A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehaene, S; Kerszberg, M; Changeux, J P

1998-11-24

A minimal hypothesis is proposed concerning the brain processes underlying effortful tasks. It distinguishes two main computational spaces: a unique global workspace composed of distributed and heavily interconnected neurons with long-range axons, and a set of specialized and modular perceptual, motor, memory, evaluative, and attentional processors. Workspace neurons are mobilized in effortful tasks for which the specialized processors do not suffice. They selectively mobilize or suppress, through descending connections, the contribution of specific processor neurons. In the course of task performance, workspace neurons become spontaneously coactivated, forming discrete though variable spatio-temporal patterns subject to modulation by vigilance signals and to selection by reward signals. A computer simulation of the Stroop task shows workspace activation to increase during acquisition of a novel task, effortful execution, and after errors. We outline predictions for spatio-temporal activation patterns during brain imaging, particularly about the contribution of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate to the workspace.

Workspace Program for Complex-Number Arithmetic

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, M. C.; Howell, Leonard W., Jr.

1986-01-01

COMPLEX is workspace program designed to empower APL with complexnumber capabilities. Complex-variable methods provide analytical tools invaluable for applications in mathematics, science, and engineering. COMPLEX written in APL.

Analysis on the workspace of palletizing robot based on AutoCAD

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jin-quan; Zhang, Rui; Guan, Qi; Cui, Fang; Chen, Kuan

2017-10-01

In this paper, a four-degree-of-freedom articulated palletizing robot is used as the object of research. Based on the analysis of the overall configuration of the robot, the kinematic mathematical model is established by D-H method to figure out the workspace of the robot. In order to meet the needs of design and analysis, using AutoCAD secondary development technology and AutoLisp language to develop AutoCAD-based 2D and 3D workspace simulation interface program of palletizing robot. At last, using AutoCAD plugin, the influence of structural parameters on the shape and position of the working space is analyzed when the structure parameters of the robot are changed separately. This study laid the foundation for the design, control and planning of palletizing robots.

Workspace Design: A case study applying participatory design principles of healthy workplaces in an industrial setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broberg, Ole

2010-01-01

The Danish Workspace Design (WSD) research program is aimed to develop and trial a potential new concept for ergonomists and other workplace consultants who are to engage in socio-technical design processes. The objective of this paper is to report on the trial of the workspace design concept...... in a case involving the design and implementation of a new mixing technology in an industrial plant. The case showed how the WSD concept can contribute to an engineering design process. The WSD team took the role as workspace designer and by the participatory workshops achieved an impact on the technology...... project. In the role as workspace designer it was important for the WSD team to make sure that the achievements in the workshops were “transmitted” to and sustained in the ordinary engineering design process. In this case, it turned out that the artefacts such as a layout game board and documents...

Optimum design of 6-DOF parallel manipulator with translational/rotational workspaces for haptic device application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoon, Jung Won; Hwang, Yoon Kwon [Gyeongsang National University, Jinju (Korea, Republic of); Ryu, Je Ha [Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2010-05-15

This paper proposes an optimum design method that satisfies the desired orientation workspace at the boundary of the translation workspace while maximizing the mechanism isotropy for parallel manipulators. A simple genetic algorithm is used to obtain the optimal linkage parameters of a six-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator that can be used as a haptic device. The objective function is composed of a desired spherical shape translation workspace and a desired orientation workspace located on the boundaries of the desired translation workspace, along with a global conditioning index based on a homogeneous Jacobian matrix. The objective function was optimized to satisfy the desired orientation workspace at the boundary positions as translated from a neutral position of the increased entropy mechanism. An optimization result with desired translation and orientation workspaces for a haptic device was obtained to show the effectiveness of the suggested scheme, and the kinematic performances of the proposed model were compared with those of a preexisting base model

Optimum design of 6-DOF parallel manipulator with translational/rotational workspaces for haptic device application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Jung Won; Hwang, Yoon Kwon; Ryu, Je Ha

2010-01-01

This paper proposes an optimum design method that satisfies the desired orientation workspace at the boundary of the translation workspace while maximizing the mechanism isotropy for parallel manipulators. A simple genetic algorithm is used to obtain the optimal linkage parameters of a six-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator that can be used as a haptic device. The objective function is composed of a desired spherical shape translation workspace and a desired orientation workspace located on the boundaries of the desired translation workspace, along with a global conditioning index based on a homogeneous Jacobian matrix. The objective function was optimized to satisfy the desired orientation workspace at the boundary positions as translated from a neutral position of the increased entropy mechanism. An optimization result with desired translation and orientation workspaces for a haptic device was obtained to show the effectiveness of the suggested scheme, and the kinematic performances of the proposed model were compared with those of a preexisting base model

The workspace design concept: A new framework of participatory ergonomics

OpenAIRE

Broberg, Ole

2007-01-01

The concept of Workspace Design is presented as a potential new approach for ergonomists and consultants in the occupational health service. The concept is aimed as an intervention and facilitation strategy in the early stages of design processes leading to new workplaces. Preliminary results from a case study demonstrate how Workspace Design can contribute to a technical change process.

An evaluation of workspace awareness in collaborative, gesture-based diagramming tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Klaus Marius; Damm, Carsten

2004-01-01

Designing usable real-time, distributed collaboration tools is a complex but important task. Workspace awareness can potentially help in making realtime, distributed collaboration tools more usable through a communication of who is in the shared workspace and what they are doing. We present quali...

Probabilistic scan mode of a robot manipulator workspace using EEG signals. Part I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auat Cheein, Fernando A; Di Sciascio, Fernando; Freire Bastos, Teodiano; Carelli, Ricardo

2007-01-01

In this paper a probabilistic-based workspace scan mode of a manipulator robot is presented. The scan mode is governed by a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) based on Event Related Potentials (Synchronization and Dessynchronization events). The user is capable to select a specific position at the robot's workspace, which should be reached by the manipulator. The robot workspace is divided into cells. Each cell has a probability value associated with it. Once the robot reaches a cell, its probability value is updated. The mode the scan is made is determined by the probability of all cells at the workspace. Finally, the manipulator is teleoperated via TCP/IP

Workspace quality analysis and application for a completely restrained 3-Dof planar cable-driven parallel manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang, Xiaoqiang; Tang, Lewei; Wang, Jinsong; Sun, Dengfeng

2013-01-01

With the advantage of large workspace, low energy consumption and small inertia, the cable-driven parallel manipulator (CDPM) is suitable for heavy workpieces in rapid velocity and acceleration. We present a workspace analysis approach to solve force and torque equilibriums of completely restrained CDPMs. By this approach, not only the distribution but also the value of tensions driven by cables is investigated together. Two new indices, all cable tension distribution index (ACTDI) and area of the global quality workspace (AG) are proposed to evaluate the quality of the workspace. By concentrating on the workspace and its quality combined with the tension characteristics, these criteria are used to determine the optimal workspace in CDPMs. To verify the capacity of the proposed method, simulation examples are presented and the results demonstrate the approach's effectiveness. In the end, the dimensional design for a planar CDPM is discussed with the indices of workspace quality.

A User Assessment of Workspaces in Selected Music Education Computer Laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Badolato, Michael Jeremy

A study of 120 students selected from the user populations of four music education computer laboratories was conducted to determine the applicability of current ergonomic and environmental design guidelines in satisfying the needs of users of educational computing workspaces. Eleven categories of workspace factors were organized into a…

Workspace Deisgn in an industrial company

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seim, Rikke

2007-01-01

is an industrial manufacturer undergoing a major technological change, going from labour intensive manual work to highly automated production. A team of researchers, consultants and ergonomists intervened in the change process, taking the role of ‘workspace designers’. The team introduced participatory design...... methods to stage the meeting between the employees, the management, and the designers. The method used was a layout design game. Embedded in this method is the notion that the employees are experts at their own work, therefore the employees’ considerations should contribute to the alterations...... in the workplace. The employees are co-designers of their future workspace along side the professional designers. The staging and facilitation of a participatory design process requires numeral competences such as insight in the interests and agendas of the different actors, and the ability to create a safe...

Workspace quality analysis and application for a completely restrained 3-Dof planar cable-driven parallel manipulator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, Xiaoqiang; Tang, Lewei; Wang, Jinsong [Tsinghua University, Beijing (China); Sun, Dengfeng [Purdue University, West Lafayette (United States)

2013-08-15

With the advantage of large workspace, low energy consumption and small inertia, the cable-driven parallel manipulator (CDPM) is suitable for heavy workpieces in rapid velocity and acceleration. We present a workspace analysis approach to solve force and torque equilibriums of completely restrained CDPMs. By this approach, not only the distribution but also the value of tensions driven by cables is investigated together. Two new indices, all cable tension distribution index (ACTDI) and area of the global quality workspace (AG) are proposed to evaluate the quality of the workspace. By concentrating on the workspace and its quality combined with the tension characteristics, these criteria are used to determine the optimal workspace in CDPMs. To verify the capacity of the proposed method, simulation examples are presented and the results demonstrate the approach's effectiveness. In the end, the dimensional design for a planar CDPM is discussed with the indices of workspace quality.

Study on the Workspace of a 6-DOF Parallel Topology Robot Related to Binary Link Lengths

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Calin-Octavian Miclosina

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a study on the workspace of a parallel topology robot with the structure FP3+6•SPS+MP3. The variable parameters are the binary link lengths, from both upper and lower levels, and the driving kinematical joint strokes. The workspace boundary is determined by SolidWorks software simulations. For different binary link lengths, workspace volume is determined and sections through the workspace are presented.

Workspace Safe Operation of a Force- or Impedance-Controlled Robot

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Muhammad E. (Inventor); Hargrave, Brian (Inventor); Yamokoski, John D. (Inventor); Strawser, Philip A. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A method of controlling a robotic manipulator of a force- or impedance-controlled robot within an unstructured workspace includes imposing a saturation limit on a static force applied by the manipulator to its surrounding environment, and may include determining a contact force between the manipulator and an object in the unstructured workspace, and executing a dynamic reflex when the contact force exceeds a threshold to thereby alleviate an inertial impulse not addressed by the saturation limited static force. The method may include calculating a required reflex torque to be imparted by a joint actuator to a robotic joint. A robotic system includes a robotic manipulator having an unstructured workspace and a controller that is electrically connected to the manipulator, and which controls the manipulator using force- or impedance-based commands. The controller, which is also disclosed herein, automatically imposes the saturation limit and may execute the dynamic reflex noted above.

Development of a 3D workspace shoulder assessment tool incorporating electromyography and an inertial measurement unit-a preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Aslani, Navid; Noroozi, Siamak; Davenport, Philip; Hartley, Richard; Dupac, Mihai; Sewell, Philip

2018-06-01

Traditional shoulder range of movement (ROM) measurement tools suffer from inaccuracy or from long experimental setup times. Recently, it has been demonstrated that relatively low-cost wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors can overcome many of the limitations of traditional motion tracking systems. The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a single IMU combined with an electromyography (EMG) sensor to monitor the 3D reachable workspace with simultaneous measurement of deltoid muscle activity across the shoulder ROM. Six volunteer subjects with healthy shoulders and one participant with a 'frozen' shoulder were recruited to the study. Arm movement in 3D space was plotted in spherical coordinates while the relative EMG intensity of any arm position is presented graphically. The results showed that there was an average ROM surface area of 27291 ± 538 deg 2 among all six healthy individuals and a ROM surface area of 13571 ± 308 deg 2 for the subject with frozen shoulder. All three sections of the deltoid show greater EMG activity at higher elevation angles. Using such tools enables individuals, surgeons and physiotherapists to measure the maximum envelope of motion in conjunction with muscle activity in order to provide an objective assessment of shoulder performance in the voluntary 3D workspace. Graphical abstract The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a single IMU combined with an electromyography (EMG) sensor to monitor the 3D reachable workspace with simultaneous measurement of deltoid muscle activity across the shoulder ROM. The assessment tool consists of an IMU sensor, an EMG sensor, a microcontroller and a Bluetooth module. The assessment tool was attached to subjects arm. Individuals were instructed to move their arms with the elbow fully extended. They were then asked to provide the maximal voluntary elevation envelope of the arm in 3D space in multiple attempts starting from a small movement envelope going to the biggest

Communities of Practice Transition Online - Lessons learned from NASA's EPO Online Workspace

Science.gov (United States)

Davey, B.

2012-12-01

The Earth Forum Education and Public Outreach (EP/O) community has long interacted to better their practice as a community as well as individually. Working together to share knowledge and grow, they function as a community of practice. In 2009, NASA designed and implemented an online workspace in hopes of promoting the communities continued interactions. This study examines the role of an online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Study participants were 75 Education and Public Outreach community members of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Earth Forum. In this mixed methods study, online workspace metrics were used to track participation and a survey completed by 21 members was used to quantify participation. For a more detailed analysis, 15 community members (five highly active users, five average users, and five infrequent users) selected based on survey responses, were interviewed. Finally, survey data was gathered from seven online facilitators to understand their role in the community. Data collected from these 21 community members and five facilitating members suggest that highly active users (logging into the workspace daily), were more likely to have transformative experiences, co-create knowledge, feel ownership of community knowledge, have extended opportunities for community exchange, and find new forms of evaluation. Average users shared some similar characteristics with both the highly active members and infrequent users, representing a group in transition as they become more engaged and active in the online workspace. Inactive users viewed the workspace as having little value, being difficult to navigate, being mainly for gaining basic information about events and community news, and as another demand

The impact of office workspace on the satisfaction of employees and their overall health – research presentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrej Baričič

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The present article addresses the links between the real-estate factors of the workspace on employee satisfaction and their impact on the overall health of employees. The purpose of the research is to facilitate the improvement of employee health through the application of base parameters, and consequently, the changes of workspace and work processes. The research tests two hypotheses: real-estate factors have a significant impact on employee satisfaction with the workspace; and that satisfaction of employees with the workspace has a significant impact on the overall health of employees.Methodology: We carried out a quantitative research with a broad range of different questions, scales and differentials, whereby the majority of instruments was originally constructed with suitable measurement characteristics. Testing of the questionnaire with the method of internal consistency showed that the questionnaire demonstrates a high level of consistency. The entire questionnaire includes 163 variables divided into content sections: general questions, business building and workspace, workspace design, habits, conditions in the workspace, organisational culture, health care, physical health condition, mental health condition. In July and August 2010, the questionnaire was completed by 1,036 employees from entities in the service sector, i.e. the financial sector, health sector, civil service and others. All the respondents included in the research sample worked in offices. The questionnaire was anonymous in accordance with ethical standards. The results were statistically analysed with the application of factor analysis, which served as a basis for identifying the important factors, while we applied structural equation modelling for verifying the statistically significant mutual effects. Furthermore, we analysed the results and carried out statistical calculations to test the hypotheses.Results: The results show that real-estate factors of

ASSESSMENT OF WORK-SPACE AND WORK-METHOD DESIGNS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

related injuries among its workforce. This research assessed work-space (WsD) and work-method designs (WmD), level of compliance with recommended standards (RSs) and effects on workers' wellbeing. Clearances for services in 55 supine ...

An adaptive workspace hypothesis about the neural correlates of consciousness: insights from neuroscience and meditation studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Raffone, Antonino; Srinivasan, Narayanan

2009-01-01

While enormous progress has been made to identify neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), crucial NCC aspects are still very controversial. A major hurdle is the lack of an adequate definition and characterization of different aspects of conscious experience and also its relationship to attention and metacognitive processes like monitoring. In this paper, we therefore attempt to develop a unitary theoretical framework for NCC, with an interdependent characterization of endogenous attention, access consciousness, phenomenal awareness, metacognitive consciousness, and a non-referential form of unified consciousness. We advance an adaptive workspace hypothesis about the NCC based on the global workspace model emphasizing transient resonant neurodynamics and prefrontal cortex function, as well as meditation-related characterizations of conscious experiences. In this hypothesis, transient dynamic links within an adaptive coding net in prefrontal cortex, especially in anterior prefrontal cortex, and between it and the rest of the brain, in terms of ongoing intrinsic and long-range signal exchanges, flexibly regulate the interplay between endogenous attention, access consciousness, phenomenal awareness, and metacognitive consciousness processes. Such processes are established in terms of complementary aspects of an ongoing transition between context-sensitive global workspace assemblies, modulated moment-to-moment by body and environment states. Brain regions associated to momentary interoceptive and exteroceptive self-awareness, or first-person experiential perspective as emphasized in open monitoring meditation, play an important modulatory role in adaptive workspace transitions.

A redundant, 6-DOF parallel manipulator structure with improved workspace and dexterity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoughton, R.S.; Salerno, R.; Canfield, S.; Reinholtz, C.

1994-08-01

This paper presents a novel manipulator structure which combines two known parallel manipulator structures--a Stewart Platform (SP), and a double octahedral Variable Geometry Truss (VGT). The combined VGT + SP structure is redundant, using nine actuators to realize six-DOF motion. Combining the two structures allows the translational and orientational workspaces of the two individual structures to sum together to a much larger workspace than is generally achievable with parallel manipulator structures. In addition, the VGT portion of the structure allows the configuration of the Stewart Platform to be changed ''on the fly'' from one with a large workspace to one with high dexterity. A useful application of this structure is at the distal end of a truss-based manipulator, where it can serve as a dexterous wrist while preserving an internal passageway for cabling and/or conveyance systems

Workspace and sensorimotor theories : Complementary approaches to experience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Degenaar, J.; Keijzer, F.

A serious difficulty for theories of consciousness is to go beyond mere correlation between physical processes and experience. Currently, neural workspace and sensorimotor contingency theories are two of the most promising approaches to make any headway here. This paper explores the relation between

A remote handling rate-position controller for telemanipulating in a large workspace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barrio, Jorge; Ferre, Manuel; Suárez-Ruiz, Francisco; Aracil, Rafael

2014-01-01

This paper presents a new haptic rate-position controller, which allows manipulating a slave robot in a large workspace using a small haptic device. This control algorithm is very effective when the master device is much smaller than the slave device. Haptic information is displayed to the user so as to be informed when a change in the operation mode occurs. This controller allows performing tasks in a large remote workspace by using a haptic device with a reduced workspace such as Phantom. Experimental results have been carried out using a slave robot from Kraft Telerobotics and a commercial haptic interface as a master device. A curvature path following task has been simulated using the proposed controller which was compared with the force-position control algorithm. Results obtained show that higher accuracy is obtained when the proposed method is used, spending a similar amount of time to perform the task

A remote handling rate-position controller for telemanipulating in a large workspace

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barrio, Jorge, E-mail: jordi.barrio@upm.es; Ferre, Manuel, E-mail: m.ferre@upm.es; Suárez-Ruiz, Francisco, E-mail: fa.suarez@upm.es; Aracil, Rafael, E-mail: rafael.aracil@upm.es

2014-01-15

This paper presents a new haptic rate-position controller, which allows manipulating a slave robot in a large workspace using a small haptic device. This control algorithm is very effective when the master device is much smaller than the slave device. Haptic information is displayed to the user so as to be informed when a change in the operation mode occurs. This controller allows performing tasks in a large remote workspace by using a haptic device with a reduced workspace such as Phantom. Experimental results have been carried out using a slave robot from Kraft Telerobotics and a commercial haptic interface as a master device. A curvature path following task has been simulated using the proposed controller which was compared with the force-position control algorithm. Results obtained show that higher accuracy is obtained when the proposed method is used, spending a similar amount of time to perform the task.

Towards a cognitive neuroscience of consciousness: basic evidence and a workspace framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehaene, S; Naccache, L

2001-04-01

This introductory chapter attempts to clarify the philosophical, empirical, and theoretical bases on which a cognitive neuroscience approach to consciousness can be founded. We isolate three major empirical observations that any theory of consciousness should incorporate, namely (1) a considerable amount of processing is possible without consciousness, (2) attention is a prerequisite of consciousness, and (3) consciousness is required for some specific cognitive tasks, including those that require durable information maintenance, novel combinations of operations, or the spontaneous generation of intentional behavior. We then propose a theoretical framework that synthesizes those facts: the hypothesis of a global neuronal workspace. This framework postulates that, at any given time, many modular cerebral networks are active in parallel and process information in an unconscious manner. An information becomes conscious, however, if the neural population that represents it is mobilized by top-down attentional amplification into a brain-scale state of coherent activity that involves many neurons distributed throughout the brain. The long-distance connectivity of these 'workspace neurons' can, when they are active for a minimal duration, make the information available to a variety of processes including perceptual categorization, long-term memorization, evaluation, and intentional action. We postulate that this global availability of information through the workspace is what we subjectively experience as a conscious state. A complete theory of consciousness should explain why some cognitive and cerebral representations can be permanently or temporarily inaccessible to consciousness, what is the range of possible conscious contents, how they map onto specific cerebral circuits, and whether a generic neuronal mechanism underlies all of them. We confront the workspace model with those issues and identify novel experimental predictions. Neurophysiological, anatomical, and

Development of the maintenance process by the servo manipulator for the parts of the equipment outside the MSM's workspace in a hot cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J. Y.; Kim, S. H.; Song, D. K.; Park, B. S.; Yun, G. S.

2003-01-01

In this study, the maintenance process by the servo manipulator for the parts of the equipment that cannot be reached by MSM in the hot cell was developed. To do this, the virtual mock up is implemented using virtual prototyping technology. And, Using this mock-up, the workspace of the manipulators in the hot cell and the operator's view through the wall-mounted lead glass are analyzed. And the path planning of the servo manipulator using the collision detection of the virtual mockup is established. Also, the maintenance process for the parts of the equipment that are located out area of the MSM's workspace by the servo manipulator is proposed and verified through the graphic simulation. The proposed remote maintenance process of the equipment can be effectively used in the real hot cell operation. Also, the implemented virtual mock-up of the hot cell can be effecively used in analyzing the various hot cell operation and in enhancing the reliability and safety of the spent fuel manaement

Combining program visualization with programming workspace to assist students for completing programming laboratory task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elvina Elvina

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Numerous Program Visualization tools (PVs have been developed for assisting novice students to understand their source code further. However, none of them are practical to be used in the context of completing programming laboratory task; students are required to keep switching between PV and programming workspace when they need to know how their code works. This paper combines PV with programming workspace to handle such issue. Resulted tool (which is named PITON has 13 features extracted from PythonTutor, PyCharm, and student’s feedbacks about PythonTutor. According to think-aloud and user study, PITON is more practical to be used than a combination of PythonTutor and PyCharm. Further, its features are considerably helpful; students rated these features as useful and frequently used.

A global workspace model for phenomenal and access consciousness.

Science.gov (United States)

Raffone, Antonino; Pantani, Martina

2010-06-01

Both the global workspace theory and Block's distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness, are central in the current debates about consciousness and the neural correlates of consciousness. In this article, a unifying global workspace model for phenomenal and access consciousness is proposed. In the model, recurrent neural interactions take place in distinct yet interacting access and phenomenal brain loops. The effectiveness of feedback signaling onto sensory cortical maps is emphasized for the neural correlates of phenomenal consciousness. Two forms of top-down attention, attention for perception and attention for access, play differential roles for phenomenal and access consciousness. The model is implemented in a neural network form, with the simulation of single and multiple visual object processing, and of the attentional blink. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global workspace dynamics: Cortical "binding and propagation enables conscious contents.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernard J Baars

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A global workspace is a hub of binding and propagation in a population of loosely coupled signaling elements. Global workspace (GW architectures recruit many distributed, specialized agents to help resolve focal ambiguities. In the brain, conscious experiences may reflect a global workspace function. For animals the natural world is full of fitness-related ambiguities, suggesting a general adaptive pressure for brains to resolve focal ambiguities quickly and accurately. In humans and related species the cortico-thalamic (C-T core is believed to underlie conscious aspects of perception, thinking, learning, feelings of knowing, emotions, imagery, working memory and executive control. The C-T core has many anatomical hubs, but conscious percepts are unitary and internally consistent at any given moment. The repertoire of conscious contents is a large, open set. These points suggest that a brain-based GW capacity cannot be localized in a single anatomical hub. Rather, it should be sought in a dynamic capacity for adaptive binding and propagation of neural signals over multi-hub networks. We refer to this as dynamic global workspace theory (dGW. In this view, conscious contents can arise in any region of the C-T core when multiple signal streams settle on a winner-take-all equilibrium. The resulting bound gestalt may ignite an any-to-many broadcast, lasting ~100-200 ms, and trigger widespread adaptation in established networks. Binding and broadcasting may involve theta/gamma or alpha/gamma phase coupling. Conscious contents (qualia may reflect their sources in cortex. Sensory percepts may bind and broadcast from posterior regions, while non-sensory feelings of knowing (FOKs may be frontotemporal. The small focal capacity of conscious contents may be the biological price to pay for global access. We propose that in the intact brain the hippocampal/rhinal complex may support conscious event organization as well as episodic memory coding.

Design, Dynamics, and Workspace of a Hybrid-Driven-Based Cable Parallel Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Zi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The design, dynamics, and workspace of a hybrid-driven-based cable parallel manipulator (HDCPM are presented. The HDCPM is able to perform high efficiency, heavy load, and high-performance motion due to the advantages of both the cable parallel manipulator and the hybrid-driven planar five-bar mechanism. The design is performed according to theories of mechanism structure synthesis for cable parallel manipulators. The dynamic formulation of the HDCPM is established on the basis of Newton-Euler method. The workspace of the manipulator is analyzed additionally. As an example, a completely restrained HDCPM with 3 degrees of freedom is studied in simulation in order to verify the validity of the proposed design, workspace, and dynamic analysis. The simulation results, compared with the theoretical analysis, and the case study previously performed show that the manipulator design is reasonable and the mathematical models are correct, which provides the theoretical basis for future physical prototype and control system design.

Force adaptation transfers to untrained workspace regions in children: evidence for developing inverse dynamic motor models.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen-Osmann, Petra; Richter, Stefanie; Konczak, Jürgen; Kalveram, Karl-Theodor

2002-03-01

When humans perform goal-directed arm movements under the influence of an external damping force, they learn to adapt to these external dynamics. After removal of the external force field, they reveal kinematic aftereffects that are indicative of a neural controller that still compensates the no longer existing force. Such behavior suggests that the adult human nervous system uses a neural representation of inverse arm dynamics to control upper-extremity motion. Central to the notion of an inverse dynamic model (IDM) is that learning generalizes. Consequently, aftereffects should be observable even in untrained workspace regions. Adults have shown such behavior, but the ontogenetic development of this process remains unclear. This study examines the adaptive behavior of children and investigates whether learning a force field in one hemifield of the right arm workspace has an effect on force adaptation in the other hemifield. Thirty children (aged 6-10 years) and ten adults performed 30 degrees elbow flexion movements under two conditions of external damping (negative and null). We found that learning to compensate an external damping force transferred to the opposite hemifield, which indicates that a model of the limb dynamics rather than an association of visited space and experienced force was acquired. Aftereffects were more pronounced in the younger children and readaptation to a null-force condition was prolonged. This finding is consistent with the view that IDMs in children are imprecise neural representations of the actual arm dynamics. It indicates that the acquisition of IDMs is a developmental achievement and that the human motor system is inherently flexible enough to adapt to any novel force within the limits of the organism's biomechanics.

Dedicated workspaces: Faster resumption times and reduced cognitive load in sequential multitasking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeuris, Steven; Bardram, Jakob Eyvind

2016-01-01

Studies show that virtual desktops have become a widespread approach to window management within desktop environments. However, despite their success, there is no experimental evidence of their effect on multitasking. In this paper, we present an experimental study incorporating 16 participants...... to perform the same tasks. Results show that adopting virtual desktops as dedicated workspaces allows for faster task resumption (10 s faster on average) and reduced cognitive load during sequential multitasking. Within our experiment the majority of users already benefited from using dedicated workspaces...

Deploying HEP applications using Xen and Globus Virtual Workspaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agarwal, A; Desmarais, R; Gable, I; Grundy, D; P-Brown, D; Seuster, R; Vanderster, D C; Sobie, R; Charbonneau, A; Enge, R

2008-01-01

The deployment of HEP applications in heterogeneous grid environments can be challenging because many of the applications are dependent on specific OS versions and have a large number of complex software dependencies. Virtual machine monitors such as Xen could be used to package HEP applications, complete with their execution environments, to run on resources that do not meet their operating system requirements. Our previous work has shown HEP applications running within Xen suffer little or no performance penalty as a result of virtualization. However, a practical strategy is required for remotely deploying, booting, and controlling virtual machines on a remote cluster. One tool that promises to overcome the deployment hurdles using standard grid technology is the Globus Virtual Workspaces project. We describe strategies for the deployment of Xen virtual machines using Globus Virtual Workspace middleware that simplify the deployment of HEP applications

Probabilistic scan mode of a robot manipulator workspace using EEG signals. Part II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auat Cheein, Fernando A; Di Sciascio, Fernando; Freire Bastos, Teodiano; Carelli, Ricardo

2007-01-01

In this paper a probabilistic-based workspace scan mode of a robot manipulator is presented. The workspace is divided into cells. Each cell has its own probability value associated with it. Once the robot reaches a cell, its probability value is updated. The updating process is governed by a recursive Bayes algorithm. A performance comparison between a sequential scan mode and the one proposed here is made. Mathematical derivations and experimental results are also shown in this paper

Workspaces in the Semantic Web

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, Shawn R.; Keller, RIchard M.

2005-01-01

Due to the recency and relatively limited adoption of Semantic Web technologies. practical issues related to technology scaling have received less attention than foundational issues. Nonetheless, these issues must be addressed if the Semantic Web is to realize its full potential. In particular, we concentrate on the lack of scoping methods that reduce the size of semantic information spaces so they are more efficient to work with and more relevant to an agent's needs. We provide some intuition to motivate the need for such reduced information spaces, called workspaces, give a formal definition, and suggest possible methods of deriving them.

The Effect of Agile Workspace and Remote Working on Experiences of Privacy, Crowding and Satisfaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trevor Keeling

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Occupant density is an important and basic metric of space use efficiency. It affects user experience of privacy, crowding and satisfaction. The effect of agile working has been two fold. Firstly, offices have an increasing range of workspace settings such as break out space, collaborative space and contemplative space in contrast to the traditional workspace settings of assigned desks and formal meeting rooms. Secondly, office workers have become increasingly mobile as they are able to work from a greater variety of locations both in and out of their main place of work. This study asks whether workers who occupy agile workspaces and those with greater mobility experience privacy differently from workers with more conventional offices and work patterns. The experience of privacy can be considered in terms of retreat from people, control of information flow and control of interactions. Our results show that agile workspaces improve the ability to control information compared with open plan offices. It was also found that highly mobile workers are more sensitive to the negative effects of interacting with people. From this a taxonomy of offices is defined in terms of the features that contribute to the experience of privacy.

Workspace design: Integrating ergonomics into the design of production systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broberg, Ole

2006-01-01

The work practice of ergonomists in workplace-making processes was studied by a socio-technical framework. This resulted in the term ‘political reflective navigator’ as a conceptualization of the identified work practice and competencies. In order to strengthen the impact of ergonomists it was fo......The work practice of ergonomists in workplace-making processes was studied by a socio-technical framework. This resulted in the term ‘political reflective navigator’ as a conceptualization of the identified work practice and competencies. In order to strengthen the impact of ergonomists...... it was found that new ways and tools for influencing the design of production systems are needed. The concept of workspace design and ‘staging the workspace design’ is suggested as a new framework for seeing and guiding ergonomists when taking part in design of workplaces and production systems....

Workspace optimization and kinematic performance evaluation of 2-DOF parallel mechanisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nam, Yun Joo; Park, Myeong Kwan

2006-01-01

This paper presents the kinematics and workspace optimization of the two different 2-DOF (Degrees-of-Freedom) planar parallel mechanisms: one (called 2-RPR mechanism) with translational actuators and the other (called 2-RRR mechanism) with rotational ones. First of all, the inverse kinematics and Jacobian matrix for each mechanism are derived analytically. Then, the workspace including the output-space and the joint-space is systematically analyzed in order to determine the geometric parameters and the operating range of the actuators. Finally, the kinematic optimization of the mechanisms is performed in consideration of their dexterity and rigidity. It is expected that the optimization results can be effectively used as a basic material for the applications of the presented mechanisms to more industrial fields

Interactive methods to involve users into workspace design process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Souza da Conceição, Carolina; Broberg, Ole; Banke, Palle

2013-01-01

This paper addresses the question of whether the use of a combination of interactive methods involving workers can lead to a useful input to the (re)design of their workspace. The workbook and the layout design game methods were tested, and a comparison between their use and the ergonomic analysi...

Analysis on the Workspace of Six-degrees-of-freedom Industrial Robot Based on AutoCAD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Jin-quan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This research discusses the workspace of the industrial robot with six degrees of freedom(6-DOF based on AutoCAD platform. Based on the analysis of the overall configuration of the robot, this research establishes the kinematic mathematical model of the industrial robot by using DH parameters, and then solves the workspace of the robot consequently. In the AutoCAD, Auto Lisp language program is adopted to simulate the two-dimensional(2D and three-dimensional(3D space of the robot. Software user interface is written by using the dialog box control language of Visual LISP. At last, the research analyzes the trend of the shape and direction of the workspace when the length and angle range of the robot are changed. This research lays the foundation for the design, control and planning of industrial robots.

Chatting, Chatten or Chattare: Using a Multilingual Workspace for Language and Culture Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ursula Stickler

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper will describe the results of analyses carried out on multilingual chat sessions that took place in the context of LITERALIA, a 24-months long project funded by the European Union’s Grundtvig initiative to support: “Learning In Tandem to Encourage Reciprocal Autonomous Learning In Adults - LITERALIA”. An online workspace was created for the project that allowed learners to communicate with others in four different countries and to enhance their linguistic and cultural competence in four European languages: English, German, Italian, and Polish. Participation in the chat was voluntary and took place in an integrated Moodle workspace.

The workspace design concept: A new framework of participatory ergonomics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broberg, Ole

2007-01-01

The concept of Workspace Design is presented as a potential new approach for ergonomists and consultants in the occupational health service. The concept is aimed as an intervention and facilitation strategy in the early stages of design processes leading to new workplaces. Preliminary results fro...

The caCORE Software Development Kit: Streamlining construction of interoperable biomedical information services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Warzel Denise

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Robust, programmatically accessible biomedical information services that syntactically and semantically interoperate with other resources are challenging to construct. Such systems require the adoption of common information models, data representations and terminology standards as well as documented application programming interfaces (APIs. The National Cancer Institute (NCI developed the cancer common ontologic representation environment (caCORE to provide the infrastructure necessary to achieve interoperability across the systems it develops or sponsors. The caCORE Software Development Kit (SDK was designed to provide developers both within and outside the NCI with the tools needed to construct such interoperable software systems. Results The caCORE SDK requires a Unified Modeling Language (UML tool to begin the development workflow with the construction of a domain information model in the form of a UML Class Diagram. Models are annotated with concepts and definitions from a description logic terminology source using the Semantic Connector component. The annotated model is registered in the Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR using the UML Loader component. System software is automatically generated using the Codegen component, which produces middleware that runs on an application server. The caCORE SDK was initially tested and validated using a seven-class UML model, and has been used to generate the caCORE production system, which includes models with dozens of classes. The deployed system supports access through object-oriented APIs with consistent syntax for retrieval of any type of data object across all classes in the original UML model. The caCORE SDK is currently being used by several development teams, including by participants in the cancer biomedical informatics grid (caBIG program, to create compatible data services. caBIG compatibility standards are based upon caCORE resources, and thus the caCORE SDK has

Designing, Supporting, and Sustaining an Online Community of Practice: NASA EPO Workspace as an Ongoing Exploration of the Value of Community

Science.gov (United States)

Davey, B.; Davis, H. B.

2015-12-01

Increasingly, geographically diverse organizations, like NASA's Science Mission Directorate Education and Public Outreach personnel (SMD EPO), are looking for ways to facilitate group interactions in meaningful ways while limiting costs. Towards this end, of particular interest, and showing great potential are communities of practice. Communities of practice represent relationships in real-time between and among people sharing a common practice. They facilitate the sharing of information, building collective knowledge, and growing of the principles of practice. In 2010-11, SMD EPO established a website to support EPO professionals, facilitate headquarters reporting, and foster a community of practice. The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the design and use of the workspace and the value created for both individual community members and SMD EPO, the sponsoring organization. The online workspace was launched in 2010-11 for the members of NASA's SMDEPO community. The online workspace was designed to help facilitate the efficient sharing of information, be a central repository for resources, help facilitate and support knowledge creation, and ultimately lead to the development of an online community of practice. This study examines the role of the online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Additionally, we look at the outcomes of housting the online community for these past years in respect to knowledge building and personal and organizational value, the affects on professional dvelopment opportunities, how community members have benefited, and how the workspace has evolved to better serve the community.

Tools for Scientist Engagement in E/PO: NASA SMD Community Workspace and Online Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Dalton, H.; Shipp, S. S.; Grier, J.; Gross, N. A.; Buxner, S.; Bartolone, L.; Peticolas, L. M.; Woroner, M.; Schwerin, T. G.

2014-12-01

The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) Forums are here to help you get involved in E/PO! The Forums have been developing several online resources to support scientists who are - or who are interested in becoming - involved in E/PO. These include NASA Wavelength, EarthSpace, and the SMD E/PO online community workspace. NASA Wavelength is the one-stop shop of all peer-reviewed NASA education resources to find materials you - or your audiences - can use. Browse by audience (pre-K through 12, higher education, and informal education) or topic, or choose to search for something specific by keyword and audience. http://nasawavelength.org. EarthSpace, an online clearinghouse of Earth and space materials for use in the higher education classroom, is driven by a powerful search engine that allows you to browse the collection of resources by science topic, audience, type of material or key terms. All materials are peer-reviewed before posting, and because all submissions receive a digital object identifier (doi), submitted materials can be listed as publications. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/earthspace. The SMD E/PO online community workspace contains many resources for scientists. These include one-page guides on how to get involved, tips on how to make the most of your time spent on E/PO, and sample activities, as well as news on funding, policy, and what's happening in the E/PO community. The workspace also provides scientists and the public pathways to find opportunities for participation in E/PO, to learn about SMD E/PO projects and their impacts, to connect with SMD E/PO practitioners, and to explore resources to improve professional E/PO practice, including literature reviews, information about the Next Generation Science Standards, and best practices in evaluation and engaging diverse audiences. http://smdepo.org.

Ergonomics in Design Processes: The journey from Ergonomist toward Workspace Designer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seim, Rikke; Broberg, Ole; Andersen, Vibeke

2014-01-01

in workplace design processes in companies. The basic idea in Workspace Design was that ergonomists should take a new role and apply new participatory methods when involved as consultants. The course of the project was evaluated by the application of social learning theory. The goal was to find out if and why...

Vision System-Based Design and Assessment of a Novel Shoulder Joint Mechanism for an Enhanced Workspace Upper Limb Exoskeleton

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Piña-Martínez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Exoskeletons arise as the common ground between robotics and biomechanics, where rehabilitation is the main field in which these two disciplines find cohesion. One of the most relevant challenges in upper limb exoskeleton design relies in the high complexity of the human shoulder, where current devices implement elaborate systems only to emulate the drifting center of rotation of the shoulder joint. This paper proposes the use of 3D scanning vision technologies to ease the design process and its implementation on a variety of subjects, while a motion tracking system based on vision technologies is applied to assess the exoskeleton reachable workspace compared with an asymptomatic subject. Furthermore, the anatomic fitting index is proposed, which compares the anatomic workspace of the user with the exoskeleton workspace and provides insight into its features. This work proposes an exoskeleton architecture that considers the clavicle motion over the coronal plane whose workspace is determined by substituting the direct kinematics model with the dimensional parameters of the user. Simulations and numerical examples are used to validate the analytical results and to conciliate the experimental results provided by the vision tracking system.

In-cell maintenance by manipulator arm with 3D workspace information recreated by laser rangefinder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kitamura, Akihiro; Nakai, Koji; Namekawa, Takashi; Watahiki, Masatoshi

2011-01-01

Highlights: → We developed a remote control system for maintenance of in-cell type fuel fabrication equipment. → The system display recreated three-dimensional information of the workspace from data obtained by laser rangefinder and conventional cameras. It has allowed us to operate a manipulator arm remotely with several control modes. → We implemented remote handling experiments using mock up equipment. Performance was compared for remote operation conducted using several different display and operation modes. → It was observed that integration of 3D information from the laser rangefinder reduced operation time and reinforced visual information during remote operation. - Abstract: We developed a remote control system for maintenance of in-cell type fuel fabrication equipment. The system display recreated three-dimensional information of the workspace from data obtained by laser rangefinder and conventional cameras. It has allowed us to operate a manipulator arm remotely with several control modes. In order to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of developed system, we implemented remote handling experiments using mock up equipment. Performance was compared for remote operation conducted using several different display and operation modes. We confirmed that the system is able to maintain in-cell fuel fabrication equipment in each display and operation mode. Times required to complete the remote operations were collected and compared in each mode. It was observed that integration of 3D information from the laser rangefinder reduced operation time and reinforced visual information during remote operation.

Kinematics and Workspace of a 4-DOF Hybrid Palletizing Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Tao

2014-06-01

Full Text Available We presented the kinematical analysis of a 4-DOF hybrid palletizing robot. The palletizing robot structure was proposed and the arm model of the robot was presented. The kinematical analysis of the end robotic manipulator was given. As a result, the position, velocity, and acceleration curves as well as the maximum workspace were demonstrated by simulation in Matlab. This study would be useful for the kinematical characteristics of the 4-DOF palletizing robot in space.

Real-time telemedicine using shared three-dimensional workspaces over ATM

Science.gov (United States)

Cahoon, Peter; Forsey, David R.; Hutchison, Susan

1999-03-01

During the past five years a high speed ATM network has been developed at UBC that provides a campus testbed, a local testbed to the hospitals, and a National testbed between here and the BADLAB in Ottawa. This testbed has been developed to combine a commercial shared audio/video/whiteboard environment coupled with a shared interactive 3-dimensional solid model. This solid model ranges from a skull reconstructed from a CT scan with muscles and an overlying skin, to a model of the ventricle system of the human brain. Typical interactions among surgeon, radiologist and modeler consist of having image slices of the original scan shared by all and the ability to adjust the surface of the model to conform to each individuals perception of what the final object should look like. The purpose of this interaction can range from forensic reconstruction from partial remains to pre-maxillofacial surgery. A joint project with the forensic unit of the R.C.M.P. in Ottawa using the BADLAB is now in the stages of testing this methodology on a real case beginning with a CT scan of partial remains. A second study underway with the department of Maxiofacial reconstruction at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia and concerns a subject who is about to undergo orthognathic surgery, in particular a mandibular advancement. This subject has been MRI scanned, a solid model constructed of the mandible and the virtual surgery constructed on the model. This model and the procedure have been discussed and modified by the modeler and the maxillofacial specialist using these shared workspaces. The procedure will be repeated after the actual surgery to verify the modeled procedure. The advantage of this technique is that none of the specialists need be in the same room, or city. Given the scarcity of time and specialists this methodology shows great promise. In November of this last year a shared live demonstration of this facial modeler was done between Vancouver and Dalhousie University in

Dynamic Analysis and Vibration Attenuation of Cable-Driven Parallel Manipulators for Large Workspace Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingli Du

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Cable-driven parallel manipulators are one of the best solutions to achieving large workspace since flexible cables can be easily stored on reels. However, due to the negligible flexural stiffness of cables, long cables will unavoidably vibrate during operation for large workspace applications. In this paper a finite element model for cable-driven parallel manipulators is proposed to mimic small amplitude vibration of cables around their desired position. Output feedback of the cable tension variation at the end of the end-effector is utilized to design the vibration attenuation controller which aims at attenuating the vibration of cables by slightly varying the cable length, thus decreasing its effect on the end-effector. When cable vibration is attenuated, motion controller could be designed for implementing precise large motion to track given trajectories. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the dynamic model and the control algorithm.

Workspace satisfaction and work behaviour of computer systems managers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovačević Ivana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Inspired by the equivocal findings of different studies and acknowledging the dynamic nature of relation between situational factors and human behaviour, this research explores the association between satisfaction with psychosocial features of work space and indicators of work behaviour of 116 computer and information systems managers in Serbian companies. Objective differences between open plan and traditional offices were considered, as well as its subjectively experienced characteristics defined by the perception of office capacity to satisfy users' needs for balance between socializing and individuation at workplace. For that purpose, Workspace Psychosocial Features' Satisfaction Scale was constructed. The items of the scale provoke awareness of the office capacity to satisfy psychosocial needs of users. The principal component factor analysis revealed the congruence of scale composition with expected theoretical content of the concept. It was shown that computer and information systems managers are more satisfied in traditional offices that provide more privacy and personalization. The positive correlation between satisfaction with psychosocial aspects of workspace and self-assessed work behaviour has also been found. Although regression analysis did not show linear association between satisfaction and behaviour on the whole sample, the same analysis for open-plan office indicates that there is a possibility to predict someone's work behaviour on the basis of their satisfaction with psychosocial features of their workplace. We tried to explain this finding with the fact that in open-plan offices satisfaction with psychosocial characteristics of space is activated in conditions where employees are directly faced with the need of privacy-interaction regulation with colleagues.

Flexible workspace design and ergonomics training: impacts on the psychosocial work environment, musculoskeletal health, and work effectiveness among knowledge workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Michelle M; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; O'Neill, Michael J; Schleifer, Lawrence M

2008-07-01

A macroergonomics intervention consisting of flexible workspace design and ergonomics training was conducted to examine the effects on psychosocial work environment, musculoskeletal health, and work effectiveness in a computer-based office setting. Knowledge workers were assigned to one of four conditions: flexible workspace (n=121), ergonomics training (n=92), flexible workspace+ergonomics training (n=31), and a no-intervention control (n=45). Outcome measures were collected 2 months prior to the intervention and 3 and 6 months post-intervention. Overall, the study results indicated positive, significant effects on the outcome variables for the two intervention groups compared to the control group, including work-related musculoskeletal discomfort, job control, environmental satisfaction, sense of community, ergonomic climate, communication and collaboration, and business process efficiency (time and costs). However, attrition of workers in the ergonomics training condition precluded an evaluation of the effects of this intervention. This study suggests that a macroergonomics intervention is effective among knowledge workers in office settings.

Challenges to UK community pharmacy: a bio-photographic study of workspace in relation to professional pharmacy practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rapport, F L; Doel, M A; Jerzembek, G S

2009-12-01

This paper presents a novel, qualitative, bio-photographic study with intertextual analysis highlighting the relationship between community pharmacy workspace and practice. Sixteen pharmacists working across pharmacy types such as independent shops, large and small pharmacy chains and multiple pharmacies such as those in supermarkets participated in data capture and feedback consultation. Findings disclosed workspaces unfit for purpose and a workforce ill at ease with their new professional identity, involving increasingly complex tasks in health provision and retail. There was conflict between delegating to others and taking personal responsibility, and there were pressures from a demanding public within the context of a target-driven, litigious society. The study highlights that innovative, mixed methods in this context reveal nuanced, rich data.

User driven Innovation in new Workspace Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerrum, Eva; Simonsen, John Brøndberg

2017-01-01

on experiences from several case studies we propose a way to unfreeze organisations. By using different methods to describe work (ethnographic methods: Observation, episodes, snapshots, photos) and traditional interviews and questionnaires, it is possible to plan and conduct workshop processes that challenge......In Denmark knowledge sharing and working flexibility are considered to be elements that contribute to innovation and improved competitiveness. This has resulted in more and more companies having introduced open flexible office design as a strategic tool to support knowledge sharing. Another reason...... for this focus on workspace design is the change in work and working patterns at knowledge organisations. Both managers and employees work at different places, at customer’s site, while travelling, at hotels and at home, so the focus on the company as being the main workplace changes. The change from traditional...

Intermediary objects in the workspace design process: means of experience transfer in the offshore sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Souza da Conceição, Carolina; Silva, Gislaine; Broberg, Ole

2012-01-01

The aim of this paper is to discuss the use of intermediary objects in the workspace design process of offshore accommodations module. The integration of ergonomics in the design process can lead to better work conditions, more effectiveness in the work process and less health and safety issues...

Crossing boundaries in a collaborative modeling workspace

Science.gov (United States)

Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Cravens, Amanda; Miller, Brian W.; Talbert, Marian; Talbert, Colin; Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Fink, Michelle; Decker, Karin; Odell, Eric

2017-01-01

There is substantial literature on the importance of bridging across disciplinary and science–management boundaries. One of the ways commonly suggested to cross boundaries is for participants from both sides of the boundary to jointly produce information (i.e., knowledge co-production). But simply providing tools or bringing people together in the same room is not sufficient. Here we present a case study documenting the mechanisms by which managers and scientists collaborated to incorporate climate change projections into Colorado’s State Wildlife Action Plan. A critical component of the project was the use of a collaborative modeling and visualization workspace: the U.S. Geological Survey’s Resource for Advanced Modeling (RAM). Using video analysis and pre/post surveys from this case study, we examine how the RAM facilitated cognitive and social processes that co-produced a more salient and credible end product. This case provides practical suggestions to scientists and practitioners who want to implement actionable science.

Connecting the dots between workspace design and the triple bottom line

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tan, Adrian; Bey, Niki; Gall, Catherine

that can be employed to support an organization’s strategic objectives by acting as social interfaces that affect behaviors and culture. In order to allow sustainability to be ‘sustained’ in companies it has to be integrated in the organization’s context and aligned with its strategic direction....... Characteristic business drivers in companies were mapped and then linked with the appropriate sustainability impact categories. This approach to connecting the workspace with sustainability allows companies to assess their own performance in each of the sustainability dimensions relative to their own business...

