Bicycle: Propel Adaptive Cycling Pedal

Propel Adaptive Cycling Pedal

I have multiple sclerosis. The disease inflicts neurological trauma and causes nerve-muscule fatigue. An MS attack will limit nerve conduction and in turn, limit muscle to-from engagement.  Nerve fiber conduction has the same four conduction conditions, normal, resistive, open, and shorts as wired circuits.  Open and shorted nerve fibers can exhibit a permanent disability. However, the brian's neuroplasticity can develop adaptive circuits. The Propel pedal began as an adaptive device as a workaround for my MS disability challenges to pedal the trike.  However, the research and development to make the adaptive pedal discovered a new pedaling performance and methodology for all cyclists. 

I am a USMC veteran, 68-71.  When an MS release prevented me from doing an upright bike mount, I petitioned the VA's Adaptive Sports Program for a recumbent trike. Before the VA would approve the trike purchase, I had to prove I could ride the trike. A bicycle pedal is the only device that makes a bicycle a bicycle. A rider may have may many challenges, but without a pedal, no rider could prove an ability to ride the trike. 

After years of upright riding using clip-in and platform pedals, I was a little surprised to learn recumbent bikes used the same pedals, clip-in and platform, as upright riders.  Clip-in shoes worked both ways, but platforms took a lot more energy to keep the shoe connected to the pedal 

The probran allowed for 8 test rides to select the recumbent and  prove  I could ride. In the test rides for acquiring a recumbent trike, I tried many different pedal styles. All failed designs for valid reasons. Safety was the most common. As a result of the tests, a new pedal design emerged. With the help of many people, the ideas became the Propel Adaptive Deck Pedal.

While the initial concept came from my desire to ride the trike, during my 31 years with MS, many mobility machines, exercise devices, and therapy equipment use cage-like variations of footrests. The cage can be a safety hazard. Propel's user safety model has three dimensions, mount, travel, and dismount. Within each dimension are multiple design extents. And each extent addresses one or more problems.

The drawing shows the Propel's general design concepts. When traveling, the locomotion power transfer to the trike is by the foot pushing the pedal's axle. During the pedal stroke cycle, several factors affect the efficiency of power transfer. Throughout the pedal stroke cycle, the fulcrum for the body's power transfer is the axle. As the stroke rotates, the foot's position over the axle changes leverage, therefore the leverage change affects power transfer. The two main factors affecting leverage is the position of the foot over the axle and the foot's movement on the axle. 

Traditional bicycle pedals place the forefoot (the ball) over the axle. Propel riders use centric foot placement where the foots' arch is centered over the axle. The foot's movement on the axle is similar to an airplane's pitch, yaw, and role. Airplane power is either acceleration or drift. The five factors, pitch, yaw, roll, acceleration, and drift combine as trim to indicate the efficient use of power. Propel's design assists the rider with keeping the foot and pedal in trim for the entire pedal cycle. Forefoot pedaling is like an airplane's center of gravity being in the cockpit with the pilot, whereas centric pedaling is like the plane's center of gravity near the wings. Propels centric pedaling allows the stroke trim to occur as if the axle's position is similar to an airplane's rotation around its wings.

Psyc: Life Principles

Life Principles

PPT Slide First and last thrive principles

PPT Slide  When is thinking's black start

Engineering: Test for Completeness and Goals

Test for Completeness and Goals

Veteran: 38.1725 ~ Information Model

Veterans' Benefit 38 USC 1725  Statues as an Information Model

38 USC 1725 is the Law about business relationships with veterans, DVA, community providers, private insurance, and others.

This information model describes the business relationships.

Technical Background

Dictionary: An information model in software engineering is a representation of concepts and the relationships, constraints, rules, and operations to specify data semantics for a chosen domain of discourse. Typically, it specifies relations between kinds of things, but may also include relations with individual things. It can provide a sharable, stable, and organized structure of information requirements or knowledge for the domain context.

