In this study, we examine robotic proximity perception for both reactive control and 3D point-cloud acquisition using a multi-fingered robot hand. A reactive controller adjusts the relative position ...and orientation between the fingertips and the target object, while the robot-hand system gathers point-cloud data related to the shape of the object. An experimental result showed that the accuracy of the point-cloud generated using proximity perception was equivalent to or better than that of the point-cloud generated using a vision sensor. Based on the results, we propose proximity-based point-cloud acquisition using 'non-contact perception' motion to search the object's surface while preventing unintended collisions. The motion is then combined with the approaching and twisting motions of the robot hand. This enables multi-angles object detection complementarily with reactive fingertip control. Our experiments reveal that the proposed method can generate data-rich point-clouds for various general objects.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
12
C
(
α
,
γ
)
16
O radiative-capture process is a key reaction to produce the element of oxygen in stars. Measuring the cross section near the Gamow window is extremely hard because it is too small. ...To make a theoretical contribution towards resolving the long-standing problem, I present a microscopic formulation that aims at providing all materials needed to calculate the cross section. The states of
12
C
and
16
O
relevant to the reaction are respectively described with fully microscopic 3
α
-particle and 4
α
-particle configurations, in which the relative motion among the
α
particles is expanded in terms of correlated Gaussian basis functions. The configuration space has the advantage of being able to well describe the reduced
α
-width amplitudes of the states of
16
O. Both electric dipole and electric quadrupole transitions are responsible for the radiative-capture process. The
α
particle is described with a
(
0
s
)
4
configuration admixed with a small amount of an isospin
T
=
1
impurity component, which is crucially important to account for the isovector electric dipole transition. The isoscalar electric dipole operators are also taken into account up to the first order beyond the long-wavelength approximation. All the necessary ingredients are provided to make the paper self-contained and ready for numerical computations.
Summary
The fibrinolytic system dissolves fibrin and maintains vascular patency. Recent advances in imaging analyses allowed visualization of the spatiotemporal regulatory mechanism of fibrinolysis, ...as well as its regulation by other plasma hemostasis cofactors. Vascular endothelial cells (VECs) retain tissue‐type plasminogen activator (tPA) after secretion and maintain high plasminogen (plg) activation potential on their surfaces. As in plasma, the serpin, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI‐1), regulates fibrinolytic potential via inhibition of the VEC surface‐bound plg activator, tPA. Once fibrin is formed, plg activation by tPA is initiated and effectively amplified on the surface of fibrin, and fibrin is rapidly degraded. The specific binding of plg and tPA to lytic edges of partly degraded fibrin via newly generated C‐terminal lysine residues, which amplifies fibrin digestion, is a central aspect of this pathophysiological mechanism. Thrombomodulin (TM) plays a role in the attenuation of plg binding on fibrin and the associated fibrinolysis, which is reversed by a carboxypeptidase B inhibitor. This suggests that the plasma procarboxypeptidase B, thrombin‐activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI), which is activated by thrombin bound to TM on VECs, is a critical aspect of the regulation of plg activation on VECs and subsequent fibrinolysis. Platelets also contain PAI‐1, TAFI, TM, and the fibrin cross‐linking enzyme, factor (F) XIIIa, and either secrete or expose these agents upon activation in order to regulate fibrinolysis. In this review, the native machinery of plg activation and fibrinolysis, as well as their spatiotemporal regulatory mechanisms, as revealed by imaging analyses, are discussed.
Hidden photons and axion-like particles are candidates for cold dark matter if they were produced non-thermally in the early universe. We conducted a search for both of these bosons using 800 ...live-days of data from the XMASS detector with 327 kg of liquid xenon in the fiducial volume. No significant signal was observed, and thus we set constraints on the α′/α parameter related to kinetic mixing of hidden photons and the coupling constant gAe of axion-like particles in the mass range from 40 to 120 keV/c2, resulting in α′/α<6×10−26 and gAe<4×10−13. These limits are the most stringent over this mass range derived from both direct and indirect searches to date.
We have searched for exotic neutrino-electron interactions that could be produced by a neutrino millicharge, by a neutrino magnetic moment, or by dark photons using solar neutrinos in the XMASS-I ...liquid xenon detector. We observed no significant signals in 711 days of data. We obtain an upper limit for neutrino millicharge of 5.4×10−12e at 90% confidence level assuming all three species of neutrino have common millicharge. We also set flavor-dependent limits assuming the respective neutrino flavor is the only one carrying a millicharge, 7.3×10−12e for νe, 1.1×10−11e for νμ, and 1.1×10−11e for ντ. These limits are the most stringent yet obtained from direct measurements. We also obtain an upper limit for the neutrino magnetic moment of 1.8×10−10 Bohr magnetons. In addition, we obtain upper limits for the coupling constant of dark photons in the U(1)B−L model of 1.3×10−6 if the dark photon mass is 1×10−3 MeV/c2, and 8.8×10−5 if it is 10 MeV/c2.
This article demonstrates the practical applicability of a method of modelling shape memory alloys (SMAs) as actuators. For this study, a pair of SMA wires was installed in an antagonistic manner to ...form an actuator, and a linear differential equation that describes the behaviour of the actuator's generated force relative to its input voltage was derived for the limited range below the austenite onset temperature. In this range, hysteresis need not be considered, and the proposed SMA actuator can therefore be practically applied in linear control systems, which is significant because large deformations accompanied by hysteresis do not necessarily occur in most vibration control cases. When specific values of the parameters used in the differential equation were identified experimentally, it became clear that one of the parameters was dependent on ambient airflow velocity. The values of this dependent parameter were obtained using an additional SMA wire as a sensor. In these experiments, while the airflow distribution around the SMA wires was varied by changing the rotational speed of the fans in the wind tunnels, an input voltage was conveyed to the SMA actuator circuit, and the generated force was measured. In this way, the parameter dependent on airflow velocity was estimated in real time, and it was validated that the calculated force was consistent with the measured one.
Background
Although mortality associated with pancreatic surgery has decreased dramatically, high morbidity rates are still of major concern. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of, and risk ...factors for, infectious complications after pancreatic surgery.
Methods
The Japanese Society of Pancreatic Surgery conducted a multi‐institutional analysis of complications in patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or distal pancreatectomy (DP) between January 2010 and December 2012. Risk factors that were significantly associated with infectious complications in univariable models were included in a multivariable logistic regression model, and a nomogram was created to predict the risk of infectious complications after pancreatectomy.
Results
Infectious complications occurred in 1459 (35·2 per cent) of 4147 patients in the PD group and 426 (25·2 per cent) of 1692 patients in the DP group (P < 0·001). Nine risk factors for infectious complications after PD were identified: male sex, age 70 years or more, body mass index at least 25 kg/m2, other previous malignancy, liver disease, bile contamination, duration of surgery 7 h or longer, intraoperative blood transfusion and soft pancreas. Five risk factors for infectious complications after DP were identified: chronic steroid use, smoking, duration of surgery 5 h or more, intraoperative blood transfusion and non‐laparoscopic surgery. Occurrence of a postoperative infectious complication was significantly associated with mortality and reoperation after PD (odds ratio (OR) 4·33, 95 per cent c.i. 2·01 to 9·92 and OR 3·26, 1·86 to 5·82, respectively) and DP (OR 6·32, 1·99 to 22·55; OR 3·74, 1·61 to 9·04).
Conclusion
Prolonged operating time, intraoperative blood transfusion, bile contamination (PD) and non‐laparoscopic surgery (DP) are risk factors for postoperative infectious complications that could be targeted to improve outcome after pancreatectomy.
Risk factors identified
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