Rehabilitation engineering rehabilitators

In this section of the handbook we focus only on applications of rehabilitation engineering. The basic concepts of rehabilitation engineering, rehabilitation science, and rehabilitation technology are outlined in Robinson s Chapter 43. Two chapters in this section cover sensory input, and two cover movement or communication output. Gill (Chapter 41) and Remus (Chapter 40) cover sensory rehabilitation or remediation (blindness and low vision, deafness, and hearing loss). Fite s Chapter 42 looks at orthopedic rehabilitation in terms of prosthetics. Hill, Romich, and Vanderheiden (Chapter 47) look at the output side as they explore augmentative and alternative communication systems and their scientific bases. Treffler s Chapter 49 covers concepts involved in the day-to-day provision of rehabilitation technology. 

Biomechanics laboratories are important sites where rehabilitation engineers, rehabilitation professionals, and representatives of the medical device industry can work together. In these laboratories, new products and techniques pass through all phases of research and development and eventually reach the patient. Rehabilitation engineers engage in a lengthy process before individuals can be helped. Through clinical experience and research, rehabilitation professionals (and sometimes patients) identify a specific rehabilitation problem. Researchers develop a possible solution, which may... 

Born in 1965 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Marjolein van der Meulen received her Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987. Thereafter, she received her MS (1989) and PhD (1993) from Stanford University. She spent three years as a biomedical engineer at the Rehabilitation R D Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Palo Alto, CA. In 1996, Marjolein joined the faculty of Cornell University as an Assistant Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She is also an Assistant Scientist at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York. She received a FIRST Award from the National Institutes of Health in 1995 and a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation in 1999. Her scientific interests include skeletal mechanobiology and bone structural behavior. 

The former approach implies development and implementation of biomedical and unconventional methods for prevention of ailments, adaptation and rehabilitation based on recent scientific findings and combined efforts of scientists, engineers, educators and managers under a degrading environment in Ukraine. These are the major lines to be pursued ... 

System engineering of diagnostic, adaptation, the increasing of the healthlevel and rehabilitation of the persons, received infringements of a health as a result of technogenous effects. 

ASCE (1983), Existing sewer evaluation and rehabilitation, ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Manual and Report on Engineering Practice 62 WPCF (Water Pollution Control Federation) Manual of Practice FD-6, p. 106. 

BELL, F. G. 1996. Dereliction colliery spoil heaps and their rehabilitation. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 2, 85-96. 

Christensen Team Leader and Senior Energy Consultant at RAMBOLL Consulting (Denmark). Papava Petroleum Geologist. Sidamonidze Reservoir Engineer EU TACIS Project on Rehabilitation of Gas Transmission System in Georgia, June 2002-June 2003... 

The most welcome technical achievements in life science are the ones that enhance well-being or restore impaired or lost biological functions. Rehabilitation engineering is a research field that has devoted its full spectrum of efforts to compensate for malfunctions and disorders in human biological systems. This includes the development of devices for the rehabilitation of neural disorders which are termed neural prostheses. Neural prostheses directly interface with the central and peripheral nervous system. The most commonly known neural prosthesis is the cardiac pacemaker, which has existed for more than 30 years. A variety of other lesser known devices have been developed to partially restore neural functions in disabled people. 

When a site is selected for constructing a new pavement or rehabilitating an old pavement, the in-place materials may be used as they naturally occur. The materials may also be removed and replaced with higher quality materials, or they may be modified in some manner to provide qualities that are appropriate. When the soils are modified, it is referred to as stabilization. The reasons for stabilizing soils include improving engineering properties such as strength. The main objective of this study is to ... 

New engineering solutions and prineipal rehabilitation teehnologies have been developed for three damaged NSs whieh defueling is still a problem. One of sueh NSs -Alpha-class 900 - has been aheady transferred to environmentally safe eondition ... 

Bowman, M. J. (1976a). Tidal locks across the East River An engineering solution to the rehabilitation of Western Long Island Sound. In Estuarine Processes (M. Wiley, ed ), Vol. 1, pp. 28-43. Academic Press, New York. 

The appearance of a prosthetic device may have a large effect on some patients. If it looks good, they will accept it more readily and perhaps have more confidence in its use. Explain how a rehabilitation engineer might improve the appearance of a prosthetic device. 

Lord, M. and A. Turner-Smith, 1995, Orthopedic prosthetics and orthotics in rehabilitation, in The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, J. Bronzino, ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 2055-2070. 

It is useful to note that even the latest corrosion control methods are not likely to prevent all corrosion for the fife of the bridge structure. Therefore, there is a need for repair/rehabilitation of bridge stmctures, and the mitigation of existing corrosion will draw the attention of bridge engineers for years to come. 

Therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures and devices (rehabilitation engineering)... 

Center for Rehabilitation Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Engineering The Biodesign Institute Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona... 

Rehabilitation Engineering, Science, and Technology Charles J. Robinson. 67-1... 

Measurement Tools and Processes in Rehabilitation Engineering George V. Kondraske. 73-1... 

Rehabilitation Engineering Technologies Principles of Application Douglas Hobson, Elaine Trefler. 74-1... 

A biomedical control system that utilizes a neurophysiologically-based approach has been developed for use in Functional Neuromuscular Stimulation (FNS) systems [Abbas, 1995 Abbas and Chizeck, 1995). FNS is a rehabilitation engineering technique that uses computer-controlled electrical stimuli to activate paralyzed muscle. The task of a control system is to determine appropriate stimulation levels to generate a given movement or posture. The neural network control system utilizes a block diagram structure that is based on hierarchical models of the locomotor control system. It also utilizes a heterogenous network of neurons, some of which are capable of endogenous oscillation. This network has been shown to provide rapid adaptation of the control system parameters [Abbas and Chizeck, 1995 Abbas and Triolo, 1997] and has been shown to exhibit modulation of reflex responses [Abbas, 1995]. 

For occasional journal articles on biomedical applications of neural networks, the reader is referred to IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering, and the Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 

IEEE Transactions on Neural Engineering and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Press. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, IEEE Press. 

---