BIODEVICES 2015 Abstracts

Full Papers Short Papers
Full Papers
Paper Nr: 8
Title:

Noise Analysis of Programmable Gain Analog to Digital Converter for Integrated Neural Implant Front End
Authors:

Amir Zjajo, Carlo Galuzzi and Rene van Leuken
Abstract: Integrated neural implant interface with the brain using biocompatible electrodes to provide high yield cell recordings, large channel counts and access to spike data and/or field potentials with high signal-to-noise ratio. By increasing the number of recording electrodes, spatially broad analysis can be performed that can provide insights into how and why neuronal ensembles synchronize their activity. However, the maximum number of channels is constrained with noise, area, bandwidth, power, thermal dissipation and the scalability and expandability of the recording system. In this paper, we characterize the noise fluctuations on a circuit-architecture level for efficient hardware implementation of programmable gain analog to digital converter for neural signal-processing. This approach provides key insight required to address signal-to-noise ratio, response time, and linearity of the physical electronic interface. The proposed methodology is evaluated on a prototype converter designed in standard single poly, six metal 90-nm CMOS process.
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Paper Nr: 14
Title:

High Voltage Integrated Chip Power Recovering Topology for Implantable Wireless Biomedical Devices
Authors:

Vijith Vijayakumaran Nair, Jinhwan Youn and Jun Rim Choi
Abstract: In near field wireless power links for biomedical implants, inductive voltage at receiver end (Rx) largely exceeds the compliance of low voltage integrated power recovery circuits. To limit the magnitude of induced signal, most of the low voltage (LV) integrated power recovery schemes employ methods like voltage clipping and shunt regulation. These methods are proved to be power inefficient. Therefore, to overcome the voltage limitation and to improve the power efficiency, we propose an on-chip high-voltage (HV) power recovery scheme based on step-down approach, which allows supply voltage as high as 30V. The proposed design comprises of enhanced semi-active HV bridge rectifier, reference voltage generator and HV series voltage regulator. In addition, a battery management circuit that ensures safe and reliable charging of the implant battery is proposed and implemented. The proposed design is fabricated with 0.35μm HV BCD technology based on LOCOS 0.35μm CMOS process. Rectifier and regulator power efficacy are analyzed and compared through simulation and measurement results.
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Paper Nr: 15
Title:

The Development of a New Three-channel Self-pressurized Wrist Pulse Acquisition System
Authors:

Zhou Kan-Heng, Qian Peng, Xia Chun-Ming and Wang Yi-Qin
Abstract: A new three-channel self-pressurized pulse acquisition system based on the principle of wrist pulse diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was introduced in this paper, including the hardware and the software design of this acquisition system. This acquisition system can not only get three-channel wrist pulse waveforms under the best pulse taking force through the automatic pressure control module composed of stepper motors and ball screw pairs, but also simulate the process of the three regions and nine pulsetakings wrist pulse diagnosis in TCM. Besides, this acquisition system also can real-timely display and store three-channel wrist pulse waveforms. It can been seen that this wrist pulse acquisition system solved the problem that only the pulse waveforms in Guan region of the wrist can be detected, which does most of the existent pulse acquisition systems have. The system provided a user-friendly flexible sample collection platform, laid the foundation for analyzing the multi-channel wrist pulse waveforms and pushed forward the development of the standardization of wrist pulse waveforms and the objectification of wrist pulse diagnosis in TCM.
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Paper Nr: 17
Title:

A Wide-band and User-friendly EEG Recording System for Wearable Applications
Authors:

Lorenzo Bisoni, Enzo Mastinu and Massimo Barbaro
Abstract: A wireless, wearable and non-invasive EEG recording system is proposed. The system includes a low-power 8-channel acquisition module and a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver to transmit acquired data to a remote platform. It was designed with the aim of creating a cheap and user-friendly system that can be easily interfaced with the nowadays widely spread smartphones or tablets by means of a mobile-based application. The presented system, validated through in-vivo experiments, allows EEG signals recording at different sample rates and with a maximum bandwidth of 524 Hz. It was realized on a 19cm2 custom PCB with a maximum power consumption of 270mW.
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Paper Nr: 20
Title:

Engineering Implantable Microfluidic Drug Delivery Device for Individualized Cancer Chemotherapy
Authors:

Peiyi Song, Danny Jian Hang Tng, Rui Hu and Ken-Tye Yong
Abstract: Cancer patients nowadays suffer from serious side effects and unpleasant experiences when treated with anti-cancer drugs. Conventional drug delivery methods including drug pills/capsules, topical drug gels/drops and drug injections are too simple, incapable of providing controllable and efficient tumour drug delivery in cancer treatment. Implantable drug delivery devices open a new horizon for drug treatment. Through device implantation locally onto disease site, high efficiency drug delivery can be achieved. Utilizing techniques from microfluidics, precise manipulation of drug fluids by these devices offer great advances for treatment. In our study, an electrochemical actuated microfluidic drug delivery device was fabricated and studied in vitro and in vivo. Cultured pancreatic cancer cell colonies were successfully inhibited by programmable Doxorubicin treatments controlled by devices. Further, 12 devices were implanted into 12 Kunming mice for evaluation of biocompatibility and drug delivery performance. Tissue biopsy and blood sample analyses indicated all 12 mice remaining healthy after devices implantation. Adrenaline was delivered to the abdominal cavity of the mice by using the implanted device and compared with conventional injection as a positive control. Both approaches have shown that they are able to precisely control and manipulate the increment rate of blood pressure in the small animals.
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Paper Nr: 23
Title:

Targeted Radiation Dipole Antenna using 3D Numerical Simulation in Microwave Ablation
Authors:

Hussein Alnassan, Adrian Kastler, Xia Wang and Bruno Kastler
Abstract: Microwave ablation technology is being utilised in several medical applications for ablation therapy and other applications. Microwave energy generates fast and high temperatures sufficient and capable to produce coagulation necrosis. Theoretical models by numerical simulation of microwave ablation is a distinct step in the implementation of system design, as well as in the results analysis before the ablation procedure. Furthermore, these models play a role in design the microwave antennas. Classic microwave ablation antenna around its radiating section applies electromagnetic field in tumors without worry about near neural structures. This paper presents the temperature distributions of targeted radiation dipole antenna model with active and non-active sides for microwave ablation at 2.45GHz at different powers and ablation times. Temperature maps and SAR distributions around the radiating section show in two sides.
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Paper Nr: 26
Title:

12 GHz CMOS MEMS Lab-on-chip System for Detection of Concentration of Suspended Particles in Bio-suspensions
Authors:

Subhajit Guha, Marco Lisker, Andreas Trusch, Alexander Wolf, Chafik Meliani and Christian Wenger
Abstract: This work presents a high frequency (X-band) CMOS dielectric sensor with hybrid microfluidic integration, applied to biosensing techniques; primarily to detect concentration of suspended particles in a solution. The detection technique is based on capacitive sensing of varying permittivity of the aqueous solution caused by different concentrations of suspended particles. The sensor chip is fabricated in 0.25 µm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology of IHP with post processed PDMS microfluidic hybrid integration. The operating frequency of the sensor is 12.3 GHz and draws a DC power of approximately 35 mW from 3 V power supply. The dielectric sensitivity of the chip was characterized and calibrated using different organic fluids (alcohols); a sensitivity of 100 MHz/permittivity was measured with the sensor. After the calibration phase, the sensor was further used to measure the concentration of glucose in a homogeneous glucose solution. Frequency down-shift of 250 MHz/10% increase in water concentration in the homogeneous solution was observed. In order to analyse the concentration of suspended particles in a solution various concentrations of micro-beads in acetone solution were measured. Approximately a frequency up-shift of 125 MHz/10 µl increase in bead volume in acetone was observed. The overall chip size is 2.76 mm2.
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Paper Nr: 27
Title:

An Automated Medical Device for Ultimate ABO Compatibility Test at the Patient’s Bedside - Towards the Automation of Point-of-care Transfusion Safety
Authors:

