Radial Based Probabilistic Roadmap Motion Planning Method in Sparse Environment

A new dynamic path planning method in high dimensional workspace, radial based probabilistic roadmap motion (RBPRM) planning method, is presented. Different from general probabilistic roadmap motion planning methods, it uses straight lines as long as possible to construct a path graph, so the final path obtained from the graph is relatively shorter and straighter. Experimental results show the efficiency of the algorithm in finding shorter paths in sparse environment.

Face hallucination via compressive sensing

Face hallucination or super-resolution is an inverse problem which is underdetermined,and the compressive sensing(CS)theory provides an effective way of seeking inverse problem solutions.In this paper,a novel compressive sensing based face hallucination method is presented,which is comprised of three steps:dictionary learning、sparse coding and solving maximum a posteriori(MAP)formulation.In the first step,the K-SVD dictionary learning algorithm is adopted to obtain a dictionary which can sparsely represent high resolution(HR)face image patches.In the second step,we seek the sparsest representation for each low-resolution(LR)face image paches input using the learned dictionary,super resolution image blocks are obtained from the sparsest coefficients and dictionaries,which then are assembled into super-resolution(SR)image.Finally,MAP formulation is introduced to satisfy the consistency restrictive condition and obtain the higher quality HR images.The experimental results demonstrate that our approach can achieve better super-resolution faces compared with other state-of-the-art method.

Design of research platform on telerobot system based on virtual reality technology

A design strategy for a research platform of a telepresence telerobot system based on virtual reality technology is put forward. The design frame of the system is described, and its important core techniques are described. An octrees data structure is utilized to build kinematic and dynamic modeling of the virtual simulation environment, Delphi+OpenGL+3DS MAX are adopted to carry through the virtual modeling and visible simulation exploitation of the slave-robot and its environment. Photo-correction is adopted to correct positioning deviation of the virtual geometric model and modeling errors. The cost of software and hardware equipment for the research platform realized is low. The master/slave robot (manipulator) system and all software in the system were designed and manufactured by our research group. The performance of the system has reached the level required for research. An indispensable experiment base is provided for the research of a telepresence telerobot system based on virtual reality technology.

A collision detection approach in virtual environment of micromanipulation robot

Operators suffer much diffieulty in manipulating miero-size objects without the assistance of friendly interfaces due to the scaling effects in micro worht. The paper presented a general framework for mieromanipulation robot hased on virtual reality technology. With the framework we brought forward a FDH （Fixed Direction Hulls） based hounding box method to handle the eollision ,teteetion of the peg-in-hole mieroassembly. The eollision response model for the collision between micro needle and hole was presented. The virtual three and corresponding displacement were calculated with the model of bending deformation and pressing ,teformation. Experiments verify the validity of collision response model.

A robotic tele-drill system over network using predictive display

Based on a robotic telesurgery system whose function is to liberate doctor from X-ray radiation, a robotic tele-drill system is constructed. The system is in client/server structure. Client part includes main control interface, video-audio interface and predictive display interface. Server part includes robot control server and video, audio server. For applying to teleoperation, a virtual reality environment of the system developed by using Java, Java 3D, Pro/E, etc. is established. The geometry and kinematics model of serial robot MOTOMAN sv3x, parallel robot, C-type arm and X-ray machine, surgery bed and its work environment are fulfilled in it. Simulation engine and its simulation syntax are finished, which made the environment controllable. This environment is used as predictive display interface in the telerobotics in order to tackling the problem in visualization feedback as ambiguous or time delay. Experiments that verified feasibility of the system have been done.

