Design and Implementation of Intelligent Truck Based on Azure Kinect

In recent years, due to the impact of COVID-19, the market prospect of non-contact handling has improved and the development potential is huge. This paper designs an intelligent truck based on Azure Kinect, which can save manpower and improve efficiency, and greatly reduce the infection risk of medical staff and community workers. The target object is visually recognized by Azure Kinect to obtain the center of mass of the target, and the GPS and Kalman filter are used to achieve accurate positioning. The 4-DOF robot arm is selected to grasp and transport the target object, so as to complete the non-contact handling work. In this paper, different shapes of objects are tested. The experiment shows that the system can accurately complete the positioning function, and the accuracy rate is 95.56%. The target object recognition is combined with the depth information to determine the distance, and the spatial coordinates of the object centroid are obtained in real time. The accuracy rate can reach 94.48%, and the target objects of different shapes can be recognized. When the target object is grasped by the robot arm, it can be grasped accurately according to the depth information, and the grasping rate reaches 92.67%. © 2023, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Joystick Controlled Autonomous Robotic Arm Using Inverse Kinematics with Object Detection

In 2019, the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was categorized as a pandemic. This disease can be transmitted via droplets on items or surfaces within several hours. Therefore, the researchers aimed to develop a wirelessly controlled robot arm and platform capable of picking up objects detected via object detection. Robot arm movements are done via the use of inverse kinematics. Meanwhile, a custom object detection model that can detect objects of interest will be trained and implemented in this project. To achieve this, the researchers utilize various open-source libraries, microcontrollers, and readily available materials to construct and program the entire system. At the end of this research, the prototype could reliably detect objects of interest, along with a grab-and-dispose success rate of 88%. Instruction data can be properly sent and received, and dual web cam image transfer reaches up to 1.72 frames per second. © 2023 IEEE.

Design of Gripper Arm for a Robot Trolley

The current COVID-19 pandemic situation necessitates the need for a prompt, safe and a contactless method for the dispatch of basic items and other essentials in various domains such as hospitals, manufacturing industries and warehouses. Contemporary robot technology can help build robots that can handle objects safely and replace and/or assist humans in such domains. Robots with soft grippers can be used in hospitals where lightweight items like bottles, medicines and tablets can be handed over to patients. They can be used in warehouses to lift objects of varying topology. This paper discusses the design of the gripper arm for a robotic trolley that can be used to pick and place objects. The gripper arm was modelled on Autodesk Fusion360, and the analysis was done on Ansys. The arm and the gripper were manufactured using ABS plastic and a composite material consisting of elastosil silicone rubber, respectively. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Risk, Responsibilisation and the Political Economy of the Pandemic in the UK

In this chapter, I argue that there are two significant aspects to the British government's response to the Covid virus. One was a focus on individuals rather than infrastructure or state capacity. The second was a technocratic legitimation of policy as ‘science led' with no alternatives possible. I will argue that although the Covid response was unprecedented in British history as a way of dealing with a public health problem, the British government's policy response to Covid is one that can be understood as a continuation of the way in which British policy has developed over the course of several decades. I will situate British Covid responses in a context of a post-Cold War shift in the way in which the state exercises power. In essence, I will argue that over the course of the post-Cold War period there has been a turn away from directly governing and enacting policy and a shift to justifying policy choices by claiming authority that derives from above and beyond the citizens. This, I suggest, can help to explain the trajectory of British Covid responses. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Robotic Manipulation System Design and Control for Non-Contact Remote Diagnosis in Otolaryngology: Digital Twin Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need for non-contact medical robots to alleviate the heavy workload and emotional stress experienced by healthcare professionals while preventing infection. In response, we propose a non-contact robotic diagnostic system for otolaryngology clinics, utilizing a digital twin model for initial design optimization. The system employs a master-slave robot architecture, with the slave robot comprising a flexible endoscope manipulation robot and a parallel robot arm for controlling additional medical instruments. The novel 4 degrees of freedom (DOF) control mechanism enables the single robotic arm to handle the endoscope, facilitating the process compared to the traditional two-handed approach. Phantom experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed flexible endoscope manipulation system in terms of diagnosis completion time, NASA task load index (NASA-TLX), and subjective risk score. The results demonstrate the system's usability and its potential to alternate conventional diagnosis. © 2013 IEEE.

