Exploiting ungrounded tactile haptic displays for mobile robotic teleoperation

Teleoperated mobile robotics offer potential use in a variety of different real-world applications including hazardous materials handling, urban search and rescue and explosive ordnance handling and disposal. Recent research discusses the use of Haptic technology in increasing task immersion and teleoperator performance. This work investigates the utility of low-cost, ungrounded tactile haptic interfaces in mobile robotic teleoperation. In order to achieve the desired implementation using only tactile sensation presents distinct challenges. Innovative haptic control methodologies providing the teleoperator with intuitive motion control and task-relevant haptic augmentation are presented within this paper.

Kinematic modeling of a bio-inspired robotic fish

This paper proposes a kinematic modeling method for a bio-inspired robotic fish based on single joint. Lagrangian function of freely swimming robotic fish is built based on a simplified geometric model. In order to build the kinematic model, the fluid force acting on the robotic fish is divided into three parts: the pressure on links, the approach stream pressure and the frictional force. By solving Lagrange's equation of the second kind and the fluid force, the movement of robotic fish is obtained. The robotic fish's motion, such as propelling and turning are simulated, and experiments are taken to verify the model.

Patient outcomes in the acute revovery phase following robotic-assisted prostate surgery : a prospective study

Background: Robotic-assisted minimally invasive urologic surgery was developed to minimise surgical trauma resulting in quicker recovery. It has many potential benefits for patients with localised prostate cancer over traditional surgical techniques without taking a risk with the oncological result.

Objectives: To report the specific surgical outcomes for the first Australian cohort of patients with localised prostate cancer that had undergone robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) surgery. The outcomes represent the acute (in-hospital) recovery phase and include pain, length of stay (LOS), urinary catheter management and wound management.

Methods: Prospective descriptive survey of 214 consecutive patients admitted to a large metropolitan private hospital in Melbourne, Australia between December 2003 and June 2005. Patients had undergone RARP surgery for localised prostate cancer. Data were collected from the medical records and through interview at the time of discharge. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the frequency and proportion of outcomes. Patient characteristics were tabulated using cross tabulation frequency distribution and measures of central tendency.

Results: The findings from this study are highly encouraging when compared to outcomes associated with traditional surgical techniques. Transurethral catheter duration (median 7 days (IQ range 2)) and LOS (median 3 days (IQ range 2)) were considerably reduced. While operation time (median 3.30 h (IQ range 1.07)) was marginally reduced we would expect a further reduction as the surgical team becomes more skilled.

Conclusion: The findings from this study contribute to building a comprehensive picture of patient outcomes in the acute (in-hospital) recovery phase for a cohort of Australian patients who have undergone RARP surgery for localised prostate cancer. As such, these findings will provide valuable information with which to plan care for patients’ who undergo robotic-assisted surgery.

Universiti Sains Malaysia and a new vision for Higher Education

This paper seeks to engage the issue of the way that universities can engage in civil society and build social capital and trust and why lJSM's strategy for such engagement is an important response to the problems of globalization. The quality of the social and instructional capital that is developed by universities getting involved 'at the coal face' with contemporary social problems and forging alliances in diverse ways with global civil society is a realization of the 'blue ocean' strategy of Universiti Sains Malaysia. However it is also an expression of the way USM seeks to engage the issue of 'liquid modernity' and mobility'. This has indirect influence on the quality of instructional and social capital that is necessary for a university to genuinely engage and interface with diversity.

Avian retinal oil droplets : dietary manipulation of colour vision?

Avian vision is highly developed, with bird retinas containing rod and double-cone photoreceptors, plus four classes of single cones subserving tetrachromatic colour vision. Cones contain an oil droplet, rich in carotenoid pigments (except VS/ultraviolet-sensitive cones), that acts as a filter, substantially modifying light detected by the photoreceptor. Using dietary manipulations, we tested the effects of carotenoid availability on oil droplet absorbance properties in two species: Platycercus elegans and Taeniopygia guttata. Using microspectrophotometry, we determined whether manipulations affected oil droplet carotenoid concentration and whether changes would alter colour discrimination ability. In both species, increases in carotenoid concentration were found in carotenoid-supplemented birds, but only in the double cones. Magnitudes of effects of manipulations were often dependent on retinal location. The study provides, to our knowledge, the first experimental evidence of dietary intake over a short time period affecting carotenoid concentration of retinal oil droplets. Moreover, the allocation of carotenoids to the retina by both species is such that the change potentially preserves the spectral tuning of colour vision. Our study generates new insights into retinal regulation of carotenoid concentration of oil droplets, an area about which very little is known, with implications for our understanding of trade-offs in carotenoid allocation in birds.

