MERLIN a Cognitive Architecture for Service Robots

Many social robots deployed in public spaces hide hybrid cognitive architectures for dealing with daily tasks. Mostly, two main blocks sustain these hybrid architectures for robot behavior generation: deliberative and behavioral-based mechanisms. Robot Operating System offers different solutions for implementing these blocks, however, some issues arise when both are released in the robot. This paper presents a software engineering approach for normalizing the process of integrating them and presenting them as a fully cognitive architecture named MERLIN. Providing implementation details and diagrams for established the architecture, this research tests empirically the proposed solution using a variation from the challenge defined in the SciRoc @home competition. The results validate the usability of our approach and show MERLIN as a hybrid architecture ready for short and long-term tasks, showing better results than using a by default approach, particularly when it is deployed in highly interactive scenarios.

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Memory inception and preservation in slime moulds: the quest for a common mechanism

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2018.0368 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 374 (1774) ◽

pp. 20180368 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

A. Boussard ◽

J. Delescluse ◽

A. Pérez-Escudero ◽

A. Dussutour

Keyword(s):

Optimal Decision ◽

Common Mechanism ◽

Cognitive Architectures ◽

Dormant Stage ◽

Dormancy Period ◽

Slime Moulds ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Optimal Decision Making ◽

Past Experiences

Learning and memory are indisputably key features of animal success. Using information about past experiences is critical for optimal decision-making in a fluctuating environment. Those abilities are usually believed to be limited to organisms with a nervous system, precluding their existence in non-neural organisms. However, recent studies showed that the slime mouldPhysarum polycephalum, despite being unicellular, displays habituation, a simple form of learning. In this paper, we studied the possible substrate of both short- and long-term habituation in slime moulds. We habituated slime moulds to sodium, a known repellent, using a 6 day training and turned them into a dormant state named sclerotia. Those slime moulds were then revived and tested for habituation. We showed that information acquired during the training was preserved through the dormant stage as slime moulds still showed habituation after a one-month dormancy period. Chemical analyses indicated a continuous uptake of sodium during the process of habituation and showed that sodium was retained throughout the dormant stage. Lastly, we showed that memory inception via constrained absorption of sodium for 2 h elicited habituation. Our results suggest that slime moulds absorbed the repellent and used it as a ‘circulating memory’.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Liquid brains, solid brains: How distributed cognitive architectures process information’.

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A Comprehensive Review on the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Public Urban Spaces

Architecture and Urban Planning ◽

10.2478/aup-2021-0008 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 79-87

Author(s):

Hourakhsh Ahmad Nia

Keyword(s):

Methodological Approach ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Economic Effects ◽

Urban Spaces ◽

Direct Effects ◽

Review Of The Literature ◽

Comprehensive Review ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Comprehensive Framework

Abstract COVID-19, evidently the world’s worst pandemic during the last two centuries, has predicated several challenges for urban designers, especially in their bid to find appropriate designing strategies. Even though there are umpteenth studies in the literature that have focused on the different aspects of COVID-19 related pandemics, very scant studies sought to find appropriate mitigating strategies in designing pandemic friendly urban spaces. Thus, through qualitative grounded theory as a main methodological approach, this study hypothesized that the COVID-19 induced pandemic has direct effects on the liveability of public spaces. Accordingly, by developing a comprehensive review of the literature on the environmental and socio-economic effects of the pandemic, this study proposed a comprehensive framework for understanding its side effects and a comprehensive mitigating strategy to deal with it in the short and long term of designing a healthy urban environment.

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Experience with Short and Long Term Courses of Local Adrenal Steroid Therapy For Ulcerative Colitis

Gastroenterology ◽

10.1016/s0016-5085(62)80117-6 ◽

1962 ◽

Vol 42 (6) ◽

pp. 669-677 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Jean A. Spencer ◽

Joseph B. Kirsner

Keyword(s):

Ulcerative Colitis ◽

Steroid Therapy ◽

Adrenal Steroid ◽

Short And Long Term

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Short- and Long-Term Results of Total vs Subtotal Thyroid- ectomies in the Surgical Treatment of Graves' Disease

Swiss Surgery ◽

10.1024/1023-9332.7.1.20 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 20-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Robert ◽

Mariéthoz ◽

Pache ◽

Bertin ◽

Caulfield ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve ◽

Nerve Palsy ◽

Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Palsy ◽

Laryngeal Nerve ◽

Long Term Results ◽

Graves Disease ◽

Laryngeal Nerve Palsy ◽

Short And Long Term

Objective: Approximately one out of five patients with Graves' disease (GD) undergoes a thyroidectomy after a mean period of 18 months of medical treatment. This retrospective and non-randomized study from a teaching hospital compares short- and long-term results of total (TT) and subtotal thyroidectomies (ST) for this disease. Methods: From 1987 to 1997, 94 patients were operated for GD. Thirty-three patients underwent a TT (mostly since 1993) and 61 a ST (keeping 4 to 8 grams of thyroid tissue - mean 6 g). All patients had received propylthiouracil and/or neo-mercazole and were in a euthyroid state at the time of surgery; they also took potassium iodide (lugol) for ten days before surgery. Results: There were no deaths. Transient hypocalcemia (< 3 months) occurred in 32 patients (15 TT and 17 ST) and persistent hypocalcemia in 8 having had TT. Two patients developed transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy after ST (< 3 months). After a median follow-up period of seven years (1-15) with five patients lost to follow-up, 41 patients having had a ST are in a hypothyroid state (73%), thirteen are euthyroid (23%), and two suffered recurrent hyperthyroidism, requiring completion of thyroidectomy. All 33 patients having had TT - with follow-ups averaging two years (0.5-8) - are receiving thyroxin substitution. Conclusions: There were no instances of persistent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy in either group, but persistent hypoparathyroidism occurred more frequently after TT. Long after ST, hypothyroidism developed in nearly three of four cases, whereas euthyroidy was maintained in only one-fourth; recurrent hyperthyroidy was rare.

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