71 research outputs found
MoSS: Monocular Shape Sensing for Continuum Robots
Continuum robots are promising candidates for interactive tasks in medical
and industrial applications due to their unique shape, compliance, and
miniaturization capability. Accurate and real-time shape sensing is essential
for such tasks yet remains a challenge. Embedded shape sensing has high
hardware complexity and cost, while vision-based methods require stereo setup
and struggle to achieve real-time performance. This paper proposes the first
eye-to-hand monocular approach to continuum robot shape sensing. Utilizing a
deep encoder-decoder network, our method, MoSSNet, eliminates the computation
cost of stereo matching and reduces requirements on sensing hardware. In
particular, MoSSNet comprises an encoder and three parallel decoders to uncover
spatial, length, and contour information from a single RGB image, and then
obtains the 3D shape through curve fitting. A two-segment tendon-driven
continuum robot is used for data collection and testing, demonstrating accurate
(mean shape error of 0.91 mm, or 0.36% of robot length) and real-time (70 fps)
shape sensing on real-world data. Additionally, the method is optimized
end-to-end and does not require fiducial markers, manual segmentation, or
camera calibration. Code and datasets will be made available at
https://github.com/ContinuumRoboticsLab/MoSSNet.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to RA-
Learning Lens Blur Fields
Optical blur is an inherent property of any lens system and is challenging to
model in modern cameras because of their complex optical elements. To tackle
this challenge, we introduce a high-dimensional neural representation of
blurand a practical method for acquiring
it. The lens blur field is a multilayer perceptron (MLP) designed to (1)
accurately capture variations of the lens 2D point spread function over image
plane location, focus setting and, optionally, depth and (2) represent these
variations parametrically as a single, sensor-specific function. The
representation models the combined effects of defocus, diffraction, aberration,
and accounts for sensor features such as pixel color filters and pixel-specific
micro-lenses. To learn the real-world blur field of a given device, we
formulate a generalized non-blind deconvolution problem that directly optimizes
the MLP weights using a small set of focal stacks as the only input. We also
provide a first-of-its-kind dataset of 5D blur fieldsfor smartphone cameras,
camera bodies equipped with a variety of lenses, etc. Lastly, we show that
acquired 5D blur fields are expressive and accurate enough to reveal, for the
first time, differences in optical behavior of smartphone devices of the same
make and model
Development of X-43A Mach 10 Leading Edges
The nose leading edge of the Hyper-X Mach 10 vehicle was orginally anticipated to reach temperatures near 4000 F at the leading-edge stagnation line. A SiC coated carbon/carbon (C/C) leading-edge material will not survive that extreme temperature for even a short duration single flight. To identify a suitable leading edge for the Mach 10 vehicle, arc-jet testing was performed on thirteen leading-edge segments fabricated from different material systems to evaluate their performance in a simulated flight environment. Hf, Zr, Si, and Ir based materials, in most cases as a coating on C/C, were included in the evaluation. Afterwards, MER, Tucson, AZ was selected as the supplier of the flight vehicle leading edges. The nose and the vertical and horizontal tail leading edges were fabricated out of a 3:1 biased high thermal conductivity C/C. The leading edges were coated with a three layer coating comprised of a SiC conversion of the top surface of the C/C, followed by a chemical vapor deposited layer of SiC, followed by a thin chemical vapor deposited layer of HfC. This paper will describe the fabrication of the Mach 10 C/C leading edges and the testing performed to validate performance
ALBATROSS: Publicly AttestabLe BATched Randomness Based On Secret Sharing
In this paper we present ALBATROSS, a family of multiparty randomness generation protocols with guaranteed output delivery and public verification that allows to trade off corruption tolerance for a much improved amortized computational complexity. Our basic stand alone protocol is based on publicly verifiable secret sharing (PVSS) and is secure under in the random oracle model under the decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) hardness assumption.
We also address the important issue of constructing Universally Composable randomness beacons, showing two UC versions of Albatross: one based on simple UC NIZKs and another one based on novel efficient ``designated verifier\u27\u27 homomorphic commitments. Interestingly this latter version can be instantiated from a global random oracle under the weaker Computational Diffie-Hellman (CDH) assumption.
An execution of ALBATROSS with parties, out of which up to are corrupt for a constant , generates uniformly random values,
requiring in the worst case
an amortized cost per party of exponentiations per random value.
