The ICHOM Adult Oral Health Standard Set (AOHSS) recently developed by the ICHOM Oral Adult Health Working Group is a standard set of outcomes designed for its collection in clinical practice in dental health. The outcome standard set is made up of clinical‐reported outcome measures (CROMs) and patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs). The purpose of this study was to translate and cross‐culturally adapt the PROM section of the Standard Set in French for France to enable comprehensive evaluation of the patients' oral health quality of life in a French population.n = 127) and seeking dental care. The PROM and CROM data were collected from all patients. Both reliability and the internal consistency were evaluated.The questionnaire was translated following the guidelines of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research (ISPOR). We included patients consulting in a dentistry clinic (α was calculated to measure the internal consistency. The resulting Cronbach's α was 0.8, indicating acceptable homogeneity.The ICHOM AOHSS was successfully translated into French. We sampled and surveyed 126 patients in a dentistry clinic in France using the French translation of the ICHOM AOHSS. Cronbach's The French version of the ICHOM AOHSS shows acceptable psychometric properties in terms of reliability and internal consistency. This translation is suitable for its implementation in a French‐speaking patient population. PROMs are health outcomes that are directly reported by the patients. PROMs are generally determined from questionnaires covering issues and concerns that are specific to the patient; it is a way of obtaining patient‐specific information related to his or her treatment or condition. PROMs allow recording of information related to the patient's quality of life, evolution of certain symptoms, and functional recovery.In oral health, the patient‐reported assessment is often limited to the evaluation of symptoms using severity scales  is a nonprofit organization that aims to accelerate the adoption of value‐based health care around the world. For this purpose, ICHOM develops a standard set of outcomes to be used in routine clinical practice for different diseases and conditions. In the field of oral health, the ICHOM Adult Oral Health Standard Set (AOHSS) has been developed .2.2Sample size was calculated according to the recommendations of Hatcher et O'Rourke  for patient‐reported outcomes .2.3.2The reconciled French version of the AOHHS (version 1) was then back‐translated into English by two independent native English translators who were proficient in French. The back‐translation was reviewed and compared to the original version of the questionnaire in terms of identical concepts. A new revised version (version 2) of the French questionnaire was developed and was then ready to be pilot‐tested on a sample of patients.2.3.3The objective of the study was to confirm that the translation was accurately understood. A pilot test was performed on a sample of 10 volunteers who were patients of the dentistry clinic where this study was performed. The inclusion criteria for the patients were as follows: native French speakers, older than 18 years of age, and willing to participate in the study. All patients received detailed information on the study and were asked to provide informed consent.A face‐to‐face semi‐structured interview was conducted to determine how well the questions were understood. The aim was to identify any semantic or conceptual deviations  were invited to complete the PROM questionnaire before their consultation. Patients were recruited between March and April 2021. Patients who had difficulty in understanding French, were under guardianship or curatorship, and were underage (younger than 18 years of age) were excluded from the study.In addition to the PROM data, the following data were collected: age, gender, educational level, type of treatment received, sugar consumption, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and financial status. The different types of treatments were classified into three types: prevention or control ; preservation , and extraction.The questionnaires were administered using pencil and paper. Detailed information about the questionnaire was provided to the patients before they completed the questionnaire; only patients who confirmed that they were not opposed to the use of the data collected through the questionnaire in a scientific study were given the questionnaire.2.5The results are presented as mean with standard deviation (SD).α coefficient. The threshold for Cronbach's α to be considered as having an acceptable internal consistency is >0.7. The internal consistency for each question (Cronbach's α is item deleted) was also assessed for each item.Reliability measures the degree to which an instrument is free of random error .This study was approved by the Ethics Committee 3One hundred and thirty‐three participants were invited to participate in this study; of these, 126 (94.7%) patients agreed to participate. The mean age of the participants was 41.7 years (SD 12.6), with a higher percentage of male participants (61.9%), and most patients had completed lower secondary education (26.9%). All demographic data are summarized in Table All patients completed the questionnaire, with no unanswered questions that could generate unknown items. The distribution of the responses to the French version of the ICHOM AOHSS is shown in Table α coefficient, average inter‐item correlation, mean, and summary scores with SDs of the French version of the ICHOM AOHSS are presented in Table Cronbach's α when one item was deleted. All item–total correlations were above 0.2. Even if one item was deleted, Cronbach's α coefficient remained higher than 0.7.Table 4The purpose of this study was to translate the ICHOM AOHSS into French. The translation approach used ensured that the PROMs were culturally and linguistically appropriate. When translating existing questionnaires for a different country, and therefore culture, the process must not only take into consideration the language but also the cultural context (Epstein et al., α coefficient was congruent and indicated adequate reliability for all the items.In this study, we present the validation of the French version of ICHOM AOHSS; we prove that it is equivalent to the English version (Ni Riordain et al., In daily clinical practice, there is a lack of evidence of the quality of oral health in patients. The ICHOM AOHSS is the first patient‐reported outcome standard set proposed for general oral health. Determination of PROMs in oral health will allow shifting the organization of oral care toward addressing the concerns and the priorities defined by patients (Dawson et al., This study has shown that this version of AOHSS in French demonstrated robust psychometric properties. It is therefore suitable for use in French patients in dentistry clinics for everyday oral care. Applicability in daily clinical practice can be improved by using a digital data collection system instead of classical paper and pen, as was the case in this study. The digital format can indeed improve data quality and facilitate real‐time use of these data during consultations. Further work is therefore needed to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of a digital version of AOHSS in French.5In this study, a French version of the PROM section of the ICHOM AOHSS has been developed. This version was evaluated and proven to have good psychometric properties. This version is suitable for French‐speaking patients.Alba Nicolas‐Boluda was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, and investigation of the study, and writing of the manuscript – original draft preparation. Stephane Simon was involved in the methodology and investigation of the study, and writing of the manuscript – review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.The authors declare no conflict of interest.


