Human Electrical Brain Dynamics During Locomotor Obstacle Avoidance in Virtual Reality

Visually identifying and avoiding obstacles encountered during walking is crucial for navigating real world environments. Motor deficits that affect gait and balance, and changes due to aging, can increase fall risk. There is a needed to better understand the complex relationships between gaze behaviors of the eye and electrical brain dynamics during locomotor obstacle avoidance. Virtual reality provides nearly limitless opportunities to create experimentally controlled, complex, realistic environments to study human behaviors, such as locomotion. PURPOSE: Our aim was to identify human electrocortical dynamics during walking and obstacle avoidance in virtual reality, to better understand visually guided human locomotor control. METHODS: We recorded 64-channel mobile high-density electroencephalography (EEG), lower-limb motion capture, ground reaction forces, and eye gaze behavior from participants navigating virtual environments on a treadmill with obstacles to step over. Eighteen (8F and 10M) participants completed nine obstacle avoidance conditions lasting 3-4 minutes each, including 3 gait speeds (1.0 m/s, 1.25 m/s, 1.5 m/s) and 3 obstacle-approach speeds (0.75x, 1x, 1.25x gait speed). Baseline walking conditions without virtual obstacles present were also recorded at each gait speed. RESULTS: Based on preliminary analysis, we identified increased gamma band power (\u3e30 Hz) from the visual cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and frontal cortex when compared to walking without virtual obstacles present. At faster walking speeds, beta (13-30 Hz) and low gamma band power (30-60 Hz) decreased from the prefrontal cortex. CONCLUSION: Changes in human electrical spectral power dynamics among cortical regions during walking in virtual reality, at different speeds, and with or without obstacles to avoid, provides possible biomarkers for assessing cortical processing during real world locomotor navigation. These findings may be used to better understand cortical networks affected by aging, neurological disease, or disorder, providing objective measure for tracking gait rehabilitation, or developing assistive brain computer interfaces

Solvent-Free Reactive Vapor Deposition for Functional Fabrics: Separating Oil–Water Mixtures with Fabrics

A facile, solvent-minimized approach to functionalize commercial raw fabrics is described. Reactive vapor deposition of conjugated polymers followed by post-deposition functionalization transforms common, off-the-shelf textiles into distinctly hydrophobic or superhydrophilic materials. The fabric coatings created by reactive vapor deposition are especially resistant to mechanical and solvent washing, as compared to coatings applied by conventional, solution-phase silane chemistries. Janus fabrics with dissimilar wettability on each face are also easily created using a simple, three-step vapor coating process, which cannot be replicated using conventional solution phase functionalization strategies. Hydrophobic fabrics created using reactive vapor deposition and post-deposition functionalization are effective, reusable, large-volume oil–water separators, either under gravity filtration or as immersible absorbants

ITO-Free Transparent Organic Solar Cell with Distributed Bragg Reflector for Solar Harvesting Windows

We demonstrated an indium tin oxide (ITO)-free, highly transparent organic solar cell with the potential to be integrated into window panes for energy harvesting purposes. A transparent, conductive ZnO/Ag/ZnO multilayer electrode and a Ag:Ca thin film electrode were used in this transparent device as the bottom and top electrode, respectively. To further improve the transmittance of the solar cell, the thickness of the top ZnO layer was investigated both experimentally and with simulations. An average visible transmittance of \u3e60% was reached, with a maximum transmittance of 73% at 556 nm. Both top and bottom illumination of the solar cell generated comparable power conversion efficiencies, which indicates the wide application of this solar cell structure. In addition, we fabricated distributed Bragg reflector mirrors with sputtered SiO2 and TiO2, which efficiently increased the power conversion efficiency over 20% for the solar cells on glass and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates

Carbon Dioxide Reforming with Natural Gas and Coal using Chemical Looping

Researchers are developing chemical looping technologies to convert of carbonaceous fuels to high value chemicals and/or electricity with minimal CO2 emission. These processes use a metal oxide or metal sulphate to partially or to fully oxidize the fuel source to the desired product while being regenerated with air and/or steam in a separate reactor. The chemical looping redox reaction pathway is capable of high product yield without the need for molecular oxygen and with minimal product separation costs. The Ohio State University is developing an advanced CO2 reforming using the chemical looping technique to produce syngas with carbonaceous fuels such as coal/biomass and natural gas. The OSU chemical looping reforming process uses an iron-based oxygen carrier (OC) in a co-current moving bed reactor for syngas generation. The OC circulates between two reactors, a reducer and oxidizer, allowing for the continuous production of syngas and regeneration of the OC, respectively. The present paper discusses the reaction mechanism for CO2 reforming with the OC and reducing fuel, process simulation studies for the integration of chemical looping reforming process with gas-to-liquid plant, and experimental studies conducted at the bench and 15 kWth sub-pilot scale. This presentation will focus on the theoretical thermodynamic rationale and validating experimental results for using a co-current moving bed reducer and an optimized iron-based OC particle

