10,631 research outputs found

    Key technologies for safe and autonomous drones

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    Drones/UAVs are able to perform air operations that are very difficult to be performed by manned aircrafts. In addition, drones' usage brings significant economic savings and environmental benefits, while reducing risks to human life. In this paper, we present key technologies that enable development of drone systems. The technologies are identified based on the usages of drones (driven by COMP4DRONES project use cases). These technologies are grouped into four categories: U-space capabilities, system functions, payloads, and tools. Also, we present the contributions of the COMP4DRONES project to improve existing technologies. These contributions aim to ease drones’ customization, and enable their safe operation.This project has received funding from the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 826610. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Spain, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands. The total project budget is 28,590,748.75 EUR (excluding ESIF partners), while the requested grant is 7,983,731.61 EUR to ECSEL JU, and 8,874,523.84 EUR of National and ESIF Funding. The project has been started on 1st October 2019

    Intelligent computing : the latest advances, challenges and future

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    Computing is a critical driving force in the development of human civilization. In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of intelligent computing, a new computing paradigm that is reshaping traditional computing and promoting digital revolution in the era of big data, artificial intelligence and internet-of-things with new computing theories, architectures, methods, systems, and applications. Intelligent computing has greatly broadened the scope of computing, extending it from traditional computing on data to increasingly diverse computing paradigms such as perceptual intelligence, cognitive intelligence, autonomous intelligence, and human computer fusion intelligence. Intelligence and computing have undergone paths of different evolution and development for a long time but have become increasingly intertwined in recent years: intelligent computing is not only intelligence-oriented but also intelligence-driven. Such cross-fertilization has prompted the emergence and rapid advancement of intelligent computing

    Comparing Recent Advances in Estimating and Measuring Oil Slick Thickness: An MPRI Technical Report

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    Characterization of the degree and extent of surface oil during and after an oil spill is a critical part of emergency response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) activities. More specifically, understanding floating oil thickness in real-time can guide response efforts by directing limited assets to priority cleanup areas; aid in ‘volume released’ estimates; enhance fate, transport and effects modeling capabilities; and support natural resource injury determinations. An international workshop brought researchers from agencies, academia and industry who were advancing in situ and remote oil characterization tools and methods together with stake holders and end users who rely on information about floating oil thickness for mission critical assignments (e.g., regulatory, assessment, cleanup, research). In total, over a dozen researchers presented and discussed their findings from tests using various different sensors and sensor platforms. The workshop resulted in discussions and recommendations for better ways to leverage limited resources and opportunities for advancing research and developing tools and methods for oil spill thickness measurements and estimates that could be applied during spill responses. One of the primary research gaps identified by the workshop participants was the need for side-by-side testing and validation of these different methods, to better understand their respective strengths, weaknesses and technical readiness levels, so that responders would be better able to make decisions about what methods are appropriate to use under what conditions, and to answer the various questions associated with response actions. Approach: 1) Convene a more in-depth multi day researcher workshop to discuss and develop specific workplan to conduct side-by-side validation and verification experiments for testing oil thickness measurements. 2) Conduct the validation and verification experiments in controlled environments: the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) highbay at the University of New Hampshire (UNH); and the Ohmsett National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility

    Advances in the application of deep learning methods to digital rock technology

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    Digital rock technology is becoming essential in reservoir engineering and petrophysics. Three-dimensional digital rock reconstruction, image resolution enhancement, image segmentation, and rock parameters prediction are all crucial steps in enabling the overall analysis of digital rocks to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of traditional methods. Artificial intelligence technology, which has started to play a significant role in many different fields, may provide a new direction for the development of digital rock technology. This work presents a systematic review of the deep learning methods that are being applied to tasks within digital rock analysis, including the reconstruction of digital rocks, high-resolution image acquisition, grayscale image segmentation, and parameter prediction. The results of these applications prove that state-of-the-art deep learning methods can help advance and provide a new approach to scientific knowledge in the field of digital rocks. This work also discusses future research and developments on the application of deep learning methods to digital rock technology.Cited as: Li, X., Li, B., Liu, F., Li, T., Nie, X. Advances in the application of deep learning methods to digital rock technology. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2023, 8(1): 5-18. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2023.04.0

