Robotic Systems and Applications
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Tongue-and lip-tie beyond breastfeeding difficulties
The diagnosis and treatment of tethered oral tie tissues, such as ankyloglossia (tongue-tie) and lip-tie, have grown substantially. Although robust evidence indicates that these abnormal anatomic variations are associated with breastfeeding difficulties, impaired craniofacial growth, sleep, speech and posture in children, both diagnosis and treatment of oral ties remain controversial. The oral cavity displays considerable morphological variation across individuals. One of these variations includes tight, restrictive connective tissue between oral structures known as tethered oral tie tissues (TOTs). The clinical view regarding these anomalies has evolved with increasing interest not only in tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) but also in lip-tie [1-3]. Ankyloglossia has been considered a risk factor for breastfeeding difficulties [4-16]. Recent evidence indicates that TOTs can be also associated with whole-body consequences, such as reflux, dental malocclusion, and respiratory disorders, ultimately increasing the risk of sleep and speech disorders, and detrimental changes in posture and eating patterns [13, 17-25]. The prevalence of TOTs is highly variable across populations and is still a matter of ample debate. Currently, there is a lack of consensus on diagnosis criteria, best surgical treatment techniques, and pre- and post-surgery care [19, 26, 27]. Yet, the diagnosis and surgical treatment of TOTs have substantially increased in recent years [28-31]. This mini-review will summarize evidence-based data regarding the cascade of consequences of tongue-tie and lip-tie in children and the main signs and symptoms of these anomalies in newborns. It will also discuss the available evidence on treatment options for TOTs, including pre- and post-surgical care that may enable better outcomes and prevention of possible complications. For a better understanding, tongue-tie and lip-tie will be addressed separately
Relationship between mandibular position and support planting in 7-year-old children: pilot study
Introduction: Postural stability can be maintained in balance by muscle tone [1]. Change in the mandibular position or posture, may have influence in the postural reflex, defined as an involuntary defense movement [2] to correct deviations and keep the body in balance. If the postural change is constant, the muscles will move the mandible to a more comfortable position, with consequent postural change2 and plantar support. The aim of the study was to compare the plantar support in centralized and in lateralization mandibular position in seven years’ children. Main text: This study was approved by research ethics committee (No. 4.346.542). A pilot study was carried out with seven-year-old children of both sexes. Photogrammetry was performed with spherical markers in the region of the right tragus and chin symphysis (Fig. 1) concomitantly with baropodometry following (Fig. 2, 3) the protocol established by Bittar et al. [4]. Analysis of mandibular displacement and plantar support were performed with centralized mandibular position (maximum intercuspation) and with lateral displacement to the right and left. Statistical analysis compared the differences in mandibular displacement to the right and left sides using Student’s t test. Differences in plantar support variables with centralized mandibular position and in right and left lateralization position were established by the Anova one way test and the Bonferroni pos test. Significant statistical difference was reached by 5 %. Results: Twelve seven-year-old children were included, 20.8 (3.25) Kg and 1.18 (0.06) meters. The sample present greater lateral displacement of the mandible to the lefts compared to right side. Mandibular lateralization was confirmed with statistical difference compared to mandibular position centralized. No difference in all plantar support variables was observed between the three positions: centralized and left and right lateralization. Conclusions: No differences were observed for plantar support compared position in mandibular lateralization and centralized position. Mandibular lateralization displacements did not change plantar support
Modelling and experimental investigation of the vibratory conveyor operating conditions
The paper’s objective is to study the dynamic parameters and operating conditions of the vibratory conveyor, which is based on the double-mass oscillatory system and equipped with the pull-type (single-cycle) electromagnetic exciter. The scientific novelty consists in substantiating the conveying capacity of various standard sizes of bolts at different operating conditions defined by the input parameters, particularly supplied voltage. In order to describe the conveying tray vibrations, the simplified mathematical model of the conveyor’s double-mass oscillatory system is developed using the Euler-Lagrange equations and is numerically solved in the Mathematica software with the help of the Runge-Kutta methods. The experimental investigations are carried out at the Vibroengineering Laboratory of Lviv Polytechnic National University and are focused on testing the conveying speed of various bolts at different motion conditions: detachable (bouncing, hopping, jumping over the conveying surface) and non-detachable (sliding along the conveying surface). The obtained results show the basic kinematic parameters of the conveying tray motion at different voltages supplied to the actuating electromagnet and the dependencies of the conveying speeds of various bolts at different motion conditions mentioned above. The paper may be useful for designers and researchers while improving and implementing similar vibratory equipment in various industries
Laser ultrasonic excitation using graphene heat dissipation film for ultrasonic detection of seismic physical model
With excellent thermal conductivity and unique two-dimensional structure, the graphene heat dissipation film (GHDF) has been a potential photoacoustic (PA) material for multiple applications. In this study, we apply the GHDF into laser ultrasonic detection of seismic physical model (SPM). The PA effect of the GHDF is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The GHDF is physically attached to the upper surface of SPM, and excited effectively by a 532 nm pulsed laser. Distinguishable layered echo signal of SPM verifies the feasibility of the ultrasonic excitation approach using GHDF. This work opens up a new application of GHDF in ultrasonic detection of SPM
Reliability of quantitative risk models: a case study from offshore gas production platform
In response to the competing factors governing the operation of oil and gas facilities, i.e., the stringent safety and environmental regulations, and the challenging business environment that entails minimizing the running cost, a risk-based inspection (RBI) program became a vital part of all Asset Integrity Management (AIM) frameworks. The objective is to ensure asset mechanical integrity while optimizing the maintenance and inspection resources and minimizing production downtime. There are different risk models being used to manage operational risk for equipment. The decision-maker should be attentive to the subjectivity and reliability of the risk results to establish an adequate risk target that can achieve the ultimate goal of RBI by determining the cost-effective inspection and maintenance plan without compromising plant safety, integrity or reliability. This paper presents evaluations of the most quantitative RBI models through a case study from an offshore gas producing platform. A case study was implemented for topside equipment on an offshore platform. The study analyzed the impact of contributing factors to the probability of failure (PoF) model through a sensitivity analysis to quantify the reliability and subjectivity in the failure probabilities. A sensitivity analysis and comparison between both API consequence modelling methodologies (i.e., CoF level 1 and 2) were performed to manifest the reliability of risk results. The sensitivity analysis revealed the variance in the calculated risk and demonstrated that a risk target/threshold should be established based on the deployed risk model. Using the same risk target for different risk models cannot effectively define all equipment items that actually need more resources to mitigate the risk. And can result in omitting critical equipment which can jeopardize asset integrity and lead to major losses, or spend resources on unnecessary equipment
Adaptive feature selection method with FF-FC-MIC for the detection of mutual faults in rotating machinery
In the coupling state of rotor unbalance fault and bearing defect fault for rotor system, the signals contain multiple fault components, and the fault diagnosis of the rotor system needs to contain comprehensive multidimensional feature quantities. However, irrelevant feature information in the multi-dimensional feature quantities increases the complexity of classification calculation and affects the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis. In order to eliminate redundant and irrelevant features in the feature information, and achieve the goal of fewer diagnostic features and good diagnostic results, this paper proposes an adaptive feature selection based on the maximum information coefficient FF-FC-MIC (Feature-to-Feature and Feature-to-Category Maximum Information Coefficient) method. Firstly, the sparse representation algorithm is used to reconstruct the original signal to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and the multi-dimensional feature quantity of the reconstructed signal is calculated; Secondly, calculate the correlation between features and features through MIC to obtain a feature set of weak correlation between features; thirdly, use MIC to calculate the correlation between features and signal categories to obtain a feature set with strong correlation between features and signals; Finally, the FF-FC-MIC feature selection method is used for feature adaptive selection and input into SVM to complete fault diagnosis. The method is analyzed by simulation signals and the real experiment signals. The results show that the method can effectively remove redundant and disclosed features in the coupling fault, reducing the characteristic dimension to reduce the fault classification time, and improve classification accuracy. Different experimental cases and various feature selection comparison methods further verify the accuracy and applicability of the proposed method
