A Basic Robotic Excavator (the Glenn Digger): Description, Design, and Initial Operation

This paper describes the design, commercial part selections, fabrication, assembly, installation, and initial operation of a two degree of freedom robotic excavator. Colloquially referred to as "the NASA Glenn Digger," it was designed specifically to be mounted onto, and to operate with, the then newly developed Centaur 2 robotic mobility base. The excavator, when mounted to Centaur 2, is designed to scoop loose regolith from the terrain, raise its loaded bucket up and dump the load into a hopper of at least a 1-m-height. The hopper represents the input to a machine that would process the raw material, such as to produce oxygen from lunar regolith as would be required for long-term lunar habitation. This equipment debuted at the annual Research and Technology Studies ("Desert RATS", Ref. 1) event held north of Flagstaff, Arizona, in September of 2010, when the Digger was successfully joined to Centaur 2 and the shoveling articulation was demonstrated. During 2011, the hardware was modified for added strength, strain gauges were added to measure loads, and the controls were improved in preparation for the 2011 Desert RATS event, where additional "field operations" experience was gained

What are the common areas of risk and their characteristics found in intermediate care from an occupational therapy perspective? A scoping review

Engaging with risk is a certain and unavoidable part of occupational therapy. Intermediate care services are mostly accessed by older people with complex needs, yet little is known in the literature about the extent, type and nature of risk involved in these services. Method: A scoping review was systematically conducted to map the common areas of risk (risk domains) from an occupational therapy perspective. Thematic analysis was conducted in order to identify the risk characteristics related to the literature reviewed. Results: Twenty-five journal articles were identified and arranged into ten risk domains: falls, discharge, practice errors, activities of daily living, pressure care, frailty management, patient handling, loneliness, nutritional care, and language barriers. Three risk characteristics were identified 1) Risk awareness and identifying risk, 2) Decision-making under risk 3) Improving safety. Conclusion: Occupational therapists play a diverse role in mitigating risk for older people which is not fully explored beyond addressing deficits in functional ability and hazardous environments. The process of how risk is controlled, reconciled with occupation and how positive risk-taking is facilitated are implicit and not directly addressed within the literature reviewed. The findings reveal gaps in knowledge and provide a foundation for further research

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN STATIC FOOT POSTURE AND PEAK PATELLAR TENDON FORCE DURING SINGLE-LEG LANDINGS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Patellar tendinopathy is particularly prevalent in jumping-sport athletes and develops due to chronic overloading without appropriate load modification. Pronated and supinated foot postures have been suggested to be associated with the development of the injury. This study aimed to investigate the association between static foot posture, measured using the Foot Posture Index (FPI), and peak patellar tendon force during single-leg drop landings. Kinetic and kinematic data were collected during a single-leg landing task and used to estimate peak patellar tendon force. There was no statistically significant association between FPI and peak patellar tendon force during landing (p = 0.910). Further research investigating how foot posture may affect lower limb loading during landing is required to inform pre-screening and rehabilitation protocols for jumping sport athletes

Investigating the effect strength of positive risk-taking barriers on discharge decisions in occupational therapy intermediate care: A factorial survey

Positive risk-taking in occupational therapy intermediate care is a requirement yet little is known about how positive risk-taking barriers influence discharge decisions at different experience levels. Method. A factorial survey was used to investigate positive risk-taking barriers (i.e. Limited Capacity, Risk Averse Family, Blame Culture and No Support). Participants self-categorised their experience level into Novice or Semi-expert or Expert before analysing four vignettes relating to recommending a home discharge for an older adult. Data were analysed using Multiple Regression and One-Way Analysis of Variance. Results. 74 participants responded to 281 vignettes. The barriers that reduced the likelihood to recommend a home discharge for an older adult were ‘No Support’, Novices (β = -.315, p=0.002), Semi-experts (β = -.313, p=0.001) Experts (β = -.254, p=0.009); ‘Limited Capacity’, Novices (β = -.305, p<0.003), Semi-experts (β = -.254, p=0.006) Experts (β = -.376, p=0.001) and ‘Blame Culture’ Semi-experts (β = -.240, p=0.010). Novices were found to be less likely to recommend a home discharge by comparison. Conclusion. The ‘Limited Capacity’, ‘No Support’ and ‘Blame Culture’ barriers had the strongest effect and Novices were less likely to recommend a home discharge overall. These findings could inform future research and pre-registration Occupational Therapy education

Evaluation of three lidar scanning strategies for turbulence measurements

Several errors occur when a traditional Doppler beam swinging (DBS) or velocity–azimuth display (VAD) strategy is used to measure turbulence with a lidar. To mitigate some of these errors, a scanning strategy was recently developed which employs six beam positions to independently estimate the <i>u</i>, <i>v</i>, and <i>w</i> velocity variances and covariances. In order to assess the ability of these different scanning techniques to measure turbulence, a Halo scanning lidar, WindCube v2 pulsed lidar, and ZephIR continuous wave lidar were deployed at field sites in Oklahoma and Colorado with collocated sonic anemometers.</br></br>Results indicate that the six-beam strategy mitigates some of the errors caused by VAD and DBS scans, but the strategy is strongly affected by errors in the variance measured at the different beam positions. The ZephIR and WindCube lidars overestimated horizontal variance values by over 60 % under unstable conditions as a result of variance contamination, where additional variance components contaminate the true value of the variance. A correction method was developed for the WindCube lidar that uses variance calculated from the vertical beam position to reduce variance contamination in the <i>u</i> and <i>v</i> variance components. The correction method reduced WindCube variance estimates by over 20 % at both the Oklahoma and Colorado sites under unstable conditions, when variance contamination is largest. This correction method can be easily applied to other lidars that contain a vertical beam position and is a promising method for accurately estimating turbulence with commercially available lidars

Becoming and Being an Age-Friendly University: Strategic Considerations and Practical Implications

Becoming and being an Age-Friendly University (AFU) require developing a strategic plan for enlisting support across campus for the AFU principles and embarking on an ongoing process for continuing to promote them as an academic community. Throughout this process, the use of a conceptual framework for change in academic settings can be helpful. The University of Rhode Island (URI) recently became an AFU after a campus-wide process of identifying activities that already supported AFU principles and enlisting key sources of support for embracing them. In particular, an emerging emphasis within URI on developing lifelong-learning and intergenerational programs provided a firm foundation upon which to build the case. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for developing a strategy for change in an academic setting, and then illustrates how URI has utilized it to move forward with becoming more “aging friendly.” Implications for continuing development consistent with the AFU principles will be discussed