Rehabilitation strategy for post-stroke recovery using an innovative elbow exoskeleton

Intensive and adaptive rehabilitation therapy is beneficial for post-stroke recovery. Three modes of rehabilitation are generally performed at different stages after stroke: external force-based control in the acute stage, assistive force-based rehabilitation in the midway of recovery and resistive force-based rehabilitation in the last stage. To achieve the above requirements, an innovative elbow exoskeleton has been developed to incorporate the three modes of rehabilitation in a single structure. The structure of the exoskeleton has been designed in such a way that the whole working region is divided into three where each region can provide a different mode of rehabilitation. Recovery rate can be varied for individuals since it depends on various parameters. To evaluate the rate of recovery, three joint parameters have been identified: range of angular movement, angular velocity and joint torque. These parameters are incorporated into the framework of planning a novel rehabilitation strategy, which is discussed in this article along with the structural description of the designed exoskeleton

A portable elbow exoskeleton for three stages of rehabilitation

Patients suffering from stroke need to undergo a standard and intensive rehabilitation therapy. The rehabilitation training consists of three sequential stages: the first stage is controlled joint movement under external actuator, the second stage deals with supporting the movements by providing assistive force, and the last stage provides variety and difficulty to exercises. Most of the exoskeletons developed so far for rehabilitation are restricted to a particular type of activity. Although a few exoskeletons incorporate different modes of rehabilitation, those are software controlled requiring sensory data acquisition and complex control architecture. To bridge this gap, a portable elbow exoskeleton has been developed for delivering three stages of rehabilitation in a single structure without affecting the range of motion and safety features. Use of electric motor and springs have been arranged in the actuation mechanism to minimize the energy consumption. The developed exoskeleton enhances torque to weight ratio compared to existing models, and all the three modes of rehabilitation have been controlled using a single motor

Comparative study of actuation systems for portable upper limb exoskeletons.

During the last two decades, a large variety of upper limb exoskeletons have been developed. Out of these, majority are platform based systems which might be the reason for not being widely adopted for post-stroke rehabilitation. Despite the potential benefits of platform-based exoskeletons as being rugged and reliable, stroke patients prefer to have a portable and user-friendly device that they can take home. However, the types of actuator as well as the actuation mechanism used in the exoskeleton are the inhibiting factors why portable exoskeletons are mostly non-existent for patient use. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the actuation systems available for developing portable upper arm exoskeletons with their specifications. Finally, it has been concluded from this research that there are not many stand-alone arm exoskeletons which can provide all forms of rehabilitation, therefore, a generic solution has been proposed as the rehabilitation strategy to get best out of the portable arm exoskeletons

Investigating the security issues of multi-layer IoT attacks using machine learning techniques

The rapid growth of the IoT applications in smart homes, medical devices and industry 4.0 has brought huge benefits to our society and industry however faces several challenges in terms of security and privacy issues. Due to its heterogeneous architecture, lack of standard security frameworks between layers, lack of secured communication protocols and lack of resources of power, memory and cryptographic functions on edge control, current IoT devices are prone to security attacks at all three main layers: application, network, and physical layer. While there are some attacks such as Sybil, Blackhole, and Malware usually target a specific layer of IoT architecture, other attacks like DDoS and MITM can compromise the security across multiple layers. These types of attacks not only result in the loss of control over sensitive data and the theft of personal information, but they also result in financial and reputational damages. In recent years, the majority of the research has been carried out to develop robust intrusion detection technologies to safeguard the IoT from a wide range of security attacks, either through novel secure network protocols, the use of firmware or encryption techniques. It is also important to detect IoT attacks at different layers while securing it. Consequently various supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) techniques have been found to be effective in detecting them. There is still a lack of research for detecting multilayer attacks as well as new types of attacks in IoT devices. Hence a thorough investigation of multi-layer Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) is provided in this article to identify a wide variety of multi-layer attacks and their behavioural patterns. The list of effective ML algorithms is also reviewed along with their training datasets. We have highlighted the challenges and opportunities for future directions of multi-layer intrusion detection research through the taxonomy of multi-layer attacks. We aim to develop a novel computational framework by investigating the similarities in the features of multi-layer attacks for training ML models to overcome existing problems

Optimal locations and computational frameworks of FSR and IMU sensors for measuring gait abnormalities

Neuromuscular diseases cause abnormal joint movements and drastically alter gait patterns in patients. The analysis of abnormal gait patterns can provide clinicians with an in-depth insight into implementing appropriate rehabilitation therapies. Wearable sensors are used to measure the gait patterns of neuromuscular patients due to their non-invasive and cost-efficient characteristics. FSR and IMU sensors are the most popular and efficient options. When assessing abnormal gait patterns, it is important to determine the optimal locations of FSRs and IMUs on the human body, along with their computational framework. The gait abnormalities of different types and the gait analysis systems based on IMUs and FSRs have therefore been investigated. After studying a variety of research articles, the optimal locations of the FSR and IMU sensors were determined by analysing the main pressure points under the feet and prime anatomical locations on the human body. A total of seven locations (the big toe, heel, first, third, and fifth metatarsals, as well as two close to the medial arch) can be used to measure gate cycles for normal and flat feet. It has been found that IMU sensors can be placed in four standard anatomical locations (the feet, shank, thigh, and pelvis). A section on computational analysis is included to illustrate how data from the FSR and IMU sensors are processed. Sensor data is typically sampled at 100 Hz, and wireless systems use a range of microcontrollers to capture and transmit the signals. The findings reported in this article are expected to help develop efficient and cost-effective gait analysis systems by using an optimal number of FSRs and IMUs

A π-electron deficient diaminotriazine functionalized MOF for selective sorption of benzene over cyclohexane

A diaminotriazine functionalized novel MOF (DAT-MOF-1) has been synthesized stemming out of a π-electron-deficient pore-surface functionalization based linker-design principle, which results in efficient selectivity of benzene sorption over its aliphatic analogue cyclohexane, crucial from the industrial standpoint

Harnessing Lewis acidic open metal sites of metal–organic frameworks: the foremost route to achieve highly selective benzene sorption over cyclohexane

π-Complexation triggered Lewis acid–base interactions between Open Metal Sites (OMS) of Metal–organic Frameworks (MOFs) and π-e⁻ rich adsorptive Benzene (Bz) is exploited to establish M-MOF-74 as the best Bz-selective MOF sorbent, marking the first report of utilizing OMS behind benzene/cyclohexane separation; a key advance from the energy-economy standpoint of industrial separation

Toxic Aromatics Induced Responsive Facets for a Pore Surface Functionalized Luminescent Coordination Polymer

A luminescent coordination polymer was synthesized based on a linker prefunctionalization-based design principle coupled with an appropriate template selection protocol adopted during crystallization. Luminescent linker derived photoluminescence emission signature together with the reversibly dynamic host polymer exhibited a unique response toward environmentally toxic aromatics in the solid state, arguably crucial for the designed development of toxin-responsive solid materials

Polar Pore Surface Guided Selective CO₂ Adsorption in a Prefunctionalized Metal–Organic Framework

Selective CO₂ adsorption over other small gases has been realized in an ultra-microporous metal–organic framework (MOF). In the quest of manifesting such selective carbon capture performance, the prefunctionalized linker strategy has been espoused. A new Zn­(II)-based three-dimensional, 3-fold interpenetrated metal–organic framework material [Zn­(PBDA)­(DPNI)]_<i>n</i>·<i>x</i>G (PBDA: 4,4′-((2-(<i>tert</i>-butyl)-1,4-phenylene)­bis­(oxy))­dibenzoic acid; DPNI: <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-di­(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxydiimide; <i>x</i>G: <i>x</i> number of guest species) with unusual rob topology is synthesized following a typical solvothermal synthesis protocol, which gleans a modest CO₂-selective adsorption trend over its congener gases (saturation CO₂ uptake capacity: 2.39 and 3.44 mmol g^–1, at 298 and 273 K; volumetric single component isotherm based separation ratios at 0.2 bar: 189.4 (CO₂/N₂, 256.5 (CO₂/H₂), 12.3 (CO₂/CH₄); at 1 bar: 6.8 (CO₂/N₂, 17.1 (CO₂/H₂), 7.1 (CO₂/CH₄)). The compound also exhibits selective benzene sorption over its aliphatic C₆-analogue cyclohexane. The structure–property correlation guided results supported by theoretical introspection further emphasize the omnipresent role of crystal engineering principles behind culmination of such targeted properties in the nanoporous MOF domain, to realize selective sorption facets

Selective Detection of 2,4,6-Trinitrophenol (TNP) by a π‑Stacked Organic Crystalline Solid in Water

2,4,6-Trinitrophenol (TNP), an extremely perilous nitro explosive environmental pollutant, has been detected in aqueous medium with high selectivity and sensitivity. For the first-time, a supramolecular self-assembled crystalline organic solid, originating from a simple discrete molecule has been exploited for selective TNP-detection in the presence of other nitro analytes in water