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A method for EEG-based distraction detection during motor-rehabilitation tasks is proposed. A wireless cap guarantees very high wearability with dry electrodes and a low number of channels. Experimental validation is performed on a dataset from 17 volunteers. Different feature extractions from spatial, temporal, and frequency domain and classification strategies were evaluated. The performances of five supervised classifiers in discriminating between attention on pure movement and with distractors were compared. A k-Nearest Neighbors classifier achieved an accuracy of 92.8 ± 1.6%. In this last case, the feature extraction is based on a custom 12 pass-band Filter-Bank (FB) and the Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) algorithm. In particular, the mean Recall of classification (percentage of true positive in distraction detection) is higher than 92% and allows the therapist or an automated system to know when to stimulate the patient’s attention for enhancing the therapy effectiveness.

An highly-wearable (wireless, few–channels and dry electrodes) device is proposed for EEG based valence emotion recognition. The component is a part of an instrument for real time engagement assessment in rehabilitation 4.0. The frontal, central, and occipital asymmetry were used as well known features related to emotional valence. The device was metrologically characterized on human subjects emotionally elicited through passive viewing of pictures taken from Oasis data set. As metrological references, a standardized test, the Self Assessment Manikin, was exploited. A 2nd order polynomial kernel-based Support Vector Machine reached 83.2 ± 0.3% accuracy in classifying emotional valence from each 2-s epoch of EEG acquired signals.

An on-chip transducer, for monitoring noninvasively the insulin bio-availability in real time after administration in clinical diabetology, is proposed. The bioavailability is assessed as insulin decrease in situ after administration by means of local impedance measurement. Inter-and-intra individual reproducibility is enhanced by a personalized model, specific for the subject, identified and validated during each insulin administration. Such a real-time noninvasive bioavailability measurement allows to increase the accuracy of insulin bolus administration, by attenuating drawbacks of glycemic swings significantly. In the first part of this paper, the concept, the architecture, and the operation of the transducer, as well as details about its prototype, are illustrated. Then, the metrological characterization and validation are reported in laboratory, in vitro on eggplants, ex vivo on pig abdominal non-perfused muscle, and in vivo on a human subject, using injection as a reference subcutaneous delivery of insulin. Results of significant intra-individual reproducibility in vitro and ex vivo point out noteworthy scenarios for assessing insulin bioavailability in clinical diabetology.

A customizable Finite Elements Model of human knee is proposed for improving inter-individual reproducibility in NSAIDs transdermal delivery measurement. The model simulates: (i) the measurement system, based on Bio-Impedance Spectroscopy, and (ii) the system under test, namely the knee by five parallel, homogeneous, and concentric layers: bone, muscle, adipose tissue, wet skin, and dry skin. In this paper, first the equations and the architecture of the model are described. Then, the results of the numerical characterization and the preliminary experimental validation are reported. A sensitivity analysis was realized for reducing computational burden during Model customization. Only five parameters out of the 64 used in the Cole-Cole equation were sufficient for fitting experimental data of different subjects.

An experimental procedure for measuring the drug absorbed by a biological tissue in laboratory emulation of dermatological topical treatments is proposed. Laboratory emulation is based on the analysis of the eggplant electrical reaction to the injection of drug. Eggplant and human tissue are both well modeled by a distributed circuit model described by the ColeCole empirical equation. An exploratory measurement campaign aimed at investigating the relationship between the injected drug amount and the measured impedance is reported. The basic ideas, the measurement system design, and the proposed measurement procedure are illustrated. Then, its feasibility is proved experimentally and the results of the metrological characterization are reported and discussed. Results point out that, by a “simple” measurement of the impedance module (and not a spectroscopy), the amount of injected drug can be assessed by acceptable uncertainty.