Robotic Arm Aided Thermal Screening System

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the health of people has become more of a concern. With this, temperature measurement has gained even more significance. Non-contact thermometers give the advantage of being used in extreme infectious environments, lightweight, repeatability, and many more. Thermal screening helps in identifying people with a high body temperature who are potentially at risk. This research work focuses on the non-contact human body temperature measurement with the assistance of a robotic arm. The robotic arm is used to dispense the power of mobility to the system. The robotic arm, interfaced with Raspberry PI, is used to dispense the power of mobility to the system. Non-contact infrared temperature sensor, MLX90614, is interfaced with Arduino Nano and is used to measure human body temperature. The temperature obtained from the thermal gun is fed to the serial monitor app in the mobile that is connected through the USB cable to Arduino Nano. The temperature sensor's data is displayed on a mobile phone in Celsius unit. The format in which the sensor data is displayed is programmed using Arduino IDE. © 2022 IEEE

Design of Gripper Arm for a Robot Trolley

The current COVID-19 pandemic situation necessitates the need for a prompt, safe and a contactless method for the dispatch of basic items and other essentials in various domains such as hospitals, manufacturing industries and warehouses. Contemporary robot technology can help build robots that can handle objects safely and replace and/or assist humans in such domains. Robots with soft grippers can be used in hospitals where lightweight items like bottles, medicines and tablets can be handed over to patients. They can be used in warehouses to lift objects of varying topology. This paper discusses the design of the gripper arm for a robotic trolley that can be used to pick and place objects. The gripper arm was modelled on Autodesk Fusion360, and the analysis was done on Ansys. The arm and the gripper were manufactured using ABS plastic and a composite material consisting of elastosil silicone rubber, respectively. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Robotic Arm controlled using IoT application

Work-from-home policies have been the standard since the worldwide pandemic breakout, and this has spurred the fast development of applications in the area of IoT for remotely monitoring and managing applications. This has encouraged us to design and develop a remotely controlled robotic arm that can be used in applications where the engaging human hazardous environment (such as quarantined rooms of COVID affected patients) is dangerous. This has led to the development of a B-rover called a robotic arm, which the technicians remotely control to reduce the direct contact between the technician and the hazardous environment. It has various applications, such as a health monitoring system for monitoring the patient's health conditions, sample collection from the patients and the capability of the Robotic Arm to deliver medications to the COVID affected patients without engaging humans. It is proposed to design a 3DOF(degrees of freedom) robotic arm with stepper motor which is controlled through Wi-Fi using the BlynkIoT App with widgets like Joystick and Sliders. This will pick and drop the objects from one place to another. The results show that the designed robotic arm shows a 3% variation from the simulated and actual results when the slider is adjusted. © 2022

Contactless Mask Monitoring and Biometric Attendance System

This paper attempts to give an overview of the system which is designed keeping social distancing guidelines in mind. Our system will detect in real-time, if the person in the captured live video is wearing a mask properly or not using a mask detecting algorithm developed using deep learning and neural networks with an accuracy of 96.05%. If and only if the person is wearing a mask, they will be allowed to scan the iris and hence record their attendance, which can be stored in excel or CSV formats. The location of iris biometric is translated to a real-life position in the 3D space with the resolution of 0.lmm. To scan the located biometric this system comprises a robotic arm. End effector of this robotic arm traverses to the translated position of the person's eye to scan iris with an iris scanner. The system employs a 'four degrees of motion' robotic arm that can autonomously align itself to the iris with an accuracy of 96.86%. It is battery operated and has a cylindrical workspace with maximum range of 300mm, hence it is easily deployable in institutions requiring secure authorization while monitoring COVID-19 safety norms. © 2022 IEEE.