Karine Charrière, Alain Rouleau, Olivier Gaiffe, Pascal Morel, Véronique Bourcier, Christian Pieralli, Wilfrid Boireau, Lionel Pazart and Bruno Wacogne
Abstract: In blood transfusion, accidents still occur because of ABO mismatch between donor and patient’s blood. These errors, sometimes lethal, are principally due to wrong identification of patient and/or blood product or to human errors. The best way to avoid these errors is to perform an ultimate ABO compatibility test at the patient’s bedside immediately prior to transfusion. Ideally, this test should be performed automatically, without human interpretation and with minimum blood exposure for nurses. This ideal and ultimate method is not yet employed because of the lack of suitable device. In this paper, we propose a system that may fulfil the above mentioned requirements. It is based on selective blood capture on biochip surfaces in a device which automatically drives the different fluids, performs optical detection of captured red cells and finally interprets the optical reading in terms of ABO compatibility. So far, our device achieved blood compatibility test with 99.3 % sensitivity and 97.9 % specificity.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 10
Title:

On Combining the Dielectrophoresis and Microdevices - Investigation of Hippocampal Neuronal Viability after Implementing Dielectrophoretic Positioning on Multi-Electrode Arrays
Authors:

Tianyi Zhou, Susan Perry and Svetlana Tatic-Lucic
Abstract: In this work, we have investigated the viability of embryonic mouse hippocampal neurons after dielectrophoretic positioning on multi-electrode arrays (MEA). We present a systematic evaluation of positive dielectrophoretic conditions, including 1) an investigation of the effect of 10% sucrose (w/v in deionized water), a commonly used, low-conductivity buffer medium, on the viability of mouse hippocampal neurons over different time periods, and 2) a study of the effect of the membrane potential induced by DEP electric field on the integrity of the cell membrane. Post-DEP high neuronal viability was achieved experimentally, and spontaneous neuronal potentials from trapped neurons on the MEA were successfully recorded.
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Paper Nr: 11
Title:

Design of a Myelin Basic Protein Biosensor based on EnFET Technology
Authors:

Jorge Guerrero, Roberto Ambrosio and Amanda Carrillo
Abstract: In this work, the design of a biosensor based on FET technology have been proposed, simulating the modification to the gate of an Ion Sensitive Field-Effect Transistor (ISFET) with a synthetic polymer to entrap the desired analyte which contains Myelin Basic Protein (MBP). This analyte is generally used in test to find out if someone is suffering a demyelinating disease, and is commonly detected by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA). Based on this principle, we propose a simpler method, fundamented on Enzyme Field-Effect Transistor (EnFET) technology in order to develop a new device applied to the diagnosis of demyelinating diseases. Simulation examples are used in order to demonstrate the functionality for this type of biosensor to its exposure to MBP at concentrations of 10-4 to 10-1 mol/L, where the amount of analyte in the receptor located at the top of the gate will determine the level of voltage applied to create a channel and activate the device.
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Paper Nr: 19
Title:

Patterning of Multi-slits on Pipes for Developing Fine Diameter Stents
Authors:

Toshiyuki Horiuchi, Hiroshi Sakabe and Hiroshi Kobayashi
Abstract: Precise slit patterns were delineated on fine stainless steel pipes with an outer diameter of 100 μm. The aim of the research is to clarify the feasibility of fabricating stents with diameters of less than 1 mm by delineating precise multi-slit patterns on fine pipes. Using a laser scan exposure system, slit patterns with widths of 11-29 μm were successfully delineated as fundamental stent patterns. At first, the exposure shutter was opened just before the specimen was scanned. However, swells appeared at the pattern ends. For this reason, exposure program was changed to open the shutter after starting the specimen scan. As a result, swells were completely diminished. In addition to simple parallel slit patterns, alternatively positioned parallel slit patterns were homogeneously delineated. Because the delineation speed of the investigated method is not fast, an idea of scan projection lithography was also proposed. It is feasible to fabricate stents if the pipes are etched using the resist patterns as etching masks continuing to the lithography.
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Paper Nr: 28
Title:

VIRUMILK - Biosensor for CMV Detection in Breast Milk from Lactating Women of Preterm Infants Less than 33 Weeks

Authors:

S. Py, B. Wacogne, L. Pazart, A. Coaquette, W. Boireau, G. Herbein and G. Thiriez
Abstract: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading cause of neonatal viral infection and can have a significant impact on the neurosensory development of newborns and especially preterm infants. While congenital CMV infection affects about 2-5% of very preterm infants, the risk of postnatal infection, particularly through breast milk, is much higher in this population (20%). However, infection could be considerably reduced by an early and fast screening of breast milk. Indeed, a treatment (freezing or pasteurization) of contaminated breast milk only could eliminate the virus. The idea of this position paper is that breast milk screening would help defining an appropriate and personalized feeding strategy. We explain how to develop a CMV biosensor to detect the virus in milk. It employs specific CMV antibodies grafted on a biochip surface to capture viral material and additional detection antibodies in a “sandwich assay” type system. Detection is based on optical absorption. It will be tested with a device developed previously. However, preliminary results obtained in ELISA technique with breast milk and homemade antibodies are presented in this position paper. The ulterior motive of this work is the fabrication of an autonomous and automated device that will be experimented in subsequent diagnosis strategy trial.
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Paper Nr: 31
Title:

Discrimination of Different Foodborne Pathogens onto Carbohydrate Microarrays Using Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging
Authors:

Emilie Bulard, Aurélie Bouchet-Spinelli, Patricia Chaud, André Roget, Roberto Calemczuk, Sébastien Fort and Thierry Livache
Abstract: Food safety is a public health challenge. Devices allowing early, fast, label-free and in situ detection of bacteria are of great interest to prevent outbreaks. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli O157:H7 are foodborne pathogens which were responsible of 60% of the hospitalizations in the USA in 2011. In this study, we conceived a carbohydrate microarray in order to detect and discriminate these three food pathogenic bacteria. In less than 10 hours, from an initial bacterial suspension of 100 bacteria per mL, Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging allowed the detection and the discrimination of these bacteria while they were growing and interacting specifically with the carbohydrate microarray. Moreover, this device is easily regenerable and can be re-used: it is probably a promising tool to early detect bacteria in food.
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Paper Nr: 32
Title:

Biodegradable Passive Resonance Sensor - Fabrication and Initial Testing
Authors:

Timo Salpavaara, Ville Ellä, Minna Kellomäki and Jukka Lekkala
Abstract: Biodegradable resonance circuits were studied. The circuits have a novel two-layer resonator structure without galvanic through hole vias. A patterned magnesium layers were evaporated on biodegradable PLA sheets by using a 3D printed mask. The circuits were assembled by heat sealing two magnesium patterned sheets together to encapsulate the circuit structure. An inductive link is used to wirelessly detect the resonance frequency of the circuit. The circuits were tested when immersed in de-ionised water and saline. According to the tests, the designed resonator structure can be measured in aqueous environment. The resonance of the tested circuit was observable at least for 51 hours. The concept still needs more development to extend degradation time and to increase the stability during immersion.
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Paper Nr: 36
Title:

A Nano-opto-mechanical Pressure Mapping Sensor via Bragg Structure Waveguide for Biomedical Sensing
Authors:

Xin Zhao
Abstract: This paper reports a nano-opto-mechanical mapping sensor based on Bragg structure waveguide. The pressure is measured by monitoring the output spectrum shift which is induced via mechanical deformation of the period of the Bragg structure. In experiments, it measures that the shifting of the output spectra linearly red shift under different position of the Bragg structure when the pressure is increasing. Compared with traditional optical mapping sensor based on Mach-Zehnderinterferometer, the nano-opto-mechanical mapping sensor has merits such as high sensitivity and fine resolution which are 1.55pm/kPa and 1.29kPa, respectively. The nano-opto-mechanical mapping sensor has potential applications such as highly accurate measurement of pressure waves, mass sensors array and bio-medical sensors.
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Paper Nr: 37
Title:

Amperometric Urea Sensor - Enzyme Immobilization into Adjustable Membrane and Mathematical Characterization of the Biosensor
Authors:

Julija Razumiene, Ieva Sakinyte, Vidute Gureviciene and Karolis Petrauskas
Abstract: The prototype of amperometric biosensor for urea determination was designed. The enzyme electrode, made of a specially developed modified graphite (MG) paste, was produced by covering the electrode surface with adjustable membrane containing immobilized urease from Canavalia ensiformis (E.C. 3.5.1.5.). Simple methodology of urea determination in real time has been proposed. The experimental study and the mathematical model of the biosensor action have been performed.
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Paper Nr: 38
Title:

