Processo para produção de filamentos poliméricos piezoeléctricos

A presente invenção consiste num processo para obtenção, em linha e em contínuo, de filamentos têxteis de secção variável que incluem um núcleo composto por: eléctrodos(1) revestidos por dieléctrico piezoactivo(2), que por sua vez está revestido por outro eléctrodo(3) e por uma camada isolante eléctrica(4). Adicionalmente, podem ainda ser acrescentada(s) camada(s) destinada(s) a proporcionar ao filamento uma maior estabilidade estrutural, protecção mecânica, características de toque diferentes do filamento nu ou a possibilidade de ser tingido. O processo de fabrico destes filamentos é baseado em métodos convencionais de co-extrusão nos quais são incorporados novos passos, mais concretamente o estiramento a temperatura controlada que possibilitam a obtenção da fase cristalina adequada do polímero piezoeléctrico e a polarização eléctrica do mesmo e o sistema de recirculação para activação do filamento com propriedades piezoeléctricas por polarização. O filamento piezoeléctrico apresenta propriedades mecânicas que tornam possível a sua integração completa em produtos têxteis, através de processos têxteis convencionais, permitindo a sua utilização como sensor ou actuador mecânico.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Embedding a Grid of Load Cells into a Dining Table for Automatic Monitoring and Detection of Eating Events

This dissertation describes a “smart dining table” that can detect and measure consumption events. This work is motivated by the growing problem of obesity, which is a global problem and an epidemic in the United States and Europe. Chapter 1 gives a background on the economic burden of obesity and its comorbidities. For the assessment of obesity, we briefly describe the classic dietary assessment tools and discuss their drawback and the necessity of using more objective, accurate, low-cost, and in-situ automatic dietary assessment tools. We explain in short various technologies used for automatic dietary assessment such as acoustic-, motion-, or image-based systems. This is followed by a literature review of prior works related to the detection of weights and locations of objects sitting on a table surface. Finally, we state the novelty of this work. In chapter 2, we describe the construction of a table that uses an embedded grid of load cells to sense the weights and positions of objects. The main challenge is aligning the tops of adjacent load cells to within a few micrometer tolerance, which we accomplish using a novel inversion process during construction. Experimental tests found that object weights distributed across 4 to 16 load cells could be measured with 99.97±0.1% accuracy. Testing the surface for flatness at 58 points showed that we achieved approximately 4.2±0.5 um deviation among adjacent 2x2 grid of tiles. Through empirical measurements we determined that the table has a 40.2 signal-to-noise ratio when detecting the smallest expected intake amount (0.5 g) from a normal meal (approximate total weight is 560 g), indicating that a tiny amount of intake can be detected well above the noise level of the sensors. In chapter 3, we describe a pilot experiment that tests the capability of the table to monitor eating. Eleven human subjects were video recorded for ground truth while eating a meal on the table using a plate, bowl, and cup. To detect consumption events, we describe an algorithm that analyzes the grid of weight measurements in the format of an image. The algorithm segments the image into multiple objects, tracks them over time, and uses a set of rules to detect and measure individual bites of food and drinks of liquid. On average, each meal consisted of 62 consumption events. Event detection accuracy was very high, with an F1-score per subject of 0.91 to 1.0, and an F1 score per container of 0.97 for the plate and bowl, and 0.99 for the cup. The experiment demonstrates that our device is capable of detecting and measuring individual consumption events during a meal. Chapter 4 compares the capability of our new tool to monitor eating against previous works that have also monitored table surfaces. We completed a literature search and identified the three state-of-the-art methods to be used for comparison. The main limitation of all previous methods is that they used only one load cell for monitoring, so only the total surface weight can be analyzed. To simulate their operations, the weights of our grid of load cells were summed up to use the 2D data as 1D. Data were prepared according to the requirements of each method. Four metrics were used to evaluate the comparison: precision, recall, accuracy, and F1-score. Our method scored the highest in recall, accuracy, and F1-score; compared to all other methods, our method scored 13-21% higher for recall, 8-28% higher for accuracy, and 10-18% higher for F1-score. For precision, our method scored 97% that is just 1% lower than the highest precision, which was 98%. In summary, this dissertation describes novel hardware, a pilot experiment, and a comparison against current state-of-the-art tools. We also believe our methods could be used to build a similar surface for other applications besides monitoring consumption

