Design and usability assessment of multimodal augmented reality system for gait training

Biofeedback is a promising tool to complement conventional physi-cal therapy by fostering active participation of neurologically impaired patients during treatment. This work aims at a user-centered design and usability as-sessment for different age groups of a novel wearable augmented reality (AR) application composed of a multimodal sensor network and corresponding con-trol strategies for personalized biofeedback during gait training. The proposed solution includes wearable AR glasses that deliver visual cues controlled in re-al-time according to mediolateral center of mass position, sagittal ankle angle, or tibialis anterior muscle activity from inertial and EMG sensors. Control strat-egies include positive and negative reinforcement conditions and are based on the user’s performance by comparing real-time sensor data with an automatical user-personalized threshold. The proposed solution allows ambulatory practice on daily scenarios, physiotherapists' involvement through a laptop screen, and contributes to further benchmark biofeedback regarding the type of sensor. Alt-hough old healthy adults with low academic degrees have a preference for guidance from an expert person, excellent usability scores (SUS scores: 81.25-96.87) were achieved with young and middle-aged healthy adults and one neu-rologically impaired patient.This work was funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the scholarship reference 2020.05709.BD, under the Stimulus of Scientific Employment with the grant 2020.03393.CEECIND, with the FAIR project under grant 2022.05844.PTDC, under the national support to R&D units grant through the reference project UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020

Policies for Industrial Learning in China and Mexico: Neo-developmental vs. Neo-liberal approaches

Abstract Previous work has shown that the results of both China and Mexico’s export-led market reforms over the past quarter century have been strikingly different. In contrast to China, Mexico has not managed to increase the value added of its exports of manufactured goods and has subsequently had a difficult time competing with China in world markets. Building on this previous work, in this paper we conduct a comparative analysis of the role of government policies in industrial learning and the development of capabilities of indigenous firms in Mexico and China in order to shed light on why China is so outperforming Mexico. We find that Mexico and China have had starkly different approaches to economic reform in this area. Mexico’s approach to reform has been a “neo-liberal” one, whereas China’s could be described as “neo-developmental.” Mexico’s hands-off approach to learning has resulted in a lack of development of endogenous capacity of domestic firms, little transfer of technology, negligible progress in the upgrading of industrial production, and little increase in value added of exports. By contrast, China has deployed a hands-on approach of targeting and nurturing domestic firms through a gradual and trial and error led set of government policies.International trade, development, competitiveness, value added, government policy, assembly operations

Lenovo: Being on Top in a Declining Industry

For the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, Lenovo, the world’s largest PC maker, had not only failed to increase its revenues and profits but also a net loss. Lenovo’s market share was still growing, but the PC market itself was shrinking by about five percent annually. Lenovo hoped to broaden its leadership toward smaller computing devices, a market that had seen more growth. It purchased Motorola Mobility in 2014 and continued to invest in its smartphone business through branding and innovation. Yet, in 2016, this business did not make a profit and only grew in some geographical markets. Lenovo faced fierce competition from giants such as Apple and Samsung and from Chinese manufacturers that had quickly grown in market share. How could Lenovo reignite growth and sustain its position as a global industry leader

Development and comparison of customized voice-assistant systems for independent living older adults

Voice-controlled in-home personal assistants have great potential to assist older adults. This thesis explores the aspects of human-computer interface design, specifically a voice assistant, to help older adults manage their personal health, especially in the case of chronic health conditions. In our previous work, we have built a web interface for caregivers to monitor older adults' health changes based on in-home sensor data from motion sensors, bed sensors, and depth sensors. Data collected from these sensors are stored in servers and processed using several algorithms to obtain health and activity parameters including gait, fall risk, detect fall, motion patterns, sleep, heart rate, and respiration rate, as well as to generate health alerts. The sensor system with automated health alerts and care coordination has been shown to help seniors maintain better functionality. In our current research project, we focus on developing a consumer interface for older adults and their designated trusted others that can provide health information on-demand, based on spoken queries. The health information is presented as both audio and visual displays and uses graphical visualizations and linguistic summaries of the sensor data trends and changes. The goal is to present data in a form that is simple to understand. To accomplish our objective of creating an easy-to-use-and-understand health data interface for older adults, we explore voice-controlled, in-home personal assistants as a solution. Two voice assistant platforms with displays were selected for implementation and testing, namely, the Amazon Echo Show and the Lenovo Smart Display with Google Assistant.by Shradha ShaliniIncludes bibliographical reference

