16,610 research outputs found
Qualitative design and implementation of human-robot spatial interactions
Despite the large number of navigation algorithms available for mobile robots, in many social contexts they often exhibit inopportune motion behaviours in proximity of people, often with very "unnatural" movements due to the execution of segmented trajectories or the sudden activation of safety mechanisms (e.g., for obstacle avoidance). We argue that the reason of the problem is not only the difficulty of modelling human behaviours and generating opportune robot control policies, but also the way human-robot spatial interactions are represented and implemented.
In this paper we propose a new methodology based on a qualitative representation of spatial interactions, which is both flexible and compact, adopting the well-defined and coherent formalization of Qualitative Trajectory Calculus (QTC). We show the potential of a QTC-based approach to abstract and design complex robot behaviours, where the desired robot's behaviour is represented together with its actual performance in one coherent approach, focusing on spatial interactions rather than pure navigation problems
Modeling GRB 050904: Autopsy of a Massive Stellar Explosion at z=6.29
GRB 050904 at redshift z=6.29, discovered and observed by Swift and with
spectroscopic redshift from the Subaru telescope, is the first gamma-ray burst
to be identified from beyond the epoch of reionization. Since the progenitors
of long gamma-ray bursts have been identified as massive stars, this event
offers a unique opportunity to investigate star formation environments at this
epoch. Apart from its record redshift, the burst is remarkable in two respects:
first, it exhibits fast-evolving X-ray and optical flares that peak
simultaneously at t~470 s in the observer frame, and may thus originate in the
same emission region; and second, its afterglow exhibits an accelerated decay
in the near-infrared (NIR) from t~10^4 s to t~3 10^4 s after the burst,
coincident with repeated and energetic X-ray flaring activity. We make a
complete analysis of available X-ray, NIR, and radio observations, utilizing
afterglow models that incorporate a range of physical effects not previously
considered for this or any other GRB afterglow, and quantifying our model
uncertainties in detail via Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis. In the process,
we explore the possibility that the early optical and X-ray flare is due to
synchrotron and inverse Compton emission from the reverse shock regions of the
outflow. We suggest that the period of accelerated decay in the NIR may be due
to suppression of synchrotron radiation by inverse Compton interaction of X-ray
flare photons with electrons in the forward shock; a subsequent interval of
slow decay would then be due to a progressive decline in this suppression. The
range of acceptable models demonstrates that the kinetic energy and circumburst
density of GRB 050904 are well above the typical values found for low-redshift
GRBs.Comment: 45 pages, 7 figures, and ApJ accepted. Revised version, minor
modifications and 1 extra figur
Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess cognitive function in infants in rural Africa
Cortical mapping of cognitive function during infancy is poorly understood in low-income countries due to the lack of transportable neuroimaging methods. We have successfully piloted functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a neuroimaging tool in rural Gambia. Four-to-eight month old infants watched videos of Gambian adults perform social movements, while haemodynamic responses were recorded using fNIRS. We found distinct regions of the posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex that evidenced either visual-social activation or vocally selective activation (vocal > non-vocal). The patterns of selective cortical activation in Gambian infants replicated those observed within similar aged infants in the UK. These are the first reported data on the measurement of localized functional brain activity in young infants in Africa and demonstrate the potential that fNIRS offers for field-based neuroimaging research of cognitive function in resource-poor rural communities
Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess cognitive function in infants in rural Africa
Cortical mapping of cognitive function during infancy is poorly understood in low-income countries due to the lack of transportable neuroimaging methods. We have successfully piloted functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a neuroimaging tool in rural Gambia. Four-to-eight month old infants watched videos of Gambian adults perform social movements, while haemodynamic responses were recorded using fNIRS. We found distinct regions of the posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex that evidenced either visual-social activation or vocally selective activation (vocal > non-vocal). The patterns of selective cortical activation in Gambian infants replicated those observed within similar aged infants in the UK. These are the first reported data on the measurement of localized functional brain activity in young infants in Africa and demonstrate the potential that fNIRS offers for field-based neuroimaging research of cognitive function in resource-poor rural communities
Infant cortex responds to other humans from shortly after birth