IoT-Based Touchless Remote Control for Robotic Arm Using Kinect

Due to the current labor shortage situation, combined with the spread of COVID-19, the researchers came up with the idea of developing a contactless remote robotic arm system based on IoT. This research focuses on developing prototypes of remote control three-axis robotic arm via the Internet that can be applied in industrial, medical, and other applications. Abiding by the new normal situation, the Kinect sensor control input, a device capable of receiving commands from human gestures without touching, is used to alleviate the spread of the virus. From the development and experiment, it can be shown that the developed artifact can receive commands from human gestures to remotely control the robotic arm via the Internet in accordance with the intended purpose. © 2021 IEEE.

Development of Twin Surgical Robotic Arm System for Invasive Surgery

Due to the coronavirus's enormous spread and effect, a robotic arm system is designed such that doctors can perform contact-less surgery to minimize risk to their health. Modern robotic aided surgery frequently employs remote operation. The surgeon sits beside the console, guided by visual feedback, and utilises an input control panel to direct the slave robotic equipment doing the procedure. The study discusses a potential surgical robotic system that can be used in surgery. The first robotic arm, out of two, is capable of performing various operations: marking, incision and gluing, using a unique concept of multi-gripper introduced in this paper. The second one has an end-effector that is used for removing a specific part of the body. A camera like endoscopy micro usb camera is used to provide visual assistance to the surgeon. Designing is carried out on AutoCAD, and the components are 3D printed to construct the robot. Robotic arm is operated using a control panel consisting of joysticks and potentiometers. Wireless communication is achieved through NodeMCUs, which are used for interfacing actuators and sensors. This multi gripper will help in saving time as switching to different grippers is not needed for various operations. The robotic system design performs the operation efficiently, resulting in less blood loss and quicker recovery time while allowing the surgeon to control it remotely. © 2022 IEEE.

Development of A Semi Automatic-Robotic Arm for Swab Testing and Intimation System Using Robotic Process Automation

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a health catastrophe and its consequences are severe and far-reaching. Globally the rapid community transmission is being restrained through testing to effectively mitigate and hence suppress the spread. While this has been widely propagated, the healthcare workers are being exposed to the citizens who may have contracted the virus or while handling samples at test. The scarcity of PPE kits and other essentials have added to the crisis. The paper proposes a semi-automatic robotic arm that would minimize human interaction while collecting swab and storing it, which hinders the spread and exposure of health workers to the virus. The Robotic Arm performs the tasks currently performed by medical practitioners and also automates the process of report generation and intimation to the persons who underwent the test using Robotic Process Automation. © 2022 IEEE.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) codon adapts well to the gene expression profile of liver cancer: an evolutionary explanation for HBV's oncogenic role.

Due to the evolutionary arms race between hosts and viruses, viruses must adapt to host translation systems to rapidly synthesize viral proteins. Highly expressed genes in hosts have a codon bias related to tRNA abundance, the primary RNA translation rate determinant. We calculated the relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) of three hepatitis viruses (HAV, HBV, and HCV), SARS-CoV-2, 30 human tissues, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). After comparing RSCU between viruses and human tissues, we calculated the codon adaptation index (CAI) of viral and human genes. HBV and HCV showed the highest correlations with HCC and the normal liver, while SARS-CoV-2 had the strongest association with lungs. In addition, based on HCC RSCU, the CAI of HBV and HCV genes was the highest. HBV and HCV preferentially adapt to the tRNA pool in HCC, facilitating viral RNA translation. After an initial trigger, rapid HBV/HCV translation and replication may change normal liver cells into HCC cells. Our findings reveal a novel perspective on virus-mediated oncogenesis.

