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Product page: Kinesio® Tex...

Ricky Biddle gave us the following explanation:

The design solution uses a braking system that is activated by the user’s movements in an intuitive way. To turn, the player leans in the desired direction. To stop, the player simply leans back.

Every athlete is different. Add a wheelchair to the equation and these disparities multiply exponentially. On top of size differences, personal preferences and so on, wheelchair athletes also have different injuries and unique challenges and mobility limitations associated with their injury. This meant designing a solution that would meet the needs of people with varying levels of skills and abilities.

After testing simple mechanisms and methods of braking, it became clear that the brakes and the leaning mechanism would have to be extremely flexible and be able to be tuned to accommodating the various needs and preferences of players. Disc brakes allow for adjustability that is as simple as turning a dial and for independent adjustment of the left and right wheels. The disc brake system isolates most of the contributing variables of what could be a complicated braking system into two small, easily adjustable units.

The designers spent a great deal of time and effort addressing the points of rotation to find the optimal ergonomic solution. In an attempt to aid players with mobility only from the shoulder up, the left-to-right point of rotation was placed at the middle of the back in prototypes, but it quickly became apparent that this solution was too sensitive. A very slight lean could cause the brakes to engage suddenly, and players with limited means to control their leaning would be jostled around in a jerky turn. What should have been one smooth action became several shorter brake, brake, brake motions. After many attempts to dial this in, it became apparent such a short throw was more of a detriment than an aid to players with low mobility. We observed that left-to-right leaning by athletes with greater mobility involved a shifting of weight from one buttocks cheek to the other. This resulted in a linkage type of rotation, rather than the one-point center rotation that we had considered. We placed two pivot points under the seat. The longer throw also results in a less touchy mechanism, giving players of all abilities a smoother lean/turn braking operation. Two points of left and right rotation add further to the adjustable resistance of the leaning resistance.

The leaning of the seat back to actuate the brakes also allows for adjustable resistance for athletes of different abilities. Player with little mobility can set a high resistance of their seat’s lean and adjust their brake resistance to allow very slight movement to give them the desired braking and turning response. Players with more mobility, on the other hand, may prefer a looser setting to allow their upper body to move more freely and fluidly without inadvertently braking or turning.

If you would like to learn more about the wheelchair, Ricky Biddle's contact info can be found here...

From the project page:

The first prototypes have been built using conventional hometrainers. These hometrainers are equipped with sensors for measuring velocity and driving direction. Using the same optical sensors also the steering direction is measured. The data is transferred to a PC using the standard PS2 keyboard interface. With a PS2-USB adapter the hometrainer can be connected to a wide variety of systems, (MS Windows, Linux, MAC).

The forward velocity and steering direction are measured using optical sensors which can easily be integrated into the existing hardware. Conversion of sensorsignals to PS2 standard is done using an AVR-RISC microcontroller van Atmel.

The bike steer is equipped with an 'ET-button®' (named after a legendary scene in a Spielberg movie). This button is for initiating the flying mode.

Video of developers playing with the system (3MB or 12MB Windows Media file)...

And for those with no patience, a shorter, grainier video on YouTube:

Second Life Fitness...

(hat tip: ScienceRoll)

From the project page:

The first prototypes have been built using conventional hometrainers. These hometrainers are equipped with sensors for measuring velocity and driving direction. Using the same optical sensors also the steering direction is measured. The data is transferred to a PC using the standard PS2 keyboard interface. With a PS2-USB adapter the hometrainer can be connected to a wide variety of systems, (MS Windows, Linux, MAC).

The forward velocity and steering direction are measured using optical sensors which can easily be integrated into the existing hardware. Conversion of sensorsignals to PS2 standard is done using an AVR-RISC microcontroller van Atmel.

The bike steer is equipped with an 'ET-button®' (named after a legendary scene in a Spielberg movie). This button is for initiating the flying mode.

Video of developers playing with the system (3MB or 12MB Windows Media file)...

And for those with no patience, a shorter, grainier video on YouTube:

Second Life Fitness...

(hat tip: ScienceRoll)

Our new father is planning to review the device hands on (feet on?) in the coming days to see if one needs to know Fortran to operate this thing.

Product page: Tanita BC558 Segmental Body Composition Monitor

Google translation of Slimstick info page...

(hat tip: Engadget)

The Vital Jacket® is a wearable vital signs monitoring system that joins textiles with microelectronics. It was designed and developed to be a usable pragmatic approach for different clinical and normal life scenarios, in hospitals, home or on the move, that need continuous or frequent high quality vital signs monitoring from the patient or healthy subject. The concept was designed and specified based on the long tradition on biomedical instrumentation and telemedicine of the IEETA institute of the University of Aveiro, Portugal (www.ieeta.pt/sias).

