Sex with robots: A not-so-niche market for disabled and older persons

In this article, we present our experiences from research into the healthy ageing and well-being of older people and we report on our personal opinions of robots that may help the elderly to have sex and to cope with isolation and loneliness. However, and while there is a growing industry for sex robots and other sex toys and gadgets, there is also a growing concern about the ethics of such an industry. As is the case with pornography, the concept of sex robots may be criticized, yet it has deep roots in human civilization, with erotic depictions that date back to the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ages. So the need for an artefact that would offer sexually relevant functionality is not new at all. But what might be new and worrying is the potential for using artificial intelligence in sex robots in ways that might cause a repositioning of our entire value system. Such a threat is not related to the proliferation of sex robots per se but to the use of robots in general and in a variety of other fields of application

Determinants of reduction in 30-day readmissions among people with a severe behavioral illness: a case study

BACKGROUND: Individuals with serious mental illness face a significant burden of disease, yet experience lower quality care across a range of services (1). Hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge is an important, if imperfect, proxy for quality of care. Factors contributing to readmission are well documented (2–5), yet successful interventions to decrease readmissions have been slow to take shape (6–9). To effectively develop and incorporate evidence-based interventions to reduce 30-day psychiatric readmissions into large, geographically diverse inpatient systems; there is a need to conduct in-depth implementation analyses to better understand the relationship between patient-, hospital-, health system-, and community-level factors and their net impact on readmissions. This research addresses this need. METHODS: Using a modified Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), two state-based case studies were conducted within a large U.S. hospital system. Two hospitals per state were selected-- one with a high and one with a lower readmission rate. We conducted document reviews and semi-structured interviews (N=52) with corporate, clinical and community stakeholders, using the CFIR to identify key themes within each construct. We scored and compared hospitals with lower vs. higher readmission rates. An analysis of EMR data from the hospital system contextualized case study findings. RESULTS: In one state a complex interplay of factors at all levels contributed to readmission rates in both hospitals. In the second, constructs within the inner hospital setting contribute to differences in hospital readmission rates. Facilities with high readmission rates scored lowest among CFIR constructs “Patient Needs and Resources in the Community” and “External Policies and Incentives.” CONCLUSIONS: Ours is the first known study to explore a broad range of factors that influence readmission rates among patients with serious mental illness and a range of comorbidities. Findings from two state-based case studies indicate that readmission rates are determined by multiple, interrelated factors which vary in importance based on hospital and community context and political environment. To be effective, systemic interventions to reduce readmissions must be tailored to the specific context at targeted hospitals

Sustainable ICT equals not ICT for sustainability

In this opinion paper we promote the idea of an open dialogue to take place from within the Sustainable Futures journal that will offer the opportunity to a wide range of actors and stakeholders to present their ideas, concerns and worries on a variety of issues relevant and related to aspects of sustainability. Such an open-ended approach will help overcome opposing dynamics that currently cater for polarization and as a result to the segregation within the scientific community and the society at large. On the positive side, there is a wide spectrum of ambitious, game-changing and disruptive initiatives that can be taken from academia, from the industry, from the activists’ movements and the citizens at large, which will aim to increase our freedoms and not reduce them

