Electrostatic footpads enable agile insect-scale soft robots with trajectory control

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (55) ◽  
pp. eabe7906
Author(s):  
Jiaming Liang ◽  
Yichuan Wu ◽  
Justin K. Yim ◽  
Huimin Chen ◽  
Zicong Miao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scale Up ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Trajectory Control ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Soft Robots ◽  
Centripetal Acceleration ◽  
Rotational Motions ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Piezoelectric Thin Film ◽  
Better Than

Agility and trajectory control are two desirable features for robotics, but they become very challenging for soft robots without rigid structures to support rapid manipulations. Here, a curved piezoelectric thin film driven at its structural resonant frequency is used as the main body of an insect-scale soft robot for its fast translational movements, and two electrostatic footpads are used for its swift rotational motions. These two schemes are simultaneously executed during operations through a simple two-wire connection arrangement. A high relative centripetal acceleration of 28 body length per square second compared with existing robots is realized on a 65-milligram tethered prototype, which is better than those of common insects, including the cockroach. The trajectory manipulation demonstration is accomplished by navigating the robot to pass through a 120-centimeter-long track in a maze within 5.6 seconds. One potential application is presented by carrying a 180-milligram on-board sensor to record a gas concentration route map and to identify the location of the leakage source. The radically simplified analog motion adjustment technique enables the scale-up construction of a 240-milligram untethered robot. Equipped with a payload of 1660 milligrams to include the control circuit, a battery, and photoresistors, the untethered prototype can follow a designated, 27.9-centimeter-long “S”-shaped path in 36.9 seconds. These results validate key performance attributes in achieving both high mobility and agility to emulate living agile insects for the advancements of soft robots.

scholarly journals Summary of a Report on a Survey of the Fal Estuary Oyster Beds: (November, 1924),: With Notes on the Biology of the Oyster (O. edulis)

1927 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 615-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Orton ◽  
D. Bartley Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Fair Proportion ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Better Than

The spatfall in 1924, as in 1923, was very slight and from the point of view of the oyster-producer was a failure, and was little better in 1922.The growth of oysters in the summer of 1924 was unusually great; this has had the effect of bringing a large proportion of small oysters to a legally takeable size.The dredging results have, therefore, been much better than they were expected to be in the season of 1924–25, but the effect has been to deplete the beds still more of reserve stocks of small.Practically all the present stocks of small oysters are of a size between 2 and 2½ inches.With only average growth in 1925 and 1926 a large majority of these small oysters will have attained a size which will not pass through a 2½-inch ring; hence the beds are in a dangerous state.If, therefore, dredging continues under the present conditions, almost the whole of the present stock of small will have grown to large oysters and be cleared off the beds in the season of 1926–27.It is shown that although oysters may grow to a size of 2½ inches at Falmouth in small numbers in three summers, yet four summers are required before a fair proportion of spat can be expected to attain a size of 2½ inches.

FBMC OQAM: novel variant of OFDM

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiv Om Tiwari ◽  
Rajeev Paulus
Keyword(s):  
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing ◽  
Data Transfer ◽  
Average Power ◽  
Hybrid Technique ◽  
Filter Bank Multicarrier ◽  
Novel Variant ◽  
Good Technique ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Papr Performance ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) revolutionizes the transmission technologies, including, optical as well as wireless communication. In OFDM the orthogonal nature of carriers makes it very good technique for data transfer. Still the out-of-band (OOB) radiation in OFDM leads to inter symbol interference (ISI) and bit error rate (BER) goes down. Moreover amplitude variations of the subcarriers lead to power variations and peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) problem. To overcome these issues a novel filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) scheme is proposed, where each carrier is allowed to pass through to a separate filter and orthogonality among subcarriers is relaxed. Thus FBMC has better OOB and PAPR performance. In this work, we also have evaluated the PAPR performance by the simulation results. For the improvement of PAPR nonlinear companding scheme along with clipping is presented. The hybrid technique (clipping + companding) parameters are set in such a way that PAPR is reduced while signal power remains constant. Results are also compared with recent methods and it has been found that the proposed technique preforms better than other chosen techniques.

DEVELOPMENTAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST SCORES IN CHILDREN OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Linda C. Eaves ◽  
J. C. Nuttall ◽  
H. Klonoff ◽  
H. G. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
First Year ◽  
Prospective Survey ◽  
Developmental Scale ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Weight Groups ◽  
Better Than

In a prospective survey, 420 out of 502 infants of low birth weight (≶ 2,041 gm, or 4½ lb) and all but one of 207 control children of full birth weight (> 2,500 gm, or 5½ lb) have survived for more than 3 years. One hundred fifty of the low birth weight (LBW) group have passed the age of 6 years. Developmental and psychological tests have given the following results: (1) Control children performed better than LBW infants on the Griffiths Developmental Scale up to the age of 18 months; among the LBW infants mean Griffiths Scores in 250 gm birth weight groups mosty differed significantly in direct relation to the weight. (2) LBW girls scored higher than boys after the first year on the hearing-speech subscale and, to a lesser extent, on the personal-social and performance subscales of the Griffiths test and also on the Stanford-Binet and Graham-Ernhart tests at 4 years of age. (3) Whereas the effect of birth weight on I.Q. became less distinct at 2½ to 4 years, the effect of socioeconomic status only became definite at that age. (4) In general, "small-for-dates" (SFD) children, including those born before term, scored higher than "true prematures" up to the age of 12 months and slightly lower at 2½ to 6½ years, but the differences were only significant in a few weight groups. When the SFD children were subdivided into those born at less than 37 weeks' gestation and those born later, the latter scored significantly better than the former only at 3 and 6 months. (5) Isolated Griffiths infant test scores at 6 months per se have little predictive value for I.Q. scores of children at 4 years of age, even at the extremes of intelligence.

scholarly journals Virus-based pharmaceutical production in plants: an opportunity to reduce health problems in Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pingdwende Kader Aziz Bamogo ◽  
Christophe Brugidou ◽  
Drissa Sérémé ◽  
Fidèle Tiendrébéogo ◽  
Florencia Wendkuuni Djigma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Plant Viruses ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Expression Vectors ◽  
Neglected Diseases ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Viral Expression

Abstract Background Developing African countries face health problems that they struggle to solve. The major causes of this situation are high therapeutic and logistical costs. Plant-made therapeutics are easy to produce due to the lack of the safety considerations associated with traditional fermenter-based expression platforms, such as mammalian cells. Plant biosystems are easy to scale up and inexpensive, and they do not require refrigeration or a sophisticated medical infrastructure. These advantages provide an opportunity for plant-made pharmaceuticals to counteract diseases for which medicines were previously inaccessible to people in countries with few resources. Main body The techniques needed for plant-based therapeutic production are currently available. Viral expression vectors based on plant viruses have greatly enhanced plant-made therapeutic production and have been exploited to produce a variety of proteins of industrial, pharmaceutical and agribusiness interest. Some neglected tropical diseases occurring exclusively in the developing world have found solutions through plant bioreactor technology. Plant viral expression vectors have been reported in the production of therapeutics against these diseases occurring exclusively in the third world, and some virus-derived antigens produced in plants exhibit appropriate antigenicity and immunogenicity. However, all advances in the use of plants as bioreactors have been made by companies in Europe and America. The developing world is still far from acquiring this technology, although plant viral expression vectors may provide crucial help to overcome neglected diseases. Conclusion Today, interest in these tools is rising, and viral amplicons made in and for Africa are in progress. This review describes the biotechnological advances in the field of plant bioreactors, highlights factors restricting access to this technology by those who need it most and proposes a solution to overcome these limitations.

scholarly journals HMGB-1 as a Novel Predictor of Disease Severity and Prognosis in Patients with Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Du ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Haitao Yu ◽  
Jianqi Lian ◽  
Ye Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Severity ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
White Blood Cells ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Hemorrhagic Fever ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Predicting Outcome ◽  
Severity Of The Disease ◽  
Better Than

