Development of a nurse robot serving in infectious disease isolation wards

A prototype of nurse robot system serving in infectious disease wards is developed by analyzing the systems requirement. Firstly, the type synthesis and dimension synthesis for optimizing the workspace are presented. Secondly, the tele-control system based on velocity control mode is introduced, and tele-control program is written. Finally, the imitation of position workspace and experiment of transforming objects from buffer area to isolation area are carried out.

Study on Individual Distance of the Non-Japanese for the Small Mobile Robot

This study seeks to establish techniques of architecture planning for living robots and human together. This experiment is elemental step to search relations between a small mobile robot and human. This experiment is ＂How can a small mobile robot approach to individuals distances of foreigners （non-Japanese） up to the point where foreigners （non-Japanese） do not feel like approaching any more＂. It focuses on a small mobile robot and identifies distances at which the robot can approach to individuals, particularly adult foreign male. This paper clarifies how the individual distances change by the robot＇s speed and angle of approach varies.

High efficiency of protoplast preparation for artificially cultured Ulva prolifera(Ulvophyceae,Chlorophyta)

Protoplast isolation was relevant for gene manipulation in U lva, and universal protocols have been proposed based on evaluation for various wildly collected species. However, only clonal laboratory cultures were practical for genetic transformation, and whether applicability of such universal protocol existed for these artificial cultures has never been investigated. In this research, samples in different physiological states or developmental stages were tested in U. prolifera. The results proved that the protoplast yields were strongly dependent on the characteristics of samples. Neither F_v/F_m value nor chlorophyll content exhibited an ideal correlation with the protoplast yields. Alternatively, specific growth rate, coupled with developmental stage, could serve as an ef fective combined index to determine the right time for protoplast isolation. According to this instruction, here we reported the highest yields of protoplast((31.5±1.9)×10~6 cells/g f. wt.) in U. prolifera, following comparison between protocols, and further optimizations on enzyme content, incubation period, starting biomass and pretreatment. This specified protocol for artificially cultured clonal samples could meet the need for protoplast-mediated genetic transformation in U. prolifera.

Prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus infection

Occult hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection(OBI) is characterized by the persistence of HBV DNA in the liver tissue in individuals negative for the HBV surface antigen.The prevalence of OBI is quite variable depending on the level of endemic disease in different parts of the world,the different assays utilized in the studies,and the different populations studied.Many studies have been carried out on OBI prevalence in different areas of the world and categories of individuals.The studies show that OBI prevalence seems to be higher among subjects at high risk for HBV infection and with liver disease than among individuals at low risk of infection and without liver disease.

Personal Space of Small Mobile Robot Moving towards Standing or Sitting Elderly Individuals

Recently, Japan has experienced a low birthrate and an aging population. The development of communication robots, such as cleaning and a care-giver robot, has been progressing. Care-giver robots provide daily assistance, including contacting emergency services. This study is part of the ＂study on planning techniques of living space in harmony with robots＂, and focused on the elderly. Minimum distance was the subjects felt ＂I do not want any more approached＂. Subjects were 21 elderly persons （eight males and thirteen females）, aged 66-86 years. The experimental room was an assembly room in a public accommodation （14 m× 6.5 m）. The small mobile robot used in this experiment was external form dimensions of 120 mm （W）× 130 mm （D）× 70 mm （H）, In this experiment, considering the personal space as the small mobile robot is watching robot without support function for person. The robot moved toward standing or sitting subjects at constant velocities from a distance 5 m apart. Research factors are 5 angles （0°, 45°, 90°, 135° and 180°） and 2 speeds （0.08 m/s and 0.24 m/s）.

Amplifi cations of NCOA3 gene in colorectal cancers in a Chinese population

AIM: To investigate the copy number variation of NACO3 gene in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its correlation with tumor progression. METHODS: A total of 142 samples of case-matched CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were obtained from patients undergoing bowel resection. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method was used to investigate the copy number variations of NCOA3 as well as gene expression in the collected tissues. RESULTS: Copy number gains of NCOA3 were detected in 39 CRC samples (27.5%) and were correlatedwith tumor progression (χ2 = 6.42, P = 0.0112). Moreover, there was a positive correlation between copy number gain and mRNA over-expression of NCOA3 in CRCs (P = 0.0023). Expression level of NCOA3 mRNA was also enhanced in the CRC samples with unaltered copy numbers (3.85 ± 1.23 vs 2.71 ± 0.64, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Sporadic colorectal cancers exhibit different mechanisms of NCOA3 regulation.