Vertebral Metrics - Automation of a Non-invasive Instrument to Analyse the Spine
Authors:

Ana Gabriel, Claudia Quaresma and Pedro Vieira
Abstract: Back pain is a major health problem in modern society. It is known that the main responsible for this symptom are the biomechanical changes in the spinal column. Thus, it is important to develop an instrument that evaluates in a global way the spinal column in a standing position. For that purpose, a complete innovative and non-invasive system – the Vertebral Metrics – has been built. The Vertebral Metrics is a semi-automatic equipment designed to identify the spatial position of each spinal process from the first cervical to the first sacral vertebra. Using a camera and a laser diode the recognition is achieved with software capable of distinguishing prominent blue marks that identifies each spinous process. After the validation process it was concluded that the Vertebral Metrics is a reliable and valid instrument. However, the time required for a completely scan is still too long for practical use. Thus, we are presently working on the automation of this medical device by developing a new prototype. The process will comprise several modifications in the equipment as the introduction of fluorescent markers, UV lights and two video cameras. The identification of the vertebras will be performed by the stereo vision method. The software must be adapted to the new assembly.
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Paper Nr: 39
Title:

Direct and Inverse Models of Human Arm Dynamics
Authors:

André Ventura, Inés Tejado, Duarte Valério and Jorge Martins
Abstract: This paper uses experimental data to model the human arm at the elbow joint. Direct models have been published before; this papers addresses inverse models (i.e. relating the force at the hand with the arm angle). Models used were integer, fractional commensurable and fractional non-commensurable order transfer functions, as well as neural networks (used as a term of comparison). Results show the superiority of fractional models, simpler, more exact, and with less parameter uncertainty.
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Paper Nr: 41
Title:

Fault Modeling of Implantable MEMS Sensors
Authors:

Jose A. Miguel, Y. Lechuga, M. Martinez and J. R. Berrazueta
Abstract: The aim of this work is to analyse the fault-injection problem of implantable capacitive micro-electro-mechanical pressure sensors intended to be used as a part of smart stents for in-stent restenosis monitoring. The development of accurate fault models is mandatory in order to create a Design-for-Test methodology compatible with MEMS-based sensors as well as with its related CMOS electronic circuitry. Rigorous behavioural descriptions of both circular and square-shaped fault-free pressure sensors can be obtained from analytical expressions and numerical approximations. However, the deflection vs. pressure response of faulty sensors, suffering from contamination-based defects growth during the fabrication process, require the use of finite-elements analysis to be modelled, allowing the fulfilment of a realistic fault model library.
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Paper Nr: 42
Title:

Wearable Wireless Inertial Sensors for Long-Time Monitoring of Specific Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease
Authors:

Paolo Lorenzi, Rosario Rao, Antonio Suppa, Ardian Kita, Riccardo Parisi, Giulio Romano, Alfredo Berardelli and Fernanda Irrera
Abstract: It is proposed an electronic system for the long-time monitoring of specific motor symptoms in patients affected by Parkinson’s Disease while being at home and making their usual daily activity. The system is made of a network of non-invasive wireless inertial sensors fixed on the patient body. The muscles activity is contemporarily analysed through the integration of a circuit for the surface electromyography. Postprocessing algorithms quantify movements in terms of amplitude and power spectrum. Data are electronically elaborated and wireless transmitted to a receiver in the patient home, to be accessed remotely by doctors. The challenge is the automatic distinction between specific parkinsonian symptoms including resting tremor and freezing of gait and patient’s voluntary movements made in daily life. To the aim, the contemporarily analysis of muscle activity becomes necessary in specific situations, as in the case of freezing of gait, where accelerometers signals may be misleading. Goal of this research is the comprehension of all the possible environmental and individual factors which favor worsening of gait disorders during the patient daily life and the customization of the drug therapy, aiming to preventing catastrophic events such as falls. Results shown here refer to upper limb tremor and freezing of gait.
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Paper Nr: 45
Title:

Dielectrophoretic Characteristics of Microbeads Labeled with DNA of Various Lengths
Authors:

