The World robot summit disaster robotics category – achievements of the 2018 preliminary competition

The World Robot Summit is a robot Olympics and aims to be held in a different country every four years from 2020. The concept of the Plant Disaster Prevention challenge is daily inspections, checks, and emergency response in industrial plants, and in this competition, robots must carry out these types of missions in a mock-up plant. The concept of the Tunnel Disaster Response and Recovery challenge is emergency response to tunnel disasters, and is a simulation competition whereby teams compete to show their ability to deal with disasters, by collecting information and removing debris. The Standard Disaster Robotics challenge assesses, in the form of a contest, the standard performance levels of a robot that are necessary for disaster prevention and emergency response. The World Robot Summit Preliminary Competition was held at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2018, and 36 teams participated in the Disaster Robotics Category. UGVs and UAVs contended the merits of new technology for solving complex problems, using core technologies such as mobility, sensing, recognition, performing operations, human interface, autonomous intelligence etc., as well as system integration and implementation of strategies for completing missions, gaining high-level results.     

Understanding value creation in closed loop supply chains – Past findings and future directions

The topic of value creation through the recovery of returned products in closed loop supply chains is scattered across various bodies of literature. We undertake a systematic literature review of 144 articles in relevant green, reverse and closed loop supply chain literature to synchronize existing knowledge on value creation. Value manifestations of four types of value, namely economic, environmental, information and customer value, are identified. Value adding concepts from the forward- and reverse supply chain may leverage the process of value creation. They are classified into six subclasses, namely partnerships and collaboration, product design characteristics, service concepts, IT solutions, supply chain processes and organizational characteristics. We present a conceptual framework on a strategic level. In this way companies can create competitive advantages by closing the loop. The results of the literature analysis suggest avenues for future research on the operational and strategic level.     

包装件压力试验机计算机测控系统

针对YE-50包装件压力试验机落后的测控系统，提出一种基于压力和位移闭环控制的计算机测控系统。根据测得的压力、位移和设定值，通过模糊控制输出驱动伺服阀实现了压力试验时的恒速控制和堆码试验时的恒力控制。并实时显示力——位移及应力——应变曲线。文中还对模糊控制器的实验整定方法进行了探讨。     

Identification of the minimum effective dose for right-censored survival data

In this paper, we consider identifying the minimum effective dose (MED) in a dose-response study when survival data are subject to random right-censorship, where the MED is defined to be the smallest dose level under study that has survival advantage over the zero-dose control. To this end, we suggest single-step-down testing procedures based on three different types of weighted logrank statistics, respectively. The comparative results of a Monte Carlo error rate and power/bias study for a variety of survival and censoring distributions are then presented and discussed. The application of the testing procedures for identifying the MED is finally illustrated by using a numerical example of prostate cancer data.     

Russian underwater tunnels in the system of international transportation ways

Sustained world economic development trends characteristic with international trade annual growth rate of 7–8% along with considerable dynamics in the interregional goods circulation sphere on one hand and vast territory of Russia combined with a relatively developed railway network on the other hand provide a unique chance for this country to arrange land transportation routes alternative and competitive in comparison with existing marine routes. Construction of rail tunnels seems to be most efficient means for transportation corridors to cross-wide water areas like Nevelsky Strait (10.5 km) between the mainland and the Sakhalin Island in Russia, Bering Strait (92 km) between Chukotka Peninsula (Russia) and Alaska (USA). The tunnels construction conditions, structures and technologies planned to be used are considered in the paper.     

Recursive calculation of ladder circuit frequency functions

It is shown how the transfer function as well as the input impedance and admittance of any linear time-invariant ladder circuit can be determined in closed form as frequency functions dependent upon the network element parameters. All elements of the ladder circuit must be explicitly specified by their frequency characteristics. The results are achieved with the aid of recursive algorithms. The outcome is demonstrated by means of an example.     

Mutual recognition of the results of measurements and tests and formation of a world-wide metrology system

The main prerequisites are considered in a historical aspect and steps ate taken in creating a world-wide metrology system with the aim of providing conditions for the mutual recognition of measurement results. __________ Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 11. pp. 59–62, November, 2007.     

一种基于区域分割的多级环境建模方法

针对现有移动机器人路径规划中各种环境建模方法存在使用范围有限、复杂问题处理能力不足和运行效率低、缺乏灵活性等问题，结合二维半描述和知识利用原理，提出了一种可以比较圆满地解决诸如建筑物内不同楼层连接、室内室外环境交替出现等实用结构性空间问题的基于区域分割的多级环境建模方法。     

Ruins and Revival: Paris in the Aftermath of the Second World War

Although many devastated European cities have been studied, the bombing and reconstruction of key industrial sites and certain suburban residential zones in greater Paris have received little scholarly attention. Using archival sources, this article explores both destruction and reconstruction, and traces how homeless families shared apartments or endured years of 'temporary' accommodation in huts and other shelters. Post-war economic planning in France privileged the restoration of industrial and commercial sites; rebuilding of housing by the state, by housing co-operatives and by individual property owners received less support and progressed far more slowly. Today, the visual legacy of reconstruction is easily confused with that of completely new post-war apartments; however its origin, if not its architecture, is distinctively different and merits recognition in its own right.     

Semantic Web Mining: State of the art and future directions

Semantic Web Mining aims at combining the two fast-developing research areas Semantic Web and Web Mining. This survey analyzes the convergence of trends from both areas: More and more researchers are working on improving the results of Web Mining by exploiting semantic structures in the Web, and they make use of Web Mining techniques for building the Semantic Web. Last but not least, these techniques can be used for mining the Semantic Web itself.The Semantic Web is the second-generation WWW, enriched by machine-processable information which supports the user in his tasks. Given the enormous size even of today’s Web, it is impossible to manually enrich all of these resources. Therefore, automated schemes for learning the relevant information are increasingly being used. Web Mining aims at discovering insights about the meaning of Web resources and their usage. Given the primarily syntactical nature of the data being mined, the discovery of meaning is impossible based on these data only. Therefore, formalizations of the semantics of Web sites and navigation behavior are becoming more and more common. Furthermore, mining the Semantic Web itself is another upcoming application. We argue that the two areas Web Mining and Semantic Web need each other to fulfill their goals, but that the full potential of this convergence is not yet realized. This paper gives an overview of where the two areas meet today, and sketches ways of how a closer integration could be profitable.