Sistema textil inteligente para la monitorización de la temperatura del pie diabético

[ES]En este documento se analiza la afinidad entre textiles e informática, se identifica la necesidad de su integración y se construye un sistema textil inteligente utilizando herramientas proporcionadas por un nuevo campo emergente de investigación, que combina las fortalezas y capacidades de la electrónica y los textiles. Los textiles inteligentes se definen como textiles que pueden detectar y reaccionar a las condiciones ambientales o estímulos de fuentes mecánicas, térmicas, químicas, eléctricas o magnéticas, interactuando así con el usuario final. Los sensores y otros elementos computacionales simples se pueden integrar en los textiles inteligentes, en los hilos y los tejidos, con el objetivo de recopilar información personal, monitorizarlas constantes vitales y enviarlas de forma remota e inalámbrica para su posterior procesamiento. En los últimos años, los productos textiles y las prendas de vestir inteligentes han creado nuevos campos de aplicación, con el fin de detectar y analizar estímulos y dar una respuesta adecuada, permitiendo diferentes usos centrados en la monitorización e interacción basadas en sensores. Entre las aplicaciones de la monitorización basada en sensores, se incluyen la adquisición de signos vitales en la vigilancia médica, la estimación de la actividad física en los deportes o los sistemas de seguridad para cuerpos y fuerzas de seguridad o bomberos, por citar algún ejemplo. Su carácter discreto hace que las prendas inteligentes sean especialmente adecuadas para cualquier tarea de control físico y fisiológico. A diferencia de los dispositivos portátiles, que el consumidor utiliza como complemento personal, la ropa, enriquecida con tejidos inteligentes, proporciona comodidad en cualquier tipo de actividad. Los textiles son fibras cómodas de usar y ofrecen una plataforma flexible para comunicar funciones de detección. El estudio de diferentes procedimientos no invasivos para monitorizar los indicadores de salud está creciendo, debido a los avances en dispositivos móviles, chips y sensores inalámbricos. Además, pueden ser utilizados por el personal sanitario y por los pacientes fuera del entorno clínico. Las enfermedades relacionadas con la diabetes afectan principalmente a los ojos, los riñones y las extremidades inferiores, en particular a los pies. De hecho, en presencia de un factor desencadenante, la diabetes provoca ulceraciones en los pies, que pueden dar lugar a una posterior amputación. Por otra parte, las afecciones asociadas a la patología del pie diabético incluyen neuropatías, trastornos arteriales periféricos (isquemia) e infecciones, y como consecuencia de esta patología, cada 30 segundos, en algún lugar del mundo alguien sufre la mutilación, total o parcial, de una extremidad inferior. Por ello, en esta memoria se propone un sistema de monitorización específico para pacientes diabéticos. Los pacientes diabéticos sufren pérdida de la sensibilidad y de la sensación de dolor, motivo por el cual no perciben el desarrollo de úlceras en los pies. Diferentes investigaciones que se han realizado sobre afecciones vasculares y ulceraciones sugieren que existe una variación de temperatura en la zona donde se produce una úlcera, que logra indicar su aparición. Es así, que el análisis de medidas de la temperatura plantar se considera una herramienta útil en el diagnóstico precoz del pie diabético. La temperatura del cuerpo humano, junto con la frecuencia cardíaca, la presión arterial y la frecuencia respiratoria constituyen los cuatro signos vitales estándar en los entornos médicos, por lo que la información facilitada por estos datos y sus valores se utiliza para la evaluación médica del estado de salud de los pacientes. Además, es un indicador importante de la condición física del cuerpo, y se relaciona con la comodidad y el rendimiento, tal es el caso del calor y frío que se producen en situaciones de estrés. La desviación de pocos grados de la temperatura corporal normal (37 °C), se considera un síntoma de infección. En este trabajo se desarrolla e implementa un sistema textil inteligente que mide la temperatura podal en pacientes diabéticos. Se trata de un dispositivo no invasivo que recoge los valores de temperatura, de forma continua y durante largos períodos de tiempo, y envía la información a un dispositivo móvil. De esta forma el paciente será capaz de obtener un diagnóstico en las etapas tempranas de su enfermeda

