A strongly goal-directed close-range vision system for spacecraft docking

In this presentation, we will propose a strongly goal-oriented stereo vision system to establish proper docking approach motions for automated rendezvous and capture (AR&C). From an input sequence of stereo video image pairs, the system produces a current best estimate of: contact position; contact vector; contact velocity; and contact orientation. The processing demands imposed by this particular problem and its environment dictate a special case solution; such a system should necessarily be, in some sense, minimalist. By this we mean the system should construct a scene description just sufficiently rich to solve the problem at hand and should do no more processing than is absolutely necessary. In addition, the imaging resolution should be just sufficient. Extracting additional information and constructing higher level scene representations wastes energy and computational resources and injects an unnecessary degree of complexity, increasing the likelihood of malfunction. We therefore take a departure from most prior stereopsis work, including our own, and propose a system based on associative memory. The purpose of the memory is to immediately associate a set of motor commands with a set of input visual patterns in the two cameras. That is, rather than explicitly computing point correspondences and object positions in world coordinates and trying to reason forward from this information to a plan of action, we are trying to capture the essence of reflex behavior through the action of associative memory. The explicit construction of point correspondences and 3D scene descriptions, followed by online velocity and point of impact calculations, is prohibitively expensive from a computational point of view for the problem at hand. Learned patterns on the four image planes, left and right at two discrete but closely spaced instants in time, will be bused directly to infer the spacecraft reaction. This will be a continuing online process as the docking collar approaches

Nonprofit Corporation Statutes: A Critique and Proposal

The nonprofit corporation has become an important factor in the social and economic life of the American people. The American predisposition to organization and affiliation has led to an enormous number of such organizations, which in itself is a significant factor. Further, many nonprofit corporations have become national and international entities yielding tremendous economic and political influence. In spite of these factors, however, these organizations have largely escaped the serious study and academic analysis so generously bestowed upon the regular business corporation. This study is directed at an analysis of the legal framework within which such organizations operate. Its aim is to ascertain the sufficiency of the corporation statutes in view of nonprofit organizational operations, and to suggest appropriate changes. Controversial policy considerations concerning the wisdom of particular purposes, functions, or policies are not considered. The goal herein is simply a stimulation toward the achievement of an adequate, coherent, and logical code of nonprofit corporation statutes. The regulation of anti-social or undesirable activity is an additional problem beyond the scope of this study.https://repository.law.umich.edu/michigan_legal_studies/1019/thumbnail.jp