移动机器人运动目标跟踪系统设计

利用SONYEV-D31摄像机和自主研发的摄像机控制模块,构建了一套主动视觉子系统,并将该子系统应用于RIRA-II型移动机器人上,实现了移动机器人运动目标自动跟踪功能。RIRA-II移动机器人采用了由一组分布式行为模块和集中命令仲裁器组成的基于行为的分布式控制体系结构。各行为模块基于领域知识通过反应方式产生投票,由仲裁器产生动作指令,机器人完成相应的动作。在设置了障碍、窄通道以及模拟墙体的复杂环境下进行运动目标跟踪实验,实验表明运动目标跟踪系统运行可靠,具有较高的鲁棒性。

基于启发式节点增强策略的PRM路径规划方法

针对一般的PRM方法用于移动机器人对复杂地形路径搜索存在的缺陷 ,本文对PRM方法进行了改进 ,提出了一套基于启发式的节点增强的策略 ,提高了PRM方法节点增强阶段对环境的适应性 .此外 ,本文建立了相应的仿真实验系统对策略的有效性进行了实验与分析

隐伏金矿床预测中的地震勘探险方法

Based on brief introduction of seismic exploration and it's general developing situation, the seismic exploration method in field work implementation and some problems frequently encountered in field, which should be pay attention to, are analyzed in detail. The most economic field work techniques are emphasized. Then the seismic data processing flow and it's interpretation technique about the processing results are presented. At last four examples of seismic prospecting in gold deposits are showed. The main conclusions of our research are: 1. Seismic prospecting technique is a very efficient method in the prediction of concealed gold deposits. With appropriate application, it can absolutely reflect the detail underground geological structure in the condition of rugged area and complicated geological environment. 2. The field geometry should be designed and changed according to different kinds of objective exploration depth and ground situation. The best field implementing parameters which include offset, the distance between two adjacent traces, the quantity of dynamite and the depth of hole for explosion, should be determined with examination. Only this way, the high quality original seismic data can be gotten. 3. In seismic data processing, the edition of invalid trace and source gather, signal enhancement, velocity analysis and migration are the key steps. It has some different points with conventional processing and needs a new processing flow and methods which is suitable to the data acquired in rugged area and complicated geological environment. 4. The new common reflection area stacking method in crooked line data processing is an efficient method to improve the signal to noise ratio of seismic data The innovations of our research work are: 1. In the areas which were considered to be forbidden zone, we implement the seismic exploration in several gold deposits in China through our application. All acquire distinguished effects. This show the seismic exploration method is a new effective method in the prediction of concealed gold deposits. 2. We developed a set of seismic field work techniques and data processing which is suitable to complex environment, especially find a effective method in stacking and noise elimination in crooked line data processing. 3. In the field of seismic profile interpretation, through our research work, we are convinced of that: in different kinds of geological condition, the seismic reflection character are not same. For example the lava, the intrusion rock and sediment layers are different in the character of reflection structure and strength. So we accumulate some experience about seismic data interpretation in the area of gold deposits.

内在参照轴在图形再认中的作用

Shape recognition is among the basic skills to live in the complex environment. There are already a series of studies found interesting mental phenomena in shape recognition, such as mental rotation, which was also found in scene recognition and suggested that there would be common mechanisms in these two recognition processes. Recently, Mou and his colleagues (2008) found that scene recognition was not only viewpoint dependent but also intrinsic-orientation dependent. In our study, we applied their part recognition paradigm to shape recognition and investigated whether there was intrinsic orientation effect in shape recognition, and furthermore, we investigated the selection of the intrinsic axis in shape recognition. The results showed that a test shape divided from the learning direction and thus containing intrinsic axis was easier to recognize, relative to the test shape which was not divided from the learning direction. The results also showed that a test shape presented from the viewing direction was easier to recognize than from other direction. Furthermore, after we added an oblique rectangular background to the learning shape, the results showed that participants chose the prolate axis of the rectangular background as their learning direction and thus the direction of the intrinsic axis. This result suggested that the direction of the intrinsic axis can be separated from the viewing direction, and background can play a decisive role in the selection of intrinsic axis.

A força do marketing na distribuição

Projeto de Pós-Graduação/Dissertação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Farmacêuticas

The day after: effects of vocal interactions on territory defence in nightingales

Models on territory acquisition and tenure predict that territorial animals benefit by adjusting territorial defence behaviour to previous challenges they had experienced within the socially complex environment of communication networks.

