Rule-based intelligence for domotic environments

In the last years Home Automation systems gained new momentum, permeating many human-related environments, from homes to hospitals. The rapid evolution of such systems showed several interoperability pitfalls and a generally insufficient support for advanced user–home interaction. To tackle these emerging issues, recent research works defined the concept of Intelligent Domotic Environments (IDEs) where different automation systems, appliances and devices are integrated into a single powerful environment, capable of providing Ambient Intelligence (AmI) functionalities. IDEs represent one of the first attempts to define a framework for AmI environments based on off-the-shelf domotic systems. This paper contributes to extend IDE capabilities by supporting basic intelligence requirements through a rule-based reasoning mechanism. Starting from a formal model of IDE elements (DogOnt), rules are defined to evaluate environment properties. Property checking is done both off-line, for structural properties, i.e., properties involving the physical structure and configuration of the IDE, and on-line for properties dependent on current IDE states. Two rule languages, SWRL and JenaRules, are considered for rule formalization and their reasoning performance is evaluated by comparing two different rule engines, namely Jess and Jena. Results show that rule-based reasoning can deal with quite complex property checking, effectively addressing basic intelligence for IDEs and providing the basis for more advanced behaviors such as user adaptation and proactive interaction.     

3D graphene from CO2 and K as an excellent counter electrode for dye‐sensitized solar cells

3D graphene, which was synthesized directly from CO₂ via its exothermic reaction with liquid K, exhibited excellent performance as a counter electrode for a dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The DSSC has achieved a high power conversion efficiency of 8.25%, which is 10 times larger than that (0.74%) of a DSSC with a counter electrode of the regular graphene synthesized via chemical exfoliation of graphite. The efficiency is even higher than that (7.73%) of a dye‐sensitized solar cell with an expensive standard Pt counter electrode. This work provides a novel approach to utilize a greenhouse gas for DSSCs.     

Lessons learned from programmers' experiences with one‐way constraints

One‐way constraints have been incorporated in many graphical user interface toolkits because they are simple to learn, easy to write, and can express many types of useful graphical relationships. This paper is an evaluative paper that examines users' experience with one‐way constraints in two user interface development toolkits, Garnet and Amulet, over a 15‐year time span. The lessons gained from this examination can help guide the design of future constraint systems. The most important lessons are that (1) constraints should be allowed to contain arbitrary code that is written in the underlying toolkit language and does not require any annotations, such as parameter declarations, (2) constraints are difficult to debug and better debugging tools are needed, and (3) programmers will readily use one‐way constraints to specify the graphical layout of an application, but must be carefully and time‐consumingly trained to use them for other purposes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flying over the reality gap: From simulated to real indoor airships

Because of their ability to naturally float in the air, indoor airships (often called blimps) constitute an appealing platform for research in aerial robotics. However, when confronted to long lasting experiments such as those involving learning or evolutionary techniques, blimps present the disadvantage that they cannot be linked to external power sources and tend to have little mechanical resistance due to their low weight budget. One solution to this problem is to use a realistic flight simulator, which can also significantly reduce experimental duration by running faster than real time. This requires an efficient physical dynamic modelling and parameter identification procedure, which are complicated to develop and usually rely on costly facilities such as wind tunnels. In this paper, we present a simple and efficient physics-based dynamic modelling of indoor airships including a pragmatic methodology for parameter identification without the need for complex or costly test facilities. Our approach is tested with an existing blimp in a vision-based navigation task. Neuronal controllers are evolved in simulation to map visual input into motor commands in order to steer the flying robot forward as fast as possible while avoiding collisions. After evolution, the best individuals are successfully transferred to the physical blimp, which experimentally demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed approach. Jean-Christophe Zufferey and Alexis Guanella contributed equally to this work.     

Robust control strategies for multi-inventory systems with average flow constraints

In this paper, we consider multi-inventory systems in the presence of uncertain demand. We assume that (i) demand is unknown but bounded in an assigned compact set and (ii) the control inputs (controlled flows) are subject to assigned constraints. Given a long-term average demand, we select a nominal flow that feeds such a demand. In this context, we are interested in a control strategy that meets at each time all possible current demands and achieves the nominal flow in the average. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for such a strategy to exist and we characterize the set of achievable flows. Such conditions are based on linear programming and thus they are constructive. In the special case of a static flow (i.e. a system with 0-capacity buffers) we show that the strategy must be affine. The dynamic problem can be solved by a linear-saturated control strategy (inspired by the previous one). We provide numerical analysis and illustrative examples.     

