Towards Packaging Unit Detection for Automated Palletizing Tasks

For various automated palletizing tasks, the detection of packaging units is a crucial step preceding the actual handling of the packaging units by an industrial robot. We propose an approach to this challenging problem that is fully trained on synthetically generated data and can be robustly applied to arbitrary real world packaging units without further training or setup effort. The proposed approach is able to handle sparse and low quality sensor data, can exploit prior knowledge if available and generalizes well to a wide range of products and application scenarios. To demonstrate the practical use of our approach, we conduct an extensive evaluation on real-world data with a wide range of different retail products. Further, we integrated our approach in a lab demonstrator and a commercial solution will be marketed through an industrial partner

Is adherence therapy an effective adjunct treatment for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Poor adherence to medication in schizophrenia spectrum disorders leads to inadequate symptom control. Adherence therapy (AT) is an intervention that seeks to reduce patients’ psychiatric symptoms by enhancing treatment adherence. We aimed to systematically review the trial evidence of the effectiveness of AT on improving clinical outcomes in these patients. Method Systematic review and meta-analysis of published RCTs. We included studies testing AT as an adjunct intervention against treatment as usual or a comparator intervention in the general adult psychiatric population. The primary outcome of interest was improvement in psychiatric symptoms. Results We included six studies testing AT in schizophrenia spectrum disorders published since 2006. A meta-analysis showed AT significantly reduced psychiatric symptoms compared to usual treatment over a follow-up period of less than 1 year. We found no significant effects of AT on patients’ adherence and adherence attitudes. Conclusions AT is an effective adjunctive treatment for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

The management of acute knee dislocations: A global survey of orthopaedic surgeons' strategies.

PURPOSE: Great variety and controversies surround the management strategies of acute multiligament knee injuries (aMKLIs) and no established guidelines exist for resource-limited practices. The aim of this study was to compare the management approach of acute knee dislocations (AKDs) by orthopedic surgeons from nations with different economic status. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional scenario-based survey compares different management strategies for aMLKIs of surgeons in developed economic nations (DEN) and emerging markets and developing nations (EMDN). The main areas of focus were operative versus non-operative management, timing and staging of surgery, graft choice and vascular assessment strategies. The members of the Societe Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopedique et de Traumatologie (SICOT) were approached to participate and information was collected regarding their demographics, experience, hospital setting and management strategies of aMLKIs. These were analyzed after categorizing participants into DEN and EMDN based on the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. RESULTS: One-hundred and thirty-eight orthopedic surgeons from 47 countries participated in this study, 67 from DEN and 71 (51.4%) from EMDN. DEN surgeons had more years of experience and were older (p < 0.05). Surgeons from EMDN mostly worked in public sector hospitals, were general orthopedic surgeons and treated patients from a low-income background. They preferred conservative management and delayed reconstruction with autograft (p < 0.05) if surgery was necessary. Surgeons from DEN favored early, single stage arthroscopic ligament reconstruction. Selective Computerized Tomography Angiography (CTA) was the most preferred choice of arterial examination for both groups. Significantly more EMDN surgeons preferred clinical examination (p < 0.05) and duplex doppler scanning (p < 0.05) compared to DEN surgeons. More surgeons from EMDN did not have access to a physiotherapist for their patients. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of aMLKIs vary significantly based on the economic status of the country. Surgeons from DEN prefer early, single stage arthroscopic ligament reconstruction, while conservative management is favored in EMDN. Ligament surgery in EMDN is often delayed and staged. EMDN respondents utilize duplex doppler scanning and clinical examination more readily in their vascular assessment of aMLKIs. These findings highlight very distinct approaches to MLKIs in low-resource settings which are often neglected when guidelines are generated

Heritability Estimates for Fatty Acid Concentration in Angus Beef

Our group has previously reported that percentage of fatty acids within the total fatty acids shows evidence of being under genetic control. In more recent work, we are conducting a comparison of heritability estimates when the fatty acids are expressed as a percentage of the lipid (% fatty acid within the total fatty acids) or expressed as a concentration within the beef (mg fatty acid/g of beef). Expression of fatty acid concentration as mg fatty acid/g of beef is dependent upon both the concentration of lipid in the beef and the concentration of fatty acid within the lipid