Detection of depression in patients with low vision

Purpose. Depression is common in people with vision impairment and further reduces levels of functioning independent of vision loss. However, depression most often remains undetected and untreated this group. Eye health  professionals (EHPs) (ophthalmic nurses, ophthalmologists, optometrists, and orthoptists) and rehabilitation workers (RWs) may be able to play a role in detecting depression. This study aimed to identify current practice and investigate factors associated with depression management strategies.
Methods. A self-administered cross-sectional survey of EHPs and RWs assessed current practice including confidence in working with depressed people with vision impairment; barriers to recognition, assessment, and management of depression; beliefs about the consequences, duration, and efficacy of treatment for depression in individuals with vision impariment.
Results. Ninety-four participants aged 23 to 69 years took part. Thirty-seven participants (39.8%) stated that they attempted to identify depression as part of patient management, with RWs significantly more likely to do so (n = 17, 60.7%) than EHPs (n = 20, 30.8%; p = 0.007). Intention to identify depression was not associated with sociodemographic factors, professional experience in eye care services, or the length and number of patient consultations, but a significant relationship was found for confidence, barriers, and beliefs about depression (p < 0.05). No consistent depression management strategy emerged and a range of barriers were highlighted.
Conclusions. Training programs are needed to provide EHPs and RWs with the skills and resources to address depression in people with vision loss under their care and to support the development of procedures by which concerns about depression can be identified objectively, documented, and included as part of a referral to appropriate services.

Ultraviolet vision in birds: what is its function?

Although UV vision was first demonstrated in birds in the early 1970s, its function is still unknown. Here we review the evidence for UV vision in birds, discuss the special properties of UV light, lay out in detail hypotheses for the function of UV vision in birds and discuss their plausibility. The main hypotheses are that UV vision functions: (i) in orientation, (ii) in foraging and (iii) in signalling. The first receives support from studies of homing pigeons, but it would be unwise to conclude that orientation is UV's primary function in all birds. It is especially important to test the signalling hypothesis because bird plumage often reflects UV and tests of theories of sexual selection have virtually always assumed that birds perceive plumage ''colours'' as humans do. A priori this assumption is unlikely to be correct, for unlike humans, birds see in the UV, have at least four types of cones and have a system of oil droplets which filters light entering individual cones.

Ultraviolet vision and mate choice in zebra finches

SEXUAL selection is one of the most actively studied areas of evolutionary biology(1-3), and ever since Darwin(1) birds have been probably the most popular taxon for testing the predictions about colour variation. Humans have been used to assess 'colour', an approach which may be flawed(4,5) as many birds see in the ultraviolet (to which humans are blind), and have at least four spectral classes of retinal cone cells (humans have only three), Here we report experiments on zebra finches which test the hypothesis that the ultraviolet waveband (300-400 nm) is used in avian mate-choice decisions. We found that the ultraviolet is used, and that it probably contributes to hue perception. This finding may have,vide implications for future studies of avian sexual selection and colour, and supports one hypothesized function of avian ultraviolet vision, the role of which is largely unknown.(4,6,7)

Avian color vision and coloration : multidisciplinary evolutionary biology

A fundamental issue in biology is explaining the diversity of coloration found in nature. Birds provide some of the best-studied examples of the evolution and causes of color variation and some of the most arresting color displays in the natural world. They possess perhaps the most richly endowed visual system of any vertebrate, including UV-A sensitivity and tetrachromatic color vision over the 300-700-nm waveband. Birds provide model systems for the multidisciplinary study of animal coloration and color vision. Recent advances in understanding avian coloration and color vision are due to recognition that birds see colors in a different way than humans do and to the ready availability of small spectrometers. We summarize the state of the current field, recent trends, and likely future directions.

Ultraviolet vision and band-colour preferences in female zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata

Zebra finches have previously been found to have preferences for particular colours of both natural and artificial traits among opposite sex conspecifics. For example, in some studies female zebra finches preferred males wearing red leg bands to orange-banded and unbanded birds and rejected light green-banded males. In other studies, females also preferred males with red beaks to orange-beaked males. However, several authors have failed to replicate these results. We show that females may fail to show a colour preference because of the absence or removal of ultraviolet light under experimental conditions. In mate-choice trials, females observing males through filters that transmitted ultraviolet preferred red-banded males but where females viewed males through ultraviolet-blocking filters, no such preference was observed. Further investigation revealed that the lack of a colour preference when ultraviolet was absent was probably due to the change in overall appearance of the bird, rather than the change in appearance of the rings themselves. This work highlights the importance of proper consideration of the sensory capabilities of animals in experimental design, particularly with regard to the role of ultraviolet light in avian colour perception. (C) 1997 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.