in the framework of the mytilos project (interreg iiib medocc), international research cruises were carried out in 2006 in order to evaluate the level of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pah) along the coast of the western basin of the mediterranean sea. caged mussels (mytilus galloprovincialis) were placed in situ at six sites in the north coast of tunisia. results showed to...

In order to evaluate the contamination levels in the Western Mediterranean basin, the active mussel watch methodology has been applied. This methodology consists of mussel transplantation (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from non impacted areas to selected coastal areas, characterised by potential impact from the continent due to contaminating sources. The areas of interest were selected along the e...

In this paper, we propose a novel design of end-effectors that is specialized in caging manipulation. Caging manipulation has several advantages comparing with traditional grasping manipulation. For example, caging can allow small gap/margin between end-effectors and a target object, making the manipulator relieved from constant contact and precise control. Therefore, caging manipulator can avo...

Caging is a method to confine object configurations by a closed region made by robot bodies. It can be used as a substitute for or a complement to conventional grasping in robotic manipulation. Because caging is a geometrical concept, manipulation via caging falls into a class of “geometry-based manipulation.” Geometry-based manipulation can be performed by position-controlled robots according ...

Pollution of the aquatic environment is an ever-growing problem, as waters are the ultimate sink for the large number of xenobiotics from multiple sources. DNA damaging agents have a significant ecological relevance since they are implicated in many pathological processes and exert effects beyond that of individual being active through following generations. A large number of methods have been ...

It is a crucial problem in robotics field to cage an object using robots like multifingered hand. However the problem what is the caging for general geometrical objects and robots has not been well-described in mathematics though there were many rigorous studies on the methods how to cage an object by certain robots. In this article, we investigate the caging problem more mathematically and des...

Within the framework of the biointegrator network (RINBIO), 92 man-made cages containing mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), distributed over 1800 km of the French Mediterranean coast, made it possible to assess chemical contamination by heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cr, As) and organic compounds (DDT, PCBs, HAP). The caging technique was adopted to compensate for the scarcity of natur...

We study three-finger caging grasps of convex polygons. A part is caged with a number of fingers when it is impossible to rigidly move the part to an arbitrary placement far from its initial placement without penetrating any finger. A convex polygon with n vertices and a placement of two fingers —referred to as the base fingers— are given. The caging region is the set of all placements of the t...