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There is a growing tendency for people to spend more and more hours of their day sitting. This position leads to an increase in the postural problems in the population. For workers who have to spend long hours at work, in a seated position, investment should be directed towards the development of equipment that improves their working conditions, such as smart instrumented chairs with warnings of changes in position. With this work we propose a standard office chair instrumentation approach, designed to allow monitoring physiological parameters such as: posture of the seated person (user); body temperature; and respiratory frequency. The system also allows monitoring environmental parameters such as: temperature; relative humidity; atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2); noise; and light levels. The chair enables the interaction with control equipment to adjust the comfort level, advising the need for rest time, repositioning notifications, and the real time visualization of data, using applications for Windows and Android. The system was tested by six users and evaluated in the detection of six different postures for each user, while sitting on the chair, presenting an 100% accuracy on the posture detection and a maximum of 18% error on the physiological parameters sensing. Experimental results show the adequate functionality of the instrumented chair, which could contribute to the prevention of pathologies associated with improper posture and the improvement of work productivity.

People spend more and more time sitting and this habit has been shown to cause spine pathologies. Thus, the scientific community and the industry have become interested in instrumented chairs development to detect incorrect user postures. In this work we present the development and implementation of invisibles and non-intrusive plastic optical fiber sensor cells to monitor the posture and evaluate the ergonomic behavior of a seated person. The low-cost plastic optical fiber (POF) based sensing devices developed in this work, were implemented in an office chair, to evaluate the workers posture throughout their work day. In addition to the sensors, Android and PC software applications were developed, to provide real time feedback and alerts to the user whenever an inadequate posture is detected, or the seating position is the same for a long time. The proposed approach was evaluated in a study involving six users, and results show that it can detect the user’s position with 96.6% accuracy.

Microgrids in smart grid development create a new era towards resilient energy supply. In turn, They also render complicated cyber-physical system development towards high scalability and comprehensiveness. Heterogeneous Small Cell based Networks (HSCNs) endow a suitable cyber infrastructure for microgrid based cyber-physical systems. To tackle this emerging research area, this paper proposes a Spatiotemporal Device-to-device communication based HSCN Deployment scheme for Microgrid based Smart grid Development (3xSD), to achieve high energy efficiency with high quality-of-service, chronically and dynamically. Concretely, a joint optimization for long-term energy efficiency and achievable data rate maximization with interference mitigation is formulated for spatial small cell positioning, which models both cyber and physical characteristics of Smart Grid User Equipment (SGUE). A Temporal On-demand Small cell Powering and work-Offloading scheme (TOSPO) is proposed on top of the determined small cell positioning. TOSPO considers the real-time heterogeneous features and demands of SGUEs to maximize energy and cost efficiency, for both communication and computation perspectives. To evaluate the performance of 3xSD, spatial analysis, temporal analysis, and selected case study are simulated. Numerical results showcase that 3xSD is capable of providing both long-term and on-demand optimal energy efficiency and quality-of-service solution for microgrids, outperforming existing benchmarks in the literature.

In this work, a fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) based sensing insole, capable of simultaneously measure plantar force (PF) and shear force (SF) is proposed. The insole has four measuring points, strategically located for a full gait analysis. Each sensing point contains a sensor-cell which consists of a polylactic acid (PLA) structure, covered by an epoxy resin layer, and crossed by one optical fiber with two FBGs, FBG1 and FBG2, respectively. Due to the specific design of the system, the FBG1 is sensitive to both forces (with higher sensitivity to the PF), while the FBG2 is designed to detect only the SF. The instrumented insole was tested during static and gait exercises, and the results, obtained for the PF and SF monitoring, were according to those theoretically expected.

