Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motion planning and control of cooperative robotic systems

This thesis addresses the problem of motion planning for cooperative robotic systems. The problem of motion planning for a robotic system is stated as: Given initial positions and orientations and goal positions and orientations for a collection, C, of robots, in workspace, W, generate a continuous trajectory for C avoiding contact with the obstacles, Oi, subject to various dynamical constraints of the system. Because robots are physical systems subject to continuous laws of motion and driven by continuous actuators, we formulate the motion planning problem as an unconstrained variational problem using tools from optimal control and calculus of variations in the first part of the thesis. We develop a general framework for solving motion planning problems involving equality and inequality constraints. In the second part of the thesis, we study planar human manipulation and develop a computational model for friction-assisted dual arm manipulation tasks incorporating the dynamics of the musculo-skeletal system. We show that our computational model predicts the force distribution and object trajectory in voluntary, relaxed movements. We further study similar tasks in the vertical plane and our experimental findings suggest that there is a great degree of repeatability in trajectories and velocity profiles across trials and subjects. In the third part, we focus on extending this computational model to plan and control cooperative robotic systems. We solve the dynamic motion planning problem for a system of cooperating robots in the presence of geometric and kinematic constraints, and test the resulting open-loop trajectories on the experimental testbed. In the last part of the thesis, we explore the application of the motion planning algorithms when the number of robots in C is very large. Because of increased computational time, we use optimal sensor-based closed loop motion plans. These are combined with the framework of graph theory and optimal control to guarantee provable measure on the performance of the entire system. The main contributions of the thesis are: (a) studying trajectory generation and force distribution in human dual arm manipulation; and (b) a set of motion planning algorithms for cooperating robot systems subject to dynamic constraints. Comments University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-98-27. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/ircs_reports/72 MOTION PLANNING AND CONTROL OF COOPERATIVE ROBOTIC SYSTEMS JAYDEV P. DESAI
Orientation Maps of Subjective Contours in Visual Cortex

Responses to subjective contours in visual cortical areas V1 and V2 in adult cats were investigated by optical imaging of intrinsic signals and single-unit recording. Both V1 and V2 contain maps of the orientation of subjective gratings that have their basis in specific kinds of neuronal responses to subjective orientations. A greater proportion of neurons in V2 than in V1 show a robust response to subjective edges. Through the use of subjective stimuli in which the orientation of the luminance component is invariant, an unmasked V1 response to subjective edges alone can be demonstrated. The data indicate that the processing of subjective contours begins as early as V1 and continues progressively in higher cortical areas.
Rare earth elements ( REEs ) in the tropical South Atlantic and quantitative 1 deconvolution of their non-conservative behaviour 2 3

Rare earth elements (REEs) in the tropical South Atlantic and quantitative 1 deconvolution of their non-conservative behaviour 2 3 Xin-Yuan Zheng a,1, *, Yves Plancherel a , Mak A. Saito b , Peter M. Scott a,2 , 4 Gideon M. Henderson a 5 6 a Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, 7 OX1 3AN, UK 8 b Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic 9 Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
The stratigraphic distribution of graptolites in the classic upper Middle Ordovician Utica Shale of New York State: an evolutionary succession or a response to relative sea-level change?

The stratigraphic distribution of graptoloid species within the upper Middle Ordovician strata of New York State represents a complex pattern of origination, extinction, faunal migration, and fluctuating relative abundances. In particular, the observed patterns of species turnover at graptolite biozone boundaries are apparently strongly correlated with lithofacies, sampling strategies, and the depositional effects of relative sea-level change. Vertical facies changes that occur within third-order depositional sequences and fourth- or fifth-order parasequences are mirrored by changes in the graptoloid faunal composition. Large-scale faunal turnovers at biozone boundaries tend to occur either at sequence boundaries or at flooding surfaces within sequences (e.g., the base of Highstand System Tracts). The base of the Corynoides americanus and Climacograptus (D.) spiniferus Zones coincide with major onlap events, and the Orthograptus ruedemanni Zone fauna appears just below a Lowstand Systems Tract. Within individual biozones, smaller-scale changes such as the fluctuating relative abundances of graptoloid species coincide with higher-order parasequence cyclicity. These distribution patterns resemble recent computer-generated models for the sequence stratigraphic distribution of hypothetical taxa. By combining good biogeographic control with a detailed sampling program, we are able to see through the patterns attributable to depositional cyclicity and identify the different components of faunal turnover (migration, speciation, and extinction).
Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?

Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? By Philip E. Tetlock. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. 352p. $45.00 cloth, $19.95 paper. This is a wonderful and important book. Philip Tetlock is a political psychologist who has a knack for innovative research projects (e.g., his earlier work on how people cope with trade-offs in politics). In this book, he addresses a question that would scare away more timid souls: How well do experts predict political and economic events?
Advances in Brief CYCLIN D 1 as a Genetic Modifier in Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer 1

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer is associated with inherited defects in DNA mismatch repair. Clinical variation even in cases with identical predisposing mutations suggests the existence of other factors contributing to the phenotype. We addressed the modifying role of the common A/G polymorphism in exon 4 and the alternatively spliced transcripts a and b of the CCND1 gene encoding cyclin D1 in a series of 146 affected carriers of 10 MLH1 and 3 MSH2 mutations. No correlation was observed between a particular allele (A versus G) and age at onset. However, the presence of the variant transcript b in blood/normal mucosa, by multiplex reverse transcription-PCR, was associated with a significantly lower age at onset of colon cancer as compared with individuals with transcript a only (35 versus 46 years; P 0.02). Whereas our data do not support a modifying role of A versus G allele of CCND1, the results do suggest that the relative abundance of a and b transcripts may modify the age at onset of colon cancer in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer.
Grasslands and herbivore production in Europe and effects of common policies

The European project Multisward (http://www.multisward.eu/multisward_eng/) aims at supporting developments and innovations in grassland use and management in different European farming systems (including low-input and organic farming systems), pedoclimatic and socio-economic conditions i) to enhance the role of grasslands at farm and landscape levels to produce environmental goods and to limit the erosion of biodiversity and ii) to optimise economic, agronomic and nutritional advantages for the development of innovative and sustainable ruminant production systems. The identification of the innovations and their implementation required an exhaustive analysis of the state of grasslands and herbivore production in Europe including how they changed over decades. The effects of public policies were investigated. The results of this analysis are published in the present book.
Ownership Structure, Managerial Turnover and Takeovers: Further U.K. Evidence on the Market for Corporate Control

This article investigates the impact that successful hostile and friendly takeovers have on the rates of top management change for U.K. target firms. The results shows that hostile takeovers are associated with a greater degree of both top executive and top team forced departure rates compared to that of friendly takeovers. Furthermore, prior to takeover, hostile targets have lower abnormal returns, lower profitability, higher debt, lower managerial ownership and a high ownership stake held by external block holders relative to friendly targets. The results give further support to the disciplining role of the hostile takeover
Post-breastfeeding stress response and breastfeeding self-e�cacy as modi�able predictors of exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum: a prospective cohort study

Background: The rate of exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum is only 50% in Japan. In order to increase this rate, we aimed to examine modi�able factors related to exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum by focusing on breastfeeding-related and psychosocial variables at 1 month postpartum. Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted at a secondary medical care center in Osaka, Japan from February 2017 to October 2018. Demographic variables, infant feeding modality, breastfeeding-related variables, and psychosocial variables were obtained using questionnaires at 1 month postpartum. Daytime salivary cortisol levels before and after breastfeeding at 1 month postpartum were measured as a biological marker for stress responses associated with breastfeeding. Each infant’s feeding modality was re-assessed at 3 months postpartum. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum. Results: Of the 104 participants, 61 reported exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum. The following factors were signi�cantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum: multiparity (adjusted odds ratio, 95% con�dence interval: 11.13, 2.08–59.59), having a university degree (5.25, 1.04–26.53), no plan to return to work by 6 months postpartum (0.02, 0.00–0.46), and exclusive breastfeeding (42.84, 6.05–303.52), lower cortisol level after breastfeeding (0.00, 0.00–0.02), and higher breastfeeding self-e�cacy scale score (1.07, 1.00–1.14) at 1 month postpartum. In parity-speci�c analyses, exclusive breastfeeding (25.33, 4.75–134.98) and lower cortisol level after breastfeeding (0.00, 0.00–0.21) at 1 month postpartum in primiparous women, and lower cortisol level after breastfeeding (0.00, 0.00–0.94), higher breastfeeding self-e�cacy score (1.18,
Stomach content analysis of cobia, Rachycentron canadum, from lower Chesapeake Bay*

Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) is a of Mexico, Franks et al. (1996) reported migratory pelagic species that is found that fish (primarily anchovies, Anchoa in tropical and subtropical seas of the sp.) dominated (% index of relative im­ world, except in the central and eastern portance [IRI], Pinkas et al., 1971) the Pacific Ocean. The United States ranks diet of juvenile cobia (236–440 mm third in total commercial production FL). Meyer and Franks (1996) reported of cobia, however, recreational landcrustaceans (primarily portunid crabs) ings generally exceed commercial landoccurred in 79.1% of stomachs and rep­ ings by an order of magnitude (Shaffer resented 77.6% of total prey items con­ and Nakamura, 1989). In the western sumed by cobia (373–1,530 mm FL) Atlantic Ocean, cobia migrate to Chesin the northern Gulf of Mexico. Fish apeake Bay in spring and summer (primarily hardhead catfish, Arius fe­ to spawn, and the productive waters lis, and American eel, Anguilla rostra­ of the Bay are believed to constitute ta) increased in importance with in­ important foraging grounds (Joseph creasing cobia size. Fish were found et al., 1964; Richards, 1967). Cobia in 58.5% of all cobia stomachs (20.3% are known to move to areas of high of total prey) but occurred in 84.4% food abundance, particularly crustaof stomachs of cobia 1150–1530 mm cean abundance (Darracott, 1977). FL (Meyer and Franks, 1996). In conRecent feeding studies in the northtrast, Smith (1995) observed decreased ern Gulf of Mexico and off North Carimportance of teleosts in the diet of olina have reported geographic differcobia (39–142 cm FL) in North Caroli­ ences in cobia diet and have indicated na. Elasmobranch fishes and portunid that the relative importance of fishes crabs dominated the diet of cobia >9 kg versus crustaceans is variable and that (Smith, 1995). cephalopods constitute the least signifTag-recapture data collected between icant prey items. In the northern Gulf 1995 and 1999 document localized movement of cobia within lower Chesa­ peake Bay during summer, as well as the return of individual cobia to spe­ cific locations or general regions of the lower Bay in subsequent summers.1 Al­ though Chesapeake Bay is an impor­ tant destination for migrating cobia, feeding habits of cobia in the Bay have never been thoroughly examined. Our study documents cobia feeding habits in Chesapeake Bay and compares find­ ings with similar cobia studies from North Carolina and the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Global Retail Lending in the Aftermath of the Us Financial Crisis: Distinguishing between Supply and Demand Effects

This paper examines the broader effects of the US financial crisis on global lending to retail customers. In particular we examine retail bank lending in Germany using a unique data set of German savings banks during the period 2006 through 2008 for which we have the universe of loan applications and loans granted. Our experimental setting allows us to distinguish between savings banks affected by the US financial crisis through their holdings in Landesbanken with substantial subprime exposure and unaffected savings banks. The data enable us to distinguish between demand and supply side effects of bank lending and find that the US financial crisis induced a contraction in the supply of retail lending in Germany. While demand for loans goes down, it is not substantially different for the affected and nonaffected banks. More important, we find evidence of a significant supply side effect in that the affected banks reject substantially more loan applications than nonaffected banks. This result is particularly strong for smaller and more liquidity-constrained banks as well as for mortgage as compared with consumer loans. We also find that bank-depositor relationships help mitigate these supply side effects.
THE CLASH OF DIFFERENCES GIANTS OVER TERMINOLOGICAL

Responding to the continuing conflict between behavioristic and rationalist/cognitive approaches to language and languagedevelopment, some relationships between those two paradigms are explored. First, it is shown, by comparing terms employed in the opposing systems and by specifYing their common underlying conceptual scope, that many of the asswned contrasts are more tenninological than substantial. Having demonstrated underlying conceptual similarities, complementarlties in strengths and emphases of both approaches are noted. Next, an integrative paradigm is suggested that explains language development from the perspective of skill learning. This perspective subsumes the basic concepts· of both antagonistic approaches and incorporates their complementary strengths to fully explain the complex processes involved in the acquisition of language skills. The social implications of the two opposing theories and of the integrative approach are briefly discussed. It is concluded that an integration of the conceptual and empirical potentials of the two antagonistic conceptualizations of language development is needed and possible, once the emphasis on contrasts, which is exaggerated through contrasting labels, is overcome. Continuing controversies as to the conceptualization of language and language acquisition could easily produce the impression that profound and unbridgeable differences exist between the major approaches to this topic. These contrasting conceptualizations have been most commonly represented as "behavioristic" versus "rationalist/cogoitive" conceptualizations. Some of the central relevant concepts of these schools will be specified below in the course of the discussion, although it cannot be attempted to describe either or both of them exhaustively. In contrast to the predominant emphasis upon differences, conceptual homologies and similarities in approaches will be emphasized or even overemphasized to compensate for previous divisive characterizations and -hopefully -to build a bridge between both approaches across which communication and crossfertilization can begin. It is suggested that we cannot allow ourselves to remain frozen into the adversary legacy of the past fumbling. and one-sided attempts at describing the complex phenomenon of language acquisition/transmission. In those areas, where differences in emphases do exist, the two major approaches appear to be mainly complementary and, consequently, both are needed for the full explanation of language and language acquisition. This complementarity will be exemplified in a preliminary manner by describing language acquisition as skill acquisition. The presentation will be developed in three steps: First, the most general approaches to language in the opposing paradigms will be scrutinized and conceptual
Site Amplification Factors for Strong-Motion Sites in Japan Based on Spectral Inversion Technique and Their Use for Strong-Motion Evaluation