    Differential effects of script system acquisition and social immersion experience on face perception

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    Informelle Berichte zeigten grĂ¶ĂŸere Amplituden der durch Gesichter ausgelösten N170 Komponente im Ereigniskorrelierten Potenzial (EKP) bei asiatischen als bei kaukasischen Probanden. Als mögliche Ursache vermutete ich unterschiedliche Erfahrungen mit logographischen bzw. alphabetischen Schriftsystemen (Schriftsystem-Hypothese) oder die verstĂ€rkte Exposition mit unbekannten Gesichtern wĂ€hrend der Immersion in eine neue soziale oder ethnische Umgebung (soziale Immersions-Hypothese). Zur ÜberprĂŒfung dieser Hypothesen fĂŒhrte ich zwei kulturvergleichende Studien mit Erwachsenen bzw. Kindern durch. In Studie 1 untersuchte ich einheimische Chinesen und nicht-chinesische AuswĂ€rtige in Hongkong und deutsche Einheimische und chinesische AuswĂ€rtige in Berlin. Die AuswĂ€rtigen an beiden Orten zeigten grĂ¶ĂŸere N170 Amplituden auf Gesichter als die Einheimischen. Außerdem zeigten Deutsche, die erst kurze Zeit in Berlin lebten Ă€hnliche Amplituden wie langjĂ€hrige Einheimische. Insgesamt unterstĂŒtzt Studie 1 die soziale Immersions-Hypothese, dass die Immersion in eine neue ethnische Umgebung zu einer VergrĂ¶ĂŸerung der N170 fĂŒhrt. Studie 2 untersuchte die Schriftsystem-Hypothese bei chinesischen und deutschen Erstlesern am Ende der ersten oder zu Beginn des zweiten Schuljahres an ihrem jeweiligen Heimatort. Die Ergebnisse unterstĂŒtzen die Schriftsystem-Hypothese, dass chinesische Kinder eine grĂ¶ĂŸere N170 auf Gesichter zeigen als deutsche. Insgesamt konnte die vorliegende Dissertation zwei neue Einfluss-Faktoren auf das Gesichterverarbeitungs-System nachweisen, das erworbene Schriftsystem (logographische versus alphabetisch) und die Erfahrung sozialer Immersion in eine neue ethnische Umgebung. Diese Effekte zu ganz unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten der Entwicklung (Kindheit vs. junges Erwachsenen-Alter) zeigen, dass das Gesichterverarbeitungs-System ĂŒber lange Zeit seine PlastizitĂ€t behĂ€lt.Informal reports have shown larger face-elicited N170 component of event-related potential (ERP) in Asians than Caucasians participants. I proposed that different experience with logographic versus alphabetic scripts (script system hypothesis) or by exposure to abundant novel faces during the immersion into a new social and/or ethnic environment (social immersion hypothesis) as a possible cause. To test these hypotheses, I conducted two cross-cultural ERP studies with adults and Children. In Study 1, I examined Chinese locals and non-Chinese foreigners in Hongkong, and German locals and Chinese foreigners in Berlin. It turned out that the foreigners in both locations showed larger N170 amplitudes to faces than the locals. In addition, Germans who had only lived in Berlin for a short time showed similar face N170 amplitudes as long-term Berlin residents. In sum, Study 1 supports the social immersion hypothesis that immersing into a new ethnic environment drives an increase of face N170. Study 2 investigated the scripts system hypothesis in Chinese and German early readers assessed at the end of the first-grade or at the beginning of the second grade in their respective home towns. The findings support the script system hypothesis that Chinese children showed larger face N170 amplitudes than German children. Overall, the present thesis demonstrated two new influencing factors on the face processing system, the acquired script system (logographic vs. alphabetic) and the social immersion experience in a new ethnic environment. More specifically, learning to read a visually complex logographic Chinese script or immersing into an other-ethnic social environment facilitates early perceptual processing of faces. These effects acquired at different stages of development (early childhood versus young adulthood) show that the face processing system retains its plasticity over a long period of time

