In-home and remote use of robotic body surrogates by people with profound motor deficits

By controlling robots comparable to the human body, people with profound motor deficits could potentially perform a variety of physical tasks for themselves, improving their quality of life. The extent to which this is achievable has been unclear due to the lack of suitable interfaces by which to control robotic body surrogates and a dearth of studies involving substantial numbers of people with profound motor deficits. We developed a novel, web-based augmented reality interface that enables people with profound motor deficits to remotely control a PR2 mobile manipulator from Willow Garage, which is a human-scale, wheeled robot with two arms. We then conducted two studies to investigate the use of robotic body surrogates. In the first study, 15 novice users with profound motor deficits from across the United States controlled a PR2 in Atlanta, GA to perform a modified Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and a simulated self-care task. Participants achieved clinically meaningful improvements on the ARAT and 12 of 15 participants (80%) successfully completed the simulated self-care task. Participants agreed that the robotic system was easy to use, was useful, and would provide a meaningful improvement in their lives. In the second study, one expert user with profound motor deficits had free use of a PR2 in his home for seven days. He performed a variety of self-care and household tasks, and also used the robot in novel ways. Taking both studies together, our results suggest that people with profound motor deficits can improve their quality of life using robotic body surrogates, and that they can gain benefit with only low-level robot autonomy and without invasive interfaces. However, methods to reduce the rate of errors and increase operational speed merit further investigation.Comment: 43 Pages, 13 Figure

Novel Cascaded Ultra Bright Pulsed Source of Polarization Entangled Photons

A new ultra bright pulsed source of polarization entangled photons has been realized using type-II phase matching in spontaneous parametric down conversion process in two cascaded crystals. The optical axes of the crystals are aligned in such a way that the extraordinarily (ordinarily) polarized cone from one crystal overlaps with the ordinarily (extraordinarily) polarized cone from the second crystal. This spatial overlapping removes the association between the polarization and the output angle of the photons that exist in a single type-II down conversion process. Hence, entanglement of photons originating from any point on the output cones is possible if a suitable optical delay line is used. This delay line is particularly simple and easy to implement.Comment: 8 pages 8 figure

Biomarker and isotopic trends in a Permian-Triassic sedimentary section at Kap Stosch, Greenland

We report a geochemical study of a composite sedimentary section that captures the Permian-Triassic (PT) transition at Kap Stosch, East Greenland. The samples were from the original paleontological collection of early PT researchers. The rocks, which include samples from four proximal outcrop localities, were deposited during the Late Permian and Early Triassic at the margin of the Boreal Sea with a depositional hiatus and erosional event of unknown duration. Bulk geochemical measurements for most of the samples show good correlation between S2 and TOC% which, combined with low Tmax values, indicate that the organic matter (OM) that formed contemporaneously with sediment deposition is of relatively low maturity. Significant changes through the PT transition include a pronounced switch in the δ13C of TOC from high values near -24% to lower values averaging 32%, that is matched by a significant increase in the hydrogen index (HI) of the kerogen. The Permian samples containing 13C enriched OM also have low Rock-Eval HI values and anomalous pyrograms, indicating that the kerogen is heterogeneous in terms of source and maturity, as confirmed by microscopic analysis of the kerogen concentrates.Samples from the Permian section contain an abundance of black angular fragments of woody tissue in addition to gymnosperm pollen and spinose acritarchs of the Vittatina-Association (Balme, B., 1979. Palynology of Permian-Triassic boundary beds at Kap Stosch. Meddeleleser om Gronland 200, 1-36). In contrast, black woody tissue is rare in samples from the Early Triassic section with well preserved gymnosperm and lycopod pollen and spores of the Protohaploxypinus and Taeniaesporites associations. Biomarkers indicate moderate maturity for Permian samples, with the C27 sterane 20S/(20S + 20R), C31 homohopane 22S/(22S + 22R) ratio and Ts/(Ts + Tm) values all being higher than those for Triassic sediments. The marked switch in maturity indicators across the PT transition suggests an unconformity consistent with palynological observations. The pristane/phytane values are low and the homohopane index values high, indicating that anoxic conditions prevailed throughout deposition of the sediments.Additionally, markers of photic zone euxinia (i.e. isorenieratane, crocetane and 2,3,6-aryl isoprenoids) were present in all samples and all show maximum abundance closest to the PT transition. The C33 n-alkyl cyclohexane, a potential event marker for the onset of the biotic crisis in the Late Permian, was found in samples at, and immediately following, the paleontological PT transition. Despite the distinct change in lithology across the PT transition, the redox and Chlorobi-derived biomarkers indicate that photic zone euxinic conditions prevailed throughout the deposition of the Kap Stosch sedimentary sequence

Rapid offline isotopic characterisation of hydrocarbon gases generated by micro scale sealed vessel pyrolysis

The method of offline coupling of micro scale sealed vessel pyrolysis (MSSV-Py) and gas chromatography-isotopic ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) was developed using a purpose built gas sampling device. The sampling device allows multiple GC and GC-IRMS injections to quantify the molecular composition and isotopic evolution of hydrocarbon gases (n-C1 to n-C5) generated by artificial maturation of sedimentary organic matter. Individual MSSV tubes were introduced into the gas sampling device, which was then evacuated to remove air and filled with helium at atmospheric pressure. The tube was crushed using a plunger after which the device was heated at 120 °C for 1 min to thermally mobilize and equilibrate the generated gas products. Aliquots of the gas phase were sampled using a gas tight syringe and analysed via GC-FID and GC-IRMS. Hydrocarbon gas yields using this technique have been calculated and compared with those obtained previously by online MSSV pyrolysis of the same samples under the same conditions. The major objective of this study was to investigate the potential isotopic fractionation of generated gaseous hydrocarbons within the gas sampling device as a function of time and temperature. For this purpose several tests using a standard gas mixture have been performed on the GC-IRMS. The analyses showed no isotopic fractionation of C1–5 hydrocarbons within 1 hour, minor δ13C enrichment after 5 hours, and significant enrichment after 22 hours for all the compounds at a temperature of 120 °C

The significance of 24-norcholestanes, 4-methylsteranes and dinosteranes in oils and source-rocks from East Sirte Basin (Libya)

The present paper involves a detailed evaluation of specific steroid biomarkers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-metastable reaction monitoring (MRM) analyses of several crude oils and source rocks from the East Sirte Basin. 24-Norcholestanes, dinosteranes, 4a-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes and triaromatic steroids have been identified in both source-rocks and crude oils of the East Sirte Basin. Diatoms, dinoflagellates (including those potentially associated with corals) and/or their direct ancestors are amongst the proposed sources of these biomarkers. These biomarker parameters have been used to establish a Mesozoic oil-source correlation of the East Sirte Basin. Hydropyrolysis of an extant coral extract revealed a similar distribution (although immature) of dinosteranes and 4a-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes also observed in the Sirte oils and source-rocks. This is consistent with the presence of dinoflagellates present during the deposition of the Mesozoic aged East Sirte Basin Formations.A good data correlation for the rock extracts revealed a similar distribution of 3,24-dimethyl triaromatic steroids, 3-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes, 4-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes and 2-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes observed in one of the oil families and associated source-rocks for the East Sirte Basin

Quantum interference with beamlike type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We implement experimentally a method to generate photon-number$-$path and polarization entangled photon pairs using ``beamlike'' type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), in which the signal-idler photon pairs are emitted as two separate circular beams with small emission angles rather than as two diverging cones.Comment: 4 pages, two-colum