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Francesca Cordella, Loredana Zollo, Eugenio Guglielmelli
A RGB-D Camera-Based Approach for Robot Arm-Hand Teleoperated Control

In this paper a master-slave teleoperation system is proposed for reach-and-grasp operations in hazardous environments. A RGB-D camera and a robust marker-based Bayesian estimation method is proposed for tracking the human hand joint positions on the master side. Accuracy and repeatability of the estimation algorithm have been measured through the comparison with the data acquired through optoelectronic system. An anthropomorphic arm-hand robotic system is used on the slave side. The human operator can select the robot working area and the type of grasp action through finger motion. On the other hand, the human wrist motion is mapped into the robot workspace in order to teleoperate the robot end effector during the reaching phase. The optimal robot grasp configuration is automatically performed by the slave robot through a grasp synthesis algorithm previously proposed by the authors. The proposed approach has been experimentally validated on the KUKA LWR 4+ robot arm and the DLR-HIT Hand II.

Gionata Salvietti, Leonardo Meli, Guido Gioioso, Domenico Prattichizzo
Toward a General Bilateral Teleoperation Framework Between Dissimilar Kinematic Structures

In bilateral telemanipulation scenarios the human hand/arm is usually put in correspondence with a robotic hand/arm system. The kinematic structure of the human hand and of the robotic hand are typically different requiring algorithm to map human motion on the robot workspace. At the same time, the force measured at the robotic side cannot usually be displayed in the same point on the human hand/arm system. In this work we propose a bilateral mapping algorithm able to mitigate differences in master-slave kinematic structures. The algorithm is based on the use of a virtual object which allows to work on the task space abstracting from the joints space. The proposed approach has been tested with an experimental setup consisting of two single-point haptic interfaces as master devices and a robotic hand system as slave.

E. Golinelli, S. Musazzi, U. Perini, F. Barberis, C. Cherbaucich
A pyrometric technique for gas turbine inlet temperature measurement

The paper deals with a non-intrusive pyrometric technique for the real time measurement of the Gas Turbine inlet temperature (TIT), which is a critical parameter influencing both material and coating lifetime of turbines as well as their efficiency. The proposed technique relies on the detection of the radiation emitted in a narrow wavelength band by the CO2 molecules present in the combustion gas. Preliminary results will be presented relevant to measurements carried out both during laboratory tests and on a full scale test rig capable of reproducing a typical high temperature and high pressure gas turbine environment.

Luigi Battista, Andrea Scorza, Giulia Lupi, Salvatore Andrea Sciuto
Experimental investigation on dynamical performances of a novel fiber-optic pressure sensor for pulmonary ventilation

A new optical fiber differential pressure sensor has been proposed for neonatal pulmonary ventilation and an experimental investigation on its dynamical metrological performances is here reported. The proposed measurement system has been preliminarily tested by monitoring the mouth pressure during simple respiratory tests in healthy patients and during mechanical ventilation performed by means of a infant ventilator typically used in the neonatal intensive care units; results show that the output of the transducer is consistent with that measured by means of a reference sensor.

Stavros Pissadakis, Maria Kosntantaki, Alessandro Candiani
Optical fibre magnetofluidic sensors and actuators

We review work on magnetofluidic sensors and actuators utilising ferrofluids as transducing elements while being implemented in standard and microstructured optical fibers (MOFs), defining a new kind of optofluidic photonic devices. The concept and design parameters of magneto-fluidic and -viscosity based magneto-meters and modulators will be presented, with particular emphasis given in devices using MOFs as optical interrogation platform.

Vytautas Markevicius, Justas Viciunas, Dangirutis Navikas, Algimantas Valinevicius, Darius Andriukaitis, Paulius Kantautas
Analysis of the Patient's Arterial Blood Pressure Measurement

Deaths from high blood pressure account for nearly thirteen percent of all deaths in the world population. Elevated blood pressure is a sign that radical changes in life are needed. People need to know why there is an increase in blood pressure and to take measures to monitor and control it. The paper analysed the invasive and non-invasive blood pressure measurement techniques and methods: an overview of the dynamics of the blood flow and the flow factors is presented; the optimal method for the patient's blood pressure parameter variation monitoring was selected; an electronic blood pressure measuring system was devised and implemented. An experimental study was carried out with: a) the sensors placed on the left arm wrist artery and the left arm elbow artery. The results show the absolute error is up to 13 mm Hg. The pulse is recorded accurately with the absolute error of up to 2 beats per minute.

