Tele-autonomous systems: New methods for projecting and coordinating intelligent action at a distance

There is a growing need for humans to perform complex remote operations and to extend the intelligence and experience of experts to distant applications. It is asserted that a blending of human intelligence, modern information technology, remote control, and intelligent autonomous systems is required, and have coined the term tele-autonomous technology, or tele-automation, for methods producing intelligent action at a distance. Tele-automation goes beyond autonomous control by blending in human intelligence. It goes beyond tele-operation by incorporating as much autonomy as possible and/or reasonable. A new approach is discussed for solving one of the fundamental problems facing tele-autonomous systems: The need to overcome time delays due to telemetry and signal propagation. New concepts are introduced called time and position clutches, that allow the time and position frames between the local user control and the remote device being controlled, to be desynchronized respectively. The design and implementation of these mechanisms are described in detail. It is demonstrated that these mechanisms lead to substantial telemanipulation performance improvements, including the result of improvements even in the absence of time delays. The new controls also yield a simple protocol for control handoffs of manipulation tasks between local operators and remote systems

Product Market Regulation and Competition in China

The extent of competition in product markets is an important determinant of economic growth in both developed and developing countries. This paper uses the 2008 vintage of the OECD indicators of product market regulation to assess the extent to which China’s regulatory environment is supportive of competition in markets for goods and services. The results indicate that, although competition is increasingly robust across most markets, the overall level of product market regulation is still restrictive in international comparison. These impediments to competition are likely to constrain economic growth as the Chinese economy continues to develop and becomes more sophisticated. The paper goes on to review various aspects of China’s regulatory framework and suggests a number of policy initiatives that would improve the extent to which competitive market forces are able to operate. Breaking the traditional links between state-owned enterprises and government agencies is an ongoing challenge. Reducing administrative burdens, increasing private sector involvement in network sectors and lowering barriers to foreign direct investment in services would also increase competition and enhance productivity growth going forward. Some of the reforms introduced by the Chinese government over the past two years go in this direction and should therefore help foster growth.

Tele-Autonomous control involving contact

Object localization and its application in tele-autonomous systems are studied. Two object localization algorithms are presented together with the methods of extracting several important types of object features. The first algorithm is based on line-segment to line-segment matching. Line range sensors are used to extract line-segment features from an object. The extracted features are matched to corresponding model features to compute the location of the object. The inputs of the second algorithm are not limited only to the line features. Featured points (point to point matching) and featured unit direction vectors (vector to vector matching) can also be used as the inputs of the algorithm, and there is no upper limit on the number of the features inputed. The algorithm will allow the use of redundant features to find a better solution. The algorithm uses dual number quaternions to represent the position and orientation of an object and uses the least squares optimization method to find an optimal solution for the object's location. The advantage of using this representation is that the method solves for the location estimation by minimizing a single cost function associated with the sum of the orientation and position errors and thus has a better performance on the estimation, both in accuracy and speed, than that of other similar algorithms. The difficulties when the operator is controlling a remote robot to perform manipulation tasks are also discussed. The main problems facing the operator are time delays on the signal transmission and the uncertainties of the remote environment. How object localization techniques can be used together with other techniques such as predictor display and time desynchronization to help to overcome these difficulties are then discussed

Marked response to VNS in a post-cingulotomy patient: Implications for the mechanism of action of VNS in TRD

AbstractTreatment-resistant major depression (TRMD, major depressive disorder that fails to respond to numerous therapies) is a relatively common and clinically challenging disorder. In many cases, the most severely affected TRMD patients have received surgical intervention (subcaudate tractotomy, limbic leucotomy, anterior capsulotomy, and anterior cingulotomy). New treatments, including vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and deep brain stimulation, have emerged to treat individuals with TRMD. We describe the case of a woman, 53 years of age, with a long and sustained history of TRMD (33 years), which was unresponsive to numerous treatments (multiple pharmacotherapies, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy [ECT]). Additionally, her TRMD failed to respond to a bilateral anterior cingulotomy. She underwent placement of a cervical vagus nerve stimulator and a brief course of ECT (3 unilateral treatments). Her depression improved markedly, and it has remained in sustained remission for 3.5 years. This case suggests a potential synergistic effect of VNS and ECT, as well as provides possible clues to the neural circuitry of VNS in TRMD.</jats:p

Haemogenic endocardium contributes to transient definitive haematopoiesis.

