Prussian blue (PB) is a good candidate as cathode material in potassium ion batteries (KIB) due to its high electrochemical performance. Thus, to verify the performance, the structural and electronic properties of PB were performed using first-principles studies based on the density functional theory (DFT) method. The properties of PB, KPB and K 2 PB were calculated using the Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) computer code. From the geometrical optimization of pure PB, the generalized gradient approximation for Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (GGA-PBE) functional shows the most comparable structural properties compared to local density approximation by Ceperley and Adler as parameterized by Perdew and Zunger (LDA-CAPZ) and the generalized gradient approximation for Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof for solids (GGA-PBEsol) functional. In addition, the electronic properties of the pure PB band gap is 0.72 eV which is slightly underestimated from the experimental value. Thus, the Hubbard U was used to broaden the bands crossing the Fermi level. The band gap using GGA-PBE + U is 1.77 eV, whereU for Fe 3+ is 6 eV and Fe 2+ is 4 eV. The calculations of the total and partial density of states (pDOS) present the Fe, C and N orbitals at the valence band and conduction band. Other electronic properties such as electron density were also calculated. The intercalation voltage with different numbers of K + in PB is calculated to be 4.33 and 1.40 V for KPB and K 2 PB, respectively. It was found that the calculated voltage has been improved near the experimental value. Therefore, the first-principles calculation in this work can give more understanding of the behavior of pure PB, KPB and K 2 PB for its uses as cathode material in KIB.

This study explored the electronic and optical properties of nano-thin film orthorhombic bismuth selenide (Bi 2 Se 3 ) using first-principles approach. The thin films were modelled in the [001] direction using slab geometry supercell with vacuum along z-direction so that periodic images and slab can be managed independently. We obtained band gap of 0.730 eV, 0.566 eV and 0.690 eV for 1, 2 and 3 slabs respectively. It shows dependence of band structure to the thickness of the films. The reduced band gap in Bi 2 Se 3 films is due to the effect of quantum confinement. The electron contributions were increased as the thickness of the thin film increased. We also found that the thickness of Bi 2 Se 3 thin film influences its optical properties. Higher thickness provides higher static dielectric function, refractive index, extinction coefficient, absorption coefficient and loss function. This study demonstrates Bi 2 Se 3 thin film has good optical properties that are useful for optoelectronic applications.

PbTiO3 has emerged as a promising material for the thermoelectric application. In this study, we proposed to use density functional theory to investigate the underlying mechanism for improving the thermoelectric efficiency of ATiO3. The thermoelectric parameters of the designed surface structures have been obtained by using the Boltzmann transport equation approximation. The properties of the structure, electronic, and thermoelectricity were measured and analyzed. The surface (001) modification through the AO termination layer has increased the electrical conductivity, thus increasing the power factor. On the other hand, increasing the Seebeck coefficient, which is aided by declining thermal conductivity, which is aided by low thermopower, improves the figure of merit. It is shown that the thermoelectric performance of surface (001) SnTiO3 is higher as compared to PbTiO3 making it interesting towards lead-free materials in thin-film application.

Structural, electronic and optical properties of nickel (Ni) doped bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) in orthorhombic phase was studied via first principles approach using density functional theory (DFT). A generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof for solids (GGA-PBEsol) was employed as functional of exchange-correlation. The structural parameters of pure Bi2Se3 are in good agreement with the previous experimental and theoretical data. Calculated electronic properties of pure Bi2Se3 such as band gap is in agreement with the experiments. The effect of Ni has reduced the band gap of Bi2Se3 from 0.99 eV to 0.32 eV. Optical properties such as dielectric function was also calculated together with other optical properties and a comprehensive comparison was made. It was found that Nidoping has contributed a better dielectric function, increased refractive index, and decreased extinction coefficient that provides many useful supports for technological applications. However, Ni-doping has caused slight deterioration of the absorption coefficient and the rise of a loss function. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This project is to study the effect of welding preheat on metallurgical analysis and microstructural development. Variables such as current, speed of welding and size of specimen were fixed. In the present work, a mild steel plate with thickness of 100 mm and width size of 20 mm was used. SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) technique was chosen as it is the easiest way to perform and widely used in oil & gas and marine industries. Three different preheat temperatures were performed during the study; ambient temperature (no preheat), between 60 degrees C to 70 degrees C and greater than 200 degrees C. The study emphasizes on the minimum preheat temperature that produce good quality welding by taking into account some of metallurgical aspects; microstructure and macrostructure development, hardness distribution at important areas in weld (Heat Affected Zone, parent metal and weld area) through thickness. From this study, code American Welding Society (AWS) D1.1 was used as a reference and it stated that for plate that has 100 mm thickness the preheat temperature should be in the range of 60 degrees C and 70 degrees C. The result of microstructure and macrostructure showed that the depth of penetration was not vary too much. Hardness measurement, macro and microstructure observation were performed in order to obtain a good correlation exist between these parameters studied.

