Grounding Object Relations in Language-Conditioned Robotic Manipulation with Semantic-Spatial Reasoning

Grounded understanding of natural language in physical scenes can greatly benefit robots that follow human instructions. In object manipulation scenarios, existing end-to-end models are proficient at understanding semantic concepts, but typically cannot handle complex instructions involving spatial relations among multiple objects. which require both reasoning object-level spatial relations and learning precise pixel-level manipulation affordances. We take an initial step to this challenge with a decoupled two-stage solution. In the first stage, we propose an object-centric semantic-spatial reasoner to select which objects are relevant for the language instructed task. The segmentation of selected objects are then fused as additional input to the affordance learning stage. Simply incorporating the inductive bias of relevant objects to a vision-language affordance learning agent can effectively boost its performance in a custom testbed designed for object manipulation with spatial-related language instructions.Comment: AAAI 2023 RL Ready for Production Worksho

Molecular basis for heat desensitization of TRPV1 ion channels.

The transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) ion channel is a prototypical molecular sensor for noxious heat in mammals. Its role in sustained heat response remains poorly understood, because rapid heat-induced desensitization (Dh) follows tightly heat-induced activation (Ah). To understand the physiological role and structural basis of Dh, we carried out a comparative study of TRPV1 channels in mouse (mV1) and those in platypus (pV1), which naturally lacks Dh. Here we show that a temperature-sensitive interaction between the N- and C-terminal domains of mV1 but not pV1 drives a conformational rearrangement in the pore leading to Dh. We further show that knock-in mice expressing pV1 sensed heat normally but suffered scald damages in a hot environment. Our findings suggest that Dh evolved late during evolution as a protective mechanism and a delicate balance between Ah and Dh is crucial for mammals to sense and respond to noxious heat

Study of New Wall Materials Design Based on TRIZ Integrated Innovation Method

New wall materials alleviate the problems of high energy consumption and heavy pollution in the production process through the forms of new natural raw materials, energy conservation, land conservation, waste utilization, etc.. In this paper, design of new building wall materials is achieved through the integrated innovation method of Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Quality Function Deployment (QFD). Technical contradictions and physical contradictions in various stages of product design and production are resolved from the perspectives of user survey, R & D design, manufacturing, marketing. According to the different advantages of TRIZ, TAM and QFD in various stages of product, new wall material products of Guizhou Long Life Forestry Group are used as an example, with the integrated innovation method, the company’s new wall materials products are designed, and green, environmental, economical series wall materials products are designed and marketed in China.Key words: TRIZ; TAM; QFD; New building materials; Integrated innovation metho

Porous single crystalline-like titanium dioxide monolith with enhanced photoelectrochemical performance

Macro-sized porous single crystalline-like (PSC-like) TiO2 is endowed with unique structural advantages due to its structural consistency and porosity in a large area, which would significantly enhance its photoelectrochemical function. However, there are significant technical challenges in the growth of porous single crystalline-like monoliths. The consistency of structure dominates the structure so that the grain boundary is reduced to the minimum, which is in contradiction with the three-dimensional percolation structure. Here we report a lattice reconstruction strategy based on solid-solid transformation to grow porous single crystal-like anatase TiO2 dominated by (200) and (101) facets at 2 cm scale. In comparison with the traditional definition of porous single crystal, it has two different lattice orientations, but still has good photoelectrochemical properties. The band gap engineering introduces Ti3+ gap into the lattice to generate TinO2n−1 with Magneli phase, limiting the created active structure to the lattice with two-dimensional surface, which would open a new avenue to create highly active surfaces to capture photons and transport electrons stably. The PSC-like TinO2n−1 provides enhanced exciton lifetime (3–5 ns) as a photocatalytic catalyst and shows significant visible light absorption. The independent PSC-like TinO2n−1 delivers high photocurrent of 1.8–5.5 mA · cm−2 at room temperature and does not decay for 10 h