Objective. To examine the predictive capacity of the high mobility group box protein-1 (HMGB-1) for disease severity and prognosis of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).Methods. One hundred and five HFRS patients and 28 controls were studied. The concentrations of HMGB-1 in the blood were measured with a commercially available ELISA. The levels of white blood cells (WBC), platelets (PLT), hematocrit (HCT), albumin (ALB), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Scr), and uric acid (UA) were routinely tested in the same time frame.Results. The levels of HMGB-1 increased with the severity of the disease (P<0.001). HMGB-1 was positively correlated with WBC and BUN and negatively correlated with PLT, ALB, and UA (P<0.001). HMGB-1 showed statistical significance for predicting prognosis (AUC = 0.800,P<0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of HMGB-1, WBC, PLT, and ALB used in combination for predicting outcome were better than those of single analyses (AUC = 0.892,P<0.001).Conclusions. HMGB-1 can be considered a novel biomarker for severity and outcome in patients with HFRS. The use of HMGB-1, WBC, PLT, and ALB in combination to predict the outcome in patients with HFRS exhibited an acceptable level of diagnostic capability.

scholarly journals The Impact of SARS on Asian Economies

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Hanna ◽  
Yiping Huang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asian Economies ◽  
Sanitation Systems ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Better Than

This paper describes the economic implications of the SARS outbreak that hit many Asian economies in spring 2003. Without a workable diagnostic test and a treatment for the illness, surveillance and quarantine were the key weapons against SARS last year. In general, risks are greater in countries with poor public health care, poor sanitation systems, high mobility, or high population density. During the height of the SARS outbreak, we estimated that the total costs of the epidemic would be about 1.5 percent of GDP for China. Better-than-expected containment of the virus reduced the impact to only about 0.5 percent of GDP. The experiences of the SARS outbreak point to the strong need to improve both the public health system and the governance structure in Asia.

The Model of Estimating the Loss of Maintenance Potential the High Mobility Wheeled Vehicle

2015 ◽  
Vol 220-221 ◽  
pp. 833-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariusz Kosobudzki ◽  
Tadeusz Smolnicki ◽  
Mariusz Stańco
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring System ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Line System ◽  
Military Vehicles ◽  
Wheeled Vehicle ◽  
On Line ◽  
Maintenance Decision ◽  
Maintenance Process ◽  
Wheeled Vehicles

In the paper, the model of estimating the loss of maintenance potential of high mobility wheeled vehicles within proving ground tests is presented. This problem is up-to-date, especially important for military vehicles. The authors have analysed the selected requirements directed to this class of vehicles. In the main body of the paper, some model that could be applied in on-line system of prognostic Health and Usage Monitoring System (pHUMS) was presented. This model can be used to analyse information about the maintenance process of vehicle before some maintenance decision would be made.

LDFS: Localized Depth First Search for Member Loss Detection of Moving Group in Wireless Networks

2013 ◽  
Vol 378 ◽  
pp. 558-564
Author(s):  
Wei Li Chang ◽  
Eric Hsiaokuang Wu ◽  
Min Te Sun ◽  
Ching Hsiang Chu
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Networks ◽  
Wireless Sensor ◽  
Point Problem ◽  
P2p Networks ◽  
Accuracy Rate ◽  
System A ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Message Overhead ◽  
Better Than

In a distributed system, a portion of nodes are more critical than others, and named them articulation points, all paths between certain nodes have to pass through these points. Most of previous works try to detect the articulation point problem in static networks such as wireless sensor networks, P2P networks. In dynamic networks, as group moving behavior, it is a challenge to detect articulation points because these nodes are moving with time. Group moving in this paper means that a group of mobile members move from one place to another place with different directions and speeds. We aim to propose a distributed LDFS algorithm to check the articulation points in dynamic networks, such as a moving group. The algorithm sets the number of hops for traversing and multiple initiators to reduce message overhead and improve the accuracy rate. In simulations, we design several schemes to compare message overhead, and correctness. Simulation results show that our scheme is better than GlobalDFS and CUD scheme. The scheme could be applied on different applications and is efficient helping us to save and alarm loss on group moving.

