Motion Planning in Humans and Robots

We present a general framework for generating trajectories and actuator forces that will take a robot system from an initial configuration to a goal configuration in the presence of obstacles observed with noisy sensors. The central idea is to find the motion plan that optimizes a performance criterion dictated by specific task requirements. The approach is motivated by studies of human voluntary manipulation tasks that suggest that human motions can be described as solutions of certain optimization problems

Interaction of chemical patterns in coupled layers

We investigate the interaction between reaction-diffusion systems coupled by diffusion. The photosensitive CDIMA (chorine dioxide–iodine–malonic acid) reaction allows us to study experimentally the mutual influence of two layers of Turing patterns coupled via a diffusive interaction. By illuminating each of the layers with different intensities of homogeneous external light, the chemical conditions in each layer can be shifted, allowing us to study the result of diffusive interaction between Turing patterns with different spatial configurations. Our experiments suggest a complex scenario for the interaction between different patterns, strongly dependent on the spatial characteristics of the interacting patterns. Numerical simulations are also reported in full agreement with experimental observationsThis work has been supported by the DGI (Spain) under Project No. FIS2010-21023 and Xunta de Galicia (Spain) under Project Nos. PGIDIT05PXIC20607PN and INCITE07PXI206131ES and by the NSF (USA). D.G.M. acknowledges a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain and a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant from the EU248346-NMSSBLS, as well as financial support from the CSIC-SPAIN (JAE-DOC

The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey II. Data Reduction Procedures

The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey is a large program to carry out multi-color imaging of 100 early-type members of the Virgo Cluster using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. Deep F475W and F850LP images (~ SDSS g and z) are being used to study the central regions of the program galaxies, their globular cluster systems, and the three-dimensional structure of Virgo itself. In this paper, we describe in detail the data reduction procedures used for the survey, including image registration, drizzling strategies, the computation of weight images, object detection, the identification of globular cluster candidates, and the measurement of their photometric and structural parameters.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJS. Also available at http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~pcote/acs/publications.htm

Synthesis, structural characterization and antimicrobial activity of silver(I) complexes with 1-benzyl-1H-tetrazoles

Herein, we report the synthesis and structural characteristics of three tetrazole-containing compounds, 1-benzyl-1H-tetrazole (bntz), 1-benzyl-1H-tetrazol-5-amine (bntza) and 1-(4-methoxybenzyl)-1H-tetrazol-5-amine (mbntza) and the corresponding silver(I) complexes of the general formula [Ag(NO3-O)(L-N4)(2)](n), L = bntz (1), bntza (2) and mbntza (3). Silver(I) complexes 1-3 and 1-benzyl-1H-tetrazoles have been studied in detail by NMR, IR and UV-Vis spectroscopic methods and the structures of 1 and 2 have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The results of these analyses revealed a monodentate coordination of the ligands to Ag(I) ion via the N4 tetrazole nitrogen. The antimicrobial potential of silver(I) complexes 1-3 was evaluated against the broad panel of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi, displaying their remarkable inhibiting activity with MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) values in the range 2-8 and 0.16-1.25 mu g/mL (3.8-16.3 and 0.31-2.15 mu M), respectively. On the other hand, 1-benzyl-1H-tetrazoles used for the synthesis of the silver(I) complexes were not active against the investigated strains, suggesting that the activity of the complexes originates from the Ag(I) ion exclusively. Moreover, silver(I) complexes 1-3 have good therapeutic potential, which can be deduced from their moderate cytotoxicity on the human fibroblast cell line MRC5, with IC50 values falling in the range 30-60 mu g/mL (57.7-103.4 mu M).Related to published version: [https://imagine.imgge.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/1144]This is the peer-reviewed version of the article: Andrejević, T. P., Nikolić, A. M., Glišić, B., Wadepohl, H., Vojnović, S., Zlatović, M., Petković, M., Nikodinović-Runić, J., Opsenica, I. M., & Djuran, M. (2018). Synthesis, structural characterization and antimicrobial activity of silver(I) complexes with 1-benzyl-1H-tetrazoles. Polyhedron, 154, 325–333. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poly.2018.08.001

On the Transmission of Colour Image Over Double Generalized Gamma FSO Channel

In this paper performance analysis of colour image Free Space Optics (FSO) transmission over Double Generalized Gamma (DGG) turbulence communication channel is carried out. At the reception side, we have used an average bit error rate (ABER) for reconstructed image performance measure, as the function of FSO link transmission parameters, such as propagation distance, Rytov variance and turbulence shaping and severity parameters (γ1, γ2, m1, m2). Obtained results cover a large number of colour image FSO transmission scenarios, for Gamma-Gamma, Double-Weibull and K turbulence models channels considered as special cases

An Increasing Stellar Baryon Fraction in Bright Galaxies at High Redshift

Recent observations have shown that the characteristic luminosity of the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function does not significantly evolve at 4 < z < 7 and is approximately M*_UV ~ -21. We investigate this apparent non-evolution by examining a sample of 178 bright, M_UV < -21 galaxies at z=4 to 7, analyzing their stellar populations and host halo masses. Including deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging to constrain the rest-frame optical light, we find that M*_UV galaxies at z=4-7 have similar stellar masses of log(M/Msol)=9.6-9.9 and are thus relatively massive for these high redshifts. However, bright galaxies at z=4-7 are less massive and have younger inferred ages than similarly bright galaxies at z=2-3, even though the two populations have similar star formation rates and levels of dust attenuation. We match the abundances of these bright z=4-7 galaxies to halo mass functions from the Bolshoi Lambda-CDM simulation to estimate the halo masses. We find that the typical halo masses in ~M*_UV galaxies decrease from log(M_h/Msol)=11.9 at z=4 to log(M_h/Msol)=11.4 at z=7. Thus, although we are studying galaxies at a similar mass across multiple redshifts, these galaxies live in lower mass halos at higher redshift. The stellar baryon fraction in units of the cosmic mean Omega_b/Omega_m rises from 5.1% at z=4 to 11.7% at z=7; this evolution is significant at the ~3-sigma level. This rise does not agree with simple expectations of how galaxies grow, and implies that some effect, perhaps a diminishing efficiency of feedback, is allowing a higher fraction of available baryons to be converted into stars at high redshifts.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 15 pages, 5 figures, 6 table