Challenges in Partially-Automated Roadway Feature Mapping Using Mobile Laser Scanning and Vehicle Trajectory Data

Connected vehicle and driver's assistance applications are greatly facilitated by Enhanced Digital Maps (EDMs) that represent roadway features (e.g., lane edges or centerlines, stop bars). Due to the large number of signalized intersections and miles of roadway, manual development of EDMs on a global basis is not feasible. Mobile Terrestrial Laser Scanning (MTLS) is the preferred data acquisition method to provide data for automated EDM development. Such systems provide an MTLS trajectory and a point cloud for the roadway environment. The challenge is to automatically convert these data into an EDM. This article presents a new processing and feature extraction method, experimental demonstration providing SAE-J2735 map messages for eleven example intersections, and a discussion of the results that points out remaining challenges and suggests directions for future research.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Bacteria in ancient rocks and meteorites

3 p. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references

Using a Geographical Information System to Evaluate Contributing Factors to Deer-Vehicle Collisions

An expanding human population combined with a growing white-tailed deer (Odocoifeus virginianus) population has resulted in an increase of deer-vehicle collisions in Arkansas. In response to this increase, we are using spatially explicit datasets integrated within a geographic information system (GIS) to identify county-level and site-specific factors contributing to deer-vehicle collisions. County-level information, such as human population densities /urbanization, deer density indices, and road densities, is being evaluated for use in identifying potential aggregations of deer-vehicle collisions. Site-specific information being evaluated includes physical factors such as landcover composition and arrangement, topography, and road characteristics. By incorporating these multi-scale data sets in a GIS, spatial intersections of variables indicating potential current or future hotspots of deer-vehicle collisions can be identified and mapped. This information can then be used to aid administrators and natural resource managers in identifying locations where deer-vehicle collisions may be concentrated

A Method to Assess the Organizing Behaviors Used in Physicians\u27 Counseling of Standardized Parents after Newborn Genetic Screening

Well-organized conversation can improve people’s ability to comprehend and retain information. As part of a long-term effort to adapt Quality Improvement techniques for communication, we developed an explicit criteria method to assess usage of three organizing behaviors (OBs): ‘opening behaviors’ to establish goals; ‘structuring behaviors’ to guide patients through conversation; and ‘emphasizing behaviors’ that signal a need for attention. Pairs of abstractors independently reviewed transcripts in a demonstration sample of conversations between physicians and standardized parents after newborn screening identifies carrier status for sickle cell disease. Criteria for at least one OB were identified in 50/84 transcripts (60%), including 27 with at least one opening behavior (32%), 5 with at least one structuring behavior (6%), and 38 with at least one emphasizing behavior (45%). The limited number of OBs raises concern about communication after newborn screening. Assessment and improvement of OB usage may improve understanding and allow parents to more actively participate in health care

Matrix concentration inequalities via the method of exchangeable pairs

This paper derives exponential concentration inequalities and polynomial moment inequalities for the spectral norm of a random matrix. The analysis requires a matrix extension of the scalar concentration theory developed by Sourav Chatterjee using Stein's method of exchangeable pairs. When applied to a sum of independent random matrices, this approach yields matrix generalizations of the classical inequalities due to Hoeffding, Bernstein, Khintchine and Rosenthal. The same technique delivers bounds for sums of dependent random matrices and more general matrix-valued functions of dependent random variables.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-AOP892 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Opioid use and harms associated with a sustained-release tapentadol formulation: a postmarketing study protocol

Introduction It has been argued that tapentadol may pharmacologically have lower abuse potential than other pharmaceutical opioids currently available. However, there has been no comprehensive triangulation of data regarding use and harms associated with this formulation. A sustained-release formulation (SRF) of tapentadol (Palexia) was released in Australia in 2011 and listed for public subsidy in 2013. We summarise here the methods of a postmarketing study which will measure postintroduction: (1) population level availability, (2) extramedical use and diversion, (3) attractiveness for extramedical use and (4) associated harms, of tapentadol compared against other pharmaceutical opioids. Methods and analysis We evaluated key sources on pharmaceutical use and harms in Australia. This review indicateddata from four sources that disaggregate pharmaceutical opioid formulations and capture tapentadol SRF could be triangulated. These data sources comprised: (1) national pharmaceutical opioid community sales data from 2011 to 2017, (2) national pharmaceutical opioid poisonings reported to Poison Information Centres (PICs) from 2011 to 2017, (3) number of vendors on online marketplaces listing pharmaceutical opioids for sale and (4) data on pharmaceutical opioid extramedical use, attractiveness and harms from interviews with people who regularly inject drugs in Australia. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required for use of pharmaceutical sales data. Ethics approval has been obtained for use of national pharmaceutical opioid poisonings reported to PICs (LNR/16/SCHN/44) and for use of online marketplace data and interview data from people who inject drugs (HC12086). Key findings will be published mid-2018 in a peer-reviewed academic journal, and presented at various conferences and professional meetings.This work was supported by investigator-initiated untied educational funding from Seqirus Pty Ltd (the marketer of tapentadol SRF in Australia) granted to AP, BL, MF, RC, and LD. BL, AP and LD are supported by NHMRC research fellowships (#1073858, #1109366 and #1041472). The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Australia is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Substance Misuse Prevention and Service Improvements Grant Fund

A Compositional Approach to Verifying Modular Robotic Systems

Robotic systems used in safety-critical industrial situations often rely on modular software architectures, and increasingly include autonomous components. Verifying that these modular robotic systems behave as expected requires approaches that can cope with, and preferably take advantage of, this inherent modularity. This paper describes a compositional approach to specifying the nodes in robotic systems built using the Robotic Operating System (ROS), where each node is specified using First-Order Logic (FOL) assume-guarantee contracts that link the specification to the ROS implementation. We introduce inference rules that facilitate the composition of these node-level contracts to derive system-level properties. We also present a novel Domain-Specific Language, the ROS Contract Language, which captures a node's FOL specification and links this contract to its implementation. RCL contracts can be automatically translated, by our tool Vanda, into executable monitors; which we use to verify the contracts at runtime. We illustrate our approach through the specification and verification of an autonomous rover engaged in the remote inspection of a nuclear site, and finish with smaller examples that illustrate other useful features of our framework.Comment: Version submitted to RA

Selective sidewall wetting of polymer blocks in hydrogen silsesquioxane directed self-assembly of PS-b-PDMS

We show the importance of sidewall chemistry for the graphoepitaxial alignment of PS-b-PDMS using prepatterns fabricated by electron beam lithography of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) and by deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography on SiO2 thin films. Density multiplication of polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane (PS-b-PDMS) within both prepatterns was achieved by using a room temperature dynamic solvent annealing environment. Selective tuning of PS and PDMS wetting on the HSQ template sidewalls was also achieved through careful functionalization of the template and substrate surface using either brush or a self-assembled trimethylsilyl monolayer. PDMS selectively wets HSQ sidewalls treated with a brush layer of PDMS, whiereas PS is found to selectively wet HSQ sidewalls treated with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) to produce a trimethylsilyl-terminated surface. The etch resistance of the aligned polymer was also evaluated to understand the implications of using block copolymer patterns which have high etch resistance, self-forming (PDMS) wetting layers at both interfaces. The results outlined in this work may have direct applications in nanolithography for continued device scaling toward the end-of-roadmap era