D84

The long-term goal of this research is to develop a wearable vibrotactile device to provide individuals with tetraplegia real-time haptic feedback from adaptive sports equipment. Tetraplegia affects 1.4 million Americans, and the number grows by thousands every year [1], [2]. Individuals with tetraplegia currently control adaptive sports equipment, such as an adaptive ski, with a “sip-and-puff” device; breathing into a tube (sipping) command the ski to move left and breathing out (puffing) commands the ski to move right. A key limitation of the “sip-and-puff” controller is that there is no immediate feedback to indicate if the command was registered. Here we present the design and development a wearable vibrotactile array. The vibrotactile array uses six vibrating motors integrated into a wearable fabric that fits around the neck of an individual. Each vibrating motor is a 10-mm-by-2.7-mm disc. The six vibrating motors are arranged with a vertical pair along the spine and two horizontal pairs to the right and left of the spine. The vibrating motors can be controlled wirelessly through a central embedded microcontroller. Tactile feedback can be convey based on which motors are vibrating, or by increasing the intensity of the vibration. Future work will validate this device while the participants are actively skiing with adaptive sports equipment. This wearable vibrotactile feedback could be broadened to other mobility devices such as wheelchairs.
[1]       “Spinal Cord Injury Statistics – BrainAndSpinalCord.org – Spine Rehab Stats,” Brain and Spinal Cord. https://www.brainandspinalcord.org/spinal-cord-injury-statistics/ (accessed Oct. 07, 2022).
[2]       “Paralysis statistics,” Reeve Foundation. https://www.christopherreeve.org/living-with-paralysis/stats-about-paralysis (accessed Sep. 13, 2022).

Efficient Computation of Grobner Bases for Partial Logic Synthesis of Arithmetic Circuits
Bailey Martin, University of Utah

Faculty Mentor: Priyank Kalla, University of Utah

SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
POSTER D86

Digital circuits are custom-designed, which increases the likelihood of bugs. Despite efforts taken by engineers, a variety of unforeseen errors can occur. Formal verification is an approach that applies mathematical models and algorithms to prove or disprove that a design works as intended. An alternative to these methods is Symbolic Computer Algebra (SCA), which is a polynomial algebra-based model that can be used for arithmetic circuit verification.  Computing a Grobner Basis utilizing these polynomials for ideal membership testing for verification has been found to work well for arithmetic circuits. Rectification for arithmetic circuits may be able possible by creating a modified Grobner Basis, which will be explored by this project.

Real-Time Hand Pose Reconstruction using Flex Sensors
Mathias Schoen, University of Utah

Faculty Mentor: Edoardo Battaglia, University of Utah

SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
POSTER D88

The field of Human-Computer Interactions is one which grows in importance each and every year, due to the increasing demand from medical, robotic, and tech industries for more streamlined methods of communicating with computer systems. While a variety of research and proposed solutions have gone into the field, this paper will focus on one specific aspect of the discipline: hand pose reconstruction. Many papers published in this field focus on the use of cameras – including depth, RGB, and others – to capture data and reconstruct specific hand poses. While this method has shown a fair level of success, a few prominent issues continue to exist, namely finger occlusion (where certain joints become hidden behind the hand) and the non-ergonomic design of fixed camera systems. In this paper we instead choose to explore a hardware-oriented approach, using a minimal suite of mounted flex sensors to gather data about the current joint angles at specific locations in the hand. Once this glove has been constructed and tested, the gathered data will be fed into a trained deep learning model in the hopes of accurately reconstructing various hand poses from minimal hardware data. Finally, to verify the collected data and results, the reconstructed hand poses will be compared with data acquired from a high-precision motion capture system.