Gait Parameter Tuning Using Bayesian Optimization for an Alligator Inspired Amphibious Robot

This paper reports a sample-efficient Bayesian optimization approach for tuning the locomotion parameters of an in-house developed twelve degrees of freedom alligator-inspired amphibious robot. An optimization framework is used wherein the objective is to maximize the mean robot speed obtained via physical experiments performed on terrains with varying friction and inclinations and in the aquatic environment for swimming locomotion. We obtained an improvement in the mean robot speed by a factor of up to 6.38 using the developed approach over randomly generated locomotion parameters in 15 iterations. &nbsp

PHYSICS-AWARE MODEL SIMPLIFICATION FOR INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

Rigid body simulation is an integral part of Virtual Environments (VE) for autonomous planning, training, and design tasks. The underlying physics-based simulation of VE must be accurate and computationally fast enough for the intended application, which unfortunately are conflicting requirements. Two ways to perform fast and high fidelity physics-based simulation are: (1) model simplification, and (2) parallel computation. Model simplification can be used to allow simulation at an interactive rate while introducing an acceptable level of error. Currently, manual model simplification is the most common way of performing simulation speedup but it is time consuming. Hence, in order to reduce the development time of VEs, automated model simplification is needed. The dissertation presents an automated model simplification approach based on geometric reasoning, spatial decomposition, and temporal coherence. Geometric reasoning is used to develop an accessibility based algorithm for removing portions of geometric models that do not play any role in rigid body to rigid body interaction simulation. Removing such inaccessible portions of the interacting rigid body models has no influence on the simulation accuracy but reduces computation time significantly. Spatial decomposition is used to develop a clustering algorithm that reduces the number of fluid pressure computations resulting in significant speedup of rigid body and fluid interaction simulation. Temporal coherence algorithm reuses the computed force values from rigid body to fluid interaction based on the coherence of fluid surrounding the rigid body. The simulations are further sped up by performing computing on graphics processing unit (GPU). The dissertation also presents the issues pertaining to the development of parallel algorithms for rigid body simulations both on multi-core processors and GPU. The developed algorithms have enabled real-time, high fidelity, six degrees of freedom, and time domain simulation of unmanned sea surface vehicles (USSV) and can be used for autonomous motion planning, tele-operation, and learning from demonstration applications

Development and validation of a scale to measure faculty attitudes toward open educational resources

An ATOER scale (Attitudes Towards Open Educational Resources) was developed to identify positive and negative predispositions towards Open Educational Resources (OER) amongst teachers. Data was classified into three main constructs: awareness, sharing of resources, and adoption and use of OER. This instrument will help to understand psychological determinants of teachers that might influence adoption and use of OER. The content validity of the tool is explained in the presentation

PREVALENCE OF VARIOUS BETA LACTAMASES AMONG GRAM NEGATIVE BACILLI IN URINARY ISOLATES FROM PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF NORTHERN INDIA

Objective: Urinary tract infections are considered among the most common infections, occurring either in the community or health-care setting. We are left with very few options for the treatment due to rapid development of antibiotic resistance among the organisms. To find out the prevalence of various types of β-lactamases among urinary isolates.Methods: Seven antibiotic discs (HiMedia) were placed in combinations and approximation in a particular sequence on a 90 mm diameter MuellerHintonagar plate.Results: Out of a total 165 urinary isolates, 66 (40%) isolates were positive for extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production, AmpC β-lactamases(AmpC) activity was present in 31 (18.78%) isolates, co-production of both ESBL and AmpC was seen in 16 (9.69%) isolates, 3 (1.81%) isolatesproduced metallo β-lactamase (MBL), 2 (1.21%) isolates produced both MBL, and ESBL and 1 (0.60%) isolates were positive for inducible third generation cephalosporin resistance.Conclusion: With the presence of such high prevalence of various β-lactamases in clinical isolates of gram-negative bacilli and also other types ofantibiotic resistance, antibiotic policy should be made, and strict adherence should be followed.Keywords: Extended spectrum β-lactamase, AmpC β-lactamase, Metallo β-lactamase

HIVsirDB: A Database of HIV Inhibiting siRNAs

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is responsible for millions of deaths every year. The current treatment involves the use of multiple antiretroviral agents that may harm patients due to their toxic nature. RNA interference (RNAi) is a potent candidate for the future treatment of HIV, uses short interfering RNA (siRNA/shRNA) for silencing HIV genes. In this study, attempts have been made to create a database HIVsirDB of siRNAs responsible for silencing HIV genes.HIVsirDB is a manually curated database of HIV inhibiting siRNAs that provides comprehensive information about each siRNA or shRNA. Information was collected and compiled from literature and public resources. This database contains around 750 siRNAs that includes 75 partially complementary siRNAs differing by one or more bases with the target sites and over 100 escape mutant sequences. HIVsirDB structure contains sixteen fields including siRNA sequence, HIV strain, targeted genome region, efficacy and conservation of target sequences. In order to facilitate user, many tools have been integrated in this database that includes; i) siRNAmap for mapping siRNAs on target sequence, ii) HIVsirblast for BLAST search against database, iii) siRNAalign for aligning siRNAs.