Uncalibrated eye-to-hand visual servoing using inverse fuzzy models

(c) 2007 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.A new uncalibrated eye-to-hand visual servoing based on inverse fuzzy modeling is proposed in this paper. In classical visual servoing, the Jacobian plays a decisive role in the convergence of the controller, as its analytical model depends on the selected image features. This Jacobian must also be inverted online. Fuzzy modeling is applied to obtain an inverse model of the mapping between image feature variations and joint velocities. This approach is independent from the robot's kinematic model or camera calibration and also avoids the necessity of inverting the Jacobian online. An inverse model is identified for the robot workspace, using measurement data of a robotic manipulator. This inverse model is directly used as a controller. The inverse fuzzy control scheme is applied to a robotic manipulator performing visual servoing for random positioning in the robot workspace. The obtained experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. The fuzzy controller can position the robotic manipulator at any point in the workspace with better accuracy than the classic visual servoing approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Decrease in Bone Mass in Women After Liver Transplantation: Associated Factors

AbstractBackgroundIn the future, an increasing number of female liver transplant recipients will reach the climacteric with osteoporosis as a common complication. We evaluated the factors associated with decreased bone mass among women after liver transplantation.MethodsA prospective, cross-sectional study of 23 outpatient transplant recipients followed from February 2009 to March 2010 included women of age ≥35 years after liver transplantations ≥1 year prior. We recorded patient histories, liver enzyme levels, as well as bone mineral densities measured at the lumbar spine and femur. Statistical analysis used Fisher's exact test, simple odds ratio (OR), and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.ResultsThe mean patient age was 52.5 ± 11 years with 30.4% premenopausal, and 69.6% perimenopausal or postmenopausal. Approximately 21% showed osteoporosis and 35%, a low bone mass. Postmenopausal women: OR 69.0 (95% CI 2.89–1647.18; P < .0001), aged ≥49 years: OR 13.33 (95% CI 1.78–100.15; P = .0123) and receiving a transplant after 44 years of age: OR 49.50 (95% CI 3.84–638.43; P < .0001) were associated with a lower bone mass. Having undergone transplantation for more than 5.8 years lowered the risk of bone mass change: OR 0.11 (95% CI 0.02–0.78; P = .0361). Clinical and laboratory variables, including corticosteroid use, were not associated with decreased bone mass.ConclusionUnderstanding the prevalence and factors associated with osteoporosis among female liver transplant recipients is important to enhance the strategies to diagnose and treat these women, seeking to improve their quality of life

Quality Of Life And Menopausal Symptoms In Women With Liver Transplants [qualidade De Vida E Sintomas Da Menopausa Em Mulheres Transplantadas Hepáticas]

