3D Body Scanning and Healthcare Applications

Developed largely for the clothing industry, 3D body-surface scanners are transforming our ability to accurately measure and visualize a person's body size, shape, and skin-surface area. Advancements in 3D whole-body scanning seem to offer even greater potential for healthcare applications.     

Representation of noise in a particular type of linear n-port network

A noisy linear N-port network that can be represented by a noise-free linear N-port network with voltage and current noise sources at the ports is considered. If the linear N-port network has a particular type of admittance matrix, it is possible to show that as many as N/2 when N is even and (N – 1)/2 when N is odd of the ports may be cleared of noise sources. The total number of unique representations of such a network is given for both the general case and for the case when a particular port or ports must be free of noise sources.     

Simulator sickness in patients with neck pain and vestibular pathology during virtual reality tasks

Immersion in virtual environments can cause simulator sickness (SS). Further, head and neck movement in interactive virtual reality (VR) assessment and training stimulates the vestibular and cervical afferent systems that can cause dizziness in subjects with neck pain and vestibular pathology. This cross-sectional, observational, study investigated SS and factors that may influence this between 20 neck pain, 14 vestibular pathology and 20 asymptomatic control subjects. Pre-VR questionnaires included a visual symptom scale and dizziness intensity. SS measures included the simulator sickness visual analogue scale and the simulator sickness questionnaire. Significantly greater incidence of any SS and higher values were found in the vestibular and neck pain groups compared to the control group in selected SS measures. No significant differences were found when comparing SS measures between the vestibular and neck pain groups. Significant mild-to-moderate correlations for the entire population were found between both SS measures to pre-VR visual symptoms and dizziness intensity. SS levels in neck pain and vestibular populations are comparable and higher than asymptomatic individuals. Dizziness and visual disturbances may be associated with an increase in severity of SS in these clinical populations.     

Parallel architecture overview

An increasing number of parallel computer products are appearing in the market place. Their design motivations and market areas cover a broad spectrum: (i) Transaction Processing Systems, such as Parallel UNIX systems (e.g. SEQUENT Balance), for data processing applications; (ii) Numeric Supercomputers, such as Hypercube systems (e.g. INTEL iPSC), for scientific and engineering applications; (iii) VLSI Architectures, such as parallel microcomputers (e.g. INMOS Transputer), for exploiting very large scales of integration; (iv) High-Level Language Computers, such as Logic machines (e.g. FUJITSU Kabu-Wake), for symbolic computation; and (v) Neurocomputers, such as Connectionist computers (e.g. THINKING MACHINES Connection Machine), for general-purpose pattern matching applications.

This survey paper gives an overview of these novel parallel computers and discusses the likely commercial impact of parallel computers.     

Assessment of driving-related performance in chronic whiplash using an advanced driving simulator

Driving is often nominated as problematic by individuals with chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD), yet driving-related performance has not been evaluated objectively. The purpose of this study was to test driving-related performance in persons with chronic WAD against healthy controls of similar age, gender and driving experience to determine if driving-related performance in the WAD group was sufficiently impaired to recommend fitness to drive assessment. Driving-related performance was assessed using an advanced driving simulator during three driving scenarios; freeway, residential and a central business district (CBD). Total driving duration was approximately 15 min. Five driving tasks which could cause a collision (critical events) were included in the scenarios. In addition, the effect of divided attention (identify red dots projected onto side or rear view mirrors) was assessed three times in each scenario. Driving performance was measured using the simulator performance index (SPI) which is calculated from 12 measures. z-Scores for all SPI measures were calculated for each WAD subject based on mean values of the control subjects. The z-scores were then averaged for the WAD group. A z-score of ≤−2 indicated a driving failing grade in the simulator. The number of collisions over the five critical events was compared between the WAD and control groups as was reaction time and missed response ratio in identifying the red dots.     

VLSI architectures for neural networks

An introduction to neural networks and neural information processing is provided. Neurocomputers are discussed, focusing on how their design exploits the architectural properties of VLSI circuits. General-purpose and special-purpose neurocomputer developments throughout the world are examined. As illustration, and to put European developments in perspective, some of the important projects in the United States and Japan are described. European research is then discussed in greater detail