Nonlinear Robust Tracking Control of a Quadrotor UAV on SE(3)

This paper provides nonlinear tracking control systems for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that are robust to bounded uncertainties. A mathematical model of a quadrotor UAV is defined on the special Euclidean group, and nonlinear output‐tracking controllers are developed to follow (i) an attitude command, and (ii) a position command for the vehicle center of mass. The controlled system has the desirable properties that the tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded, and the size of the ultimate bound can be reduced arbitrarily by control system parameters. Numerical examples illustrating complex maneuvers are provided.     

A Lyapunov functional approach to robust stability analysis of continuous-time uncertain linear systems in polytopic domains

In this paper, a sufficient linear matrix inequality (LMI) condition is presented for robust stability analysis of continuous-time linear time-invariant (LTI) systems in polytopic domains. The underlying idea behind the proposed approach is to introduce a family of complex functions which map the closed right-hand side of the complex plane into the inside of the closed unit circle centered at the origin. Then, the mapping properties are used to assure that all the eigenvalues of a system are located in the open left-hand side of the complex plane. Examples show the validity of the proposed condition.     

Map building method for urban gas pipelines based on landmark detection

This paper presents a map building method for an in-pipe robot to navigate inside urban gas pipelines autonomously, whose configuration is unknown or partially known. In the first, we explain the reason why the navigation in the pipeline is difficult and then, present a method for obtaining a robot’s posture by using a pipeline’s unique geometrical features. The robot can obtain its heading direction by detecting the standardized geometries of pipe elements. Based on the method, we propose a robot controller consisting of discrete and continuous controllers. The discrete controller is activated by pre-defined events and generates appropriate paths for exploration. The continuous controller receives the desired path and physically moves the robot to the desired path. The method is implemented in an in-pipe robot, called MRINSPECT-V and its effectiveness is validated.     

Development of a quadruped walking robot AiDIN-III using biologically inspired kinematic analysis

This paper presents a bio-inspired mechanism design for a quadruped walking robot. The approach is derived from the observation on the behaviors of quadruped locomotion, skeletal structure, and the study on the stability of walking based on morphological analysis. In the first, we define the design parameters such as the dimensions of the body and limbs, the center of mass position, and locomotion mechanisms based on surveys on the literatures from biologists. Then, by using the parameters, we propose an useful framework for determining the design parameters of a quadruped walking robot. For implementations, we manufacture a dog-type self-contained quadruped walking robot, named AiDIN-III (Artificial Digitigrade for Natural Environment version III) and the effectiveness of the proposed idea is validated via experimental works.     

Compact and unified hardware architecture for SHA-1 and SHA-256 of trusted mobile computing

This paper presents a compact and unified hardware architecture implementing SHA-1 and SHA-256 algorithms that is suitable for the mobile trusted module (MTM), which should satisfy small area and low-power condition. The built-in hardware hash engine in a MTM is one of the most important circuit blocks and dominates the performance of the whole platform because it is used as a key primitive to support most MTM commands concerning to the platform integrity and the command authentication. Unlike the general trusted platform module (TPM) for PCs, the MTM, that is to be employed in mobile devices, has very stringent limitations with respect to available power, circuit area, and so on. Therefore, MTM needs the spatially optimized architecture and design method for the construction of a compact SHA hardware. The proposed hardware for unified SHA-1 and SHA-256 component can compute a sequence of 512-bit data blocks and has been implemented into 12,400 gates of 0.25 μm CMOS process. Furthermore, in the processing speed and power consumption, it shows the better performance in comparison with commercial TPM chips and software-only implementation. The highest operation frequency and throughput of the proposed architecture are 137 MHz and 197.6 Mbps, respectively, which satisfy the processing requirement for the mobile application.     