Valentina Mirabelli, Rocco Caliandro, Giovanni Nico, Giovanni Luca Tiscia, Giovanni Favuzzi, Elvira Grandone
Molecular dynamics simulations to study pathogenic mutations in proteins

Here we present an example of application of molecular dynamics simulations, i.e. the study of pathogenic mutations in a protein, the FXI factor, that causes defects in blood coagulation. Starting from the measurement of the crystal structure of the protein, molecular dynamics simulations allow us to study changes in flexibility and movements of the mutated protein compared to the native form of the protein, and thus help to understand the molecular basis of disease. Molecular dynamics data have been extensively generated by using grid computing. This large amount of data has been analyzed by algorithms which capture structural features. In particular, the variations in the atomic distances between amino acids and in their exposure to the solvent , the formation or breaking of hydrogen bonds, and the distributions of the backbone dihedral angles, were calculated. Thus insights into the molecular basis of pathogenesis for each mutation found in population were obtained.

Angela Lombardi, Pietro Guccione, Luigi Mascolo
Analysis of fMRI Data using the Complex Systems Approach

Physiological and biological systems can be characterized as complex processes whose dynamics are constantly being influenced by nonlinear interactions. The outputs of these systems correspond to different modes of reaction due to dynamic relationships that are established between components of the system, perturbations from the external environment and changes that occur at physiological levels in the body. In this work, recent advances in the field of nonlinear dynamics are applied to fMRI data to examine the spatio-temporal properties of BOLD signal during a working memory task completion. Two groups of human subjects, one affected by schizophrenia and healthy controls, were imaged during the task completion. Recurrence properties were extracted from the time series of the most relevant voxels, using the Recurrence Plots (RP) and the Recurrence Quantitative Analysis (RQA). The purpose of the paper is to perform a description of the functional states, as well as to capture differences (if any) between the groups. Results are still preliminary but the methodology applied has margin of improvements.

Shinzo Kimura, Toshihiro Takatsuji, Koji Uchiyama, Yukako Komasa, Akiko Kitamura, Hitoshi Sato, Michael Buzinny
Current Situation and Challenges at Fukushima: Hands-on Measurements of Radiation Contamination after Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

An oceanographic investigation within 1.0km radius of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) was carried out in September 2013, independent of the Government of Japan. Samples of seawater and seafloor sand were collected near the sewage outlets and in front of the harbor at the FDNPP. The level of seawater radioactivity did not show evidence of immediate harm to the health of the people. However, sedimentation of radionuclides to the seafloor was estimated from the results of seafloor sand. We found strontium-90 at detectable levels in the sand samples of all three points. As far as the impact of biological concentration is concerned, it would be essential to monitor the radioactivity of seawater deeper down and seafloor sand rather than that of subsurface. Regulation for both total volume and concentration should be considered.

Amilcare Francesco Santamaria, Cesare Sottile, Salvatore Marano
Synchronized WSNs architecture for efficient remote tasks scheduling

In this work a possible cooperation among Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)s has been investigated in order to enhance coverage capability of a WSN system and to improve service performance having the possibility to acquire information from Area of Interest (AoI) which is composed of some cluster area, which may belong to different WSNs. In particular, a sensor node that belongs to a specific cluster of a WSN can exploit other nodes to gather information through different WSN exploiting virtual connections that allow a Cluster Head (CH) to exploit clusters that may belong to external systems. For example if the service requires to acquire data from several areas or require to make some forecasting processing may be necessary to acquire data from neighbour areas thus allow us to exploit guest systems to acquire important information about environment or other kind of measurements. In order to perform these tasks it is important to design an efficient network protocol that address communications and synchronization issues among WSNs system. This can be made exploiting an ad-hoc protocol that synchronize WSNa and allowing remote job scheduling as well.

Page 458 of 977 Results 4571 - 4580 of 9762