Factors affecting the mission time of an autonomous mobile robot: a theoretical and experimental investigation

I vantaggi dell’Industria 4.0 hanno stravolto il manufacturing. Ma cosa vuol dire "Industria 4.0"? Essa è la nuova frontiera del manufacturing, basata su princìpi che seguono i passi avanti dei sistemi IT e della tecnologia. Dunque, i suoi pilastri sono: integrazione, verticale e orizzontale, digitalizzazione e automazione. L’Industria 4.0 coinvolge molte aree della supply chain, dai flussi informativi alla logistica. In essa e nell’intralogistica, la priorità è sviluppare dei sistemi di material handling flessibili, automatizzati e con alta prontezza di risposta. Il modello ideale è autonomo, in cui i veicoli fanno parte di una flotta le cui decisioni sono rese decentralizzate grazie all'alta connettività e alla loro abilità di collezionare dati e scambiarli rapidamente nel cloud aziendale.Tutto ciò non sarebbe raggiungibile se ci si affidasse a un comune sistema di trasporto AGV, troppo rigido e centralizzato. La tesi si focalizza su un tipo di material handlers più flessibile e intelligente: gli Autonomous Mobile Robots. Grazie alla loro intelligenza artificiale e alla digitalizzazione degli scambi di informazioni, interagiscono con l’ambiente per evitare ostacoli e calcolare il percorso ottimale. Gli scenari dell’ambiente lavorativo determinano perdite di tempo nel tragitto dei robot e sono queste che dovremo studiare. Nella tesi, i vantaggi apportati dagli AMR, come la loro decentralizzazione delle decisioni, saranno introdotti mediante una literature review e poi l’attenzione verterà sull’analisi di ogni scenario di lavoro. Fondamentali sono state le esperienze nel Logistics 4.0 Lab di NTNU, per ricreare fisicamente alcuni scenari. Inoltre, il software AnyLogic sarà usato per riprodurre e simulare tutti gli scenari rilevanti. I risultati delle simulazioni verranno infine usati per creare un modello che associ ad ogni scenario rilevante una perdita di tempo, attraverso una funzione. Per questo saranno usati software di data analysis come Minitab e MatLab.

Concentrações de vitamina A no leite humano e características socioeconômicas e nutricionais maternas: resultados de estudos brasileiros

OBJETIVOS: agregar e discutir os resultados de estudos realizados no Brasil que avaliaram a concentração de vitamina A no leite materno. FONTES DOS DADOS: foram pesquisadas as bases LILACS, Banco de Teses da Capes, SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library), e Plataforma Lattes -seção de produção científica. As palavras-chaves utilizadas foram: gestantes, lactante, concentração de vitamina A no leite humano, Brasil. As buscas foram realizadas em 2006 e atualizadas em março de 2008. Foram incluídos todos os estudos localizados. SÍNTESE DOS DADOS: foram localizados 14 estudos, publicados entre 1988 e 2008, heterogêneos quanto ao tamanho da amostra, fase do leite, período do dia da coleta e método de determinação das concentrações de vitamina A. Foram descritas concentrações médias de vitamina A no leite humano entre 0,62 e 4,50 µmol/L. CONCLUSÕES: não houve consenso sobre a relação entre concentração de vitamina A no leite humano e vitamina A dietética, estado nutricional materno, características obstétricas e demográficas e duração da gestação. Sugere-se que estudos futuros utilizem, amostras de leite maduro, coletadas aleatoriamente ao longo dos diferentes períodos do dia, e a utilização do high performance liquid chromatography - HPLC - como método de determinação de vitamina A.

Gastric Outlet Obstruction in a Patient with Bouveret's Syndrome: a Case Report

BACKGROUND: Gallstone ileus accounts for 1% to 4% of cases of mechanical bowel obstruction, but may be responsible for up to 25% of cases in older age groups. In non-iatrogenic cases, gallstone migration occurs after formation of a biliary-enteric fistula. In fewer than 10% of patients with gallstone ileus, the impacted gallstones are located in the pylorus or duodenum, resulting in gastric outlet obstruction, known as Bouveret's syndrome. CASE PRESENTATION: We report an 86-year-old female who was admitted to hospital with a 10-day history of persistent vomiting and prostration. She was in hypovolemic shock at the time of arrival in the emergency department. Investigations revealed a gallstone in the duodenal bulb and a cholecystoduodenal fistula. She underwent surgical gastrolithotomy. Unfortunately, she died of aspiration pneumonia on the fourth postoperative day. CONCLUSION: This case shows the importance of considering Bouveret's syndrome in the differential diagnosis of gastric outlet obstruction, especially in the elderly, even in patients with no previous history of gallbladder disease.

