Alcohol abuse is the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death for individuals in the United States, causing 88,000 deaths each year in the United States from 2006-2010. Existing smartphone applications allow users to manually record their alcohol consumption or take cognitive tests to estimate intoxication levels; however, no smartphone application passively determines one's level of intoxication. After gathering smartphone sensor data from 34 "intoxicated" subjects, we generated time and frequency domain features such as sway area (gyroscope) and cadence (accelerometer), which were then classified using a supervised machine learning framework. Other novel contributions explored include feature normalization to account for differences in walking styles and automatic outlier elimination to reduce the effect of accidental falls by identifying and removing the top and bottom of a chosen percentage of the data. Various machine learning classifier types such as Random Forest and Bayes Net were compared, and J48 classifier was the most accurate, classifying user gait patterns into BAC ranges of [0.00-0.08), [0.08-0.15), [0.15-0.25), [0.25+) with an accuracy of 89.45%. This best performing classifier was used to build an intelligent smartphone app that will detect the user's intoxication level in real time.

Este trabalho consiste no projeto mecânico de um exoesqueleto robótico para paraplégicos com lesões medulares entre T2 a L1, ou seja, sem mobilidade da cintura para baixo e com mobilidade do peito para cima, inclusive das mãos. A utilização do equipamento necessita da utilização de muletas ou andadores. O mecanismo possui seis graus de liberdade, sendo quatro atuados por motorredutores (joelhos e quadris) e dois suportados por molas (tornozelos). Os motorredutores são projetados especialmente para o exoesqueleto, sendo compostos de um motor de corrente continua de imã permanente e um redutor harmônico do tipo panqueca acoplados de forma adequada para minimizar peso e volume. Para calcular os esforços solicitados em cada articulação foi desenvolvido um modelo dinâmico do corpo humano para simular os movimentos que o exoesqueleto é capaz de realizar, que são: marchar, sentar, levantar e subir e descer escadas. O modelo utilizado do corpo humano possui cinco ligamentos rígidos e é capaz de simular movimentos no plano vertical. Os resultados obtidos da simulação são comparados com resultados experimentais da literatura e são considerados satisfatórios. / This work presents a mechanical design of a robotic exoskeleton for paraplegics with spinal cord injuries between T2 to L1, that means, without mobility from the waist down and with mobility from the chest up, including the hands. For using the equipment the paraplegic needs the aid of crutches or walkers. The mechanism has six degrees of freedom, with four degrees actuated by gear motors (knees and hips), and two degrees supported by springs (ankles). The gear motors are designed especially for the exoskeleton. They are composed by an permanent magnet brushless electric motor conveniently coupled with an pancake harmonic speed reducer to minimize weight and volume. For calculating the efforts in each joint a model for the human body is developed to simulate the movements the exoskeleton can perform, which are: walk, sit, standup and climb up and down stairs. The human body model has five rigid links and it is capable to simulate movements in the vertical plane. The results obtained in the simulations are compared very well with experimental results from the literature.

Exoskeletons for gait training commonly use a rigid-linked "skeleton" which makes them heavy and bulky. Cable-driven exoskeletons eliminate the rigid-linked skeleton structure, therefore creating a lighter and more transparent design. Current cable-driven leg exoskeletons are limited to gait assistance use. This thesis presented the Cable-driven Active Leg Exoskeleton (C-ALEX) designed for gait retraining and rehabilitation. Benefited from the cable-driven design, C-ALEX has minimal weight and inertia (4.7 kg) and allows all the degrees-of-freedom (DoF) of the leg of the user. C-ALEX uses an assist-as-needed (AAN) controller to train the user to walk in a new gait pattern. A preliminary design of C-ALEX was first presented, and an experiment was done with this preliminary design to study the effectiveness of the AAN controller. The result on six healthy subjects showed that the subjects were able to follow a new gait pattern significantly more accurately with the help of the AAN controller. After this experiment, C-ALEX was redesigned to improve its functionality. The improved design of C-ALEX is lighter, has more DoFs and larger range-of-motion. The controller of the improved design improved the continuity of the generated cable tensions and added the function to estimate the phase of the gait of the user in real-time. With the improved design of C-ALEX, an experiment was performed to study the effect of the weight and inertia of an exoskeleton on the gait of the user. C-ALEX was used to simulate exoskeletons with different levels of weight and inertia by adding extra mass and change the weight compensation level. The result on ten subjects showed that adding extra mass increased step length and reduced knee flexion. Compensating the weight of the mass partially restored the knee flexion but not the step length, implying that the inertia of the mass is responsible for the change. This study showed the distinctive effect of weight and inertia on gait and demonstrated the benefit of a lightweight exoskeleton. C-ALEX was designed for gait training and rehabilitation, and its training effectiveness was studied in nine healthy subjects and a stroke patient. The healthy subjects trained with C-ALEX to walk in a new gait pattern with 30% increase in step height for 40 min. After the training, the subjects were able to closely repeat the trained gait pattern without C-ALEX, and the step height of the subjects increased significantly. A stroke patient also tested C-ALEX for 40 minutes and showed short-term improvements in step length, step height, and knee flexion after training. The result showed the effectiveness of C-ALEX in gait training and its potential to be used in stroke rehabilitation.