Strategy for the lowering and the assessment of exposure to nanoparticles at workspace - Case of study concerning the potential emission of nanoparticles of Lead in an epitaxy laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Artous, Sébastien; Zimmermann, Eric; Locatelli, Dominique; Motellier, Sylvie; Derrough, Samir; Douissard, Paul-Antoine

2015-01-01

The implementation in many products of manufactured nanoparticles is growing fast and raises new questions. For this purpose, the CEA - NanoSafety Platform is developing various research topics for health and safety, environment and nanoparticles exposure in professional activities. The containment optimisation for the exposition lowering, then the exposure assessment to nanoparticles is a strategy for safety improvement at workplace and workspace. The lowering step consists in an optimisation of dynamic and static containment at workplace and/or workspace. Generally, the exposure risk due to the presence of nanoparticles substances does not allow modifying the parameters of containment at workplace and/or workspace. Therefore, gaseous or nanoparticulate tracers are used to evaluate performances of containment. Using a tracer allows to modify safely the parameters of the dynamic containment (ventilation, flow, speed) and to study several configurations of static containment. Moreover, a tracer allows simulating accidental or incidental situation. As a result, a safety procedure can be written more easily in order to manage this type of situation. The step of measurement and characterization of aerosols can therefore be used to assess the exposition at workplace and workspace. The case of study, aim of this paper, concerns the potential emission of Lead nanoparticles at the exhaust of a furnace in an epitaxy laboratory. The use of Helium tracer to evaluate the performance of containment is firstly studied. Secondly, the exposure assessment is characterised in accordance with the French guide “recommendations for characterizing potential emissions and exposure to aerosols released from nanomaterials in workplace operations”. Thirdly the aerosols are sampled, on several places, using collection membranes to try to detect traces of Lead in air. (paper)

Strategy for the lowering and the assessment of exposure to nanoparticles at workspace - Case of study concerning the potential emission of nanoparticles of Lead in an epitaxy laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Artous, Sébastien; Zimmermann, Eric; Douissard, Paul-Antoine; Locatelli, Dominique; Motellier, Sylvie; Derrough, Samir

2015-05-01

The implementation in many products of manufactured nanoparticles is growing fast and raises new questions. For this purpose, the CEA - NanoSafety Platform is developing various research topics for health and safety, environment and nanoparticles exposure in professional activities. The containment optimisation for the exposition lowering, then the exposure assessment to nanoparticles is a strategy for safety improvement at workplace and workspace. The lowering step consists in an optimisation of dynamic and static containment at workplace and/or workspace. Generally, the exposure risk due to the presence of nanoparticles substances does not allow modifying the parameters of containment at workplace and/or workspace. Therefore, gaseous or nanoparticulate tracers are used to evaluate performances of containment. Using a tracer allows to modify safely the parameters of the dynamic containment (ventilation, flow, speed) and to study several configurations of static containment. Moreover, a tracer allows simulating accidental or incidental situation. As a result, a safety procedure can be written more easily in order to manage this type of situation. The step of measurement and characterization of aerosols can therefore be used to assess the exposition at workplace and workspace. The case of study, aim of this paper, concerns the potential emission of Lead nanoparticles at the exhaust of a furnace in an epitaxy laboratory. The use of Helium tracer to evaluate the performance of containment is firstly studied. Secondly, the exposure assessment is characterised in accordance with the French guide “recommendations for characterizing potential emissions and exposure to aerosols released from nanomaterials in workplace operations”. Thirdly the aerosols are sampled, on several places, using collection membranes to try to detect traces of Lead in air.

caGrid 1.0: a Grid enterprise architecture for cancer research.

Science.gov (United States)

Oster, Scott; Langella, Stephen; Hastings, Shannon; Ervin, David; Madduri, Ravi; Kurc, Tahsin; Siebenlist, Frank; Covitz, Peter; Shanbhag, Krishnakant; Foster, Ian; Saltz, Joel

2007-10-11

caGrid is the core Grid architecture of the NCI-sponsored cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) program. The current release, caGrid version 1.0, is developed as the production Grid software infrastructure of caBIG. Based on feedback from adopters of the previous version (caGrid 0.5), it has been significantly enhanced with new features and improvements to existing components. This paper presents an overview of caGrid 1.0, its main components, and enhancements over caGrid 0.5.

Automation trust and attention allocation in multitasking workspace.

Science.gov (United States)

Karpinsky, Nicole D; Chancey, Eric T; Palmer, Dakota B; Yamani, Yusuke

2018-07-01

Previous research suggests that operators with high workload can distrust and then poorly monitor automation, which has been generally inferred from automation dependence behaviors. To test automation monitoring more directly, the current study measured operators' visual attention allocation, workload, and trust toward imperfect automation in a dynamic multitasking environment. Participants concurrently performed a manual tracking task with two levels of difficulty and a system monitoring task assisted by an unreliable signaling system. Eye movement data indicate that operators allocate less visual attention to monitor automation when the tracking task is more difficult. Participants reported reduced levels of trust toward the signaling system when the tracking task demanded more focused visual attention. Analyses revealed that trust mediated the relationship between the load of the tracking task and attention allocation in Experiment 1, an effect that was not replicated in Experiment 2. Results imply a complex process underlying task load, visual attention allocation, and automation trust during multitasking. Automation designers should consider operators' task load in multitasking workspaces to avoid reduced automation monitoring and distrust toward imperfect signaling systems. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

DATA MINING WORKSPACE AS AN OPTIMIZATION PREDICTION TECHNIQUE FOR SOLVING TRANSPORT PROBLEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anastasiia KUPTCOVA

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the study related to forecasting with an actual high-speed decision making under careful modelling of time series data. The study uses data-mining modelling for algorithmic optimization of transport goals. Our finding brings to the future adequate techniques for the fitting of a prediction model. This model is going to be used for analyses of the future transaction costs in the frontiers of the Czech Republic. Time series prediction methods for the performance of prediction models in the package of Statistics are Exponential, ARIMA and Neural Network approaches. The primary target for a predictive scenario in the data mining workspace is to provide modelling data faster and with more versatility than the other management techniques.

Mapping and correction of the CMM workspace error with the use of an electronic gyroscope and neural networks--practical application.

Science.gov (United States)

Swornowski, Pawel J

2013-01-01

The article presents the application of neural networks in determining and correction of the deformation of a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) workspace. The information about the CMM errors is acquired using an ADXRS401 electronic gyroscope. A test device (PS-20 module) was built and integrated with a commercial measurement system based on the SP25M passive scanning probe and with a PH10M module (Renishaw). The proposed solution was tested on a Kemco 600 CMM and on a DEA Global Clima CMM. In the former case, correction of the CMM errors was performed using the source code of WinIOS software owned by The Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Cracow, Poland and in the latter on an external PC. Optimum parameters of full and simplified mapping of a given layer of the CMM workspace were determined for practical applications. The proposed method can be employed for the interim check (ISO 10360-2 procedure) or to detect local CMM deformations, occurring when the CMM works at high scanning speeds (>20 mm/s). © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Role of a Facilitated Online Workspace Component of a Community of Practice: Knowledge Building and Value Creation for NASA

Science.gov (United States)

Davey, Bradford Thomas

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of an online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of…

CGLXTouch: A multi-user multi-touch approach for ultra-high-resolution collaborative workspaces

KAUST Repository

Ponto, Kevin

2011-06-01

This paper presents an approach for empowering collaborative workspaces through ultra-high resolution tiled display environments concurrently interfaced with multiple multi-touch devices. Multi-touch table devices are supported along with portable multi-touch tablet and phone devices, which can be added to and removed from the system on the fly. Events from these devices are tagged with a device identifier and are synchronized with the distributed display environment, enabling multi-user support. As many portable devices are not equipped to render content directly, a remotely scene is streamed in. The presented approach scales for large numbers of devices, providing access to a multitude of hands-on techniques for collaborative data analysis. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Alteration of consciousness in focal epilepsy: the global workspace alteration theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolomei, Fabrice; McGonigal, Aileen; Naccache, Lionel

2014-01-01

Alteration of consciousness (AOC) is an important clinical manifestation of partial seizures that greatly impacts the quality of life of patients with epilepsy. Several theories have been proposed in the last fifty years. An emerging concept in neurology is the global workspace (GW) theory that postulates that access to consciousness (from several sensorial modalities) requires transient coordinated activity from associative cortices, in particular the prefrontal cortex and the posterior parietal associative cortex. Several lines of evidence support the view that partial seizures alter consciousness through disturbance of the GW. In particular, a nonlinear relation has been shown between excess of synchronization in the GW regions and the degree of AOC. Changes in thalamocortical synchrony occurring during the spreading of the ictal activity seem particularly involved in the mechanism of altered consciousness. This link between abnormal synchrony and AOC offers new perspectives in the treatment of the AOC since means of decreasing consciousness alteration in seizures could improve patients' quality of life. © 2013.

Automated protein structure modeling with SWISS-MODEL Workspace and the Protein Model Portal.

Science.gov (United States)

Bordoli, Lorenza; Schwede, Torsten

2012-01-01

Comparative protein structure modeling is a computational approach to build three-dimensional structural models for proteins using experimental structures of related protein family members as templates. Regular blind assessments of modeling accuracy have demonstrated that comparative protein structure modeling is currently the most reliable technique to model protein structures. Homology models are often sufficiently accurate to substitute for experimental structures in a wide variety of applications. Since the usefulness of a model for specific application is determined by its accuracy, model quality estimation is an essential component of protein structure prediction. Comparative protein modeling has become a routine approach in many areas of life science research since fully automated modeling systems allow also nonexperts to build reliable models. In this chapter, we describe practical approaches for automated protein structure modeling with SWISS-MODEL Workspace and the Protein Model Portal.

Development of a Pneumatic Robot for MRI-guided Transperineal Prostate Biopsy and Brachytherapy: New Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Sang-Eun; Cho, Nathan B.; Fischer, Gregory; Hata, Nobuhito; Tempany, Clare; Fichtinger, Gabor; Iordachita, Iulian

2011-01-01

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) guided prostate biopsy and brachytherapy has been introduced in order to enhance the cancer detection and treatment. For the accurate needle positioning, a number of robotic assistants have been developed. However, problems exist due to the strong magnetic field and limited workspace. Pneumatically actuated robots have shown the minimum distraction in the environment but the confined workspace limits optimal robot design and thus controllability is often poor. To overcome the problem, a simple external damping mechanism using timing belts was sought and a 1-DOF mechanism test result indicated sufficient positioning accuracy. Based on the damping mechanism and modular system design approach, a new workspace-optimized 4-DOF parallel robot was developed for the MRI-guided prostate biopsy and brachytherapy. A preliminary evaluation of the robot was conducted using previously developed pneumatic controller and satisfying results were obtained. PMID:21399734

Rethink space: (Re)designing a workspace using human-centered design to support flexibility, collaboration, and engagement among clinical and translational research support services.

Science.gov (United States)

Doshi, Aalap; Clay, Christina

2017-06-01

Space matters. We read space like we read people's faces. Space is an instrument of collaboration and innovation. At the University of Michigan's Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR), a team was created to creatively and economically enhance our operating space into a flexible workspace that supports privacy, innovation, creativity, and most important, a culture of collaboration. The team used a human-centered design process to creatively engage the staff at large into analyzing our existing space, identifying latent needs, proposing solutions, generating feedback, and economically building the rethought process. The redesigned workspace embraces the differences among MICHR's teams while encouraging collaboration and teamwork and keeping costs at a minimum. It has resulted in a flexible space that includes co-located teams, spaces dedicated to different work goals, an open area for collaboration, quiet zones for focused work, and better wayfinding. Through our Rethink Space project, we hope to have demonstrated that, by initiating the project internally and by engaging the users of the space themselves in an empathetic, visual, and human-centered way, a space redesign can be undertaken economically while also leading to improved levels of employee and team satisfaction.

Development of a Pneumatic Robot for MRI-guided Transperineal Prostate Biopsy and Brachytherapy: New Approaches

OpenAIRE

Song, Sang-Eun; Cho, Nathan B.; Fischer, Gregory; Hata, Nobuhito; Tempany, Clare; Fichtinger, Gabor; Iordachita, Iulian

2010-01-01

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) guided prostate biopsy and brachytherapy has been introduced in order to enhance the cancer detection and treatment. For the accurate needle positioning, a number of robotic assistants have been developed. However, problems exist due to the strong magnetic field and limited workspace. Pneumatically actuated robots have shown the minimum distraction in the environment but the confined workspace limits optimal robot design and thus controllability is often poor....

A Multi-Sensorial Hybrid Control for Robotic Manipulation in Human-Robot Workspaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan A. Corrales

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Autonomous manipulation in semi-structured environments where human operators can interact is an increasingly common task in robotic applications. This paper describes an intelligent multi-sensorial approach that solves this issue by providing a multi-robotic platform with a high degree of autonomy and the capability to perform complex tasks. The proposed sensorial system is composed of a hybrid visual servo control to efficiently guide the robot towards the object to be manipulated, an inertial motion capture system and an indoor localization system to avoid possible collisions between human operators and robots working in the same workspace, and a tactile sensor algorithm to correctly manipulate the object. The proposed controller employs the whole multi-sensorial system and combines the measurements of each one of the used sensors during two different phases considered in the robot task: a first phase where the robot approaches the object to be grasped, and a second phase of manipulation of the object. In both phases, the unexpected presence of humans is taken into account. This paper also presents the successful results obtained in several experimental setups which verify the validity of the proposed approach.

GeoCAM: A geovisual analytics workspace to contextualize and interpret statements about movement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anuj Jaiswal

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on integrating computational and visual methods in a system that supports analysts to identify, extract, map, and relate linguistic accounts of movement. We address two objectives: (1 build the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical framework needed to represent and interpret human-generated directions; and (2 design and implement a geovisual analytics workspace for direction document analysis. We have built a set of geo-enabled, computational methods to identify documents containing movement statements, and a visual analytics environment that uses natural language processing methods iteratively with geographic database support to extract, interpret, and map geographic movement references in context. Additionally, analysts can provide feedback to improve computational results. To demonstrate the value of this integrative approach, we have realized a proof-of-concept implementation focusing on identifying and processing documents that contain human-generated route directions. Using our visual analytic interface, an analyst can explore the results, provide feedback to improve those results, pose queries against a database of route directions, and interactively represent the route on a map.

Study on the three-station typical network deployments of workspace Measurement and Positioning System

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Zhi; Zhu, J. G.; Xue, B.; Ye, Sh. H.; Xiong, Y.

2013-10-01

As a novel network coordinate measurement system based on multi-directional positioning, workspace Measurement and Positioning System (wMPS) has outstanding advantages of good parallelism, wide measurement range and high measurement accuracy, which makes it to be the research hotspots and important development direction in the field of large-scale measurement. Since station deployment has a significant impact on the measurement range and accuracy, and also restricts the use-cost, the optimization method of station deployment was researched in this paper. Firstly, positioning error model was established. Then focusing on the small network consisted of three stations, the typical deployments and error distribution characteristics were studied. Finally, through measuring the simulated fuselage using typical deployments at the industrial spot and comparing the results with Laser Tracker, some conclusions are obtained. The comparison results show that under existing prototype conditions, I_3 typical deployment of which three stations are distributed in a straight line has an average error of 0.30 mm and the maximum error is 0.50 mm in the range of 12 m. Meanwhile, C_3 typical deployment of which three stations are uniformly distributed in the half-circumference of an circle has an average error of 0.17 mm and the maximum error is 0.28 mm. Obviously, C_3 typical deployment has a higher control effect on precision than I_3 type. The research work provides effective theoretical support for global measurement network optimization in the future work.

Effect of Tendon Vibration on Hemiparetic Arm Stability in Unstable Workspaces.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan O Conrad

Full Text Available Sensory stimulation of wrist musculature can enhance stability in the proximal arm and may be a useful therapy aimed at improving arm control post-stroke. Specifically, our prior research indicates tendon vibration can enhance stability during point-to-point arm movements and in tracking tasks. The goal of the present study was to investigate the influence of forearm tendon vibration on endpoint stability, measured at the hand, immediately following forward arm movements in an unstable environment. Both proximal and distal workspaces were tested. Ten hemiparetic stroke subjects and 5 healthy controls made forward arm movements while grasping the handle of a two-joint robotic arm. At the end of each movement, the robot applied destabilizing forces. During some trials, 70 Hz vibration was applied to the forearm flexor muscle tendons. 70 Hz was used as the stimulus frequency as it lies within the range of optimal frequencies that activate the muscle spindles at the highest response rate. Endpoint position, velocity, muscle activity and grip force data were compared before, during and after vibration. Stability at the endpoint was quantified as the magnitude of oscillation about the target position, calculated from the power of the tangential velocity data. Prior to vibration, subjects produced unstable, oscillating hand movements about the target location due to the applied force field. Stability increased during vibration, as evidenced by decreased oscillation in hand tangential velocity.

Evaluation of workplace quality - A method for improvement and further development of workplace design for the future

OpenAIRE

Schjølberg, Trine Eide

2012-01-01

Background for Master’s Thesis Research Most of the workspace inhabited by people today were developed in and according to work needs in a time when the pace and character of changes in work were much less pronounced than they are today (McGregor & Then, 1991). Innovative thinking in office design is once again changing the way we think about our workspace, on a level not experienced since the end of the nineteenth century. Duffy (1997) states that the way people work in their ...

Joint Command Support Through Workspace Analysis, Design and Optimization (Soutien du Commandement Interarmees au Moyen de L’Analyse, de la Conception et de L’Optimisation de L’Espace de Travail)

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-01

WACC ); and • Joint Task Force (Games) Joint Operations Centre (GJOC). In May 2008, DRDC Toronto initiated two studies to support the workspace...Voice-over-IP WACC Whistler Area Command Centre DRDC Toronto TR 2009-100 39 Distribution list Document No.: DRDC CR 2009-028 LIST

The caBIG annotation and image Markup project.

Science.gov (United States)

Channin, David S; Mongkolwat, Pattanasak; Kleper, Vladimir; Sepukar, Kastubh; Rubin, Daniel L

2010-04-01

Image annotation and markup are at the core of medical interpretation in both the clinical and the research setting. Digital medical images are managed with the DICOM standard format. While DICOM contains a large amount of meta-data about whom, where, and how the image was acquired, DICOM says little about the content or meaning of the pixel data. An image annotation is the explanatory or descriptive information about the pixel data of an image that is generated by a human or machine observer. An image markup is the graphical symbols placed over the image to depict an annotation. While DICOM is the standard for medical image acquisition, manipulation, transmission, storage, and display, there are no standards for image annotation and markup. Many systems expect annotation to be reported verbally, while markups are stored in graphical overlays or proprietary formats. This makes it difficult to extract and compute with both of them. The goal of the Annotation and Image Markup (AIM) project is to develop a mechanism, for modeling, capturing, and serializing image annotation and markup data that can be adopted as a standard by the medical imaging community. The AIM project produces both human- and machine-readable artifacts. This paper describes the AIM information model, schemas, software libraries, and tools so as to prepare researchers and developers for their use of AIM.

Dynamic model and workspace analysis of novel incompletely restrained cable-suspension swing system driven by two cables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naige Wang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The incompletely restrained cable-suspension swing system driven by two cables is introduced in this article. Based on wrench of forces theory and Lagrange’s equation of first kind, the static and dynamics models of incompletely restrained cable-suspension swing system driven by two cables are established, respectively. In order to obtain an intuitive understanding of the trajectory analysis, a dynamics model consisting of governing equation and geometric constraint conditions which is a set of the mixed differential-algebraic equation in mathematics is established. A typical feedback controller and an inverse model were set up to estimate the driving function. The effective workspace, which is used to guarantee an efficient swing process, mostly depends on the geometrical shape rather than the volume itself which was calculated by trajectory analysis. In order to estimate system features and ensure a limited range of tension in underconstrained spatial cable system, the probable location of unbalanced loading was evaluated by pointwise evaluation techniques during normal work.

A Web-Based Development Environment for Collaborative Data Analysis

CERN Document Server

Erdmann, M; Glaser, C; Klingebiel, D; Komm, M; Müller, G; Rieger, M; Steggemann, J; Urban, M; Winchen, T

2014-01-01

Visual Physics Analysis (VISPA) is a web-based development environment addressing high energy and astroparticle physics. It covers the entire analysis spectrum from the design and validation phase to the execution of analyses and the visualization of results. VISPA provides a graphical steering of the analysis ow, which consists of self-written, re-usable Python and C++ modules for more demanding tasks. All common operating systems are supported since a standard internet browser is the only software requirement for users. Even access via mobile and touch-compatible devices is possible. In this contribution, we present the most recent developments of our web application concerning technical, state-of-the-art approaches as well as practical experiences. One of the key features is the use of workspaces, i.e. user-congurable connections to remote machines supplying resources and local le access. Thereby, workspaces enable the management of data, computing resources (e.g. remote clusters or computing grids), and a...

Workspace location influences joint coordination during reaching in post-stroke hemiparesis

Science.gov (United States)

Reisman, Darcy S.; Scholz, John P.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of workspace location on joint coordination in persons with post-stroke hemiparesis when trunk motion was required to complete reaches beyond the arm’s functional reach length. Seven subjects with mild right hemiparesis following a stroke and seven age and gender matched control subjects participated. Joint motions and characteristics of hand and trunk movement were measured over multiple repetitions. The variance (across trials) of joint combinations was partitioned into two components at every point in the hand’s trajectory using the uncontrolled manifold approach; the first component is a measure of the extent to which equivalent joint combinations are used to control a given hand path, and reflects performance flexibility. The second component of joint variance reflects the use of non-equivalent joint combinations, which lead to hand path error. Compared to the control subjects, persons with hemiparesis demonstrated a significantly greater amount of non-equivalent joint variability related to control of the hand’s path and of the hand’s position relative to the trunk when reaching toward the hemiparetic side (ipsilaterally), but not when reaching to the less involved side. The relative timing of the hand and trunk was also altered when reaching ipsilaterally. The current findings support the idea that the previously proposed “arm compensatory synergy” may be deficient in subjects with hemiparesis. This deficiency may be due to one or a combination of factors: changes in central commands that are thought to set the gain of the arm compensatory synergy; a limited ability to combine shoulder abduction and elbow extension that limits the expression of an appropriately set arm compensatory synergy; or a reduction of the necessary degrees-of-freedom needed to adequately compensate for poor trunk control when reaching ipsilaterally. PMID:16328275

Holistic approach to design and implementation of a medical teleconsultation workspace.

Science.gov (United States)

Czekierda, Łukasz; Malawski, Filip; Wyszkowski, Przemysław

2015-10-01

While there are many state-of-the-art approaches to introducing telemedical services in the area of medical imaging, it is hard to point to studies which would address all relevant aspects in a complete and comprehensive manner. In this paper we describe our approach to design and implementation of a universal platform for imaging medicine which is based on our longstanding experience in this area. We claim it is holistic, because, contrary to most of the available studies it addresses all aspects related to creation and utilization of a medical teleconsultation workspace. We present an extensive analysis of requirements, including possible usage scenarios, user needs, organizational and security issues and infrastructure components. We enumerate and analyze multiple usage scenarios related to medical imaging data in treatment, research and educational applications - with typical teleconsultations treated as just one of many possible options. Certain phases common to all these scenarios have been identified, with the resulting classification distinguishing several modes of operation (local vs. remote, collaborative vs. non-interactive etc.). On this basis we propose a system architecture which addresses all of the identified requirements, applying two key concepts: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Virtual Organizations (VO). The SOA paradigm allows us to decompose the functionality of the system into several distinct building blocks, ensuring flexibility and reliability. The VO paradigm defines the cooperation model for all participating healthcare institutions. Our approach is validated by an ICT platform called TeleDICOM II which implements the proposed architecture. All of its main elements are described in detail and cross-checked against the listed requirements. A case study presents the role and usage of the platform in a specific scenario. Finally, our platform is compared with similar systems described into-date studies and available on the market

Digital map and situation surface: a team-oriented multidisplay workspace for network enabled situation analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Peinsipp-Byma, E.; Geisler, Jürgen; Bader, Thomas

2009-05-01

System concepts for network enabled image-based ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) is the major mission of Fraunhofer IITB's applied research in the area of defence and security solutions. For the TechDemo08 as part of the NATO CNAD POW Defence against terrorism Fraunhofer IITB advanced a new multi display concept to handle the shear amount and high complexity of ISR data acquired by networked, distributed surveillance systems with the objective to support the generation of a common situation picture. Amount and Complexity of ISR data demands an innovative man-machine interface concept for humans to deal with it. The IITB's concept is the Digital Map & Situation Surface. This concept offers to the user a coherent multi display environment combining a horizontal surface for the situation overview from the bird's eye view, an attached vertical display for collateral information and so-called foveatablets as personalized magic lenses in order to obtain high resolved and role-specific information about a focused areaof- interest and to interact with it. In the context of TechDemo08 the Digital Map & Situation Surface served as workspace for team-based situation visualization and analysis. Multiple sea- and landside surveillance components were connected to the system.

Pramana – Journal of Physics | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A workspace modelling technique, that achieves real-time detection of closeness of robot to workspace object, has been developed by additional physics attribute attachment to workspace. Physics phenomena suiting the realistic work conditions have been identified and a computational model for emulating the ...

Interactive Workspaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mogensen, Preben Holst

augmented reality, interactive building elements, and mobile devices to support new ways of working in a diversity of application domains with work situations ranging from individual work, through local collaboration, to distributed collaboration. The work situations may take place in offices/project rooms......Many application domains such as architecture, engineering, industrial design, city planning, environmental supervision, health care etc. share the properties of users working collaboratively with complex mixtures of physical and digital materials. Studies in such domains show that it is hard...... to maintain and integrate these heterogeneous materials in traditional desktop computing environments. Our thesis is that pervasive computing technologies can be developed to support a more natural user collaboration in a rich variety of application. This may be achieved by going beyond the traditional...

76 FR 24889 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid® (caBIG®) Support...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-03

... to offer to their unique organizational goals and needs, so having this customized support option...; Comment Request; Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid[supreg] (caBIG[supreg]) Support Service Provider (SSP... Grid [supreg] (caBIG [supreg]) Support Service Provider (SSP) Program (NCI). Type of Information...

Launcher In-Service Workspace

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — Purpose:Through Engineering Investigations (EIs), testing, development, evaluation and system integration of Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) in-service...

From Workplace to Workspace

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

a number of independent community economic development officers in ... message management functions, but each has unique commands and tools for doing so. .... conjunction with other events that most or all of the members are attending.

Development of a visualized software for tokamak experiment data processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Jianyong; Ding Xuantong; Luo Cuiwen

2004-01-01

With the VBA programming in Microsoft Excel, the authors have developed a post-processing software of experimental data in tokamak. The standard formal data in the HL-1M and HL-2A tokamaks can be read, displayed in Excel, and transmitted directly into the MATLAB workspace, for displaying pictures in MATLAB with the software. The authors have also developed data post-processing software in MATLAB environment, which can read standard format data, display picture, supply visual graphical user interface and provide part of advanced signal processing ability

A Web-Based Development Environment for Collaborative Data Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erdmann, M; Fischer, R; Glaser, C; Klingebiel, D; Müller, G; Rieger, M; Urban, M; Winchen, T; Komm, M; Steggemann, J

2014-01-01

Visual Physics Analysis (VISPA) is a web-based development environment addressing high energy and astroparticle physics. It covers the entire analysis spectrum from the design and validation phase to the execution of analyses and the visualization of results. VISPA provides a graphical steering of the analysis flow, which consists of self-written, re-usable Python and C++ modules for more demanding tasks. All common operating systems are supported since a standard internet browser is the only software requirement for users. Even access via mobile and touch-compatible devices is possible. In this contribution, we present the most recent developments of our web application concerning technical, state-of-the-art approaches as well as practical experiences. One of the key features is the use of workspaces, i.e. user-configurable connections to remote machines supplying resources and local file access. Thereby, workspaces enable the management of data, computing resources (e.g. remote clusters or computing grids), and additional software either centralized or individually. We further report on the results of an application with more than 100 third-year students using VISPA for their regular particle physics exercises during the winter term 2012/13. Besides the ambition to support and simplify the development cycle of physics analyses, new use cases such as fast, location-independent status queries, the validation of results, and the ability to share analyses within worldwide collaborations with a single click become conceivable

A Web-Based Development Environment for Collaborative Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Erdmann, M.; Fischer, R.; Glaser, C.; Klingebiel, D.; Komm, M.; Müller, G.; Rieger, M.; Steggemann, J.; Urban, M.; Winchen, T.

2014-06-01

Visual Physics Analysis (VISPA) is a web-based development environment addressing high energy and astroparticle physics. It covers the entire analysis spectrum from the design and validation phase to the execution of analyses and the visualization of results. VISPA provides a graphical steering of the analysis flow, which consists of self-written, re-usable Python and C++ modules for more demanding tasks. All common operating systems are supported since a standard internet browser is the only software requirement for users. Even access via mobile and touch-compatible devices is possible. In this contribution, we present the most recent developments of our web application concerning technical, state-of-the-art approaches as well as practical experiences. One of the key features is the use of workspaces, i.e. user-configurable connections to remote machines supplying resources and local file access. Thereby, workspaces enable the management of data, computing resources (e.g. remote clusters or computing grids), and additional software either centralized or individually. We further report on the results of an application with more than 100 third-year students using VISPA for their regular particle physics exercises during the winter term 2012/13. Besides the ambition to support and simplify the development cycle of physics analyses, new use cases such as fast, location-independent status queries, the validation of results, and the ability to share analyses within worldwide collaborations with a single click become conceivable.

Development of remote crane system for use inside small argon hot-cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jong Kwang; Park, Byung Suk; Yu, Seung-Nam; Kim, Kiho; Cho, Ilje [Nuclear Fuel Cycle Process Technology Development Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-07-01

In this paper, we describe the design of a novel crane system for the use in a small argon hot-cell where only a pair of master-slave manipulators (MSM) is available for the remote maintenance of the crane. To increase the remote maintainability in the space-limited environment, we devised a remote actuation mechanism in which electrical parts consisting of a servo-motor, a position sensor, and two limit switches located inside the workspace of the MSM transmit power to the mechanical parts located in the ceiling. Even though the design concept does not provide thoroughly sufficient solution because the mechanical parts are placed out of the MSM's workspace, the durability of mechanical parts can be easily increased if they have a high safety margin. Therefore, the concept may be one of the best solutions for our special crane system. In addition, we developed a servo-control system based on absolute positioning technology; therefore, it is possible for us to perform the given tasks more safely through an automatic operation. (authors)

A simulation and training environment for robotic radiosurgery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schlaefer, Alexander [University of Luebeck, Institute for Robotics and Cognitive Systems, Luebeck (Germany); Stanford University, Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford, CA (United States); Gill, Jakub; Schweikard, Achim [University of Luebeck, Institute for Robotics and Cognitive Systems, Luebeck (Germany)

2008-09-15

To provide a software environment for simulation of robotic radiosurgery, particularly to study the effective robot workspace with respect to the treatment plan quality, and to illustrate the concepts of robotic radiosurgery. A simulation environment for a robotic radiosurgery system was developed using Java and Java3D. The kinematics and the beam characteristics were modeled and linked to a treatment planning module. Simulations of different robot workspace parameters for two example radiosurgical patient cases were performed using the novel software tool. The first case was an intracranial lesion near the left inner ear, the second case was a spinal lesion. The planning parameters for both cases were visualized with the novel simulation environment. An incremental extension of the robot workspace had limited effect for the intracranial case, where the original workspace already covered the left side of the patient. For the spinal case, a larger workspace resulted in a noticeable improvement in plan quality and a large portion of the beams being delivered from the extended workspace. The new software environment is useful to simulate and analyze parameters and configurations for robotic radiosurgery. An enlarged robot workspace may result in improved plan quality depending on the location of the target region. (orig.)

A simulation and training environment for robotic radiosurgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlaefer, Alexander; Gill, Jakub; Schweikard, Achim

2008-01-01

To provide a software environment for simulation of robotic radiosurgery, particularly to study the effective robot workspace with respect to the treatment plan quality, and to illustrate the concepts of robotic radiosurgery. A simulation environment for a robotic radiosurgery system was developed using Java and Java3D. The kinematics and the beam characteristics were modeled and linked to a treatment planning module. Simulations of different robot workspace parameters for two example radiosurgical patient cases were performed using the novel software tool. The first case was an intracranial lesion near the left inner ear, the second case was a spinal lesion. The planning parameters for both cases were visualized with the novel simulation environment. An incremental extension of the robot workspace had limited effect for the intracranial case, where the original workspace already covered the left side of the patient. For the spinal case, a larger workspace resulted in a noticeable improvement in plan quality and a large portion of the beams being delivered from the extended workspace. The new software environment is useful to simulate and analyze parameters and configurations for robotic radiosurgery. An enlarged robot workspace may result in improved plan quality depending on the location of the target region. (orig.)

76 FR 7867 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid® (caBIG®) Support...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-11

... proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval... freedom to match what caBIG [supreg] has to offer to their unique organizational goals and needs, so.... Affected Public: Private sector including Business or other for-profits and not-for-profit organizations...

Cuando el proyecto participativo de espacios de trabajo se encuentra con el proyecto de ingeniería en eventos de colaboración

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broberg, Ole

2008-01-01

The Danish Workspace Design (WSD) research program aims to develop and trial a potential new concept for ergonomists and other workplace consultants who are to engage in socio-technical design processes. The objective of this paper is to report on the trial of the workspace design concept in a ca...

Rapid world modelling from a mobile platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barry, R.E.; Jones, J.P.; Little, C.Q.; Wilson, C.W.

1997-01-01

The ability to successfully use and interact with a computerized world model is dependent on the ability to create an accurate world model. The goal of this project was to develop a prototype system to remotely deploy sensors into a workspace, collect surface information, and rapidly build an accurate world model of that workspace. A key consideration was that the workspace areas are typically hazardous environments, where it is difficult or impossible for humans to enter. Therefore, the system needed to be fully remote, with no external connections. To accomplish this goal, an electric, mobile platform with battery power sufficient for both the platform and sensor electronics was procured and 3D range sensors were deployed on the platform to capture surface data within the workspace. A radio Ethernet connection was used to provide communications to the vehicle and all on-board electronics. Video from on-board cameras was also transmitted to the base station and used to teleoperate the vehicle. Range data generated by the on-board 3D sensors was transformed into surface maps, or models. Registering the sensor location to a consistent reference frame as the platform moved through the workspace allowed construction of a detailed 3D world model of the extended workspace

Books | Page 28 | IDRC - International Development Research Centre

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Mining and the Environment: Case Studies from the Americas. The legacy of the ... Out of print. Book cover From Workplace to Workspace: Using Email Lists to Work Together ... Book cover Enzymes in Poultry and Swine Nutrition. Enzymes in ...

Working Smarter Not Harder - Developing a Virtual Subsurface Data Framework for U.S. Energy R&D

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, K.; Baker, D.; Bauer, J.; Dehlin, M.; Jones, T. J.; Rowan, C.

2017-12-01

The data revolution has resulted in a proliferation of resources that span beyond commercial and social networking domains. Research, scientific, and engineering data resources, including subsurface characterization, modeling, and analytical datasets, are increasingly available through online portals, warehouses, and systems. Data for subsurface systems is still challenging to access, discontinuous, and varies in resolution. However, with the proliferation of online data there are significant opportunities to advance access and knowledge of subsurface systems. The Energy Data eXchange (EDX) is an online platform designed to address research data needs by improving access to energy R&D products through advanced search capabilities. In addition, EDX hosts private, virtualized computational workspaces in support of multi-organizational R&D. These collaborative workspaces allow teams to share working data resources and connect to a growing number of analytical tools to support research efforts. One recent application, a team digital data notebook tool, called DataBook, was introduced within EDX workspaces to allow teams to capture contextual and structured data resources. Starting with DOE's subsurface R&D community, the EDX team has been developing DataBook to support scientists and engineers working on subsurface energy research, allowing them to contribute and curate both structured and unstructured data and knowledge about subsurface systems. These resources span petrophysical, geologic, engineering, geophysical, interpretations, models, and analyses associated with carbon storage, water, oil, gas, geothermal, induced seismicity and other subsurface systems to support the development of a virtual subsurface data framework. The integration of EDX and DataBook allows for these systems to leverage each other's best features, such as the ability to interact with other systems (Earthcube, OpenEI.net, NGDS, etc.) and leverage custom machine learning algorithms and

Rapid world modelling for robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Littile, C.Q.; Wilson, C.W.

1996-01-01

The ability to use an interactive world model, whether it is for robotics simulation or most other virtual graphical environments, relies on the users ability to create an accurate world model. Typically this is a tedious process, requiring many hours to create 3-D CAD models of the surfaces within a workspace. The goal of this ongoing project is to develop usable methods to rapidly build world models of real world workspaces. This brings structure to an unstructured environment and allows graphical based robotics control to be accomplished in a reasonable time frame when traditional CAD modelling is not enough. To accomplish this, 3D range sensors are deployed to capture surface data within the workspace. This data is then transformed into surface maps, or models. A 3D world model of the workspace is built quickly and accurately, without ever having to put people in the environment

IDRC Connect | IDRC - International Development Research Centre

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2015-07-20

All IDRC-funded researchers have access to IDRC Connect, our project portal and collaborative workspace. For projects approved after July 20, 2015, IDRC Connect must be used to submit technical reports project outputs funding requests for open access journal publishing charges You need a password to access IDRC ...

The Fraunhofer Quantum Computing Portal - www.qc.fraunhofer.de: A web-based simulator of quantum computing processes

OpenAIRE

Rosé, H.; Asselmeyer-Maluga, T.; Kolbe, M.; Niehörster, F.; Schramm, A.

2004-01-01

Fraunhofer FIRST develops a computing service and collaborative workspace providing a convenient tool for simulation and investigation of quantum algorithms. To broaden the twenty qubit limit of workstation-based simulations to the next qubit decade we provide a dedicated high memorized Linux cluster with fast Myrinet interconnection network together with a adapted parallel simulator engine. This simulation service supplemented by a collaborative workspace is usable everywhere via web interfa...

SAPHIRE 8 Volume 1 - Overview and Summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, C.L.; Wood, S.T.

2011-01-01

The Systems Analysis Programs for Hands-on Integrated Reliability Evaluations (SAPHIRE) is a software application developed for performing a complete probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) using a personal computer (PC) running the Microsoft Windows operating system. SAPHIRE Version 8 is funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and developed by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). INL's primary role in this project is that of software developer and tester. However, INL also plays an important role in technology transfer by interfacing and supporting SAPHIRE users, who constitute a wide range of PRA practitioners from the NRC, national laboratories, the private sector, and foreign countries. SAPHIRE can be used to model a complex system's response to initiating events and quantify associated consequential outcome frequencies. Specifically, for nuclear power plant applications, SAPHIRE 8 can identify important contributors to core damage (Level 1 PRA) and containment failure during a severe accident which leads to releases (Level 2 PRA). It can be used for a PRA where the reactor is at full power, low power, or at shutdown conditions. Furthermore, it can be used to analyze both internal and external initiating events and has special features for managing models such as flooding and fire. It can also be used in a limited manner to quantify risk in terms of release consequences to the public and environment (Level 3 PRA). In SAPHIRE 8, the act of creating a model has been separated from the analysis of that model in order to improve the quality of both the model (e.g., by avoiding inadvertent changes) and the analysis. Consequently, in SAPHIRE 8, the analysis of models is performed by using what are called Workspaces. Currently, there are Workspaces for three types of analyses: (1) the NRC's Accident Sequence Precursor program, where the workspace is called 'Events and Condition Assessment (ECA);' (2) the NRC's Significance Determination Process (SDP); and

The development of robot application technology in nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jong Min; Kim, Seung Ho; Kim, Chang Hoi; Kim, Byung Soo; Hwang, Suk Young; Sohn, Surg Won; Lee, Yong Bum; Kim, Woong Ki

1991-01-01

The project of this study is intended to develop the application technology for autonomous robotic systems operated in hostile environments where human access is prohibited. The mobile robot, named as KAEROT, has been designed by adopting the controller of multiprocessor of distributed system architecture in order to get flexibility. 2 driving wheel assembles and 1 steering mechanism has been adopted and each of them is made of planetary wheel which is composed of a couple of star-like arms with 3 wheels. The 6 D.O.F of manipulator is controlled by CCD camera mounted on the elbow and base, to provide wide view of the working area for tele-operation. The off-line programming system is being developed for checking robot constraint violations within workspace prior to execution of robot programming. (Author)

Development of stereo endoscope system with its innovative master interface for continuous surgical operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Myungjoon; Lee, Chiwon; Hong, Nhayoung; Kim, Yoon Jae; Kim, Sungwan

2017-06-24

Although robotic laparoscopic surgery has various benefits when compared with conventional open surgery and minimally invasive surgery, it also has issues to overcome and one of the issues is the discontinuous surgical flow that occurs whenever control is swapped between the endoscope system and the operating robot arm system. This can lead to problems such as collision between surgical instruments, injury to patients, and increased operation time. To achieve continuous surgical operation, a wireless controllable stereo endoscope system is proposed which enables the simultaneous control of the operating robot arm system and the endoscope system. The proposed system consists of two improved novel master interfaces (iNMIs), a four-degrees of freedom (4-DOFs) endoscope control system (ECS), and a simple three-dimensional (3D) endoscope. In order to simultaneously control the proposed system and patient side manipulators of da Vinci research kit (dVRK), the iNMIs are installed to the master tool manipulators of dVRK system. The 4-DOFs ECS consists of four servo motors and employs a two-parallel link structure to provide translational and fulcrum point motion to the simple 3D endoscope. The images acquired by the endoscope undergo stereo calibration and rectification to provide a clear 3D vision to the surgeon as available in clinically used da Vinci surgical robot systems. Tests designed to verify the accuracy, data transfer time, and power consumption of the iNMIs were performed. The workspace was calculated to estimate clinical applicability and a modified peg transfer task was conducted with three novice volunteers. The iNMIs operated for 317 min and moved in accordance with the surgeon's desire with a mean latency of 5 ms. The workspace was calculated to be 20378.3 cm 3 , which exceeds the reference workspace of 549.5 cm 3 . The novice volunteers were able to successfully execute the modified peg transfer task designed to evaluate the proposed system's overall

[The development of clinical reasoning skills and leadership: personal factors and organizational factors].

Science.gov (United States)

Larue, Caroline; Dubois, Sylvie; Girard, Francine; Goudreau, Johanne; Dumont, Katia

2013-03-01

Continuing education of newly graduated nurses (NGN) depends on several factors related to the characteristics of skills to be developed, the target population and the organizational context. Few studies describe both how nurses develop their skills and how institutions promote this development. The objectives of this manuscript are to (1) describe the behaviors that the NGN use to develop their reasoning skills and leadership and (2) document the organizational elements that facilitate this development. Method. Individual interviews were conducted with nurses (n = 34) using a grid of semistructured interviews and two group interviews were conducted with nurses (n = 7) and managers (n = 19) in two teaching hospitals in eastern Canada. The results show that nurses develop mainly by reflecting on their professional practice in their workplace. However, the lack of time for reflection in the workspace is a considerable obstacle while managerial leadership is an important asset.

Development of a humanoid robot hand with coupling four-bar linkage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinhua Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To improve the operating performance of robots’ end-effector, a humanoid robot hand based on coupling four-bar linkage was designed. An improved transmission system was proposed for the base joint of the thumb. Thus, a far greater motion range and more reasonable layout of the palm were obtained. Moreover, the mathematical model for kinematics simulation was presented based on the Assur linkage group theory to verify and optimize the proposed structure. To research the motion relationships between the fingers and the object in the process of grasping object, the grasping analysis of multi-finger manipulation was presented based on contact kinematics. Finally, a prototype of the humanoid robot hand was produced by a three-dimensional printer, and a kinematics simulation example and the workspace solving of the humanoid robot hand were carried out. The results showed that the velocities of finger joints approximately met the proportion relationship 1:1:1, which accorded with the grasping law of the human hand. In addition, the large workspace, reasonable layout, and good manipulability of the humanoid robot hand were verified.

Development of the pneumatic service robot with a hybrid type

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Cheol U; Choi, Hyeun Seok; Han, Chang Soo

2001-01-01

In this paper, the pneumatic service robot with a hybrid type is developed. A pneumatic has the advantage of good compliance, high payload-to-weight and payload-to-volume ratios, high speed and force capabilities. Using pneumatic actuators which have low stiffness, the service robot can guarantee safety. By suggesting a new serial-parallel hybrid type for the service robot which separates into positioning motion and orienting motion, we can achieve large workspace and high strength-to-moving-weight ratio at the same time. A sliding mode controller can be designed for tracking the desired output using the Lyapunov stability theory and structural properties of pneumatic servo systems. Through many experiments of circular trajectory, the pneumatic service robot is evaluated and verified

Technology Development, Evaluation, and Application (TDEA) FY 2001 Progress Report Environment, Safety, and Health (ESH) Division

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

L.G. Hoffman; K. Alvar; T. Buhl; E. Foltyn; W. Hansen; B. Erdal; P. Fresquez; D. Lee; B. Reinert

2002-05-01

This progress report presents the results of 11 projects funded ($500K) in FY01 by the Technology Development, Evaluation, and Application (TDEA) Committee of the Environment, Safety, and Health Division (ESH). Five projects fit into the Health Physics discipline, 5 projects are environmental science and one is industrial hygiene/safety. As a result of their TDEA-funded projects, investigators have published sixteen papers in professional journals, proceedings, or Los Alamos reports and presented their work at professional meetings. Supplement funds and in-kind contributions, such as staff time, instrument use, and workspace, were also provided to TDEA-funded projects by organizations external to ESH Divisions.

Development of Input/Output System for the Reactor Transient Analysis System (RETAS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suh, Jae Seung; Kang, Doo Hyuk; Cho, Yeon Sik; Ahn, Seung Hoon; Cho, Yong Jin

2009-01-01

A Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety Reactor Transient Analysis System (KINS-RETAS) aims at providing a realistic prediction of core and RCS response to the potential or actual event scenarios in Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). A thermal hydraulic system code MARS is a pivot code of the RETAS, and used to predict thermal hydraulic (TH) behaviors in the core and associated systems. MARS alone can be applied to many types of transients, but is sometimes coupled with the other codes developed for different objectives. Many tools have been developed to aid users in preparing input and displaying the transient information and output data. Output file and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) that help prepare input decks, as seen in SNAP (Gitnick, 1998), VISA (K.D. Kim, 2007) and display aids include the eFAST (KINS, 2007). The tools listed above are graphical interfaces. The input deck builders allow the user to create a functional diagram of the plant, pictorially on the screen. The functional diagram, when annotated with control volume and junction numbers, is a nodalization diagram. Data required for an input deck is entered for volumes and junctions through a mouse-driven menu and pop-up dialog; after the information is complete, an input deck is generated. Display GUIs show data from MARS calculations, either during or after the transient. The RETAS requires the user to first generate a set of 'input', two dimensional pictures of the plant on which some of the data is displayed either numerically or with a color map. The RETAS can generate XY-plots of the data. Time histories of plant conditions can be seen via the plots or through the RETAS's replay mode. The user input was combined with design input from MARS developers and experts from both the GUI and ergonomics fields. A partial list of capabilities follows. - 3D display for neutronics. - Easier method (less user time and effort) to generate 'input' for the 3D displays. - Detailed view of data at volume or

Development of Input/Output System for the Reactor Transient Analysis System (RETAS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, Jae Seung; Kang, Doo Hyuk; Cho, Yeon Sik [ENESYS, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Ahn, Seung Hoon; Cho, Yong Jin [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2009-05-15

A Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety Reactor Transient Analysis System (KINS-RETAS) aims at providing a realistic prediction of core and RCS response to the potential or actual event scenarios in Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). A thermal hydraulic system code MARS is a pivot code of the RETAS, and used to predict thermal hydraulic (TH) behaviors in the core and associated systems. MARS alone can be applied to many types of transients, but is sometimes coupled with the other codes developed for different objectives. Many tools have been developed to aid users in preparing input and displaying the transient information and output data. Output file and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) that help prepare input decks, as seen in SNAP (Gitnick, 1998), VISA (K.D. Kim, 2007) and display aids include the eFAST (KINS, 2007). The tools listed above are graphical interfaces. The input deck builders allow the user to create a functional diagram of the plant, pictorially on the screen. The functional diagram, when annotated with control volume and junction numbers, is a nodalization diagram. Data required for an input deck is entered for volumes and junctions through a mouse-driven menu and pop-up dialog; after the information is complete, an input deck is generated. Display GUIs show data from MARS calculations, either during or after the transient. The RETAS requires the user to first generate a set of 'input', two dimensional pictures of the plant on which some of the data is displayed either numerically or with a color map. The RETAS can generate XY-plots of the data. Time histories of plant conditions can be seen via the plots or through the RETAS's replay mode. The user input was combined with design input from MARS developers and experts from both the GUI and ergonomics fields. A partial list of capabilities follows. - 3D display for neutronics. - Easier method (less user time and effort) to generate 'input' for the 3D displays. - Detailed view

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and satisfaction aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design.

Science.gov (United States)

Frontczak, M; Schiavon, S; Goins, J; Arens, E; Zhang, H; Wargocki, P

2012-04-01

The article examines which subjectively evaluated indoor environmental parameters and building features mostly affect occupants' satisfaction in mainly US office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52,980 occupants in 351 office buildings over 10 years by the Center for the Built Environment. The survey uses 7-point ordered scale questions pertaining to satisfaction with indoor environmental parameters, workspace, and building features. The average building occupant was satisfied with his/her workspace and building. Proportional odds ordinal logistic regression shows that satisfaction with all 15 parameters listed in the survey contributed significantly to overall workspace satisfaction. The most important parameters were satisfaction with amount of space (odds ratio OR 1.57, 95% CI: 1.55-1.59), noise level (OR 1.27, 95% CI: 1.25-1.29), and visual privacy (OR 1.26, 95% CI: 1.24-1.28). Satisfaction with amount of space was ranked to be most important for workspace satisfaction, regardless of age group (below 30, 31-50 or over 50 years old), gender, type of office (single or shared offices, or cubicles), distance of workspace from a window (within 4.6 m or further), or satisfaction level with workspace (satisfied or dissatisfied). Satisfaction with amount of space was not related to the gross amount of space available per person. To maximize workspace satisfaction, designer should invest in aspects that increase satisfaction with amount of space and storage, noise level, and visual privacy. Office workers will be most satisfied with their workspace and building when located close to a window in a private office. This may affect job satisfaction, work performance, and personal and company productivity. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Research and development at ORNL/CESAR towards cooperating robotic systems for hazardous environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, R.C.; Fujimura, K.; Unseren, M.A.