Modeling and simulation of Cobot based on double over-running clutches

In order to analyze characteristics of Cobot cooperation with a human in a shared workspace, the model of a non-holonormic constraint joint mechanism and its control model were constructed based on double over-running clutches. The simulation analysis was carried out and it validated passive and constraint features of the joint mechanism. In terms of Cobot components, the control model of Cobot following a desired trajectory was built up. The simulation studies illustrate that the Cobot can track a desired trajectory and possess passive and constraint features ; a human supplies operation force that makes Cobot move, and a computer system con- trois its motion trajectory. So it can meet the requirements of Cobot collaboration with an operator. The Cobot model can be used in applications of material moving, parts assembly and some situations requiring man-machine cooperation and so on.

Walking Access Distance of Metro Passengers and Relationship with Demographic Characteristics: A Case Study of Nanjing Metro

In the metropolises of China, the metro plays an increasingly important role in commuting because of its efficiency, affordability, and cleanliness. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between walking access distance to metro stations and the demographic characteristics of passengers, such as age, monthly income, travel frequency, gender, and travel purpose, as well as the influence of the urban context. Nanjing Metro Line 2 is selected as the case study. By using different methods such as a questionnaire survey, spatial decay function, analysis of covariance(ANOVA), network analysis of routes, and K-means cluster analysis, it is suggested that demographic characteristics have a significant impact on the pedestrian walking distance, with the exception of gender. Furthermore, the paper finds a spatial decay effect in walking access distance, the decay rate of which, however, varies across stations. Terminal stations have a larger pedestrian catchment area than in regular and exchange stations. Moreover, the passengers of Nanjing Metro Line 2 can be classified into six groups according to their demographic characteristics, among which education and occupation are vital indicators in determining their willingness to walk to the stations. Middle-class passengers have a higher dependence on the metro and tend to walk longer than other groups do. This study provides an important reference for planners and transport sectors to optimize land-use and transport infrastructures.

Distance Concentration-Based Artificial Immune Algorithm

The diversity, adaptation and memory of biological immune system attract much attention of researchers. Several optimal algorithms based on immune system have also been proposed up to now. The distance concentra- tion-based artificial immune algorithm (DCAIA) is proposed to overcome defects of the classical artificial immune al- gorithm (CAIA) in this paper. Compared with genetic algorithm (GA) and CAIA, DCAIA is good for solving the prob- lem of precocity,holding the diversity of antibody, and enhancing convergence rate.

Removal of Lead Ions from Ginseng Ethanol Extracts by Dynamic Adsorption in a Fixed-bed Column

The removal of lead from ginseng ethanol extracts by a fixed-bed column filled with an adsorbent bearing amine and carboxyl groups was investigated. The Pb2+ content was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. When the flowrate increased from 0.12 to 0.34 ml·min-1 , the column exhibited a marked increase in percentage of lead removal from 54.9% to 92.3%. Further increase in the flowrate did not bring evident changes to the lead removal, whereas an increase in the temperature could reinforce adsorption further, suggesting that the adsorption process was controlled by external film diffusion below the flowrate of 0.34 ml·min-1 , and by the intraparticle pore diffusion of lead ions when the flowrate exceeded it. A low remaining lead amount in extracts such as 0.11 mg·kg-1 (extracts powder) was achieved. The adsorbents also adsorbed effective constituents to some extent. But 88% of constituents adsorbed were taken off using a 70% ethanol aqueous solution.

Sequence analysis on drug-resistant rpoB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis L-form of isolated from pneumoconiosis workers

To study the characteristics of drug-resistant genetic mutation of rpoB on coal workers＇ pneumoconiosis complicated with L-form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Methods： A total of 42 clinical isolated strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis L-forms were collected, including 31 drug-resistant strains. Their genomes DNA were extracted, the target genes were amplified by PCR, and the hot regions in the rpoB gene were analyzed by automated DNA sequenator. Results： No mutation of rpoB gene was identified in 11 rifampicin-sensitive strains while conformation changes were found in 31 rifampicin-resistant strains. The mutation rate was 93.55% （29/31） in resistant strains, mainly concentrated in codon 531 （51.6%, 16/31） and 526 （32.26%, 10/31）. Base substitutions happened, including 27 unit point mutation and 2 two point mutation. The mutation of codon 516 that new found wasn＇t reported by internal and overseas scholars. Conclusion： The substitution of highly conserved amino acids encoded by rpoB gene results in the molecular mechanism responsible for rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis L-forms. It also proves that rpoB gene is diversiform.

