In recent years, there has been an increase in the development of medical robots to enhance interventional MRI-guided therapies and operations. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) surgical robots are particularly attractive due to their ability to provide excellent soft-tissue contrast during these procedures. This paper describes a novel design for a tendon-driven gripper that utilizes four shape memory alloy (SMA) spring actuators and variable stiffness joints controlled by SMA coils for use in MRI surgical robot applications. The contact force of the gripper link is determined by the mechanical properties of the SMA spring actuators (SSA) and the angle of each linkage, and the joint stiffness can be adjusted by varying the electrical current applied to the SMA coil. To enhance the efficiency of the SSAs, a new cooling system using water has been proposed and implemented. To validate the effectiveness of our proposed gripper, we conducted three types of experiments, namely, a single SSA experiment, a single SMA coil experiment, and a whole gripper experiment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed water-cooling system can effectively solve temperature issues of SMA, and the joint stiffness in the austenite state is higher than that in the martensite state. Moreover, our experiments show that the presented gripper is capable of grasping and holding objects of various shapes and weights.

In order to reduce the serious impacts of industrial and agricultural wastes on the environment, raw rice husk and bottom ash were used as fine aggregates, while fly ash was utilized as a binder material in the production of unburnt building bricks. Two group mixtures were designed with water-to-binder (W/B) ratios of 0.30 and 0.35. The rice husk was used to replace 0%, 3%, 6%, and 9% of bottom ash content by mass. An experimental program was carried out on the brick samples at different ages from 3-day to 28-day to determine the main physical and mechanical properties of brick, such as unit weight, compressive strength, water absorption, ultrasonic pulse velocity and thermal conductivity. The microstructure of brick material was captured using scanning electron microscope technique. The experimental results allow to identify the effects of rice husk, bottom ash content as well as W/B ratio on the properties of bricks. Brick samples produced in this study had a proper compressive strength meeting the practice requirement and were classified as Grade M3.5 and 5.0 based on TCVN 6477:2016. At the use of 9% rice husk, the unit weight and thermal conductivity of bricks were really low (1.06÷1.08 T/m3 and 0.201÷0.216 W/m.K), they are conformed to be used in temporary construction and insulation structures. Keywords: rice husk; bottom ash; fly ash; unburnt brick; ultrasonic pulse velocity; thermal conductivity.

This study aims to investigate how organizational design – especially culture, employee intentions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors, and processes – promotes knowledge sharing in the non-profit context. The research used a quantitative analysis with data from a sample of 213 non-profit organizations. The sample organizations were from diverse sectors operating actively in Thailand. The descriptive statistical technique and analysis of factor loading value were utilized to present the surveyed data. Based on the study findings of the descriptive statistics data, it was noted that motivational factors such as availability, value, and enjoyment in helping the colleagues via sharing the knowledge were remarkably associated with organizational knowledge sharing. Furthermore, the results revealed that sub-factors of knowledge sharing culture, intentions, and processes were more extraordinary for enhancing knowledge management activities. On the other hand, extrinsic motivational factors – mainly, expected organizational rewards such as bonus, salary, job security, and promotion opportunities – were not significantly promoted knowledge sharing. This study supports the non-profit organization's leaders and managers finding ways to boost motivational factors to promote knowledge sharing. Moreover, the study provides empirical insight into the knowledge management-non-profit organizations research domain, which links knowledge sharing and organizational design in the non-profit environment.

Knowledge management (KM) is realized as an innovation factor in management to ensure organizational success. The article will present current KM practices from a non-profit perspective in the context of developing countries, covering four critical components of the KM-NPOs domain: knowledge sharing, knowledge resources, knowledge creation, and knowledge needs. Typical knowledge sharing barriers in the NPOs and motivational factors that promote knowledge activities from non-profit environment perspectives will be presented. Critical categories and a range of multiple sub-categories of knowledge resources that support the organizations to achieve sustainable development will be identified. The processes of four knowledge creation components, including socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization will be discussed. Finally, the chapter will re-identify and update the type of knowledge needs in the NPOs, particularly in the context of developing countries.

No abstract