A bibliometric analysis of clinical research on fracture-related infection

Background: Infection following orthopaedic trauma surgery is increasingly recognized as one of the major research priorities with as primary goal, improving patient care. This increased interest has been anecdotally recognized through published research, research grants, and, finally, with the development of the fracture-related infection (FRI) consensus group. In 2017, the accepted consensus definition of FRI was published, which has been followed by consensus recommendations from both a surgical and medical perspective. A bibliometric analysis was performed to objectively describe the trends in published clinical research related to FRI. Methods: The terms related to FRI were searched in the Web of Science database between 2000 and 2020. The characteristics of clinical research on FRI regarding the author, country, journal, institution, scientific output, top 100 most cited articles, and trend topics were analyzed using Bibliometrix and WPS Office. Results: A total of 2597 records were eligible for inclusion in this bibliometric approach, with studies originating from 89 countries, including eight languages. The United States of America (USA) published the highest number of articles and citations. International collaborations were present between 72 countries, with the most active country being the USA. The most contributive institution was the University of California. The highest number of papers and citations were from the Injury-International Journal of the Care of the Injured and the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. The top 100 most cited articles were published in 27 different journals, with the number of citations ranging between 97 and 1004. The latest trend topics were related to the diagnosis of FRI. Conclusion: The present bibliometric analysis shows the research characteristics and trends of FRI from multiple perspectives. The fact that there is an increasing number of studies being published on FRI shows the agreement among scientists and clinicians that standardization with respect to this topic is very important

The Prevalence of Healthcare Associated Infections Among Adult Inpatients at Nineteen Large Australian Acute-care Public Hospitals: A Point Prevalence Survey

Background Australia does not have a national healthcare associated infection (HAI) surveillance program. Only one HAI point prevalence study has been undertaken in 1984. The objective of this study was to estimate the burden of healthcare associated infection (HAI) in acute adult inpatients in Australia. Methods A cross sectional point prevalence study (PPS) was conducted in a sample of large acute care hospitals. All data were collected by two trained Research Assistants. Surveillance methodology was based on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) PPS Protocol with variation in the sampling method in that only acute inpatients ≥ 18 years old were included. ECDC HAI definitions were applied. Results Data was collected between August and November 2018. A total of 2767 patients from 19 hospitals were included in the study. The median age of patients was 67, and 52.9% of the sample were male. Presence of a multi-drug resistant organism was documented for 10.3% of the patients. There were 363 HAIs present in 273 patients. The prevalence of patients with a HAI was 9.9% (95%CI: 8.8–11.0). Hospital prevalence rates ranged from 5.7% (95%CI:2.9–11.0) to 17.0% (95%CI:10.7–26.1). The most common HAIs were surgical site infection, pneumonia and urinary tract infection, comprising 64% of all HAIs identified. Conclusion This is the first HAI PPS to be conducted in Australia in 34 years. The prevalence rate is higher than the previous Australian study and that reported by the ECDC, however differences in methodology limit comparison. Regular, large scale HAI PPS should be undertaken to generate national HAI data to inform and drive national interventions

Load-based Testing to Characterize the Performance of Variable-Speed Equipment

The characterization of heating and cooling performance of HVAC&R equipment is required of all manufacturers for determining seasonal energy efficiency ratings. The current rating standards, e.g. AHRI Standard 210/240, CSA C656, determine seasonal energy efficiency (e.g., SEER) using a bin method along with data from steady-state tests at different operating conditions. These standards were originally developed for equipment with single or two-stage thermostat control, but have been incrementally updated to consider equipment with variable-speed compressors and fans. However, the equipment testing is performed using control overrides and doesn’t consider the interaction of the integrated controls with the equipment. As a result, the standard ratings don’t capture the full range of part-load operation and don’t necessarily reward manufacturers who have superior controllers. To address this issue, we have been working with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) to develop and evaluate a load-based testing methodology for evaluating the seasonal performance of variable-capacity equipment. This new testing methodology could be applied to both variable-speed and staged equipment, enabling a more direct and fair comparison of their performance. The testing methodology involves emulating the response of a building’s sensible and latent loads to equipment controls by dynamically adjusting temperature and humidity setpoints of the psychrometric chamber reconditioning system. Convergence criteria have been developed to automate the overall testing methodology so that the equipment performance can be fully evaluated using short-term tests (e.g., 1 day). Ultimately, automated load-based testing could lead to a practical approach for capturing equipment performance models that could be used in energy simulation programs for determining more accurate and application specific performance ratings. This paper presents the overall methodology of load-based testing in addition to a discussion of some of the experimental results