PURPOSE: To assess quality of life and climacteric symptoms in women with and without liver transplants. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 52 women undergoing follow-up at a university hospital in southeastern Brazil from February 4th, 2009 to January 5th, 2011. Twenty-four of these women were 35 years old or older and had undergone liver transplantation at least one year before study entry. The remaining 28 women had no liver disease and were matched by age and menstrual patterns to the patients with transplants. The abbreviated version of the World Health Organization (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire was used to assess quality of life. Menopausal symptoms were assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). Statistical analysis was carried out by Student's I{stroke} -test, Mann-Whitney test and analysis of variance. Correlations between MRS and the WHOQOL-BREF were established by correlation coefficients. RESULTS: The mean age of the women included in the study was 52.2 (±10.4) years and the mean time since transplantation was 6.1 (±3.3) years. Women with liver transplants had better quality of life scores in the environment domain (p=0.01). No difference was noted between the two groups in any domain of the MRS. For women in the comparison group, there was a strongly negative correlation between somatic symptoms in the MRS and the physical domain of the WHOQOL-BREF (p&lt;0.01; r=-0.8). In contrast, there was only a moderate association for women with liver transplants (p&lt;0.01; r=-0.5). CONCLUSIONS: Women with liver transplants had better quality of life scores in the domain related to environment and did not exhibit more intense climacteric symptoms than did those with no liver disease. Climacteric symptoms negatively influenced quality of life in liver transplant recipients, although less intensely than in women without a history of liver disease.353103110Saab, S., Ng, V., Landaverde, C., Lee, S.J., Comulada, W.S., Arevalo, J., Development of a disease-specific questionnaire to measure health-related quality of life in liver transplant recipients (2011) Liver Transpl, 17 (5), pp. 567-579Lim, K.B., Schiano, T.D., Long-term outcome after liver transplantation (2012) Mt Sinai J Med, 79 (2), pp. 169-189van Ginneken, B.T., van den Berg-Emons, R.J., van der Windt, A., Tilanus, H.W., Metselaar, H.J., Stam, H.J., Persistent fatigue in liver transplant recipients: A two-year follow-up study (2010) Clin Transplant, 24 (1), pp. E10-E16Bryan, S., Ratcliffe, J., Neuberger, J.M., Burroughs, A.K., Gunson, B.K., Buxton, M.J., Health-related quality of life following liver transplantation (1998) Qual Life Res, 7 (2), pp. 115-120Nickel, R., Wunsch, A., Egle, U.T., Lohse, A.W., Otto, G., The relevance of anxiety, depression, and coping in patients after liver transplantation (2002) Liver Transpl, 8 (1), pp. 63-71Masala, D., Mannocci, A., Unim, B., Del Cimmuto, A., Turchetta, F., Gatto, G., Quality of life and physical activity in liver transplantation patients: Results of a case-control study in Italy (2012) Transplant Proc, 44 (5), pp. 1346-1350Sirivatanauksorn, Y., Dumronggittigule, W., Limsrichamrern, S., Iramaneerat, C., Kolladarungkri, T., Kositamongkol, P., Quality of life among liver transplantation patients (2012) Transplant Proc, 44 (2), pp. 532-538Wang, G.S., Yang, Y., Li, H., Jiang, N., Fu, B.S., Jin, H., Health-related quality of life after liver transplantation: The experience from a single Chinese center (2012) Hepatobiliary Pancreat Dis Int, 11 (3), pp. 262-266de Bona, M., Ponton, P., Ermani, M., Iemmolo, R.M., Feltrin, A., Boccagni, P., The impact of liver disease and medical complications on quality of life and psychological distress before and after liver transplantation (2000) J Hepatol, 33 (4), pp. 609-615Jabiry-Zienjewicz, Z., Kaminski, P., Bobrowska, K., Pietrzak, B., Wielgos, M., Zieniewicz, K., Menstrual cycle and sex hormone profile in perimenopausal women after liver transplantation (2006) Transplant Proc, 38 (9), pp. 2909-2912Boin, I.F., Ataide, E.C., Leonardi, M.I., Stucchi, R., Sevá-Pereira, T., Pereira, I.W., Elderly donors for HCV(+) versus non-HCV recipients: Patient