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Choi Kup Sze. / "June 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-127). / 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. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Computer and Information Science

Thesis (M. E.) (Honours) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering (Honours), University of Western Sydney, School of Engineering & Industrial Design, March 2002. Bibliography : p. 99-104.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [33]-40).

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page; viewed on March 11, 2009. "February 2009." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Engineering with Specializations in Biomedical Engineering." "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." Major professor: Lanny Griffin, Ph.D. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42). Also available on microfiche.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2005. / Title from title screen (viewed 19 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine. Degree awarded 2005; thesis submitted 2004. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

The purpose of this thesis was to aid in the development of a web-based physical activity intervention for people with type 2 diabetes living in remote and rural areas. Chapter 1 introduces the research area, the design of the thesis and the key research questions. The thesis is then made up of 5 key studies. Study one, a systematic review of the literature was conducted and reported in chapter 2. This review identified the technologies that have previously been used to promote physical activity in type 2 diabetes, it identified the methodological quality of each included technology and the key components for effective change. Web based technology was the most commonly used and the most effective in increasing physical activity using components such as goal setting and physical activity trackers. These results informed study 2 (chapter 3) which explored patient and health professional's views on diabetes, physical activity and use of the internet. The need for clear information was identified with regard to diabetes as well as the call for accurate physical activity advice in relation to diabetes for both patients and health professionals. Study 3 (chapter 4) explored key information and components for an effective website. Included features were the need for a personalised approach; detailed advice on how the body responds to physical activity; a physical activity tracker and goal setting. The need for a 'virtual trainer' for support, advice and help with goal setting and interactive maps showing physical activity opportunities were all deemed important. The fourth study, chapter 5 described the design of the website and its features as well as the protocol for a six month pilot randomised controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of the development website, with and without interactive design elements. The final study in this thesis (chapter 6), describes the physical activity, physiological and biochemical results from a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of the website and its features. The final chapter summarises the findings in response to the research questions and the future recommendations based on the outcomes.

Dynamic postural control requires regulating body alignment to achieve postural stability and orientation during functional movements. This ability may be impaired in people with neuromotor disorders, challenging them in performing daily activities. Conventional training strategies, such as muscle strengthening, joint locking, and proprioceptive training, are known to improve posture control. However, providing sufficiently rich intervention and maintaining high training intensity can be labor-intensive and expensive. Therefore, novel technologies are being explored to overcome the challenges. Robot-assisted training is an emerging technology in posture rehabilitation. To maximize motor improvement, the assist-as-needed strategy is widely used in robotic platforms to provide adaptive assistance based on patients' functional ability. A prevailing paradigm employing the assist-as-needed strategy is the boundary-based assist-as-needed (BAAN) controller, which provides assistive forces when the center of mass moves beyond the stability boundary. This dissertation investigates the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of BAAN force fields and explores novel approaches to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of BAAN robotic posture training protocols. In Chapter 1, we outline the research background and introduce the main content of the following chapters in this dissertation. We also describe two cable-driven robotic platforms with BAAN controllers: the Robotic Upright Stand Trainer (RobUST) for standing posture training and the Trunk Support Trainer (TruST) for sitting posture training. In Chapter 2, we present a study using the RobUST platform to investigate how the BAAN force field impacts muscle synergy in the lower limbs during standing posture training. This pilot study provides insights into understanding the neuromuscular basis of the BAAN robotic rehabilitation strategy and helps explain its effectiveness. In Chapter 3, we present a deep learning-based dynamic boundary design for the BAAN controller. We conducted a controlled experiment with 20 healthy subjects using the TruST platform to test the dynamic boundary's effectiveness. This study highlights the clinical potential of the dynamic boundary design in BAAN robotic training. Extended reality (XR) technology, including Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), is gaining popularity in posture rehabilitation. XR has the potential to be combined with BAAN robotic training protocols to maximize postural control improvement. In Chapter 4, we conducted a randomized control experiment with sixty-three healthy subjects to compare the effectiveness of TruST intervention combined with VR or AR against TruST training alone. This study provides novel insights into the added value of XR to BAAN robot-assisted training and the differences between AR and VR when integrated into robotic training protocols. Motor skills acquired through BAAN robot-assisted training necessitate consistent follow-up practice for long-term maintenance. However, due to portability limitations, BAAN robot-assisted training faces challenges in providing follow-up training after high-intensity in-lab robotic interventions. In Chapter 5, we present a remote XR rehabilitation system with markerless motion tracking for sitting posture training. This remote XR framework holds promise as an adjunctive training approach to complement existing BAAN robot-assisted training methods, maximizing motor improvements.

