Modellen voor middellange termijnplanning van productie en afzet.

Met deze studie wordt beoogd een bijdrage te leveren aan de kennis omtrent het coördineren van de beslissingen in een organisatie met behulp van planning. Het onderzoek is gericht op de coördinatieproblemen die een gevolg zijn van de relaties tussen de produktie en de afzet.... Zie: Samenvatting

Closed-loop control of a magnetically-Actuated catheter using two-dimensional ultrasound images

Robotically-Actuated catheters are being employed in endovascular interventions for their improved maneuverability and steering precision over conventional catheters. Fluoroscopy is commonly used to guide such medical devices during interventions. Motivated by the limitations and hazards associated with fluoroscopy, this study investigates the use of ultrasound images as a viable alternative for the real-Time visualization of a robotic catheter. In order to validate the proposed approach, an integrated system is developed which employs a two-dimensional ultrasound-based tracking algorithm to detect and track a magnetically-Actuated catheter. By using Euler-Bernoulli beam theory to describe the motion of the catheter and a closed-loop control, the magnetic field steers the robotic catheter in two-dimensional space. Experiments show that the model is able to describe the catheter deflections with a fitting error of R2 = 0.96. Closed-loop steering experiments show a maximum positioning error of 0.46 mm. Our study demonstrates the possibility to accurately steer a magnetic catheter using two-dimensional ultrasound images

Towards MRI-guided flexible needle steering using fiber Bragg grating-based tip tracking

The use of magnetic resonance (MR) images for needle-based interventions offers several advantages over other types of imaging modalities (e.g., high tissue contrast and no radiation). However, MR-guided interventions face challenges related to electromagnetic compatibility of medical devices and real-time tracking of surgical instruments. This work presents a flexible needle steering system that combines an MR-compatible robot and a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)-based needle tip tracker. The MR images are used to localize obstacles and targets, while the FBG sensors provide strain measurements for online estimation of the needle tip position. A pre-operative planner defines the needle entry point and desired path, while a model predictive controller calculates the needle rotation during the insertion. To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first work that fuses MR images and FBG-based tracking to steer a flexible needle in closed-loop inside the MR bore. The system is validated by steering a bevel-tipped flexible needle towards a physical target in gelatin phantoms and biological tissues. The needle reaches the target in all trials with an average targeting error of 2.76 mm. Disregarding the target displacement during the insertion, the average targeting error drops to 1.74 mm. The preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of combining MR images and FBG-based needle tip tracking to steer a flexible needle in clinical procedures. In order to move towards to a clinically-relevant application, the design of a flexible Nitinol biopsy needle is also presented and evaluated by experiments in a prostate of a bull. The flexible needle presented a curvature 2.5 times larger than a conventional biopsy needle while maintaining the ability to collect tissue samples