Haematopoietic cells arise from spatiotemporally restricted domains in the developing embryo. Although studies of non-mammalian animal and in vitro embryonic stem cell models suggest a close relationship among cardiac, endocardial and haematopoietic lineages, it remains unknown whether the mammalian heart tube serves as a haemogenic organ akin to the dorsal aorta. Here we examine the haemogenic activity of the developing endocardium. Mouse heart explants generate myeloid and erythroid colonies in the absence of circulation. Haemogenic activity arises from a subset of endocardial cells in the outflow cushion and atria earlier than in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros region, and is transient and definitive in nature. Interestingly, key cardiac transcription factors, Nkx2-5 and Isl1, are expressed in and required for the haemogenic population of the endocardium. Together, these data suggest that a subset of endocardial/endothelial cells serve as a de novo source for transient definitive haematopoietic progenitors

New records of Burgess Shale-type taxa from the middle Cambrian of Utah

Cambrian strata of the Laurentian craton contain numerous examples of Burgess Shale-type faunas. Although displaying a more or less concentric distribution around the cratonal margin, most faunal occurrences are in present-day western North America, extending from the Northwest Territories to California. Nevertheless, the soft-bodied and lightly skeletalized fossils in most of these Lagerstätten are highly sporadic. Here, we extend knowledge of such Middle Cambrian occurrences in Utah with reports of four taxa. An arthropod from the Marjum Formation, Dytikosicula desmatae gen. et sp. nov., is a putative megacheiran. It is most similar to Dicranocaris guntherorum, best known from the younger Wheeler Formation, but differs primarily in the arrangement of pleurae and overall size. Along with a specimen of ?Yohoia sp, a new species of Yohoia, Y. utahana sp. nov., is described. It differs from the type and only known species, Y. tenuis, principally in its larger size and shorter exopods; it is the first description of this genus from outside the Burgess Shale. A new species of a stem-group lophotrochozoan from the Spence Shale, Wiwaxia herka sp. nov., possesses a palisade of dorso-lateral spines that are more robust and numerous than the type species of Wiwaxia, W. corrugata. Another notable taxon is Eldonia ludwigi from the Marjum Formation, which is interpreted as a primitive ambulacrarian (assigned to the cambroernids) and a new specimen of the ?cnidarian Cambrorhytium from the Wheeler Shale is illustrated

Self-avoiding walks and polygons on the triangular lattice

We use new algorithms, based on the finite lattice method of series expansion, to extend the enumeration of self-avoiding walks and polygons on the triangular lattice to length 40 and 60, respectively. For self-avoiding walks to length 40 we also calculate series for the metric properties of mean-square end-to-end distance, mean-square radius of gyration and the mean-square distance of a monomer from the end points. For self-avoiding polygons to length 58 we calculate series for the mean-square radius of gyration and the first 10 moments of the area. Analysis of the series yields accurate estimates for the connective constant of triangular self-avoiding walks, $\mu=4.150797226(26)$, and confirms to a high degree of accuracy several theoretical predictions for universal critical exponents and amplitude combinations.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figure

Color naming across languages reflects color use

What determines how languages categorize colors? We analyzed results of the World Color Survey (WCS) of 110 languages to show that despite gross differences across languages, communication of chromatic chips is always better for warm colors (yellows/reds) than cool colors (blues/greens). We present an analysis of color statistics in a large databank of natural images curated by human observers for salient objects and show that objects tend to have warm rather than cool colors. These results suggest that the cross-linguistic similarity in color-naming efficiency reflects colors of universal usefulness and provide an account of a principle (color use) that governs how color categories come about. We show that potential methodological issues with the WCS do not corrupt information-theoretic analyses, by collecting original data using two extreme versions of the color-naming task, in three groups: the Tsimane’, a remote Amazonian hunter-gatherer isolate; Bolivian-Spanish speakers; and English speakers. These data also enabled us to test another prediction of the color-usefulness hypothesis: that differences in color categorization between languages are caused by differences in overall usefulness of color to a culture. In support, we found that color naming among Tsimane’ had relatively low communicative efficiency, and the Tsimane’ were less likely to use color terms when describing familiar objects. Color-naming among Tsimane’ was boosted when naming artificially colored objects compared with natural objects, suggesting that industrialization promotes color usefulness.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award 1534318

Epitaxial InN/InGaN quantum dots on Si: Cl- anion selectivity and pseudocapacitor behavior

Epitaxial InN quantum dots (QDs) on In-rich InGaN, applied as an electrochemical electrode, activate Cl−-anion-selective surface attachment, bringing forth faradaic/pseudocapacitor-like behavior. In contrast to traditional pseudocapacitance, here, no chemical reaction of the electrode material occurs. The anion attachment is explained by the unique combination of the surface and quantum properties of the InN QDs. A high areal capacitance is obtained for this planar electrode together with rapid and reversible charge/discharge cycles. With the growth on cheap Si substrates, the InN/InGaN QD electrochemical electrode has great potential, opening up new application fields for III–nitride semiconductors