survival following liver transplantation (2008) Transplant Proc, 40 (3), pp. 792-796Guyton, A.C., Hall, J.E., (1996) Textbook of Medical Physiology, , Philadelphia, SaundersParolin, M.B., Rabinovitch, I., Urbanetz, A.A., Scheidemantel, C., Cat, M.L., Coelho, J.C., Impact of successful liver transplantation on reproductive function and sexuality in women with advanced liver disease (2004) Transplant Proc, 36 (4), pp. 943-944Mass, K., Quint, E.H., Punch, M.R., Merion, R.M., Gynecological and reproductive function after liver transplantation (1996) Transplantation, 62 (4), pp. 476-479Cundy, T.F., O'Grady, J.G., Williams, R., Recovery of menstruation and pregnancy after liver transplantation (1990) Gut, 31 (3), pp. 337-338Hickey, M., Davis, S.R., Sturdee, D.W., Treatment of menopausal symptoms: What shall we do now? (2005) Lancet, 366 (9483), pp. 409-421Hess, R., Thurston, R.C., Hays, R.D., Chang, C.C., Dillon, S.N., Ness, R.B., The impact of menopause on health-related quality of life: Results from the STRIDE longitudinal study (2012) Qual Life Res, 21 (3), pp. 535-544Ozkan, S., Alatas, E.S., Zencir, M., Women ́s quality of life in the premenopausal and postmenopausal periods (2005) Qual Life Res, 14 (8), pp. 1795-1801Dennerstein, L., Lehert, P., Guthrie, J., The effects of the menopausal transition and biopsychosocial factors on well-being (2002) Arch Womens Ment Health, 5 (1), pp. 15-22Mishra, G.D., Brown, W.J., Dobson, A.J., Physical and mental health: Changes during menopause transition (2003) Qual Life Res, 12 (4), pp. 405-412Kumari, M., Stafford, M., Marmot, M., The menopausal transition was associated in a prospective study with decreased health functioning in women who report menopausal symptoms (2005) J Clin Epidemiol, 58 (7), pp. 719-727Cheng, M.H., Lee, S.J., Wang, S.J., Wang, P.H., Fuh, J.L., Does menopausal transition affect the quality of life? A longitudinal study of middle-aged women in Kinmen (2007) Menopause, 14 (5), pp. 885-890Avis, N.E., Colvin, A., Bromberger, J.T., Hess, R., Matthews, K.A., Ory, M., Change in health-related quality of life over the menopausal transition in a multiethnic cohort of middle-aged women: Study of Women ́s Health Across the Nation (2009) Menopause, 16 (5), pp. 860-869Birkhauser, M.H., Barlow, D.H., Notelovitz, M., Rees, M.C., (2005) Management Handbook: Health Plan For the Adult Woman, , London, Taylor & FrancisHeinemann, L.A., Potthoff, P., Schneider, H.P., International versions of the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) (2003) Health Qual Life Outcomes, 1, p. 28Fleck, M.P., Louzada, S., Xavier, M., Chachamovich, E., Vieira, G., Santos, L., Aplicação da versão em português do instrumento abreviado de avaliação da qualidade de vida WHOQOL-bref (2000) Rev Saúde Pública, 34 (2), pp. 178-183Santos, C., (2007) Estatística Descritiva - Manual De Auto-aprendizagem, , Lisboa, Edições SílaboTelles-Correia, D., Barbosa, A., Mega, I., Mateus, E., Monteiro, E., When does quality of life improve after liver transplantation? A longitudinal prospective study (2009) Transplant Proc, 41 (3), pp. 904-905Aadahl, M., Hansen, B.A., Kirkegaard, P., Groenvold, M., Fatigue and physical function after orthotopic liver transplantation (2002) Liver Transpl, 8 (3), pp. 251-259Goetzmann, L., Klaghofer, R., Wagner-Huber, R., Halter, J., Boehler, A., Muellhaupt, B., Quality of life and psychosocial situation before and after a lung, liver or an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (2006) Swiss Med Wkly, 136 (17-18), pp. 281-290Schwartz, C.E., Rapkin, B.D., Reconsidering the psychometrics of quality of life assessment in light of response shift and appraisal (2004) Health Qual Life Outcomes, 2, p. 16Dennerstein, L., Dudley, E., Guthrie, J., Barrett-Connor, E., Life satisfaction, symptoms, and the menopausal transition (2000) Medscape Womens Health, 5 (4), pp. E4Brzyski, R.G., Medrano, M.A., Hyatt-Santos, J.M., Ross, J.S., Quality of life in low-income menopausal women attending primary care clinics (2001) Fertil Steril, 76 (1), pp. 44-50Ekström, H., Hovelius, B., Quality of life and hormone therapy in women before and after menopause (2000) Scand J Prim Health Care, 18 (2), pp. 115-12

