Urinary incontinence: A vibration alert system for detecting pad overflow

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 RESNA.A sensor and electronics system is described that monitors the leakage of urine from continence pads into surrounding underwear. Urinary incontinence is involuntary loss of urine and occurs when the bladder muscles contract without warning or the sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra are too weak to prevent leakage. The system comprises a wetness sensor and electronics unit. The sensor is stitched into the underwear and detects overspills of urine from the pad. The electronics unit is attached to the underwear and responds by vibrating, signaling to the wearer that pad has failed. This system has application for individuals who use continence pads in the community, but it could also be used in care homes

Tackling ageing continence through theory, tools & technology (TACT3)

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Common Ground.After dementia, nothing is more feared by older people than the loss of continence. It is often the reason many people enter care facilities and can contribute to the breakdown of caring relationships. This paper reports on a three-year research project funded by the UK New Dynamics of Aging programme, which has explored three key issues in the predicament of maintaining continence from the “user’s” perspective. Firstly, understanding how continence services operated by the UK National Health Service can be improved to offer cost effective benefits that encourage people to report this sometimes embarrassing condition with confidence. Secondly, working directly with the US Simon Foundation, the project has developed user-requested, assistive devices that target the most embarrassing aspects of the condition, namely issues of personal odor control and urine leakage from continence pads. Lastly, understanding the challenges of managing continence in daily living outside of the home, with particular reference to accessing publicly accessible toilet facilities. The paper will highlight the research that has provided the basis for innovative design solutions.ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, and AHRC

Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory, Tools & Technology

Originally presented at ‘Aging and Society: An Interdisciplinary Conference’, University of California, Berkeley (2011), this article was double-blind peer reviewed, receiving scores of 96% and 73%. It outlines the interdisciplinary research of the cross-Research-Council-funded New Dynamics of Ageing Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory Tools & Technology (TACT3) project (2008–12), which brought together designers, social scientists, bio-engineers, chemists and care-management services to understand the challenges faced by an ageing population in the management of continence. Bichard’s Work Package, ‘Challenging Environmental Barriers to Continence’, explored the need for public toilet provision as essential for quality of life, health and well-being. It developed a life-course methodology that considered ageing from birth through to advanced age (0–101 years), and involved inclusive design research with members of the public and providers of facilities to assess public expectations and provider limitations in service provision. As co-investigator on TACT3, this research built on Bichard’s previous work for the VivaCity2020 consortium (Bichard REF Output 2). Whereas the VivaCity2020 work focused on architectural barriers in toilet provision, the TACT3 project examined the problem in service provision, and how, through inclusive design research, service-design solutions might be explored and implemented. Bichard’s contribution to the TACT3 project produced The Great British Public Toilet Map (http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.uk/), a public participation website that provides information and locations of public toilets, encouraging members of the public to contact relevant local authorities that have not released information in the format of Open Data. Secondary analysis of TACT3 data for references to issues of personal safety and community initiative in toilet provision was used for the ESRC-funded Robust Accessible Toilets (RATs) project (2011) and produced Publicly Accessible Toilets: An Inclusive Design Guide (2011). Related published conference papers include those in ‘Cumulus 2010’ (China) and ‘Include 2011’ (UK)

Formalization of Transform Methods using HOL Light

Transform methods, like Laplace and Fourier, are frequently used for analyzing the dynamical behaviour of engineering and physical systems, based on their transfer function, and frequency response or the solutions of their corresponding differential equations. In this paper, we present an ongoing project, which focuses on the higher-order logic formalization of transform methods using HOL Light theorem prover. In particular, we present the motivation of the formalization, which is followed by the related work. Next, we present the task completed so far while highlighting some of the challenges faced during the formalization. Finally, we present a roadmap to achieve our objectives, the current status and the future goals for this project.Comment: 15 Pages, CICM 201

A quantification of the behaviourial dynamics of certain Lepidoptera in response to light

