Unpowered Knee Exoskeleton Reduces Quadriceps Activity during Cycling

Cycling is an eco-friendly method of transport and recreation. With the intent of reducing the energy cost of cycling without providing an additional energy source, we have proposed the use of a torsion spring for knee-extension support. We developed an exoskeleton prototype using a crossing four-bar mechanism as a knee joint with an embedded torsion spring. This study evaluates the passive knee exoskeleton using constant-power cycling tests performed by eight healthy male participants. We recorded the surface electromyography over the rectus femoris muscles of both legs, while the participants cycled at 200 and 225 W on a trainer with the developed wheel-accelerating system. We then analyzed these data in time–frequency via a continuous wavelet transform. At the same cycling speed and leg cadence, the median power spectral frequency of the electromyography increases with cycling load. At the same cycling load, the median power spectral frequency decreases when cycling with the exoskeleton. Quadriceps activity can be relieved despite the exoskeleton consuming no electrical energy and not delivering net-positive mechanical work. This fundamental can be applied to the further development of wearable devices for cycling assistance.     

Towards the appropriate human-centred information systems: A case study of the Japanese retail industry

The industries of Japan have developed by learning from Western industries, especially the USA, and by implementing many of their concepts and technologies. However, Japanese industries have often implemented these concepts and technologies in a very different way from the USA. For example, while the USA uses information systems in retail industries as a tool by which data are collected and analysed to control the market, in Japan this same technology is considered rather as a learning device to interpret the market. While in the USA the market is seen as a natural phenomenon capable of being controlled, the Japanese see it as an ambiguous phenomenon that is ever changing and is not capable of being controlled. Rather it is important to feel the change in the market itself.This paper introduces human centredness to the information system, and argues against modern rationalism, i.e. human versus technology, taking the case of use of POS data from the POS system (point of sale: a system that collects data on both the customer and goods sold by scanning bar codes that are attached to the surface of the goods) by the eminent Japanese retailer, Ito-Yokado. It emphasises an interactive concept of interaction between human and technology of the postmodern paradigm.     

煤与瓦斯突出联网系统的应用研究

介绍了煤与瓦斯突出联网系统的总体结构和联网数据的形成。该系统通过分析和计算各矿井的煤质结构、地压活动范围和瓦斯倍率的密切关系,得出判断煤与瓦斯突出事故的综合分析指标,以预测与防治事故的发生。实际应用表明,该系统实现了对煤与瓦斯突出的预测功能。     

以任务为中心的LAMS学习活动设计

以网络教学平台的LAMS(学习活动管理系统)为依托,以"Photoshop图像处理"课程中的实际应用为例,阐述在网络辅助教学中,在以任务为导向的学习活动设计和应用中遇到的问题,及其对学生的学习兴趣和学习效果的影响,并提出LAMS改进方向。     

Analysis of multi-agent activity using petri nets

This paper presents the use of place/transition petri nets (PNs) for the recognition and evaluation of complex multi-agent activities. The PNs were built automatically from the activity templates that are routinely used by experts to encode domain-specific knowledge. The PNs were built in such a way that they encoded the complex temporal relations between the individual activity actions. We extended the original PN formalism to handle the propagation of evidence using net tokens. The evaluation of the spatial and temporal properties of the actions was carried out using trajectory-based action detectors and probabilistic models of the action durations. The presented approach was evaluated using several examples of real basketball activities. The obtained experimental results suggest that this approach can be used to determine the type of activity that a team has performed as well as the stage at which the activity ended.     

基于DSP的矿井光纤直放系统的设计

根据煤矿井下巷道狭长、拐点多、分支多的特点,针对井下环境中移动通信系统通话质量差、可靠性低等问题,提出了一种基于DSP的矿井光纤直放系统的设计方案,详细介绍了系统基于DSP的自动监控单元和FIR数字滤波器的设计及语音激活技术在直放系统中的应用。该光纤直放系统解决了井下广域范围移动通信问题,采用DSP对系统实施自动监控,为系统稳定运行提供了可靠保障;数字滤波器的引入、话音激活技术的应用使井下通信系统性能更稳定、话音质量更好、抗干扰性更强,为矿井移动通信的最佳实现奠定基础。     

有效地设计创意点

设计是创意产业,同时也是理性的、有据可循的。通过特定的方式寻找设计的创意点,有助于设计师诞生更多的优秀的设计作品。本文通过使用者的行为分析、多功能产品、特殊人群、情感化设计等方面,结合具体的设计案例,分析这些优秀设计创意点的产生,总结出寻找有效设计创意点的方法。     

车载环境下基于样本熵的语音端点检测方法

在语音处理中一个关键性问题是如何准确找到语音的起止位置,目前提出许多的语音端点检测算法不能得到理想的检测结果.由于样本熵是近似熵的改进算法,提出车载环境下基于样本熵的语音端点检测方法.并采用模糊C均值聚类算法和贝叶斯信息判决算法进行样本熵特征门限估计,以及使用双门限法进行语音端点检测.在TIMIT连续语音库上的实验表明,车载噪声环境下,样本熵法和近似熵法的检测正确率均远高于谱熵法和能量谱熵法,而样本熵法相对于近似熵法具有更好的检测效果,特别是当信噪比小于等于OdB时,样本熵法的检测性能优于近似熵法近10%.因此,样本熵法在车栽智能语音领域具有很好的应用前景,能够为车载导航提供准确的语音端点检测技术.     

An agent-based signal processing in-node environment for real-time human activity monitoring based on wireless body sensor networks

Nowadays wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) have great potential to enable a broad variety of assisted living applications such as human biophysical/biochemical control and activity monitoring for health care, e-fitness, emergency detection, emotional recognition for social networking, security, and highly interactive games. It is therefore important to define design methodologies and programming frameworks which enable rapid prototyping of WBSN applications. Several effective application development frameworks have been already proposed for WBSNs designed for TinyOS-based sensor platforms, e.g. CodeBlue, SPINE, and Titan. In this paper we present an application of MAPS, an agent framework for wireless sensor networks based on the Java-programmable Sun SPOT sensor platform, for the development of a real-time WBSN-based system for human activity monitoring. The agent-oriented programming abstractions provided by MAPS allow effective and rapid prototyping of the sensor-side software. In particular, the architecture of the developed system is a typical star-based WBSN composed of a coordinator node and two sensor nodes located respectively on the waist and the thigh of the monitored assisted living. The coordinator relies on a JADE-based enhancement of the SPINE coordinator and allows configuring sensors, receiving their data, and recognizing pre-defined human activities. On the other hand, each sensor node runs a MAPS-based agent that performs sensing of the 3-axial accelerometer sensor, computation of significant features on the acquired data, feature aggregation and transmission to the coordinator. The experimentation phase of the prototype, which allows evaluating the obtainable monitoring performances and activity recognition accuracy, is described. Moreover, a comparison of the monitoring system based on MAPS, AFME and SPINE in terms of programming effectiveness and system performances is discussed.     

A note: Common due date assignment for a single machine scheduling with the rate-modifying activity

In this paper we study the single machine common due date assignment and scheduling problem with the possibility to perform a rate-modifying activity (RMA) for changing the processing times of the jobs following this activity. The objective is to minimize the total weighted sum of earliness, tardiness and due date costs. Placing the RMA to some position in the schedule can decrease the objective function value. Several properties of the problem are considered which in some cases can reduce the complexity of the solution algorithm.