The weighted average yield of the lowland ecotype (20 Mg ha−1) is significantly higher than the upland type (5 Mg ha−1). The optimal yield map, generated by comparing the yield of upland and lowland ecotypes based on 1 km2 grid locations, illustrates that the total yield potential of the optimal switchgrass is 61.6–106.4 Tg on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau, which is approximately twice that of the individual ecotypes. Compared with the existing models, the accuracy of the yield prediction of switchgrass is significantly improved by using the SwitchFor model. This spatially explicit and cultivar‐specific model provides valuable information on land management and crop breeding and a robust and extendable framework for yield mapping of other cultivars.Switchgrass is a promising energy crop has the potential to mitigate global warming and energy security, improve local ecology and generate profit. Its quantitative traits, such as biomass productivity and environmental adaptability, are determined by genotype‐by‐environment interaction (GEI) or response of genotypes grown across different target environments. To simulate the yield of switchgrass outside its original habitat, a genotype‐specific growth model, SwitchFor that captures GEI was developed by parameterising the MiscanFor model. Input parameters were used to describe genotype‐specific characteristics under different soil and climate conditions, which enables the model to predict the yield in a wide range of environmental and climate conditions. The model was validated using global field trail data and applied to estimate the switchgrass yield potentials on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau in China. The results suggest that upland and lowland switchgrass have significant differences in the spatial distribution of the adaptation zone and site‐specific biomass yield. The area of the adaption zone of upland switchgrass was 4.5 times of the lowland ecotype's. The yield difference between upland and lowland ecotypes ranges from 0 to 34 Mg ha A new cultivar‐specific switchgrass plant growth model, SwitchFor model, was developed and validated to give an accurate estimation of the switchgrass yield in a wide environment. The SwitchFor model was applied to the Loess Plateau region, which has about 12.8–20.8 Mha marginal land to estimate the yield potential. It was estimated that the Loess Plateau has a potential to produce up to 62–106 Tg switchgrass by considering the upland and lowland ecotype. The research of Kiniry, Johnson, Mitchell, et al.  were applied to indicate the overall effective LAI. The k values were different among cultivars because of the various stem densities, heights, and leaf numbers.In the SwitchFor model, LAI depends on the environmental triggers that initiate growth, the rate of leaf expansion, which is proportional to cumulative DDs above a threshold, and the environmental brakes that stop leaf expansion and trigger leaf senescence. The relationship between DD Section  based on−1 and CIR is 0.049 , and the maximum LAI for lowland ecotypes is 11.1, which is much higher than upland ecotype 6 Figure . The max9 Figure .Radiation use efficiency or photosynthesis rate (Pn) are governed by the temperature at which the leaves have formed and the daily temperature, and reduced by drought stress related to the SWD. In the model, the maximum RUE is the theoretical value when crops grow at optimum temperature with no water or nutrient stress. The effective RUE was calculated by using a temperature variation factor (TVF), which was then applied to the maximum RUE. The TVF is a two‐dimensional exponential function that uses the input of the average temperature over the period of leaf formation and the daily temperature at the time of photosynthesis to produce a continuous variable of TVF. Simultaneously, the RUE is affected by soil water deficient with a downregulation algorithm based on the soil water CP Section .The statistical analysis of RUE for lowland ecotypes was 3.51 g per MJ IPAR, which was much higher than the upland ecotype 2.32 g per MJ IPAR Figure . The recTemperature affects growth and development, DM accumulation and partitioning, expansion growth, and phonological development of plants  means that in a given year, the yield is limited but will recover in the following year, while plant death is permanent and crops need to be planted again. The kill event can be caused by either extreme cold or drought. Drought kill occurs when soil moisture below the WP surpasses a time threshold in the growing season. Frost kill occurs when the soil temperature at 10 cm is below a threshold for a specified number of days.One of the most significant challenges in expanding the productivity zone of different cultivars of switchgrass is the winterkill of varieties not adapted to cold conditions; this highlights the geographical limitation of cultivars Casler, . It is r2.1.5There are many different options for harvest timing and frequency, with the two main timings being at peak yield (at anthesis) at the end of the growing season, when the crop can be harvested green, and after completion of senescence, when the crop is dry. For bioenergy and for optimal stand longevity, the dry fully senesced crop is harvested in the spring of the following year  when the site meteorological station was not available. The soil data include soil texture , soil carbon, and bulk density to run the PAWS model (plant available water in soil), and these data were obtained from the field measurements or published paper. The input data of the experimental sites in the United States, Canada, and Europe are obtained from public database. The daily temperature and precipitation data were collected form national canters for environmental information (NOAA), the evapotranspiration data were collected from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the solar radiation data were collected from Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (APPEEARS).The field trail data were collected from China, US, Canada, UK, Germany and French which are span in a wider environment and climate condition. There are more than 10 swithcgrass cultivars  planted in validated sites, and the yield of different ages' switchgrass were measured. The detailed information of the validate sites are shown in Table 2.3Using the upland and lowland ecotype parameters, the model was run on a half‐minute of arc grid for the Loess Plateau. The CRU4.04 meteorological data set was extracted for the period 2000–2016  is 0.6 and 0.8 and root‐mean‐squared error (RMSE) is 3.3 and 2.5 for upland and lowland switchgrass separately which demonstrates that the SwitchFor model could predict switchgrass yield well. Compared with upland switchgrass, the higher r2 and lower RMSE of lowland switchgrass indicates that the model could predicate the yield of lowland switchgrass better than upland switchgrass.Tables In addition, the sites of validation samples span latitude from 32.22° to 51.80° and longitude from −98.20° to 109.32° that the environment and climate condition is diverse. The measured upland and lowland ecotypes in the validated sites include a variety of the switchgrass cultivars. Moreover, the yield of different ages' switchgrass was measured. The good validation results proved that the SwitchFor model could capture the GEI, and thus give a good prediction of the switchgrass yield in a wide environment and climate condition.3.2Figure −1  is much higher than that of upland switchgrass (5 Mg ha−1). The optimal yield on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau is 61.6–106.4 Tg  then Stephenville (32° N). They both had a longer vegetation period and matured earlier when moving southward because of the earlier emergence in spring and exposure to shorter day length in low latitude, whereas moving northward they had short vegetation periods but long reproductive periods (Sanderson & Wolf, 4.2The fuzzy logical model was previously developed and validated on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau and used to predicted the yield of the switchgrass (Liu et al., −1. The most significant difference occurs in the the southeast of the region of the Loess Plateau where the lowland switchgrass is more yielding than upland switchgrass from the results projected by SwitchFor. However, the yield estimated by the fuzzy logical model in the southeast of the region is more like the results of upland switchgrass projected by the SwitchFor model. Due to fact that the climate in the southeast part of the Loess Plateau being warmer and moister where the lowland switchgrass grows well and can obtain higher yield than upland switchgrass. Yangling, for example, is in the southeastern part of the Loess Plateau, and the field trials demonstrated that the yield of lowland switchgrass Alamo was almost twice of the upland switchgrass CIR (Ma et al., The fuzzy logical model was previously developed to estimate the land suitability and yield of the switchgrass on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau; it is a general switchgrass model in which the ecotype or cultivars are not considered (Liu et al., 4.3Jatropha (Sang & Zhu, There are many different energy crops hold potential to develop biomass‐derived industry. These include perennial C4 grasses such as Miscanthus and switchgrass, short rotation coppices such as poplar and willow, and an oil‐producing shrub, Zhang et al.  estimate5Owing to the different adaption and phenotypes between upland and lowland switchgrass, a cultivar‐specific SwitchFor model was developed by incorporating the key parameters from a well‐developed MiscanFor model. The model was validated in a wide environment and the good validation results demonstrated that the Switchfor model could capture the GEI and thus give an accurate prediction of the swithcgrass in a wider region. The SwitchFor model was applied to conduct a spatially explicit evaluation of the biomass yield of switchgrass on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau. The results demonstrated that the upland and lowland ecotypes differed significantly in spatial distribution of the yield and adaptation zone. The optimal switchgrass map was generated by comprehensive analysis of the upland and lowland switchgrass yield distribution which significant improvement in terms of producing a more accurate yield prediction.Overall, this study provides a well‐developed cultivar‐specific growth model for switchgrass. Moreover, the methodology framework could be further adopted to parameter more switchgrass cultivars with more field trial data of different cultivars available. A comprehensive analysis of multi cultivars will provide more detailed information for farmers and land managers on cultivar selection in specific sites, as well as a more accurate prediction of the biomass yield potential for the government and investors to make long‐term land use and sustainable bio‐energy development strategy.Data S1Click here for additional data file.


