Path Tracking Control for Autonomous Driving Applications

Autonomous or self-driving vehicles are becoming a consolidate reality that involves both industrial and academic elds also for its impact in social and governmental communities, well far from automotive engineering. The intent of the present paper is to design an automatic steering control for an autonomous vehicle equipped with steer-by-wire and drive-by-wire technologies. The steering action is calculated to let the vehicle follow a reference path which is stored in a Digital Map properly built to be available in real-time. A Proportional + Derivative (PD) control strategy is deigned based on the Parameter State Approach (PSA) and it is coupled with a Feedforward (FF) term for improving the path tracking control in cornering maneuvers. Some experimental results are shown to demonstrates the ecacy of the controller presented

Proceedings of the Sixth International Workshop on Web Caching and Content Distribution

OVERVIEW The International Web Content Caching and Distribution Workshop (WCW) is a premiere technical meeting for researchers and practitioners interested in all aspects of content caching, distribution and delivery on the Internet. The 2001 WCW meeting was held on the Boston University Campus. Building on the successes of the five previous WCW meetings, WCW01 featured a strong technical program and record participation from leading researchers and practitioners in the field. This report includes all the technical papers presented at WCW'01. Note: Proceedings of WCW'01 are published by Elsevier. Hardcopies of these proceedings can be purchased through the workshop organizers. As a service to the community, electronic copies of all WCW'01 papers are accessible through Technical Report BUCS‐TR‐2001‐017, available from the Boston University Computer Science Technical Report Archives at http://www.cs.bu.edu/techreps. [Ed.note: URL outdated. Use http://www.bu.edu/cs/research/technical-reports/ or http://hdl.handle.net/2144/1455 in this repository to access the reports.]Cisco Systems; InfoLibria; Measurement Factory Inc; Voler

Mining Urban Data (Part C)

Modern cities generate a flood of rich and varied data. New information sources like public transport and wearable devices provide opportunities for novel applications that will improve citizens׳ quality of life by reducing transportation time, enhancing city planning, and improving air quality to name a few applications. From a data science perspective, data emerging from smart cities give rise to a lot of challenges that constitute a new interdisciplinary field of research. This article introduces the third part of a special issue on the topic ‘Mining Urban Data’ published in the journal Information Systems. © 2016 Elsevier Lt

Investigation of freeze linings in copper-containing slag systems: Part II. Mechanism of the deposit stabilization

A major industrial problem in high-temperature liquid reaction systems is the attack of furnace components by chemically aggressive molten reactants. Freeze-lining technologies involving the deliberate formation of controlled frozen deposits are increasingly being applied to extend the range of liquid bath compositions and process temperatures that can be used; this has resulted in significant increases in process performance and productivity. It has been widely assumed that the interface between the stationary frozen layer and the agitated molten bath at steady state consists of the primary phase, which stays in contact with the bulk liquid at the liquidus temperature, T . It has been shown in the current laboratory-based studies through the use of a cold finger technique that, at steady state and in selected ranges of process conditions and bath compositions, the phase assemblage present at the deposit/liquid interface is not that of the primary phase alone. The microstructural observations clearly demonstrate that the temperature of the deposit/liquid bath interface, T , can be lower than the liquidus temperature of the bulk liquid, T . These observations point to a significant change in the mechanism and behavior of the systems. To explain this phenomenon, it is proposed that the steady-state thickness of freeze linings is not the result of equilibrium freezing but rather represents a state of dynamic equilibrium that is critically dependent on the relative rates of crystallization, mass, and heat transfer processes, occurring close to and at the deposit interface. The mechanisms taking place in the boundary liquid layer involve both partial crystallization/remelting and continuous removal of solids. This finding has important implications for the design of the high-temperature industrial reactors and selection of ranges of melt chemistries and conditions that can be used. This finding means that temperatures below the liquidus can be selected for some processes, resulting potentially in significant savings of energy and increases in throughput of pyrometallurgical reactors. The findings are generic and are not limited to the specific chemical systems reported in the article

Access to excluded structures after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: experience in a high-level bariatric center without a technical platform for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

Rapid weight loss after bariatric surgery is associated with a high prevalence of gallstone formation. In laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP), the bypassed segment is not readily available for endoscopic or radiographic examination. We propose a laparoscopic Janeway gastrostomy for secondary access to excluded structures in bariatric centers with no mandatory technical equipment in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), double-balloon ERCP or spiral enteroscopy. METHOD: This was a single-institution retrospective review of a prospectively collected database of patients with a history of laparoscopic RYGBP who underwent laparoscopic Janeway gastrostomy for duodenal and biliary access. The operative indications, technical aspects, endoscopic findings, outcomes, and complications were investigated. RESULTS: Five patients with a history of RYGBP underwent laparoscopic Janeway gastrostomy for exploration of the bypassed segment. All of them had biliary pathology, and all underwent successful ERCP and papillotomy. The gastrostomies were closed secondarily. The mean duration of hospitalization was 12 days. No complications developed. All procedures were performed laparoscopically. CONCLUSION: If access to excluded structures and simultaneous ERCP was not possible, temporary laparoscopic Janeway gastrostomy could be the last option alternative for a staged ERCP to gain access to the bypassed structures. It is a feasible and safe solution for the exploration and treatment of patients with a history of RYGBP in bariatric centers that have no endoscopists with expertise in ERCP

Pseudoaneurysm of the Sinus of Valsalva

N

Mining Urban Data (Part C): Editorial

Modern cities generate a flood of rich and varied data. New information sources like public transport and wearable devices provide opportunities for novel applications that will improve citizens׳ quality of life by reducing transportation time, enhancing city planning, and improving air quality to name a few applications. From a data science perspective, data emerging from smart cities give rise to a lot of challenges that constitute a new interdisciplinary field of research. This article introduces the third part of a special issue on the topic "Mining Urban Data" published in the journal Information Systems