Biting the Bullet: A Call for Action on Lead-Contaminated Meat in Food Banks

Even though the presence of ammunition-derived metallic lead fragments in donated firearms-hunted meat has been recognized for more than a decade, the vast majority of donated hunted meat is not inspected to discard meat containing lead fragments.1 An underlying lack of food safety standards for adulterated donated food increases risks to lowincome recipients, who are already disproportionately affected by elevated blood lead levels (BLLs).2 Primary prevention is needed for this overlooked source of lead exposure. LOW-LEVEL LEAD Primary prevention is recognized as the most effective way to address the epidemic of lead poisoning in the United States.3 The current blood lead reference level recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter (mg/dL). A strong body of scientific research demonstrates that leadbased ammunition frequently contaminates hunted meat and increases BLLs of humans and animals who consume it.1,7-9 Lead-contaminated hunted meat has been identified as the most poorly acknowledged and addressed example of food lead contamination, and scientists have called for this source of lead exposure to be acknowledged and addressed with health-protective measures.8,9 A 2013 consensus statement of experts in human, environmental, and wildlife toxicology supports reducing and eventually eliminating the introduction of lead into the environment from lead-based ammunition, emphasizing that shooting lead ammunition into the environment poses significant risks of lead exposure to humans and wildlife.10 In 2016, Arnemo et al. found that more than 99% of 570 scientific articles about environmental and health consequences of lead in ammunition raised concerns about lead toxicity.7 The authors highlighted that nonlead ammunition is as effective as lead-based ammunition and is comparably priced. Despite the well-established scientific basis for regulation of lead ammunition for hunting, the topic has been politicized by misinformation campaigns portraying concerns about ingesting lead ammunition as a product of antihunting agendas.11 Lead Contamination in Donated Hunted Meat Donated hunted meat is a vital source of protein distributed by food banks at a time when food bank use remains far above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.12 Published evidence of leadcontaminated meat in food banks has existed for more than a decade (Figure A, available as a supplement to the online version of this article at https://www.ajph.org).13 Investigations in multiple states have confirmed the presence of lead in donated meat.

Trends in Pregnancy-Associated Homicide, United States, 2020

Objectives. To estimate the national pregnancy-associated homicide rate in 2020 and to characterize patterns of victimization. Methods. Using a retrospective analysis of the 2020 US national mortality file, I identified all homicides of women who were pregnant or within 1 year of the end of pregnancy. Descriptive statistics characterized these victims, and I calculated annual pregnancy-associated homicide rates (deaths per 100 000 live births) for comparisons with 2018 and 2019. I estimated the added risk conferred by pregnancy in 2020 by comparing the pregnancy-associated homicide rate to homicide in the nonpregnant, nonpostpartum population of females aged 10 to 44 years. Results. There were 5.23 pregnancy-associated homicides per 100 000 live births in 2020, a notable increase from previous years. Rates were highest among adolescents and non-Hispanic Black women. Eighty percent of incidents involved firearms. The risk of homicide was 35% greater for pregnant and postpartum women than for their nonpregnant, nonpostpartum counterparts, who did not experience as large an increase from previous years. Conclusions. Pregnancy-associated homicide substantially increased in 2020. Public Health Implications. Policies to address domestic and community violence against women are urgently needed. (AmJ Public Health. 2022;112(9):1333-1336. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306937)

Design and Implementation of OPC UA-Based VR/AR Collaboration Model Using CPS Server for VR Engineering Process

In order to cope with the changing era of the innovative management paradigm of the manufacturing industry, it is necessary to advance the construction of smart factories in the domestic manufacturing industry, and in particular, the 3D design and manufacturing content sector is highly growthable. In particular, the core technologies that enable digital transformation VR (Virtual Reality)/AR (Augmented Reality) technologies have developed rapidly in recent years, but have not yet achieved any particular results in industrial engineering. In the manufacturing industry, digital threads and collaboration systems are needed to reduce design costs that change over and over again due to the inability to respond to various problems and demands that should be considered when designing products. To this end, we propose a VR/AR collaboration model that increases efficiency of manufacturing environments such as inspection and maintenance as well as design simultaneously with participants through 3D rendering virtualization of facilities or robot 3D designs in VR/AR. We implemented converting programs and middleware CPS (Cyber Physical System) servers that convert to BOM (Bill of Material)-based 3D graphics models and CPS models to test the accuracy of data and optimization of 3D modeling and study their performance through robotic arms in real factories.