1991-01-01

One of the frontiers in intelligent machine research is the understanding of how constructive cooperation among multiple autonomous agents can be effected. The effort at the Center for Engineering Systems Advanced Research (CESAR)at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) focuses on two problem areas: (1) cooperation by multiple mobile robots in dynamic, incompletely known environments; and (2) cooperating robotic manipulators. Particular emphasis is placed on experimental evaluation of research and developments using the CESAR robot system testbeds, including three mobile robots, and a seven-axis, kinematically redundant mobile manipulator. This paper summarizes initial results of research addressing the decoupling of position and force control for two manipulators holding a common object, and the path planning for multiple robots in a common workspace. 15 refs., 3 figs

Bag-like contaminant control work module

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, H.; Jacobson, E.B.

1982-01-01

A bag-like contaminant control work module is formed from a flexible impervious membrane which is inflated inside of an enclosed workspace to protect workers in the module from contaminants. The workspace, such as in a nuclear power steam generator, has a portal or manway opening into the workspace into which the module is secured by a module passageway. The module includes one or more glove boxes, in which the workers perform their assigned tasks after passing through the passageway and portal. The module includes one or more absolute filters allowing passage of air flow through the module passageway and into the workspace only through the filters. The module may include an auxiliary passageway secured to the outside of the module passageway and also secured in the portal opening and through which items can be passed back and forth to the worker in the glove box from outside the portal. The module is invertible so that it can be pulled out of the workspace trapping all the contaminants therein and disposed of without handling the contaminants

Ergonomic principles for the design of combined drilling and loading machines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mason, S.; Simpson, G.C.

1990-08-08

Underground investigations of development machines have revealed a number of limitations in ergonomics aspects of their design which could influence both the safety and efficiency of the operation. This handbook is intended to provide designers of Combined Drilling and Loading machines with the ergonomic information which can be used to eliminate or reduce such problems. The following criteria were examined: workspace position; operator clearances; operator protection; operator visual communications; operator visual machine monitoring; operator visual safety information; operator seating; operature posture; operator access to workspace; control types; control operating forces; control-response stereotypes; safety controls; control dynamics; control layout; control clearances; control protection; visual displays.

Using range vision for telerobotic control in hazardous environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lipsett, M.G.; Ballantyne, W.J.

1996-01-01

This paper describes how range vision augments a telerobotic system. The robot has a manipulator arm mounted onto a mobile platform. The robot is driven by a human operator under remote control to a work site, and then the operator uses video cameras and laser range images to perform manipulation tasks. A graphical workstation displays a three-dimensional image of the workspace to the operator, and a CAD model of the manipulator moves in this 'virtual environment' while the actual manipulator moves in the real workspace. This paper gives results of field trials of a remote excavation system, and describes a remote inspection system being developed for reactor maintenance. (author)

Numerical simulation of ventilation air movement in partitioned offices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Plett, E.G.; Soultogiannis, A.A.; Jouini, D.B. (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada))

1993-01-01

Good air quality can only be assured throughout an office complex if each workspace receives an adequate supply of ventilation air. The likelihood of achieving this situation would be increased if the building engineer had a means of easily predicting the air movement in each office configuration. A simple computer-based solution to this need is proposed. To this end, the development and validation testing of a numerical solution technique to simulate the ventilation air movement in a room or office is described. The predictions of the two-dimensional, isothermal, inviscid formulation are seen to be in good agreement with experimentally measured airflows in configurations of interest. The computer code is then used to illustrate the airflow in offices served by a single row of supply air diffusers, when partitions are used to divide the space into smaller workspaces. It is observed that the partitions distort the airflow patterns to the extent that it would be difficult to provide desirable ventilation airflows to all the workspaces formed by the partitions. (au) (26 refs.)

Design Analysis and Dynamic Modeling of a High-Speed 3T1R Pick-and-Place Parallel Robot

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Guanglei; Bai, Shaoping; Hjørnet, Preben

2015-01-01

This paper introduces a four degree-of-freedom parallel robot producing three translation and one rotation (Schönflies motion). This robot can generate a rectangular workspace that is close to the applicable work envelope and suitable for pick-and-place operations. The kinematics of the robot...... is studied to analyze the workspace and the isocontours of the local dexterity over the representative regular workspace are visualized. The simplified dynamics is modeled and compared with Adams model to show its effectiveness....

On the Minimum Cable Tensions for the Cable-Based Parallel Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the minimum cable tension distributions in the workspace for cable-based parallel robots to find out more information on the stability. First, the kinematic model of a cable-based parallel robot is derived based on the wrench matrix. Then, a noniterative polynomial-based optimization algorithm with the proper optimal objective function is presented based on the convex optimization theory, in which the minimum cable tension at any pose is determined. Additionally, three performance indices are proposed to show the distributions of the minimum cable tensions in a specified region of the workspace. An important thing is that the three performance indices can be used to evaluate the stability of the cable-based parallel robots. Furthermore, a new workspace, the Specified Minimum Cable Tension Workspace (SMCTW, is introduced, within which all the minimum tensions exceed a specified value, therefore meeting the specified stability requirement. Finally, a camera robot parallel driven by four cables for aerial panoramic photographing is selected to illustrate the distributions of the minimum cable tensions in the workspace and the relationship between the three performance indices and the stability.

Documentation of Appliances & Interaction Devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2004-01-01

The interaction devices and appliances explored in the WorkSPACE project, address spatial computing in the context of work. We have developed and explored a range of appliances and interaction devices. The scope has been to develop tools for support of collaboration by mixing digital and physical...

Workspace appropriation and attachment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. PAVALACHE-ILIE

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This literature synthesis presents a short history of the evolution of the concepts of space appropriation and place attachment, highlighting the difficulty of their operationalisation from a cultural point of view. The next subject brought into discussion is the relation between the affective dimension of the connection between a person and the work place and the behaviours which are prone to insure the proper functioning of organizations, such as the organizational civism and the organizational commitment.

Design and Analysis of Cooperative Cable Parallel Manipulators for Multiple Mobile Cranes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Zi

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The design, dynamic modelling, and workspace are presented in this paper concerning cooperative cable parallel manipulators for multiple mobile cranes (CPMMCs. The CPMMCs can handle complex tasks that are more difficult or even impossible for a single mobile crane. Kinematics and dynamics of the CPMMCs are studied on the basis of geometric methodology and d'Alembert's principle, and a mathematical model of the CPMMCs is developed and presented with dynamic simulation. The constant orientation workspace analysis of the CPMMCs is carried out additionally. As an example, a cooperative cable parallel manipulator for triple mobile cranes with 6 Degrees of Freedom is investigated on the basis of the above design objectives.

5 CFR 2634.1007 - Cases in which Certificates of Divestiture will not be issued.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... official discovers that Better Workspace is one of the companies that has submitted a bid and directs the employee to sell his stock in the company. Because Better Workspace is a publicly traded security, the... with the conscientious performance of Government responsibilities. ...

Kinetic scrolling-based position mapping for haptic teleoperation of unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruesch, A.; Mersha, A.Y.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Carloni, Raffaella

In this paper, we present a haptic teleoperation control algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicles, applying a kinetic scrolling-based position mapping. The proposed algorithm overcomes the master workspace limitations and enables to teleoperate the aerial vehicle in unbounded workspace in a fast and

The interplay of attention and consciousness in visual search, attentional blink and working memory consolidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Raffone, Antonino; Srinivasan, Narayanan; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-05-05

Despite the acknowledged relationship between consciousness and attention, theories of the two have mostly been developed separately. Moreover, these theories have independently attempted to explain phenomena in which both are likely to interact, such as the attentional blink (AB) and working memory (WM) consolidation. Here, we make an effort to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, a theory of consciousness based on the notion of global workspace (GW) and, on the other, a synthesis of theories of visual attention. We offer a theory of attention and consciousness (TAC) that provides a unified neurocognitive account of several phenomena associated with visual search, AB and WM consolidation. TAC assumes multiple processing stages between early visual representation and conscious access, and extends the dynamics of the global neuronal workspace model to a visual attentional workspace (VAW). The VAW is controlled by executive routers, higher-order representations of executive operations in the GW, without the need for explicit saliency or priority maps. TAC leads to newly proposed mechanisms for illusory conjunctions, AB, inattentional blindness and WM capacity, and suggests neural correlates of phenomenal consciousness. Finally, the theory reconciles the all-or-none and graded perspectives on conscious representation.

The interplay of attention and consciousness in visual search, attentional blink and working memory consolidation

Science.gov (United States)

Raffone, Antonino; Srinivasan, Narayanan; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-01-01

Despite the acknowledged relationship between consciousness and attention, theories of the two have mostly been developed separately. Moreover, these theories have independently attempted to explain phenomena in which both are likely to interact, such as the attentional blink (AB) and working memory (WM) consolidation. Here, we make an effort to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, a theory of consciousness based on the notion of global workspace (GW) and, on the other, a synthesis of theories of visual attention. We offer a theory of attention and consciousness (TAC) that provides a unified neurocognitive account of several phenomena associated with visual search, AB and WM consolidation. TAC assumes multiple processing stages between early visual representation and conscious access, and extends the dynamics of the global neuronal workspace model to a visual attentional workspace (VAW). The VAW is controlled by executive routers, higher-order representations of executive operations in the GW, without the need for explicit saliency or priority maps. TAC leads to newly proposed mechanisms for illusory conjunctions, AB, inattentional blindness and WM capacity, and suggests neural correlates of phenomenal consciousness. Finally, the theory reconciles the all-or-none and graded perspectives on conscious representation. PMID:24639586

Theory Analysis and Experiment Research of the Leg Mechanism for the Human-Carrying Walking Chair Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lingfeng Sang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available For the high carrying capacity of the human-carrying walking chair robot, in this paper, 2-UPS+UP parallel mechanism is selected as the leg mechanism; then kinematics, workspace, control, and experiment of the leg mechanism are researched in detail. Firstly, design of the whole mechanism is described and degrees of freedom of the leg mechanism are analyzed. Second, the forward position, inverse position, and velocity of leg mechanism are studied. Third, based on the kinematics analysis and the structural constraints, the reachable workspace of 2-UPS+UP parallel mechanism is solved, and then the optimal motion workspace is searched in the reachable workspace by choosing the condition number as the evaluation index. Fourth, according to the theory analysis of the parallel leg mechanism, its control system is designed and the compound position control strategy is studied. Finally, in optimal motion workspace, the compound position control strategy is verified by using circular track with the radius 100 mm; the experiment results show that the leg mechanism moves smoothly and does not tremble obviously. Theory analysis and experiment research of the single leg mechanism provide a theoretical foundation for the control of the quadruped human-carrying walking chair robot.

co-Laevo - Supporting Cooperating Teams by Working 'within' Shared Activity Time Lines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeuris, Steven; Tell, Paolo; Bardram, Jakob

. Each task (or activity) is associated with a personal dedicated workspace within which related resources, like files and windows, are embedded. As users access activity workspaces, the past, current, and planned state of the activity can be updated to reflect ongoing work. In contrast to stand...

Online workspaces to support teacher communities in secondary schools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Admiraal, W.; Heemskerk, I.M.C.C.; Roceanu, I.

2012-01-01

Teacher communities are claimed to contribute to the improvement in the practices of teaching and schooling as well as individual teacher development and the collective capacity schools. How to define, design and support teacher communities is however still unclear. In this expert study, experts

More than only weather protection for modern working environments. Multifunctional facade modul system for office buildings; Mehr als nur Wetterschutz fuer moderne Arbeitswelten. Multifunktionales Fassaden-Modulsystem fuer Buerogebaeude

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eickmeyer, Philipp [Technische Univ. Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Gebaeude- und Solartechnik

2011-07-01

Together with industrial and commercial partners, the Institute for Building and Solar Technology at the Technical University of Braunschweig (Braunschweig, Federal Republic of Germany) plans and develops working environments for the 21st century. Thus, the future:workspace is designed from the ninth floor in the university's high-rise BS4. Architectural visions are combined with innovative technical solutions and demonstrate the future quality of most modern office workplaces. The facade of the future:workspace is just more than a building closure and weather protection. A Schueco E{sup 2} facade is used as a multifunctional module system which is examined in the research project 'Distributed and modular building technology to increase energy efficiency and comfort of use'.

Ergonomic evaluation of the environment: a case study in a control room of the hydroelectric sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Falcão, Christianne Soares; Soares, Marcelo Marcio

2012-01-01

Representative systematic evaluation studies of the workspace and the extent to which that space is suitable for performing tasks have been developed by professionals engaged on finding evidence as to the importance of users and designers being joint participants in drawing up projects. In this context, this paper sets out to evaluate the environment of a control room in the hydroelectric sector, based on a multidisciplinary method which integrates ergonomics, architecture and environmental psychology so as to assess the influence of space on the user, and thus to identify the user's level of satisfaction with it. It was observed that some adaptation strategies of the space for activities were not implemented satisfactorily, resulting in the need for further studies on making workspaces suitable.

Developing a Taxonomy of Characteristics and Features of Collaboration Tools for Teams in Distributed Environments

Science.gov (United States)

2007-09-01

though they were physically present (very much as in an MMORPG setting.) A workspace must minimally supply an infrastructure for the content and the...virtual 2D/3D environment in which participants can interact. They model FPS or MMORPG style games in which the participants are immersed into the...role playing games or MMORPGs ), characters often share resources and accomplish objectives as a team. It should be apparent how this could easily

MOSAIC vision and scenarios for mobile collaborative work related to health and wellbeing.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jones, Valerie M.; Saranummi, Niilo; Pallot, Marc; Pawar, Kulwant S.

2005-01-01

The main objective of the MOSAIC project is to accelerate innovation in Mobile Worker Support Environments by shaping future research and innovation activities in Europe. The modus operandi of MOSAIC is to develop visions and illustrative scenarios for future collaborative workspaces involving

MOSAIC roadmap for mobile collaborative work related to health and wellbeing.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saranummi, Niilo; Jones, Valerie M.; Pallot, M.; Pawar, K.S.

2005-01-01

The objective of the MOSAIC project is to accelerate innovation in Mobile Worker Support Environments. For that purpose MOSAIC develops visions and illustrative scenarios for future collaborative workspaces involving mobile and location-aware working. Analysis of the scenarios is input to the

Proximity sensor system development. CRADA final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haley, D.C. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Pigoski, T.M. [Merrit Systems, Inc. (United States)

1998-01-01

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMERC) and Merritt Systems, Inc. (MSI) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development and demonstration of a compact, modular proximity sensing system suitable for application to a wide class of manipulator systems operated in support of environmental restoration and waste management activities. In teleoperated modes, proximity sensing provides the manipulator operator continuous information regarding the proximity of the manipulator to objects in the workspace. In teleoperated and robotic modes, proximity sensing provides added safety through the implementation of active whole arm collision avoidance capabilities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by LMERC for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for the electronics required to support a modular whole arm proximity sensing system based on the use of capacitive sensors developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The use of ASIC technology greatly reduces the size of the electronics required to support the selected sensor types allowing deployment of many small sensor nodes over a large area of the manipulator surface to provide maximum sensor coverage. The ASIC design also provides a communication interface to support sensor commands from and sensor data transmission to a distributed processing system which allows modular implementation and operation of the sensor system. MSI is a commercial small business specializing in proximity sensing systems based upon infrared and acoustic sensors.

Proximity sensor system development. CRADA final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haley, D.C.; Pigoski, T.M.

1998-01-01

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMERC) and Merritt Systems, Inc. (MSI) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development and demonstration of a compact, modular proximity sensing system suitable for application to a wide class of manipulator systems operated in support of environmental restoration and waste management activities. In teleoperated modes, proximity sensing provides the manipulator operator continuous information regarding the proximity of the manipulator to objects in the workspace. In teleoperated and robotic modes, proximity sensing provides added safety through the implementation of active whole arm collision avoidance capabilities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by LMERC for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for the electronics required to support a modular whole arm proximity sensing system based on the use of capacitive sensors developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The use of ASIC technology greatly reduces the size of the electronics required to support the selected sensor types allowing deployment of many small sensor nodes over a large area of the manipulator surface to provide maximum sensor coverage. The ASIC design also provides a communication interface to support sensor commands from and sensor data transmission to a distributed processing system which allows modular implementation and operation of the sensor system. MSI is a commercial small business specializing in proximity sensing systems based upon infrared and acoustic sensors

How is VR used to support training in industry? The INTUITION network of excellence working group on education and training

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cobb, S.C.; Richir, S.; D'Cruz, M.; Klinger, E.; Day, A.; David, P.; Gardeux, F.; van den Broek, Egon; van der Voort, Mascha C.; Meijer, F.; Izkara, J.L.; Mavrikios, D.

2008-01-01

INTUITION is the European Network of Excellence on virtual reality and virtual environments applications for future workspaces. The purpose of the network is to gather expertise from partner members and determine the future research agenda for the development and use of virtual reality (VR)

Gambiarra Meets Design Thinking : Scaffolding Embodied Creativity in a Design Lab

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Bono Holanda, Juliana; van Dijk, Jelle

2017-01-01

In this paper we report an exploratory study of developing a workspace of creative exploration as part of a design process inspired on a Brazilian improvisational street-culture, denominated Gambiarra. In a six month iterative design ethnography we adapted elements of Gambiarra into a formal,

Spaces of Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Büscher, Monica; Mogensen, Preben Holst; Shapiro, Dan

2002-01-01

This paper compares the properties of physical and digital workspaces in the context of a prototype of a collaborative virtual environment that has been developed with reference to work in design professions and concentrates on the organisation of work materials. Spatial properties are analysed t...

An Assessment of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Utilization of the Processes, and Availability of Tools and Physical Environments that Promote Innovation

Science.gov (United States)

2014-04-02

ideas. This diversity can aid in the creativity of the team. The size and makeup of the team can, however, be a deterrent to creativeness if the...Vodaphone, Samsung , NASA, and the BBC (Nussbaum, 2004). IDEO deliberately designs workspaces that promote collaboration as they see this as essential to

Design of a biologically inspired lower limb exoskeleton for human gait rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyu, Mingxing; Chen, Weihai; Ding, Xilun; Wang, Jianhua; Bai, Shaoping; Ren, Huichao

2016-10-01

This paper proposes a novel bionic model of the human leg according to the theory of physiology. Based on this model, we present a biologically inspired 3-degree of freedom (DOF) lower limb exoskeleton for human gait rehabilitation, showing that the lower limb exoskeleton is fully compatible with the human knee joint. The exoskeleton has a hybrid serial-parallel kinematic structure consisting of a 1-DOF hip joint module and a 2-DOF knee joint module in the sagittal plane. A planar 2-DOF parallel mechanism is introduced in the design to fully accommodate the motion of the human knee joint, which features not only rotation but also relative sliding. Therefore, the design is consistent with the requirements of bionics. The forward and inverse kinematic analysis is studied and the workspace of the exoskeleton is analyzed. The structural parameters are optimized to obtain a larger workspace. The results using MATLAB-ADAMS co-simulation are shown in this paper to demonstrate the feasibility of our design. A prototype of the exoskeleton is also developed and an experiment performed to verify the kinematic analysis. Compared with existing lower limb exoskeletons, the designed mechanism has a large workspace, while allowing knee joint rotation and small amount of sliding.

Design of a biologically inspired lower limb exoskeleton for human gait rehabilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Lyu, Mingxing; Chen, Weihai; Ding, Xilun; Wang, Jianhua; Bai, Shaoping; Ren, Huichao

2016-10-01

This paper proposes a novel bionic model of the human leg according to the theory of physiology. Based on this model, we present a biologically inspired 3-degree of freedom (DOF) lower limb exoskeleton for human gait rehabilitation, showing that the lower limb exoskeleton is fully compatible with the human knee joint. The exoskeleton has a hybrid serial-parallel kinematic structure consisting of a 1-DOF hip joint module and a 2-DOF knee joint module in the sagittal plane. A planar 2-DOF parallel mechanism is introduced in the design to fully accommodate the motion of the human knee joint, which features not only rotation but also relative sliding. Therefore, the design is consistent with the requirements of bionics. The forward and inverse kinematic analysis is studied and the workspace of the exoskeleton is analyzed. The structural parameters are optimized to obtain a larger workspace. The results using MATLAB-ADAMS co-simulation are shown in this paper to demonstrate the feasibility of our design. A prototype of the exoskeleton is also developed and an experiment performed to verify the kinematic analysis. Compared with existing lower limb exoskeletons, the designed mechanism has a large workspace, while allowing knee joint rotation and small amount of sliding.

Optimal design of a spherical parallel manipulator based on kinetostatic performance using evolutionary techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daneshmand, Morteza [University of Tartu, Tartu (Estonia); Saadatzi, Mohammad Hossein [Colorado School of Mines, Golden (United States); Kaloorazi, Mohammad Hadi [École de Technologie Supérieur, Montréal (Canada); Masouleh, Mehdi Tale [University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Anbarjafari, Gholamreza [Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep (Turkmenistan)

2016-03-15

This study aims to provide an optimal design for a Spherical parallel manipulator (SPM), namely, the Agile Eye. This aim is approached by investigating kinetostatic performance and workspace and searching for the most promising design. Previously recommended designs are examined to determine whether they provide acceptable kinetostatic performance and workspace. Optimal designs are provided according to different kinetostatic performance indices, especially kinematic sensitivity. The optimization process is launched based on the concept of the genetic algorithm. A single-objective process is implemented in accordance with the guidelines of an evolutionary algorithm called differential evolution. A multi-objective procedure is then provided following the reasoning of the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II. This process results in several sets of Pareto points for reconciliation between kinetostatic performance indices and workspace. The concept of numerous kinetostatic performance indices and the results of optimization algorithms are elaborated. The conclusions provide hints on the provided set of designs and their credibility to provide a well-conditioned workspace and acceptable kinetostatic performance for the SPM under study, which can be well extended to other types of SPMs.

Evidence of Self-Directed Learning on a High School Robotics Team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathan R. Dolenc

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Self-directed learning is described as an individual taking the initiative to engage in a learning experience while assuming responsibility to follow through to its conclusion. Robotics competitions are examples of informal environments that can facilitate self-directed learning. This study examined how mentor involvement, student behavior, and physical workspace contributed to self-directed learning on one robotics competition team. How did mentors transfer responsibility to students? How did students respond to managing a team? Are the physical attributes of a workspace important? The mentor, student, and workplace factors captured in the research showed mentors wanting students to do the work, students assuming leadership roles, and the limited workspace having a positive effect on student productivity.

A roadmap for caGrid, an enterprise Grid architecture for biomedical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Saltz, Joel; Hastings, Shannon; Langella, Stephen; Oster, Scott; Kurc, Tahsin; Payne, Philip; Ferreira, Renato; Plale, Beth; Goble, Carole; Ervin, David; Sharma, Ashish; Pan, Tony; Permar, Justin; Brezany, Peter; Siebenlist, Frank; Madduri, Ravi; Foster, Ian; Shanbhag, Krishnakant; Mead, Charlie; Chue Hong, Neil

2008-01-01

caGrid is a middleware system which combines the Grid computing, the service oriented architecture, and the model driven architecture paradigms to support development of interoperable data and analytical resources and federation of such resources in a Grid environment. The functionality provided by caGrid is an essential and integral component of the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) program. This program is established by the National Cancer Institute as a nationwide effort to develop enabling informatics technologies for collaborative, multi-institutional biomedical research with the overarching goal of accelerating translational cancer research. Although the main application domain for caGrid is cancer research, the infrastructure provides a generic framework that can be employed in other biomedical research and healthcare domains. The development of caGrid is an ongoing effort, adding new functionality and improvements based on feedback and use cases from the community. This paper provides an overview of potential future architecture and tooling directions and areas of improvement for caGrid and caGrid-like systems. This summary is based on discussions at a roadmap workshop held in February with participants from biomedical research, Grid computing, and high performance computing communities.

Accuracy Improvement of Multi-Axis Systems Based on Laser Correction of Volumetric Geometric Errors

Science.gov (United States)

Teleshevsky, V. I.; Sokolov, V. A.; Pimushkin, Ya I.

2018-04-01

The article describes a volumetric geometric errors correction method for CNC- controlled multi-axis systems (machine-tools, CMMs etc.). The Kalman’s concept of “Control and Observation” is used. A versatile multi-function laser interferometer is used as Observer in order to measure machine’s error functions. A systematic error map of machine’s workspace is produced based on error functions measurements. The error map results into error correction strategy. The article proposes a new method of error correction strategy forming. The method is based on error distribution within machine’s workspace and a CNC-program postprocessor. The postprocessor provides minimal error values within maximal workspace zone. The results are confirmed by error correction of precision CNC machine-tools.

Development of an assistive motorized hip orthosis: kinematics analysis and mechanical design.

Science.gov (United States)

Olivier, Jeremy; Bouri, Mohamed; Ortlieb, Amalric; Bleuler, Hannes; Clavel, Reymond

2013-06-01

With the increase of life expectancy, a higher number of elderly need assistance to maintain their mobility and their independance. The hip joint is crucial for walking and is problematic for a large number of aged people. In this paper we present a novel design of a motorized hip orthosis to assist elderly people while walking, stair climbing and during the sit-to-stand transistions. The kinematics was developed based on biomechanics considerations. To be able to achieve a large assistance rate, velocity and torques of the hip joint were studied from the literature. In order to fit with these requirements, an amplification mechanism inspired by excavators was developed and implemented. Comfort considerations were also taken into account and a custom interface was designed with the collaboration of a professional orthopaedic technician. First tests with the prototype showed that the workspace is sufficient for walking, for stair climbing as well as for sit-to-stand transitions. The assistance rate can go up to 30% for a 70 kg subject during walking at a cadence of 100 steps/min. The comfort is guaranteed despite the important weight (4.3 kg) of this first prototype.

Big Data Initiatives for Agroecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

NAL has developed a workspace for research groups associated with the i5k initiative, which aims to sequence the genomes of all insesct species known to be important to worldwide agriculture, food safety, medicine, and energy production; all those used as models in biology; the most abundant in worl...

POSSIBILITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS CLUSTER NETWORK BETWEEN SMEs FROM VISEGRAD COUNTRIES AND SERBIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Mihajlović

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This issue of Serbian Journal of Management (SJM 9(2 2014, besides containing regular research papers, is containing the papers which resulted from the project “Possibilities for development of business cluster network between SMEs from Visegrad countries and Serbia” and the International May Conference on Strategic Management – IMKSM2014 (http://mksm.sjm06.com . The manuscripts: Entrepreneurs of the Future (Lazani, 2014; The level of process management principles application in SMEs in the selected region of the Czech Republic (Rolinek et al., 2014 and Roles of Socialisation in Strengthening the labour-market positions of young entrants (Marosi, 2014 are the direct result of the Project, which was approved and financially supported by the Visegrad Fund (http://visegradfund.org . On the other hand, the manuscript Workspace as a factor of job satisfaction in the banking and ICT industries in Macedonia (Tomovska, et al., 2014 and Organizational routines in russian companies - review of practicesis (Valieva, 2014 are resulting from the IMKSM2014.

Dimensional synthesis of a 3-DOF parallel manipulator with full circle rotation

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Yanbing; Wu, Nan; Zhong, Xueyong; Zhang, Biao

2015-07-01

Parallel robots are widely used in the academic and industrial fields. In spite of the numerous achievements in the design and dimensional synthesis of the low-mobility parallel robots, few research efforts are directed towards the asymmetric 3-DOF parallel robots whose end-effector can realize 2 translational and 1 rotational(2T1R) motion. In order to develop a manipulator with the capability of full circle rotation to enlarge the workspace, a new 2T1R parallel mechanism is proposed. The modeling approach and kinematic analysis of this proposed mechanism are investigated. Using the method of vector analysis, the inverse kinematic equations are established. This is followed by a vigorous proof that this mechanism attains an annular workspace through its circular rotation and 2 dimensional translations. Taking the first order perturbation of the kinematic equations, the error Jacobian matrix which represents the mapping relationship between the error sources of geometric parameters and the end-effector position errors is derived. With consideration of the constraint conditions of pressure angles and feasible workspace, the dimensional synthesis is conducted with a goal to minimize the global comprehensive performance index. The dimension parameters making the mechanism to have optimal error mapping and kinematic performance are obtained through the optimization algorithm. All these research achievements lay the foundation for the prototype building of such kind of parallel robots.

Isotropy of an Upper Limb Exoskeleton and the Kinematics and Dynamics of the Human Arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel C. Perry

2009-01-01

shoulder and elbow, and nearly half of the total torque at the wrist. These results suggest that the majority of human arm joint torques are devoted to supporting the human arm position in space while compensating gravitational loads whereas a minor portion of the joint torques is dedicated to arm motion itself. A unique axial orientation at the base of the exoskeleton allowed the singular configuration of the shoulder joint to be moved towards the boundary of the human arm workspace while supporting 95% of the arm's workspace. At the same time, this orientation allowed the best exoskeleton manipulability at the most commonly used human arm configuration during ADLs. One of the potential implications of these results might be the need to compensate gravitational load during robotic-assistive rehabilitation treatment. Moreover, results of a manipulability analysis of the exoskeleton system indicate that the singular configuration of the exoskeleton system may be moved out of the human arm physiological workspace while maximising the overlap between the human arm and the exoskeleton workspaces. The collected database along with kinematic and dynamic analyses may provide a fundamental basis towards the development of assistive technologies for the human arm.

Air Force and Diversity: The Awkward Embrace

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-14

people of color into their training films .60 The Air Force will stagnate in its diversity efforts without an in-depth review and overhaul of...December 2012 to ensure workspaces reflected a professional workspace. These were depicted as a “ witch hunt” against the fighter pilot culture; General...Welsh countered vehemently, stating certain traditions had no place in today’s Air Force. Nevertheless, discussions regarding witch hunts are still

Optimal design of a novel remote center-of-motion mechanism for minimally invasive surgical robot

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jingyuan; Yan, Zhiyuan; Du, Zhijiang

2017-06-01

Surgical robot with a remote center-of-motion (RCM) plays an important role in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) field. To make the mechanism has high flexibility and meet the demand of movements during processing of operation, an optimized RCM mechanism is proposed in this paper. Then, the kinematic performance and workspace are analyzed. Finally, a new optimization objective function is built by using the condition number index and the workspace index.

Design of mechanical coxa joints based on three-degree-of-freedom spherical parallel manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Yanbiao; Ji, Shiming; Wang, Zhongfei; Jin, Mingsheng; Liu, Yi; Jin, Zhenlin

2013-01-01

We addressed the issue of the design of mechanical coxa joints based on three-degree-of-freedom spherical parallel manipulators using the parameter statistics optimum method based on index atlases. The coxa joints have the advantages of high payload, high accuracy, and good technological efficiency. The first step of the design and prototyping used in this paper develops the direct and inverse displacement equations from the layout feature of the mechanical coxa joints. Then, the shapes of a constant-orientation workspace of the mechanical coxa joints are described, and the effects of the design parameters on the workspace volume are studied quantitatively. The next step deals with the graphical representation of the atlases that illustrates the relationship between performance evaluation index and design parameters based on the kinematics and torque analysis of the mechanical coxa joints. Finally, the geometric parameters of the coxa joints are obtained by the parameter statistics optimum method based on the index atlases. Considering assembly conditions, the design scheme of the mechanical coxa joints is developed, which provides a theoretical basis for the application of the mechanical coxa joints.

Measurement and Quantification of Gross Human Shoulder Motion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeremy T. Newkirk

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The shoulder girdle plays an important role in the large pointing workspace that humans enjoy. The goal of this work was to characterize the human shoulder girdle motion in relation to the arm. The overall motion of the human shoulder girdle was characterized based on motion studies completed on test subjects during voluntary (natural/unforced motion. The collected data from the experiments were used to develop surface fit equations that represent the position and orientation of the glenohumeral joint for a given humeral pointing direction. These equations completely quantify gross human shoulder girdle motion relative to the humerus. The equations are presented along with goodness-of-fit results that indicate the equations well approximate the motion of the human glenohumeral joint. This is the first time the motion has been quantified for the entire workspace, and the equations provide a reference against which to compare future work.

Reducing Actuator Requirements in Continuum Robots Through Optimized Cable Routing.

Science.gov (United States)

Case, Jennifer C; White, Edward L; SunSpiral, Vytas; Kramer-Bottiglio, Rebecca

2018-02-01

Continuum manipulators offer many advantages compared to their rigid-linked counterparts, such as increased degrees of freedom and workspace volume. Inspired by biological systems, such as elephant trunks and octopus tentacles, many continuum manipulators are made of multiple segments that allow large-scale deformations to be distributed throughout the body. Most continuum manipulators currently control each segment individually. For example, a planar cable-driven system is typically controlled by a pair of cables for each segment, which implies two actuators per segment. In this article, we demonstrate how highly coupled crossing cable configurations can reduce both actuator count and actuator torque requirements in a planar continuum manipulator, while maintaining workspace reachability and manipulability. We achieve highly coupled actuation by allowing cables to cross through the manipulator to create new cable configurations. We further derive an analytical model to predict the underactuated manipulator workspace and experimentally verify the model accuracy with a physical system. We use this model to compare crossing cable configurations to the traditional cable configuration using workspace performance metrics. Our work here focuses on a simplified planar robot, both in simulation and in hardware, with the goal of extending this to spiraling-cable configurations on full 3D continuum robots in future work.

Development of a user-friendly system for image processing of electron microscopy by integrating a web browser and PIONE with Eos.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsukamoto, Takafumi; Yasunaga, Takuo

2014-11-01

Eos (Extensible object-oriented system) is one of the powerful applications for image processing of electron micrographs. In usual cases, Eos works with only character user interfaces (CUI) under the operating systems (OS) such as OS-X or Linux, not user-friendly. Thus, users of Eos need to be expert at image processing of electron micrographs, and have a little knowledge of computer science, as well. However, all the persons who require Eos does not an expert for CUI. Thus we extended Eos to a web system independent of OS with graphical user interfaces (GUI) by integrating web browser.Advantage to use web browser is not only to extend Eos with GUI, but also extend Eos to work under distributed computational environment. Using Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technology, we implemented more comfortable user-interface on web browser. Eos has more than 400 commands related to image processing for electron microscopy, and the usage of each command is different from each other. Since the beginning of development, Eos has managed their user-interface by using the interface definition file of "OptionControlFile" written in CSV (Comma-Separated Value) format, i.e., Each command has "OptionControlFile", which notes information for interface and its usage generation. Developed GUI system called "Zephyr" (Zone for Easy Processing of HYpermedia Resources) also accessed "OptionControlFIle" and produced a web user-interface automatically, because its mechanism is mature and convenient,The basic actions of client side system was implemented properly and can supply auto-generation of web-form, which has functions of execution, image preview, file-uploading to a web server. Thus the system can execute Eos commands with unique options for each commands, and process image analysis. There remain problems of image file format for visualization and workspace for analysis: The image file format information is useful to check whether the input/output file is correct and we also

Re-designing illumination level in printing working area

Science.gov (United States)

Wahyuni, D.; Tambunan, M.; Panjaitan, N.; Budiman, I.

2018-02-01

This research was conducted in four printing business in Medan city. The illumination level on the research object is very low around 30 Lux far below the required value of government regulation at 200 Lux. Poor lighting has an impact on the number of defective products that pass the inspection, so we need to improve the workspace lighting to improve the quality of work. The method of determining the measuring point follows SNI 16-7062-2004, and the measuring instrument used is 4 in 1 Environment Meter. The results show that almost all workspaces under study require improved lighting, because the light bulbs used are not able to meet the lighting needs. This research recommends improving the workspace lighting using LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights because it has high energy efficiency and relatively more lifetime compared to the existing lamp.

Logistics Automation Master Plan (LAMP). Better Logistics Support through Automation.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-06-01

productivity and efficiency of DARCOM human resources through the design, development, and deployment of workspace automation tools. 16. Develop Area Oriented...See Resource Annex Budgeted and Programed Resources by FY: See Resource Annex Actual or Planned Source of Resources: See Resourece Annex. Purpose and...screen, video disc machine and a microcomputer. Pressure from a human hand or light per on the user friendly screen tells the computer to retrieve

Development master arm of 2-DOF planar parallel manipulator for In-Vitro Fertilization

Science.gov (United States)

Thamrongaphichartkul, Kitti; Vongbunyong, Supachai; Nuntakarn, Lalana

2018-01-01

Micromanipulator is a mechanical device used for manipulating miniature objects in the order of micron. It is widely used in In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) in which sperms will be held in a micro-needle and penetrate to an oocyte for fertilization. IVF needs to be performed by high skill embryologists to control the movement of the needle accurately due to the lack of tactile perception of the user. Haptic device is a device that can transmit and simulate position, velocity and force in order to enhance interaction between the user and system. However, commercially available haptic devices have unnecessary degrees of freedom and limited workspace which are inappropriate for IVF process. This paper focuses on development of a haptic device for using in IVF process. It will be used as a master arm for the master-slave system for IVF process in order to enhance the ability of users to control the micromanipulator. As a result, the embryologist is able to carry out the IVF process more effectively with having tactile perception.

Crane system with remote actuation mechanism for use in argon compartment in ACPF hot cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jong Kwang, E-mail: leejk@kaeri.re.kr; Park, Byung-Suk; Yu, Seung-Nam; Kim, Kiho; Cho, Il-je

2016-10-15

Highlights: • Novel crane system with a remote actuation mechanism for feasible maintenance under limited space conditions is proposed. • Linear drive systems are implemented for accurate positioning. • Modular design concepts for easy maintenance are introduced. • The motion controller and the off-the-shelf camera controller are integrated to provide more efficient operation. - Abstract: The Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process Facility (ACPF) at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has recently been successfully renovated. One of the highlights of this renovation project was the installation of a small argon compartment within the atmospheric hot cell of the facility. Even though a crane system was considered necessary for the remote handling of the processing equipment inside the argon compartment, no suitable commercial cranes were available. This was because a limited amount of space had been reserved for the installation of the crane. Moreover, a master-slave manipulator (MSM), the only available means of maintenance of the crane, was unable to reach it in the limited workspace. To address the difficulties in the design of this crane, in this study, a remote actuation mechanism is devised where the mechanical and electrical parts of the crane system are separated, positioned far away from each other, and connected through power transmission shafts. This approach has two main advantages. First, the electrical parts can be placed inside the workspace of the MSM, hence allowing for remote maintenance. Second, the space occupied by the electrical parts and their cables, which are separate from the crane in the proposed design, can be considered and exploited in designing the mechanical parts of the crane. This enables the construction of a short, special crane in order to maximize the workspace. Furthermore, the mechanical parts for the MSM located outside the workspace are designed to possess a high safety margin to ensure durability

A Framework for Interactive Teaching of Virtual Borders to Mobile Robots

OpenAIRE

Sprute, Dennis; Rasch, Robin; Tönnies, Klaus; König, Matthias

2017-01-01

The increasing number of robots in home environments leads to an emerging coexistence between humans and robots. Robots undertake common tasks and support the residents in their everyday life. People appreciate the presence of robots in their environment as long as they keep the control over them. One important aspect is the control of a robot's workspace. Therefore, we introduce virtual borders to precisely and flexibly define the workspace of mobile robots. First, we propose a novel framewo...

Holistic Approach for Human Resource Management in Industry 4.0

OpenAIRE

Hecklau, Fabian; Galeitzke, Mila; Flachs, Sebastian; Kohl, Holger

2016-01-01

To cope with knowledge and competence challenges related to new technologies and processes of Industry 4.0 new strategic approaches for holistic human resource management are needed in manufacturing companies. Due to the continuous automation of simple manufacturing processes, the number of workspaces with a high level of complexity will increase, which results in the need of high level of education of the staff. The challenge is to qualify employees to shift their capacities to workspaces wi...

Kinematic Analysis and Optimization of a New Compliant Parallel Micromanipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qingsong Xu

2008-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a new three translational degrees of freedom (DOF compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM is proposed, which has an excellent accuracy of parallel mechanisms with flexure hinges. The system is established by a proper selection of hardware and analyzed via the derived pseudo-rigid-body model. In view of the physical constraints imposed by both the piezoelectric actuators and flexure hinges, the CPM's reachable workspace is determined analytically, where a maximum cylinder defined as an usable workspace can be inscribed. Moreover, the optimal design of the CPM with the consideration of the usable workspace size and global dexterity index simultaneously is carried out by utilizing the approaches of direct search method, genetic algorithm (GA, and particle swarm optimization (PSO, respectively. The simulation results show that the PSO is the best method for the optimization, and the results are valuable in the design of a new micromanipulator.

A neurorobotic platform for locomotor prosthetic development in rats and mice

Science.gov (United States)

von Zitzewitz, Joachim; Asboth, Leonie; Fumeaux, Nicolas; Hasse, Alexander; Baud, Laetitia; Vallery, Heike; Courtine, Grégoire

2016-04-01

Objectives. We aimed to develop a robotic interface capable of providing finely-tuned, multidirectional trunk assistance adjusted in real-time during unconstrained locomotion in rats and mice. Approach. We interfaced a large-scale robotic structure actuated in four degrees of freedom to exchangeable attachment modules exhibiting selective compliance along distinct directions. This combination allowed high-precision force and torque control in multiple directions over a large workspace. We next designed a neurorobotic platform wherein real-time kinematics and physiological signals directly adjust robotic actuation and prosthetic actions. We tested the performance of this platform in both rats and mice with spinal cord injury. Main Results. Kinematic analyses showed that the robotic interface did not impede locomotor movements of lightweight mice that walked freely along paths with changing directions and height profiles. Personalized trunk assistance instantly enabled coordinated locomotion in mice and rats with severe hindlimb motor deficits. Closed-loop control of robotic actuation based on ongoing movement features enabled real-time control of electromyographic activity in anti-gravity muscles during locomotion. Significance. This neurorobotic platform will support the study of the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of locomotor prosthetics and rehabilitation using high-resolution genetic tools in rodent models.

Collaborative Workspaces within Distributed Virtual Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

1996-12-01

willingness to listen made the first half of my stay at AFIT a very enjoyable experience. I owe you a trip to Disneyland . Finally, a quackazillion thanks to...the title classification in parentheses. BiockS. Funding Numbers. To include contract and grant numbers; may include program element number(s...project number(s), task number(s), and work unit number(s). Use the following labels: C G PE Contract Grant Program Element PR TA Project

Unlocking creativity with the physical workspace

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martens, Y.

2008-01-01

This paper aims to further conceptualize the creative potential of the physical work environment by identifying and exploring the various relationships between creativity, creative work processes, and the physical workplace. Furthermore it proposes a model to position the relations, as well as the

How to Frame Universal Workspace Lighting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiasen, Nanet; Frandsen, Anne Kathrine

2016-01-01

; regardless of disability everybody should be able to move around in the house and work in any of the offices. One, of many ambitions, was to design a functional and effective lighting scheme using as much daylight as possible, and integrating the artificial lighting design and daylight design. The lighting...

Parietal and early visual cortices encode working memory content across mental transformations.

Science.gov (United States)

Christophel, Thomas B; Cichy, Radoslaw M; Hebart, Martin N; Haynes, John-Dylan

2015-02-01

Active and flexible manipulations of memory contents "in the mind's eye" are believed to occur in a dedicated neural workspace, frequently referred to as visual working memory. Such a neural workspace should have two important properties: The ability to store sensory information across delay periods and the ability to flexibly transform sensory information. Here we used a combination of functional MRI and multivariate decoding to indentify such neural representations. Subjects were required to memorize a complex artificial pattern for an extended delay, then rotate the mental image as instructed by a cue and memorize this transformed pattern. We found that patterns of brain activity already in early visual areas and posterior parietal cortex encode not only the initially remembered image, but also the transformed contents after mental rotation. Our results thus suggest that the flexible and general neural workspace supporting visual working memory can be realized within posterior brain regions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of parameters for technological equipment of parallel kinematics based on rods of variable length for processing accuracy assurance

Science.gov (United States)

Koltsov, A. G.; Shamutdinov, A. H.; Blokhin, D. A.; Krivonos, E. V.

2018-01-01

A new classification of parallel kinematics mechanisms on symmetry coefficient, being proportional to mechanism stiffness and accuracy of the processing product using the technological equipment under study, is proposed. A new version of the Stewart platform with a high symmetry coefficient is presented for analysis. The workspace of the mechanism under study is described, this space being a complex solid figure. The workspace end points are reached by the center of the mobile platform which moves in parallel related to the base plate. Parameters affecting the processing accuracy, namely the static and dynamic stiffness, natural vibration frequencies are determined. The capability assessment of the mechanism operation under various loads, taking into account resonance phenomena at different points of the workspace, was conducted. The study proved that stiffness and therefore, processing accuracy with the use of the above mentioned mechanisms are comparable with the stiffness and accuracy of medium-sized series-produced machines.

Case management for high-intensity service users: towards a relational approach to care co-ordination.

Science.gov (United States)

McEvoy, Phil; Escott, Diane; Bee, Penny

2011-01-01

This study is based on a formative evaluation of a case management service for high-intensity service users in Northern England. The evaluation had three main purposes: (i) to assess the quality of the organisational infrastructure; (ii) to obtain a better understanding of the key influences that played a role in shaping the development of the service; and (iii) to identify potential changes in practice that may help to improve the quality of service provision. The evaluation was informed by Gittell's relational co-ordination theory, which focuses upon cross-boundary working practices that facilitate task integration. The Assessment of Chronic Illness Care Survey was used to assess the organisational infrastructure and qualitative interviews with front line staff were conducted to explore the key influences that shaped the development of the service. A high level of strategic commitment and political support for integrated working was identified. However, the quality of care co-ordination was variable. The most prominent operational factor that appeared to influence the scope and quality of care co-ordination was the pattern of interaction between the case managers and their co-workers. The co-ordination of patient care was much more effective in integrated co-ordination networks. Key features included clearly defined, task focussed, relational workspaces with interactive forums where case managers could engage with co-workers in discussions about the management of interdependent care activities. In dispersed co-ordination networks with fewer relational workspaces, the case managers struggled to work as effectively. The evaluation concluded that the creation of flexible and efficient task focused relational workspaces that are systemically managed and adequately resourced could help to improve the quality of care co-ordination, particularly in dispersed networks. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Conceptual design main progress of EAST Articulated Maintenance Arm (EAMA) system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shi, Shanshuang, E-mail: shiss@ipp.ac.cn [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China); Laboratory of Intelligent Machines, Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland); Song, Yuntao; Cheng, Yong [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China); Villedieu, Eric; Bruno, Vincent [CEA-IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance (France); Feng, Hansheng [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China); Wu, Huapeng [Laboratory of Intelligent Machines, Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland); Wang, Peng [State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Hao, Zhiwei; Li, Yang; Wang, Kun; Pan, Hongtao [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China)

2016-03-15

Highlights: • EAST Articulated Maintenance Arm (EAMA) system is being collaboratively developed by ASIPP and CEA-IRFM. • Conceptual design for a 3-DOF wrist end effector with gripper has been finished. • Kinematic design can reach 90% of the workspace inside EAST tokamak vessel. • A prototype of EAMA arm segment has been built to validate the design. - Abstract: EAST articulated maintenance arm (EAMA) system is being collaboratively developed by ASIPP and CEA-IRFM for the purpose of remote inspection and simple maintenance operations in EAST vacuum vessel during physical experiments without breaking the ultra-high vacuum condition. The EAMA system design is based on a similar articulated inspection arm robot successfully demonstrated in Tore Supra in 2008. In order to better meet EAST configurations and maintenance requirements, optimized mechanisms and dimensions are considered for EAMA robot as upgrades. Besides, the segmented arm is equipped with a 3-DOF wrist end effector and gripper for gripping operation as well as inspection. Some calculations and simulations on statics, kinematics and workspace of EAMA have been presented to validate the feasibility. This paper introduces the overall design of the EAMA robot and presents implementation progress.

Optimal design of a main driving mechanism for servo punch press based on performance atlases

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yanhua; Xie, Fugui; Liu, Xinjun

2013-09-01

The servomotor drive turret punch press is attracting more attentions and being developed more intensively due to the advantages of high speed, high accuracy, high flexibility, high productivity, low noise, cleaning and energy saving. To effectively improve the performance and lower the cost, it is necessary to develop new mechanisms and establish corresponding optimal design method with uniform performance indices. A new patented main driving mechanism and a new optimal design method are proposed. In the optimal design, the performance indices, i.e., the local motion/force transmission indices ITI, OTI, good transmission workspace good transmission workspace(GTW) and the global transmission indices GTIs are defined. The non-dimensional normalization method is used to get all feasible solutions in dimensional synthesis. Thereafter, the performance atlases, which can present all possible design solutions, are depicted. As a result, the feasible solution of the mechanism with good motion/force transmission performance is obtained. And the solution can be flexibly adjusted by designer according to the practical design requirements. The proposed mechanism is original, and the presented design method provides a feasible solution to the optimal design of the main driving mechanism for servo punch press.

Conceptual design main progress of EAST Articulated Maintenance Arm (EAMA) system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Shanshuang; Song, Yuntao; Cheng, Yong; Villedieu, Eric; Bruno, Vincent; Feng, Hansheng; Wu, Huapeng; Wang, Peng; Hao, Zhiwei; Li, Yang; Wang, Kun; Pan, Hongtao

2016-01-01

Highlights: • EAST Articulated Maintenance Arm (EAMA) system is being collaboratively developed by ASIPP and CEA-IRFM. • Conceptual design for a 3-DOF wrist end effector with gripper has been finished. • Kinematic design can reach 90% of the workspace inside EAST tokamak vessel. • A prototype of EAMA arm segment has been built to validate the design. - Abstract: EAST articulated maintenance arm (EAMA) system is being collaboratively developed by ASIPP and CEA-IRFM for the purpose of remote inspection and simple maintenance operations in EAST vacuum vessel during physical experiments without breaking the ultra-high vacuum condition. The EAMA system design is based on a similar articulated inspection arm robot successfully demonstrated in Tore Supra in 2008. In order to better meet EAST configurations and maintenance requirements, optimized mechanisms and dimensions are considered for EAMA robot as upgrades. Besides, the segmented arm is equipped with a 3-DOF wrist end effector and gripper for gripping operation as well as inspection. Some calculations and simulations on statics, kinematics and workspace of EAMA have been presented to validate the feasibility. This paper introduces the overall design of the EAMA robot and presents implementation progress.