Beyond mobile apps: a survey of technologies for mental well-being

Mental health problems are on the rise globally and strain national health systems worldwide. Mental disorders are closely associated with fear of stigma, structural barriers such as financial burden, and lack of available services and resources which often prohibit the delivery of frequent clinical advice and monitoring. Technologies for mental well-being exhibit a range of attractive properties, which facilitate the delivery of state-of-the-art clinical monitoring. This review article provides an overview of traditional techniques followed by their technological alternatives, sensing devices, behaviour changing tools, and feedback interfaces. The challenges presented by these technologies are then discussed with data collection, privacy, and battery life being some of the key issues which need to be carefully considered for the successful deployment of mental health toolkits. Finally, the opportunities this growing research area presents are discussed including the use of portable tangible interfaces combining sensing and feedback technologies. Capitalising on the data these ubiquitous devices can record, state of the art machine learning algorithms can lead to the development of robust clinical decision support tools towards diagnosis and improvement of mental well-being delivery in real-time

Improving Access and Mental Health for Youth Through Virtual Models of Care

The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the use of a mobile health smartphone application (app) to improve the mental health of youth between the ages of 14–25 years, with symptoms of anxiety/depression. This project includes 115 youth who are accessing outpatient mental health services at one of three hospitals and two community agencies. The youth and care providers are using eHealth technology to enhance care. The technology uses mobile questionnaires to help promote self-assessment and track changes to support the plan of care. The technology also allows secure virtual treatment visits that youth can participate in through mobile devices. This longitudinal study uses participatory action research with mixed methods. The majority of participants identified themselves as Caucasian (66.9%). Expectedly, the demographics revealed that Anxiety Disorders and Mood Disorders were highly prevalent within the sample (71.9% and 67.5% respectively). Findings from the qualitative summary established that both staff and youth found the software and platform beneficial

The Impact of Digital Technologies on Public Health in Developed and Developing Countries

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Conference on String Processing and Information Retrieval, ICOST 2020, held in Hammamet, Tunisia, in June 2020.* The 17 full papers and 23 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 49 submissions. They cover topics such as: IoT and AI solutions for e-health; biomedical and health informatics; behavior and activity monitoring; behavior and activity monitoring; and wellbeing technology. *This conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Data as a design material: An analysis on the challenges of working with “big data” related technologies in an industrial context

In recent years, the ability to collect, store and analyse large datasets by private companies and government agencies has increased to the point where the term “big data” has been coined to describe the phenomena. Alongside “big data”, several data processing technologies are becoming more widespread due to their effectiveness and success in everyday products and services; these are artificial intelligence, with its subsets machine learning and deep learning, and data analytics amongst others. This study investigated the challenges designers face when working with new information and communication technologies in an industrial context. More specifically, it deals with “big data” and new data processing technologies and how designers engage with them as a design material when envisioning new products and services. The research questions were (1) what challenges are designers facing when working with “big data” in a data-rich industrial context? (2) how is working with “big data” and new data collecting and processing technologies different from other design materials? (3) how can designers overcome some of the challenges of working with data? This thesis adopted a research through design approach and data was collected between June 2015 and January 2016. Furthermore, a review of the material-centred design literature was used as a theoretical framework. To answer the research questions, this thesis investigated a six-month design project done for the energy company Vattenfall. Vattenfall was at the time going through a digitalisation phase and was interested in evaluating the possibility of combining their internal data with other data sources to explore new products and services. During the six-month period, I worked in Vattenfall’s Helsinki offices, designing different concepts under the supervision of the product development team and their programme manager as my direct supervisor. Data was gathered using different qualitative methods and focusing on three areas: the design practice, the design outcomes, and the interactions with the team and stakeholders. The key findings demonstrate how the practice of design in this new technological landscape faces multiple challenges. The main challenges being (a) the high level of complexity of these technologies, (b) the lack of education/experience of the designer to work in this context, (c) the lack of competence in the organization and (d) the missing frameworks and tools for collaboration between data experts and designers. Furthermore, it was also found and validated against the literature that these new technologies present different properties not comparable with previously well-studied ones like haptics, Bluetooth and RFID. Making existing frameworks and traditional approaches to exploring new digital materials hard to replicate. The results further suggest the need for developing novel concepts and frameworks to support new ways of understanding, describing and working with “big data” and its related technologies