Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sex Parity in Cognitive Fatigue Model Development for Effective Human-Robot Collaboration

In recent years, robots have become vital to achieving manufacturing competitiveness. Especially in industrial environments, a strong level of interaction is reached when humans and robots form a dynamic system that works together towards achieving a common goal or accomplishing a task. However, the human-robot collaboration can be cognitively demanding, potentially contributing to cognitive fatigue. Therefore, the consideration of cognitive fatigue becomes particularly important to ensure the efficiency and safety in the overall human-robot collaboration. Additionally, sex is an inevitable human factor that needs further investigation for machine learning model development given the perceptual and physiological differences between the sexes in responding to fatigue. As such, this study explored sex differences and labeling strategies in the development of machine learning models for cognitive fatigue detection. Sixteen participants, balanced by sex, recruited to perform a surface finishing task with a UR10 collaborative robot under fatigued and non-fatigued states. Fatigue perception and heart rate activity data collected throughout to create a dataset for cognitive fatigue detection. Equitable machine learning models developed based on perception (survey responses) and condition (fatigue manipulation). The labeling approach had a significant impact on the accuracy and F1-score, where perception-based labels lead to lower accuracy and F1-score for females likely due to sex differences in reporting of fatigue. Additionally, we observed a relationship between heart rate, algorithm type, and labeling approach, where heart rate was the most significant predictor for the two labeling approaches and for all the algorithms utilized. Understanding the implications of label type, algorithm type, and sex on the design of fatigue detection algorithms is essential to designing equitable fatigue-adaptive human-robot collaborations across the sexes.
Transport-aware imaging

Conventional cameras record all light falling on their sensor regardless of the path that light followed to get there. In this paper we give an overview of a new family of computational cameras that offers many more degrees of freedom. These cameras record just a fraction of the light coming from a controllable source, based on the actual 3D light path followed. Photos and live video captured this way offer an unconventional view of everyday scenes in which the effects of scattering, refraction and other phenomena can be selectively blocked or enhanced, visual structures that are too subtle to notice with the naked eye can become apparent, and object appearance can depend on depth. We give an overview of the basic theory behind these cameras and their DMD-based implementation, and discuss three applications: (1) live indirect-only imaging of complex everyday scenes, (2) reconstructing the 3D shape of scenes whose geometry or material properties make them hard or impossible to scan with conventional methods, and (3) acquiring time-of-flight images that are free of multi-path interference.
LODM: Large-scale Online Dense Mapping for UAV

This paper proposes an online large-scale dense mapping method for UAVs with a height of 150–250 meters. We first fuse the GPS with the visual odometry to estimate the scaled poses and sparse points. In order to use the depth of sparse points for depth map, we propose Sparse Confidence Cascade View-Aggregation MVSNet (SCCVA-MVSNet), which projects the depth-converged points in the sliding window on keyframes to obtain a sparse depth map. To weigh the confidence of the depth of each sparse point, we construct sparse confidence by the photometric error. The images of all keyframes, coarse depth, and confidence as the input of CVA-MVSNet to extract features and construct 3D cost volumes with adaptive view aggregation to balance the different stereo baselines between the keyframes. Our proposed network utilizes sparse features point information, the output of the network better maintains the consistency of the scale. Our experiments show that MVSNet using sparse feature point information outperforms image-only MVSNet, and our online reconstruction results are comparable to offline reconstruction methods. To benefit the research community, we open our code at https://github.com/hjxwhy/LODM.git
Magnetic nanoparticles coated with zwitterionic copolymer as an advanced material for rapid and instrument-free biomolecular detection in human serum