Submitted by Carolina de Marchi Soares null (carolm.soares@hotmail.com) on 2017-02-06T18:27:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DEFINITIVO.pdf: 1413853 bytes, checksum: 378c46ee60d116149679bf305c4e61cb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-02-08T14:01:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 soares_cm_me_araca.pdf: 1413853 bytes, checksum: 378c46ee60d116149679bf305c4e61cb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-08T14:01:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 soares_cm_me_araca.pdf: 1413853 bytes, checksum: 378c46ee60d116149679bf305c4e61cb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-01-23 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O método acelerométrico, para a análise biomecânica quando usado a campo tem mostrado vantagens com relação à videogrametria, permitindo obter dados cinemáticos e cinéticos e possuindo um processamento de dados mais rápido. Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito do crescimento sobre as características biomecânicas do passo e da marcha de potros da raça Mangalarga Marchador aos 30 e 180 dias de idade, e estabelecer parâmetros de referência para a raça. Os potros foram equipados com o sistema de análise de andamento Equimetrix® e acompanharam a trajetória da mãe, puxada no cabresto pelo treinador, à marcha e ao passo, com velocidade acompanhada por GPS. As variáveis cinemáticas (comprimento e frequência das passadas, regularidade, simetria e deslocamento dorsoventral do animal) e cinética (propulsão, potências dorsoventral e mediolateral e potência total) foram calculadas e obtidas com o equipamento de análise de andamento Equimetrix®. Durante o passo, as variáveis cinemáticas e cinéticas não apresentaram diferenças entre as duas idades. No andamento marcha, somente as variáveis frequência da passada (p=0,0092), simetria (p=0,0282) e potencia mediolateral (p=<0,0001) demonstraram alterações significativa entre as idades dos potros. Apenas a variável cinética potencia mediolateral (p=<0,0001) diferiu entre as idades. Conclui-se que a maior parte das características biomecânicas (cinemáticas e cinéticas) avaliadas, não se alterou nos potros da raça Mangalarga Marchador, à marcha e ao passo, nos primeiros seis meses de idade. Para determinar se este padrão será mantido, sugere-se a continuidade da avaliação seriada da marcha destes potros até atingirem a idade adulta. / The acelerometric method when used to analyze biomechanical parameters in the field has shown advantages in relation to the videogrammetry, enabling to obtain kinematic and kinetic data, and allowing faster gait data processing. The goals of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical characteristics of nine foals, Mangalarga Marchador breed, at 30 and at 180 days of age, to establish parameters for the marcha gait in this breed. Foals were equipped with the gait analysis system Equimetrix®, and were allowed to follow the trajectory of their dams, at speed controlled by GPS. Kinematic (length and frequency of steps, and dorsoventral displacement of the animal) and kinetics (propulsion force) variables were calculated and obtained with the Equimetrix®. This technique is helpful to record the 3D acceleration data (longitudinal, dorsoventral and mediolateral) during the exercise. During step, the kinematic and kinetic characteristics did not change in the foals. During march gait, mean values for step frequency (SF) and symmetry were statistically different between the ages. It was concluded that most of the biomechanical characteristics (kinematic and kinetic) evaluated, did not change in the Mangalarga Marchador foals, gait and step in the first six months of age. To determine if this pattern will be maintained, we suggest continuity of the serial evaluation of gait of these foals until they reach adulthood. / FAPESP: 2014/18323-8