Over the last 5 years, the analysis of respiratory patterns presents a growing usage in clinical and research purposes, but there is still currently a lack of easy‐to‐use and affordable devices to perform such kind of evaluation.The aim of this study is to validate a new specifically developed method, based on Kinect sensor, to assess respiratory patterns against spirometry under various conditions.1 = 37 , VC = 62 ], and 11 with lung fibrosis (LF) ) and 76 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. The correlations between the signal of the Kinect (depth and respiratory rate) and the spirometer  were computed in part 1. We then included 66 HC to test the ability of the system to detect modifications of respiratory patterns induced by various conditions known to modify respiratory pattern  in parts 2 and 3.One hundred and one participants took parts in one of the three validations studies. Twenty‐five chronic respiratory disease patients (14 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [65 ± 10 years old, FEVr = 0.973 for COPD patients, r = 0.989 for LF patients and r = 0.984 for HC. The Kinect is able to detect changes in breathing patterns induced by different respiratory disturbance conditions, gender and oral task.There is a strong correlation between the depth recorded by the Kinect and the tidal volume recorded by the spirometer: Measurements performed with the Kinect sensors are highly correlated with the spirometer in HC and patients with COPD and LF. Kinect is also able to assess respiratory patterns under various loads and disturbances. This method is affordable, easy to use, fully automated and could be used in the current clinical context.Respiratory patterns are important to assess in daily clinics. However, there is currently no affordable and easy‐to‐use tool to evaluate these parameters in clinics. We validated a new system to assess respiratory patterns using the Kinect sensor in patients with chronic respiratory diseases. The non‐contact respiratory pattern measurement system presented in this paper is easy to use, non‐invasive, and doesn't need to be calibrated, and can therefore be easily used in the daily clinic. This type of technique allows the measurement of changes in the thoracoabdominal depth induced by different types of breathing and/of pathologies. This system should be used in the future to assess the patients quickly and on a regular basis. It allows the detection of variations in respiratory patterns and its asynchrony over time and in relation to the constraints on the respiratory system. The air volume that is transported into and out of the lungs during a cycle of breathing  in non‐intubated subjects presents many opportunities in evaluating the effectiveness of a treatment or assessing the severity of several common respiratory pathologies, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Spirometer is still considered as the gold standard to perform assessment and evaluation of breathing patterns . However, there are some limitations with the use of this kind of device. First, it requires a mouthpiece, a filter and a nose clip, and it has been previously shown that such a methodology may significantly affect the respiratory patterns.Currently, an important area of research is the development of non‐contact methods  for lung function analysis. Such methods allow an accurate analysis of respiratory patterns by limiting instrumental effects Non‐contact methods also allow to visualise thoracoabdominal asynchrony,Since the release of the first version of the Kinect™ sensor in 2010, researchers and clinicians have directly felt the possible potential of this device in clinics.Currently, there is a lack of information about the use of the Kinect sensor to assess respiratory patterns in healthy subjects and patients suffering from chronic respiratory diseases under various conditions. One study previously demonstrated that the Kinect was sensitive enough to detect different externally induced airway obstructions.22.1For part 1, 25 patients with chronic respiratory diseases (14 COPD and 11 patients with PF) and 10 healthy controls were recruited from an outpatient clinic . For parts 2 and 3, healthy subjects were included. The characteristics of the healthy participants and patients are presented in Table 2.2Kinect V2  was used. This camera measures the distance between the sensor and the surface of objects in the sensor's field of view using time‐of‐flight technology for every pixel within the depth frame at a rate of 30 fps. The depth camera has a resolution of 512 × 424 and has the ability to detect distances ranging from 0.5 to 4.5 m.sit upright in a high‐backed chair with their neck in a neutral position and their back as straight as possible. They were also asked not to move.’The cameras were located at a height of 1 m and at a distance of 1.5 m from the subject, and this distance seems, indeed, to be optimal for depth estimation.We performed a triple step validations study to analyse to what extent this solution could be used. Flow of study design and the participants in the different part of the studies are presented in Figure 2.3The implementation is based on a previously validated method.x axis) was used to define the rectangles by considering the x coordinate of the ShoulderRight/ShoulderLeft point instead of the x coordinate of the HipRight/HipLeft point. The dividing line between the thorax and the abdomen is defined by a horizontal line passing through the point SpineMid.  are SpineMid and shoulderRight, ShoulderLeft, HipRight or HipLeft Figure . In this. Figure . The ROI2.4Depth: The mean depths of the ROI  represents similar displacements of the thorax and the abdomen. An angle greater or smaller than 45° represents a thoracic or an abdominal preponderance for a given recordingg Figure , and theBased on the image analysis described above, three variables are computed to evaluate the respiratory patterns.2.5To validate the newly developed solutions, we performed a three‐step validation Figure . First, 2.5.1The patients were asked to breath as normally and comfortably as possible, for 3 min, through a mouthpiece  in a handheld spirometer . Kinect and spirometer measurements were recorded simultaneously. To assess the impact of clothes on the quality of the depth estimation, measurements were performed with and without t‐shirt. For the spirometer, the data extracted from the breathing pattern are tidal volume and respiratory rate. This data will be compared to the depth and respiratory rate recorded by the Kinect.detrended’ (by subtracting the best linear trend from the data). This allows one to extract the variation of the signals and easily compare them. This step corrects the drift signal of the spirometer. Then, a frequency filter (low pass from 0 to 1 Hz) is applied to the signals. A 1 Hz value was chosen considering the respiratory rate interval of a healthy adult, which varies from 0.2 to 0.34 Hz (FR of 12 to 20 cycles per minute).In order to compare both signals, several steps are needed. First, the signals are ‘This filtration process helps to mitigate related disturbances of the Kinect measurement noise. However, the sampling of the Kinect signal is not constant (the sampling frequency varies from 20 to 30 Hz). Therefore, it is necessary to homogenise the sampling before applying filtration. This is carried out with a sampling frequency of 20 Hz. The data of the spirometer are also sampled with the same frequency (instead of 100 Hz). This makes it easy to determine the time lag between the spirometer and the Kinect. The cross‐correlation process is then applied to both signals to find the time offset. When the signals are synchronised, peak detection (extrema) is applied (only synchronous