Emergency TeleOrthoPaedics m-health system for wireless communication links

For the first time, a complete wireless and mobile emergency TeleOrthoPaedics system with field trials and expert opinion is presented. The system enables doctors in a remote area to obtain a second opinion from doctors in the hospital using secured wireless telecommunication networks. Doctors can exchange securely medical images and video as well as other important data, and thus perform remote consultations, fast and accurately using a user friendly interface, via a reliable and secure telemedicine system of low cost. The quality of the transmitted compressed (JPEG2000) images was measured using different metrics and doctors opinions. The results have shown that all metrics were within acceptable limits. The performance of the system was evaluated successfully under different wireless communication links based on real data

What kind of Democracy and what kind of Mass Media do we have today?

The Athenian, direct, democracy was applied evolutionarily for about 140 years (from 462 BC to 322 BC in Attica) resulting in the creation of culturefor example, anything that is freely provided to all citizens and results in their well-being. In Athens, when Democracy was prevailing, justice, philosophy, theatre, poetry, games, applied arts etc. and the principles of all sciences, were available freely to all citizens for the first time. The modern "representative" (or parliamentary) Democracy differs greatly from direct Democracy. For this reason, as a practical development and an improved version of the representative Democracy, the participatory Democracy is preferred these days. In the last 200 years or so with the spread of typography and the global prevalence of the 3rd industrial revolution (electricity, electronics, telecommunications, information technology, internet, etc.) the media has emerged evolutionarily, which today, at the beginning of the 4th industrial re-startion (Robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, nanotechnology, Blockchain, drones, 5G etc.) play a dominant role in people's everyday life. In today's age, of speed, of insufficient leisure as well as tranquility, peace, joy and happiness for too many people, and where human values, quality of life and also survival of the human race are in question, mainly due to the visible danger of the negative and perhaps non-reversible effects of climate change, one of the most imperative questions that afflict thinking people is 'what kind of Democracy and what kind of Mass Media prevail today'? Do the people (Demos) really prevail, that is, the opinion of the majority? And if so, how is that opinion shaped? Are citizens really informed or manipulated by Mass Media? Is Orwell and the followers of conspiracy theories increasingly verified? Do fake news, fake journalists, fake experts and fake representatives or fake city/ State leaders dominate

Institutional Cooperation in Tele-Echography and Erasmus Program: The experience of two institutions in Cyprus and France

The Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) and the University of Orleans in France cooperate in a research program in Telemedicine and in an educational exchange program under the European program Erasmus. The specific field of the research program is the Tele-echography and there is an on going project with the acronym MARTE (Mobile And Robotised Tele-Echography). The educational program consists mainly of exchanges of students and academic staff. The main scope of the project MARTE is the development of a tele-echographic system with which a specialist doctor would be able to examine a patient located in a remote place anywhere and under various conditions. The examination would be possible thanks to a video conferencing system and a tele-operated robot, which is controlled by a specialist doctor. This project is a continuation of a European funded research project named OTELO (FP5). MARTE began in 2004 and since then it is financed mainly by the cooperating Universities and the governments of Cyprus and France. In this complex project, in addition to the two Institutions, are involved two hospitals, one in Cyprus and one in France, another Institution (University of Cyprus), the Cyprus Telecommunication Authority, and other private companies in Cyprus and France. The educational exchanges are mainly financed by the Erasmus program and by the two Universities in the two countries. This paper comments on the experience acquired by the two Institutions CUT and University of Orleans from this international research and educational cooperation

Cardiac ultrasonography over 4G wireless networks using a tele-operated robot

This Letter proposes an end-to-end mobile tele-echography platform using a portable robot for remote cardiac ultrasonography. Performance evaluation investigates the capacity of long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks to facilitate responsive robot tele-manipulation and real-time ultrasound video streaming that qualifies for clinical practice. Within this context, a thorough video coding standards comparison for cardiac ultrasound applications is performed, using a data set of ten ultrasound videos. Both objective and subjective (clinical) video quality assessment demonstrate that H.264/AVC and high efficiency video coding standards can achieve diagnostically-lossless video quality at bitrates well within the LTE supported data rates. Most importantly, reduced latencies experienced throughout the live tele-echography sessions allow the medical expert to remotely operate the robot in a responsive manner, using the wirelessly communicated cardiac ultrasound video to reach a diagnosis. Based on preliminary results documented in this Letter, the proposed robotised tele-echography platform can provide for reliable, remote diagnosis, achieving comparable quality of experience levels with in-hospital ultrasound examinations

