Knowledge-based control for robot self-localization

Autonomous robot systems are being proposed for a variety of missions including the Mars rover/sample return mission. Prior to any other mission objectives being met, an autonomous robot must be able to determine its own location. This will be especially challenging because location sensors like GPS, which are available on Earth, will not be useful, nor will INS sensors because their drift is too large. Another approach to self-localization is required. In this paper, we describe a novel approach to localization by applying a problem solving methodology. The term 'problem solving' implies a computational technique based on logical representational and control steps. In this research, these steps are derived from observing experts solving localization problems. The objective is not specifically to simulate human expertise but rather to apply its techniques where appropriate for computational systems. In doing this, we describe a model for solving the problem and a system built on that model, called localization control and logic expert (LOCALE), which is a demonstration of concept for the approach and the model. The results of this work represent the first successful solution to high-level control aspects of the localization problem

Investigating Teacher-Pupil Oral Communication in Mathematics at Key Stage Two

The dissertation sets out to investigate how teacher-pupil communication can be used to establish and build on key stage two pupils’ perceived understanding in order to enhance learning in Mathematics. Conclusions are drawn after examining lengthy discourse between one adult and nine children. After discussing facets of constructivism, the concentration is on the relationship between the use of situated cognition and an understanding of pattern in mathematics. The conclusion drawn is that a developing grasp of pattern is helpful for children whose thinking may still be of a concrete nature, in order for them then to calculate successfully in a hypothetical situation. Communication, primarily of an oral nature, is examined in order to determine how an adult in the teaching situation might enhance the understanding of that pattern, two approaches being highlighted as of particular value, the use of speculation and silence. The use of initiation, response and feedback sequences and open questioning can also be seen to be helpful in certain circumstances. The conclusion is drawn that whatever the oral technique in use, it is the teacher’s ability to listen to the child which is paramount if they are to make appropriate interactions in relation to pupil understanding

Review of Emily Davies and The Liberation of Women

Daphne Bennett has rewritten, in this book on Emily Davies, the history of the feminist movement. She seethes when she hears people talk about the movement as though it began with the suffragettes, for her heroine had been working for the emancipation of women for 50 years before the suffragettes were making themselves noticed in no uncertain manner. Emily Davies was one of the great pioneers in the cause of women but little is, or has been, really known about her. She has often been confused with Emily Davison who threw herself under the feet of the King\u27s horse, but Emily Davies was not one for such histrionics; her work was done quietly and yet with considerable force. She began as the daughter of a clergyman and, after his death, looked set to live the next few years as that stereotype of the unmarried Victorian lady who looked after her widowed mother. She had been sheltered from the evils of the world by her family, but she wanted to know how the rest of the world lived. She went into nearby Gateshead and learned what life was really like, particularly for the poor and more particularly for the females. Before she was in her teens she was quite familiar with the Gateshead slums, with the dirt, disease and the consequences of drunkenness. Amongst these poor deprived \u27friends\u27 the seeds of her future work were sown. With no formal education behind her she began to work for that part of Victorian society which was oppressed, undervalued and uneducated. She saw how girls were sacrificed for their brothers; indeed, how subservient her own mother was to her father. She saw the desperate need for girls to be educated but even their own families were against this. Mothers really believed that \u27book learning makes a girl unmanageable\u27, that it took women away from their proper duties of looking after husband, home and family. She set up an investigation into girls\u27 schools on her own and was horrified by what she saw - Dickens\u27 Dotheboys Hall was not as great an exaggeration as we might feel, and yet Emily was looking into schools for the \u27gentler sex\u27

Analyzing the Catalytic Role of Asp97 in the Methionine Aminopeptidase from \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e