peaks are considered). Subsequently, a linear regression is performed between the peaks of the signal from the Kinect and those from the spirometer.2.5.2In this part, we evaluate the Kinect's ability to capture known changes in respiratory patterns under different types of loads. Three situations were tested: CL, inspiratory load (IL) and both combined. These situations were then compared to the baseline situation (rest).For the CL, we used a cognitive mobile game.2O. The subjects were equipped with a nose clip to avoid nasal compensation.For the IL, the subjects had to breathe throughout a mouthpiece and throughout an inspiratory threshold load (MAS Philips Respironics Threshold IMT Lung Muscle Trainer Adjustable Constant Pressure) at 15 cmHEach recording time lasted 3 min, and the order of the tasks was randomly defined to minimise the risk of bias.In order to estimate the instrumental effect, the subjects were asked, after each recording, to evaluate the awareness of breath on a 10‐cm Visual Analogue Scale. We use the same protocol as Garfinkel et al. for the perception of heartbeat (complete confidence/a full perception of heartbeat),2.5.3Finally, we evaluated the Kinect's ability to detect changes in respiratory patterns and thoracoabdominal coordination when subjects are asked to perform cognitive tasks. It has been indeed demonstrated than cognition interferes with breathing.Mental cognitive task: a mental calculation using the subtraction of 3  and a mental calculation using the subtraction of 7 .Oral cognitive task: an oral calculation using a subtraction of 3  and an oral calculation using a subtraction of 7 .In addition to the baseline condition, two cognitive tasks were asked of the subjects2.6The normality of each parameter was checked using graphical methods , as well as Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests.r) was used to compare the results of the Kinect and the spirometer. We used the average peak‐to‐peak values of the different cycles to compare the two systems. Then we applied linear regression to assess the relationship in the two group of patients (COPD and PF) as well as the potential influence of the clothing (with and without t‐shirt) on this relationship.For the first protocol, Pearson's correlation coefficient  as well as for COPD patients  and patients with PF , see Figure β [95%CI] = 0.071 [0.069–0.074] for healthy subjects, 0.072 [0.069–0.075] for COPD patients and 0.072 [0.069–0.076] for PF patients) or without t‐shirt .There is a strong correlation between the volume recorded by the spirometer and the depth recorded by the Kinect for healthy subjects (3.2p < 0.001). We observed a highly significant decrease in respiratory depth with the addition of a CL and a highly significant increase with the inspiratory and combined loads. There was a highly significant increase in the respiratory rate associated with the CL and a significant decrease with the inspiratory and combined loads. The Minute Ventilation Like (VMlike)  is also modified by the conditions. During CL, we observe a significant decrease in VMlike (p < 0.001), whereas for IL and combined we have a significant increase in VMlike (p < 0.001).Complete results are presented in Table p < 0.001) and higher under IL  but did not differ under a combination of both .For the instrumental effect, the baseline value was 5.5 (2.6). The consciousness of the breathing was significantly lower under CL  but a highly significant effect for gender (p < 0.001), with women presenting higher values than men. The interaction between the conditions and gender is not significant (p = 0.51).The variations of the thoracoabdominal angles are presented in Table 4The aim of this study was to validate the use of the Kinect sensor to assess respiratory patterns under various conditions, either for different clinical conditions or in disturbing situations known to modify respiratory patterns. The main finding of the study is that the Kinect can be used to assess breathing depth compared to a spirometer and is able to differentiate between quiet breathing patterns and breathing under different disturbances and loads.There is a strong and highly significant correlation between the tidal volume recorded by the spirometer and the depth recorded by the Kinect. This relation between the two signals is not to be influenced by wearing a t‐shirt.p = 0.056) for the mental cognitive task .The effect of various disturbances on the respiratory patterns as captured by the Kinect is in line with the results found in the literature. For CLs, it has been highlighted that a mental cognitive task decreases the tidal volume,p < 0.001) with a 15 cm H2O IL.Like with the CL, we were able to observe the same findings as Hostettler et al. for the IL.like, which is opposite to the findings of previous studies.Although the respiratory rate is increased with CL, we found a decrease in MV7, strokeWe also assessed the thoracoabdominal motions during various tasks (part 3). The thoracoabdominal phase angle provides important information about the synchrony between these two compartments. In healthy subjects, there are differences in the contribution of the two compartments depending on sex (women have a more thoracic breathing) and age .p < 0.002). This seems to indicate an important Hawthorne effect that cannot be neglected when performing breathing assessments and pattern evaluations. However, one of the added values of this system is that it is fully automated, and an evaluation can be carried out automatically without the presence of a health‐care professional. This is important not only to minimise the above‐mentioned Hawthorne effect but also in the general context of clinicians facing increasing financial and time constraints and, therefore, less time for face‐to‐face consultations with patients. Consequently, the present type of assessment that might be of particular benefit is the context of COVID‐19 crisis.The last aspect that we evaluated was the instrumental effect. The instrumental effect describes the modification of breathing patterns when being observed and breathing throughout mouthpiece. It has been shown that breathing through a mouthpiece with a nose clip can increase the tidal volume by 29%.One of the limitations of this study is that the system required a Kinect sensor but other 3D cameras (e.g. Orbbec Astra Pro™ and Asus Xtion sensors™) or other affordable devices (e.g. multiple RGBD cameras) could be used instead of the Kinect, requiring only minor modifications to the software.In this study, we validated the use of the Kinect to perform breathing assessments on patients suffering from chronic respiratory diseases. We also showed that the system can be used to evaluate modifications of breathing patterns induced by various loads and disturbances in healthy subjects mimicking the situations encountered by patients during their crisis phases. The proposed method is affordable, easy to use, and fully automated and could, therefore, be used to monitor the evolution of patients during the rehabilitation process or to perform a longitudinal follow‐up and monitor the efficacy of the prevention programme.OVH conceived the idea, performed data collection and data verification, drafted the manuscript and compiled edits. BB contributed to the design of the analysis, statistical analysis and revisions of the manuscript, and compiled edits. VA, AVM, DL, AL and VF contributed to revisions of the manuscript. AD, OD and RE conceived the idea, the python code and the analysis software.The authors do not have any conflict of interest to disclose.This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Erasme Hospital , and written informed consent was obtained from all subjects prior to their participation.


