Model-Based Environmental Visual Perception for Humanoid Robots

The visual perception of a robot should answer two fundamental questions: What? and Where? In order to properly and efficiently reply to these questions, it is essential to establish a bidirectional coupling between the external stimuli and the internal representations. This coupling links the physical world with the inner abstraction models by sensor transformation, recognition, matching and optimization algorithms. The objective of this PhD is to establish this sensor-model coupling

Saul and David, Israel and Judah: The Book of Samuel as Paradigmatic History

This study makes the case that within the books of Samuel-Kings as a whole, the book of Samuel presents two nested iterations of paradigmatic history, each of which anticipates the subsequent monarchic history with a distinct thematic focus. The more detailed of these two iterations-the story of Saul's and David's reigns in 1 Sam 9-2 Sam 24-typologically anticipates the subsequent history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as narrated in 1 Kgs 12-2 Kgs 25. This paradigmatic "preview" of the fates of Israel and Judah is further condensed in the stories about Eli and Samuel in 1 Sam 1-8, which anticipate elements from 1 Sam 9-2 Sam 24, the book of Kings, and beyond

Simultaneous and comparable numerical indicators of international, national and local collaboration practices in English-medium astrophysics research papers

Introduction. We report an investigation on collaboration practices in research papers published in the most prestigious English-medium astrophysics journals. Method. We propose an evaluation method based on three numerical indicators to study and compare, in absolute terms, three different types of collaboration (international, national and local) and authors' mobility on the basis of co-authorship. Analysis. We analysed 300 randomly selected research papers in three different time periods and used the student's t-test to determine whether the paired two-sample differences observed were statistically significant or not. Results. International collaboration is more common than national and local collaboration. International, national and local authors' mobility and intra-national collaboration do not seriously affect the indicators of the principal levels of collaboration. International collaboration and authors' mobility are more relevant for authors publishing in European journals, whereas national and intra-national collaboration and national mobility are more important for authors publishing in US journals. Conclusions. We explain the observed differences and patterns in terms of the specific scope of each journal and the socio-economic and political situation in both geographic contexts (Europe and the USA). Our study provides a global picture of collaboration practices in astrophysics and its possible application to many other sciences and fields would undoubtedly help bring into focus the really big issues for overall research management and policy

Exploring acknowledgement practices in English-medium astrophysics research papers: Implications on authorship

This article reports the findings of a diachronic study of acknowledgement practices in 300 randomly collected research papers published during three different periods (1998, 2004 and 2012) in the most prestigious American and European astrophysics journals written in English. In order to investigate the influence of these practices on authorship patterns, we analyzed the distribution over time of a series of quantitative variables (number, length and types of acknowledgements, mean number of words/number of acknowledgements per research paper and mean number of acknowledgements/number of authors per research paper, number of named and unnamed acknowledgees, number of identified and anonymous referees, and number of emotionally charged-words). Comparisons between periods were carried out and Student’s t-tests were applied to the quantitative results. Our main findings show that acknowledgements are very common in astrophysics since they are present in 96% of the whole corpus. Financial, mainly public, and instrumental supports are the most frequently acknowledged categories. The number and length of acknowledgements and the mean number of words/number of acknowledgements per research paper grow over time. Financial, instrumental and conceptual assistance, unnamed individuals and anonymous referees increase over time, whereas moral, editorial and unclassified supports, named individuals and identified referees, and emotionally-charged words decline. If we focus on each journal publication context, we can observe that the research papers published in the American journals include more and longer acknowledgements, with a higher mean number of acknowledgements per author, more financial and instrumental supports, and a lower percentage of emotionally-charged words, whereas the European journals contain more conceptual and editorial supports. All these data can be understood in the frame of growing scientific professionalism, while a detailed cross-journal analysis may occasionally suggest honorary/guest/gift authorship.Este trabajo presenta los resultados de un estudio diacrónico de los agradecimientos en una muestra de 300 artículos de investigación recogidos al azar y publicados durante tres periodos diferentes (1998, 2004 y 2012) en las más prestigiosas revistas de astrofísica, americanas y europeas, escritas en inglés. Con el fin de estudiar la influencia de los agradecimientos sobre los patrones de autoría, hemos analizado la evolución de una serie de variables cuantitativas (número, longitud y tipos de agradecimientos, media del número de palabras/número de agradecimientos por artículo y media del número de agradecimientos/número de autores por artículo, número de personas agradecidas identificadas y no identificadas, número de árbitros mencionados por su nombre y anónimos, y número palabras con carga emocional). Hemos utilizado la prueba t de Student para comparar los resultados cuantitativos entre periodos. Nuestros resultados principales muestran que los agradecimientos son muy comunes en astrofísica ya que están presentes en el 96% de todo el corpus. Las ayudas económicas, principalmente públicas, instrumentales y conceptuales son las más frecuentes. El número y la longitud de los agradecimientos, así como la media del número de palabras/número de agradecimientos por artículo, crecen paulatinamente. El apoyo económico, instrumental y conceptual, los individuos no identificados y los árbitros anónimos también aumentan, mientras que el apoyo moral, editorial y no clasificado, los individuos y los árbitros identificados, y las palabras con carga emocional decrecen. Si nos centramos en el contexto de cada publicación, observamos que los artículos publicados en las revistas americanas incluyen más agradecimientos y que éstos son más largos, con una media mayor del número de agradecimientos/número de autores, más ayudas económicas e instrumentales, y un menor porcentaje de palabras con carga emocional, en tanto que los artículos publicados en las revistas europeas incluyen más ayudas conceptuales y editoriales. Todos estos datos se pueden entender en el marco de una creciente profesionalización de la ciencia, mientras que un análisis detallado de cada revista puede ocasionalmente sugerir la existencia de una autoría honoraria/invitada/regalada