An active site aspartate residue, Asp97, in the methionine aminopeptidase (MetAPs) from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I) was mutated to alanine, glutamate, and asparagine. Asp97 is the lone carboxylate residue bound to the crystallographically determined second metal-binding site in EcMetAP-I. These mutant EcMetAP-I enzymes have been kinetically and spectroscopically characterized. Inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy analysis revealed that 1.0 ± 0.1 equivalents of cobalt were associated with each of the Asp97-mutated EcMetAP-Is. The effect on activity after altering Asp97 to alanine, glutamate or asparagine is, in general, due to a ∼ 9000-fold decrease in kca towards Met-Gly-Met-Met as compared to the wild-type enzyme. The Co(II) d–d spectra for wild-type, D97E and D97A EcMetAP-I exhibited very little difference in form, in each case, between the monocobalt(II) and dicobalt(II) EcMetAP-I, and only a doubling of intensity was observed upon addition of a second Co(II) ion. In contrast, the electronic absorption spectra of [Co_(D97N EcMetAP-I)] and [CoCo(D97N EcMetAP-I)] were distinct, as were the EPR spectra. On the basis of the observed molar absorptivities, the Co(II) ions binding to the D97E, D97A and D97N EcMetAP-I active sites are pentacoordinate. Combination of these data suggests that mutating the only nonbridging ligand in the second divalent metal-binding site in MetAPs to an alanine, which effectively removes the ability of the enzyme to form a dinuclear site, provides a MetAP enzyme that retains catalytic activity, albeit at extremely low levels. Although mononuclear MetAPs are active, the physiologically relevant form of the enzyme is probably dinuclear, given that the majority of the data reported to date are consistent with weak cooperative binding

Disentitling the poor: waivers and welfare “reform”

This Article examines the purposes underlying the statutory grant of authority to Health and Human Services (HHS) to exempt states from the requirements of the statute, the important role that the Social Security Act has played as a source of rights for welfare recipients, the current wave of exemptions granted by HHS, and the lack of standards for review of state waiver proposals. Finally, this Article recommends the development of procedures and standards for review by HHS and urges that adherence to the core values of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program is essential in evaluating the appropriateness of a waiver request

Disentitling the Poor: Waivers and Welfare Reform

This Article examines the purposes underlying the statutory grant of authority to Health and Human Services (HHS) to exempt states from the requirements of the statute, the important role that the Social Security Act has played as a source of rights for welfare recipients, the current wave of exemptions granted by HHS, and the lack of standards for review of state waiver proposals. Finally, this Article recommends the development of procedures and standards for review by HHS and urges that adherence to the core values of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program is essential in evaluating the appropriateness of a waiver request

Explaining Structural Change in Cardiovascular Mortality in Ireland 1995-2005: A Time Series Analysis. ESRI WP300. June 2009

Background: Deaths from circulatory respiratory causes among older age groups in Ireland fell sharply between 1995 and 2005 as did the seasonality of deaths from these causes.Objective:To examine whether a structural break has occurred in deaths from circulatory causes in Ireland between 1995 and 2005 and test whether this can be explained by changes in the prescribing of cardiovascular medications during the same period controlling for weather trends. Methods: Grouped logit Time series models were used to identify if and at which quarter a structural break occurred in Irish circulatory deaths between 1995 and 2005. Data on cardiovascular prescribing and temperature within the quarter were entered into the trend-break model to examine whether the structural break could be explained. Results: There was a reduction in circulatory deaths of 0.82%/quarter among men 1995-2005 which increased by 0.5%/quarter after the final quarter of 1999. The 25% excess winter deaths among men fell by 9% after Q4 1999. Among women the long term decline in deaths of 0.53%/quarter increased by 0.48% after Q1 2000 and seasonality was reduced by 6.8%. The structural break in trend and seasonality was higher among those aged 85+. Controlling for temperature, beta-blocker, ace-inhibitor and aspirin medications rendered the structural break indicator insignificant among all age groups for men. Diuretic, statin and calcium channel blocker medications could not explain the break point for men aged 75 to 84. Beta blocker, aspirin and calcium channel blocker medications explained mortality trends among all age groups among women. Ace inhibitor and statin could not explain trends amongst women aged 65-74 and nitrates and diuretics did not explain trends for any age group. Conclusions: Models suggest that cardiovascular prescribing significantly reduced circulatory mortality among men and women aged 65+ after 1999 in Ireland but the effect of prescribing was lower among women than men. Beta-blocker, ace inhibitor and aspirin medications were more successful than statin, diuretic and nitrates at explaining trends