Importació d'obres artístiques dels Països Baixos del Sud a Catalunya durant els segles XV i primera meitat del XVI

Durant els segles XV i primera meitat del XVI, tota mena de productes de luxe eren exportats des dels Països Baixos del sud a tota Europa, moda fomentada pels ducs de Borgonya, que governaven el territori. Malgrat el major número d’estudis sobre les relacions entre la Corona de Castella i Flandes a finals de l’Edat Mitjana, i les més nombroses peces flamenques conservades en aquesta regió veïna, també la Corona d’Aragó mantenia intenses relacions comercials amb els Països Baixos del sud, essent la colònia de mercaders catalans de les primeres en establir-se a Bruges, principal port d’exportació a l’època. És nombrosa la documentació referida a naus catalanes viatjant cap al nord, així com als privilegis de què gaudia aquesta colònia de mercaders. Un bon grapat de peces d’aquesta procedència es conserven a museus i institucions locals. Malgrat que de moltes no se’n coneix el moment d’arribada, d’altres es troben ben documentades o se’n pot deduïr la seva presència a Catalunya des de finals de l’Edat Mitjana, conformant un farcit catàleg. D’altra banda, la documentació d’arxiu ens proporciona valuoses notícies sobre la gran quantitat de peces flamenques avui desaparegudes però que haurien existit a l’època, evidenciant que el que avui ens resta no és més que una molt petita porció del que hauria estat a finals de l’Edat Mitjana, i ens permet acostar-nos a una visió de la societat i els seus gustos més propera a la realitat de l’època, posant de manifest que la moda flamenca arrelaria intensament a Catalunya.

Utilizing Near Field Communication in Health Care

In this master’s thesis, possibilities to utilize Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in health care applications are examined. NFC is a short-range wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices. Main components in NFC are tag, which contains data, a NFC reader device, which can be for instance embedded to mobile phone and also act as a tag, and an antennae in both tag and reader. In this work NFC technology is discussed and its utilization in health care information systems that are in use or in trial. Utilization of information technology in health care field is examined superficially. In this thesis, a system utilizing NFC is designed and its requirements and architecture presented. NFC is used in identification of care worker. When care worker arrives at the house of a patient, she brings the NFC-enabled mobile phone near NFC tag. This sends information to the application server. This information contains the time of arrival and patient and location identifier. When care worker leaves the place, she repeats the procedure. Information gathered can be used in reporting and real time tracking.

Causas de no trombolisis en ataque cerebrovascular

Introducción. El ataque cerebrovascular (ACV) ocupa el primer lugar en frecuencia entre todas las enfermedades neurológicas de la vida adulta, y el tercer lugar como causa más frecuente de muerte. Se aprobó para el manejo agudo, la terapia con activador del plasminógeno tisular recombinante (t-PA) en las primeras 4,5 horas después del inicio de los síntomas, demostrando mayor sobrevida y menos niveles de discapacidad. Sin embargo solo el 5-10% de pacientes reciben este manejo. Por estas razones es necesario conocer que factores se asocian con la no intervención terapéutica. Objetivo. Describir los factores asociados con la no trombolisis en pacientes con ataque cerebrovascular en un hospital de IV nivel en Bogotá, Colombia. Métodos. Estudio analítico de corte transversal, en un centro de cuarto nivel en Bogotá entre enero de 2009 y enero de 2011. Resultados. Se encontraron 178 pacientes en un promedio de edad de 65,9 años (DE± 10 años) con una relación hombre-mujer 1:1, la principal causa de no trombolisis fue la ventana mayor a 4.5 horas, 33,7% (n=60), 26,4% por cambios en imágenes diagnosticas, y 14% por puntajes leves o severos en las escala National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), historia quirúrgica 7.3% y laboratorios 4.5%. El tiempo promedio de atención fue 23 minutos (DE ± 21 min) para la activación del código de ACV, 39 minutos para valoración por neurología (DE ± 25 min), 46 minutos (DE ± 19,1 min) para toma de paraclínicos, 66 minutos para toma de imágenes y 97 minutos para trombolisis (DE ± 21min, DE ± 17 min, respectivamente). Se realizó trombolisis en 17 pacientes, 9,6%. No se encontró asociación significativa entre cultura de organización con trombolisis ni de tiempos de atención con trombolisis. Conclusiones. La principal razón de no trombolisis, fue la ventana mayor a 4.5 horas, no se encontró relación entre cultura de organización institucional con trombolisis. El tiempo promedio de trombolisis fue de 90 minutos. Deben instaurarse medidas para reducir el tiempo de llegada al hospital, y los tiempos de atención en urgencias. Deben realizarse nuevas evaluaciones del código ACV posterior a las estrategias de mejoría.

