BackgroundThe development of interactive rehabilitation technologies which rely on wearable-sensing for upper body rehabilitation is attracting increasing research interest. This paper reviews related research with the aim: 1) To inventory and classify interactive wearable systems for movement and posture monitoring during upper body rehabilitation, regarding the sensing technology, system measurements and feedback conditions; 2) To gauge the wearability of the wearable systems; 3) To inventory the availability of clinical evidence supporting the effectiveness of related technologies.MethodA systematic literature search was conducted in the following search engines: PubMed, ACM, Scopus and IEEE (January 2010–April 2016).ResultsForty-five papers were included and discussed in a new cuboid taxonomy which consists of 3 dimensions: sensing technology, feedback modalities and system measurements. Wearable sensor systems were developed for persons in: 1) Neuro-rehabilitation: stroke (n = 21), spinal cord injury (n = 1), cerebral palsy (n = 2), Alzheimer (n = 1); 2) Musculoskeletal impairment: ligament rehabilitation (n = 1), arthritis (n = 1), frozen shoulder (n = 1), bones trauma (n = 1); 3) Others: chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (n = 1), chronic pain rehabilitation (n = 1) and other general rehabilitation (n = 14). Accelerometers and inertial measurement units (IMU) are the most frequently used technologies (84% of the papers). They are mostly used in multiple sensor configurations to measure upper limb kinematics and/or trunk posture. Sensors are placed mostly on the trunk, upper arm, the forearm, the wrist, and the finger. Typically sensors are attachable rather than embedded in wearable devices and garments; although studies that embed and integrate sensors are increasing in the last 4 years. 16 studies applied knowledge of result (KR) feedback, 14 studies applied knowledge of performance (KP) feedback and 15 studies applied both in various modalities. 16 studies have conducted their evaluation with patients and reported usability tests, while only three of them conducted clinical trials including one randomized clinical trial.ConclusionsThis review has shown that wearable systems are used mostly for the monitoring and provision of feedback on posture and upper extremity movements in stroke rehabilitation. The results indicated that accelerometers and IMUs are the most frequently used sensors, in most cases attached to the body through ad hoc contraptions for the purpose of improving range of motion and movement performance during upper body rehabilitation. Systems featuring sensors embedded in wearable appliances or garments are only beginning to emerge. Similarly, clinical evaluations are scarce and are further needed to provide evidence on effectiveness and pave the path towards implementation in clinical settings.

Background: Mainly due to an increase in stress-related health problems and driven by recent technological advances in biosensors, microelectronics, computing platform, and human-computer interaction, ubiquitous physiological information will potentially transform the role of biofeedback in clinical treatment. Such technology is also likely to provide a useful tool for stress management in everyday life. The aim of this systematic review is to: (1) Classify biofeedback systems for stress management, with a special focus on biosensing techniques, bio-data computing approaches, biofeedback protocol, and feedback modality. (2) Review ways of evaluating approaches to biofeedback applications in terms of their effectiveness in stress management. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted using keywords for "Biofeedback" and "Stress" within the following databases: PubMed, IEEE Xplore, ACM, and Scopus. Two independent reviewers were involved in selecting articles. Results: We identified 103 studies published between 1990 and 2016, 46 of which met our inclusion criteria and were further analyzed. Based on the evidence reviewed, HRV, multimodal biofeedback, RSP, HR, and GSR appear to be the most common techniques for alleviating stress. Traditional screen-based visual displays remain the most common devices used for biofeedback display. Biofeedback applications are usually assessed by making both physiological and psychological measurements. Conclusions: This review reveals several challenges related to biofeedback for everyday stress management, such as facilitating user's perception and interpretating the biofeedback information, the demand of ubiquitous biosensing and display technologies, and field evaluation in order to understand the use of biofeedback in everyday environments. We expect that various emerging HCI technologies could be used to address these challenges. New interaction designs as well as biofeedback paradigms can be further explored in order to improve the accessibility, usability, comfort, engagement with, and user experience of biofeedback in everyday use.

This study suggests that TC provides a safe, feasible and useful exercise option for older Chinese female patients with knee OA.

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BackgroundSwallowing is a continuous process with substantive interdependencies among different muscles, and it plays a significant role in our daily life. The aim of this study was to propose a novel technique based on high-density surface electromyography (HD sEMG) for the evaluation of normal swallowing functions.MethodsA total of 96 electrodes were placed on the front neck to acquire myoelectric signals from 12 healthy subjects while they were performing different swallowing tasks. HD sEMG energy maps were constructed based on the root mean square values to visualize muscular activities during swallowing. The effects of different volumes, viscosities, and head postures on the normal swallowing process were systemically investigated by using the energy maps.ResultsThe results showed that the HD sEMG energy maps could provide detailed spatial and temporal properties of the muscle electrical activity, and visualize the muscle contractions that closely related to the swallowing function. The energy maps also showed that the swallowing time and effort was also explicitly affected by the volume and viscosity of the bolus. The concentration of the muscular activities shifted to the opposite side when the subjects turned their head to either side.ConclusionsThe proposed method could provide an alternative method to physiologically evaluate the dynamic characteristics of normal swallowing and had the advantage of providing a full picture of how different muscle activities cooperate in time and location. The findings from this study suggested that the HD sEMG technique might be a useful tool for fast screening and objective assessment of swallowing disorders or dysphagia.

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Light is a common ambient medium to express additional information in a peripheral and calm way, but it is also an environmental stimulant to create atmosphere, evoke moods, and provide immersive experiences. Through the design of the DeLight system, we aim to establish a biofeedback-driven lighting environment that informs users about their stress level for intervention and assists them in biofeedback relaxation training. In this study, DeLight is interfaced with a heart rate variability biofeedback system with two modes for different purposes: stress intervention and relaxation assistance. We evaluated the prototype of DeLight in two user studies. The results of the first study show that DeLight has the potential for stress intervention; the HRV biofeedback through the changes of ambient light could improve a user's awareness of stress and trigger behavioral conditioning, such as deep breathing. The results of the second study confirm that DeLight has potential as a new biofeedback interface for relaxation assistance; biofeedback through an immersive lighting environment can support physiological regulation as effectively as graphic biofeedback; it offers enhanced relaxation effects regarding both subjective experience and physiological arousal. These findings suggest that the biofeedback-driven ambient light can perform as persuasive technology in the domain of health self-management. The combination of decorative and informative aspects enables the lighting interface to offer the users a comfortable and relaxing condition for biofeedback-assisted relaxation training.

The paper is a manifestation of the fundamental importance of the linear program with linear complementarity constraints (LPCC) in disjunctive and hierarchical programming as well as in some novel paradigms of mathematical programming. In addition to providing a unified framework for bilevel and inverse linear optimization, nonconvex piecewise linear programming, indefinite quadratic programs, quantile minimization, and 0 minimization, the LPCC provides a gateway to a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints, which itself is an important class of constrained optimization problems that has broad applications.It is our great pleasure to dedicate this work to Professor Richard W. Cottle on the occasion of his 75th birthday in 2009. Professor Cottle is the father of the linear complementarity problem (LCP) [16]. The linear program with linear complementarity constraints (LPCC) treated in this paper is a natural extension of the LCP; our hope is that the LPCC will one day become as fundamental as the LCP, thereby continuing Professor Cottle's legacy, bringing it to new heights, and extending its breadth. 123 30 J Glob Optim (2012) 53:29-51We describe several approaches for the global resolution of the LPCC, including a logical Benders approach that can be applied to problems that may be infeasible or unbounded.