Absmct-A novel approach for the detection of falls, the analysis of body postures, mobility and metabolic enerD expenditure of elderly people has been developed. It is based on a distributed intelligence architecture, supported by a wireless personal area network W A N ) which allows a full 24-hour supervision of the user, both indoor and outdoor home. An open design methodology lets the addition of new sensors for the on-line monitorization of other biosignals. In this paper general guidelines and design issues are reported, with special emphasis on the Intelligent Accelerometer Unit (IAU), based on 'a four-axis acceleiometer, the signals of which are transmitted to the WPAN server (PSE) for on-line processing. The availability of three axis in the median plane provides an inclination measuiament with high sensibility. The IAU can be worn like a patch, fixed to the back, at the height of the sacrum. A prototype of the IAU is cunxntly under validation phase, in older to optimize signal transmission between M U and PSE.

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The article presents the early outcomes of the evaluation of an intelligent accelerometer unit (IAU) utilized for detecting the falling events of elderly people . The overall design of the monitor where the IAU is integrated is briefly exposed. The outcomes of a laboratory study carried out over 8 volunteers show that the device is able to distinguish true falling events from normal activities like fast walking or going up/downstairs. The influences of the subject and the environment have been taken into account profiting from the processing capacity of the monitor distributed architecture.

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The mathematical theory that underlies a novel non-regenerated recirculating dialysate system (RDS) for improving diffusive clearance in hemodialyzers is presented. The theory states the conditions that hemodialyzers must meet to be suitable in RDS optimization. We have verified the applicability of the RDS for several Cuprophan and polysulfone (PS) commercial dialyzers, showing that PS (synthetic) membranes achieve the highest increments of diffusive clearance. A numerical simulation analysis over more general conditions defined by the dimensionless groups of the system demonstrated that the highest diffusive clearance improvements are achieved in dialyzers operating with a low value of the diffusive mass-transfer area/blood flow rate ratio. This study has provided the base for the assessment of the performance of the RDS as compared to several high-efficiency systems, presented in Part II of this work [M. Prado, L. M. Roa, A. Palma, and J. A. Milan, Ann. Biomed. Eng. (2004) submitted].