Acceptance of Assistive Technology by Users with Motor Disabilities Due to Spinal Cord or Acquired Brain Injuries: A Systematic Review

: Acquired motor limits can be provoked by neurological lesions. Independently of the aetiologies, the lesions require patients to develop new coping strategies and adapt to the changed motor functionalities. In all of these occasions, what is defined as an assistive technology (AT) may represent a promising solution. The present work is a systematic review of the scientific AT-related literature published in the PubMed, Cinahl, and Psychinfo databases up to September 2022. This review was undertaken to summarise how the acceptance of AT is assessed in people with motor deficits due to neurological lesions. We review papers that (1) dealt with adults (≥18 years old) with motor deficits due to spinal cord or acquired brain injuries and (2) concerned user acceptance of hard AT. A total of 615 studies emerged, and 18 articles were reviewed according to the criteria. The constructs used to assess users' acceptance mainly entail people's satisfaction, ease of use, safety and comfort. Moreover, the acceptance constructs varied as a function of participants' injury severity. Despite the heterogeneity, acceptability was mainly ascertained through pilot and usability studies in laboratory settings. Furthermore, ad-hoc questionnaires and qualitative methods were preferred to unstandardized protocols of measurement. This review highlights the way in which people living with acquired motor limits greatly appreciate ATs. On the other hand, methodological heterogeneity indicates that evaluation protocols should be systematized and finely tuned

Adaptive Polynomial Harmonic Distortion Compensation in Current and Voltage Transformers Through Iteratively Updated QR Factorization

Measuring current and voltage harmonics has paramount importance for improving the power quality of distribution grids. However, the achieved accuracy strongly depends on the adopted instrument transformer (IT). This article proposes an adaptive technique that enables an effective compensation of both the filtering behavior and the harmonic distortion (HD) introduced by current and voltage transformers (VTs), namely the strongest nonlinear effect at low-order harmonics. The approach is based on a flexible, linear in the parameters polynomial modeling of HD in the frequency domain. Model complexity can be different from one harmonic to the other, and it is selected through an automatic iterative process to suit the nonlinear behavior at each specific harmonic order, while avoiding overfitting. In particular, the number of parameters is increased by progressively updating the QR factorization of the regressor matrix trough Householder reflections until a convergence condition is reached. Experimental tests performed on an inductive VT and current transformer (CT) highlight the effectiveness of the approach

A New Method to Represent the Harmonic Measurement Accuracy of Current Transformers

Metrological performance of current transformers (CTs) is typically quantified in terms of ratio and phase errors. While they provide a good picture at the fundamental component, they are not as effective in condensing the accuracy of harmonic measurements in the presence of nonlinearity. This article proposes a new approach derived from the Volterra representation of the CT. The complex error has been adopted as the accuracy metric, split into a deterministic contribution (purely correlated with the measurand) and a circularly symmetric random term, whose spread depends on the fundamental magnitude; moreover, the proposed approach boils down to the usual ratio and phase errors if the CT exhibits negligible nonlinearity. The effectiveness of the developed method has been tested on an inductive CT, as a typical current transducer suffering from nonlinearity; nevertheless, results can be deemed as general since the approach has been derived from a behavioral model of the CT, and thus, independent of its operating principle. The impact of both measurement disturbances and uncertainty introduced by the nonideal calibration of the test setup has been also evaluated

Frequency-domain nonlinear modeling approaches for power systems components - A comparison

Harmonic simulations play a key role in studying and predicting the impact of nonlinear devices on the power quality level of distribution grids. A frequency-domain approach allows higher computational efficiency, which has key importance as long as complex networks have to be studied. However, this requires proper frequency-domain behavioral models able to represent the nonlinear voltage-current relationship characterizing these devices. The Frequency Transfer Matrix (FTM) method is one of the most widespread frequency domain modeling approaches for power system applications. However, others suitable techniques have been developed in the last years, in particular the X-parameters approach, which comes from radiofrequency and microwave applications, and the simplified Volterra models under quasi-sinusoidal conditions, that have been specifically tailored for power system devices. In this paper FTM, X-parameters and simplified Volterra approaches are compared in representing the nonlinear voltage-current relationship of a bridge rectifier feeding an ohmic-capacitive dc load. Results show that the X-parameters model reaches good accuracy, which is slightly better than that achieved by the FTM and simplified Volterra models, but with a considerably larger set of coefficients. Simplified Volterra models under quasi-sinusoidal conditions allows an effective trade-off between accuracy and complexity

A Low-Cost Approach to the Skin Effect Compensation in Cylindrical Shunts

In this paper the development of a new design solution for high-current shunt resistors is presented, which allows achieving very good accuracy while requiring a simple and low-cost manufacturing process. It is based on a solid cylinder having the voltage measurement circuit which runs through two holes drilled in the cylinder itself. Starting from the well-known expression of the current density in a cylindrical conductor, the frequency response of the shunt is obtained in closed form as a function of the geometric parameters. In turn, the positions of the voltage measurement terminals are chosen by optimizing the frequency response function over a specified range. A shunt prototype has been manufactured and its measurement performance has been evaluated. The experimental results confirm the validity of the approach and highlight the significant improvement with respect to the single-hole cylindrical shunt which has been recently proposed by the authors. The obtained measurement accuracy is noticeable when compared with the ease of manufacturing

Theory and Experimental Validation of Two Techniques for Compensating VT Nonlinearities

Inductive instrument transformers (ITs) are still the most used voltage and current sensors in power systems. Among the numerous applications that require their use, one of the most important is surely represented by harmonics measurement. In this case, the recent literature shows that, since they suffer from both a filtering behavior due to their dynamics and from nonlinear effects produced by their iron core, they can introduce errors up to some percent. This article wants to deeply investigate, in the very same experimental conditions, about the performance of two digital signal processing techniques, recently introduced for the improvement of harmonics measurements performed through ITs, namely, SINusoidal characterization for DIstortion COMPensation (SINDICOMP) and compensation of harmonic distortion through polynomial modeling in the frequency domain (PHD). These methods have been applied to two different voltage transformers, having different specifications, by using two measurement setups based on different architectures. The impact of the voltage generator employed during the identification on the achieved accuracy is theoretically and experimentally evaluated. Modified versions of SINDICOMP and PHD compensation, which are more robust against nonidealities of the measurement setup, are presented. The performances of the techniques are evaluated by adopting voltage waveforms similar to those that can be encountered during the normal operation in a real distribution grid

Former Foodstuff Products (FFPs) as Circular Feed: Types of Packaging Remnants and Methods for Their Detection

Alternative feed ingredients in farm animal diets are a sustainable option from several perspectives. Former food products (FFPs) provide an interesting case study, as they represent a way of converting food industry losses into ingredients for the feed industry. A key concern regarding FFPs is the possible packaging residues that can become part of the product, leading to potential contamination of the feed. Although the level of contamination has been reported as negligible, to ensure a good risk evaluation and assessment of the presence of packaging remnants in FFPs, several techniques have been proposed or are currently being studied, of which the main ones are summarized in this review. Accordingly visual inspections, computer vision (CV), multivariate image analysis (MIA), and electric nose (e-nose) are discussed. All the proposed methods work mainly by providing qualitative results, while further research is needed to quantify FFP-derived packaging remnants in feed and to evaluate feed safety as required by the food industries

Understanding effect of filtration and washing on dried product : paracetamol case study

One of the key challenges that the pharmaceutical industry is trying to address is to maintain particle properties across the entire purification and isolation process. This research focuses on the effect of slurry properties, wash solvent, filtration and washing mechanisms on API agglomeration/granulation during the processes of downstream isolation and the impact on the physical properties of the product. In this investigation, each isolation step was analysed to identify factors that have the potential to affect the final product qualities using a multivariate statistical design of experiments approach. The factors which were most detrimental in increasing particle agglomeration, were found to be the particle size of the input material, the quantity and identity of wash solvent and the drying mode. Low boiling point aliphatic hydrocarbons are shown to be desirable final wash solvents to reduce the extent and strength of agglomerates and to produce free flowing powder/readily disrupted agglomerates

Integrated filtration and washing modelling of active pharmaceutical ingredients and impurities

There is an increasing interest in the application of continuous processing technologies in pharmaceutical manufacturing to control crystal properties and deliver consistent particulate products. The focus of the work reported here is to combine filtration and washing operations commonly used in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) purification and isolation by combining predicted and experimental data generated during upstream crystallization process. In detail, this work focuses on the development of a mechanistic model-based workflow for the optimization of an integrated filtration and washing model, with a view to track impurities in the liquid phase. A Carman-Kozeny1 filtration model is integrated with a custom diffusion with axial dispersion washing model2,3. The custom washing model assumes no solid phase dissolution or precipitation. To mimic the dispersion washing mechanism, a single stage continuous stirred-tank reactor approach was used. Mefenamic acid was selected as a representative test compound. Three different mefenamic acid crystallization solvents with relative structurally-related impurities deriving from synthesis were selected. Two wash solvents were selected, n-heptane and cyclohexane. The objective of the models was to a) identify the product purity reached with a fixed wash ratio, and b) explore the design space in order to understand the process conditions to potentially minimize impurity content in the isolated cake. Two different filtration halting procedures were simulated: filtration halted to dryland. The integrated modelling tool uses information on the product crystal suspension characteristics predicted using gPROMS FormulatedProducts to predict filtration time, filtrate flow rate, and the composition of the filter cake and filtrate generated during filtration. The washing of the wet filtered cake is then simulated to predict: washing efficiency and to generate washing curves, cake and filtrate composition, and residual cake moisture content and composition. To validate the scenarios described using the integrated models, some experimental data measured from the biotage filtration unit was used. To validate the cake and filtrate composition during filtration and washing stages, HPLC quantitative method was used. As a precursor to optimization, a Global Systems Analysis was conducted to explore the design space and aid in the set-up of the optimization entity decisions

Retromer stabilization results in neuroprotection in a model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease characterized by the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons (MNs). We find a significant reduction of the retromer complex subunit VPS35 in iPSCs-derived MNs from ALS patients, in MNs from ALS post mortem explants and in MNs from SOD1G93A mice. Being the retromer involved in trafficking of hydrolases, a pathological hallmark in ALS, we design, synthesize and characterize an array of retromer stabilizers based on bis-guanylhydrazones connected by a 1,3-phenyl ring linker. We select compound 2a as a potent and bioavailable interactor of VPS35-VPS29. Indeed, while increasing retromer stability in ALS mice, compound 2a attenuates locomotion impairment and increases MNs survival. Moreover, compound 2a increases VPS35 in iPSCs-derived MNs and shows brain bioavailability. Our results clearly suggest the retromer as a valuable druggable target in ALS