The traditional agglutination assays especially those based on polystyrene beads have been recognized as convenient tools for disease diagnosis despite their limited detection range and low sensitivity. Unlike other particles namely polystyrene beads, SiO2 and gold nanoparticles having insignificant magnetic properties, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) offer unique advantages as their magnetic properties for agglutination methods. In the presence of magnet, not only can they be used to enrich the samples, but also their aggregation can also be induced, providing sensitive and rapid measurements. This work aims to develop MNPs for aggregation-based biomolecular detection. The MNPs were surface-modified with PMAMPC via an in situ coating method, then biotin as the target-specific probe was immobilized. The biotin-conjugated PMAMPC-MNPs were used for capturing and detecting the complementary protein, streptavidin in human serum samples. With the magnetic-induction, the nanoparticles would aggregate in the presence of streptavidin, resulting in a short detection time even in undiluted human serum. The concentration range for the detection was 35 nM to 150 nM and the lowest concentration of detection was 35 nM or equivalent to 2.5 mg⸳mL-1. The fact that this is simple, rapid and instrument-free method for biomolecular detection broadens their potential use in a variety of diagnostic applications.
Unilateral stiffness modulation with a robotic hip exoskeleton elicits adaptation during gait

Wearable robotic exoskeletons show promise in their ability to provide gait assistance and rehabilitation in real-world contexts. However, a better understanding is needed of how exoskeletons contribute to neural adaptation in locomotion, a critical component of neurological gait rehabilitation. We tested whether unilateral perturbations elicit neural adaptation in healthy participants using a novel robotic hip exoskeleton, taking inspiration from asymmetry augmentation strategies used in split-belt treadmill training. We found that applying a virtual stiffness parallel to the hip joint on one side elicited changes in hip range of motion and step length, and that these changes were time varying, indicating an adaptation response. However, participants converged on asymmetric hip ranges of motion and step lengths both with and without applied stiffness from the exoskeleton. These results suggest that while adaptation appears to have occurred, it was not solely driven by the nervous system reducing gait asymmetry. Our findings indicate that applying mechanical impedance asymmetrically to the joints may be an effective gait training and rehabilitation approach, as well as a method to elicit a novel adaptation response to further study neuromotor control of locomotion.
The rocket-ultraviolet spectrum and models of the planetary nebula NGC 7662

An ultraviolet spectrum of NGC 7662 was obtained with a rocket-borne telescope in a 130 s exposure by using a microchannel plate detector and film. The observed fluxes are given for both the lines and the continuum on an absolute basis. The correction for interstellar extinction with E(B-V) = 0.22 was determined on the basis of the observed and calculated line ratios for the hydrogenic recombination line of He II at 1640 A to H.beta. A detailed set of models of the thermal and ionization structure of NGC 7662 was constructed for the purpose of interpreting the rocket observations. Predictions of three models are presented and compared with the ultraviolet as well as the existing visible, infrared, and radio observations. The spectral energy distribution of the central star for the models was specified so that the observed emission lines could be fitted. The resulting flux distribution is within 50% of a 100,000 K blackbody with some features which resemble recent spherical, non-LTE models but with a smaller discontinuity at 228 A. The observed C III) intercombination line at 1909 A and the C IV line at 1549 are best fitted with a solar carbon abundance and C/O ratio equal tomore » unity. In order to obtain this fit, dielectronic recombination and charge exchange between neutral hydrogen and C IV were included, both of which increased the concentration of C III. The observed continuum consists of light from the central star and from the nebula, which contributes primarily by means of the two-photon process in H/sup 0/ and the Balmer continuum. 4 figures, 4 tables. « less
Vérification de l'équivalence du $\pi$-calcul dans HOL

Dans ce rapport, on decrit une representation purement definitionnelle du $\pi$-calcul dans le prouveur de theoremes HOL. Les lois algebriques du $\pi$-calcul sont montrees comme etant des theoremes dans la logique d'ordre superieur. Ainsi, on obtient un outil correcte dans lequel on peut raisonner sur des applications utilisant le $\pi$-calcul comme outil de specification. Comme application, on montre par induction la correction de la specification de l'addition naturelle en $\pi$-calcul.
Comparative Model Evaluation with a Symmetric Three-Link Swimming Robot

