Maria Teresa Restivo

A Remote Laboratory in Engineering Measurement

Online engineering practice is offering nowadays new potentials for training of measurement technologies and experimental procedures. In a laboratory mainly devoted to instrumentation for measurement by hands-on activity in engineering fields, students and engineering professionals are using, at present, online experiments in a blended-learning approach. A set of experiments has been designed and developed as well as some virtual simulators. The experiments integrated in a Moodle platform are using a Web-server system based on LabVIEW 7.1, linked to them by data acquisition interface cards, a video server, and a booking system developed as an extension of the Moodle platform. This paper reports a particular setup specially designed for remotely measuring and determining mechanical material properties and its combination with the design of a highly interactive user interface. The user may remotely conduct the experiment, getting numerical, graphical, and live video output information and receiving e-mailed experimental results.

Hand length as an alternative measurement of height

Background/objectives:Despite the utmost importance of body height in evaluating nutritional status, it is not always possible to obtain its measurement and height may have to be estimated. The objective of the study was to formulate and cross-validate a regression equation to predict height using hand length measurement and also to determine if predicted height (PH) will lead to significant errors when used in body mass index (BMI) calculation.Subjects/methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted using a consecutive sample of 465 inpatients (19–91 years), from a university hospital. Participants were randomly divided into a development sample of 311 individuals and a cross-validation one. A linear regression model was used to formulate the equation. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for single measures and differences between measured height (MH) and PH and between BMI calculated with MH (BMIMH) and with PH (BMIPH) were determined.Results:The regression equation for PH is: PH (cm)=80.400+5.122 × hand length (cm)—0.195 × age (years)+6.383 × gender (gender: women 0, men 1) (R=0.87, s.e. of the estimate=4.98 cm). MH and PH were strongly correlated, ICCs: 0.67-0.74 (P<0.001). Differences were small, mean difference±s.d., ⩽−0.6±4.4 cm (P⩾0.24). BMIMH and BMIPH were strongly correlated, ICCs: 0.94-0.96 (P<0.001). Differences were small, ⩽0.3±1.7 kg/m2 (P⩾0.10).Conclusions:The formulated regression equation using hand length, age and gender provides a valid estimation of height and is useful in the clinical context. PH from this regression equation can be used in BMI calculations as misclassification is small.

Design and implementation of a haptic‐based virtual assembly system

Purpose – Haptics can significantly enhance the users sense of immersion and interactivity. Especially in an assembly task, haptic feedback can help designers to have a better understanding of virtual objects and to increase task efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the design and implementation of a haptic‐based virtual assembly system (HVAS).Design/methodology/approach – A multi‐thread system structure was designed, an automatic data integration interface was developed to transfer geometry, topology, assembly and physics information from a computer‐aided design system to virtual reality application, and a hierarchical constraint‐based data model and scene graph structure was designed to construct the virtual assembly environment. Unlike traditional virtual assembly systems based on collision detection or geometry constraint only, a physics‐based modeling approach combining with haptic feedback and geometry constraint was undertaken to realize and guide the realistic assembly process....

An Overview of Links Between Obesity and Mental Health

The American Medical Association recently recognized obesity as both an illness and a leading cause of preventable death and chronic disease. This association is not only linked to physical health outcomes, however, as obesity has also been extensively associated with mental illness as well. Both obesity and severe mental illness decrease quality of life and are associated with an increase in disability, morbidity, and mortality, and when they occur together, these adverse health outcomes are magnified. Despite educational campaigns, increased awareness, and improved treatment options, the high prevalence of mental illness and comorbid obesity remains a serious problem. This review examines this overlap, highlighting clinical and biological factors that have been linked to this association in order to improve our understanding and help elucidate potential therapeutic avenues.

