A virtual blind cane system for indoor application, including a camera, a line laser and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), is proposed in this paper. Working as a blind cane, the proposed system helps a blind person find the type of obstacle and the distance to it. The distance from the user to the obstacle is estimated by extracting the laser coordinate points on the obstacle, as well as tracking the system pointing angle. The paper provides a simple method to classify the obstacle’s type by analyzing the laser intersection histogram. Real experimental results are presented to show the validity and accuracy of the proposed system.

ortho-Dichlorobenzene (ODB) was investigated as a pore modifier for both Nafion membranes and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) catalyst layers. When ODB containing Nafion dispersions are cast into a film, evaporation leads to dense membranes with one highly porous surface layer occupying 20-30% of the overall thickness. Dense Nafion membranes with a porous top layer are interesting for use in membrane humidifiers, for increasing the electrode-membrane interface areas in electrochemical devices like fuel cells or electrolysers, and other applications. Fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies were obtained by spray coating commercial Nafion 212 membranes with ODB containing catalyst inks. ODB does not poison the catalyst, and 54-120% higher potentials in comparison to the 217 mV obtained with an ODB free ink were achieved at 1.5 stoic air flow, 100% rh and a current density of 1 A cm À2 . This shows that the porous catalyst electrode structure is changed, resulting in a reduced contribution of mass transport limited overpotentials. Furthermore, MEAs prepared with ODB in the catalyst ink are less sensitive towards changes in the air flow rate and the cathode relative humidity (between 50% rh and 100% rh: 217-292 mV at 1 A cm À2 without ODB and 439-478 mV with ODB).

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Stooping is a posture which is described as an involuntary forward bending of the thoracolumbar spine. Conventionally, the stooped posture (SP) in Parkinson’s disease patients is measured in static or limited movement conditions using a radiological or optoelectronic system. In the dynamic condition with long movement distance, there was no effective method in preference to the empirical assessment from doctors. In this research, we proposed a practical method for estimating the SP with a high accuracy where accelerometers can be mounted on the neck or upper back as a wearable sensor. The experiments with simulated subjects showed a high correlation of 0.96 and 0.99 between the estimated SP angle and the reference angles for neck and back sensor position, respectively. The maximum absolute error (0.9 and 1.5 degrees) indicated that the system can be used, not only in clinical assessment as a measurement, but also in daily life as a corrector.