A distributive approach to tactile sensing for application to human movement

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThis thesis investigates on clinical applicability of a novel sensing technology in the areas of postural steadiness and stroke assessment. The mechanically simple Distributive Tactile Sensing approach is applied to extract motion information from flexible surfaces to identify parameters and disorders of human movement in real time. The thesis reports on the design, implementation and testing of smart platform devices which are developed for discrimination applications through the use of linear and non-linear data interpretation techniques and neural networks for pattern recognition. In the thesis mathematical models of elastic plates, based on finite element and finite difference methods, are developed and described. The models are used to identify constructive parameters of sensing devices by investigating sensitivity and accuracy of Distributive Tactile Sensing surfaces. Two experimental devices have been constructed for the investigation. These are a sensing floor platform for standing applications and a sensing chair for sitting applications. Using a linear approach, the sensing floor platform is developed to detect centre of pressure, an important parameter widely used in the assessment of postural steadiness. It is demonstrated that the locus of centre of pressure can be determined with an average deviation of 1.05mm from that of a commercialised force platform in a balance application test conducted with five healthy volunteers. This amounts to 0.4% of the sensor range. The sensing chair used neural networks for pattern recognition, to identify the level of motor impairment in people with stroke through performing functional reaching task while sitting. The clinical studies with six real stroke survivors have shown the robustness of the sensing technique to deal with a range of possible motion in the reaching task investigated. The work of this thesis demonstrates that the novel Distributive Tactile Sensing approach is suited to clinical and home applications as screening and rehabilitation systems. Mechanical simplicity is a merit of the approach and has potential to lead to versatile low-cost units

DISORDERS OF THE SOUND ARTICULATION IN PRETERM CHILDREN

Speech and language development is a good indicator of child’s cognitive development. The risk factors influencing development and functioning of prematurely born children are multiple. In addition to articulation disorder, there are motoric, conginitive and social aspects of delayed development. Premature babies are born before they physically ready to leave the womb. However, most babies born after about 26 weeks of gestational age have chances for survival, but they are at a greater risk of medical complications, since the earlier children are born, the less developed their organs are. Aim: To demonstrate basic parameters, establish differences, determine characteristics of disorder of sound articulation in fullterm and preterm children. Methodology: Research was conducted at the Clinics of Child’s Habilitation and Rehabilitation in Novi Sad. The prospective research study was carried out comprising 61 children with mean age of 4 years. The study inclusion criteria were gestational age and birth weight. Regarding these parameters, the children without major neurlologic or system disabilities were included, and they were Serbian speaking. The sample comprised 31 children with GS≥38 weeks and body weight of ≥3000 g, while the preterm group comprised 30 children with GS≤32 weeks and body weight of ≤1500 g. Results of the study indicate to a difference between fullterm children and preterm children with regard to articulation disorders, of which the statistically significant was a sound distortion. The overall sample showed that the substitution with distortion was most frequent disorder, while the interdental sigmatism was the most represented one. Conclusion: The obtained results lead to conclusion that preterm children, being a high-risk group, need to be followed up by age two, and provided timely proffesional help at pre-school age, since numerous adverse factors affect their overall development

Automated Problem Domain Cognition Process in Information Systems Design

An automated cognitive approach for the design of Information Systems is presented. It is supposed to be used at the very beginning of the design process, between the stages of requirements determination and analysis, including the stage of analysis. In the context of the approach used either UML or ERD notations may be used for model representation. The approach provides the opportunity of using natural language text documents as a source of knowledge for automated problem domain model generation. It also simplifies the process of modelling by assisting the human user during the whole period of working upon the model (using UML or ERD notations)

Software for Remote Parallel Simulation

This paper describes distributed/parallel simulation system Triad.Net and software, which allows geographical distributed users to participate collaboratively and remotely in simulation experiments and to observe simulation model behavior via Internet

