Tactile Mapping and Localization from High-Resolution Tactile Imprints

This work studies the problem of shape reconstruction and object localization using a vision-based tactile sensor, GelSlim. The main contributions are the recovery of local shapes from contact, an approach to reconstruct the tactile shape of objects from tactile imprints, and an accurate method for object localization of previously reconstructed objects. The algorithms can be applied to a large variety of 3D objects and provide accurate tactile feedback for in-hand manipulation. Results show that by exploiting the dense tactile information we can reconstruct the shape of objects with high accuracy and do on-line object identification and localization, opening the door to reactive manipulation guided by tactile sensing. We provide videos and supplemental information in the project's website http://web.mit.edu/mcube/research/tactile_localization.html.Comment: ICRA 2019, 7 pages, 7 figures. Website: http://web.mit.edu/mcube/research/tactile_localization.html Video: https://youtu.be/uMkspjmDbq

Towards safety in physically assistive robots: eating assistance

Safety is one of the base elements to build trust in robots. This paper studies remedies to unavoidable collisions using robotics assistive feeding as an example task. Firstly, we propose an attention mechanism so the user can control the robot using gestures and thus prevent collisions. Secondly, when unwanted contacts are unavoidable we compare two safety strategies: active safety, using a force sensor to monitor maximum allowed forces; and passive safety using compliant controllers. Experimental evaluation shows that the gesture mechanism is effective to control the robot. Also, the impact forces obtained with both methods are similar and thus can be used independently. Additionally, users experimenting on purpose impacts declared that the impact was not harmful.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Regulating the antibiotic drug release from ß-tricalcium phosphate ceramics by atmospheric plasma surface engineering

Calcium phosphate (CaP) ceramics are of interest in bone substitution due to their good biocompatibility and bioresorbability. Currently certain CaPs in the market are loaded with antibiotics in order to prevent infections but further control is needed over antibiotic release patterns. Cold plasmas have emerged as a useful means of modifying the interactions with drugs through surface modification of polymer materials. In this work we explore the possibility of using atmospheric pressure plasmas as a tool for the surface modification of these CaP materials with newly populated bonds and charges, with views on enabling higher loading and controlled drug release. Herein the surface modification of ß-tricalcium phosphate ceramics is investigated using an atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet as a tool for tuning the controlled release of the antibiotic doxycycline hyclate, employed as a drug model. The surface chemistry is tailored mainly by plasma jet surface interaction with an increasing O/C ratio without changes in the topography as well as by build-up of surface charges. With this surface tailoring it is demonstrated that the atmospheric plasma jet is a new promising tool that leads to the design of a control for drug release from bioceramic matrices.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Modulation of release kinetics by plasma polymerization of ampicillin-loaded ß-TCP ceramics

Beta-tricalcium phosphate (ß-TCP) bioceramics are employed in bone repair surgery. Their local implantation in bone defects puts them in the limelight as potential materials for local drug delivery. However, obtaining suitable release patterns fitting the required therapeutics is a challenge. Here, plasma polymerization of ampicillin-loaded ß-TCP is studied for the design of a novel antibiotic delivery system. Polyethylene glycol-like (PEG-like) coating of ß-TCP by low pressure plasma polymerization was performed using diglyme as precursor, and nanometric PEG-like layers were obtained by simple and double plasma polymerization processes. A significant increase in hydrophobicity, and the presence of plasma polymer was visible on the surface by SEM and quantified by XPS. As a main consequence of the plasma polymerisation, the release kinetics were successfully modified, avoiding burst release, and slowing down the initial rate of release leading to a 4.5¿h delay in reaching the same antibiotic release percentage, whilst conservation of the activity of the antibiotic was simultaneously maintained. Thus, plasma polymerisation on the surface of bioceramics may be a good strategy to design controlled drug delivery matrices for local bone therapiesPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Cold plasma-treated ringer’s saline: a weapon to target osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the main primary bone cancer, presenting poor prognosis and difficult treatment. An innovative therapy may be found in cold plasmas, which show anti-cancer effects related to the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in liquids. In vitro models are based on the effects of plasma-treated culture media on cell cultures. However, effects of plasma-activated saline solutions with clinical application have not yet been explored in OS. The aim of this study is to obtain mechanistic insights on the action of plasma-activated Ringer’s saline (PAR) for OS therapy in cell and organotypic cultures. To that aim, cold atmospheric plasma jets were used to obtain PAR, which produced cytotoxic e ects in human OS cells (SaOS-2, MG-63, and U2-OS), related to the increasing concentration of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species generated. Proof of selectivity was found in the sustained viability of hBM-MSCs with the same treatments. Organotypic cultures of murine OS confirmed the time-dependent cytotoxicity observed in 2D. Histological analysis showed a decrease in proliferating cells (lower Ki-67 expression). It is shown that the selectivity of PAR is highly dependent on the concentrations of reactive species, being the differential intracellular reactive oxygen species increase and DNA damage between OS cells and hBM-MSCs key mediators for cell apoptosis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Le tabou : éléments bibliographiques

Ouvrages ALBERT Jean‑Pierre,Odeurs de sainteté. La mythologie chrétienne des aromates, Paris, EHESS, 1996. Amour, mariage, transgression au Moyen Âge, Actes du colloque des 24, 25, 26 et 27 mars 1983, sous la direction de D. BUSCHINGER et A. CREPIN, Université de Picardie, Centre d’études médiévales, Göppingen, Kummerle Verlag, 1984. ANDERSEN Jørgen,The Witch on the Wall. Medieval Erotic Sculptures in the British Isles, Copenhagen, Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1977. BACHELARD Gaston,La formation d’..

