| 1. |
- Hanif, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Investigating the possible role and usefulness of video capture virtual reality in motor impairment rehabilitation
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Researchers in serious games area and professionals in stroke rehabilitation, working collaboratively in explorative interdisciplinary research studies in order to develop usable and effective applications. In this context, physiotherapists and occupational therapy are important elements of stroke rehabilitation. Applications from such exploratory development reflect motivational and easy to use features, which could be further designed and developed by serious games developers. This research study aims to investigate the role and usefulness of Video Capture Virtual Reality Technology (VCVRT) in motor impairment rehabilitation, to identify and explore the importance of this technology in healthcare, specifically in motor impairment rehabilitation. Likewise, to analyze the acceptance of VCVRT among the physiotherapists in terms of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived intension to use. Results imply that video capture virtual reality technology can be use as complement to conventional physiotherapy. This technology is cheap, easy to use and is useful as a home based rehabilitation tool, but together with physiotherapist supervision or coaching. Moreover, VCVRT is motivational for weak patients and useful in motor rehabilitation in terms of quantity, i.e. intensity of exercise can be increased. Physiotherapist centered approach is necessary for game design process; effective game design suggestions and the idea of single gaming framework consists of different games acquiring multiple rehabilitation goals, are achieved from physiotherapists during the research. Technology acceptance value is high among physiotherapists. The research study provides a more detailed understanding of the factors involved in the implication of video capture virtual reality technology in motor impairment rehabilitation.
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| 2. |
- Yousaf, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Electrochemical properties of Ni0.4Zn0.6 Fe2O4 and the heterostructure composites (Ni-Zn ferrite-SDC) for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC)
- 2020
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Ingår i: Electrochimica Acta. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0013-4686 .- 1873-3859. ; 331
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In solid oxide fuel cell, the redox reactions (HOR and ORR) demand good catalyst functions at the anode and cathode. Triple phase boundary (TPB) is an important mechanism to determine HOR and ORR as key factors to improve the reaction rate, charge transfer and ion diffusion processes. In the present work, Ni0.4Zn0.6Fe2O4 (Ni-Zn ferrite) and its heterostructures with Sm0.2Ce0.8O2 (SDC) are prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze the phase structure and morphology of the material. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the phase of Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles (NPs) and chemical states on the heterostructure surface. The electrical and conductive behaviors of synthesized samples are investigated through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and fuel cell measurements. Unlike to conventional way, the as-prepared samples promote redox reactions from two aspects: a) as an electrolyte for ion transport; b) as a mixed conductor to extend the ionic transport on TPB region. The ionic transfer mechanism of Ni-Zn ferrite/SDC composite leads the improved fuel cell performance up to 760 mW/cm(2) at 550 degrees C. Further investigations verify the appreciable proton conduction in the prepared devices in a range of 0.012-0.048 Scm(-1).
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| 3. |
- Ain, Noor U., et al.
(författare)
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Biallelic TMEM251 variants in patients with severe skeletal dysplasia and extreme short stature
- 2020
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Ingår i: Human Mutation. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1059-7794 .- 1098-1004. ; 42:1, s. 89-101
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Skeletal dysplasias are a heterogeneous group of disorders ranging from mild to lethal skeletal defects. We investigated two unrelated families with individuals presenting with a severe skeletal disorder. In family NMD02, affected individuals had a dysostosis multiplex-like skeletal dysplasia and severe short stature (<-8.5 SD). They manifested increasingly coarse facial features, protruding abdomens, and progressive skeletal changes, reminiscent of mucopolysaccharidosis. The patients gradually lost mobility and the two oldest affected individuals died in their twenties. The affected child in family ID01 had coarse facial features and severe skeletal dysplasia with clinical features similar to mucopolysaccharidosis. She had short stature, craniosynostosis, kyphoscoliosis, and hip-joint subluxation. She died at the age of 5 years. Whole-exome sequencing identified two homozygous variants c.133C>T; p.(Arg45Trp) and c.215dupA; p.(Tyr72Ter), respectively, in the two families, affecting an evolutionary conserved gene TMEM251 (NM_001098621.1). Immunofluorescence and confocal studies using human osteosarcoma cells indicated that TMEM251 is localized to the Golgi complex. However, p.Arg45Trp mutant TMEM251 protein was targeted less efficiently and the localization was punctate. Tmem251 knockdown by small interfering RNA induced dedifferentiation of rat primary chondrocytes. Our work implicates TMEM251 in the pathogenesis of a novel disorder and suggests its potential function in chondrocyte differentiation.
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| 4. |
- Alfaras, Miquel, et al.
