The Product Innovation Engineering program (PIEp) has recently established a Research School withthe aim to increase innovation capabilities in Swedish industries and to promote entrepreneurialbehaviour. By following a bottom-up approach PIEp has been able to both embrace and fosterentrepreneurship. As a result, the research school has already been able to change preexisting mindsetsand to encourage PhD students to be more proactive, risk-taking and innovative. Through descriptions of their own experiences and of key cases along the way, the authors illustratethe transformation from the initial idea to the research school as it is today. This paper seeks toprovide insight and draw comparisons with other research schools to further research and assist policymakers interested in founding new research schools.

The purpose of this study was to investigate in the usability of a wireless accelerometer linked to a mobile phone via Bluetooth radio for measuring vertical displacement in running athletes. Five experienced runners were monitored during lactate threshold testing at three to five different velocities. Accelerometer data was received, processed and stored on the phone to be compared to simultaneous position transducer (ground truth) recordings after data collection. A paired t-test and statistical analysis show no significant differences in the reliability of the recordings. While further investigations are encouraged, the accelerometer and algorithm (running in J2ME on the mobile phone) proof as aflexible, easy-to-use tool for out-of-the-lab monitoring and to provide real-time feedback for running technique experiments.

Research schools have become common phenomena in the academic world. However, we find lack of studies investigating their influence and role in the academia. This study attempts to address this gap by describing how a specific research school has evolved into an effective learning environment for the enrolled PhD students. The Product Innovation Engineering program (PIEp) is currently the largest research initiative in Product Innovation in Sweden. The PIEp research school is a part of this program, with the aim to increase innovation capabilities in the Swedish industries. Through an action-based research approach the authors, who are research school participants themselves, present the processes and the chain of events to offer knowledge transfer and to give insight into this special research environment. In this pursuit, the findings are presented in three different themes,1) the role of common interest groups, 2) common interest group activities, and c) a tiger team workshop. This paper holds major implications for other research schools and funding organizations.

ObjectiveTo investigate the traction force employed during vacuum extractions. DesignObservational cross-sectional study. SettingObstetric Department, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, and the Swedish National Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2013. PopulationTwo hundred women with vacuum extraction at term and 130 obstetricians participating in a simulated setting. MethodsIn a normal clinical setting, we used a specially adapted device to measure and record the force used to undertake vacuum extraction. In a subsequent part of the study, the force employed for vacuum extraction by a group of obstetricians in a fictive setting was estimated and objectively measured. Main outcome measuresApplied force during vacuum extraction in relation to the estimated level of difficulty in the delivery; perinatal diagnoses of asphyxia or head trauma; estimated force compared with objectively measured force employed in the fictive setting. ResultsThe median (minimum-maximum) peak forces for minimum, average and excessive vacuum extraction in the clinical setting were 176N (5-360N), 225N (115-436N), and 241N (164-452N), respectively. In 34% of cases a force in excess of 216N was employed. There was no correlation between the umbilical arterial pH at delivery and the traction force employed during extraction. Four cases of mild hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy were observed, three of which were associated with a delivery whereby excessive traction force was employed during the vacuum extraction. In the fictive setting, the actual exerted force was twice the quantitative estimation. The measured forces in the clinical setting were four times higher than that estimated in the fictive setting. ConclusionsHigher than expected levels of traction force were used for vacuum extraction delivery. As obstetricians tend to underestimate the force applied during vacuum extraction, objective measurement with instantaneous feedback may be valuable in raising awareness.

Wireless applications have become a common part of daily life. Whether it is mobile phones, the Wi-Fi router at home, the keycard which has replaced the car key, a radio frequency identification access system to a building or a Bluetooth headset for your computer or phone, the means of modern wireless data exchange is an omnipresent technology. In sports, the market is in its infancy for wireless, technical applications or gadgets. Only heart rate monitors and GPS watches are currently used by recreational athletes. Even though most of the larger sports equipment companies regularly launch new products related to sports performance monitoring and mobile phone technology, product innovation leaps are rare.In this work the design of a wireless sports performance measurement platform is presented. Using the example of kayaking, this platform is configured as a paddle performance measuring system, the Kayak XL System, which can monitor propulsive paddle force, paddle kinematics and boat velocity, interalia. A common mobile phone platform has been chosen as the user interface for this system. The design approach focussing on user requests, demands and expectations in combination with the process of iterative technical development are unveiled in this thesis. An evaluation of the system is presented and the work is finalised with an overview of further systems which have been designed based on the developed measurement platform. The Kayak XL System is a flexible system designed to be mounted onto any standard kayak paddle and installed in any competition kayak. Versatility, unobtrusiveness and usability were major design concerns. The developed system consists of four modules plus a software which has been designed for Android mobile phones. The phone communicates with each of the four modules trough Bluetooth radio. These four modules are also referred to as nodes and have specific measurement purposes. Two nodes have been designed to measure paddle force and kinematics, one node has the purpose to measure foot stretcher force and boat motion data, and the fourth node enables a more convenient method of calibrating paddle force measurement. The fourth node is therefore only needed prior to performance data acquisition. Results show that paddle and foot stretcher force can be measured with a resolution below 1N after calibration. Installing the paddle nodes on a previously configured paddle without repeated calibration is facilitated with the compromise of a doubled error margin. The default sampling frequency is set to 100 Hz and can, like all system parameters, be configured on the mobile phone. Real-time computation of complex performance parameters is only limited by the phone CPU. The system adds twice 109 g to the paddle and approximately 850 g to the kayak, excluding the mass of the mobile phone

