Design sensitive model reference controller with application to medical technology

The past two decades have seen the incorporation of robotics into medical applications. From a manufacturing perspective, robots have been used in pharmaceuticals, preparing medications. But on more novel levels, robots have been used in service roles, surgery, and prosthetics. The capability of high-precision operation in manufacturing settings gave the medical industry high hopes that robots could be used to assist in surgery. Not only are robots capable of much higher precision than a human, they are not susceptible to human factors, such as trembling and sneezing, that are undesirable in the surgery room. Another advantage to robots in medicine is the ability to perform surgery with very small incisions, which results in minimal scar tissue, and dramatically reduced recovery times. The popularity of these minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedures has enabled the incorporation of robots in surgeries. In this paper, model reference computed torque controller is recommended for four degrees of freedom serial links robot manipulator, which modeled in SIMSCAPE. To design stable controller conventional computed torque controller is recommended. It is a nonlinear, stable, and reliable controller. The proposed approach effectively combines of design methods from nonlinear controller, and linear Proportional-Derivative (PD) control to improve the performance and stability. This paper has two important objectives: a) study on modeling of 4 degrees of freedom (DOF) based on Simscape software and b) design PD model reference computed torque controller to improve the sensitivity of surgical robot manipulator

An observational prospective study of topical acidified nitrite for killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in contaminated wounds

Background Endogenous nitric oxide (NO) kills bacteria and other organisms as part of the innate immune response. When nitrite is exposed to low pH, NO is generated and has been used as an NO delivery system to treat skin infections. We demonstrated eradication of MRSA carriage from wounds using a topical formulation of citric acid (4.5%) and sodium nitrite (3%) creams co-applied for 5 days to 15 wounds in an observational prospective pilot study of 8 patients. Findings Following treatment with topical citric acid and sodium nitrite, 9 of 15 wounds (60%) and 3 of 8 patients (37%) were cleared of infection. MRSA isolates from these patients were all sensitive to acidified nitrite in vitro compared to methicillin-sensitive S. aureus and a reference strain of MRSA. Conclusions Nitric oxide and acidified nitrite offer a novel therapy for control of MRSA in wounds. Wounds that were not cleared of infection may have been re-contaminated or the bioavailability of acidified nitrite impaired by local factors in the tissue

Deep Learning for Detection and Localization of B-Lines in Lung Ultrasound

Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an important imaging modality used by emergency physicians to assess pulmonary congestion at the patient bedside. B-line artifacts in LUS videos are key findings associated with pulmonary congestion. Not only can the interpretation of LUS be challenging for novice operators, but visual quantification of B-lines remains subject to observer variability. In this work, we investigate the strengths and weaknesses of multiple deep learning approaches for automated B-line detection and localization in LUS videos. We curate and publish, BEDLUS, a new ultrasound dataset comprising 1,419 videos from 113 patients with a total of 15,755 expert-annotated B-lines. Based on this dataset, we present a benchmark of established deep learning methods applied to the task of B-line detection. To pave the way for interpretable quantification of B-lines, we propose a novel "single-point" approach to B-line localization using only the point of origin. Our results show that (a) the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve ranges from 0.864 to 0.955 for the benchmarked detection methods, (b) within this range, the best performance is achieved by models that leverage multiple successive frames as input, and (c) the proposed single-point approach for B-line localization reaches an F1-score of 0.65, performing on par with the inter-observer agreement. The dataset and developed methods can facilitate further biomedical research on automated interpretation of lung ultrasound with the potential to expand the clinical utility.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

International audienc

Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

People's subjective response to any thermal environment is commonly investigated by using rating scales describing the degree of thermal sensation, comfort, and acceptability. Subsequent analyses of results collected in this way rely on the assumption that specific distances between verbal anchors placed on the scale exist and that relationships between verbal anchors from different dimensions that are assessed (e.g. thermal sensation and comfort) do not change. Another inherent assumption is that such scales are independent of the context in which they are used (climate zone, season, etc.). Despite their use worldwide, there is indication that contextual differences influence the way the scales are perceived and therefore question the reliability of the scales’ interpretation. To address this issue, a large international collaborative questionnaire study was conducted in 26 countries, using 21 different languages, which led to a dataset of 8225 questionnaires. Results, analysed by means of robust statistical techniques, revealed that only a subset of the responses are in accordance with the mentioned assumptions. Significant differences appeared between groups of participants in their perception of the scales, both in relation to distances of the anchors and relationships between scales. It was also found that respondents’ interpretations of scales changed with contextual factors, such as climate, season, and language. These findings highlight the need to carefully consider context-dependent factors in interpreting and reporting results from thermal comfort studies or post-occupancy evaluations, as well as to revisit the use of rating scales and the analysis methods used in thermal comfort studies to improve their reliability

The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales

Thermal discomfort is one of the main triggers for occupants' interactions with components of the built environment such as adjustments of thermostats and/or opening windows and strongly related to the energy use in buildings. Understanding causes for thermal (dis-)comfort is crucial for design and operation of any type of building. The assessment of human thermal perception through rating scales, for example in post-occupancy studies, has been applied for several decades; however, long-existing assumptions related to these rating scales had been questioned by several researchers. The aim of this study was to gain deeper knowledge on contextual influences on the interpretation of thermal perception scales and their verbal anchors by survey participants. A questionnaire was designed and consequently applied in 21 language versions. These surveys were conducted in 57 cities in 30 countries resulting in a dataset containing responses from 8225 participants. The database offers potential for further analysis in the areas of building design and operation, psycho-physical relationships between human perception and the built environment, and linguistic analyses

The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales

Thermal discomfort is one of the main triggers for occupants’ interactions with components of the built environment such as adjustments of thermostats and/or opening windows and strongly related to the energy use in buildings. Understanding causes for thermal (dis-)comfort is crucial for design and operation of any type of building. The assessment of human thermal perception through rating scales, for example in post-occupancy studies, has been applied for several decades; however, long-existing assumptions related to these rating scales had been questioned by several researchers. The aim of this study was to gain deeper knowledge on contextual influences on the interpretation of thermal perception scales and their verbal anchors by survey participants. A questionnaire was designed and consequently applied in 21 language versions. These surveys were conducted in 57 cities in 30 countries resulting in a dataset containing responses from 8225 participants. The database offers potential for further analysis in the areas of building design and operation, psycho-physical relationships between human perception and the built environment, and linguistic analyses

Cold Tolerance and Antioxidant Response of Poa Pratensis and Paspalum vaginatum

A limiting factor for prodution of turf grasses in temperate regions is their low level of cold tolerance. In order to elucidate the cold tolerance, physiological and biochemical responses of two turf species, this study was conducted at a controlled environment greenhouse of Faculty of Agriculture in Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran by a factorial experiment in completely randomized design with three replicates. Factors consisted of two turf species including Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) and four temperatures: 25, 15, 5 and -5 °C. Data analysis revealed that decreased temperature resulted in significant increases in proline, soluble sugars contents and activity of peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase enzymes, although seashore paspalum indicated a significant drop in antioxidant enzymes activity at cold stress of -5 °C. Furthermore, decreased temperature brought about a significant decline in visual quality, chlorophyll, starch and relative water content. Seashore paspalum exhibited a greater deterioration in visual quality, chlorophyll and relative water content at -5 °C compared to Kentucky bluegrass. The results showed that Kentucky bluegrass withstood cold stress with a better and more efficient defensive mechanism in comparison with seashore paspalum, thus it is considered more tolerant to cold stress and could, potentially, be used in temperate regions

Comfort temperature and preferred adaptive behaviour in various classroom types in the UK higher learning environments

Maintaining the thermal comfort of occupants along with minimising the related energy consumption is necessary in educational buildings in the UK. Thermal comfort is particularly important in this context as it affects how well students learn in the classroom. This study aims to identify comfort temperature ranges in different classroom types, lecture rooms, studios and PC labs in UK higher learning environments. Overall, more than 3,000 university students in Coventry and Edinburgh were observed and surveyed simultaneously with the monitoring of environmental measurements under free-running, cooling and heating modes, in October and November 2017 and January to March 2018. Thermal comfort zones and comfort temperatures were identified in each classroom type under these three operation modes. The thermal comfort zone was shown to be significantly dependant on the operative temperature in the studios and PC labs. In terms of the students’ priorities for adaptive behaviour inside the classrooms, students in the lecture rooms and PC labs with lower levels of freedom, preferred to restore their thermal comfort through personal adaptive behaviour. However, environmental behaviour was shown to be preferred in the studios where the occupants have a greater freedom level. Results indicate a higher level of physiological and psychological thermal adaptation for the occupants of the studios and PC labs compared to those in the lecture rooms. Consequently, the type of classroom and the students’ freedom levels should be considered in environmental design of higher education buildings