Assessment of different gait patterns of daily living could provides useful information in studying one individual's stability and mobility during locomotion. As the foundation for better assessment of different gait patterns, the ability to automatically identity different patterns and walking surroundings provide valuable information for further understanding the relations between gait pattern and energy consumption. We apply Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for feature generation and Fuzzy-logic based approach for designing the multi-class classifier to identify gait patterns among fiat walking, descending stairs, and ascending stairs based on continuous kinematic signals. / Falls in the aging population has always been one of the most challenging problems in public health care. We propose an automatic falling detection algorithm based on the analysis of plantar force on both feet, because plantar forces are an important parameters directly associated with postures of human locomotion. The proposed two-stage algorithm efficiently overcome the shortcomings of the widely proposed accelerometer or gyroscope based algorithms and could provide efficient assistant for automatic detection of falls once they occur. / Finally, the research of studying gait abnormalities is introduced. We develop the methodology for modeling and classifying abnormal gaits including toe-in, toe-out, over-supination, and heel walking via machine learning algorithms, hidden Markov models (HMM) and support vector machine (SVM) based on a suite of gait parameters. The trained classifiers can classify abnormal gait patterns mentioned above and the proposed methodology will make it possible to provide realtime feedback to assist persons with gait abnormalities in the development of a normal walking pattern in their daily life. / Keeping abnormal motion for long time will ultimately lead to pain in the feet, ankles, legs and skeletal disease, and badly influences the skelecton growth especially for children and adolescents. In biomedicine, gait analysis has been proved as an useful approach. in revealing helpful insights into the recognition of motion abnormalities. Analysis of gait is commonly used as a routine procedure in identifying movement or posture related abnormalities of humans and aiding the therapeutic processes. Our goal is to monitor and study gaits of humans in order that proper motion adjustments can he advised to improve their posture style and long-term well being. / Most currently utilized measurement systems for motion and gait analysis have the shortcomings of that the monitoring and analysis of motion is constrained in a limited environment and human-related assistance is essential. All of them cannot be acceptable for the purpose of long-term monitoring and studying of motion abnormalities. In this thesis, a new concept of an inexpensive, compact, and lightweight shoe-integrated platform is introduced. The shoe-integrated system is composed of a suite of sensors for wirelessly capturing gait parameters and generating well qualified analysis results. The ideal platform requires no specialized equipment or lab setup, allowing data to be collected not only in the narrow confines of a research lab, but essentially anywhere, both indoors and outdoors. / To be one of the common postural abnormalities, postural kyphosis is studied and modeled. We apply Cascade Neural Networks with Node-Decoupled Extended Kalman Filtering (CNN-NDEKF) to train the model for this binary classification problem. This proposed study is of particular significance to provide feedback in the application of postural kyphosis rectification. / Chen, Meng. / "December 2009." / Adviser: Yangsheng Xu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-01, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-130). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