The Vital Jacket® HWM mobile device is an intelligent wearable garnment that is able to continuous monitor electrocardiogram (ECG) wave and Heart Rate for different fitness, high performance sports, security and medical applications.

There are currently two versions, HWM100 that stores data on a SD memory card for posterior analysis in a PC and, HWM200 that allows on-line visualization using a smartphone/PDA.

More from product page: VitalJacket

What makes the femtosecond laser different from other lasers is its unique capacity to interact with its target without transferring heat to the area surrounding its mark. The intensity of the power gets the job done while the speed ensures heat does not spread. Results are clean cuts, strong welds and precision destruction of very small targets, such as cancer cells, with no injury to surrounding materials. Tzou hopes that the laser would essentially eliminate the need for harmful chemical therapy used in cancer treatments.

“If we have a way to use the lasers to kill cancer cells without even touching the surrounding healthy cells, that is a tremendous benefit to the patient,” Tzou said. “Basically, the patient leaves the clinic immediately after treatment with no side effects or damage. The high precision and high efficiency of the UUL allows for immediate results.”

Practical applications of this type of laser also include, but aren’t limited to, the ability to create super-clean channels in a silicon chip. [Ed note: we can think of more applications later...] That process can allow doctors to analyze blood one cell at a time as cells flow through the channel. The laser can be used in surgery to make more precise incisions that heal faster and cause less collateral tissue damage. In dentistry, the laser can treat tooth decay without harming the rest of the tooth structure.

Associate Professor Yuwen Zhang and Professor Jinn-Kuen Chen recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to use the laser to “sinter” metal powders—turn them into a solid, yet porous, mass using heat but without massive liquefaction—a process which can help improve the bond between joint implants and bone.

“With the laser, we can melt a very thin strip around titanium micro- and nanoparticles and ultimately control the porosity of the bridge connecting the bone and the alloy,” Zhang said. “The procedure allows the particles to bond strongly, conforming to the two different surfaces.”

Press Release...

(hat tip: Gizmodo)

The digital assistant acts as a navigation device and tells the cyclists about places of interest with the aid of video clips. More than anything, however, it takes care of the person’s health needs, as ISST project manager Thomas Königsmann reports: “The PDA suggests suitable tours and monitors the patient’s respiration values during the bicycle tour.” In the evening, the doctor can check out the data and get an idea of how the patient’s health is progressing. If necessary, he or she can adjust the medication dosage on the basis of the data obtained.

The patient’s respiration can be monitored with the RespiSENS measuring system developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. This is integrated directly in an item of clothing, and registers how fast and how strongly the wearer is breathing. The measurements are taken with the aid of respiration straps, which are conductors integrated into a T-shirt in a zig-zag pattern across the patient’s chest and stomach, and which emit an electric signal when expanded. The raw data are transmitted to a tiny module that records and processes them, then transmits the information to a cell phone or a PDA. If the value fails to reach a certain pre-defined level, the system sets off an alarm. “The device requires only a very low current, and is so small that it causes no discomfort in the patient’s clothing,” says project manager Andreas Tobola. “The module itself is no bigger than a matchbook, and then there is a small rechargeable battery for the power supply.” The measuring system is suitable for a wide range of applications: in the diagnosis of sleep disorders, in remote care of patients or even in sports. Professional and amateur athletes can use it to measure their breathing rate and effort with great reliability.

Fraunhofer investigators will be presenting their technology at CeBIT in Hanover on March 4 through 9.

Press release: Digital assistant monitors respiration...

Flashbacks: Bio-Shirt: The Korean Wearable Medgadget ; ECG-Shirt; SmartShirt: A Breathable Fabric (That Monitors Your Breathing); LifeShirt: Clothes that Feel Back; Dressed Smart: the Wearable Health System

The device has more features than the computer in front of you, namely "an advanced air pressure regulation system, enclosure sealing component, a customized treadmill, and a touch screen control panel."

From a G-Trainer brochure:

Alter-G has developed an advanced air pressure regulation system to ensure that body weight variables can be accurately set for every user, every time. The air pressure regulation system is sophisticated enough to monitor and account for changes to the interior pressure of the cavity so that accurate body weight reduction can be maintained throughout a workout session.

Users can choose to reduce their effective body weight by as much as 80% in as small as 1% increments. It takes very little pressure in the cavity to produce a substantial lifting force and because the pressure is distributed over a large surface area, the user feels very little force against their body.

Product page: G-Trainer

Press release (.pdf)...