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and satisfaction aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frontczak, Monika Joanna; Schiavon, S.; Goins, J.

2012-01-01

The article examines which subjectively evaluated indoor environmental parameters and building features mostly affect occupants' satisfaction in mainly US office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52 980 occupants in 351 office buildings over 10 years...... by the Center for the Built Environment. The survey uses 7-point ordered scale questions pertaining to satisfaction with indoor environmental parameters, workspace, and building features. The average building occupant was satisfied with his/her workspace and building. Proportional odds ordinal logistic...

Visual control of a robot manipulator using neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurazume, Ryo; Sekiguchi, Minoru; Nagata, Shigemi

1994-01-01

This paper describes a vision-motor fusion system using neural networks, consisting of multiple vision sensors and a manipulator, for grasping an object placed in a desired position and attitude in a three-dimensional workspace. The system does not need complicated vision sensor calibration and calculation of a transformation matrix, and can thus be easily constructed for grasping tasks. An experimental system with two TV cameras and a manipulator with six degrees of freedom grasped a connector suspended in a three-dimensional workspace with high accuracy. (author)

Optimalisasi Ukuran Manipulabilitas Robot Stanford Menggunakan Metode Pseudo-inverse

OpenAIRE

admin, Gina Fahrina

2013-01-01

Robot is one of the most important element in the industrial world which has been growing very rapidly. Stanford robot arm is one of robot that use in industry, it has five degrees of freedom (DOF). Movement of the robot arm in his workspace called manipulability or manipulability measure. More the optimal manipulability measure manipulator, the more movement of the robotic arm will be more flexible in his workspace. The purpose of this research are to get knowledge and learn how to solve inv...

Mixed Initiative Visual Analytics Using Task-Driven Recommendations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cook, Kristin A.; Cramer, Nicholas O.; Israel, David; Wolverton, Michael J.; Bruce, Joseph R.; Burtner, Edwin R.; Endert, Alexander

2015-12-07

Visual data analysis is composed of a collection of cognitive actions and tasks to decompose, internalize, and recombine data to produce knowledge and insight. Visual analytic tools provide interactive visual interfaces to data to support tasks involved in discovery and sensemaking, including forming hypotheses, asking questions, and evaluating and organizing evidence. Myriad analytic models can be incorporated into visual analytic systems, at the cost of increasing complexity in the analytic discourse between user and system. Techniques exist to increase the usability of interacting with such analytic models, such as inferring data models from user interactions to steer the underlying models of the system via semantic interaction, shielding users from having to do so explicitly. Such approaches are often also referred to as mixed-initiative systems. Researchers studying the sensemaking process have called for development of tools that facilitate analytic sensemaking through a combination of human and automated activities. However, design guidelines do not exist for mixed-initiative visual analytic systems to support iterative sensemaking. In this paper, we present a candidate set of design guidelines and introduce the Active Data Environment (ADE) prototype, a spatial workspace supporting the analytic process via task recommendations invoked by inferences on user interactions within the workspace. ADE recommends data and relationships based on a task model, enabling users to co-reason with the system about their data in a single, spatial workspace. This paper provides an illustrative use case, a technical description of ADE, and a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the approach.

MBAT: A scalable informatics system for unifying digital atlasing workflows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sane Nikhil

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Digital atlases provide a common semantic and spatial coordinate system that can be leveraged to compare, contrast, and correlate data from disparate sources. As the quality and amount of biological data continues to advance and grow, searching, referencing, and comparing this data with a researcher's own data is essential. However, the integration process is cumbersome and time-consuming due to misaligned data, implicitly defined associations, and incompatible data sources. This work addressing these challenges by providing a unified and adaptable environment to accelerate the workflow to gather, align, and analyze the data. Results The MouseBIRN Atlasing Toolkit (MBAT project was developed as a cross-platform, free open-source application that unifies and accelerates the digital atlas workflow. A tiered, plug-in architecture was designed for the neuroinformatics and genomics goals of the project to provide a modular and extensible design. MBAT provides the ability to use a single query to search and retrieve data from multiple data sources, align image data using the user's preferred registration method, composite data from multiple sources in a common space, and link relevant informatics information to the current view of the data or atlas. The workspaces leverage tool plug-ins to extend and allow future extensions of the basic workspace functionality. A wide variety of tool plug-ins were developed that integrate pre-existing as well as newly created technology into each workspace. Novel atlasing features were also developed, such as supporting multiple label sets, dynamic selection and grouping of labels, and synchronized, context-driven display of ontological data. Conclusions MBAT empowers researchers to discover correlations among disparate data by providing a unified environment for bringing together distributed reference resources, a user's image data, and biological atlases into the same spatial or semantic context

Development of dose monitoring system applicable to various radiations with wide energy ranges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Tatsuhiko; Satoh, Daiki; Endo, Akira

2006-01-01

A new radiation dose monitor, designated as DARWIN (Dose monitoring system Applicable to various Radiations with WIde energy raNges), has been developed for real-time monitoring of doses in workspaces and surrounding environments of high energy accelerator facilities. DARWIN is composed of a phoswitch-type scintillation detector, which consists of liquid organic scintillator BC501A coupled with ZnS(Ag) scintillation sheets doped with 6 Li, and a data acquisition system based on a Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope. DARWIN has the following features: (1) capable of monitoring doses from neutrons, photons and muons with energies from thermal energy to 1 GeV, 150 keV to 100 MeV, and 1 MeV to 100 GeV, respectively, (2) highly sensitive with precision, and (3) easy to operate with a simple graphical user-interface. The performance of DARWIN was examined experimentally in several radiation fields. The results of the experiments indicated the accuracy and rapid response of DARWIN for measuring dose rates from neutrons, photons and muons with wide energies. With these properties, we conclude that DARWIN will be able to play a very important role for improving radiation safety in high energy accelerator facilities. (author)

Biological Visualization, Imaging and Simulation(Bio-VIS) at NASA Ames Research Center: Developing New Software and Technology for Astronaut Training and Biology Research in Space

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Jeffrey

2003-01-01

The Bio- Visualization, Imaging and Simulation (BioVIS) Technology Center at NASA's Ames Research Center is dedicated to developing and applying advanced visualization, computation and simulation technologies to support NASA Space Life Sciences research and the objectives of the Fundamental Biology Program. Research ranges from high resolution 3D cell imaging and structure analysis, virtual environment simulation of fine sensory-motor tasks, computational neuroscience and biophysics to biomedical/clinical applications. Computer simulation research focuses on the development of advanced computational tools for astronaut training and education. Virtual Reality (VR) and Virtual Environment (VE) simulation systems have become important training tools in many fields from flight simulation to, more recently, surgical simulation. The type and quality of training provided by these computer-based tools ranges widely, but the value of real-time VE computer simulation as a method of preparing individuals for real-world tasks is well established. Astronauts routinely use VE systems for various training tasks, including Space Shuttle landings, robot arm manipulations and extravehicular activities (space walks). Currently, there are no VE systems to train astronauts for basic and applied research experiments which are an important part of many missions. The Virtual Glovebox (VGX) is a prototype VE system for real-time physically-based simulation of the Life Sciences Glovebox where astronauts will perform many complex tasks supporting research experiments aboard the International Space Station. The VGX consists of a physical display system utilizing duel LCD projectors and circular polarization to produce a desktop-sized 3D virtual workspace. Physically-based modeling tools (Arachi Inc.) provide real-time collision detection, rigid body dynamics, physical properties and force-based controls for objects. The human-computer interface consists of two magnetic tracking devices

Developing sensor-based robots with utility to waste management applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trivedi, M.M.; Abidi, M.A.; Gonzalez, R.C.

1990-01-01

There are several Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ER and WM) application areas where autonomous or teleoperated robotic systems can be utilized to improve personnel safety and reduce operation costs. In this paper the authors describe continuing research undertaken by their group in intelligent robotics area which should have a direct relevance to a number of ER and WM applications. The authors' current research is sponsored by the advanced technology division of the U.S. Department of Energy. It is part of a program undertaken at four universities (Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas) and the Oak ridge National Laboratory directed towards the development of advanced robotic systems for use in nuclear environments. The primary motivation for using robotic (autonomous and/or teleoperated) technology in such hazardous environments is to reduce exposure and costs associated with performing tasks such as surveillance, maintenance and repair. The main focus of the authors' research a the University of Tennessee has been to contribute to the development of autonomous inspection and manipulation systems which utilize a wide array of sensory inputs in controlling the actions of a stationary robot. The authors' experimental research effort is directed towards design and evaluation of new methodologies using a laboratory based robotic testbed. A unique feature of this testbed is a multisensor module useful in the characterization of the robot workspace. In this paper, the authors describe the development of a robot vision system for automatic spill detection, localization and clean-up verification; and the development of efficient techniques for analyzing range images using a parallel computer. The 'simulated spill cleanup' scenario allows us to show the applicability of robotic systems to problems encountered in nuclear environments

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frontczak, Monika Joanna; Schiavon, Stefano; Goins, John

2011-01-01

The paper examines which indoor environmental parameters and building features contribute occupants’ satisfaction in office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52,980 occupants in 351 office buildings over ten years at the Center for the Built Environment...... parameters listed in the survey contributed to overall workspace satisfaction. The most important parameters were: satisfaction with amount of space (odds ratio OR 1.57), noise (OR 1.27) and visual privacy (OR 1.26). Satisfaction with amount of space was not noticeably affected by size of workspace...

Design of parallel intersector weld/cut robot for machining processes in ITER vacuum vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Huapeng; Handroos, Heikki; Kovanen, Janne; Rouvinen, Asko; Hannukainen, Petri; Saira, Tanja; Jones, Lawrence

2003-01-01

This paper presents a new parallel robot Penta-WH, which has five degrees of freedom driven by hydraulic cylinders. The manipulator has a large, singularity-free workspace and high stiffness and it acts as a transport device for welding, machining and inspection end-effectors inside the ITER vacuum vessel. The presented kinematic structure of a parallel robot is particularly suitable for the ITER environment. Analysis of the machining process for ITER, such as the machining methods and forces are given, and the kinematic analyses, such as workspace and force capacity are discussed

Kinematics and optimization of 2-DOF parallel manipulator with revolute actuators and a passive leg

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nam, Yun Joo; Park, Myeong Kwan

2006-01-01

In this paper, a 2-DOF planar parallel manipulator with two revolute actuators and one passive constraining leg. The kinematic analysis of the mechanism is analytically performed : the inverse and forward kinematics problems are solved in closed forms, the workspace is derived systematically, and the three kinds of singular configurations are found. The optimal design to determine the geometric parameters and the operating limits of the actuated legs is performed considering the kinematic manipulability and workspace size. These results of the paper show the effectiveness of the presented manipulator

Audit Thermal Lingkungan Kerja Operator Peeler Untuk Meningkatkan Produktivitas Di PT. Mahakarya Inti Buana

OpenAIRE

Tambunan, Willy

2011-01-01

High temperatures in the workspace could be caused by the condition of the room, machines or devices that emit heat and the heat that comes from the sun heats the roof of the factory, which led to the production of radiation into the workspace. Hot work environment that occurs in one of the factories that manufacture latex gloves PT.Mahakarya Inti Buana, which at room temperature between 30 0 C - 36 0 C so that the company has a condition turn over of employees. ISBB value obtained on the p...

Semantic web data warehousing for caGrid.

Science.gov (United States)

McCusker, James P; Phillips, Joshua A; González Beltrán, Alejandra; Finkelstein, Anthony; Krauthammer, Michael

2009-10-01

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is developing caGrid as a means for sharing cancer-related data and services. As more data sets become available on caGrid, we need effective ways of accessing and integrating this information. Although the data models exposed on caGrid are semantically well annotated, it is currently up to the caGrid client to infer relationships between the different models and their classes. In this paper, we present a Semantic Web-based data warehouse (Corvus) for creating relationships among caGrid models. This is accomplished through the transformation of semantically-annotated caBIG Unified Modeling Language (UML) information models into Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontologies that preserve those semantics. We demonstrate the validity of the approach by Semantic Extraction, Transformation and Loading (SETL) of data from two caGrid data sources, caTissue and caArray, as well as alignment and query of those sources in Corvus. We argue that semantic integration is necessary for integration of data from distributed web services and that Corvus is a useful way of accomplishing this. Our approach is generalizable and of broad utility to researchers facing similar integration challenges.

Ability or Disability - Design for Whom?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodersen, Søsser Grith Kragh; Lindegaard, Hanne

2014-01-01

The dilemma addressed is how private homes and their residents change when the home becomes a hybrid of both workspace and private space. When assistive technologies designed for institutions enter the home, the everyday practices of disabled persons and their relatives change in interaction...... are shaped in the interplay with everyday life in private homes. Through an emphasis on embodiment, script and domestication, the authors illustrate how relations are developed or not developed between the disabled person and the non-human artefacts....

Thermal and lighting perception in four fully glazed office buildings in Santiago, Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Vásquez Záldivar

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper is part of a general research project whose main objective is to establish a baseline for post-occupancy energy consumption and indoor environmental quality for office buildings in Santiago, Chile. This study aims at understanding how architectonical variables relate to, and can even determine, user comfort perception.  Thus, one-year continuous monitoring in several floors at four office buildings was performed and seasonal surveys were completed.  Survey participants were asked a series of questions regarding spatial orientation and comfort perception in their workspace.The data from the comfort survey and onsite measurements such as season of the year, case study, type of workspace and possibility of an outdoor view from the workstation were contrasted with the components obtained by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA. Three components were selected from the PCA, and three Maps of Perception (MP were produced. These maps were then analyzed and interpreted so as to obtain information on the general perception of thermal and lighting comfort at workspaces within several office buildings in Santiago.

Optimal Design of a 3-DOF Cable-Driven Upper Arm Exoskeleton

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhu-Feng Shao

2014-04-01

Full Text Available With outstanding advantages, such as large workspace, flexibility, and lightweight and low inertia, cable-driven parallel manipulator shows great potential for application as the exoskeleton rehabilitation robot. However, the optimal design is still a challenging problem to be solved. In this paper, the optimal design of a 3-DOF (3-degree-of-freedom cable-driven upper arm exoskeleton is accomplished considering the force exerted on the arm. After analysis of the working conditions, two promising configurations of the cable-driven upper arm exoskeleton are put forward and design parameters are simplified. Then, candidate ranges of two angle parameters are determined with the proposed main workspace requirement. Further, global force indices are defined to evaluate the force applied to the arm by the exoskeleton, in order to enhance the system safety and comfort. Finally, the optimal design of each configuration is obtained with proposed force indices. In addition, atlases and charts given in this paper well illustrate trends of workspace and force with different values of design parameters.

Development of the IAEA’s Knowledge Preservation Portals for Fast Reactors and Gas-Cooled Reactors Knowledge Preservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batra, C.; Menahem, D. Beraha; Kriventsev, V.; Monti, S.; Reitsma, F.; Grosbois, J. de; Khoroshev, M.; Gladyshev, M.

2016-01-01

Full text: The IAEA has been carrying out a dedicated initiative on fast reactor knowledge preservation since 2003. The main objectives of the Fast Reactor Knowledge Portal (FRKP) initiative are to, a) halt the on-going loss of information related to fast reactors (FR), and b) collect, retrieve, preserve and make accessible existing data and information on FR. This portal will help in knowledge sharing, development, search and discovery, collaboration and communication of fast reactor related information. On similar lines a Gas Cooled Fast Reactor Knowledge Preservation portal project also started in 2013. Knowledge portals are capable to control and manage both publicly available as well as controlled information. The portals will not only incorporate existing set of knowledge and information, but will also provide a systemic platform for further preservation of new developments. It will include fast reactor and gas cooled reactor document repositories, project workspaces for the IAEA’s Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs), Technical Meetings (TMs), forums for discussion, etc. The portal will also integrate a taxonomy based search tool, which will help using new semantic search capabilities for improved conceptual retrieve of documents. The taxonomy complies with international web standards as defined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). (author

Safety, efficacy, and intraoperative characteristics of DisCoVisc and Healon ophthalmic viscosurgical devices for cataract surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Modi SS

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Satish S Modi1, James A Davison2, Tom Walters3 1Seeta Eye Centers, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA; 2Wolfe Clinic, Marshalltown, IA, USA; 3Texas Eye Care, Austin, TX, USA Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of DisCoVisc ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD, Alcon Laboratories, Inc with respect to a comparator, Healon OVD (Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. Patients and methods: In this prospective study, patients with cataracts were randomized to an OVD, and then received phacoemulsification and injection of an intraocular lens. After each surgery, unmasked investigators completed subjective questionnaires about OVD characteristics during each stage of the procedure. Masked technicians evaluated objective safety parameters of intraocular pressure (IOP and endothelial cell density, with 90 days of follow-up. Results: The DisCoVisc OVD group (128 eyes and the Healon OVD group (121 eyes had statistically similar outcomes for IOP and for endothelial cell loss. Subjectively assessed viscosity was statistically different (P < 0.0001, with Healon OVD most often rated “cohesive” and DisCoVisc OVD most often rated “both dispersive and cohesive”. Workspace maintenance differed between groups (P < 0.0001, with workspace most frequently rated “full chamber maintained” when using DisCoVisc OVD and most frequently rated “workspace maintained” when using Healon OVD. “Flat” or “shallow” workspace ratings occurred only in the Healon OVD group. Conclusion: DisCoVisc OVD had both cohesive and dispersive properties, and was safe and effective for every stage of cataract surgery. Keywords: cataract, endothelial cell density, viscoelastic, phacoemulsification

Kinematic Analysis and Performance Evaluation of Novel PRS Parallel Mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Balaji, K.; Khan, B. Shahul Hamid

2018-02-01

In this paper, a 3 DoF (Degree of Freedom) novel PRS (Prismatic-Revolute- Spherical) type parallel mechanisms has been designed and presented. The combination of striaght and arc type linkages for 3 DOF parallel mechanism is introduced for the first time. The performances of the mechanisms are evaluated based on the indices such as Minimum Singular Value (MSV), Condition Number (CN), Local Conditioning Index (LCI), Kinematic Configuration Index (KCI) and Global Conditioning Index (GCI). The overall reachable workspace of all mechanisms are presented. The kinematic measure, dexterity measure and workspace analysis for all the mechanism have been evaluated and compared.

Head mounted device for point-of-gaze estimation in three dimensions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Dan Witzner; Lidegaard, Morten; Krüger, Norbert

2014-01-01

This paper presents a fully calibrated extended geometric approach for gaze estimation in three dimensions (3D). The methodology is based on a geometric approach utilising a fully calibrated binocular setup constructed as a head-mounted system. The approach is based on utilisation of two ordinary...... in the horizontal and vertical dimensions regarding fixations. However, even though the workspace is limited, the fact that the system is designed as a head-mounted device, the workspace volume is relatively positioned to the pose of the device. Hence gaze can be estimated in 3D with relatively free head...

Energy edge post-occupancy evaluation project: the Hollywood Office Building, Portland, Oregon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1990-06-01

The Hollywood Office Park Building Survey for the Energy Post- Occupancy Project was administered to nine building occupants. The nine respondents answered the questions which rated building features in the areas of (1) thermal factors; (2) air quality; (3) lighting; (4) acoustics; and, (5) overall workspace satisfaction. In addition to rating these ambient environmental features, these respondents also rated their satisfaction of various functional and aesthetic features and specific kinds of workspaces. Data was also collected on heath characteristics and occupational demographics of the respondents. No analysis is made of the survey findings which are reported in graphic format. 15 figs. (BN)

A Reference Architecture for a Cloud-Based Tools as a Service Workspace

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chauhan, Aufeef; Babar, Muhammad Ali; Sheng, Quan Z.

2015-01-01

Software Architecture (SA) plays a critical role in developing and evolving cloud-based applications. We present a Reference Architecture (RA) for designing Cloud-based Tools as a service work SPACE (TSPACE) - a platform for provisioning chain of tools following the Software as a Service (SaaS...... evaluate the RA in terms of completeness and feasibility. Our proposed RA can provide valuable guidance and insights for designing and implementing concrete software architectures of TSPACE....

User questionnaire to evaluate the radiological workspace

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ooijen, Peter M. A.; Koesoema, Allya P.; Oudkerk, Matthijs

2006-01-01

Over the past few years, an increase in digitalization of radiology departments can be seen, which has a large impact on the work of the radiologists. This impact is not only demonstrated by the increased use of digital images but also by changing demands on the whole reading environment. In this

Development of dose monitoring system applicable to various radiations with wide energy ranges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Tatsuhiko; Satoh, Daiki; Endo, Akira; Yamaguchi, Yasuhiro

2005-01-01

A new inventive radiation dose monitor, designated as DARWIN (Dose monitoring system Applicable to various Radiations with WIde energy raNges), has been developed for monitoring doses in workspaces and surrounding environments of high energy accelerator facilities. DARWIN is composed of a phoswitch-type scintillation detector, which consists of liquid organic scintillator BC501A coupled with ZnS(Ag) scintillation sheets doped with 6 Li, and a data acquisition system based on a Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope. Scintillations from the detector induced by thermal and fast neutrons, photons and muons were discriminated by analyzing their waveforms, and their light outputs were directly converted into the corresponding doses by applying the G-function method. Characteristics of DARWIN were studied by both calculation and experiment. The calculated results indicate that DARWIN gives reasonable estimations of doses in most radiation fields. It was found from the experiment that DARWIN has an excellent property of measuring doses from all particles that significantly contribute to the doses in surrounding environments of accelerator facilities - neutron, photon and muon with wide energy ranges. The experimental results also suggested that DARWIN enables us to monitor small fluctuation of neutron dose rates near the background-level owing to its high sensitivity. (author)

Error Modeling and Design Optimization of Parallel Manipulators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Guanglei

/backlash, manufacturing and assembly errors and joint clearances. From the error prediction model, the distributions of the pose errors due to joint clearances are mapped within its constant-orientation workspace and the correctness of the developed model is validated experimentally. ix Additionally, using the screw......, dynamic modeling etc. Next, the rst-order dierential equation of the kinematic closure equation of planar parallel manipulator is obtained to develop its error model both in Polar and Cartesian coordinate systems. The established error model contains the error sources of actuation error...

2nd International Conference on Cable-Driven Parallel Robots

CERN Document Server

Bruckmann, Tobias

2015-01-01

This volume presents the outcome of the second forum to cable-driven parallel robots, bringing the cable robot community together. It shows the new ideas of the active researchers developing cable-driven robots. The book presents the state of the art, including both summarizing contributions as well as latest research and future options. The book cover all topics which are essential for cable-driven robots: Classification Kinematics, Workspace and Singularity Analysis Statics and Dynamics Cable Modeling Control and Calibration Design Methodology Hardware Development Experimental Evaluation Prototypes, Application Reports and new Application concepts

Applications of artificial intelligence in safe human-robot interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Najmaei, Nima; Kermani, Mehrdad R

2011-04-01

The integration of industrial robots into the human workspace presents a set of unique challenges. This paper introduces a new sensory system for modeling, tracking, and predicting human motions within a robot workspace. A reactive control scheme to modify a robot's operations for accommodating the presence of the human within the robot workspace is also presented. To this end, a special class of artificial neural networks, namely, self-organizing maps (SOMs), is employed for obtaining a superquadric-based model of the human. The SOM network receives information of the human's footprints from the sensory system and infers necessary data for rendering the human model. The model is then used in order to assess the danger of the robot operations based on the measured as well as predicted human motions. This is followed by the introduction of a new reactive control scheme that results in the least interferences between the human and robot operations. The approach enables the robot to foresee an upcoming danger and take preventive actions before the danger becomes imminent. Simulation and experimental results are presented in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Efficiency of conscious access improves with coupling of slow and fast neural oscillations.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakatani, Chie; Raffone, Antonino; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-05-01

Global workspace access is considered as a critical factor for the ability to report a visual target. A plausible candidate mechanism for global workspace access is coupling of slow and fast brain activity. We studied coupling in EEG data using cross-frequency phase-amplitude modulation measurement between delta/theta phases and beta/gamma amplitudes from two experimental sessions, held on different days, of a typical attentional blink (AB) task, implying conscious access to targets. As the AB effect improved with practice between sessions, theta-gamma and theta-beta coupling increased generically. Most importantly, practice effects observed in delta-gamma and delta-beta couplings were specific to performance on the AB task. In particular, delta-gamma coupling showed the largest increase in cases of correct target detection in the most challenging AB conditions. All these practice effects were observed in the right temporal region. Given that the delta band is the main frequency of the P3 ERP, which is a marker of global workspace activity for conscious access, and because the gamma band is involved in visual object processing, the current results substantiate the role of phase-amplitude modulation in conscious access to visual target representations.

Kinematics optimization and static analysis of a modular continuum robot used for minimally invasive surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Fei; Ju, Feng; Bai, Dong Ming; Chen, Bai

2018-02-01

For the outstanding compliance and dexterity of continuum robot, it is increasingly used in minimally invasive surgery. The wide workspace, high dexterity and strong payload capacity are essential to the continuum robot. In this article, we investigate the workspace of a cable-driven continuum robot that we proposed. The influence of section number on the workspace is discussed when robot is operated in narrow environment. Meanwhile, the structural parameters of this continuum robot are optimized to achieve better kinematic performance. Moreover, an indicator based on the dexterous solid angle for evaluating the dexterity of robot is introduced and the distal end dexterity is compared for the three-section continuum robot with different range of variables. Results imply that the wider range of variables achieve the better dexterity. Finally, the static model of robot based on the principle of virtual work is derived to analyze the relationship between the bending shape deformation and the driven force. The simulations and experiments for plane and spatial motions are conducted to validate the feasibility of model, respectively. Results of this article can contribute to the real-time control and movement and can be a design reference for cable-driven continuum robot.

Office design and health: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Ann; Potter, John; Paterson, Margaret; Harding, Thomas; Tyler-Merrick, Gaye; Kirk, Ray; Reid, Kate; McChesney, Jane

2017-12-15

To carry out a systematic review of recent research into the effects of workplace design, comparing individual with shared workspaces, on the health of employees. The research question was "Does workplace design (specifically individual offices compared with shared workspaces) affect the health of workers?" A literature search limited to articles published between 2000 and 2017 was undertaken. A systematic review was carried out, and the findings of the reviewed studies grouped into themes according to the primary outcomes measured in the studies. The literature search identified 15 relevant studies addressing health effects of shared or open-plan offices compared with individual offices. Our systematic review found that, compared with individual offices, shared or open-plan office space is not beneficial to employees' health, with consistent findings of deleterious effects on staff health, wellbeing and productivity. Our findings are also consistent with those of earlier reviews. These findings have public health implications for the New Zealand workforce. Decisions about workplace design should include weighing the short-term financial benefits of open-plan or shared workspaces against the significant harms, including increased sickness absence, lower job satisfaction and productivity, and possible threats to recruitment and retention of staff.

Design Optimization of a Cable-Driven Two-DOF Flexible Joint Module

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Zhang

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the kinematics, kinetostatics and design optimization of a 2-DOF cable-driven flexible joint module. Based on the motion characteristics of the 2-DOF joint module, the concept of instantaneous screw axis in conjunction with the Product-Of-Exponentials (POE formula is proposed to formulate its kinematic model. However, as the instantaneous screw axis is unfixed, the Lie group method is employed to derive the instantaneous kinematic model of the joint module. In order to generate the feasible workspace subject to positive tension constraint, the kinetostatics of the joint module is addressed, where the stiffness resulting from both the driving cables and the flexible backbone are considered. A numerical orientation workspace evaluation method is proposed based on an equi-volumetric partition in its parametric space and the volume-element associated integral factor. A global singular value (GSV index, which considers the minimum singular value of the stiffness matrix of joint module over the achievable workspace, is employed to optimize the geometric size of joint module. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed GSV optimization algorithm.

The Canadian ISTAR Information-Centric Collaborative Workspace Concept. Paper 3: The Info-Centric Collaborative Workspace from a Systems Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

2004-09-01

of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Standard 12207 – IEEE standard for Industry Implementation of International Standard ISO /IEC 12207 ;ISBN 1...Contractors Conduct Operations «uses» «uses» «uses» Figure 1 ISTAR - ISOS they will have to go cycling from top to bottom and bottom to top in an...correspond to those de quality characteristics according to the ISO 9126 standard. order to produce a system th uirements and thq of different viewpoints

A DBMS-based medical teleconferencing system.

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, J; Kim, H; Lee, S; Choi, J; Cho, H

2001-01-01

This article presents the design of a medical teleconferencing system that is integrated with a multimedia patient database and incorporates easy-to-use tools and functions to effectively support collaborative work between physicians in remote locations. The design provides a virtual workspace that allows physicians to collectively view various kinds of patient data. By integrating the teleconferencing function into this workspace, physicians are able to conduct conferences using the same interface and have real-time access to the database during conference sessions. The authors have implemented a prototype based on this design. The prototype uses a high-speed network test bed and a manually created substitute for the integrated patient database.

Assessment of a cooperative workstation.

OpenAIRE

Beuscart, R. J.; Molenda, S.; Souf, N.; Foucher, C.; Beuscart-Zephir, M. C.

1996-01-01

Groupware and new Information Technologies have now made it possible for people in different places to work together in synchronous cooperation. Very often, designers of this new type of software are not provided with a model of the common workspace, which is prejudicial to software development and its acceptance by potential users. The authors take the example of a task of medical co-diagnosis, using a multi-media communication workstation. Synchronous cooperative work is made possible by us...

Dionis: A Novel Remote-Center-of-Motion Parallel Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Beira

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The large volume and reduced dexterity of current surgical robotic systems are factors that restrict their effective performance. To improve the usefulness of surgical robots in minimally invasive surgery (MIS, a compact and accurate positioning mechanism, named Dionis, is proposed in this paper. This spatial hybrid mechanism based on a novel parallel kinematics is able to provide three rotations and one translation for single port procedures. The corresponding axes intersect at a remote center of rotation (RCM that is the MIS entry port. Another important feature of the proposed positioning manipulator is that it can be placed below the operating table plane, allowing a quick and direct access to the patient, without removing the robotic system. This, besides saving precious space in the operating room, may improve safety over existing solutions. The conceptual design of Dionis is presented in this paper. Solutions for the inverse and direct kinematics are developed, as well as the analytical workspace and singularity analysis. Due to its unique design and kinematics, the proposed mechanism is highly compact, stiff and its dexterity fullfils the workspace specifications for MIS procedures.

Lessons from Google and Apple: creating an open workplace in an academic medical department to foster innovation and collaboration.

Science.gov (United States)

Ricciotti, Hope A; Armstrong, Walter; Yaari, Gabriel; Campion, Suzanne; Pollard, Mary; Golen, Toni H

2014-09-01

An expanding obstetrics-gynecology department at an academic medical center was faced with too little physical space to accommodate its staff, including trainees, attending physicians, researchers, scientists, administrative leadership, nurses, physician assistants, and scheduling/phone staff. Staff also felt that the current use of space was not ideal for collaboration and innovation. In 2011, the department collected data on space use, using a neutral surveyor and a standardized data collection tool. Using these data, architects and facilities managers met with the department to develop a floor plan proposal for a new use of the space. Site visits, departmental meetings, literature reviews, and space mock-ups complemented the decision process. The final architectural plan was developed using an iterative process that included all disciplines within the department. The redesigned workspace accommodates more staff in a modernized, open, egalitarian setup. The authors' informal observations suggest that the physical proximity created by the new workspace has facilitated timely and civil cross-discipline communication and improvements in team-oriented behavior, both of which are important contributors to safe patient care. This innovation is generalizable and may lead other academic departments to make similar changes. In the future, the authors plan to measure the use of the space and to relate that to outcomes, including clinical (coordination of care/patient satisfaction), administrative (absenteeism/attrition), research (grant volume), and efficiency and cost measures.

RAAAF's office landscape The End of Sitting: Energy expenditure and temporary comfort when working in non-sitting postures.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone R Caljouw

Full Text Available An earlier study suggested that the activity-inviting office landscape called "The End of Sitting", designed by Rietveld Architecture Art Affordances (RAAAF, should be considered as an alternative working environment to prevent sedentary behavior. The End of Sitting lacks chairs and tables but consists instead of a myriad of sloped surfaces at different heights that afford workers to stand, lean or recline at different locations. In this study, we assessed the impact of four of its workspaces on physical intensity, temporary comfort and productivity of office work and compared the outcomes with sitting and standing behind a desk. Twenty-four participants worked for 10 minutes in each of the six test conditions. Energy expenditure, measured by indirect calorimetry, and heart rate were recorded. Questionnaires were used to assess the perceived comfort. The number of words found in the word search test was counted as a measure of productivity. The majority of The End of Sitting workspaces led to a significant increase in energy expenditure compared with sitting behind a desk (ps < .05. Average MET values ranged from 1.40 to 1.58 which is a modest rise in energy expenditure compared to sitting (1.32 METs and not significantly different from standing (1.47 METs. The scores on the general comfort scale indicated that some workspaces were less comfortable than sitting (ps < .05, but the vast majority of participants reported that at least one of The End of Sitting workspaces was equally or more comfortable than sitting. No differences in productivity between the test conditions were found. Further long-term studies are required to assess the behavioral adaptations, productivity and the level of comfort when using The End of Sitting as a permanent office.

Haptic perception of object curvature in Parkinson's disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jürgen Konczak

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The haptic perception of the curvature of an object is essential for adequate object manipulation and critical for our guidance of actions. This study investigated how the ability to perceive the curvature of an object is altered by Parkinson's disease (PD.Eight healthy subjects and 11 patients with mild to moderate PD had to judge, without vision, the curvature of a virtual "box" created by a robotic manipulandum. Their hands were either moved passively along a defined curved path or they actively explored the curved curvature of a virtual wall. The curvature was either concave or convex (bulging to the left or right and was judged in two locations of the hand workspace--a left workspace location, where the curved hand path was associated with curved shoulder and elbow joint paths, and a right workspace location in which these joint paths were nearly linear. After exploring the curvature of the virtual object, subjects had to judge whether the curvature was concave or convex. Based on these data, thresholds for curvature sensitivity were established. The main findings of the study are: First, 9 out 11 PD patients (82% showed elevated thresholds for detecting convex curvatures in at least one test condition. The respective median threshold for the PD group was increased by 343% when compared to the control group. Second, when distal hand paths became less associated with proximal joint paths (right workspace, haptic acuity was reduced substantially in both groups. Third, sensitivity to hand trajectory curvature was not improved during active exploration in either group.Our data demonstrate that PD is associated with a decreased acuity of the haptic sense, which may occur already at an early stage of the disease.

Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) Model Development and Analysis of a Field-widened Michelson Interferometer

Science.gov (United States)

Scola, Salvatore J.; Osmundsen, James F.; Murchison, Luke S.; Davis, Warren T.; Fody, Joshua M.; Boyer, Charles M.; Cook, Anthony L.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Seaman, Shane T.; Miller, Ian J.;

Oracle application express 5.1 basics and beyond a practical guide to rapidly develop data-centric web applications accessible from desktop, laptops, tablets, and smartphones

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

You will find stuff about workspace, application, page, and so on in every APEX book. But this book is unique because the information it contains is not available anywhere else! Unlike other books, it adopts a stimulating approach to reveal almost every feature necessary for the beginners of Oracle APEX and also takes them beyond the basics. As a technology enthusiast I write on a variety of new technologies, but writing books on Oracle Application Express is my passion. The blood pumping comments I get from my readers on Amazon (and in my inbox) are the main forces that motivate me to write a book whenever a new version of Oracle APEX is launched. This is my fifth book on Oracle APEX (and the best so far) written after discovering the latest 5.1 version. As usual, I’m sharing my personal learning experience through this book to expose this unique rapid web application development platform. In Oracle Application Express you can build robust web applications. The new version is launched with some more prol...

Non-visual Interfaces and Network Games for Blind Users

OpenAIRE

Ina, Satoshi

2002-01-01

Visually impaired people have difficulty with communication of graphical information. It is to be more difficult for them to work/play in cooperation with sighted people at a distance. We developed a non-visual access method to a graphical screen through tactile and auditory sense, and applied it into network board/card games as a joint workspace for blind and sighted users via communication of image, sound, and voice. We took an "IGO" type boardgame and a Card game "SEVENS" as sample subject...

The Built Environment of Cold War Era Servicewomen

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Morrison, Dawn A; Enscore, Susan I

2006-01-01

..., training, and workspaces of military women. This reconsideration led to ever-evolving regulations and standard operating procedures throughout the course of the Cold War concerning this matter...

Thermal and lighting perception in four fully glazed office buildings in Santiago, Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Vásquez

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Corresponding author: Claudio Vásquez, School of Architecture, Catholic University of Chile. 1916 El Comendador str. Providencia, Santiago, ZIP: 7530091, Chile. Tel.: +56 9 92826305; E-mail: clvasque@uc.cl This paper is part of a general research project whose main objective is to establish a baseline for post-occupancy energy consumption and indoor environmental quality for office buildings in Santiago, Chile. This study aims at understanding how architectonical variables relate to, and can even determine, user comfort perception. Thus, one-year continuous monitoring in several floors at four office buildings was performed and seasonal surveys were completed. Survey participants were asked a series of questions regarding spatial orientation and comfort perception in their workspace. The data from the comfort survey and onsite measurements such as season of the year, case study, type of workspace and possibility of an outdoor view from the workstation were contrasted with the components obtained by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA. Three components were selected from the PCA, and three Maps of Perception (MP were produced. These maps were then analyzed and interpreted so as to obtain information on the general perception of thermal and lighting comfort at workspaces within several office buildings in Santiago.

Kinematics and Dynamics Analysis of a 3-DOF Upper-Limb Exoskeleton with an Internally Rotated Elbow Joint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin Wang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The contradiction between self-weight and load capacity of a power-assisted upper-limb exoskeleton for material hanging is unresolved. In this paper, a non-anthropomorphic 3-degree of freedom (DOF upper-limb exoskeleton with an internally rotated elbow joint is proposed based on an anthropomorphic 5-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton for power-assisted activity. The proposed 3-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton contains a 2-DOF shoulder joint and a 1-DOF internally rotated elbow joint. The structural parameters of the 3-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton were determined, and the differences and singularities of the two exoskeletons were analyzed. The workspace, the joint torques and the power consumption of two exoskeletons were analyzed by kinematics and dynamics, and an exoskeleton prototype experiment was performed. The results showed that, compared with a typical anthropomorphic upper-limb exoskeleton, the non-anthropomorphic 3-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton had the same actual workspace; eliminated singularities within the workspace; improved the elbow joint force situation; and the maximum elbow joint torque, elbow external-flexion/internal-extension and shoulder flexion/extension power consumption were significantly reduced. The proposed non-anthropomorphic 3-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton can be applied to a power-assisted upper-limb exoskeleton in industrial settings.

Pilot study to test effectiveness of video game on reaching performance in stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Acosta, Ana Maria; Dewald, Hendrik A; Dewald, Jules P A

2011-01-01

Robotic systems currently used in upper-limb rehabilitation following stroke rely on some form of visual feedback as part of the intervention program. We evaluated the effect of a video game environment (air hockey) on reaching in stroke with various levels of arm support. We used the Arm Coordination Training 3D system to provide variable arm support and to control the hockey stick. We instructed seven subjects to reach to one of three targets covering the workspace of the impaired arm during the reaching task and to reach as far as possible while playing the video game. The results from this study showed that across subjects, support levels, and targets, the reaching distances achieved with the reaching task were greater than those covered with the video game. This held even after further restricting the mapped workspace of the arm to the area most affected by the flexion synergy (effectively forcing subjects to fight the synergy to reach the hockey puck). The results from this study highlight the importance of designing video games that include specific reaching targets in the workspace compromised by the expression of the flexion synergy. Such video games would also adapt the target location online as a subject's success rate increases.

Design of a planar 3-DOF parallel micromanipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jeong Jae; Dong, Yanlu; Jeon, Yong Ho; Lee, Moon Gu

2013-01-01

A planar three degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel manipulator is proposed to be applied for alignment during assembly of microcomponents. It adopts a PRR (prismatic-revolute-revolute) mechanism to meet the requirements of high precision for assembly and robustness against disturbance. The mechanism was designed to have a large workspace and good dexterity because parallel mechanisms usually have a narrow range and singularity of motion compared to serial mechanisms. Inverse kinematics and a simple closed-loop algorithm of the parallel manipulator are presented to control it. Experimental tests have been carried out with high-resolution capacitance sensors to verify the performance of the mechanism. The results of experiments show that the manipulator has a large workspace of ±1.0 mm, ±1.0 mm, and ±10 mrad in the X-, Y-, and θ-directions, respectively. This is a large workspace when considering it adopts a parallel mechanism and has a small size, 100 ´ 100 ´ 100 mm3 . It also has a good precision of 2 μm, 3 μm, and 0.2 mrad, in the X-, Y-, and θ- axes, respectively. These are high resolutions considering the manipulator adopts conventional joints. The manipulator is expected to have good dexterity.

Software Development: 3D Animations and Creating User Interfaces for Realistic Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Gordillo, Orlando Enrique

2015-01-01

My fall 2015 semester was spent at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center working in the Integrated Graphics, Operations, and Analysis Laboratory (IGOAL). My first project was to create a video animation that could tell the story of OMICS. OMICS is a term being used in the field of biomedical science to describe the collective technologies that study biological systems, such as what makes up a cell and how it functions with other systems. In the IGOAL I used a large 23 inch Wacom monitor to draw storyboards, graphics, and line art animations. I used Blender as the 3D environment to sculpt, shape, cut or modify the several scenes and models for the video. A challenge creating this video was to take a term used in biomedical science and describe it in such a way that an 8th grade student can understand. I used a line art style because it would visually set the tone for what we thought was an educational style. In order to get a handle on the perspective and overall feel for the animation without overloading my workspace, I split up the 2 minute animation into several scenes. I used Blender's python scripting capabilities which allowed for the addition of plugins to add or modify tools. The scripts can also directly interact with the objects to create naturalistic patterns or movements. After collecting the rendered scenes, I used Blender's built-in video editing workspace to output the animation. My second project was to write software that emulates a physical system's interface. The interface was to simulate a boat, ROV, and winch system. Simulations are a time and cost effective way to test complicated data and provide training for operators without having to use expensive hardware. We created the virtual controls with 3-D Blender models and 2-D graphics, and then add functionality in C# using the Unity game engine. The Unity engine provides several essential behaviors of a simulator, such as the start and update functions. A framework for Unity, which was developed in

Pneumatic-type surgical robot end-effector for laparoscopic surgical-operation-by-wire.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Chiwon; Park, Woo Jung; Kim, Myungjoon; Noh, Seungwoo; Yoon, Chiyul; Lee, Choonghee; Kim, Youdan; Kim, Hyeon Hoe; Kim, Hee Chan; Kim, Sungwan

2014-09-05

Although minimally invasive surgery (MIS) affords several advantages compared to conventional open surgery, robotic MIS systems still have many limitations. One of the limitations is the non-uniform gripping force due to mechanical strings of the existing systems. To overcome this limitation, a surgical instrument with a pneumatic gripping system consisting of a compressor, catheter balloon, micro motor, and other parts is developed. This study aims to implement a surgical instrument with a pneumatic gripping system and pitching/yawing joints using micro motors and without mechanical strings based on the surgical-operation-by-wire (SOBW) concept. A 6-axis external arm for increasing degrees of freedom (DOFs) is integrated with the surgical instrument using LabVIEW® for laparoscopic procedures. The gripping force is measured over a wide range of pressures and compared with the simulated ideal step function. Furthermore, a kinematic analysis is conducted. To validate and evaluate the system's clinical applicability, a simple peg task experiment and workspace identification experiment are performed with five novice volunteers using the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) board kit. The master interface of the proposed system employs the hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controller used in aerospace engineering. To develop an improved HOTAS (iHOTAS) controller, 6-axis force/torque sensor was integrated in the special housing. The mean gripping force (after 1,000 repetitions) at a pressure of 0.3 MPa was measured to be 5.8 N. The reaction time was found to be 0.4 s, which is almost real-time. All novice volunteers could complete the simple peg task within a mean time of 176 s, and none of them exceeded the 300 s cut-off time. The system's workspace was calculated to be 11,157.0 cm3. The proposed pneumatic gripping system provides a force consistent with that of other robotic MIS systems. It provides near real-time control. It is more durable than the

Human comfort and self-estimated performance in relation to indoor environmental parameters and building features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frontczak, Monika Joanna

The main objective of the Ph.D. study was to examine occupants’ perception of comfort and self-estimated job performance in non-industrial buildings (homes and offices), in particular how building occupants understand comfort and which parameters, not necessarily related to indoor environments...... and storage, noise level and visual privacy. However, if job performance is considered, then satisfaction with the main indoor environmental parameters should be addressed first as they affected self-estimated job performance to the highest extent. The present study showed that overall satisfaction...... with personal workspace affected significantly the self-estimated job performance. Increasing overall satisfaction with the personal workspace by about 15% would correspond to an increase of self-estimated job performance by 3.7%. Among indoor environmental parameters and building features, satisfaction...

Intelligent Help in the LOCATE Workspace Layout Tool

Science.gov (United States)

1999-06-01

LOCATE’s basic design and analysis features; • commercialising the application; • expanding the groundwork for tracking actions and goals at the interface...Muraida, D.J. (Eds.) (1993). Automating instructional design: Concepts and issues. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications

Optimization of the production process using virtual model of a workspace

Science.gov (United States)

Monica, Z.

2015-11-01

Optimization of the production process is an element of the design cycle consisting of: problem definition, modelling, simulation, optimization and implementation. Without the use of simulation techniques, the only thing which could be achieved is larger or smaller improvement of the process, not the optimization (i.e., the best result it is possible to get for the conditions under which the process works). Optimization is generally management actions that are ultimately bring savings in time, resources, and raw materials and improve the performance of a specific process. It does not matter whether it is a service or manufacturing process. Optimizing the savings generated by improving and increasing the efficiency of the processes. Optimization consists primarily of organizational activities that require very little investment, or rely solely on the changing organization of work. Modern companies operating in a market economy shows a significant increase in interest in modern methods of production management and services. This trend is due to the high competitiveness among companies that want to achieve success are forced to continually modify the ways to manage and flexible response to changing demand. Modern methods of production management, not only imply a stable position of the company in the sector, but also influence the improvement of health and safety within the company and contribute to the implementation of more efficient rules for standardization work in the company. This is why in the paper is presented the application of such developed environment like Siemens NX to create the virtual model of a production system and to simulate as well as optimize its work. The analyzed system is the robotized workcell consisting of: machine tools, industrial robots, conveyors, auxiliary equipment and buffers. In the program could be defined the control program realizing the main task in the virtual workcell. It is possible, using this tool, to optimize both the

A Novel Passive Path Following Controller for a Rehabilitation Robot

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Zhang, X; Behal, A; Dawson, D. M; Chen, J

2004-01-01

.... Motivated by a nonholonomic kinematic constraint, a dynamic path generator is designed to trace a desired contour in the robot's workspace when an interaction force is applied at the robot's end-effector...

Follow-On Vapor Containment Tests of the Rapid Response System Glovebox

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Arca, Victor

1997-01-01

...) glovebox in April 1996. The tests were conducted by generating a cloud of the simulant methyl salicylate inside the glovebox and measuring the concentration of any simulant that permeated to the operator workspace...

Development of a tool of probabilistic safety analysis for advanced nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hidalgo H, F.E.; Fran N, P.

2007-01-01

It is developing a tool to explain in a simple way in that it consists the Probabilistic Safety Analysis (APS) and at the same time to facilitate the comparison among the different designs of advanced nuclear reactors starting from their safety systems. This tool for teaching contemplates all the workspaces in an APS, but it is deepened only in what is the development of accident sequences and systems models. At the moment its have incorporated three types of advanced reactors, ABWR, ESBWR, and the HTGR and they are compared among if and with a BWR like that of Laguna Verde. This tool is carried out in Visual Basic code because it is a platform that can be used in any Windows atmosphere and for their easy programming. The system includes a tree of events developed for this purpose for a research HTGR built in Japan (HTTR) to have a point of comparison of the same one with other reactors of previous generations. It is that in the fourth generation reactors the measure of frequency of core damage doesn't make the same sense that for reactors of previous generations, which is due to its passive safety systems and its design type of the fuel, that which makes indispensable the development of another type of risk measure. The tree of events is presented for the initiator event 'the rupture of the main pipe' that causes the depressurization of the HTTR reactor. In this article it was concluded that it is necessary to evaluate the accident until reaching to the liberation of fission products that one knows in APS like an APS study level 1 and level 2 together. The final states developed starting from the possible phenomena that happen in these scenarios are presented. For this, its are considered flaws of all the mitigation systems that intervene in this accident. The tree of events developed for this work and the definition of the final states contributes to the development of as carrying out an APS for fourth generation reactors, with the purpose of developing an APS

Using mixed reality, force feedback and tactile augmentation to improve the realism of medical simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, J Brian; Porter, Susan M

2002-01-01

This paper describes an application of a display approach which uses chromakey techniques to composite real and computer-generated images allowing a user to see his hands and medical instruments collocated with the display of virtual objects during a medical training simulation. Haptic feedback is provided through the use of a PHANTOM force feedback device in addition to tactile augmentation, which allows the user to touch virtual objects by introducing corresponding real objects in the workspace. A simplified catheter introducer insertion simulation was developed to demonstrate the capabilities of this approach.

TH-AB-202-11: Spatial and Rotational Quality Assurance of 6DOF Patient Tracking Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belcher, AH; Liu, X; Grelewicz, Z; Wiersma, R [The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: External tracking systems used for patient positioning and motion monitoring during radiotherapy are now capable of detecting both translations and rotations (6DOF). In this work, we develop a novel technique to evaluate the 6DOF performance of external motion tracking systems. We apply this methodology to an infrared (IR) marker tracking system and two 3D optical surface mapping systems in a common tumor 6DOF workspace. Methods: An in-house designed and built 6DOF parallel kinematics robotic motion phantom was used to follow input trajectories with sub-millimeter and sub-degree accuracy. The 6DOF positions of the robotic system were then tracked and recorded independently by three optical camera systems. A calibration methodology which associates the motion phantom and camera coordinate frames was first employed, followed by a comprehensive 6DOF trajectory evaluation, which spanned a full range of positions and orientations in a 20×20×16 mm and 5×5×5 degree workspace. The intended input motions were compared to the calibrated 6DOF measured points. Results: The technique found the accuracy of the IR marker tracking system to have maximal root mean square error (RMSE) values of 0.25 mm translationally and 0.09 degrees rotationally, in any one axis, comparing intended 6DOF positions to positions measured by the IR camera. The 6DOF RSME discrepancy for the first 3D optical surface tracking unit yielded maximal values of 0.60 mm and 0.11 degrees over the same 6DOF volume. An earlier generation 3D optical surface tracker was observed to have worse tracking capabilities than both the IR camera unit and the newer 3D surface tracking system with maximal RMSE of 0.74 mm and 0.28 degrees within the same 6DOF evaluation space. Conclusion: The proposed technique was effective at evaluating the performance of 6DOF patient tracking systems. All systems examined exhibited tracking capabilities at the sub-millimeter and sub-degree level within a 6DOF workspace.

