Recently, there has been a growing body of research that supports the effectiveness of using non-pharmacological cognitive and social training interventions to reduce the decline of or improve brain functioning in individuals suffering from cognitive impairments. However, implementing and sustaining such interventions on a long-term basis is difficult as they require considerable resources and people, and can be very time-consuming for healthcare staff. Our research focuses on making these interventions more accessible to healthcare professionals through the aid of robotic assistants. The objective of our work is to develop an intelligent socially assistive robot with abilities to recognize and identify human affective intent to determine its own appropriate emotion-based behavior while engaging in assistive interactions with people. In this paper, we present the design of a novel human-robot interaction (HRI) control architecture that allows the robot to provide social and cognitive stimulation in person-centered cognitive interventions. Namely, the novel control architecture is designed to allow a robot to act as a social motivator by encouraging, congratulating and assisting a person during the course of a cognitively stimulating activity. Preliminary experiments validate the effectiveness of the control architecture in providing assistive interactions during a HRI-based person-directed activity.
Organic
photodetectors (OPDs) capable of detecting visible
to near-infrared
light provide a ubiquitous platform for emerging flexible and wearable
electronics. In the process of implementing OPDs into a Si-based manufacturing
process, organic semiconductors undergo ≥ 200 °C thermal
stress, leading to the deterioration of photosensing capability. Here,
we combine multiscale characterization and device physics to unravel
the impact of thermal stress on the optoelectronics characteristics
of PTB7-Th:non-fullerene acceptor blends (NFAs: SiOTIC-4F, COTIC-4F,
CO1-4F, and CO1-4Cl). For as-cast devices, favorable intermixing and
phase separation between PTB7-Th and the NFA facilitate charge generation
and extraction. Reductions in the OPD performance after thermal annealing
(200 °C for 5–120 min) are observed due to the morphological
degradation, regardless of the NFA choice, but the reduction is more
severe for the PTB7-Th:SiOTIC-4F blend. Thermally induced morphological
changes are examined using atomic force microscopy, wide-angle X-ray
scattering, and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. This study provides
essential insights into morphology-driven deteriorations, which will
help in developing structure–stability–performance relationships
in high detectivity OPDs.
Background To alleviate the damage caused by nerve root entrapment mediated by lumbosacral disc herniation (LDH), an imaging method that allows quantitative evaluation of the lumbosacral nerve injury is necessary. Purpose To investigate the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance (MR) T2 mapping in nerve root injury caused by LDH. Material and Methods A total of 70 patients with unilateral sciatic nerve pain and 35 healthy volunteers were divided into three groups: LDH with nerve root entrapment; LDH without nerve root entrapment; and 35 healthy volunteers. All participants underwent 3.0-T MR with T1-weighted (T1W) imaging, T2-weighted (T2W) imaging, and T2-mapping images. T2 was measured and observed with the left and right nerve roots of the L4-S1 segments in healthy volunteers; the differences between the three groups were compared. T2 and the relaxation rate of nerve root injury were analyzed. Results T2 showed significant differences among the three groups (F = 89.494; P = 0.000), receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that the T2 relaxation threshold was 79 ms, the area under curve (AUC) area was 0.86, sensitivity was 0.77, and specificity was 0.74; the T2 relaxation rate was 1.06, the AUC area was 0.88, sensitivity was 0.74, and specificity was 0.85. Conclusion T2 mapping could quantitatively evaluate the nerve root injury with lumbar disc degeneration. Hence, it can be used for the clinical evaluation of nerve root entrapment caused by LDH.
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