Yanmin Xue

1. In China, decades of industrial development and subsequent industrial restructuring have produced a large number of industrial-heritage resources with diverse spatial forms and cultural meanings...

In industrial and logistics settings, the use of soft and rigid spinal exoskeletons has been increasing. However, under a unified assistance level and comparable work scenarios, systematic comparisons of their effects on users’ thermophysiological responses and subjective thermal perceptions remain limited. Twenty male participants performed manual handling tasks under three load conditions (5, 10, and 15 kg) in three experimental conditions: without the exoskeleton (WEXO), a rigid exoskeleton (REXO), and a soft exoskeleton (SEXO). Metabolic rate, mean skin temperature (MST), thermal comfort vote (TCV), and thermal sensation vote (TSV) were measured. The key findings are as follows: Compared with WEXO, both exoskeletons significantly reduced metabolic rate. Across all loads, SEXO yielded a lower metabolic rate than REXO and showed a more gradual linear increase as the load increased, whereas REXO exhibited a larger rise at 15 kg. Overall, MST was higher in REXO than in SEXO. Wearing an exoskeleton was often associated with increased skin temperature at 5–10 kg, yet MST decreased for both exoskeletons at 15 kg. Subjective ratings further indicated better TCV and TSV with SEXO than with REXO, with the difference more pronounced under higher loads. Taken together, under the conditions of this study, the soft exoskeleton appears to better balance assistive benefits and thermal comfort. Nevertheless, its heat transfer and heat dissipation performance should be further optimized in future designs.

Accurate recognition of motor imagery (MI)-based electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is crucial for the performance of brain–computer interface (BCI). Given the limited number of EEG signals from a target subject, localizing neural activity in the sensorimotor cortex of the brain and transferring knowledge from source subject data with diverse distributions presented two significant challenges. In this article, we propose a mirror center loss-based dual-scale dual-Softmax transformer (MCDDT) model for multisource subjects transfer learning in MI recognition. Specifically, the mirror center loss is proposed to help the model enhance the localization ability of the neural activity, by minimizing the distance between the features with ipsilateral neural activity and maximizing that with contralateral neural activity. The dual-scale dual-Softmax transformer is introduced to adopt the different distribution of EEG signals from different source subjects, effectively transferring knowledge from these diverse sources. The proposed MCDDT is evaluated on two public datasets and the experimental results demonstrate that MCDDT achieves accuracies of 89. 64% and 90. 96%, exceeding the state-of-the-art models by 2.69% and 2.73%, respectively. Furthermore, the ablation experiments have validated the effectiveness of the dual-scale structure, dual-Softmax mechanism, and mirror center loss, respectively.

This study established a subjective-objective combination of emotional demands and an experimental research approach to address the hurdles to smart device use in the elderly caused by deterioration in their perceptual abilities. We used a neck massager as the research object. This product is a regularly used item for the elderly to alleviate neck soreness, but the experience is unsatisfactory in terms of human-computer interfaces, such as button usage. (1) Proposing to analyze product user needs from an emotional perspective, this study designed and implemented visual-tactile perception experiments involving 12 elderly users, including experiments on button shape, button size, button spacing, button material, button texture, and product material. The impact of button specifications and product materials on elderly users' emotional preferences was objectively investigated by evaluating the α- and β-band power characteristics of the participants' electroencephalography frontal lobe electrodes (F_P1, F_P2, F₃, F₄) and central zone electrodes (F_PZ, F_Z). (2) Aging-friendly design suggestions for smart products were proposed, and neck massage for the elderly was designed. The findings indicate that the button parameters of round shape, 15 mm diameter, 4.6 mm pitch, and 1 mm depth of concave pattern, as well as the product contact surface material of velvet, are ideal. This study offers a scientific approach to product design and a design reference for aging comparable products in terms of button specifications and material selection.

The current research status of smart home for the elderly is sorted out, current research directions and cutting-edge technologies used are summarized, and the future development direction of smart home for the elderly in China is speculated. The research analysis shows that the current research on smart home for the elderly focuses on four aspects, namely, home care and health monitoring, daily life assistance, interaction design and user acceptance research, and integrates technologies such as virtual reality and blockchain into it, so that the elderly can experience the convenience that smart technology brings to aging at home. Based on the current situation that the research on smart home for the elderly in China focuses on the level of design innovation and theoretical research, it is proposed that Based on the current situation that the research on smart home for the elderly in China focuses on design innovation and theoretical research, it is proposed that the future research on smart home for the elderly should develop in the direction of designing the system to adapt to aging and improving the economy of the product, improving the acceptance and safety of the product, and paying attention to the physiological health and psychological health of users.

In order to reduce the energy consumption of human daily movement without providing additional power, we considered the biomechanical behavior of the knee during external impedance interactions. Based on the theory of human sports biomechanics, combined with the requirements of human–machine coupling motion consistency and coordination, an unpowered exoskeleton-assisted device for the knee joint is proposed in this paper. The effectiveness of this assisted device was verified using gait experiments and distributed plantar pressure tests with three modes: “not wearing exoskeleton” (No exo.), “wearing exoskeleton with assistance “ (Exo. On), and “wearing exoskeleton without assistance” (Exo. Off). The experimental results indicate that (1) This device can effectively enhance the function of the knee, increasing the range of knee movement by 3.72% (p < 0.001). (2) In the early stages of the lower limb swing, this device reduces the activity of muscles in relation to the knee flexion, such as the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, and soleus muscles. (3) For the first time, it was found that the movement length of the plantar pressure center was reduced by 6.57% (p = 0.027). This basic principle can be applied to assist the in-depth development of wearable devices.