Evaluation of the power consumption of a high-speed parallel robot

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Gang; Xie, Fugui; Liu, Xin-Jun

2018-06-01

An inverse dynamic model of a high-speed parallel robot is established based on the virtual work principle. With this dynamic model, a new evaluation method is proposed to measure the power consumption of the robot during pick-and-place tasks. The power vector is extended in this method and used to represent the collinear velocity and acceleration of the moving platform. Afterward, several dynamic performance indices, which are homogenous and possess obvious physical meanings, are proposed. These indices can evaluate the power input and output transmissibility of the robot in a workspace. The distributions of the power input and output transmissibility of the high-speed parallel robot are derived with these indices and clearly illustrated in atlases. Furtherly, a low-power-consumption workspace is selected for the robot.

Configuration Synthesis for Fully Restrained 7-Cable-Driven Manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoqiang Tang

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Cable distribution plays a vital role in Cable Driven Parallel Manipulators (CDPMs regarding tension and workspace quality, especially in fully restrained CDPMs. This paper focuses on three typical configurations of fully restrained CDPMs with 7 cables in order to introduce an approach for configuration synthesis. Firstly, the kinematic models of three types of CDPMs with 7 cables are set up. Then, in order to evaluate workspace quality, two new indices are proposed by using tensions along each cable, which are the All Cable Tension Distribution Index (ACTDI and Global Tension Distribution Index (GTDI. Next, the three types of CDPMs with 7 cables are analysed with the two indices. At the end, according to different performance requirements, the configurations of cable distribution are discussed and selected.

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 151 - 200 of 1011 ... Vol 35, No 2 (2016), ASSESSMENT OF WORK-SPACE AND ... and Clostridium butyricum using microbial fuel cell technology ... Vol 27, No 2 (2008), Biometric Recognition: Overview and Applications, Abstract PDF.

Ergonomics: The Forgotten Variable.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitterman, L. Jeffrey

1998-01-01

Defines ergonomics and discusses design and environmental considerations. Suggests work-space requirements for: tables, chairs, monitor height, ambient noise and light, electricity, and environmental hazards. Includes sources for additional information related to ergonomic design. (AEF)

Computational network design from functional specifications

KAUST Repository

Peng, Chi Han; Yang, Yong Liang; Bao, Fan; Fink, Daniel; Yan, Dongming; Wonka, Peter; Mitra, Niloy J.

2016-01-01

of people in a workspace. Designing such networks from scratch is challenging as even local network changes can have large global effects. We investigate how to computationally create networks starting from only high-level functional specifications

Conceptual design and kinematic analysis of a novel parallel robot for high-speed pick-and-place operations

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Qizhi; Xie, Fugui; Liu, Xin-Jun

2018-06-01

This paper deals with the conceptual design, kinematic analysis and workspace identification of a novel four degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) high-speed spatial parallel robot for pick-and-place operations. The proposed spatial parallel robot consists of a base, four arms and a 1½ mobile platform. The mobile platform is a major innovation that avoids output singularity and offers the advantages of both single and double platforms. To investigate the characteristics of the robot's DOFs, a line graph method based on Grassmann line geometry is adopted in mobility analysis. In addition, the inverse kinematics is derived, and the constraint conditions to identify the correct solution are also provided. On the basis of the proposed concept, the workspace of the robot is identified using a set of presupposed parameters by taking input and output transmission index as the performance evaluation criteria.

Control and applications of cooperating disparate robotic manipulators relevant to nuclear waste management

Science.gov (United States)

Lew, Jae Young; Book, Wayne J.

1991-01-01

Remote handling in nuclear waste management requires a robotic system with precise motion as well as a large workspace. The concept of a small arm mounted on the end of a large arm may satisfy such needs. However, the performance of such a serial configuration lacks payload capacity which is a crucial factor for handling a massive object. Also, this configuration induces more flexibility on the structure. To overcome these problems, the topology of bracing the tip of the small arm (not the large arm) and having an end effector in the middle of the chain is proposed in this paper. Also, control of these cooperating disparate manipulators is accomplished in computer simulations. Thus, this robotic system can have the accuracy of the small arm, and at the same time, it can have the payload capacity and large workspace of the large arm.

Endoscopes and robots for tight surgical spaces: use of precurved elastic elements to enhance curvature

Science.gov (United States)

Remirez, Andria A.; Webster, Robert J.

2016-03-01

Many applications in medicine require flexible surgical manipulators and endoscopes capable of reaching tight curvatures. The maximum curvature these devices can achieve is often restricted either by a strain limit, or by a maximum actuation force that the device's components can tolerate without risking mechanical failure. In this paper we propose the use of precurvature to "bias" the workspace of the device in one direction. Combined with axial shaft rotation, biasing increases the size of the device's workspace, enabling it to reach tighter curvatures than a comparable device without biasing can achieve, while still being able to fully straighten. To illustrate this effect, we describe several example prototype devices which use flexible nitinol strips that can be pushed and pulled to generate bending. We provide a statics model that relates the manipulator curvature to actuation force, and validate it experimentally.

AILES: the infrared and THz beamline on SOLEIL synchrotron radiation source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, P.; Brubach, J.B.; Rouzieres, M.; Pirali, O.; Kwabia Tchana, F.; Manceron, L.

2008-01-01

The development of a new infrared beamline (ligne de lumiere AILES) at the third generation Synchrotron Radiation source SOLEIL is underway. This beamline utilizes infrared synchrotron radiation from both the edge emission and the constant field conventional source. The expected performances including flux, spatial distribution of the photons, spectral range and stability are calculated and discussed. The optical system, spectroscopic stations and workspace are described. The calculation in the near field approach and the simulation by ray tracing show that the source with its adapted optics offers high flux and brilliance for a variety of infrared experiments. We also review the main research themes and the articulation and developments of the infrared sources at SOLEIL. (authors)

On bilateral teleoperation of aerial robots

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mersha, A.Y.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Carloni, Raffaella

This paper presents a generic hierarchical passive teleoperation control architecture that effectively addresses the issues of workspace incompatibility and precision, as well as other classical and peculiar challenges. More specifically, the control scheme consists of a user-defined variable scale

Sensor-based whole-arm obstacle avoidance for unstructured environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wintenberg, A.L.; Butler, P.L.; Babcock, S.M.; Ericson, M.N.; Armstrong, G.A.; Britton, C.L. Jr.; Hamel, W.R.

1992-01-01

Whole-arm obstacle avoidance is needed for a variety of robotic applications in the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ER ampersand WM) Program. Typical industrial applications of robotics involve well-defined workspaces, allowing a predetermined knowledge of collision-free paths for manipulator motion. However, many hazardous environments are unstructured or poorly defined, providing a significant potential for collisions between manipulators and the environment. In order to allow applications of robotics in such situations, a sensing system is under development which will provide protection against collisions. Specifics of this system including system architecture and projected implementation are described

Enabling organisational learning and knowledge sharing through employee involvement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerrum, Eva; Dahl, Susanne

In this paper we want to suggest that involving the employees in the development of the new workspaces is an important element in organisational learning and that it makes good sense to rethink space in order to support both tacit knowledge and collaboration. We want to argue that involving...... the employees in the design of their future workplace is key to giving the employee ownership for the change and may provide the organisation with invaluable ideas for the new work environment and the process of enabling organisational learning and knowledge sharing. We base our argument on a series of research...

Real World SharePoint 2010 Indispensable Experiences from 22 MVPs

CERN Document Server

Hillier, Scot; Bishop, Darrin; Bleeker, Todd; Bogue, Robert; Bosch, Karine; Brotto, Claudio; Buenz, Adam; Connell, Andrew; Drisgill, Randy; Lapointe, Gary; Medero, Jason; Molnar, Agnes; O'Brien, Chris; Klindt, Todd; Poelmans, Joris; Rehmani, Asif; Ross, John; Swan, Nick; Walsh, Mike; Williams, Randy; Young, Shane; Macori, Igor

2010-01-01

Proven real-world best practices from leading Microsoft SharePoint MVPsSharePoint enables Web sites to host shared workspaces and is a leading solution for Enterprise Content Management. The newest version boasts significant changes, impressive enhancements, and new features, requiring developers and administrators of all levels of experience to quickly get up to speed on the latest changes. This book is a must-have anthology of current best practices for SharePoint 2010 from 20 of the top SharePoint MVPs. They offer insider advice on everything from installation, workflow, and Web parts to bu

Telerobotic operation of structurally flexible, long-reach manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, D.S.; Hwang, D.H.; Babcock, S.M.

1994-01-01

As a part of the Department of Energy's Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program, long-reach manipulators are being considered for the retrieval of waste from large storage tanks. Long-reach manipulators may have characteristics significantly different from those of typical industrial robots because of the flexibility of long links needed to cover the large workspace. To avoid structural vibrations during operation, control algorithms employing various types of shaping filters were investigated. A new approach that uses embedded simulation was developed and compared with others. In the new approach, generation of joint trajectories considering link flexibility was also investigated

uVis Studio

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pantazos, Kostas; Kuhail, Mohammad Amin; Lauesen, Søren

2013-01-01

Vis Studio. Instead of programming, developers apply a Drag-Drop-Set-View-Interact approach. Developers bind controls to data, and the Studio gives immediate visual feedback in the Design Panel. This is a novel feature, called What-You-Bind-Is-What- You-Get. The Studio also provides Modes that allow......A toolkit facilitates the visualization development process. The process can be further enhanced by integrating the toolkits in development environments. This paper describes how the uVis toolkit, a formula-based visualiza- tion toolkit, has been extended with a development environment, called u...... developers to interact and view the visualization from the end-user's perspective without switching workspace, and Auto-Completion; a feature of the Property Grid that provides suggestions not only for the formula language syntax but also for the tables, the table elds and the relationships in the database...

EPOS Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards for SHEER project: maintain, process and manage your project research data

Science.gov (United States)

Orlecka-Sikora, Beata; Lasocki, Stanislaw; Staszek, Monika; Olszewska, Dorota; Urban, Pawel; Jaroslawski, Janusz; Cielesta, Szymon; Mirek, Janusz; Wiszniowski, Jan; Picozzi, Matteo; Solaro, Giuseppe; Pringle, Jamie; Toon, Sam; Cesca, Simone; Kuehn, Daniela; Ruigrok, Elmer; Gunning, Andrew; Isherwood, Catherine

2017-04-01

The main objective of the "Shale gas exploration and exploitation induced risks - SHEER" project (Horizon 2020, call LCE 16-2014) is to develop a probabilistic methodology to assess and mitigate the short- and the long-term environmental risks associated with the exploration and exploitation of shale gas. To this end, the SHEER project makes use of a large amount of heterogeneous data of various types. This data, from different disciplines of science e.g. geophysical, geochemical, geological, technological, etc., must be homogenized, harmonized and made accessible exclusively for all project participants. This requires to develop an over-arching structure for high-level multidisciplinary data integration. The bespoke solution is provided by Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards (TCS AH) developed in the framework of European Plate Observing System Program (https://tcs.ah-epos.eu/, infrastructural projects IS-EPOS, POIG.02.03.00-14-090/13-00 and EPOS IP, H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1). TCS AH provides virtual access to a comprehensive, wide-scale and high quality research infrastructure in the field of induced seismicity and other anthropogenic hazards evoked by exploration and exploitation of geo-resources. TCS AH is designed as a functional e-research environment to ensure a researcher the maximum possible freedom for experimentation by providing a virtual laboratory flexible to create own workspace for processing streams. A data-management process promotes the use of research infrastructure in novel ways providing an access to (i) data gathered in the so-called "episodes", comprehensively describing a geophysical process, induced or triggered by human technological activity, which under certain circumstances can become hazardous for people, infrastructure and the environment, (ii) problem-oriented, specific services, with the particular attention devoted to methods analyzing correlations between technology, geophysical response and resulting hazards, (iii) the

A Collaborative VirtualWorkspace for Factory Configuration and Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingo Zinnikus

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The convergence of information technologies (IT has enabled the Digital Enterprise in which engineering, production planning, manufacturing and sales processes are supported by IT-based collaboration, simulation and enactment. As a result, borders between reality and its virtual representations become increasingly blurred. Advanced tools need to support flexibility, specialization and collaborative evolution of the design where the exchange of knowledge between domain experts helps to improve informed decision making. In this paper, we present a collaborative, synchronized web-based framework to create 3D scenarios for product design, simulation and training assisted by animated avatars.

Switching-based Mapping and Control for Haptic Teleoperation of Aerial Robots

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mersha, A.Y.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Carloni, Raffaella

2012-01-01

This paper deals with the bilateral teleoperation of underactuated aerial robots by means of a haptic interface. In particular, we propose a switching-based state mapping and control algorithm between a rate-based passive controller, which addresses the workspace incompatibility between the master

Energy Edge, Post-Occupancy Evaluation Project: The Eastgate Corporate Center Bellevue, Washington

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heerwagen, Judith; Loveland, Joel; Quense, Nancy; Barnes, John; Cooksey, Chris; Press, Carreen; Somers, Julian; Shaughnessey, Mary

1990-06-01

The Workspace Satisfaction Survey measures occupant satisfaction with the thermal, lighting, acoustical, and air quality aspects of the work environment. In addition to ratings of these ambient environmental features, occupants also rate their satisfaction with a number of functional and aesthetic features of the office environment as well as their satisfaction with specific kinds of workspaces (e.g. computer rooms, the lobby, employee lounge, etc.) Each section on ambient conditions includes questions on the frequency with which people experience particular kinds of discomforts or problems, how much the discomfort bothers them, and how much it interferes with their work. Occupants are also asked to identify how they cope with discomfort or environmental problems, and to what extent these behaviors enable them to achieve more satisfactory conditions. This report documents the results of this survey of the occupants of the Eastgate Corporate Center, Bellevue, Washington. 21 figs., 7 tabs.

Kinematics/statics analysis of a novel serial-parallel robotic arm with hand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Yi; Dai, Zhuohong; Ye, Nijia; Wang, Peng [Yanshan University, Hebei (China)

2015-10-15

A robotic arm with fingered hand generally has multi-functions to complete various complicated operations. A novel serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is proposed and its kinematics and statics are studied systematically. A 3D prototype of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is constructed and analyzed by simulation. The serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is composed of an upper 3RPS parallel manipulator, a lower 3SPR parallel manipulator and a hand with three finger mechanisms. Its kinematics formulae for solving the displacement, velocity, acceleration of are derived. Its statics formula for solving the active/constrained forces is derived. Its reachable workspace and orientation workspace are constructed and analyzed. Finally, an analytic example is given for solving the kinematics and statics of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand and the analytic solutions are verified by a simulation mechanism.

Search strategies in practice: Influence of information and task constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Pacheco, Matheus M; Newell, Karl M

2018-01-01

The practice of a motor task has been conceptualized as a process of search through a perceptual-motor workspace. The present study investigated the influence of information and task constraints on the search strategy as reflected in the sequential relations of the outcome in a discrete movement virtual projectile task. The results showed that the relation between the changes of trial-to-trial movement outcome to performance level was dependent on the landscape of the task dynamics and the influence of inherent variability. Furthermore, the search was in a constrained parameter region of the perceptual-motor workspace that depended on the task constraints. These findings show that there is not a single function of trial-to-trial change over practice but rather that local search strategies (proportional, discontinuous, constant) adapt to the level of performance and the confluence of constraints to action. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Kinematics/statics analysis of a novel serial-parallel robotic arm with hand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Yi; Dai, Zhuohong; Ye, Nijia; Wang, Peng

2015-01-01

A robotic arm with fingered hand generally has multi-functions to complete various complicated operations. A novel serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is proposed and its kinematics and statics are studied systematically. A 3D prototype of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is constructed and analyzed by simulation. The serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is composed of an upper 3RPS parallel manipulator, a lower 3SPR parallel manipulator and a hand with three finger mechanisms. Its kinematics formulae for solving the displacement, velocity, acceleration of are derived. Its statics formula for solving the active/constrained forces is derived. Its reachable workspace and orientation workspace are constructed and analyzed. Finally, an analytic example is given for solving the kinematics and statics of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand and the analytic solutions are verified by a simulation mechanism.

Design Research through the Lens of Sociology of Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berntsen, Hilde Østerås; Seim, Rikke

2007-01-01

The use of an approach to design research inspired by Sociology of Technology offers a nuanced understanding of design processes. The purpose of this paper is to explore how terminology derived from the socio-technical theory of Actor Network (ANT) can be used to understand the complexity of design...... processes by viewing these processes as building and alignment of networks. The applicability of ANT in design research is demonstrated in an analysis of an action research based case study. In this case study a socio-technical approach called “workspace design” is employed in a process of re......-design of existing workspace and work practice in an industrial company. The case study (i) illustrates a socio-technical approach to design research and (ii) shows how ANT terminology can be applied in an analysis of the course of events in a design process with numerous actors involved....

Flexible Visuomotor Associations in Touchscreen Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Fabbri

2017-11-01

Full Text Available To move real objects, our hand needs to get in direct physical contact with the object. However, this is not necessarily the case when interacting with virtual objects, for example when displacing objects on tablets by swipe movements. Here, we performed two experiments to study the behavioral strategies of these movements, examining how visual information about the virtual object is mapped into a swipe that moves the object into a goal location. In the first experiment, we investigated how swiping behavior depends on whether objects were located within or outside the swiping workspace. Results show that participants do not start the swipe movement by placing their finger on the virtual object, as they do when reaching to real objects, but rather keep a systematic distance between the object location and the initial swipe location. This mismatch, which was experimentally imposed by placing the object outside the workspace, also occurred when the object was within the workspace. In the second experiment, we investigated which factors determine this mismatch by systematically manipulating the initial hand location, the location of the object and the location of the goal. Dimensionality reduction of the data showed that three factors are taken into account when participants choose the initial swipe location: the expected total movement distance, the distance between their finger on the screen and the object, and a preference not to cover the object. The weight given to each factor differed among individuals. These results delineate, for the first time, the flexibility of visuomotor associations in the virtual world.

CERN Technical Training 2007: IT3T - IT Technical Training Tutorials (Autumn 2007)

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

Videos now available The videos of the first IT3T series, which was offered in French in October 2007 (Office 2007, Sharepoint collaboration workspace, Vista, Outlook 2007), are now available via Indico at: http://indico.cern.ch/categoryDisplay.py?categId=590Enjoy!

Rejoinder to Justus Uitermark

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H.D. Pruijt (Hans)

2004-01-01

textabstractA recent change in attitude of politicians and officials in Amsterdam towards artists who use squatted workspaces does not entail co-optation of squatters as providers of cultural services. The municipal Breeding Places Amsterdam (BPA) project is a continuation of the long-standing

Esprit de Place: Maintaining and Designing Library Buildings To Provide Transcendent Spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Demas, Sam; Scherer, Jeffrey A.

2002-01-01

Discusses library buildings and their role in building community. Reviews current design trends, including reading and study spaces; collaborative workspaces; technology-free zones; archives and special collections; cultural events spaces; age-specific spaces; shared spaces; natural light and landscapes; and interior design trends. (LRW)

Error modelling and experimental validation of a planar 3-PPR parallel manipulator with joint clearances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Guanglei; Bai, Shaoping; Kepler, Jørgen Asbøl

2012-01-01

This paper deals with the error modelling and analysis of a 3-PPR planar parallel manipulator with joint clearances. The kinematics and the Cartesian workspace of the manipulator are analyzed. An error model is established with considerations of both configuration errors and joint clearances. Using...

75 FR 6005 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-05

... Officer, Department of Defense. F065 AF FMP A System Name: eFinance Workspace System Location: Commander... entitlement rate for basic allowance for housing. Authority for maintenance of the system: 10 U.S.C. 8013... Offices and Finance Offices--Reserve Component; Air Force [[Page 6006

Printing in Ubiquitous Computing Environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karapantelakis, Athanasios; Delvic, Alisa; Zarifi Eslami, Mohammed; Khamit, Saltanat

Document printing has long been considered an indispensable part of the workspace. While this process is considered trivial and simple for environments where resources are ample (e.g. desktop computers connected to printers within a corporate network), it becomes complicated when applied in a mobile

Human response to Innovative Workplace Design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Voordt, Theo

2004-01-01

In the early 1990s, Dutch organisations started experimenting with flexible workplaces. Traditional cellular offices and open plan and group offices, which provided a fixed workspace for everyone, were no longer a matter-of-course. With the help of modern information and communication technology,

New ways of working (NWW): work space and cultural change in virtualizing organizations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kingma, Sytze

2018-01-01

This study offers a grounded theory of ‘new ways of working’ (NWW), an organizational design concept of Dutch origin with a global relevance. NWW concern business solutions for flexible workspaces enabled by digital network technologies. Theoretically, NWW are analysed with reference to Lefebvre’s

Control of an automated mobile manipulator using artificial immune system

Science.gov (United States)

Deepak, B. B. V. L.; Parhi, Dayal R.

2016-03-01

This paper addresses the coordination and control of a wheeled mobile manipulator (WMM) using artificial immune system. The aim of the developed methodology is to navigate the system autonomously and transport jobs and tools in manufacturing environments. This study integrates the kinematic structures of a four-axis manipulator and a differential wheeled mobile platform. The motion of the developed WMM is controlled by the complete system of parametric equation in terms of joint velocities and makes the robot to follow desired trajectories by the manipulator and platform within its workspace. The developed robot system performs its action intelligently according to the sensed environmental criteria within its search space. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed immune-based motion planner for WMM, simulations as well as experimental results are presented in various unknown environments.

Multi-Joint Dynamics and the Development of Movement Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Otten

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The movement control of articulated limbs in humans has been explained in terms of equilibrium points and moving equilibrium points or virtual trajectories. One hypothesis is that the nervous system controls multi-segment limbs by simply planning in terms of these equilibrium points and trajectories. The present paper describes a planar computer simulation of an articulated three-segment limb, controlled by pairs of muscles. The shape of the virtual trajectory is analyzed when the limb is required to make fast movements with endpoint movements along a straight line with bell-shaped velocity profiles. Apparently, the faster the movement, the more the virtual trajectory deviates from the real trajectory and becomes up to eight times longer. The complexity of the shape of the virtual trajectories and its length in these fast movements makes it unlikely that the nervous system plans using these trajectories. it seems simpler to set up the required bursts of muscle activation, coupled in the nervous system to the direction of movement, the s peed, and the place in workspace. Finally, it is argued that the two types of explanation do not contradict each other: when a relation is established in the nervous system between muscle activation and movements, equilibrium points and virtual trajectories are necessarily part of that relation.

DHM simulation in virtual environments: a case-study on control room design.

Science.gov (United States)

Zamberlan, M; Santos, V; Streit, P; Oliveira, J; Cury, R; Negri, T; Pastura, F; Guimarães, C; Cid, G

2012-01-01

This paper will present the workflow developed for the application of serious games in the design of complex cooperative work settings. The project was based on ergonomic studies and development of a control room among participative design process. Our main concerns were the 3D human virtual representation acquired from 3D scanning, human interaction, workspace layout and equipment designed considering ergonomics standards. Using Unity3D platform to design the virtual environment, the virtual human model can be controlled by users on dynamic scenario in order to evaluate the new work settings and simulate work activities. The results obtained showed that this virtual technology can drastically change the design process by improving the level of interaction between final users and, managers and human factors team.

CERN Technical Training 2007: IT3T - IT Technical Training Tutorials (Autumn 2007)

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

Videos now available The videos of the first IT3T series which was offered in French in October 2007 (office 2007, Sharepoint collaboration workspace, Vista, Outlook 2007), are now available via Indico at the address: http://indico.cern.ch/categoryDisplay.py?categId=590Enjoy!

Cross-Border Student Collaborations: Opportunities for Videoconferencing

Science.gov (United States)

Scovotti, Carol; Spiller, Lisa D.

2011-01-01

Globalization has prompted businesses to adopt burgeoning technologies that support the efforts of distributed teams. This project unites students from geographically dispersed master's-level programs on two continents. Using videoconferencing, virtual workspace, telephone, and e-mail, MBA students at a U.S. university teamed with students from…

Ergonomic ship brigde design supports minimum manning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Punte, P.A.J.; Post, W.M.

2001-01-01

The Royal Netherlands Navy is planning to design a hydrographic survey vessel to replace the currently used vessels in order to extend the tasks of an Officer by reducing require manning. The design includes the arrangements of workspace and the detailed design of workplaces. Digital human models

Interaction between learners in an interactive learning environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Jacob; Georgsen, Marianne

to collaborative and academic issues. In the paper, we bring forward perspectives on the creation of learning designs where students engage in dialogue and interaction in a shared workspace. Empirical studies show that children regulate their own learning processes and guide each other through activities in which...

Fashion District Arnhem: creative entrepreneurs upgrading a deprived neighbourhood

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jacobs, D.; Lentjes, E.; Ruiten, E.; Marques, L.; Richard, G.

2014-01-01

The Arnhem Fashion District, which started in 2005, offers workspaces, shops and places to live for fashion designers. More than fifty fashion designers and other creative entrepreneurs have located their business in this neighbourhood. For a few years most of the fashion chain has been present:

CPN/Tools: A Tool for Editing and Simulating Coloured Petri Nets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kurt; Christensen, Søren; Ravn, Katrine

2001-01-01

the workspace. It challenges traditional ideas about user interfaces, getting rid of pull-down menus, scrollbars, and even selection, while providing the same or greater functionality. CPN/Tools requires an OpenGL graphics accelerator and will run on all major platforms (Windows, Unix/Linux, MacOS)....

Kinematic and dynamic analysis of a serial-link robot for inspection process in EAST vacuum vessel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peng Xuebing, E-mail: pengxb@ipp.ac.cn [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Shushanhu Road 350, Hefei, Anhui 230031 (China); Yuan Jianjun; Zhang Weijun [Research Institute of Robotics, Mechanical Engineering School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No.800, Dong Chuan Road, Min Hang District, Shanghai 200240 (China); Yang Yang; Song Yuntao [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Shushanhu Road 350, Hefei, Anhui 230031 (China)

2012-08-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A serial-link robot FIVIR is proposed for inspection of EAST PFCs between plasma shots. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The FIVIR is a function modular design and has specially designed curvilinear mechanism for axes 4-6. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The D-H coordinate systems, forward and inverse kinematic model can be easily established and solved for the FIVIR. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The FIVIR can fulfill the required workspace and has a good dynamic performance in the inspection process. - Abstract: The present paper introduces a serial-link robot which is named flexible in-vessel inspection robot (FIVIR) and developed for Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The task of the robot is to carry process tools, such as viewing camera and leakage detector, to inspect the components installed inside of EAST vacuum vessel. The FIVIR can help to understand the physical phenomena which could be happened in the vacuum vessel during plasma operation and could be one part of EAST remote handling system if needed. The FIVIR was designed with the consideration of having easy control and a good mechanics property which drives it resulted in function modular design. The workspace simulation and kinematic analysis are given in this paper. The dynamic behavior of the FIVIR is studied by multi-body system simulation using ADAMS software. The study result shows the FIVIR has ascendant kinematic and dynamic performance and can fulfill the design requirement for inspection process in EAST vacuum vessel.

Kinematic and dynamic analysis of a serial-link robot for inspection process in EAST vacuum vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Xuebing; Yuan Jianjun; Zhang Weijun; Yang Yang; Song Yuntao

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A serial-link robot FIVIR is proposed for inspection of EAST PFCs between plasma shots. ► The FIVIR is a function modular design and has specially designed curvilinear mechanism for axes 4–6. ► The D-H coordinate systems, forward and inverse kinematic model can be easily established and solved for the FIVIR. ► The FIVIR can fulfill the required workspace and has a good dynamic performance in the inspection process. - Abstract: The present paper introduces a serial-link robot which is named flexible in-vessel inspection robot (FIVIR) and developed for Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The task of the robot is to carry process tools, such as viewing camera and leakage detector, to inspect the components installed inside of EAST vacuum vessel. The FIVIR can help to understand the physical phenomena which could be happened in the vacuum vessel during plasma operation and could be one part of EAST remote handling system if needed. The FIVIR was designed with the consideration of having easy control and a good mechanics property which drives it resulted in function modular design. The workspace simulation and kinematic analysis are given in this paper. The dynamic behavior of the FIVIR is studied by multi-body system simulation using ADAMS software. The study result shows the FIVIR has ascendant kinematic and dynamic performance and can fulfill the design requirement for inspection process in EAST vacuum vessel.

Advanced 3D Sensing and Visualization System for Unattended Monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, J.J.; Little, C.Q.; Nelson, C.L.

1999-01-01

The purpose of this project was to create a reliable, 3D sensing and visualization system for unattended monitoring. The system provides benefits for several of Sandia's initiatives including nonproliferation, treaty verification, national security and critical infrastructure surety. The robust qualities of the system make it suitable for both interior and exterior monitoring applications. The 3D sensing system combines two existing sensor technologies in a new way to continuously maintain accurate 3D models of both static and dynamic components of monitored areas (e.g., portions of buildings, roads, and secured perimeters in addition to real-time estimates of the shape, location, and motion of humans and moving objects). A key strength of this system is the ability to monitor simultaneous activities on a continuous basis, such as several humans working independently within a controlled workspace, while also detecting unauthorized entry into the workspace. Data from the sensing system is used to identi~ activities or conditions that can signi~ potential surety (safety, security, and reliability) threats. The system could alert a security operator of potential threats or could be used to cue other detection, inspection or warning systems. An interactive, Web-based, 3D visualization capability was also developed using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The intex%ace allows remote, interactive inspection of a monitored area (via the Internet or Satellite Links) using a 3D computer model of the area that is rendered from actual sensor data.

Design and analysis of a 3-DOF planar micromanipulation stage with large rotational displacement for micromanipulation system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Ding

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Flexure-based mechanisms have been widely used for scanning tunneling microscopy, nanoimprint lithography, fast servo tool system and micro/nano manipulation. In this paper, a novel planar micromanipulation stage with large rotational displacement is proposed. The designed monolithic manipulator has three degrees of freedom (DOF, i.e. two translations along the X and Y axes and one rotation around Z axis. In order to get a large workspace, the lever mechanism is adopted to magnify the stroke of the piezoelectric actuators and also the leaf beam flexure is utilized due to its large rotational scope. Different from conventional pre-tightening mechanism, a modified pre-tightening mechanism, which is less harmful to the stacked actuators, is proposed in this paper. Taking the circular flexure hinges and leaf beam flexures hinges as revolute joints, the forward kinematics and inverse kinematics models of this stage are derived. The workspace of the micromanipulator is finally obtained, which is based on the derived kinematic models.

A novel remote center of motion mechanism for the force-reflective master robot of haptic tele-surgery systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadavand, Mostafa; Mirbagheri, Alireza; Behzadipour, Saeed; Farahmand, Farzam

2014-06-01

An effective master robot for haptic tele-surgery applications needs to provide a solution for the inversed movements of the surgical tool, in addition to sufficient workspace and manipulability, with minimal moving inertia. A novel 4 + 1-DOF mechanism was proposed, based on a triple parallelogram linkage, which provided a Remote Center of Motion (RCM) at the back of the user's hand. The kinematics of the robot was analyzed and a prototype was fabricated and evaluated by experimental tests. With a RCM at the back of the user's hand the actuators far from the end effector, the robot could produce the sensation of hand-inside surgery with minimal moving inertia. The target workspace was achieved with an acceptable manipulability. The trajectory tracking experiments revealed small errors, due to backlash at the joints. The proposed mechanism meets the basic requirements of an effective master robot for haptic tele-surgery applications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Are Biophilic-Designed Site Office Buildings Linked to Health Benefits and High Performing Occupants?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tonia Gray

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the first phase of a longitudinal study underway in Australia to ascertain the broad health benefits of specific types of biophilic design for workers in a building site office. A bespoke site design was formulated to include open plan workspace, natural lighting, ventilation, significant plants, prospect and views, recycled materials and use of non-synthetic materials. Initial data in the first three months was gathered from a series of demographic questions and from interviews and observations of site workers. Preliminary data indicates a strong positive effect from incorporating aspects of biophilic design to boost productivity, ameliorate stress, enhance well-being, foster a collaborative work environment and promote workplace satisfaction, thus contributing towards a high performance workspace. The longitudinal study spanning over two years will track human-plant interactions in a biophilic influenced space, whilst also assessing the concomitant cognitive, social, psychological and physical health benefits for workers.

A new system for evaluation of armrest use in robotic surgery and validation of a new ergonomic concept - armrest load.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, K; Perez, M; Perrenot, C; Hubert, N; Felblinger, J; Hubert, J

2016-12-01

The da Vinci robot provides a sitting position and an armrest to decrease workload and increase dexterity. We investigated the surgeon's ergonomic behaviour by installing force sensors on the dV-Trainer® simulator's armrest to measure the 'armrest load' during the performance of simulated exercises. Five experts and 48 novices performed two robotic simulation exercises on the dV-Trainer. We calculated the armrest load and evaluated their armrest-using habits. Overall score and workspace range were evaluated automatically by the simulator and compared with armrest load. Statistically significant differences exist for overall score, workspace range and armrest load between novices and experts. The armrest load score is a direct, sensitive measure for the ergonomic evaluation of a simulator's armrest use. This experience-dependent ergonomic difference between experts and novices (p = 0.007) highlights the importance of ergonomic training for novice robot users. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What is new in Office 2007 - (IT3T/2007/2)

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2007-01-01

IT3T/2007/2 - Quoi de neuf avec Office 2007 Nous allons présenter le nouveau type de site web disponible au CERN: "Collaboration Workspaces". Avec des fonctionnalités comme les forums de discussion, les pages wiki, la création rapide de formulaires web et les "document libraries", nous montrerons comment les Collaboration Workspaces permettent de publier, partager et récupérer l'information de manière plus simple et plus rapide, et permettent de collaborer de manière efficace sur les documents. IT3T/2007/2 - What is new in Office 2007 The presentation will introduce the new features of Microsoft Office 2007 including the new Microsoft Office Fluent user interface and explain how to use the Ribbon, Contextual Tabs, Galleries, and Live Preview. No special previous knowledge is required, at the same time a basic knowledge of Office 2003 applications (Word/Excel/PowerPoint) may be a convenient starting point.

A Grasp-Pose Generation Method Based on Gaussian Mixture Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenjia Wu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM-based grasp-pose generation method is proposed in this paper. Through offline training, the GMM is set up and used to depict the distribution of the robot's reachable orientations. By dividing the robot's workspace into small 3D voxels and training the GMM for each voxel, a look-up table covering all the workspace is built with the x, y and z positions as the index and the GMM as the entry. Through the definition of Task Space Regions (TSR, an object's feasible grasp poses are expressed as a continuous region. With the GMM, grasp poses can be preferentially sampled from regions with high reachability probabilities in the online grasp-planning stage. The GMM can also be used as a preliminary judgement of a grasp pose's reachability. Experiments on both a simulated and a real robot show the superiority of our method over the existing method.

Design system for in-vessel mainipulator of fusion reactor 'DESIM'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adachi, Junihci; Kobayashi, Takeshi; Ise, Hideo; Sato, Keisuke; Matsuda, Hirotsugu

1989-01-01

A computer aided design system 'DESIM' for the in-vessel manipulators of nuclear fusion reactors has been developed to design the manipulators efficiently. The DESIM consists of the following subsystems: (1) the design system for arm mechanisms to realize optimum manipulation performance in the specified workspace; (2) the robot simulator to study manipulator movement, postures and interference problems; (3) the CAD system which is used to define the structure object data for robots, and the interface system for the data conversion from the CAD system to the robot simulator. The DESIM has been used to design the in-vessel manipulator for the Fusion Experimental Reactor (FER) to confirm the effectiveness. (author)

Human factors engineering evaluation of the UTR-10 Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lahti, D.; Nilius, D.; Heithoff, D.; Roche, G.; Sage, S.

1982-01-01

This paper is a description of a student design team's review and evaluation of Iowa State University's University Test Reactor (UTR-10). The review was based on how well the control room of the UTR-10 measured up to selected portions of NUREG-0800, chapter 18, Human Factor Engineering/Standard Review Plan Development. The review was conducted by inspecting the reactor and interviewing reactor operators. The control room workspace, instrumentation controls and other equipment were evaluated from a human factors engineering point of view that takes into account both system demands and operator capabilities. Identification, assessment, and suggestion for control room design modifications that correct inadequate or unsuitable items was made

Swarmie User Manual: A Rover Used for Multi-agent Swarm Research

Science.gov (United States)

Montague, Gilbert

2014-01-01

The ability to create multiple functional yet cost effective robots is crucial for conducting swarming robotics research. The Center Innovation Fund (CIF) swarming robotics project is a collaboration among the KSC Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) group, the University of New Mexico Biological Computation Lab, and the NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) that uses rovers, dubbed "Swarmies", as test platforms for genetic search algorithms. This fall, I assisted in the development of the software modules used on the Swarmies and created this guide to provide thorough instructions on how to configure your workspace to operate a Swarmie both in simulation and out in the field.

Problem Scoping Design Thinking and Close Reading: Makerspaces in the School Library

Science.gov (United States)

Blakemore, Megan

2018-01-01

Makerspaces, collaborative workspaces stocked with materials and tools for creating, building, designing, and learning, are becoming more and more common in schools and, in particular, in school libraries. Makerspaces in the school library allow for connections between making and literacy. Indeed, such connections are authentic and natural as…

Re-Storying an Entrepreneurial Identity: Education, Experience and Self-Narrative

Science.gov (United States)

Harmeling, Susan S.

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the ways in which entrepreneurship education may serve as an identity workspace. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual/theoretical paper based on previously completed empirical work. Findings: The paper makes the connection between worldmaking, experience, action and identity. Practical implications:…

CLINICAL SURFACES -- Activity-Based Computing for Distributed Multi-Display Environments in Hospitals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind; Bunde-Pedersen, Jonathan; Doryab, Afsaneh

2009-01-01

A multi-display environment (MDE) is made up of co-located and networked personal and public devices that form an integrated workspace enabling co-located group work. Traditionally, MDEs have, however, mainly been designed to support a single “smart room”, and have had little sense of the tasks...

Quantitative approaches to physical ergonomic issues encountered while assessing workplace designs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albin, T.J.

2014-01-01

Ergonomic and design practitioners routinely make assessments of the appropriateness of a workspace. For example, practitioners must answer questions such as: “will the user be at risk of injury, is the space high enough, wide enough and deep enough to accommodate the intended users, does the design

Assessing thermally induced errors of machine tools by 3D length measurements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Florussen, G.H.J.; Delbressine, F.L.M.; Schellekens, P.H.J.

2003-01-01

A new measurement technique is proposed for the assessment of thermally induced errors of machine tools. The basic idea is to measure changes of length by a telescopic double ball bar (TDEB) at multiple locations in the machine's workspace while the machine is thermally excited. In addition thermal

Using Wikis to Investigate Communication, Collaboration and Engagement in Capstone Engineering Design Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Berthoud, L.; Gliddon, J.

2018-01-01

In today's global Aerospace industry, virtual workspaces are commonly used for collaboration between geographically distributed multidisciplinary teams. This study investigated the use of wikis to look at communication, collaboration and engagement in 'Capstone' team design projects at the end of an engineering degree. Wikis were set up for teams…

Investigation of a cable-driven parallel mechanism for interaction with a variety of surface, applied to the cleaning of free-form buildings

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voss, K.H.J.; van der Wijk, V.; Herder, Justus Laurens; Lenarcic, Jadran; Husty, Manfred

2012-01-01

In this paper, the capability of a specific cable-driven parallel mechanism to interact with a variety of surfaces is investigated. This capability could be of use in for example the cleaning of large building surfaces. A method is presented to investigate the workspace for which the cables do not

Input to the FM/CREM research agenda

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Appel - Meulenbroek, H.A.J.A.; Pullen, W.

2017-01-01

Despite the possibility to work anyplace anywhere, the office and its work-spaces remain an important resource to influence organizational performance and fight in the war on new talents. Therefore, it is good to notice that the issue of how to manage the workplace is discussed in more board rooms

Understanding Teamwork in Trauma Resuscitation through Analysis of Team Errors

Science.gov (United States)

Sarcevic, Aleksandra

2009-01-01

An analysis of human errors in complex work settings can lead to important insights into the workspace design. This type of analysis is particularly relevant to safety-critical, socio-technical systems that are highly dynamic, stressful and time-constrained, and where failures can result in catastrophic societal, economic or environmental…

Enabling a systems biology knowledgebase with gaggle and firegoose

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baliga, Nitin S. [Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA (United States)

2014-12-12

The overall goal of this project was to extend the existing Gaggle and Firegoose systems to develop an open-source technology that runs over the web and links desktop applications with many databases and software applications. This technology would enable researchers to incorporate workflows for data analysis that can be executed from this interface to other online applications. The four specific aims were to (1) provide one-click mapping of genes, proteins, and complexes across databases and species; (2) enable multiple simultaneous workflows; (3) expand sophisticated data analysis for online resources; and enhance open-source development of the Gaggle-Firegoose infrastructure. Gaggle is an open-source Java software system that integrates existing bioinformatics programs and data sources into a user-friendly, extensible environment to allow interactive exploration, visualization, and analysis of systems biology data. Firegoose is an extension to the Mozilla Firefox web browser that enables data transfer between websites and desktop tools including Gaggle. In the last phase of this funding period, we have made substantial progress on development and application of the Gaggle integration framework. We implemented the workspace to the Network Portal. Users can capture data from Firegoose and save them to the workspace. Users can create workflows to start multiple software components programmatically and pass data between them. Results of analysis can be saved to the cloud so that they can be easily restored on any machine. We also developed the Gaggle Chrome Goose, a plugin for the Google Chrome browser in tandem with an opencpu server in the Amazon EC2 cloud. This allows users to interactively perform data analysis on a single web page using the R packages deployed on the opencpu server. The cloud-based framework facilitates collaboration between researchers from multiple organizations. We have made a number of enhancements to the cmonkey2 application to enable and

assessment of work-space and work-method designs in nigeria

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

Nigeria automobile service industry is labour intensive with high level of .... assessed risk factors and the occurrence of injury type ..... Public Affairs, Administration and Management, ... Kosashvilli, Y, Safir, O. A. “A Modified Cement Spacer.

Foundations for Tools as a Service Workspace: A Reference Architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chauhan, Muhammad Aufeef

S). However, providing the resources corresponding to a domain following *aaS requires specific challenges associated with the domain to be addressed. Software as a Service (SaaS) model enables software vendors to offer their software solutions to end users following pay-per-use model. SaaS also enables end...... users to have access to the software system without being bound into long-term license commitments and without incurring additional infrastructure and maintenance overheads. Though SaaS has been successful in providing stand-alone applications where users can perform a specific set of activities using...... an application, applicability of SaaS for scenarios where users need to use a number of software systems to perform activities and associated tasks is limited. A typical such use case is the activities associated with software engineering domains in general and software architecting domain in particular...

Labouring in the Knowledge Fields: Researching Knowledge in Globalising Workspaces

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, Lesley

2006-01-01

While research on globalisation can hardly be said to have ignored the phenomenon of the global corporation or the globally distributed supply chain, the focus has overwhelmingly been on "globalization from above"--on corporate structures and on the movement of global capital in global "knowledge economies". My focus in this…

Ergonomic glovebox workspace layout tool and associated method of use

Science.gov (United States)

Roddy, Shannon Howard

2018-02-20

The present invention provides an elongate tool that aides in the placement of objects and machinery within a glovebox, such that the objects and machinery can be safely handled by a user. The tool includes a plurality of visual markings (in English units, metric units, other units, grooves, ridges, varying widths, etc.) that indicate distance from the user within the glovebox, optionally broken into placement preference zones that are color coded, grayscale coded, or the like.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ERGONOMICS IN THE PLANNING OF THE WORKSPACE

OpenAIRE

TEREZA CRISTINA DO REIS

2003-01-01

Este trabalho tem como tema os processos de concepção de espaços de trabalho. Aborda as dificuldades encontradas pelos profissionais de projeto,principalmente, no que diz respeito à compreensão dos sistemas presentes nas atividades do trabalho, das características físico- cognitivas dos trabalhadores na realização de suas tarefas, da interação do trabalhador com seu ambiente de trabalho, e os problemas que essas dificuldades acarretam no desenvolvimento do projeto...

caCORE version 3: Implementation of a model driven, service-oriented architecture for semantic interoperability.

Science.gov (United States)

Komatsoulis, George A; Warzel, Denise B; Hartel, Francis W; Shanbhag, Krishnakant; Chilukuri, Ram; Fragoso, Gilberto; Coronado, Sherri de; Reeves, Dianne M; Hadfield, Jillaine B; Ludet, Christophe; Covitz, Peter A

2008-02-01

One of the requirements for a federated information system is interoperability, the ability of one computer system to access and use the resources of another system. This feature is particularly important in biomedical research systems, which need to coordinate a variety of disparate types of data. In order to meet this need, the National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB) has created the cancer Common Ontologic Representation Environment (caCORE), an interoperability infrastructure based on Model Driven Architecture. The caCORE infrastructure provides a mechanism to create interoperable biomedical information systems. Systems built using the caCORE paradigm address both aspects of interoperability: the ability to access data (syntactic interoperability) and understand the data once retrieved (semantic interoperability). This infrastructure consists of an integrated set of three major components: a controlled terminology service (Enterprise Vocabulary Services), a standards-based metadata repository (the cancer Data Standards Repository) and an information system with an Application Programming Interface (API) based on Domain Model Driven Architecture. This infrastructure is being leveraged to create a Semantic Service-Oriented Architecture (SSOA) for cancer research by the National Cancer Institute's cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG).

ON EXPERIENCE OF THE COLLABORATION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM PODIO IMPLEMENTATION IN THE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrii V. Semenets

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The Information Technologies role in the medical university management is analyzed. The importance of the application of the electronic document management in the medical universities is shown. The implementation capabilities of the electronic document management system within a cloud services are shown. A Podio collaboration and project management cloud service features overview is presented. The methodology of the Podio capabilities usage to the medical university task management solving is developed. An approaches to the Podio Workspaces and Applications development for the faculties collaboration and project management in the departments of the medical universities are presented. The examples of the Podio features usage to the work-flow automation of the information-analytical and hardware and software support departments of the Ternopil State Medical University named after I. Ja. Horbachevsky are shown.

Towards Clinically Optimized MRI-guided Surgical Manipulator for Minimally Invasive Prostate Percutaneous Interventions: Constructive Design*

Science.gov (United States)

Eslami, Sohrab; Fischer, Gregory S.; Song, Sang-Eun; Tokuda, Junichi; Hata, Nobuhiko; Tempany, Clare M.; Iordachita, Iulian

2013-01-01

This paper undertakes the modular design and development of a minimally invasive surgical manipulator for MRI-guided transperineal prostate interventions. Severe constraints for the MRI-compatibility to hold the minimum artifact on the image quality and dimensions restraint of the bore scanner shadow the design procedure. Regarding the constructive design, the manipulator kinematics has been optimized and the effective analytical needle workspace is developed and followed by proposing the workflow for the manual needle insertion. A study of the finite element analysis is established and utilized to improve the mechanism weaknesses under some inevitable external forces to ensure the minimum structure deformation. The procedure for attaching a sterile plastic drape on the robot manipulator is discussed. The introduced robotic manipulator herein is aimed for the clinically prostate biopsy and brachytherapy applications. PMID:24683502

An Exploration of Women's Engagement in Makerspaces

Science.gov (United States)

Bean, Vanessa; Farmer, Nicole M.; Kerr, Barbara A.

2015-01-01

The Maker Movement is an international trend for communities to form around shared tools and workspaces in order to engage in do-it-yourself activities. Women are underrepresented in Makerspaces, and exploration of issues related to their participation may provide directions for future research. Eight women participated in a focus group study of…

The Impact of Institutional Student Support on Graduation Rates in US Ph.D. Programmes

Science.gov (United States)

Bolli, Thomas; Agasisti, Tommaso; Johnes, Geraint

2015-01-01

Using National Research Council data, we investigate the determinants of graduation rates in US Ph.D. programmes. We emphasise the impact that support and facilities offered to doctoral students have on completion rates. Significant, strong and positive effects are found for the provision of on-site graduate conferences and dedicated workspace,…

Motion planning for multiple robots

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aronov, B.; Berg, de M.; van der Stappen, A.F.; Svestka, P.; Vleugels, J.M.

1999-01-01

We study the motion-planning problem for pairs and triples of robots operating in a shared workspace containing n obstacles. A standard way to solve such problems is to view the collection of robots as one composite robot, whose number of degrees of freedom is d , the sum of the numbers of degrees

Work Addiction and 21st Century Information Technologies in Traditional and Virtual Work Spaces in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Hunka, Patricia L.

2014-01-01

This study was completed to understand whether or not work addiction or work addiction intensity could be predicted from mobile technology use. The study further investigated whether or not gender, workspace, income, or education level would moderate the relationship. The sample used was drawn from service industry employees who are not in the…

VTT Digitalo. A case study from the view points of sustainable building and modern working environment; VTT Digitalo. Tavoitteena kestaevae rakennus ja moderni tyoeympaeristoe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haekkinen, T.; Nuutinen, M.; Pulakka, S.; Porkka, J.; Vares, S.; Laitinen, A.; Vesikari, E.; Pajari, M.

2007-01-15

This publication summarises the assessment results from the VTT Digitalo case. VTT Digitalo is a new office building built for the use of VTT research and development. The building was assessed from the viewpoints of sustainable construction and sustainable workspaces. The study analysed the case considering it as an achievement and a stage in a long-term process that is taking place between VTT as the user and Senate Properties as the owner of the building. This process aims at developing high-quality facility services, which are in accordance with the user needs, and based on understanding the strategic goals of the user. Additionally, these services should follow the principles of sustainable construction. The VTT's user needs concern first of all (a) good indoor environment in terms of indoor climate, acoustics and illumination, (b) ability of the workspace to support interaction and innovative way of working, (c) ability of the whole building to indicate VTT's image as a supplier of innovation services. VTT acts as a client, which sets performance and conformity requirements based on the planned use of spaces. The aims of Senate Properties as the owner and the provider of facility services concern the ability to understand and realise user needs, and to manage investment costs and life cycle efficiency of the building. The research defines sustainable construction in accordance with (ISO 2006): Sustainable construction brings about the required performance with the least unfavourable environmental impact, while encouraging economic, social, and cultural improvement at a local, regional, and global level. Accordingly, the study defined as a premise that a comprehensive analysis of the sustainability of an office building should be based on the assessment of the following aspects: user satisfaction, building performance and environmental impacts, and life cycle costs and life cycle economy. (orig.)

Web-Based Collaborative Publications System: R&Tserve

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Steve

1997-01-01

R&Tserve is a publications system based on 'commercial, off-the-shelf' (COTS) software that provides a persistent, collaborative workspace for authors and editors to support the entire publication development process from initial submission, through iterative editing in a hierarchical approval structure, and on to 'publication' on the WWW. It requires no specific knowledge of the WWW (beyond basic use) or HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Graphics and URLs are automatically supported. The system includes a transaction archive, a comments utility, help functionality, automated graphics conversion, automated table generation, and an email-based notification system. It may be configured and administered via the WWW and can support publications ranging from single page documents to multiple-volume 'tomes'.

A Force-Feedback Exoskeleton for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation in Virtual Reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Frisoli

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and the clinical validation of an upper-limb force-feedback exoskeleton, the L-EXOS, for robotic-assisted rehabilitation in virtual reality (VR. The L-EXOS is a five degrees of freedom exoskeleton with a wearable structure and anthropomorphic workspace that can cover the full range of motion of human arm. A specific VR application focused on the reaching task was developed and evaluated on a group of eight post-stroke patients, to assess the efficacy of the system for the rehabilitation of upper limb. The evaluation showed a significant reduction of the performance error in the reaching task (paired t-test, p < 0.02

An ultrasonic sensor controller for mapping and servo control in robotic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drotning, W.D.; Garcia, P. Jr.

1993-03-01

An ultrasonic sensor controller has been developed and applied in a variety of robotic systems for operation in hazardous environments. The controller consists of hardware and software that control multiple ultrasonic range sensors and provide workspace information to robot controllers for rapid, safe, and reliable operation in hazardous and remote environments. The hardware consists of a programmable multichannel controller that resides on a VMEbus for high speed communication to a multiprocessor architecture. The sensor controller has been used in a number of applications, which include providing high precision range information for proximity servo control of robots, and performing surface and obstacle mapping functions for safe path planning of robots in unstructured environments

Lack of conformity between Indian classroom furniture and student dimensions: proposed future seat/table dimensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Savanur, C S; Altekar, C R; De, A

2007-10-01

Children spend one-quarter of a day in school. Of this, 60-80% of time is spent in the classroom. Classroom features, such as workspace and personal space play an important role in children's growth and performance as this age marks the period of anatomical, physiological and psychological developments. Since the classroom is an influential part of a student's life the present study focused on classroom furniture in relation to students' workspace and personal space requirements and standards and was conducted in five schools at Mumbai, India. Dimensions of 104 items of furniture (chairs and desks) were measured as were 42 anthropometric dimensions of 225 students from grade six to grade nine (age: 10-14 years). Questionnaire responses of 292 students regarding the perceived adequacy of their classroom furniture were collected. Results indicated that the seat and desk heights (450 mm, 757 mm respectively) were higher than the comparable students' anthropometric dimensions and that of the recommendations of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (340 + 3 mm, 380 + 3 mm seat-heights, 580 + 3 mm 640 + 3 mm desk-heights) as well as Time-Saver Standards (TSS) (381.0 mm seat-height and 660.4 mm desk-height). The depth of the seats and the desks (299 mm, 319 mm, respectively) were less than comparable students' anthropometric dimensions and the recommendations of BIS (IS 4837: 1990). Students reported discomfort in shoulder, wrist, knee and ankle regions. Based on the students' anthropometric data, proposed future designs with fixed table-heights and adjustable seat-heights along with footrests were identified.

Virtual Reality Robotic Operation Simulations Using MEMICA Haptic System

Science.gov (United States)

Bar-Cohen, Y.; Mavroidis, C.; Bouzit, M.; Dolgin, B.; Harm, D. L.; Kopchok, G. E.; White, R.

2000-01-01

There is an increasing realization that some tasks can be performed significantly better by humans than robots but, due to associated hazards, distance, etc., only a robot can be employed. Telemedicine is one area where remotely controlled robots can have a major impact by providing urgent care at remote sites. In recent years, remotely controlled robotics has been greatly advanced. The robotic astronaut, "Robonaut," at NASA Johnson Space Center is one such example. Unfortunately, due to the unavailability of force and tactile feedback capability the operator must determine the required action using only visual feedback from the remote site, which limits the tasks that Robonaut can perform. There is a great need for dexterous, fast, accurate teleoperated robots with the operator?s ability to "feel" the environment at the robot's field. Recently, we conceived a haptic mechanism called MEMICA (Remote MEchanical MIrroring using Controlled stiffness and Actuators) that can enable the design of high dexterity, rapid response, and large workspace system. Our team is developing novel MEMICA gloves and virtual reality models to allow the simulation of telesurgery and other applications. The MEMICA gloves are designed to have a high dexterity, rapid response, and large workspace and intuitively mirror the conditions at a virtual site where a robot is simulating the presence of the human operator. The key components of MEMICA are miniature electrically controlled stiffness (ECS) elements and Electrically Controlled Force and Stiffness (ECFS) actuators that are based on the sue of Electro-Rheological Fluids (ERF). In this paper the design of the MEMICA system and initial experimental results are presented.

Conversational Pedagogy: Exploring Interactions between a Teaching Artist and Young Learners during Visual Arts Experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Eckhoff, Angela

2013-01-01

In many early childhood classrooms, visual arts experiences occur around a communal arts table. A shared workspace allows for spontaneous conversation and exploration of the art-making process of peers and teachers. In this setting, conversation can play an important role in visual arts experiences as children explore new media, skills, and ideas.…

The GENERATE Project: Curricular and Pedagogical Inspiration from Parents and Their Children Working Together

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Jonathan

2010-01-01

This report summarizes GENERATE, a pilot research project conducted by 12 artists and their children 3-14. Simply put, these artist/art educator/parents allowed their own children unlimited access to their studios, materials, equipment and workspaces for two years. During that time the children were able to work alongside their parents on making…

Yours, Mine, Theirs: Multiple Generations in Today's Workplace

Science.gov (United States)

Grotophorst, Julie

2011-01-01

For the first time in history, four distinct generations are sharing the same workspace. Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Generation Y (the Millennials) are all bringing very different life experiences, expectations, and value systems to the work table. How do leaders bridge the gap among these generations and provide common ground on which…

Non-iterative geometric approach for inverse kinematics of redundant lead-module in a radiosurgical snake-like robot.

Science.gov (United States)

Omisore, Olatunji Mumini; Han, Shipeng; Ren, Lingxue; Zhang, Nannan; Ivanov, Kamen; Elazab, Ahmed; Wang, Lei

2017-08-01

Snake-like robot is an emerging form of serial-link manipulator with the morphologic design of biological snakes. The redundant robot can be used to assist medical experts in accessing internal organs with minimal or no invasion. Several snake-like robotic designs have been proposed for minimal invasive surgery, however, the few that were developed are yet to be fully explored for clinical procedures. This is due to lack of capability for full-fledged spatial navigation. In rare cases where such snake-like designs are spatially flexible, there exists no inverse kinematics (IK) solution with both precise control and fast response. In this study, we proposed a non-iterative geometric method for solving IK of lead-module of a snake-like robot designed for therapy or ablation of abdominal tumors. The proposed method is aimed at providing accurate and fast IK solution for given target points in the robot's workspace. n-1 virtual points (VPs) were geometrically computed and set as coordinates of intermediary joints in an n-link module. Suitable joint angles that can place the end-effector at given target points were then computed by vectorizing coordinates of the VPs, in addition to coordinates of the base point, target point, and tip of the first link in its default pose. The proposed method is applied to solve IK of two-link and redundant four-link modules. Both two-link and four-link modules were simulated with Robotics Toolbox in Matlab 8.3 (R2014a). Implementation result shows that the proposed method can solve IK of the spatially flexible robot with minimal error values. Furthermore, analyses of results from both modules show that the geometric method can reach 99.21 and 88.61% of points in their workspaces, respectively, with an error threshold of 1 mm. The proposed method is non-iterative and has a maximum execution time of 0.009 s. This paper focuses on solving IK problem of a spatially flexible robot which is part of a developmental project for abdominal

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzen, Mareike; Cacciatori, Eugenia; Zoller, Frank A; Boutellier, Roman

2018-04-13

Although several studies have examined the impact of open workspaces, there is still an on-going debate about its advantages and disadvantages. Our paper contributes to this debate by shedding light on three issues: the effect of open workspaces on (1) the flow of communication along and across hierarchical lines; (2) the content of communication; and (3) the specificities of open integrated laboratories. Our findings derive from a longitudinal case in a large pharmaceutical company that has relocated some R&D teams from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs. The relocation has resulted in (a) increased interdisciplinary communication, particularly at lower hierarchical levels, (b) a shift of the location of discussions and the content of conversations and (c) an improved knowledge about expertise distribution. Practitioner Summary: Communication is essential in knowledge-driven organisations. This article examines the impact of a relocation of R&D employees from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs on communication patterns. We explain how the new environment fosters interdisciplinary communication, shifts the location of discussions and increases the knowledge of expertise distribution.

Evaluation of modular robot system for maintenance tasks in hot cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pagala, Prithvi Sekhar, E-mail: ps.pagala@upm.es [Centre for Automation and Robotics UPM-CSIC (Spain); Ferre, Manuel, E-mail: m.ferre@upm.es [Centre for Automation and Robotics UPM-CSIC (Spain); Orona, Luis, E-mail: l.orona@gsi.de [GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Germany)

2014-10-15

Highlights: •Modular robot deployment inside hot cell for remote manipulation evaluated. •Flexible and adaptable system for variety of tasks presented. •Uses in large workspaces and evolving requirements shown. -- Abstract: This work assesses the use of a modular robot system to perform maintenance and inspection tasks such as, remote flexible inspection, manipulation and cooperation with deployed systems inside the hot cell. A flexible modular solution for the inclusion in maintenance operations is presented. The proposed heterogeneous modular robotic system is evaluated using simulations of the prototype across selected robot configuration to perform tasks. Results obtained show the advantages and ability of the modular robot to perform the necessary tasks as well as its ability to adapt and evolve depending on the need. The simulation test case inside hot cell shows modular robot configuration, a two modular arm to perform tele-operation tasks in the workspace and a wheeled platform for inspection collaborating to perform tasks. The advantage of using re-configurable modular robot over conventional robot platforms is shown.

Improving indoor air quality and thermal comfort in office building by using combination filters

Science.gov (United States)

Kabrein, H.; Yusof, M. Z. M.; Hariri, A.; Leman, A. M.; Afandi, A.

2017-09-01

Poor indoor air quality and thermal comfort condition in the workspace affected the occupants’ health and work productivity, especially when adapting the recirculation of air in heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. The recirculation of air was implemented in this study by mixing the circulated returned indoor air with the outdoor fresh air. The aims of this study are to assess the indoor thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ) in the office buildings, equipped with combination filters. The air filtration technique consisting minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) filter and activated carbon fiber (ACF) filter, located before the fan coil units. The findings of the study show that the technique of mixing recirculation air with the fresh air through the combination filters met the recommended thermal comfort condition in the workspace. Furthermore, the result of the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) and the environmental measurements comply with the ASHRAE 55 standard. In addition, the level of CO2 concentration continued to decrease during the period of the measurement.

Modeling and controller design of a 6-DOF precision positioning system

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Kunhai; Tian, Yanling; Liu, Xianping; Fatikow, Sergej; Wang, Fujun; Cui, Liangyu; Zhang, Dawei; Shirinzadeh, Bijan

2018-05-01

A key hurdle to meet the needs of micro/nano manipulation in some complex cases is the inadequate workspace and flexibility of the operation ends. This paper presents a 6-degree of freedom (DOF) serial-parallel precision positioning system, which consists of two compact type 3-DOF parallel mechanisms. Each parallel mechanism is driven by three piezoelectric actuators (PEAs), guided by three symmetric T-shape hinges and three elliptical flexible hinges, respectively. It can extend workspace and improve flexibility of the operation ends. The proposed system can be assembled easily, which will greatly reduce the assembly errors and improve the positioning accuracy. In addition, the kinematic and dynamic model of the 6-DOF system are established, respectively. Furthermore, in order to reduce the tracking error and improve the positioning accuracy, the Discrete-time Model Predictive Controller (DMPC) is applied as an effective control method. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the DMCP control method is verified. Finally, the tracking experiment is performed to verify the tracking performances of the 6-DOF stage.

Reward-dependent learning in neuronal networks for planning and decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehaene, S; Changeux, J P

2000-01-01

gives access to enhanced rates of learning via an elementary process of internal or covert mental simulation. We have recently applied these ideas to a new model, developed with M. Kerszberg, which hypothesizes that prefrontal cortex and its reward-related connections contribute crucially to conscious effortful tasks. This model distinguishes two main computational spaces within the human brain: a unique global workspace composed of distributed and heavily interconnected neurons with long-range axons, and a set of specialized and modular perceptual, motor, memory, evaluative and attentional processors. We postulate that workspace neurons are mobilized in effortful tasks for which the specialized processors do not suffice; they selectively mobilize or suppress, through descending connections, the contribution of specific processor neurons. In the course of task performance, workspace neurons become spontaneously co-activated, forming discrete though variable spatio-temporal patterns subject to modulation by vigilance signals and to selection by reward signals. A computer simulation of the Stroop task shows workspace activation to increase during acquisition of a novel task, effortful execution, and after errors. This model makes predictions concerning the spatio-temporal activation patterns during brain imaging of cognitive tasks, particularly concerning the conditions of activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate, their relation to reward mechanisms, and their specific reaction during error processing.

Traditional Project Management and the Visual Workplace Environment to Improve Project Success

Science.gov (United States)

Fichera, Christopher E.

2016-01-01

A majority of large IT projects fail to meet scheduled deadlines, are over budget and do not satisfy the end user. Many projects fail in spite of utilizing traditional project management techniques. Research of project management has not identified the use of a visual workspace as a feature affecting or influencing the success of a project during…

Protestant ethic: Contributing towards a meaningful workplace ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The article also indicates that the Protestant ethic can indeed contribute towards a meaningful experience whilst performing work-related tasks in workspace. The Protestant work ethic is more than a cultural norm that places a positive moral value on doing a good job. Based on a belief that work has intrinsic value for its own ...

Got Web 2.0? A Review of Web 2.0 Tools for the Information Systems Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Sendall, Patricia; Ceccucci, Wendy; Peslak, Alan R.

2010-01-01

This paper discusses the importance of incorporating Web 2.0 technologies across the Information Systems (IS) curriculum. The Web 2.0 paradigm is not new; although the term itself was coined in 2004 by Dale Dougherty of O'Reilly Media, Inc., (Anderson, 2007) the concept of a collaborative workspace was the original vision of Tim Berners-Lee, the…

Improvements for energy conservation at the Coeur d'Alene Nursery

Science.gov (United States)

Aram Eramian

2009-01-01

In 2002, the USDA Forest Service Coeur d'Alene Nursery in Idaho began to evaluate ways to reduce energy consumption in lighting, refrigeration, and heating and cooling of facility workspace. The primary factor leading up to this was the inefficiency of the nursery's Freon(R)-based refrigeration system. Energy costs and maintenance of the system were becoming...

SQL and Multidimensional Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela MUNTEAN

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Using SQL you can manipulate multidimensional data and extract that data into a relational table. There are many PL/SQL packages that you can use directly in SQL*Plus or indirectly in Analytic Workspace Manager and OLAP Worksheet. In this article I discussed about some methods that you can use for manipulating and extracting multidimensional data.

DESIGN REVIEW OF CAD MODELS USING A NUI LEAP MOTION SENSOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GÎRBACIA Florin

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Natural User Interfaces (NUI is a relatively new area of research that aims to develop humancomputer interfaces, natural and intuitive, using voice commands, hand movements and gesture recognition, similar to communication between people which also implies body language and gestures. In this paper is presented a natural designed workspace which acquires the user's motion using a Leap Motion sensor and visualizes the CAD models using a CAVE-like 3D visualisation system. The user can modify complex CAD models using bimanual gesture commands in a 3D virtual environment. The developed bimanual gestures for rotate, pan, zoom and explode are presented. From the conducted experiments is established that Leap Motion NUI sensor provides an intuitive tool for design review of CAD models, performed even by users with no experience in CAD systems and virtual environments.

National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank: A standard based biospecimen and clinical data resource to enhance translational research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valdivieso Federico A

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Advances in translational research have led to the need for well characterized biospecimens for research. The National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank is an initiative which collects annotated datasets relevant to human mesothelioma to develop an enterprising biospecimen resource to fulfill researchers' need. Methods The National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank architecture is based on three major components: (a common data elements (based on College of American Pathologists protocol and National North American Association of Central Cancer Registries standards, (b clinical and epidemiologic data annotation, and (c data query tools. These tools work interoperably to standardize the entire process of annotation. The National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank tool is based upon the caTISSUE Clinical Annotation Engine, developed by the University of Pittsburgh in cooperation with the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid™ (caBIG™, see http://cabig.nci.nih.gov. This application provides a web-based system for annotating, importing and searching mesothelioma cases. The underlying information model is constructed utilizing Unified Modeling Language class diagrams, hierarchical relationships and Enterprise Architect software. Result The database provides researchers real-time access to richly annotated specimens and integral information related to mesothelioma. The data disclosed is tightly regulated depending upon users' authorization and depending on the participating institute that is amenable to the local Institutional Review Board and regulation committee reviews. Conclusion The National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank currently has over 600 annotated cases available for researchers that include paraffin embedded tissues, tissue microarrays, serum and genomic DNA. The National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank is a virtual biospecimen registry with robust translational biomedical informatics support to facilitate basic science, clinical, and translational

Gamification systems and their integration in organizations

OpenAIRE

Rýdl, Vojtěch

2013-01-01

Main topic of this thesis are gamificaton system and their implementation in organizations. The first chapter describes theoretic part of gamification. Second addresses options of using game elements in workspace and approaches to designing a gamification system. In the third part there is comparison of gamification platforms. The last chapter describes the design of the orignal gamification system for web application.

Kinematic synthesis of a new 3D printing solution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giberti Hermes

2016-01-01

The object of this article is the kinematic synthesis of a 5Dofs robot, based on two PKM machines, for additive manufacturing in order to compliant with the requirements of this new technology. Robot kinematics have been optimized by genetic algorithm in order to cover the required workspace and the design of the robot and outline of the control system are also given.

ISAM newsletter. No. 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres, Carlos

1999-04-01

This newsletter summarises the progress made by its three Working Groups (Scenario Generation and Justification; Modelling and Data; and Confidence Building), three Safety Case Groups (Vault; Radon-type facility; and Borehole Safety Case Groups) and ISAM Virtual Workspace Group during the second RCM along with plans for future work. The document also provides a list of currently available ISAM documents

Concept Design and Analysis of a Novel Steamer-Filling Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enhong Xing

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Steamer-filling operation is a crucially important process in the liquor-making process, directly related to liquor yield and liquor quality. But so far, this process is still dominated by manual operation. In view of working environment and labor shortages in this industry, a novel exclusive steamer-filling robot is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the steamer-filling operation process is described, and the structure composition and function realization of the robot are particularly introduced. Secondly, the kinematics problems in terms of position analysis and workspace of the robot are analyzed in detail. Thirdly, experimental analyses are made to prove the validity and efficiency of the robot system. Finally, some conclusions and the future developing direction are prescribed.

Process innovation laboratory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Charles

2007-01-01

to create a new methodology for developing and exploring process models and applications. The paper outlines the process innovation laboratory as a new approach to BPI. The process innovation laboratory is a comprehensive framework and a collaborative workspace for experimenting with process models....... The process innovation laboratory facilitates innovation by using an integrated action learning approach to process modelling in a controlled environment. The study is based on design science and the paper also discusses the implications to EIS research and practice......Most organizations today are required not only to operate effective business processes but also to allow for changing business conditions at an increasing rate. Today nearly every business relies on their enterprise information systems (EIS) for process integration and future generations of EIS...

Image Based Solution to Occlusion Problem for Multiple Robots Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taj Mohammad Khan

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In machine vision, occlusions problem is always a challenging issue in image based mapping and navigation tasks. This paper presents a multiple view vision based algorithm for the development of occlusion-free map of the indoor environment. The map is assumed to be utilized by the mobile robots within the workspace. It has wide range of applications, including mobile robot path planning and navigation, access control in restricted areas, and surveillance systems. We used wall mounted fixed camera system. After intensity adjustment and background subtraction of the synchronously captured images, the image registration was performed. We applied our algorithm on the registered images to resolve the occlusion problem. This technique works well even in the existence of total occlusion for a longer period.

Design and Programming for Cable-Driven Parallel Robots in the German Pavilion at the EXPO 2015

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philipp Tempel

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In the German Pavilion at the EXPO 2015, two large cable-driven parallel robots are flying over the heads of the visitors representing two bees flying over Germany and displaying everyday life in Germany. Each robot consists of a mobile platform and eight cables suspended by winches and follows a desired trajectory, which needs to be computed in advance taking technical limitations, safety considerations and visual aspects into account. In this paper, a path planning software is presented, which includes the design process from developing a robot design and workspace estimation via planning complex trajectories considering technical limitations through to exporting a complete show. For a test trajectory, simulation results are given, which display the relevant trajectories and cable force distributions.

Assessment of a cooperative workstation.

Science.gov (United States)

Beuscart, R J; Molenda, S; Souf, N; Foucher, C; Beuscart-Zephir, M C

1996-01-01

Groupware and new Information Technologies have now made it possible for people in different places to work together in synchronous cooperation. Very often, designers of this new type of software are not provided with a model of the common workspace, which is prejudicial to software development and its acceptance by potential users. The authors take the example of a task of medical co-diagnosis, using a multi-media communication workstation. Synchronous cooperative work is made possible by using local ETHERNET or public ISDN Networks. A detailed ergonomic task analysis studies the cognitive functioning of the physicians involved, compares their behaviour in the normal and the mediatized situations, and leads to an interpretation of the likely causes for success or failure of CSCW tools.

Nanorobot architecture for medical target identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cavalcanti, Adriano; Shirinzadeh, Bijan; Freita, Robert A Jr; Hogg, Tad

2008-01-01

This work has an innovative approach for the development of nanorobots with sensors for medicine. The nanorobots operate in a virtual environment comparing random, thermal and chemical control techniques. The nanorobot architecture model has nanobioelectronics as the basis for manufacturing integrated system devices with embedded nanobiosensors and actuators, which facilitates its application for medical target identification and drug delivery. The nanorobot interaction with the described workspace shows how time actuation is improved based on sensor capabilities. Therefore, our work addresses the control and the architecture design for developing practical molecular machines. Advances in nanotechnology are enabling manufacturing nanosensors and actuators through nanobioelectronics and biologically inspired devices. Analysis of integrated system modeling is one important aspect for supporting nanotechnology in the fast development towards one of the most challenging new fields of science: molecular machines. The use of 3D simulation can provide interactive tools for addressing nanorobot choices on sensing, hardware architecture design, manufacturing approaches, and control methodology investigation

Using an integrative mock-up simulation approach for evidence-based evaluation of operating room design prototypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayramzadeh, Sara; Joseph, Anjali; Allison, David; Shultz, Jonas; Abernathy, James

2018-07-01

This paper describes the process and tools developed as part of a multidisciplinary collaborative simulation-based approach for iterative design and evaluation of operating room (OR) prototypes. Full-scale physical mock-ups of healthcare spaces offer an opportunity to actively communicate with and to engage multidisciplinary stakeholders in the design process. While mock-ups are increasingly being used in healthcare facility design projects, they are rarely evaluated in a manner to support active user feedback and engagement. Researchers and architecture students worked closely with clinicians and architects to develop OR design prototypes and engaged clinical end-users in simulated scenarios. An evaluation toolkit was developed to compare design prototypes. The mock-up evaluation helped the team make key decisions about room size, location of OR table, intra-room zoning, and doors location. Structured simulation based mock-up evaluations conducted in the design process can help stakeholders visualize their future workspace and provide active feedback. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nanorobot architecture for medical target identification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cavalcanti, Adriano [CAN Center for Automation in Nanobiotech, Melbourne VIC 3168 (Australia); Shirinzadeh, Bijan [Robotics and Mechatronics Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne VIC 3800 (Australia); Freita, Robert A Jr [Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, Pilot Hill, CA 95664 (United States); Hogg, Tad [Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (United States)

2008-01-09

This work has an innovative approach for the development of nanorobots with sensors for medicine. The nanorobots operate in a virtual environment comparing random, thermal and chemical control techniques. The nanorobot architecture model has nanobioelectronics as the basis for manufacturing integrated system devices with embedded nanobiosensors and actuators, which facilitates its application for medical target identification and drug delivery. The nanorobot interaction with the described workspace shows how time actuation is improved based on sensor capabilities. Therefore, our work addresses the control and the architecture design for developing practical molecular machines. Advances in nanotechnology are enabling manufacturing nanosensors and actuators through nanobioelectronics and biologically inspired devices. Analysis of integrated system modeling is one important aspect for supporting nanotechnology in the fast development towards one of the most challenging new fields of science: molecular machines. The use of 3D simulation can provide interactive tools for addressing nanorobot choices on sensing, hardware architecture design, manufacturing approaches, and control methodology investigation.

Complex mixtures in industrial workspaces: lessons for indoor air quality evaluations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lippy, B E; Turner, R W

1991-11-01

Acceptable occupational exposure levels for hundreds of airborne concentrations of dusts, vapors, fumes, and gases have been set by consensus organizations and regulatory bodies for decades. These levels have established tremendous precedent and are tempting reference values in the relatively new field of indoor air quality evaluations where validated criteria are greatly needed. The American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has been the most visible and productive group setting these guidelines for industrial exposure. The ACGIH Chemical Substances Committee has published an annual list of threshold limit values (TLVs) for more than 40 years. Currently the list covers more than 400 substances. In 1989, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published updated permissible exposure limits (PELs) for approximately 600 substances. Most PELs before this update were adopted from the 1968 ACGIH list of TLVs and consensus standards of the American Standards Association. This OSHA update has resulted in reductions of 212 PELs and the addition of 164 new levels. The magnitude of the problem of protecting workers can be seen by the small fraction that the OSHA PELs represent of the more than 60,000 entries in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances. None of these levels, whether guidelines or regulatory requirements, are established based on any possible synergistic effect with other chemicals. The only guidance given by the ACGIH for synergistic effects is that such cases must be determined individually. Clearly, there are major drawbacks in using occupational standards and guidelines for evaluating the health effects of chemical agents that can be found in office settings, often in concentrations orders of magnitude less than what is routinely measured in the workplace. These guidelines are even less valuable when the concern is the complex mixing of chemicals in nonoccupational environments.

Object as a model of intelligent robot in the virtual workspace

Science.gov (United States)

Foit, K.; Gwiazda, A.; Banas, W.; Sekala, A.; Hryniewicz, P.

2015-11-01

The contemporary industry requires that every element of a production line will fit into the global schema, which is connected with the global structure of business. There is the need to find the practical and effective ways of the design and management of the production process. The term “effective” should be understood in a manner that there exists a method, which allows building a system of nodes and relations in order to describe the role of the particular machine in the production process. Among all the machines involved in the manufacturing process, industrial robots are the most complex ones. This complexity is reflected in the realization of elaborated tasks, involving handling, transporting or orienting the objects in a work space, and even performing simple machining processes, such as deburring, grinding, painting, applying adhesives and sealants etc. The robot also performs some activities connected with automatic tool changing and operating the equipment mounted on the wrist of the robot. Because of having the programmable control system, the robot also performs additional activities connected with sensors, vision systems, operating the storages of manipulated objects, tools or grippers, measuring stands, etc. For this reason the description of the robot as a part of production system should take into account the specific nature of this machine: the robot is a substitute of a worker, who performs his tasks in a particular environment. In this case, the model should be able to characterize the essence of "employment" in the sufficient way. One of the possible approaches to this problem is to treat the robot as an object, in the sense often used in computer science. This allows both: to describe certain operations performed on the object, as well as describing the operations performed by the object. This paper focuses mainly on the definition of the object as the model of the robot. This model is confronted with the other possible descriptions. The results can be further used during designing of the complete manufacturing system, which takes into account all the involved machines and has the form of an object-oriented model.

Distributed Virtual Workspace for Enhancing Communication within the Construction Industry - DIVERCITY

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarshar, M.; Christiansson, Per Lennart; Svidt, Kjeld

should read this? This handbook has been written specifically for construction project leaders and business managers. What can DIVERCITY achieve? n Improved communications with the client; n Design of better facilities; n Improved collaboration and communication across the supply chain.......DIVERCITY allows users to visualise building projects and run computer simulations of various aspects of their performance during the briefing, design and construction phases. In particular, the software enables collaborative working between groups of project stakeholders in separate locations. Who...

Object as a model of intelligent robot in the virtual workspace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foit, K; Gwiazda, A; Banas, W; Sekala, A; Hryniewicz, P

2015-01-01

The contemporary industry requires that every element of a production line will fit into the global schema, which is connected with the global structure of business. There is the need to find the practical and effective ways of the design and management of the production process. The term “effective” should be understood in a manner that there exists a method, which allows building a system of nodes and relations in order to describe the role of the particular machine in the production process. Among all the machines involved in the manufacturing process, industrial robots are the most complex ones. This complexity is reflected in the realization of elaborated tasks, involving handling, transporting or orienting the objects in a work space, and even performing simple machining processes, such as deburring, grinding, painting, applying adhesives and sealants etc. The robot also performs some activities connected with automatic tool changing and operating the equipment mounted on the wrist of the robot. Because of having the programmable control system, the robot also performs additional activities connected with sensors, vision systems, operating the storages of manipulated objects, tools or grippers, measuring stands, etc. For this reason the description of the robot as a part of production system should take into account the specific nature of this machine: the robot is a substitute of a worker, who performs his tasks in a particular environment. In this case, the model should be able to characterize the essence of 'employment' in the sufficient way. One of the possible approaches to this problem is to treat the robot as an object, in the sense often used in computer science. This allows both: to describe certain operations performed on the object, as well as describing the operations performed by the object. This paper focuses mainly on the definition of the object as the model of the robot. This model is confronted with the other possible descriptions. The results can be further used during designing of the complete manufacturing system, which takes into account all the involved machines and has the form of an object-oriented model. (paper)

Complex mixtures in industrial workspaces: lessons for indoor air quality evaluations.

OpenAIRE

Lippy, B E; Turner, R W

1991-01-01

Acceptable occupational exposure levels for hundreds of airborne concentrations of dusts, vapors, fumes, and gases have been set by consensus organizations and regulatory bodies for decades. These levels have established tremendous precedent and are tempting reference values in the relatively new field of indoor air quality evaluations where validated criteria are greatly needed. The American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has been the most visible and productive group...

Mobile viewer system for virtual 3D space using infrared LED point markers and camera

Science.gov (United States)

Sakamoto, Kunio; Taneji, Shoto

2006-09-01

The authors have developed a 3D workspace system using collaborative imaging devices. A stereoscopic display enables this system to project 3D information. In this paper, we describe the position detecting system for a see-through 3D viewer. A 3D display system is useful technology for virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality. We have researched spatial imaging and interaction system. We have ever proposed 3D displays using the slit as a parallax barrier, the lenticular screen and the holographic optical elements(HOEs) for displaying active image 1)2)3)4). The purpose of this paper is to propose the interactive system using these 3D imaging technologies. The observer can view virtual images in the real world when the user watches the screen of a see-through 3D viewer. The goal of our research is to build the display system as follows; when users see the real world through the mobile viewer, the display system gives users virtual 3D images, which is floating in the air, and the observers can touch these floating images and interact them such that kids can make play clay. The key technologies of this system are the position recognition system and the spatial imaging display. The 3D images are presented by the improved parallax barrier 3D display. Here the authors discuss the measuring method of the mobile viewer using infrared LED point markers and a camera in the 3D workspace (augmented reality world). The authors show the geometric analysis of the proposed measuring method, which is the simplest method using a single camera not the stereo camera, and the results of our viewer system.

The EU-ADR Web Platform: delivering advanced pharmacovigilance tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, José Luis; Lopes, Pedro; Nunes, Tiago; Campos, David; Boyer, Scott; Ahlberg, Ernst; van Mulligen, Erik M; Kors, Jan A; Singh, Bharat; Furlong, Laura I; Sanz, Ferran; Bauer-Mehren, Anna; Carrascosa, Maria C; Mestres, Jordi; Avillach, Paul; Diallo, Gayo; Díaz Acedo, Carlos; van der Lei, Johan

2013-05-01

Pharmacovigilance methods have advanced greatly during the last decades, making post-market drug assessment an essential drug evaluation component. These methods mainly rely on the use of spontaneous reporting systems and health information databases to collect expertise from huge amounts of real-world reports. The EU-ADR Web Platform was built to further facilitate accessing, monitoring and exploring these data, enabling an in-depth analysis of adverse drug reactions risks. The EU-ADR Web Platform exploits the wealth of data collected within a large-scale European initiative, the EU-ADR project. Millions of electronic health records, provided by national health agencies, are mined for specific drug events, which are correlated with literature, protein and pathway data, resulting in a rich drug-event dataset. Next, advanced distributed computing methods are tailored to coordinate the execution of data-mining and statistical analysis tasks. This permits obtaining a ranked drug-event list, removing spurious entries and highlighting relationships with high risk potential. The EU-ADR Web Platform is an open workspace for the integrated analysis of pharmacovigilance datasets. Using this software, researchers can access a variety of tools provided by distinct partners in a single centralized environment. Besides performing standalone drug-event assessments, they can also control the pipeline for an improved batch analysis of custom datasets. Drug-event pairs can be substantiated and statistically analysed within the platform's innovative working environment. A pioneering workspace that helps in explaining the biological path of adverse drug reactions was developed within the EU-ADR project consortium. This tool, targeted at the pharmacovigilance community, is available online at https://bioinformatics.ua.pt/euadr/. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Accelerating cancer systems biology research through Semantic Web technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhihui; Sagotsky, Jonathan; Taylor, Thomas; Shironoshita, Patrick; Deisboeck, Thomas S

2013-01-01

Cancer systems biology is an interdisciplinary, rapidly expanding research field in which collaborations are a critical means to advance the field. Yet the prevalent database technologies often isolate data rather than making it easily accessible. The Semantic Web has the potential to help facilitate web-based collaborative cancer research by presenting data in a manner that is self-descriptive, human and machine readable, and easily sharable. We have created a semantically linked online Digital Model Repository (DMR) for storing, managing, executing, annotating, and sharing computational cancer models. Within the DMR, distributed, multidisciplinary, and inter-organizational teams can collaborate on projects, without forfeiting intellectual property. This is achieved by the introduction of a new stakeholder to the collaboration workflow, the institutional licensing officer, part of the Technology Transfer Office. Furthermore, the DMR has achieved silver level compatibility with the National Cancer Institute's caBIG, so users can interact with the DMR not only through a web browser but also through a semantically annotated and secure web service. We also discuss the technology behind the DMR leveraging the Semantic Web, ontologies, and grid computing to provide secure inter-institutional collaboration on cancer modeling projects, online grid-based execution of shared models, and the collaboration workflow protecting researchers' intellectual property. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Design and implementation of the CEBAF element database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larrieu, T.; Joyce, M.; Slominski, C.

2012-01-01

With the inauguration of the CEBAF Element Database (CED) in Fall 2010, Jefferson Lab computer scientists have taken a step toward the eventual goal of a model-driven accelerator. Once fully populated, the database will be the primary repository of information used for everything from generating lattice decks to booting control computers to building controls screens. A requirement influencing the CED design is that it provide access to not only present, but also future and past configurations of the accelerator. To accomplish this, an introspective database schema was designed that allows new elements, types, and properties to be defined on-the-fly with no changes to table structure. Used in conjunction with Oracle Workspace Manager, it allows users to query data from any time in the database history with the same tools used to query the present configuration. Users can also check-out workspaces to use as staging areas for upcoming machine configurations. All Access to the CED is through a well-documented Application Programming Interface (API) that is translated automatically from original C++ source code into native libraries for scripting languages such as perl, php, and TCL making access to the CED easy and ubiquitous. (authors)

Office layout affecting privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality in LEED-certified buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Young S. [School of Planning, Design, and Construction, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823 (United States)

2010-07-15

The study investigated differences in worker satisfaction and perceived job performance regarding privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality issues in personal workspaces between five office types in LEED-certified buildings. It finds that people in high cubicles showed significantly lower satisfaction and job performance in relation to visual privacy and interaction with co-workers than both enclosed private and enclosed shared office types. They also showed significantly lower satisfaction with noise level and sound privacy and lower job performance perceived by acoustic quality than enclosed private, enclosed shared, and bullpen types. The bullpen type, open-plan office without partitions, presented significantly higher satisfaction with noise level and higher performance perceived by acoustic quality than both high and low cubicles. Considering the bullpen type also showed higher satisfaction with sound privacy than the high cubicle type, high partitions don't seem to contribute to creating workspaces where people can have a secure conversation. The bullpen type didn't show any difference from the enclosed shared type in all privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality questions, indicating it may be a good option for a small office space instead of the enclosed shared type. (author)

Dealing with Magnetic Disturbances in Human Motion Capture: A Survey of Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriele Ligorio

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Magnetic-Inertial Measurement Units (MIMUs based on microelectromechanical (MEMS technologies are widespread in contexts such as human motion tracking. Although they present several advantages (lightweight, size, cost, their orientation estimation accuracy might be poor. Indoor magnetic disturbances represent one of the limiting factors for their accuracy, and, therefore, a variety of work was done to characterize and compensate them. In this paper, the main compensation strategies included within Kalman-based orientation estimators are surveyed and classified according to which degrees of freedom are affected by the magnetic data and to the magnetic disturbance rejection methods implemented. By selecting a representative method from each category, four algorithms were obtained and compared in two different magnetic environments: (1 small workspace with an active magnetic source; (2 large workspace without active magnetic sources. A wrist-worn MIMU was used to acquire data from a healthy subject, whereas a stereophotogrammetric system was adopted to obtain ground-truth data. The results suggested that the model-based approaches represent the best compromise between the two testbeds. This is particularly true when the magnetic data are prevented to affect the estimation of the angles with respect to the vertical direction.

Robot-assisted intracerebral hemorrhage evacuation: an experimental evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Burgner, Jessica; Swaney, Philip J.; Lathrop, Ray A.; Weaver, Kyle D.; Webster, Robert J.

2013-03-01

We present a novel robotic approach for the rapid, minimally invasive treatment of Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH), in which a hematoma or blood clot arises in the brain parenchyma. We present a custom image-guided robot system that delivers a steerable cannula into the lesion and aspirates it from the inside. The steerable cannula consists of an initial straight tube delivered in a manner similar to image-guided biopsy (and which uses a commercial image guidance system), followed by the sequential deployment of multiple individual precurved elastic tubes. Rather than deploying the tubes simultaneously, as has been done in nearly all prior studies, we deploy the tubes one at a time, using a compilation of their individual workspaces to reach desired points inside the lesion. This represents a new paradigm in active cannula research, defining a novel procedure-planning problem. A design that solves this problem can potentially save many lives by enabling brain decompression both more rapidly and less invasively than is possible through the traditional open surgery approach. Experimental results include a comparison of the simulated and actual workspaces of the prototype robot, and an accuracy evaluation of the system.

There and back again: putting the vectorial movement planning hypothesis to a critical test.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobak, Eva-Maria; Cardoso de Oliveira, Simone

2014-01-01

Based on psychophysical evidence about how learning of visuomotor transformation generalizes, it has been suggested that movements are planned on the basis of movement direction and magnitude, i.e., the vector connecting movement origin and targets. This notion is also known under the term "vectorial planning hypothesis". Previous psychophysical studies, however, have included separate areas of the workspace for training movements and testing the learning. This study eliminates this confounding factor by investigating the transfer of learning from forward to backward movements in a center-out-and-back task, in which the workspace for both movements is completely identical. Visual feedback allowed for learning only during movements towards the target (forward movements) and not while moving back to the origin (backward movements). When subjects learned the visuomotor rotation in forward movements, initial directional errors in backward movements also decreased to some degree. This learning effect in backward movements occurred predominantly when backward movements featured the same movement directions as the ones trained in forward movements (i.e., when opposite targets were presented). This suggests that learning was transferred in a direction specific way, supporting the notion that movement direction is the most prominent parameter used for motor planning.

BRGLM, Interactive Linear Regression Analysis by Least Square Fit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ringland, J.T.; Bohrer, R.E.; Sherman, M.E.

1985-01-01

1 - Description of program or function: BRGLM is an interactive program written to fit general linear regression models by least squares and to provide a variety of statistical diagnostic information about the fit. Stepwise and all-subsets regression can be carried out also. There are facilities for interactive data management (e.g. setting missing value flags, data transformations) and tools for constructing design matrices for the more commonly-used models such as factorials, cubic Splines, and auto-regressions. 2 - Method of solution: The least squares computations are based on the orthogonal (QR) decomposition of the design matrix obtained using the modified Gram-Schmidt algorithm. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The current release of BRGLM allows maxima of 1000 observations, 99 variables, and 3000 words of main memory workspace. For a problem with N observations and P variables, the number of words of main memory storage required is MAX(N*(P+6), N*P+P*P+3*N, and 3*P*P+6*N). Any linear model may be fit although the in-memory workspace will have to be increased for larger problems

Experimental Investigation on the Detection of Obstacles by a Mobile Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoltan-Iosif Korka

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an experimental investigation regarding the detection of obstacles in the workspace of a mobile robot. The traveling time of mobile robot on wheels, while moving on four with same length routes but with different shapes, was investigated. In this context, the average time to avoid an obstacle was determined, concluding with regard to the sensorial system of the robot.

Human-automation collaboration in manufacturing: identifying key implementation factors

OpenAIRE

Charalambous, George; Fletcher, Sarah; Webb, Philip

2013-01-01

Human-automation collaboration refers to the concept of human operators and intelligent automation working together interactively within the same workspace without conventional physical separation. This concept has commanded significant attention in manufacturing because of the potential applications, such as the installation of large sub-assemblies. However, the key human factors relevant to human-automation collaboration have not yet been fully investigated. To maximise effective implement...

Establishment of a Hub for the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Online Monitoring Community

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lybeck, Nancy J.; Tawfik, Magdy S.; Pham, Binh T.

2011-01-01

Implementation of online monitoring and prognostics in existing U.S. nuclear power plants will involve coordinating the efforts of national laboratories, utilities, universities, and private companies. Internet-based collaborative work environments provide necessary communication tools to facilitate interaction between geographically diverse participants. Available technologies were considered, and a collaborative workspace was established at INL as a hub for the light water reactor sustainability online monitoring community.

Building OLAP Catalog

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela MUNTEAN

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The Oracle OLAP option of Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition provides advanced analytic features to help us to summarize, analyze and calculate data faster than standard SQL. In this article I discussed about the CWM2, a set of PL/SQL packages which are using to create the OLAP Catalog metadata for an analytic workspace. BI Beans applications query OLAP Catalog metadata.

GetData Digitizing Program Code: Description, Testing, Training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taova, S.

2013-01-01

90 percents of compilation in our center is obtained by data digitizing. So we are rather interested in the development of different techniques of data digitizing. Plots containing a great amount of points and solid lines are most complicated for digitizing. From our point of view including to the Exfor-Digitizer procedures of automatic or semi-automatic digitizing will allow to simplify significantly this process. We managed to test some free available program codes. Program GETDATA Graph Digitizer (www.getdata- graph-digitizer.com) looks more suitable for our purposes. GetData Graph Digitizer is a program for digitizing graphs, plots and maps. Main features of GetData Graph Digitizer are: - supported graphics formats are TIFF, JPEG, BMP and PCX; - two algorithms for automatic digitizing; - convenient manual digitizing; - reorder tool for easy points reordering; - save/open workspace, which allows to save the work and return to it later; - obtained data can be exported to the clipboard; - export to the formats: TXT (text file), XLS (MS Excel), XML, DXF (AutoCAD) and EPS (PostScript). GetData Graph Digitizer includes two algorithms for automatic digitizing. Auto trace lines: This method is designed to digitize solid lines. Choose the starting point, and the program will trace the line, stopping at it's end. To trace the line use Operations =>Auto trace lines menu or context menu ('Auto trace lines' item). To choose starting point click left mouse button, or click right mouse button to additionally choose direction for line tracing. Digitize area: The second way is to set digitizing area. This method works for any type of lines, including dashed lines. Data points are set at the intersection of grid with the line. You can choose the type of grid (X grid or Y grid), and set the distance between grid lines. You can also make the grid be shifted in such a way, that it will pass through a specific X (or Y) value. To digitize area use Operations →Digitize area menu

Default Mode Dynamics for Global Functional Integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Vatansever, Deniz; Menon, David K; Manktelow, Anne E; Sahakian, Barbara J; Stamatakis, Emmanuel A

2015-11-18

The default mode network (DMN) has been traditionally assumed to hinder behavioral performance in externally focused, goal-directed paradigms and to provide no active contribution to human cognition. However, recent evidence suggests greater DMN activity in an array of tasks, especially those that involve self-referential and memory-based processing. Although data that robustly demonstrate a comprehensive functional role for DMN remains relatively scarce, the global workspace framework, which implicates the DMN in global information integration for conscious processing, can potentially provide an explanation for the broad range of higher-order paradigms that report DMN involvement. We used graph theoretical measures to assess the contribution of the DMN to global functional connectivity dynamics in 22 healthy volunteers during an fMRI-based n-back working-memory paradigm with parametric increases in difficulty. Our predominant finding is that brain modularity decreases with greater task demands, thus adapting a more global workspace configuration, in direct relation to increases in reaction times to correct responses. Flexible default mode regions dynamically switch community memberships and display significant changes in their nodal participation coefficient and strength, which may reflect the observed whole-brain changes in functional connectivity architecture. These findings have important implications for our understanding of healthy brain function, as they suggest a central role for the DMN in higher cognitive processing. The default mode network (DMN) has been shown to increase its activity during the absence of external stimulation, and hence was historically assumed to disengage during goal-directed tasks. Recent evidence, however, implicates the DMN in self-referential and memory-based processing. We provide robust evidence for this network's active contribution to working memory by revealing dynamic reconfiguration in its interactions with other networks

Development of a Remote Handling Robot for the Maintenance of an ITER-Like D-Shaped Vessel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peihua Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Robotic operation is one of the major challenges in the remote maintenance of ITER vacuum vessel (VV and future fusion reactors as inner operations of Tokamak have to be done by robots due to the internal adverse conditions. This paper introduces a novel remote handling robot (RHR for the maintenance of ITER-like D-shaped vessel. The modular designed RHR, which is an important part of the remote handling system for ITER, consists of three parts: an omnidirectional transfer vehicle (OTV, a planar articulated arm (PAA, and an articulated teleoperated manipulator (ATM. The task of RHR is to carry processing tools, such as the viewing system, leakage detector, and electric screwdriver, to inspect and maintain the components installed inside the D-shaped vessel. The kinematics of the OTV, as well as the kinematic analyses of the PAA and ATM, is studied in this paper. Because of its special length and heavy payload, the dynamics of the PAA is also investigated through a dynamic simulation system based on robot technology middleware (RTM. The results of the path planning, workspace simulations, and dynamic simulation indicate that the RHR has good mobility together with satisfying kinematic and dynamic performances and can well accomplish its maintenance tasks in the ITER-like D-shaped vessel.

Distributed user interfaces for clinical ubiquitous computing applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Bång, Magnus; Larsson, Anders; Berglund, Erik; Eriksson, Henrik

2005-08-01

Ubiquitous computing with multiple interaction devices requires new interface models that support user-specific modifications to applications and facilitate the fast development of active workspaces. We have developed NOSTOS, a computer-augmented work environment for clinical personnel to explore new user interface paradigms for ubiquitous computing. NOSTOS uses several devices such as digital pens, an active desk, and walk-up displays that allow the system to track documents and activities in the workplace. We present the distributed user interface (DUI) model that allows standalone applications to distribute their user interface components to several devices dynamically at run-time. This mechanism permit clinicians to develop their own user interfaces and forms to clinical information systems to match their specific needs. We discuss the underlying technical concepts of DUIs and show how service discovery, component distribution, events and layout management are dealt with in the NOSTOS system. Our results suggest that DUIs--and similar network-based user interfaces--will be a prerequisite of future mobile user interfaces and essential to develop clinical multi-device environments.

Haptic interface of the KAIST-Ewha colonoscopy simulator II.

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Hyun Soo; Kim, Woo Seok; Ahn, Woojin; Lee, Doo Yong; Yi, Sun Young

2008-11-01

This paper presents an improved haptic interface for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Ewha Colonoscopy Simulator II. The haptic interface enables the distal portion of the colonoscope to be freely bent while guaranteeing sufficient workspace and reflective forces for colonoscopy simulation. Its force-torque sensor measures the profiles of the user. Manipulation of the colonoscope tip is monitored by four deflection sensors and triggers computations to render accurate graphic images corresponding to the rotation of the angle knob. Tack sensors are attached to the valve-actuation buttons of the colonoscope to simulate air injection or suction as well as the corresponding deformation of the colon. A survey study for face validation was conducted, and the result shows that the developed haptic interface provides realistic haptic feedback for colonoscopy simulations.