Hybrid Bionic Systems for the Replacement of Hand Function

In recent years, thanks to the advancement of robotics and mechatronics, new and more effective devices for the restoration and replacement of sensory-motor function in disabled people have been developed. In all these systems, user acceptability is strictly connected to several issues such as the residual abilities of the subject, the mechatronic characteristics of the robot, and also the interface chosen to link them. It is possible to figure out different "human-interface-device" combinations [also defined as "hybrid bionic systems" (HBSs)] characterized by different properties in terms of level of hybridness, connection, and augmentation. In particular, in HBSs the interface has to be customized according to the characteristics of the robotic artefact to be controlled and to the desires and needs of the final users. In this paper, our attention has been focused on the problem of the replacement of hand function after amputation. Three HBSs characterized by different levels of complexity, dexterity, and sensorization are presented in order to show the possibility of developing acceptable and effective systems by choosing different levels of connection and hybridness (i.e., different interfaces) for different devices and applications. The following case studies are presented: 1) the use of invasive interfaces to the peripheral nervous system to control a dexterous and highly sensorized hand prosthesis; 2) the use of electromyographic signals recorded using surface electrodes to control a compliant adaptive prosthesis; and 3) the use of a foot interface to control a two-degrees-of-freedom prosthesis. The preliminary results achieved so far seem to confirm the idea that the correct choice of the proper interface while developing an HBS can increase effectiveness and usability     

Effect of topical steroids on nasal nitric oxide production in children with perennial allergic rhinitis: a pilot study

It has been hypothesized that concentrations of exhaled nitric oxide (NO) may be related to the extent of cytokine-mediated airway inflammation. Recent findings indicate the nasal airways as an important site of NO production. Our objective was to evaluate whether children with allergic rhinitis show different nasal NO levels when compared with normal healthy subjects and the effect of topical steroids and anti-histamine therapy. We have measured the concentration of NO drawn from the nose of 21 children (5-17 years old) affected by perennial allergic rhinitis (house dust mite) out of therapy for at least 3 weeks. Thirteen children were then treated with nasal beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) (400 micrograms daily) and eight subjects with nasal anti-histamine levocabastine (200 micrograms daily). Measurements were performed before and after 10 days of treatment. As a control group we evaluated 21 healthy children aged 5-15 years. To measure NO we used a chemiluminescence analyser. Before treatment the whole group of children with allergic rhinitis showed a mean (+/- SEM) nasal NO concentration of 267 +/- 18 ppb, significantly higher (P < 0.01) than the control group (186 +/- 15 ppb). The group of children treated with BDP showed, after 10 days of therapy, a significant (P < 0.05) decrease of nasal NO concentration (271 +/- 21 ppb vs. 212 +/- 20 ppb). Indeed, in the group treated with levocabastine, nasal NO concentrations did not present a significant difference (P not significant) compared with baseline (261 +/- 33 ppb and 252 +/- 31 ppb, respectively). These data suggest that (1) children with allergic rhinitis have higher levels of nasal NO than non-atopic controls and (2) intranasal steroid therapy significantly reduces nasal NO production in children with allergic rhinitis. We speculate that the allergic inflammatory response may influence the nasal NO levels and that NO measurements may be a useful marker of nasal inflammation.     

Mirrors with regular hexagonal segments

The point-spread function and emissivity are calculated for a mirror made from regular hexagonal segments of just a few different sizes. A mirror of this type has many similar segments, which is an advantage for manufacturing, and for an approximately f/1 mirror with > or = 1000 segments and > or = 4 sizes of regular hexagons the increase in intersegment gap area is negligible. This result raises the possibility of making a mirror from very large numbers of identical small segments that are warped to the required figure.     

On the intersubject generalization ability in extracting kinematic information from afferent nervous signals

In the recent past, many efforts have been carried out in order to evaluate the feasibility of implementing closed-loop controlled neuroprostheses based on the processing of sensory electroneurographic (ENG) signals. The success of these techniques mostly relies on the development of processing algorithms capable of extracting the necessary kinematic information from these signals. Soft-computing algorithms can be very useful when dealing with the complexity of the neuromuscular system because of their generalization ability and model-free structure. In this paper, these techniques were used to extract angular position information from the ENG signals recorded from muscle afferents in animal model using cuff electrodes. Specifically, a genetic algorithm-based dynamic nonsingleton fuzzy logic system (named GA-DNSFLS) was developed and tested on different types of angular trajectories (characterized by small or large angular excursions). In particular, two different Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK)-like structures were used in the consequent part of the neuro-fuzzy model in order to verify which one could improve the generalization abilities (intrasubject and intersubject). The results showed that the GA-DNSFLS was able to reconstruct the trajectories giving interesting results in terms of correlation between the actual and the predicted trajectories for small excursion movements during intrasubject and intersubject tests. Particularly, one of the TSK models showed better results in terms of intersubject generalization. The simulations conducted with the large excursion movements led in some cases to interesting results but further experiments are necessary in order to analyze this point more in deep.