Inference of single-cell phylogenies from lineage tracing data using Cassiopeia.

The pairing of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing with massively parallel single-cell readouts now enables large-scale lineage tracing. However, the rapid growth in complexity of data from these assays has outpaced our ability to accurately infer phylogenetic relationships. First, we introduce Cassiopeia-a suite of scalable maximum parsimony approaches for tree reconstruction. Second, we provide a simulation framework for evaluating algorithms and exploring lineage tracer design principles. Finally, we generate the most complex experimental lineage tracing dataset to date, 34,557 human cells continuously traced over 15 generations, and use it for benchmarking phylogenetic inference approaches. We show that Cassiopeia outperforms traditional methods by several metrics and under a wide variety of parameter regimes, and provide insight into the principles for the design of improved Cas9-enabled recorders. Together, these should broadly enable large-scale mammalian lineage tracing efforts. Cassiopeia and its benchmarking resources are publicly available at www.github.com/YosefLab/Cassiopeia

Automation of garment assembly processes

Robotic automation in apparel manufacturing is reviewed and investigated. Gripper design for separation and de-stacking of batch cut fabric components is identified as an important factor in implementing such automation and a study of existing gripper mechanisms is presented. New de-stacking gripper designs and processes are described together with experimental results. Single fabric component handling, alignment and registration techniques are investigated. Some of these techniques are integrated within a demonstrator robotic garment assembly cell automating the common edge binding process. Performance results are reported

Flexible manufacturing system utilizing computer integrated control and modeling

In today\u27s fast-automated production, Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) play a very important role by processing a variety of different types of workpieces simultaneously. This study provides valuable information about existing FMS workcells and brings to light a unique concept called Programmable Automation. Another integrated concept of programmable automation that is discussed is the use of two feasibility approaches towards modeling and controlling FMS operations; the most commonly used is programmable logic controllers (PLC), and the other one, which has not yet implemented in many industrial applications is Petri Net controllers (PN). This latter method is a unique powerful technique to study and analyze any production line or any facility, and it can be used in many other applications of automatic control. Programmable Automation uses a processor in conventional metal working machines to perform certain tasks through program instructions. Drilling, milling and chamfering machines are good examples for such automation. Keeping the above issues in concem; this research focuses on other core components that are used in the FMS workcell at New Jersey Institute of Technology, such as; industrial robots, material handling system and finally computer vision

Public Interventions Supporting Innovation in Small and Medium-Size Firms. Successes or Failures? A Probit Analysis

WP 11/2008; The aim of this work is to investigate the probability of success or failure of public interventions, made to support the development of some Italian firms. The great number of small and medium-size enterprises, placed in the Canavese area, north of Turin, Italy, has suffered, in the nineties, of a gap in technological innovation in their production. The Consortium for the Canavese Technological District (CCTD), a public local association established in 1993 specifically to support the firms of the area, has supplied them with some technological, innovative services, sustaining their growth. More exactly, some research centres, named Centres of Competence, were created, with the pre-existing structures of the Polytechnic of Turin and of the firm RTM (placed in Vico Canavese, Province of Turin): their targets were to supply innovative services to the local firms and to place technical machineries at the disposal of the local units, to support their innovation and competitiveness. The present research analyzes a central point: which has been the impact of these services? Which is the probability that a public o private intervention to innovate has success and brings economic growth to the involved firms? This objective is achieved with a Probit Model, built on a panel of 103 firms, that covers a 6-year range (from 1999 to 2004) and contains their balance-sheets data and the technical information regarding their collaborations with the Centres; the results highlight the role of a solid patrimonial stability, of the choice of the right innovations to apply to the production processes as well as the importance of a high previous technological status of the involved enterprises

A Survey on ChatGPT: AI-Generated Contents, Challenges, and Solutions

With the widespread use of large artificial intelligence (AI) models such as ChatGPT, AI-generated content (AIGC) has garnered increasing attention and is leading a paradigm shift in content creation and knowledge representation. AIGC uses generative large AI algorithms to assist or replace humans in creating massive, high-quality, and human-like content at a faster pace and lower cost, based on user-provided prompts. Despite the recent significant progress in AIGC, security, privacy, ethical, and legal challenges still need to be addressed. This paper presents an in-depth survey of working principles, security and privacy threats, state-of-the-art solutions, and future challenges of the AIGC paradigm. Specifically, we first explore the enabling technologies, general architecture of AIGC, and discuss its working modes and key characteristics. Then, we investigate the taxonomy of security and privacy threats to AIGC and highlight the ethical and societal implications of GPT and AIGC technologies. Furthermore, we review the state-of-the-art AIGC watermarking approaches for regulatable AIGC paradigms regarding the AIGC model and its produced content. Finally, we identify future challenges and open research directions related to AIGC.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 4 table

