Group living homes for older people with dementia: Concept and effects

Eefsting, J.A. [Promotor]Pot, A.M. [Promotor]Depla, M.F.I.A. [Copromotor]Lange, J. de [Copromotor

Developing social action capabilities in a humanoid robot using an interaction history architecture

“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.” DOI: 10.1109/ICHR.2008.4756013We present experimental results for the humanoid robot Kaspar2 engaging in a simple “peekaboo” interaction game with a human partner. The robot develops the capability to engage in the game by using its history of interactions coupled with audio and visual feedback from the interaction partner to continually generate increasingly appropriate behaviour. The robot also uses facial expressions to feedback its level of reward to the partner. The results support the hypothesis that reinforcement of time-extended experiences through interaction allows a robot to act appropriately in an interaction

Robot Self-Characterisation of Experience Using Trajectories in Sensory-Motor Phase Space

Peer reviewe

Library consortia in Germany

Whenever German librarians talk about consortia in the presence of lawyers (even if they are libarians themselves) they meet with vehement protest. In German the legal term „consortium“ is restricted to a relatively narrow meaning. In „Meyers neues Lexikon“ from 1993 it is defined as: „Bank merger for stock exchange dealings and credit transactions ...“ And from the same source the definition of consortial business: „Syndicate business for which several members (mostly banks) join up for a consortium. Reasons for forming a consortium are: 1. Overstraining of the financial resources of each individual consortium member, 2. spreading of risks ...“ 1 While risk-spreading is not really an issue for libraries, their financial resources are undoubtedly overstrained. There are three reasons: the pricing policy – that is to say the heavy annual price rise – of the publishers, the rapidly increasing number of academic publications not likely to slow down in the foreseeable future as well as the expectations and wishes of our users and customers, the scientific community. Therefore, the term „purchasing association“ may be the correct one from a (German) legal point of view. As in many similar cases the term was adopted from an Anglo-American background with a much broader meaning: „Partnership, association. Now more specifically an association of business, banking or manufacturing organizations.“ 2 In Germany the term „consortium“ is now widely used for joint actions of libraries

Exploring the Design Space of Robot Appearance and Behavior in an Attention-Seeking Living Room Scenario for a Robot Companion

This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.---- Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. --DOI : 10.1109/ALIFE.2007.36781

A middleware for a large array of cameras

Large arrays of cameras are increasingly being employed for producing high quality image sequences needed for motion analysis research. This leads to the logistical problem with coordination and control of a large number of cameras. In this paper, we used a lightweight multi-agent system for coordinating such camera arrays. The agent framework provides more than a remote sensor access API. It allows reconfigurable and transparent access to cameras, as well as software agents capable of intelligent processing. Furthermore, it eases maintenance by encouraging code reuse. Additionally, our agent system includes an automatic discovery mechanism at startup, and multiple language bindings. Performance tests showed the lightweight nature of the framework while validating its correctness and scalability. Two different camera agents were implemented to provide access to a large array of distributed cameras. Correct operation of these camera agents was confirmed via several image processing agents

An empirical framework for human-robot proxemics

The work described in this paper was conducted within the EU Integrated Projects COGNIRON ("The Cognitive Robot Companion") and LIREC (LIving with Robots and intEractive Companions) and was funded by the European Commission under contract numbers FP6- 002020 and FP7-215554.An empirical framework for Human-Robot (HR) proxemics is proposed which shows how the measurement and control of interpersonal distances between a human and a robot can be potentially used by the robot to interpret, predict and manipulate proxemic behaviour for Human-Robot Interactions (HRIs). The proxemic framework provides for incorporation of inter-factor effects, and can be extended to incorporate new factors, updated values and results. The framework is critically discussed and future work proposed

JAK2 Inhibition: Reviewing a New Therapeutical Option in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

JAK2 is a tyrosine kinase gene that plays an essential role in the development of normal haematopoiesis. Hyperactivation of JAK2 occurs in myeloproliferative neoplasms by different mechanisms. As a consequence, JAK2 inhibitors have been designed to suppress the cytokine signalling cascade caused by the constitutive activation of JAK2. In clinical trials, JAK2 inhibitors are efficient in decreasing spleen size, controlling clinical symptoms, and improving quality of life in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms. However, JAK2 inhibitors are unable to target uncommitted hematopoietic progenitors responsible of the initiation of the myeloproliferative disease. It is expected that, in order to cure the myeloproliferative disease, JAK2 inhibitors should be combined with other drugs to target simultaneously different pathways and to target the initiator hematopoietic cell population in myeloproliferative disorders. Taking advantage of the inhibition of the cytokine cascade of JAK2 inhibitors, these compounds are going to be used not only to treat patients with hematological neoplasms but may also be beneficial to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis or other inflammatory diseases

Plasticity of Cell Migration in Vivo and in Silico

Cell migration results from stepwise mechanical and chemical interactions between cells and their extracellular environment. Mechanistic principles that determine single-cell and collective migration modes and their interconversions depend upon the polarization, adhesion, deformability, contractility, and proteolytic ability of cells. Cellular determinants of cell migration respond to extracellular cues, including tissue composition, topography, alignment, and tissue-associated growth factors and cytokines. Both cellular determinants and tissue determinants are interdependent; undergo reciprocal adjustment; and jointly impact cell decision making, navigation, and migration outcome in complex environments. We here review the variability, decision making, and adaptation of cell migration approached by live-cell, in vivo, and in silico strategies, with a focus on cell movements in morphogenesis, repair, immune surveillance, and cancer metastasi