Innovative Technology and Science (United Kingdom)

This workshop aims at advancing the topic of the relationships between robotics science and experiments in HRI. The full-day workshop follows on previous events in interdisciplinary venues focusing on efforts to establish reproducible, standardized experiments in order to adequately benchmark and evaluate human-robot interaction, scientific achievements and results in the areas of industrial, medical, social, service and personal-care robots. The words "standard" and "standardized" sometimes are misunderstood as fixing and blocking the freedom of the researcher to create new experiments and therefore to advance the scientific knowledge. As per this workshop, the words must be intended as a "way of experimenting temporarily agreed by the community, that is evolving and tracking the scientific progress through continuous revision by the community itself".

AIMTo explore current diagnostic practice and attitudes of Greek and United Kingdom physiotherapists (PTs) on assessing low back pain (LBP) patients.METHODSThree focus groups were undertaken, followed by a structured questionnaire-type survey comprising 23 health professionals and a random stratified sample of 150 PTs, respectively. Twenty-nine themes relating to LBP diagnostic practice emerged. These were then given to 30 British PTs assessing their level of agreement with their Greek counterparts. Analysis was performed by percentage agreements and χ2 tests.RESULTSThe survey was divided into three subsections; PTs’ attitudes on LBP assessment, patients’ attitudes and diagnostic/healthcare issues, each constituting 14, 7 and 8 statements, respectively. Over half of the statements fell within the 30%-80% agreement between Greece and United Kingdom whereas, 5 statements reported low (< 10%) and 8 statements demonstrated high (> 90%) PT percentage agreement. Similarities across British and Greek PTs were detected in history taking methods and in the way PTs feel patients perceive physiotherapy practice whereas, re-assessment was undertaken less frequently in Greece. Diagnosis according to 91% of the Greek PTs is considered a “privilege” which is exclusive for doctors in Greece (only 17% British PTs agreed) and is accompanied with a great overuse of medical investigations. Forty percent of Greek PTs (compared to 0% of British) consider themselves as “executers”, being unable to interfere with treatment plan, possibly implying lack of autonomy.CONCLUSIONAlthough similarities on history taking methods and on patients’ attitudes were detected across both groups, gross differences were found in re-assessment procedures and diagnostic issues between Greek and British physiotherapists, highlighting differences in service delivery and professional autonomy.

In recent years, CAM system has become absolutely essential tool for an application of multi axis machine tool and for an intelligential application of industrial robot. However, it would be a hurdle for educational institutions and developing countries, because CAM systems are very expensive. In addition to that, most of the systems are commercial software and the algorithms are highly confidential. Therefore, the study deals with the proposal of construction of platform-compatible and open-source CAM kernel for anyone who want to develop, release and share to raise the standard of CAM development mainly in educational field.

The effects of alloying elements on the stress relaxation property of Cu-Ni-Sn-P alloys have been investigated using Cu, Cu-1.5 at% (1.4 mass%) Ni alloys, Cu-0.75 at% (0.7 mass%) Ni-0.75 at% (1.4 mass%) Sn alloys and Cu-1.5 at% (2.8 mass%) Sn alloys with and without 0.14 at% (0.07 mass%) P. Adding Sn to Cu enhances the resistance to stress relaxation by dragging atmospheres of Sn atoms behind dislocations. The Cu-Ni-P alloy exhibits better stress relaxation property than the Cu-Ni and Cu-P alloys, probably because atoms caused by pairs of P and Ni chemical binding are dragged by moving dislocations. Annealing of the Cu alloys with P at a low temperature of 300°C for a short time brings about higher stress-relaxation resistance. This is ascribed to the decrease in mobile dislocation density by segregation of P atoms on dislocations during the annealing. Adding 0.1 at% (0.04 mass%) Mg to the Cu-Ni-Sn-P alloy decreases the amounts of Ni and P dissolved in the Cu matrix, resulting in lower stress-relaxation resistance. The addition of 0.1 at% (0.09 mass%) Fe to the Cu-Ni-Sn-P alloy is effective for the improvement of stress relaxation property.

二元還流型PSA（DR-PSA）は従来の回収部還流型PSAと濃縮部還流型PSAを組み合わせたプロセスであり，吸着塔前後に二つの還流，塔中間に原料供給口を持つ．本研究では短サイクル時間近似法を用いてDR-PSAの挙動を簡単な代数式で表示する簡易モデルを作成し，DR-PSAにおいて重要な操作パラメータである原料供給位置と還流比の影響を調査した．作成したモデルは既存の実験結果とよく一致し，その妥当性を確認することができた．また最適な原料供給位置は吸着塔内の平均濃度が原料濃度と等しい位置であることが実験的に確かめられているが，本モデルでその事実を確認することができた．さらに還流比の影響を調査し，その最適条件についての知見を得た．作成したモデルはDR-PSAの設計を簡易的に行なうことが可能であり，原料供給位置と還流比の最適化に有用である．

The Ostwald ripening of Co particles in a Cu-1 mass%Co alloy during aging at 873, 923, 973 and 998 K has been examined. The average size of Co particles was determined by transmission electron microscopy and the reduction in Co concentration in the Cu matrix with aging time t was determined by electrical resistivity measurements. In the initial stage of aging, the growth rate of particles decreases gradually and, over a time, the growth kinetics of particles obey the t1/3 time law, as predicted by the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner (LSW) theory. Over the same time, the kinetics of the reduction of Co concentration are in accord with the predicted t-1/3 time law. The growth and coarsening of Co particles occur simultaneously before the commencement of coarsening. The change in the growth rate of particles is attributed to the transition from the mixed stage of the growth and coarsening to the coarsening stage. Application of the LSW theory has enabled independent derivation of the Cu/Co interface energy γ and the diffusion coefficient D of Co in Cu during coarsening of particles. The value of γ is estimated as 150 mJm-2, which is much smaller than the values of γ=288-451 mJm-2 previously reported, and is insensitive to the change from the coherent interface of the Co particles to the semi-coherent interface. The estimates of D are in agreement with those for impurity diffusion of Co in Cu.

The use of three orthogonally tagged phosphine reagents to assist chemical work-up via phase-switch scavenging in conjunction with a modular flow reactor is described. These techniques (acidic, basic and Click chemistry) are used to prepare various amides and tri-substituted guanidines from in situ generated iminophosphoranes.

1Research Haematology, Harefield Hospital, Middlesex UB9 6JH, UK; 2Department of Materials Technology, Brunei, UK; 3Circulatory Support Harefield Hospital, UK; 4Innovative Technology plc, Winsford, Cheshire, UK