Injuries involving the nervous system, such as a brachial plexus palsy or traumatic brain injury, can lead to impairment in the functionality of the hand. Assistive robotics have been proposed as a possible method to improve patient outcomes in rehabilitation. The work presented here evaluates the FLEXotendon Glove-III, a 5 degree-of-freedom, voice-controlled, tendon-driven soft robotic hand exoskeleton, with two human subjects with hand impairments and four able-bodied subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCervical spinal cord injury (SCI) can significantly impair an individual's hand functionality due to the disruption of nerve signals from the brain to the upper extremity. Robotic assistive hand exoskeletons have been proposed as a potential technology to facilitate improved patient rehabilitation outcomes, but few exoskeleton studies utilize standardized hand function tests and questionnaires to produce quantitative data regarding exoskeleton performance. This work presents the human subject case study evaluation of the FLEXotendon Glove-III, a 5 degree-of-freedom voice-controlled, tendon-driven soft robotic assistive hand exoskeleton for individuals with SCI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater
July 2021
Bacterial infections still present a significant concern in orthopedic and dental implant failure. Previous investigations have focused on modifying the surface texture, roughness, or coating implants with antibiotics to provide enhanced anti-bacterial properties. However, they have demonstrated limited success.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a novel concept for a Thomson scattering diagnostic, based on a high-speed fiber optic spectrometer. The high-speed fiber optic spectrometer presented here translates a spectral measurement from the frequency domain into the time domain, thus requiring the use of only a single photodetector for spectral acquisition. The high temporal precision offered by the instrument gives rise to a number of advantages over traditional spectrometers, such as nearly background-free measurements and multiple uses of the same injected beam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo-photon laser-induced fluorescence measurements were performed on the helicity injected torus (HIT-SI3) device to determine the density and temperature of the background neutral deuterium population. Measurements were taken in 2 ms long pulsed plasmas after the inductive helicity injectors were turned off. Attempts to measure neutrals during the main phase of the plasma were unsuccessful, likely due to the density of neutrals being below the detection threshold of the diagnostic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo photon absorption laser induced fluorescence (TALIF) measurements of neutral hydrogen and its isotopes are typically calibrated by performing TALIF measurements on krypton with the same diagnostic system and using the known ratio of the absorption cross sections [K. Niemi et al., J.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDensity gradients across a reaction front can lead to convective fluid motion. Stable fronts require a heavier fluid on top of a lighter one to generate convective fluid motion. On the other hand, unstable fronts can be stabilized with an opposing density gradient, where the lighter fluid is on top.
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