Unilateral self-locking mechanism for inchworm in-pipe robot

A unilateral self-locking mechanism(USM) was proposed to increase the tractive ability of the inchworm in-pipe robots for pipeline inspection.The USM was basically composed of a cam,a torsional spring and an axis.The self-locking and virtual work principles were applied to studying the basic self-locking condition of the USM.In order to make the cooperation between the crutch and telescopic mechanism more harmonical,the unlocking time of the USM was calculated.A set of parameters were selected to build a virtual model and fabricate a prototype.Both the simulation and performance experiments were carried out in a pipe with a nominal inside diameter of 160 mm.The results show that USM enables the robot to move quickly in one way,and in the other way it helps the robot get self-locking with the pipe wall.The traction of the inchworm robot can rise to 1.2 kN,beyond the limitation of friction of 0.497 kN.

Validation of a Value Management Approach Developed for the Saudi Public Sector

A VM （value management） approach was developed that better suits the culture and the context of the SPS （Saudi Public Sector）. This approach provided a comprehensive assessment of VM at institutional, organizational and project levels. This paper illustrates the procedures that were used to validate the developed VM approach. For the institutional and organizational levels, the VM approach was validated by conducting telephone interviews with three experts from three organizations that use VM and with two senior managers from the MOF （Ministry of Finance）. Mainly, it was found that the MOF should be supported by experts to set up a centre of excellence that can set VM policy, guidelines and standards for the promotion of VM in the SPS, in order to ensure achieving value for money spent in SPS projects. The developed VM approach, as it would be applied at the project level, was presented to 11 experts, all of whom completed a validation questionnaire and presented their comments. Subsequently, the questionnaires were analyzed and the VM approach was amended to reflect the inputs provided by these experts. It was concluded that VM should be applied at least twice on SPS projects. Firstly, it is to review and structure strategic and project briefs to sort out soft issues, and secondly, it is to optimize project designs and sort out hard issues.

Solve the Humanware Problem： Take the Full Advantage of Telemedicine

Telemedicine＇s greatest problem is not found in software and hardware. Many can make software and hardware work. It has for long been clear that telemedicine has diffusion problems. Focus should be shifted over to the humanware. Telemedicine means work is done by virtual organizations. For the future of telemedicine, organizational issues will represent a challenge. Organizations consist of humans in interaction. In Norwegian telemedicine projects, organizational problems were identified and solutions to the problems were designed. More than 40 publications show numerous organizational consequences and numerous types of organizational consequences. When it comes to the solving telemedicine＇s organizational problems, learning from the experience others have is important. It is not necessary for all to invent what the organizational problems are. Organizing health care around the physical telecommunication networks is associated with the concept of network organization. The electronic networks become an infrastructure around which single health care providers are distributed. Such network organization means a formation of alliances between organizations. Centralization and decentralization are important terms for all organizing. Telemedicine makes the question of centralization or decentralization relevant. Telemedicine requires collaboration between participating parties. Obtaining the benefits of telemedicine is dependent on implementing the right measures for good collaboration. We know there are problems with telemedicine virtual organizations, but solutions to these problems exist. For the future of telemedicine, doing work with organization is important. Skilled managers have an important role to play.

Organizing of Virtual Enterprise for Customized Artificial Joint and Scheduling of Manufacturing Resources Based on Manufacturing Grid

In order to improve efficiency of developing customized artificial joint, a virtual enterprise is organized based on the manufacturing grid. The application-oriented framework of the virtual enterprise is created for organization of the virtual enterprise. The manufacturing system of the virtual enterprise is built up based on the exterior grid and manufacturing subsystems of member enterprises are set up based on the interior grid. Furthermore, according to characteristic matching of manufacturing resources, the scheduling flow is studied in detail and the related scheduling strategies are established. The scheduling procedure is divided into distributed scheduling stage and local scheduling stage.Based on the manufacturing grid, the organization of the virtual enterprise for customized artificial joint and the corresponding scheduling strategies can be utilized to shorten developing cycle and reduce produce cost.