Humanoids have potential in the augmentation of rehabilitation programme for children with cerebral palsy. To make the humanoid programme applicable and clinically compliant, correct interactive scenarios had to be developed. Development of Human Robot Interaction (HRI) scenario is the main focus of this study. Through discussions with clinicians and therapists, four interactive scenarios have been formulated. The researchers have designed and developed the interactive scenarios concerning the suitability of measuring items in the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) that is suitable to be applied by humanoid robot NAO. Choregraphe software, a programming tool that allows programmer to create and compile the behavior of the robot was used in this study. Choregraphe Suite is a multi-platform desktop application, to create animations, behaviors and dialogs. The developed interactive scenario had undergone a face validity process. This method of validation is used to confirm through peer reviews that the content of the interactive scenario is suitable to be used for children with cerebral palsy. Thirty peer reviewers, made up by a group of physiotherapists and occupational therapists validated the suitability of the interactive scenario. The result of the validation will be explained in this paper.

Human-robot interaction (HRI) has widened their wing to help people with disabilities to improve their quality of life. The use of Socially Assistive Robotics has created a potential approach in Cerebral Palsy (CP) rehabilitation. CP is a common neurological disorder among children that impairs motor function and may involve cognitive function. The objective of the study is to investigate the potential application of humanoid robot NAO as a tool in augmenting rehabilitation therapy for children with CP. Four interactive scenarios were designed to augment rehabilitation therapy for children with CP. Data for Joint Values of the robot NAO for Interactive Scenario 2, 3 and 4 have been recorded. The selected children have been undergone repetitive exposure with the robot for a period of 8 weeks. The experiment indicates that the robot had successfully acted as an adjunct tool in order to motivate the children during the process of robotic rehabilitation. Attention Measurement Checklist has been developed to measure the HRI effectiveness. The children were engaged in the interactions and showed positive responses to the robot. Next is the analysis and comparison of the result of clinical assessment between pre- and post- interaction. The other part of the study is to survey the parents’ perception towards HRI. Overall, this parent strongly agreed with this robotic therapy for their child. With the presence of humanoid robot NAO, there is a good potential to make the therapy more effective since the robotic elements have a potential attraction to the children’s interest.

Robotic assistive technology is today widely used in rehabilitation. Social assistive robotics (SAR) is one of the developing areas of research with potential advantages for areas involving elderly care, people with cognitive impairment, rehabilitation for people with physical disabilities and for educational purposes. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common neurological disorder among children that impairs motor function and may involve cognitive function. The use of social assistive robotic technology serves as a potential approach for CP rehabilitation. The objective of this paper is to review published articles regarding SAR in rehabilitation for children with CP. Twelve published studies have been identified and will be discussed in this review paper.

Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) is an emerging field of research focused on assisting people through social interaction. Nowadays, attention has been paid on socially assistive robots that mediate communication and social exchange, especially for people with disabilities. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common neurological disorder among children that impairs motor function and may involve cognitive dysfunction. The use of social assistive robotic technology has created potential approach in CP rehabilitation. The objective of this paper is to compare the study methodology three published articles regarding the SAR in rehabilitation for children with CP and to study the feasibility of using SAR to improve physical and cognitive function of children with CP. This paper also includes methodology description of our current study that has been done to fulfil the research gap found from the previous studies.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a lifelong physical disorder of movement and posture, at times associated with other medical and cognitive impairment including joint attention. Nowadays, advancement of robotic technology promises potential application to CP rehabilitation. Previous study resulted that robotic technology has successfully elicited interest and joint attention in young children. This study proposes the development and application of a human-robot interaction method for facilitating joint attention skills in rehabilitation for children with CP. This paper proposes a method of using a humanoid robot to initiate joint attention between therapist and/or parents and the child in therapy session. Four interactive scenarios have been designed in the human-robot interaction. Clinical experiment with children with CP will be conducted in the near future.