(författare)
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Biosensing and Actuation-Platforms Coupling Body Input-Output Modalities for Affective Technologies
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sensors. - : MDPI AG. - 1424-8220. ; 20:21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research in the use of ubiquitous technologies, tracking systems and wearables within mental health domains is on the rise. In recent years, affective technologies have gained traction and garnered the interest of interdisciplinary fields as the research on such technologies matured. However, while the role of movement and bodily experience to affective experience is well-established, how to best address movement and engagement beyond measuring cues and signals in technology-driven interactions has been unclear. In a joint industry-academia effort, we aim to remodel how affective technologies can help address body and emotional self-awareness. We present an overview of biosignals that have become standard in low-cost physiological monitoring and show how these can be matched with methods and engagements used by interaction designers skilled in designing for bodily engagement and aesthetic experiences. Taking both strands of work together offers unprecedented design opportunities that inspire further research. Through first-person soma design, an approach that draws upon the designer's felt experience and puts the sentient body at the forefront, we outline a comprehensive work for the creation of novel interactions in the form of couplings that combine biosensing and body feedback modalities of relevance to affective health. These couplings lie within the creation of design toolkits that have the potential to render rich embodied interactions to the designer/user. As a result we introduce the concept of "orchestration". By orchestration, we refer to the design of the overall interaction: coupling sensors to actuation of relevance to the affective experience; initiating and closing the interaction; habituating; helping improve on the users' body awareness and engagement with emotional experiences; soothing, calming, or energising, depending on the affective health condition and the intentions of the designer. Through the creation of a range of prototypes and couplings we elicited requirements on broader orchestration mechanisms. First-person soma design lets researchers look afresh at biosignals that, when experienced through the body, are called to reshape affective technologies with novel ways to interpret biodata, feel it, understand it and reflect upon our bodies.
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| 5. |
- Asif, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Including sustainability in business excellence models
- 2011
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Ingår i: Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1478-3363 .- 1478-3371. ; 22:7, s. 773-786
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to explore the adequacy of business excellence models (BEMs) to address corporate sustainability, which is conceptualised in terms of economic, social, and environmental bottom lines. How organisations may manage corporate sustainability in the absence of a comprehensive sustainability management system standard is also explored. A survey of literature has been carried out. The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model and the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (BCPE) are analysed with regard to their considerations of sustainability. The findings reveal that while triple bottom-line considerations are addressed to some extent in the studied BEMs, the models per se do not comprehensively address sustainability issues and economic prosperity remains a dominant consideration. Suggestions for the improvement of the EFQM excellence model and BCPE are discussed. To provide a comprehensive approach for addressing corporate sustainability, an integrated quality-sustainability framework is proposed. The essence of the framework is that sustainability indicators, such as those provided in the Global Reporting Initiative framework, could be integrated with core business processes using the structures and infrastructure provided by BEMs. The proposed improvements should be considered in future revisions of the EFQM excellence model and BCPE.
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| 6. |
- Yasin, M., et al.
(författare)
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Climate change impact uncertainty assessment and adaptations for sustainable maize production using multi-crop and climate models
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Pollution Research. - : Springer. - 0944-1344 .- 1614-7499. ; 29, s. 18967-18988
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Future climate scenarios are predicting considerable threats to sustainable maize production in arid and semi-arid regions. These adverse impacts can be minimized by adopting modern agricultural tools to assess and develop successful adaptation practices. A multi-model approach (climate and crop) was used to assess the impacts and uncertainties of climate change on maize crop. An extensive field study was conducted to explore the temporal thermal variations on maize hybrids grown at farmer’s fields for ten sowing dates during two consecutive growing years. Data about phenology, morphology, biomass development, and yield were recorded by adopting standard procedures and protocols. The CSM-CERES, APSIM, and CSM-IXIM-Maize models were calibrated and evaluated. Five GCMs among 29 were selected based on classification into different groups and uncertainty to predict climatic changes in the future. The results predicted that there would be a rise in temperature (1.57–3.29 °C) during the maize growing season in five General Circulation Models (GCMs) by using RCP 8.5 scenarios for the mid-century (2040–2069) as compared with the baseline (1980–2015). The CERES-Maize and APSIM-Maize model showed lower root mean square error values (2.78 and 5.41), higher d-index (0.85 and 0.87) along reliable R2 (0.89 and 0.89), respectively for days to anthesis and maturity, while the CSM-IXIM-Maize model performed well for growth parameters (leaf area index, total dry matter) and yield with reasonably good statistical indices. The CSM-IXIM-Maize model performed well for all hybrids during both years whereas climate models, NorESM1-M and IPSL-CM5A-MR, showed less uncertain results for climate change impacts. Maize models along GCMs predicted a reduction in yield (8–55%) than baseline. Maize crop may face a high yield decline that could be overcome by modifying the sowing dates and fertilizer (fertigation) and heat and drought-tolerant hybrids.
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