Site amplification factors were evaluated for strong-motion sites in Japan by using the spectral inversion technique. The seimic moment calculated from the source spectra, which were obtained through the analysis, agrees well with that of the CMT solution of the F-net, indicating the validity of the newly-introduced criteria to determine the reference site. Because the site amplification factors obtained in this study include the effects of later phases, they are suitable to be used for simulating strong ground motions by Kowada's method. Strong ground motions from the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu, the 1968 Tokachi-oki and the 2003 Tokachi-oki eathquakes were simutated by the method to confirm the usefulness of the site amplification factors obtained in this study.
Analisis Loyalitas Konsumen Terhadap Minuman Kopi Robusta Di Kota Banda Aceh

ABSTRACT . Coffea is one of the biggest enthusiasts beverage in the world. It had been proven by the increases of coffea production. Robusta coffea is one kind of the most marketed beverage in Banda Aceh. The aim of this study is to know the factors that affected the consumer loyalty toward robusta coffea drinks and the relations between consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty toward robusta coffee drinks in Banda Aceh. The analysis in this study employed Binary Logistic regression. The result of Binary Logistic showed that the taste and price of robusta coffea drinks were the factors that affected consumer loyalty toward robusta coffea drinks. The result of Chi-Square test showed that there were the significant relations between consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty toward robusta coffea drinks in Banda Aceh.
Characterization, classification and crop suitability of some black cotton soils of southern Tamil Nadu

Black cotton soils occupy an area of 4,98,000 ha in Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar districts of Tamil Nadu. The basaltic parent materials have influenced the black soil formation (Soil Survey Staff 2003). Black cotton soils and associated black soils constitute a major soil group in India with the extend of 73.2 M ha (Vertisols) mainly under rainfed agro eco-system (Zade 2010). Despite high potential, these soils pose the problem of poor internal drainage caused by high clay content, ESP, EMP and pedogenic carbonate (Bhattacharyya et al. 2005). These soils are often difficult to cultivate, particularly for small farmers using handheld or animal drawn implements. Sub soil porosity and aeration are generally poor and roots of annual crops do not penetrate deeply. Farmers faced with these difficulties allow these soils to lie fallow for one or more rainy seasons (Pal et al. 2009). Scientific knowledge of soils, characterization and classification of these soils are essential for developing optimum land use plan for maximizing agricultural production. These soils differ greatly in their morphological, physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Since these characters control the productivity of crops, it is essential to have information about these characters of each soil. In the arid climatic environments the weathering of primary minerals contributes very little towards the formation of pedogenic carbonates (PC) as the prime chemical reaction that triggers the increase in pH, exchangeable magnesium and sodium on the exchangeable complex (Srivastava et al. 2002). Evaluation of crop suitability is a method of assessing the potential of soil for a crop of interest. Many international methods are in vogue such as land capability classification, Storie index (Storie 1933), Riequier’s index (Riquier et al. 1970) and Sys index (Sys et al. 1991). These methods have been applied for Indian conditions for different crops (Naidu and Hunsigi 2001; Tamgadge et al. 2002; Kadu et al. 2003). But the applicability of these methods under varying rainfall regimes needs investigation. Keeping in view, an attempt has been made to characterize, classify and evaluate the crop suitability for some black soils of southern Tamil Nadu.
Proposed Public Health Goal for Perchlorate in Drinking Water

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the proposed public health goal (PHG) for perchlorate in drinking water. ACWA represents nearly 440 public water agencies in California that collectively supply 90% of the water delivered in California for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. Our state enjoys some of the highest water quality in the world, and local water agencies are responsible for meeting many stringent federal and state water quality regulations to ensure the water they deliver is clean and safe, including the existing drinking water standard of 6 ppb for perchlorate.
Studies on the phagocytic capacity of macrophage polykaryons

Following the demonstration by Chambers (1977a,b and c) that simultaneous attachment of macrophages to endocytogenic material in vitro leads to fusion, as analysis of the phagocytic potential of giant cells has provided evidence that the same mechanism is operating in macrophage polykaryon formation in vovo. Unlike previously proposed models for macrophage fusion, fusion by simultaneous attempted endocytosis is associated with the interiorisation of surface membrane during fusion. This has been shown to have occurred during glass coverslip-induced fusion in vivo. Evidence has also been presented that it is the endocytogenic material produced in the granulomatous environment which leads to fusion, not necessarily the simulaneous attempted endocytosis of the implanted foreign material.