Obtenção de ferrita de cobalto através de dois métodos de síntese: método de complexação combinando EDTA/Citrato e método hidrotérmico

In this work it was synthesized and characterized the cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) by two methods: complexation combining EDTA/Citrate and hydrothermal investigating the influence of the synthesis conditions on phase formation and on the crystallite size. The powders were mainly characterized by x-ray diffraction. In specific cases, it was also used scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and isotherms of adsorption and desorption of nitrogen (BET method). The study of the crystallite size was based on the interpretation of x-ray diffractograms obtained and estimated by the method of Halder-Wagner-Scherrer and Langford. An experimental design was made in order to assist in quantifying the influence of synthesis conditions on the response variables. The synthesis parameters evaluated in this study were: pH of the reaction medium (8, 9 and 10), the calcination temperature (combined complexation method EDTA/Citrate 600°C, 800°C and 1000°C), synthesis temperature (hydrothermal method 120°C, 140°C and 160°C), calcination time (combined complexation method EDTA/Citrate - 2, 4 and 6 hours) and time of synthesis (hydrothermal method 6, 15 and 24 hours). By the hydrothermal method was possible to produce mesoporous powders with high purity, with an average crystallite size up to 7 nm, with a surface area of 113.44 m²/g in the form of pellets with irregular morphology. By using the method of combined complexation EDTA/Citrate, mesoporous powders were produced with greater purity, crystallite size up to 22nm and 27.95 m²/g of surface area in the form of pellets with a regular morphology of plaques. In the experimental design was found that the hydrothermal method to all the studied parameters (pH, temperature and time) have significant effect on the crystallite size, while to the combined complexation method EDTA/Citrate, only temperature and time were significant

Conteúdo de peptídeos e avaliação morfofisiológica dos espermatozóides do epidídimo e ejaculado de bovinos

Objetivou-se com este estudo a identificação de alguns fatores protéicos envolvidos na qualidade funcional dos espermatozóides epididimais (SPZEP) e ejaculados (SPZEJ) de bovinos. Foram avaliadas as características morfofisiológicas e analisado o conteúdo peptídico destas estruturas de 11 animais mestiços Nelore, de 24 a 30 meses de idade. As avaliações morfofisiológicas foram motilidade progressiva (MOT, %), vigor, patologias espermáticas, integridade acrossômica e da cromatina. Foi observado que, os SPZEJ, na média, apresentaram MOT maior do que os SPZEP, 72,3 e 46,4%, respectivamente. Considerando as patologias espermáticas, taxas de defeitos maiores (DEFMAI), menores (DEFMEN) e totais (DEFTOT), houve diferença significativa entre as taxas dos DEFMEN e DEFTOT dos SPZEP e SPZEJ, sendo, em média, 91,1 e 8,5% e 95,4 e 11,8%, respectivamente. As taxas dos DEFMEN e DEFTOT dos SPZEP foram maiores em função da presença de espermatozóides com gotas citoplasmáticas distais. A análise das protéinas dos SPZEP e SPZEJ foi realizada por espectrometria de massa, método MALDI-TOF (matrix -assisted laser desorption/ionization - time of flight), e revelou presença de peptídeos de massa molecular variando de 1,1 a 26,3 kDa nos SPZEJ e de 1,1 a 11,6 kDa nos SPZEP. Foram identificados peptídeos de 10,6 e 13,4 kDa somente nos SPZEJ e de 6,8 kDa somente nos SPZEP. Foi observada relação do peptídeo de massa molecular de 7,4 kDa dos SPZEP e de 4,7 kDa dos SPZEJ, com a MOT Ê 80%, destas estruturas. Os resultados sugerem o envolvimento destes peptídeos nos processos funcionais das células espermáticas do epidídimo e ejaculado. O estudo utilizou o método MALDI/TOF para espectrômetro de massa, para identificar peptídeos em espermatozóides do epidídimo de bovinos, pela primeira vez no País.

Search for long-lived particles in events with photons and missing energy in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Gespeicherte Ionen in der Paulfalle: Voruntersuchungen zur Lebensdauermessung des metastabilen 6D-3/2-Zustands des 226 Ra +, Speichereigenschaften von 138 Ba + und 28 N 2 + bei Variation des Puffergasdrucks

Auf Paulfallen basierende Experimente spielen eine wichtige Rolle in verschiedenen Bereichen der Physik, z.B. der Atomphysik zum Test theoretischer Modelle und der Massenspektroskopie. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich beiden Themengebieten und gliedert sich entsprechend in zwei Teilbereiche: 1) Erdalkali-Ionen sind aufgrund ihrer Energieniveaus optimale Kandidaten für Laserspektroskopie-Experimente mit Ionenfallen und bestens geeignet, um mittels der spektroskopischen Daten die theoretischen Modelle zu testen. Lediglich für Ra+ fehlen bislang als einzigem Erdalkali-Ion diese Daten wie z.B. die Lebensdauern der metastabilen Niveaus. Diese wären auch von Interesse für bereits geplante Radium-Experimente zur Paritätsverletzung. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wird der Aufbau eines Laser-Paulfallenexperiments zur Messung der Lebensdauer des 6D3/2 Zustands von 226Ra+ dokumentiert und es werden Testmessungen mit 138Ba+ vorgestellt. 2) Für die Verwendung der Paulfalle in der Massenspektroskopie und zur Analyse von Reaktionsprodukten ist die Kenntnis der Lage der im Speicherbereich auftretenden nichtlinearen Resonanzen wesentlich, ebenso wie deren Veränderung durch Dämpfung und Raumladung. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit werden detaillierte Untersuchungen der Speicherung großer puffergasgekühlter Ionenwolken an zwei unterschiedlichen Paulfallen-Experimenten vorgestellt. Am ersten wurden 138Ba+-Ionenwolken kontinuierlich durch Laserspektroskopie bzw. über einen elektronischen Nachweis beobachtet, während das zweite N2+-Molekülionen automatisiert destruktiv nachwies. Am N2+-Experiment wurden zwei hochaufgelöste Messungen des ersten Speicherbereichs durchgeführt, die erstmals eine direkte Überprüfung der theoretisch berechneten Verläufe der Resonanzen mit experimentellen Daten erlauben. Die Nachweiseichung ermöglichte dabei zum ersten Mal die Angabe absoluter Ionenzahlen. Im Gegensatz zu vergleichbaren früheren Messungen wurden hierbei die sich überlagernden Speicherbereiche von 4 simultan gespeicherten Ionensorten beobachtet und zur Analyse der Resonanzen herangezogen. Die nichtlinearen Resonanzen wurden untersucht bei Variation von Puffergasdruck und Ionenzahl, wobei kollektive Resonanzen ohne zusätzliche externe Anregung beobachtet wurden. Die gemessenen Raumladungsverschiebungen wurden mit theoretischen Modellen verglichen. Bei Variation des Puffergasdrucks wurde mit Bariumionen die räumliche Ausdehnung der Ionenwolke gemessen und mit Stickstoffionen die Verschiebung des Punktes optimaler Speicherung bestimmt. Dabei wurde festgestellt, daß der zum Ioneneinfang optimale Puffergasdruck kleiner ist als der, bei dem die längsten Speicherdauern erzielt werden. Mit gespeicherten N2+-Ionen wurde die Position extern angeregter kollektiver und individueller Resonanzen im Frequenzspektrum bei Änderung der Parameter Ionenzahl, Puffergasdruck und Dauer der Anregung untersucht, ebenso wie die Resonanzform, die mit theoretischen Linienformen verglichen wurde. Bei Änderung der Fallenparameter wurden verstärkende Effekte zwischen nahen kollektiven Resonanzen festgestellt. Die Beobachtung, welche der im Frequenzspektrum vorher identifizierten Bewegungs-Resonanzen sich bei Variation der Fallenparameter a bzw. q überlagern, ermöglicht eine bislang nicht beschriebene einfache Methode der Bestimmung von nichtlinearen Resonanzen im Stabilitätsdiagramm.