Ontology Models – Formal structures (classification systems, assemblies, and parts, language)

Affinity Models – Abstract structures (diagnostic, association, disassociation, discrimination, acceptance)  

Social Models – Tribe structures (law, group dynamics, bias influences, behavior expectation, linguistics)

Modeler Skills – Psychology, Information Science, Data Systems, Computer Science, Business Science (contract law, accounting, finance, economics, marketing), Domain Knowledge (medical, manufacturing, service, sales), Systems Analysis & Design, Communications, Business Arts (writing, speaking, management, social networks), Negotiation Reduction.   

Information Bridges 

Every domain has collective and subjective models particular to the domain. Engineering, science, teaching, government, family, medicine, transportation, recreation, commerce has different information modals inclusive to the domain. In the theater domain is serval well-understood information elements.  During the analysis of other domains, often the theater elements functions can be useful for affinity identification. Sometimes in domain analysis, information modelers use the theater element names to provide a concept bridge into the domain under analysis. As the information model matures, the domain name replaces the theater name.

Theater	Function	Business
Actors	Participants	Principals
Role	Activity	Party
Play	Interaction	Contract
Property	Things of Interest	Deliverables, Services
Stage	Environment	Law
Director	Goal Insight	Operations
Audience	Client	Customer
Tickets	Demand for property	Invoice
Performance	Production	Payout
Writers	Title	Owners

Watchwords:

During the analysis process, word terminology can be overloaded based on many factors.  If the analysis is specific to a domain, the terms can still be overloaded. Even two people can misunderstand each other. Nature grants people the ability to build the mind’s information model. As a result, every person’s information model is specific to the person.  Watchwords are terms the modeler use to as alerts that may affect the model. In language, word order defines syntax elements. Each word has a definition, order relationships together with definitions create communication meaning. Watchwords signal information semantics.

Common Terminology:

• Wherever the term money appears, the term includes seven information attributes: name, title, asset, amount, use, event, warrant. Each attribute has one or more definite values. 
• name - a label to identify money conveyance
• title - the money's owner
• asset - the title's social collateral 
• amount - an asset's quantitive or qualitative measure
• use - purpose or encumbrance for conveyance
• event - the conveyance instance 
• warrant - title's ownership right and sustainability.
• value - data about the attribute
  
  
• The insured hires the insurance company, insurer, to limit the payout liability of the insured. When the insured pays premiums for the insurance policy, the premium provides an obligation on the insurer with a guarantee the insurer will transfer title of the insurer’s money to the insured. Sometimes the insured will delegate authority to the insurer to pay money to the entity the insured has an obligation.
• Agency is the most common type of contract for consumers.
• Invoices and payments are contract instruments identifying money transfer.
• A medical episode-of-care can have one or more medical expenses which is a fee for a medical service.
• Grantor and grantee are actors in a title transfer.
• Business accounting is a recording of money use.
• Assets = Liability + Owner Equity (Revenue – Expenses) (a.k,a Net Assets)
• Trade Þ Purpose Þ Needs & Wants Þ Contract
• Data Þ Value Þ Meta-data Þ Roles
• Program Þ Process Þ Schedule Þ Property Þ Value
• Value Þ Quantity & Quality
• Production Þ Cost D Quality D Schedule balance
• Title Þ Asset Ownership  ~ copyright, trademark, procession
• Follow-the-Money Þ Process Þ Trade Þ Money (conveyance)
• Payment Þ Money
• If exist Þ then Þ else
• Syntax (structure) Þ Semantics (meaning)
• Joint and Disjoint  Þ In contracts, the two principals (A & B ) have a joint agreement. When an activity involves more than two principals (A,B, C) . A & B and B & C are two separate joint agreements.. A & C are disjoint with no common agreement.  B may supply parts to A. C may supply parts to B, that B uses to make parts for A. 

