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One of the major challenges in the design of a new class of medical device is ensuring that the device will have a safe and effective user interface for the intended users. Human Factors Engineering addresses these concerns through direct study of how a user interacts with newly designed devices with unique features. In this study, a novel long duration, low intensity therapeutic ultrasound device...
A typical office layout with cubicles, in which occupants have their own control of the micro-environment by adjusting supply air flow rate of the floor diffuser, is numerically investigated for the impact of the discrepancy in personal thermal sensation preference on thermal comfort. The comparison among different scenarios indicates that whether the local thermal comfort is significantly affected...
In this paper, we aimed to investigate the possible interactions between human brain and radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) with electroencephalogram (EEG) technique. Unlike the previous studies which mainly focused on EMF effect on local brain activities, we attempted to evaluate whether the EMF emitted from Long Term Evolution (LTE) devices can modulate the functional connectivity of brain...
Record linkage is the task of identifying which records from one or more data sources refer to the same entity. Many record linkage methods were introduced and applied over the last decades. In general, the principle is to compare a range of available identifier fields in record pairs among different data sources, in order to make a linkage decision. The Fellegi-Sunter probabilistic record linkage...
In this paper we present a thorough analysis of a low pull-in voltage Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) using SU-8 as the membrane material. It is designed to operate at 1 MHz frequency that has a wide range of applications including the imaging of deeper organs. We also propose a simple state-of-the-art fabrication methodology for the same. As compared to the standard Silicon...
Many healthcare and lifestyle applications could benefit from capacitive measurement systems for unobtrusive ECG monitoring. However, a key technical challenge remains: the susceptibility of such systems to motion artifacts and common-mode interferences. With this in mind, we developed a novel method to reduce various types of artifacts present in capacitive ECG measurement systems. The objective...
This paper describes the design of a new knee joint mechanism, called the Adaptive Coupling Joint (ACJ). The new mechanism has an adaptive trajectory of the center of rotations (COR) that automatically matches those of the attached biological joint. The detailed design is presented as well as characterization results of the ACJ. Conventional exoskeleton and assistive devices usually consider limb...
Gender related-differences in the autonomic regulation of the cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory systems have been studied mainly by hemodynamic responses during different physical stressors. In this study, the influence of gender on the autonomic response to an orthostatic challenge was investigated by obtaining the cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory coupling using the nonlinear technique known...
Cerebral hemodynamics regulation consists of several mechanisms that try to keep brain homeostasis. In premature infants, due to the immaturity of their cerebral vascular bed, these mechanisms might be impaired exposing their brain to damage. The status of the cerebral regulation mechanism is classically assessed by measuring the coupling between some systemic variables, such as Mean arterial blood...
The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of speed on patterns of grip forces during twisting movement involving forearm supination against a torsional load (combined elastic and inertial load). For slow and moderate speed rotations, the grip force increased linearly with load torque. However, for fast rotations in which the contribution of the inertia to load torque was significantly greater...
We have applied wavelet bicoherence (BIC) analysis to human iEEG data to characterize non-linear frequency interactions in the human epileptic brain. Bicoherence changes were most prominent in the gamma (30–80 Hz) frequency band, and allowed for the differentiation between seizure and non-seizure states in all patients studied (n=3). While gamma band BIC values increased during seizure activity, this...
Sleep is a key requirement for an individual's health, though currently the options to study sleep rely largely on manual visual classification methods. In this paper we propose a new scheme for automated offline classification based upon cross-frequency-coupling (CFC) and compare it to the traditional band power estimation and the more recent preferential frequency band information estimation. All...
Burst suppression is an inactivated brain state in which the electroencephalogram is characterized by intermittent periods of isoelectric quiescence. Recent modeling studies have suggested an important role for brain metabolic processes in governing the very slow time scales that underlie the duration of bursts and suppressions. In these models, a reduction in metabolism leads to substrate depletion...
Dyadic brain interactions during eye contact engage multiple processes and recruit multiple networks. To fully characterize these concurrent activities, it's essential to establish the neural basis for reciprocal social interaction. So far most approaches in this pursuit suffered from the limitations in either insufficient dyadic test instruments or entwined reciprocal and non-reciprocal cerebral...
The neurovascular coupling is a key mechanism linking the neural activity to the hemodynamic behavior. Modeling of this coupling is very important to understand the brain function but it is at the same time very complex due to the complexity of the involved phenomena. Many studies have reported a time delay between the neural activity and the cerebral blood flow, which has been described by adding...
Clinical sleep scoring involves tedious visual review of overnight polysomnograms by a human expert. Many attempts have been made to automate the process by training computer algorithms such as support vector machines and hidden Markov models (HMMs) to replicate human scoring. Such supervised classifiers are typically trained on scored data and then validated on scored out-of-sample data. Here we...
Design and development of a compact microstrip C-type patch applicator for hyperthermia treatment of cancer is presented. The patch antenna is optimized for resonance at 434 MHz, return loss (S11) better than −15dB and co-polarized electric field in tissue. Effect of water bolus thickness on power delivery is studied for improved power coupling. Numerical simulations for antenna design optimization...
A comparison of coupling (information flow) and coherence (connectedness) of the brain regions between human awake, meditation and drowsiness states was carried out in this study. The Directed Transfer Function (DTF) method was used to estimate the coupling or brain's flow of information between different regions during each condition. Welch and Minimum Variance Distortionless Response (MVDR) methods...
In the present manuscript we implemented the MultiLEIT, a lower extremity isometric torque measurement device to quantify spontaneous joint torque coupling during maximal torque generation in the paretic leg of in chronic hemiparetic stroke. We quantified extension/adduction coupling (coincident with the clinical extension synergy) during the generation of hip extension and ankle plantarflexion maximum...
Center of pressure (CoP) progression during level walking in subjects with Adolescents Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) was measured. Participants were divided into three groups according to scoliosis severity. CoP progression among groups was compared quantitatively and qualitatively. The results showed that scoliosis severity affects CoP progression significantly in the hind-foot and forefoot areas. This...
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