Object Detection and Classification in Occupancy Grid Maps using Deep Convolutional Networks

A detailed environment perception is a crucial component of automated vehicles. However, to deal with the amount of perceived information, we also require segmentation strategies. Based on a grid map environment representation, well-suited for sensor fusion, free-space estimation and machine learning, we detect and classify objects using deep convolutional neural networks. As input for our networks we use a multi-layer grid map efficiently encoding 3D range sensor information. The inference output consists of a list of rotated bounding boxes with associated semantic classes. We conduct extensive ablation studies, highlight important design considerations when using grid maps and evaluate our models on the KITTI Bird's Eye View benchmark. Qualitative and quantitative benchmark results show that we achieve robust detection and state of the art accuracy solely using top-view grid maps from range sensor data.Comment: 6 pages, 4 tables, 4 figure

Komatiites: From Earth's Geological Settings to Planetary and Astrobiological Contexts

Komatiites are fascinating volcanic rocks. They are among the most ancient lavas of the Earth following the 3.8 Ga pillow basalts at Isua and they represent some of the oldest ultramafic magmatic rocks preserved in the Earth's crust at 3.5 Ga. This fact, linked to their particular features (high magnesium content, high melting temperatures, low dynamic viscosities, etc.), has attracted the community of geoscientists since their discovery in the early sixties, who have tried to determine their origin and understand their meaning in the context of the terrestrial mantle evolution. In addition, it has been proposed that komatiites are not restricted to our planet, but they could be found in other extraterrestrial setting in our Solar System (particularly in Mars and Io). It is important to note that komatiites may be extremely significant in the study of the origins and evolution of Life on Earth. They not only preserve essential geochemical clues of the interaction between the pristine Earth rocks and atmosphere, but also may have been potential suitable sites for biological processes to develop. Thus, besides reviewing the main geodynamic, petrological and geochemical characteristics of komatiites, this paper also aims to widen their investigation beyond the classical geological prospect, calling attention to them as attracting rocks for research in planetology and astrobiology.Comment: 53 pages, submitted (Nov 22th, 2005) to Earth, Moon and Planets and accepted for publication on Jan 18th, 2007. The new version is the corrected paper after acceptance for publicatio

Influence of Cultivation Conditions on the Production of a Thermostable Extracellular Lipase from Amycolatopsis Mediterranei DSM 43304

Among several lipase producing actinomycete strains screened, Amycolatopsis mediterranei DSM 43304 was found to produce a thermostable, extracellular lipase. Culture condition and nutrient source modification studies involving carbon sources, nitrogen sources, incubation temperature and medium pH were carried out. Lipase activity of 1.37 ± 0.103 IU/ml of culture medium was obtained in 96 h at 28 °C and pH 7.5 using linseed oil and fructose as carbon sources and a combination of phytone peptone and yeast extract (5:1) as nitrogen sources. In optimal culture conditions the lipase activity was enhanced 12-fold with a 2-fold increase in lipase specific activity. The lipase showed maximum activity at 60 °C and pH 8.0. The enzyme was stable between pH 5.0–9.0 and temperatures up to 60 °C. Lipase activity was significantly enhanced by Fe3+ and strongly inhibited by Hg2+. Li+, Mg 2+ and PMSF significantly reduced lipase activity, whereas other metal ions had no significant effect at 0.01 M concentration. A. mediterranei DSM 43304 lipase exhibited remarkable stability in the presence of a wide range of organic solvents at 25% (v/v) concentration for 24h. These features render this novel lipase attractive for potential biotechnological applications in organic synthesis reactions

Astrobiological significance of minerals on Mars surface environment: UV-shielding properties of Fe (jarosite) vs. Ca (gypsum) sulphates