A significant feature of the adult human brain is its ability to selectively process information about conspecifics. Much debate has centred on whether this specialization is primarily a result of phylogenetic adaptation, or whether the brain acquires expertise in processing social stimuli as a result of its being born into an intensely social environment. Here we study the haemodynamic response in cortical areas of newborns (1â5 days old) while they passively viewed dynamic human or mechanical action videos. We observed activation selective to a dynamic face stimulus over bilateral posterior temporal cortex, but no activation in response to a moving human arm. This selective activation to the social stimulus correlated with age in hours over the first few days post partum. Thus, even very limited experience of face-to-face interaction with other humans may be sufficient to elicit social stimulus activation of relevant cortical regions
Prospective Investigation of Pesticide Applicators' Health (PIPAH) study: a cohort study of professional pesticide users in Great Britain
PURPOSE: The purpose of the study is to monitor the exposure and health of workers in Great Britain who use pesticides as a part of their job, and to gain a better understanding of the relationship between long-term exposure to pesticides and health. PARTICIPANTS: Study participants are professional pesticide users who are certified in the safe use of pesticides or who were born before 1965 and apply pesticides under 'grandfather rights'. Overall response rate was 20%; participants are mostly male (98%) and the average age is 54 years, ranging from 17 to over 80 years. FINDINGS TO DATE: Participants have completed a baseline general questionnaire and three follow-up questionnaires on the use of pesticides. These data will enable investigations into the relationship between occupational pesticide exposure and health outcomes taking into account non-occupational confounding factors. FUTURE PLANS: There is no set end date for data collection. Recruitment into the cohort will continue, and for the foreseeable future there will be annual pesticide use questionnaires and fiveâyearly follow-up general questionnaires.The intention is to validate the pesticide use questionnaire, and to develop a crop/jobâexposure matrix (C/JEM) which can be updated regularly. This C/JEM will be able to look at general categories of pesticide, such as insecticides, structurally related pesticides, such as organochlorines, or individual active ingredients. Data collected on use of personal protective equipment and method of application will provide information on how potential exposure to pesticide during application may have been modified. The study will be able to estimate changes in individual pesticide use over time, and to examine the associations between pesticide use and both baseline and long-term health outcomes.The cohort members will be linked to national databases for notification of hospital episode statistics, cancer incidence and mortality for follow-up of health outcomes
Visible Effects of the Hidden Sector
The renormalization of operators responsible for soft supersymmetry breaking
is usually calculated by starting at some high scale and including only visible
sector interactions in the evolution equations, while ignoring hidden sector
interactions. Here we explain why this is correct only for the most trivial
structures in the hidden sector, and discuss possible implications. This
investigation was prompted by the idea of conformal sequestering. In that
framework hidden sector renormalizations by nearly conformal dynamics are
critical. In the original models of conformal sequestering it was necessary to
impose hidden sector flavor symmetries to achieve the sequestered form. We
present models which can evade this requirement and lead to no-scale or anomaly
mediated boundary conditions; but the necessary structures do not seem generic.
More generally, the ratios of scalar masses to gaugino masses, the -term,
the -term, -terms, and the gravitino mass can be significantly
affected.Comment: 23 pages, no figure
On two problems in graph Ramsey theory
We study two classical problems in graph Ramsey theory, that of determining
the Ramsey number of bounded-degree graphs and that of estimating the induced
Ramsey number for a graph with a given number of vertices.
The Ramsey number r(H) of a graph H is the least positive integer N such that
every two-coloring of the edges of the complete graph contains a
monochromatic copy of H. A famous result of Chv\'atal, R\"{o}dl, Szemer\'edi
and Trotter states that there exists a constant c(\Delta) such that r(H) \leq
c(\Delta) n for every graph H with n vertices and maximum degree \Delta. The
important open question is to determine the constant c(\Delta). The best
results, both due to Graham, R\"{o}dl and Ruci\'nski, state that there are
constants c and c' such that 2^{c' \Delta} \leq c(\Delta) \leq 2^{c \Delta
\log^2 \Delta}. We improve this upper bound, showing that there is a constant c
for which c(\Delta) \leq 2^{c \Delta \log \Delta}.
The induced Ramsey number r_{ind}(H) of a graph H is the least positive
integer N for which there exists a graph G on N vertices such that every
two-coloring of the edges of G contains an induced monochromatic copy of H.
Erd\H{o}s conjectured the existence of a constant c such that, for any graph H
on n vertices, r_{ind}(H) \leq 2^{c n}. We move a step closer to proving this
conjecture, showing that r_{ind} (H) \leq 2^{c n \log n}. This improves upon an
earlier result of Kohayakawa, Pr\"{o}mel and R\"{o}dl by a factor of \log n in
the exponent.Comment: 18 page
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