AutonoVi: Autonomous Vehicle Planning with Dynamic Maneuvers and Traffic Constraints

We present AutonoVi:, a novel algorithm for autonomous vehicle navigation that supports dynamic maneuvers and satisfies traffic constraints and norms. Our approach is based on optimization-based maneuver planning that supports dynamic lane-changes, swerving, and braking in all traffic scenarios and guides the vehicle to its goal position. We take into account various traffic constraints, including collision avoidance with other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists using control velocity obstacles. We use a data-driven approach to model the vehicle dynamics for control and collision avoidance. Furthermore, our trajectory computation algorithm takes into account traffic rules and behaviors, such as stopping at intersections and stoplights, based on an arc-spline representation. We have evaluated our algorithm in a simulated environment and tested its interactive performance in urban and highway driving scenarios with tens of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. These scenarios include jaywalking pedestrians, sudden stops from high speeds, safely passing cyclists, a vehicle suddenly swerving into the roadway, and high-density traffic where the vehicle must change lanes to progress more effectively.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Investigation Of Tactile Displays For Robot To Human Communication

Improvements in autonomous systems technology and a growing demand within military operations are spurring a revolution in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). These mixed-initiative human-robot teams are enabled by Multi-Modal Communication (MMC), which supports redundancy and levels of communication that are more robust than single mode interaction. (Bischoff & Graefe, 2002; Partan & Marler, 1999). Tactile communication via vibrotactile displays is an emerging technology, potentially beneficial to advancing HRI. Incorporation of tactile displays within MMC requires developing messages equivalent in communication power to speech and visual signals used in the military. Toward that end, two experiments were performed to investigate the feasibility of a tactile language using a lexicon of standardized tactons (tactile icons) within a sentence structure for communication of messages for robot to human communication. Experiment one evaluated tactons from the literature with standardized parameters grouped into categories (directional, dynamic, and static) based on the nature and meaning of the patterns to inform design of a tactile syntax. Findings of this experiment revealed directional tactons showed better performance than non-directional tactons, therefore syntax for experiment two composed of a non-directional and a directional tacton was more likely to show performance better than chance. Experiment two tested the syntax structure of equally performing tactons identified from experiment one, revealing participants’ ability to interpret tactile sentences better than chance with or without the presence of an independent work imperative task. This finding advanced the state of the art in tactile displays from one to two word phrases facilitating inclusion of the tactile modality within MMC for HR

World-Making and Grammatical Impasse

World-Making and Grammatical Impass

Correlates of Antibiotic Diversion in the Philippines: Misconceptions and Community-Level Access to Nonmedical Sources of Antibiotics

Aim: To identify sociodemographic, knowledge, and attitudinal correlates to antibiotic diversion among a community-based sample of adults (age 18 and older) in a low-income setting of the Philippines and to explore community-level data on informal antibiotic distribution in sari-sari stands. Methods: Participants (n=307) completed self-administered surveys. Correlates to antibiotic diversion were assessed using logistic regression with Firth’s bias-adjusted estimates. Availability and characteristics of antibiotics in the sari-sari stands (n=106) were observed through site visits. Results: A majority (78%) had shared antibiotics in their lifetime, most often with family members. In multivariable analysis, agreement with the belief that it is safe to prematurely stop an antibiotic course (OR: 2.8, CI: 1.3-5.8) and concerns about antibiotic side effects (OR: 2.1, CI: 1.1-4.4) were significantly associated with increased odds of reported antibiotic diversion. Antibiotic diversion was not associated with sociodemographic characteristics or antibiotic knowledge. Antibiotics were widely available in sari-sari stores (60%), where antibiotic expiration dates were often unaccounted for (59%), and a full course of antibiotics was usually unavailable (68%). Conclusions: Antibiotic diversion was common and was associated with misconceptions about proper antibiotic use. Antibiotics were widely available in sari-sari stands, but usually without expiration information or full dosages. Although more research is needed, it is clear that efforts to curb antibiotic resistance must include an understanding of location-specific antibiotic misconceptions and individual access to legitimate pharmaceutical outlets