Bi-sensory, striped representations: comparative insights from owl and platypus

Bi-sensory striped arrays are described in owl and platypus that share some similarities with the other variant of bi-sensory striped array found in primate and carnivore striate cortex: ocular dominance columns. Like ocular dominance columns, the owl and platypus striped systems each involve two different topographic arrays that are cut into parallel stripes, and interdigitated, so that higher-order neurons can integrate across both arrays. Unlike ocular dominance stripes, which have a separate array for each eye, the striped array in the middle third of the owl tectum has a separate array for each cerebral hemisphere. Binocular neurons send outputs from both hemispheres to the striped array where they are segregated into parallel stripes according to hemisphere of origin. In platypus primary somatosensory cortex (SI), the two arrays of interdigitated stripes are derived from separate sensory systems in the bill, 40,000 electroreceptors and 60,000 mechanoreceptors. The stripes in platypus SI cortex produce bimodal electrosensory-mechanosensory neurons with specificity for the time-of-arrival difference between the two systems. This thunder-and-lightning system would allow the platypus to estimate the distance of the prey using time disparities generated at the bill between the earlier electrical wave and the later mechanical wave caused by the motion of benthic prey. The functional significance of parallel, striped arrays is not clear, even for the highly-studied ocular dominance system, but a general strategy is proposed here that is based on the detection of temporal disparities between the two arrays that can be used to estimate distance. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parametric estimation of pulse arrival time: a robust approach to pulse wave velocity.

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a surrogate of arterial stiffness and represents a non-invasive marker of cardiovascular risk. The non-invasive measurement of PWV requires tracking the arrival time of pressure pulses recorded in vivo, commonly referred to as pulse arrival time (PAT). In the state of the art, PAT is estimated by identifying a characteristic point of the pressure pulse waveform. This paper demonstrates that for ambulatory scenarios, where signal-to-noise ratios are below 10 dB, the performance in terms of repeatability of PAT measurements through characteristic points identification degrades drastically. Hence, we introduce a novel family of PAT estimators based on the parametric modeling of the anacrotic phase of a pressure pulse. In particular, we propose a parametric PAT estimator (TANH) that depicts high correlation with the Complior(R) characteristic point D1 (CC = 0.99), increases noise robustness and reduces by a five-fold factor the number of heartbeats required to obtain reliable PAT measurements.

Control of interceptive actions is based on expectancy of time to target arrival

In this study the hypothesis that interceptive movements are controlled on the basis of expectancy of time to target arrival was tested. The study was conducted through assessment of temporal errors and kinematics of interceptive movements to a moving virtual target. Initial target velocity was kept unchanged in part of the trials, and in the others it was decreased 300 ms before the due time of target arrival at the interception position, increasing in 100 ms time to target arrival. Different probabilities of velocity decrease ranging from 25 to 100% were compared. The results revealed that while there were increasing errors between probabilities of 25 and 75% for unchanged target velocity, the opposite relationship was observed for target velocity decrease. Kinematic analysis indicated that movement timing adjustments to target velocity decrease were made online. These results support the conception that visuomotor integration in the interception of moving targets is mediated by an internal forward model whose weights can be flexibly adjusted according to expectancy of time to target arrival.

A framework for the response time analysis of fixed-priority tasks with stochastic inter-arrival times

Real-time scheduling usually considers worst-case values for the parameters of task (or message stream) sets, in order to provide safe schedulability tests for hard real-time systems. However, worst-case conditions introduce a level of pessimism that is often inadequate for a certain class of (soft) real-time systems. In this paper we provide an approach for computing the stochastic response time of tasks where tasks have inter-arrival times described by discrete probabilistic distribution functions, instead of minimum inter-arrival (MIT) values.

Methodology for real-time adaptation of tunnels support using the observational method

The observational method in tunnel engineering allows the evaluation in real time of the actual conditions of the ground and to take measures if its behavior deviates considerably from predictions. However, it lacks a consistent and structured methodology to use the monitoring data to adapt the support system in real time. The definition of limit criteria above which adaptation is required are not defined and complex inverse analysis procedures (Rechea et al. 2008, Levasseur et al. 2010, Zentar et al. 2001, Lecampion et al. 2002, Finno and Calvello 2005, Goh 1999, Cui and Pan 2012, Deng et al. 2010, Mathew and Lehane 2013, Sharifzadeh et al. 2012, 2013) may be needed to consistently analyze the problem. In this paper a methodology for the real time adaptation of the support systems during tunneling is presented. In a first step limit criteria for displacements and stresses are proposed. The methodology uses graphics that are constructed during the project stage based on parametric calculations to assist in the process and when these graphics are not available, since it is not possible to predict every possible scenario, inverse analysis calculations are carried out. The methodology is applied to the “Bois de Peu” tunnel which is composed by two tubes with over 500 m long. High uncertainty levels existed concerning the heterogeneity of the soil and consequently in the geomechanical design parameters. The methodology was applied in four sections and the results focus on two of them. It is shown that the methodology has potential to be applied in real cases contributing for a consistent approach of a real time adaptation of the support system and highlight the importance of the existence of good quality and specific monitoring data to improve the inverse analysis procedure.