Search

[Purpose] We aimed to analyze parameters of pulmonary function and physiological, psychological, and physical factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receiving pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) and music therapy (MT). [Participants and Methods] This randomized crossover comparative study included in-patients diagnosed with COPD and a ratio of forced expiratory volume measured at the first second and forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) of

Purpose of Review With the rapid growth and development of robotic technology, its implementation in medical fields has also been significantly increasing, with the transition from the period of mainly using surgical robots to the era with combinations of multiple types of robots. Therefore, this paper introduces the newest robotic systems and technology applied in operating rooms as well as their architectures for integration. Recent Findings Besides surgical robots, other types of robotic devices and machines such as diagnostic and treatment devices with robotic operating tables, robotic microscopes, and assistant robots for surgeons emerge one after another, improving the quality of surgery from different aspects. With the increasing number and type of robots, their integration platforms are also proposed and being spread. Summary This review paper presents state-of-the-art robot-related technology in the operating room. Robotic platforms and robot components which appeared in the last decade are described. In addition, system architectures for the integration of robots as well as other devices in operating rooms are also introduced and compared.

Simple Summary Recently, ultrasound has advanced in its treatment opportunities. One example is sonodynamic therapy, a minimally invasive anti-cancer therapy involving a chemical sonosensitizer and focused ultrasound. The combination of the ultrasound and chemical sonosensitizer amplifies the drug’s ability to target cancer cells. Combining multiple chemical sonosensitizers with ultrasound can create a synergistic effect that could effectively disrupt tumorigenic growth, induce cell death, and elicit an immune response. This review provides an oversight of the application of this treatment to various types of cancer, including prostate cancer, glioma, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tumors. Abstract Recent advancements have tangibly changed the cancer treatment landscape. However, curative therapy for this dreadful disease remains an unmet need. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is a minimally invasive anti-cancer therapy involving a chemical sonosensitizer and focused ultrasound. A high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) beam is used to destroy or denature targeted cancer tissues. Some SDTs are based on unfocused ultrasound (US). In some SDTs, HIFU is combined with a drug, known as a chemical sonosensitizer, to amplify the drug’s ability to damage cancer cells preferentially. The mechanism by which US interferes with cancer cell function is further amplified by applying acoustic sensitizers. Combining multiple chemical sonosensitizers with US creates a substantial synergistic effect that could effectively disrupt tumorigenic growth, induce cell death, and elicit an immune response. Therefore, the minimally invasive SDT treatment is currently attracting attention. It can be combined with targeted therapy (double-targeting cancer therapy) and immunotherapy in the future and is expected to be a boon for treating previously incurable cancers. In this paper, we will consider the current state of this therapy and discuss parts of our research.

An explicit representation of the Gamma limit of a single-well Modica--Mortola functional is given for one-dimensional space under the graph convergence which is finer than conventional $L^1$-convergence or convergence in measure. As an application, an explicit representation of a singular limit of the Kobayashi-Warren-Carter energy, which is popular in materials science, is given. Some compactness under the graph convergence is also established. Such formulas, as well as compactness, is useful to characterize the limit of minimizers the Kobayashi-Warren-Carter energy. To characterize the Gamma limit under the graph convergence, a new idea which is especially useful for one-dimensional problem is introduced. It is a change of parameter of the variable by arc-length parameter of its graph, which is called unfolding by the arc-length parameter in this paper., 26 pages, 4 figures

This study proposes “Human-Powered Robotics,” a concept of the intelligent machines driven by the power applied by user directly. The development of the robotic personal mobility vehicle prototype based on this concept is described in this paper. This is a vehicle driven by the operator’s pedaling power, which is capable of servo control of the wheel angle using the powder clutch. Experimental results show that it is possible to perform servo control of the wheels and traveling control including forward/backward/pivot turn, and to stabilize the posture as an inverted pendulum by the operator’s pedaling power.

In this paper, a development of a single DOF joint drive mechanism using regenerative servo clutches is described. The regenerative servo clutch is a kind of a clutch developed by the authors which consists of a regenerative brake and a differential gear mechanism, and it can control the transmitted torque by controlling the regenerative brake torque. The joint drive mechanism developed in this study is the system which can perform the servo control of the angle of the output shaft using the externally provided constant-speed power directly, by controlling the transmitted torque by using the two regenerative servo clutches for normal and reverse rotation. Through the experimental results, the effectiveness of the developed mechanism and controller was confirmed.

