The endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) is released by macrophages and microglia on pathological neuroinflammatory conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). CD200 is a membrane glycoprotein expressed in neurons that suppresses immune activity via its receptor (CD200R) mainly located in macrophages/microglia. CD200‐CD200R interactions contribute to the brain immune privileged status. In this study, we show that AEA protects neurons from microglia‐induced neurotoxicity via CD200‐CD200R interaction. AEA increases the expression of CD200R1 in LPS/IFN‐γ activated microglia through the activation of CB2 receptors. The neuroprotective effect of AEA disappears when microglial cells derive from CD200R1−/− mice. We also show that engagement of CD200R1 by CD200Fc decreased the production of the proinflammatory cytokines IL‐1β and IL‐6, but increased IL‐10 in activated microglia. In the chronic phases of Theiler's virus‐induced demyelinating disease (TMEV‐IDD) the expression of CD200 and CD200R1 was reduced in the spinal cord. AEA‐treated animals up‐regulated the expression of CD200 and CD200R1, restoring levels found in sham animals together with increased expression of IL‐10 and reduced expression of IL‐1β and IL‐6. Treated animals also improved their motor behavior. Because AEA up‐regulated the expression of CD200R1 in microglia, but failed to enhance CD200 in neurons we suggest that AEA‐induced up‐regulation of CD200 in TMEV‐IDD is likely due to IL‐10 as this cytokine increases CD200 in neurons. Our findings provide a new mechanism of action of AEA to limit immune response in the inflamed brain. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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This article presents a procedure for designing footwear production plants with a Decision Support System combined with an expert system and a simulation approach. The footwear industry has many operations and is labour intensive. Optimisation of plant layout, machinery, and human resources is very important to design the footwear manufacturing system, making adequate investment in space and equipment. In the industry it is essential to reduce the process time, so the research is based on a Decision Support System combined with an expert system and simulation to improve the design of the manufacturing plan. This work contains two case studies, direct injection manufacturing and assembly and carburising methods, which are compared to analyse all the necessary resources to have the best cost–benefit ratio. In each case, a precise knowledge of the type and quantity of machinery and human resources is needed to estimate the production. This comparison has been done through simulations and using a knowledge base of an expert system. The conclusions are presented in which an improvement in production time is obtained by applying the methodology developed in the study.

A patina is essentially the weathered look a piece of leather takes on as it ages. The patina finishing aspect can be also generated or grown artificially by scrubbing the leather surface with specific products. These kinds of manual finishing operations on small objects are delicate and regularly need slight corrections carried out by skilled artisans, which adds complexity to the process automation and implies various key aspects to consider. This research presents a novel approach for automatic and semiautomatic shoe patina growing in the footwear industry using a new co-creative method based on cooperative robotics. The system automates the process in pursuit of operator time-saving without reducing the work finishing quality. For this purpose, the use of a collaborative robot with a built-in constant contact force control and a collaborative tool are used in this research. The use of both tools in complementarity with the knowledge of the craftsman leads the robot end-effector adaptation to the inherent curved surfaces over the shoe. Besides, some orientation corrections are applied based on the CAD model for the task to be accurately accomplished. The solution has been successfully integrated in a real production line, and it is currently in use.

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A patina is essentially the weathered look a piece of leather takes on as it ages. The patina finishing aspect can be also generated or grown artificially by scrubbing the leather surface with specific products. This research proposes a novel solution for bringing over automation to grow patina on leather footwear manufacturing using a new co-creative method based on cooperative robotics. These kinds of manual finishing operations on small objects are delicate and regularly need slight modifications carried out by skilled artisans, which adds complexity to the process automation and implies various key aspects to consider. This novel solution includes the design and implementation of a collaborative tool specially designed to grow patina finishing on shoe surface. The system accelerates the process in pursuit of time-saving without disregarding the work finishing quality. For this purpose, the use of a collaborative robot with a built-in constant contact force control is used in this research, together with an existing software function for manual path recording. The use of both tools in complementarity with the knowledge of the craftsman leads the robot end-effector adaptation to the inherent curved-surfaces over the shoe. Besides, some path corrections and tool orientation improvements are suggested based on data from a CAD model for the task to be accurately accomplished. This work presents a novel approach for automatic and semi-automatic shoe patina growing in the footwear industry. The solution has been successfully integrated in a real production line and it is currently in use.