Dynamic stability of quadruped robot walking on slope with trot gait

The dynamic stability of a quadruped robot trotting on slope was analyzed.Compared with crawl gait,trot gait can improve walking speed of quadruped robots.When a quadruped robot trots,each leg is in the alternate state of swing phase or supporting phase,and two legs in the diagonal line are in the same phase.The feet in the supporting phase form a supporting region on the ground.When a quadruped robot walks on slope,the vertical distance from zero moment point(ZMP) to the supporting diagonal line is defined as ZMP offset distance.Whether this distance is less than the maximum offset distance or not,the stability of robot trotting on slope can be judged.The foot trajectory was planned with the sinusoidal function.Based on the kinematic analysis,the ZMP offset distance of quadruped robot under different slope angles,step length and step height was calculated,then the reasonable slope angle,step length and step height for quadruped robot trotting on slope to keep dynamic stability can be determined.On the other hand,the posture angle of quadruped robot should be controlled within the desired range.Computer simulations were executed to verify the theoretical analysis.The study will provide reference for determining reasonable step parameters of the quadruped robot.

Research on Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis for Ion Exchange of Molecular Sieves

In view of the problems associated with large amount of discharged wastewater and serious pollution in the existing technology for removing sodium species from molecular sieves,this research work introduces the bipolar membrane electrodialysis into the process of removing sodium species from molecular sieves,and proposes a novel method of cleanly removing sodium from molecular sieves.The results show that the technology for removing sodium ions from the molecular sieves with an indirect electrodialysis process is feasible,and can recover Na OH solution.The bipolar membrane electrodialysis is especially suitable for treating the USY,ZSM-5 and Beta molecular sieves with high acid-resistance,and the physicochemical properties and catalytic performance of the prepared molecular sieves are roughly equivalent to those of the ammonium ion-exchange method.In comparison with the ammonium ion-exchange method,the process is clean and environmentally friendly,which consumes less water,and does not discharge wastewater to exhibit a rosy prospect of industrial application.

Role of social distancing in tackling COVID-19 during the first wave of pandemic in Nordic region:Evidence from daily deaths,infections and needed hospital resources

Objectives:To measure the effect of social distancing on reducing daily deaths,infections and hospital resources needed for coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)patients during the first wave of the pandemic in Nordic countries.Methods:The observations of social distancing,daily deaths,infections along with the needed hospital resources for COVID-19 patient hospitalizations including the numbers of all hospital beds,beds needed in ICUs and infection wards,nursing staffs needed in ICUs and infection wards were collected from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation(IHME)by the University of Washington.The observations of social distancing were based on the reduction in human contact relative to background levels for each location quantified by cell phone mobility data collected from IHME.The weighted data per 100,000 population gathered in a 40-day period of the first wave of the pandemic in Denmark,Finland,Iceland,Norway and Sweden.Statistical technique of panel data analysis is used to measure the associations between social distancing and COVID-19 indicators in long-run.Results:Results of dynamic long-run models confirm that a 1%rise in social distancing by reducing human contacts may decline daily deaths,daily infections,all hospital beds needed,beds/nurses needed in ICUs and beds/nurses needed in infection wards due COVID-19 pandemic by 1.13%,15.26%,1.10%,1.17%and 1.89%,respectively.Moreover,results of error correction models verify that if the equilibriums between these series are disrupted by a sudden change in social distancing,the lengths of restoring back to equilibrium are 67,62,40,22 and 49 days for daily deaths,daily infections,all hospital beds needed,nurses/beds needed in ICUs and nurses/beds needed in infection wards,respectively.Conclusion:Proper social distancing was a successful policy for tackling COVID-19 with falling mortality and infection rates as well as the needed hospital resources for patient hospitalizations in Nordic countries.The results alert governments of the need for continuously implementing social distancing policies while using vaccines to prevent national lockdowns and reduce the burden of patient hospitalizations.

Tracking of human head with particle filter

To cope with the problem of tracking a human head in a complicated scene,we propose a method that adopts human skin color and hair color integrated with a kind of particle filter named condensation algorithm.Firstly,a novel method is presented to set up human head color model using skin color and hair color separately based on region growing.Compared with traditional human face model,this method is more precise and works well when human turns around and the face disappears in the image.Then a novel method is presented to use color model in condensation algorithm more effectively.In this method,a combination of edge detection result,color segmentation result and color edge detection result in an Omega window is used to measure the scale and position of human head in condensation.Experiments show that this approach can track human head in complicated scene even when human turns around or the distance of tracking a human head changes quickly.

