Functional mimicry of Ruffini receptors with fibre Bragg gratings and deep neural networks enables a bio-inspired large-area tactile-sensitive skin

Collaborative robots are expected to physically interact with humans in daily living and the workplace, including industrial and healthcare settings. A key related enabling technology is tactile sensing, which currently requires addressing the outstanding scientific challenge to simultaneously detect contact location and intensity by means of soft conformable artificial skins adapting over large areas to the complex curved geometries of robot embodiments. In this work, the development of a large-area sensitive soft skin with a curved geometry is presented, allowing for robot total-body coverage through modular patches. The biomimetic skin consists of a soft polymeric matrix, resembling a human forearm, embedded with photonic fibre Bragg grating transducers, which partially mimics Ruffini mechanoreceptor functionality with diffuse, overlapping receptive fields. A convolutional neural network deep learning algorithm and a multigrid neuron integration process were implemented to decode the fibre Bragg grating sensor outputs for inference of contact force magnitude and localization through the skin surface. Results of 35 mN (interquartile range 56 mN) and 3.2 mm (interquartile range 2.3 mm) median errors were achieved for force and localization predictions, respectively. Demonstrations with an anthropomorphic arm pave the way towards artificial intelligence based integrated skins enabling safe human–robot cooperation via machine intelligence

Decomposition of the QCD String into Dipoles and Unintegrated Gluon Distributions

We present the perturbative and non-perturbative QCD structure of the dipole-dipole scattering amplitude in momentum space. The perturbative contribution is described by two-gluon exchange and the non-perturbative contribution by the stochastic vacuum model which leads to confinement of the quark and antiquark in the dipole via a string of color fields. This QCD string gives important non-perturbative contributions to high-energy reactions. A new structure different from the perturbative dipole factors is found in the string-string scattering amplitude. The string can be represented as an integral over stringless dipoles with a given dipole number density. This decomposition of the QCD string into dipoles allows us to calculate the unintegrated gluon distribution of hadrons and photons from the dipole-hadron and dipole-photon cross section via kT-factorization.Comment: 43 pages, 14 figure

Confining QCD Strings, Casimir Scaling, and a Euclidean Approach to High-Energy Scattering

We compute the chromo-field distributions of static color-dipoles in the fundamental and adjoint representation of SU(Nc) in the loop-loop correlation model and find Casimir scaling in agreement with recent lattice results. Our model combines perturbative gluon exchange with the non-perturbative stochastic vacuum model which leads to confinement of the color-charges in the dipole via a string of color-fields. We compute the energy stored in the confining string and use low-energy theorems to show consistency with the static quark-antiquark potential. We generalize Meggiolaro's analytic continuation from parton-parton to gauge-invariant dipole-dipole scattering and obtain a Euclidean approach to high-energy scattering that allows us in principle to calculate S-matrix elements directly in lattice simulations of QCD. We apply this approach and compute the S-matrix element for high-energy dipole-dipole scattering with the presented Euclidean loop-loop correlation model. The result confirms the analytic continuation of the gluon field strength correlator used in all earlier applications of the stochastic vacuum model to high-energy scattering.Comment: 65 pages, 13 figures, extended and revised version to be published in Phys. Rev. D (results unchanged, 2 new figures, 1 new table, additional discussions in Sec.2.3 and Sec.5, new appendix on the non-Abelian Stokes theorem, old Appendix A -> Sec.3, several references added

Effects of Intradermal Therapy (Mesotherapy) on Bilateral Cervicobrachial Pain

Background: Mesotherapy is a procedure or a process of injecting drugs into the skin. This technique can help decrease the total drug dose due to its drug-sparing effect on the systemic route and can be utilized to treat nonspecific neck pain that occurs in the lateral and posterior neck. Methods: Ten patients with bilateral cervicobrachial pain were recruited and evaluated at T0 before treatments, T1 at the end of the treatment (42 days after T0), and T2 (72 days after T0). Assessments consisted of performing the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to evaluate pain evolution; a range of movement (ROM) and Bilateral trapezius’ tone, elasticity, and dynamic stiffness mensuration were performed using MyotonPro®. All patients underwent mesotherapy treatment in the trapezius muscles with 1 cc of Diclofenac Sodium and 1 cc of lidocaine diluted in 3 cc of saline for a total of 6 weeks. Results: VAS value statistically decreased at T1 and T2; ROM of neck flexion statistically increased at T1 and T2, and miometric tone and stiffness value statistically improved at T1 and T2. Conclusion: mesotherapy with Diclofenac Sodium reduced pain intensity and improved functional outcomes, with no significant adverse effects in patients with myofascial pain syndrome of cervicobrachial localization

EFFETTO DELLA PANDEMIA COVID-19 SULLA SALUTE MENTALE DEGLI OPERATORI SANITARI IMPEGNATI NEI SETTING RIABILITATIVI INTENSIVI E SUB INTENSIVI

L’epidemia da SARS-CoV-2, diffusasi in tutto il mondo a partire dalla fine del 2019, caratterizzata da elevata velocità di diffusione del contagio ed estrema gravità del quadro clinico, ha causato un parziale collasso del sistema sanitario in molti Paesi. Infatti si è determinato uno squilibrio tra le richieste di salute della popolazione e le risorse del sistema sanitario in termini di personale, materiali d’uso e posti letto, soprattutto in terapia intensiva. Per far fronte all’emergenza è stata richiesta agli operatori sanitari, sia di prima che di seconda linea, una modifica di ritmi e modalità di lavoro. Da questo cambiamento è derivato lo stress associato a fatica per aumento del carico di lavoro e intensificazione dei turni. Ad esso si è inoltre sommato lo stress causato da carenza di adeguati dispositivi di protezione individuale, la paura del contagio per sé stessi e per i propri congiunti, ed in alcuni casi la preoccupazione legata alla precarietà organizzativa delle strutture di lavor

Implantable Fiber Bragg Grating sensor for continuous heart activity monitoring: ex-vivo and in-vivo validation

Continuous and reliable cardiac function monitoring could improve medication adherence in patients at risk of heart failure. This work presents an innovative implantable Fiber Bragg Grating-based soft sensor designed to sense mechanical cardiac activity. The sensor was tested in an isolated beating ovine heart platform, with 3 different hearts operated in wide-ranging conditions. In order to investigate the sensor capability to track the ventricular beats in real-time, two causal algorithms were proposed for detecting the beats from sensor data and to discriminate artifacts. The first based on dynamic thresholds while the second is a hybrid convolutional and recurrent Neural Network. An error of 2.7 ± 0.7 beats per minute was achieved in tracking the heart rate. Finally, we have confirmed the sensor reliability in monitoring the heart activity of healthy adult minipig with an error systematically lower than 1 Bpm