A multi-DOF robotic exoskeleton interface for hand motion assistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Iqbal, Jamshed; Tsagarakis, Nikos G; Caldwell, Darwin G

2011-01-01

This paper outlines the design and development of a robotic exoskeleton based rehabilitation system. A portable direct-driven optimized hand exoskeleton system has been proposed. The optimization procedure primarily based on matching the exoskeleton and finger workspaces guided the system design. The selection of actuators for the proposed system has emerged as a result of experiments with users of different hand sizes. Using commercial sensors, various hand parameters, e.g. maximum and average force levels have been measured. The results of these experiments have been mapped directly to the mechanical design of the system. An under-actuated optimum mechanism has been analysed followed by the design and realization of the first prototype. The system provides both position and force feedback sensory information which can improve the outcomes of a professional rehabilitation exercise.

Safety issues in robotic handling of nuclear weapon parts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drotning, W.; Wapman, W.; Fahrenholtz, J.

1993-01-01

Robotic systems are being developed by the Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center at Sandia National Laboratories to perform automated handling tasks with radioactive weapon parts. These systems will reduce the occupational radiation exposure to workers by automating operations that are currently performed manually. The robotic systems at Sandia incorporate several levels of mechanical, electrical, and software safety for handling hazardous materials. For example, tooling used by the robot to handle radioactive parts has been designed with mechanical features that allow the robot to release its payload only at designated locations in the robotic workspace. In addition, software processes check for expected and unexpected situations throughout the operations. Incorporation of features such as these provides multiple levels of safety for handling hazardous or valuable payloads with automated intelligent systems

Robot-Arm Dynamic Control by Computer

Science.gov (United States)

Bejczy, Antal K.; Tarn, Tzyh J.; Chen, Yilong J.

1987-01-01

Feedforward and feedback schemes linearize responses to control inputs. Method for control of robot arm based on computed nonlinear feedback and state tranformations to linearize system and decouple robot end-effector motions along each of cartesian axes augmented with optimal scheme for correction of errors in workspace. Major new feature of control method is: optimal error-correction loop directly operates on task level and not on joint-servocontrol level.

Internet-centric collaborative design in a distributed environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyun; Kim, Hyoung Sun; Do, Nam Chul; Lee, Jae Yeol; Lee, Joo Haeng; Myong, Jae Hyong

2001-01-01

Recently, advanced information technologies including internet-related technology and distributed object technology have opened new possibilities for collaborative designs. In this paper, we discuss computer supports for collaborative design in a distributed environment. The proposed system is the internet-centric system composed of an engineering framework, collaborative virtual workspace and engineering service. It allows the distributed designers to more efficiently and collaboratively work their engineering tasks throughout the design process

The conscious access hypothesis: Explaining the consciousness

OpenAIRE

Prakash, Ravi

2008-01-01

The phenomenon of conscious awareness or consciousness is complicated but fascinating. Although this concept has intrigued the mankind since antiquity, exploration of consciousness from scientific perspectives is not very old. Among myriad of theories regarding nature, functions and mechanism of consciousness, off late, cognitive theories have received wider acceptance. One of the most exciting hypotheses in recent times has been the ?conscious access hypotheses? based on the ?global workspac...

Aircrew Automated Escape Systems (AAES) In-Service Usage Data Analyses. Volume 2. Papers Presented at the Annual SAFE Symposium (21st), San Antonio, Texas, 5,6,7,8 November 1983.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-11-05

Workspace Incompatibility 3.D. Anthropometric Incompatibility 3.E. Confusion of Controls , Switches, etc. 3.1. Inadvertent Operation 3.K. Personal... Controls , Switches, Etc fK, fHVpo~a lo r%. Misread Inruet s F L. Hyperversta aetiton G~. VIskal Reiss icitots Duo ’to Striucture 0M. Dyttlaelsm H. Task...PARACHUTE______________ a.Parachute Canopy Release___________ " < bAutomatic Parachute Divestment Devices ____ c. 4-line release O .IU. . PAIRCRAFT BUty0

Anthropometry. A Bibliography with Abstracts

Science.gov (United States)

1975-08-01

Statistical data, Biometrics IDENTIFIERS: Crash kinenatic modeling PB-204 186 NTIS Prices: PC$3.0o/MF$U.95 o Mathematical Siaulation of Daisy Track...station, the seg Mat hemat mathemat identifi infeasib six-phas provide dependen reguirem II, and (Author) : The Coc ent to es...improving the workspace design for the air traffic controller and to provide anthropometric baseline data for future biometric and aging studies ot Air

FACTORS INFLUENCING SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE MALAYSIAN WORKPLACE

OpenAIRE

Lee Kum Chee; Mohd Nazari Ismail; Chan Foong Bee

2007-01-01

This study examined the potential risks factors associated with sexually harassing behaviors within the framework of the four-factor model of sexual harassment. The factors examined are unprofessional work environment, skewed gender ratio in the workplace, knowledge of grievance procedure for sexual harassment, sexist attitudes among co-workers, privacy of workspace, physical attractiveness, dress manner of victims, job status, and sex roles. The dependent variable is incidence of sexual hara...

Safe human-robot cooperation in an industrial environment

OpenAIRE

Pedrocchi N.; Vicentini F.; Matteo M.; Tosatti L.M.

2013-01-01

The standard EN ISO10218 is fostering the implementation of hybrid production systems, i.e., production systems characterized by a close relationship among human operators and robots in cooperative tasks. Human‐robot hybrid systems could have a big economic benefit in small and medium sized production, even if this new paradigm introduces mandatory, challenging safety aspects. Among various requirements for collaborative workspaces, safety‐assurance involves two different application layers; ...

A positioning system with no line-of-sight restrictions for cluttered environments

Science.gov (United States)

Prigge, Eric A.

Accurate sensing of vehicle location and attitude is a fundamental requirement in many mobile-robot applications, but is a very challenging problem in the cluttered and unstructured environment of the real world. Many existing indoor positioning systems are limited in workspace and robustness because they require clear lines of sight or do not provide absolute, drift-free measurements. Examples include overhead vision systems, where an unobstructed view must be maintained between robot and camera, and inertial systems, where the measurements drift over time. The research presented in this dissertation provides a new location- and attitude-sensing system designed specifically to meet the challenges of operation in a realistic, cluttered indoor environment, such as that of an office building or warehouse. The system is not limited by line-of-sight restrictions and produces drift-free measurements throughout a three-dimensional operating volume that can span a large building. Accuracy of several centimeters and a few degrees is delivered at 10 Hz, and any number of the small sensor units can be in operation, all providing estimates in a common reference frame. This positioning system is based on extremely-low-frequency magnetic fields, which have excellent characteristics for penetrating line-of-sight obstructions. Beacons located throughout the workspace create the low-level fields. A sensor unit on the mobile robot samples the local magnetic field and processes the measurements to determine its location and attitude. This research overcomes limitations in existing magnetic-based systems. The design of the signal structure, based on pseudorandom codes, enables the use of multiple, distributed L-beacons and greatly expands coverage volume. The development of real-time identification and correction methods mitigates the impact of distortions caused by materials in the environment. A novel solution algorithm combats both challenges, providing increased coverage volume

Dynamic Characterization and Interaction Control of the CBM-Motus Robot for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loredana Zollo

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents dynamic characterization and control of an upper-limb rehabilitation machine aimed at improving robot performance in the interaction with the patient. An integrated approach between mechanics and control is the key issue of the paper for the development of a robotic machine with desirable dynamic properties. Robot inertial and acceleration properties are studied in the workspace via a graphical representation based on ellipses. Robot friction is experimentally retrieved by means of a parametric identification procedure. A current-based impedance control is developed in order to compensate for friction and enhance control performance in the interaction with the patient by means of force feedback, without increasing system inertia. To this end, servo-amplifier motor currents are monitored to provide force feedback in the interaction, thus avoiding the need for force sensors mounted at the robot end-effector. Current-based impedance control is implemented on the robot; experimental results in free space as well as in constrained space are provided.

Modelling aerosol transfer in a ventilated room

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nerisson, Ph.

2009-02-01

When particulate radioactive contamination is likely to become airborne in a ventilated room, assessment of aerosol concentration in every point of this room is important, in order to ensure protection of operators and supervision of workspaces. Thus, a model of aerosol transport and deposition has been developed as part of a project started with IRSN, EDF and IMFT. A simplified Eulerian model, called 'diffusion-inertia model' is used for particle transport. It contains a single transport equation of aerosol concentration. The specific study of deposition on walls has permitted to develop a boundary condition approach, which determines precisely the particle flux towards the wall in the boundary layer, for any deposition regime and surface orientation.The final transport and deposition models retained have been implemented in a CFD code called Code-Saturne. These models have been validated according to literature data in simple geometries and tracing experiments in ventilated rooms, which have been carried out in 30 m 3 and 1500 m 3 laboratory rooms. (author)

Final Project Report

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Workspace

2003-01-01

of the Disappearing Computer to be that of  “Augmenting reality”, where “Augmented reality” meant:  •  Augmented user – positioning, visualising. •  Augmented environment, Panels, tables and site-pack •  Augmented Artifacts - RFID , tagging, tracking •  Augmented communications – efficient exchange and integration......The primary focus of the WORKSPACE project was to augment the working  environment through the development of spatial computing components, initially for  members of the design professions, but with wider applicability to a range of work  domains.     The project interpreted the requirements...... of the above.    The philosophy was to make the computer disappear by both making it large and  embedding it into the environment (e.g. furniture).  The project has successfully achieved its objectives, and has developed a range of  demonstrator prototypes, some of which is in daily use by practitioners within...

Inverse Kinematics for Industrial Robots using Conformal Geometric Algebra

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam L. Kleppe

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper shows how the recently developed formulation of conformal geometric algebra can be used for analytic inverse kinematics of two six-link industrial manipulators with revolute joints. The paper demonstrates that the solution of the inverse kinematics in this framework relies on the intersection of geometric objects like lines, circles, planes and spheres, which provides the developer with valuable geometric intuition about the problem. It is believed that this will be very useful for new robot geometries and other mechanisms like cranes and topside drilling equipment. The paper extends previous results on inverse kinematics using conformal geometric algebra by providing consistent solutions for the joint angles for the different configurations depending on shoulder left or right, elbow up or down, and wrist flipped or not. Moreover, it is shown how to relate the solution to the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters of the robot. The solutions have been successfully implemented and tested extensively over the whole workspace of the manipulators.

Digitized operator evaluation system for main control room of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Yu; Yan Shengyuan; Chen Wenlong

2014-01-01

In order to evaluate the human-machine system matching relation of main control room in nuclear power plant accurately and efficiently, the expression and parameters of operator human body model were analyzed, and the evaluation required function of digital operator was determined. Based on the secondary development technology, the digital operator evaluation body model was developed. It could choose generation, gender, operation posture, single/eyes horizon, and left/right hand up to the domain according to the needs of specific evaluation, it was used to evaluate whether display information can be visible and equipment can be touch, and it also has key evaluation functions such as workspace and character visibility at the same time. The examples show that this method can complete the evaluation work of human-machine matching relation for main control room of nuclear power plant accurately, efficiently and quickly, and achieve the most optimal human-machine coordination relationship. (authors)

Concentric Tube Robot Design and Optimization Based on Task and Anatomical Constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Bergeles, Christos; Gosline, Andrew H.; Vasilyev, Nikolay V.; Codd, Patrick J.; del Nido, Pedro J.; Dupont, Pierre E.

2015-01-01

Concentric tube robots are catheter-sized continuum robots that are well suited for minimally invasive surgery inside confined body cavities. These robots are constructed from sets of pre-curved superelastic tubes and are capable of assuming complex 3D curves. The family of 3D curves that the robot can assume depends on the number, curvatures, lengths and stiffnesses of the tubes in its tube set. The robot design problem involves solving for a tube set that will produce the family of curves necessary to perform a surgical procedure. At a minimum, these curves must enable the robot to smoothly extend into the body and to manipulate tools over the desired surgical workspace while respecting anatomical constraints. This paper introduces an optimization framework that utilizes procedureor patient-specific image-based anatomical models along with surgical workspace requirements to generate robot tube set designs. The algorithm searches for designs that minimize robot length and curvature and for which all paths required for the procedure consist of stable robot configurations. Two mechanics-based kinematic models are used. Initial designs are sought using a model assuming torsional rigidity. These designs are then refined using a torsionally-compliant model. The approach is illustrated with clinically relevant examples from neurosurgery and intracardiac surgery. PMID:26380575

Rapid Evaluation for Position-Dependent Dynamics of a 3-DOF PKM Module

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hai-wei Luo

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Based on the substructure synthesis and modal reduction technique, a computationally efficient elastodynamic model for a fully flexible 3-RPS parallel kinematic machine (PKM tool is proposed, in which the frequency response function (FRF at the end of the tool can be obtained at any given position throughout its workspace. In the proposed elastodynamic model, the whole system is divided into a moving platform subsystem and three identical RPS limb subsystems, in which all joint compliances are included. The spherical joint and the revolute joint are treated as lumped virtual springs with equal stiffness; the platform is treated as a rigid body and the RPS limbs are modelled with modal reduction techniques. With the compatibility conditions at interfaces between the limbs and the platform, an analytical system governing differential equation is derived. Based on the derived model, the position-dependent dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies, mode shapes, and FRFs of the 3-RPS PKM are simulated. The simulation results indicate that the distributions of natural frequencies throughout the workspace are strongly dependant on mechanism's configurations and demonstrate an axial-symmetric tendency. The following finite element analysis and modal tests both validate the analytical results of natural frequencies, mode shapes, and the FRFs.

A Vision-Based Self-Calibration Method for Robotic Visual Inspection Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Shibin; Ren, Yongjie; Zhu, Jigui; Yang, Shourui; Ye, Shenghua

2013-01-01

A vision-based robot self-calibration method is proposed in this paper to evaluate the kinematic parameter errors of a robot using a visual sensor mounted on its end-effector. This approach could be performed in the industrial field without external, expensive apparatus or an elaborate setup. A robot Tool Center Point (TCP) is defined in the structural model of a line-structured laser sensor, and aligned to a reference point fixed in the robot workspace. A mathematical model is established to formulate the misalignment errors with kinematic parameter errors and TCP position errors. Based on the fixed point constraints, the kinematic parameter errors and TCP position errors are identified with an iterative algorithm. Compared to the conventional methods, this proposed method eliminates the need for a robot-based-frame and hand-to-eye calibrations, shortens the error propagation chain, and makes the calibration process more accurate and convenient. A validation experiment is performed on an ABB IRB2400 robot. An optimal configuration on the number and distribution of fixed points in the robot workspace is obtained based on the experimental results. Comparative experiments reveal that there is a significant improvement of the measuring accuracy of the robotic visual inspection system. PMID:24300597

Pantomimes are special gestures which rely on working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolo, A; Cubelli, R; Della Sala, S; Drei, S

2003-12-01

The case of a patient is reported who presented consistently with overt deficits in producing pantomimes in the absence of any other deficits in producing meaningful gestures. This pattern of spared and impaired abilities is difficult to reconcile with the current layout of cognitive models for praxis. This patient also showed clear impairment in a dual-task paradigm, a test taxing the co-ordination aspect of working memory, though performed normally in a series of other neuropsychological measures assessing language, visuo-spatial functions, reasoning function, and executive function. A specific working memory impairment associated with a deficit of pantomiming in the absence of any other disorders in the production of meaningful gestures suggested a way to modify the model to account for the data. Pantomimes are a particular category of gestures, meaningful, yet novel. We posit that by their very nature they call for the intervention of a mechanism to integrate and synthesise perceptual inputs together with information made available from the action semantics (knowledge about objects and functions) and the output lexicon (stored procedural programmes). This processing stage conceived as a temporary workspace where gesture information is actively manipulated, would generate new motor programmes to carry out pantomimes. The model of gesture production is refined to include this workspace.

Costs and benefits of flexible workspaces : work in progress in The Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Voordt, Theo

2004-01-01

The last decade has witnessed the introduction of non‐territorial offices with desk sharing and desk rotation linked to different job functions and working processes. This paper discusses the motives behind the application of these new concepts, potential costs and benefits and data on accommodation

Costs and benefits of flexible workspaces : work in progress in The Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Voordt, Theo

2003-01-01

Due to the rapid progress in information and communication technology, work is becoming more and more independent of time and place. New concepts such as cocon offices (with special attention to both communication and concentration), teleworking, satellite offices, and hotel offices have been

A Method to Determine an Organization’s Compatibility with Hybrid Workspaces

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-27

participants graded by performance or for time spent in the office?) 11 [C4-1] “you can talk a good game , but at the end of the day you need to produce a...Dalton, Jodie. (2011, July 26) “Office scandal: I picked a cubicle over an office.” Salon . Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2011/07/27

In Situ Representations and Access Consciousness in Neural Blackboard or Workspace Architectures

OpenAIRE

Frank van der Velde

2018-01-01

Phenomenal theories of consciousness assert that consciousness is based on specific neural correlates in the brain, which can be separated from all cognitive functions we can perform. If so, the search for robot consciousness seems to be doomed. By contrast, theories of functional or access consciousness assert that consciousness can be studied only with forms of cognitive access, given by cognitive processes. Consequently, consciousness and cognitive access cannot be fully dissociated. Here,...

Advanced biological and chemical discovery (ABCD): centralizing discovery knowledge in an inherently decentralized world.

Science.gov (United States)

Agrafiotis, Dimitris K; Alex, Simson; Dai, Heng; Derkinderen, An; Farnum, Michael; Gates, Peter; Izrailev, Sergei; Jaeger, Edward P; Konstant, Paul; Leung, Albert; Lobanov, Victor S; Marichal, Patrick; Martin, Douglas; Rassokhin, Dmitrii N; Shemanarev, Maxim; Skalkin, Andrew; Stong, John; Tabruyn, Tom; Vermeiren, Marleen; Wan, Jackson; Xu, Xiang Yang; Yao, Xiang

2007-01-01

We present ABCD, an integrated drug discovery informatics platform developed at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. ABCD is an attempt to bridge multiple continents, data systems, and cultures using modern information technology and to provide scientists with tools that allow them to analyze multifactorial SAR and make informed, data-driven decisions. The system consists of three major components: (1) a data warehouse, which combines data from multiple chemical and pharmacological transactional databases, designed for supreme query performance; (2) a state-of-the-art application suite, which facilitates data upload, retrieval, mining, and reporting, and (3) a workspace, which facilitates collaboration and data sharing by allowing users to share queries, templates, results, and reports across project teams, campuses, and other organizational units. Chemical intelligence, performance, and analytical sophistication lie at the heart of the new system, which was developed entirely in-house. ABCD is used routinely by more than 1000 scientists around the world and is rapidly expanding into other functional areas within the J&J organization.

Flexibility in Modular Furniture Systems in Open Offices, Famagusta, North Cyprus

OpenAIRE

E. Farjami; La. Mohammadzadeh Afshar; Li. Mohammadzade Afshar; A. Taran

2014-01-01

Nowadays, flexibility introduced as a modern technology in furniture systems especially in interior planning design. According to results, the most important impact of these systems can be seen on open plan design that makes workspaces comfortable and increases the productivity of employees besides making good relationship between them. Briefly, there are some factors along with new systems in furniture design help create inappropriate space to make working better and easier while it has modu...

ERP processes automation in corporate environments

OpenAIRE

Antonoaie Victor; Irimeş Adrian; Chicoş Lucia-Antoneta

2017-01-01

The automation processes are used in organizations to speed up analyses processes and reduce manual labour. Robotic Automation of IT processes implemented in a modern corporate workspace provides an excellent tool for assisting professionals in making decisions, saving resources and serving as a know-how repository. This study presents the newest trends in process automation, its benefits such as security, ease of use, reduction of overall process duration, and provide examples of SAPERP proj...

Evaluation of Expedient Decontamination Options with Activated Peroxide-based Liquid Sporicides

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-05

Figure 2-1) that are typical of the materials found in residential dwellings and meet industry standards or specifications for indoor use. Documented...Anthrax inhalation and lethal human infection. Lancet, 2002. 359(9307): p. 710-1. 14. Glassman, H.N., Industrial inhalation anthrax. Bacteriol. Rev...Begin by donning PPE (gloves, lab coat, and protective eyewear ). 2. Clean the workspace by wiping with pAB, next with DI water , and lastly with a 70

Daylight Adaptive Shading Using Parametric Camshaft Mechanism for SOHO in Jakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sjarifudin Firza Utama

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This research analyzes SOHO (Small Office Home Office which can adjust to the need of visual comfort for the users through natural daylighting and also can be adapted to standard requirements of 14 creative industry workspace in Jakartas. The method of the research is by simulating the SOHO unit with variation of shading opening angles in order to adapt to each unit. Analysis done to every shading opening angle to get the appropriate daylight intensity level which support the work activities in every unit for the whole day. In order for the shading to be able to adapt to the changing daylight condition, previously developed parametric camshaft mechanism was used. The study found that the visual comfort for SOHO with creative industries workers in Jakarta can be achieve by varying the shading opening angles between 15-75°.

Multi-agent System for Off-line Coordinated Motion Planning of Multiple Industrial Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shital S. Chiddarwar

2011-03-01

Full Text Available This article presents an agent based framework for coordinated motion planning of multiple robots. The emerging paradigm of agent based systems is implemented to address various issues related to safe and fast task execution when multiple robots share a common workspace. In the proposed agent based framework, each issue vital for coordinated motion planning of multiple robots and every robot participating in coordinated task is considered as an agent. The identified agents are interfaced with each other in order to incorporate the desired flexibility in the developed framework. This framework gives a complete strategy for determination of optimal trajectories of robots working in coordination with due consideration to their kinematic, dynamic and payload constraint. The complete architecture of the proposed framework and the detailed discussion on various modules are covered in this paper.

The experience turn as ‘bandwagon’

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fuglsang, Lars; Eide, Dorthe

2013-01-01

further central processes, namely appropriation and narrowing the workspace. One Norwegian and one Danish network are studied using a case methodology. They are two rural networks of mainly small tourism firms. The empirical study confirms and illustrates how the bandwagon effect involves these three core......This paper uses the bandwagon metaphor to analyse, in two rural contexts, how small tourism firms become engaged in the idea of the experience economy and how the idea is turned into practice through network formation and innovation. In developing a practice-based approach we use the bandwagon...... metaphor to conceptualize network formation and innovation in terms of a ‘journey’. Following the practice-based literature on bandwagons, the journey starts by labelling an idea that is broad enough to give meaning to, and pull together, a number of diverse supporters. The journey also depends on two...

Designing Users/Designing Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The paper addresses issues of user conceptualisation and representation in the processes of designing and innovating artifacts and use-practices. It is informed by early as well as more recent insights from technology studies within the new sociology of technology (e.g. Akrich 1995, Bijker & Law...... and competencies. Characteristic of these projects are the interplay between the social and the technical dimensions in the process of product development, and the students are expected to apply socio-technical methodologies in their strategies. The students’ need to inform the design through iteratively...... themes ranging from user-oriented design to product redesign and workspace design, etc. It is expected that some of the insights gained from these projects may be related outside of the immediate context of the classroom, to inform the notion of competencies in engineering design and sociotechnical...

Bio-Inspired Design and Kinematic Analysis of Dung Beetle-Like Legs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aditya, Sai Krishna Venkata; Ignasov, Jevgeni; Filonenko, Konstantin

2017-01-01

The African dung beetle Scarabaeus galenus can use its front legs to walk and manipulate or form a dung ball. The interesting multifunctional legs have not been fully investigated or even used as inspiration for robot leg design. Thus, in this paper, we present the development of real dung beetle......-like front legs based on biological investigation. As a result, each leg consists of three main segments which were built using 3D printing. The segments were combined with in total four active DOFs in order to mimic locomotion and object manipulation of the beetle. Kinematics analysis of the leg was also...... performed to identify its workspace as well as to design its trajectory. To this end, the study contributes not only novel multifunctional robotic legs but also the methodology of the bio-inspired leg design....

Using ICTs as strategy for improving reading comprehension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edna Constanza García Melo

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper narrates an educational experience during the Diploma course on Teacher Education Program in Reading Comprehension, aimed at teachers of public sector colleges in the municipalities of Castilla, Coyaima and guamo, located south of the department of Tolima. The program was organized by the Office of Departmental Education and the University of Ibague. Schools that took part in this experience were chosen because of their low historical results on the Icfes and Saber Tests. To develope the module on virtual tools oriented education participant teachers created blogs of their subjects or their workspaces. A conclusion out of this experience was that institutions should incorporate the use of ICT for teaching and visualize their pedagogical proposals and provide their school community with the opportunity to know and enjoy the benefits of technology in the service of education.

Introduction to autonomous manipulation case study with an underwater robot, SAUVIM

CERN Document Server

Marani, Giacomo

2014-01-01

“Autonomous manipulation” is a challenge in robotic technologies. It refers to the capability of a mobile robot system with one or more manipulators that performs intervention tasks requiring physical contacts in unstructured environments and without continuous human supervision. Achieving autonomous manipulation capability is a quantum leap in robotic technologies as it is currently beyond the state of the art in robotics. This book addresses issues with the complexity of the problems encountered in autonomous manipulation including representation and modeling of robotic structures, kinematic and dynamic robotic control, kinematic and algorithmic singularity avoidance, dynamic task priority, workspace optimization and environment perception. Further development in autonomous manipulation should be able to provide robust improvements of the solutions for all of the above issues. The book provides an extensive tract on sensory-based autonomous manipulation for intervention tasks in unstructured environment...

FACTORS INFLUENCING SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE MALAYSIAN WORKPLACE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Kum Chee

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This study examined the potential risks factors associated with sexually harassing behaviors within the framework of the four-factor model of sexual harassment. The factors examined are unprofessional work environment, skewed gender ratio in the workplace, knowledge of grievance procedure for sexual harassment, sexist attitudes among co-workers, privacy of workspace, physical attractiveness, dress manner of victims, job status, and sex roles. The dependent variable is incidence of sexual harassment which was evaluated using the Sexual Experience Questionnaire developed by Fitzgerald, Shullman, Bailey, Richards, Swecker, Gold, Ormerod, and Weitzman (1988. Data were collected from 657 women employees working in Malaysian organizations. The findings showed that the predictions of the four-factor model are also largely true in the case of the Malaysian workplace. The study also found that sexual harassment behaviors are fairly widespread in Malaysia.

Doing laboratory ethnography: reflections on method in scientific workplaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Neil; Lewis, Jamie

2017-04-01

Laboratory ethnography extended the social scientist's gaze into the day-to-day accomplishment of scientific practice. Here we reflect upon our own ethnographies of biomedical scientific workspaces to provoke methodological discussion on the doing of laboratory ethnography. What we provide is less a 'how to' guide and more a commentary on what to look for and what to look at. We draw upon our empirical research with stem cell laboratories and animal houses, teams producing robotic surgical tools, musicians sonifying data science, a psychiatric genetics laboratory, and scientists developing laboratory grown meat. We use these cases to example a set of potential ethnographic themes worthy of pursuit: science epistemics and the extended laboratory, the interaction order of scientific work, sensory realms and the rending of science as sensible, conferences as performative sites, and the spaces, places and temporalities of scientific work.

[caCORE: core architecture of bioinformation on cancer research in America].

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Qin; Zhang, Yan-lei; Xie, Zhi-yun; Zhang, Qi-peng; Hu, Zhang-zhi

2006-04-18

A critical factor in the advancement of biomedical research is the ease with which data can be integrated, redistributed and analyzed both within and across domains. This paper summarizes the Biomedical Information Core Infrastructure built by National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics in America (NCICB). The main product from the Core Infrastructure is caCORE--cancer Common Ontologic Reference Environment, which is the infrastructure backbone supporting data management and application development at NCICB. The paper explains the structure and function of caCORE: (1) Enterprise Vocabulary Services (EVS). They provide controlled vocabulary, dictionary and thesaurus services, and EVS produces the NCI Thesaurus and the NCI Metathesaurus; (2) The Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR). It provides a metadata registry for common data elements. (3) Cancer Bioinformatics Infrastructure Objects (caBIO). They provide Java, Simple Object Access Protocol and HTTP-XML application programming interfaces. The vision for caCORE is to provide a common data management framework that will support the consistency, clarity, and comparability of biomedical research data and information. In addition to providing facilities for data management and redistribution, caCORE helps solve problems of data integration. All NCICB-developed caCORE components are distributed under open-source licenses that support unrestricted usage by both non-profit and commercial entities, and caCORE has laid the foundation for a number of scientific and clinical applications. Based on it, the paper expounds caCORE-base applications simply in several NCI projects, of which one is CMAP (Cancer Molecular Analysis Project), and the other is caBIG (Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid). In the end, the paper also gives good prospects of caCORE, and while caCORE was born out of the needs of the cancer research community, it is intended to serve as a general resource. Cancer research has historically

Hand/Eye Coordination For Fine Robotic Motion

Science.gov (United States)

Lokshin, Anatole M.

1992-01-01

Fine motions of robotic manipulator controlled with help of visual feedback by new method reducing position errors by order of magnitude. Robotic vision subsystem includes five cameras: three stationary ones providing wide-angle views of workspace and two mounted on wrist of auxiliary robot arm. Stereoscopic cameras on arm give close-up views of object and end effector. Cameras measure errors between commanded and actual positions and/or provide data for mapping between visual and manipulator-joint-angle coordinates.

Modeling and control of an anthropomorphic robotic hand

OpenAIRE

Bensalah, Choukri

2016-01-01

Mención Europea en el título de doctor This thesis presents methods and tools for enabling the successful use of robotic hands. For highly dexterous and/or anthropomorphic robotic hands, these methods have to share some common goals, such as overcoming the potential complexity of the mechanical design and the ability of performing accurate tasks with low and efficient computational cost. A prerequisite for dexterity is to increase the workspace of the robotic hand. For th...

New kids on the block : New generations of workers may change the way we perceive work and workplace

OpenAIRE

Groen, B.; Lub, X.D.

2010-01-01

Rationale for our research is the upcoming war for talent (Ware & Grantham, 2003), caused by a diminishing workforce and the scarcity of students in facility management degree programs (outside the Netherlands). In order to retain (future) workers, a good scope of workers' needs is required. Age-related differentiation regarding work and workspace is suggested by several researchers such as Sladek (2009) and Howe and Strauss (2007). This study sets out to explore generational differences in f...

An Evolutionary Real-Time 3D Route Planner for Aircraft

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

郑昌文; 丁明跃; 周成平

2003-01-01

A novel evolutionary route planner for aircraft is proposed in this paper. In the new planner, individual candidates are evaluated with respect to the workspace, thus the computation of the configuration space is not required. By using problem-specific chromosome structure and genetic operators, the routes are generated in real time,with different mission constraints such as minimum route leg length and flying altitude, maximum turning angle, maximum climbing/diving angle and route distance constraint taken into account.

Active Exploration for Robust Object Detection

OpenAIRE

Velez, Javier J.; Hemann, Garrett A.; Huang, Albert S.; Posner, Ingmar; Roy, Nicholas

2011-01-01

Today, mobile robots are increasingly expected to operate in ever more complex and dynamic environments. In order to carry out many of the higher-level tasks envisioned a semantic understanding of a workspace is pivotal. Here our field has benefited significantly from successes in machine learning and vision: applications in robotics of off-the-shelf object detectors are plentiful. This paper outlines an online, any-time planning framework enabling the active exploration of such detections. O...

Innovations to enrich science communication through radio

OpenAIRE

Thakar Bhaumik; Kothari Abhay

2004-01-01

The Radio is an instrument of communication that has percolated to all the strata of the diverse Indian society. Its position has been consolidated through history as a regular companion and a source of information and entertainment. Its affordability, accessibility and non-reliance on costly resources have ensured its presence in almost all the households. It has become indispensable from kitchens, family rooms and even workspaces. It is one of the few or rather the only medium of communicat...

Working memory, long-term memory and language processing : issues and future directions

OpenAIRE

Collette, Fabienne; Van der Linden, Martial; Poncelet, Martine

2000-01-01

We examined different views of the relationships between working memory, long-term memory and language processing : working memory considered as a gateway between sensory input and long-term memory or rather as a workspace; working memory considered as not strictly tied to any particular cognitive system (and consequently viewed as separated from the language system) or rather as drawing on the operation and storage capacities of a subset of components involved in language processing. It is a...

Stress Management: A Handbook for Air Force Managers.

Science.gov (United States)

1986-09-01

stimulate growth (70:34). A balanced workspace is not a luxury. It is necessary to maintain a productive environment. Overcrowding has been associated...worker a sense of having more control over his worklife . It isn’t always possible to accomodate everyone’s shift desires and still meet production...ORGANIZATION b. OFFICE SYMBOL 7s. NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION School of Systems and (if applicable) Logistics I AFIT/LSM 6c. ADDRESS ( City . State and ZIP

Pengaruh Warna Ruang Kerja Terhadap Kenyamanan Dosen Departemen Psikologi Industri Dan Organisasi Fakultas Psikologi USU

OpenAIRE

Bangun, Eva Violesia

2014-01-01

Comfort in the work is desired by each worker and indirectlybecame an important predictor in the company's operational efficiencies such as productivity, job satisfaction, well-being, and safety. Creating a physical environment that is comfortable is one way to increase comfort in work and color is one of the factors that influence a comfortable working environment. Giving color combinations are paint the wall of workspace PIO with green color and add accessories to the room with purple color...

Design and fabrication of an articulated four axes microrobot arm

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ruoshi; Yang, Zhong; Wei, Danming; Popa, Dan O.

2017-05-01

In order to carry out nanomanufacturing tasks, a microrobot requires both high precision and high reliability over prolonged periods of time. Articulated Four-Axis Microrobots (AFAM) have been introduced a decade ago as millimetric microrobots capable of carrying out nanoscale tasks. The original robot design relied on a Micro Electro Mechanical (MEMS) actuator bank positioned onto a Silicon substrate, and an assembled arm mechanically coupled to the actuators through a cable. Movement of two thermal actuator banks positions the AFAM's end effector in 3-Dimensional space with approximately 75 microns workspace and 50 nm repeatability. However, failure of the AFAM's cable mechanism was observed after less than 1 million cycles. In this paper, we propose a novel arm mechanism for AFAM that improve its performance. The design presented in this article substitutes the "wire-gluing" cable with an anchored electrostatic actuator, and therefore it simplifies assembly requirements, reduces overall footprint of the microrobot, and achieves higher operating frequency. Simulation results are presented for a rotary electrostatic comb drive as basis for the microrobot arm with overall dimensions of 2 mm × 2 mm. The AFAM arm cantilever is 1 mm long to achieve a workspace of dimension of 75 microns along the vertical axis. Experimental evaluation of the design was accomplished using a prototype fabricated on a silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer processed with the deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process.

ViSA: a neurodynamic model for visuo-spatial working memory, attentional blink, and conscious access.

Science.gov (United States)

Simione, Luca; Raffone, Antonino; Wolters, Gezinus; Salmas, Paola; Nakatani, Chie; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; van Leeuwen, Cees

2012-10-01

Two separate lines of study have clarified the role of selectivity in conscious access to visual information. Both involve presenting multiple targets and distracters: one simultaneously in a spatially distributed fashion, the other sequentially at a single location. To understand their findings in a unified framework, we propose a neurodynamic model for Visual Selection and Awareness (ViSA). ViSA supports the view that neural representations for conscious access and visuo-spatial working memory are globally distributed and are based on recurrent interactions between perceptual and access control processors. Its flexible global workspace mechanisms enable a unitary account of a broad range of effects: It accounts for the limited storage capacity of visuo-spatial working memory, attentional cueing, and efficient selection with multi-object displays, as well as for the attentional blink and associated sparing and masking effects. In particular, the speed of consolidation for storage in visuo-spatial working memory in ViSA is not fixed but depends adaptively on the input and recurrent signaling. Slowing down of consolidation due to weak bottom-up and recurrent input as a result of brief presentation and masking leads to the attentional blink. Thus, ViSA goes beyond earlier 2-stage and neuronal global workspace accounts of conscious processing limitations. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Motor memory is encoded as a gain-field combination of intrinsic and extrinsic action representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Brayanov, Jordan B; Press, Daniel Z; Smith, Maurice A

2012-10-24

Actions can be planned in either an intrinsic (body-based) reference frame or an extrinsic (world-based) frame, and understanding how the internal representations associated with these frames contribute to the learning of motor actions is a key issue in motor control. We studied the internal representation of this learning in human subjects by analyzing generalization patterns across an array of different movement directions and workspaces after training a visuomotor rotation in a single movement direction in one workspace. This provided a dense sampling of the generalization function across intrinsic and extrinsic reference frames, which allowed us to dissociate intrinsic and extrinsic representations and determine the manner in which they contributed to the motor memory for a trained action. A first experiment showed that the generalization pattern reflected a memory that was intermediate between intrinsic and extrinsic representations. A second experiment showed that this intermediate representation could not arise from separate intrinsic and extrinsic learning. Instead, we find that the representation of learning is based on a gain-field combination of local representations in intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates. This gain-field representation generalizes between actions by effectively computing similarity based on the (Mahalanobis) distance across intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates and is in line with neural recordings showing mixed intrinsic-extrinsic representations in motor and parietal cortices.

A biologically inspired controller to solve the coverage problem in robotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Rañó, Iñaki; Santos, José A

2017-06-05

The coverage problem consists on computing a path or trajectory for a robot to pass over all the points in some free area and has applications ranging from floor cleaning to demining. Coverage is solved as a planning problem-providing theoretical validation of the solution-or through heuristic techniques which rely on experimental validation. Through a combination of theoretical results and simulations, this paper presents a novel solution to the coverage problem that exploits the chaotic behaviour of a simple biologically inspired motion controller, the Braitenberg vehicle 2b. Although chaos has been used for coverage, our approach has much less restrictive assumptions about the environment and can be implemented using on-board sensors. First, we prove theoretically that this vehicle-a well known model of animal tropotaxis-behaves as a charge in an electro-magnetic field. The motion equations can be reduced to a Hamiltonian system, and, therefore the vehicle follows quasi-periodic or chaotic trajectories, which pass arbitrarily close to any point in the work-space, i.e. it solves the coverage problem. Secondly, through a set of extensive simulations, we show that the trajectories cover regions of bounded workspaces, and full coverage is achieved when the perceptual range of the vehicle is short. We compare the performance of this new approach with different types of random motion controllers in the same bounded environments.

Primate Anatomy, Kinematics, and Principles for Humanoid Design

Science.gov (United States)

Ambrose, Robert O.; Ambrose, Catherine G.

2004-01-01

The primate order of animals is investigated for clues in the design of Humanoid Robots. The pursuit is directed with a theory that kinematics, musculature, perception, and cognition can be optimized for specific tasks by varying the proportions of limbs, and in particular, the points of branching in kinematic trees such as the primate skeleton. Called the Bifurcated Chain Hypothesis, the theory is that the branching proportions found in humans may be superior to other animals and primates for the tasks of dexterous manipulation and other human specialties. The primate taxa are defined, contemporary primate evolution hypotheses are critiqued, and variations within the order are noted. The kinematic branching points of the torso, limbs and fingers are studied for differences in proportions across the order, and associated with family and genus capabilities and behaviors. The human configuration of a long waist, long neck, and short arms is graded using a kinematic workspace analysis and a set of design axioms for mobile manipulation robots. It scores well. The re emergence of the human waist, seen in early Prosimians and Monkeys for arboreal balance, but lost in the terrestrial Pongidae, is postulated as benefiting human dexterity. The human combination of an articulated waist and neck will be shown to enable the use of smaller arms, achieving greater regions of workspace dexterity than the larger limbs of Gorillas and other Hominoidea.

Techniques applied in design optimization of parallel manipulators

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Modungwa, D

2011-11-01

Full Text Available the desired dexterous workspace " Robot.Comput.Integrated Manuf., vol. 23, pp. 38 - 46, 2007. [12] A.P. Murray, F. Pierrot, P. Dauchez and J.M. McCarthy, "A planar quaternion approach to the kinematic synthesis of a parallel manipulator " Robotica, vol... design of a three translational DoFs parallel manipulator " Robotica, vol. 24, pp. 239, 2005. [15] J. Angeles, "The robust design of parallel manipulators," in 1st Int. Colloquium, Collaborative Research Centre 562, 2002. [16] S. Bhattacharya, H...

Multi-objective Design Optimization of a Parallel Schönflies-motion Robot

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Guanglei; Bai, Shaoping; Hjørnet, Preben

2016-01-01

. The dynamic performance is concerned mainly the capability of force transmission in the parallel kinematic chain, for which transmission indices are defined. The Pareto-front is obtained to investigate the influence of the design variables to the robot performance. Dynamic characteristics for three Pareto......This paper introduces a parallel Schoenflies-motion robot with rectangular workspace, which is suitable for pick-and-place operations. A multi-objective optimization problem is formulated to optimize the robot's geometric parameters with consideration of kinematic and dynamic performances...

Creating 3D gelatin phantoms for experimental evaluation in biomedicine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stein Nils

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We describe and evaluate a setup to create gelatin phantoms by robotic 3D printing. Key aspects are the large workspace, reproducibility and resolution of the created phantoms. Given its soft tissue nature, the gelatin is kept fluid during inside the system and we present parameters for additive printing of homogeneous, solid objects. The results indicate that 3D printing of gelatin can be an alternative for quickly creating larger soft tissue phantoms without the need for casting a mold.

A User-Friendly Software Package for HIFU Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Soneson, Joshua E.

2009-04-01

A freely-distributed, MATLAB (The Mathworks, Inc., Natick, MA)-based software package for simulating axisymmetric high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) beams and their heating effects is discussed. The package (HIFU_Simulator) consists of a propagation module which solves the Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov (KZK) equation and a heating module which solves Pennes' bioheat transfer (BHT) equation. The pressure, intensity, heating rate, temperature, and thermal dose fields are computed, plotted, the output is released to the MATLAB workspace for further user analysis or postprocessing.

Pyroprocess Deployment Analysis and Remote Accessibility Experiment using Digital Mockup and Simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, K. H.; Park, H. S.; Kim, S. H.; Choi, C. H.; Lee, H. J.; Park, B. S.; Yoon, G. S.; Kim, K. H.; Kim, H. D.

2009-11-01

Nuclear fuel cycle facility that treats with spent fuel must be designed and manufactured a Pyroprcess facility and process with considering a speciality as every process have to be processed remotely. To prevent an unexpected accident under a circumstance that must operate with a remote manipulator after done the Pyroprocess facility, an procedure related Pyroprocess operation and maintenance need to establish it in the early design stage. To develop the simulator that is mixed by 3D modelling and simulation, a system architecture was designed. A full-scale digital mockup with a real pyroprocess facility was designed and manufactured. An inverse kinematics algorithm of remote manipulator was created in order to simulate an accident and repair that could happen in pyroprocess operation and maintenance under a virtual digital mockup environment. Deployment analysis of process devices through a workspace analysis was carried out and Accessibility analysis by using haptic device was examined

An Evaluation Tool for Agricultural Health and Safety Mobile Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, Iris; Ellis, Tammy; Yoder, Aaron; Keifer, Matthew C

2016-01-01

As the use of mobile devices and their software applications, or apps, becomes ubiquitous, use amongst agricultural working populations is expanding as well. The smart device paired with a well-designed app has potential for improving workplace health and safety in the hands of those who can act upon the information provided. Many apps designed to assess workplace hazards and implementation of worker protections already exist. However, the abundance and diversity of such applications also presents challenges regarding evaluation practices and assignation of value. This is particularly true in the agricultural workspace, as there is currently little information on the value of these apps for agricultural safety and health. This project proposes a framework for developing and evaluating apps that have potential usefulness in agricultural health and safety. The evaluation framework is easily transferable, with little modification for evaluation of apps in several agriculture-specific areas.

Ghettos and enclaves in the cross-place realm: mapping socially bounded spaces across cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery, Alesia F

2011-01-01

Since the early Chicago School, urban researchers have used residential proximity to assess contacts within and between racial and ethnic groups. This approach is increasingly limited. Diverse groups use email, social networking sites, instant messaging and mobile phones to communicate across urban zones and distant cities. These practices enable mutual support among far-flung family members and co-ethnics as they engage with an array of institutions throughout their day. Through interviews and observations that include women and men of diverse occupations, races and national origins, the author explores how and why cross-place enclosures of sociality and resources develop. Rather than framing the residential area as the locus of racial/ethnic concentration, the author focuses on cross-place concentrations in the technologically mediated workspace. This study enhances theorization of the structural negotiations, interpersonal pressures and group preferences that produce separate lifeworlds in globalizing cities.

Automated Protein Structure Modeling with SWISS-MODEL Workspace and the Protein Model Portal

OpenAIRE

Bordoli, Lorenza; Schwede, Torsten

2012-01-01

Comparative protein structure modeling is a computational approach to build three-dimensional structural models for proteins using experimental structures of related protein family members as templates. Regular blind assessments of modeling accuracy have demonstrated that comparative protein structure modeling is currently the most reliable technique to model protein structures. Homology models are often sufficiently accurate to substitute for experimental structures in a wide variety of appl...

Kinematics study and workspace analysis of an articulated robotic arm of a rpar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeb, J.; Rashid, F.; Iqbal, N.

2007-01-01

An itinerant RPAR (Radiation Protection Assistant Robot) has been constructed to assist radiation workers in radiation area which are radiologically hazardous and beyond tile safe approach of radiation workers. The RPAR comprises of a cubicle tri- wheeled platform and a 4-DOF (Four Degree of Freedom) serial type articulated robotic arm. The movement of the platform is controlled by two differential wheeled driving systems. The Kinematics and Manipulator Jacobian of the end-effector (gripper) of the articulated robotic arm mounted on the RPAR were evaluated. The work space analyses of the articulated robotic arm have been carried out. The RPAR is helpful for surveillance of radiation zones, to pick and carry dropdown radioactive samples and sources, in routine radiological operations as well as during an emergency response to a radiological accident. The performance of the RPAR was found satisfactory. (author)

Grammatical workspace sharing during language production and language comprehension: Evidence from grammatical multitasking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Kempen, G.; Olsthoorn, N.; Sprenger, S.

2012-01-01

Grammatical encoding and grammatical decoding (in sentence production and comprehension, respectively) are often portrayed as independent modalities of grammatical performance that only share declarative resources: lexicon and grammar. The processing resources subserving these modalities are

CGLXTouch: A multi-user multi-touch approach for ultra-high-resolution collaborative workspaces

KAUST Repository

Ponto, Kevin; Doerr, Kai; Wypych, Tom; Kooker, John; Kuester, Falko

2011-01-01

multi-touch tablet and phone devices, which can be added to and removed from the system on the fly. Events from these devices are tagged with a device identifier and are synchronized with the distributed display environment, enabling multi-user support

The communicative ecology of Web 2.0 @ work : Social networking in the workspace

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Davison, R.M.; Ou, C.X.J.; Martinsons, M.G.; Zhao, A.Y.

2014-01-01

Social media have transformed social interactions and now look set to transform workplace communications. In this exploratory study, we investigate how employees use and get value from a variety of social networking technologies. The context of this research is 4 software firms located in China.

Creating one planet communities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilts, R.

2010-01-01

This presentation discussed low carbon communities that used a variety of sustainable energy technologies to reduce energy consumption and waste. The presentation was given by a company who has adopted a One Planet framework to ensure the development of zero carbon, zero waste, sustainable communities.The Dockside Green project was awarded North America's highest leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) score. The community includes a waste biomass plant and an on-site wastewater treatment plant. Excess heat produced by the community's greenhouse gas (GHG) neutral biomass district heating system is sold to neighbouring communities. The BedZED project in the United Kingdom uses a high-density format to support a community living and workspace environment that uses rainwater harvesting, passive solar heating, high performance envelopes, and green roofs. The site includes 40 electric car charging stations. A combined heat and power (CHP) biomass plant provides electricity and hot water to all buildings. Neighbourhood-scale sustainable development is expected to have a significant impact on the ecological footprint of North American cities. Carbon neutral projects in Canada were also listed. tabs., figs.

An Accelerator Control Middle Layer Using MATLAB

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Portmann, Gregory J.; Corbett, Jeff; Terebilo, Andrei

2005-01-01

Matlab is an interpretive programming language originally developed for convenient use with the LINPACK and EISPACK libraries. Matlab is appealing for accelerator physics because it is matrix-oriented, provides an active workspace for system variables, powerful graphics capabilities, built-in math libraries, and platform independence. A number of accelerator software toolboxes have been written in Matlab -- the Accelerator Toolbox (AT) for model-based machine simulations, LOCO for on-line model calibration, and Matlab Channel Access (MCA) to connect with EPICS. The function of the MATLAB ''MiddleLayer'' is to provide a scripting language for machine simulations and on-line control, including non-EPICS based control systems. The MiddleLayer has simplified and streamlined development of high-level applications including configuration control, energy ramp, orbit correction, photon beam steering, ID compensation, beam-based alignment, tune correction and response matrix measurement. The database-driven Middle Layer software is largely machine-independent and easy to port. Six accelerators presently use the software package with more scheduled to come on line soon

Validation of a CFD model by using 3D sonic anemometers to analyse the air velocity generated by an air-assisted sprayer equipped with two axial fans.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Ramos, F Javier; Malón, Hugo; Aguirre, A Javier; Boné, Antonio; Puyuelo, Javier; Vidal, Mariano

2015-01-22

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the air flow generated by an air-assisted sprayer equipped with two axial fans was developed and validated by practical experiments in the laboratory. The CFD model was developed by considering the total air flow supplied by the sprayer fan to be the main parameter, rather than the outlet air velocity. The model was developed for three air flows corresponding to three fan blade settings and assuming that the sprayer is stationary. Actual measurements of the air velocity near the sprayer were taken using 3D sonic anemometers. The workspace sprayer was divided into three sections, and the air velocity was measured in each section on both sides of the machine at a horizontal distance of 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 m from the machine, and at heights of 1, 2, 3, and 4 m above the ground The coefficient of determination (R2) between the simulated and measured values was 0.859, which demonstrates a good correlation between the simulated and measured data. Considering the overall data, the air velocity values produced by the CFD model were not significantly different from the measured values.

