Abstract

Abstract
Nowadays, the automation of factory floors is necessary for extensive manufacturing processes to meet the ever-increasing competitiveness of current markets. The technological advances applied to the digital platforms have led many businesses to automate their manufacturing processes, introducing robotic manipulators collaborating with human operators to achieve new productivity, manufacturing quality, and safety levels. However, regardless of the amount of optimization implemented, some quality problems may be introduced in production lines with many products being designed and produced. This project proposes a solution for feature extraction that can be applied to automatic shape- and position-detection using a 2-dimension (2D) industrial laser to extract 3-dimension (3D) data where the movement of the item adds the third dimension through the laser's beam. The main goal is data acquisition and analysis. This analysis will later lead to the generation of trajectories for a robotic manipulator. The results of this application proved reliable given their small measurement error values of a maximum of 2 mm.

Abstract
Physically-based synthesis of high quality imagery, including global illumination light transport phenomena, results in a significant workload, which makes interactive rendering a very challenging task. We propose a VPL-based ray tracing approach that runs entirely in the GPU and achieves interactive frame rates while handling global illumination light transport phenomena. This approach is based on clustering both shading points and VPLs and computing visibility only among clusters' representatives. A new massively parallel K-means clustering algorithm, enables efficient execution in the GPU. Rendering artifacts, that could result from the piecewise constant approximation of the VPLs/shading points visibility function introduced by the clustering, are smoothed away by resorting to an innovative approach based on fuzzy clustering and weighted interpolation of the visibility function. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is experimentally verified for a collection of scenes, with frame rates larger than 3 fps and up to 25 fps being demonstrated.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Abstract
Laboratories and industries that handle chemicals are ubiquitously prone to leakages. These may occur in storage rooms, cabinets or even in temporary locations, such as workbenches and shelves. A relevant number of these chemicals are corrosive, thus commercial products already exist to prevent material damage and injuries. One strategy consists of the use of absorbing mats, where few display neutralizing properties, and even less a controlled neutralization. Nevertheless, to the authors' knowledge, the commercially available neutralizing mats are solely dedicated to neutralizing acid or alkali solutions, never both. Therefore, this work describes the development and proof of a completely novel concept, where a dual component active mat (DCAM) is able to perform a controlled simultaneous neutralization of acid and alkali leakages by using microencapsulated active components. Moreover, its active components comprise food-grade ingredients, embedded in nonwoven polypropylene. The acid neutralizing mats contain sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) encapsulated in sodium alginate microcapsules (MC-ASC). Alkali neutralizing mats possess commercial encapsulated citric acid in hydrogenated palm oil (MIRCAP CT 85-H). A DCAM encompasses both MC-ASC and MIRCAP CT 85-H and was able to neutralize solutions up to 10% (v/v) of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The efficacy of the neutralization was assessed by direct titration and using pH strip measurement tests to simulate the leakages. Due to the complexity of neutralization efficacy evaluation based solely on pH value, a thorough conductivity study was performed. DCAM reduced the conductivity of HCl and NaOH (1% and 2% (v/v)) in over 70%. The composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The size of MC-ASC microcapsules ranged from 2 mu m to 8 mu m. Finally, all mat components displayed thermal stability above 150 degrees C.

Abstract

Abstract
Embodied Communication Agents are being used to support older adults but there is still a lack of knowledge about their impact. Therefore, this paper presents a scoping review of the literature on user centred evaluation of the impact of Embodied Communication Agents when embedded in digital solutions to support older adults. The ten studies that were included in this scoping review reported on the implementation of digital solutions to promote physical activity, minimize loneliness, provide spiritual comfort, facilitate problem solving and knowledge acquisition, and support the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. In terms of impact assessment, different outcomes were considered, and the included studies reported significant impact in terms of steps walked and acknowledge acquisition, a trend in the reduction of loneliness, and good sensitivity and specificity to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases.