Real-time edge tracking using a tactile sensor

Object recognition through the use of input from multiple sensors is an important aspect of an autonomous manipulation system. In tactile object recognition, it is necessary to determine the location and orientation of object edges and surfaces. A controller is proposed that utilizes a tactile sensor in the feedback loop of a manipulator to track along edges. In the control system, the data from the tactile sensor is first processed to find edges. The parameters of these edges are then used to generate a control signal to a hybrid controller. Theory is presented for tactile edge detection and an edge tracking controller. In addition, experimental verification of the edge tracking controller is presented

The GICHD Regional Support Centre: An Approach to Regional Information Management

Ask most people in mine action what is meant by regional information management and they will talk to you about the consolidation of country-specific mine action information at centralized regional locations. They may talk about the need for data aggregation, the reluctance of programmes to provide data and the generally slow pace of the work. In almost all cases, they will mention data analysis and comparisons between the work completed in different programmes as key elements in regional systems. Most of the examples given will focus on efforts that fell short of expectations and failed to deliver on the promise of increased efficiency and improved resource allocation so often touted as reasons for regional or global data management. In short, for many people, regional information management is a concept that has seldom managed to maintain the constant flow of unconsolidated and standardized data required to achieve its real potential over the long term

Third-Generation Holocaust Representation

Victoria Aarons and Alan L. Berger show that Holocaust literary representation has continued to flourish—gaining increased momentum even as its perspective shifts, as a third generation adds its voice to the chorus of post-Holocaust writers. In negotiating the complex thematic imperatives and narrative conceits of the literature of these writers, this bold new work examines those structures, ironies, disjunctions, and tensions that produce a literature lamenting loss for a generation removed spatially and temporally from the extended trauma of the Holocaust. Aarons and Berger address evolving notions of “postmemory”; the intergenerational transmission of trauma; inherited memory; the psychological tensions of post-Holocaust Jewish identity; tropes of memory and the personalized narrative voice; generational dislocation and anxiety; the recurrent antagonisms of assimilation and alienation; the imaginative reconstruction of the past; and the future of Holocaust memory and representation

Tissue steroid levels in response to reduced testicular estrogen synthesis in the male pig, Sus scrofa.

Production of steroid hormones is complex and dependent upon steroidogenic enzymes, cofactors, receptors, and transporters expressed within a tissue. Collectively, these factors create an environment for tissue-specific steroid hormone profiles and potentially tissue-specific responses to drug administration. Our objective was to assess steroid production, including sulfated steroid metabolites in the boar testis, prostate, and liver following inhibition of aromatase, the enzyme that converts androgen precursors to estrogens. Boars were treated with the aromatase inhibitor, letrozole from 11 to 16 weeks of age and littermate boars received the canola oil vehicle. Steroid profiles were evaluated in testes, prostate, and livers of 16, 20, and 40 week old boars using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Testis, prostate, and liver had unique steroid profiles in vehicle-treated animals. Only C18 steroid hormones were altered by treatment with the aromatase inhibitor, letrozole; no significant differences were detected in any of the C19 or C21 steroids evaluated. Testis was the only tissue with significantly decreased free estrogens following treatment with the aromatase inhibitor; estrone and estradiol concentrations were lower (p < 0.05) in testes from 16, 20, and 40 week letrozole-treated boars. However, concentrations of the sulfated conjugates, estrone-sulfate and estradiol-sulfate, were significantly decreased (p<0.05) in 16 and 20 week boar testes, prostates, and livers from letrozole-treated boars. Hence, the distribution of estrogens between the free and conjugated forms was altered in a tissue-specific manner following inhibition of aromatase. The results suggest sulfated testicular estrogens are important estrogen precursors for the prostate, potentially enabling peripheral target tissues to synthesize free estrogens in the male pig

Aspirin, beta-blocker, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy in patients with end-stage renal disease and an acute myocardial infarction

AbstractObjectivesWe sought to examine the use and impact of standard medical therapies in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) faced with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI).BackgroundThe poor prognosis of patients in this high-risk population has become increasingly well recognized.MethodsUsing the ESRD database and the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project (CCP) database, we identified AMI patients who were receiving either peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis before admission. The early administration of aspirin and beta-blockers was compared between ESRD and non-ESRD patients and the effect of these therapies on 30-day mortality was evaluated with logistic regression models.ResultsThe cohort consisted of 145,740 patients without ESRD and 1,025 patients with ESRD. Aspirin (67.0% vs. 82.4%, p < 0.001), beta-blockers (43.2% vs. 50.8%, p < 0.001), and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (38.5% vs. 60.3%, p < 0.001) were less likely to be administered to ESRD patients than to non-ESRD patients. The benefit of these therapies on 30-day mortality was similar among ESRD patients (aspirin: relative risk [RR] 0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.50 to 0.80; beta-blocker: RR 0.78; 95% CI 0.60 to 0.99; ACE inhibitor: RR 0.58; 95% CI 0.42 to 0.77) and non-ESRD patients (aspirin: RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.58; beta-blocker: RR 0.70; 95% CI 0.68 to 0.72; ACE inhibitor: RR 0.64; 95% CI 0.63 to 0.66).ConclusionsEnd-stage renal disease patients are far less likely than non-ESRD patients to be treated with aspirin, beta-blockers, and ACE inhibitors during an admission for AMI. The lower rates of usage for these medications, particularly aspirin, may contribute to the increased 30-day mortality. These findings demonstrate a marked opportunity to improve care in this population

Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales

Can negative information about a product increase sales, and if so, when? Although popular wisdom suggests that “any publicity is good publicity,” prior research has demonstrated only downsides to negative press. Negative reviews or word of mouth, for example, have been found to hurt product evaluation and sales. Using a combination of econometric analysis and experimental methods, we unify these perspectives to delineate contexts under which negative publicity about a product will have positive versus negative effects. Specifically, we argue that negative publicity can increase purchase likelihood and sales by increasing product awareness. Consequently, negative publicity should have differential effects on established versus unknown products. Three studies support this perspective. Whereas a negative review in the New York Times hurt sales of books by well-known authors, for example, it increased sales of books that had lower prior awareness. The studies further underscore the importance of a gap between publicity and purchase occasion and the mediating role of increased awareness in these effects

First High-resolution Spectroscopic Observations of an Erupting Prominence Within a Coronal Mass Ejection by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)

Spectroscopic observations of prominence eruptions associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), although relatively rare, can provide valuable plasma and 3D geometry diagnostics. We report the first observations by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission of a spectacular fast CME/prominence eruption associated with an equivalent X1.6 flare on 2014 May 9. The maximum plane-of-sky and Doppler velocities of the eruption are 1200 and 460 km/s, respectively. There are two eruption components separated by ~200 km/s in Doppler velocity: a primary, bright component and a secondary, faint component, suggesting a hollow, rather than solid, cone-shaped distribution of material. The eruption involves a left-handed helical structure undergoing counter-clockwise (viewed top-down) unwinding motion. There is a temporal evolution from upward eruption to downward fallback with less-than-free-fall speeds and decreasing nonthermal line widths. We find a wide range of Mg II k/h line intensity ratios (less than ~2 expected for optically-thin thermal emission): the lowest ever-reported median value of 1.17 found in the fallback material and a comparably high value of 1.63 in nearby coronal rain and intermediate values of 1.53 and 1.41 in the two eruption components. The fallback material exhibits a strong ($> 5 \sigma$) linear correlation between the k/h ratio and the Doppler velocity as well as the line intensity. We demonstrate that Doppler dimming of scattered chromospheric emission by the erupted material can potentially explain such characteristics.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted by ApJ (Feb 15, 2015