Secondary batteries are important energy storage devices for a mobile equipment, an electric car, and a large-scale energy storage. Nevertheless, variation of the local electronic state of the battery materials in the charge (or oxidization) process are still unclear. Here, we investigated the local electronic state of cobalt-hexacyanoferrate (Na x Co[Fe(CN)6]0.9), by means of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) with high energy resolution (~100 meV). The L-edge RIXS is one of the most powerful spectroscopic technique with element- and valence-selectivity. We found that the local electronic state around Co2+ in the partially-charged Na1.1Co2+0.5Co3+0.5[Fe2+(CN)6]0.9 film (x = 1.1) is the same as that of the discharged Na1.6Co2+[Fe2+(CN)6]0.9 film (x = 1.6) within the energy resolution, indicating that the local electronic state around Co2+ is invariant against the partial oxidization. In addition, the local electronic state around the oxidized Co3+ is essentially the same as that of the fully-charged film Co3+[Fe2+(CN)6]0.3[Fe3+(CN)6]0.6 (x = 0.0) film. Such a strong localization of the oxidized Co3+ state is advantageous for the reversibility of the redox process, since the localization reduces extra reaction within the materials and resultant deterioration.

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is currently considered as one of the promising minimally invasive treatment options for solid cancers. SDT is based on the combined use of a sonosensitizer drug and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to produce cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in and around neoplastic cells. Anthracycline drugs, including epirubicin (EPI), have been well known as effective sonosensitizers after interaction with focused ultrasound. Recently a new anticancer drug delivery system (DDS), NC-6300, has been developed that comprises EPI through an acid–labile hydrazone bond. In previous in vivo studies, NC-6300 showed basic drug safety and an excellent concentration property of EPI, and recently has been tested in clinical trials. For realizing minimally invasive cancer treatment, the present study demonstrated the effectiveness and feasibility of DDS-based SDT, which combined a small dose of NC-6300 and low energy of HIFU in mouse models of colon cancer and pancreatic cancer.

Sea turtles that have entered the submerged bag net of setnets repeatedly push their heads up against the ceiling netting (referred to here as push-ups) to ascend to breathe. Consecutive push-ups are essential to the success of escaping in a turtle releasing system developed to reduce the incidental death in setnets. Existence of differences in behavioral characteristics were suggested among turtle species, but no detailed evaluation has been performed. The objectives of this study were to establish extraction methods of the consecutive push-ups with a tri-axial acceleration logger, and to clarify the differences in the behavioral characteristics between green Chleonia mydas and loggerhead Caretta caretta turtles under the simulated condition of bycatch in setnets for appropriate adaptation and modification of this system. The behavior of each turtle mounted with an acceleration logger in an experimental bag net was recorded using a video camera. The consecutive push-ups were extracted by filtering the time-series body angle converted from the static surge acceleration and the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) from the triaxial dynamic acceleration. A threshold of 20° in body angle and 1.0 m/s2 in ODBA was detected among 89 % of all consecutive push-ups in green turtles. On the other hand, the ODBA was not adopted as the extract condition in loggerhead turtles, although a threshold of 20° in the body angle detected 93 % correctly. Mode of ODBA (1.0–1.5 m/s2) in the green turtles was larger than that in the loggerhead turtles (0.5–1.0 m/s2) during consecutive push-ups. In contrast, the number and duration of the consecutive push-ups in the green turtles were less than those of loggerhead turtles. Consequently, modifying the gear with a larger inclination angle of the ceiling netting should be considered for the setnets where the bycatch of green turtles dominates., 公開予定日: 2023-06-11

Cases Case 1: A 63-year-old woman was referred for coughing blood. Although cardiorespiratory dynamics were stabilized by artificial respiration under sedation, severely poor ventilation developed from asphyxia associated with massive respiratory tract hemorrhage. One-lung ventilation was temporarily secured by endotracheal tube insertion into the left main bronchus just prior to cardiopulmonary arrest. Case 2: A 72-year-old man was referred for massive hemoptysis after coughing, then intubated and placed on a respirator. During angiography, blood clots collected with bronchoscopy confirmed extravascular leakage into the right main bronchus. Outcomes Both showed no hemoptysis recurrence after bronchial artery embolization and were discharged. Case 1 required intensive treatment for 6 days, including artificial respiratory management. Conclusion Emergency one-lung ventilation was required for asphyxia in Case 1, and we had difficulties with bleeding point identification and hemostatic therapy. From that experience, we noted hemoptysis during angiography using bronchoscopy in Case 2, enabling prompt bronchial artery embolization.

Most interesting phenomena of condensed matter physics originate from interactions among different degrees of freedom, making it a very intriguing yet challenging question how certain ground states emerge from only a limited number of atoms in assembly. This is especially the case for strongly correlated electron systems with overwhelming complexity. The Verwey transition of Fe3O4 is a classic example of this category, of which the origin is still elusive 80 years after the first report. Here we report, for the first time, that the Verwey transition of Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibits size-dependent thermal hysteresis in magnetization, 57Fe NMR, and XRD measurements. The hysteresis width passes a maximum of 11 K when the size is 120 nm while dropping to only 1 K for the bulk sample. This behavior is very similar to that of magnetic coercivity and the critical sizes of the hysteresis and the magnetic single domain are identical. We interpret it as a manifestation of charge ordering and spin ordering correlation in a single domain. This work paves a new way of undertaking researches in the vibrant field of strongly correlated electron physics combined with nanoscience., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

PURPOSE Unlike conventional operating rooms that provide a sterilized space, we have developed a Smart Cyber Operating Theater (SCOT) in which the room itself performs treatment as a single medical device. We report the clinical results of 3 types of SCOT. METHODS Basic SCOT packaged with intraoperative MRI (0.4Tesla) was introduced in Hiroshima University in 2016. Standard SCOT networked with middleware OPeLiNK was introduced to Shinshu University in 2018, and Hyper SCOT introduced to Tokyo Women’s Medical University in 2019. RESULTS The average of all 56 patients was 44 years old. There were 38 brain tumors (68%), 11 functional diseases (19%), and 7 orthopedic diseases (13%). Basic SCOT is used for 41 cases (/56; 73%) with 22 gliomas, 10 epilepsies, 7 bone tumors, and 2 benign brain tumors. Standard SCOT with 20 networked devices is used for 14 cases (/56; 25%) with 6 gliomas including brain stem and thalamus, 6 pituitary tumors and 2 benign brain tumors. The strategy desk can display a variety of digital data synchronized in time, and the review and comment functions also operate. It is useful for remote advice through mutual communication via strategy desk. Hyper SCOT was used in February 2019 for the first case (1/56 cases; 2%). MRI images were taken with an average of 1.3 shots with good image quality. For 46/56 neoplastic lesions (82%), additional removal of residual tumor was performed in 31/46 cases (67%), and 26/46 cases (57%) were totally removed, with an average removal rate of 89.2%. There was no reoperation (0%) within 1 month in all cases. CONCLUSIONS Three types of SCOT contributed to planned surgical outcome including maximal tumor resection without serious related complications. We will proceed with verification of clinical effects, and develop robotized devices, and utilize AI for strategy desk at Hyper SCOT.

Measurements of spin excitations are essential for an understanding of spin-mediated pairing for superconductivity; and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) provides a considerable opportunity to probe high-energy spin excitations. However, whether RIXS correctly measures the collective spin excitations of doped superconducting cuprates remains under debate. Here we demonstrate distinct Raman- and fluorescence-like RIXS excitations of Bi1.5Pb0.6Sr1.54CaCu2O8+δ. Combining photon-energy and momentum dependent RIXS measurements with theoretical calculations using exact diagonalization provides conclusive evidence that the Raman-like RIXS excitations correspond to collective spin excitations, which are magnons in the undoped Mott insulators and evolve into paramagnons in doped superconducting compounds. In contrast, the fluorescence-like shifts are due primarily to the continuum of particle-hole excitations in the charge channel. Our results show that under the proper experimental conditions RIXS indeed can be used to probe paramagnons in doped high-Tc cuprate superconductors.

International audience; The combination of multi-functional machines and mobile robots supports emergence of highly flexible intelligent manufacturing systems (IMS). In this kind of manufacturing system some machines must, stay fixed at previously established positions (heavy equipment) but some types of multi-functional machines (small flexible equipment and mobile robots) can stay in one position for one or several periods and change their position for others periods, or change permanently their position in the shop floor. Moreover, using mobile robots allows performing transportation and operation Simultaneously. This possibility may change the decision processes and manufacturing system configuration, calling into question the existing decision methods in strategic, tactical mid operational levels. This paper concerns the specific production systems in which mobile robots operate in the same shop floor and at the same time with conventional and multi-functional machines and humans. This kind of production system is more sophisticated than conventional manufacturing chain (as cellular manufacturing System) and can decrease the reactivity time and new products can be quickly introduced (as for dynamic cellular manufacturing system). However, the configuration and optimization of this kind of system is very different from conventional production systems. In thiS paper, in one hand, the advantages of this kind of system and then several difficulties and challenges from operation management and industrial engineering point of view in configuration, organization, planning and optimization of IMS is discussed and developed. As a first step it is considered that localization is a key issue in the highly flexible intelligent manufacturing. Several approaches exist for outdoor localization, but indoor localization is an open problem. In this work, it is presented and discussed the highly flexible intelligent manufacturing system and the indoor localization. (C) 2015, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We studied the Co valences and spin states in electron-doped LaCo$_{1-y}$Te$_{y}$O$_3$ by measuring x-ray absorption spectra and electron spin resonance. The low-temperature insulating state involves the low-spin Co$^{3+}$ ($S=0$) and the high-spin Co$^{2+}$ state, which is described by $g=3.8$ and $j_{\rm eff}=1/2$. The results, in concurrence with the electron-hole asymmetry confirmed in electrical resistivity, coincide with a spin-blockade phenomenon in this system. Further, we discuss the $g$ factor in terms of the strong covalent-bonding nature and consider multiple origins of this phenomenon., 7 pages, 5 figures, and 1 table

Contemporary technological developments revolutionized surgical management of intracranial gliomas. In fact, decades of the previous clinical experience clearly demonstrated that in such cases routine surgical technique usually does not permit to perform aggressive resection of the lesion without significant risk of the permanent postoperative neurological morbidity. The main associated surgical problem is evident. Arising from the cerebral tissue itself the majority of these tumors has a propensity for invasive growth, therefore their boarders could not be clearly distinguished and precisely differentiated from the adjacent functionally important brain structures, which may preserve their function even in presence of tumor infiltration. It typically led to incomplete resection of the neoplasm, which, however, may have significant negative impact on prognosis. Nowadays, the availability of the intraoperative MRI (iMRI) and related updated neuronavigation permits for neurosurgeons to perform resection of glioma under precise anatomical guidance. Moreover, the efficacy and safety of surgery is further enhanced by use of comprehensive neurophysiological monitoring, cortical and subcortical brain mapping, particularly performed during awake craniotomy, neurochemical navigation with 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), and regular histopathological characterization of the resected tissue. Combined application of these techniques provides an opportunity for aggressive removal of the intraaxial brain lesions with minimal risk of neurological complications. Surgery performed under such conditions can be designated as “information-guided procedure” (Iseki et al., 2008; Muragaki et al., 2011).

Omnidirectional vision systems can provide images with a 360° of field of view. For this reason, they can be useful to robotic applications such as navigation, teleoperation and visual servoing. An effective way to construct this type of vision system is by combining lenses and mirrors together resulting on a system that does not require the movement of the camera to the direction of attention of the robot. A typical construction is by mounting a convex mirror in front of a camera aligning the center of the mirror with the optical axis of the camera. The most common convex mirror shapes used are conic, parabolic, hyperbolic and spherical. In this work we present two types of mirror that were constructed: a spherical mirror, used in the initial tests, and a hyperbolic, used for actual robot tasks. The hyperbolic mirror was manufactured using an ultra-precision CNC machine. Additionally, a software was developed to create panoramic and perspective images from the image acquired by the system. This work shows the development of an omnidirectional vision system, presenting the formulation used to determine a suitable mirror shape, the mechanical solutions used to build a fully operational system, and the results of the developed algorithm.

Resonant Elastic X-Ray Scattering (REXS) has played a fundamental role in understanding electronic properties and in revealing hidden order, local symmetries and exotic states realized in correlated solids. This article reports on some of the relevant scientific contributions and technical advances over the last 20 years, by providing a list of related publications produced by various groups all around the world. The given perspective is that of a group of young scientists involved at various times in the investigation of the beauty of electronic ordering by the REXS technique. © 2012 EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag.

Growth in the Information and Communication Technology sector is increasing the need to improve the quality of service and energy efficiency, as this industry has already surpassed 12% of global energy consumption in 2017. Data centers correspond to a large part of this consumption, accounting for about 15% of energy expenditure on the Information and Communication Technology domain; moreover, the subsystem that generates the most costs for data center operators is that of servers and storage. Many solutions have been proposed to reduce server consumption, such as the use of dynamic voltage and frequency scaling, a technology that enables the adaptation of energy consumption to the workload by modifying the operating voltage and frequency, although they are not optimized for network traffic. In this thesis, a control method was developed using a prediction engine based on the analysis of the ongoing traffic. Machine learning algorithms based on Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines have been used, and it was verified that it is possible to reduce power consumption by up to 12% on servers with Intel Sandy Bridge processor and up to 21 % in servers with Intel Haswell processor when compared to the maximum frequency, which is currently the most used solution in the industry. O crescimento do setor de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação está aumentando a necessidade de melhorar a qualidade de serviço e a eficiência energética, pois o setor já ultrapassou a marca de 12% do consumo energético global em 2017. Data centers correspondem a grande parte desse consumo, representando cerca de 15% dos gastos com energia do setor Tecnologia Informação e Comunicação; além disso, o subsistema que gera mais custos para operadores de data centers é o de servidores e armazenamento. Muitas soluções foram propostas a fim de reduzir o consumo de energia com servidores, como o uso de escalonamento dinâmico de tensão e frequência, uma tecnologia que permite adaptar o consumo de energia à carga de trabalho, embora atualmente não sejam otimizadas para o processamento do tráfego de rede. Nessa dissertação, foi desenvolvido um método de controle usando um mecanismo de previsão baseado na análise do tráfego que chega aos servidores. Os algoritmos de aprendizado de máquina baseados em Redes Neurais e em Máquinas de Vetores de Suporte foram utilizados, e foi verificado que é possível reduzir o consumo de energia em até 12% em servidores com processador Intel Sandy Bridge e em até 21% em servidores com processador Intel Haswell quando comparado com a frequência máxima, que é atualmente a solução mais utilizada na indústria.

