Clinical epidemiology studies suggest the majority of lower limb amputations were preceded by a minor traumatic event, often footwear-related, and lower limb ulcers. To reduce foot trauma and ulcers, the diabetic patient with foot insensitivity has unique footwear needs. To address these needs for patients not requiring custom shoes, the DVA/Seattle Footwear System was developed. The six compon...

Background The cushioning of running shoes and leg stiffness influence tibial impact shock [1]. This knowledge, however, is based on investigations with the same cushioning at both feet. Unknown is whether leg stiffness can be adjusted for each leg individually. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify effects of differently cushioned running shoes at the left and right foot on running s...

Imagine a family going out for a walk. The mother reasons beyond what she is seeing: she may guess “why her husband suddenly looks at their son”, “what his gesture means”, and “where to move next”. The son riding a bicycle may reason about “how hard I would pedal my way up the slope”. My research goal is identifying such deep reasoning based on my conjecture—a wearable camera can tap into their...

Sales tax holidays (STHs) are the temporary suspension of state (and some local) sales taxes on selected retail items for a brief period of time. The policy has gained popularity in recent years, beginning in one state in 1997and growing to twenty by 2008. Despite the increased frequency with which states use STHs, little research has been conducted to study how households respond to this tempo...

We describe a person identification system that is based on classifying the sound of the footstep. The classification is done on the spectrotemporal modulations of sound that are estimated using a model of auditory processing. We describe how different footsteps form a unique footprint in the spectrotemporal modulation domain and how this representation captures the user specific signatures. Us...

Wayside condition monitoring systems are efficient tools for monitoring vehicle components, such as brake shoes and wheels. Apart from providing frequent measurements for trending and maintenance purposes these systems also identify critical events for immediate action. The systems discussed in this paper are based on machine vision technology, which not only provides accurate measurements but ...