Animal foraging from an individual perspective: an object orientated model

A model system, HOOFS (Hierarchical Object Orientated Foraging Simulator), has been developed to study foraging by animals in a complex environment. The model is implemented using an individual-based object-orientated structure. Different species of animals inherit their general properties from a generic animal object which inherits from the basic dynamic object class. Each dynamic object is a separate program thread under the control of a central scheduler. The environment is described as a map of small hexagonal patches, each with their own level of resources and a patch-specific rate of resource replenishment. Each group of seven patches (0th order) is grouped into a Ist order super-patch with seven nth order super-patches making up a n + 1th order super-patch for n up to a specified value. At any time each animal is associated with a single patch. Patch choice is made by combining the information on the resources available within different order patches and super-patches along with information on the spatial location of other animals. The degree of sociality of an animal is defined in terms of optimal spacing from other animals and by the weighting of patch choice based on social factors relative to that based on food availability. Information, available to each animal, about patch resources diminishes with distance from that patch. The model has been used to demonstrate that social interactions can constrain patch choice and result in a short-term reduction of intake and a greater degree of variability in the level of resources in patches. We used the model to show that the effect of this variability on the animal's intake depends on the pattern of patch replenishment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.</p>

The neurodevelopmental progress of infants less than 33 weeks into adolescence

Background: Several studies have shown an increased incidence of neurodevelopmental impairment in very preterm survivors at school age compared with controls.

Aim: To compare findings in the same cohort at 8 years and 15 years.

Methods: A total of 151 of the 224 eligible infants born before 33 weeks of gestation from 1979 to 1982, and who were living in the UK, were assessed at 8 and 15 years. Items common to both assessments were compared to evaluate changes in neurodevelopmental function. The assessment included a structured neurological examination, psychometric tests using the WISC-R (in subjects born in 1981-82), a test of visuomotor integration (Beery), and a school questionnaire.

Results: There was a significant increase in the proportion of subjects classified as impaired with disability from 11% at 8 to 22% at 14-15 years of age. The proportion of subjects classified as impaired without disability increased from 16% at 8 to 26% at 14-15 years of age. Full scale IQ decreased from 104 to 95 from childhood to adolescence, and more adolescents (24%) were requiring extra educational provision than they had at the age of 8 years (15%).

Conclusion: Results indicate that between the ages of 8 and 15 years in this cohort of very preterm survivors there is an apparent deterioration in neurodevelopmental outcome category, cognitive function, and extra educational support. It is not clear whether this represents a genuine deterioration in neurocognitive function or whether it represents the expression of pre-existing cerebral pathology in an increasingly complex environment.

Hermit crabs perceive the extent of their virtual bodies

A flexible body image is required by animals if they are to adapt to body changes and move effectively within a structurally complex environment. Here, we show that terrestrial hermit crabs, Coenobita rugosus, which frequently change shells, can modify walking behaviour, dependent on the shape of the shell. Hermit crabs walked along a corridor that had alternating left and right corners; if it was narrow at the corner, crabs rotated their bodies to avoid the wall, indicating an awareness of environmental obstacles. This rotation increased when a plastic plate was attached to the shell. We suggest that the shell, when extended by the plate, becomes assimilated to the hermit crab's own body. While there are cases of a tool being assimilated with the body, our result is the first example of the habitat where an animal lives and/or carries being part of a virtual body. This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society.

Antibiotic Management of Lung Infections in Cystic Fibrosis. I. The Microbiome, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Gram-Negative Bacteria, and Multiple Infections

Despite significant advances in treatment strategies targeting the underlying defect in cystic fibrosis (CF), airway infection remains an important cause of lung disease. In this two-part series, we review recent evidence related to the complexity of CF airway infection, explore data suggesting the relevance of individual microbial species, and discuss current and future treatment options. In Part I, the evidence with respect to the spectrum of bacteria present in the CF airway, known as the lung microbiome is discussed. Subsequently, the current approach to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, gram-negative bacteria, as well as multiple coinfections is reviewed. Newer molecular techniques have demonstrated that the airway microbiome consists of a large number of microbes, and the balance between microbes, rather than the mere presence of a single species, may be relevant for disease pathophysiology. A better understanding of this complex environment could help define optimal treatment regimens that target pathogens without affecting others. Although relevance of these organisms is unclear, the pathologic consequences of methicillin-resistant S. aureus infection in patients with CF have been recently determined. New strategies for eradication and treatment of both acute and chronic infections are discussed. Pseudomonas aeruginosa plays a prominent role in CF lung disease, butmany other nonfermenting gram-negative bacteria are also found in the CF airway. Many new inhaled antibiotics specifically targeting P. aeruginosa have become available with the hope that they will improve the quality of life for patients. Part I concludes with a discussion of how best to treat patients with multiple coinfections.

