Smart orthoses hold great potential for intelligent rehabilitation monitoring and training. However, most of these electronic assistive devices are typically too difficult for daily use and challenging to modify to accommodate variations in body shape and medical needs. For existing clinicians, the customization pipeline of these smart devices imposes significant learning costs. This paper introduces ThermoFit, an end-to-end design and fabrication pipeline for thermoforming smart orthoses that adheres to the clinically accepted procedure. ThermoFit enables the shapes and electronics positions of smart orthoses to conform to bodies and allows rapid iteration by integrating low-cost Low-Temperature Thermoplastics (LTTPs) with custom metamaterial structures and electronic components. Specifically, three types of metamaterial structures are used in LTTPs to reduce the wrinkles caused by the thermoforming process and to permit component position adjustment and joint movement. A design tool prototype aids in generating metamaterial patterns and optimizing component placement and circuit routing. Three applications show that ThermoFit can be shaped on bodies to different wearables. Finally, a hands-on study with a clinician verifies the user-friendliness of thermoforming smart orthosis, and technical evaluations demonstrate fabrication efficiency and electronic continuity.
Abstract This paper presents a generalized integrated framework of semi-automatic surgical template design. Several algorithms were implemented including the mesh segmentation, offset surface generation, collision detection, ruled surface generation, etc. and a special software named TemDesigner was developed. With a simple user interface, a customized template can be semi- automatically designed according to the preoperative plan. Firstly, mesh segmentation with signed scalar of vertex is utilized to partition the inner surface from the input surface mesh based on the indicated point loop. Then, the offset surface of the inner surface is obtained through contouring the distance field of the inner surface and segmented to generate the outer surface. Ruled surface is employed to connect inner and outer surfaces. Finally, drilling tubes are generated according to the preoperative plan through collision detection and merging. It has been applied to the template design for various kinds of surgeries, including oral implantology, cervical pedicle screw insertion, iliosacral screw insertion and osteotomy, demonstrating the efficiency, functionality and generality of our method.
In product design and engineering, breadboard has made prototyping electronics faster and easier. It removes the process of soldering required in any circuit assembly with arrays of pinholes that are electrically connected with metal strips embedded underneath. However, the current design of the common breadboard is rigid, unsatisfactory in situations that favor the flexibility of components. In this study, we present a new fabrication method for flexible breadboard. It can be made with readily available materials, which are essential for most rapid electronic prototyping. It can freely deform when exerting force and can play a major role in the development of soft interfaces.
Protocol reverse from network traces is widely used in the field of network security. But most of the studies focuse on application-level unknown protocols in Ethernet network system. However, in some special wireless systems, the protocol stack is proprietary. It is in urgent need to do the study on the unknown protocol stack. This paper proposed a new method to delimit frames in the bit stream which generated by signal process. By fully exploiting the characteristics of the wireless protocol data, two levels of frequent items mining are employed and a comprehensive index is applied to recognize the preamble. In the experiment, the method is indicated effective.
Rice protein hydrolysates (RPH) prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis have plenty of bioactive functions. Herein, we investigated the antiaging effect of RPH on Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and its mechanisms. According to the results, fruit flies reared on 0.2% and 3.2% RP-supplement diet prolonged their average lifespan, 50% survival days, and the maximum lifespan, together with increasing superoxide dismutase, manganese superoxide dismutase, and catalase activity compared to those reared on basal diet. Further studies showed the lifespan extending effect of RPH was regulated by the cooperation with the intrinsic stress protection system (Nrf2/Keap1), age-related signaling pathway (TOR, S6K) and the expression of longevity genes (methuselah). In conclusion, the lifespan extending effect of RPH makes it possible to be applied in food and healthcare industry. Practical applications In previous studies, rice protein hydrolysates (RPH) have been found to have strong antioxidant properties. But so far, most researches focused on the preparation, identification and in vitro antioxidant experiments of RPH, and there is still a lack of researches on its effect on the antioxidant system of fruit flies and the antiaging of fruit flies. This report showed that RPH enhanced the antioxidant system and prolonged the lifespan of Drosophila, which might help us rationally use rice peptides in functional foods.
Bridges are unique structures appeared in fused deposition modeling (FDM) that make rigid prints flexible but not fully explored. This paper presents X-Bridges, an end-to-end workflow that allows novice users to design tunable bridges that can enrich 3D printed objects' deformable and physical properties. Specifically, we firstly provide a series of deformation primitives (e.g. bend, twist, coil, compress and stretch) with three versions of stiffness (loose, elastic, stable) based on parametrized bridging experiments. Embedding the printing parameters, a design tool is developed to modify the imported 3D model, evaluate optimized printing parameters for bridges, preview shape-changing process, and generate the G-code file for 3D printing. Finally, we demonstrate the design space of X-Bridges through a set of applications that enable foldable, resilient, and interactive shape-changing objects.