Design Principles for FES Concept Development

© Cranfield University 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright owner.A variety of pathologies can cause injury to the spinal cord and hinder movement. A range of equipment is available to help spinal injury sufferers move their affected limbs. One method of rehabilitation is functional electrical stimulation (FES). FES is a technique where small electrical currents are applied to the surface of the user’s legs to stimulate the muscles. Studies have demonstrated the benefits of using this method and it has also been incorporated into a number of devices. The aim of the project was to produce a number of designs for a new device that uses FES technology. The project was completed in conjunction with an industrial partner. A review of the literature and consultation with industrial experts suggested a number of ways current devices could be improved. These included encouraging the user to lean forwards while walking and powering the device using a more ergonomic method. A group of designers were used to produce designs that allowed the user to walk with a more natural gait and avoided cumbersome power packs. The most effective of these designs were combined to form one design that solved both problems. A 3-dimensional model of this design was simulated using computer-aided design software. Groups of engineers, scientists and consumers were also invited to provide input on how a new device should function. Each of these groups provided a design that reflected their specific needs, depending on their experience with similar technology. Low level prototypes were produced of these designs. A group of designers were also used to design concepts for a functional electrical stimulation device based on an introduction given by industry experts. Each of the designs was presented to experienced professionals to obtain feedback. A set of guidelines were also produced during the project that instructed how to create the designs

Context-aware gestural interaction in the smart environments of the ubiquitous computing era

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyTechnology is becoming pervasive and the current interfaces are not adequate for the interaction with the smart environments of the ubiquitous computing era. Recently, researchers have started to address this issue introducing the concept of natural user interface, which is mainly based on gestural interactions. Many issues are still open in this emerging domain and, in particular, there is a lack of common guidelines for coherent implementation of gestural interfaces. This research investigates gestural interactions between humans and smart environments. It proposes a novel framework for the high-level organization of the context information. The framework is conceived to provide the support for a novel approach using functional gestures to reduce the gesture ambiguity and the number of gestures in taxonomies and improve the usability. In order to validate this framework, a proof-of-concept has been developed. A prototype has been developed by implementing a novel method for the view-invariant recognition of deictic and dynamic gestures. Tests have been conducted to assess the gesture recognition accuracy and the usability of the interfaces developed following the proposed framework. The results show that the method provides optimal gesture recognition from very different view-points whilst the usability tests have yielded high scores. Further investigation on the context information has been performed tackling the problem of user status. It is intended as human activity and a technique based on an innovative application of electromyography is proposed. The tests show that the proposed technique has achieved good activity recognition accuracy. The context is treated also as system status. In ubiquitous computing, the system can adopt different paradigms: wearable, environmental and pervasive. A novel paradigm, called synergistic paradigm, is presented combining the advantages of the wearable and environmental paradigms. Moreover, it augments the interaction possibilities of the user and ensures better gesture recognition accuracy than with the other paradigms

2020 - The Twenty-fourth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars

The full program book from the Twenty-fourth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 16, 2020. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1021/thumbnail.jp

A Social Practice Theory Perspective to Exploring the Lived Experiences of Physical Activity in People with Type-2 Diabetes in Urban Nigeria