Using total equivalent temperature difference approach to estimate air conditioning cooling load in buildings
The objective of this study is to provide a simplified worksheet based on the Total Equivalent Temperature Difference (TETD) Approach to estimate a building’s cooling load under Iraqi climate conditions. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system was applied to scientific laboratories at the College of Engineering, University of Warith Al-Anbiyaa, Karbala, Iraq. The study estimates the cooling load of the building, which consists of 10 zones. Cooling load elements such as ventilation, lighting, walls, floors, roofs, windows, infiltration, and human factors were considered. The worksheet provides an appropriate alternative for easy and fast prediction within Iraq's climate conditions
Editor’s Letter. Use of computational simulation by Finite Element Method in Jaw Functional Orthopedics. Is it possible and feasible?
Indoor and outdoor multi-source 3D data fusion method for ancient buildings
Ancient buildings carry important information, such as ancient politics, economy, culture, customs. However, with the course of time, ancient buildings are often damaged to different degrees, so the restoration of ancient buildings is of great importance from the historical point of view. There are three commonly used non-contact measurement methods, including UAV-based oblique photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning, and close-range photogrammetry. These methods can provide integrated three-dimensional surveys of open spaces, indoor and outdoor surfaces for ancient buildings. Theoretically, the combined use of the three measurement methods can provide 3D (three-dimensional) data support for the protection and repair of ancient buildings. However, data from the three methods need to be fused urgently, because if the image data is not used, it will lead to a lack of real and intuitive texture information, and if only image matching point clouds are used, their accuracy will be lower than that of terrestrial laser scanning point clouds, and it will also lead to a lack of digital expression for components with high indoor historical value of ancient buildings. Therefore, in this paper, a data fusion method is proposed to achieve multi-source and multi-scale 3D data fusion of indoor and outdoor surfaces. It takes the terrestrial laser point cloud as the core, and based on fine component texture features and building outline features, respectively, the ground close-range image matching point cloud and UAV oblique image matching point cloud are registered with the terrestrial laser point cloud. This method unifies the data from three measurements in the point cloud and realizes the high-precision fusion of these three data. Based on the indoor and outdoor 3D full-element point cloud formed by the proposed method, it will constitute a visual point cloud model in producing plans, elevations, sections, orthophotos, and other elements for the study of ancient buildings
Effect of damping ditch on blasting vibration reduction by field experiment and numerical simulation
In order to analyze the influence of a damping ditch on the blasting vibration, a large number of on-site monitoring tests with or without damping ditch were carried out based on the foundation pit excavation project. Based on the Sadovsky’s empirical formula, the optimized vibration velocity attenuation model was established by using the waveform subsection correspondence method and least square method. The calculation results are in good agreement with the measurement results. The average errors in radial direction and vertical direction are 17.04 % and 10.76 % respectively. A series of finite element models were established to study the influence of the damping ditch geometry on the damping effect. The experimental and numerical results show that the damping ditch can obviously reduce the blasting seismic effect, with the highest damping ratio in the area near blasting source. For different damping ditches, the damping ratio first increases and then decreases proportionally to the increase of distance between the measuring point and the blasting zone. The damping ditch depth has the best damping effect on blasting vibration, followed by the distance between the damping ditch and the blasting source, and finally the damping ditch width, which is consistent with the damping mechanism of theoretical analysis. The attenuation of the surface wave is only related to the damping ditch depth. The research results can provide a reference for the design of blasting vibration isolation