In this paper, a new three translational degrees of freedom (DOF) compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) is proposed, which has an excellent accuracy of parallel mechanisms with flexure hinges. The system is established by a proper selection of hardware and analyzed via the derived pseudo-rigid-body model. In view of the physical constraints imposed by both the piezoelectric actuators and fl...

A 58-year-old male patient was admitted with right upper abdominal pain. Initial hematologic evaluation revealed mildly elevated serum carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 tests, while an abdominal CT-scan showed a circumferential mass along the distal ascending colon and the right flexure of colon, simultaneously a liver lesion in segment 8 is considered metastases from ...

The first degree kinships of 305 index cases have been studied to determine whether an early age of onset or a particular site distribution characterizes familial aggregations of colorectal cancer. The probands comprised 100 patients aged 55-74 years and 205 patients under 55 years at diagnosis and were drawn from a large population database. Ascertainment and verification were complete for 256...

Israeli Arabs have been at low risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) and had mainly proximal cancer, but increasing CRC is now noted. We examined this trend and CRC site and compared them to the total Jewish population and to the low-risk Jews of Asian-African origin. Israel Cancer Registry CRC data, 1982-2002, for Arabs and Jews was computed by gender, age and site: rectal cancer included recto-sig...

Patients with obstructing large-bowel cancer may be treated by primary tumour resection or the conventional staged tumour resection, and a prospective study comparing these two treatments was carried out. The post-operative outcome in 174 patients (of whom 90 underwent primary and 47 staged tumour resection) showed that the overall mortality was similar in both groups but that the duration of h...

Volcanism on Earth is known to occur in three tectonic settings: divergent plate boundaries (such as mid-ocean ridges), convergent plate boundaries (such as island arcs), and hot spots. We report volcanism on the 135 million-year-old Pacific Plate not belonging to any of these categories. Small alkalic volcanoes form from small percent melts and originate in the asthenosphere, as implied by the...

— A microactuator technology that combines magnetic thin films with polysilicon flexural structures is described. Devices are constructed in a batch-fabrication process that combines electroplating with conventional lithography, materials, and equipment. A microactuator consisting of a 400x(47-40)x7 µm 3 rectangular plate of NiFe attached to a 400x(0.9-1.4)x2.25 µm 3 polysilicon cantilever beam...

It is shown that in the initial phase there are two basic types of similar folding of multiother. The dominant wave length obtained in foldlayered structures, referred to here al folding of ing of the second kind is the same as derived the first and second kind. denending on the orevapr&iously (Biot, 1961) assuming the incompetent lence of over-all flexure or hear. K simple Lory layers to act a...

The Taguchi method is widely used for the optimization of mechanical design and this study is used it in the design of a 2D circular flexure hinge for a z-tilt piezoelectric based nano-scale compensation stage. Maximum displacement of the stage is 16 μm at z-axis and ±30 arcsec at θx and θy. The most important design parameters for such a flexure hinge are minimal diameter, body height, and not...

This paper presents a micro XY stage that employs electrostatic comb-drive actuators and achieves a bi-directional displacement range greater than 225 μm per motion axis. The proposed XY stage design comprises four rigid stages (ground, motion stage, and two intermediate stages) interconnected via flexure modules. The motion stage, which has two translational degrees of freedom, is connected to...