scholarly journals Does supportive supervision intervention improve community health worker knowledge and practices for community management of childhood diarrhea and pneumonia? Lessons for scale-up from Nigraan and Nigraan Plus trials in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wafa Aftab ◽  
Suneel Piryani ◽  
Fauziah Rabbani
Keyword(s):  
Health Worker ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Skills Assessment ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Supportive Supervision ◽  
Community Case Management ◽  
Childhood Diarrhea ◽  
Integrated Community Case Management ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Background Lack of programmatic support and supervision is one of the underlying reasons of the poor performance of Pakistan’s Lady Health Worker Program (LHWP). This study describes the findings and potential for scale-up of a supportive supervision intervention in two districts of Pakistan for improving LHWs skills for integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood diarrhea and pneumonia. Methods The intervention comprised an enhanced supervision training to lady health supervisors (LHSs) and written feedback to LHWs by LHSs, implemented in Districts Badin and Mirpur Khas (MPK). Clinical skills of LHWs and LHSs and supervision skills of LHSs were assessed before, during, and after the intervention using structured tools. Results LHSs’ practice of providing written feedback improved between pre- and mid-intervention assessments in both trials (0% to 88% in Badin and 25% to 75% in MPK) in the study arm. Similarly, supervisory performance of study arm LHSs was better than that in the comparison arm in reviewing the treatment suggested by workers’ (94% vs 13% in MPK and 94% vs 69% in Badin) during endline skills assessment in both trials. There were improvements in LHWs’ skills for iCCM of childhood diarrhea and pneumonia in both districts. In intervention arm, LHWs’ performance for correctly assessing for dehydration (28% to 92% in Badin and 74% to 96% in MPK), and measuring the respiratory rate correctly (12% to 44% in Badin and 46% to 79% in MPK) improved between baseline and endline assessments in both trials. Furthermore, study arm LHWs performed better than those in comparison arm in classifying diarrhea correctly during post-intervention skills assessment (68% vs 40% in Badin and 96% vs 83% in MPK). Conclusion Supportive supervision including written feedback and frequent supervisor contact could improve the performance of community-based workers in managing diarrhea and pneumonia among children. Positive lessons for provincial scale-up can be drawn. Trial registration Both trials are registered with the ‘Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry’. Registration numbers: Nigraan Trial: ACTRN1261300126170; Nigraan Plus: ACTRN12617000309381.

scholarly journals Are African primary physicians suspicious enough? Challenges of multiple myeloma diagnosis in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick Thokerunga ◽  
Christopher Ntege ◽  
Abdullahi Omar Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Myeloma ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Plasma Cells ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Bone Lesions ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background Multiple myeloma is a hematological malignancy of plasma cells belonging to a spectrum of monoclonal protein-secreting disorders known as paraproteinemias. It is classically characterized by accumulated plasma cells in the bone marrow, renal insufficiency, hypercalcemia, and bone lesions (CRAB). Despite studies in the USA indicating that the incidence of multiple myeloma is twice as much in Americans of African descent compared to white Americans and those of Asian descent, African countries have some of the lowest incidence rates and prevalence of the cancer. It is generally thought that this is not entirely factual given the paucity of research into the cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, coupled with other diagnostic challenges such as economic hardships, and poor health-seeking behaviors. In this mini review, we explored the state of multiple myeloma diagnosis across sub-Saharan Africa, outlining the challenges to diagnosis and proposing possible solutions. Main body Due to the lack of routine checkups in people > 40 years across sub-Saharan Africa, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) are often accidentally diagnosed. This is due to a very low awareness of multiple myeloma among primary care clinicians and the general population. Other major challenges to multiple myeloma diagnosis across Africa include a chronic shortage of human resource (pathologists, cytotechnologists, and histotechnologists), and a prohibitive cost of diagnostic services that discourages early diagnosis. Conclusion To improve multiple myeloma diagnosis in Africa, a systems approach to thinking among policy makers, philanthropic organizations, and oncologists must be adopted. Governments must invest in health insurance coverage for cancer patients concurrently with heavy investments in human resource training and diagnostic infrastructure scale up. Creative approaches such as digital pathology, online training of clinicians, research and capacity building collaborations among African institutions, European and American institutions, and pharmaceutical companies as seen with other cancers should be explored for multiple myeloma too.

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