Experimental study of Internet telerobotics based on virtual guides

For the virtual environment (VE) to control remote robots through Internet, this paper proposes an operational idea based on virtual guides (VGs). The VGs consist of three types, line VG, plane VG, and body VG, which can greatly enhance the safety and flexibility of the man-machine system. Through the analysis of several common cases, the idea of the VGs are first introduced and described. Second, detailed descriptions of the three VGs are given, and then a uniform representation of all VGs is given. Finally, a typical experiment is designed and implemented according to the modes of video feedback, video&VE feedback, and video&VE&VG feedback. Experimental results show that the operation based on VEs and VGs have significant advantages over that based on video feedback, and VGs can greatly improve the ability of the VE to control remote robots, thus obtaining high and efficient man-machine cooperation.

A Multi-homed VPN Architecture Based on Extended SOCKS+TLS Protocols

A multi-homed VPN architecture based on extended SOCKSv5 and TLS was proposed. The architecture employs a dynamic connection mechanism for multiple proxies in the end system,i n which the security-demanded transmission connections can switch smoothly among the multiple proxies by maint aining a coherent connection context.The mechanism is transparent to application programs and can support th e building of VPN.With the cooperation of some other security components,the mechanism guarantees the reso urce availability and reliability of the end system against some attacks to the specific ports or hosts.

浅谈顾植山“三虚”致病说

顾植山教授根据《黄帝内经》提出了天虚、人虚和邪虚的"三虚"致疫说。天虚指自然界变化节律失常;人虚指人体抗病能力不足;邪虚指直接致病源的侵犯。无论外感病或内伤病,人虚是基础和关键;虚邪是直接致病因素;天虚是诱发因素。人体具有自组织、自调节、自修复、自稳定的能力,正气存内,邪不可干。故《黄帝内经》既强调固护正气,又重视避其毒气,"避虚邪以安其正"。"三虚"致疫说较为完整地指出了疫病产生的三大因素,体现了中医三因制宜的特点。

From Sex Objects to Heroines A Tough Road for Female Characters in Video Games

Female character in video games is the one of the most controversial topic in game studies and nowadays women＇s anthropology. From the beginning of role in games＇ plot to sexualized graphical representation, woman in virtual world were （and sometimes still are） a point of discussion about characters sexualisation and role of female sex in virtual industry. The main aim of this paper is to present analysis of female representation in video games and how in last 30 years it has changed. In other words, how female characters were ennobled from sex object to main protagonist status. In presented research, there were used mostly the examples of popular video games with extended plot and world which can be explored by protagonists. Video game historiography, textual analysis （which helped to treat video game character as a protagonist）, and thematic analysis of video games were used as a main research method. The main conclusion of this paper is that female characters can overcome all gender or sexual stereotypes and even eventually became an icon of popular culture

Virtual Dressing Room Application with Virtual Human Using Kinect Sensor

This study proposes a real time 3D virtual model controll and a virtual dressing room application to enable users to try virtual garments and shoes on in front of a virtual mirror. A virtual representation of the user appears in a virtual changing room and the user＇s hand motions select the clothes from a list on the screen. Afterwards, the selected virtual clothes appear on a humanoid model in the virtual mirror. For the purpose of aligning the 3D garments and shoes with the model, 3D locations of the joints are used for positioning, scaling and rotating. By using our developed algorithm, small, medium, large or xlarge garment size is selected automatically and this information is shown on the screen. Then, we apply skin color detection to handle the unwanted occlusions between the user and the model. To create a more realistic effect, the system takes into account different images of the clothes according to different human poses and movements. Optional mirror selection buttons make it possible to have multiple viewing angles on the model. Additionally, we developed an algorithm for matching up all motions between the model and garments. In this study, we benefit from the Microsoft Kinect SDK （software development kit） in order to follow the user＇s movements, coordinate the suitable clothe try-ons and provide depth sort effect to the human body and clothes. In order to use the rapid calculation attributes of game engines, we used unity 3D game engine.

