Observability, Identifiability and Sensitivity of Vision-Aided Navigation

We analyze the observability of motion estimates from the fusion of visual and inertial sensors. Because the model contains unknown parameters, such as sensor biases, the problem is usually cast as a mixed identification/filtering, and the resulting observability analysis provides a necessary condition for any algorithm to converge to a unique point estimate. Unfortunately, most models treat sensor bias rates as noise, independent of other states including biases themselves, an assumption that is patently violated in practice. When this assumption is lifted, the resulting model is not observable, and therefore past analyses cannot be used to conclude that the set of states that are indistinguishable from the measurements is a singleton. In other words, the resulting model is not observable. We therefore re-cast the analysis as one of sensitivity: Rather than attempting to prove that the indistinguishable set is a singleton, which is not the case, we derive bounds on its volume, as a function of characteristics of the input and its sufficient excitation. This provides an explicit characterization of the indistinguishable set that can be used for analysis and validation purposes

The Impact of Grief Work on Hospice Mental Health Providers Through a Bowen Family Systems Lens

Marriage and family therapists and other mental health professionals and clients can be thought of as their own, divine emotional unit, generating and distributing the anxiety of one to the other. In fact, Kerr and Bowen (1988) described anxiety as a driving force exchanged by every living organism, and the energy surrounded by every human relationship. Within a hospice setting, anxiety can be heightened due to catering to end-of-life care, which can potentially affect the emotional response and reactivity of the mental health professional, changing the course of treatment for the patient and their family. Emerging research within healthcare has focused on patients; however, research regarding the impact clients have on mental health professionals have been scarce. The present study seeks to explore how dealing with grief narratives on a daily basis impacts the functioning of mental health professionals in both their work and family system, informed by Bowen family systems theory. The study utilized interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the lived experiences of mental health professionals impacted by the grief narratives of the patients and families each serve within hospice. The aim of the research was to expand mental health professionals\u27 understanding on how clients may impact and potentially change the way therapists interpret the world from a Bowenian lens

A Survey of Civil Procedure: Technology to COVID-19 Within State Courts

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the implementation of technological innovation within the legal field. Specifically, state courts used technology to adjust their civil procedures while maintaining accurate results, limiting costs, and providing meaningful participation to varying degrees of success. In addition, given the piecemeal nature of these adjustments, there is a lack of knowledge regarding what actions were taken in the early months of the pandemic. Thus, this Comment conducts a survey focusing on how the states adjusted their judicial civil procedures to respond to COVID-19’s impact. This Comment then argues that the most liberal implementation of technological adjustments may not be best for states to fulfill the historical purpose of civil procedure. Rather, states that implemented statewide orders, for a short period of time, allowing their lower courts to implement a full range of technological adjustments, best balanced the need for accuracy with the costs of implementation to maintain the highest degree of meaningful participation

On the Design and Analysis of Multiple View Descriptors

We propose an extension of popular descriptors based on gradient orientation histograms (HOG, computed in a single image) to multiple views. It hinges on interpreting HOG as a conditional density in the space of sampled images, where the effects of nuisance factors such as viewpoint and illumination are marginalized. However, such marginalization is performed with respect to a very coarse approximation of the underlying distribution. Our extension leverages on the fact that multiple views of the same scene allow separating intrinsic from nuisance variability, and thus afford better marginalization of the latter. The result is a descriptor that has the same complexity of single-view HOG, and can be compared in the same manner, but exploits multiple views to better trade off insensitivity to nuisance variability with specificity to intrinsic variability. We also introduce a novel multi-view wide-baseline matching dataset, consisting of a mixture of real and synthetic objects with ground truthed camera motion and dense three-dimensional geometry

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells as a Therapeutic Intervention

Mesenchymal stem cells, also known as mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), are a safe and promising biologic therapeutic for inducing tissue repair and regeneration in a broad array of chronic diseases. The mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of MSCs include immunomodulation, reduction in inflammation and fibrosis, and stimulation of neovascularization and endogenous regeneration. Accumulating evidence from a multitude of clinical trials support the notion that both autologous and allogeneic MSCs are not only safe but also possess the capacity for repair of diverse organ systems and amelioration of multiple chronic disease processes. However, there are many questions regarding the underlying mechanisms of action, the most efficacious cell characteristics, tissue source, dose/concentration, route of delivery, and timing of administration, interactions with concurrent therapies, sustainability of effect, donor and patient characteristics, and adverse effects, including infections and malignancy, that remain to be resolved. Answering these questions will require well-designed and rigorously conducted multicenter clinical trials with well-established and defined clinical endpoints and appropriately defined patient populations, number of patients, and duration of follow-up. This chapter will review the current state of knowledge in the use of MSCs as a therapeutic strategy for organ structural and functional repair in chronic diseases

Exploring the Relationship between Big-Box Retail and Consumer Travel Demand in the Greater Toronto Area

Canada’s retail landscape has been structurally transformed by the widespread development of large format (big-box) retail since the mid-1990s. Emphasis placed on convenience, price, and auto-based accessibility, coupled with design elements of big-box agglomerations has produced new modes of consumer retail interaction. In view of these recent changes, it is surprising that little effort has been extended to studying the transportation impacts of big-box retail. This paper explores the relationship between consumer travel behaviour and the expansion of large format retail facilities within Canada’s largest metropolitan region, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Data have been drawn from the 1996 and 2001 Transportation Tomorrow Surveys (TTS) and combined with a longitudinal retail structural database. Regional travel flows and “big-box” case studies suggest considerable auto-dependence for shopping activities, particularly in the suburban cities of the GTA. Rising retail capacity at case study locations appears to have been matched by a dramatic increase in auto-based shopping travel. Evidence from this research points to a potential gap between consumer activities and the prevailing sustainability objectives of transport and land use policy initiatives

The Standards for Water Quality Testing: Protecting the Public from Another Flint Water Crisis

Graduate Textual or Investigativ

Refining the Morning Covey-Call Survey to Estimate Northern Bobwhite Abundance

Morning covey-call surveys have been mentioned extensively as a practical and efficient way to estimate abundance of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) with minimal effort. However, many of the protocol specifics such as radius of audibility and probability of a covey calling were not based on empirical data. Other limitations also existed such as variation in observers’ detection capacity and calling behavior of coveys. These shortcomings limit the reliability of this survey technique. The objectives of our study were to 1) obtain an empirical estimate of radius of audibility, 2) document observer variability in estimating number of coveys heard, and 3) document calling behavior of bobwhite coveys. We found no difference in radius of audibility for areas with low-brush density (6%; 956 ± 72m; mean ± SE; n = 4 observers) and high-brush density (30%; 931 ± 66 m). We calculated an overall radius of audibility of 900 m (254 ha) pooled across sites. We documented considerable observer variability (CV 18-49%; n = 12 observers) in detecting coveys. Regarding calling behavior, we observed that 67% ± 9.0 (n = 30 coveys) of coveys emitted the covey-call during 2004 whereas 88% ± 7.8 (n = 17 coveys) of coveys emitted the covey-call during 2005. Of the coveys that called, 70% ± 10.2 in 2004 and 93% ± 6.4 in 2005 involved \u3e1 bird calling/covey. Our findings allow for a refinement of the morning covey-call survey. We recommend obtaining site-specific radius of audibility and using a core number of observers that remain consistent from year to year