Standing and walking balance are complex tasks that involve detecting body motion andposition through sensory information from the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems, integrating these inputs, and producing an appropriate neuromuscular response to maintain stability. Sensory information from these peripheral sensory organs, eyes, muscles, joints, and vestibular systems is integrated to create an accurate estimate of body movement and position. However, with age, injury, or disease, sensory input from these organs can become faulty or weakened, resulting in inaccurate perceptions of motion or rotational illusions that lead to dizziness, vertigo, instability, and falls. Testing and treatment of balance impairments in patients typically involve assessing functional impairment by evaluating postural balance during challenging static and dynamic environmental conditions, such as using unstable platforms, balance boards, or when visual fields are occluded, blurred, or distorted. While robotic systems have been developed to measure postural balance in standing tasks, there remains a lack of studies that measure gait responses during sensory alterations. Assessing and treating balance impairments in individuals with imbalance issues often involves evaluating postural balance under challenging static and dynamic conditions. These conditions may involve altering sensory input through unstable platforms while simultaneously occluding, blurring, or distorting visual fields. Although robotic systems have been developed to impose sensory perturbations and assess postural balance during standing tasks and treadmill walking, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to evaluating the effects of sensory alterations during overground walking. This dissertation presents a collection of work that characterizes gait responses to different sensory alterations during overground walking. Using virtual reality, a robotic neck brace, and haptic vibration motors, this research investigates the gait responses of older adults and football players and extends research on vibrational vestibular perturbations during overground walking. The dissertation provides insights into age-related and sports-related changes in gait adaptations to sensory perturbations, as well as the effects of vibrational and visual perturbations during overground walking. Chapter One offers an overview of current technologies and methods in balance assessment, highlighting the need to examine how gait and balance are affected by different sensory manipulations. Chapter Two presents the design considerations and construction of the overground sensory manipulation setup while exploring the feasibility of using virtual reality (VR) for gait assessment. Chapter Three investigates and compares the responses to visual, vestibular, and combined perturbations between football athletes and young healthy participants, focusing on differences in spatiotemporal gait parameters. Chapter Four explores how elderly individuals adapt to vestibular and visual perturbations during overground walking, in comparison to young healthy adults. Chapter Five explores the effects of mastoid vibration on overground walking. It examines both continuous and gait-timed vibrations and their effects on temporal and spatial gait parameters and balance. Subjective measures of pain and discomfort due to the vibration are also measured. Chapter Six further investigates vibration as a method to stimulate the vestibular system by comparing its effects on gait with robotically controlled head turns. Chapter Seven investigates how visual perturbations, such as shifts in the visual field, and vibrational simulations of the vestibular system interact and affect gait and balance. The final chapter, Chapter Eight, presents a method of gait analysis that simplifies the process of gait analysis by reducing the number of variables. The study explores which key gait, balance, and subjective outcomes should be considered during sensory perturbation experiments. This dissertation presents a sensory manipulation setup for overground gait assessment, designed to investigate how gait and balance are influenced by visual and vestibular perturbations. By systematically applying sensory disturbances, this research measures gait and balance adaptations in different populations, including athletes, older adults, and young healthy individuals. The findings highlight how various sensory manipulations impact balance and gait strategies across these groups. By comparing our results with earlier treadmill and postural response studies, this thesis offers valuable insights into how overground gait adjustments compare to or differ from existing postural or treadmill assessments.