Soft Pneumatic Gelatin Actuator for Edible Robotics

We present a fully edible pneumatic actuator based on gelatin-glycerol composite. The actuator is monolithic, fabricated via a molding process, and measures 90 mm in length, 20 mm in width, and 17 mm in thickness. Thanks to the composite mechanical characteristics similar to those of silicone elastomers, the actuator exhibits a bending angle of 170.3 {\deg} and a blocked force of 0.34 N at the applied pressure of 25 kPa. These values are comparable to elastomer based pneumatic actuators. As a validation example, two actuators are integrated to form a gripper capable of handling various objects, highlighting the high performance and applicability of the edible actuator. These edible actuators, combined with other recent edible materials and electronics, could lay the foundation for a new type of edible robots.Comment: Submitted to IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 201

Elbow Arthroscopy

Introduction: Elbow joint is a complex articulation of three bones. It is a hinge joint with three types of motions; flexion-extension, varus-valgus and rotations. With advancement of instrumentations, our knowledge about surgical anatomy and surgical skills, elbow arthroscopy has become an excellent tool to treat a wide range of disorders with minimum risk and complications

OPTIMIZATION OF PANTOPRAZOLE ENTERIC PELLETS COATING PROCESS BY QBD: EFFECT OF COATING PROCESS VARIABLES ON THE INTERMEDIATE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT AND SCALE UP

Objective: The aim of this study was to optimize pantoprazole enteric coating process based on Quality by Design (QbD) principle and successful scale up.Methods: The critical process parameters (CPP) were identified based on Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) tool. A full factorial design was applied to develop design space and determine control strategy for pantoprazole enteric coating process, have promising yield, assay and reduced process time. The coating process variables studied were air volume (X1), spray rate (X2) and atomization air pressure (X3), versus percentage fines (Y1), percentage agglomerates (Y2) and assay (Y3) as responses. The pellets were coated in Wurster and characterized for assay, dissolution, scanning electron microscopy and loss on drying.Results: When X2 at low level and X3 at high level, spray drying increased hence fines increased while X2 at a high level and X3 at a low level, agglomeration increased. The optimization performed to decide level of X2 and X3 for fines and agglomerated free process. The operating ranges, for robust coating process of desired pellets yield and quality, X1, X2 and X3 were 46-58 CFM, 6-9 g/min and 1.1-1.3 bar respectively. In scale up of pellets, physical and chemical parameters reproduced based on process ran as per scale up factor calculation.Conclusion: It was concluded that a promising pellets coating process was successfully designed using QbD approach and successfully scale upscale up possible based on complete optimization of process variables, understanding of risk associated with variables and implementation of scale-up factor calculation provided by the vendor.Â

Data Density Correlation Degree Clustering Algorithm for Multiple Correlated Sensor Networks using Fuzzy Logic

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is the collection of several sensor nodes which are able to send their sensed data to base station. In dense WSN, consecutive observations obtained by sensors are spatial as well as temporally correlated in applications that involve the observation of the variation of a physical phenomenon. These sensor nodes are battery driven, therefore an efficient utilization of power is essential in order to reduce data traffic inside sensor networks and thus reduce amount of data that need to send to base station for enhancing the network lifetime. For this reason data aggregation is used. The correlation degree gives a correlation measurement that measures the correlation between a sensor node's data and its neighboring sensor nodes' data. The resulting representative data obtained using the proposed methods have a lower data distortion than those obtained earlier. Also, to construct an energy balanced network in data transmitting process, the energy of every sensor nodes should be considered and Fuzzy Logic is also used to determine an optimal routing path from the source to the destination by maintaining the highest remaining battery power, minimum traffic loads and minimum number of hops. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.16049

The measurement and determinants of skill acquisition in young workers' first job

The article analyses participation in five types of training (formal on-site, formal off-site, informal co-worker training, learning by watching and learning by doing) and self-assessed skill acquisition in young Flemish workers' first job. A skill production function is estimated whereby the simultaneity of participation in the different types of training and skill acquisition is taken into account. The results clearly demonstrate the importance of informal training. Formal training participation is found to be only a fraction of total training participation. Moreover, the determinants of total training participation and skill acquisition differ from those of formal training participation. While some training types are complementary, others are clearly substitutes. Finally, most types of training generate additional skills. Nonetheless, learning by doing is found to be complementary to formal education in the production of both specific and general skills, whereas formal training serves as a substitute