Magnetic linear actuators have a wide range of applications. Their main advantage is the ease with which they can be controlled by regulating the current. However, high electrical power is required for obtaining a large continuous force, acceleration, and stroke from a device with small dimensions. In this study, we developed a comprehensive open-source system consisting of simple movable iron magnetic actuators, a four-channel controller, and dedicated software. The graphical user interface facilitates the designing of the sequence of piston strokes, including the start time, duration of movement, and force for each stroke separately. The controller generates a high current of pulses, which allows achieving a high force, acceleration, and stroke from small-sized coils while maintaining a relatively safe voltage. The system was originally designed as a reagent syringe driver to control the rapid mixing process used for studying the kinetics of enzymatic reactions. However, this driver may also be applied in various other scientific as well as nonscientific applications. Specifications table.Laboratory techniques applied in the studies of chemical and biochemical reactions, such as stopped-flow or freeze-quench, require drivers that can push the plungers of syringes containing the reagents at a considerable speed and force. The driving mechanism should exert a force of tens to hundreds of newtons on the syringe plunger to ensure high flux for proper mixing of the reagents at well-defined time points and for minimizing the dead-time between mixing and reaction monitoring. Various driving device approaches have been investigated so far. The simplest method is to push the pistons manually with hands In this study, we developed an open-source and universal system based on a magnetic actuator that can be used in experiments requiring controlled movement of the plungers of syringes containing reagents to allow rapid mixing or ejection of the reagents at a significant speed and force. The proposed system enables to control the force applied during the movement as well as the release of the piston, and also provides a high acceleration. Moreover, the system is simple to build and operate, inexpensive, and can be safely used without the risk of fatal electric shock. The system comprises a set of four magnetic coils powered with a stable battery consisting of capacitors that can provide a stable and high current at a relatively safe voltage not exceeding 50 V. This facilitates the pistons to move at a considerable speed and force.This paper describes in detail the open-source, four-channel, high-current power supply which allows controlling the effective power by pulse-width modulation (PWM). Additionally, we provide binary files and source code of the software dedicated to this device for Linux and Windows systems. Our goal was to use well-known electronic components available to all potential users and necessary instructions to make the assembly process easy for those with only basic electronic knowledge, while the software’s source code allows anyone with a basic understanding of LabVIEW to make any improvements or modifications of the original program.Although the power supply presented here was originally designed as a part of syringe-driving device, it can be used for any purposes requiring periodic high current with PWM. Due to the availability of four independent channels, it is possible to design more complicated experiments in which more than two reagents can be mixed sequentially, such as stopped-flow or freeze-quench studies.The proposed driver of magnetic actuator is a modular structure that can be easily modified.•an Arduino Uno controller allowing pulse sequence control and communication with a personal computer (PC) A;Fig. 1E•a board controlling the charging/discharging process of supercapacitors B;•a board responsible for the formation of the PWM signal C;•a board of drivers for power amplifiers D;•a board of battery of supercapacitors E; and•a board of power amplifiers for four channels F.The electronic system consists of six printed circuit boards (PCBs) listed below:.The device was primarily designed for experiments that require a high power , for not more than a few hundred milliseconds (time of movement of a syringe’s plunger), followed by a few minutes of idle for sample preparation. Such a high power can be possibly applied to the coils directly from the mains electricity, but it can lead to severe electric shock and issues related to overloading of the electrical wiring. Periodic operation of the device can help overcome these problems and limit the accumulation of energy released during piston movement. To prevent the risk of electric shock, the operating voltage should be reduced, which is compensated by an increase in the currents delivered to the coils. This, however, is associated with greater energy losses on system components and imposes a need for wires with larger cross sections. The use of 50 V in the proposed device allows a good compromise between safety and efficiency. While the applied voltage may cause an unpleasant tingling sensation or even pain, it is rather unlikely to be life-threatening to a healthy person under normal working conditions We used a battery of supercapacitors as an energy source. It allows the accumulation of a large charge while providing high currents during the discharge process. Moreover, the supercapacitors can be quickly charged before the experiment and safely discharged after the experiment. At the same time, they do not pose the risk of uncontrolled discharging after the device is turned off. As the rated voltage of each capacitor is as low as 2.7 V, the capacitors must be connected in series to provide a voltage of around 45–50 V.The circuit controlling the charging and discharging processes of the supercapacitors through a high-power resistor was designed on a separate PCB. Supercapacitors should not be charged and discharged rapidly to prevent overloading of the device components. On the other hand, the time required for charging should be minimized so that the operator does not have to wait too long for the device to be ready. Therefore, the designed circuit reduces the charging resistance when the voltage on supercapacitors exceeds 25 V. Furthermore, charging and discharging cannot be triggered simultaneously, as this can lead to a short circuit. Charging/discharging of supercapacitors can be monitored through an analog ammeter and voltmeter fixed in the front panel of the device. Additionally, control diodes on the front panel display the state of the device such as charging or discharging. A power supply for the PWM signal generator is also placed on the board. The entire system is powered by a transformer with an effective output voltage of 36 V and a power of 100 VA.Power amplifiers are made of P-MOSFETs  connected in parallel, which offers a ground for the coils between the pulses, thus preventing accidental short-circuiting. Although P-MOSFETs are relatively difficult to drive than N-MOSFETs, they are significantly safer in this case. Overheating of the power amplifiers can be avoided by using MOSFET drivers that can supply a high current to the gate of the transistors. These drivers are located on a separate board. Although, this split is not an optimal solution, because MOSFET drivers should be located close to the transistors, separate boards enable further modifications of the device. A voltage probe  is also located on the drivers board.The controller allows adjusting the effective power delivered to coils by changing the duty cycle of the PWM signal (width of micropulses during the pulse). A PWM signal of constant frequency is generated separately for each channel, regardless of whether the voltage is applied to the coils or not. Only after an additional signal is generated from the Arduino to the AND logic gate, the PWM signal is transmitted to the power amplifier. The generated signal can be previewed on the oscilloscope using dedicated pins on the board. The PWM signal is generated using the NE555 chip, which is easily available and well-documented. The first NE555-based circuit works like a clock with a constant frequency, while the other NE555-based circuits are responsible for the duty cycle regulated by a digital potentiometers. A digital potentiometers facilitate quick adjustment of the duty cycle through software. Although