University research is required to be more need-driven and user-centred in order to address research problemsand market needs. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding the research approach, which can be used effectively to address the dual goals. In this study, we provide a detailed explanation regarding user-centred research approach used in a Swedish university research project. Our results suggest that integration of potential customers and lead users into the research and development stages represents a critical step for ensuring marketability of the innovative product. In addition, we highlight four specific stages related to the proposed research approach and list specific activities related to these research and development stages.

University research is demanded to be more need-driven and user-centred in order to address and solve problems and needs of the market. In the present study a group of athletes and coaches has been analysed on their lead user characteristics. Some of the lead users have contributed with advanced user insights and aidin trend foresight in this sport. In a combined qualitative and quantitative approach the value of lead users in sports technology was examined and four users were identified as lead users. In consistence with previous research the results indicate that involving lead users will foster superior insight and research.

The aim of this work was to present a new wireless paddle force measurement system and to evaluate this measurement system. The system is redeveloped from a previous design and includes inertial motion sensors, which allows for the movement and inertia of the paddle to be taken into account. The system consists of two sensor nodes, designed for quick attachment to virtually any kayak paddle and an Android phone or tablet. Each sensor node measures the bending of the shaft in one plane. We derive the expressions necessary for computing the force on the paddle blade in two directions, ignoring the force in the direction of the shaft. Two different schemes for calibrating the system are presented. The accuracy and reliability of the system is evaluated in a laboratory setting using a material testing machine. An average error of 0.4% can be achieved for force measurements following directly after calibration. When the sensors are removed and reattached between calibration and measurements, average error between loading and measured force increased to 2.0% (linear model) and 1.8% (quadratic model). The limits of agreement depend on the position of the sensor nodes along the shaft and the feather angle if transverse sensitivity of the sensors is used to determine two-dimensional force on the paddle blade. On-water stroke force is presented, averaged over 10 strokes for each side with force levels >200 N to show the applicability of the study. The accuracy of the measurement is affected by the calibration method, placement of the paddle nodes and the shaft's properties.

Kayaking is a very competitive sport and represented in the Olympic context with two disciplines: slalom and flatwater. The main forces that propel the boat are paddle and foot stretcher force (Mann & Kearney, 1980). Anecdotal evidence collected from coaches involved in the research suggests varying theories on the best profile and synchronisation of paddle and foot stretcher force. It should be extremely helpful for athletes, coaches and researchers to measure these forces in real-time on-water with an unobtrusive, wireless sensor system such as is presented here. Thereby athletes are provided the possibility to perform their training with knowledge of performance (KP), which leads to superior training effects compared to knowledge of results (KR) only. The authors have not been able to identify any previous studies examining paddle and foot stretcher forces simultaneously although previous work has suggested doing so (Michael et al. 2009, Petrone et al., 1998).

Canoeing is a very competitive sport involving a non-trivial pattern of motion. A group of athletes and coaches approached the authors for aid in quantifying what until today only is qualitative, personal and thereby subjective data. The objective of this work is to present a measurement tool that records paddle and foot stretcher force in a flatwater kayak training situation, i.e. when training on the water. The system facilitatesa wireless (Bluetooth) star network link with three sensor nodes and one central unit. Validation data was obtained from a kayak ergometer that is equipped with analysis software. The stroke power obtained from this ergometer system is compared to the force data measured by the presented wireless sensor nodes. We have not been able to find any similar systems that would provide better data for performance analysis.

Efficient algorithms for time synchronization, including compensation for clock drift, are essential in order to obtain reliable fusion of data samples from multiple wireless sensor nodes. This paper evaluates the performance of algorithms based on three different approaches; one that synchronizes the local clocks on the sensor nodes, and a second that uses a single clock on the receiving node (e.g. a mobile phone), and a third that uses broadcast messages. The performances of the synchronization algorithms are evaluated in wireless personal area networks, especially Bluetooth piconets and ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 networks. A new approach for compensation of clock drift and a realtime implementation of single node synchronization from the mobile phone are presented and tested. Finally, applications of data fusion and time synchronization are shown in two different use cases; a kayaking sports case, and monitoring of heart and respiration of prematurely born infants.