Development of an Electrotactile Haptic Device with Application to Balance Rehabilitation

Balance impairments affect many individuals especially those in the older age bracket, and can lead to severe complications from falls. Research has shown that the cause of these impairments can be attributed to degraded sensory inputs. With ample sensory supplementation (or sensory augmentation), these deficiencies may be overcome. The purpose of this research is to verify a design of a low-cost custom electrotactile stimulation device that can aid in balance rehabilitation purposes. To this end, a major focus will be on wearability. Presently, there is a large research gap in the field of electrotactile stimulation for achieving wearable designs. Additionally, few devices incorporate a sensing mechanism for detecting balance impairment such as with an inertial measurement unit. Many researchers still rely on expensive commercial devices that are very large and bulky. Additionally, the design and implementation of electrotactile stimulation devices require working knowledge of circuits, thus there is mainly a general lack of instructions for the design of such devices. The thesis hopes to address these gaps by studying a design that may be simple to replicate from scratch. The design includes the use of several half H-bridge circuits to produce localized dipole stimulation through a 4 by 4 electrode array. Feasibility of the design will be verified via oscilloscope measurements and a small pilot study that is aimed at obtaining user feedback. The wearable components of the device include a custom-fabricated electrode array to be worn on the wrist or arm, and also an IMU (inertial measurement unit) belt along the waist to measure the user’s sway angle along the sagittal plane. Preliminary results show that a user can detect sensations from dry-skin stimulation while wearing the electrode array. The detected sensations also include directional information. Additionally, verification with the subject showed that the device is able to provide biofeedback through an electrode array as a result of the IMU orientation information. Further design refinements such as better point discrimination, pattern generation, and consistent pulsing are required before proceeding to the human testing and validation stage

THE EFFECT OF FINE RECYCLED CONCRETE AGGREGATES ON THE MECHANICAL AND DURABILITY PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

The fast increase of construction and demolition (C&D) operations has resulted in the creation of massive amounts of garbage, which must be cleared. Reusing C&D waste is of significant importance for environmental conservation and resource utilization. One such alternative for structural concrete is recycled concrete aggregate obtained from building and demolition debris. In this context, the present study aims to comprehensively review the current state of the art in fine recycled concrete materials (fRCA), including their physical properties, technological advantages, mechanical properties, and durability characteristics. The study establishes a paradigm for evaluating the quality of fRCA, whether created in a lab, acquired via controlled breaking and screening of recovered materials, or collected from field buildings

ENHANCED ENGAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY IN ONLINE MEETING WITH INTELLIGENT REAL-TIME CONTENT-BASED QUESTION AUTO-GENERATOR

The host of an online meeting may frequently wonder if the meeting attendees understand the message that they are trying to deliver. Additionally, an attendee of an online meeting may be confused by the content of a meeting or a webinar and need clarification. Techniques are presented herein that support a real-time, intelligent, content-based automatic question generator that enhances meeting engagement and productivity. The presented techniques can perform all of the capabilities of the current question generator tools but, most importantly, they can also automatically generate and rank relevant questions during a meeting based on the content of that meeting. After receiving the results of their auto-generated quiz or poll, a host may check the attendees’ understanding during a meeting and reiterate previous content if necessary. After a meeting ends, an automated message (including the generated quiz or poll questions, along with the correct answers) may be sent to all of the meeting attendees while a host may receive the meeting’s statistics (so that they can pinpoint the key areas they need to emphasize in future meetings)

ASSESSMENT OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF PUNICA GRANATUM AGAINST ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS TYPE (D)

The search for new antibiotics and alternative products to solve the increasing number of bacterial resistance to customary antibiotics has become an urgent need. To investigate the effectiveness of the extracts prepared from different parts of Syrian Punica granatum Linn (family Punicaceae), against Clostridium perfringens type (D), which is resistant against many antibiotics, 684 samples were isolated from intestines and livers of death goats by using blood agar, and a selective agar for growing of Clostridium perfringens(SPS agar). The isolated bacteria were typed by using ELISA apparatus. Many parts of Punica granatum was extracted with water, absolute alcohol, then ether by using soxhlet apparatus and rotary evaporator. The Antibiotic susceptibility testing of many antibiotics was conducted by using disc diffusion method in anaerobic atmosphere and break points method. The alcoholic extracts prepared from many parts of punica granatum (pericarp, leaves, flowers, seeds) showed different antibacterial effect against Clostridium perfringens type(D),whereas the studied antibiotics had not shown any antibacterial effect, except Clindamycin which showed partial effectiveness.

Leisure-time lecturers' concept of feedback

59 s., 103 s. příl. :obr., tab. +CD ROMPráce zjišťuje, jak volnočasoví lektoři Asociace turistických oddílů mládeže České republiky vnímají, chápou a interpretují zpětnou vazbu v kontextu své práce, jaký význam jí přisuzují a jak v této oblasti získávají informace a znalosti. V rámci teoretické části vymezuje oblast neformálního vzdělávání, přibližuje prostředí vybrané organizace a za pomoci domácí i zahraniční literatury definuje fenomén zpětné vazby v kontextu volnočasové výchovy. Výzkumná část se zaměřuje na interpretaci samotných lektorů, identifikace klíčové, centrální kategorie Bariér a následné navržení doporučeného postupu k dalšímu zefektivnění určené lektorské práce

Investigating neurotrophic factors that regulate axonal regeneration in muscle lacerations

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

Game-Theoretic based Power Allocation for a Full Duplex D2D Network

International audienceThis paper tackles the power allocation optimization problem of a Full duplex(FD) D2D underlaying cellular network. In particular, we aim at providing a distributed power allocation algorithm for this type of network. Towards this end, first, we formulate the PA problem as a non-cooperative game in which each user decides how much power to transmit over its allocated channel to maximize its link's energy-efficiency (EE). Next, we show that this game admits a unique Nash equilibrium (NE) point which can be obtained through an iterative process. After that, we show that this iterative algorithm can be implemented in a fully distributed manner. Finally, we compare our proposed distributed algorithm with the conventional centralized algorithms and simulation results show the importance of the proposed solution

Building City Identities: A Consumer Perspective

This study complements current knowledge on city identity and city attachment through a phenomenological inquiry among 22 Casablanca consumer residents. Five Casablanca identities emerge: City of Escape, Busy Isolating City, Clustering City, Small City, and Dark City. The findings illuminate (1) how consumers build specific types of city identities; (2) demonstrate city identity as the outcome of interplays between various consumption experiences, perceived characteristics of spaces and places, and ambivalent emotions; and (3) update current knowledge on city attachment. This work further provides valuable recommendations to public authorities who are willing to leverage specific identities