An Architecture for Human‐Guided Autonomy: Team TROOPER at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals

Recent robotics efforts have automated simple, repetitive tasks to increase execution speed and lessen an operator's cognitive load, allowing them to focus on higher‐level objectives. However, an autonomous system will eventually encounter something unexpected, and if this exceeds the tolerance of automated solutions, there must be a way to fall back to teleoperation. Our solution is a largely autonomous system with the ability to determine when it is necessary to ask a human operator for guidance. We call this approach human‐guided autonomy. Our design emphasizes human‐on‐the‐loop control where an operator expresses a desired high‐level goal for which the reasoning component assembles an appropriate chain of subtasks. We introduce our work in the context of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. We describe the software architecture Team TROOPER developed and used to control an Atlas humanoid robot. We employ perception, planning, and control automation for execution of subtasks. If subtasks fail, or if changing environmental conditions invalidate the planned subtasks, the system automatically generates a new task chain. The operator is able to intervene at any stage of execution, to provide input and adjustment to any control layer, enabling operator involvement to increase as confidence in automation decreases. We present our performance at the DRC Finals and a discussion about lessons learned.     

New Research Results for Electronic Voting

Voting systems have become controversial in the years following the multiple election disasters that occurred in the United States during and after 2000. Of particular note were the electronic voting (e-voting) systems that were widely deployed to replace the pre-scored punch-card systems, systems that had have been frequently judged to be central to the problem in the 2000 Florida general election. The (premature) deployment of e-voting machines stimulated a new field of security and privacy research around the subject of elections, a subject that has turned out to be more complex and deeper than anyone would have predicted a decade ago. Here we present a sample of some of the finest recent work on election technology from authors on three continents.     

分布式实时电力监控系统的设计

提出了一种分布式实时电力监控系统的设计思路，结合电力行业的行业特色和行业要求，设计了系统的组成，分析了系统中使用的关键技术，阐述了在系统中的实现思路。     

Molecular cloning, expression, and characterization of a functional single-chain Fv antibody to the mycotoxin zearalenone

The heavy-chain and kappa light-chain variable region genes of an antizearalenone hybridoma cell line (2G3-6E3-2E2) were isolated by PCR and joined by a DNA linker encoding peptide (Gly4Ser)3 as a single-chain Fv (scFv) DNA fragment. The scFv DNA fragment was cloned into a phagemid (pCANTAB5E) and expressed as a fusion protein with E tag and phage M13 p3 in Escherichia coli TG1. In the presence of helper phage M13K07, the scFv fusion protein was displayed on the surfaces of recombinant phages. High-affinity scFv phages were enriched through affinity selection in microtiter wells coated with zearalenone-ovalbumin conjugate. The selected recombinant phages were used to infect E. coli HB2151 for the production of soluble scFv antibodies. One selected clone (pQY1.5) in HB2151 secreted a soluble scFv antibody (QY1.5) with a high zearalenone-binding affinity (concentration required for 50% inhibition of binding, 14 ng/ml), similar to that of parent monoclonal antibody in a competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. However, scFv QY1.5 exhibited higher cross-reactivity with zearalenone analogs and had greater sensitivity to methanol destabilization than the parent monoclonal antibody did. Nucleotide sequence analyses revealed that the light-chain portion of scFv QY1.5 had a nucleotide sequence identity of 97% to a mouse germ line gene VK23.32 in mouse kappa light-chain variable region subgroup V, whereas the heavy-chain nucleotide sequence was classified as mouse heavy-chain subgroup III (D) but without any closely related members having highly homologous complementarity-determining region sequences. The potential of soluble scFv QY1.5 for routine screening of zearalenone and its analogs was demonstrated with zearalenone-spiked corn extracts.     

Key stakeholders’ perspectives on the ideal partnering culture in construction projects

This paper examines the current state of project cultures in the German turnkey construction industry and the ideal project cultures in terms of partnering from the perspective of various key stakeholders (i.e., Investors, General Contractors, (Sub-)Contractors and Designers). To investigate the current and ideal cultures, data were gathered among the key stakeholders by means of a survey study with 72 respondents divided over 12 companies. The respondents rated the current and desired cultures by using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, which belongs to the Competing Values Framework. The investigations show many similarities and differences between the stakeholder perspectives of the current and the idealized partnering project cultures. Mainly, the General Contractors desire more cooperative behaviors than the (Sub-)Contractors, and the Investors desire more pronounced flexibility than the General Contractors. All stakeholders desire a cultural change from highly competitive behaviors toward more cooperation. Changes in terms of clear procedures or more flexibility are only desired by the Designers. Defining both the current and an ideal partnering project culture enables academics and project managers to compare their actual project cultures to an ideal situation. With such an approach, academics and project managers could measure whether new tools or changes in resources affect their project cultures toward a partnering project culture.     

An improved selective attention model considering orientation preferences

An improved selective attention model is proposed in this paper, which is designed as a network of spiking neurons of Hodgkin--Huxley type with star-like connections between the central units and peripheral neurons. In this model, peripheral neurons represent the neurons located in the primary visual cortex. Since orientation preference is an important property of neurons in primary visual cortex, it should be considered except for external stimuli intensity. Simulation results show that the improved model can sequentially select objects with different orientation preferences and has a reliable shift of attention from one object to another, which are consistent with the experimental results that the neurons with different orientation preferences are laid out in pinwheel patterns.     

A comprehensive 2-D inductance modeling approach for VLSI interconnects: frequency-dependent extraction and compact circuit model synthesis

Although three-dimensional (3-D) partial inductance modeling costs have decreased with stable, sparse approximations of the inductance matrix and its inverse, 3-D models are still intractable when applied to full chip timing or crosstalk analysis. The 3-D partial inductance matrix (or its inverse) is too large to be extracted or simulated when power-grid cross-sections are made wide to capture proximity effect and wires are discretized finely to capture skin effect. Fortunately, 3-D inductance models are unnecessary in VLSI interconnect analysis. Because return currents follow interconnect wires, long interconnect wires can be accurately modeled as two-dimensional (2-D) transmission lines and frequency-dependent loop impedances extracted using 2-D methods . Furthermore, this frequency dependence can be approximated with compact circuit models for both uncoupled and coupled lines. Three-dimensional inductance models are only necessary to handle worst case effects such as simultaneous switching in the end regions. This paper begins by explaining and defending the 2-D modeling approach. It then extends the extraction algorithm to efficiently include distant return paths. Finally, a novel synthesis technique is described that approximates the frequency-dependent series impedance of VLSI interconnects with compact circuit models suitable for timing and noise analysis.