it is old-fashioned, the NE555-based system has one main advantage: it allows the user to modulate the clock frequency and the range of duty cycle only by changing appropriate resistors (R1–R3) and/or capacitors (C3–C14) on the PWM board. The amount of electronic expertise required is minimal because the resistors and capacitors can be easily fitted in a very intuitive and simple online circuit simulator in which the NE555 chip can be found A PWM board is not absolutely necessary because the Arduino microcontroller can also generate a PWM signal. To avoid using this board, the default Arduino PWM signal frequency of 490 Hz has to be increased to around 30 kHz. This can be done at the firmware level after its reprogramming. Additionally, the ribbon cable should be adapted in such a way that it connects Arduino directly to the drivers board. However, we decided to use a separate PWM board as the project’s goal is to limit dependencies on external solutions as much as possible, while keeping individual functionalities distributed among independent modules, in order to ensure easy device modification. Because PWM modulation is crucial for the working of the device, a separate board was designed to generate the PWM signal.The actuator driver is controlled by Arduino Uno board which is responsible for communicating with PC, executing pulse sequences, monitoring voltage, and synchronizing with other external components. Arduino is a popular and widely available microcontroller In addition to the power supply, the project focused on coils and movable piston cores. The spools of the coil and the handles were prepared as a set for three-dimensional (3D) printing. Our design assumes that a nut will be screwed on a movable core made of M6 bolt. These elements are commercially available.The dedicated PC software was created in LabVIEW 2017 and is accessible as source code and binary executable for Linux and Windows. A separate document contains the manual describing all the functions implemented in the program for controlling the device from a PC.•as a syringe driver for determining the kinetics of chemical or enzymatic reactions after fast mixing;•in applications requiring a fast actuator;•as a pulse source of high local magnetic field (as in the case of a coil-gun);•as a pulse source of high current.The described device can be used:.PCBs of electronic parts are available in two formats delivered as two separate packages: EJKL_gerber.zip and EJKL_Kicad.zip. The EJKL_gerber.zip package contains the gerber files prepared for ordering, while the EJKL_Kicad.zip package consists of files that provide complete documentation of the PCBs allowing modification of the device and a dedicated component library of custom footprints and 3D models of elements. The README.txt file included in the EJKL_Kicad.zip package provides instructions for the proper import of the library. The schemes of PCBs are available in the Kicad package and also in a separate EJKL_PCBs_schemes package containing pdf files with schematics.EJKL_3D_boards.zip package contains png files showing 3D visualization of PCBs. The previews of PCBs can be useful in soldering if one is not familiar with electronic symbols and footprints and also help in soldering the components without installing KiCad software for PCB visualization.) machining. The files provide information on the following elements: the spool of the coil, the coil holder, the piston, the spacer sleeve for PCBs (3D printing), the front and back panels of the case, and the mounting board for PCBs (CNC machining). EJKL_stl.zip package contains the stl files of these elements ready for manufacturing or 3D printing.OpenSCAD files in the EJKL_openscad.zip package contain the source code of designed 3D printing and CNC The energy stored in supercapacitors can reach up to 10 kJ and can be released soon after a short circuit. It is enough to melt the paths on PCBs and heat 100 g of copper (coil weight) to about 200C. Therefore, the electronic elements can be assembled and repaired only when the supercapacitors are discharged. Any loose parts inside the installed device can lead to a short circuit (as screws) and must be removed.ii)2). As the fast-moving core can hit and cause injury, it is necessary to ensure that during the pulse there is no one in the line of the coil axis, and hands should be placed away from the moving parts.The force exerted on the moving core of the coil during pulses can cause high acceleration of elements (over 1000 m/siii)In the event of an accidental short circuit, the device should always be electrically grounded during operation.The device described here is a high-power one involving potential risks associated with its construction and usage. Although the applied maximum voltage of 50 V, under dry conditions, is generally not considered life-threatening, it is unpleasant and may be painful. Attention should also be paid to the high currents generated in the system, which may cause the elements within it to heat up to harmful temperatures, leading to burns and/or fire. Hence, Other safety considerations relating to specific parts of the device are described in the relevant subsections of assembly and operating instructions. Finally, for safe use of the device, it is important to carry out a series of tests in the correct sequence and as per the provided protocol. If an element does not work as expected, it should be replaced in the device.PCB material: FR4.PCB thickness:1.5 mm.Copper thickness: 105 μm , 35 μm (other boards).The best option for PCB manufacturing is to outsource the production to an external company providing services in this field. The gerber files included in the prepared package should be sent to the company. The recommended parameters for PCB manufacturing are:.Electronic components of PCBs can be easily made by hand. Footprints and signatures of all the elements on the boards are available, which clearly indicate how the elements should be soldered to the PCB. However, in case of doubt, one can check the scheme of circuit or (if one is not familiar with electronic symbols) the graphics related to 3D visualizations of PCBs included in the EJKL_3D_boards.zip package or use interactive preview of a board in KiCad software. Elements located outside a given board as well as connections to other boards are marked with footprints of terminal block along with descriptions. The example presented in The PWM board and drivers board have integrated circuits (designated by letter U). During PCB visualization, these components are soldered directly to the boards. However, it is better to use dedicated DIP sockets for easy replacement of components.It is necessary to check the polarity of outputs from the terminal which are signatured (+) and (−) or (GND). In the case of LEDs, output (GND) or (−) should be connected with cathode marked by a shorter wire and (+) with anode marked by a longer wire. Other polarized elements have the descriptions of outputs and inputs. If information about the polarity of the terminal/element is not provided, it means that it does not matter how the element is connected.In this project, we used a number of MOSFETs that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge, and hence, soldering is not recommended if one uses a synthetic sweater as there is a risk of accidental spark, which can damage the semiconductor components. It is also recommended to use a resistance instead of a transformer soldering iron.The mounting board can be cut from a glass/epoxy sheet. It can be manufactured by hand using a drill and jigsaw, but a better option is to obtain it from CNC service. Stl and OpenSCAD files are available for download.M3 (20 mm) countersunk screws, M3 nuts, and spacer sleeves are required to mount PCBs to the mounting board, and M4 (16 mm) countersunk screws and M4 nuts for mounting the transformer and 300-W resistor. Spacers can be made on a 3D printer (23 copies) using virtually any plastic material. OpenSCAD and stl files are available for download. The sleeves can also be made by hand, but they should have the appropriate length to ensure that the pieces fit into the holes in the case at the end. Elements on the mounting board should be connected to each other through wires according to the description of the terminal blocks on the boards. A schematic representation of wiring is shown in 2 wire tipped with an M6 ring (R 8–6 