The Immanent Refusal of Conversion

Conversion is never now. Conversion is often narrated as a moment of turning, a turning that happens in an ineffable instant, and this gets us in the habit of linking conversion to the now. Conversion happens quickly, instantaneously, decisively, in the blink of an eye, and this seems like a good way of describing how the now happens. So it seems like conversion happens like the now happens. But conversion does not happen this way. Conversion does not happen now. And we can push this a bit further: if conversion does not happen now, if conversion never happens now, then this is because conversion denies the now, because conversion never wants the now to happen, or because conversion wants the now never to happen.1 If conversion happens, then the now does not

An evaluation of a microwave technique for moisture content determination in snap beans

A study was conducted to compare a microwave oven procedure to the convection oven method for moisture determination of snap beans. Emphasis was on correlating microwave measurements with convection oven drying results. Drying parameters considered were sample preparation, microwave drying time, and number of samples per microwave load. A dehumidifier was used to obtain a range of initial moisture values. The majority of the pods were pureed in a food processor for the microwave treatment combination procedure. The preliminary results for the convection oven revealed that whole or puree sample preparation had little effect on indicated moisture contents for the ranges tested. Whole sample preparation was selected as the reference moisture technique and was used to evaluate the microwave procedure. Microwave oven preliminary results indicated that time intervals and number of samples had a major effect upon the indicated moisture content. The time intervals (8, 10, 12, and 18 minutes) and the number of samples per load (2, 3, and 4) were evaluated for the treatment com-binations to determine percent moisture. For determination of moisture in snap beans using the microwave oven at the No. 6 power setting, the indicated moisture contents given by drying three (10 gram) samples for 12 minutes were significantly different than convection dried samples at the 99% level of probabil-ity. Even though they were statistically diffeernt, the moisture contents had the best linear relationship with the convection moisture contents. A convection percent moisture prediction equation was established. Thus, the time reduction from 24 hours to 12 minutes offered by the microwave procedure has potential for moisture determination in snap beans

Consent and coercion: How the ideology of progressivism preserved capitalist relations in Nevada, 1900-1919

During the so-called Progressive Era, the State of Nevada influenced the consciousness of workers by rewarding proper thinking with access to state power and punishing improper thinking with criminal sanctions. Nevada Governor Emmet D. Boyle fostered a relationship with the state\u27s prominent trade unionists that promoted Progressive notions of industrial cooperation. Legislation that created the Office of Labor Commissioner in 1915 secured this Progressive consensus between the State and trade unions in Nevada. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) threatened this relationship however by introducing throughout Nevada\u27s mining districts a radical, class conscious critique of capitalist relations. In response to this ideological challenge, trade unionists in Nevada supported passage of the Criminal Syndicalism Act in 1919. With the subsequent demise of the IWW, a hegemonic Progressive ideology in Nevada served to further conceal from organized labor the exploitive nature of capitalist relations

The Creation of Non-Being

The Creation of Non-Bein

After Comfort

This essay, for Log, the journal of record of autonomous architecture, urges architects to consider comfort and the thermal interior as a site for creativity

Network evolution, success, and regional development in the European aerospace industry

The success breeds success hypothesis has been mainly applied to theoretical network approaches. We investigate the European aerospace industry using data on the European Framework Programmes and on Airbus suppliers, focusing on the success breeds success hypothesis at four levels of analysis: the spatial structure of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network, its topological architecture, the individual actors that make up the network, and through a comparison of the Airbus invention and production networks. On the spatial level, SBS is favored: successful regions maintain their position and grow on a large scale, especially so for regions that have strongly participated from the very beginning. The regional hub structure is mirrored in the architecture of the European aerospace R&D collaboration network, where well-connected hub organizations play a key role in shaping the structure of the network through their many collaborative partnerships and do so in a way that strategically positions themselves with greater ability to access and regulate knowledge flows, as assessed by several centrality measures. Only successful organizations have the ability to form so many ties, with success thus breeding success in the European aerospace R&D collaboration network. The importance of the core organizations made clear through the centrality analysis is further supported by the analysis of weak ties, where we observe that the core organizations are connected to the rest of the network with many weak ties, thereby confirming their outstanding positions in the European aerospace R&D collaboration network as being able to access knowledge or other resources. With the combination of the R&D collaboration network and the Airbus production network on a spatial level, we see additional support for SBS, as those regions whose actors are frequent participants in both networks show the greatest share of successful actors. The European aerospace industry shows an ambidextrous character as a whole, which is nonetheless insufficient to avoid recent and future challenges demanding a strong emphasis on production skills