Integrating Interactive Clothing and Cyber-Physical Systems: A Humanistic Design Perspective.

This study is aimed at bridging the gap from a transdisciplinary perspective between cyber-physical systems (CPS) architecture in the field of information science and emotional design in the field of humanistic science for interactive fashion innovation. Information related to a familiar feeling in the process of interactive clothing design is used to explain how the transformation could be realized from data. By creating the cyber-physical-clothing systems (CPCS), the architecture model in the hyper world and takes the development process of an interactive parent-child clothing as a case study for analyzing the transformation from the physical signal input to the social symbol recognition output. The experimental results, which from the perspective of clothing art design rather than information discipline, show that interactive parent-child clothing is not only suitable for the rehabilitation of autistic children but also recognized by most parents. The reasonable embedding of sensing technology can greatly enhance the added value of clothing products. This study provides a fruitful practical application reference for designers who are engaged in the field of art and design but not familiar with the relevant information technology. Furthermore, the application principle and the technical process of CPCS for further interactive clothing design is explained.

Impact of Cognitive Loading on Postural Control in Parkinson's Disease With Freezing of Gait.

Objective:To assess standing balance in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with and without freezing of gait (FOG) during cognitive loading. Method:A balance assessment with cognitive loading, reading (RE) and counting backward (CB), was performed by the Nintendo Wii Fit in 60 PD patients (Hoehn and Yahr stages 1-3) at Thammasat University Hospital, Thailand. The participants were grouped into FOG and non-FOG according to the Freezing of Gait-Questionnaire (FOG-Q) scores. The center of pressure (CoP) in terms of path length (PL), sway area (SA), root mean square (RMS), medio-lateral (ML), and antero-posterior (AP) were analyzed. Results:Significant increases of PL were observed in both groups of PD patients during cognitive loading (p < .001). Meanwhile, the increased differences of PL during cognitive loading in PD-FOG were larger than in PD-non-FOG. The ML displacement during counting backward was significantly increased in PD-FOG (p = .012). Conclusion:Cognitive loading influenced standing balance and postural sway of PD patients. The effects were more prominent in PD-FOG. These findings represent the interactions between cognitive function, postural control, and FOG in PD.

A technology roadmap of assistive technologies for dementia care in Japan.

The number of elderly people in Japan is growing, which raises the issue of dementia, as the probability of becoming cognitively impaired increases with age. There is an increasing need for caregivers, who are well-trained, experienced and can pay special attention to the needs of people with dementia. Technology can play an important role in helping such people and their caregivers. A lack of mutual understanding between caregivers and researchers regarding the appropriate uses of assistive technologies is another problem. A vision of person-centred care based on the use of information and communication technology to maintain residents' autonomy and continuity in their lives is presented. Based on this vision, a roadmap and a list of challenges to realizing assistive technologies have been developed. The roadmap facilitates mutual understanding between caregivers and researchers, resulting in appropriate technologies to enhance the quality of life of people with dementia.

Hierarchical organization of the coordinative structure of the skill of clay kneading.

An experiment was conducted to study the skill of clay kneading in pottery. This task usually requires a few years to master and is therefore well suited to study the long-term development of a complex motor skill. Participants' kneading movements were measured in 3D using a motion capture device and phase relations among coordinates and joint angles were analyzed in terms of the mutual phase relative to a reference point using the Hilbert transform. While a certain degree of periodicity was observed in all 10 participants, the behavior of the experts was characterized by a significant delay for the right elbow (i.e., the pushing arm) and the fore-aft position of the upper torso and only brief delays for the other parts, which all tended to synchronize with the reference. These findings are consistent with our notion of "differentiation within coordination", according to which skill learning proceeds in a hierarchical manner in that coordination among limb movements is established first, followed by modulations of specific limb movements within the established coordination. Although this feature of expert behavior was also apparent in our previous studies of clay kneading and samba shaking and dancing, the numbers of participants in those studies were not sufficient to draw firm conclusions. Since the present study involved more participants and a superior method of analysis, the present evidence for the principle of differentiation within coordination is more conclusive.