1,932 research outputs found
Autonomic physiological data associated with simulator discomfort
The development of a physiological monitoring capability for the Army's advanced helicopter simulator facility is reported. Additionally, preliminary physiological data is presented. Our objective was to demonstrate the sensitivity of physiological measures in this simulator to self-reported simulator sickness. The data suggested that heart period, hypergastria, and skin conductance level were more sensitive to simulator sickness than were vagal tone and normal electrogastric activity
Should we welcome robot teachers?
Abstract Current uses of robots in classrooms are
reviewed and used to characterise four scenarios: (s1)
Robot as Classroom Teacher; (s2) Robot as Companion
and Peer; (s3) Robot as Care-eliciting Companion; and (s4)
Telepresence Robot Teacher. The main ethical concerns
associated with robot teachers are identified as: privacy;
attachment, deception, and loss of human contact; and
control and accountability. These are discussed in terms of
the four identified scenarios. It is argued that classroom
robots are likely to impact childrenāsā privacy, especially
when they masquerade as their friends and companions,
when sensors are used to measure childrenās responses, and
when records are kept. Social robots designed to appear as
if they understand and care for humans necessarily involve
some deception (itself a complex notion), and could
increase the risk of reduced human contact. Children could
form attachments to robot companions (s2 and s3), or robot
teachers (s1) and this could have a deleterious effect on
their social development. There are also concerns about the
ability, and use of robots to control or make decisions
about childrenās behaviour in the classroom. It is concluded
that there are good reasons not to welcome fully fledged
robot teachers (s1), and that robot companions (s2 and 3)
should be given a cautious welcome at best. The limited
circumstances in which robots could be used in the classroom
to improve the human condition by offering otherwise
unavailable educational experiences are discussed
A combined in vitro/in silico approach to identifying off-target receptor toxicity
Many xenobiotics can bind to off-target receptors and cause toxicity via the dysregulation of downstream transcription factors. Identification of subsequent off-target toxicity in these chemicals has often required extensive chemical testing in animal models. An alternative, integrated in vitro/in silico approach for predicting toxic off-target functional responses is presented to refine in vitro receptor identification and reduce the burden on in vivo testing. As part of the methodology, mathematical modelling is used to mechanistically describe processes that regulate transcriptional activity following receptor-ligand binding informed by transcription factor signalling assays. Critical reactions in the signalling cascade are identified to highlight potential perturbation points in the biochemical network that can guide and optimise additional in vitro testing. A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model provides information on the timing and localisation of different levels of receptor activation informing whole-body toxic potential resulting from off-target binding
Lessons from dynamic cadaver and invasive bone pin studies: do we know how the foot really moves during gait?
Background: This paper provides a summary of a Keynote lecture delivered at the 2009 Australasian Podiatry Conference. The aim of the paper is to review recent research that has adopted dynamic cadaver and invasive kinematics research approaches to better understand foot
and ankle kinematics during gait. It is not intended to systematically cover all literature related to foot and ankle kinematics (such as research using surface mounted markers). Since the paper is based on a keynote presentation its focuses on the authors own experiences and work in the main, drawing on the work of others where appropriate
Methods: Two approaches to the problem of accessing and measuring the kinematics of individual anatomical structures in the foot have been taken, (i) static and dynamic cadaver models, and (ii) invasive in-vivo research. Cadaver models offer the advantage that there is complete access to all the tissues of the foot, but the cadaver must be manipulated and loaded in a manner which replicates how the foot would have performed when in-vivo. The key value of invasive in-vivo foot kinematics research is the validity of the description of foot kinematics, but the key difficulty is how generalisable this data is to the wider population.
Results: Through these techniques a great deal has been learnt. We better understand the valuable contribution mid and forefoot joints make to foot biomechanics, and how the ankle and subtalar joints can have almost comparable roles. Variation between people in foot kinematics is high and
normal. This includes variation in how specific joints move and how combinations of joints move. The foot continues to demonstrate its flexibility in enabling us to get from A to B via a large number of different kinematic solutions.
Conclusion: Rather than continue to apply a poorly founded model of foot type whose basis is to make all feet meet criteria for the mechanical 'ideal' or 'normal' foot, we should embrace variation between feet and identify it as an opportunity to develop patient-specific clinical models of foot function
The flavour singlet mesons in QCD
We study the flavour singlet mesons from first principles using lattice QCD.
We explore the splitting between flavour singlet and non-singlet for vector and
axial mesons as well as the more commonly studied cases of the scalar and
pseudoscalar mesons.Comment: 12 pages, LATEX, 4 ps figure
Foot kinematics in patients with two patterns of pathological plantar hyperkeratosis
Background: The Root paradigm of foot function continues to underpin the majority of clinical foot biomechanics practice and foot orthotic therapy. There are great number of assumptions in this popular paradigm, most of which have not been thoroughly tested. One component supposes that patterns of plantar pressure and associated hyperkeratosis lesions should be associated with distinct rearfoot, mid foot, first metatarsal and hallux kinematic patterns. Our aim was to investigate the extent to which this was true.
Methods: Twenty-seven subjects with planter pathological hyperkeratosis were recruited into one of two groups.
Group 1 displayed pathological plantar hyperkeratosis only under metatarsal heads 2, 3 and 4 (n = 14). Group 2
displayed pathological plantar hyperkeratosis only under the 1st and 5th metatarsal heads (n = 13). Foot kinematics
were measured using reflective markers on the leg, heel, midfoot, first metatarsal and hallux.