Energy conservation is a main concern in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). To reduce energy consumption it is important to know how it is spent and how much is available during the node and network operation. Several previous works have proposed energy consumption models focused on the communication module, while neglecting the processing and sensing activities. Other works presented more complex and complete models, but lacked experiments to demonstrate their accuracy in real deployments. The main objective of this work is to design and to evaluate an accurate energy consumption model for WSN, which considers the sensing, processing, and communication modules usage. This model was used to implement two energy consumption prediction mechanism. One mechanism is based in Markov chains and the other one is based in time series analysis. The metrics to evaluate the model and prediction mechanisms performance were: energy consumption estimation accuracy, energy consumption prediction accuracy, and node\'s communication and processing resources usage. The energy consumption prediction mechanisms performance was compared using two implementation schemes: running the prediction algorithm in the sensor node and running the prediction algorithm in a Software-Defined Networking controller. The implementation was conducted using IT-SDN, a Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Network framework. For the evaluation, simulation and emulation used COOJA, while testbed experiments used TelosB devices. Results showed that considering the sensing, processing, and communication energy consumption into the model, it is possible to obtain an accurate energy consumption estimation for Wireless Sensor Networks. Also, the use of a Software-Defined Networking controller for processing complex prediction algorithms can improve the prediction accuracy. A conservação da energia é uma das principais preocupações nas Redes de Sensores Sem Fio (WSN, do inglês Wireless Sensor Networks). Para reduzir o consumo de energia, é importante saber como a energia é gasta e quanta energia há disponível durante o funcionamento da rede. Diversos trabalhos anteriores propuseram modelos de consumo de energia focados no módulo de comunicação, ignorando o consumo por tarefas de processamento e sensoriamento. Outros trabalhos apresentam modelos mais completos e complexos, mas carecem de experimentos que demonstrem a exatidão em dispositivos reais. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é projetar e avaliar um modelo de consumo de energia para WSN que considere o consumo por sensoriamento, processamento e comunicação. Este modelo foi utilizado para implementar dois mecanismos de previsão de consumo de energia, um deles baseado em cadeias de Markov e o outro baseado em séries temporais. As métricas para avaliar o desempenho do modelo e dos mecanismos de previsão de consumo de energia foram: exatidão da estimativa de consumo de energia, exatidão da previsão de consumo de energia e uso dos recursos de comunicação e processamento do nó. O desempenho dos mecanismos de previsão de consumo de energia foram comparados utilizando dois esquemas de implementação: rodando o algoritmo de previsão no nó sensor e rodando o algoritmo de previsão em um controlador de rede definida por software. A implementação foi conduzida utilizando IT-SDN, um arcabouço de desenvolvimento de redes de sensores sem fio definidas por software. A avaliação foi feita com simulações e emulações utilizando o simulador COOJA e ensaios com dispositivos reais utilizando o TelosB. Os resultados mostraram que considerando o consumo de energia por sensoriamento, processamento e communicação, é possivel fazer uma estimativa de consumo de energia em redes de sensores sem fio com uma boa exatidão. Ainda, o uso de um controlador de rede definida por software para processamento de algoritmos de previsão complexos pode aumentar a exatidão da previsão.

This paper discusses the present and the future of machining with a visionary approach in manufacturing challenges. The competitive environment for manufacturing will be significantly different in the near future. Some research trends and developments in tool and tool monitoring, machinability of conventional and new materials, machining for near-net-shape parts, new approach in machining titanium based alloys, high speed machining – high speed hobbing and high speed broaching, nonconventional processes, microfabrication and submicron manufacturing – nanofabrication are presented.