INTRODUÇÃO: Estudo prévio do nosso grupo demonstrou que uso de palmilha em cunha medial associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo produz uma melhora clínica na osteoartrite do joelho valgo. No entanto, não existem dados na literatura sobre os efeitos biomecânicos destas órteses. OBJETIVO: Avaliação biomecânica dos pés, de maneira estática e dinâmica na osteoartrite do joelho valgo com a utilização de palmilha em cunha medial associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo. MÉTODO: Um total de 42 pés de 21 mulheres com osteoartrite de joelho bilateral (critérios ACR) e deformidade em valgo > 8 graus, foram avaliadas quanto a dados clínicos e biometria. As pacientes foram avaliadas em esteira ergométrica elétrica com: 1. calçado padrão sem a palmilha (controle), 2. palmilha em cunha medial (com 8 mm de elevação medial no retropé) e 3. com essas palmilhas e estabilizador de tornozelo em neoprene. O sistema FSCAN® versão 3.816, com palmilhas flexíveis e 960 sensores de carga na superfície foi utilizado para obter a força plantar vertical. RESULTADOS: Houve redução no pico de pressão plantar estático (PP) com a utilização da palmilha em cunha (P = 0,001) e com a palmilha e estabilizador (P < 0,001) vs. controle em ambos os lados. Além disso, o uso da palmilha associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo resultou em uma redução mais efetiva neste parâmetro em comparação ao uso somente da palmilha (P = 0,027). A avaliação dinâmica deste parâmetro revelou resultado similar no lado direito, com uma redução mais significativa com o uso da palmilha (P < 0,001) e com palmilha e estabilizador de tornozelo (P < 0,001) em relação ao controle. Não foi observada diferença no lado esquerdo (osteoartrite mais grave). A força vertical máxima estática (FVM) também demonstrou diminuição em ambos os lados com o uso da palmilha (P = 0,001) e palmilha associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo (P < 0,001) em relação ao controle. Além disso, o uso da palmilha associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo resultou em uma redução mais efetiva da força vertical máxima estática em comparação ao uso somente da palmilha (P = 0,041). Da mesma forma, na condição dinâmica, esse parâmetro foi significativamente reduzido com o uso da palmilha associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo em comparação à condição controle (P < 0,001). Também houve redução na FVM entre o uso de palmilha com e sem estabilizador (P = 0,003). A avaliação qualitativa revelou que a órtese altera significativamente a trajetória do vetor de força (P < 0,001). CONCLUSÃO: O uso da palmilha em cunha medial associada ao estabilizador de tornozelo promoveu uma redução no pico de pressão plantar e na força vertical máxima em condições estática e dinâmica, subjacente à melhora clínica na osteoartrite do joelho valgo / INTRODUCTION: We have previously demonstrated a significant clinical improvement in valgus knee osteoarthritis with the use of medial-wedge insole associated with ankle support. There is, however, no data regarding the foot plantar forces underlying this beneficial effect. Objective: Static and dynamic feet plantar biomechanical evaluation of medial-wedge insole associated with ankle support in valgus knee osteoarthritis. METHOD: A total of 42 feet of 21 women with bilateral knee osteoarthritis (ACR criteria), with valgus deformity were evaluated regarding clinical and biometric data. Patients were assessed with: 1. standard shoes without the insoles (control); 2. medial-wedge insole; 3. insoles/neoprene ankle support. The system FSCAN® 3816 version, with flexible soles and 960 load sensors on the surface was used to obtain the foot plantar vertical forces. RESULTS: A decreased peak plantar pressure was observed with insoles (P = 0,001) and insoles/ankle support (P < 0,001) vs. control while standing motionless in both sides. In addition, insoles/ankle support resulted in a more effective reduction in this parameter than solely insoles (P = 0,027). The dynamic evaluation of this parameter revealed a similar finding on the right side with a more significant reduction with use of insoles (P < 0,001) and with insoles/ankle support (P < 0,001) compared to controls. No difference was observed on the left side (more severe OA). The static maximum vertical force was also decreased in both sides with insoles (P = 0,001) and insoles/ankle support (P < 0,001) compared to control. In addition, the later condition provided a more significant reduction in the static maximum vertical force than solely insoles (P = 0,041). Likewise, in the dynamic condition this parameter was significantly reduced with insoles/ankle support compared with control condition (P < 0,001) and solely insoles (P = 0,003). The qualitative evaluation revealed that orthoses significantly changed the center of force shift (P < 0,001). CONCLUSION: We have identified that a reduction in the feet plantar peak and maximum vertical force in valgus knee osteoarthritis in static and dynamic conditions underlies the clinical improvement of medial-wedge insole associated with ankle support

Background: Despite a lack of consensus on its utility, clinicians have traditionally relied on plantar pressure (PP) to predict ulcer risk and prescribe interventions in individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Joint kinematics and kinetics have the potential to contribute to DPN assessment and treatment, however previous studies have not accounted for walking speed nor integrated a full-body analysis with a detailed foot model. Purpose: To assess PP and gait alterations in DPN by controlling walking speed and incorporating a multisegment foot model into a full-body gait analysis. We hypothesize that hip and ankle kinetics will be altered consistent with distal muscle weakness. Methods: Ten subjects with DPN (height: 178.79 ± 8.55 cm, weight: 108.78 ± 16.67 kg, age: 61.5 ± 13.53 years), and 10 healthy matched controls (height: 180 ± 6.37 cm, weight: 92.87 ± 14.5 kg, age: 59.4 ± 7.5 years) participated in this cross-sectional study. Fifty-six reflective markers were attached to each subject according to a full-body model, including a multisegment foot. Subjects walked at a controlled speed (1 m/s) while plantar pressure, kinematic and kinetic data were collected. Functional data analysis was used to compare kinematic and kinetic data between groups, while independent t-tests and a Benjamini-Hochburg procedure was used to compare plantar pressure and joint work metrics. Results: Individuals with DPN presented with a delayed transition from hip extension to hip flexion moment and a decrease in peak hip flexion moment. There were no major changes found at the knee. There was an increase in peak dorsiflexion angle and delayed power generation in both the ankle and midtarsal joints. DPN subjects also showed a decreased midtarsal positive work. The only significant PP metric found was a decrease in peak PP under the lateral toes. Conclusion: Findings demonstrated that individuals with DPN use a hip compensation mechanism to overcome distal muscle weakness. Ankle and midfoot alterations are consistent with muscle weakness, requiring proximal compensations. Joint mechanics were more informative than PP measurements and may provide additional insight into DPN assessment and treatment.

