Effect of practice on similar and dissimilar skills in patient transfer through training with a robot patient

With the number of hospital stays increasing, nurses require more training to handle a variety of patients. However, time for training in nursing schools is limited, and students lack the opportunity to practice on a diverse variety of patients. Using a robot to simulate actual patients, this study observes the learning transfer effect of practice on practice-similar and practice-dissimilar skills from one patient to another, and investigates which types of practice suit which kinds of training. An experiment was conducted by administering a pre-test, practice, a post-test, and a transfer test to two groups (N?=?8), each with different practice-related skills. The evaluation used a checklist covering required skills that were either similar or dissimilar across groups, depending on their practice. The effect of practice can be observed through a comparison of skills similar to one group but dissimilar to the other. The results show that practice facilitates learning transfer on similar skills but not, or to a lesser degree, on dissimilar skills. Furthermore, if skills needed to handle given symptoms are unfamiliar or inaccessible to students, practice related to those symptoms should be emphasized through simulated training with robots.     

Topography‐Induced Cell Self‐Organization from Simple to Complex Aggregates

Self‐organization is a fundamental and indispensable process in a living system. To understand cell behavior in vivo such as tumorigenesis, 3D cellular aggregates, instead of 2D cellular sheets, have been employed as a vivid in vitro model for self‐organization. However, most focus on the macroscale wetting and fusion of cellular aggregates. In this study, it is reported that self‐organization of cells from simple to complex aggregates can be induced by multiscale topography through confined templates at the macroscale and cell interactions at the nanoscale. On the one hand, macroscale templates are beneficial for the organization of individual cells into simple and complex cellular aggregates with various shapes. On the other hand, the realization of these macro‐organizations also depends on cell interactions at the nanoscale, as demonstrated by the intimate contact between nanoscale pseudopodia stretched by adjacent frontier cells, much like holding hands and by the variation in the intermolecular interactions based on E‐cadherin. Therefore, these findings may be very meaningful for clarifying the organizational mechanism of tumor development, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.     

Stress intensity factor evaluations for a curved crack in orthotropic particulate composites using an interaction integral method

This paper develops a domain-independent interaction integral (DII-integral) for extracting mixed-mode stress intensity factors (SIFs) for orthotropic materials with complex interfaces. The DII-integral does not require material property gradients, and moreover its validity is not affected by material interfaces. Combined with the extended finite element method (XFEM), the DII-integral is employed to investigate a straight crack in an orthotropic functionally graded plate and a curved crack in orthotropic particulate composites.     

Investigation of Copper Recovery from a New Copper Deposit (Nussir) in Northern Norway

ABSTRACT

Norway has seen an upsurge of interest in exploiting its mineral deposits during the last decade. One of the major areas of interest is a huge copper deposit, operated by Nussir ASA located in the Repparfjord tectonic window in the Caledonides of west Finnmark. Nussir ASA is evaluating the Nussir and Ulveryggen mineral resources that contain copper sulfides with a small amount of gold and silver bearing minerals. The performance of flotation operations is generally evaluated on the basis of degree of liberation of minerals or the surface interactions between the collector and mineral. Firstly, size-by-size mineralogical characterization of the flotation feed and cumulative final product using Zeiss automated mineralogy techniques (Mineralogic) revealed that mineral liberation heavily influenced the flotation behavior of the ore. Furthermore, in order to assess the role of pH, collector concentration and flotation time, bench scale flotation experiments were performed. The metallurgical results were maximum between pH 6 and 8 and at collector concentration 6 × 10^?5 M. A correlation is established using the zeta potential and Hallimond flotation tests to assess the role of operating parameters in flotation. The distinctive role of process mineralogy and flotation chemical influence for copper mineral flotation of Nussir ore is presented in this article.     

卷积神经网络用于关节角度识别与姿势评估

为了快速准确地输出各种工作姿势风险评估结果，提出采用Kinect v2与卷积神经网络识别人体各关节角度，并输出标准姿势风险的评估得分。首先使用亚像素角点提取的棋盘标定算法标定Kinect两个摄像头，其次使用改进后的双边滤波对深度图像去噪，使用卷积神经网络识别人体关节二维位置，结合深度信息获取实际三维坐标并计算人体关节角度，最后输出姿势风险评估得分。通过两种实验分别验证了提出的Kinect角度识别与姿势评估的准确性，表明该方法关节角度识别与姿势风险评估的准确率均较高，是一种低成本、高可靠性的姿势评价方法，具有一定的科学意义和工程应用价值。     

基于CNN的人体姿态识别

姿态识别是人机交互中重要的研究课题之一，随着机器学习与神经网络的发展，研究的方式和成果趋于多样化，姿态识别的应用价值也日趋广泛。本文通过构建卷积神经网络模型，该模型共有11层，在对采样的数据集中5种人体姿态进行卷积与池化操作，最后进入全连接层进行分类，从而完成对数据集的训练和识别。结果显示，相较于机器学习方法，该模型的识别性能更加优秀，且免去了复杂的特征提取方式设计，让网络自身提取特征进行识别分类，效果更好。     