Many types of insect, in particular the nocturnal Lepidoptera, will fly towards artificial sources of illumination. Such animals are often described as being positively phototactic, but although little progress has been made towards a fundamental understanding of this phenomenon, its existence continues to be exploited with the use of light-traps. This thesis attempts to explain, in part, why certain British night-flying Lepidoptera are caught, or fly close to, light-traps. The experimentation and analysis has been structured into three separate but inter-related studies. The first is an investigation into the effects that weather factors exert on light-trap catch. Standard analytical procedures were extended to reveal that sensitivity to these factors is related to insect size and gross morphology. The second of these studies is an analysis of the types of moth flight pattern produced when these insects are exposed to various forms of illumination under field conditions. Moth tracks were recorded on video with the help of image intensification, and the frame-by-frame co-ordinates transferred to, and processed by, a microcomputer, which produced matrix maps of speeds, accelerations and time-surface densities around a light-trap. Instantaneous windspeeds were recorded. The dynamical analysis suggests that moth flight towards light arises primarily from a misinterpretation of the stimulus, competing at short distances with a strong escape response, thus evoking a profound state of disorientation. Furthermore, the data indicated that the types of pattern found were species linked. In the third study, a remotesensing technique was used to quantify moth aerial density, which was compared with simultaneous light-trap catches nearby, giving an estimate of absolute trap catching efficiency under various meteorological conditions. Because of their mode of operation, and their increasing loss of effectiveness in higher windspeeds, light-traps have only a limited capacity to reflect aerial density

Intuitive real-times platform for audio signal processing and musical instrument response emulation

In recent years, the DSP group at the University of Manchester has developed a range of DSP platforms for realtime filtering and processing of acoustic signals. These include Signal Wizard 2.5, Signal Wizard 3 and Vsound. These incorporate processors operating at 100 million multiplication- accumulations per second (MMACs) for SW 2.5 and 600 MMACS for SW 3 and Vsound. SW 3 features six input and eight output analogue channels, digital input/output in the form of S/PDIF and a USB interface. For all devices, The software allows the user, with no knowledge of filter theory or programming, to design and run standard or completely arbitrary FIR, IIR and adaptive filters. Processing tasks are specified using the graphical icon based interface. In addition, the system has the capability to emulate in real-time linear system behavior such as sensors, instrument bodies, string vibrations, resonant spaces and electrical networks. Tests have confirmed a high degree of fidelity between the behavior of the physical system and its digitally emulated counterpart. In addition to the supplied software, the user may also program the system using a variety of commercial packages via the JTAG interface. © 2014 IEEE

An Inhaler Tracking System Based on Acoustic Analysis:Hardware and Software

In treating asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), acquisition of authentic and effective feedback from patients on regimen adherence is difficult. Face-to-face and oral reporting methods do not satisfy current intelligent medication best practices. This paper presents a system to track and analyze daily inhaler usage. A portable electronic device that attaches to the inhaler uses an accelerometer and capacitive sensors to detect users’ motion and an embedded digital microphone to capture sounds while the inhaler is in use. In terms of analysis, sound features are extracted, and breath phases are identified by employing a hidden Markov model with a Gaussian mixture model. A feature template is also constructed and used to search for and identify “canister pressed” events. The system provides objective feedback, quantifying asthma, and COPD patients’ adherence to medication regimens. Although interest in asthma adherence to medication regimens is growing, there is still a relative paucity of research and, indeed, compliance devices in this area; the tracking system can help doctors better understand the patient’s condition and choose an appropriated treatment plan. At the same time, patients can also improve their self-management by system feedback

Defect Visualization and Location of Reinforcing Bars and Cables in Concrete Using Active Electromagnetic Induction Imaging

Reinforced concrete is used to build many modern structures such as bridges and buildings. The strength of these structures is dependent upon the integrity of the steel reinforcing embedded in the concrete. Over a period of time the rebars may begin to corrode and crack. The loss of steel due to corrosion or the loss of strength due to cracking may lead to structural failure particularly for prestressed concrete. The work described in this paper is the development of active electromagnetic induction sensors capable of detecting reinforcing bars within concrete and the identification of surface breaking defects on the reinforcing bars

N-MTTL SI Model: Non-Intrusive Multi-Task Transfer Learning-Based Speech Intelligibility Prediction Model with Scenery Classification

The application of speech enhancement algorithms for hearingaids may not always be beneficial to increasing speechintelligibility. Therefore, a prior environment classificationcould be important. However, previous speech intelligibilitymodels do not provide any additional information regardingthe reason for a decrease in speech intelligibility. We proposea unique non-intrusive multi-task transfer learning-basedspeech intelligibility prediction model with sceneryclassification (N-MTTL SI model). The solution combines aMel-spectrogram analysis of the degraded speech signal withtransfer learning and multi-task learning to providesimultaneous speech intelligibility prediction (task 1) andscenery classification of ten real-world noise conditions (task2). The model utilises a pre-trained ResNet architecture as anencoder for feature extraction. The prediction accuracy of theN-MTTL SI model for both tasks is high. Specifically, RMSEof speech intelligibility predictions for seen and unseenconditions is 3.76% and 4.06%. The classification accuracy is98%. In addition, the proposed solution demonstrates thepotential of using pre-trained deep learning models in thedomain of speech intelligibility prediction