IoT based Robotic Arm for Student Online Learning

Currently, robots can be used for additional purposes, people trying to perform difficult tasks. These robots also have the potential to become more powerful and use sensors not available to humans, giving supernatural abilities to guards that they may not have. Robotic arms are widely used for industry, hospitals, and education. The main function of the robotic arm is to control movement. The robotic arm is operated manually by humans. Since being attacked by this covid 19 epidemic, robotic learning has been difficult to implement where students are forced to go through online learning. Therefore, the research is allowing the students to implement robotic arms through online learning. The purpose of this study is to implement a robotic arm using the Internet of Things (IoT). The robotic arm has been developed with four Degrees of Freedom (DOF). The robotic arm can operate and be controlled by Blynk applications. By using the esp8266 Wi-Fi module, the robot arm can directly connect to the internet. In this study, the most important is to determine to move robotic arms using IoT. Thus, experiments for robotic arms using IoT were carried out.

The Sahel: Challenges and opportunities

Since 2015, over 2000 people have been killed and 1.5 million displaced due to violence attributed to extremist groups in Burkina Faso. In the first half of 2021 alone, over 540 conflict-related civilian casualties were reported in Niger.9 The armed conflict has had a devastating impact on children in Niger: of the 3.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid in Niger, 2.1 million are children and 1.6 million children suffer from malnutrition.10 More than eighty children between the ages of 15 and 17 years living in towns on the Niger–Burkina Faso border have reportedly been recruited as child soldiers.11 Over sixty children were killed in conflict-related violence in Niger in 2021 alone.12 Chad has also witnessed its fair share of violence and intercommunal tensions. In their efforts to coerce the Sahelian people and government decision-makers for ransom or political concessions, these groups have employed various terrorist activities, including launching deadly attacks against civilians and military targets alike, attacking public and private property, kidnapping individuals, and more.18 Weak State institutions around the inter-State borders have enabled such groups to flourish in the peripheries and border towns, targeting people in multiple countries at once. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger saw over 4000 casualties of terrorist attacks in 2019;19 these attacks led, in turn, to the displacement of over half a million people.20 The growing presence of “terrorist” groups in the Sahel has also intensified organized crime and criminal networks that have served as routes for lucrative criminal activities such as drugs, arms trade, human trafficking and the kidnapping of persons for ransom.

La incidencia de la pandemia del COVID-19 en el análisis de los precios de transferencia para efecto del impuesto a la renta en el Perú: medidas requeridas *

