Building an Aerial-Ground Robotics System for Precision Farming: An Adaptable Solution

The application of autonomous robots in agriculture is gaining increasing popularity thanks to the high impact it may have on food security, sustainability, resource use efficiency, reduction of chemical treatments, and the optimization of human effort and yield. With this vision, the Flourish research project aimed to develop an adaptable robotic solution for precision farming that combines the aerial survey capabilities of small autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with targeted intervention performed by multi-purpose unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). This paper presents an overview of the scientific and technological advances and outcomes obtained in the project. We introduce multi-spectral perception algorithms and aerial and ground-based systems developed for monitoring crop density, weed pressure, crop nitrogen nutrition status, and to accurately classify and locate weeds. We then introduce the navigation and mapping systems tailored to our robots in the agricultural environment, as well as the modules for collaborative mapping. We finally present the ground intervention hardware, software solutions, and interfaces we implemented and tested in different field conditions and with different crops. We describe a real use case in which a UAV collaborates with a UGV to monitor the field and to perform selective spraying without human intervention.Comment: Published in IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 29-49, Sept. 202

Weighing stars from birth to death: mass determination methods across the HRD

The mass of a star is the most fundamental parameter for its structure, evolution, and final fate. It is particularly important for any kind of stellar archaeology and characterization of exoplanets. There exists a variety of methods in astronomy to estimate or determine it. In this review we present a significant number of such methods, beginning with the most direct and model-independent approach using detached eclipsing binaries. We then move to more indirect and model-dependent methods, such as the quite commonly used isochrone or stellar track fitting. The arrival of quantitative asteroseismology has opened a completely new approach to determine stellar masses and to complement and improve the accuracy of other methods. We include methods for different evolutionary stages, from the pre-main sequence to evolved (super)giants and final remnants. For all methods uncertainties and restrictions will be discussed. We provide lists of altogether more than 200 benchmark stars with relative mass accuracies between $[0.3,2]\%$ for the covered mass range of M\in [0.1,16]\,\msun, $75\%$ of which are stars burning hydrogen in their core and the other $25\%$ covering all other evolved stages. We close with a recommendation how to combine various methods to arrive at a "mass-ladder" for stars.Comment: Invited review article for The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 146 pages, 16 figures, 11 tables. Accepted version by the Journal. It includes summary figure of accuracy/precision of methods for mass ranges and summary table for individual method

Protocol for a prospective, controlled, observational study to evaluate the influence of hypoxia on healthy volunteers and patients with inflammatory bowel disease: the Altitude IBD Study.

INTRODUCTION Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal disorder, often leading to an impaired quality of life in affected patients. The importance of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of IBD, including their disease-modifying potential, is increasingly recognised. Hypoxia seems to be an important driver of inflammation, as has been reported by our group and others. The aim of the study is to evaluate if hypoxia can alter disease activity of IBD measured by Harvey-Bradshaw Activity Index in Crohn's disease (increase to ≥5 points) and the partial Mayo Score for ulcerative colitis (increase to ≥2 points). To test the effects of hypoxia under standardised conditions, we designed a prospective and controlled investigation in healthy controls and patients with IBD in stable remission. METHODS AND ANALYSIS This is a prospective, controlled and observational study. Participants undergo a 3-hour exposure to hypoxic conditions simulating an altitude of 4000 metres above sea level (m.a.s.l.) in a hypobaric pressure chamber. Clinical parameters, as well as blood and stool samples and biopsies from the sigmoid colon are collected at subsequent time points. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Kanton Zurich (reference KEK-ZH-number 2013-0284). The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and shared with the worldwide medical community. TRIALS REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT02849821; Pre-results

First Search for Axion-Like Particles in a Storage Ring Using a Polarized Deuteron Beam

Based on the notion that the local dark-matter field of axions or axion-like particles (ALPs) in our Galaxy induces oscillating couplings to the spins of nucleons and nuclei (via the electric dipole moment of the latter and/or the paramagnetic axion-wind effect), we performed the first experiment to search for ALPs using a storage ring. For that purpose, we used an in-plane polarized deuteron beam stored at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY, scanning momenta near 970 MeV/c. This entailed a scan of the spin precession frequency. At resonance between the spin precession frequency of deuterons and the ALP-induced EDM oscillation frequency there will be an accumulation of the polarization component out of the ring plane. Since the axion frequency is unknown, the momentum of the beam and consequently the spin precession frequency were ramped to search for a vertical polarization change that would occur when the resonance is crossed. At COSY, four beam bunches with different polarization directions were used to make sure that no resonance was missed because of the unknown relative phase between the polarization precession and the axion/ALP field. A frequency window of 1.5-kHz width around the spin precession frequency of 121 kHz was scanned. We describe the experimental procedure and a test of the methodology with the help of a radiofrequency Wien filter located on the COSY ring. No ALP resonance was observed. As a consequence an upper limit of the oscillating EDM component of the deuteron as well as its axion coupling constants are provided.Comment: 25 pages, 24 figures, 7 tables, 67 reference

Age dating of an early Milky Way merger via asteroseismology of the naked-eye star ν Indi

Over the course of its history, the Milky Way has ingested multiple smaller satellite galaxies1. Although these accreted stellar populations can be forensically identified as kinematically distinct structures within the Galaxy, it is difficult in general to date precisely the age at which any one merger occurred. Recent results have revealed a population of stars that were accreted via the collision of a dwarf galaxy, called Gaia–Enceladus1, leading to substantial pollution of the chemical and dynamical properties of the Milky Way. Here we identify the very bright, naked-eye star ν Indi as an indicator of the age of the early in situ population of the Galaxy. We combine asteroseismic, spectroscopic, astrometric and kinematic observations to show that this metal-poor, alpha-element-rich star was an indigenous member of the halo, and we measure its age to be 11.0±0.7 (stat) ±0.8 (sys) billion years. The star bears hallmarks consistent with having been kinematically heated by the Gaia–Enceladus collision. Its age implies that the earliest the merger could have begun was 11.6 and 13.2 billion years ago, at 68% and 95% confidence, respectively. Computations based on hierarchical cosmological models slightly reduce the above limits

European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2020

The European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2020 is the update of similar evidence based position papers published in 2005 and 2007 and 2012. The core objective of the EPOS2020 guideline is to provide revised, up-to-date and clear evidence-based recommendations and integrated care pathways in ARS and CRS. EPOS2020 provides an update on the literature published and studies undertaken in the eight years since the EPOS2012 position paper was published and addresses areas not extensively covered in EPOS2012 such as paediatric CRS and sinus surgery. EPOS2020 also involves new stakeholders, including pharmacists and patients, and addresses new target users who have become more involved in the management and treatment of rhinosinusitis since the publication of the last EPOS document, including pharmacists, nurses, specialised care givers and indeed patients themselves, who employ increasing self-management of their condition using over the counter treatments. The document provides suggestions for future research in this area and offers updated guidance for definitions and outcome measurements in research in different settings. EPOS2020 contains chapters on definitions and classification where we have defined a large number of terms and indicated preferred terms. A new classification of CRS into primary and secondary CRS and further division into localized and diffuse disease, based on anatomic distribution is proposed. There are extensive chapters on epidemiology and predisposing factors, inflammatory mechanisms, (differential) diagnosis of facial pain, allergic rhinitis, genetics, cystic fibrosis, aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease, immunodeficiencies, allergic fungal rhinosinusitis and the relationship between upper and lower airways. The chapters on paediatric acute and chronic rhinosinusitis are totally rewritten. All available evidence for the management of acute rhinosinusitis and chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps in adults and children is systematically reviewed and integrated care pathways based on the evidence are proposed. Despite considerable increases in the amount of quality publications in recent years, a large number of practical clinical questions remain. It was agreed that the best way to address these was to conduct a Delphi exercise. The results have been integrated into the respective sections. Last but not least, advice for patients and pharmacists and a new list of research needs are included.Peer reviewe

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass