A Care Robot with Ethical Sensing System for Older Adults at Home.

Many studies have explored emotional and mental services that robots can provide for older adults, such as offering them daily conversation, news, music, or health information. However, the ethical issues raised by using sensors for frail older adults to monitor their daily movements or their medication intake, for instance, are still being discussed. In this study, we develop an older adult-guided, caregiver-monitored robot, Dori, which can detect and recognize movement by sensing human poses in accordance with two factors from the human-centered artificial intelligence (HCAI) framework. To design the care robot's services based on sensing movement during daily activities, we conducted focus group interviews with two groups-caregivers and medical staff-on the topic of care robot services not for patients but for prefrail and frail elderly individuals living at home. Based on their responses, we derived the focal service areas of cognitive support, emotional support, physical activity support, medication management, and caregiver management. We also found the two groups differed in their ethical judgments in the areas of dignity, autonomy, controllability, and privacy for services utilizing sensing by care robots. Therefore, the pose recognition technology adopted in the present work uses only joint coordinate information extracted from camera images and thus is advantageous for protecting human dignity and personal information.

NecroX-5 Can Suppress Melanoma Metastasis by Reducing the Expression of Rho-Family GTPases.

NecroX-5 (NX-5) is a cell-permeable necrosis inhibitor with cytoprotective effects. Although it has been reported to inhibit lung and breast cancer metastasis by modulating migration, its therapeutic effect on melanoma metastasis is still unknown. In this study, we examined the anti-metastatic effect of NX-5 on melanoma cell lines and its related therapeutic mechanism. The anti-metastatic effect of NX-5 on melanoma cell lines was determined using a transwell migration assay. We performed a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis to measure changes in the expression of mRNA and protein, respectively, for major mediators of Rho-family GTPases after NX-5 treatment in melanoma cells. In addition, after constructing the 3D melanoma model, the expression of Rho-family GTPases was measured by immunohistochemistry. NX-5 (10 µM and 20 µM) treatment significantly reduced melanoma cell migration (p < 0.01). Additionally, NX-5 (20 µM) treatment significantly decreased the mRNA and protein expression levels of Cdc42, Rac1, and RhoA in melanoma cells compared with the untreated group (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). Immunohistochemistry for our 3D melanoma model showed that Cdc42, Rac1, and RhoA were constitutively expressed in the nuclei of melanoma cells of the untreated group, and NX-5 treatment decreased their expression. These results demonstrate that NX-5 can suppress melanoma metastasis by reducing the expression of Rho-family GTPases.

Structure and arrangement of perforated plates for uniform flow distribution in an electrostatic precipitator.

A wide-angle diffuser installed at the entrance of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) causes a non-uniform flow distribution due to the boundary layer separation. Because a non-uniform flow pattern decreases the particulate matter control efficiency of an ESP, it is important to maintain a uniform flow distribution. The objective of this study is therefore to understand flow distribution with the conditions of perforated plates placed in the diffuser and then to design an ESP to obtain uniform flow. Discharge coefficients were determined varying the porosity, thickness, and number of holes of the perforated plate inside the lab-scale duct system. The test results suggest that the perforated plate with a porosity of 50%, a thickness of 5 mm, and 0.104 hole/m2 perforated plate is most acceptable. This perforated plate was placed in the diffuser of the lab-scale ESP system. Velocity profiles in the body of the ESP were obtained depending on the number and arrangement of perforated plates in the diffuser. One perforated plate placed in the diffuser did not improve the flow distribution. Although more uniform flow distribution was found with two perforated plates, stalled flow regions still existed at the top and bottom of the ESP body. When three perforated plates were placed in the diffuser, the 2nd and 3rd perforated plates were important to obtain uniform flow distribution. When the 2nd and 3rd perforated plates were placed at the inlet side and outlet of the diffuser, respectively, the most uniform flow distribution was obtained in the body of the ESP.Implications: In order to determine the optimal perforated plate for Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP), we investigated the discharge coefficient depending on the structure of the perforated plate in a square duct. We measured the velocity distribution in a laboratory ESP with perforated plates and found the effect of the number and arrangement of perforated plates on the flow distribution in the collection region. Based on the test results, we found the configuration of perforated plates for uniform flow distribution in the body of the ESP.

Nitrogen oxides emissions from the MILD combustion with the conditions of recirculation gas.

The nitrogen oxides (NOx) reduction technology by combustion modification which has economic benefits as a method of controlling NOx emitted in the combustion process, has recently been receiving a lot of attention. Especially, the moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion which applied high temperature flue gas recirculation has been confirmed for its effectiveness with regard to solid fuel as well. MILD combustion is affected by the flue gas recirculation ratio and the composition of recirculation gas, so its NOx reduction efficiency is determined by them. In order to investigate the influence of factors which determine the reduction efficiency of NOx in MILD coal combustion, this study changed the flow rate and concentration of nitrogen (N2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and steam (H2O) which simulate the recirculation gas during the MILD coal combustion using our lab-scale drop tube furnace and performed the combustion experiment. As a result, its influence by the composition of recirculation gas was insignificant and it was shown that flue gas recirculation ratio influences the change of NOx concentration greatly. IMPLICATIONS: We investigated the influence of factors determining the nitrogen oxides (NOx) reduction efficiency in MILD coal combustion, which applied high-temperature flue gas recirculation. Using a lab-scale drop tube furnace and simulated recirculation gas, we conducted combustion testing changing the recirculation gas conditions. We found that the flue gas recirculation ratio influences the reduction of NOx emissions the most.

Low-nitrogen oxides combustion of dried sludge using a pilot-scale cyclone combustor with recirculation.

UNLABELLED: Recently, numerical and experimental studies have been conducted to develop a moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion technology for solid fuels. The study results demonstrated that intense recirculation inside the furnace by high-momentum air is a key parameter to achieve the MILD combustion of solid fuels. However, the high-velocity air requires a significant amount of electricity consumption. A cyclone-type MILD combustor was therefore designed and constructed in the authors' laboratory to improve the recirculation inside the combustor. The laboratory-scale tests yielded promising results for the MILD combustion of dried sewage sludge. To achieve pilot-scale MILD combustion of dried sludge in this study, the effects of geometric parameters such as the venturi tube configuration, the air injection location, and the air nozzle diameter were investigated. With the optimized geometric and operational conditions, the pilot-scale cyclone combustor demonstrated successful MILD combustion of dried sludge at a rate of 75 kg/hr with an excess air ratio of 1.05. IMPLICATIONS: A horizontal cyclone combustor with recirculation demonstrated moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion of dried sewage sludge at a rate of 75 kg/hr. Optimizing only geometric and operational conditions of the combustor reduced nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions to less than 75 ppm. Because the operating cost of the MILD combustor is much lower than that of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) applied to the conventional combustor, MILD combustion technology with the cyclone type furnace is an eligible option for reducing NOx emissions from the combustion of dried sewage sludge.