Assistive technology design and development for acceptable robotics companions for ageing years

© 2013 Farshid Amirabdollahian et al., licensee Versita Sp. z o. o. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author.A new stream of research and development responds to changes in life expectancy across the world. It includes technologies which enhance well-being of individuals, specifically for older people. The ACCOMPANY project focuses on home companion technologies and issues surrounding technology development for assistive purposes. The project responds to some overlooked aspects of technology design, divided into multiple areas such as empathic and social human-robot interaction, robot learning and memory visualisation, and monitoring persons’ activities at home. To bring these aspects together, a dedicated task is identified to ensure technological integration of these multiple approaches on an existing robotic platform, Care-O-Bot®3 in the context of a smart-home environment utilising a multitude of sensor arrays. Formative and summative evaluation cycles are then used to assess the emerging prototype towards identifying acceptable behaviours and roles for the robot, for example role as a butler or a trainer, while also comparing user requirements to achieved progress. In a novel approach, the project considers ethical concerns and by highlighting principles such as autonomy, independence, enablement, safety and privacy, it embarks on providing a discussion medium where user views on these principles and the existing tension between some of these principles, for example tension between privacy and autonomy over safety, can be captured and considered in design cycles and throughout project developmentsPeer reviewe

Science in neo-Victorian poetry

This article considers the work of three contemporary poets and their engagement, in verse, with Victorian science. Beginning with the outlandish ‘theories’ of Mick Imlah’s ‘The Zoologist’s Bath’ (1983), it moves on to two works of biografiction – Anthony Thwaite’s poem ‘At Marychurch’ (1980), which outlines Philip Henry Gosse’s doomed attempts to unite evolution and Christianity, and Ruth Padel’s Darwin: A Life in Poems (2009). Starting off with John Glendening’s idea that science in neo-Victorian fiction, if fully embraced, provides an opportunity for self-revelation to characters, this article explores the rather less happy resolutions of each of these poems, while in addition discussing the ways in which these poems perform the formal changes and mutability discussed within them

Language, Religion, and Ethnic Civil War

Are certain ethnic cleavages more conflict-prone than others? While only few scholars focus on the contents of ethnicity, most of those who do argue that political violence is more likely to occur along religious divisions than linguistic ones. We challenge this claim by analyzing the path from linguistic differences to ethnic civil war along three theoretical steps: (1) the perception of grievances by group members, (2) rebel mobilization, and (3) government accommodation of rebel demands. Our argument is tested with a new data set of ethnic cleavages that records multiple linguistic and religious segments for ethnic groups from 1946 to 2009. Adopting a relational perspective, we assess ethnic differences between potential challengers and the politically dominant group in each country. Our findings indicate that intrastate conflict is more likely within linguistic dyads than among religious ones. Moreover, we find no support for the thesis that Muslim groups are particularly conflict-prone

The effect of pyramiding Phytophthora infestans resistance genes RPi-mcd1 and RPi-ber in potato

Despite efforts to control late blight in potatoes by introducing Rpi-genes from wild species into cultivated potato, there are still concerns regarding the durability and level of resistance. Pyramiding Rpi-genes can be a solution to increase both durability and level of resistance. In this study, two resistance genes, RPi-mcd1 and RPi-ber, introgressed from the wild tuber-bearing potato species Solanum microdontum and S. berthaultii were combined in a diploid S. tuberosum population. Individual genotypes from this population were classified after four groups, carrying no Rpi-gene, with only RPi-mcd1, with only RPi-ber, and a group with the pyramided RPi-mcd1 and RPi-ber by means of tightly linked molecular markers. The levels of resistance between the groups were compared in a field experiment in 2007. The group with RPi-mcd1 showed a significant delay to reach 50% infection of the leaf area of 3 days. The group with RPi-ber showed a delay of 3 weeks. The resistance level in the pyramid group suggested an additive effect of RPi-mcd1 with RPi-ber. This suggests that potato breeding can benefit from combining individual Rpi-genes, irrespective of the weak effect of RPi-mcd1 or the strong effect of RPi-ber