Falling weight impact test of a new-type flexible rock-shed

A new concept of a flexible rock-shed is presented for protection of the railway from falling rocks. The flexible rock-shed is made of flexible nets connected by specific spring spacer bars to an array of reinforced concrete portable frames which are linked by a longitudinal steel tube truss. To evaluate the performance of the flexible rock-shed, experimental and numerical studies are carried out in the present study. Impact tests are conducted on a full-scale partial model of the prototype structure when it is subjected to a falling block of 340 kg. The impact time interval, maximum deflection of the flexible net, tensile forces in the supporting ropes, and axial strains of spring spacer bars are recorded. To further examine the dynamic behavior of the flexible rock-shed, numerical simulations are also carried out by using the explicit finite element code ANSYS/LS-DYNA. It is found that the numerical results coincide well with the experimental data and both the numerical and experimental studies reveal that the structure can withstand impact energy of 50 kJ with all the materials working in the elastic range. The structural details are improved and the basis for the design and construction of similar structures in the future is provided

A novel method to quantify local CpG methylation density by regional methylation elongation assay on microarray

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>DNA methylation based techniques are important tools in both clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. But most of these methods only analyze a few CpG sites in a target region. Indeed, difference of site-specific methylation may also lead to a change of methylation density in many cases, and it has been found that the density of methylation is more important than methylation of single CpG site for gene silencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed a novel approach for quantitative analysis of CpG methylation density on the basis of microarray-based hybridization and incorporation of Cy5-dCTP into the Cy3 labeled target DNA by using Taq DNA Polymerase on microarray. The quantification is achieved by measuring Cy5/Cy3 signal ratio which is proportional to methylation density. This methylation-sensitive technique, termed RMEAM (regional methylation elongation assay on microarray), provides several advantages over existing methods used for methylation analysis. It can determine an exact methylation density of the given region, and has potential of high throughput. We demonstrate a use of this method in determining the methylation density of the promoter region of the tumor-related gene <it>MLH1, TERT </it>and <it>MGMT </it>in colorectal carcinoma patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This technique allows for quantitative analysis of regional methylation density, which is the representative of all allelic methylation patterns in the sample. The results show that this technique has the characteristics of simplicity, rapidness, specificity and high-throughput.</p

Detection of incoherent broadband terahertz light using antenna-coupled high-electron-mobility field-effect transistors

The sensitivity of direct terahertz detectors based on self-mixing of terahertz electromagnetic wave in field-effect transistors is being improved with noise-equivalent power close to that of Schottky-barrier-diode detectors. Here we report such detectors based on AlGaN/GaN two-dimensional electron gas at 77~K are able to sense broadband and incoherent terahertz radiation. The measured photocurrent as a function of the gate voltage agrees well with the self-mixing model and the spectral response is mainly determined by the antenna. A Fourier-transform spectrometer equipped with detectors designed for 340, 650 and 900~GHz bands allows for terahertz spectroscopy in a frequency range from 0.1 to 2.0~THz. The 900~GHz detector at 77~K offers an optical sensitivity about $1~\mathrm{pW/\sqrt{Hz}}$ being comparable to a commercial silicon bolometer at 4.2~K. By further improving the sensitivity, room-temperature detectors would find applications in active/passive terahertz imaging and terahertz spectroscopy.Comment: 4.5 pages, 5 figure

Enantioselective Rhodium-Catalyzed Allylation of Cyclic Imines with Potassium Allyltrifluoroborates

This Article presents further examples of the enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed addition of potassium allyltrifluoroborates to cyclic imines. A wide range of substituted allyltrifluoroborates are compatible with this process, and provide protected homoallylic amines with high levels of diastereo- and enantioselection. The reactions display a strong preference for carbon‒carbon bond formation at the more substituted terminus of the allyl fragment of the allyltrifluoroborate, regardless of the position of the boron atom. Representative examples of manipulation of the products are also described