Effects of electroconvulsive therapy on cognitive functioning in patients with depression: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting approximately 350 million people. Evidence indicates that only 60–70% of persons with major depressive disorder who tolerate antidepressants respond to first-line drug treatment; the remainder become treatment resistant. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered an effective therapy in persons with treatment-resistant depression. The use of ECT is controversial due to concerns about temporary cognitive impairment in the acute post-treatment period. We will conduct a meta-analysis to examine the effects of ECT on cognition in persons with depression. Methods This systematic review and meta-analysis has been registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42014009100). We developed our methods following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. We are searching MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane from the date of database inception to the end of October 2014. We are also searching the reference lists of published reviews and evidence reports for additional citations. Comparative studies (randomised controlled trials, cohort and case–control) published in English will be included in the meta-analysis. Three clinical neuropsychologists will group the cognitive tests in each included article into a set of mutually exclusive cognitive subdomains. The risk of bias of randomised controlled trials will be assessed using the Jadad scale. We will supplement the Jadad scale with additional questions based on the Cochrane risk of bias tool. The risk of bias of cohort and case–control studies will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We will employ the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) to assess the strength of evidence. Statistical analysis Separate meta-analyses will be conducted for each ECT treatment modality and cognitive subdomain using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V.2.0.

A review of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly: from rigid parts to soft cables

Purpose – The use of virtual reality for product assembly has been studied for more than 20 years; however its practical application in industry is still very much in its infancy. Haptics is a new and important interaction method for virtual reality, and currently constitutes a strong and growing research area; however despite this, its application in industry still remains virtually unknown. This paper seeks to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the topics of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly, from rigid parts to soft cables, and investigates some new ideas and recent advances in the area. The survey work has been divided into two parts: addressing rigid parts and soft cables. The main focus of part two, the present work, concentrates on virtual reality and haptics for soft cable design and assembly.Findings – In the first instance, the main research groups and typical systems are investigated, followed by extensive exploration of...

A case study of induced eddy currents

Abstract The present work aims to study the distribution of eddy (or Foucault)-current stream lines induced within a conducting slab of a non-magnetic material when crossing, with a constant velocity and perpendicularly, a permanent magnetic field. The computation of the magnetic field induced by these currents will also be performed. The purpose of this study is to provide a basic theoretical background to be used in the development of a new transducer.

A review of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly (part 1): rigid parts

Purpose – Virtual reality (VR) for product assembly has been studied for more than 20 years but its practical application in industry is still very much in its infancy. Haptics is a new and important interaction method for VR and a strong and growing research area, however, it still remains a virtually unknown concept for industrial application.Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a comprehensive survey of VR and haptics for product assembly, from rigid parts to soft cables.Findings – Some new ideas and research progresses in recent years are especially investigated. First the concepts and classifications of virtual assembly are introduced and the different virtual environment systems for product assembly are discussed. Then the major research groups, typical systems and major research issues are explored in detail, treating rigid parts and soft cables separately. Lastly, the barriers preventing successful application of virtual assembly are discussed and future research directions are also s...

Temperature field acquisition during gas metal arc welding using thermocouples, thermography and fibre Bragg grating sensors

The paper presents the application of temperature acquisition systems integrating thermocouples, a thermographic camera and fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process, MIG (metal inert gas) welding type. Efficient procedures to use FBG sensors and thermocouples were developed. The paper presents and compares measurements made in welded plates of aluminium alloy 6082-T6. Tests were performed in both plate surfaces and good agreement between the three techniques was found.

Accuracy of a digital skinfold system for measuring skinfold thickness and estimating body fat.

The use of skinfold thickness measurements to evaluate the distribution of subcutaneous adipose tissue and to predict body fat has recognised advantages. However, the different types of skinfold calliper available present limitations that make them unattractive and perhaps less used in daily practice. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy and functionality of a new digital skinfold system, the Liposoft 2008+Adipsmeter V0 (LA), for measuring skinfold thickness and determining body fat proportion (%BF). Skinfold thickness measurements made by the LA were compared with those obtained with a Harpenden (H) calliper from two samples of adults (n 45) and older adults (n 56) in a university-based cross-sectional study. A comparison was also conducted between estimated %BF from skinfolds and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Bland and Altman plots show that skinfolds measured by the LA and H calliper are in high agreement, with a mean difference of 0·3 (95% CI -3·1, 3·4) mm. In regard to the %BF estimated from LA and H skinfolds measurement, the LA produced a similar approximation to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry %BF, with a mean difference of 0·2 (95% CI -0·8, 1·2) %, compared with %BF obtained with the H calliper. The LA system is an accurate instrumentation and represents an innovation in the evaluation of skinfold thickness and body composition based on anthropometric measurement.