DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND USABILITY EVALUATION OF CONTROL ALGORITHMS FOR A MOBILITY ENHANCEMENT ROBOTIC WHEELCHAIR (MEBOT)

An Electric Powered Wheelchair (EPW) is a key mobility device for people with disabilities providing mobility, independence, and improved quality of life. However, the design of current EPWs remains limited when driving in environments with architectural barriers and uneven terrain, making EPW users susceptible to safety issues - such as tipping or falling - which may lead to serious injury. To overcome these limitations, we developed a series of control algorithms for a novel mobility enhancement robotic wheelchair (MEBot). MEBot consists of six wheels with pneumatic actuators to control the elevation and inclination of the wheelchair as well as electric actuators in the driving wheel carriage to change its driving wheel configuration. Its controller is comprised of a single board computer, and a sensor package that aids obstacle detection and provides information about joint movements to develop MEBOT’s control algorithms. The ability of the MEBot controller to perform control algorithms, such as the dynamic seat leveling, curb climbing, and descending applications, was evaluated and validated in both simulation and a controlled environment for broader accessibility in architectural barriers. A stability analysis showed that while the footprint of the wheelchair changed during the process of its control algorithms when overcoming architectural barriers such as curbs and slopes; MEBot maintained its center of mass within the wheelchair footprint. Furthermore, a usability evaluation with ten power wheelchair users was conducted to compare the MEBot’s controller with that of their own power wheelchair in simulated indoor, outdoor, and advanced (architectural barriers) environments. Results show that MEBot was able to perform a significantly higher number of tasks than currently available commercial power wheelchairs in the advanced environment. In addition, participant’s feedback was obtained for further improvement of the device and its control algorithms

An axiomatic/asymptotic evaluation of best theories for isotropic metallic and functionally graded plates employing non-polynomic functions

This paper presents Best Theory Diagrams (BTDs) constructed from various non-polynomial terms to identify best plate theories for metallic and functionally graded plates. The BTD is a curve that provides the minimum number of unknown variables necessary to obtain a given accuracy or the best accuracy given by a given number of unknown variables. The plate theories that belong to the BTD have been obtained using the Axiomatic/Asymptotic Method (AAM). The different plate theories reported are implemented by using the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). Navier-type solutions have been obtained for the case of simply supported plates loaded by a bisinusoidal transverse pressure with different length-to-thickness ratios. The BTDs built from non-polynomial functions are compared with BTDs using Maclaurin expansions. The results suggest that the plate models obtained from the BTD using nonpolynomial terms can improve the accuracy obtained from Maclaurin expansions for a given number of unknown variables of the displacement field

Translating Pharmacogenomics: Challenges on the Road to the Clinic

Pharmacogenomics is one of the first clinical applications of the postgenomic era. It promises personalized medicine rather than the established “one size fits all” approach to drugs and dosages. The expected reduction in trial and error should ultimately lead to more efficient and safer drug therapy. In recent years, commercially available pharmacogenomic tests have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but their application in patient care remains very limited. More generally, the implementation of pharmacogenomics in routine clinical practice presents significant challenges. This article presents specific clinical examples of such challenges and discusses how obstacles to implementation of pharmacogenomic testing can be addressed

Anti-emetic drugs in oncology: pharmacology and individualization by pharmacogenetics

Objective Nausea and vomiting are the most distressful side effects of cytotoxic drugs in cancer patients. Antiemetics are commonly used to reduce these side effects. However, the current antiemetic efficacy is about 70–80% in patients treated with highly-emetogenic cytotoxic drugs. One of the potential factors explaining this suboptimal response is variability in genes encoding enzymes and proteins which play a role in metabolism, transport and receptors related to antiemetic drugs. Aim of this review was to describe the pharmacology and pharmacogenetic concepts of of antiemetics in oncology. Method Pharmacogenetic and pharmacology studies of antiemetics in oncology published between January 1997 and February 2010 were searched in PubMed. Furthermore, related textbooks were also used for exploring the pharmacology of antiemetic drugs. The antiemetic drugs which were searched were the 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor antagonists (5-HT3RAs), dopamine antagonists, corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, antihistamines and neurokinin-1 antagonists. Result The 5-HT3RAs are widely used in highly emetogenic chemotherapy in combination with dexamethasone and a neurokinin-1 antagonist, especially in acute phase. However, the dopamine antagonists and benzodiazepines were found more appropriate for use in breakthrough and anticipatory symptoms or in preventing the delayed phase of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting. The use of cannabinoids and antihistamines need further investigation. Only six articles on pharmacogenetics of the 5-HT3RAs in highly emetogenic chemotherapy are published. Specifically, these studies investigated the association of the efficacy of 5-HT3RAs and variants in the multi drug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene, 5-HT3A,B and C receptor genes and CYP2D6 gene. The pharmacogenetic studies of the other antiemetics were not found in this review. Conclusion It is concluded that pharmacogenetic studies with antiemetics are sparse. It is too early to implement results of pharmacogenetic association studies of antiemetic drugs in clinical practice: confirmation of early findings is required

Combinatoriality in the vocal systems of nonhuman animals

A key challenge in the field of human language evolution is the identification of the selective conditions that gave rise to language's generative nature. Comparative data on nonhuman animals provides a powerful tool to investigate similarities and differences among nonhuman and human communication systems and to reveal convergent evolutionary mechanisms. In this article, we provide an overview of the current evidence for combinatorial structures found in the vocal system of diverse species. We show that considerable structural diversity exits across and within species in the forms of combinatorial structures used. Based on this we suggest that a fine‐grained classification and differentiation of combinatoriality is a useful approach permitting systematic comparisons across animals. Specifically, this will help to identify factors that might promote the emergence of combinatoriality and, crucially, whether differences in combinatorial mechanisms might be driven by variations in social and ecological conditions or cognitive capacities

Les expositions professionnelles associées à l’utilisation des appareils portatifs de radiographie industrielle gamma en France

On parle beaucoup des expositions accidentelles en radiographie gamma. Certains organismes nationaux et internationaux en ont recherché les raisons sans trop les approfondir. Une étude plus poussée menée par l'auteur fait ressortir des causes propres à la radiographie gamma. On peut alors être étonné qu’il n’y ait pas eu plus d’incidents. La mise en place d’une réglementation adaptée à la profession et la prise de conscience par les opérateurs des risques qu’ils peuvent faire encourir, surtout à des tierces personnes, font maintenant que cette activité peut ne pas être aussi dangereuse que certains le prétendent. Une action doit, toutefois, être entreprise dans la formation du personnel qui laisse encore à désirer pour l’aide et la personne compétente

Female Bonds and Kinship in Forest Guenons

International audienceA general pattern in animal behavior is that group-living species tend to bias their sociopositive behavior toward genetic relatives. In nonhuman primates, kin-biased social bonds have been reported in large multimale, multifemale macaque and baboon groups, but little is known for other species. We addressed this with a comparative study on the genetic and social organization of two sympatric forest guenons, Diana (Cercopithecus diana) and Campbell’s monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli). We conducted long-term observations of social interactions in two groups of each species in their natural West African forest habitat and collected fecal samples for subsequent microsatellite genetic analyses. We found that both formed female-bonded, egalitarian social organizations. We then compared patterns of genetic relatedness, spatial proximity, and key social behaviors and found that females consistently targeted individuals other than their closest relatives to form social bonds. The fact that females did not preferentially favor genetic relatives contributes to a growing literature showing that social bonds, or “friendships,” among unrelated individuals plays a key role in primate social organizations