The continuous advances in sensing and telecommunications fields have boosted the development of new technologies towards the improvement of healthcare systems. This drive of knowledge is required to address the rise of life expectancy of an ageing population with increased associated physical impairments, in order to ease the burden on already stressed healthcare systems. Towards such objective, this paper explores the use of a wearable optical fiber based solution for the ankle plantar-dorsi-flexion monitoring, to be used in the evaluation of the progress of physical rehabilitation therapies. The proposed device is a non-invasive, small size and easy to use solution, based on a cost-effective in-line Fabry-Perot interferometer, complemented with new dynamic interrogation techniques that allow the angular monitoring of the ankle-shank joint during gait (walking). The designed and produced wearable solution was calibrated and tested in a laboratory environment, with promising results that prove the accuracy of the wearable device, as it falls within the expected pattern of an ankle plantar-dorsi-flexion movement during gait. The developed system can be used for rehabilitation therapies monitoring, to be integrated in exoskeletons or applied for athletes' performance analysis and optimization, during injury recovery.

In the last decades, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have become increasingly attractive to medical applications due to their unique properties such as small size, biocompatibility, immunity to electromagnetic interferences, high sensitivity and multiplexing capability. FBGs have been employed in the development of surgical tools, assistive devices, wearables, and biosensors, showing great potentialities for medical uses. This paper reviews the FBG-based measuring systems, their principle of work, and their applications in medicine and healthcare. Particular attention is given to sensing solutions for biomechanics, minimally invasive surgery, physiological monitoring, and medical biosensing. Strengths, weaknesses, open challenges, and future trends are also discussed to highlight how FBGs can meet the demands of next-generation medical devices and healthcare system.

Abstract Maintenance of snakes at Butantan Institute started in the last century, intending to produce a different antivenom serum to reduce death caused by snakebites. Through a successful campaign coordinated by Vital Brazil, farmers sent venomous snakes to Butantan Institute by the railway lines with no cost. From 1908 to 1962, the snakes were kept in an outdoor serpentarium, where venom extraction was performed every 15 days. During this period, the snake average survival was 15 days. In 1963, the snakes were transferred to an adapted building, currently called Laboratory of Herpetology (LH), to be maintained in an intensive system. Although the periodicity of venom extraction remained the same, animal average survival increased to two months. With the severe serum crisis in 1983, the Ministry of Health financed remodeling for the three public antivenom producers, and with this support, the LH could be improved. Air conditioning and exhausting systems were installed in the rooms, besides the settlement of critical hygienic-sanitary managements to increase the welfare of snakes. In the early 1990s, snake survival was ten months. Over the years to the present day, several improvements have been made in the intensive serpentarium, as the establishment of two quarantines, feeding with thawed rodents, an interval of two months between venom extraction routines, and monitoring of snake health through laboratory tests. With these new protocols, average snake survival increased significantly, being eight years for the genus Bothrops, ten years for genus Crotalus and Lachesis, and four years for the genus Micrurus. Aiming the production of venoms of good quality, respect for good management practices is essential for the maintenance of snakes in captivity. New techniques and efficient management must always be sought to improve animal welfare, the quality of the venom produced, and the safety of those working directly with the venomous snakes.

The demographic shift of the population toward an increased number of elder citizens, together with the sedentary lifestyle we are adopting, is reflected in the increasingly debilitated physical health of the population [...]

We propose a novel polymer optical fiber (POF) sensing system based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) to measure foot plantar pressure. The plantar pressure signals are detected by five FBGs, in the same piece of cyclic transparent optical polymer (CYTOP) fiber, which are embedded in a cork insole for the dynamic monitoring of gait. The calibration and measurements performed with the suggested system are presented, and the results obtained demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the sensing platform to monitor the foot plantar pressure distribution during gait motion and the application of pressure. This architecture does not compromise the patient’s mobility nor interfere in their daily activities. The results using the CYTOP fiber showed a very good response when compared with solutions using silica optical fibers, resulting in a sensitivity almost twice as high, with excellent repeatability and ease of handling. The advantages of POF (e.g., high flexibility and robustness) proved that this is a viable solution for this type of application, since POF’s high fracture toughness enables its application in monitoring patients with higher body mass compared with similar systems based on silica fiber. This study has demonstrated the viability of the proposed system based on POF technology as a useful alternative for plantar pressure detection systems.