Multiple characterization study on porosity and pore structure of calcium phosphate cements

Characterization of the intricate pore structure of calcium phosphate cements is a key step to successfully link the structural properties of these synthetic bone grafts with their most relevant properties, such as in vitro or in vivo behaviour, drug loading and release properties, or degradation over time. This is a challenging task due to the wide range of pore sizes in calcium phosphate cements, compared to most other ceramic biomaterials. This work provides a critical assessment of three different techniques based on different physical phenomena, namely mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), Nitrogen sorption, and thermoporometry (TPM) for the detailed characterization of four calcium phosphate cements with different textural properties in terms of total porosity, pore size distribution (PSD), and pore entrance size distribution (PESD). MIP covers a much wider size range than TPM and Nitrogen sorption, offering more comprehensive information at the micrometer level. TPM, and especially Nitrogen sorption, are non-destructive techniques and, although they cover a limited size range, provide complementary information regarding pore structure associated with crystal shape at the nanoscale, recording both PSD and PESD in a single experiment. MIP tended to register smaller sizes, especially at low L/P ratios, due to the network effect, which has a strong influence on the outcome of this technique. Statement of significance The detailed characterisation of the porosity of calcium phosphate cements is of paramount importance, since it is a key parameter influencing some of the most relevant features, like mechanical properties, degradation rate or drug loading and release kinetics. However, this is a challenging task because, once hardened, calcium phosphate cements present an intricate morphology, consisting of a network of precipitated crystals, which generate a high intrinsic micro/nano porosity, with pore sizes covering six orders of magnitude. This work provides for the first time a critical assessment of the advantages and limitations of three different techniques, namely mercury intrusion porosimetry, Nitrogen sorption and Thermoporometry, for the characterisation of the porosity of four calcium phosphate cements with different textural propertiePeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A chloroform extract obtained from a decoction of Ficus carica leaves improves the cholesterolaemic status of rats with streptootocin-includede diabetes

The antidiabetic effects of Ficus carica leaf extracts have been reported previously. From the aqueous decoction of fig leaves, after treatment with HCl, centrifuging, treatment with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and extraction with chloroform (CHCl 3 ), the administration of the organic phase rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes led to a decline in the levels of total cholesterol and an decrease in the total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio (with respect to the control group), together with a reduction of the hyperglycaemia

Language and the Joint Creation of Knowledge.

Recensión del libreo de Neil MercerNeil Mercer. (2019) Language and the Joint Creation of Knowledge. The Selected Works of Neil Mercer. Taylor and Francis

Consolation Narratives in the 15th Century. RECITS DE CONSOLATION ET CONSOLATIONS DU RECIT DANS LA LITTERATURE DU Xve SIECLE

In “Récits de consolation et consolation du récit dans la littérature du XVe siècle,” I argue that in consolation literature emotions are used as a language that defines civic as well as emotional communities. In Chapter 1, I first show the importance of Italian Humanist discourse for the rhetoric of consolation in late medieval France. Drawing on the notion of emotional communities and focusing on consolation letters written to grieving fathers, I use Gianozzo Manetti’s Consolatoria and Jacopo Antonio Marcello’s collection of consolation letters as exemplary of a secular discourse grounded in Christian-Stoic rhetoric that defines fatherhood as an intimate relationship with civic responsibilities. These texts influenced Antoine de La Sale who, in the Reconfort de Madame de Fresnes, addresses Catherine de Neufville’s bereavement in order to urge her to reintegrate into civic society and, I argue, to access authority through grief. Comparing these discourses I argue that similar emotions convey different images of ethical subjects and the communities in which they participate. In Chapter 2, I extend my analysis to consider communities of political subjects. In Philippe de Mezieres’s Epistre lamentable et consolatoire Christine de Pizan’s “Epistre a la Royne de France,” “Lamentacion sur les maux de la guerre civile” and “Epistre de vie humaine,” lament and consolation construe different positions in the defense of a community generated around shared feeling. Mezieres and Pizan assert the argumentative value of emotions in demands for political interventions that revisit social organization and call for institutional reform and the revalorization of the more vulnerable parts of the social body. In Chapter 3, I move from consolation literature as a literary genre to consolation as ensured by fictional narratives. With Jean d’Arras’s Mélusine ou la noble histoire de Lusignan and Coudrette’s Roman de Mélusine ou Histoire de Lusignan, the fictional representation of irrecoverable loss, aligned with the story of dynastic lineage, invites the reader to negotiate between the need for satisfaction and the impossibility of being solaced, and persistently underscores the role of the literature in this process.PhDRomance Languages and Literatures: FrenchUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113406/1/mncanal_1.pd