This paper explains how a humanoid robot NAO can be used as an assistive technology in specific therapy for children with cerebral palsy (CP). The role of the robot is to motivate the children as to keep them engaged in therapy. To achieve this, the robot must have appropriate appearance to be able to establish affective engagement between child and robot. In addition, the robot should exhibit the right therapeutic approach of managing children with CP. How the humanoid robot NAO acts as a tool to assist in improving the outcome of conventional therapy especially by imitation learning will also be explained. Four interactive scenarios in human-robot interaction (HRI) were designed based on the measurement items in Gross Motor Functional Measure (GMFM). The scenarios will then be constructed based on suitability that will be executed by the robot. As a result from the discussions between clinicians, therapists and engineers, four interactive scenarios consists of introductory rapport, sit to stand, body balancing and ball kicking activity have been formulated. The study has been performed in collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Medical Specialist Centre, Discipline of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UiTM Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a disorder that impairs motor function in children resulting in limitation to execute active daily life. It is caused by the non-progressive insult to the immature brain. The common features of children with CP are spasticity, muscle weakness, balance and poor motor function. CP may also affect cognitive function. Recently, the technology of rehabilitation robotic has gained great interest in the research field for disabled children. The humanoid robot is one type of the Socially Assistive Robotic (SAR) that has the potential to be used in rehabilitation for children with CP. This study gave repetitive exposure to two children with CP through the humanoid robot NAO in four interactive scenarios for once a week over a period of eight weeks. This work is expected to examine how the human-robot interaction (HRI) impacts the attention and gross motor function. This paper aims to describe the clinical experiences and challenges using the humanoid robot for therapy in children with CP.

Humanoids have increasingly become the focus of attention in robotic research, especially in rehabilitation robotics. In the past few years, the prevalence of Cerebral Palsy (CP) in the world population has remained unchanged. CP is one of the most common disorders affecting muscle control and coordination in children, resulting in movement disorders. There are assistive technologies that are used for increasing, maintaining or improving the functional abilities of CP children. However, there is still a lack of interventional; therapy which involves Social Assistive Robotics (SAR). Socially assistive technologies have great potential in education & learning for children, especially for children with disabilities. Problems faced by children with CP may not be confined to physical impairment but may in addition have impairments of cognition, visual, language and communication. Therefore, combining physical, speech and language and occupational therapy with cognitive and social development is very important. This paper aims to describe the architecture of using humanoid robot NAO as a tool to augment physical learning for CP children. This work is mainly based on qualitative study, which is aimed to analyze how the HRI impacts the motor gross function and attention. This paper will describe the aim, objectives, methodology, and experiment layout. Experiment with CP children will be done in the near future after obtaining ethical approval from UiTM Ethics Committee. The outcome of the study may exhibit positive utilization of the humanoid robot NAO as a new intervention tool to augment therapy for children with CP.

This paper embarks on the initial development of a telerehabilitation system in assistive therapy for children with disabilities. The goal is specifically for children with autism and cerebral palsy at various locations to gain access to robotic intervention. Ten learning modules targeting at specific therapy outcomes have been developed for this system. Here, this research proposes to link various stakeholders including engineers, parents, clinicians and therapists in a network that promotes robotic and telecommunication technology as a rehabilitation platform for children with disabilities. Field trials involving real users will be executed in the next phase of study.

This paper describes the identification of engagement measures during Human Robot Interaction (HRI) between a humanoid robot and children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and its' experimental framework. This paper begins with an introduction to CP, HRI and Socially Assistive Robotic (SAR). The importance of engagement in HRI and suggested attention measurement of HRI will be discussed. The paper presents the framework of the experiment consists of experimental flowchart, experimental layout, and four interactive scenarios will be explained in detail. In this study, four children with CP will be exposed to humanoid robot NAO once a week for a period of 8 weeks. The experiment will be done at Clinical Training Center (CTC), Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia. Each children with CP who has been selected will undergo initial and exit assessment which consists of Gross Motor Functional Measurement (GMFM), Time Up and Go (TUG) and also Trail Making Test (TMT). The results of the final evaluation will be used as a comparison between pre-and post-program interaction between robot and children with CP. This experiment will be done in the near future.

