Discovering and Identifying the Opportunities and Challenges of our Aging Population: Statewide Focus Groups and Utah Agencies Identify Concerns and Issues on the Impact of the Aging Baby Boom Generation

The following document is the result of the information discovery process and seeks to answer the question: what are the issues and potential impacts of the aging Baby Boomers? The Utah Aging Initiative hosted seven focus groups statewide in 2004 and interviewed officials from state government agencies to learn about and identify the issues facing Utah as the population ages. This report presents what was discovered and contains two sections: the Focus Group Summary, and the Interviews with State Agencies Summary

Upper limb soft robotic wearable devices: a systematic review

Introduction: Soft robotic wearable devices, referred to as exosuits, can be a valid alternative to rigid exoskeletons when it comes to daily upper limb support. Indeed, their inherent flexibility improves comfort, usability, and portability while not constraining the user’s natural degrees of freedom. This review is meant to guide the reader in understanding the current approaches across all design and production steps that might be exploited when developing an upper limb robotic exosuit. Methods: The literature research regarding such devices was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The investigated features are the intended scenario, type of actuation, supported degrees of freedom, low-level control, high-level control with a focus on intention detection, technology readiness level, and type of experiments conducted to evaluate the device. Results: A total of 105 articles were collected, describing 69 different devices. Devices were grouped according to their actuation type. More than 80% of devices are meant either for rehabilitation, assistance, or both. The most exploited actuation types are pneumatic (52%) and DC motors with cable transmission (29%). Most devices actuate 1 (56%) or 2 (28%) degrees of freedom, and the most targeted joints are the elbow and the shoulder. Intention detection strategies are implemented in 33% of the suits and include the use of switches and buttons, IMUs, stretch and bending sensors, EMG and EEG measurements. Most devices (75%) score a technology readiness level of 4 or 5. Conclusion: Although few devices can be considered ready to reach the market, exosuits show very high potential for the assistance of daily activities. Clinical trials exploiting shared evaluation metrics are needed to assess the effectiveness of upper limb exosuits on target users

Augmenting Access & Mobility: Designing for the Prosthetic Human

With the needs of the disabled person at the forefront of research and design, this thesis questions how the ‘Prosthetic Human’ can be an architectural catalyst to augment access and mobility. Access and Mobility is identified as an underdeveloped field of architectural enquiry. To improve how disabled individuals experience space, this thesis investigates and tests access and mobility through the lens of design. This thesis extends to the notion of access and networks as defined by Jeremy Rifkin through an architectural exploration into innovation centres. Workplace design strategies directs the design process to formulate stimulating environments that facilitate creative and reflective thought. The theoretical frameworks of Marquard Smith and Joanne Mora, Elizabeth Wright and Mark Wigley, concerning post-human conditions are critically discussed and theoretical notions are transposed into design investigations that explore the building as a prosthetic entity. Specifically, this thesis introduces the disabled body – The Prosthetic Human – as a new figurative referent and proportional system in the design of architecture. Corbusian principles and methods are examined and appropriated for the Prosthetic Human. The proportions of the Prosthetic Human informs the architecture at macro, messo, and micro scales. This research finds that by designing for the Prosthetic Human, the architecture is, holistically representative of a body that requires enhanced access and mobility within space. The research is purposeful; the process celebrates difference and in turn, a calm and embracing architecture is presented in hope for those impaired to be free from spatial discrimination in our environment

Cloud computing and context-awareness: A study of the adapted user experience

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Today, mobile technology is part of everyday life and activities and the mobile ecosystems are blossoming, with smartphones and tablets being the major growth drivers. The mobile phones are no longer just another device, we rely on their capabilities in work and in private. We look to our mobile phones for timely and updated information and we rely on this being provided any time of any day at any place. Nevertheless, no matter how much you trust and love your mobile phone the quality of the information and the user experience is directly associated with the sources and presentation of information. In this perspective, our activities, interactions and preferences help shape the quality of service, content and products we use. Context-aware systems use such information about end-users as input mechanisms for producing applications based on mobile, location, social, cloud and customized content services. This represents new possibilities for extracting aggregated user-centric information and includes novel sources for context-aware applications. Accordingly, a Design Research based approach has been taken to further investigate the creation, presentation and tailoring of user-centric information. Through user evaluated experiments findings show how multi-dimensional context-aware information can be used to create adaptive solutions tailoring the user experience to the users’ needs. Research findings in this work; highlight possible architectures for integration of cloud computing services in a heterogeneous mobile environment in future context-aware solutions. When it comes to combining context-aware results from local computations with those of cloud based services, the results provide findings that give users tailored and adapted experiences based on the collective efforts of the two

Universal design of an automatic page-turner

This thesis deals with the effectiveness of automatic page-turners as one form of assistive technology. It examines several of the existing commercially available products with a view to developing a universal system that would have the potential to satisfy both the special needs and musician sectors. It explores the current trends regarding the collection of statistical data on people with a physical disability, which is intended to identify the= present and future needs for such assistive technology devices. The project utilizes a usercentric approach to document the requirements of the end users of such a device, before conceptualising a model which would have the potential to satisfy the expanded target market. It explains in detail the development process of the working model, which employs two anthropomorphic finger-like mechanisms, both of which incorporate force feedback. These finger-mimetic components are used to separate and turn the pages of the reading material. A functional prototype was built and a report of the preliminary testing carried out, together with a fully documented illustration of the final working engineering model is included. The test results reveal that the system has shown great potential for the successful development of a more universal Automatic page turner that could satisfy both identified markets

DYNAMIC CORRECTION OF POSTURAL KYPHOSIS

Many American adults in today\u27s society spend extended periods of time hunched over a computer or phone. This hunched position weakens the upper posterior muscles that support the shoulder and neck prompting muscle imbalance. Specifically, the lower trapezius and clavicle flexor muscles become too weak while the pectoral and upper trapezius muscles become too tight leading to the condition known as postural kyphosis or, more commonly, rounded shoulders. Our project aimed to design, build, and test a device able to treat and correct postural kyphosis through sensorimotor training. While the effectiveness of this device was determined through a short-term biomechanical validation processes, we recommend further testing to gather the long-term effects of use

DYNAMIC CORRECTION OF POSTURAL KYPHOSIS

Many American adults in today\u27s society spend extended periods of time hunched over a computer or phone. This hunched position weakens the upper posterior muscles that support the shoulder and neck prompting muscle imbalance. Specifically, the lower trapezius and clavicle flexor muscles become too weak while the pectoral and upper trapezius muscles become too tight leading to the condition known as postural kyphosis or, more commonly, rounded shoulders. Our project aimed to design, build, and test a device able to treat and correct postural kyphosis through sensorimotor training. While the effectiveness of this device was determined through a short-term biomechanical validation processes, we recommend further testing to gather the long-term effects of use