Aerial Robotics for Inspection and Maintenance

Aerial robots with perception, navigation, and manipulation capabilities are extending the range of applications of drones, allowing the integration of different sensor devices and robotic manipulators to perform inspection and maintenance operations on infrastructures such as power lines, bridges, viaducts, or walls, involving typically physical interactions on flight. New research and technological challenges arise from applications demanding the benefits of aerial robots, particularly in outdoor environments. This book collects eleven papers from different research groups from Spain, Croatia, Italy, Japan, the USA, the Netherlands, and Denmark, focused on the design, development, and experimental validation of methods and technologies for inspection and maintenance using aerial robots

Augmented reality for computer assisted orthopaedic surgery

In recent years, computer-assistance and robotics have established their presence in operating theatres and found success in orthopaedic procedures. Benefits of computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) have been thoroughly explored in research, finding improvements in clinical outcomes, through increased control and precision over surgical actions. However, human-computer interaction in CAOS remains an evolving field, through emerging display technologies including augmented reality (AR) – a fused view of the real environment with virtual, computer-generated holograms. Interactions between clinicians and patient-specific data generated during CAOS are limited to basic 2D interactions on touchscreen monitors, potentially creating clutter and cognitive challenges in surgery. Work described in this thesis sought to explore the benefits of AR in CAOS through: an integration between commercially available AR and CAOS systems, creating a novel AR-centric surgical workflow to support various tasks of computer-assisted knee arthroplasty, and three pre–clinical studies exploring the impact of the new AR workflow on both existing and newly proposed quantitative and qualitative performance metrics. Early research focused on cloning the (2D) user-interface of an existing CAOS system onto a virtual AR screen and investigating any resulting impacts on usability and performance. An infrared-based registration system is also presented, describing a protocol for calibrating commercial AR headsets with optical trackers, calculating a spatial transformation between surgical and holographic coordinate frames. The main contribution of this thesis is a novel AR workflow designed to support computer-assisted patellofemoral arthroplasty. The reported workflow provided 3D in-situ holographic guidance for CAOS tasks including patient registration, pre-operative planning, and assisted-cutting. Pre-clinical experimental validation on a commercial system (NAVIO®, Smith & Nephew) for these contributions demonstrates encouraging early-stage results showing successful deployment of AR to CAOS systems, and promising indications that AR can enhance the clinician’s interactions in the future. The thesis concludes with a summary of achievements, corresponding limitations and future research opportunities.Open Acces

Advances in Minimally Invasive Surgery

The minimally invasive approach in medicine is one of the most common areas of interest in surgery.Advances in Minimally Invasive Surgery describes the latest trends, indications, techniques, and approaches in minimally invasive surgery. It provides step-by-step instructions for both routine and diagnostic procedures via illustrations and video collection

Futures of the Study of Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Global Challenges

How can we approach possible but unknown futures of the study of culture? This volume explores this question in the context of a changing global world. The contributions in this volume discuss the necessity of significant shifts in our conceptual and epistemological frameworks. Taking into account changing institutional research settings, the authors develop pathways to future cultural research, addressing the crucial concerns of the cultural and social worlds themselves. The contributions thereby utilize contact zones within a wide range of disciplines such as cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural history, literary studies, the history of science and bioethics as well as the environmental and medical humanities. Examining emerging inter- and transdisciplinary points of reference, the volume invites scholars in the humanities and social sciences to take part in a conversation about theories, methods, and practices for the future study of culture

Full Proceedings, 2018

Full conference proceedings for the 2018 International Building Physics Association Conference hosted at Syracuse University

Futures of the Study of Culture

By exploring possible futures of the study of culture, this volume goes beyond the potentials and challenges of recent and emerging topics, theories, and methods. It unfolds interdisciplinary and international research perspectives in the context of a changing global world. The contributions utilize contact zones between disciplines to open up new directions in the study of culture, addressing crucial issues in contemporary public discourse

Modelling and optimising pretransplant kidney storage

When compared to static cold storage (SCS), the hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) of pretransplant kidneys confers a therapeutic effect to transplant recipients. The mechanisms conferring this benefit are not fully understood, however are thought to include a metabolic component. The first experiments in this thesis demonstrated that metabolic differences exist between HMP and SCS stored kidneys. If properly optimised, HMP potentiates further gains for transplant recipients. However, the low throughput of organ storage research reduces the rate new HMP protocols are assessed. Therefore, a novel in vitro model of organ preservation was created. This model permits high-throughput control of fluid shear stress and oxygenation, and both of these environmental stimuli were found to be independent mediators of cellular survival after simulated preservation. Additionally, oxygen supplementation modulated de novo metabolism in hypothermicly stored proximal tubule cells. When trialled in whole organ models of HMP, high-dose perfusate oxygenation led to increased cortical concentrations of adenosine triphosphate, and also increased the concentrations of citric acid cycle metabolites produced de novo. The final chapters of this thesis chart an international collaborative effort to probe the minimal oxygen delivery strategy capable of inducing ex vivo benefit, followed by in vivo validation using animal auto-transplantation models