In this paper we present swimming and modeling for Trident, a three-link lamprey inspired robot that is able to climb on flat smooth walls. We explore two gaits proposed to work for linear swimming, and three gaits for turning maneuvers. We compare the experimental results obtained from these swimming experiments with two different reduced order fluid interaction models, one a previously published potential flow model, and the other a slender cylinder model we developed. We find that depending on the the parameters of swimming chosen, we are able to move forward, backward and sideways with a peak speed of 2.5 cm/s. We identify the conditions when these models apply and aspects that will require additional complexity.
GeoROS: Georeferenced Real-time Orthophoto Stitching with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Simultaneous orthophoto stitching during the flight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) can greatly promote the practicability and instantaneity of diverse applications such as emergency disaster rescue, digital agriculture, and cadastral survey, which is of remarkable interest in aerial photogrammetry. However, the inaccurately estimated camera poses and the intuitive fusion strategy of existing methods lead to misalignment and distortion artifacts in orthophoto mosaics. To address these issues, we propose a Georeferenced Real-time Orthophoto Stitching method (GeoROS), which can achieve efficient and accurate camera pose estimation through exploiting geolocation information in monocular visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and fuse transformed images via orthogonality-preserving criterion. Specifically, in the SLAM process, georeferenced tracking is employed to acquire high-quality initial camera poses with a geolocation based motion model and facilitate non-linear pose optimization. Meanwhile, we design a georeferenced mapping scheme by introducing robust geolocation constraints in joint optimization of camera poses and the position of landmarks. Finally, aerial images warped with localized cameras are fused by considering both the orthogonality of camera orientation relative to the ground plane and the pixel centrality to fulfill global orthorectification. Besides, we construct two datasets with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information of different scenarios and validate the superiority of our GeoROS method compared with state-of-the-art methods in accuracy and efficiency.
Realization of Seated Walk by a Musculoskeletal Humanoid with Buttock-Contact Sensors From Human Constrained Teaching

In this study, seated walk, a movement of walking while sitting on a chair with casters, is realized on a musculoskeletal humanoid from human teaching. The body is balanced by using buttock-contact sensors implemented on the planar interskeletal structure of the human mimetic musculoskeletal robot. Also, we develop a constrained teaching method in which one-dimensional control command, its transition, and a transition condition are described for each state in advance, and a threshold value for each transition condition such as joint angles and foot contact sensor values is determined based on human teaching. Complex behaviors can be easily generated from simple inputs. In the musculoskeletal humanoid MusashiOLegs, forward, backward, and rotational movements of seated walk are realized.
The Flatworm-like Mesh Robot WORMESH-II: Steering Control of Pedal Wave Locomotion

WORMESH is a unique robot concept inspired by flatworm locomotion and its key feature is the use of multiple traveling waves for locomotion. This paper presents the steering method for anisotropic module configuration (AMC) of WORMESH-II based on the kinematics of skid steering of mobile robots. AMC of WORMESH-II used two parallel pedal waves to generate locomotion. The kinematic model of WORMESH-II shows its longitudinal and angular velocities depend on the summation and the difference of two synchronous left and right pedal waves amplitudes $A_{l}$ and $A_{r}$ respectively. When both pedal waves have the same amplitude, the robot moves on a straight line, whereas the trajectory becomes a curve for different wave amplitudes. The radius of curve trajectory is inversely proportional to $\vert A_{l}-A_{r}\vert$. The proposed method was ineffective when $A_{i}\approx 0(i=l,\ r)$. The proposed method was confirmed by the dynamic simulation of WORMESH-II using a physics engine. Moreover, the recommended skid steering method was tested using the prototype and verified.
Multi-Objective Task Allocation for Multi-Agent Systems using Hierarchical Cost Function

