Next stages in automated craft: the integration of rapid manufacture technologies into craft and DIY applications

Advances in the sophistication and affordability of rapid manufacture technology has started to pave the way for home use (Malone and Lipson, 2007a; Burns and Howison, 2001). This paper explores scenarios linking the potential of such technologies to craft and DIY use. While certain forms of automation and semi-industrial processes are already familiar in this area (knitting and embroidery machines, laser cutting), it is suggested that the next stage of development will involve more complex processes, currently more closely linked to applications of rapid prototyping. The improvement in entry-level CAD software (both 2D and 3D) has brought an increasing number of unlikely end-users into closer contact with the kind of processes normally associated with massmanufacture or the professional practice of industrial design (Gershenfeld, 2005). Such users are not merely replicating industrial processes however, but are modifying and experimenting with both the machines and materials available to them. Future processes might be accessed remotely, some of them through browser interfaces, or eventually housed at home as is the case with home knitting or printing solutions. The paper presents examples from a project undertaken by postgraduate industrial design students investigating the possibilities of future manufacturing scenarios. It also demonstrates the broader potential of exploring this issue in the area of design education. Illustrative examples are taken from a project undertaken by postgraduate industrial design students and also demonstrates the potential of exploring this issue in the area of design education

Development of a Step Counting Algorithm Using the Ambulatory Tibia Load Analysis System for Tibia Fracture Patients

Introduction: Ambulation can be used to monitor the healing of lower extremity fractures. However, the ambulatory behavior of tibia fracture patients remains unknown due to an inability to continuously quantify ambulation outside of the clinic. The goal of this study was to design and validate an algorithm to assess ambulation in tibia fracture patients using the ambulatory tibial load analysis system during recovery, outside of the clinic. Methods Data were collected from a cyclic tester, 14 healthy volunteers performing a 2-min walk test on the treadmill, and 10 tibia fracture patients who wore the ambulatory tibial load analysis system during recovery. Results The algorithm accurately detected 2000/2000 steps from simulated ambulatory data. (see full text for full abstract

Active tuning of high-Q dielectric metasurfaces

We demonstrate the active tuning of all-dielectric metasurfaces exhibiting high-quality factor (high-Q) resonances. The active control is provided by embedding the asymmetric silicon meta-atoms with liquid crystals, which allows the relative index of refraction to be controlled through heating. It is found that high quality factor resonances ($Q=270\pm30$) can be tuned over more than three resonance widths. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using all-dielectric metasurfaces to construct tunable narrow-band filters.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

The immunology of human cytomegalovirus latency: could latent infection be cleared by novel immunotherapeutic strategies?

While the host immune response following primary human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is generally effective at stopping virus replication and dissemination, virus is never cleared by the host and like all herpesviruses, persists for life. At least in part, this persistence is known to be facilitated by the ability of HCMV to establish latency in myeloid cells in which infection is essentially silent with, importantly, a total lack of new virus production. However, although the viral transcription programme during latency is much suppressed, a number of viral genes are expressed during latent infection at the protein level and many of these have been shown to have profound effects on the latent cell and its environment. Intriguingly, many of these latency-associated genes are also expressed during lytic infection. Therefore, why the same potent host immune responses generated during lytic infection to these viral gene products are not recognized during latency, thereby allowing clearance of latently infected cells, is far from clear. Reactivation from latency is also a major cause of HCMV-mediated disease, particularly in the immune compromised and immune naive, and is also likely to be a major source of virus in chronic subclinical HCMV infection which has been suggested to be associated with long-term diseases such as atherosclerosis and some neoplasias. Consequently, understanding latency and why latently infected cells appear to be immunoprivileged is crucial for an understanding of the pathogenesis of HCMV and may help to design strategies to eliminate latent virus reservoirs, at least in certain clinical settings.This work was funded by British Medical Research Council Grant JS and MW - G0701279 and MR/K021087/1 and supported by the NIHR Cambridge BRC Cell Phenotyping hub.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher at http://www.nature.com/cmi/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/cmi201475a.html

Machine morality, moral progress, and the looming environmental disaster

The creation of artificial moral systems requires us to make difficult choices about which of varying human value sets should be instantiated. The industry-standard approach is to seek and encode moral consensus. Here we argue, based on evidence from empirical psychology, that encoding current moral consensus risks reinforcing current norms, and thus inhibiting moral progress. However, so do efforts to encode progressive norms. Machine ethics is thus caught between a rock and a hard place. The problem is particularly acute when progress beyond prevailing moral norms is particularly urgent, as is currently the case due to the inadequacy of prevailing moral norms in the face of the climate and ecological crisis

Enhancing Relaxed Performance: Evaluating an Autism Arts Festival

‘Relaxed performances’ allow spectators to enjoy a non-judgmental environment in the theatre, where they can talk or move around, along with other adjustments to make them more accessible to a range of audiences including those on the autistic spectrum. Typical accommodations include reduced intensity of lighting and sound, provision of visual stories to familiarise spectators with the venue and production, and trained staff available to assist visitors. This paper will evaluate the Autism Arts Festival, an attempt to develop the idea of a relaxed performance further to create an entirely autism-friendly festival in Canterbury, UK. We developed a suite of features to make the festival more accessible, and whilst audience response indicates that no single one was used by all audience members, the suite as a whole was nevertheless effective at increasing the accessibility of the festival. Moreover, discussions with the performers indicate that the festival, as an ‘autistic space’, was conducive of both a sense of community solidarity and engagement with the politics of neurodiversity

Active tuning of high-Q dielectric metasurfaces

We demonstrate the active tuning of all-dielectric metasurfaces exhibiting high-quality factor (high-Q) resonances. The active control is provided by embedding the asymmetric silicon meta-atoms with liquid crystals, which allows the relative index of refraction to be controlled through heating. It is found that high quality factor resonances (Q = 270 ± 30) can be tuned over more than three resonance widths. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using all-dielectric metasurfaces to construct tunable narrow-band filters

Tuning the electrical conductivity of Rare Earth-doped BaTiO3 using Gd2O3 as an exemplar

The electrical properties of Gd-doped BaTiO3 ceramics prepared by various doping mechanisms have been investigated using Impedance Spectroscopy and correlated with the proposed doping mechanisms observed from phase diagram studies and with solution energies obtained from atomistic simulations. Undoped BaTiO3, BaTi1-xGdxO3-x/2, Ba1-y/2Ti1-y/2GdyO3 and Ba1-zGdzTi1-z/4O3 were prepared. The first two series and y < 0.10 samples possess extrinsic p-type conduction due to oxygen gain (oxidation) associated with the presence of oxygen vacancies. A core-shell microstructure causes electrical heterogeneity where y < 0.10. For y ≥ 0.10, oxygen vacancies are eliminated by substitution of a small excess of Gd3+ at the Ba-site leading to intrinsic (band-type) conduction. All Ba1-zGdzTi1-z/4O3 ceramics processed in air exhibit n-type semiconductivity that is attributed to a small amount of oxygen loss (reduction) during sintering. The oxygen loss can be prevented by processing ceramics in a flowing O2 atmosphere