119092 research outputs found
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An empirical study on enhancing productivity with human-centered worker assistance systems in manual assembly
No full textHuman-centered design in production aims at improving efficiency, safety, and user satisfaction by designing work environments integrating human requirements. To provide these improvements, worker assistance systems are deployed at manual workstations but there remains a gap in understanding how these systems can be effectively tailored to the diverse needs of workers. This paper presents a study on the impact of various worker assistance functions on both productivity and human-centeredness in manual assembly using a streaming analytics framework to acquire key performance indicators. The findings provide valuable insights into the effective configuration of worker assistance systems
OPC UA aggregation servers - enabling vertical integration of production machines for digital manufacturing
No full textProduction devices often lack interoperability, making it difficult to integrate them into a centralized system. Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture tackles this issue, combining a communication stack with an information modeling approach suited for production devices. While OPC UA standardizes server protocols and information models, it does not have the ability to integrate the device models and servers into a larger overarching structure with centralized access, e.g., for whole production processes. This gap is filled by OPC UA Aggregation Servers. The OPC UA Aggregation Server acts as an intermediary between clients and the underlying OPC UA servers deployed on production devices, constructing a unified information model. On the communication side, OPC UA service requests and responses are routed to the appropriate lower-level server. On the model side, OPC UA namespaces, types and instances of the underlying source servers are brought together, forming a unified OPC UA address space. This integrated model enables centralized access, analyses and processes. The objective of this paper is to unify, complement and expand existing approaches by providing a detailed view of the theory and implementation of OPC UA Aggregation Servers. This includes methods employed for type and instance aggregation as well as service delegation. Additionally, novel approaches are proposed: a hash-based type aggregation method, an instance aggregation method using reference injection and a mapping database design. The Aggregation Server is then demonstrated on a robotic assembly station
Recovery of tree-related microhabitats in a tropical rainforest after agricultural abandonment
No full textThe restoration of degraded tropical forests is a global priority to halt terrestrial biodiversity loss. However, the complexity and hyper diversity of tropical forests challenge the quantification of their recovery status. Unlike temperate forests, where tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) have been established as a surrogate for habitat diversity, TreMs have received little attention in the tropics. Here, we investigated the recovery of TreM profiles along a chronosequence of forest recovery ranging from cacao plantations and pastures to abandoned agricultural land (2 to 38 years), and old-growth forests in the Ecuadorian lowland Choco forest. Our analysis accounted for sample incompleteness and different abundance weightings using Hill numbers. Based on 57 TreM types, we identified an overall increase in diversity over time. Pasture regenerations exhibited a steeper and more continuous shift of TreM diversity and composition along the recovery gradient, likely due to more remnant trees that retained TreMs, in contrast to cacao regenerations. Diversity, community composition and numerous typical TreM types show that old-growth forests maintain distinct TreM profiles. In addition, Ferns and hemiepiphytes had the highest number of positive co-occurrences with other TreMs, while stiltroots excluded both buttress roots and trunk base rot holes. Using multiple regression in distance matrices we identified tree species richness and light availability as the main drivers of TreM composition. Our TreM results call for a strategy of protecting old-growth forests with their unique and diverse TreM profiles and of favouring agricultural sites with remnant trees for restoration due to faster achievements in habitat diversity
Controllable Reasoning Models Are Private Thinkers
No full textAI agents powered by reasoning models require access to sensitive user data. However, their reasoning traces are difficult to control, which can result in the unintended leakage of private information to external parties. We propose training models to follow instructions not only in the final answer, but also in reasoning traces, potentially under different constraints. We hypothesize that improving their instruction following abilities in the reasoning traces can improve their privacy-preservation skills. To demonstrate this, we fine-tune models on a new instruction-following dataset with explicit restrictions on reasoning traces. We further introduce a generation strategy that decouples reasoning and answer generation using separate LoRA adapters. We evaluate our approach on six models from two model families, ranging from 1.7B to 14B parameters, across two instruction-following benchmarks and two privacy benchmarks. Our method yields substantial improvements, achieving gains of up to 20.9 points in instruction-following performance and up to 51.9 percentage points on privacy benchmarks. These improvements, however, can come at the cost of task utility, due to the trade-off between reasoning performance and instruction-following abilities. Overall, our results show that improving instruction-following behavior in reasoning models can significantly enhance privacy, suggesting a promising direction for the development of future privacy-aware agents. Our code and data are available at this [https URL](https://github.com/UKPLab/arxiv2026-controllable-reasoning-models
Technical interoperability and legal compliance with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation: proposal for a minimal digital product passport data model
