Esta pesquisa busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento de relações entre corpo e tecnologia, ao compreender esse dialogo como um sistema alterador de percepção. Ao partir da experiência do corpo junto a dispositivos que permitem a transgressão do organismo natural, inicio com essa dissertação a formulação do conceito de \"acoplamento\", espécie de extensão que não invalida o corpo natural, mas que trabalham em conjunto para formar um novo corpo propositor de distintas perspectivas. Compreendo que \"acoplamento\" seja em consonância ao que chamo \"poética do risco\", onde encaro a berlinda não como um abismo, mas como um desconhecido que me permite sair da zona de conforto para alcançar a potência do sistema em que me encontro. Ao apresentar alguns trabalhos desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, pretendo tatear noções de corpo, tecnologia, presença, órtese e prótese que possam apontar caminhos para a formulação do que venho até então chamando de \"acoplamento\". Serão apontados os trabalhos: \"adaMachine Experimento #1 Máquina de Criar Presenças\", performance telemática que investiga possibilidades de presença, tecnologias e afetos através de formas de comunicação mediadas, ruidosas e suscetíveis as limitações dessa mediação; \"La Grand Pelea\" investiga sensores biofísicos buscando ultrapassar a fronteira da pele através da criação de wearables, com capacidade para potencializar as relações entre a tecnologia e o corpo que a veste, propondo interfaces assistivas e para performance; e \"Monomito\", objeto performático vestível, no qual as dimensões da tecnologia e do corpo ocupam o mesmo lugar de importância, trata da jornada humana modificada pelas relações que cria com o outro, ainda que em tempos distintos. Encerro esta dissertação com um relato sobre o Projeto Híbrida, que promoveu de forma técnica, teórica e sensível, conexões que nos mostram as potências do atuar coletivamente na contemporaneidade. O projeto revela implicações que extrapolaram os conceitos de arte e o laboratório acadêmico ao vivenciar a cultura do compartilhamento e da prototipagem para apresentar questões estéticas que emergiram de proposições sensíveis, oferecerendo ferramentas de empoderamento social. / This research aims to contribute to the development of relations between body and technology, as understanding this dialogue as perception changing system. From the physical experience of connection with devices that allow the transgression of the natural organism, I discuss, with this dissertation, what I\'ve been calling the \"coupling\" concept. A sort of body extension that does not invalidate the natural body, but instead works mutually to form a new body that proposes different perspectives. In my understanding, \"coupling\" is in consonance to what I call \"poetics of risk,\" in which I see the line before the void, the exit point; not as an abyss, but as an unknown space that allows me to get out of the comfort zone to achieve the power of the system in which I find myself in. By presenting some work done in recent years, I want to grope for notions of body, technology, presence, orthotics and prosthesis that indicate the principles for what I\'ve been calling so far as \"coupling\". The works that will be discussed are: \"adaMachine Experiment # 1 Presence Creator Machine\", a telematic performance that investigates the possibilities of presence, technologies and affections through mediated, noisy and limited communication; \"La Grand Pelea\" investigates biophysical sensors seeking to cross the border of the skin by creating wearables, able to enhance the relationship between technology and the body that wears it, proposing interfaces for assistive purposes and performative art experiments; and \"Monomyth\", wearable performative object, in which the dimensions of technology and body occupy the same place of importance, deals with the human journey that is modified by establishing peculiar relations provoked by the apparatus and the performer. I conclude this dissertation with a report about Hibrida Project, which promoted technical, theoretical and sensitive connections that show us the power of acting collectively in contemporary times. The implications of this project revealed that it went beyond the concepts of art and the academic laboratory, as its participants experienced the culture of sharing and prototyping, and were able to present aesthetic issues that emerge from these sensitive propositions, offering social empowerment tools.

