Wheelchair Interfaces for Paralyzed Persons
New method suggest some improvements regarding muscles to drive a wheelchair. People with disabilities such as Parkinsons disease, multiple sclerosis or tetraplegia experience problems while using traditional wheelchair-integrated joystick due to deformities of their limbs, amputees, tremor or because the are paralyzed below the neck. For them, different methods to use wheelchair have been invented. Among them, the most popular are voice command, brain command, eye tracking, face tracking and tongue tracking. In this project, the main emphasis is put on interfaces based on eye-tracking, head gestures and users habits. The eye methods are effective, but distracts patients view. The physiological background of Electro-Oculography is well understood among different eye movement research methods. Therefore, the report regarding this project is chosen to be described. voice command is too sensitive for the background noise, but has works quite fast. Tongue tracking is inconvenient, but less than eye tracking. Face tracking is sensitive for skin color, but quite efficient. Brain command is very successful, but difficult to adjust. 2.1. Eye-computer interfaces The authors of [1] present an electrooculography (EOG) based wheelchair interface. Beyond simple path guiding, this device has three other features: path re-routing, obstacle sensing and avoidance, and tilt detection. It is also worth nothing that the microcontroller is used in the wheelchair system instead of a laptop computer. Electrooculography is a bio-medical technique used for eye movements observations. It measures the resting potential of the retina. This potential comes from the fact that eye acts a dipole: it has a positive charge on the cornea (the front part of the eye) and a negative charge on the retina (the rear part of the eye). The measurements are conducted with electrodes applied onto the face skin. More important is the location of the electrodes which depends on the eye movements. If the patients gaze is in the horizontal direction, the electrodes have to be placed near the lateral canthi of both eyes. On the other hand, if eye movements are expected to vary in a vertical direction, then the electrodes have to be placed above and below the eye. Figure 2.1Electro-Oculography method It is particularly interesting that the constructors applied additional ultrasonic sensors into the wheelchair. These sensors, placed on the wheelchair body, send signal to detect obstacle and then receive the reflected wave. This back signal helps the microcontroller to choose the best path. The researchers designed the interface in that way that gaze directions like left, right, forward or back correspond with internationally understood directions like north, west, east and south. No pulse means centre. The microcontroller of so called User Instructions Processor (UIP) encodes upcoming signals in order drive to in a certain direction or to avoid collision with an obstacle. Finally, the tilt detection algorithm is realized by the gyroscope applied to Drive Control Module. It informs UIP about possible danger associated with breaking safe tilt limit, predefined for wheelchair. In this case, corrective measures is done by the user or the alert to the patients doctor/nurse is sent. 2.2. Head Gesture Recognition This method, described in [2], allows to obtain images of humans head in order to process them for certain commands. The equipment used for this application is called Gesture Cam. It is a Smart Camera which was modified with embedding a processing unit. This modification allows the device to process images at the high resolution. Moreover, due to this condition, the only mage feature that has to be processed, is the output of the camera. GestureCam is based on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) which is supposed to process data from intensive video faster in real time than a traditional Personal Computer. Firstly, the authors took the video of the user. After that, they used Viola-Jones method in order to detect users faces. Figure 2.2 Viola-Jones method used for detecting nose. Figure 2.3Viola-Jones method used for detecting eyes 2.3. Anticipative Shared Control The researchers and at the same time the authors of presented a wheelchair navigation interface which enables the user to move from one room to another into an indoor place. The control over this interface is shared between the user and the computer. Therefore, it is called Anticipative Shared Control and the system POMDP (stands for Partially Observable Markov Decision Process). The main impact of the computer is that it uses data based on human habits, visited paths, time of the day etc. On the other hand, user can decide whether he/she wants to choose particular path, suggested by the interface or change settings. The main purpose of these operations is to complete users intentions and expectations as full as possible without increasing effort while operating the wheelchair. Tha advantage of that solution is that the wheelchair can take the user for longer trip without requiring more gestures. The authors notice that using interactive interfaces like eye-tracking or Electromyography (EMG) may be tiring for the human. The proposed design of the wheelchair interface is to use make fusion of head gestures and eye-tracking and to add more functions like winking, baring teeth, raising eyebrows or In this report various wheelchair interfaces were presented. The aim of their design is to improve life of persons who suffer from diseases causing. As far as eye-tracking is considered, many papers regarding eye-tracking systems were published. Generally, the advantage of eye-tracking over voice command is that eye can send accurate visible signal, for example, by gazing in certain direction. It is worth noting that eye-tracking method, described in , is very reliable. Moreover, it is simple to use in various applications. Because of the straightforward gaze detection, it is very reliable, accurate and, based on previous research, quite economic. The use of microcontroller reduces time of complex calculations, provides enough high level of intelligence and unweights the wheelchair because of replacing a laptop computer. The head gesture interface is quite effective and economic. However, it faces different ambiance conditions (such as changes in illumination or various objects in the background) as well as users appearance (face complexion, or glasses). [1] R. T. Bankar and Dr. S. S. Salankar, Head Gesture Recognition System Using Gesture Cam, in Fifth International Conference on Communication Systems and Network Technologies, Gwalior, India, 2015. [2] P. Pinheiro, E. Cardozo and C. Pinheiro, Anticipative Shared Control for Robotic Wheelchairs Used by People with Disabilities, in IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions, Vila Real, Portugal, 2015. [3] T. R. Pingali, S. Dubey, A. Shivaprasad, A. Varshney, S. Ravishankar, G. R. Pingali, N. K. Polisetty, N. Manjunath and Dr. K. V. Padmaja, Eye-Gesture Controlled Intelligent Wheelchair using Electro-Oculography, in IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), Melbourne, Australia, 2014.