Participatory design of a robot for demonstrating an epileptic seizure

ABSTRACT

We present the methodology and results of participatory design of a robot for presenting an epileptic seizure and a scenario of the educational workshop using this robot. Children with epilepsy encounter stigma and stereotypes and may receive inadequate aid when having an epileptic seizure. The goal of the larger project was to use the prototype device in a series of workshops for improving teachers' actions during an epileptic seizure and their attitudes towards epileptic students. In this paper, we show how various design goals for an educational robot were accomplished to fit the needs of all identified stakeholders, particularly people with epilepsy.

We used a co-design (participatory design) approach through a series of meetings participated by members of the association Polish Association for People Suffering from Epilepsy, students and faculty members of the biomedical engineering and robotics departments, teachers, psychologists and medical specialists (epileptologist, neurologist).

These meetings created an opportunity for a better understanding of the (functional and nonfunctional) requirements and resulting tradeoffs and led the participants to find appropriate solutions. Participation of people with epilepsy in the design process allowed them to deal with the potentially stereotyped representation of themselves. The prototype robot, therefore, combined goals of various stakeholders, such as an accurate presentation of an epileptic seizure, lightweight, ease of use and control, while preserving the dignity of people with epilepsy.

As a result of the co-designing process, an inexpensive robot was created and used in a series of 10 pilot workshops with 217 participants, mainly teachers of primary and middle schools. Teachers improved their understanding of epilepsy and suggested further improvements to the system.     

Facile fabrication of graphene oxide-polyethylenimine composite and its application for the Cr(VI) removal

A binary composite consisting of graphene oxide (GO) and polyethylenimine (PEI) was fabricated by a facile physical mixing. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Zeta potential were used to characterize the prepared graphene oxide-polyethylenimine composite (GOPC). A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of some important parameters, such as molecular weight of PEI, pH, time and temperature, on the adsorption efficiency of GOPC. Due to the high amine density of GOPC, its adsorption for Cr(VI) occurred more easily at lower pH mainly via electrostatic interaction. The adsorption process matched well with the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption capacity from the Langmuir model was 370.37 mg/g at pH 2.0 and 45°C for GOPC. Thermodynamic parameters revealed spontaneous and endothermic nature of the Cr(VI) adsorption onto GOPC. The main adsorption mechanism of GOPC toward Cr(VI) was electrostatic interaction. The adsorption-desorption experiments suggested GOPC was easily recycled and its stable adsorption capacity endowed it great potential as an adsorbent of Cr(VI) from wastewater.     

Facilitation of consumer loyalty toward branded applications: The dual-route perspective

Although many brands develop mobile applications (apps) to build relationships with consumers, most branded apps fail to retain consumers’ loyalty. This study examines the facilitation of consumer loyalty toward branded apps (continuance intention, in-app purchase intention, and word-of-mouth intention) from the dual-route perspective. One route is the affective (relationship) route, where brand benefits (functional benefits, experiential benefits, symbolic benefits, and monetary benefits) drive parasocial interactions between consumers and the brand, which, in turn, influences branded app loyalty. The other route is the utility route, where system characteristics (system quality and information quality) affect perceived usefulness, which, in turn, facilitates branded app loyalty. An online survey was conducted, and the research model was empirically tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings support the dual-route perspective according to which both affective and utilitarian paths facilitate branded app loyalty. The key theoretical contribution of this study is that it moves beyond the utilitarian path and finds the affective (relationship) path to give a more complete picture of the facilitation of consumer loyalty in the branded app context. A strategy is provided to suggest to practitioners how to design branded apps to facilitate consumer loyalty.     

Reality-based interaction affecting mental workload in virtual reality mental arithmetic training

ABSTRACT

The concept of digital game-based learning (DGBL) evolves rapidly together with technological enhancements of virtual reality (VR) and smart phones. However, the mental workload (MWL) that VR-training applications demand and motivational qualities originating from user experience (UX) should be identified in order to create effective and enjoyable training/learning challenges that fit with individual users’ capabilities. This study examined the effects of reality-based interaction (RBI) and VR on measures of student motivation and MWL, in a mental arithmetic game for secondary school pupils. In a randomised controlled trial with sixty school children, a mental arithmetic game was tested with three different interaction and two different presentation methods – VR RBI, VR head-mounted-display tapping and tablet flick-gesture. Results found a significant effect of RBI on MWL but no differences in enjoyment of training were found between VR-experience and tablet training-experience. In fact, adding the gaming-context to the mental arithmetic task created an enjoyable, motivating experience regardless of presentation or interaction-style.