The Use of Abbreviations in English-Medium Astrophysics Research Paper Titles: A Problematic Issue

In this study, we carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of abbreviations in 300 randomly collected research paper titles published in the most prestigious European and US-based Astrophysics journals written in English. Our main results show that the process of shortening words and groups of words is one of the most characteristic and recurrent features in Astrophysics research paper titling construction. In spite of the convenience of abbreviations as a mechanism for word-formation, some of them may pose certain difficulties of understanding and/or misinterpretation because of their specificity, ambiguity, or overlapping. To overcome these difficulties, we propose a series of options which with no doubt would lead to a better interaction among the different branches of Astrophysics in particular and of science in general and would definitely improve how research is currently performed and communicated

Astrophysics Titles in Scientific American Magazine (1990-2014): Linguistic and Discourse Practices

We analyze Astrophysics titles published in Scientific American Magazine in the period 1990-2014 and compare them with Astrophysics titles of specialized journals. Our main results show that titles published in Scientific American are short, clear, direct and with low lexical density and little terminology. They mainly consist in simple and nominal constructions with few adjectives and compound groups. The predominance of nominal compounds and the high number of verbal titles and definite articles imply that popularized science titles mainly deal with global and well-established concepts. Pragmatic and rhetorical strategies are common in Astrophysics Scientific American titles in order to appeal to multiple audiences and invite them to use their cultural background knowledge to grasp at the actual meaning. Although pragmatic and rhetorical mechanisms overlap in some titles, rhetorical devices seem to prevail over pragmatic ones. All in all, however, both types of devices reveal a growing trend over time

Genes Involved in the Metabolism of Poly-Unsaturated Fatty-Acids (PUFA) and Risk for Crohn's Disease in Children & Young Adults

Epidemiological evidence for the role of polyunsaturated fatty-acids (PUFA) in Crohn's disease (CD) is unclear, although the key metabolite leucotriene B4 (LTB(4)) is closely linked to the inflammatory process. We hypothesized that inherited variation in key PUFA metabolic enzymes may modify susceptibility for CD.A case-control design was implemented at three pediatric gastroenterology clinics in Canada. Children ≤20 yrs diagnosed with CD and controls were recruited. 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the ALOX5 (4) CYP4F3 (5) and CYP4F2 (10) genes, were genotyped. Associations between SNPs/haplotypes and CD were examined. A total of 431 cases and 507 controls were studied. The mean (±SD) age of the cases was 12.4 (±3.3) years. Most cases were male (56.4%), had ileo-colonic disease (L3±L4, 52.7%) and inflammatory behavior (B1±p, 87%) at diagnosis. One genotyped CYP4F3 SNP (rs2683037) not in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium was excluded. No associations with the remaining 4 CYP4F3 SNPs with CD were evident. However haplotype analysis revealed associations with a two-marker haplotype (TG) (rs3794987 & rs1290617) (p = 0.02; permuted p = 0.08). CYP4F2 SNPs, rs3093158 (OR (recessive) = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.35-0.89; p = 0.01), rs2074902 (OR (trend) = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.00-1.60; p = 0.05), and rs2108622 (OR (recessive) = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.00-2.57; p = 0.05) were significantly associated whereas rs1272 (OR (recessive) = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.30-1.13; p = 0.10) showed suggestions for associations with CD. A haplotype comprising these 4 SNPs was significantly associated (p = 0.007, permuted p = 0.02) with CD. Associations with SNP rs3780901 in the ALOX5 gene were borderline non-significant (OR (dominant) = 1.29, 95% CI = 0.99-1.67; p = 0.056). A haplotype comprising the 4 ALOX5 SNPs (TCAA, p = 0.036) was associated with CD, but did not withstand corrections for multiple comparisons (permuted p = 0.14).Inherited variation in enzymes involved in the synthesis/metabolism of LTB(4) may be associated with CD. These findings implicate PUFA metabolism as a important pathway in the CD pathogenesis

Accurate control of a liquid-crystal display to produce a homogenized Fourier transform for holographic memories

We show an accurate procedure to obtain a Fourier transform (FT) with no dc term using a commercial twisted-nematic liquid-crystal display. We focus on the application to holographic storage of binary data pages, where a drastic decrease of the dc term in the FT is highly desirable. Two different codification schemes are considered: binary π radians phase modulation and hybrid ternary modulation. Any deviation in the values of the amplitude and phase shift generates the appearance of a strong dc term. Experimental results confirm that the calculated configurations provide a FT with no dc term, thus showing the effectiveness of the proposal.This work was supported by the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain)” under projects FIS2005-05881-C02-01 and FIS2005-05881-C02-02, and by the “Generalitat Valenciana” under Project GV06/007

216 Jewish Hospital of St. Louis

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_216/1014/thumbnail.jp