PoinTap system: a human-robot interface to enable remotely controlled tasks

In the last decades, industrial manipulators have been used to speed up the production process and also to perform tasks that may put humans at risk. Typical interfaces employed to teleoperate the robot are not so intuitive to use. In fact, it takes longer to learn and properly control a robot whose interface is not easy to use, and it may also increase the operator’s stress and mental workload. In this paper, a touchscreen interface for supervised assembly tasks is proposed, using an LCD screen and a hand-tracking sensor. The aim is to provide an intuitive remote controlled system that enables a flexible execution of assembly tasks: high level decisions are entrusted to the human operator while the robot executes pick-and-place operations. A demonstrative industrial case study showcases the system potentiality: it was first tested in simulation, and then experimentally validated using a real robot, in a laboratory environment

The Stromboli geophysical experiment. Preliminary report on wide angle refraction seismics and morphobathymetry of Stromboli island (Southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy)based on integrated offshore-onshore data acquisition (cruise STRO-06 R/V Urania)

The Stromboli geophysical experiment, performed to acquire onshore and offshore seismic data through a combined on-land and marine network, was finalized to reconstruct the seismic tomography of the volcano and to investigate the deep structures and the location of magma chambers. A detailed swath bathymetry around the volcano has also been acquired by the R/V Urania Multibeam. In particular, high resolution bathymetry of the ’Sciara del Fuoco’ area allows to image the present-day seafloor setting of the area involved by the submarine slide of 2002-12-30. During the experiment wide angle refraction seismics was performed all around the Stromboli volcano by a 4 GI-GUN tuned array. The data were recorded by the permanent seismic network of the INGV and 20 temporary stations and 10 OBS deployed on the SE, SW and NE submerged flanks of the volcano after detailed morpho-bathymetric analysis

Real-life comparison of nilotinib versus dasatinib as second-line therapy in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), the backbone of treatment for chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients (CP-CML), have changed the long-term outcome of the disease. Nonetheless, over 20% of patients fail front-line therapy due to intolerance or resistance. A head-to-head comparison of dasatinib and nilotinib as second-line treatment outside of sponsored clinical trials has not been reported. We retrospectively analyzed 131 CP-CML patients who, after front-line imatinib failure, switched to a second-line therapy with nilotinib (59, 45%) or dasatinib (72, 55%). Median duration of second-line treatment was 33 months (range 2-100). The reason for switching therapy was resistance in 83.2% and intolerance in 16.8% of patients. The overall survival of the entire cohort at 7 years was 78.9%, while it was 72% and 85.6% for patients treated with dasatinib and nilotinib, respectively (p=0.287). With regard to efficacy after 12 months of treatment, 108 patients were evaluable for molecular response: 47% achieved a major molecular response and 18.2% a deep molecular response with dasatinib, compared to 38% and 16.2% with nilotinib (p=ns). We observed 35% of grade 3-4 adverse events, more frequently in the dasatinib group (47%) compared to the nilotinib group (22%), without affecting molecular responses. Our study suggests that, in the real-life setting, dasatinib and nilotinib used as second-line treatment in CP-CML are equally effective, with high molecular response rates and an acceptable tolerability