Medical telerobotic systems: Current status and future trends

Teleoperated medical robotic systems allow procedures such as surgeries, treatments, and diagnoses to be conducted across short or long distances while utilizing wired and/or wireless communication networks. This study presents a systematic review of the relevant literature between the years 2004 and 2015, focusing on medical teleoperated robotic systems which have witnessed tremendous growth over the examined period. A thorough insight of telerobotics systems discussing design concepts, enabling technologies (namely robotic manipulation, telecommunications, and vision systems), and potential applications in clinical practice is provided, while existing limitations and future trends are also highlighted. A representative paradigm of the short-distance case is the da Vinci Surgical System which is described in order to highlight relevant issues. The long-distance telerobotics concept is exemplified through a case study on diagnostic ultrasound scanning. Moreover, the present review provides a classification into short- and long-distance telerobotic systems, depending on the distance from which they are operated. Telerobotic systems are further categorized with respect to their application field. For the reviewed systems are also examined their engineering characteristics and the employed robotics technology. The current status of the field, its significance, the potential, as well as the challenges that lie ahead are thoroughly discussed

An Anticipative Control Approach and Interactive GUI to Enhance the Rendering of the Distal Robot Interaction with its Environment during Robotized Tele-Echography: Interactive Platform for Robotized Tele-Echography

Performing a robotized telemedicine act via specific networks brings forth the issue of transparency in order to enable the operator, e.g. the medical ultrasound specialist, to safely and accurately perform bilateral tele-operation tasks despite the long time delays inherent to the communication link. To counter these effects, two strategies are combined to improve, at the operator site, the rendering of the interactions between the remote robotic systems with its environment (i.e. the patient), and the control of the robot’s orientation at the operator site. The first approach is the development of a new control architecture based on an internal model providing an anticipated value of the distant environment stiffness; it is complemented with a graphic user interface (GUI) which provides the expert with the real-time relative position of the haptic probe with the robot’s end effector for better tele-operated control. These combined strategies provide the expert with an improved interactive tool for tele-diagnosis

International Pissouri Village Symposium: Media and Democracy

Media plays a critical a role today for the protection and the strengthening of peaceful democratic societies. On the other hand, Democracy gives us freedom—’the right to free speech’. The media through television channels, the Internet, and newspapers assume the role of the moral guardian in society. More than often, we depend on the media to seek the truth. But truth is subjective. What is truth to you might not be the truth to me. Therefore, the media is expected to carefully analyze a situation from all possible angles rather than merely pass a fixed moral judgment. This International Symposium today we discuss with the question of the role of mass media in modern democracies. Mass communication is indispensable for today’s large-scale societies, and television, newspapers and the radio are the most important sources of information for citizens all around the globe. But while there seems to be great consensus about what this means for dictatorships and countries in transition, the contribution of mass media to the wellfunctioning of more mature and established democracies is highly debated among scholars, politicians and practitioners alike. There is usually no doubt that mass media help maintaining the system and the power of the government in authoritarian regimes where they are – at least for the most part – tightly controlled by the state

A predictive control approach and interactive GUI to enhance distal environment rendering during robotized tele-echography: Interactive platform for robotized telechography

Performing a robotized telemedicine act via specific networks brings forth two issues. One is transparency in order to enable the operator, e.g. the medical ultrasound specialist, to safely and accurately perform bilateral tele-operation tasks despite the long time delays inherent to the communication link. To counter these effects, two strategies are combined to improve, at the operator site, the rendering of the interactions between the remote robotic systems with its environment (i.e. the patient), and the control of the robot's orientation. The first approach is the development of a new control architecture based on an internal model providing an anticipated value of the distant environment stiffness; it is complemented with a graphic user interface (GUI) which provides the expert with the real-time relative position of the haptic probe with the robot's end effector for a better tele-operated control. These combined strategies provide the expert with an improved interactive tool for a tele-diagnosis

A predictive control approach and interactive GUI to enhance distal environment rendering during robotized tele-echograph

International audiencePerforming a robotized telemedicine act via specific networks brings forth two issues. One is transparency in order to enable the operator, e.g. the medical ultrasound specialist, to safely and precisely perform bilateral tele-operation tasks despite the long time delays inherent to the chosen communication link. To counter these effects, two strategies are combined to improve at the operator site the rendering of the interactions of the remote robotic systems with its environment (i.e. the patient), and the control of the robot's orientation. The first approach is the development of a new control architecture based on an internal model providing an anticipated value of the distant environment stiffness for any time delays; it is complemented by the development of a graphic user interface (GUI) which provides the expert with the relative position of the haptic probe and the robot's end effector for a better tele-operated control. These combined strategies provide the expert with an improved interactive tool for a tele-diagnosis