    Decoding spatial location of attended audio-visual stimulus with EEG and fNIRS

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    When analyzing complex scenes, humans often focus their attention on an object at a particular spatial location in the presence of background noises and irrelevant visual objects. The ability to decode the attended spatial location would facilitate brain computer interfaces (BCI) for complex scene analysis. Here, we tested two different neuroimaging technologies and investigated their capability to decode audio-visual spatial attention in the presence of competing stimuli from multiple locations. For functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we targeted dorsal frontoparietal network including frontal eye field (FEF) and intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) as well as superior temporal gyrus/planum temporal (STG/PT). They all were shown in previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to be activated by auditory, visual, or audio-visual spatial tasks. We found that fNIRS provides robust decoding of attended spatial locations for most participants and correlates with behavioral performance. Moreover, we found that FEF makes a large contribution to decoding performance. Surprisingly, the performance was significantly above chance level 1s after cue onset, which is well before the peak of the fNIRS response. For electroencephalography (EEG), while there are several successful EEG-based algorithms, to date, all of them focused exclusively on auditory modality where eye-related artifacts are minimized or controlled. Successful integration into a more ecological typical usage requires careful consideration for eye-related artifacts which are inevitable. We showed that fast and reliable decoding can be done with or without ocular-removal algorithm. Our results show that EEG and fNIRS are promising platforms for compact, wearable technologies that could be applied to decode attended spatial location and reveal contributions of specific brain regions during complex scene analysis

    Special Topics in Information Technology

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    This open access book presents thirteen outstanding doctoral dissertations in Information Technology from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Information Technology has always been highly interdisciplinary, as many aspects have to be considered in IT systems. The doctoral studies program in IT at Politecnico di Milano emphasizes this interdisciplinary nature, which is becoming more and more important in recent technological advances, in collaborative projects, and in the education of young researchers. Accordingly, the focus of advanced research is on pursuing a rigorous approach to specific research topics starting from a broad background in various areas of Information Technology, especially Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics, Systems and Control, and Telecommunications. Each year, more than 50 PhDs graduate from the program. This book gathers the outcomes of the thirteen best theses defended in 2020-21 and selected for the IT PhD Award. Each of the authors provides a chapter summarizing his/her findings, including an introduction, description of methods, main achievements and future work on the topic. Hence, the book provides a cutting-edge overview of the latest research trends in Information Technology at Politecnico di Milano, presented in an easy-to-read format that will also appeal to non-specialists

    Alkaline Chemistry and Applications

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    Alkaline elements are present in large quantities and in different forms in the Earth’s layers. They are widely used in the manufacture of materials showing interesting physical properties that can be applied in several fields, including catalysis, biology, energy, and others. This book describes different methods of synthesis and treatment of certain alkaline materials and their applications in different fields. It discusses alkaline chemistry in catalysis, biology, polymers and composites, and crystallography

    Craft Sciences

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    The field of ‘Craft Sciences’ refers to research conducted across and within different craft subjects and academic contexts. This anthology aims to expose the breadth of topics, source material, methods, perspectives, and results that reside in this field, and to explore what unites the research in such diverse contexts as, for example, the arts, conservation, or vocational craft education. The common thread between each of the chapters in the present book is the augmented attention given to methods—the craft research methods—and to the relationship between the field of inquiry and the field of practice. A common feature is that practice plays an instrumental role in the research found within the chapters, and that the researchers in this publication are also practitioners. The authors are researchers but they are also potters, waiters, carpenters, gardeners, textile artists, boat builders, smiths, building conservators, painting restorers, furniture designers, illustrators, and media designers. The researchers contribute from different research fields, like craft education, meal sciences, and conservation crafts, and from particular craft subjects, like boat-building and weaving. The main contribution of this book is that it collects together a number of related case studies and presents a reflection on concepts, perspectives, and methods in the general fields of craft research from the point of view of craft practitioners. It adds to the existing academic discussion of crafts through its wider acknowledgement of craftsmanship and extends its borders and its discourse outside the arts and crafts context. This book provides a platform from which to develop context-appropriate research strategies and to associate with the Craft Sciences beyond the borders of faculties and disciplines
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