Proposal

Revised Project Proposal

The revised project proposal follows the original very closely. However, in the revised proposal, we outline more concise goals and specifications. Once we have a working project, we will be open to modifying and adding features as well as other enhancements to the project.

Team	Ryan Roth, Damien Suttle, Nicholas Yang; our TA is June Ahn
Client	John Stein
School	Brown University
Compatibility	We are aiming to be platform-independent with a focus on compatibility with the web.
Software	Director and Java
Project	The final product will be a teaching aid, rather than a stand-alone tutorial. It will consist of graphs that display the relationship between different elements of the cardiovascular system, such as cardiac output, blood pressure, total peripheral resistance, mean circulatory filling pressure, and stroke volume. Accompanying the graphs will be animated illustrations, showing the heart, arteries, veins, and movement of blood flow. The user will be able to alter certain influencing factors in the system and interactively see the corresponding changes in the graphs and illustrations. A flowchart that visualizes the sequence of events will also be available. As an add-on, the project will include case-scenarios, where the user can predict what would happen in a given situation and then see what would actually happen. Scenarios might include suffering a gunshot wound, having a heart attack, heart stoppage, blood loss, or a hemorrhage. Once the basic infrastructure is complete, we will look into adding information and facts that can help the user learn and also serve as a handy reference. As an example, picture an animation of a heart pumping blood from veins into arteries. Mathematically, blood pressure is the product of cardiac output and total peripheral resistance. Thus, by increasing resistance, the arteries in the animation will start to bulge due to an increase in pressure while the veins shrink to show a decrease in pressure. A graph might show cardiac output versus right atrial pressure and actively update the plots for the cardiac and vascular functions. At the click of a button, a flowchart depicting the events that have happened will pop up. Alternatively, the user may want to decrease resistance or try varying the pressure in the right atrium. The respiratory project mentioned in Professor Stein's original proposal will be attempted only after the cardiovascular portion has been completed. Hopefully, the illustrations, graphs, concepts, and methods used in the cardiovascular project can be imported and reused.
Difficulties	The hardest part of this project will be making convincing animations. After that, making the software effective in a classroom becomes the next concern. If time permits, the project will be modified to act more as a tutor rather than just a teaching aid. It will contain more information than just charts, graphs, and animations and will be targeted for use by students rather than teachers.

Original Project Proposal

This is the original project proposal submitted by Professor Stein.

Name	John Stein
School	Brown University
Subject	Physiology
Textbooks	Medical Physiology by Boron & Boulpaep
Project	Many times I will present material in several different formats to improve comprehension. A good example of difficult topics that that are taught this way are cardiovascular and respiratory physiology. Cardiovascular physiology involves following a number of physiological measures (blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, filling pressure, peripheral resistance) as the system adapts to various situations. Alterations in these factors can be demonstrated with flow charts, plotted on axes, or depicted in illustrations. The goal of this project is to present all three simultaneously to appeal to different approaches to learning. Cardiovascular An animated illustration, a mathematical equation, a plot of the data, and a flow chart description will be in the same field of view. The user will have the option of viewing the system under normal circumstances and under particular diseased states (heart attack, blood loss) and non-diseased states (exercise). This model will also allow for inquiries on physiological function that would not otherwise be straightforward. A beating heart and blood-filled circulatory system will provide a visual depiction of the changes that can be related to the quantitative depiction in the equations and plots. Respiratory/Kidney/pH The second illustration involves changes in respiratory and kidney function to regulate the pH of the blood. Physiological measures such as pH, bicarbonate, respiratory rate and carbon dioxide levels will be depicted as the system is exposed to various situations such as drug overdose, acclimatization to altitude, hyperventilation, kidney failure. Again, an animated illustration will accompany a plot of data and a chemical equation. This program will be used in Biology 80 here at Brown but it has potential for use in many areas. Many medical physiology classes cover the same material to varying degrees. I plan on distributing the results of this project to colleagues at Brown and elsewhere. Depending on the final results, I would also like to publish the results in abstract or journal form with the student that work on it with me.

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