Automated design analysis, assembly planning and motion study analysis using immersive virtual reality

Previous research work at Heriot-Watt University using immersive virtual reality (VR) for cable harness design showed that VR provided substantial productivity gains over traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems. This follow-on work was aimed at understanding the degree to which aspects of this technology were contributed to these benefits and to determine if engineering design and planning processes could be analysed in detail by nonintrusively monitoring and logging engineering tasks. This involved using a CAD-equivalent VR system for cable harness routing design, harness assembly and installation planning that can be functionally evaluated using a set of creative design-tasks to measure the system and users' performance. A novel design task categorisation scheme was created and formalised which broke down the cable harness design process and associated activities. The system was also used to demonstrate the automatic generation of usable bulkhead connector, cable harness assembly and cable harness installation plans from non-intrusive user logging. Finally, the data generated from the user-logging allowed the automated activity categorisation of the user actions, automated generation of process flow diagrams and chronocyclegraphs

Le drainage pelvien après adénometomie prostatique transvésicale reste-il indispensable?

RésuméObjectifLa chirurgie ouverte garde encore sa place dans la prise en charge de l’hyperplasie bénigne de la prostate (HBP). Nous rapportons notre expérience préliminaire d’adénomectomie par voie haute sans drainage sous péritonéal.Patients et méthodesNous avons évalué de façon prospective 100 adénomectomies consécutives pour (HBP), effectuées par voie haute entre juin 2007 et juillet 2009. L’énucléation de l’adénome était faite par voie transvésicale. Chez les 50 premiers patients (groupe 1), un drain de Redon aspiratif a été placé en sous péritonéal. Chez les 50 suivants (groupe 2), après une épreuve d’étanchéité, aucun drain n’a été mis en place.RésultatsLes deux groupes avaient un âge moyen et un volume prostatique comparables. Le séjour hospitalier était supérieur d’un jour dans le premier groupe. Le taux global de complications postopératoires était identique dans les deux groupes (10%).ConclusionL’absence de drainage sous péritonéal après adénomectomie de la prostate ne s’accompagne pas de plus de complications que dans la technique classique avec drainage. Un gain en jours d’hospitalisation peut au contraire s’en suivre.AbstractObjectivesOpen surgery still has its place in the management of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). We present our preliminary experience with drain-free suprapubic prostatectomy.Patients and MethodsWe assessed prospectively 100 consecutive prostatectomies for BPH, performed by the transvesical suprapubic approach between June 2007 and July 2009. Adenoma enucleation was performed via sagittal incision of the bladder. In the first 50 patients (group 1), aspirative Redon drains were placed in the retroperitoneum. In the following 50 patients(group 2), after testing for water-tightness, no drains were placed.ResultsThe two groups were matched for age and prostate size. Average hospitalization was one day longer in group 1. Overall complication rates were identical in the two groups (10%).Conclusiondrain-free simple transvesical suprapubic prostatectomy is not associated with more complications than the classic procedure with a drain in the pelvis. It may actually allow for a shorter hospital stay

Semantic-based policy engineering for autonomic systems

This paper presents some important directions in the use of ontology-based semantics in achieving the vision of Autonomic Communications. We examine the requirements of Autonomic Communication with a focus on the demanding needs of ubiquitous computing environments, with an emphasis on the requirements shared with Autonomic Computing. We observe that ontologies provide a strong mechanism for addressing the heterogeneity in user task requirements, managed resources, services and context. We then present two complimentary approaches that exploit ontology-based knowledge in support of autonomic communications: service-oriented models for policy engineering and dynamic semantic queries using content-based networks. The paper concludes with a discussion of the major research challenges such approaches raise

Correlation of mixed lymphocyte culture with chronic graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic stem cell transplantation

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the mixed lymphocyte culture as a predictive assay of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We studied 153 patients who received a first bone marrow transplantation from human leukocyte antigen-identical siblings. Acute GVHD was observed in 26 of 128 (20.3%) patients evaluated and chronic GVHD occurred in 60 of 114 (52.6%). One-way mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) assays were performed by the standard method. MLC results are reported as the relative response (RR) from donor against patient cells. The responses ranged from -47.0 to 40.7%, with a median of 0.5%. The Kaplan-Meier probability of developing GVHD was determined for patients with positive and negative MLC. There was no significant difference in incidence of acute GVHD between the groups studied. However, the incidence of chronic GVHD was higher in recipients with RR >4.5% than in those with RR 4.5%), 2.9 for those who received peripheral blood progenitor cells as a graft, and 2.2 for patients who developed previous acute GVHD. MLC was not useful for predicting acute GVHD, but MLC with RR >4.5% associated with other risk factors could predict the development of chronic GVHD, being of help for the prevention and/or treatment of this late complication.56757