Axel: A Minimalist Tethered Rover for Exploration of Extreme Planetary Terrains

Recent scientific findings suggest that some of the most interesting sites for future exploration of planetary surfaces lie in terrains that are currently inaccessible to conventional robotic rovers. To provide robust and flexible access to these terrains, we have been developing Axel, the robotic rover. Axel is a lightweight two-wheeled vehicle that can access steep terrains and negotiate relatively large obstacles because of its actively managed tether and novel wheel design. This article reviews the Axel system and focuses on those system components that affect Axel's steep terrain mobility. Experimental demonstrations of Axel on sloped and rocky terrains are presented

Computer Application for Maintenance Planning and Scheduling of Industrial Plant

Plant maintenance involves all activities carried out on a machine to ensure a zero downtime of operation. Maintenance activities vary from one industry to the other but the basic maintenance activities are mainly to ensure continuous operations of equipment, plant and machineries. Over the past few decades, the various industrial work activities and maintenance operations are performed without a concrete plan (schedule) or are performed via manual paper work. Industrial operations are usually complex and recurrent activities. Analysis has shown that lack or insufficient maintenance coordination, has accounted for the poor performances and inefficiencies of many industries. Thus, it is pertinent to deduce a planned maintenance organizer or a computer aided design for the planning and scheduling of industrial work activities. This becomes important as computer has revolutionalized industrial activities with the development of modern high level computer programming languages such as visual basic by Microsoft among others

An Application of Finite Element Analysis to Wood Drying

Because of the nonhomogeneous and nonlinear properties of wood, exact solutions for heat and mass transfer are difficult to obtain by current methods of analysis. This work presents a numerical solution for the analysis of drying wood using the finite element method. A nonlinear model was established on a two-dimensional finite element grid structure that considers local density variation. Through the finite element method of analysis of unsteady-state heat and moisture transfer in wood, the dynamic profiles of temperature and moisture content were determined at a series of drying times. The resulting numerical solutions match well with experimental results and with published results. The results will help to extend understanding of wood-water and temperature relations. In future studies, these data can be incorporated into drying stress analysis to analyze checking or warping

Slotted Printed Monopole UWB Antennas with Tuneable Rejection Bands for WLAN/WiMAX and X-Band Coexistence

YesFour versions of the compact hexagonal-shaped monopole printed antennas for UWB applications are presented. The first proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth of 127.48 % (3.1 GHz to 14 GHz), which satisfies the bandwidth for ultra-wideband communication systems. To reduce the foreseen co-channel interference with WLAN (5.2GHz) and X-Band systems (10GHz), the second and third antennas type were generated by embedding hexagonal slot on the top of the radiating patch. The integration of the half and full hexagonal slots created notched bands that potentially filtered out the sources of interference, but were static in nature. Therefore, a fourth antenna type with tuneable-notched bands was designed by adding a varactor diode at an appropriate location within the slot. The fourth antenna type is a dual-notch that was electronically and simultaneously tuned from 3.2GHz to 5.1GHz and from 7.25GHz up to 9.9GHz by varying the bias voltages across the varactor. The prototypes of the four antenna versions were successfully fabricated and tested. The measured results have good agreement with the simulated results.This work is carried out under the grant of the Fundacão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT - Portugal), with the reference number: SFRH / BPD / 95110 / 201

ASSESSMENT OF SCARCITY OF WOODWORK ARTISAN IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Woodwork artisanal scarcity is at an alarming rate in Nigeria and in Kwara state in particular. The reason being that most of the available woodwork artisans lack adequate skills demanded quality Building Construction. Generally, the issue of woodwork artisanal scarcity is not a current one as it dates as far back as the two World Wars. This study is on the causes of the observed scarcity of woodwork artisans in Nigeria and Kwara state in particular. The objectives of the study were to identify the factors increasing woodwork artisanal scarcity in Kwara state, its effect on Kwara state economy and the possible remedies. The study employed the use of descriptive survey design which involves the use of a structured questionnaire to collect data from 25 contractors and 35 woodwork artisans in carpentry and joinery. There was no sampling because the population is manageable, hence, the entire population was used. Mean ratings were used to answer research questions. The findings show that major factors causing the scarcity of woodwork artisans include; fluctuating payment, low remuneration, low motivation, lack of interest to take-up woodwork trade by youth, technological advancements in tools, equipment and working process. It also identified the effects of scarcity of woodwork artisan on Kwara state economy. Based on the finding of the study, it was recommended that the Carpentry and Joinery Union of Kwara state should encourage the welfare of its members in order to improve the issues raised by this study