The recent discovery of liquid water-related sulphates on Mars is of great astrobiological interest. UV radiation experiments, using natural Ca and Fe sulphates (gypsum, jarosite), coming from two selected areas of SE Spain (Jaroso Hydrothermal System and the Sorbas evaporitic basin), were performed using a Xe Lamp with an integrated output from 220 nm to 500 nm of 1.2 Wm-2. The results obtained demonstrate a large difference in the UV protection capabilities of both minerals and also confirm that the mineralogical composition of the Martian regolith is a crucial shielding factor. Whereas gypsum showed a much higher transmission percentage, jarosite samples, with a thickness of only 500 microns, prevented transmission. This result is extremely important for the search for life on Mars as: a) jarosite typically occurs on Earth as alteration crusts and patinas, and b) a very thin crust of jarosite on the surface of Mars would be sufficient to shield microorganisms from UV radiation.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology (invited paper), special issue "Extreme Life

A utilização do material didático na aula de música : um estudo de revisão bibliográfica

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Decanato de Ensino de Graduação, Universidade Aberta do Brasil, Instituto de Artes, Departamento de Música, Curso de Licenciatura em Música a Distância, 2015.Esse trabalho de conclusão de curso tem como objetivo refletir sobre o uso do material didático para o ensino e a aprendizagem musical na educação básica. Os objetivos específicos consistiram em compreender os recursos pedagógicos e educacionais e midiáticos, bem como conhecer os recursos educacionais abertos disponíveis na internet. O material didático neste estudo foi trazido na perspectiva de autores que definem o uso para mediação do ensino em sala de aula, auxiliando no planejamento das aulas favorecendo as práticas musicais de alunos. A partir de uma revisão bibliográfica que evidencia apontamentos de material didático utilizado em aulas de música de escolas de educação básica. A partir dessa revisão bibliográfica reflexiva e das experiências da docência em música vividas nos estágios supervisionados em música no curso de Licenciatura em Música a distância da UnB pólo de Anápolis-GO, foi possível compreender apontamentos sobre o uso de materiais didáticos, os recursos pedagógicos e educacionais, bem como sobre os recursos midiáticos, como por exemplo, a internet, para montar materiais didáticos e que podem auxiliar o professor na sua atuação em sala de aula. Espera-se que esse trabalho possa auxiliar na formação e aprendizagem de futuros professores que estão no processo de formação em cursos de graduação em música. Espera-se, ainda, que as questões aqui analisadas possam dar um direcionamento a uma continuação deste trabalho, acerca do conhecimento sobre os materiais didáticos na área de música, procurando abordar e compreender o que estão sendo feito e o que já existe, para assim compreender estudos e projetos que estão sendo desenvolvidos no Brasil. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis work has the objective to reflect about the didactic teaching materials for musical learning in Basic Education. The specific objectives consisted of the understanding teaching resources, educational and midiatic, to know the resources available on the Internet. The teaching material was brought in this study in the perspective that define its use to mediate the teaching in the class to auxiliary students in their musical practices. From a bibliography review that is related the didactic material used in music lessons in Basic Education schools. From this review and the teaching experiences of music and in the ademic traineeship of UNB in Anapolis-GO campus, was possible to understand about the teaching materials and educational resources as the internet, to help the teaching in his/her class plan. This work is going to help teachers in his/her performance in the classroom in graduate courses. It is expected that this work may give a direction about the knowlegde of teaching material, relating the material are already existed to understand the projects that is been developed in Brasil

Predicting Quality Attributes and Waste of Strawberry Packed Under Modified Atmosphere Throughout the Cold Chain

Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is used commercially to extend the shelf life of strawberries. The attainment of desired gas (O2, CO2) concentrations inside MAP relies on the product respiration and the mass transfer through packaging and will affect the quality. The objective of this work is to build a mathematical model for strawberries to assess the effect of the uncertainties on headspace gas concentration and quality: 1) cold chain related temperature and relative humidity variations and 2) variability associated to product respiration and quality based on literature. Weight loss was more influenced by the cold chain storage conditions (temperature and RH) whereas spoilage had similar influence of cold chain conditions and product parameters. Waste generated in the cold chain was estimated from industrial standard weight loss and spoilage thresholds. A sensitivity analysis of the stochastic MAP model showed the influence of input parameters on the quality pointing to interventions associated to a reduction of the respiration rate (e.g. modification of packaging) and reduction of water transfer (e.g. coating) may prove more successful than other interventions to which the waste generation of this product is not so sensitive to. As a conclusion this work presents a toolbox to interpret cold chain data: 1) develop mathematical models to predict fate of quality 2) simulate cold chain conditions allowing for uncertainty 3) estimate the waste generation kinetics based in quality criteria and thresholds 4) perform a sensitivity analysis to identify most sensitive technological parameters 5) identify interventions that will affect those technological parameters

Desarrollo de un sistema web para el control logistico de la empresa Soldadura y Reparaciones Victor "Solrevic" - Callao 2014.