Low level light therapy by Red–Green–Blue LEDs improves healing in an excision model of Sprague–Dawley rats

There are many methods of healing wounds. Among these, light therapy is reported to be beneficial, as beams assist the human body in treating, sterilizing, and regenerating cells. Both Laser and LED irradiation with specific wavelengths induce proliferation of fibroblasts depending on the wound area or wavelength and are effective in wound healing. This study used 8-week-old 250–300 g Male Sprague–Dawley Rats (ILAR Code: NTacSam:SD). The experiment was carried out for the non-irradiation group and the Red–Green–Blue LEDs irradiation groups (n of each group = 5). The experiment animals were relieved for 24 h after wounds had been excised and then the Red–Green–Blue LEDs irradiation groups were given irradiation therapy over 9 days 1 h per day. Immunohistochemical staining was conducted for cytokeratin in order to precisely measure the defect size. Also, Masson’s trichrome staining was conducted for comparison of collagen between the Red–Green–Blue LEDs irradiation groups and the non-irradiation group. Animals treated with Blue LEDs irradiation (p < 0.05), Green LEDs irradiation (p < 0.05), and Red LEDs irradiation (N.S.) healed at a faster rate than non-irradiated group. The LEDs irradiated groups also had more collagen, according to Masson’s trichrome staining for collagen analysis. The Red–Green–Blue LEDs irradiation had a beneficial effect on wound healing and could probably replace low power laser treatment.     

PASU: A personal area situation understanding system using wireless camera sensor networks

In this paper, we present a personal area situation understanding (PASU) system, a novel application of a smart device using wireless camera sensor networks. The portability of a PASU system makes it an attractive solution for monitoring and understanding the current situation of the personal area around a user. The PASU system allows its user to construct a 3D scene of the environment and view the scene from various vantage points for better understanding of the environment. The paper describes the architecture and implementation of the PASU system addressing limitations of wireless camera sensor networks, such as low bandwidth and limited computational capabilities. The capabilities of PASU are validated with extensive experiments. The PASU system demonstrates the potential of a portable system combining a smart device and a wireless camera sensor network for personal area monitoring and situation understanding.     

网络环境下高校教师学习共同体的建立

随着信息技术的发展,基于网络的学习和教育越来越成为21世纪的主流教育形式.网络环境对学习者产生深远的影响,构建网络学习平台为学习共同体提供学习交流空间,使得教师不再是一个单独的个体,它使教学模式从封闭式走向开放式,从一统式走向自主式,从单一式走向综合式,从被动式走向互动式.     

Review of a pivotal Human Factors article: "Humans and automation: use, misuse, disuse, abuse"

OBJECTIVE: This paper considers the influence of "Humans and Automation: Use, Misuse, Disuse, Abuse" and examines how it relates to the evolving issue of human-automation interaction. BACKGROUND: Automation presents important practical challenges that can dramatically affect satisfaction, performance, and safety; philosophical challenges also arise as automation changes the nature of work and human cognition. METHOD: Papers cited by and citing "Humans and Automation" were reviewed to identify enduring and emerging themes in human-automation research. RESULTS: "Humans and Automation" emerges as an important node in the network of automation-related papers, citing many and being cited by many recent influential automation-related papers. In their article, Parasuraman and Riley (1997) integrated previous research and identified differing expectations across designers, managers, and operators regarding the need to support operators as a source of automation problems. They also foresaw and inspired research that addresses problems of overreliance and underreliance on automation. CONCLUSION: This pivotal article and associated research show that even though automation seems to relieve people of tasks, automation requires more, not less, attention to training, interface design, and interaction design. The original article also alludes to the emergence of vicious cycles and dysfunctional meta-control. These problems reflect the coevolution of automation and humans, in which both adapt to the responses of the other. APPLICATION: Understanding this coevolution has important philosophical implications for the nature of human cognition and practical implications for satisfaction, performance, and safety.     

HOM4PS-2.0: a software package for solving polynomial systems by the polyhedral homotopy continuation method

HOM4PS-2.0 is a software package in FORTRAN 90 which implements the polyhedral homotopy continuation method for solving polynomial systems. It updates its original version HOM4PS in three key aspects: (1) new method for finding mixed cells, (2) combining the polyhedral and linear homotopies in one step, (3) new way of dealing with curve jumping. Numerical results show that this revision leads to a spectacular speed-up, ranging up to 1950s, over its original version on all benchmark systems, especially for large ones. It surpasses the existing packages in finding isolated zeros, such as PHCpack (Verschelde in ACM Trans Math Softw 25:251–276, 1999), PHoM (Gunji et al. in Computing 73:57–77, 2004), and Bertini (Bates et al. in Software for numerical algebraic geometry. Available at http://www.nd.edu/~sommese/bertini), in speed by big margins.