Multi-agent systems are deployed to accomplish tasks that take a long time with a single agent. The task allocation problem becomes particularly difficult when the objectives are conflicting with one another (e.g. minimizing the mission time while respecting the task priorities, while simultaneously maximizing agent's fitness for the task). This paper presents an algorithm to create task assignments for a group of autonomous agents with competing objectives. We consider a variety of constraints including agent capabilities to perform tasks, priorities set by a human supervisor, as well as temporal constraints such as arrival time or coalition formation. We propose a multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) that uses a hierarchical cost function by leveraging the paradigm of lexicographic optimization. The particles are driven by higher ranked objectives with lower ranked objectives used to break ties. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this algorithm in a battlefield scenario where sub-teams of aerial vehicles are assigned to perform area reconnaissance, target strikes, and intelligence gathering.
The Influence of Consonant Environment upon the Secondary Acoustical Characteristics of Vowels

The consonant environments of vowels were varied by forming nonmeaningful stimulus syllables consisting of 72 combinations of six vowels and 12 consonants. The syllables were spoken by subjects, and the duration, fundamental frequency, and relative power of the vowels were measured. All three factors varied significantly in response to changes of the consonant environment. The variations were systematically related to the attributes of the consonants, the most powerful attribute being the presence or absence of vocal fold vibration, followed by manner of articulation and place of articulation, in that order.
Effects of evolving rotating equilibrium configurations on the cooling and spin-down of pulsars

We model a pulsar by a uniform density rotating spheroid covered by a solid crust. During the spin-down (up) epoch, pulsars can adjust their shapes to their equilibrium configurations, which depend on the stellar rotation velocity Ω, due to plastic flow and continuous crust breaking resulting from various mechanisms even though the crust is supposedly rigid. We show that this results in a coupling among the stellar temperature (T), the rotation velocity (Ω) and the eccentricity (e), and cooling and spin-down therefore mutually affect each other
Concurrent and Continuous Prediction of Finger Kinetics and Kinematics via Motoneuron Activities

Objective: Robust neural decoding of intended motor output is crucial to enable intuitive control of assistive devices, such as robotic hands, to perform daily tasks. Few existing neural decoders can predict kinetic and kinematic variables simultaneously. The current study developed a continuous neural decoding approach that can concurrently predict fingertip forces and joint angles of multiple fingers. Methods: We obtained motoneuron firing activities by decomposing high-density electromyogram (HD EMG) signals of the extrinsic finger muscles. The identified motoneurons were first grouped and then refined specific to each finger (index or middle) and task (finger force and dynamic movement) combination. The refined motoneuron groups (separate matrix) were then applied directly to new EMG data in real-time involving both finger force and dynamic movement tasks produced by both fingers. EMG-amplitude-based prediction was also performed as a comparison. Results: We found that the newly developed decoding approach outperformed the EMG-amplitude method for both finger force and joint angle estimations with a lower prediction error (Force: 3.47±0.43 vs 6.64±0.69% MVC, Joint Angle: 5.40±0.50° vs 12.8±0.65°) and a higher correlation (Force: 0.75±0.02 vs 0.66±0.05, Joint Angle: 0.94±0.01 vs 0.5±0.05) between the estimated and recorded motor output. The performance was also consistent for both fingers. Conclusion: The developed neural decoding algorithm allowed us to accurately and concurrently predict finger forces and joint angles of multiple fingers in real-time. Significance: Our approach can enable intuitive interactions with assistive robotic hands, and allow the performance of dexterous hand skills involving both force control tasks and dynamic movement control tasks.
Speaker identification by long‐term spectra under normal and distorted speech conditions

Two experiments were carried out in which long‐term spectra were extracted from controlled speech samples in order to study the effectiveness of that technique as a cue for speaker identification. In the first study, power spectra were computed separately for groups of 50 American and 50 Polish male speakers under fullband and passband conditions; an n‐dimensional Euclidean distance technique was used to permit identifications. The procedure resulted in high levels of speaker identification for these large groups—especially under the fullband conditions. In a second experiment, the same approach was employed in order to discover if it was resistant to the effects of variation in speech production—at least under laboratory conditions. Talkers were 25 adult American males; three different speaker conditons were studied: (a) normal speech, (b) speech during stress, and (c) disguised speech. The results demonstrated high levels of correct speaker identification for normal speech, slightly reduced scores for s.
INTEGRATED MAGNITUDES AND COLOR INDICES OF IC 10