This thesis aims to gain a greater understanding of the social, material and historical processes underlying physical activity participation in the lived experiences of people with type-2 diabetes in Urban Nigeria. Using social practice theory and life-course perspective as guiding theoretical frameworks, a qualitative narrative inquiry was conducted with thirty-five people with type-2 diabetes receiving outpatient care at the University College Hospital Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. Through a multi-modal research design, data were collected in three phases: Firstly, a narrative interview study was conducted to obtain biographical accounts of how people’s relationship with physical activity has evolved over their life course. Secondly, participants took part in a one-week activity tracking and diary study to capture their daily life patterns of activity. Thirdly, the diary study was followed up with a visual elicitation interview co-explore their captured data to gain deeper access to the context of their daily lives and how physical activity fits within this context. Additionally, an informal contextual inquiry involving observations and discussions with healthcare professionals was conducted to help build a bigger picture of the context in which people lived. Four separate analyses of the research data were performed. The first involved a case-based narrative analysis of six of the thirty-five participants’ data to understand the nuances and peculiarities of their individual lived experiences. This was followed by a cluster analysis of participants’ daily activities to identify groups of participants with similar patterns of activities. The third included a thematic analysis of participants’ experiences of physical activity over the life course. Lastly, a separate thematic analysis was conducted to understand participants’ knowledge about physical activity as part of their type-2 diabetes management. The cluster analysis of people with type-2 diabetes’ daily activities identified six participant sub-groups, with members of each group having similar patterns of activities. Physical activity patterns also varied across the life course and were strongly implicated in processes including changing social roles within the family life trajectory, transitions to retirement, ageing, type-2 diabetes diagnosis, gender norms, absence of an exercise culture, and negative age stereotypes. The research makes three contributions. Firstly, it makes an empirical contribution by providing an in-depth multi-layered account of the socio-historical dynamics of physical activity in the lived experiences of people with type-2 diabetes in an urban Nigerian context. Secondly, the research offers a methodological contribution by demonstrating how combining SPT with concepts from life-course perspectives can facilitate a relational and temporal approach to exploring the lived experiences of physical activity in people with Type-2 diabetes in Urban Nigeria. Thirdly, the research findings contribute to the growing theoretical debates that physical activity engagement is not a static or linear behaviour but a dynamic, ongoing process of change that encompasses an interplay of transitions, turning points, and social interactions in people’s lives

Optimising cycle frequency: the effects of imposed cycle frequency training on the coordination and performance of skilled age-group swimmers

PURPOSE: Underwater undulatory swimming (UUS) is a fundamental skill incorporated during the starts and turns of three of the four competitive swimming strokes. Significant competitive advantage can be gained if UUS performance is optimised. The cycle frequency adopted during UUS in both animal and human swimmers have been extensively studied and it has been shown to have a strong relationship with the UUS velocity (U) achieved. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the changes in performance and coordination in UUS which occur as a consequence of training at an imposed cycle frequency (identical to preferred) in skilled age -group swimmers (Study 3). To achieve the stated purpose, the reliability (systematic bias, within -subject variation and test -retest reliability) of the kinematic variables commonly used to describe and analyse UUS were established (Study 1). Once reliability was determined, the key kinematic performance and coordination variables in relation to the production of maximum U were identified (Study 2) to enable the key measures of performance and coordination to be monitored in response to a training perturbation (imposition of a cycle frequency) in the final study. METHODS: Measures of systematic bias, within- subject (WS) variation and inter -class correlation (ICC) of nineteen kinematic variables were determined over four sessions. This was undertaken to establish the requirement of any familiarisation training, number of cycles of data required to provide an accurate representation of each variable when reporting a mean value, and the related variability associated when reporting mean values based on a set number of data cycles (Study 1). Backward elimination ANCOVA statistical models with participant as a fixed -factor were employed to establish which of the performance and coordination variables were best in explaining the variance of cycle frequency, cycle length (CL) and ultimately U (Study 2). In the final study (Study 3) the performance and coordination variables identified from study 2 were analysed in sixteen skilled age -group swimmers which participated in a randomised controlled study. An experimental group of eight participants completed a four week imposed frequency (matched to their own preferred frequency) training programme, while a control group of eight participants completed a four week programme training at a self selected preferred cycle frequency. The UUS kinematics for both preferred cycle frequency UUS and imposed cycle frequency UUS were measured at weekly intervals throughout the training period. An additional retest (RT) was conducted 2 weeks after the cessation of the training period. RESULTS: Systematic bias was identified between the 1st and the remaining 3 testing sessions for cycle frequency, CL and U. The minimum number of data cycles required to achieve an acceptable measure of retest reliability (ICC >0.85) across all kinematic variables was 6 cycles. At 6 cycles WS variation ranged from 0.86 to 8.92 %CV. A total of 10 kinematic variables were identified as key to explaining the variance in cycle frequency and CL. A final parsimonious ANCOVA model revealed that 2 variables (maximum knee angle velocity and wave velocity between knee and ankle) explained a large proportion (Adj. r² = 0.944) of the variance in maximal U. However, when the participant was removed as a fixed factor the explained variance reduced (Adj. r²= 0.535). No significant difference in maximal U was found over the training or RT period. No variables were found to differ significantly by Session x Frequency Tested x Training Group (p <0.01). However, several discrete kinematic variables and measures of coordination showed statistically significant changes, either between Frequency Tested or across testing sessions. Discussion: After determining the systematic bias and establishing the requirement for a familiarization session, 6 cycles of data were found to be sufficient to provide high levels of reliability for each of the UUS kinematic variables. The identified key determinants of the variance in cycle frequency, CL and maximal U, revealed that the successful transmission of the propulsive waveform along the caudal aspects of the swimming body (specifically the kinematics/coordination at or around the knee) and the control of the shedding of the vortices and simultaneous recapture /reuse of previous shed rotational energy are key discriminating factors between the faster and slower UUS in skilled age-group swimmers. The 4-week training period did not result in changes in maximal U for either of the training groups. However, there were significant differences in the magnitude and process of adaptation between preferred and imposed frequency training groups' kinematics and measures of coordination over the training and testing period. The importance of each individual's own solution to the maximal UUS problem was highlighted, with coordination constrained by an individual's own idiosyncratic constraints. Further research is required to establish the efficacy of the imposition of a cycle frequency identical to an individual's own preferred frequency as an appropriate training modality for maximal U. In conclusion, the present research provides valuable insight into the effects of the simple act of cycle frequency imposition, providing a baseline for future cycle frequency interventions which take place at higher/lower cycle frequency or over longer training periods