DETERMINATION OF NIFEDIPINE IN RAT PLASMA USING HPLC-UV DETECTOR: A SIMPLE METHOD FOR PHARMACOKINETICS AND ORAL BIOAVAILABILITY STUDIES

Objective: To develop and validate a high-performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC) for the determination of nifedipine (NFD) concentration in rat plasma.Methods: 1.5 mol of sodium hydroxide solution was added to each plasma sample, followed by the addition of an extraction solvent based on n-hexane and dichloromethane (70: 30, v/v). The organic layer was transferred and evaporated to dryness under nitrogen flow. The residue was reconstituted with 0.5 mol of acetic acid, followed by the addition of n-hexane. After centrifuging the mixture, the supernatant organic layer of n-hexane was discarded, and the aqueous solution was injected onto the HPLC using A Phenomenex Luna-C18 reversed phase analytical column (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 µm). The mobile phase consisted of 0.01 mol aqueous ammonium formate: methanol: acetonitrile (55: 43: 2, v/v) with pH adjusted to 4.9 using formic acid. The flow rate was 0.8 ml/min; UV detector set at 235 nm and the samples were quantified using the peak area.Results: A well-resolved NFD peak was achieved free of interference from endogenous compounds in rat plasma. Recovery of NFD was more than 93 % over concentrations ranged from 5.00 to 200 ng/ml. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of this assay was 6 ng/ml and, intra-and inter-day coefficient of variation (CV) were 5.75 % and 7.93 %, respectively. NFD was found to be stable in rat plasma after being stored at -30 °C over 90 d.Conclusion: The stability, sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of this method make it suitable for the determination of NFD plasma concentration in pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability studies

Analysis of Human Gait Based on Smartphone Inertial Measurement Unit: A Feasibility Study

In that feasibility study we report on the capability of the inertial measurement units embedded in a smartphone to adequately reconstruct the spatio-temporal trajectory of human head during a widely used the Timed Up and Go (TUG) motor test. The data obtained with the help of a commercially available motion stereo video capture system served as the reference. We found that the trajectories reconstructed from the signals of 3-axial accelerometer and gyroscope of a smartphone matched well with those obtained by a conventional video system. In the time domain this matching was clearly high, while in the spatial domain there were inconsistencies between two methods seen at the “sit-to-stand” and “stand-to-sit” phases. In conclusion, the smartphone's sensor system efficiently reconstructed the spatio-temporal trajectories. Therefore, even relatively cheap MEMS sensors can be used for the purpose of reliable motion analysis, especially in the condition when the body effectively damps mechanical shocks and vibrations during the TUG test. Vertical human movements during walking can be measured even by inertial sensors in smartphones with rather low cut-off frequencies (15-25 Hz)

Principles of selection of cultural and linguistic information on native country in English textbooks: a sociocultural approach

The article raises the question of the image of a foreign country formation in textbooks on na-tional language. The purpose of this study is to examine the experience of English as a foreign language textbook creation in the framework of socio-cultural approach and formation of a number of recommenda-tions for authors of national language as a foreign language textbook. The basis of the study were the prin-ciples of content selection proposed by a number of authors, as well as cognitive strategies for the image of the country presentation.В статье поднимается вопрос о формировании образа страны изучаемого языка в учебниках национального языка. Целью данного исследования является изучение опыта создания учебника английского языка как иностранного в рамках социокультурного подхода и формирова-ние ряда рекомендаций для авторов учебников национального языка как иностранного. Основой исследования послужили принципы отбора содержания обучения, предложенные рядом авторов, а также когнитивные стратегии презентации образа страны

Dynamic Distribution Simulation Model Objects Based on Knowledge

This paper presents the process of load balancing in simulation system Triad.Net, the architecture of load balancing subsystem. The main features of static and dynamic load balancing are discussed and new approach, controlled dynamic load balancing, needed for regular mapping of simulation model on the network of computers is proposed. The paper considers linguistic constructions of Triad language for different load balancing algorithms description