3R Blackboard: A platform for animal and organ sharing

Since the embedding of the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) in national and international regulations on the use of animals, scientists have been challenged to find ways to reduce the number of animals in their research. Here, we present a digital platform, called ‘3R Backboard’, linked to a laboratory animal management system, which facilitates sharing of surplus biological materials from animals (e.g. tissues, organs and cells) to other research teams. Based on information provided, such as genotype, age and sex, other animal workers were able to indicate their interest in collecting specific tissues and to communicate with the person providing the animals. A short pilot study of this approach conducted in a limited academic environment presented strong evidence of its effectiveness and resulted in a notable reduction of the number of mice used. In addition, the use of 3R Blackboard led to resource saving, knowledge exchange and even establishment of new collaboration

Methode zur Auswertung von Computertomographiebildern der Lunge

Zusammenfassung: In der Diagnostik von Lungenerkrankungen nimmt die quantitative Analyse von Computertomographiebildern (CT-Bilder) einen hohen Stellenwert ein. Insbesondere Belüftungsstörungen, z.B. Emphyseme eine krankhafte Erweiterung der Alveolen (Lungenbläschen) mit Einschränkung der Lungenfunktion können durch Auswertung der Dichteinformation erkannt und bewertet werden. Am Institut für Elektromechanische Konstruktionen wird ein Verfahren zur akustischen Diagnostik von Lungenerkrankungen, die mit Belüftungsstörungen einhergehen, entwickelt. Hierzu ist ein Maßstab nötig, der den Vergleich mit der Computertomographie erlaubt. In dieser Arbeit wurden Verfahren erarbeitet, CT-Bilder definierten Formats auszuwerten und Maßzahlen zu berechnen, die eine quantitative Bewertung der Ergebnisse der akustischen Lungendiagnose ermöglichen. Gleichzeitig dienen die Maßzahlen als Instrument zur Diagnose von Emphysemen. Die Algorithmen zur Auswertung der untersuchten Größen, z.B. Dichte und Dichteänderungen des Lungengewebes, wurden in der Programmiersprache IDL umgesetzt und an Beispieldaten ausgewertet und mit bestehenden Methoden verglichen

Freelancer Taxation: From Shadow to Digital Light

The recent and rapid growth of the freelance sector in economies worldwide has led to more participation in the informal, or shadow, economy. Freelance workers who operate in the shadow economy are deprived of government protections, benefits, and legitimacy. To facilitate their emergence into full legitimacy, taxation policies must be amended to incentivize these workers to file taxes. In partnership with the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, our project was to provide specific recommendations for improving the tax experience for freelancers by comparing the Russian and German shadow and gig economies. We found that Russia has a more accommodating taxation structure dedicated to freelancers, while the logistics and user experience for paying taxes is smoother in Germany

HURON: Full-size Humanoid Robot (Lower Body)

In the past 20 years, there have been over 7 thousand natural disasters, totaling 1.23 million casualties and affecting 4.2 billion people. Often these disasters create hostile environments where human search-and-rescue missions are too dangerous. In these situations, humanoid robots can be used in place of human rescuers for a safer emergency response. This project aims to manufacture, design, and control the lower half of a self-balancing bipedal robot, named HURON. HURON will be able to react to forces anywhere on the body and move accordingly to regain balance and exhibit a human-like gait for walking. Using HURON for search and rescue eliminates the danger of sending search parties into high-risk environments, decreasing risk during disaster relief efforts. Therefore, this Major Qualifying Project started from scratch to develop the basis of a disaster relief humanoid robot which is comprised of three main systems: designing, sensing, and controlling. The main design constraint was that it would have human proportions without the need for a backpack. Additionally, since this robot would mimic a human, all components had to be designed such that a pair of pants could fit over the robot. In order to achieve this, research was done into the degrees of freedom (DOF) and proportions of human legs for 5’ 10” male. During the design process, a torque analysis and finite element analysis (FEA) were done and concluded that the robot had to be constructed out of a mixture between aluminum and steel components. In the end, the robot was made of over 130 manufactured components. In order to act, reason, and interact like humans, humanoids need to take input from the environment around them and react. This is done with sensors, as they take touch sensitivity inputs to understand the force transferred. To understand how balanced the humanoid robot is and how its weight is distributed, we implemented force sensors on the feet. With a combination of designing a circuit and applying the theory of foot force stability margin with the geometric and physical limitations of the robot, stability decisions were made. These decisions use the current stability state of the robot to determine how the robot must move in order to regain balance against external perturbations. Precise control of the hardware, based off inputs from the sensing circuits, is important for accurate control of the robot. Using the stability margins calculated from the force sensors in the feet as well as from the encoders in the motors, HURON can react to external forces. We yielded control of HURON using inverse kinematics based on the positions and angles of each of our joints. The outputs of our inverse kinematic equations returned specific positional poses, which were then converted to commands to the robot’s motors. Prior to testing on the physical robot, we opted for testing in two modes of simulations, Gazebo and MATLAB, to verify validity of our equations and feasibility. We then applied the techniques and equations used to the physical robot, allowing it to react to a push from behind and replicate human walking