Requests from radio observers for optical data have led us to make photometric observations of the irregular galaxy IC 10 with the 36-inch reflector. IC 10 (a = 0*17*6, 8 = +59°02', 1950) is difficult to study optically’ because of its unusually low galactic latitude b = —3? 32 at l =118? 96. From an inspection of photographs taken with the 200-inch reflector by F. Zwicky (Plates I and II) it was classified as IBm, i.e., a dwarf irregular system of the Magellanic type with a barlike core (3'Xl-5). Scattered fragments, H ii regions, and star clouds cover an area some 5' X 4' according to Mayall. The high degree of resolution and large size of the H ii regions suggest that it is a member of the Local Group. The following information is taken from the Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies: the “standard” photographic major diameter D is 4'0 with an axis ratio d/D = 0.7 ; the integrated magnitude R(0) within the standard face-on diameter D{0) = 3'5 is 13.33, with (B—V)(0) = 0^92:, both derived from a photoelectric observation by Pettit. The corresponding average surface brightness B'(0) is 15.77, one of the lowest among the 1428 brighter galaxies for which this quantity is given in the Reference Catalogue. The reddish color and low surface brightness confirm the presence of heavy obscuration in the field. The apparent radial velocity from optical and radio observations is —347 ± 7 km/sec; the corrected velocity, —92 km/sec, supports the view that IC 10 may be a member of the Local Group. According to Roberts the total neutral hydrogen mass is SDÎhi = 2 X 103K© if the distance A is 1.0 Mpc. Our observations were made in the course of the regular
Streak evolution in viscoelastic Couette flow

Abstract The combined effect of inertia and elasticity on streak amplification in planar Couette flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid is examined. The linear perturbation equations are solved in the form of a forced-response problem to obtain the wall-normal vorticity response to a decaying streamwise vortex. With significant disparity between the solvent diffusion and polymer relaxation time scales, two distinct responses are possible. The first is termed ‘quasi-Newtonian’ because the streak evolution collapses onto the Newtonian behaviour at the same total and solvent Reynolds numbers when relaxation is very fast or slow, respectively. The second response is labelled ‘elastic’: with a long relaxation time, the streaks can reach significant amplitudes even with very weak inertia. If the diffusion and relaxation time scales are commensurate, the streaks are able to re-energize in a periodic cycle within an envelope of overall decay. This behaviour is enhanced in the instantaneously elastic limit, where the governing equation reduces to a forced wave equation. The streak re-energization is demonstrated to be a superposition of trapped vorticity waves.
Hadamard matrices and their designs: a coding-theoretic approach

Given an m x m Hadamard matrix one can extract m2 symmetric designs on m - 1 points each of which extends uniquely to a 3-design. Further, when m is a square, certain Hadamard matrices yield symmetric designs on m points. We study these, and other classes of designs associated with Hadamard matrices, using the tools of algebraic coding theory and the customary associa- tion of linear codes with designs. This leads naturally to the notion, defined for any prime p , of p-equivalence for Hadamard matrices for which the standard equivalence of Hadamard matrices is, in general, a refinement: for example, the sixty 24 x 24 matrices fall into only six 2-equivalence classes. In the 16x16 case, 2-equivalence is identical to the standard equivalence, but our results illu- minate this case also, explaining why only the Sylvester matrix can be obtained from a difference set in an elementary abelian 2-group, why two of the matrices cannot be obtained from a symmetric design on 16 points, and how the various designs may be viewed through the lens of the four-dimensional affine space over the two-element field.