Special Issue on “What can We do for Developing Search and Rescue Robot?”

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-435
Author(s):  
Koichi Osuka
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Response System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Response Systems ◽  
Rescue Robots

As a disaster-prone country, Japan has endured many earthquake disasters. The latest cases include the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake disaster, the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. Since the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in particular, many robot researchers have started undertaking the research and development of rescue robots. Their practical applications have a long way to go, so to continue ongoing robot research and development, we should also be aware that comparatively few researchers and engineers are actually engaged in such research and development. Great earthquakes (or tsunami) are both rare and unpredictable, which makes it very difficult to establish research policies for rescue robots intended for specialized use in disaster response. We should also realize that Japan is almost constantly hit by one or another every year – e.g., the typhoons that hit Japan directly every year and themselves triggering other disasters caused by landslides or avalanches due to heavy rainfall. The Japanese populace is so accustomed to such happenings but, nevertheless, few actions have been taken unlike those against large-scale earthquakes. It is often said that an effective disaster response system can only be developed after we have experienced many actual disasters. It then occurs to us that we must first construct disaster response systems – rescue robots, etc. – directly targeting daily natural disasters. Any large-scale disaster response system can be built on such constant efforts. On the other hand, any disaster response system against daily natural disasters could only be developed by locally domiciled researchers and engineers. This makes us feel that it is possible to increase the number of personnel who become involved in disaster response research and development. Based on the above context, this special issue provides a wide range of articles on region-specific disasters and disaster response actions, focusing on their localities and specialties. We sincerely hope that this special issue will help in promoting research and development on rescue robots and putting them to practical use.

Cometary evolution and cryovolcanism 1This article is part of a Special issue that honours the work of Dr. Donald M. Hunten FRSC who passed away in December 2010 after a very illustrious career.

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (8) ◽  
pp. 807-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J.S. Belton
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Production Rate ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Apparent Absence ◽  
Cometary Nuclei ◽  
Evolutionary Hypothesis ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Cometary Activity

Recent space observations of cometary nuclei show evidence of internal (cryovolcanic) activity while retaining aspects of their primitive origins. Using discoveries made during the two most recent cometary encounters: EPOXI at 103P/Hartley 2 and Stardust-NExT at 9P/Tempel 1, we test a hypothesis for their physical evolution, which, if true, could provide a unified basis for understanding the relative ages of their surfaces and the causes of a wide range of cometary activity. We show: (i) that the categorization of 103P/Hartley 2 as hyperactive is not a reflection of the extent of activity over the surface of the nucleus for which we find a normal H2O production rate; (ii) that the heterogeneous spatial distribution of CO2 and H2O in the inner comae of 9P/Tempel 1 and 103P/Hartley 2 is best explained by processes associated with cometary activity rather than the presence of primitive compositional heterogeneities in the nucleus; and (iii) that most of the quasi-circular depressions seen on the surface of 9P/Tempel are the result of outburst activity. The apparent absence of circular depressions and large scale layering on 103P/Hartley 2 present a challenge to the evolutionary hypothesis although the small size of its nucleus may ultimately provide an explanation.

scholarly journals Structure and Biodiversity of Rhodolith Seabeds: A Special Issue

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Tuya
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Algal Species ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Associated Fauna ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
Wide Range

Rhodolith seabeds function as ‘ecosystems engineers’, which globally provide a range of ‘ecosystem services’. However, knowledge on the structure, composition and distribution of rhodolith seabeds is still lacking. This Special Issue comprises six articles, addressing specific questions of rhodolith seabeds, and covering a wide range of topics. Two papers provide new large-scale information on the presence, structure and distribution of rhodolith beds at two southern hemisphere areas, in particular continental shelfs off South Africa and Brazil. Another two studies contributed to the discovery on new algal species from rhodolith beds, including Sporolithon franciscanum, a new rhodolith-forming species from Brazil, and the small benthic alga Schizocladia ischiensis. In terms of associated fauna, the taxonomic composition and patterns of abundance of decapod crustaceans are described in another article, including the description of a depth-partitioning in the abundance of juveniles and adults of the crab Nanocassiope melanodactylus. Rhodoliths are often present in fossilized deposits, so we can track changes in their presence with climate fluctuations. High temperatures during the Eocene and widespread oligotrophic conditions are finally connected with low abundances of rhodolith beds at mid and high latitudes, despite a larger presence at equatorial regions.