On the progenitor of the Type Ic SN 2013dk in the Antennae galaxies

We report the results of our search for the progenitor candidate of SN 2013dk, a Type Ic supernova (SN) that exploded in the Antennae galaxy system. We compare pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archival images with SN images obtained using adaptive optics at the ESO Very Large Telescope. We isolate the SN position to within 3σ uncertainty radius of 0.02 arcsec and show that there is no detectable point source in any of the HST filter images within the error circle. We set an upper limit to the absolute magnitude of the progenitor to be MF555W ≳ -5.7, which does not allow Wolf-Rayet (WR) star progenitors to be ruled out. A bright source appears 0.17 arcsec away, which is either a single bright supergiant or compact cluster, given its absolute magnitude of MF555W = -9.02 ± 0.28 extended wings and complex environment. However, even if this is a cluster, the spatial displacement of SN 2013dk means that its membership is not assured. The strongest statement that we can make is that in the immediate environment of SN 2013dk (within 10 pc or so), we find no clear evidence of either a point source coincident with the SN or a young stellar cluster that could host a massive WR progenitor.

Human-Centric Chronographics:Making Historical Time Memorable

A series of experiments is described, evaluating user recall of visualisations of historical chronology. Such visualisations are widely created but have not hitherto been evaluated. Users were tested on their ability to learn a sequence of historical events presented in a virtual environment (VE) fly-through visualisation, compared with the learning of equivalent material in other formats that are sequential but lack the 3D spatial aspect. Memorability is a particularly important function of visualisation in education. The measures used during evaluation are enumerated and discussed. The majority of the experiments reported compared three conditions, one using a virtual environment visualisation with a significant spatial element, one using a serial on-screen presentation in PowerPoint, and one using serial presentation on paper. Some aspects were trialled with groups having contrasting prior experience of computers, in the UK and Ukraine. Evidence suggests that a more complex environment including animations and sounds or music, intended to engage users and reinforce memorability, were in fact distracting. Findings are reported in relation to the age of the participants, suggesting that children at 11–14 years benefit less from, or are even disadvantaged by, VE visualisations when compared with 7–9 year olds or undergraduates. Finally, results suggest that VE visualisations offering a ‘landscape’ of information are more memorable than those based on a linear model. Keywords: timeline, chronographics

Soft-computing techniques applied to artificial tissue temperature estimation

Tese dout., Engenharia electrónica e computação - Processamento de sinal, Universidade do Algarve, 2008

Intelligent multi-player smart grid management considering distributed energy resources and demand response

The smart grid concept is rapidly evolving in the direction of practical implementations able to bring smart grid advantages into practice. Evolution in legacy equipment and infrastructures is not sufficient to accomplish the smart grid goals as it does not consider the needs of the players operating in a complex environment which is dynamic and competitive in nature. Artificial intelligence based applications can provide solutions to these problems, supporting decentralized intelligence and decision-making. A case study illustrates the importance of Virtual Power Players (VPP) and multi-player negotiation in the context of smart grids. This case study is based on real data and aims at optimizing energy resource management, considering generation, storage and demand response.

MASCEM Restructuring: Ontologies For Scenarios Generation in Power Systems Simulators

The electricity market restructuring, along with the increasing necessity for an adequate integration of renewable energy sources, is resulting in an rising complexity in power systems operation. Various power system simulators have been introduced in recent years with the purpose of helping operators, regulators, and involved players to understand and deal with this complex environment. This paper focuses on the development of an upper ontology which integrates the essential concepts necessary to interpret all the available information. The restructuring of MASCEM (Multi-Agent System for Competitive Electricity Markets), and this system’s integration with MASGriP (Multi-Agent Smart Grid Platform), and ALBidS (Adaptive Learning Strategic Bidding System) provide the means for the exemplification of the usefulness of this ontology. A practical example is presented, showing how common simulation scenarios for different simulators, directed to very distinct environments, can be created departing from the proposed ontology.