Embedding Robotic Agents in the Social Environment

This paper discusses the interactive vision approach, which advocates using knowledge from the human sciences on the structure and dynamics of human-human interaction in the development of machine vision systems and interactive robots. While this approach is discussed generally, the particular case of the system being developed for the Aurora project (which aims to produce a robot to be used as a tool in the therapy of children with autism) is especially considered, with description of the design of the machine vision system being employed and discussion of ideas from the human sciences with particular reference to the Aurora system. An example architecture for a simple interactive agent, which will likely form the basis for the first implementation of this system, is briefly described and a description of hardware used for the Aurora system is given.Peer reviewe

Steps to Evaluate the Emory Breast Center Cancer Education Class

Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data estimates that 207,090 women will be diagnosed with and 39,840 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2011. Cancer can be a very intimidating illness and cause a great deal of anxiety. This anxiety can sometimes progress into a very serious medical problem. Interpersonal relationships, such as that between a patient and provider can influence health behavior. Communication functions of patient-provider communication such as, information exchange, uncertainty management, can improve health outcomes both directly and indirectly. For example, cancer education can help ease anxiety by familiarizing the patient with their particular condition. Additionally, cancer education classes facilitate support networks for both the diagnosed and those close to them. Increasing the patient’s knowledge and showing them they are not alone are both examples of proximal outcomes that lead to immediate outcomes to improve patient satisfaction. The breast health education class at Winship Cancer Institute came about in an effort to coordinate breast cancer care for all patients. The class prides itself on not telling patients ‘what’ to do but rather providing them with the basic facts regarding breast cancer care so that they can be more educated on their treatment options. The goal and/or overall mission of The Breast Cancer Education (BCE) Class for the Diagnosed Patient and her Significant Others is to reduce anxiety by providing breast cancer education and promoting advocacy for breast cancer patients, while providing a network of support and increasing enrollment in clinical trials. The purpose of this capstone project is to provide the tools to perform an impact evaluation on the breast cancer education class and its effectiveness in improving breast cancer patient health outcomes while examining the benefits of patient-provider communication in cancer education

Use of Earth Resources Technological Satellite (ERTS) data in a natural resource inventory

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Synthesis and structural studies of a lanthanide complex of a calix[4]arene tris-amide

The coordination chemistry of amide-substituted calixarenes is reviewed. The synthesis of a gadolinium complex of a trisamide calix[4]arene is described, involving the reaction of 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-24-hydroxy-26,27,28-tris(diethylcarbamoylmethoxy) calix[4]arene (L) with gadolinium picrate dodecahydrate. Structural studies demonstrated that the complex can be formulated as [(pic-O)Gd{(L H)(EtOH)}](pic)2 EtOH

Wetland vegetation monitoring, 1999/2000 (Salinity Action Plan)

This report represents the vegetation component of a project designed to provide on-going monitoring of wetland salinity and biological resources in wetlands of the agricultural zone of south-west Western Australia. Maintenance of wetland biological diversity in the agricultural zone is one of the major objectives of the Salinity Action Plan. Due to their low position in the landscape, wetlands are the habitat most affected by salinisation

Structural characterisation and photophysical properties of lanthanoid complexes of a tetra-amide functionalised calix[4]arene

Lanthanoid complexes of a tetra-amide substituted calix[4]arene in the cone conformation are characterised by single crystal X-ray structure determination. The structural analysis shows that the metal ions are coordinated to the calixarene through the eight O donor atoms, along with one aqua ligand which is located within the cavity of the calixarene. The calixarene ligand was covalently incorporated into a polymethylmethacrylate monolith through p-allyl functional groups, followed by loading with a range of lanthanoid cations giving rise to light-emitting materials. The emission from the hydrid materials was found to be comparable to the solution phase emission

The impact of the lanthanide contraction on the structure of complexes of a calix[4]arene trisamide

The syntheses of samarium, holmium, and ytterbium complexes of a tris-amide calix[4]arene are described, and the resulting structures are compared with the previously reported gadolinium complex. The syntheses involved the reaction of 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-24-hydroxy-26,27,28- tris(diethylcarbamoylmethoxy)calix[4]arene with the appropriate lanthanide picrate hydrate. Structural studies demonstrated that a picrate anion acts as a quasi-bidentate ligand with Sm (and Gd), is unidentate in the Ho complex, but is found in the second coordination sphere for the smallest lanthanide cation (Yb) investigated

Alfred Werner revisited: Some subtleties of complex ion synthesis and isomerism

The synthesis of perhaps the best-known Wernerian complex, [Co(en)3]3+, is very efficient, but nonetheless results in the formation of various side-products. Today, the use of X-ray crystallography to characterise such materials provides new insights into the reaction pathways of the synthesis and the exact forms possible for the products. The structures of cis-[Co(en)2(H2NCH2CH2NH3)Cl]Cl[ZnCl4], cis-[Co(en)2(NH3)Cl]S2O6, [Co(en)(NH2CH2CH2N=CHCH2NH2))Cl][ZnCl4], [Co(en)2(N-CH3en)][Co(CN)6]?2 H2O and [Co(en)2(N-CH3en)][Co(CN)6], are presently discussed in this regard

Dispersion and attenuation of small artificial pressure waves in the aorta

Elastic behavior of canine aortae subjected to small sinusoidal pressure signal

Manganese–calcium clusters supported by calixarenes

The structure of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II, which contains a cubane-like metal-oxo cluster incorporating four manganese (III,IV) cations, along with a calcium cation, has focussed attention on synthetic analogues of this cluster. Despite this activity, there are relatively few structurally characterised coordination clusters with this combination of metal cations. The calixarenes are synthetically versatile and well established cluster-supporting ligands, which to date have not been reported to support a calcium/manganese cluster. Here we report that p-t-butylthiacalix[4]arene supports CaMn2 and Ca2Mn2 clusters, whereas reactions of p-t-butylcalix[4]arene, p-t-butylsulfinylcalix[4]arene, and p-t-butylsulfonylcalix[4]arene, under the same conditions, produced only homometallic manganese complexes