Public Interventions Supporting Innovation in Small and Medium-Size Firms. Successes or Failures? A Probit Analysis

The aim of this work is to investigate the probability of success or failure of public interventions, made to support the development of some Italian firms. The great number of small and medium-size enterprises, placed in the Canavese area, north of Turin, Italy, has suffered, in the nineties, of a gap in technological innovation in their production. The Consortium for the Canavese Technological District (CCTD), a public local association established in 1993 specifically to support the firms of the area, has supplied them with some technological, innovative services, sustaining their growth. More exactly, some research centres, named Centres of Competence, were created, with the pre-existing structures of the Polytechnic of Turin and of the firm RTM (placed in Vico Canavese, Province of Turin): their targets were to supply innovative services to the local firms and to place technical machineries at the disposal of the local units, to support their innovation and competitiveness. The present research analyzes a central point: which has been the impact of these services? Which is the probability that a public o private intervention to innovate has success and brings economic growth to the involved firms? This objective is achieved with a Probit Model, built on a panel of 103 firms, that covers a 6-year range (from 1999 to 2004) and contains their balance-sheets data and the technical information regarding their collaborations with the Centres; the results highlight the role of a solid patrimonial stability, of the choice of the right innovations to apply to the production processes as well as the importance of a high previous technological status of the involved enterprises.Innovation probability, Public interventions, Firms growth, Qualitative choice models

If a Machine Could Talk, We Would Not Understand It: Canadian Innovation and the Copyright Act’s TPM Interoperability Framework

This analysis examines the legal implications of technological protection measures (‘‘TPMs”) under Canada’s Copyright Act. Through embedded computing systems and proprietary interfaces, TPMs are being used by original equipment manufacturers (‘‘OEMs”) of agricultural equipment to preclude reverse engineering and follow-on innovation. This has anti-competitive effects on Canada’s ‘‘shortline” agricultural equipment industry, which produces add-on or peripheral equipment used with OEM machinery. This requires interoperability between the interfaces, data formats, and physical connectors, which are often the subject of TPM control. Exceptions under the Act have provided little assistance to the shortline industry. The research question posed by this analysis is: how does the CanadianCopyright Act’s protection for TPMs and its interoperability exception impact follow-on innovation in secondary markets? Canada’s protection for TPMs and its interoperability exception is inadequate for protecting follow-on innovation in relation to computerized machinery and embedded systems. This is due to the Act’s broad protection for TPMs, yet limited conceptualization of interoperability as a process that exists only between two ‘‘computer programs”. In legally protecting TPMs which safeguard uncopyrightable processes, data formats and interfaces, the Act’s interoperability exception fails to address the need to access subjects of TPM protection that extend beyond computer programs. This results in an asymmetry of protection and renders the interoperability exception inadequate. This article proposes enacting regulations under the Act to provide new exceptions and limitations to TPM protections which would enable shortline innovation. Both the Copyright Act and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement envision such additional TPM exceptions where the effect of protection has adverse effects on competition in a secondary market. In exploring a path forward for Canada’s shortline industry, the article then examines approaches taken in the United States and France to illustrate potential avenues for TPM regulation in Canada

A Decision Support Model for Large Systems Using Quality Function Deployment and Goal Programming: A Capital Budgeting Problem

Effective planning for the modernization of U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft requires a perception of the future tasks these aircraft will be called upon to perform, and the improvements and modifications that will be required to successfully accomplish those tasks. A great deal of research has been done in the areas of military strategy, quality function deployment, capital budgeting, and goal programming, as separate areas of study. This thesis details the research and analysis performed for a project called The Fighter Configuration Plan (FICOP), in which these areas were integrated in a decision support model to aid the Air Force in modernization planning. The unique modernization planning approach developed through this analysis has fundamentally changed the way the Air Force plans for modernizing fighters. This research process developed a perception of the future tasks based on a framework known as Strategies to Task (STT), incorporated Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to develop metrics for the various modernization projects, and used an Integer Goal Programming Model to perform the capital budgeting. This decision support model was applied to the problem of developing long-term modernization plans for each of the existing fighter aircraft (F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15 Eagle, F-117 Nighthawk and A-10 Thunderbolt II)