The prevalence and distribution of the amyloidogenic transthyretin (TTR) V122I allele in Africa

Transthyretin (TTR) pV142I (rs76992529-A) is one of the 113 variants in the human TTR gene associated with systemic amyloidosis. It results from a G to A transition at a CG dinucleotide in the codon for amino acid 122 of the mature protein (TTR V122I). The allele frequency is 0.0173 in African Americans

Adrenal lesions found incidentally: how to improve clinical and cost-effectiveness

Introduction Adrenal incidentalomas are lesions that are incidentally identified while scanning for other conditions. While most are benign and hormonally non-functional, around 20% are malignant and/or hormonally active, requiring prompt intervention. Malignant lesions can be aggressive and life-threatening, while hormonally active tumours cause various endocrine disorders, with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite this, management of patients with adrenal incidentalomas is variable, with no robust evidence base. This project aimed to establish more effective and timely management of these patients. Methods We developed a web-based, electronic Adrenal Incidentaloma Management System (eAIMS), which incorporated the evidence-based and National Health Service–aligned 2016 European guidelines. The system captures key clinical, biochemical and radiological information necessary for adrenal incidentaloma patient management and generates a pre-populated outcome letter, saving clinical and administrative time while ensuring timely management plans with enhanced safety. Furthermore, we developed a prioritisation strategy, with members of the multidisciplinary team, which prioritised high-risk individuals for detailed discussion and management. Patient focus groups informed process-mapping and multidisciplinary team process re-design and patient information leaflet development. The project was partnered by University Hospital of South Manchester to maximise generalisability. Results Implementation of eAIMS, along with improvements in the prioritisation strategy, resulted in a 49% reduction in staff hands-on time, as well as a 78% reduction in the time from adrenal incidentaloma identification to multidisciplinary team decision. A health economic analysis identified a 28% reduction in costs. Conclusions The system’s in-built data validation and the automatic generation of the multidisciplinary team outcome letter improved patient safety through a reduction in transcription errors. We are currently developing the next stage of the programme to proactively identify all new adrenal incidentaloma cases

Charged Nanoparticles Quench the Propulsion of Active Janus Colloids

Active colloidal particles regularly interact with surfaces in applications ranging from microfluidics to sensing. Recent work has revealed the complex nature of these surface interactions for active particles. Herein, we summarize experiments and simulations that show the impact of charged nanoparticles on the propulsion of an active colloid near a boundary. Adding charged nanoparticles not only decreased the average separation distance of a passive colloid because of depletion attraction as expected but also decreased the apparent propulsion of a Janus colloid to near zero. Complementary agentbased simulations considering the impact of hydrodynamics for active Janus colloids were conducted in the range of separation distances inferred from experiment. These simulations showed that propulsion speed decreased monotonically with decreasing average separation distance. Although the trend found in experiments and simulations was in qualitative agreement, there was still a significant difference in the magnitude of speed reduction. The quantitative difference was attributed to the influence of charged nanoparticles on the conductivity of the active particle suspension. Follow-up experiments delineating the impact of depletion and conductivity showed that both contribute to the reduction of speed for an active Janus particle. The experimental and simulated data suggests that it is necessary to consider the synergistic effects between various mechanisms influencing interactions experienced by an active particle near a boundary

Axel Robotic Platform for Crater and Extreme Terrain Exploration

To be able to conduct science investigations on highly sloped and challenging terrains, it is necessary to deploy science payloads to such locations and collect and process in situ samples. A tethered robotic platform has been developed that is capable of exploring very challenging terrain. The Axel rover is a symmetrical rover that is minimally actuated, can traverse arbitrary paths, and operate upside-down or right-side up. It can be deployed from a larger platform (rover, lander, or aerobot) or from a dual Axel configuration. Axel carries and manages its own tether, reducing damage to the tether during operations. Fundamentally, Axel is a two-wheeled rover with a symmetric body and a trailing link. Because the primary goal is minimal complexity, this version of the Axel rover uses only four primary actuators to control its wheels, tether, and a trailing link. A fifth actuator is used for level winding of tether onto Axel s spool