El presente proyecto tuvo como finalidad el desarrollo de un sistema web para el control Logístico de la empresa Soldadura y Reparaciones Víctor "SOLREVIC", el mismo que se encuentra en el departamento constitucional del Callao. La presente investigación es de tipo descriptivo no experimental con corte transversal, y para el desarrollo del Sistema informático web se utilizó la metodología metodología Rational Unified Process (RUP). El proyecto permitió la optimización el control de almacén y tiempo de servicio brindado a la empresa TASA y otras empresas, a su vez que los procesos administrativos se desarrollen en el menor tiempo posible, lo cual permitió a la empresa poder cumplir con los objetivos trazados, generando mayores ingresos como ganancia ya que actualmente esto les representa frecuentemente un déficit que no les permite consolidarse económicamente. Los resultados reflejaron que el 35% de los encuestados consideran que el control logístico de la empresa SOLREVIC es regular; así mismo el más del 50% respondieron que el desarrollo de un Sistema Web para la optimización de procesos de la empresa SOLREVIC es muy bueno.Tesi

Application of D-optimal design for determination of the influence of water content on the thermal degradation kinetics of ascorbic acid at low water contents

The kinetics of thermal degradation of ascorbic acid was studied in a Maltodextrin matrix at different temperatures between 7.5 and 140°C. Isothermal experiments were performed with samples earlier equilibrated in environments of known a, at 4°C enclosed in hermetically sealed vials, with water contents (w) between 0.17 and 168g water/g solids. Sampling times were selected according to an optimal experimental design in terms of minimum confidence regions of the parameters estimated, using the Bigelow model and estimates from preliminary experiments. The results showed a quadratic dependence of the reference D-value and linear dependence of the z-value with moisture content: D r(1400C, = 150*07-290*73w+-269w2 (min); z = 12*14+22.99w (“C) and showed the applicability of D-optimal designs for determining kinetic parameters in complex situations, with limited experimental requirements. The dependence of the rate constants with water content could not be described by the WLF model in qualitative terms, although in absolute values this model could be used with constants similar to those expected from glass transition theory. The thermodynamic analysis of the results showed a good application of the compensation theory in the whole range of water contents

Predicting quality attributes of strawberry packed under modified atmosphere throughout the cold chain

Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is used commercially to extend the shelf life of strawberries. The attainment of desired gas (O2, CO2) concentrations inside MAP relies on the product respiration and the mass transfer through packaging and will affect the quality. The objective of this work is to build a mathematical model for strawberries to assess the effect of the uncertainties on headspace gas concentration and quality: 1) cold chain related temperature and relative humidity variations and 2) variability associated to product respiration and quality based on literature. Weight loss was more influenced by the cold chain storage conditions (temperature and RH) whereas spoilage had similar influence of cold chain conditions and product parameters. Waste generated in the cold chain was estimated from industrial standard weight loss and spoilage thresholds. A sensitivity analysis of the stochastic MAP model showed the influence of input parameters on the quality pointing to interventions associated to a reduction of the respiration rate (e.g. modification of packaging) and reduction of water transfer (e.g. coating) may prove more successful than other interventions to which the waste generation of this product is not so sensitive to. As a conclusion this work presents a toolbox to interpret cold chain data: 1) develop mathematical models to predict fate of quality 2) simulate cold chain conditions allowing for uncertainty 3) estimate the waste generation kinetics based in quality criteria and thresholds 4) perform a sensitivity analysis to identify most sensitive technological parameters 5) identify interventions that will affect those technological parameters. Keywords: Mathematical modelling; Coating; Variability; Sensitivity analysis; Strawberr