scholarly journals Special Issue: New Horizon of Plasmonics and Metamaterials

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1756
Author(s):  
Shinpei Ogawa ◽  
Masafumi Kimata
Keyword(s):  
Electromagnetic Waves ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Fundamental Knowledge ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Remarkable Progress

Plasmonics and metamaterials are growing fields that consistently produce new technologies for controlling electromagnetic waves. Many important advances in both fundamental knowledge and practical applications have been achieved in conjunction with a wide range of materials, structures and wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the microwave regions of the spectrum. In addition to this remarkable progress across many different fields, much of this research shares many of the same underlying principles, and so significant synergy is expected. This Special Issue introduces the recent advances in plasmonics and metamaterials and discusses various applications, while addressing a wide range of topics in order to explore the new horizons emerging for such research.

A Study on the Establishment of Criteria for Reduction measures of Mega Drought in Korea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Park MooJong ◽  
Song Youngseok ◽  
Lee Heesup ◽  
Park Juhyeok
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Moisture Index ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Drought Damage

<p>Recently, climate change due to global warming has been frequented by large-scale weather disasters that have not been experienced in the past. Among various weather disasters, drought is one of the representative weather disasters in Korea recently along with heavy rains. In the case of drought, it occurs in a wide range in the short term and long term, and it is difficult to identify specific occurrence times, places, and causes, and damage and influence are enormous.</p><p>In the past, the Republic of Korea has been prepared with non-structural measures such as securing irrigation water for drought restoration, developing emergency management, and developing a drought information system based on drought index. The reduction measures for drought degradation were mainly used by Palmer Draught Severity Index (PDSI), Standardized Precision Index (SPI), Crop Moisture Index (CMI), Crop Specific Drug Index (CMI), and Profication (DICS Index), and Survey.</p><p>In this study, we intend to establish standards for reducing drought damage by investigating and analyzing drought damage characteristics in Korea. In the past, drought damage in Korea occurred in agriculture, living and industry, and the ministry manages and stores the data on drought damage. The drought damage in South Korea from 1965 to 2018 occurred a total of 204 times, mostly in South Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces, rather than in special cities and metropolitan cities. The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of drought damage in Korea and establish the measures to reduce mega drought.</p><p>Acknowledges : This research was supported by a grant(2019-MOIS31-010) from Fundamental Technology Development Program for Extreme Disaster Response funded by Korean Ministry of Interior and Safety(MOIS).</p>

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-343
Author(s):  
Kenji Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Business Continuity ◽  
Corporate Value ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Management Approaches

Among the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were a large number of new findings, including which preparations functioned as planned and which did not. Now that a year has elapsed since the earthquake disaster, the parties concerned need to reexamine those measures which are yet to be implemented since we should not see the same results after a large scale disaster in the future as those we saw in the past. In this JDR Special Issue on Business Continuity Plan (BCP), I tried to ask for papers not only from academia but also from business fields to make this issue practical and useful to be leveraged for our next steps in preparing for incoming disasters. As a result, this issue obtains papers from various fields from academia to financial businesses and also with several different approaches which includes actual real case studies. Many of papers in this issue focus on intangible part of business continuity activities that is different from the traditional disaster management approaches which have mainly focused on tangibles or hardware reinforcement against natural disasters. Recent wide-area disasters taught us the importance of intangibles and we should start discussions more in details with aspects such as corporate value, emergency transportation & logistics, training & exercises, funding arrangement, and management systems. I hope that discussions and insights in this issue will help our discussions and actions to move forward. Finally, I really thank the authors’ insightful contributions and the referees’ intensive professional advices to make this JDR Special Issue valuable to our society in preparing for incoming disasters.

Research and Development on Robotic Technologies for Infrastructure Maintenance

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 744-751
Author(s):  
Keiji Nagatani ◽  
Yozo Fujino ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Civil Infrastructure ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Traffic Regulation ◽  
Infrastructure Maintenance ◽  
Robotic Technologies

Construction of infrastructures, such as bridges and tunnels, has increased significantly in Japan in the past 50 years. Most of the civil infrastructure is now aging rapidly. Basic infrastructure maintenance and management require proper repairing and reinforcement, for which periodic inspections are indispensable. Inspection of civil infrastructure, however, requires a large amount of workforce for traffic regulation and accessing difficult-to-reach locations. Occupational safety is also an important issue that cannot be ignored. Furthermore, technologies related to emergency responses after the occurrence of natural disasters are important, especially with the increasing number of natural disasters recently. Executing a safe and quick disaster response action is very challenging. To meet the above problems, “Infrastructure Maintenance, Renovation and Management” was established in the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP). Research and development programs for infrastructure management systems using new technologies had been conducted since 2014. In this paper, the research and development programs related to robotic technologies are described. Specifically, robotic technologies for bridge inspection, tunnel inspection, and disaster responses are introduced. In addition, the scheme of the SIP regional bases that facilitates the availability of the developed technologies to local governments is also introduced.