En el presente trabajo, se analiza la incidencia en Perú de las recomendaciones brindadas por la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE) en su Guía sobre las implicancias de la pandemia del COVID-19 en los precios de transferencia (Guidance on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic), publicada el 18 de diciembre de 2020. Este documento representa la perspectiva en consenso de los más de 137 miembros del Marco Inclusivo de BEPS, entre los que se encuentra Perú. La investigación se centra en la aplicación del principio de libre concurrencia para problemas generados o exacerbados por la pandemia. En particular, se analiza la problemática del análisis de comparabilidad en un escenario de carencia de transacciones y empresas comparables de información del ejercicio 2020 y periodos siguientes afectados por la pandemia. Igualmente, se aborda el tema de las pérdidas desde dos perspectivas: como transacción o empresa comparable, y como la generación de pérdidas en los modelos de negocios de riesgo limitado. Se concluye que varias de las medidas recomendadas por el Marco Inclusivo pueden materializarse a través de la flexibilización y apertura de la administración tributaria en las fiscalizaciones. No obstante, permitir la modificación del análisis de los precios de transferencia reflejado en el reporte local en función a información de transacciones y empresas comparables obtenida con posterioridad requiere la emisión de una norma legal que no condicione la declaración rectificatoria a la verificación de la SUNAT, y que suspenda la aplicación de infracciones y sanciones por la declaración de datos y cifras falsos.Alternate :This paper analyzes the incidence in our country of the recommendations provided by the OECD in its Guide on the implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on transfer pricing Guidance on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic published on December 18, 2020 and which represents the consensus perspective of the more than 137 members of the BEPS Inclusive Framework, among which is Peru, regarding the application of the arm's length principle for problems generated or exacerbated by the pandemic. In particular, the problem of comparability analysis is evaluated in a scenario of lack of comparable transactions and companies in the 2020 and subsequent years affected by the pandemic. Likewise, the issue of losses is addressed from two perspectives, those as a comparable result and the generation of losses in business models with limited risk. It is concluded that several of the measures recommended by the Inclusive Framework can be materialized through the flexibility and openness of the Tax Administration in audits;however, allowing the modification of the transfer pricing analysis reflected in the Local Report based on information of comparable companies obtained later requires the issuance of a legal norm that does not condition the rectifying return to the verification of SUNAT and temporarily avoid the application of infractions and sanctions for the declaration of false data.Alternate :Este artigo analisa a incidência em nosso país das recomendações fornecidas pela Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE) em seu Guia sobre as implicações da Pandemia COVID-19 sobre preços de transferência "Orientações sobre as implicações dos preços de transferência da pandemia COVID-19" publicado em 18 de dezembro de 2020 e que representa a perspectiva consensual dos mais de 137 membros do Marco Inclusivo BEPS, entre os quais está o Peru, a respeito da aplicação do princípio da livre concorrência para os problemas gerados ou agravados pela pandemia. Em particular, o problema da análise de comparabilidade é analisado em um cenário de falta de transações e empresas de informações comparáveis em 2020 e anos subsequentes afetados pela pandemia. Da mesma forma, a questão das perdas é tratada sob duas perspectivas, a de uma transação ou empresa comparável e a da geração de perdas em modelos de negócios com risco limitado. Conclui-se que várias das medidas preconizadas pelo Marco Inclusivo podem ser materializadas através da flexibilidade e abertura da Administração Tributária nas auditorias;No entanto, permitir a modificação da análise dos preços de transferência refletidos no Relatório Local com base em informações sobre transações e empresas comparáveis obtidas posteriormente requer a emissão de norma legal que não condicione a declaração retificativa à verificação da SUNAT e que supenda a aplicação de infrações e sanções para a declaração de dados e números falsos.

A ROS-based Voice Controlled Robotic Arm for Automatic Segregation of Medical Waste Using YOLOv3

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a surge in the generation of medical waste. Due to the transmissible nature of the Virus and the lack of effort at proper disposal, the safety of the front-line health workers, as well as the disposer, is at risk. Hence, to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases, a system is proposed that uses a robotic arm for segregating medical waste automatically. The robotic arm is operable through voice commands, and the segregating operation could function in automatic and manual mode. The system uses the YOLOv3 (You Only Look Once) algorithm to detect and classify the medical waste and then uses the Robot Operating System (ROS) platform to pick up and drop the waste object into color-coded bins. For this research, the medical waste has been categorized into 4 types, and for each type, a color-coded bin has been used for segregation. Our system has achieved 94% training accuracy for the YOLOv3 model on a custom dataset, whereas the system's overall accuracy in automated mode was 82.1%, derived after 30 trials. In the case of manual mode, an average accuracy of 82.5% has been achieved for the same number of trials. © 2022 IEEE.