Autonomous robots path planning: An adaptive roadmap approach

Developing algorithms that allow robots to independently navigate unknown environments is a widely researched area of robotics. The potential for autonomous mobile robots use, in industrial and military applications, is boundless. Path planning entails computing a collision free path from a robots current position to a desired target. The problem of path planning for these robots remains underdeveloped. Computational complexity, path optimization and robustness are some of the issues that arise. Current algorithms do not generate general solutions for different situations and require user experience and optimization. Classical algorithms are computationally extensive. This reduces the possibility of their use in real time applications. Additionally, classical algorithms do not allow for any control over attributes of the generated path. A new roadmap path planning algorithm is proposed in this paper. This method generates waypoints, through which the robot can avoid obstacles and reach its goal. At the heart of this algorithm is a method to control the distance of the waypoints from obstacles, without increasing its computational complexity. Several simulations were run to illustrate the robustness and adaptability of this approach, compared to the most commonly used path planning methods

Sezonska dinamika primarne i sekundarne produkcije u šaranskim ribnjacima

Sezonska dinamika biomase i kvalitativnog sastava fitoplanktona, zooplanktona i makrozoobentosa je istraživana u odnosu na fizičke i hemijske faktore vodene sredine, međusobno kao i u odnosu na gajene ribe u tri zemljana bazena. Fitoplankton je imao veliki diverzitet vrsta, naročito jestivih, tokom prvog dela sezone. Kasnije, sa porastom temperature, ihtiomase, količine ekskreta riba, degradacijom nepojedene hrane kao i povremenim smanjenjem količine vode u jezerima, došlo je do promene u pravcu dominacije filamentoznih Cyanophyta. Zooplankton i makrozoobentos su tokom celog perioda istraživanja imali mali diverzitet vrsta. Sezonalna dinamika zooplanktona se karakterisala dominacijom dve Rotatoria, Brachionus angularis i Keratella tropica i malom Cladocera Bosmina longirostris u sva tri bazena. Makrozoobentos je imao malu gustinu i biomasu, a larvame Chironomidae su dominirale tokom cele sezone

The influence of Fusarium infection on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) proteins distribution and baking quality

Under artificial Fusarium infection the total glutenin content determined by chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was significantly reduced in comparison to gliadins which were increased. Among protein types, α-GLI and HMW-GS were the highest affected. Artificial Fusarium infection significantly increased GLI/GLU ratio when compared with the natural infected samples. Artificial Fusarium infection dramatically decreased the dough mixing tolerance and had a considerable negative effect on dough energy, maximum resistance, and resistance/extensibility ratio. Disturbed GLI/GLU ratio and an increased amount of mycotoxin DON under artificial Fusarium infection showed a strong negative impact on affected functional properties of dough and bread. Total and γ-GLI as well as GLI/GLU ratio were significantly positively affected by mycotoxin DON in contrast to total GLU, HMW-GS and LMW-GS which were negatively affected. Results indicated that the stability of baking quality parameters of cultivars more tolerance to the Fusarium infection can be well define by lower accumulation of mycotoxin DON

Creating Quality-Based Smart Sustainable Public Parking Enterprises: A Methodology to Reframe Organizations into Smart Organizations

Enterprise sustainability is a key aim in the fourth industrial revolution era, requiring a new approach based on intelligent technologies that considers the new roles of leadership and sustainability as well as the new trends in emerging smart technologies, with a new focus on Society 5.0. Smart parking has a significant role in fostering the determinants of sustainability in public parking enterprises and achieving adequate mobility in smart cities. Thus, smart parking is the subject of the research presented in this paper. This study defines the vital processes, including leadership processes and technologies needed for smart parking, managed by innovative public parking enterprises. Having this in mind, trends, key facts, the results of present innovative technology enterprises, and methodologies for designing and establishing smart public parking enterprises are analyzed. This paper aims to determine the sustainability of parking enterprises in their current states by developing a MORSO methodology. The MORSO methodology includes independent variables, including the leadership level of the intelligent technologies used, quality of the business processes, and risk related to the business processes, and a dependent variable, the sustainability of smart public parking enterprises. The MORSO methodology also includes steps for the definition of indices related to variables that could be assessed by appropriate techniques such as using questionnaires. Finally, the MORSO methodology introduces steps by which statistical approaches and artificial neural networks (ANN) are applied to test hypotheses regarding correlations between independent and dependent variables. The results of the presented model case study application show that there are strong correlations between smart sustainability and leadership (0.769), quality (0.904), and risk (−0.884), respectively. Additionally, at the level of the presented case study, the results of the application of the ANN indicate that the values of the dependent variable in the fol-lowing time period can be determined with high accuracy, based on the knowledge of the values from the previous period, with a regression coefficient value of R = 0.99482. Finally, in this way, the transition from existing public enterprises to sustainable smart public parking enterprises is envisioned

Investigation of top mass measurements with the ATLAS detector at LHC

Several methods for the determination of the mass of the top quark with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented. All dominant decay channels of the top quark can be explored. The measurements are in most cases dominated by systematic uncertainties. New methods have been developed to control those related to the detector. The results indicate that a total error on the top mass at the level of 1 GeV should be achievable.Comment: 47 pages, 40 figure

Characterization of bread wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) by glutenin proteins

Glutenin polymers composed of HMW and LMW subunits are important contributors to the wheat end-use properties. Twenty-six winter wheat cultivars differing in bread processing quality were collected at the experimental fields of the Agricultural Institute Osijek, Croatia and Institute of the Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2008/2009 season. The HMW glutenins composition and glutenin proteins content were determined by SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC, respectively, with aim to determine the relationship between glutenin protein fractions and wheat quality properties. Significant differences were found between Croatian and Serbian cultivars in several quality attributes (GI, WA, DDT, DS and R/EXT) as well as in the content of total glutenins and LMW glutenins and GLI/GLU ratio. The dominant HMW subunits in analyzed cultivars were 2*, 7 + 9/7 + 8 and 5 + 10. Principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed the presence of association between HMW glutenins composition and GI, dough E, R and R/EXT, while the glutenins quantitative data showed pronounced relation with P, DDT, DS, E, R and R/EXT. GLI/GLU ratio had the opposite effect on these parameters

3D-4D Interlinkage Of qqq Wave Functions Under 3D Support For Pairwise Bethe-Salpeter Kernels

Using the method of Green's functions within a Bethe-Salpeter framework characterized by a pairwise qq interaction with a Lorentz-covariant 3D support to its kernel, the 4D BS wave function for a system of 3 identical relativistic spinless quarks is reconstructed from the corresponding 3D form which satisfies a fully connected 3D BSE. This result is a 3-body generalization of a similar 2-body result found earlier under identical conditions of a 3D support to the corresponding qq-bar BS kernel under Covariant Instaneity (CIA for short). (The generalization from spinless to fermion quarks is straightforward). To set the CIA with 3D BS kernel support ansatz in the context of contemporary approaches to the qqq baryon problem, a model scalar 4D qqq BSE with pairwise contact interactions to simulate the NJL-Faddeev equations is worked out fully, and a comparison of both vertex functions shows that the CIA vertex reduces exactly to the NJL form in the limit of zero spatial range. This consistency check on the CIA vertex function is part of a fuller accounting for its mathematical structure whose physical motivation is traceable to the role of `spectroscopy' as an integral part of the dynamics.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, submitted via the account of K.-C. Yan

Agricultural Academy

Diversity of the fi sh species important for fi shery on the territory of Serbia has changed both spatially and temporally. Temporal changes are connected with historical and anthropogenic factors, while spatial changes are mostly the results of anthropogenic activity. Based on the analysis of the "BAES-ex situ" national database, there are two temporal and spatial periods. The fi rst period (from 1860 to 1950) is characterised by great diversity of the fi sh species important for fi shery in natural ecosystems, above all in rivers. The second period (from 1950 until today) is characterised by reduction in the diversity of the fi sh species important for fi shery, especially sturgeon species, in natural ecosystems, predominantly rivers, and the increasing diversity in anthropogenic water ecosystems. The increasing diversity in accumulations is predominantly related to Cyprinidae and Percidae species. The reduction in diversity in natural ecosystems is most often the result of irrational fi shery, habitat degradation, prominent anthropogenic infl uence and presence of introduced species. Many species important for fi shery are, according to the newest legal regulations of the Republic of Serbia, classifi ed in the category of strictly protected and protected species, and the permanent close hunting season or close season in certain periods and ban on hunting for individuals below prescribed size was declared for many of them. Taking into consideration prominent reduction in diversity, some of the fi sh species important for fi shery are also in "The preliminary list of species for the Serbian red list of vertebrates" because they are in danger of being extinct

Torcetrapib impairs endothelial function in hypertension

Aims A marked increase in HDL notwithstanding, the cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor torcetrapib was associated with an increase in all-cause mortality in the ILLUMINATE trial. As underlying mechanisms remain elusive, the present study was designed to delineate potential off-target effects of torcetrapib. Methods and results Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were treated with torcetrapib (100 mg/kg/day; SHR-T and WKY-T) or placebo (SHR-P and WKY-P) for 3 weeks. Blood pressure transiently increased during the first 3 days of torcetrapib administration in SHRs and returned to baseline thereafter despite continued drug administration. Acetylcholine-induced endothelium-dependent relaxations of aortic rings were markedly impaired, and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) mRNA and protein were down-regulated after 3 weeks of torcetrapib treatment in SHR (P < 0.0001, <0.01, and <0.05, resp. vs. SHR-P). Torcetrapib reduced NO release in cultured aortic endothelial cells (P < 0.01 vs. vehicle-treated cells) and increased generation of reactive oxygen species in aortas of SHR-T (P < 0.05, vs. SHR-P). Vascular reactivity to endothelin-1 (ET-1) and aortic ET-1 tissue content were increased in SHR-T (P < 0.05 vs. SHR-P). Importantly, the ET-1 receptor A/B (ETA/B) antagonist bosentan normalized endothelial function in SHR-T (P < 0.05). Conclusion Torcetrapib induces a sustained impairment of endothelial function, decreases eNOS mRNA, protein as well as NO release, stimulates vascular ROS and ET production, an effect that is prevented by chronic ETA/B-receptor blockade. These unexpected off-target effects of torcetrapib need to be ruled out in the clinical development of novel CETP inhibitors, particularly before a large patient population at increased cardiovascular risk is exposed to these compound