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Deaths styles between hospitalised Palestine refugees through Syria inside Jordan: a new population-based research.
Recently, extratheses, aka Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs), are emerging as a new trend in the field of assistive and rehabilitation devices. We proposed the SoftHand X, a system composed of an anthropomorphic soft hand extrathesis, with a gravity support boom and a control interface for the patient. In preliminary tests, the system exhibited a positive outlook toward assisting impaired people during daily life activities and fighting learned-non-use of the impaired arm. However, similar to many robot-aided therapies, the use of the system may induce side effects that can be detrimental and worsen patients' conditions. One of the most common is the onset of alternative grasping strategies and compensatory movements, which clinicians absolutely need to counter in physical therapy. Before embarking in systematic experimentation with the SoftHand X on patients, it is essential that the system is demonstrated not to lead to an increase of compensation habits. This paper provides a detailed description of the compensatory movements performed by healthy subjects using the SoftHand X. Eleven right-handed healthy subjects were involved within an experimental protocol in which kinematic data of the upper body and EMG signals of the arm were acquired. Each subject executed tasks with and without the robotic system, considering this last situation as reference of optimal behavior. A comparison between two different configurations of the robotic hand was performed to understand if this aspect may affect the compensatory movements. Results demonstrated that the use of the apparatus reduces the range of motion of the wrist, elbow and shoulder, while it increases the range of the trunk and head movements. On the other hand, EMG analysis indicated that muscle activation was very similar among all the conditions. Results obtained suggest that the system may be used as assistive device without causing an over-use of the arm joints, and opens the way to clinical trials with patients.It is well-established in the literature that biases (e. g., related to body size, ethnicity, race etc.) can occur during the employment interview and that applicants' fairness perceptions related to selection procedures can influence attitudes, intentions, and behaviors toward the recruiting organization. This study explores how social robotics may affect this situation. Using an online, video vignette-based experimental survey (n = 235), the study examines applicant fairness perceptions of two types of job interviews a face-to-face and a robot-mediated interview. To reduce the risk of socially desirable responses, desensitize the topic, and detect any inconsistencies in the respondents' reactions to vignette scenarios, the study employs a first-person and a third-person perspective. In the robot-mediated interview, two teleoperated robots are used as fair proxies for the applicant and the interviewer, thus providing symmetrical visual anonymity unlike prior research that relied on asymmetrical anonymity, in which only one party was anonymized. This design is intended to eliminate visual cues that typically cause implicit biases and discrimination of applicants, but also to prevent biasing the interviewer's assessment through impression management tactics typically used by applicants. We hypothesize that fairness perception (i.e., procedural fairness and interactional fairness) and behavioral intentions (i.e., intentions of job acceptance, reapplication intentions, and recommendation intentions) will be higher in a robot-mediated job interview than in a face-to-face job interview, and that this effect will be stronger for introvert applicants. check details The study shows, contrary to our expectations, that the face-to-face interview is perceived as fairer, and that the applicant's personality (introvert vs. extravert) does not affect this perception. We discuss this finding and its implications, and address avenues for future research.Current designs of powered prosthetic limbs are limited by the nearly exclusive use of DC motor technology. Soft actuators promise new design freedom to create prosthetic limbs which more closely mimic intact neuromuscular systems and improve the capabilities of prosthetic users. This work evaluates the performance of a hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic (HASEL) soft actuator for use in a prosthetic hand. We compare a linearly-contracting HASEL actuator, termed a Peano-HASEL, to an existing actuator (DC motor) when driving a prosthetic finger like those utilized in multi-functional prosthetic hands. A kinematic model of the prosthetic finger is developed and validated, and is used to customize a prosthetic finger that is tuned to complement the force-strain characteristics of the Peano-HASEL actuators. An analytical model is used to inform the design of an improved Peano-HASEL actuator with the goal of increasing the fingertip pinch force of the prosthetic finger. When compared to a weight-matched DC motor actuator, the Peano-HASEL and custom finger is 10.6 times faster, has 11.1 times higher bandwidth, and consumes 8.7 times less electrical energy to grasp. It reaches 91% of the maximum range of motion of the original finger. However, the DC motor actuator produces 10 times the fingertip force at a relevant grip position. In this body of work, we present ways to further increase the force output of the Peano-HASEL driven prosthetic finger system, and discuss the significance of the unique properties of Peano-HASELs when applied to the field of upper-limb prosthetic design. This approach toward clinically-relevant actuator performance paired with a substantially different form-factor compared to DC motors presents new opportunities to advance the field of prosthetic limb design.Children begin to develop self-awareness when they associate images and abilities with themselves. Such "construction of self" continues throughout adult life as we constantly cycle through different forms of self-awareness, seeking, to redefine ourselves. Modern technologies like screens and artificial intelligence threaten to alter our development of self-awareness, because children and adults are exposed to machines, tele-presences, and displays that increasingly become part of human identity. We use avatars, invent digital lives, and augment ourselves with digital imprints that depart from reality, making the development of self-identification adjust to digital technologies that blur the boundary between us and our devices. To empower children and adults to see themselves and artificially intelligent machines as separately aware entities, we created the persona of a salvaged supermarket security camera refurbished and enhanced with the power of computer vision to detect human faces, and project them on a large-scale 3D face sculpture.
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