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11/28/2019 0 Comments Arctic National Wildlife RefugeOil and gas production, drilling, and trading is a big issue in the United States. Currently, much of the oil we use comes from foreign sources. Many argue that we should reduce foreign oil dependency by reducing our consumption and by drilling for oil right here in the U. S. For approximately forty years, a debate has been brewing about oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is 19,000,000 acres of land in northern Alaska, a U. S. state. It is the largest protected wilderness in the United States and was created by Congress under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980″ (Wikipedia Foundation, Inc) More specifically, within the ANWR, a 1,500,000 acre area located between the Beaufort Sea(northern border), Brooks Range (southern border), and the Prudhoe Bay (western border) is the center of controversy. This area is commonly referred to as section 1002 because when the ANILCA was created, in section 1002 of the document, the decision of how to manage oil and gas exploration and development for this area was tabled. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. ) There are various opinions with points for and against oil drilling in the ANWR's section 1002. At this point, I am against it. I recently read a quote by U. S. , President, Barak Obama in Wikipedia. It states, “In a League of Conservation Voters questionnaire, Obama said, “I strongly reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because it would irreversibly damage a protected national wildlife refuge without creating sufficient oil supplies to meaningfully affect the global market price or have a discernible impact on US energy security. †(Wikimedia Foundation, Inc)I have to say, I agree with President Obama 100%. This area is true wilderness. According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it is the most diverse ecosystem in northern Alaska. It is home to many Native Indian tribes, a large population of porcupine caribou, some large whales, and other smaller animals not popular elsewhere. Not to mention, it is on the coastal line of Alaska, which opens it up huge varieties of marine life and migrating birds from all over. Many people don't realize that oil drilling is big business. It will not only require oil drilling equipment and stations, but there will be roads, airports, housing, shopping, etc.This means much of the land will forever be affected. Many animal habitats and natural migratory and breeding patterns may be disrupted. The air and water will be polluted from vehicle traffic, the oil drilling itself, and many other human behaviors. Human waste will need to be dealt with. You name it, it will be a problem. Another concern is the potential for accidental pollution. As a matter of fact, in 1989, there was a bill on the table and it looked like it might make it through the Senate, to allow the drilling, when the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska.It was the largest spill of its kind where 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil spilled out of the tanker and into the surrounding waters, killing and injuring countless wildlife and destroying their habitats. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc) Lastly, experts are not even sure how much oil is even there. A U. S. Geological Survey published in 1998 stated there was between 5. 7 billion barrels to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil and natural gas liquids the ANWR's coastal plain area. As compared to an estimated 120 billion in the rest of the U. S.It is estimated that drilling in area 1002 would amount to about 1% world oil production by the year 2030. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc) This would create such a small impact on the products and services generated at the end user level. In other words, the rich oil investors will get richer and people like me will be no better off. The benefits do not outweigh the risks. I say not to drilling in the ANWR! Works Cited Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Arctic Refuge drilling controversy. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Ed. 7 September 2012. Web. en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Arctic_Refuge_drilling_controversy. 30 September 2012.
11/12/2019 0 Comments Good Hotel Doing Good Doing WellGood Hotel:Doing Good Doing Well Introduction: Joie De Vivre Hotels Company was found in back in 1987 in San Francisco by Chip Conley. Conley started from opening a Phoeonix Hotel in San Franciso. His first priority or targeted customer were of rock bands, musicians and film makers who mostyly travels for their projects and he me travel agents through out the America and proposed some free massage for tour manager during their stay in the hotel to attract the customer and make them stay in his hotel. And this worked and Conley was successful in making some of nationally known entertainers stay in his hotel.Joie De Vivre is a company which has entire business based in San Francisco and because of which it was negatively impacted by the incident of 9/11 and there was substantial turndown. Joie De Vivre began to expand its network out of San Franciso from 2005 by opening Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles likewise in 2009 they opened other hotel in different place to spread the market of their company more wider. They opened Shorebreak hotel in Huntington Beach,Hotel Erwin in Venice Beach and Pacific Edge Hotel in Laguna Beach. Strategy Plan Of Joie De Vivre'sENVIRONMENTAL POLICY The mission of Joie De Vivre Green Dreams is to prevent the environment and educate not only emplyees but also cutomer to reduce waste and toxins,make the environment a eco-friendly environment and always true to reuse,recylce and reduce the waste. Joie De Vivre is also working to get their hotels a green certificate by their local city or country to show their commitment for the environment and Green Dreams. Joie De Vivre uses the following policies and practices for the Green Dreams to come true: Reduce,Reuse and RecyclePurchasing Environmental Friendly Products Conserve Energy,water and natural resources Generate clean energy through on-site solar production Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Joie de Vivre try to reduce the wastage by reusing and recycying all the papers,cans,bottles and all the waste food and landscape waste. Even when they donates to the charutable organizations they donate those items which can be reused so that they can make other people also play a role in Dream Green project. Toxics Reduction and Environmentally Preferable PurchasingJoie De Vivre always are on the side of not using toxic materials to protect the health of the both employee and guest as well as the environmental health also. They reduce the use of toxic materials as much as they can and they safely recycle the toxic products for reusing it again. They minimize the use of mercury lamps and try not to use them whenever it is possible. They always try to purchase the recycled products. Conserve They conserve the fossil fuels by encouraging the use of public transport rather then private transport to their guest as well as their employee which make thems save fuel.They encourage carpooling among their staff and also by taking part in spare the air campaigns they are conserving the environment. Employee Education They train and educate their staff how to reuse,recyle and reduce the cost. This will not only help in making the Green Dream success but it will alse make their employee in their daily life as well . Not only in work but this will help them in their home to reduce,recycle and reuse the waste which they can.
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