Medical Business Terms

• Medical Expense = fee & medical service
• An Episode of Care Þ Medical Expense & Qualification {Edibility, Time, Purpose}
• Authorize Þ Permission to transfer title
• Reimbursement = A principal’s payback to a principal for money paid the principal paid on behalf of a contract.
• Copayment = the policy amount insurer pays and and insured each agree to pay for  medical fee. 
• Deductible = The insurer’s time-based threshold amount of medical fees the insured pays before the insurer’s payout.
• Premiums = the direct cost of an insurance policy. Usually an employer pays some and the employee pays some.
• Insurance = a contract, policy, between the insured and the insurer whereby the insurer guarantees liability protection for the insured. 
• Insurance payout = the insurer's liability protection amount given to the insured for purposes of paying the liability. 
• Patient = the person receiving medical treatment at a provider.
• Provider = the person or organization supplying medical treatment.
• In-network provider =  an agreement between the provider and the insurance copy on cost for medical expenses.
• Explanation of Benefits =  the insurer's calculation report based the in-network agreement detailing the copayment amounts.
• Provider Invoice =  a detail list of the treatment fees and services requesting patient payment
• Invoice Payment =  the money paid against the invoice

Veteran:

• Paragraph 38 U.S. Code § 1725. Reimbursement for emergency treatment Statue (a)(2) instructs (assigns) the VA either pay the veteran or pay the provider.
• Title USC 38 Veterans’ Benefits is a benefit grant from Congress to every veteran and an authorization for Veteran’s Administration to be Congress's Agent to use the Federal Budget for veteran's benefits payment. 
• 38 USC 1725 Contracts

1. VA & Veteran  ~ role: Benefit Payout

1. VA & Provider ~ role: Veteran assigns VA to pay medical expense treatmentPatient & Provider ~ role: treatment & payment responsibility
2.  Provider & Insurance Company ~ role in-network agreement
3. Patient (insured) & Insurance Company (insurer)

Note: the VA does not have a contract with an insurance company at non-VA faculty therefore not rights to policy terms. The VA is disjoint from the insurance company.

• Maximum Allowable Amount = Medicare fee
  
  
• Information Generation Distortion =  The VA's multiplication of business instructions causes errors in compliance with the Law:   Law > Regulations > Policy > Procedures
• The effect is the whisper game:

Engineering: The Interloper Phenomena

The Interloper Phenomena

This is a computer folklore story I heard many years ago. The story illustrated the essence of technology security. I do not know how the actual story’s facts, however, the story can be told with different facts; however, the essence and outcome would be the same. 

In the mid-1970s, Wang was a company in Massachusetts who fostered a computer-based word processing system. Boston legal companies hired armies of legal secretaries. The secretaries would type pages and pages of legal documents flawlessly without errors. Most legal contracts required multiple original documents for signatures. The effort required to constantly key typewriters quickly and accurately could take years to be highly skilled. A typical large law firm could have dozens of legal secretaries. 

Wang’s marketing to the law firm was a simple business proposal. A Wang word processing system can replace many legal secretaries. The cost and the return made eliminating legal secretaries and easy business decision. 

From the legal secretary perspective, the word processor would destroy a craft that took years to perfect. Management offered training on the new system. The secretaries revolted and walked out of the offices. When the revolt quieted, the secretaries return to their offices. Upon entering the room, all the desks, and all the typewriters were gone. At the room’s center were a desk and a word processor. Management still offered training, but only a few secretaries would have a job.

This story is a framework for security schemes that repeats over and over. Security never has full immunity from agents of change. The design, development, and use of a security system establishes an entity with characteristics.  A security entity has two sides safety and risk. Within each side, the characteristics are the targets for the change agent. The phenomena caused by the change can be benign to malicious.    

An interloper is something or someone that interferes with a security system. The change agent is the interloper. The legal secretaries experienced the word processor as an interloper that intruded their hard-earned profession. A hacker is an interloper that breached the modern technology system. A mosquito biting the skin is an interloper. A bolt of lightning in a forest can be an interloper that causes a forest fire.

The term “interloper phenomena” refers to the action of the interloper and events regarding the interloper’s action.  A security consultant may recommend means to avoid an interloper phenomenon. A damage assessment team may resolve the effects of interloper phenomena.  The change caused by the word processor, the hacker, the mosquito, and the lighting are examples of the interloper phenomena.