NICHIFU). The rings should be screwed to the pads on the boards using an M5 10-mm screw. The Arduino, PWM board, and drivers board should be connected with ribbon cables, which is possible only with the use of a 2.5-mm2 cable for other connections between the boards. It is a good practice to tin the tip of wires put in terminal blocks. For 300-W resistor, an M6 ring (19323–0014 MOLEX) should be used as a tip.The supercapacitors board and transistors board should be connected with a 10-mmATTENTION: The power supply board must be connected to the low-voltage output of the transformer . Incorrect transformer connection results in an output voltage of over 1000 V which can destroy the device and may also be life-threatening. The transformer input wires should be terminated with a flat terminal 6.3Χ0.8 mm in order to connect them to the power socket (PX0580/63).The ground (GND) should be connected to the transformer, supercapacitors board, and case  socket should be connected to the terminal blocks using a 1-mm2 cable. Pin 1 + should be connected to pin 2+, and pin 1− to pin 2− (labels are provided on the sockets). For sockets mounted on the panel, current to the pins should be passed through a 10-mm2 wire. Pins should be isolated via heat shrink sleeves. 2 cable that connects the terminal block to the audio socket is too thick to fit the terminal block. Therefore, a short winding wire with removed enamel should be soldered to the end of the cable as a tip and also insulated with heat shrink sleeves  should be bridged using a 2.5-mm sleeves B.Fig. 5ATo wind and mount the coils, the spool elements and the coil holder should be printed using a 3D printer. The printout should be made of ABS with completely filled interior of the elements. The ABS material was chosen for several reasons: it is widely used in the 3D printing technology, durable, and has a relatively high melting point. In addition, the ABS components can be easily glued or modified to some extent with acetone if damaged. However, any diamagnetic and durable material can also be used instead of ABS. OpenSCAD and stl files for all the elements are available for download. A step-by-step assembly process of the whole coil and the coil holder is shown in Before assembling and winding the coil, the M3 nuts must be inserted into the dedicated holes in the spool rims. The holes should be slightly tight, so the nuts must be pressed into the right place using a force. A vice can be used for this purpose. The spool rim on the spool with the nuts should be placed on the inside and temporarily stabilized to prevent accidental disassembly during winding. It can be done by putting the M6 threaded rod with twisted M6 connector nuts through the center of the coil and block using dedicated blockers A and B. The wire extending from the outer part of the winding should be soldered to the external pins of the socket (1− and 2−), and the wire extending from the inner part of the winding should be soldered to the internal pins (1+ and 2+). It is important to ensure appropriate soldering of the wires to the pins to avoid accidental contact and short circuits G. FinallThe connection cable should be a four-core speaker cable with two male audio connectors (NL4FC) with a length of 1.5 m. Male connectors should be installed as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Pins with the same label should be connected on the opposite side of the cable. Be careful not to allow a crossover cable to form in the audio connection as this will cause a short circuit at high current during the pulse.The piston consists of two parts: metal core and a plunger printed on a 3D printer. The printout of the plunger should be made with ABS with complete filling of the interior of the elements. OpenSCAD and stl files for all elements are available for download. The core can be made by screwing three connector nuts onto an M6 80-mm screw. The walls of the nuts should form one plane. The rest of the thread should be screwed into the printed plunger. The precisely screwed piston should move without much resistance in the spool hole.•Short circuit between the gates of power transistors and their supply must be checked. The resistance between the PWM signal inputs  and + and GND pads (P2 and P3) on the power transistors board should be in theory infinite (over MΩ). A much lower resistance indicates that one of the power transistors in the channel is damaged and requires replacement.•The fast diodes on the power transistors board must be checked. When the positive terminal of the multimeter (red) is connected to the positive terminal in the coil supply terminal block and the negative terminal of the multimeter (black) is connected to the GND of the coil terminal block, the diode should be reverse-biased. The multimeter should show open circuit. When the multimeter is connected to coil terminal block in opposite directions, the diode should be forward-biased. The voltage drop should be between 200 and 1800 mV.•The resistance between any pins of the R12 resistor and the ground on the power supply board should be checked and ensured to be around 20 kΩ. A much lower resistance indicates that thyristor (T1) is damaged.After soldering and before completely wiring the device and connecting it to the power supply, certain control measurements should be taken with a multimeter. This is important to minimize the risk of uncontrolled high-current short circuits during the test connection of the equipment to the power supply resulting from incorrect soldering. The following three steps should be performed before connecting the PCBs.•The transformer and power supply board must be connected. The connection of the transformer should be checked (as described in the “Wires” section), and the rest of the boards should not be connected for this test. Power must be turned on, and the output voltage in the P2 terminal block should be about 5 V.•The PWM board should be connected to the power supply board and Arduino , Fig. 4.•The drivers board must be connected to the assembly from the previous test. Two 9-V batteries should be prepared, connected in series, and fixed to the drivers board instead of the supercapacitors. The batteries should not be connected with the power supply board. Voltage must be measured at the four outputs of the drivers board (P1). If no pulse is applied to the channel, then the voltage between the corresponding output in the P1 terminal block and the drivers board supply (+in P2) should be about 0 V. When pulse with full filling (100% power) is given to the channel, the meter connected in the same way should show a difference of about 10–12 V. All channels should be checked. If any channel behaves differently than it should, then it is necessary to check whether the zener diodes, transistors, and driver are mounted correctly.The next test should be done when the boards are already mounted on the mounting board but are not fully wired. To perform this test, the device should be connected to the power. It is important to turn off the power when the device is prepared for the next test.•Charging should start immediately after the device is switched on. The charging current should range between 2 and 3 A but it decreases slowly until the voltage on the supercapacitors reaches 25 V. After 25 V is reached, the charging current increases to 4 A and then gradually decreases to 0 A. The final voltage on the supercapacitors should be around 48 V. The charging process is indicated by one of the LEDs in the pair of antiparallel diodes . At the time of charging, the transformer, 300-W resistor (R19), 0.56-Ω resistors , diode bridges , transistor IRF5210 (Q5), and diodes P2500B  may become hot; however, the temperature should not exceed ∼ 80 °C. The other elements should not be allowed to warm up. In particular, thyristor T1, transistor Q4 on the power supply board, and power transistors (Q1–Q16) and diodes  on the power transistors board should remain at room temperature. Temperature checking of the components should not be done with hand, and a thermocouple should be used instead.•When the power is turned off and voltage on the supercapacitors is not 0 V, the yellow LED should be on. Then, the discharging button should be pressed to begin the discharging process, which is indicated by the second diode  in the antiparallel pair. The discharging current should range between 4 and 5 A, and decreases gradually to 0 with the decrease of the voltage on the supercapacitors. At the time of discharging, the diode bridge (DB2), 300-W resistor, thyristor (T1), and transistor (Q4) may become hot, but the temperature of the other components  should not be higher than that during charging.