Intraoperative nerve localization is of great importance in surgery. In certain procedures, where nerves show visual resemblance to surrounding adipose tissue, this can be particularly challenging for the human eye. An example of such a delicate procedure is thyroid and parathyroid surgery, where iatrogenic injury of the recurrent laryngeal nerve can result in transient or permanent vocal problems (0.5–2.0% reported incidence). A camera system, enabling nerve‐specific image enhancement, would be useful in preventing such complications. This might be realized with hyperspectral camera technology using silicon (Si) or indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) sensor chips.

Chemical composition and fibrillar organization are the major determinants of osteonal bone mechanics. However, prominent methodologies commonly applied to investigate mechanical properties of bone on the micro scale are usually not able to concurrently describe both factors. In this study, we used polarized Raman spectroscopy (PRS) to simultaneously analyze structural and chemical information of collagen fibrils in human osteonal bone in a single experiment. Specifically, the three-dimensional arrangement of collagen fibrils in osteonal lamellae was assessed. By analyzing the anisotropic intensity of the amide I Raman band of collagen as a function of the orientation of the incident laser polarization, different parameters related to the orientation of the collagen fibrils and the degree of alignment of the fibrils were derived. Based on the analysis of several osteons, two major fibrillar organization patterns were identified, one with a monotonic and another with a periodically changing twist direction. These results confirm earlier reported twisted and oscillating plywood arrangements, respectively. Furthermore, indicators of the degree of alignment suggested the presence of disordered collagen within the lamellar organization of the osteon. The results show the versatility of the analytical PRS approach and demonstrate its capability in providing not only compositional, but also 3D structural information in a complex hierarchically structured biological material. The concurrent assessment of chemical and structural features may contribute to a comprehensive characterization of the microstructure of bone and other collagen-based tissues.

The OceanRINGS is a suite of smart technologies for subsea operations developed over the last ten years at the Mobile & Marine Robotics Research Centre (MMRRC), University of Limerick, Ireland. Applied to mini ROVs, OceanRINGS technologies enable remote presence: long endurance robotic systems for routine inspection of offshore subsea oil & gas installations and marine renewable energy devices controlled from a remote control centre (Virtual Control Cabin) through the Internet in real time. Remote presence with mini ROVs enable more regular (even continuous) inspections of subsea structures, including observatories, marine renewable energy (MRE) devices and offshore oil & gas installations (wellheads, pipelines etc.) and facilitates early stage detection of abnormalities and defects. The majority of the cost-savings for offshore oil & gas is the prevention of failure in one of the production arteries (downhole tubing, pipelines and production vessels). Money lost through lost production far outweighs the costs associated with maintenance. The OceanRINGS smart technologies could lead to significant savings in time, maintenance and operational costs (20% or more), if they become available for wide scale commercial and industrial use. This paper describes the main idea and motivation behind the Remote Presence concept.