SMARTPHONE ADOPTION ON FRUIT MARKETING COMMUNICATION: A TRADERS PERCEPTION

Telepon pintar atau smartphone merupakan salah satu perangkat teknologi informasi yang saat ini banyak digunakan oleh pedagang dalam kegiatan pemasaran. Selain sebagai media komunikasi, smartphone juga digunakan oleh pedagang untuk mendapatkan informasi pasar dan mengomunikasikan produk dan jasanya ke konsumen. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis profil dan persepsi pedagang buah dalam menggunakan smartphone sebagai media komunikasi pemasaran buah-buahan. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dengan metode kuantitatif dengan analisis deskriptif menggunakan lima poin skala Likert untuk menganalisis persepsi pedagang buah di Kota Yogyakarta. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pedagang menggunakan smartphone dalam kegiatan pemasaran buah-buahan karena dipersepsikan dapat memberikan keuntungan relatif dengan tingkat kemudahan penggunaan yang tinggi, bermanfaat secara nyata dengan resiko dan kompleksitas penggunaan yang rendah. Lain dari pada itu, Samsung, Telkomsel dan WhatsApp merupakan merk smartphone, provider telekomunikasi dan aplikasi yang paling banyak dipilih pedagang

Helping the Blind to Get through COVID-19: Social Distancing Assistant Using Real-Time Semantic Segmentation on RGB-D Video

The current COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on our daily lives. Social distancing is one of the measures that has been implemented with the aim of slowing the spread of the disease, but it is difficult for blind people to comply with this. In this paper, we present a system that helps blind people to maintain physical distance to other persons using a combination of RGB and depth cameras. We use a real-time semantic segmentation algorithm on the RGB camera to detect where persons are and use the depth camera to assess the distance to them; then, we provide audio feedback through bone-conducting headphones if a person is closer than 1.5 m. Our system warns the user only if persons are nearby but does not react to non-person objects such as walls, trees or doors; thus, it is not intrusive, and it is possible to use it in combination with other assistive devices. We have tested our prototype system on one blind and four blindfolded persons, and found that the system is precise, easy to use, and amounts to low cognitive load

Ambidexterity in the Cellphone Industry: An Empirical Study of Asian Firms

Leveraging a hybrid research approach between quantitative and qualitative methods, the present research project intended to investigate 1)in the Chinese cellphone market, the difference in level of organizational ambidexterity exhibited by East Asian and Non-East Asian manufacturers, and 2)whether there exists a positive correlation between cellphone manufacturers’ market performance and organizational ambidexterity. This study drew from He & Wong’s (2004) framework of a dual-dimensioned organizational ambidexterity which includes the Balance Dimension (BD) that describes a balanced effort in organizational exploitation and exploration, and the Combined Dimension (CD) that describes the totality of effort devoted to exploitation and exploration activities. The present study proposes a positive correlation in the Chinese cellphone market between a cellphone manufacturer’s sales growth rate and 1a)BD, 1b)CD, and the simultaneous pursuit of 1c)BD & CD. The study also proposes that East Asian firms would exhibit a higher level of organizational ambidexterity in both 2a)BD and 2b)CD based on my discussion of cultural and institutional factors. The analytical results indicated that East Asian cellphone firms indeed demonstrated a higher level of organizational ambidexterity across both dimensions compared to their Non-East Asian counterparts. Mixed findings were obtained concerning organizational ambidexterity’s impact on organizational performance. The results partially supported that BD ambidexterity has a positive correlation with organizational performance. Contrary to expectations, the findings revealed a negative effect of CD ambidexterity on organizational performance. In addition, no significant relationship was detected between the simultaneous pursuit of BD & CD ambidexterity and organizational performance. Overall, the results support Raisch & Birkinshaw’s (2008) findings that the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and organizational performance is complex. The present study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence to the presence of a complex relationship between organizational ambidexterity and performance using the BD & CD framework. Discussion of the findings also offers insights into business practices in the consumer electronics industry. Keywords: organizational ambidexterity, exploration, exploitation, innovation, cellphone, mobile phone, Chinese market, East Asia