No full textThe digital product passport is becoming an essential tool to increase transparency about the sustainability of products and to boost the circular economy in the European Union. With the revised Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation having entered into force in July 2024, the digital product passport will become a necessary extension for many products placed on the European market. Industry practitioners are faced with the challenge of fulfilling content requirements while maintaining interoperability at the same time. Although industry practitioners face challenges in implementing digital product passports, existing research has largely focused on digital product passport systems, often overlooking the crucial aspect of digital product passport data. Work on this data typically falls short of addressing comprehensive interoperability. This research therefore proposes a minimal digital product passport data model that integrates current regulatory requirements while ensuring interoperability through the use of standardised submodel templates of the asset administration shell. We demonstrate that the current regulatory requirements can be met, but foreseeable extensions will require adjustments and therefore close synchronisation between standardisation initiatives and the institutions that further specify regulatory requirements
Wer zahlt für die Zahlung? Zur Regulierung der Entgelte und Gebühren bei Zahlungen in digitalen Euro
No full textRedox chemistry of LiCoO₂, LiNiO₂, and LiNi₁/₃Mn₁/₃Co₁/₃O₂ cathodes: deduced via XPS, DFT+DMFT, and charge transfer multiplet simulations
No full textUnderstanding the evolution of the physicochemical bulk properties during the Li deintercalation process is critical for optimizing battery cathode materials. In this study, we combine X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory (DFT+DMFT), and charge transfer multiplet (CTM) model to investigate how hybridization between transition metal (TM) 3d and oxygen 2p orbitals evolves upon Li deintercalation. Based on the presented approach combining theoretical calculations and experimental studies of pristine and deintercalated cathodes, two key aspects of ion batteries are examined: i) the detailed electronic structure and involved changes with deintercalation associated with the charge compensation mechanism, and ii) the precise experimental analysis of XPS data which are dominated by charge transfer coupled to final-state effects affecting the satellite structure. As main result for the investigated Li–TM oxides, the results indicate that the electron transfer coupled to the Li⁺-ion migration does not follow a rigid band model but is influenced by changes in TM 3d and O 2p states hybridization. This integrated approach suggests that 2p XPS satellite peak intensity of TM is sensitive to changes in redox chemistry, providing an indirect experimental descriptor of cathode redox behavior and guiding the design of more efficient battery materials
AutoAPMS: Lightweight and versatile integration of behavior trees into the ROS 2 ecosystem
No full textAutoAPMS is a heavily extensible development framework for behavior-based ROS 2 applications. It provides a highly modular integration of behavior trees. In this talk, I'm explaining the core concepts while walking through the development workflow using an applied example. This should give you a good idea of whether AutoAPMS is for you or not. The intention of this project is to make it significantly more user-friendly and less error prone to develop autonomous robotics with behavior trees. The core packages are written in C++ and a supplementary Python API exposes high-level features for scripting
Synergistic effects of domestic wastewater sludge and leachate on medium-chain fatty acid production
No full textLandfill leachate and liquid sewage sludge (LS) are two major waste steams generated from solid and liquid waste management processes. Both contain medium chain fatty acids (MCAFs), which are valuable as low-cost feedstocks for bio-based chemicals and lubricant. This study explores the potential of co-fermenting leachate and LS for enhance MCFA production. Two types of leachates (young and old) were used, alongside LS sourced from the decanter tank of a wastewater treatment plant. Leachate and LS were mixed at two ratios (50:50 and 75:25), with ethanol (E) serving as an electron donor under controlled pH and temperature conditions. The results demonstrated that MCFA production was significantly influenced by the age of the leachate and the (leachate: LS) ratio. Notably, the 50:50 mixture showed continuous increases in MCFA production over time. Principal component analysis (PCA) further revealed that young leachate (YL) was the most effective substrate for MCFA elongation, offering the highest acid production and extraction potential. These findings suggest that the co-fermentation of leachate and LS, particularly with young leachate, presents a promising method for MCFA production, supporting waste valorization and sustainable bio-based chemical production
Radiometer measurements of the spectrally resolved radiative heat flux in a combustion chamber
No full textSo far ellipsoidal radiometers used in combustion environments have been limited to broadband measurements of total radiative intensity, converting the total incident thermal radiation into an integral electrical voltage signal while neglecting information about the incident radiation’s wavelength distribution. To preserve this spectral information, the novel radiometer concept presented in this study enables spectrally resolved radiative heat flux measurements inside a combustion chamber. For this purpose, the established design of ellipsoidal hemispheric radiometer cavities was extended by integrating hollow optical fibers as radiation guides. This combination allows the use of radiation analysis instruments, such as a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, outside the chamber. Calibration measurements were conducted to determine the angular-dependent response of the radiometer and to perform a wavelength-resolved intensity calibration. These procedures enable a reliable interpretation of the collected radiation signals within the combustion chamber. Furthermore, the radiometer was applied at an oxyfuel-driven laminar flow reactor and a 1MWth test facility, investigating three different pulverized walnut shell flames – one under air and two under oxyfuel conditions. The obtained results allowed the identification of emission lines from water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane, emission lines, as well as radiative heat flux distributions at different measurement positions within the combustion chamber. Based on these distributions, an influence of radiation absorption effects related to varying gas temperature profiles inside the combustion chamber were observed