Implementación de un control fuzzy para el control cinemático directo en un robot manipulador Implementation of a fuzzy control for the direct kinematic control of a robot manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D.A Tibaduiza

2011-12-01

Full Text Available En este artículo se muestra el desarrollo e implementación de la lógica difusa como herramienta de control de posición para cada una de las articulaciones de un robot tipo PUMA. Se hace una descripción general del robot y se muestra el cálculo del volumen de trabajo, el cual es usado para la fuzzificación en el desarrollo del controlador. Finalmente es mostrado el desarrollo y la simulación del controlador usando la toolbox fuzzy de Matlab, así como la descripción de una implementación realizada en un PLC.In this article, the development and implementation of a fuzzy logic system as position control tool of each one of the joints in a PUMA robot is shown. A general description, which include general descriptions about the robot as workspace and therefore the development of the strategy of control with the definition of the rules in the fuzzification process is also included. Finally are shown the development and simulation of the controller using the fuzzy control toolbox of Matlab and the description of a implementation in a PLC.

ALPS - A LINEAR PROGRAM SOLVER

Science.gov (United States)

Viterna, L. A.

1994-01-01

Linear programming is a widely-used engineering and management tool. Scheduling, resource allocation, and production planning are all well-known applications of linear programs (LP's). Most LP's are too large to be solved by hand, so over the decades many computer codes for solving LP's have been developed. ALPS, A Linear Program Solver, is a full-featured LP analysis program. ALPS can solve plain linear programs as well as more complicated mixed integer and pure integer programs. ALPS also contains an efficient solution technique for pure binary (0-1 integer) programs. One of the many weaknesses of LP solvers is the lack of interaction with the user. ALPS is a menu-driven program with no special commands or keywords to learn. In addition, ALPS contains a full-screen editor to enter and maintain the LP formulation. These formulations can be written to and read from plain ASCII files for portability. For those less experienced in LP formulation, ALPS contains a problem "parser" which checks the formulation for errors. ALPS creates fully formatted, readable reports that can be sent to a printer or output file. ALPS is written entirely in IBM's APL2/PC product, Version 1.01. The APL2 workspace containing all the ALPS code can be run on any APL2/PC system (AT or 386). On a 32-bit system, this configuration can take advantage of all extended memory. The user can also examine and modify the ALPS code. The APL2 workspace has also been "packed" to be run on any DOS system (without APL2) as a stand-alone "EXE" file, but has limited memory capacity on a 640K system. A numeric coprocessor (80X87) is optional but recommended. The standard distribution medium for ALPS is a 5.25 inch 360K MS-DOS format diskette. IBM, IBM PC and IBM APL2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

One of a kind : from production accounting to trading and budgeting, Entero unifies data and business processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cope, G.

2009-06-15

Entero Corporation, a Calgary-based software developer, launched a software program in 2008 to keep track of petroleum when it comes out of the ground. It allows petroleum producers to keep track of who owns what, how much they own, what it's worth and where it's going. Founded in 1994, Entero's first energy industry software package was called EnteroVision, consisting of evTM and evFM. The evTM component focused on trading and marketing, and operations and logistics for use in inventory, risk management, terminal operations and reporting. The evFM component focused on financial management and accounting, allowing operators to view facility balance by owner, product or source. In 2003, Entero merged with software company MOSAIC Integration. The EnteroONE platform brings key Entero systems onto a shared platform that includes addition of production accounting and plant allocations. Once energy is produced, EnteroONE quickly tracks it from the wellhead through the gathering systems, doing production allocations, production and revenue accounting, managing trade deals, logistics and risk management. It also does financial accounting, such as invoicing for shipments made by any transportation mode, and a full general ledger. It eliminates multiple spreadsheets. Entero's 120 clients include exploration and production companies, trading and marketing companies, and midstream operators involved with product movement and processing. Entero is now focused on improving the functionality of its products. New workspace enhancements and reporting customization in EnteroONE financial management are expected to make troubleshooting, audit reporting more efficient. A new integrated field data capture system in EnteroONE production accounting will link field information to production accounting. A new order, scheduling and nominations workspace for EnteroONE trading and marketing will put decision-making information, including profitability, into one view

Mobile Monitoring of Diesel Particulate Matter Exposure within Five Urban Microenvironments, Portland, OR

Science.gov (United States)

Orlando, P. J.; Bennett, B. A.; George, L. A.

2016-12-01

Diesel particulate matter (DPM) is a hazardous air pollutant linked to mortality and morbidity outcomes including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and adverse respiratory effects. The EPA's Air Toxics Assessment indicated that more than 50% of Oregonians are exposed to 10 times the ambient benchmark concentration (ABC) of 0.1 μgm-3 for DPM. These model estimates have not been verified with measurements, potentially limiting policy action. We developed a mobile monitoring platform to ground-truth model predictions and characterize DPM spatial variation. Using black carbon (BC) as a marker, concentrations within five urban microenvironments (a construction site, an arterial, a bus mall, a city park, and an indoor workspace) were sampled within Portland, OR. The mobile monitoring platform consisted of a bicycle and trailer equipped with an aethalometer measuring BC mass, a Data Ram 4 measuring total PM2.5 mass, and a Q-Starz GPS recording location; each instrument was monitoring in 1 second intervals. Concentrations of BC were used as an indicator of DPM. The construction site had the highest DPM concentration (7 μg m-3). The indoor workspace and the park had the lowest DPM (0.3 μg m-3). Near the construction site, DPM constituted approximately 50% of the total PM2.5. However, at the park, DPM was attributed to only 6% of the total PM2.5, while the indoor space constituted 15%. Concentrations of BC near construction sites were observed to exceed 67 times the state ABC of 0.1 μg m-3 (Figure). These results signify the need to better characterize the urban exposure to DPM, as even the cleanest microenvironments may be 3 times above the ABC. Our mobile monitoring platform will help further elucidate how local-scale sources contribute to the broader distribution of DPM within Portland, while providing a tool for both residents and DEQ to effectively mitigate the health impacts from DPM exposure.

One of a kind : from production accounting to trading and budgeting, Entero unifies data and business processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cope, G.

2009-01-01

Entero Corporation, a Calgary-based software developer, launched a software program in 2008 to keep track of petroleum when it comes out of the ground. It allows petroleum producers to keep track of who owns what, how much they own, what it's worth and where it's going. Founded in 1994, Entero's first energy industry software package was called EnteroVision, consisting of evTM and evFM. The evTM component focused on trading and marketing, and operations and logistics for use in inventory, risk management, terminal operations and reporting. The evFM component focused on financial management and accounting, allowing operators to view facility balance by owner, product or source. In 2003, Entero merged with software company MOSAIC Integration. The EnteroONE platform brings key Entero systems onto a shared platform that includes addition of production accounting and plant allocations. Once energy is produced, EnteroONE quickly tracks it from the wellhead through the gathering systems, doing production allocations, production and revenue accounting, managing trade deals, logistics and risk management. It also does financial accounting, such as invoicing for shipments made by any transportation mode, and a full general ledger. It eliminates multiple spreadsheets. Entero's 120 clients include exploration and production companies, trading and marketing companies, and midstream operators involved with product movement and processing. Entero is now focused on improving the functionality of its products. New workspace enhancements and reporting customization in EnteroONE financial management are expected to make troubleshooting, audit reporting more efficient. A new integrated field data capture system in EnteroONE production accounting will link field information to production accounting. A new order, scheduling and nominations workspace for EnteroONE trading and marketing will put decision-making information, including profitability, into one view. Within the next 5 years

An Analysis of First Duty Station Placement and New Graduate Transition Education on Retention in the Navy Nurse Corps

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

authorization occurs, the requirements can be entered in the Total Force Manpower Management System (TFMMS). TFMMS is the single, authoritative ...of the study hospitals offer a rotational introduction to a variety of workspaces, such as Intensive Care, Acute Care, and Maternal -Infant units... Maternal Infant Care X X X X X X X X X Family Medicine X X X X X X X X Gastroenterology & Endoscopy X X X X X X X X General Surgery X X X X X X X

ERP processes automation in corporate environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonoaie Victor

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The automation processes are used in organizations to speed up analyses processes and reduce manual labour. Robotic Automation of IT processes implemented in a modern corporate workspace provides an excellent tool for assisting professionals in making decisions, saving resources and serving as a know-how repository. This study presents the newest trends in process automation, its benefits such as security, ease of use, reduction of overall process duration, and provide examples of SAPERP projects where this technology was implemented and meaningful impact was obtained.

Singapur - Una herramienta basada en tecnología semántica para capturar y diseminar el conocimiento sobre mejores prácticas en una organización

OpenAIRE

Apesteguía, Francisco

2015-01-01

En el contexto del desarrollo colaborativo de software, la falta de conocimiento acerca de lo que está realizando cada participante en la tarea compartida (workspace awareness) y de las prácticas de desarrollo adoptadas (mejores prácticas), tiene un impacto negativo tanto en el proceso de desarrollo como en la calidad del producto final. Las violaciones a las buenas prácticas se detectan mediante revisiones manuales que bien pueden no realizarse bajo ciertas situaciones o, en caso de que se l...

ISAM newsletter. No. 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres, Carlos

1998-11-01

This issue of the ISAM newsletter informs on the past and forthcoming ISAM Co-ordinating Group meetings and highlights working group and safety case activities. The document briefs on the particular safety cases: Vault safety case; Radon-type facility safety case; and Borehole safety case. The document highlights also the ISAM Virtual Workspace which provides the opportunity through the World Wide Web for ISAM participants to share information and to work together on the Safety Cases and Working Group Activities. A list of ISAM documents is provided

End-Effector Position Analysis Using Forward Kinematics For 5 Dof Pravak Robot Arm

OpenAIRE

Jolly Atit Shah; S.S. Rattan; B.C. Nakra

2013-01-01

Automatic control of the robotic manipulator involves study of kinematics and dynamics as a major issue. This paper involves the kinematic analysis of a Pravak Robot arm which is used for doing successful robotic manipulation task in its workspace. The Pravak Robot Arm is a 5-DOF robot having all the joints revolute. The kinematics problem is defined as the transformation from the Cartesian space to the joint space and vice versa. In this study the Denavit- Hartenberg (D-H) model is used to m...

Cognitive Resource Demands of Redirected Walking.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruder, Gerd; Lubas, Paul; Steinicke, Frank

2015-04-01

Redirected walking allows users to walk through a large-scale immersive virtual environment (IVE) while physically remaining in a reasonably small workspace. Therefore, manipulations are applied to virtual camera motions so that the user's self-motion in the virtual world differs from movements in the real world. Previous work found that the human perceptual system tolerates a certain amount of inconsistency between proprioceptive, vestibular and visual sensation in IVEs, and even compensates for slight discrepancies with recalibrated motor commands. Experiments showed that users are not able to detect an inconsistency if their physical path is bent with a radius of at least 22 meters during virtual straightforward movements. If redirected walking is applied in a smaller workspace, manipulations become noticeable, but users are still able to move through a potentially infinitely large virtual world by walking. For this semi-natural form of locomotion, the question arises if such manipulations impose cognitive demands on the user, which may compete with other tasks in IVEs for finite cognitive resources. In this article we present an experiment in which we analyze the mutual influence between redirected walking and verbal as well as spatial working memory tasks using a dual-tasking method. The results show an influence of redirected walking on verbal as well as spatial working memory tasks, and we also found an effect of cognitive tasks on walking behavior. We discuss the implications and provide guidelines for using redirected walking in virtual reality laboratories.

CERN Technical Training: available Places in forthcoming Courses

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

The following course sessions are scheduled in the framework of the CERN Technical Training Program 2008 and still have places available. You may find the full, updated Technical Training course program on our web-catalogue (http://cta.cern.ch/cta2/f?p=110:9). OFFICE SOFTWARE DreamWeaver\tF\t28-29.01\t2 d Sharepoint Designer (Frontpage) Niveau 1\tF\t31-01.01-02\t2 d Sharepoint Collaboration Workspace\tF\t04.02\t1 d Office 2007 – Nouveautés/Novelties\tB\t05.02\t1 d Outlook 2007 (Short course I) – Email\tB\t07.02\t0.5 d Outlook 2007 (Short course II) - Calendar, Tasks, Notes\tB\t07.02\t0.5 d Outlook 2007 (Short course III) Meeting and Delegation\tB\t08.02\t0.5 d Word 2007 (Short course IV) – Master document\tB\t08.02\t0.5 d Sharepoint Collaboration Workspace\tE\t25.02\t1 d Word – Level 1\tE\t25-26.02\t2 d Excel – Level 1\tE\t28-29.02\t2 d SOFTWARE AND SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES JCOP - Joint PVSS-JCOP Framework\tE\t28.01-01.02\t4.5 d Introduction to Object Oriented programming and UML\tE\t5-7.02\t3 d ROXIE Use...

Blueprint and First Experiences Bridging Hardware Virtualization and Global Grids for Advanced Scientific Computing: Designing and Building a Global Edge Services Framework (ESF) for OSG, EGEE, and LCG

CERN Document Server

Rana, A S; Vaniachine, A; Wurthwein, F; Foster, I; Sotomayor, B; Freeman, T

2006-01-01

We report on first experiences with building and operating an edge services framework (ESF) based on Xen virtual machines instantiated via the workspace service in Globus toolkit, and developed as a joint project between EGEE, LCG, and OSG. Many computing facilities are architected with their compute and storage clusters behind firewalls. Edge services (ES) are instantiated on a small set of gateways to provide access to these clusters via standard grid interfaces. Experience on EGEE, LCG, and OSG has shown that at least two issues are of critical importance when designing an infrastructure in support of ES. The first concerns ES configuration. It is impractical to assume that each virtual organization (VO) using a facility will employ the same ES configuration, or that different configurations will coexist easily. Even within a VO, it should be possible to run different versions of the same ES simultaneously. The second issue concerns resource allocation: it is essential that an ESF be able to effectively gu...

Enabling coordination within medical settings: case of a maternity ward

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fouzi LEZZAR

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This study evaluates the planning process issues in healthcare institutions that can be considered as a high risk environment. Most recent healthcare research has focused on methods mainly based on communication, rather than collaboration supports. Material Methods: We followed then a collaborative-based planning approach which constitutes an evolution of planning environment toward new shared workspaces supporting collaboration. Our work led us first, to analyse the related tasks in an Algerian maternity ward in order to highlight the vital collaborative medical tasks that need to be modelled. Results: the paper summaries basic design concepts of our collaborative planning system that is designed to make group interaction support flexible for care coordination and continuity. Conclusion: after development and test of our collaborative planning system, we noticed that our collaborative and planning system can increase awareness and hence decrease coordination breakdowns, reduce costs of information collecting and sharing. All these factors constitute a crucial aspect of an efficient management of a hospital.

An Accelerator control middle layer using Matlab

CERN Document Server

Portmann, G J; Terebilo, Andrei

2005-01-01

Matlab is a matrix manipulation language originally developed to be a convenient language for using the LINPACK and EISPACK libraries. What makes Matlab so appealing for accelerator physics is the combination of a matrix oriented programming language, an active workspace for system variables, powerful graphics capability, built-in math libraries, and platform independence. A number of software toolboxes for accelerators have been written in Matlab – the Accelerator Toolbox (AT) for machine simulations, LOCO for accelerator calibration, Matlab Channel Access Toolbox (MCA) for EPICS connections, and the Middle Layer. This paper will describe the MiddleLayer software toolbox that resides between the high-level control applications and the low-level accelerator control system. This software was a collaborative effort between ALS and Spear but was written to easily port. Five accelerators presently use this software – Spear, ALS, CLS, and the X-ray and VUV rings at Brookhaven. The Middle Layer fu...

An Application of a Pneumatic Muscles Actuator for a Delta Pneumatic Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pawel A. LASKI

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this study was to use pneumatic muscle actuators in the construction of the delta manipulator with a closed kinematic chain. The paper presents a solid models of the manipulator and the kinematic diagram. Based on the kinematic diagram and using DH notation (Denavit-Hartenberg manipulator kinematic models was determined. On the basis of developed solid model simulation studies were conducted and the shape and size of the workspace determined. On the basis of 3D models prototype of the manipulator was constructed. Experimental studies were performed to select the regulators settings P, PI, PID for one of the pair of BMDS (Bi-Muscular Driving System muscle-type drives. Based on integral quality indicators the used types of regulators were compared and proposed final controller. Performed experimental studies confirm the possibility of muscle control in the BMDS (Bi-Muscular Driving System type system drives and tuning controller settings using the Ziegler-Nichols method.

Elastic Stability of Concentric Tube Robots: A Stability Measure and Design Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Hunter B; Hendrick, Richard J; Webster, Robert J

2016-02-01

Concentric tube robots are needle-sized manipulators which have been investigated for use in minimally invasive surgeries. It was noted early in the development of these devices that elastic energy storage can lead to rapid snapping motion for designs with moderate to high tube curvatures. Substantial progress has recently been made in the concentric tube robot community in designing snap-free robots, planning stable paths, and characterizing conditions that result in snapping for specific classes of concentric tube robots. However, a general measure for how stable a given robot configuration is has yet to be proposed. In this paper, we use bifurcation and elastic stability theory to provide such a measure, as well as to produce a test for determining whether a given design is snap-free (i.e. whether snapping can occur anywhere in the unloaded robot's workspace). These results are useful in designing, planning motions for, and controlling concentric tube robots with high curvatures.

Lower Limb Rehabilitation Using Patient Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza Rastegarpanah

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of a 6-DoF parallel robot in tracking the movement of the foot trajectory of a paretic leg during a single stride. The foot trajectories of nine patients with a paretic leg including both males and females have been measured and analysed by a Vicon system in a gait laboratory. Based on kinematic and dynamic analysis of a 6-DoF UPS parallel robot, an algorithm was developed in MATLAB to calculate the length of the actuators and their required forces during all trajectories. The workspace and singularity points of the robot were then investigated in nine different cases. A 6-DoF UPS parallel robot prototype with high repeatability was designed and built in order to simulate a single stride. Results showed that the robot was capable of tracking all of the trajectories with the maximum position error of 1.2 mm.

Human-robot collision detection under modeling uncertainty using frequency boundary of manipulator dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Byung Jin; Koo, Ja Choon; Choi, Hyouk Ryeol; Moon, Hyung Pil [Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-11-15

This paper presents the development and experimental evaluation of a collision detection method for robotic manipulators sharing a workspace with humans. Fast and robust collision detection is important for guaranteeing safety and preventing false alarms. The main cause of a false alarm is modeling error. We use the characteristic of the maximum frequency boundary of the manipulator's dynamic model. The tendency of the frequency boundary's location in the frequency domain is applied to the collision detection algorithm using a band pass filter (band designed disturbance observer, BdDOB) with changing frequency windows. Thanks to the band pass filter, which considers the frequency boundary of the dynamic model, our collision detection algorithm can extract the collision caused by the disturbance from the mixed estimation signal. As a result, the collision was successfully detected under the usage conditions of faulty sensors and uncertain model data. The experimental result of a collision between a 7-DOF serial manipulator and a human body is reported.

Survey of Robot 3D Path Planning Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liang Yang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Robot 3D (three-dimension path planning targets for finding an optimal and collision-free path in a 3D workspace while taking into account kinematic constraints (including geometric, physical, and temporal constraints. The purpose of path planning, unlike motion planning which must be taken into consideration of dynamics, is to find a kinematically optimal path with the least time as well as model the environment completely. We discuss the fundamentals of these most successful robot 3D path planning algorithms which have been developed in recent years and concentrate on universally applicable algorithms which can be implemented in aerial robots, ground robots, and underwater robots. This paper classifies all the methods into five categories based on their exploring mechanisms and proposes a category, called multifusion based algorithms. For all these algorithms, they are analyzed from a time efficiency and implementable area perspective. Furthermore a comprehensive applicable analysis for each kind of method is presented after considering their merits and weaknesses.

The Diesel Combustion Collaboratory: Combustion Researchers Collaborating over the Internet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

C. M. Pancerella; L. A. Rahn; C. Yang

2000-02-01

The Diesel Combustion Collaborator (DCC) is a pilot project to develop and deploy collaborative technologies to combustion researchers distributed throughout the DOE national laboratories, academia, and industry. The result is a problem-solving environment for combustion research. Researchers collaborate over the Internet using DCC tools, which include: a distributed execution management system for running combustion models on widely distributed computers, including supercomputers; web-accessible data archiving capabilities for sharing graphical experimental or modeling data; electronic notebooks and shared workspaces for facilitating collaboration; visualization of combustion data; and video-conferencing and data-conferencing among researchers at remote sites. Security is a key aspect of the collaborative tools. In many cases, the authors have integrated these tools to allow data, including large combustion data sets, to flow seamlessly, for example, from modeling tools to data archives. In this paper the authors describe the work of a larger collaborative effort to design, implement and deploy the DCC.

The evolution of CACSD tools-a software engineering perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ravn, Ole; Szymkat, Maciej

1992-01-01

The earlier evolution of computer-aided control system design (CACSD) tools is discussed from a software engineering perspective. A model of the design process is presented as the basis for principles and requirements of future CACSD tools. Combinability, interfacing in memory, and an open...... workspace are seen as important concepts in CACSD. Some points are made about the problem of buy or make when new software is required, and the idea of buy and make is put forward. Emphasis is put on the time perspective and the life cycle of the software...

Kinematics analysis of a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qu, Haibo; Guo, Sheng [Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing (China)

2017-04-15

In this paper, a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy is proposed. First, the Degrees of freedom (DOF) of the whole parallel manipulator and the Relative DOF (RDOF) between the moving platform and fixed base are studied. The results indicate that the proposed mechanism is kinematically redundant. Then, the kinematics, Jacobian matrices and workspace of this proposed parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy are analyzed. Finally, the statics simulation of the proposed parallel manipulator is performed. The obtained stress and displacement distribution can be used to determine the easily destroyed place in the mechanism configurations.

Watt-Lite; Energy Statistics Made Tangible

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jönsson, Li; Broms, Loove; Katzeff, Cecilia

2011-01-01

Increasing our knowledge of how design affects behaviour in the workplace has a large potential for reducing electricity consumption. This would be beneficial for the environment as well as for industry and society at large. In Western society energy use is hidden and for the great mass...... in the physical environments of its employees. The design of Watt-Lite is meant to explore ways of representing, understanding and interacting with electricity in industrial workspaces. We discuss three design inquiries and their implications for the design of Watt-Lite: the use of tangible statistics...

Grasp Densities for Grasp Refinement in Industrial Bin Picking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hupfauf, Benedikt; Hahn, Heiko; Bodenhagen, Leon

in terms of object-relative gripper pose, can be learned from empirical experience, and allow the automatic choice of optimal grasps in a given scene context (object pose, workspace constraints, etc.). We will show grasp densities extracted from empirical data in a real industrial bin picking context...... generated in industrial bin-picking for grasp learning. This aim is achieved by using the novel concept of grasp densities (Detry et al., 2010). Grasp densities can describe the full variety of grasps that apply to specific objects using specific grippers. They represent the likelihood of grasp success...

Creativity, Complexity, and Precision: Information Visualization for (Landscape) Architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buscher, Monika; Christensen, Michael; Mogensen, Preben Holst

2000-01-01

Drawing on ethnographic studies of (landscape) architects at work, this paper presents a human-centered approach to information visualization. A 3D collaborative electronic workspace allows people to configure, save and browse arrangements of heterogeneous work materials. Spatial arrangements...... and links are created and maintained as an integral part of ongoing work with `live' documents and objects. The result is an extension of the physical information space of the architects' studio that utilizes the potential of electronic data storage, visualization and network technologies to support work...... with information in context...

Watt-Lite; Energy Statistics Made Tangible

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jönsson, Li; Broms, Loove; Katzeff, Cecilia

2011-01-01

of consumers its consequences are poorly understood. In order to better understand how we can use design to increase awareness of electricity consumption in everyday life, we will discuss the design of Watt-Lite, a set of three oversized torches projecting real time energy statistics of a factory...... in the physical environments of its employees. The design of Watt-Lite is meant to explore ways of representing, understanding and interacting with electricity in industrial workspaces. We discuss three design inquiries and their implications for the design of Watt-Lite: the use of tangible statistics...

Using remote participation tools to improve collaborations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balme, S.; How, J.; Theis, J.M.; Utzel, N.

2005-01-01

Research on fusion requires effective collaboration between members who are not co-located in time and space. In order that distance should not restrict collaboration, this paper gives ideas and solutions to encourage and improve remote participation. This includes techniques for:1.'On-line' discussions with internet via instant messaging (IM). 2.Sharing a publication space, using a collaborative web workspace. 3.Equipping dedicated meeting rooms with flexible communication and collaboration tools, hardware and software for multi-standard videoconferences. 4.Sharing presentations and supervision screens. 5.Participating remotely to experiments

Kinematics analysis of a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qu, Haibo; Guo, Sheng

2017-01-01

In this paper, a novel planar parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy is proposed. First, the Degrees of freedom (DOF) of the whole parallel manipulator and the Relative DOF (RDOF) between the moving platform and fixed base are studied. The results indicate that the proposed mechanism is kinematically redundant. Then, the kinematics, Jacobian matrices and workspace of this proposed parallel manipulator with kinematic redundancy are analyzed. Finally, the statics simulation of the proposed parallel manipulator is performed. The obtained stress and displacement distribution can be used to determine the easily destroyed place in the mechanism configurations

Learning at the workspace and sustainable employability: a multi source model moderated by age

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Annet de Lange; Beatrice van der Heijden; Marjan Gorgievski

2015-01-01

This study, among 330 pairs of employees and their supervisors, tested whether self- versus supervisor ratings of five employability dimensions (occupational expertise, corporate sense, personal flexibility, anticipation and optimization, and balance) are associated with different learning

Efficient O(N) recursive computation of the operational space inertial matrix

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lilly, K.W.; Orin, D.E.

1993-01-01

The operational space inertia matrix Λ reflects the dynamic properties of a robot manipulator to its tip. In the control domain, it may be used to decouple force and/or motion control about the manipulator workspace axes. The matrix Λ also plays an important role in the development of efficient algorithms for the dynamic simulation of closed-chain robotic mechanisms, including simple closed-chain mechanisms such as multiple manipulator systems and walking machines. The traditional approach used to compute Λ has a computational complexity of O(N 3 ) for an N degree-of-freedom manipulator. This paper presents the development of a recursive algorithm for computing the operational space inertia matrix (OSIM) that reduces the computational complexity to O(N). This algorithm, the inertia propagation method, is based on a single recursion that begins at the base of the manipulator and progresses out to the last link. Also applicable to redundant systems and mechanisms with multiple-degree-of-freedom joints, the inertia propagation method is the most efficient method known for computing Λ for N ≥ 6. The numerical accuracy of the algorithm is discussed for a PUMA 560 robot with a fixed base

Improving Formative Assessment Practice with Educational Information Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Terry Vendlinski

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a web-based assessment design tool, the ADDS, that provides teachers both a structure and the resources required to develop and use quality assessments. The tool is applicable across subject domains. The heart of the ADDS is an assessment design workspace that allows teachers to decide the attributes of an assessment, as well as the context and type of responses the students will generate, as part of their assessment design process. While the tool is very flexible and allows the above steps to be done in any order (or skipped entirely, our goal was to streamline and scaffold the process for teachers by organizing all the materials for them in one place and to provide resources they could use or reuse to create assessments for their students. The tool allows teachers to deliver the assessments to their students either online or on paper. Initial results from our first teacher study suggest that teachers who used the tool developed assessments that were more cognitively demanding of students and addressed the "big ideas" rather than disassociated facts of a domain.

Collaborative technologies for distributed science: fusion energy and high-energy physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schissel, D P; Gottschalk, E E; Greenwald, M J; McCune, D

2006-01-01

This paper outlines a strategy to significantly enhance scientific collaborations in both Fusion Energy Sciences and in High-Energy Physics through the development and deployment of new tools and technologies into working environments. This strategy is divided into two main elements, collaborative workspaces and secure computational services. Experimental and theory/computational programs will greatly benefit through the provision of a flexible, standards-based collaboration space, which includes advanced tools for ad hoc and structured communications, shared applications and displays, enhanced interactivity for remote data access applications, high performance computational services and an improved security environment. The technologies developed should be prototyped and tested on the current generation of experiments and numerical simulation projects. At the same time, such work should maintain a strong focus on the needs of the next generation of mega-projects, ITER and the ILC. Such an effort needs to leverage existing computer science technology and take full advantage of commercial software wherever possible. This paper compares the requirements of FES and HEP, discuss today's solutions, examine areas where more functionality is required, and discuss those areas with sufficient overlap in requirements that joint research into collaborative technologies will increase the benefit to both

Visualization of virtual slave manipulator using the master input device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, S. H.; Song, T. K.; Lee, J. Y.; Yoon, J. S.

2003-01-01

To handle the high level radioactive materials such a spent fuel, the Master-Slave Manipulators (MSM) are widely used as a remote handling device in nuclear facilities such as the hot cell with sealed and shielded space. In this paper, the Digital Mockup which simulates the remote operation of the Advanced Conditioning Process(ACP) is developed. Also, the workspace and the motion of the slave manipulator, as well as, the remote operation task should be analyzed. The process equipment of ACP and Maintenance/Handling Device are drawn in 3D CAD models using IGRIP. Modeling device of manipulator is assigned with various mobiles attributes such as a relative position, kinematics constraints, and a range of mobility. The 3D graphic simulator using the external input device of space ball displays the movement of manipulator. To connect the external input device to the graphic simulator, the interface program of external input device with 6 DOF is deigned using the Low Level Tele-operation Interface (LLTI). The experimental result shows that the developed simulation system gives much-improved human interface characteristics and shows satisfactory response characteristics in terms of synchronization speed. This should be useful for the development of work's education system in the virtual environment

NKS MOMS. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nilssen, J.; Aage, H.K.; Palsson, S.E.

2013-02-01

Mobile car-borne measurement systems are an important asset in early phase emergency response in all Nordic countries. However, through the development of the systems in the different countries, there are considerable differences between the systems developed. This complicates Nordic cooperation and mutual assistance in emergency situations. This project aimed to facilitate harmonization of mobile measurement systems between the Nordic countries. The project focused on harmonizing data formats, information exchange and measurement strategies. Although the work done was funded by each member, the project established a good platform for cooperation which will hopefully continue beyond the scope of the project. A two-day seminar was held in May 2012, where all participants presented the current status (equipment, methods used etc.), in addition to invited speakers presenting development within the field of mobile detection and in situ measurements. Exchange of experiences and information on different measurement systems and practises in use was an important part of the seminar. The seminar was followed up by a small workshop during the REFOX exercise in Lund, Sweden, September 2012. Exchange of measurement data from the exercise was facilitated through a workspace proveded by NRPA as part of the MOMS project. The work done in this project will be presented at the NordEx12 seminar in March 2013. (Author)

NKS MOMS. Final report. [Mobile Measurement Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nilssen, J. [Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) (Norway); Aage, H.K. [Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) (Denmark); Palsson, S.E. [Icelandic Radiation Safety Authority (IRSA) (Iceland)

2013-02-15

Mobile car-borne measurement systems are an important asset in early phase emergency response in all Nordic countries. However, through the development of the systems in the different countries, there are considerable differences between the systems developed. This complicates Nordic cooperation and mutual assistance in emergency situations. This project aimed to facilitate harmonization of mobile measurement systems between the Nordic countries. The project focused on harmonizing data formats, information exchange and measurement strategies. Although the work done was funded by each member, the project established a good platform for cooperation which will hopefully continue beyond the scope of the project. A two-day seminar was held in May 2012, where all participants presented the current status (equipment, methods used etc.), in addition to invited speakers presenting development within the field of mobile detection and in situ measurements. Exchange of experiences and information on different measurement systems and practises in use was an important part of the seminar. The seminar was followed up by a small workshop during the REFOX exercise in Lund, Sweden, September 2012. Exchange of measurement data from the exercise was facilitated through a workspace proveded by NRPA as part of the MOMS project. The work done in this project will be presented at the NordEx12 seminar in March 2013. (Author)

Time-Chunking and Hyper-Refocusing in a Digitally-Enabled Workplace: Six Forms of Knowledge Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Eric Gaskin

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Until the turn of the millennium, switching tasks required moving locations or reconfiguring physical workspaces. However, contemporary digital tools and workspaces allow knowledge workers to perform an increasingly diverse set of tasks, with an increasingly extending arm of influence, all from the same physical location without any physical reconfigurations or traversing of physical space. Along with this increased ambidexterity comes an increase in the quantity and frequency of demands on the time of knowledge workers. This digitalization of work now tethers their ability to perform largely to their ability to intensely focus in small chunks, and then hyper-jump that focus to another task without traversing the cognitive cool downs or warm ups required to reconfigure their train of thought from one task to another. Accordingly, they must become more like the hyper-functioning tools they employ if they are to avoid becoming the bottleneck resource in the configuration of socio-technical elements comprising their work routines. In order to better understand how knowledge workers manage their time and maintain focus across multiple and interrupting tasks, we leverage current time prioritization literature to propose and theorize around two key constructs: time-chunking and hyper-refocusing. By combining the possible values for these two constructs, we hypothesize the emergence of six forms of knowledge workers and their relative expected performance. The effects of digitalization on these new worker forms are discussed. We conclude by discussing opportunities for new research questions regarding time-chunking strategies and the hyper-refocusing ability.

Time-Chunking and Hyper-Refocusing in a Digitally-Enabled Workplace: Six Forms of Knowledge Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaskin, James E; Skousen, Tanner

2016-01-01

Until the turn of the millennium, switching tasks required moving locations or reconfiguring physical workspaces. However, contemporary digital tools and workspaces allow knowledge workers to perform an increasingly diverse set of tasks, with an increasingly extending arm of influence, all from the same physical location without any physical reconfigurations or traversing of physical space. Along with this increased ambidexterity comes an increase in the quantity and frequency of demands on the time of knowledge workers. This digitalization of work now tethers their ability to perform largely to their ability to intensely focus in small chunks, and then "hyper-jump" that focus to another task without traversing the cognitive cool downs or warm ups required to reconfigure their train of thought from one task to another. Accordingly, they must become more like the hyper-functioning tools they employ if they are to avoid becoming the bottleneck resource in the configuration of socio-technical elements comprising their work routines. In order to better understand how knowledge workers manage their time and maintain focus across multiple and interrupting tasks, we leverage current time prioritization literature to propose and theorize around two key constructs: time-chunking and hyper-refocusing. By combining the possible values for these two constructs, we hypothesize the emergence of six forms of knowledge workers and their relative expected performance. The effects of digitalization on these new worker forms are discussed. We conclude by discussing opportunities for new research questions regarding time-chunking strategies and the hyper-refocusing ability.

How neuroscience will change our view on consciousness.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamme, Victor A F

2010-09-01

Is there consciousness in machines? Or in animals? What happens to consciousness when we are asleep, or in vegetative state? These are just a few examples of the many questions about consciousness that are troubling scientists and laypersons alike. Moreover, these questions share a striking feature: They seem to have been around forever, yet neither science nor philosophy has been able to provide an answer. Why is that? In my view, the main reason is that the study of consciousness is dominated by what we know from introspection and behavior. This has fooled us into thinking that we know what we are conscious of. The scientific equivalent of this is Global Workspace theory. But in fact we don't know what we are conscious of, as I will explain from a simple experiment in visual perception. Once we acknowledge that, it is clear that we need other evidence about the presence or absence of a conscious sensation than introspection or behavior. Assuming the brain has something to do with it, I will demonstrate how arguments from neuroscience, together with theoretical and ontological arguments, can help us resolve what the exact nature of our conscious sensation is. It turns out that we see much more than we think, and that Global Workspace theory is all about access but not about seeing. The exercise is an example of how neuroscience will move us away from psychological intuitions about consciousness, and hence depict a notion of consciousness that may go against our deepest conviction: "My consciousness is mine, and mine alone." It's not.

White matter damage impairs access to consciousness in multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Reuter, Françoise; Del Cul, Antoine; Malikova, Irina; Naccache, Lionel; Confort-Gouny, Sylviane; Cohen, Laurent; Cherif, André Ali; Cozzone, Patrick J; Pelletier, Jean; Ranjeva, Jean-Philippe; Dehaene, Stanislas; Audoin, Bertrand

2009-01-15

Global neuronal workspace theory predicts that damage to long-distance white matter (WM) tracts should impair access to consciousness during the perception of brief stimuli. To address this issue, we studied visual backward masking in 18 patients at the very first clinical stage of multiple sclerosis (MS), a neurological disease characterized by extensive WM damage, and in 18 matched healthy subjects. In our masking paradigm, the visibility of a digit stimulus increases non-linearly as a function of the interval duration between this target and a subsequent mask. In order to characterize quantitatively, for each subject, the transition between non-conscious and conscious perception of the stimulus, we used non-linear regression to fit a sigmoid curve to objective performance and subjective visibility reports as a function of target-mask delay. The delay corresponding to the inflexion point of the sigmoid, where visibility suddenly increases, was termed the "non-linear transition threshold" and used as a summary measure of masking efficiency. Objective and subjective non-linear transition thresholds were highly correlated across subjects in both groups, and were higher in patients compared to controls. In patients, variations in the non-linear transition threshold were inversely correlated to the Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) values inside the right dorsolateral prefrontal WM, the right occipito-frontal fasciculus and the left cerebellum. This study provides clinical evidence of a relationship between impairments of conscious access and integrity of large WM bundles, particularly involving prefrontal cortex, as predicted by global neuronal workspace theory.

Memory under pressure: secondary-task effects on contextual cueing of visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Annac, Efsun; Manginelli, Angela A; Pollmann, Stefan; Shi, Zhuanghua; Müller, Hermann J; Geyer, Thomas

2013-11-04

Repeated display configurations improve visual search. Recently, the question has arisen whether this contextual cueing effect (Chun & Jiang, 1998) is itself mediated by attention, both in terms of selectivity and processing resources deployed. While it is accepted that selective attention modulates contextual cueing (Jiang & Leung, 2005), there is an ongoing debate whether the cueing effect is affected by a secondary working memory (WM) task, specifically at which stage WM influences the cueing effect: the acquisition of configural associations (e.g., Travis, Mattingley, & Dux, 2013) versus the expression of learned associations (e.g., Manginelli, Langer, Klose, & Pollmann, 2013). The present study re-investigated this issue. Observers performed a visual search in combination with a spatial WM task. The latter was applied on either early or late search trials--so as to examine whether WM load hampers the acquisition of or retrieval from contextual memory. Additionally, the WM and search tasks were performed either temporally in parallel or in succession--so as to permit the effects of spatial WM load to be dissociated from those of executive load. The secondary WM task was found to affect cueing in late, but not early, experimental trials--though only when the search and WM tasks were performed in parallel. This pattern suggests that contextual cueing involves a spatial WM resource, with spatial WM providing a workspace linking the current search array with configural long-term memory; as a result, occupying this workspace by a secondary WM task hampers the expression of learned configural associations.

Design and Implementation of the CEBAF Element Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larrieu, Theodore; Slominski, Christopher; Joyce, Michele

2011-01-01

With inauguration of the CEBAF Element Database (CED) in Fall 2010, Jefferson Lab computer scientists have taken a first step toward the eventual goal of a model-driven accelerator. Once fully populated, the database will be the primary repository of information used for everything from generating lattice decks to booting front-end computers to building controls screens. A particular requirement influencing the CED design is that it must provide consistent access to not only present, but also future, and eventually past, configurations of the CEBAF accelerator. To accomplish this, an introspective database schema was designed that allows new elements, element types, and element properties to be defined on-the-fly without changing table structure. When used in conjunction with the Oracle Workspace Manager, it allows users to seamlessly query data from any time in the database history with the exact same tools as they use for querying the present configuration. Users can also check-out workspaces and use them as staging areas for upcoming machine configurations. All Access to the CED is through a well-documented API that is translated automatically from original C++ into native libraries for script languages such as perl, php, and TCL making access to the CED easy and ubiquitous. Notice: Authored by Jefferson Science Associates, LLC under U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC05-06OR23177. The U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce this manuscript for U.S. Government purposes.

Synthesis and Evaluation of A High Precision 3D-Printed Ti6Al4V Compliant Parallel Manipulator

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Minh Tuan; Teo, Tat Joo; Huat Yeo, Song; Wang, Pan; Nai, Mui Ling Sharon

2017-12-01

A novel 3D printed compliant parallel manipulator (CPM) with θX - θX - Z motions is presented in this paper. This CPM is synthesized using the beam-based method, a new structural optimization approach, to achieve optimized stiffness properties with targeted dynamic behavior. The CPM performs high non-actuating stiffness based on the predicted stiffness ratios of about 3600 for translations and 570 for rotations, while the dynamic response is fast with the targeted first resonant mode of 100Hz. A prototype of the synthesized CPM is fabricated using the electron beam melting (EBM) technology with Ti6Al4V material. Driven by three voice-coil (VC) motors, the CPM demonstrated a positioning resolution of 50nm along the Z axis and an angular resolution of ~0.3 “about the X and Y axes, the positioning accuracy is also good with the measured values of ±25.2nm and ±0.17” for the translation and rotations respectively. Experimental investigation also shows that this large workspace CPM has a first resonant mode of 98Hz and the stiffness behavior matches the prediction with the highest deviation of 11.2%. Most importantly, the full workspace of 10° × 10° × 7mm of the proposed CPM can be achieved, that demonstrates 3D printed compliant mechanisms can perform large elastic deformation. The obtained results show that CPMs printed by EBM technology have predictable mechanical characteristics and are applicable in precise positioning systems.

CERN Technical Training: available Places in forthcoming Courses

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

The following course sessions are scheduled in the framework of the CERN Technical Training Program 2008 and places are still available. You may find the full updated Technical Training course program in our web-catalogue. OFFICE SOFTWARE Sharepoint Collaboration Workspace\tF\t04.02\t1 d Office 2007 – Nouveautés/Novelties\tB\t05.02\t1 d Outlook 2007 (Short course I) – Email\tB\t07.02\t0.5 d Outlook 2007 (Short course II) - Calendar, Tasks, Notes\tB\t07.02\t0.5 d Outlook 2007 (Short course III) Meeting and Delegation\tB\t08.02\t0.5 d Word 2007 (Short course IV) – Master document\tB\t08.02\t0.5 d ACCESS 2007 - level 1 : ECDL\tE\t13-14.02\t2 d Sharepoint Collaboration Workspace\tE\t25.02\t1 d Word – Level 1\tE\t25-26.02\t2 d Excel – Level 1\tE\t28-29.02\t2 d Office 2007 –Novelties\tE\t03.03\t1 d Sharepoint designer (Frontpage) – Level 1\tE\t05-06.03\t2 d Word 2007 (Short course I: HowTo. work with AutoTasks)\tB\t31.03\t0.5 d Word 2007 (Short course II: HowTo mail merge)\tB\t31.03\t0.5 d SOFTWARE AND SYS...

CERN Technical Training: available Places in forthcoming Courses

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

The following course sessions are scheduled in the framework of the CERN Technical Training Program 2008 and still have places available. You may find the full, updated Technical Training course program on our web-catalogue (http://cta.cern.ch/cta2/f?p=110:9). OFFICE SOFTWARE Word - Niveau 1\tF\t21-22.01\t2 d Excel - Niveau 1\tF\t24-25.01\t2 d DreamWeaver\tF\t28-29.01\t2 d Sharepoint Designer (Frontpage) Niveau 1\tF\t31-01.01-02\t2 d Sharepoint Collaboration Workspace\tF\t04.02\t1 d Office 2007 - Nouveautés\tB\t05.02\t1 d Outlook 2007 (Short course I) – Email\tB\t07.02\t0.5 d Outlook 2007 (Short course II) - Calendar, Tasks, Notes\tB\t07.02\t0.5 d Outlook 2007 (Short course III) Meeting and Delegation\tB\t08.02\t0.5 d Word 2007 (Short course IV) – Master document\tB\t08.02\t0.5 d Sharepoint Collaboration Workspace\tE\t25.02\t1 d Word – Level 1\tE\t25-26.02\t2 d Excel – Level 1\tE\t28-29.02\t2 d SOFTWARE AND SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES JCOP - Joint PVSS-JCOP Framework\tE\t28.01-01.02\t4.5 d Introduction to Object ...

The integrated proactive surveillance system for prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Haibin; Yatawara, Mahendra; Huang, Shao-Chi; Dudley, Kevin; Szekely, Christine; Holden, Stuart; Piantadosi, Steven

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of the integrated proactive surveillance system for prostate cancer (PASS-PC). The integrated PASS-PC is a multi-institutional web-based system aimed at collecting a variety of data on prostate cancer patients in a standardized and efficient way. The integrated PASS-PC was commissioned by the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) and built through the joint of efforts by a group of experts in medical oncology, genetics, pathology, nutrition, and cancer research informatics. Their main goal is facilitating the efficient and uniform collection of critical demographic, lifestyle, nutritional, dietary and clinical information to be used in developing new strategies in diagnosing, preventing and treating prostate cancer.The integrated PASS-PC is designed based on common industry standards - a three tiered architecture and a Service- Oriented Architecture (SOA). It utilizes open source software and programming languages such as HTML, PHP, CSS, JQuery, Drupal and MySQL. We also use a commercial database management system - Oracle 11g. The integrated PASS-PC project uses a "confederation model" that encourages participation of any interested center, irrespective of its size or location. The integrated PASS-PC utilizes a standardized approach to data collection and reporting, and uses extensive validation procedures to prevent entering erroneous data. The integrated PASS-PC controlled vocabulary is harmonized with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Thesaurus. Currently, two cancer centers in the USA are participating in the integrated PASS-PC project.THE FINAL SYSTEM HAS THREE MAIN COMPONENTS: 1. National Prostate Surveillance Network (NPSN) website; 2. NPSN myConnect portal; 3. Proactive Surveillance System for Prostate Cancer (PASS-PC). PASS-PC is a cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) compatible product. The integrated PASS-PC provides a foundation for collaborative prostate cancer research. It has been built to

Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Consciousness and the Intermediate Level Fallacy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riccardo Manzotti

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Recently, there has been considerable interest and effort to the possibility to design and implement conscious robots, i.e., the chance that robots may have subjective experiences. Typical approaches as the global workspace, information integration, enaction, cognitive mechanisms, embodiment, i.e., the Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Consciousness, henceforth, GOFAC, share the same conceptual framework. In this paper, we discuss GOFAC's basic tenets and their implication for AI and Robotics. In particular, we point out the intermediate level fallacy as the central issue affecting GOFAC. Finally, we outline a possible alternative conceptual framework toward robot consciousness.

3D TV - looking forward in depth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abel, E.; Dumbreck, A.A.

1990-01-01

Direct viewing of remote handling tasks in decommissioning, operation, inspection and repair of nuclear facilities is constrained by the need to contain the workspace and to provide adequate shielding for operators and other staff. Improvements in camera design and display technology, and an understanding of radiation tolerance and human factors, have been brought together at AEA Technology to provide a range of stereoscopic or 3D TV viewing systems. These allow operators to assess conditions accurately in a remote environment, and can be used either to observe or inspect, and to help in completing complex manipulations and tool deployment. (author)

Depth Perception In Remote Stereoscopic Viewing Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Diner, Daniel B.; Von Sydow, Marika

1989-01-01

Report describes theoretical and experimental studies of perception of depth by human operators through stereoscopic video systems. Purpose of such studies to optimize dual-camera configurations used to view workspaces of remote manipulators at distances of 1 to 3 m from cameras. According to analysis, static stereoscopic depth distortion decreased, without decreasing stereoscopitc depth resolution, by increasing camera-to-object and intercamera distances and camera focal length. Further predicts dynamic stereoscopic depth distortion reduced by rotating cameras around center of circle passing through point of convergence of viewing axes and first nodal points of two camera lenses.

Raspberry Pi projects for dummies

CERN Document Server

Cook, Mike; Craft, Brock

2015-01-01

Join the Raspberry revolution with these fun and easy Pi projects The Raspberry Pi has opened up a whole new world of innovation for everyone from hardware hackers and programmers to students, hobbyists, engineers, and beyond. Featuring a variety of hands-on projects, this easy-to-understand guide walks you through every step of the design process and will have you creating like a Raspberry Pi pro in no time. You'll learn how to prepare your workspace, assemble the necessary tools, work with test equipment, and find your way around the Raspberry Pi before moving on to a series of fun, livel

Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 Step by Step

CERN Document Server

Londer, Olga; Bleeker, Todd; Coventry, Penelope

2007-01-01

Experience learning made easy-and quickly teach yourself how to use Windows SharePoint Services to enable effective team collaboration. With Step By Step, you set the pace-building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Build your own SharePoint site with easy-to-use templatesCreate lists and libraries to store informationAdd discussion boards, wikis, and blogsSet up Document and Meeting Workspaces for easy collaborationShare calendars, contacts, and data from Microsoft Office programsCustomize your pages with Web Parts Your all-in-one learning experience includes: Fi

Extension versus Bending for Continuum Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George Grimes

2008-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we analyze the capabilities of a novel class of continuous-backbone ("continuum" robots. These robots are inspired by biological "trunks, and tentacles". However, the capabilities of established continuum robot designs, which feature controlled bending but not extension, fall short of those of their biological counterparts. In this paper, we argue that the addition of controlled extension provides dual and complementary functionality, and correspondingly enhanced performance, in continuum robots. We present an interval-based analysis to show how the inclusion of controllable extension significantly enhances the workspace and capabilities of continuum robots.

Improved haptic interface for colonoscopy simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Hyun Soo; Kim, Woo Seok; Ahn, Woojin; Lee, Doo Yong; Yi, Sun Young

2007-01-01

This paper presents an improved haptic interface of the KAIST-Ewha colonoscopy simulator II. The haptic interface enables the distal portion of the colonoscope to be freely bent while guaranteeing enough workspace and reflective forces for colonoscopy simulation. Its force-torque sensor measures profiles of the user. Manipulation of the colonoscope tip is monitored by four deflection sensors, and triggers computation to render accurate graphic images corresponding to the angle knob rotation. Tack switches are attached on the valve-actuation buttons of the colonoscope to simulate air-injection or suction, and the corresponding deformation of the colon.