Factors Associated With Fragility Fractures In Women Over 50 Years Of Age: A Population-based Household Survey [fatores Associados A Fraturas Por Fragilidade óssea Em Mulheres Acima De 50 Anos De Idade: Um Estudo De Base Populacional]

Purpose: To analyze the prevalence of and factors associated with fragility fractures in Brazilian women aged 50 years and older. Methods: This cross-sectional population survey, conducted between May 10 and October 31, 2011, included 622 women aged ≥50 years living in a city in southeastern Brazil. A questionnaire was administered to each woman by a trained interviewer. The associations between the occurrence of a fragility fracture after age 50 years and sociodemographic data, health-related habits and problems, self-perception of health and evaluation of functional capacity were determined by the χ2 test and Poisson regression using the backward selection criteria. Results: The mean age of the 622 women was 64.1 years. The prevalence of fragility fractures was 10.8%, with 1.8% reporting hip fracture. In the final statistical model, a longer time since menopause (PR 1.03; 95%CI 1.01-1.05; p&lt;0.01) and osteoporosis (PR 1.97; 95%CI 1.27-3.08; p&lt;0.01) were associated with a higher prevalence of fractures. Conclusion: These findings may provide a better understanding of the risk factors associated with fragility fractures in Brazilian women and emphasize the importance of performing bone densitometry.3511497502Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) [Internet]., , http://censo2010.ibge.gov.br/resultados, Censo 2010: resultados [citado 2013 Fev 14]. Disponível emKanis, J.A., Odén, A., McCloskey, E.V., Johansson, H., Wahl, D.A., Cooper, C., A systematic review of hip fracture incidence and probability of fracture worldwide (2012) Osteoporos Int., 23 (9), pp. 2239-2256Hughson, J., Newman, J., Pendleton, R.C., Hip fracture management for the hospital-based clinician: A review of the evidence and best practices (2011) Hosp Pract (1995)., 39 (1), pp. 52-61Auron-Gomez, M., Michota, F., Medical management of hip fracture (2008) Clin Geriatr Med., 24 (4), pp. 701-719+ixPinheiro, M.M., Ciconelli, R.M., Martini, L.A., Ferraz, M.B., Clinical risk factors for osteoporotic fractures in Brazilian women and men: The Brazilian Osteoporosis Study (BRAZOS) (2009) Osteoporos Int., 20 (3), pp. 399-408Siqueira, F.V., Facchini, L.A., Hallal, P.C., The burden of fractures in Brazil: A population-based study (2005) Bone., 37 (2), pp. 261-266Pinheiro, M.M., Reis Neto, E.T., McHado, F.S., Omura, F., Yang, J.H.K., Szejnfeld, J., Risk factors for osteoporotic fractures and low bone density in pre and postmenopausal women (2010) Rev Saúde Pública., 44 (3), pp. 479-485Kanis, J.A., Johnell, O., Oden, A., Johansson, H., McCloskey, E., FRAX and the assessment of fracture probability in men and women from the UK (2008) Osteoporos Int., 19 (4), pp. 385-397Pinheiro, M.M., Eis, S.R., Epidemiology of osteoporotic fractures in Brazil: What we have and what we need (2010) Arq Bras Endocrinol Metabol., 54 (2), pp. 164-170FRAX: WHO Fracture Risk Assessment Tool [Internet]., , http://www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX/tool.aspx?country=55, Calculation tool [cited 2013 May 7]. 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N-terminal-pro-B type natriuretic peptide as a useful tool to evaluate pulmonary hypertension and cardiac function in CDH infants