Esta pesquisa busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento de relações entre corpo e tecnologia, ao compreender esse dialogo como um sistema alterador de percepção. Ao partir da experiência do corpo junto a dispositivos que permitem a transgressão do organismo natural, inicio com essa dissertação a formulação do conceito de \"acoplamento\", espécie de extensão que não invalida o corpo natural, mas que trabalham em conjunto para formar um novo corpo propositor de distintas perspectivas. Compreendo que \"acoplamento\" seja em consonância ao que chamo \"poética do risco\", onde encaro a berlinda não como um abismo, mas como um desconhecido que me permite sair da zona de conforto para alcançar a potência do sistema em que me encontro. Ao apresentar alguns trabalhos desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, pretendo tatear noções de corpo, tecnologia, presença, órtese e prótese que possam apontar caminhos para a formulação do que venho até então chamando de \"acoplamento\". Serão apontados os trabalhos: \"adaMachine Experimento #1 Máquina de Criar Presenças\", performance telemática que investiga possibilidades de presença, tecnologias e afetos através de formas de comunicação mediadas, ruidosas e suscetíveis as limitações dessa mediação; \"La Grand Pelea\" investiga sensores biofísicos buscando ultrapassar a fronteira da pele através da criação de wearables, com capacidade para potencializar as relações entre a tecnologia e o corpo que a veste, propondo interfaces assistivas e para performance; e \"Monomito\", objeto performático vestível, no qual as dimensões da tecnologia e do corpo ocupam o mesmo lugar de importância, trata da jornada humana modificada pelas relações que cria com o outro, ainda que em tempos distintos. Encerro esta dissertação com um relato sobre o Projeto Híbrida, que promoveu de forma técnica, teórica e sensível, conexões que nos mostram as potências do atuar coletivamente na contemporaneidade. O projeto revela implicações que extrapolaram os conceitos de arte e o laboratório acadêmico ao vivenciar a cultura do compartilhamento e da prototipagem para apresentar questões estéticas que emergiram de proposições sensíveis, oferecerendo ferramentas de empoderamento social. / This research aims to contribute to the development of relations between body and technology, as understanding this dialogue as perception changing system. From the physical experience of connection with devices that allow the transgression of the natural organism, I discuss, with this dissertation, what I\'ve been calling the \"coupling\" concept. A sort of body extension that does not invalidate the natural body, but instead works mutually to form a new body that proposes different perspectives. In my understanding, \"coupling\" is in consonance to what I call \"poetics of risk,\" in which I see the line before the void, the exit point; not as an abyss, but as an unknown space that allows me to get out of the comfort zone to achieve the power of the system in which I find myself in. By presenting some work done in recent years, I want to grope for notions of body, technology, presence, orthotics and prosthesis that indicate the principles for what I\'ve been calling so far as \"coupling\". The works that will be discussed are: \"adaMachine Experiment # 1 Presence Creator Machine\", a telematic performance that investigates the possibilities of presence, technologies and affections through mediated, noisy and limited communication; \"La Grand Pelea\" investigates biophysical sensors seeking to cross the border of the skin by creating wearables, able to enhance the relationship between technology and the body that wears it, proposing interfaces for assistive purposes and performative art experiments; and \"Monomyth\", wearable performative object, in which the dimensions of technology and body occupy the same place of importance, deals with the human journey that is modified by establishing peculiar relations provoked by the apparatus and the performer. I conclude this dissertation with a report about Hibrida Project, which promoted technical, theoretical and sensitive connections that show us the power of acting collectively in contemporary times. The implications of this project revealed that it went beyond the concepts of art and the academic laboratory, as its participants experienced the culture of sharing and prototyping, and were able to present aesthetic issues that emerge from these sensitive propositions, offering social empowerment tools.

<p>Surface electromyography (sEMG) has been used to monitor muscle activity and predict fatigue in the workplaces. However, objectively measuring fatigue is challenging in complex work with unpredictable work cycles, where sEMG may be influenced by the dynamically changing posture demands. The sEMG is affected by various variables and substantial change in mean power frequencies (MPF), and a decline over 8-9% is primarily considered musculoskeletal fatigue. These MPF thresholds have been frequently used, and there were limited efforts to test their appropriateness in determining musculoskeletal fatigue in live workplaces (which predominantly consist of complex tasks). In addition, the techniques that consider both muscular and postural measurements that incorporate dynamic posture changes observed in complex work have not yet been explored. The overall objective of this work is to leverage both postural and muscular cues to identify musculoskeletal fatigue in complex tasks/jobs (i.e., tasks involving different levels of exertions, durations, and postures). The work was completed in two studies.</p> The first study aimed to (1) predict subjective fatigue using objective measurements in non-repetitive tasks, (2) determine whether the musculoskeletal fatigue thresholds in non-repetitive tasks differed from the previously reported threshold, and (3) utilize the empirically calculated thresholds to test their appropriateness in determining musculoskeletal fatigue in live surgical workplaces. The findings showed that the multi-modal measurements indicate better sensitivity than single-modality (sEMG) measurements in detecting decreases in MPF, a predictor of fatigue. In addition, the results showed that the thresholds in dynamic non-repetitive tasks, like surgery, are different than the previously reported 8% threshold. Additionally, implementing muscle-specific thresholds increased the likelihood of more accurately reporting subjective fatigue. The second study aimed to develop a multi-modal fatigue index to detect musculoskeletal fatigue. A controlled laboratory study was performed to simulate the non-repetitive physical demands at different postures. A series of experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of various metrics/models to identify subjective fatigue in complex tasks. Next, the composite fatigue index (CFI) function was developed using the time-synced integration of both muscular signals (measured with sEMG sensors) and postural signals (measured with Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors). The variables from sEMG (amplitude, frequency, and the number of muscles showing signs of fatigue) and IMU (the prevalence of static and demanding postures and the number of shoulders in static/demanding posture) sensors were integrated to generate the CFI function. The prevalence of static/demanding postures was developed using the cumulative exposures to static/demanding postures based on the material fatigue failure theory. The single value fatigue index was obtained using the resultant CFI function, which incorporates both muscular and postural variables, to quantify the muscular fatigue in dynamic non-repetitive tasks. The findings suggested that the propagation of musculoskeletal fatigue can be detected using the multi-modal composite fatigue index in complex tasks. The resultant CFI function was then applied to surgery tasks to differentiate the fatigued and non-fatigued groups. The findings showed that the multi-modal fatigue assessment techniques could be utilized to incorporate the muscular and postural measurements to identify fatigue in complex tasks beyond single-modality assessment approaches.

