Browsing by Subject "Work efficiency"
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Item Crafting darkness(2017-05) Lu, Chian-Ann; Habeck, Michelle M.; Mickey, SusanThe environment has the power to affect human’s behavior. We, as human beings, perceive our environment very sensitively every single second. The environment is as important as the air we breathe. Elements of the environment that can affect people include spacial arrangement, light, sound, temperature, and smell, A good environmental design is attentive to human perception and can help to improve human working abilities. However, in the modern society, most of environmental designs are not friendly to people due to either limited budgets or limited space. A poorly designed environment may subliminally be perceived negatively and create a situation which may for some cause a decrease in working ability and a loss of efficiency. In my thesis, I will redesign the Winship B.204 to create an environment that can increase and improve people’s working ability. The design of the environment will incorporate lighting, sound, smell , spacial arrangement, and temperature with each other so as to define the style or even character of this space. In addition, I will explore different ways to apply natural elements to this environment. I will use the graduate studio, Winship B.204 as a prototype and to discover if the space with design adjustments, can improve people’s imagination and creativity.Item Effects of Neo40TM with caffeine on cycling time trial performance(2013-05) Lee, Joowon; Farrar, Roger P.; Ivy, John, 1945-The vasodilatory effects of nitric oxide (NO) have attracted a lot of attention from many investigators who are interested in treatment for cardiovascular disease or hypertension. Recently, however, NO has drawn the attention of people who are looking for new avenues to improve their health, as well as effective ways to enhance exercise performance. In particular, NO, a potent vasodilator, is known to regulate blood flow to active muscles and improve muscle contractile efficiency during exercise, allowing participants to exercise much longer with less fatigue. Neo40TM contains 420mg of a nitric oxide blend with 75mg of caffeine. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of Neo40TM on cycling time trial performance and exercise efficiency in 15 moderately trained cyclists. The protocol was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, two-period, within-subjects crossover study. The treatments were Neo40TM, and a non-caloric similarly favored placebo (PLA). Fifteen participants were randomly assigned to ingest a Neo40 TM or PLA in lozenge form. Exercise performance was assessed by time to complete a simulated 20.15km time-trial course. Exercise efficiency was also measured by VO2 and lactate accumulation at standardized submaximal steady-state exercise intensities. Time-trial performance was enhanced by 2.1% when participants consumed Neo40TM compared to a PLA without a significant difference in rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Time to complete 6km, 10km, 19.5km and 20.15km of cycling was analyzed by gender. A significant difference was found in female subjects at all time points, but not in male subjects. We did not find significant treatment effects for VO2, respiratory exchange ratio (RER), RPE, heart rate (HR) and lactate concentration during steady state exercise. In conclusion, acute supplementation with Neo40TM improved time-trial performance by an average of 2.1% although there were no treatment effects in regards to factors related to work efficiency.Item Effects of short term dietary nitrate supplementation on energy metabolism during isokinetic knee muscle contractions(2014-12) Kim, Kyoungrae; Brothers, Robert MatthewThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether 3 days of dietary nitrate supplementation has positive effects on exercise performance and energy metabolism at rest and during strenuous knee exercise, and exercise recovery. The experimental protocol was a double blind, placebo-controlled, two-period, and within-subjects design. Fourteen healthy nonsmoking males (22.71 ± 0.72yr, 72.93 ± 2.35kg, and 47.67 ± 1.56 ml/kg/min VO2max) participated in the study. Two supplements (nitrate lozenge; NO-L or placebo; PLA) were orally administrated randomly at 48 and 24 hours before each trial day and again 40 minutes before each exercise trial. Total work, peak torque, and respiratory gases were automatically collected during repeated knee extensions/flexions (isokinetic concentric contractions with dominant leg; 4 sets of 28 repetitions at 180°/sec with 30 sec rest intervals) and recovery (6 contractions of 1 repetition maximum with 120 vii sec between contractions). For these results, peak torque, rate of fatigue, work efficiency, and rate of recovery were calculated. Blood specimens were collected at rest before and after the treatment, post exercise, and end of recovery to track the changes in blood glucose and lactate concentrations. There was a significant inverse correlation for total work during knee extension exercise and oxygen consumption (PLA: r = -.560 and NO-L: r = -.546; p < .01, respectively). During the exercise, RER was significantly higher for PLA compared with NO-L (PLA: 1.42 ± 0.02 vs. NO-L: 1.38 ± 0.02: p = .03). Work within each set and total work performed were higher for NO-L, but these differences were not significant. However, NO-L enhanced exercise efficiency by 3.3% when compared with PLA (PLA: 2497.5 ± 134.56 ft-lb/L/min vs. NO-L: 2578.7 ± 132.24 ftlb/L/min; p = .05). Extensor peak torque recovery rate slope was not significant, but meaningfully faster for NO-L (PLA: 2.39 ± 0.52% vs. NO-L: 3.06 ± 0.54%; p = .09) and significant interaction effect (p = .02) was found during recovery contractions, especially from contractions 2 to 3 (p = .03). It is also worth noting that differences in time to peak torque during knee extension exercise for NO-L and PLA approached significances (PLA: 0.213 ± 0.01 sec vs. NO-L: 0.200 ± 0.01 sec; p = .08). The results suggest that 3 days of dietary nitrate supplementation improves rate of exercise recovery and enhances work efficiency during vigorous resistance exercise.