Objective: In congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) the severity of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is considered, by several authors, determinant of clinical outcome. Plasmatic N-terminal-pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) might be useful in diagnosis and management of PH in newborns, although its interest in CDH infants remains to be defined. Early NT-proBNP levels were assessed in CDH infants and correlated with cardiovascular echocardiographic parameters. Patients and Methods: 28 newborns, CDH and age-matched controls were enrolled in a prospective study. Clinical condition, NT-proBNP plasmatic levels, echo parameters of PH and biventricular function were assessed at 24 h after delivery as well as survival outcome. Results: Estimated mean pulmonary pressure and NT-proBNP were significantly higher in CDH than control infants. NT-proBNP significantly correlated with estimated pulmonary artery pressure, right ventricular Tei index, and tricuspid E/A ratio. Additionally, we found that CDH infants with NT-proBNP >11,500 pg/ml experienced a worse prognosis. Conclusions: We demonstrated that PH is associated with NT-proBNP elevation and diastolic impairment in CDH infants. Early elevations in NT-proBNP levels seem to alert for a subset of CDH infants with worse prognosis. Copyrigh

Experimental feasibility of measuring the gravitational redshift of light using dispersion in optical fibers

This paper describes a new class of experiments that use dispersion in optical fibers to convert the gravitational frequency shift of light into a measurable phase shift or time delay. Two conceptual models are explored. In the first model, long counter-propagating pulses are used in a vertical fiber optic Sagnac interferometer. The second model uses optical solitons in vertically separated fiber optic storage rings. We discuss the feasibility of using such an instrument to make a high precision measurement of the gravitational frequency shift of light.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

NMR signal enhancement of > 50 000 times in fast dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization

Herein, we report the synthesis and the study of a novel mixed biradical with BDPA and TEMPO radical units that are covalently bound by an ester group (BDPAesterTEMPO) as a polarizing agent for fast dissolution DNP. The biradical exhibits an extremely high DNP NMR enhancement of >50 000 times, which constitutes one of the largest signal enhancements observed so far, to the best of our knowledg

Passing through the bounce in the ekpyrotic models

By considering a simplified but exact model for realizing the ekpyrotic scenario, we clarify various assumptions that have been used in the literature. In particular, we discuss the new ekpyrotic prescription for passing the perturbations through the singularity which we show to provide a spectrum depending on a non physical normalization function. We also show that this prescription does not reproduce the exact result for a sharp transition. Then, more generally, we demonstrate that, in the only case where a bounce can be obtained in Einstein General Relativity without facing singularities and/or violation of the standard energy conditions, the bounce cannot be made arbitrarily short. This contrasts with the standard (inflationary) situation where the transition between two eras with different values of the equation of state can be considered as instantaneous. We then argue that the usually conserved quantities are not constant on a typical bounce time scale. Finally, we also examine the case of a test scalar field (or gravitational waves) where similar results are obtained. We conclude that the full dynamical equations of the underlying theory should be solved in a non singular case before any conclusion can be drawn.Comment: 17 pages, ReVTeX 4, 13 figures, minor corrections, conclusions unchange

Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather

The Sun's outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal heating and the acceleration of the ambient solar wind. We also discuss where the community stands in its ability to forecast how variations in the solar wind (i.e., fast and slow wind streams) impact the Earth. Although the last few decades have seen significant progress in observations and modeling, we still do not have a complete understanding of the relevant physical processes, nor do we have a quantitatively precise census of which coronal structures contribute to specific types of solar wind. Fast streams are known to be connected to the central regions of large coronal holes. Slow streams, however, appear to come from a wide range of sources, including streamers, pseudostreamers, coronal loops, active regions, and coronal hole boundaries. Complicating our understanding even more is the fact that processes such as turbulence, stream-stream interactions, and Coulomb collisions can make it difficult to unambiguously map a parcel measured at 1 AU back down to its coronal source. We also review recent progress -- in theoretical modeling, observational data analysis, and forecasting techniques that sit at the interface between data and theory -- that gives us hope that the above problems are indeed solvable.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Special issue connected with a 2016 ISSI workshop on "The Scientific Foundations of Space Weather." 44 pages, 9 figure