Early screening and diagnosis of Autism spectrums is essential to determine the best means of early intervention program. Since there is no sign in biological for autism, screening and assessment must focus on the behavioral deficits. Somehow screening is not a diagnosis, but a filter that picks out children for subsequent assessment. The aim of this paper is to propose and to ignite discussion concerning robotic assisted in autism screening process to enable early diagnosis and intervention. This process combines (a) selection of an autism screening tool (b) refinement of screening subscales and (c) integration of subscales with robot action. We use Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-2 (GARS-2) inversely integrated with humanoid robot Nao to produce a counter action to elicit individual behaviours for screening and diagnosis purposes. In extracting of GARS-2, we had considered the limitation and sensitivity when a robot tries to assist in the process of screening and diagnosis. Integrating robotics into innovative treatments however highlighted the need for additional rigorous empirical studies with quantitative measurement.

Research evidences are accumulating with regards to the potential use of robots for the rehabilitation of children with autism. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the results of communicational response in two children with autism during interaction with the humanoid robot NAO. Both autistic subjects in this study have been diagnosed with mild autism. Following the outcome from our first pilot study; the aim of this current experiment is to explore the application of NAO robot to engage with a child and further teach about emotions through a game-centered and song-based approach. The experiment procedure involved interaction between humanoid robot NAO with each child through a series of four different modules. The observation items are based on ten items selected and referenced to GARS-2 (Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-second edition) and also input from clinicians and therapists. The results clearly indicated that both of the children showed optimistic response through the interaction. Negative responses such as feeling scared or shying away from the robot were not detected. Two-way communication between the child and robot in real time significantly gives positive impact in the responses towards the robot. To conclude; it is feasible to include robot-based interaction specifically to elicit communicational response as a part of the rehabilitation intervention of children with autism.

Autism cannot run away from their triangle deficits: social, communication and stereotyped behaviour. There is no cure for autism or any definitive treatment to treat the core symptoms of this developmental disorder. However, the deficits can be minimized by maximize their learning through behavioural therapy and educational intervention. Nowadays, the methods in the rehabilitation of autism have been upgraded by the innovation of humanoid robots, in particular the humanoid robot NAO. In this study, NAO has being programmed using Choregraphe as programming tool to develop lesson modules for children with autism to practice their social interaction skill. This paper focuses specifically on social interaction subscale to observe the behaviour of the autistic children during interaction with the humanoid robot NAO. The observation is based on six items referenced from the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-second edition (GARS-2). The use of humanoid robot NAO in the rehabilitation of autistic children is expected to help them to interact and practice their social traits just like normal children. The results evidently showed that children with autism are positively affected by NAO by giving encouraging responses in social interaction when interacting with the robot. Two-way communication between the child and robot in real time significantly give positive impact in the responses towards the robot.

The expanding function of robots in rehabilitation has allowed for new intervention methods that are accurate, motivating and repetitive. By analyzing current state-of-the-art evidences, this paper proposes considerable necessities for robots to take part in the rehabilitation environments. Suggestions focus specifically on intervention for people affected by autism, Cerebral Palsy (CP) and dementia. Overall, a robot in human shape present advantages over other types of robots in autism and CP therapy context as it is physically suitable in imitation-based therapy. However, for elderly people affected with dementia, so far only robots in animal shape have been utilized in therapy and succeed to improve their mental functions.

This short report presents the latest development in our robot-based intervention program for children with autism. Following the outcome from our first pilot study; the aim of this current experiment is to explore the application of NAO robot to engage with a child and further teach about emotions through a game-centered and song-based approach. The children participating in this study has been diagnosed with mild autism. Initial exposure to the robot shows that the NAO robot; a humanoid with moderate likelihood to actual human does have potential to teach children with autism about head and body postures that are associated with certain feelings or emotions. Overall observation suggests the positive utilization of robots, specifically the humanoid robot NAO in the rehabilitation of autistic children.