Signal Processing for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: an FPGA approach

The idea of this thesis comes out from the participation of the University of Central Florida to the Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition of 2007. The objective of this competition is to make the AUV to accomplish to a specific route. A part of this route expects the AUV to detect a ping and following it as a source. The objective of this thesis is to improve the performance of this trajectory tracking. A Field Programmable Logic Array will be used to perform an effective Digital Signal Processing

Elliptic non-Abelian Donaldson-Thomas invariants of \u21023

We compute the elliptic genus of the D1/D7 brane system in flat space, finding a non-trivial dependence on the number of D7 branes, and provide an F-theory interpretation of the result. We show that the JK-residues contributing to the elliptic genus are in one-to-one correspondence with coloured plane partitions and that the elliptic genus can be written as a chiral correlator of vertex operators on the torus. We also study the quantum mechanical system describing D0/D6 bound states on a circle, which leads to a plethystic exponential formula that can be connected to the M-theory graviton index on a multi-Taub-NUT background. The formula is a conjectural expression for higher-rank equivariant K-theoretic Donaldson-Thomas invariants on \u21023

Dupilumab in the treatment of severe uncontrolled chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP): A multicentric observational Phase IV real-life study (DUPIREAL)

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is associated with significant morbidity and reduced health-related quality of life. Findings from clinical trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of dupilumab in CRSwNP, although real-world evidence is still limited. Methods This Phase IV real-life, observational, multicenter study assessed the effectiveness and safety of dupilumab in patients with severe uncontrolled CRSwNP (n = 648) over the first year of treatment. We collected data at baseline and after 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of follow-up. We focused on nasal polyps score (NPS), symptoms, and olfactory function. We stratified outcomes by comorbidities, previous surgery, and adherence to intranasal corticosteroids, and examined the success rates based on current guidelines, as well as potential predictors of response at each timepoint. Results We observed a significant decrease in NPS from a median value of 6 (IQR 5–6) at baseline to 1.0 (IQR 0.0–2.0) at 12 months (p < .001), and a significant decrease in Sino-Nasal Outcomes Test-22 (SNOT-22) from a median score of 58 (IQR 49–70) at baseline to 11 (IQR 6–21; p < .001) at 12 months. Sniffin' Sticks scores showed a significant increase over 12 months (p < .001) compared to baseline. The results were unaffected by concomitant diseases, number of previous surgeries, and adherence to topical steroids, except for minor differences in rapidity of action. An excellent-moderate response was observed in 96.9% of patients at 12 months based on EPOS 2020 criteria. Conclusions Our findings from this large-scale real-life study support the effectiveness of dupilumab as an add-on therapy in patients with severe uncontrolled CRSwNP in reducing polyp size and improving the quality of life, severity of symptoms, nasal congestion, and smell

New interaction metaphors to control a hydraulic working machine's arm

In the last decade, teleoperated hydraulic machines have become a reality in post-disaster scenarios. Although Human Machine Interaction technologies had huge advances, these technologies are not always applied successfully, especially in fields in which automation or semi-automation have difficulties to make their way, i.e. unstructured scenarios. This paper aims to introduce new interaction metaphors to improve operation of modern teleoperated hydraulic machines. Three new prototypes of Human Machine Interfaces are presented: a wireless portable joystick, a wearable hand motion recognition system and two facing haptic interfaces. The interfaces are evaluated in a typical pick and place scenario, developed with the aid of Virtual Reality. The results are discussed from an ergonomic and task performance point of view. The wireless portable joystick and the haptic interface produced similar outcomes and they are both usable for the control, whereas the wearable hand motion control proved to be unsuitable the task

A novel control strategy for youBot arm

Nowadays robotics educational platforms play an important role in the development and testing of new robotic technologies. These systems offer at low cost the possibility to access and experiment basic robot functionalities. In this paper, we examined the KUKA youBot: an omnidirectional mobile platform equipped with a five DOFs (Degrees of Freedom) robotic arm. The current internal design of the control loops limits severely its performances. This paper aims to assess the existing controller limitations in order to re-design, develop and test a new controller for the youBot arm. This paper presents the architecture of the existing software, and identifies the bottlenecks of the control loops. After proposing a new interoperable architecture, we present a new hybrid motion/force decentralized control, which accounts for the system's dynamics. The new controller is evaluated by means of simulations and on the real youBot arm. The new controller solves the major limitations examined, enabling new control applications. Results show a better performance of the new controller, in particular the step response rise time of the joint position control is now 33% faster than using the old controller

A novel forklift solution for promoting occupational re-integration of disabled people22nd Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation

A study on the employment of disabled people as forklift truck drivers for cargo handling operations is here presented. The work focused on the design of a customized forklift and the development of a novel lift machine as aid for people with paraplegia. Results of a market research about the usefulness of such a system is presented and a novel robotic modified forklift simulator has been realized and described. A final testing session is introduced to assess the performances of disabled and non-disabled people during typical logistic task executions

Embedded Architecture of a Hydraulic Demolition Machine for Robotic Teleoperation in the Construction Sector

In the last decade, teleoperated machines have become a reality in modern construction yards. Although these machines represent a step forward in terms of flexibility and safety, they still rely on a traditional control pad. Usually, the operators move the machine's end-effector driving each joint sequentially following a predefined order which depends on the operator's skill. This paper describes the design choices, the architecture of the system and the closed-loop control structure proposed to improve the human-machine interaction on a working machine for the construction field. The proposed solution has been implemented on a remote-controlled demolition platform exploiting a hybrid LabVIEW-Matlab software architecture. The work also proposed a closed-loop position control for the hydraulic manipulator. The feasibility of the proposed embedded architecture is assessed through experimental tests where the end-effector (EE) has to track a predefined trajectory

I registri della giustizia penale nell’Italia dei secoli XII-XV

Nell'attuale paesaggio storiografico italiano è ben presente la volontà di lavorare sulle differenti tipologie documentarie prodotte nell’Italia dei Comuni. Così è per gli studi sugli statuti comunali, studi iniziati nel XIX secolo che proseguono tutt’oggi con atti di convegni ed edizioni documentarie, e per tutte le fonti istituzionali amministrative di carattere ordinario: delibere di organi consiliari (riformanze), registri fiscali, corrispondenze epistolari, registri giudiziari. Risultato di un convegno organizzato all'École française de Rome (6-8 giugno 2017), questo volume è il primo interamente dedicato ai registri della giustizia penale (libri maleficiorum); si tratta di documenti relativi alla gestione della cosa pubblica destinati all'azione, che racchiudono finalità performative. Sono presenti in quantità cospicue nel territorio italiano, in molti fondi di archivi e biblioteche comunali e negli Archivi di Stato. La «Rivoluzione documentaria» dell’Italia comunale ha conosciuto una delle sue più potenti espressioni anche attraverso le carte di questa amministrazione ordinaria. Facendo parte a pieno titolo di una storia della giustizia, che si è rinnovata negli ultimi anni cercando di aprirsi il più possibile a tutto il territorio italiano e mostrando punti in comune e differenze regionali, i saggi qui raccolti si soffermano sulla produzione dei libri maleficiorum. Sono indagati il loro ruolo nel sistema documentario dei comuni e di altre istituzioni, la loro collocazione nel sistema documentario generale e le relazioni con altra documentazione comunale, il funzionamento delle istituzioni giudiziarie e i meccanismi procedurali, i conflitti, i negoziati e le sentenze. Le sezioni conclusive mettono a fuoco due temi centrali in materia di pratiche sociali, privilegiate nei libri maleficiorum stessi: la violenza e il genere