Learning an Efficient Terrain Representation for Haptic Localization of a Legged Robot

Although haptic sensing has recently been used for legged robot localization in extreme environments where a camera or LiDAR might fail, the problem of efficiently representing the haptic signatures in a learned prior map is still open. This paper introduces an approach to terrain representation for haptic localization inspired by recent trends in machine learning. It combines this approach with the proven Monte Carlo algorithm to obtain an accurate, computation-efficient, and practical method for localizing legged robots under adversarial environmental conditions. We apply the triplet loss concept to learn highly descriptive embeddings in a transformer-based neural network. As the training haptic data are not labeled, the positive and negative examples are discriminated by their geometric locations discovered while training. We demonstrate experimentally that the proposed approach outperforms by a large margin the previous solutions to haptic localization of legged robots concerning the accuracy, inference time, and the amount of data stored in the map. As far as we know, this is the first approach that completely removes the need to use a dense terrain map for accurate haptic localization, thus paving the way to practical applications.Comment: This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

Potrójny węzeł pępowinowy – opis przypadku i przegląd literatury

Multiple true nodes of the umbilical cord are rarely described in literature and refer to patients suffering from pregnancy complications, such as intrauterine growth restriction, or oligohydramnios. We present a case of a 30-year-old woman, admitted for labor induction in the 41st week of her first pregnancy. After rupture of the membranes with no signs of infection, the patient had labor induced with oxytocin infusion, which had to be discontinued due to abnormalities in the cardiotocography, which persisted after infusion cessation and required an emergency cesarean section to be performed, during which a healthy male baby was born. The triple true node located 24 cm from the placental umbilical insertion was discovered in the 62 cm long umbilical cord, which had not been suspected ultrasonographically during the pregnancy. To our knowledge, our case is the first to date to illustrate the presence of multiple nodes of the umbilical cord, which did not lead to complications during pregnancy, but resulted in an urgent cesarean section. Our case illustrates a possible clinical challenge that may be faced by almost every practicing obstetrician-gynecologist.Mnogie węzły prawdziwe pępowiny są rzadko opisywane w literaturze i zazwyczaj dotyczą pacjentek, u których dochodzi do powikłań ciąży takich jak wewnątrzmaciczne zahamowanie wzrostu czy małowodzie. W pracy przedstawiono opis przypadku 30-letniej kobiety, przyjętej do indukcji porodu w 41. tygodniu pierwszej ciąży. Po pęknięciu błon płodowych bez cech infekcji pacjentce indukowano poród wlewem oksytocyny, który jednak musiał zostać przerwany z powodu nieprawidłowości w zapisie kardiotokograficznym utrzymujących się po zaprzestaniu wlewu, co skutkowało koniecznością wykonania pilnego cięcia cesarskiego, podczas którego urodził się zdrowy noworodek płci męskiej. Analiza 62-centymetrowej pępowiny wykazała potrójny węzeł prawdziwy zlokalizowany 24 cm od końca łożyskowego pępowiny, którego nie uwidoczniono ultrasonograficznie podczas ciąży. Według naszej wiedzy opisany przypadek jest pierwszym do tej pory, ilustrującym obecność mnogiego węzła pępowinowego, który nie prowadził do powikłań w czasie ciąży, ale skutkował koniecznością pilnego cięcia cesarskiego. Przypadek ilustruje możliwe wyzwanie kliniczne, z którym może się spotkać niemal każdy położnik-ginekolog

Pesticide residue levels in strawberry processing by-products that are rich in ellagitannins and an assessment of their dietary risk to consumers

Background: According to many scientific studies, ellagitannins are beneficial for human health. One of the sources of these compounds is strawberry press-cake. This material can be used for the production of dietary fiber or ellagitannin preparations. The health safety of press cake and the preparations that are rich in ellagitannins obtained from it depend on pesticide residue levels, mainly fungicides, which are used for strawberry protection. Aim: The aim of the work was a dietary risk assessment measured by the %ADI (acceptable daily intake) and MOE (margin of exposure) associated with the presence of pesticide residues for the consumption of strawberry processing by-products containing an amount of ellagitannins equivalent to amount present in 100 g of fresh strawberries. In our study, we investigated the contents of pesticides that are approved for use against strawberry diseases and pests. Results: The total contents of pesticides in strawberry press-cake seeds (SPCS), exhausted strawberry flesh (ESF) and strawberry ellagitannin preparation (SEP) were 2143, 13,464 and 20,225 μg/kg, respectively. The analyzed products were dominated by fungicides as 96% of the total content of the tested pesticides. In the tested samples, we detected 11 fungicides and 3 insecticides. The dietary risk to consumer health, which depends on the presence of pesticide residues, in %ADI of daily consumption of ellagitannins (as dried extract (SEP), seeds (SPCS) or flesh (ESF)) ranged from 0.2% to 4.1% in a dose that was equivalent to 100 g of strawberries. Conclusion: Although the pesticide residue contents in strawberry by-products are higher than in fresh fruits, the suggested doses of the by-products are lower. Therefore, the dietary risk to consumers from strawberry by-products is comparable to that from fresh fruits

Tell el-Retaba 2014–2015

The excavation at Tell el-Retaba in 2014 and 2015 comprised three seasons of fieldwork, carried out in sectors of the site already opened in previous years. The earliest archaeological remains date from the Second Intermediate Period and represent a Hyksos settlement and cemetery. Ruins of an early Eighteenth Dynasty settlement, fortresses from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties and from the Third Intermediate Period settlement continued to be excavated as well. Of note are some archaeological remains from the 17th–19th centuries, presented for the first time in the fieldwork report