Robust and Fast 3D Scan Alignment using Mutual Information

This paper presents a mutual information (MI) based algorithm for the estimation of full 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) rigid body transformation between two overlapping point clouds. We first divide the scene into a 3D voxel grid and define simple to compute features for each voxel in the scan. The two scans that need to be aligned are considered as a collection of these features and the MI between these voxelized features is maximized to obtain the correct alignment of scans. We have implemented our method with various simple point cloud features (such as number of points in voxel, variance of z-height in voxel) and compared the performance of the proposed method with existing point-to-point and point-to- distribution registration methods. We show that our approach has an efficient and fast parallel implementation on GPU, and evaluate the robustness and speed of the proposed algorithm on two real-world datasets which have variety of dynamic scenes from different environments

AUTOSIM: An automated repetitive software testing tool

AUTOSIM is a software tool which automates the repetitive run testing of software. This tool executes programming tasks previously performed by a programmer with one year of programming experience. Use of the AUTOSIM tool requires a knowledge base containing information about known faults, code fixes, and the fault diagnosis-correction process. AUTOSIM can be considered as an expert system which replaces a low level of programming expertise. Reference information about the design and implementation of the AUTOSIM software test tool provides flowcharts to assist in maintaining the software code and a description of how to use the tool

A Comparison of Conventional and Organic Milk Production Systems in the U.S.

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/23/07.Farm Management,

The Profitability of Organic Soybean Production

Results from long-term experimental trials suggest that similar yields and lower costs are possible with organic compared to conventional soybeans, but there is little information about the relative costs and returns on commercial farms. This study examines the profitability of commercial soybean production using a nationwide survey of soybean producers for 2006 that includes a targeted sample of organic growers. Treatment-effect models are specified to isolate the impact of choosing the organic approach on various levels of soybean production costs. Organic soybean costs range from about $1 to$6 per bushel higher than those for conventional soybeans due to both lower yields and higher per-acre costs, while the average organic price premium in 2006 is more than $9 per bushel. High returns to organic production are attributed to the significant price premiums paid for organic soybeans in 2006, and these price premiums have remained high in 2007 and 2008. However, much higher conventional soybean prices and increased fuel prices may have reduced the incentive for planting organic soybeans.Crop Production/Industries,

Governance and Norms as Determinants of Arming

In this paper, we explore two factors that can limit arming and, more generally, the costs of enforcement within and across states: governance or the formal organizations and institutions that help define and enforce property rights, and norms, or the informal arrangements in settling potential disputes. We examine the effects of these two factors in a simple static contest model, in which two sides choose levels of arming and whether to engage in actual conflict or settle in the shadow of conflict. We show how arming critically depends on both governance and norms, and therefore how societies with potentially conflictual relations can make either high or low levels of expenditures on security without any difference in the levels of security they actually enjoy. We also explore how investments in governance can reduce arming.Interstate and intrastate disputes; Conflict; Governance; Norms; Security

Design and analysis of a control system for an optical delay-line circuit used as reconfigurable gain equalizer

The design and analysis of a control system for a coherent two-port lattice-form optical delay-line circuit used as reconfigurable gain equalizer is presented. The design of the control system, which is based on a real device model and a least-square optimization method, is described in detail. Analysis on a five-stage device for the 32 possible solutions of phase parameters showed that, for some filter characteristics, the variations in power dissipation can vary up to a factor of 2. Furthermore, the solution selection has influence on the optimization result and number of iterations needed. A sensitivity analysis of the phase parameters showed that the allowable error in the phase parameters should not exceed a standard deviation of /spl pi//500 in order to achieve a total maximal absolute accuracy error not greater than approximately 0.6 dB. A five-stage device has been fabricated using planar lightwave circuit technology that uses the thermooptic effect. Excellent agreement between simulations and measurements has been achieved

The Environment as an Argument

Context-awareness as defined in the setting of Ubiquitous Computing [3] is all about expressing the dependency of a specific computation upon some implicit piece of information. The manipulation and expression of such dependencies may thus be neatly encapsulated in a language where computations are first-class values. Perhaps surprisingly however, context-aware programming has not been explored in a functional setting, where first-class computations and higher-order functions are commonplace. In this paper we present an embedded domain-specific language (EDSL) for constructing context-aware applications in the functional programming language Haskell. © 2012 Springer-Verlag

Investigating Individual Pathways to Recovery

Drug use is most prevalent among young adults between ages 18 and 24; this is just one factor that contributes to the high rates of substance use on college campuses. Collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) have been growing in number, awakening the “youth in recovery” movement. This paper presents literature on various tools and elements of recovery, with a focus on CRPs and their significance. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap by examining individual pathways to recovery and learning about the characteristics of students participating in CRPs, including their life events and decisions to seek treatment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 students in a CRP at a large university located in the southeastern region of the United States. The results describe the participants’ personal experiences and reasons for using alcohol and other drugs such as peer pressure and family adversity, in addition to reasons for seeking treatment. Many participants reported spirituality/religion, hobbies, and involvement in the recovery community as important tools for sustaining recovery. Participants also discussed the challenges of living in recovery including fear of stigma and time management. Overall, college students in recovery describe CRPs are beneficial as they offer a sense of community, support, and motivation. Implications are discussed with hopes to help guide decisions about whether these programs should be expanded to other institutions

Microbial Memory Response: Observing History-Dependent Adaptation to Repeated Exposures of Emulsified Vegetable Oil in a Contaminated Aquifer

The utilization of native microbial communities to remediate and immobilize hazardous contaminants has been a common practice for decades. One technique commonly employed to enhance this process is biostimulation, where limiting nutrients are added to a contaminated system in order to stimulate favorable reducing conditions for specialized microorganisms. Many biostimulation applications have been conducted using emulsified vegetable oil (EVO), which stimulates growth of indigenous microbial communities and favorable reducing conditions. However, this practice is sometimes known to cause a lag phase before degradation can occur, lessening the overall efficiency of this practice. The studies described herein aim to reduce the lag phase of degradation by taking advantage of a history-dependent adaptation, called the microbial memory response. This is a novel concept which hypothesizes that a microbial community which has been exposed to a substrate in the past will be able to degrade it more rapidly upon a second or subsequent exposure. To do this, two experiments were designed—one laboratory scale microcosm experiment and one secondary in situ injection of EVO. Both experiments focus on Area 2 of the Oak Ridge Field Research Center (ORFRC), which underwent a subsurface injection of EVO in 2009. The microcosm experiment included groundwater and sediment collected from two sites: one which had been exposed to EVO before and one which had not. Both types of microcosms were amended with a small amount of EVO and monitored for changes in geochemical parameters and the microbial community. Results from this study indicated that the microbial response to EVO was similar in both types of microcosms. The in situ secondary injection was conducted at Area 2 in December 2017 and was monitored for 134 days for changes in geochemical parameters and microbial community. Results from this study indicated that while a distinct community of microbes responded to the EVO injection, the rate at which it was degraded was similar to the primary injection. Overall, neither of the studies showed strong conclusive evidence for the presence of a memory response but did potentially elucidate the limited duration and magnitude of the memory response