Contests of Rescue Robots(Disaster Response Robotics)

2003 ◽  
Vol 106 (1019) ◽  
pp. 790-793
Author(s):  
Koichi OSUKA ◽  
Tomoichi TAKAHASHI ◽  
Satoshi TADOKORO
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Rescue Robots

Disaster Management following the Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Feng Chan ◽  
Kumar Alagappan ◽  
Arpita Gandhi ◽  
Colleen Donovan ◽  
Malti Tewari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Prehospital Care ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Response System ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Earthquake Resistant ◽  
The Military ◽  
Command Center

AbstractThe earthquake that occurred in Taiwan on 21 September 1999 killed >2,000 people and severely injured many survivors. Despite the large scale and sizeable impact of the event, a complete overview of its consequences and the causes of the inadequate rescue and treatment efforts is limited in the literature. This review examines the way different groups coped with the tragedy and points out the major mistakes made during the process. The effectiveness of Taiwan's emergency preparedness and disaster response system after the earthquake was analyzed.Problems encountered included: (1) an ineffective command center; (2) poor communication; (3) lack of cooperation between the civil government and the military; (4) delayed prehospital care; (5) overloading of hospitals beyond capacity; (6) inadequate staffing; and (7) mismanaged public health measures.The Taiwan Chi-Chi Earthquake experience demonstrates that precise disaster planning, the establishment of one designated central command, improved cooperation between central and local authorities, modern rescue equipment used by trained disaster specialists, rapid prehospital care, and medical personnel availability, as well earthquake-resistant buildings and infrastructure, are all necessary in order to improve disaster responses.

scholarly journals Introduction to the special issue on rehabilitation robotics

Robotica ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 485-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hillman
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Medical Engineering ◽  
Rehabilitation Robotics ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Robotic Technology ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The University

This special issue of “Robotica” gives an opportunity to present a cross-section of the wide range of research and development projects in rehabilitation robotics. Rehabilitation Robotics (RR) is the application of robotic technology to the rehabilitative needs of people with disabilities as well as the growing elderly population. The papers were originally presented at the ICORR'97 conference, organised by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering and held in April 97 at the University of Bath. ICORR'97 was the fifth in the series of International Conferences on Rehabilitation Robotics and, after a break of three years, was a welcome and overdue time for sharing of ideas between workers in the field.

scholarly journals Special Issue on Field Robotics with Vision Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1215-1215
Author(s):  
Takanori Fukao ◽  
Yuichi Tsumaki ◽  
Keita Kurashiki
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Autonomous Driving ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Rapid Progress ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Vision Systems ◽  
Underwater Robots ◽  
Field Robotics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Outdoor Environments

Field robotics has been undergoing rapid progress in recent years. It addresses a wide range of activities performed in outdoor environments, and its applications are being developed in areas where it was previously considered difficult to apply. This rapid progress is largely supported by AI-based improvements in computer vision systems with monocular cameras, stereo cameras, RGB-D cameras, LiDAR systems, and/or other sensors. Field robotics is impelled by an application-driven approach by its nature, and it contributes to the resolution of social problems and the creation of new innovations, including autonomous driving to reduce casualties, autonomous working machines/robots to resolve the problems of labor shortages or dangers, disaster-response robots to aid rescue parties, various kinds of aerial robots to do searches or make deliveries, underwater robots to perform search missions, etc. In this special issue on “Field Robotics with Vision Systems,” we highlight sixteen interesting papers, including one review paper, fourteen research papers, and one development report. They cover various application areas, ranging from underwater to space environments, and they propose interesting integration methods or element technologies to use in outdoor environments where vision systems and robot systems have great difficulty performing robustly. We thank all authors and reviewers, and we hope that this special issue contributes to future research and development in area of field robotics, which promises new innovations.

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