Results: The kinematic data failed to identify distinct differences between these two groups of subjects, however
there were several subtle (generally <3Ā°) differences in kinematic data between these groups. Group 1 displayed a
less everted heel, a less abducted heel and a more plantarflexed heel compared to group 2, which is contrary to
the Root paradigm.
Conclusions: There was some evidence of small differences between planter pathological hyperkeratosis groups.
Nevertheless, there was too much similarity between the kinematic data displayed in each group to classify them
as distinct foot types as the current clinical paradigm proposes
An automated quasi-continuous capillary refill timing device
Capillary refill time (CRT) is a simple means of cardiovascular assessment which is widely used in clinical care. Currently, CRT is measured through manual assessment of the time taken for skin tone to return to normal colour following blanching of the skin surface. There is evidence to suggest that manually assessed CRT is subject to bias from ambient light conditions, a lack of standardisation of both blanching time and manually applied pressure, subjectiveness of return to normal colour, and variability in the manual assessment of time. We present a novel automated system for CRT measurement, incorporating three components: a non-invasive adhesive sensor incorporating a pneumatic actuator, a diffuse multi-wavelength reflectance measurement device, and a temperature sensor; a battery operated datalogger unit containing a self contained pneumatic supply; and PC based data analysis software for the extraction of refill time, patient skin surface temperature, and sensor signal quality.
Through standardisation of the test, it is hoped that some of the shortcomings of manual CRT can be overcome. In addition, an automated system will facilitate easier integration of CRT into electronic record keeping and clinical monitoring or scoring systems, as well as reducing demands on clinicians.
Summary analysis of volunteer (n = 30) automated CRT datasets are presented, from 15 healthy adults and 15 healthy children (aged from 5 to 15 years), as their arms were cooled from ambient temperature to 5Ā°C. A more detailed analysis of two typical datasets is also presented, demonstrating that the response of automated CRT to cooling matches that of previously published studies
Optimized labeling of NOTA-conjugated octreotide with F-18
We recently reported a facile method based on the chelation of [18F]aluminum fluoride (Al18F) by NOTA (1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid). Here, we present a further optimization of the 18F labeling of NOTA-octreotide (IMP466). Octreotide was conjugated with the NOTA chelate and was labeled with 18F in a two-step, one-pot method. The labeling procedure was optimized with regard to the labeling buffer, ionic strength, peptide concentration, and temperature. Radiochemical yield, specific activity, in vitro stability, and receptor affinity were determined. Biodistribution of 18F-IMP466 was studied in AR42J tumor-bearing mice. In addition, microPET/CT images were acquired. IMP466 was labeled with Al18F in a single step with 97% yield in the presence of 80% (v/v) acetonitrile or ethanol. The labeled product was purified by HPLC to remove unlabeled peptide and unbound Al18F. The radiolabeling, including purification, was performed for 45Ā min. Specific activities of 48,000Ā GBq/mmol could be obtained. 18F-IMP466 showed a high tumor uptake and excellent tumor-to-blood ratios at 2Ā h post-injection. In addition, the low bone uptake indicated that the Al18FāNOTA complex was stable in vivo. PET/CT scans revealed excellent tumor delineation and specific accumulation in the tumor. Uptake in receptor-negative organs was low. NOTA-octreotide could be labeled with 18F in quantitative yields using a rapid two-step, one-pot, method. The compound was stable in vivo and showed rapid accretion in SSTR2-receptor-expressing AR42J tumors in nude mice. This method can be used to label other NOTA-conjugated compounds such as RGD peptides, GRPR-binding peptides, and Affibody molecules with 18F
Effects of non-perturbatively improved dynamical fermions in QCD at fixed lattice spacing
We present results for the static inter-quark potential, lightest glueballs,
light hadron spectrum and topological susceptibility using a non-perturbatively
improved action on a lattice at a set of values of the bare
gauge coupling and bare dynamical quark mass chosen to keep the lattice size
fixed in physical units ( fm). By comparing these measurements with a
matched quenched ensemble, we study the effects due to two degenerate flavours
of dynamical quarks. With the greater control over residual lattice spacing
effects which these methods afford, we find some evidence of charge screening
and some minor effects on the light hadron spectrum over the range of quark
masses studied (). More substantial differences between
quenched and unquenched simulations are observed in measurements of topological
quantities.Comment: 53 pages, LaTeX/RevTeX, 16 eps figures; corrected clover action
expression and various typos, no results change
Robot rights? Towards a social-relational justification of moral consideration \ud
Should we grant rights to artificially intelligent robots? Most current and near-future robots do not meet the hard criteria set by deontological and utilitarian theory. Virtue ethics can avoid this problem with its indirect approach. However, both direct and indirect arguments for moral consideration rest on ontological features of entities, an approach which incurs several problems. In response to these difficulties, this paper taps into a different conceptual resource in order to be able to grant some degree of moral consideration to some intelligent social robots: it sketches a novel argument for moral consideration based on social relations. It is shown that to further develop this argument we need to revise our existing ontological and social-political frameworks. It is suggested that we need a social ecology, which may be developed by engaging with Western ecology and Eastern worldviews. Although this relational turn raises many difficult issues and requires more work, this paper provides a rough outline of an alternative approach to moral consideration that can assist us in shaping our relations to intelligent robots and, by extension, to all artificial and biological entities that appear to us as more than instruments for our human purpose
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