iPecs Pro Clinical Prosthetic Alignment and Assessment Tool

Michael Leydet, Richard Harrington, Alan Hutchenreuther, Vinay Bharadwaj,
Chuck Krapf, Michael Link, Megan Toscas, Steven Hoover,
Chris Nowak, Aaron Taszreak, Douglas Briggs, and Frank Fedel
College Park Industries Inc.,
Warren, MI
iPecs Pro

Historically, the fitting, adjustment, and alignment of prosthetic devices has been a highly skilled art relying on the training and experience of the prosthetist with input from the patient, but with limited access to objective quantifiable measures. The iPecs Pro software will have clinical real-time functional assessment features. This will guide the user through a series of subjective and objective questions and physical tests to determine the functional level of the patient. A report using the scale of the questions and the measured results from the physical tests will be produced for summation to the payer as support of the prostheses selection and prescription. After the sensor is used on each patient, the iPecs Pro will be removed and iPyramid (dummy unit or replacement adaptor) is placed into the prosthetic build as a placekeeper for future visits.

The ultimate goal of this measurement and assessment tool is to promote positive outcomes resulting in greater mobility, improved efficiency, weight management, lower blood pressure, and better general health. The iPecs Pro has the capability to measure 12 degrees of freedom (DOF). It senses all three forces and moments necessary to provide guidance to clinicians as a practical and universal tool. The iPecs also includes a 3-axis inclinometer to measure dynamic residual limb angle as well as a gyro to measure 3-axis angular accelerations.

Since its introduction in 2010, the iPecs™ Lab has provided researchers the only commercially available method to objectively quantify the full range of kinematic data in real-world environments. Research conducted with the iPecs Lab is being used to develop clinical algorithms for the iPecs Pro to facilitate and objectively document prosthetic component selection and alignment.

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Honorable Mentions


BluDAQ: Android Bluetooth Oscilloscope

BluDAQ
Aubrey Kagan,
Emphatec,
Ontario, Canada

In process control and industrial automation, the electronics are built into panels. For safety reasons, these panels must be closed in order to operate. That makes debugging and monitoring operation under real-world circumstances impossible since instruments like multimeters and oscilloscopes cannot be brought out of the panel. Also on installations like windmills or electric towers, personnel have to operate their test equipment in a difficult and sometimes dangerous physical environment. BluDAQ allows signals to be measured within the panel (or up a tower), and transmits the telemetry to a tablet via wireless communication. The unit will multiplex two analog channels selected from 12 possible inputs. The user interface has been realized using an Android-based tablet communicating over Bluetooth, and it uses the paradigm of an oscilloscope/ logic analyzer.

For more information, visit the entry .


Simple, Rapid Method of Water Quality Control

Simple, Rapid Method of Water Quality Control
Volodymyr Maslov and Gleb Dorozinsky,
ISP
NASU, Kiev, Ukraine

Analyzing water quality is a lengthy procedure and requires expensive analytical equipment. This new method offers fast analysis (less than 10 minutes) of water quality by measuring the refractive index based on the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Optically active additive is added to water to improve the sensitivity, allowing an order of magnitude greater sensitivity. The effect of increasing the efficiency of water quality monitoring is associated with the interaction of the optically active additive with the cluster structure of water.

For more information, visit the entry .