The potential of Digital twin (DT) technology outside of the industrial field has been recognized by researchers who have promoted the vision of applying DTs technology beyond manufacturing, to purposes such as enhancing human well-being and improving quality of life (QoL). The expanded definition of DTs to incorporate living and nonliving physical entities into the definition of DTs was a key motivation behind the model introduced in this thesis for building health digital twins of citizens. In contrast with DTs that have been developed in more industrial fields, this type of digital twins modeling necessitates protecting each citizen's unique identity while also representing features common to all citizens in a unified way. In nature, DNA is an example of a model that is both unified, common to all humans, and unique, distinguishing each human as an individual. DNA’s architecture is what inspired us to propose a digital twin DNA (DT-DNA) model as the basis for building health DTs for citizens. A review of the literature shows that no unified model for citizens’ health has been developed that can act as a base for building digital twins of citizens while also protecting their unique identity thus we aim to fill this gap in this research. Accordingly, in this thesis, we proposed a DT-DNA model, which is specifically designed to protect the unique identity of each citizen’s digital twin, similar to what DNA does for each human. We also proposed a DT-DNA-based framework to build standardized health digital twins of citizens on micro, meso and macro levels using two ISO standards: ISO/IEEE 11073 (X73) and ISO 37120. To achieve our goal, we started by analyzing the biological DNA model and the influencing factors shaping health in smart cities. The purpose of the first is to highlight the DNA model features which provide the building blocks for our DT-DNA model. The purpose of the latter is to determine the main bases of our DT-DNA model of health DTs. Based on the analysis results; we proposed DT-DNA to model health DTs for citizens. In keeping with our DNA analogy, we have identified four bases, A, T, G, and C, for our unified and unique DT-DNA model. The A base in the proposed model represents a citizen’s anthropometric when we build the DT-DNA on an individual level and represents the city’s regulatory authorities when we build the DT-DNA on community and city levels. The T base represents different tasks included in the provided health data that are required to model citizens’ health DT-DNA on different levels. The G base represents the geographic and temporal information of the city, where the citizen exists at the time of data collection. The C base represents the context at the time of data collection. To proof the concept, we present our initial work on building health DTs for citizens in four case studies. The first two case studies are dedicated for health DTs at the micro level, the third case study is dedicated for health DTs at the meso level and the fourth case study is dedicated for health DTs at the macro level. In addition, we developed an algorithm to compare cities in terms of their community fitness and health services status. The four case studies provide promising results in terms of applicability of the proposed DT-DNA model and framework in handling the health data of citizens, communities and cities, collected through various sources, and presenting them in a standardized, unique model.

<p>There are no commercially available wearable shoe in-sole sensors that are capable of measuring and distinguishing between shear and compression forces. Companies have already developed shoe sensors that simply measure pressure and make general inferences on the collected data with elaborate software [2, 3, 4, 5]. Researchers have also attempted making sensors that are capable of measuring shear forces, but they are not well suited for biomedical applications [61, 62, 63, 64]. This work focuses on the development of a novel wearable sensor system that is capable of identifying and measuring shear and compression forces through the use of capacitive sensing. Custom hardware and software tools such as materials test systems and capacitive measurement systems were developed during this work. Numerous sensor prototypes were developed, characterized, and optimized during the scope of this project. Upon analysis of the data, the best capacitive measurement system developed in this work utilized the CAV444 IC chip, whereas the use of the Arduino-derived measurement system required data filtering using median and Butterworth zero phase low pass filters. The highest dielectric constant reported from optimization experiments yielded 9.7034 (+/- 0.0801 STD) through the use of 60.2% by weight calcium copper titanate and ReoFlex-60 silicone. The experiments suggest certain sensors developed in this work feasibly measure and distinguish between shear and compressional forces. Applications for such technology focus on improving quality of life in areas such as managing diabetic ulcer formation, preventing injuries, optimizing performance for athletes and military personnel, and augmenting the scope of motion capture in biomechanical studies.</p>