Autonomous Development Research Articles

Agent-based learning of materials datasets from the scientific literature

An AI Agent for autonomous development of materials dataset from scientific literature.

Navigating Nonlinear Analysis and Artificial Intelligence Frontiers for Revolutionary Technology Solutions

The intersection of nonlinear analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) presents a promising frontier in the rapidly changing field of technology, with the potential to yield ground-breaking solutions in a multitude of fields. In order to investigate how different disciplines may work together to transform technological progress, this study explores the synthesis of these fields. Deeper comprehension of complicated patterns and behaviours is made possible by the intersection of AI and nonlinear analysis, which can both model complex systems and events. This combination has the potential to go beyond conventional linear thinking and open doors to solve complex problems. Through the utilisation of AI's learning skills to augment nonlinear models, a novel approach to problem-solving is revealed. The purpose of the paper is to examine the applications of this synergy in various disciplines. The combination of nonlinear analysis and AI holds the potential to transform a number of industries, from banking and predictive analytics to biological systems research and autonomous vehicle development. This investigation also includes the societal and ethical ramifications of using such cutting-edge technologies. It aims to provide a thorough understanding of the factors necessary for the ethical integration of these advances into our lives by delving into concerns of privacy, prejudice, and responsible use. This study tries to give academics, engineers, and innovators a full road map by looking at recent advances and possible future possibilities. It seeks to stimulate novel research directions, interdisciplinary teamwork, and the advancement of ground-breaking technical innovations that have the potential to fundamentally alter our understanding of and interactions with the environment around us.

Where space is created societal values are generated – the case of the Sand Engine

A large sandy peninsula and beach were realized in Dutch coastal waters in the Sand Engine pilot project. In addition to the benefits for flood protection, the Sand Engine generates multiple other societal values. It provides a new type of landscape of uncommon size along the Holland coast where nature, culture, history and the future can come together. In this paper we discuss the added value of the Sand Engine for culture and the arts, its iconic value, and the development of knowledge in diverse sciences most notably morphology, archeology and paleontology, as well as its educational function. Then we explore how different governance modes can influence how the added value is generated and what type of societal value arises. We distinguish four different governance modes related to the level of control exercised and the level of autonomous societal development allowed by project initiators and managers: directive, co-creational, facilitatory and observational. Different modes can co-exist and may change over time. For the Sand Engine we find that the knowledge development was highly directed, archeology and paleontology were facilitated, while an observational mode was employed towards arts and culture. This leads to the inference that when the physical and societal space is created, societal value-added initiatives emerge. However, such emergence depends on the societal and institutional context as this can act to constrain or enable the type of societal value generated and the extent to which it is realized. Finally, we suggest that applying a more pro-active governance mode to the Sand Engine even at this stage could lead to more diverse and inclusive societal value generation.

Visual Education and the Care of the Figuring Self. Mr. Palomar’s Exercises as Pedagogy

This paper engages with Italo Calvino’s lecture on Visibility, included in his last—and testamentary—volume Six Memos, by understanding it in an educational and pedagogical key. While the question of pedagogy is expressly addressed by Calvino himself in his lecture, the interpretation here provided is not merely an application of his tenets but an elaboration on and an autonomous development of them. In particular, in the spotlight there is the intimate bond image-cum-writing which seems to preside over Calvino’s insights and is here suggested as key to tackling the challenges of the contemporary mediascape and the “tautological vision” dominating therein. While a part of the educational discourse invokes “homeostatic” pedagogical solutions, namely the (ultimately confrontational) deployment of writing to compensate for the iconic ruling regime, this paper explores the possibility of a specific kind of visual education (instantiated by comics and Otto Neurath’s Isotype), which combines the role of the image with some features traditionally attributed to the pedagogy of writing (e.g. the cultivation of abilities of abstraction, of reflection etc.). A pedagogy of figuration is, accordingly, proposed as an interruption of the tautological vision of the new media and as conducive to educating readers of the unwritten world and of the world of digital images, Mr. Palomar—the hero of Calvino’s last novel—possibly being the archetype of this kind of (new?) readership. By referring to two influential notions in the contemporary debate in educational philosophy and theory, this pedagogy is finally interpreted in term of (visual) thing-centredness rather than (visual) subjectification.

Challenges for Seafarers Education and Training in the Context of Autonomous Ships Development

Education and training of seafarers are defined in the provisions of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention) and elaborated by the set of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Model Courses. These documents represent minimum requirements for the education and training of seafarers at the international level. IMO member states shall integrate these requirements as appropriate into their maritime high school and college training programs and into training programs leading to STCW certification. Although there are different views in the literature and in practice about the existing seafarers training system, this system is standardized worldwide. This allows consistent acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competences for seafarers on merchant ships. The development and gradual introduction of autonomous ships raises numerous questions about the future trends of world shipping. Various researches are currently being conducted on autonomous ships. This technological progress brings with itself many challenges and one of them is the education of the personnel who will control and monitor these ships. It is clear that a new approach to seafarer’s education needs to be developed. The development of this concept opens numerous questions from different segments of shipping and maritime security in general, particularly in the context of maritime cyber security. The paper analyses the education concept for seafarers in the Republic of Croatia, paying special attention to trends related to the development and deployment of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS).

Autonomous vehicle market development in Beijing: A system dynamics approach

A system dynamics (SD) model for the autonomous vehicles (AVs) market development in Beijing is proposed. The model approaches the vehicle scale evolution with the marketization development of private AVs and shared AVs. Some potential factors such as trust, AV purchase willingness, AV using willingness and shared AV service accessibility, are analyzed. Based on the passenger vehicle situation in Beijing, optimistic scenarios from 2014 to 2050 are developed. The base scenario involves the marketization of private AVs and the operation of shared AV fleets, and based on the levels of driving automation, which are divided into six types. The causal feedback relationship and system flow diagram are illustrated. Results show that with the introduction of AVs in Beijing, the number of private vehicles is significantly decreased, which is dependent on the use of shared AVs. To compare with the private vehicle ownership in 2020, the total number of private vehicles has decreased and the number of the private vehicles is over 2.2 million vehicles in 2050. After 2030, the shared vehicle fleet will be dominated by the high-level shared AV and the number of high-level shared AVs is about 2 million. Further, to consider the impact of ride-sharing, the model compares the different attitudes for customers to share their rides and use the shared AV alternative ratio to approach this. The result shows that the extreme ratio will reduce the number of shared AVs, and the fleet size of shared vehicle is about 400,000 vehicles in 2050. For the low ratio scenario, the fleet size of shared vehicle will increase a lot to over 3,186,000 vehicles, which will lead to a large number of cars on the road and thus increase congestion. The introduction of AVs is expected to reduce the number of private vehicles; However, the uncertainty of residents' attitudes towards car sharing will affect the introduction of AVs. At present, the existing policies prefer to limit the number of vehicles by controlling car registration in Beijing. In the future, with the application of AVs, this could be adjusted by encouraging ride sharing, to achieve sustainable urban transport development in Beijing.

Effects of One-Month Baby Massage by Mothers on Autonomic Nervous System Function and Growth Development of 4- and 5-Month-Old Infants

Background: Massage has been practiced since around 3 months of age for the purpose of interacting with children, but there are few reports on its ongoing effectiveness, no unified views, and few reports on growth and development. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of massage given by mothers to their 3-month-old infants based on autonomic activity and growth development of 4- and 5-month-old infants one month later. Methods: The subjects were healthy 3-month-old infants and their mothers who were born as full-term, singleton babies. The study design was an inequivalent control group design: 25 mother-child pairs were massaged for one month and 12 mother-child pairs were not massaged. Data were collected twice, once on the first day at 3 months of age and one month later. As indicators of autonomic nervous system activity, axillary temperature before and after massage, heart rate and heart rate variability during massage were measured. As an indicator of growth, body weight was measured after the massage. As an indicator of development, mothers were asked to respond to a questionnaire (KIDS). The axillary temperature, rate of change in heart rate and heart rate variability, and KIDS scores were compared on the first day and one month later. Results: Axillary temperature and LF/HF ratio of children at 1 month were significantly lower after massage (p<0.05). Overall developmental age and expressive language domain of KIDS at 1 month were more developmental than in the non-massage group (p<0.05). Heart rate and HF were not significantly different after 1 month. Conclusion: It was found that when children received massage from their mothers for one-month, cardiac sympathetic nerve function was suppressed and the development of expressive language skills was promoted.

Emotional Super Glue: A Response to Hoskins-Murphy’s “Close to the Bone”

ABSTRACT In this appreciative response to Hoskins-Murphy’s paper, I expand on her overarching theme of the emotional stickiness of motherhood and the many ways the mother’s affective adherence to the needs of the child pulls against her own autonomous development – indeed often pulls against her rational sensibility. I also expand on the idea of future vision, the parent’s ability to imagine a future for the child and scaffold a direction toward that future. In addition, I describe the writing techniques that Hoskins-Murphy uses to illustrate her ideas and to make this such an effective paper.

SLAV-Sim: A Framework for Self-Learning Autonomous Vehicle Simulation.

With the advent of autonomous vehicles, sensors and algorithm testing have become crucial parts of the autonomous vehicle development cycle. Having access to real-world sensors and vehicles is a dream for researchers and small-scale original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) due to the software and hardware development life-cycle duration and high costs. Therefore, simulator-based virtual testing has gained traction over the years as the preferred testing method due to its low cost, efficiency, and effectiveness in executing a wide range of testing scenarios. Companies like ANSYS and NVIDIA have come up with robust simulators, and open-source simulators such as CARLA have also populated the market. However, there is a lack of lightweight and simple simulators catering to specific test cases. In this paper, we introduce the SLAV-Sim, a lightweight simulator that specifically trains the behaviour of a self-learning autonomous vehicle. This simulator has been created using the Unity engine and provides an end-to-end virtual testing framework for different reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms in a variety of scenarios using camera sensors and raycasts.

Between Samir Amin and Claude Ake: towards a roadmap for Africa’s development

ABSTRACT The profundity of Samir Amin’s contributions to the quest for the development of Africa and the global South is beyond questioning. From the onset, Amin focused on ways to promote autonomous development in the periphery. He advocated delinking and remained true to these convictions till the very end when he concluded that the challenge was not so much about the South moving out of the crisis of capitalism as it was about its moving out of a global capitalist system in crisis; or moving beyond capitalism. This paper interrogates the suitability of this central plank of Amin’s political economy vis-a-vis Claude Ake’s contention that the greatest impediment to African development inheres in the nature of its politics and that the solution is to be sought therein. We argued that the challenge for contemporary Africa is not so much about exiting the anarchial global capitalist system as it is about striking internal balance in the context of the larger systemic perturbations. But beyond comparing, we mapped the place of contemporary African intellectuals in the continent’s development schema along the path of Ake's proposition and in pursuit of the shared vision of these two illustrious scholar-activists for a democratic and prosperous Africa.

Impression difference to vehicle interior sound between active and passive driving situation

In near future, autonomous vehicles are expected to be more popular due to the technology development. This transition from active to passive driving condition may change the driver’s impression to vehicle interior sound. And the interior sound improvement for autonomous vehicles should be done according to the difference. In this study, we investigated whether driver’s impression to interior sound changes or not according to the driving situation through subjective evaluation test using a driving simulator. In the test, an original driving simulator was prepared to reproduce identical sounds and conditions at both active and passive driving conditions. As the presented sounds, sound pressure level (SPL) decreased or increased sound at low, mid, or high frequency bands were reproduced with the original sound. Participants drove the simulator under various driving conditions including acceleration and deceleration and evaluated discomfort about the sound. As the result, low or high frequency SPL decreased sounds were evaluated to be more discomfort at passive condition than that at active condition. Especially this tendency became significant at the acceleration and deceleration condition. From these results, high or low frequency noise reduction was found to be important in the future autonomous vehicle development.

Decentring the English School: challenging the boundaries of Eurocentrism in the work of Adam Watson

AbstractThere are growing calls to address the Eurocentrism of classical English School (ES) scholarship and to adopt more holistic frameworks of analysis, which include alternative, non-Western forms of international order and interactions with the European international systems. This article investigates Adam Watson’s contribution to ‘decentring’ the ES. Two dimensions of Watson’s work speak to this objective. The first is his development of a more inclusive comparative historical sociological analysis of states-systems. The second is his development of a more generic concept of systems as complex, variegated and shifting relationships of authority, highlighting the prevalence of hierarchy and hegemony in states-systems. However, Watson’s work remains inflected with Eurocentrism in several important respects. These include his narrative of the evolution of the contemporary states-system, which largely remains one of the autonomous development and expansion of Europe, and the limited ways in which his narrative includes the agency, voices and experiences of non-European peoples.

Contemporary Understanding of the Central Autonomic Nervous System in Fetal-Neonatal Transition

THE CRITICAL ROLE OF THE CENTRAL AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN FETAL-NEONATAL TRANSITION: Sarah B. Mulkey, Adre dú Plessis Seminars in Pediatric Neurology Volume 28, December 2018, Pages 29-37 The objective of this article is to understand the complex role of the central autonomic nervous system in normal and complicated fetal-neonatal transition and how autonomic nervous system dysfunction can lead to brain injury. The central autonomic nervous system supports coordinated fetal transitional cardiovascular, respiratory, and endocrine responses to provide safe transition of the fetus at delivery. Fetal and maternal medical and environmental exposures can disrupt normal maturation of the autonomic nervous system in utero, cause dysfunction, and complicate fetal-neonatal transition. Brain injury may both be caused by autonomic nervous system failure and contribute directly to autonomic nervous system dysfunction in the fetus and newborn. The central autonomic nervous system has multiple roles in supporting transition of the fetus. Future studies should aim to improve real-time monitoring of fetal autonomic nervous system function and in supporting typical autonomic nervous system development even under complicated conditions.

Marriage and the reproductive regime of a digitally connected Roma diaspora

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the marriage, family, and reproductive regimes prevalent in a Roma group that, in the post-socialist period, has moved from Romania to over 16 countries in Western Europe and North America. It is based on a long-term collaborative ethnography that allowed the detailed reconstitution of 807 unions held from 1938 to 2021. Family networks in this diaspora have today a transnational character and maintain an intense social interaction by digital means. The paper will show how a partly autonomous social order is constituted and reproduced by a marriage and kinship system that involves gender formations and autonomous domestic development cycles. At its core is an implicit and successful reproductive regime that is often assumed to be biologically determined, and of no value to cultural analysis. Marriages tend to be universal, adolescent, pronatalist, and endogamous (often consanguineous) within this “community of understanding.” They are also negotiated and arranged by paterfamilias following a literal patriarchy or father rule. However, young people often act on their preferences influencing their parents or eloping. Marriages as household exchanges are launched by three major economic transactions. These transactions open the horizontal “circulation” of women and wealth between households following viri-patrilocal residence norms that generate patrigroups and fraternal coalitions.

Depth structure of the Transcarpathian Depression (Ukrainian part) according to density modeling data

The presented research is devoted to the construction and calculations of the density model along the regional CMRV-DSS profile RP-17 (Chop–Velykyy Bychkiv), running along the Transcarpathian depression. Based on the results of density modeling, the distribution of density in the Earth’s crust was obtained in accordance with its seismic structure and gravity field as well as the density structure of individual layers. A tectonic interpretation of the obtained results was provided. The Mukachevo and Solotvyno parts of Transcarpathian depression have their own structural features, autonomous geological development and are distinguished by Neogene geodynamics. The analysis of density properties showed that in the Neogene sedimentary layer of both depressions there is a change in the density of various rocks in the depth intervals of 200—950; 950—1450; 1450—2050 m. In the Solotvyno depression in the depth intervals of 200—950 and 1450—2050 m, the density is greater than in Mukachevo, due to the presence of sandstones, tuffs, mudstones, and siltstones. In the interval 950—1450 m of Solotvyno depresson, on the contrary, the density is lower than in Mukachevo one, due to the presence of salt and clay. The Earth’s crust of Mukachevo depression is more compacted, as it contains a «basalt» layer. The Solotvyno depression consists of two parts and its average density corresponds to a diorite composition. The north-western block is of higher density and more homogeneous. The south-eastern one is of lower density and composed of a large number blocks of different densities separated by faults. The boundary of the lower density zone (PK 105—110) runs along the south-eastern branch of the Stryi-Latorytsia shear zone. This zone appears fragmentary on the density section, being similar to a mantle fault, with a lateral differentiation of density values, as well as the largest concentration of earthquakes, especially in the upper part of the Earth’s crust. The low-density area is probably associated with the transition from the Solotvyno depression to the structures located to the south-east of it. Thus, the block with the lowest density (2,38 g/cm3) of the Mesozoic-Paleozoic folded basement can be attributed to the Fore-Alkapa suture zone, represented by the Pieniny Klippen Belt and the Monastyrets nappe, which turns in the meridional direction in the zone of junction with the Tisza-Dacia terrane. The block located below with a density of 2,64 g/cm3 can be connected with the Marmarosh massif, or with the Rakhiv nappe. It was established that the crust of the Alkapa terrain along the profile is represented by three large blocks with a smaller block structure inside each one. The two more density blocks with different crust structure correspond to the Mukachevo depression. The lowest density third block belongs to the north-eastern part of the Solotvyno depression, the eastern border of which coincides with the area of clustering of earthquake hypocenters. The south-eastern part of the Solotvyno depression probably represents a transition zone between the Alkapa and Tisza–Dacia terrains. Two lithospheric fault zones are distinguished. The first one separates Mukachevo and Solotvyno depressions. The second zone is located between the Khust and Tyachiv faults in the low-density zone along the entire section of the Earth’s crust. These two zones are assumed to be connected by the Vynogradiv fault. It is characterized by a large cluster of earthquakes and located in the transition from extension and subsidence to compression and uplift. Low velocity (density) zones of the Transcarpathian depression can be associated with lithospheric fault zones. There are the most active horizons of modern geological and geophysical transformations of the mineral environment of the Earth’s crust and can be a potential source of deep oil and gas.

NSERC USRA Research Paper

This research paper discusses the comprehensive exploration of adaptive and non-adaptive control systems utilizing Quanser's QCar platform. The study covers real-time computational capabilities, real-time computer vision techniques, and the educational potential of Quanser's QCar. The resulting systems – Adaptive Lane Following, Sign Detection, Traffic Light Detection, and Adaptive Cruise Control – showcase their effectiveness across diverse driving scenarios and environmental conditions. The research methodology involves distinct phases, starting with an Initial Onboarding Process. Familiarity with software platforms such as Simulink, ROS, Python, and more was essential. Understanding the QCar platform was facilitated through User Manuals and predeveloped Simulink documentation. In-depth studies in Autonomous Technology and Computer Vision informed system development. A structured approach encompassing Research, Planning, Development & Testing stages was followed. Research gathered insights from repositories, videos, research papers, and websites. This also involved creating final testing environments to simulate various lighting conditions which were called daytime, afternoon, and nighttime environments. This allowed for the QCar’s performance to be effectively evaluated and compared against each other. The Adaptive Lane Following system tackles fluctuating lighting conditions using adaptive thresholding for consistent lane tracking. The Sign Detection System identifies stop signs, serving as a foundation for more complex systems. The accurate Traffic Light Detection system enables safe navigation. The ACC and Object Detection system enhances QCar's safety in dynamic traffic. The study effectively combines theory with practical implementation, exploring both adaptive and non-adaptive control systems. The developed systems showcase capabilities across different scenarios. Additional potential research directions include Python threading, audio features, GPS Track Network, and ROS optimization. This research mainly contributes to educational autonomous vehicle innovation and development.

Autonomous Catalyst Development for Alkaline Electrolysis

NiFe LDH based materials are promising candidates for cheap, high performance catalysts for alkaline OER. While suffering from degradation effects, the presence of Fe, even in trace amounts, increases their OER activity manifold compared to plain Ni hydroxide. Although discovered in the mid-80s, the exact catalytic mechanism of this “Fe effect” is still not fully understood. Additionally, other doping elements like Co, Cr, Al and others have shown to both further improve OER activity and increase stability. The properties of those materials are often highly dependent on the doping ratio, resulting in an enormous number of possible material combinations. Modern techniques like DFT simulations and machine learning can help to speed up the search for the optimal compositions, but ultimately manual experimentation often limits how fast better materials can be discovered, as the process remains both resource and time-consuming.In this work, we combine an autonomous high-throughput experiment with machine learning assisted optimization of material compositions to a closed-loop system in an attempt to substantially accelerate the search for high performance alkaline OER catalysts. The system screens an eight variable phase space of doped NiFe LDH for compositions that yield optimal OER performance. Its centerpiece is a 4-axis robotic arm from North Robotics with sample, vial and liquid handling capabilities. The samples are prepared by means of a dip-coating process on Ni foam substrates that allows for doping with different metals. Electrochemical investigations are carried out in 1M KOH in an automated test cell, including EIS, CV and CP measurements at current densities of up to 200mA/cm2. From these results, a figure of merit for the OER activity is calculated and fed into a bayesian optimizer (Dragonfly). This algorithm determines the most promising next test candidate based on the principles of exploration and exploitation and initiates the next experiment accordingly. The experimental procedure can be divided into independent sub-steps, allowing for smart scheduling. This can reduce downtime of the robotic arm and therefore increase the throughput significantly, such that up to 1000 experiments per week can be achieved.We present the first results of a screening study conducted with this system and compare it to a manual study in terms of accuracy, reproducibility and throughput. Selected, particularly high performing compositions found in this study are also tested in a flow cell setup under industrially relevant conditions (30 wt. % KOH, 60 °C) for several hundred hours.

LEARNER AUTONOMY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

The article discusses the concept of “learner autonomy”, examines the phenomenon of self-control as a means of developing autonomy, assesses the ability of students to selfcontrol the level of proficiency in speaking skills in the process of learning a foreign language in specialised classes of secondary school, identifies key skills that contribute to personal autonomous development of students. The author presents the results of identifying and comparing the levels of autonomy of secondary (7th form) and high (10th form) school students in order to determine their readiness to work on individual educational routes in preparation for the final tests in English.

Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance and Path Planning through Reinforcement Learning

The use of reinforcement learning (RL) for dynamic obstacle avoidance (DOA) algorithms and path planning (PP) has become increasingly popular in recent years. Despite the importance of RL in this growing technological era, few studies have systematically reviewed this research concept. Therefore, this study provides a comprehensive review of the literature on dynamic reinforcement learning-based path planning and obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, this research reviews publications from the last 5 years (2018–2022) to include 34 studies to evaluate the latest trends in autonomous mobile robot development with RL. In the end, this review shed light on dynamic obstacle avoidance in reinforcement learning. Likewise, the propagation model and performance evaluation metrics and approaches that have been employed in previous research were synthesized by this study. Ultimately, this article’s major objective is to aid scholars in their understanding of the present and future applications of deep reinforcement learning for dynamic obstacle avoidance.

Value-creating practices and barriers for collaboration between designers and artisans: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT This study aims to map out the challenges of existing design collaborations in craft sectors and delineate different types of value associated with artisan and designer collaboration. A systematic literature review was undertaken, examining peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2000 and 2022. The results indicate three levels of sustainable value created from designer-artisan design collaboration, which include business growth, regional development, and autonomic capability development. However, collaborative value is often hindered by a lack of a clear understanding of the process of value coordination or shared value creation, the challenges of balancing different relationships, thinking patterns, and values, and a lack of understanding of different actors’ roles regarding materials, technology, and design processes. This study bridges knowledge gaps by offering a holistic depiction of designer-artisan design collaboration, mapping current challenges of practices, and defining future research agendas.