Rackham: An Interactive Robot-Guide

International audienceRackham is an interactive robot-guide that has been used in several places and exhibitions. This paper presents its design and reports on results that have been obtained after its deployment in a permanent exhibition. The project is conducted so as to incrementally enhance the robot functional and decisional capabilities based on the observation of the interaction between the public and the robot. Besides robustness and efficiency in the robot navigation abilities in a dynamic environment, our focus was to develop and test a methodology to integrate human-robot interaction abilities in a systematic way. We first present the robot and some of its key design issues. Then, we discuss a number of lessons that we have drawn from its use in interaction with the public and how that will serve to refine our design choices and to enhance robot efficiency and acceptability

Traumatic brain injury: integrated approaches to improve prevention, clinical care, and research

No abstract available

Variation in Structure and Process of Care in Traumatic Brain Injury: Provider Profiles of European Neurotrauma Centers Participating in the CENTER-TBI Study.

INTRODUCTION: The strength of evidence underpinning care and treatment recommendations in traumatic brain injury (TBI) is low. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has been proposed as a framework to provide evidence for optimal care for TBI patients. The first step in CER is to map the existing variation. The aim of current study is to quantify variation in general structural and process characteristics among centers participating in the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study. METHODS: We designed a set of 11 provider profiling questionnaires with 321 questions about various aspects of TBI care, chosen based on literature and expert opinion. After pilot testing, questionnaires were disseminated to 71 centers from 20 countries participating in the CENTER-TBI study. Reliability of questionnaires was estimated by calculating a concordance rate among 5% duplicate questions. RESULTS: All 71 centers completed the questionnaires. Median concordance rate among duplicate questions was 0.85. The majority of centers were academic hospitals (n = 65, 92%), designated as a level I trauma center (n = 48, 68%) and situated in an urban location (n = 70, 99%). The availability of facilities for neuro-trauma care varied across centers; e.g. 40 (57%) had a dedicated neuro-intensive care unit (ICU), 36 (51%) had an in-hospital rehabilitation unit and the organization of the ICU was closed in 64% (n = 45) of the centers. In addition, we found wide variation in processes of care, such as the ICU admission policy and intracranial pressure monitoring policy among centers. CONCLUSION: Even among high-volume, specialized neurotrauma centers there is substantial variation in structures and processes of TBI care. This variation provides an opportunity to study effectiveness of specific aspects of TBI care and to identify best practices with CER approaches

L'étude des déséquilibres 238U-230Th dans les matériaux altérés par le système hydrothermal (un nouvel outil de datation des instabilités de flanc ?)

Les volcans andésitiques sont fréquemment le siège d une activité hydrothermale intense qui favorise l instabilité des édifices volcaniques et la mise en place des déstabilisations de flanc. La datation des processus d altération hydrothermale fossiles est nécessaire à la reconstruction de l évolution des édifices volcaniques (par exemple, l évolution spatio-temporelle de l activité hydrothermale ou la datation des déstabilisations). Lors de l altération hydrothermale, les redistributions chimiques induisent de forts fractionnements entre les éléments de la chaîne radioactive de l uranium (en particulier Th, U, Ra). Nous avons étudié ces fractionnements dans des systèmes hydrothermaux actifs ou fossilisés dans les avalanches de débris, de deux volcans des Petites Antilles : La Soufrière de Guadeloupe et Soufrière Hills à Montserrat. Nous montrons que l on peut, à partir du système chronologique 238U-230Th, et probablement 230Th-226Ra, déterminer des âges cohérents avec les données chrono-stratigraphiques et la chronologie 14C. L homogénéité chimique et isotopique du système initial nécessaire à l application de la méthode isochrone, peut-être établie à partir d une étude détaillée des comportements de U, Th, des Terres Rares et des éléments incompatibles associés et d une caractérisation minéralogique des produits d altération. Ces résultats montrent que les produits d altération du verre magmatique en smectites (ou produits plus évolués) permettent une chronologie fiable.PARIS-BIUSJ-Sci.Terre recherche (751052114) / SudocSudocFranceF

Isotope ratios of H, C, and O in CO2 and H2O of the Martian atmosphere

Stable isotope ratios of H, C, and O are powerful indicators of a wide variety of planetary geophysical processes, and for Mars they reveal the record of loss of its atmosphere and subsequent interactions with its surface such as carbonate formation. We report in situ measurements of the isotopic ratios of D/H and O-18/O-16 in water and C-13/C-12, O-18/O-16, O-17/O-16, and (CO)-C-13-O-18/(CO)-C-12-O-16 in carbon dioxide, made in the martian atmosphere at Gale Crater from the Curiosity rover using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)'s tunable laser spectrometer (TLS). Comparison between our measurements in the modern atmosphere and those of martian meteorites such as ALH 84001 implies that the martian reservoirs of CO2 and H2O were largely established similar to 4 billion years ago, but that atmospheric loss or surface interaction may be still ongoing