A Study on the Distances of Small Mobile Robot Moves towards Infants

In recent years, it is remarkable that various robots are being developed, and the development of robot technology is beginning to be taken into an actual living space. There are still many questions that we will have to answer for the harmonization of living together with a robot. This study is focused on ＂the study of how to plan and design a living space in harmonizing with robots＂, and focused on the effects of infants （subjects） along with the distance between robots and themselves. The study is to seek for the minimum distance for the subjects who felt that ＂I do not want a robot to be any closer being approached to me＂. This experiment was conducted among 30 infants at the kindergarten, utilizing a small experimental robot. A small robot whose dimension is 120 mm （W） ×130 mm （D） × 70 mm （H）, approaching infants as is to see if it would make any differences to the infant＇s reactions.

Simulation of bidirectional pedestrian flow in transfer station corridor based on multi forces

A good understanding of pedestrian movement in the transfer corridor is vital for the planning and design of the station,especially for efficiency and safety.A multi-force vector grid model was presented to simulate the movement of bidirectional pedestrian flow based on cellular automata and forces between pedestrians.The model improves rule-based characteristics of cellular automata,details forces between pedestrians and solves pedestrian collisions by a several-step updating method to simulate pedestrian movements.Two general scenarios in corridor were simulated.One is bidirectional pedestrian flow simulation with isolation facility,and the other is bidirectional pedestrian flow simulation without isolation facility,where there exists disturbance in the middle.Through simulation,some facts can be seen that pedestrians in the case with isolation facility have the largest speed and pedestrians in the case without isolation facility have the smallest speed; pedestrians in the case of unidirectional flow have the largest volume and pedestrians in the case of without isolation facility have the smallest volume.

Isolated Type C Interrupted Aortic Arch in Adult:Extra-anatomic Repair Using Circulatory Arrest

INTERRUPTED aortic arch （IAA） is a rare congenital malformation that occurs in 5.8 per million live births. 1 IAA was thought to be incompatible with life once the ductus arteriosus closed. However, ifextensive collateral circulation is p possible. We report treated successfully an unusual resent at case of with extra-anatomic under deep hypothermia drculatory arrest birth survival is IAA, who was aortic repair

A simple and versatile protocol for isolation of RNA from plant, fungi and animal

Compared to other plants, the traditional protocols for RNA isolation from sugarcane （Saccharum） are usually cJeficient and result in poor yields, or low-quality. Here we describe a modified method for isolating RNA from various fissoes of S. officinarum, in which only Trizol and some routine reagents were needed. The absorbance at 260/280 nm ranges from 1.70 to 1.80, indicating that the quality of RNA is high, as confirmed by double-stranded cDNA synthesis and reverse ~ranscription-polymerase chain （RT-PCR）. This protocol can also be used effectively in RNA isolation from Erianthus arundinaceus, rice （Oryza sativa Linnaeus）, Achyranthes, sporotrichum spp., Thermophil and loach （Misgurnus an g uillicaudatus ）.

Isolation of side population cells from gallbladder carcinoma of human being and the expression of ABCG2 gene

Objective: To investigate whether the side population cells (SP cells) exist in human gallbladder carcinoma cell line and the differences of drug resistance gene ABCG2 expression in SP cells, non-SP cells and GBC-SD cell lines. Methods: Fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) was used to sort the SP and non-SP cells from GBC-SD cell line of gallbladder carcinoma of human being. Then, the sorting cells were cultured and detected the expression of ABCG2 gene among the SP cells, non-SP cells and GBC-SD cell lines by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunofluo-rescence chemistry, western blot and flow cytometry techniques. Results: A very small fraction cells (0.64 ± 0.08%) were iso-lated through FACS analysis which had the potency of stem cells and highly expressed ABCG2 gene (89.56 ± 3.86%). On the contrary, there were nearly no expression in non-SP cells (1.32 ± 0.49%) and lower expression in GBC-SD cell line (12.37 ± 1.61%). Conclusion: The side population cells that had the potency of stem cells existed in human gallbladder carcinoma cell line and over-expressed the drug resistance gene ABCG2. They may be play an important role in drug resistance of tumor.