Rough terrain mapping and classification for foothold selection in a walking robot

Although legged locomotion over a moderately rugged terrain can be accomplished by employing simple reactions to the ground contact information, a more effective approach, which allows predictively avoiding obstacles, requires a model of the environment and a control algorithm that takes this model into account when planning footsteps and leg movements. This article addresses the issues of terrain perception and modeling and foothold selection in a walking robot. An integrated system is presented that allows a legged robot to traverse previously unseen, uneven terrain using only onboard perception, provided that a reasonable general path is known. An efficient method for real‐time building of a local elevation map from sparse two‐dimensional (2D) range measurements of a miniature 2D laser scanner is described. The terrain mapping module supports a foothold selection algorithm, which employs unsupervised learning to create an adaptive decision surface. The robot can learn from realistic simulations; therefore no a priori expert‐given rules or parameters are used. The usefulness of our approach is demonstrated in experiments with the six‐legged robot Messor. We discuss the lessons learned in field tests and the modifications to our system that turned out to be essential for successful operation under real‐world conditions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synthesis,Characterization, and Initial Biological Evaluation of [99mTc]Tc‐Tricarbonyl‐labeled DPA‐α‐MSH Peptide Derivatives for Potential Melanoma Imaging

α‐Melanocyte stimulating hormone (α‐MSH) derivatives target the melanocortin‐1 receptor (MC1R) specifically and selectively. In this study, the α‐MSH‐derived peptide NAP‐NS1 (Nle‐Asp‐His‐d ‐Phe‐Arg‐Trp‐Gly‐NH₂) with and without linkers was conjugated with 5‐(bis(pyridin‐2‐ylmethyl)amino)pentanoic acid (DPA‐COOH) and labeled with [^99mTc]Tc‐tricarbonyl by two methods. With the one‐pot method the labeling was faster than with the two‐pot method, while obtaining similarly high yields. Negligible trans‐chelation and high stability in physiological solutions was determined for the [^99mTc]Tc‐tricarbonyl–peptide conjugates. Coupling an ethylene glycol (EG)‐based linker increased the hydrophilicity. The peptide derivatives displayed high binding affinity in murine B16F10 melanoma cells as well as in human MeWo and TXM13 melanoma cell homogenates. Preliminary in vivo studies with one of the [^99mTc]Tc‐tricarbonyl–peptide conjugates showed good stability in blood and both renal and hepatobiliary excretion. Biodistribution was performed on healthy rats to gain initial insight into the potential relevance of the ^99mTc‐labeled peptides for in vivo imaging.     

A bibliometric analysis of NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Bibliometric analysis techniques are increasingly being used to analyze and evaluate scientific research produced by institutions and grant funding agencies. This article uses bibliometric methods to analyze journal articles funded by NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), an extramural grant-funding agency focused on the scientific exploration of the world’s oceans. OER-supported articles in this analysis were identified through grant reports, personal communication, and acknowledgement of OER support or grant numbers. The articles identified were analyzed to determine the number of publications and citations received per year, subject, and institution. The productivity and citation impact of institutions in the US receiving OER grant funding were mapped geographically. Word co-occurrence and bibliographic coupling networks were created and visualized to identify the research topics of OER-supported articles. Finally, article citation counts were evaluated by means of percentile ranks. This article demonstrates that bibliometric analysis can be useful for summarizing and evaluating the research performance of a grant funding agency.     

Solvent effects on the products of soybean oil extraction

Summary Ethanol, isopropanol, isobutanol, ethylene dichloride, trichloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride, and hexane (b.p. range 30° to 60°C.) were used as solvents for the extraction of soybean oil and the comparative effect of the solvent on the color and other properties of the oil, meal, and isolated protein was measured. Ethanol extraction gave the best results with respect to the color of oil, meal, and protein, and it also served as a debittering agent for the soybean meal. One of the laboratories of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

The nondistillation alcohol extraction process for soybean oil

Summary A new vegetable oil extraction process has been developed, with alcohol as the oil solvent. The process requiresno distillation to recover the oil or the solvent characteristics of the alcohol. This has been demonstrated by reuse of the solvent more than 85 times. The theoretical energy requirement of the process is about three-fourths that of the hexane process. One of the laboratories of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

Urease activity in soybean meal products

Summary A method which uses direct titration of ammonia as a measure of urease activity was modified for use in the assay of raw and of slightly denatured soybean meal. The modifications which were adopted were the use of glutathione, a presoaking of the sample for 30 min. at 40°C., and making of the assay at 40°C. Data on the urease activity of several varieties of soybeans, and for immature and frost-damaged soybeans were determined. Presented at the meeting of The American Oil Chemists’ Society, Houston, Tex., Apr. 23–25, 1956. In military service. One of the Branches of the Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

Children's recognition of rights violations in counseling.

Evaluated the capacity of children and adolescents to comprehend and protect their rights in a mental health setting in 60 male Ss. 20 Ss at each of 3 age levels (8.2–9.7 yrs, 15.2–16.0 yrs, and 20.4–23.1 yrs) were explained 6 rights—refusal of treatment, knowing the reason for refusal, withholding information from counselors, refusal to allow videotaping of a treatment session, confidentiality, and the right of access to records—and then asked to view videotapes in which these rights were violated. Results show that, for 9-yr-old Ss, the experimental effect of providing information about rights was minimal; both experimental Ss and noninformed controls demonstrated low scores on measures of recognition of rights violation and protection of rights. At ages 15 and 21, experimental Ss demonstrated significantly higher scores on both measures than did control Ss. There was no significant difference in the experimental effect between the 15- and 21-yr-old Ss, which suggests that by age 15, the average adolescent is fully capable of comprehending and exercising his or her rights. Guidelines are proposed regarding the provision of information about rights to minors who receive mental health services. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Web-based electrical and electronics remote wiring and measurement laboratory (RwmLAB) instrument

This paper presents an instrument based on a new architecture called "Remote Wiring and Measurement Laboratory" ( RwmLAB) acting as a local multicircuit board on a common distributed panel on the Internet. Matrix switching, data acquisition, data processing and analysis, and graphical unit interface enabled-devices characterize the RwmLAB. RwmLAB is intended to address real-time remote wiring of electrical and electronic circuits and real data acquisition over the Internet instead of using simulated data. This Web-based instrument allows for flexibility and the spontaneous delivery of laboratory material and ensures a global access to a worldwide audience.     

A relevance ranking method for citation-based search results

A growing number of researchers are exploring the use of citation relationships such as direct citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation for information retrieval in scientific databases and digital libraries. In this paper, I propose a method of ranking the relevance of citation-based search results to a set of key, or seed, papers by measuring the number of citation relationships they share with those key papers. I tested the method against 23 published systematic reviews and found that the method retrieved 87% of the studies included in these reviews. The relevance ranking approach identified a subset of the citation search results that comprised 27% of the total documents retrieved by the method, and 7% of the documents retrieved by these reviews, but that contained 75% of the studies included in these reviews. Additional testing suggested that the method may be less appropriate for reviews that combine literature in ways that are not reflected in the literature itself. These results suggest that this ranking method could be useful in a range of information retrieval contexts.