abstract: Every year, 3 million older people are treated for fall injuries, and nearly 800,000 are hospitalized, many of which due to head injuries or hip fractures. In 2015 alone, Medicare and Medicaid paid nearly 75% of the $50 Billion in medical costs generated by falls. As the US population continues to age, more adults are beginning to deal with movement related disorders, and the need to be able to detect and mitigate these risks is becoming more necessary. Classical metrics of fall risk can capture static stability, but recent advancements have yielded new metrics to analyze balance and stability during movement, such as the Maximum Lyapunov Exponent (MLE). Much work has been devoted to characterizing gait, but little has explored novel way to reduce fall risk with interventional therapy. Targeting certain cranial nerves using electrical stimulation has shown potential for treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in certain animal models. For human models, based on ease of access, connection to afferents leading to the lower lumber region and key brain regions, as well as general parasympathetic response, targeting the cervical nerves may have a more significant effect on balance and posture. This project explored the effects of transcutaneous Cervical Nerve Stimulation (CNS) on posture stability and gait with the practical application of ultimately applying this treatment to fall risk populations. Data was collected on each of the 31 healthy adults (22.3 ± 6.3 yrs) both pre and post stimulation for metrics representative of fall risk such as postural stability both eyes open and closed, Timed-Up-and-Go (TUG) time, gait velocity, and MLE. Significant differences manifested in the postural stability sub-metric of sway area with subject eyes open in the active stimulation group. The additional 8 metrics and sub-metrics did not show statistically significant differences among the active or sham groups. It is reasonable to conclude that transcutaneous CNS does not significantly affect fall risk metrics in healthy adults. This can potentially be attributed to either the stimulation method chosen, internal brain control mechanisms of posture and balance, analysis methods, and the Yerkes-Dodson law of optimal arousal. However, no adverse events were reported in the active group and thus is a safe therapy option for future experimentation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biomedical Engineering 2019

The effects of dual tasking in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been studied for a number of years. Previous research has generally focused on changes in gait patterns while another task has been performed concurrently. Very few studies have focused on the impact of a concurrent task on speech or language. Language is key for communication: to express wants and needs, to maintain familial relationships, and for social interaction. Thirty-seven individuals participated in the study: 10 with PD, 14 neurologically healthy older (HO) adults, and 13 healthy younger (HY) adults. The participants were given a list of topics to consider and were invited to select several to talk about during the experiment. Their monologues were recorded as they spoke under three conditions: standing still, walking on a treadmill, and walking over randomly presented obstacles on a treadmill. The monologue recordings were transcribed, marked for processing by Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT), and analyzed for subordinate clauses by a language expert. The language variables measured were the mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLUm), relative clauses per utterance, adverbial clauses per utterance, noun clauses per utterance, total clauses per utterance, words per minute, different words per minute, relative clauses per minute, adverbial clauses per minute, noun clauses per minute, total clauses per minutes, and utterances per minute. There were significant changes across the conditions of standing, walking, and obstacle in the language variables of words per minute, different words per minute, noun clauses per minute, total clauses per minute, and utterances per minute. A downward trend was noted for adverbial clauses per minute as the gait task became more demanding. The PD and HO groups had less complex language than the HY group, as reflected by the following language variables: adverbial clauses per minute, noun clauses per minute, and total clauses per minute. These findings suggest that as attentional resources used for the production of language are directed to increasing levels of motoric activity, language complexity will significantly decrease across conditions.

No description available.