1,746 research outputs found

    Undergraduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Fast Sensing and Adaptive Actuation for Robust Legged Locomotion

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    Robust legged locomotion in complex terrain demands fast perturbation detection and reaction. In animals, due to the neural transmission delays, the high-level control loop involving the brain is absent from mitigating the initial disturbance. Instead, the low-level compliant behavior embedded in mechanics and the mid-level controllers in the spinal cord are believed to provide quick response during fast locomotion. Still, it remains unclear how these low- and mid-level components facilitate robust locomotion. This thesis aims to identify and characterize the underlining elements responsible for fast sensing and actuation. To test individual elements and their interplay, several robotic systems were implemented. The implementations include active and passive mechanisms as a combination of elasticities and dampers in multi-segment robot legs, central pattern generators inspired by intraspinal controllers, and a synthetic robotic version of an intraspinal sensor. The first contribution establishes the notion of effective damping. Effective damping is defined as the total energy dissipation during one step, which allows quantifying how much ground perturbation is mitigated. Using this framework, the optimal damper is identified as viscous and tunable. This study paves the way for integrating effective dampers to legged designs for robust locomotion. The second contribution introduces a novel series elastic actuation system. The proposed system tackles the issue of power transmission over multiple joints, while featuring intrinsic series elasticity. The design is tested on a hopper with two more elastic elements, demonstrating energy recuperation and enhanced dynamic performance. The third contribution proposes a novel tunable damper and reveals its influence on legged hopping. A bio-inspired slack tendon mechanism is implemented in parallel with a spring. The tunable damping is rigorously quantified on a central-pattern-generator-driven hopping robot, which reveals the trade-off between locomotion robustness and efficiency. The last contribution explores the intraspinal sensing hypothesis of birds. We speculate that the observed intraspinal structure functions as an accelerometer. This accelerometer could provide fast state feedback directly to the adjacent central pattern generator circuits, contributing to birds’ running robustness. A biophysical simulation framework is established, which provides new perspectives on the sensing mechanics of the system, including the influence of morphologies and material properties. Giving an overview of the hierarchical control architecture, this thesis investigates the fast sensing and actuation mechanisms in several control layers, including the low-level mechanical response and the mid-level intraspinal controllers. The contributions of this work provide new insight into animal loco-motion robustness and lays the foundation for future legged robot design

    Ergonomics in laparoscopic surgery: a work system analysis to reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders across surgeons in Peruvian hospitals

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    Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive surgery, is a type of surgery in which the surgeon operates by viewing the surgery on a screen that projects images from a camera inserted into the patient's abdomen. Laparoscopic tools are long (usually up to 35 cm) and require fine motor skills and visual perception for manipulation, restricting the degrees of freedom to move within the patient. This restriction causes surgeons to operate with limited vision and restricted movement and force them to work with assistants who assist in conducting the cameras, acting as "the surgeons' eyes". Because of its minimally invasive nature, laparoscopic surgery is well accepted by patients but is challenging and complex for the surgeon. This is due to the restriction of movement and perception that forces surgeons to adopt awkward postures with high exposition, which increases the likelihood of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD). WRMSDs are detrimental to surgeons' health and potentially may impact patient safety. Studies often highlight the problems of surgeons in high-income countries, whose solutions and clinical guides often cannot be applied to countries like Peru, which have severe deficiencies in its healthcare system. For this reason, the thesis proposes a contextualised investigation of the Peruvian surgical work system to investigate the main factors contributing to the development of WRMSD in laparoscopic surgeons, which may affect patient safety. The analysis aimed to propose possible recommendations to support redesigning the laparoscopic surgery work system in Peruvian hospitals. Five studies were developed to achieve the aims based on the Systems Engineering Initiative for patient safety model, an ergonomics model for healthcare systems analysis. The first three studies were developed parallel with a mixed convergent design approach concluding in an integrating study. The last two studies (study four and five) had a quantitative approach. The first study used a qualitative approach by collecting information through interviews with laparoscopic surgeons and observing their work in real surgeries. The second study adopted a quantitative approach through a questionnaire-based survey applied to 140 surgeons in Peru. The third study analysed the extent to which the postures adopted by surgeons in real surgeries increase the risk of WRMSD and their association with factors in the work system using the RULA method. The results of the three studies were integrated into an integrative study, concluding that the raised height of the operating table and other system factors related to tasks, person and technology raises the risk of WRMSD. Based on these results, the fourth study analysed the relationship between surgeons and operating tables to understand how many surgeons could reach suitable working heights. The study concluded that no operating table available in Peruvian hospitals nor in the market would be suitable for 90% of Peruvian surgeons. The tables were too high to accommodate surgeons with optimal working surface height to perform laparoscopic surgery. Then, a fifth study was conducted to determine an acceptable working height based on surgeon preferences and system factors and concluded that surgeons would accept a working height between 49 cm to 70 cm in height, which is lower than current operating tables. The lowest height was reached when surgeons had to operate on obese patients and perform intracorporeal suturing tasks. Finally, the thesis concludes with recommendations for redesigning working heights for 90% of the Peruvian medical population, considering work system elements of the Peruvian context

    Modern meat: the next generation of meat from cells

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    Modern Meat is the first textbook on cultivated meat, with contributions from over 100 experts within the cultivated meat community. The Sections of Modern Meat comprise 5 broad categories of cultivated meat: Context, Impact, Science, Society, and World. The 19 chapters of Modern Meat, spread across these 5 sections, provide detailed entries on cultivated meat. They extensively tour a range of topics including the impact of cultivated meat on humans and animals, the bioprocess of cultivated meat production, how cultivated meat may become a food option in Space and on Mars, and how cultivated meat may impact the economy, culture, and tradition of Asia

    2015 GREAT Day Program

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    SUNY Geneseo’s Ninth Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1009/thumbnail.jp

    2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog

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    2023-2024 undergraduate catalog for Morehead State University
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