We significantly improve on the SCRAPE protocol (Cascudo and David, ACNS 17), which
required exponentiations per party to generate one uniformly random value. This is mainly achieved via two techniques: first, the use of packed Shamir secret sharing for the PVSS; second, the use of linear -resilient functions (computed via a Fast Fourier Transform-based algorithm) to improve the randomness extraction
Bird and bat predation services in tropical forests and agroforestry landscapes
Understanding distribution patterns and multitrophic interactions is critical for managing batâ and birdâ mediated ecosystem services such as the suppression of pest and nonâ pest arthropods. Despite the ecological and economic importance of bats and birds in tropical forests, agroforestry systems, and agricultural systems mixed with natural forest, a systematic review of their impact is still missing. A growing number of bird and bat exclosure experiments has improved our knowledge allowing new conclusions regarding their roles in food webs and associated ecosystem services. Here, we review the distribution patterns of insectivorous birds and bats, their local and landscape drivers, and their effects on trophic cascades in tropical ecosystems. We report that for birds but not bats community composition and relative importance of functional groups changes conspicuously from forests to habitats including both agricultural areas and forests, here termed â forestâ agriâ habitats, with reduced representation of insectivores in the latter. In contrast to previous theory regarding trophic cascade strength, we find that birds and bats reduce the density and biomass of arthropods in the tropics with effect sizes similar to those in temperate and boreal communities. The relative importance of birds versus bats in regulating pest abundances varies with season, geography and management. Birds and bats may even suppress tropical arthropod outbreaks, although positive effects on plant growth are not always reported. As both bats and birds are major agents of pest suppression, a better understanding of the local and landscape factors driving the variability of their impact is needed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134094/1/brv12211_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134094/2/brv12211.pd
Untangling knowledge creation and knowledge integration in enterprise wikis
A central challenge organizations face is how to build, store, and maintain knowledge over time. Enterprise wikis are community-based knowledge systems situated in an organizational context. These systems have the potential to play an important role in managing knowledge within organizations, but the motivating factors that drive individuals to contribute their knowledge to these systems is not very well understood. We theorize that enterprise wiki initiatives require two separate and distinct types of knowledge-sharing behaviors to succeed: knowledge creation (KC) and knowledge integration (KI). We examine a Wiki initiative at a major German bank to untangle the motivating factors behind KC and KI. Our results suggest KC and KI are indeed two distinct behaviors, reconcile inconsistent findings from past studies on the role of motivational factors for knowledge sharing to establish shared electronic knowledge resources in organizations, and identify factors that can be leveraged to tilt behaviors in favor of KC or KI
Energy limitation of cyanophage development : implications for marine carbon cycling
RJP was in receipt of a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) PhD studentship and a Warwick University IAS Fellowship. This work was also supported in part by NERC grant NE/N003241/1 and Leverhulme Trust grant RPG-2014-354 to A.D.M., D.J.E., and D.J.S.Marine cyanobacteria are responsible for ~25% of the fixed carbon that enters the ocean biosphere. It is thought that abundant co-occurring viruses play an important role in regulating population dynamics of cyanobacteria and thus the cycling of carbon in the oceans. Despite this, little is known about how viral infections âplay-outâ in the environment, particularly whether infections are resource or energy limited. Photoautotrophic organisms represent an ideal model to test this since available energy is modulated by the incoming light intensity through photophosphorylation. Therefore, we exploited phototrophy of the environmentally relevant marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus and monitored growth of a cyanobacterial virus (cyanophage). We found that light intensity has a marked effect on cyanophage infection dynamics, but that this is not manifest by a change in DNA synthesis. Instead, cyanophage development appears energy limited for the synthesis of proteins required during late infection. We posit that acquisition of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) involved in light-dependent photosynthetic reactions acts to overcome this limitation. We show that cyanophages actively modulate expression of these AMGs in response to light intensity and provide evidence that such regulation may be facilitated by a novel mechanism involving light-dependent splicing of a group I intron in a photosynthetic AMG. Altogether, our data offers a mechanistic link between diurnal changes in irradiance and observed community level responses in metabolism, i.e., through an irradiance-dependent, viral-induced release of dissolved organic matter (DOM).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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