An Intervening Ethical Governor for a Robot Mediator in Patient-Caregiver Relationships

© Springer International Publishing AG 2015DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-46667-5_6Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) experience challenges when interacting with caregivers due to their declining control over their musculature. To remedy those challenges, a robot mediator can be used to assist in the relationship between PD patients and their caregivers. In this context, a variety of ethical issues can arise. To overcome one issue in particular, providing therapeutic robots with a robot architecture that can ensure patients’ and caregivers’ dignity is of potential value. In this paper, we describe an intervening ethical governor for a robot that enables it to ethically intervene, both to maintain effective patient–caregiver relationships and prevent the loss of dignity

Inverse modeling of the global methyl chloride sources

Inverse modeling using the Bayesian least squares method is applied to better constrain the sources and sinks of atmospheric methyl chloride (CH3Cl) using observations from seven surface stations and eight aircraft field experiments. We use a three-dimensional global chemical transport model, the GEOS-Chem, as the forward model. Up to 39 parameters describing the continental/hemispheric and seasonal dependence of the major sources of CH3Cl are used in the inversion. We find that the available surface and aircraft observations cannot constrain all the parameters, resulting in relatively large uncertainties in the inversion results. By examining the degrees of freedom in the inversion Jacobian matrix, we choose a reduced set of parameters that can be constrained by the observations while providing valuable information on the sources and sinks. In particular, we resolve the seasonal dependence of the biogenic and biomass-burning sources for each hemisphere. The in situ aircraft measurements are found to provide better constraints on the emission sources than surface measurements. The a posteriori emissions result in better agreement with the observations, particularly at southern high latitudes. The a posteriori biogenic and biomass-burning sources decrease by 13 and 11% to 2500 and 545 Gg yr-1, respectively, while the a posteriori net ocean source increases by about a factor of 2 to 761 Gg yr-1. The decrease in biomass-burning emissions is largely due to the reduction in the emissions in seasons other than spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The inversion results indicate that the biogenic source has a clear winter minimum in both hemispheres, likely reflecting the decrease of biogenic activity during that season. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union

Identifying policy frames through semantic network analysis : an examination of nuclear energy policy across six countries

This study uses semantic network analysis to investigate nuclear energy policy frames in six countries: USA, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and South Korea. It is suggested that semantic network analysis represents a useful tool to investigate policy frames in complex policy environments. The discourse of top-level decision-makers is analyzed to highlight similarities and differences in policy frames and to identify the key policy arguments in the integrated network of all six countries. In total, 14 major policy arguments are identified, which relate to the three major frames of energy security, clean energy, and nuclear safety, along with the meta-issue of economic growth. There are differences in the degree of emphasis on each of the frames in the six countries, and Germany can be seen to have diverged the most following the Fukushima accident, as the emphasis is on clean energy, to the exclusion of the other frames. In contrast, both the USA and Japan have framed the issues primarily in terms of nuclear safety and energy security, while the UK and France have stressed the economic growth frame, and Korea has prioritized nuclear safety

BIM-based mixed-reality application for bridge inspection and maintenance

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a BIM-based mixed reality (MR) application to enhance and facilitate the process of managing bridge inspection and maintenance works remotely from office. It aims to address the ineffective decision-making process on maintenance tasks from the conventional method which relies on documents and 2D drawings on visual inspection. This study targets two key issues: creating a BIM-based model for bridge inspection and maintenance; and developing this model in a MR platform based on Microsoft Hololens. Design/methodology/approach – Literature review is conducted to determine the limitation of MR technology in the construction industry and identify the gaps of integration of BIM and MR for bridge inspection works. A new framework for a greater adoption of integrated BIM and Hololens is proposed. It consists of a bridge information model for inspection and a newly-developed Hololens application named “HoloBridge”. This application contains the functional modules that allow users to check and update the progress of inspection and maintenance. The application has been implemented for an existing bridge in South Korea as the case study. Findings – The results from pilot implementation show that the inspection information management can be enhanced because the inspection database can be systematically captured, stored and managed through BIM-based models. The inspection information in MR environment has been improved in interpretation, visualization and visual interpretation of 3D models because of intuitively interactive in real-time simulation. Originality/value – The proposed framework through “HoloBridge” application explores the potential of integrating BIM and MR technology by using Hololens. It provides new possibilities for remote inspection of bridge conditions

The Trials and Tribulations of Structure Assisted Design of KCa Channel Activators.

Calcium-activated K+ channels constitute attractive targets for the treatment of neurological and cardiovascular diseases. To explain why certain 2-aminobenzothiazole/oxazole-type KCa activators (SKAs) are KCa3.1 selective we previously generated homology models of the C-terminal calmodulin-binding domain (CaM-BD) of KCa3.1 and KCa2.3 in complex with CaM using Rosetta modeling software. We here attempted to employ this atomistic level understanding of KCa activator binding to switch selectivity around and design KCa2.2 selective activators as potential anticonvulsants. In this structure-based drug design approach we used RosettaLigand docking and carefully compared the binding poses of various SKA compounds in the KCa2.2 and KCa3.1 CaM-BD/CaM interface pocket. Based on differences between residues in the KCa2.2 and KCa.3.1 models we virtually designed 168 new SKA compounds. The compounds that were predicted to be both potent and KCa2.2 selective were synthesized, and their activity and selectivity tested by manual or automated electrophysiology. However, we failed to identify any KCa2.2 selective compounds. Based on the full-length KCa3.1 structure it was recently demonstrated that the C-terminal crystal dimer was an artefact and suggested that the "real" binding pocket for the KCa activators is located at the S4-S5 linker. We here confirmed this structural hypothesis through mutagenesis and now offer a new, corrected binding site model for the SKA-type KCa channel activators. SKA-111 (5-methylnaphtho[1,2-d]thiazol-2-amine) is binding in the interface between the CaM N-lobe and the S4-S5 linker where it makes van der Waals contacts with S181 and L185 in the S45A helix of KCa3.1