Dynamic simulation of task constrained of a rigid-flexible manipulator

A rigid-flexible manipulator may be assigned tasks in a moving environment where the winds or vibrations affect the position and/or orientation of surface of operation. Consequently, losses of the contact and perhaps degradation of the performance may occur as references are changed. When the environment is moving, knowledge of the angle α between the contact surface and the horizontal is required at every instant. In this paper, different profiles for the time varying angle α are proposed to investigate the effect of this change into the contact force and the joint torques of a rigid-flexible manipulator. The coefficients of the equation of the proposed rotating surface are changing with time to determine the new X and Y coordinates of the moving surface as the surface rotates

Articulatory features for speech-driven head motion synthesis

This study investigates the use of articulatory features for speech-driven head motion synthesis as opposed to prosody features such as F0 and energy that have been mainly used in the literature. In the proposed approach, multi-stream HMMs are trained jointly on the synchronous streams of speech and head motion data. Articulatory features can be regarded as an intermediate parametrisation of speech that are expected to have a close link with head movement. Measured head and articulatory movements acquired by EMA were synchronously recorded with speech. Measured articulatory data was compared to those predicted from speech using an HMM-based inversion mapping system trained in a semi-supervised fashion. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) on a data set of free speech of 12 people shows that the articulatory features are more correlated with head rotation than prosodic and/or cepstral speech features. It is also shown that the synthesised head motion using articulatory features gave higher correlations with the original head motion than when only prosodic features are used. Index Terms: head motion synthesis, articulatory features, canonical correlation analysis, acoustic-to-articulatory mappin

The University of Edinburgh Head-Motion and Audio Storytelling (UoE-HAS) Dataset

Abstract. In this paper we announce the release of a large dataset of storytelling monologue with motion capture for the head and body. Initial tests on the dataset indicate that head motion is more dependant on the speaker than the style of speech

Coherent coupling of molecular resonators with a micro-cavity mode

The optical hybridization of the electronic states in strongly coupled molecule-cavity systems have revealed unique properties such as lasing, room temperature polariton condensation, and the modification of excited electronic landscapes involved in molecular isomerization. Here we show that molecular vibrational modes of the electronic ground state can also be coherently coupled with a micro-cavity mode at room temperature, given the low vibrational thermal occupation factors associated with molecular vibrations, and the collective coupling of a large ensemble of molecules immersed within the cavity mode volume. This enables the enhancement of the collective Rabi-exchange rate with respect to the single oscillator coupling strength. The possibility of inducing large shifts in the vibrational frequency of selected molecular bonds should have immediate consequences for chemistry.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures (including Supplementary Information file

Optimal Point-to-Point Trajectory Tracking of Redundant Manipulators using Generalized Pattern Search

Optimal point-to-point trajectory planning for planar redundant manipulator is considered in this study. The main objective is to minimize the sum of the position error of the end-effector at each intermediate point along the trajectory so that the end-effector can track the prescribed trajectory accurately. An algorithm combining Genetic Algorithm and Pattern Search as a Generalized Pattern Search GPS is introduced to design the optimal trajectory. To verify the proposed algorithm, simulations for a 3-D-O-F planar manipulator with different end-effector trajectories have been carried out. A comparison between the Genetic Algorithm and the Generalized Pattern Search shows that The GPS gives excellent tracking performance.Comment: www.ars-journal.co

Anterior abdominal wall ectopic testes: A report of two cases

Undescended testis (UDT) is a common anomaly of the male reproductive system  affecting about 2% to 4% of male infants more commonly preterms. If the testis remains in the line of normal descent, it is classified as an UDT. If it is not in the line of  normal descent, it is termed an ectopic testis. Common sites of ectopic testes are  perineal, transverse ectopia, pubopenile and femoral. To the best of our knowledge only two cases of anterior abdominal wall ectopic testis have been reported in the literature.  We present here two cases of anterior abdominal wall testis,  one of which was  associated with indirect inguinal hernia.Keywords: anomalies of the testis, ectopic testis, empty scrotu

Multifocal necrotizing fasciitis following Hirshsprung’s disease surgery away from the surgical wound site

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a life-threatening infection with rapidly progressive necrosis. Escherichia coli is rarely reported as causative agent of type 2 NF. NF typically arises in a single area usually secondary to penetrating injury. NF was only reported as a postoperative complication of Hirshsprung’s disease in one report, where the causative agent was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We here present a case of synchronous multifocal NF in a 7-month Hirshsprung’s disease patient after abdominal Soave procedure. The patient presented with constipation and had a colosotomy undergone at the splenic flexure through a left transverse supraumbilical incision during neonatal period. At the age of 7 months and after preoperative preparation, abdominal Soave procedure was performed through a Pfannestiel incision. Few days following operation he had fever, tachycardia, and pain. Local examination showed red edematous areas at both flanks away from the wounds. Shortly afterwards skin became dark, tense, and started to slough. At this stage the clinical diagnosis of NF was raised and surgical debridement was done. Blood and tissue cultures were positive for E. coli. Five days later the patient had another debridement due to necrotic wound edges. Vacuum assisted closure therapy with Aquacel Ag dressings was fitted and changed every 48 h. Eighteen days later split thickness skin-graft was carried out. The patient was discharged home; 10 days later he is doing fine on follow-up.Keywords: complication of swave procedure, Hirshsprung’s disease, necrotizing fasciiti

Analytical Characterization of Rococo Paintings in Egypt: Preliminary Results from El-Gawhara Palace at Cairo

El-Gawhara palace (1813–1814 AD) is situated south of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali in the Cairo Citadel. This palace is an important example of the best early 19th century rococo decorations in Egypt. The present study reports some of the results obtained from the application of different analytical techniques to characterize some rococo paintings at El-Gawhara palace at Cairo, Egypt. The characterization of the studied paintings was carried out by means of optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT−IR). The obtained results allowed the identification of the chemical composition, structure and the painting technique employed in these paintings. This methodology reveals some useful information on some rococo paintings dating back to the 19th century in Egypt