Accelerometer - enhanced speed estimation for linear - drive machine tool axes

Machine-tool axes for high-speed machining make great demands on the mechanical system, the actuators, and the numerical control. They require a high stiffness, a high bandwidth, and a precise motion at maximum speed. Linear motors as direct drives for machine-tool axes provide the basis to fulfil these requirements. They eliminate the gear-related problems of rotary drives with lead-screw transmission (from rotary to linear motion). In research and industrial projects, linear drives are already successfully implemented for machine-tool axes. From the point of view of control, the accurate and low-noise estimation of the axis speed is a key issue. Due to the high bandwidths required, high sampling frequencies are employed. The estimation of the drive speed by differentiation of the measured position is sensitive to position quantization at high sampling frequencies. All position-based speed estimation methods involve a trade-off between delay and quantization noise on the estimated speed. Delay limits the achievable control bandwidth. Noise leads to audible control noise and might excite structural resonances. It limits the maximum values of the feedback gains and thus also limits the bandwidth. Given a certain position resolution, a substantial reduction of quantization effects is only possible at the expense of a reduction of the stiffness. A further increase in position resolution limits the maximum axis speed with today's position encoders. This is not desired and other solutions have to be found. A survey of different sensors for linear-axis control describes the state of the art. As a result, the use of acceleration measurement in addition to the position measurement for high-precision speed estimation is proposed. The commonly used aerospace methods of combining position with acceleration to obtain a high-precision speed estimate (complementary filters, Kalman filters) raise design and realisation problems for linear-axis applications. Therefore, we propose a novel method of accelerometer-enhanced speed estimation (AESE). This method lowers the demands on the position resolutions considerably. Generally speaking, the low frequency components are extracted from the position measurement and the high frequency components from the acceleration signal by observing the two measurements over a certain time period in the past. This solution is not sensitive to accelerometer measurement noise. Its design consists in the choice of one design parameter, the observation period length. The design is very easy, as the resulting speed quality is not very sensitive to this parameter. An analysis of the closed-loop system demonstrates that, by the use of accelerometer-enhanced speed estimation, the position quantization influence on the speed feedback path is equalised to the one of the position feedback path. Therefore, high controller bandwidths and thus high sampling frequencies are possible without noise on the speed signal. On-line identification algorithms for the accelerometer gain and offset parameter, which are proposed in this dissertation, simplify commissioning of the system with the additional accelerometers. They are based on the proposed AESE-method. Low-cost inertial accelerometers are used for the experimental validation of the proposed algorithms on real linear-drive axes. They demonstrate that the AESE-algorithm provides an accurate, low-noise speed estimate with a delay in the range of the delay of the direct position differentiation over one sampling period. Altogether, the proposed AESE-method is well-suited for an industrial application because of the high quality of the obtained speed signal, the simple design, the low cost, the low measurement-noise sensitivity, and the on-line parameter identification

Combining Simulative and Metaphor-Base d Reasoning about Beliefs

An unprecedented combination of simulative and metaphor-based reasoning about beliefs is achieved in an AI system, ATT-Meta. Much mundane discourse about beliefs uses conceptusJ metaphors (e.g., MINDAS CONTAINER ) productively, and ATT - Meta's metaphor-based reasoning accordingly leads to crucial discourse comprehension decisions. ATT-Meta's non-metaphorical mode of belief reasoning includes simulative reasoning (SR). In ATT-Meta, metaphor-based reasoning can block and otherwise influence the course of SR. Also, ATT-Meta can nest SR and metaphorbased reasoning within themselves and each other. As well as currently allowing ATT-Meta to simulatively reason about beliefs about beliefs ..., the nesting will in the near future allow the system to handle chained metaphors, ascribe its own metaphor-based reasoning to other agents, and apply simulative reasoning to purely metaphorical agents

Biocontrol of Rhizoctonia solani damping-off and promotion of tomato plant growth by endophytic actinomycetes isolated from native plants of Algerian Sahara

Thirty-four endophytic actinomycetes were isolated from the roots of native plants of the Algerian Sahara. Morphological and chemical studies showed that twenty-nine isolates belonged to the Streptomycesgenus and five were non-Streptomyces. All isolates were screened for their in vitro antifungal activityagainst Rhizoctonia solani. The six that had the greatest pathogen inhibitory capacities were subsequentlytested for their in vivo biocontrol potential on R. solani damping-off in sterilized and non-sterilized soils,and for their plant-growth promoting activities on tomato seedlings. In both soils, coating tomato seedswith antagonistic isolates significantly reduced (P < 0.05) the severity of damping-off of tomato seedlings.Among the isolates tested, the strains CA-2 and AA-2 exhibited the same disease incidence reduction asthioperoxydicarbonic diamide, tetramethylthiram (TMTD) and no significant differences (P < 0.05) wereobserved. Furthermore, they resulted in a significant increase in the seedling fresh weight, the seedling length and the root length of the seed-treated seedlings compared to the control. The taxonomic positionbased on 16S rDNA sequence analysis and phylogenetic studies indicated that the strains CA-2 AA-2were related to Streptomyces mutabilis NBRC 12800ᵀ(100% of similarity) and Streptomyces cyaneofuscatus JCM 4364ᵀ(100% of similarity), respectively