Zhenhao Ding, Hiromichi Kasahara, Michihiko Nakano and Junya Suehiro
Abstract: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most sensitive and specific detection methods of bacterial and viral infections. The authors proposed a new electrical technique for rapid detection of DNA amplified by PCR using dielectrophoresis (DEP) of microbeads. The method is based on dramatic alteration of DEP characteristics of microbeads caused by DNA labelling. DNA labeled microbeads are trapped on a microelectrode under the action of positive DEP, whereas pristine microbeads are not. DEP-trapped microbeads can be measured impedimetrically to realize rapid and quantitative detection of the amplified DNA. In this study, it was aimed to reveal how DNA length affects DEP characteristic of DNA-labeled microbeads. Dielectrophoretic crossover from the negative to the positive was measured for microbeads labeled with DNA length in 204 bp, 391 bp and 796 bp. After theoretical fitting of DEP crossover data, it was revealed that the surface conductance increased when the length of labeled DNA increased.
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Paper Nr: 48
Title:

A Smart Catheter System for Minimally Invasive Brain Monitoring
Authors:

Dongxuan Bao, Zhuo Zou, Yuxiang Huan, Chuanying Zhai, Tiberiu Bagaian, Hannu Tenhunen, Bengt Källbäck and Li-Rong Zheng
Abstract: This paper demonstrates a smart catheter system with intracranial pressure (ICP) and temperature sensing capability which is designed for real-time monitoring in traumatic brain injury (TBI) therapy. It uses a single flexible catheter with a 1 mm (3 Fr) diameter that integrates electrodes and sophisticated silicon chip on flexible substrates, enabling multimodality monitoring of physiological signals. A micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) catheter pressure sensor is mounted on the distal end. It can be used for detecting both pressure and temperature by different switch configurations, which minimizes the size of catheter and reduces the cost. The interconnects (signalling conductors) are printed on a bio-compatible flexible substrate, and the sensor is interfaced with an embedded electronic system at the far-end. The electronic system consists of analog front end with analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a microcontroller, and data interface to the hospital infrastructure with a graphical user interface (GUI). The overall smart catheter system achieves a pressure sensing root mean square error (RMSE) of +-1.5 mmHg measured from 20 mmHg to 300 mmHg above 1 atm and a temperature sensing RMSE of +-0.08 ºC measured from 32 ºC to 42 ºC. The sampling rate can be up to 10S/s. The in vivo performance is demonstrated in laboratory animals.
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Paper Nr: 50
Title:

A 180 nm-CMOS Asymmetric UWB-RFID Tag with Real-time Remote-monitored ECG-sensing

Authors:

Jue Shen, Jia Mao, Geng Yang, Li Xie, Yi Feng, Majid Nejad, Zhuo Zou, Hannu Tenhunen and Li-Rong Zheng
Abstract: This paper proposes an asymmetric ultra-wideband - radio frequency identification (UWB-RFID) tag with electrocardiogram (ECG)-sensing capability for patients remote-monitoring in hospital environment. A UWB-RFID communication protocol is suggested for real-time transmission of undistorted ECG by interleaving ADC sampling and burst-mode UWB transmission. The proposed system shows a maximum accessing capability of 400 tags/second at 1.5 KHz ECG sampling rate with 10 Mbps UWB pulse rate. The tag consists of UHF-RFID receiver, UWB transmitter, ECG analog front-end, multi-input ADC and baseband circuitry integrated on two silicon dies. It was implemented by 6 mm2 -sized 180 nm CMOS technology. Electrodes for ECG-sensing are manufactured by inkjet-printing on polyimide substrate. Experiment results show that the tag transmits UWB pulses at 1 Mbps rate with 18 µW power. The printed electrodes conduct ECG waveform comparable to commercial electrodes.
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Paper Nr: 12
Title:

KeepSafe® - Wristband Device for Heart-rate Monitoring
Authors:

Vítor Pinto, Raquel Sousa and Gil Gonçalves
Abstract: The goal of this project is to meet efficient and technological management solutions that allow to increase life quality of elderly people and at same time reduce costs in the health sector. The KeepSafe® wristband device will increase the safety of users since it will be able to continuously monitor vital signs and it will generate dynamic alerts based on thresholds or manual alerts by pressing a SOS button. The device uses a reflective PPG (Photoplethysmogram) technique using two green LEDs and a photodiode sensor on the wrist to continuously estimate heart rate. Then this data is correlated with the activity data estimated by an accelerometer and gyroscope. All data is sent to a smartphone via Bluetooth® Smart. The future goal is to make the device autonomous by adding GSM communication capabilities.
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Paper Nr: 16
Title:

Non-invasive Multi-channel Neuro-stimulators in Treatment of the Nervous System Disorders
Authors:

Y. P. Danilov, V. S. Kublanov, K. Ju Retjunskij, T. S. Petrenko and M. V. Babich
Abstract: Approaches of non-invasive neuromodulation organization for rehabilitation brain injuries outcomes and psycho-emotional disorders are discussed. One of technologies based on electrocutaneous stimulation of the tongue (CN-NINM), and other technology based on transcutaneous stimulation of the neck (SYMPATHOCORRECTION). Currently, two portable devices were developed and introduced in clinical practice: PoNSTM and SYMPATHOCOR. Both technologies are complement each other and demonstrate perspectives in various applications for purpose of neurorehabilitation and neurological symptoms management in such difficult for rehabilitation areas, as traumatic brain injury, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and many other neurological disorders.
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Paper Nr: 18
Title:

Carbon Nanotubes - The Challenges of the First Syntheses Trials
Authors:

C. A. Coelho, A. T. Sepúlveda, L. A. Rocha and A. F. Silva
Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), due to their unique properties, are suitable for application in biomedical devices. However these devices are not available in the market because of problems associated with biocompatibility and synthesis reproducibility. Indeed, the production of vertically aligned-carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs) is needed for most of these applications. The most common synthesis method, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), involves a large number of parameters, not all known, and their influence on the process is not fully understood. Knowing that the synthesis of CNTs is performed in a variety of lab conditions and in different furnace systems, which makes it impossible to create a universal recipe for use in all labs, this paper aims to start the design of an universal protocol that all labs can use to generate a suitable recipe for their environmental conditions and furnace system. The influence of parameters such as best deposition spot and tube baking was assessed. During this evaluation, the importance of other factors (catalyst uniformity and climacteric conditions) to the process has been revealed. The universal protocol suggested is in an early stage and needs to be improved.
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Paper Nr: 22
Title:

An Ultrasonography Assisted Robotic HIFU Ablation Experimental System
Authors:

Ching Shiow Tseng, Ja How Syu, Chi Yu An and Chih-Ju Chang
Abstract: In recent years, noninvasive thermal treatment by using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) has high potential in tumor treatment. The goal of this research is to develop an ultrasonography assisted robotic HIFU ablation system for tumor treatment. The system integrates the technologies of ultrasound image assisted guidance, robotic positioning control, and HIFU treatment planning. With the assistance of ultrasound image guidance technology, the tumor size and location can be determined from ultrasound images and the robot can be controlled to position the HIFU probe to focus on the target tumor. An experiment of using mountain-typed template to verify the positioning accuracy of the ultrasonography assisted robotic HIFU ablation system has been done. The results show that the average positioning error is 1.06mm with a standard deviation 0.25, which is feasible for tumor therapy.
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Paper Nr: 35
Title:

Dream Biosensor - How to Create and Implement?
Authors:

A. A. Balyakin, G. E. Kunina and S. B. Taranenko
Abstract: The idea to create a universal implantable medical device, cheap and effective (so called Dream biosensor) is proposed. We show that it should be a universal passive wireless device made of biodegradable polymers that have no direct impact on the body. It should be implanted during a simple outpatient procedure, and monitors the vital signs of a person’s health. Main requirements for such a device are discussed, some existing technical solutions are performed. The perspectives of dream biosensor implementation in Russia are considered.
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Paper Nr: 43
Title:

Micro Sensors for Real-time Monitoring of Mold Spores and Pollen
Authors:

Kei Tsuruzoe and Kazuhiro Hara
Abstract: Organic airborne particles such as mold spores and pollen cause a variety of diseases. Two types of micro sensors for real-time monitoring of such organic airborne particles have been developed using semiconductor thin-film. A basic type thin-film sensor has a simple configuration with a double-layered sensing film deposited on an alumina substrate. A MEMS type sensor is composed of two parts: a sensing element and a micro heater. Both parts are fabricated by using thin film technology, IC fabrication process and micromachining technique. The double-layered sensing film is deposited on a diaphragm formed on a Si substrate. A thin film heater is placed in parallel at a distance of about 50 μm. The resistance of both sensors steeply decreases and then recovers to the initial value when a mold spore or a grain of pollen adheres to the surface of the sensing film and burns on it. The resistance change and the recovery time depend on the size of the organic airborne particles. Thus it is possible to identify the species of the particle by the developed sensors. The sensors offer simple and inexpensive method to monitor organic airborne materials.
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Paper Nr: 44
Title:

Comparison of Recognition Accuracy of ADL with Sensor Wearing Positions using 3-Axis Accelerometer
Authors:

Dong Ik Shin, Sekyeong Joo and Soo Jin Huh
Abstract: The monitoring of single elderly is being more important due to rapid transition to aging society. There are many bio-signals to monitor the emergent state of elderly. In this paper we propose new criteria to classify daily life activities using accelerometer and pulse oximeter. We categorized activities with the motility of real action. The upper most criteria are normal and abnormal activity. The lower criteria are ‘small or large movement’, ‘periodic or random movement’, ‘no movement or shock’. Then we derive some parameters to get thresholds to classify these activities according to our new criteria. The main parameters are entropy, energy and autocorrelation. Some experiments were carried out to determine classifying thresholds. Finally we got results of classified activities such as ‘no movements’, ‘small movements’, ‘large movements’, ‘periodic movements’ and ‘falls’. We got nearly 100% of classifying result for falls and no movements. In this case of ‘quasi-emergency state’ our developing device investigates further status of elderly by measuring of heart rate and oxygen saturation (SpO2) using pulse oximeter. Finally the device decides in emergency, it sends a short message to server and then connects to the u-Healthcare centre or emergency centre and one’s family.
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Paper Nr: 47
Title:

A Low-Power Color Mosaic Image Compressor Based on Optimal Combination of 1-D Discrete Wavelet Packet Transform and DPCM for Wireless Capsule Endoscopy
Authors:

Kinde A. Fante, Basabi Bhaumik and Shouri Chatterjee
Abstract: A novel low-power endoscopic image compressor is designed that occupies small silicon chip area, gives a high compression rate and maintains acceptable image quality. By utilizing unique properties of human gastrointestinal tract images, computationally simple and elegant methods are employed. The employed methods are lifting scheme based two level 1-D discrete wavelet packet transform, uniform quantization, chrominance component sub-sampling, differential pulse code modulation and Golomb-Rice entropy encoder. All the modules are highly optimized from computational complexity, efficiency and memory requirement perspectives. The proposed algorithm requires neither demosaicking nor de-interleaving operations that require large memory and consume a significant amount of power. The proposed image compression scheme achieves a compression rate of 81.31 % with peak signal to noise ratio of 39.45 dB. The implementation of the algorithm in 130 nm standard CMOS process technology occupies a core area of 0.342 mm×0.342 mm. It consumes 48.4 μW of power for encoding two color mosaic frames, with a resolution of 512×512, per second. The proposed endoscopic image compression scheme gives a power consumption reduction of about two orders less than the realizations proposed in literature.
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Paper Nr: 49
Title:

System for Posture Evaluation and Correction - Development of a Second Prototype for an Intelligent Chair
Authors:

Hugo Pereira, Leonardo Martins, Rui Almeida, Bruno Ribeiro, Claudia Quaresma, Adelaide Ferreira and Pedro Vieira
Abstract: The sitting position has become one of the most common postures in developed countries. However, assuming a poor sitting posture leads to several health problems, namely back, shoulder and neck pain. In a previous work, an intelligent chair was developed and was shown to classify and correct the seating position. This work describes improvements on this intelligent chair prototype culminating with the development of a new prototype. The improvements of this new prototype are presented, resulting in new studies for posture identification. Pressure maps for 12 sitting postures were gathered in order to automatically detect user’s posture through a neural network algorithm, obtaining an overall posture classification of around 81%.
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