Control of a supernumerary robotic hand by foot: an experimental study in virtual reality.

In the operational theater, the surgical team could highly benefit from a robotic supplementary hand under the surgeon's full control. The surgeon may so become more autonomous; this may reduce communication errors with the assistants and take over difficult tasks such as holding tools without tremor. In this paper, we therefore examine the possibility to control a third robotic hand with one foot's movements. Three experiments in virtual reality were designed to assess the feasibility of this control strategy, the learning curve of the subjects in different tasks and the coordination of foot movements with the two natural hands. Results show that the limbs are moved simultaneously, in parallel rather than serially. Participants' performance improved within a few minutes of practice without any specific difficulty to complete the tasks. Subjective assessment by the subjects indicated that controlling a third hand by foot has been easy and required only negligible physical and mental efforts. The sense of ownership was reported to improve through the experiments. The mental burden was not directly related to the level of motion required by a task, but depended on the type of activity and practice. The most difficult task was moving two hands and foot in opposite directions. These results suggest that a combination of practice and appropriate tasks can enhance the learning process for controlling a robotic hand by foot

Ethologic and Economic Examination of Aviary Housing for Commercial Laying Flocks

The result of our work shows that appropriate housing is necessary for intensively kept hens and that the housing has to correspond to the vital needs and the nature of the animals. This is important for two reasons: a) the innate needs of the birds must be satisfied; b) for the proper development of the animal and successful egg production. The housing facilities should allow the following functional cycles without restrictions: Social organization: the structuring of a group or unit of animals. Locomotion: walking, running, fluttering, flying. Feeding behavior: search for food and water, food and water pecking, ground scratching, scraping. Comfort behavior: plumage care, stretching, dust bathing. Resting behavior: standing, sleeping. Sexual behavior: egg laying, nest building behavior. Each one of these functional cycles requires its own area in the hen house. The hen house has to be arranged in order to accommodate the needs of the animals

Ethologic and Economic Examination of Aviary Housing for Commercial Laying Flocks

The authors report that the results of their research indicate that appropriate housing is necessary for intensively kept hens and that the housing has to correspond to the vital needs and natures of the animals

In a demanding task, three-handed manipulation is preferred to two-handed manipulation.

Equipped with a third hand under their direct control, surgeons may be able to perform certain surgical interventions alone; this would reduce the need for a human assistant and related coordination difficulties. However, does human performance improve with three hands compared to two hands? To evaluate this possibility, we carried out a behavioural study on the performance of naive adults catching objects with three virtual hands controlled by their two hands and right foot. The subjects could successfully control the virtual hands in a few trials. With this control strategy, the workspace of the hands was inversely correlated with the task velocity. The comparison of performance between the three and two hands control revealed no significant difference of success in catching falling objects and in average effort during the tasks. Subjects preferred the three handed control strategy, found it easier, with less physical and mental burden. Although the coordination of the foot with the natural hands increased trial after trial, about two minutes of practice was not sufficient to develop a sense of ownership towards the third arm

Scripts people live in the marketplace: an application of script analysis to Confessions of a Shopaholic

This paper shows how Script Analysis can produce new marketing theory by applying it to contemporary shopping behaviour via British novelist Madeleine Wickham’s novel, Confessions of a Shopaholic. We show how Becky Bloomwood, the central character, is a Scripted Shopaholic for whom shopping is the activity around which everything else in her live falls in and out of place. In presenting a Scripted Shopaholic Racket System, we theorise: how shopping is used to structure time and relationships with others; the role of injunctions and attributions and related discounting in fulfilling shopping scripts; and, the possibility of freedom from excessive shopping scripts. We therefore bring together psychoanalysis, literary texts, and shopping theories to generate new insights about why people shop (and often shop too much), and how such behaviours might be transforme