The control of search and rescue robots with the general suppression control framework

The paper described the use of the general suppression control framework (GSCF) for the control and coordination of a team of search and rescue robots undertaking exploration operation. This study adopts the biological analogy of the human immune system to derive the GSCF having the behavior of immunological cells. The framework directs the coordination of these robots in tackling search and rescue operations in an unstructured environment. Simulation study is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control framework.published_or_final_versio

A Hybrid Decision Model for Improving Warehouse Efficiency in a Process-oriented View

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Human parathyroid hormone for treating osteoporosis

Human parathyroid hormone should be used in patients with severe osteoporosis to decrease the rate of vertebral and nonvertebral fractures. (Strength of Recommendation [SOR]: A, based on a systematic review and randomized controlled trial [RCT].) The parathyroid hormone teriparatide (Forteo) should be reserved for patients who do not respond to bisphosphonates or who have severe bone loss. (SOR: C, based on expert opinion.

System and Method for 3D Imaging using Structured Light Illumination

A biometrics system captures and processes a handprint image using a structured light illumination to create a 2D representation equivalent of a rolled inked handprint. The biometrics system includes an enclosure with a scan volume for placement of the hand. A reference plane with a backdrop pattern forms one side of the scan volume. The backdrop pattern is preferably a random noise pattern and the coordinates of the backdrop pattern are predetermined at system provisioning. The biometrics system further includes at least one projection unit for projecting a structured light pattern onto a hand positioned in the scan volume on or in front of the backdrop pattern and at least two cameras for capturing a plurality of images of the hand, wherein each of the plurality of images includes at least a portion of the hand and the backdrop pattern. A processing unit calculates 3D coordinates of the hand from the plurality of images using the predetermined coordinates of the backdrop pattern to align the plurality of images and mapping the 3D coordinates to a 2D flat surface to create a 2D representation equivalent of a rolled inked handprint. The processing unit can also adjust calibration parameters for each hand scan from calculating coordinates of the portion of backdrop pattern in the at least one image and comparing with the predetermined coordinates of the backdrop pattern

System and Method for 3D Imaging using Structured Light Illumination

A biometrics system captures and processes a handprint image using a structured light illumination to create a 2D representation equivalent of a rolled inked handprint. A processing unit calculates 3D coordinates of the hand from the plurality of images and maps the 3D coordinates to a 2D flat surface to create a 2D representation equivalent of a rolled inked handprint

Side Information in Coded Aperture Compressive Spectral Imaging

Coded aperture compressive spectral imagers sense a three-dimensional cube by using two-dimensional projections of the coded and spectrally dispersed source. These imagers systems often rely on FPA detectors, SLMs, micromirror devices (DMDs), and dispersive elements. The use of the DMDs to implement the coded apertures facilitates the capture of multiple projections, each admitting a different coded aperture pattern. The DMD allows not only to collect the sufficient number of measurements for spectrally rich scenes or very detailed spatial scenes but to design the spatial structure of the coded apertures to maximize the information content on the compressive measurements. Although sparsity is the only signal characteristic usually assumed for reconstruction in compressing sensing, other forms of prior information such as side information have been included as a way to improve the quality of the reconstructions. This paper presents the coded aperture design in a compressive spectral imager with side information in the form of RGB images of the scene. The use of RGB images as side information of the compressive sensing architecture has two main advantages: the RGB is not only used to improve the reconstruction quality but to optimally design the coded apertures for the sensing process. The coded aperture design is based on the RGB scene and thus the coded aperture structure exploits key features such as scene edges. Real reconstructions of noisy compressed measurements demonstrate the benefit of the designed coded apertures in addition to the improvement in the reconstruction quality obtained by the use of side information

Method of depositing a coating on Si-based ceramic composites

A process of depositing a coating system suitable for use as an environmental barrier coating on various substrate materials, particularly those containing silicon and intended for high temperature applications such as the hostile thermal environment of a gas turbine engine. The process comprises depositing a first coating layer containing mullite, and preferably a second coating layer of an alkaline earth aluminosilicate, such as barium-strontium-aluminosilicate (BSAS), by thermal spraying while maintaining the substrate at a temperature of 800.degree. C. or less, preferably 500.degree. C. or less, by which a substantially crack-free coating system is produced with desirable mechanical integrity

A millimeter-wave antireflection coating for cryogenic silicon lenses

We have developed and tested an antireflection (AR) coating method for silicon lenses at cryogenic temperatures and millimeter wavelengths. Our particular application is a measurement of the cosmic microwave background. The coating consists of machined pieces of Cirlex glued to the silicon. The measured reflection from an AR coated flat piece is less than 1.5% at the design wavelength. The coating has been applied to flats and lenses and has survived multiple thermal cycles from 300 to 4 K. We present the manufacturing method, the material properties, the tests performed, and estimates of the loss that can be achieved in practical lenses