Sense Research Articles

Enhancing robotic grasping detection accuracy with the R2CNN algorithm and force-closure

Abstract This study aims to use an improved rotational region convolutional neural network (R2CNN) algorithm to detect the grasping bounding box for the robotic arm that reaches supermarket goods. This algorithm can calculate the final predicted grasping bounding box without any additional architecture, which greatly improves the speed of grasp inferences. In this study, we added the force-closure condition, so that the final grasping bounding box could achieve grasping stability in a physical sense. We experimentally demonstrated that the deep model treated object detection and grasping detection are the same tasks. We used transfer learning to improve the prediction accuracy of the grasping bounding box. In particular, the ResNet-101 network weights, which were originally used in object detection, were used to continue training with the Cornell dataset. In terms of grasping detection, we used the trained model weights that were originally used in object detection as the features of the to-be-grasped objects and fed them to the network for continuous training. For 2,828 test images, this method achieved nearly 98% accuracy and a speed of 14–17 frames per second.

Analysis of environmental sustainability perception in Paraná Basin III residents via Item Response Theory

Environmental sustainability perception encompasses an individual’s ability to process and interpret sensory information related to the environment. This understanding guides them to consciously and actively protect and care for the environment through continuous learning. This article aims to analyze the environmental sustainability perception of residents of the Paraná Basin III using IRT models for polytomous items, relating it to socio-economic and location characteristics. The choice to conduct the research in this Brazilian territory is driven by the hydrographic basin’s substantial influence on the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant and its significance as a crucial water resource for the region. Results showed that: (1) 13.1% of residents have a low perception of sustainability, (2) there were significant differences in perception between cities, with Toledo having the lowest values, and (3) there was a positive relationship between remuneration and perception of sustainability. By analyzing the results presented, it becomes possible to develop effective public policies to improve the region’s perception of sustainability.

Tactile shape discrimination for moving stimuli.

In this study, we explored spatial-temporal dependencies and their impact on the tactile perception of moving objects. Building on previous research linking visual perception and human movement, we examined if an imputed motion mechanism operates within the tactile modality. We focused on how biological coherence between space and time, characteristic of human movement, influences tactile perception. An experiment was designed wherein participants were stimulated on their right palm with tactile patterns, either ambiguous (incongruent conditions) or non-ambiguous (congruent conditions) relative to a biological motion law (two-thirds power law) and asked to report perceived shape and associated confidence. Our findings reveal that introducing ambiguous tactile patterns (1) significantly diminishes tactile discrimination performance, implying motor features of shape recognition in vision are also observed in the tactile modality, and (2) undermines participants' response confidence, uncovering the accessibility degree of information determining the tactile percept's conscious representation. Analysis based on the Hierarchical Drift Diffusion Model unveiled the sensitivity of the evidence accumulation process to the stimulus's informational ambiguity and provides insight into tactile perception as predictive dynamics for reducing uncertainty. These discoveries deepen our understanding of tactile perception mechanisms and underscore the criticality of predictions in sensory information processing.

Examination of sensory reception and integration abilities in children with and without Prader-Willi syndrome

BackgroundGood postural stability control is dependent upon the complex integration of incoming sensory information (visual, somatosensory, vestibular) with neuromotor responses that are constructed in advance of a voluntary action or in response to an unexpected perturbation. AimsTo examine whether differences exist in how sensory inputs are used to control standing balance in children with and without Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Methods and ProceduresIn this cross-sectional study, 18 children with PWS and 51 children categorized as obese but without PWS (without PWS) ages 8–11 completed the Sensory Organization Test®. This test measures the relative contributions of vision, somatosensory, and vestibular inputs to the control of standing balance. The composite equilibrium score (CES) derived from performance in all sensory conditions, in addition to equilibrium scores (EQs) and falls per condition were compared between groups. Outcomes and ResultsThe CES was lower for children with PWS compared to children without PWS (M=53.93, SD=14.56 vs. M=66.17, SD=9.89, p = .001) while EQs declined in both groups between conditions 1 and 4 (F (1.305, 66.577) = 71.381, p < .001). No group differences in the percent of falls were evident in condition 5 but more children with PWS fell in condition 6 (χ2 (1) = 7.468, p = .006). Group differences in frequency of repeated falls also approached significance in conditions 5 (χ2 (3) = 4.630, p = .099) and 6 (χ2 (3) = 5.167, p = .076). Conclusions and ImplicationsChildren with PWS demonstrated a lower overall level of postural control and increased sway when compared to children with obesity. Both the higher incidence and repeated nature of falls in children with PWS in conditions 5 and 6 suggest an inability to adapt to sensory conditions in which vestibular input must be prioritized. Postural control training programs in this population should include activities that improve their ability to appropriately weight sensory information in changing sensory environments, with a particular focus on the vestibular system. What does this study add?This study shows that children with PWS demonstrate a lower level of postural stability. The results suggest that children with PWS show inability to adapt to sensory conditions that require prioritizing vestibular information to maintain postural control. This information can be used to help guide training programs in this population.

Energy-Saving Data Acquisition Model of Wireless Sensor Network Based on Nonlinear Algorithm

Wireless sensor network significant data acquisition has a high cost, long completion time, and low accuracy. This paper adopts a sensor network data acquisition method based on a nonlinear algorithm to solve the above problems. In this paper, a distributed data acquisition method based on nonlinear regression is established by combining the time series relationship of data. First, this paper uses nonlinear regression analysis technology to establish the sensing data model and retain the characteristics of the sensing data. This makes the node pass only the parametric data of the regression model. This paper uses this method to replace the transmission of actual monitoring sensory data information. Experiments show that this method can effectively reduce data redundancy and network traffic under any conditions. The method has been verified in practical WSN applications. 

To attract a moth: Wind tunnel and field testing of plant odor and light stimuli and their combination for Ostrinia nubilalis

AbstractThe European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner), relies on multimodal sensory information to find food, mates, mating and ovipositional grounds. Successful phytosanitary monitoring demands for the bait for the field traps to obtain the most reliable representation of pest abundance. Attraction to light and blend of key components of host plant odor, was tested both in the laboratory and field conditions. Ultraviolet light, which was the most effective in the wind tunnel experiments, was further tested in the field alone and in combination with bisexual lure. Bisexual lure, being attractive in the lab, as well as in the field, did not improve responses to ultraviolet in both experimental designs. All three baits attracted significantly more females than males in the field. Wind tunnel experiments revealed that ultraviolet elicited the shortest response latencies either alone or paired with the odor bait. The lack of synergistic effect between attractive light and odor stimuli is an important issue for pest monitoring. The possible reasons for the observed lack of synergy are the hierarchy of behavioral responses to different stimuli or the intensities of both stimuli are critically important for attractivity of combined stimulus and differ from separately presented ones.

AI-Driven Virtual Sensors for Real-Time Dynamic Analysis of Mechanisms: A Feasibility Study

The measurement of the ground forces on a real structure or mechanism in operation can be time-consuming and expensive, particularly when production cannot be halted to install sensors. In cases in which disassembling the parts of the system to accommodate sensor installation is neither feasible nor desirable, observing the structure or mechanism in operation and quickly deducing its force trends would facilitate monitoring activities in industrial processes. This opportunity is gradually becoming a reality thanks to the coupling of artificial intelligence (AI) with design techniques such as the finite element and multi-body methods. Properly trained inferential models could make it possible to study the dynamic behavior of real systems and mechanisms in operation simply by observing them in real time through a camera, and they could become valuable tools for investigation during the operation of machinery and devices without the use of additional sensors, which are difficult to use and install. In this paper, the idea presented is developed and applied to a simple mechanism for which the reaction forces during operating conditions are to be determined. This paper explores the implementation of an innovative vision-based virtual sensor that, through data-driven training, is able to emulate traditional sensing solutions for the estimation of reaction forces. The virtual sensor and relative inferential model is validated in a scenario as close to the real world as possible, taking into account interfering inputs that add to the measurement uncertainty, as in a real-world measurement scenario. The results indicate that the proposed model has great robustness and accuracy, as evidenced by the low RMSE values in predicting the reaction forces. This demonstrates the model’s effectiveness in reproducing real-world scenarios, highlighting its potential in the real-time estimation of ground reaction forces in industrial settings. The success of this vision-based virtual sensor model opens new avenues for more robust, accurate, and cost-effective solutions for force estimation, addressing the challenges of uncertainty and the limitations of physical sensor deployment.

Bioinspiration from bats and new paradigms for autonomy in natural environments

Achieving autonomous operation in complex natural environment remains an unsolved challenge. Conventional engineering approaches to this problem have focused on collecting large amounts of sensory data that are used to create detailed digital models of the environment. However, this only postpones solving the challenge of identifying the relevant sensory information and linking it to action control to the domain of the digital world model. Furthermore, it imposes high demands in terms of computing power and introduces large processing latencies that hamper autonomous real-time performance. Certain species of bats that are able to navigate and hunt their prey in dense vegetation could be a biological model system for an alternative approach to addressing the fundamental issues associated with autonomy in complex natural environments. Bats navigating in dense vegetation rely on clutter echoes, i.e. signals that consist of unresolved contributions from many scatters. Yet, the animals are able to extract the relevant information from these input signals with brains that are often less than 1 g in mass. Pilot results indicate that information relevant to location identification and passageway finding can be directly obtained from clutter echoes, opening up the possibility that the bats’ skill can be replicated in man-made autonomous systems.

Microtubule polarity determines the lineage of embryonic neural precursor in zebrafish spinal cord.

The phenomenal diversity of neuronal types in the central nervous system is achieved in part by the asymmetric division of neural precursors. In zebrafish neural precursors, asymmetric dispatch of Sara endosomes (with its Notch signaling cargo) functions as fate determinant which mediates asymmetric division. Here, we found two distinct pools of neural precursors based on Sara endosome inheritance and spindle-microtubule enrichment.Symmetric or asymmetric levels of spindle-microtubules drivedifferently Sara endosomes inheritance and predict neural precursor lineage. We uncover that CAMSAP2a/CAMSAP3a and KIF16Ba govern microtubule asymmetry and endosome motility, unveiling the heterogeneity of neural precursors.Using a plethora of physical and cell biological assays, we determined thephysical parameters andmolecularmechanismsbehind microtubule asymmetries and biased endosome motility. Evolutionarily, the values of those parameters explain why all sensory organ precursor cells are asymmetric in flies while, in zebrafish spinal cord, two populations ofneural precursors (symmetric vs asymmetric) are possible.

Impaired proprioception and magnified scaling of proprioceptive error responses in chronic stroke

BackgroundPrevious work has shown that ~ 50–60% of individuals have impaired proprioception after stroke. Typically, these studies have identified proprioceptive impairments using a narrow range of reference movements. While this has been important for identifying the prevalence of proprioceptive impairments, it is unknown whether these error responses are consistent for a broad range of reference movements. The objective of this study was to characterize proprioceptive accuracy as function of movement speed and distance in stroke.MethodsStroke (N = 25) and controls (N = 21) completed a robotic proprioception test that varied movement speed and distance. Participants mirror-matched various reference movement speeds (0.1–0.4 m/s) and distances (7.5–17.5 cm). Spatial and temporal parameters known to quantify proprioception were used to determine group differences in proprioceptive accuracy, and whether patterns of proprioceptive error were consistent across testing conditions within and across groups.ResultsOverall, we found that stroke participants had impaired proprioception compared to controls. Proprioceptive errors related to tested reference movement scaled similarly to controls, but some errors showed amplified scaling (e.g., significantly overshooting or undershooting reference speed). Further, interaction effects were present for speed and distance reference combinations at the extremes of the testing distribution.ConclusionsWe found that stroke participants have impaired proprioception and that some proprioceptive errors were dependent on characteristics of the movement (e.g., speed) and that reference movements at the extremes of the testing distribution resulted in significantly larger proprioceptive errors for the stroke group. Understanding how sensory information is utilized across a broad spectrum of movements after stroke may aid design of rehabilitation programs.

Reliability improvement of the dredging perception system: A sensor fault-tolerant strategy

In the dredging industry, the automation and accuracy of the Dredging Perception System (DPS) are vital for operational efficiency and environmental safety. Current DPS implementations face challenges with sensor fault tolerance, leading to system unreliability and increased false alarm rates that can disrupt dredging operations. We propose a Hybrid Redundancy Sensor Fault Tolerance (HRSFT) strategy that integrates matching physical sensors (PS) with two distinct types of virtual sensors (VS) driven by multi-sensor association and time-series prediction models. The HRSFT employs a voting-cold storage strategy to address the false alarm issues commonly associated with single virtual sensor systems. Through experimental validation, the HRSFT strategy has demonstrated its capability to provide accurate replacement information during both single and multi-sensor failure scenarios, effectively managing abnormal sensor data and enhancing the operational reliability of the DPS. The implementation of the HRSFT strategy significantly improves the accuracy and stability of the DPS, suggesting a substantial advancement in sensor fault tolerance that could be applied to similar systems in various industries, leading to safer and more reliable operations.

Mindfulness Affects the Boundaries of Bodily Self-Representation: The Effect of Focused-Attention Meditation in Fading the Boundary of Peripersonal Space

Peripersonal space (PPS) is a dynamic multisensory representation of the space around the body, influenced by internal and external sensory information. The malleability of PPS boundaries, as evidenced by their expansion after tool use or modulation through social interactions, positions PPS as a crucial element in understanding the subjective experiences of self and otherness. Building on the existing literature highlighting both the cognitive and bodily effects of mindfulness meditation, this study proposes a novel approach by employing focused-attention meditation (FAM) and a multisensory audio–tactile task to assess PPS in both the extension and sharpness of its boundaries. The research hypothesis posits that FAM, which emphasizes heightened attention to bodily sensations and interoception, may reduce the extension of PPS and make its boundaries less sharp. We enrolled 26 non-meditators who underwent a repeated measure design in which they completed the PPS task before and after a 15-min FAM induction. We found a significant reduction in the sharpness of PPS boundaries but no significant reduction in PPS extension. These results provide novel insights into the immediate effects of FAM on PPS, potentially shedding light on the modulation of self–other representations in both cognitive and bodily domains. Indeed, our findings could have implications for understanding the intricate relationship between mindfulness practices and the subjective experience of self within spatial contexts.

Sensory modality and information domain contribute jointly to dual-task interference between working memory and perceptual processing

Abstract Making sense of our environment requires us to extract temporal and spatial information from multiple sensory modalities, particularly audition and vision. Often, we must hold this sensory information in working memory (WM) to guide future actions, while simultaneously processing new sensory inputs as they arise. However, these processes of WM maintenance and perceptual processing can interfere with one another when the tasks rely on similar cognitive resources. fMRI studies have uncovered attention and WM networks that are specialized for either auditory-temporal or visual-spatial processing; the functional specialization of these networks makes specific predictions about patterns of interference between perceptual processing and WM. Specifically, we hypothesized that dual-task interference should increase when the tasks share a common sensory modality, a common information domain (temporal vs. spatial processing), or both. To test these predictions, we asked participants to store temporal or spatial information about auditory or visual stimuli in WM. On some trials, participants also performed an intervening auditory task, which was either temporal or spatial, during WM retention. Errors on WM recall and perceptual judgment tasks both generally increased when the tasks relied on shared modality- and domain-biased resources, with maximal interference when both tasks were auditory-temporal. Pupil dilations were also larger and started earlier when both tasks were auditory-temporal, indicating an increase in cognitive effort to overcome the interference. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and alpha-band oscillatory activity revealed neural signatures of domain-based interference even when the tasks were presented in different sensory modalities, when behavioral differences were masked by ceiling effects. These results demonstrate that sensory modality and information domain jointly affect how task information is represented in WM, consistent with past work demonstrating how tasks engage complementary auditory-temporal and visual-spatial cognitive control networks.

Endogenous preparatory control is associated with increased interaction between default mode and dorsal attention networks

Abstract It is increasingly recognized that cognitive control requires integration across large-scale brain networks anchored in frontal and parietal cortices. While the functional role of individual networks has been studied extensively, their cross-network interactions in the service of cognitive control are poorly understood. Beyond in-the-moment regulation of goal-relevant information processing (e.g., of sensory information), cognitive control encompasses preparatory processes in anticipation of upcoming stimuli and actions. Such preparatory control is often endogenous, that is, it is based on internal representations without relying on external cues or events. Here, we assessed network interactions that support such endogenously driven preparatory control. We recorded fMRI (N = 25) during a perceptual decision task with highly variable intertrial intervals. In half of the blocks, trial onset was cued, while in the remaining blocks, participants maintained readiness without relying on cues. We studied endogenous preparatory control in the intertrial period preceding uncued (vs. cued) trials. Behavioral outcomes confirmed heavier cognitive control demands in the uncued condition. Endogenous preparatory control was associated with increased activity of the dorsal attention network (DAN). This contrasted with in-the-moment control over stimulus-response processing during the trial itself, which was supported foremost by the right-hemispheric fronto-parietal network (FPN). Cross-network interactions were strengthened exclusively during endogenous preparatory control; the default mode network (DMN) showed more positive connectivity with the DAN and to a lesser degree the cingulo-opercular network (CON). Our results demonstrate that cross-networks interactions are particularly important for endogenously driven preparatory control. They further suggest that the DMN may be implicated in internally harnessing resources for cognitive control. This notion extends the DMN’s known role in internally-oriented processing to the domain of cognitive control when preparation cannot be aided by external events.

Book Review: Milto I.V. Human Functional Morphology. Textbook in 3 volumes. Vol. 1: Viscerology. M.: Logosphere. 2022

The reviewed book is the first volume of the three-volume textbook “Human Functional Morphology” (Vol. 1 – Viscerology. Vol. 2 – Nervous system and sensory organ system. Vol. 3. Musculoskeletal system and cardiovascular system) and describes morphofunctional features of the human internal organs based on an interdisciplinary approach at the macroscopic, tissue, cellular and subcellular levels. The first volume of the textbook consists of 9 chapters, each of which represents a separate system of the human body. The description of each organ contains signs of the sources and course of development, their morphofunctional features are given, and issues of blood supply, innervation and functional significance are considered. The textbook will be useful for university students of medical and biological specialties, and can be used as a fundamental guide to human morphology by doctors of diverse specialties, biologists and embryologists.

‘Fettered mobility’ and translocality: Irregular farm workers and the informal labour market in rural Taiwan

Investigating the multi-layered mobility of Southeast Asian irregular farm workers in rural Taiwan, this article examines the formation of their mobility in a physical, geographical, occupational and socio-economic sense. Focusing on frequent movement in these four aspects, this article coins the term ‘fettered mobility’ for workers’ constant relocation in the villages’ informal farm labour market. In tandem with the focus of this Special Issue on the ongoing transformations of migration at the crossroad between the legal, social and economic obstacles dictated by nation states and the market, and new patterns of movement, this article shows how ‘fettered mobility’ is an unintentional result of the Taiwanese state’s mobility regime, which regulates foreign nationals’ mobility by categorizing a hierarchical legal status. Fettered mobility is facilitated by the translocal migrant community constituted by the co-ethnic link between migrant workers and migrant spouse farmers, and also by the inter-ethnic link between the migrant community on the one hand and Taiwanese farmers and unlicensed brokers on the other. When migration is reconfiguring at a global, regional and local scale, fettered mobility is an assemblage in which the state, market and individual amalgamate into a networked, mobile, irregular and precarious labour force in which unprotected migrant workers are vulnerable to the state’s power to repatriate. Repatriation is an omnipresent threat, and anyone who knows of a migrant worker’s fettered mobility can put an end to their migration. Presenting fettered mobility as an assemblage, this article enriches the ongoing debate on the relationship between mobility and immobility and underlines its conditionality and instability.

Parabrachial Calca neurons drive nociplasticity

Pain that persists beyond the time required for tissue healing and pain that arises in the absence of tissue injury, collectively referred to as nociplastic pain, are poorly understood phenomena mediated by plasticity within the central nervous system. The parabrachial nucleus (PBN) is a hub that relays aversive sensory information and appears to play a role in nociplasticity. Here, by preventing PBN Calca neurons from releasing neurotransmitters, we demonstrate that activation of Calca neurons is necessary for the manifestation and maintenance of chronic pain. Additionally, by directly stimulating Calca neurons, we demonstrate that Calca neuron activity is sufficient to drive nociplasticity. Aversive stimuli of multiple sensory modalities, such as exposure to nitroglycerin, cisplatin, or lithium chloride, can drive nociplasticity in a Calca-neuron-dependent manner. Aversive events drive nociplasticity in Calca neurons in the form of increased activity and excitability; however, neuroplasticity also appears to occur in downstream circuitry.

The physical mechanisms of neutron detection

Neutrons do not directly ionise the medium they pass through, unlike charged particles. Neutron detection is then based on nuclear reactions in which the neutron is typically lost and charged particles and/or γ-rays are generated in the final state. These are subsequently detected by appropriate sensors of various types, such as gas, scintillation, and solid-state detectors. Neutrons generated at large scale facilities (fission reactors or accelerator-driven plants) typically cover a very wide energy range. The nuclear reactions that are found to be effective at different energies make neutron detection on the one hand complex from an instrumental point of view, and on the other hand interesting from the point of view of the physics underlying the approach to be used. This article aims at presenting and discussing the main features of the nuclear reactions of interest in neutron detection in different energy ranges, and the physical processes that take place in typical sensors used as detection tools. This approach is intended to describe the entire physical process, from neutron-nucleus interaction to the physical sensor response, that represents the detection event.

The contribution of sensory information asymmetry and bias of attribution to egocentric tendencies in effort comparison tasks

When comparing themselves with others, people often evaluate their own behaviors more favorably. This egocentric tendency is often categorized as a bias of attribution, with favorable self-evaluation resulting from differing explanations of one’s own behavior and that of others. However, studies on information availability in social contexts offer an alternative explanation, ascribing egocentric biases to the inherent informational asymmetries between performing an action and merely observing it. Since biases of attribution and availability often co-exist and interact with each other, it is not known whether they are both necessary for the egocentric biases to emerge. In this study, we used a design that allowed us to directly compare the contribution of these two distinct sources of bias to judgements about the difficulty of an effortful task. Participants exhibited no attribution bias as judgements made for themselves did not differ from those made for others. Importantly, however, participants perceived the tasks they actively performed to be harder than the tasks they observed, and this bias was magnified as the overall task difficulty increased. These findings suggest that information asymmetries inherent to the difference between actively performing a task and observing it can drive egocentric biases in effort evaluations on their own and without a contribution from biases of attribution.

Trividha Anushastra Karma in Netraroga

Shalakya tantra, also known as Uttamanga Chikitsa, focuses on the vital sense organs situated above the Jatru-clavicle, addressing diseases of the head (Shiras), ear (Karna), eye (Netra), throat (Kanta), and nose (Nasa). The eye is considered as very important part of the body which performs the work of vision and due to its sensitive nature, it needs great care. Acharya Sushrutha outlines four treatment methods like Bheshaja, Shastra, Kshara and Agni karma as important treatment modalities. Anushastra karma are the para-surgical procedures, entail performing surgical interventions without the use of Shastras - sharp surgical instruments. Acharya Sushrutha has mentioned 14 types of Anushastras among which Jalaukavacharana, Agnikarma and Ksharakarma are given more importance and described in detail. Due to the pradhanyatwa of these three procedures in treatment they are also known as Trividha Anushastra karma. Along with Vata, Pitta and Kapha doshas, Rakta also plays a major role in causing different Netra rogas. So, it is advisable to go for safest Raktamokshana to do Dushita rakta dosha nirharana. In this article, an attempt is made to elaborate the complete knowledge of Anushastras used in different Netra rogas mentioned by our Acharyas. These procedures are simple, less time consuming, non-invasive, safe and cost-effective.