•At the beginning of testing the power transistors board, the LEDs should be off and the voltage on the coil terminal block should be 0 V when no pulses are applied to a given output. If the LED is on under these conditions, the device should be turned off immediately and the supercapacitors must be discharged by pressing the discharge button. Then, the investigated channel from the PWM terminal block must be disconnected and the resistance between the signal terminal and ground should be checked according to the above-described procedure. By contrast, when a pulse is applied, the voltage on an investigated terminal block should be close to that on the supercapacitors. If the pulse is fully filled, the meter should show ∼ 45 V, and the LED should light up.•To test with a loaded output, the coil should be connected with the appropriate cable to the socket . Pulses of 500 ms should be applied with different degrees of filling  at intervals of 5 min to allow a coil to cool down. The temperature of the transistors and diodes should not be more than 150 °C, and it is necessary to check that the elements are not desoldered from PCB during the pulse.If the system has passed all the above tests, wiring of the device can be completed as shown in For a better understanding, a video showing the wiring of boards and electronics tests is provided in the pictures_movie.zip package.After all the electronic parts are mounted on the mounting board, wiring is done and electronics tests are performed, following which the electronics can be placed in the case. However, before placing, the mounting holes should be prepared in the front and back panel of the case. OpenSCAD and stl files for both front and back panels are available for download. As it is strongly recommended to make holes in the panels using a milling machine, the best option is to outsource the manufacturing of panels to a company that provides such services.First, all the sockets, buttons, and meters should be mounted on the panels. The LEDs and all cables that are connected to the elements on the panels and not soldered to these elements should be screwed into the terminal blocks. Then, the entire mounting board should be inserted in such a way that the ground can be screwed to the metal parts of the case and the ground wiring should enter through the cutout in the mounting plate (upper right corner in 1)The device should be turned on, and the supercapacitors must be allowed to be charged fully. Charging becomes complete when the voltage on the supercapacitors reaches about 45 V and the indicator LED is off which takes a few minutes. Charging can also be checked by a voltage indicator in the software.2)The software should be run, the device should be connected to the available USB port, and connection should be established between PC and the Arduino controller . Then, the power of the coils and the sequences must be set according to the software manual.The device operation requires a PC with dedicated software which is available for download. The installation and operation instructions for the software can be found in the attached manual. The steps for the device operation are described below.safe can be estimated as follows for a given duty cycle expressed as a percentage of maximum power (“power” sliders software):.softening and Tinitial are the temperature at which the plastic material becomes soft and the initial temperature of the coils, respectively [either in Kelvin or Celsius]. Assuming that Tsoftening and Tinitial are 80C (for ABS) and 20C, respectively, and U is 45 V, the equation can be simplified to:.A considerable amount of heat is released during pulses at the power amplifier and the coils. Therefore, it is critical to use pulses that are not longer than needed to avoid overheating of the elements. Otherwise, the released heat may damage the device and/or melt the plastic spool of the coils. However, our tests revealed that even complete discharging of the capacitors through the coil did not affect the electronics, despite a significant overheating of the power amplifier, but the heated wire of the coil caused deformation of the spool. Taking into account the technical parameters of the coil and the softening point of ABS material, the safe pulse time tsafe < 50/DutyCycle [s].t3)The initial position of the plunger should be set inside the core of the coil. It should be noted that the maximum force of piston is obtained when half of the metal core of the plunger is pushed inside the coil. When a pulse is applied, the metal cores are pulled into the coil. When the center of the metal core of the piston and the center of the coil are aligned, no force acts on the piston.4)A designed sequence should be sent to the device, all mechanical parts should be ensured to be in the correct position, and the sequence should be run. It is important to maintain a safe distance from the plunger when the sequence is executed.5)After finishing the sequence, the coil temperature must be checked. If it is too warm, the coils should be allowed to cooled down before the next sequence is executed.6)After completing the work, the devices should be turned off and the discharge button should be pressed.It means that 0.5 s is a practical limit of the full-power pulse.If the coils stop responding (the indicator LED does not light up and the piston does not move), the coil fuse may be considered to be defective and should be replaced. In such cases, the device should be turned off and supercapacitors should be discharged. Then, the front panel should be screwed and the fuse should be checked. If the fuse is blown, it must be replaced with a new one and the device should be turned on.If a coil does not respond after executing a sequence, the voltmeter shows 0 V after switching off the device, and the yellow LED does not light up after pressing the discharge button, the discharging process cannot be started and the fuse on the supercapacitors board may be blown and cannot be discharged. In such cases, the back panel should be unscrewed and the jumper should be shorted on the supercapacitor board, which is used for emergency discharge. For safety reasons, the device must be left as such for a couple of days  to allow full discharging of the supercapacitors. After the discharging process, the fuse can be replaced and the device can be tested. The fuse should never be replaced without full discharging of the supercapacitors as it may cause burns.To validate the device, a static force exerted by the piston was measured as a function of the percentage of the duty cycle (the “power” parameter adjusted through the software). The force was measured with a strain gauge beam. The description of the strain gauge is provided elsewhere The device is designed as a syringe driver that can be used in devices for investigating the kinetics of chemical reactions on millisecond and second time scales. Accordingly, a corresponding test was performed in which two solutions (250 μl) were mixed by simultaneously injecting them into a third syringe that was stopped immediately after mixing. This experiment was equivalent to the widely used stopped-flow experiment. After incubation for 50 ms, the mixture was ejected from the third syringe by a second syringe driver. The first syringe contained dichlorophenolindophenol, the color of which depends on pH (blue at high pH and red at low pH), and the second syringe contained a hydrochloric acid solution. Change in the color of the solution from blue to red indicated full and rapid mixing of these two solutions. Injekt-F Solo Luer 1-ml syringes were used for the test, and a T-shaped mixer made of plexiglass was used for observing the mixture. The diameter of channels inside the mixer was 1.2 mm. The sequence of the applied pulses is presented in The test was recorded using a Phantom Miro LC321S high-speed camera, at a speed of 2000 frames/s. Recording was done in cooperation with EC TEST Systems (Kraków). The video is available for download in the pictures_movie.zip package. The four frames of the movie are shown in The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.