Real-time biped character stepping

PhD ThesisA rudimentary biped activity that is essential in interactive evirtual worlds, such as video-games and training simulations, is stepping. For example, stepping is fundamental in everyday terrestrial activities that include walking and balance recovery. Therefore an effective 3D stepping control algorithm that is computationally fast and easy to implement is extremely valuable and important to character animation research. This thesis focuses on generating real-time controllable stepping motions on-the-fly without key-framed data that are responsive and robust (e.g.,can remain upright and balanced under a variety of conditions, such as pushes and dynami- cally changing terrain). In our approach, we control the character’s direction and speed by means of varying the stepposition and duration. Our lightweight stepping model is used to create coordinated full-body motions, which produce directable steps to guide the character with specific goals (e.g., following a particular path while placing feet at viable locations). We also create protective steps in response to random disturbances (e.g., pushes). Whereby, the system automatically calculates where and when to place the foot to remedy the disruption. In conclusion, the inverted pendulum has a number of limitations that we address and resolve to produce an improved lightweight technique that provides better control and stability using approximate feature enhancements, for instance, ankle-torque and elongated-body

BIOPOLITICS OF BIKE-COMMUTING: BIKE LANES, SAFETY, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

As cities have become increasingly motivated to be more sustainable, transport cycling has become integral in these plans. Boston is one such city enthusiastic about bicycle transportation. I take a socio-discursive approach to an investigation of transport cycling integration in Boston, MA. First, I explore the historical processes leading to the appearance of bike lanes on U.S. city streets. Next, I investigate how bike lanes are entwined in cycling safety—both in the discursive and embodied dimensions. What begins as a concern of the physical body leads to ideals of legitimacy and inclusivity, of which the bike lane has become a key symbol and act of these imaginings. Third, I tease out how this logic of cycling safety qua inclusivity becomes one that employs a rightsbased notion of social justice in which legitimacy, and ultimately safety, is garnered through becoming intelligible, or visible, as cycling subjects. Finally, I depart from a liberal democratic notion of social justice and make a case for understanding how bike lanes work through the lens of what Foucault terms “security.” I explore how we can view bikeways discourse as a technology of power that can be mobilized to transform social interaction in the city