“The Impression of Reality”： Fiction and Testimony in Dostoevsky＇s Notes

Truth of fiction might sound like a paradox, at least within the Platonic doxa. But perhaps there is no truth without fiction; Plato＇s own myths would testify to this necessary combination of ＂history＂ and ＂story＂ （histoire, storia, Geschichte, etc.）. Still, it might be not enough simply to affirm the necessity of fictional narrative for an historical account. In some cases, it would be difficult to accept a fictional aspect of historical testimony. Jorge Semprdn claims, on the other hand, that only fiction is able to communicate a traumatic, ＂unbearable＂ experience such as the one of prison camps. He refers to the work of Fyodor Dostoevsky as his model. My paper analyzes this testimonial aspect of Dostoevsky＇s Notes, especially the Notes from a Dead House. It shows, the particularity of this work, which combines an intense personal experience with a fictional elaboration, a quasi-novelistic setting, plot, and characters. I claim that in a sense such a combination might be considered as a model for literature in general, for its testimonial value, for its truth.

Robust force tracking control via backstepping sliding mode control and virtual damping control for hydraulic quadruped robots

In order to improve the force tracking performance of hydraulic quadruped robots in uncertain and unstructured environments,an impedance-based adaptive reference trajectory generation scheme is used.Secondly,in order to improve the robustness to environmental changes and reduce the contact force errors caused by trajectory tracking errors,the backstepping sliding mode controller is combined with the adaptive reference trajectory generator.Finally,a virtual damping control based on velocity and pressure feedback is proposed to solve the problem of contact force disappearance and stall caused by sudden environmental change.The simulation results show that the proposed scheme has higher contact force tracking accuracy when the environment is unchanged;the contact force error can always be guaranteed within an acceptable range when the environment is reasonably changed;when the environment suddenly changes,the drive unit can move slowly until the robot re-contacts the environment.

Dental Arch3D Direct Detection System from the Patient＇s Mouth and Robot for Implant Positioning

This paper describes a three-dimensional structured light scanning system to generate a virtual model of a dental arch, from the patient＇s mouth, and the scheme ofa 2 ＋ 1 DOF （degree of freedom） parallel/serial Robot for implant positioning, both positioned on a platform held in a fixed position with respect to the patient＇s head. Presently, dental prosthesization requires quite a long time to be completed. This process, in fact, involves the detection of the shape of the dental arch, its plaster model generation, scanning of it, prosthesis preparation and its implant. The procedur＇e is even longer when use of dental implants is required, while early loading of the implants is considered a positive solution. Current research effort is focused on the development of devices for the direct intra-oral determination of the shape of dental prostheses and inserts. These devices, however, are able to detect limited portions of the dental arch, since they must be hand-held by the doctor without external supports, and this may produce relatively large errors due to the sum of relatively small ones. Furthermore, to place an implant correctly, the doctor can use a new system to guide the implant position, but this requires sending the information in Sweden to obtain a special mask in return.

A Multi-Agent Expert System for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

When a child abuse situation arises, the responsible agencies and entities in charge of response should be capable of providing a fast and personalized solution for the good of the child. This need leads the authors to consider the formation of dynamic virtual organizations tailored to each particular abuse case. In the authors＇ approach the partner selection of these collaborative networks is done through a software tool that combines two technologies from the field of artificial intelligence, specifically multi-agent systems and expert systems. In addition, these partners come from the breeding environment constituted by all the agencies or individuals, either in a region or locality, which have the potential of response.

Individualization of Head Related Impulse Responses Using Division Analysis

For Virtual Reality(VR) to be truly immersive, it needs convincing sound to match. Due to the diversity of individual's anthropometric measurements, the individualized customization technology is needed to get convincing sound. In this paper, we proposed a simple and effective method for modeling relationships between anthropometric measurements and Head-related Impulse Response(HRIR). Considering the relationship between anthropometric measurements and different HRIR parts is complicated, we divided the HRIRs into small segments and carried out regression analysis between anthropometric measurements and each segment to establish relationship model. The results of objective simulation and subjective test indicate that the model can generate individualize HRIRs from a series of anthropometric measurements. With the individualized HRIRs, we can get more accurate acoustic localization sense than using non-individualized HRIRs.