ClearView: An interactive context preserving hotspot visualization technique

Volume rendered imagery often includes a barrage of 3D information like shape, appearance and topology of complex structures, and it thus quickly overwhelms the user. In particular, when focusing on a specific region a user cannot observe the relationship between various structures unless he has a mental picture of the entire data. In this paper we present ClearView, a GPU-based, interactive framework for texture-based volume ray-casting that allows users which do not have the visualization skills for this mental exercise to quickly obtain a picture of the data in a very intuitive and user-friendly way. ClearView is designed to enable the user to focus on particular areas in the data while preserving context information without visual clutter. ClearView does not require additional feature volumes as it derives any features in the data from image information only. A simple point-and-click interface enables the user to interactively highlight structures in the data. ClearView provides an easy to use interface to complex volumetric data as it only uses transparency in combination with a few specific shaders to convey focus and context information.     

Reinforcement learning to adjust parametrized motor primitives to new situations

Humans manage to adapt learned movements very quickly to new situations by generalizing learned behaviors from similar situations. In contrast, robots currently often need to re-learn the complete movement. In this paper, we propose a method that learns to generalize parametrized motor plans by adapting a small set of global parameters, called meta-parameters. We employ reinforcement learning to learn the required meta-parameters to deal with the current situation, described by states. We introduce an appropriate reinforcement learning algorithm based on a kernelized version of the reward-weighted regression. To show its feasibility, we evaluate this algorithm on a toy example and compare it to several previous approaches. Subsequently, we apply the approach to three robot tasks, i.e., the generalization of throwing movements in darts, of hitting movements in table tennis, and of throwing balls where the tasks are learned on several different real physical robots, i.e., a Barrett WAM, a BioRob, the JST-ICORP/SARCOS CBi and a Kuka KR?6.     

The effect of flooring on musculoskeletal symptoms in the lower extremities and low back among female nursing assistants

This study examines the effect of changing the floor from a 2-mm homogenous vinyl floor to a 4-mm heterogeneous vinyl floor (1.5-mm wear layer and 2.5-mm foam layer) on musculoskeletal symptoms in the lower extremities and low back among nursing assistants in a geriatric care centre. A pre-post design with a reference group consisting of nursing assistants from a similar geriatric care centre was used. Follow-up measurements were carried out 12 and 24 months after the intervention by means of questionnaires. At the 1-year follow-up, the pain intensity score in the feet of the intervention group had decreased compared with the baseline value and remained statistically significant at the 2-year follow-up. The decrease in pain intensity score of the feet in the intervention group was statistically significantly different from the reference group, both after 1 and 2 years. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: The results show the importance of flooring in the workplace with regard to reducing musculoskeletal symptoms. Appropriate flooring is especially important in the female-dominated health care sector, where workers must stand or walk for long periods.     

Large-Scale Hydrogen Production

There is a growing need for hydrogen in processing heavier and dirtier fossil fuels and a future hydrogen economy is widely suggested as the next generation fuel/energy source once fossil fuels diminish in availability. Sustainable fuels are still regarded as too expensive given the large amounts of natural gas and a projected, ample supply of fossil fuels beyond the next twenty-plus years. Today, the steam reforming of hydrocarbons is the most favorable route to H₂. If CO₂ sequestration were ever to become widely practiced, fossil fuels would continue to play an important role in the future hydrogen economy.     

Generation of Asynchronous Component Adapters

Utilizing services of legacy and third party COTS components has become vital for the timely development and evolution of software systems. Component interfaces typically have to be adapted before they can be re-used in a system context. This paper presents an approach to generating component adapters. The approach focuses on mapping multiple events, and their associated parameters, generated from a source component to multiple calls in the target component. The novelty of our mechanism is that it allows developers to generate asynchronous as well as synchronous adapters. As a result we can generate adapters for components with incompatible event structure. A prototype called Asynchronous Component Adapter (ACA) was developed which demonstrates the idea with Java Beans, but the methodology can be applied to any component-based system that supports introspection like Microsoft .NET assemblies.     

Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction studies of stress effects in PbTiO3 thin films

A systematic study of domain structure and residual stress evolution with film thickness and of phase transition in c/a epitaxial PbTiO(3)/LaAlO(3) films using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy is reported. Both techniques revealed that the films are under tensile residual stress in the film plane and that a-domains are more stressed than c-domains. The two components of the large A(1)(TO) Ramanmodes are associated with a- and c-domains and their intensity ratio correlates to the volume fraction of a-domains. The evolution of the Raman signature with temperature revealed that the spectrum of a-domains disappears around 480 degrees C, whereas c-domains present an anomaly in their spectrum at 500 degrees C but maintain a well-defined Raman signature up to 600 degrees C.     

Ultrahigh Energy Absorption Multifunctional Spinodal Nanoarchitectures

Nanolattices are promoted as next‐generation multifunctional high‐performance materials, but their mechanical response is limited to extreme strength yet brittleness, or extreme deformability but low strength and stiffness. Ideal impact protection systems require high‐stress plateaus over long deformation ranges to maximize energy absorption. Here, glassy carbon nanospinodals, i.e., nanoarchitectures with spinodal shell topology, combining ultrahigh energy absorption and exceptional strength and stiffness at low weight are presented. Noncatastrophic deformation up to 80% strain, and energy absorption up to one order of magnitude higher than for other nano‐, micro‐, macro‐architectures and solids, and state‐of‐the‐art impact protection structures are shown. At the same time, the strength and stiffness are on par with the most advanced yet brittle nanolattices, demonstrating true multifunctionality. Finite element simulations show that optimized shell thickness‐to‐curvature‐radius ratios suppress catastrophic failure by impeding propagation of dangerously oriented cracks. In contrast to most micro‐ and nano‐architected materials, spinodal architectures may be easily manufacturable on an industrial scale, and may become the next generation of superior cellular materials for structural applications.     

Function of IRAG2 Is Modulated by NO/cGMP in Murine Platelets

Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor-associated 2 (IRAG2) is a type II membrane protein located at the endoplasmic reticulum. It is a homologue of inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor-associated cGMP kinase substrate 1 (IRAG1), a substrate protein of cGMP-dependent protein kinase I (PKGI), and is among others expressed in platelets. Here, we studied if IRAG2 is also located in platelets and might be a substrate protein of PKGI. IRAG2 was detected in platelets of IRAG2-WT animals but not in those of IRAG2-KO animals. Next, we validated by co-immunoprecipitation studies that IRAG2 is associated with IP₃R1-3. No direct stable interaction with PKGIβ or with IRAG1 was observed. Phosphorylation of IRAG2 in murine platelets using a Ser/Thr-specific phospho-antibody was found in vitro and ex vivo upon cGMP stimulation. To gain insight into the function of IRAG2, platelet aggregation studies were performed using thrombin and collagen as agonists for treatment of isolated IRAG2-WT or IRAG2-KO platelets. Interestingly, platelet aggregation was reduced in the absence of IRAG2. Pretreatment of wild type or IRAG2-KO platelets with sodium nitroprusside (SNP) or 8-pCPT-cGMP revealed a further reduction in platelet aggregation in the absence of IRAG2. These results show that IRAG2 is a substrate of PKGI in murine platelets. Furthermore, our results indicate that IRAG2 is involved in the induction of thrombin- or collagen-induced platelet aggregation and that this effect is enhanced by cGMP-dependent phosphorylation of IRAG2. As IRAG1 was previously shown to inhibit platelet aggregation in a cGMP-dependent manner, it can be speculated that IRAG2 exerts an opposing function and might be an IRAG1 counterpart in murine platelets.