17 research outputs found
Gaussian-process-based robot learning from demonstration
No full text© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-
bution 4.0 International License,Learning from demonstration allows to encode task constraints from observing the motion executed by a human teacher. We present a Gaussian-process-based learning from demonstration (LfD) approach that allows robots to learn manipulation skills from demonstrations of a human teacher. By exploiting the potential that Gaussian process (GP) models offer, we unify in a single, entirely GP-based framework, the main features required for a state-of-the-art LfD approach. We address how GP can be used to effectively learn a policy from trajectories in task space. To achieve an effective generalization across demonstrations, we propose the novel Task Completion Index (TCI) for temporal alignment of task trajectories. Also, our probabilistic GP-based representation allows encoding variability throughout the different phases of the task. Finally, we present a method to efficiently adapt the policy to fulfill new requirements and modulate the robot behavior as a function of task variability. This approach has been successfully tested in a real-world application, namely teaching a TIAGo robot to open different types of doors.This work is partially funded by ERC Advanced Grant H2020-741930 (project CLOTHILDE)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Les créations de mode générées par des nouvelles technologies : quels impacts dans la détermination d'un titulaire originaire du droit d'auteur?
No full textLe secteur de la mode, comme beaucoup de domaines industriels, fait l’objet d’une forte digitalisation. De nouveaux processus créatifs, tels que l’impression 3D, sont employés pour permettre aux entreprises et aux stylistes d’innover en créant des vêtements ou des accessoires qu’il n’aurait pas été possible de réaliser avec les méthodes de fabrication traditionnelles. L’émergence de l’Intelligence artificielle ne semble pas non plus épargner l’industrie de l’habillement qui tend à utiliser cette technologie pour améliorer sa productivité. Au vu de ces constatations, il faut se poser la question de savoir si les créations générées par ces nouvelles technologies peuvent être appréhendées normalement par le droit d’auteur. Par ailleurs, l’utilisation de technologies aussi pointues nécessite généralement de nombreux intervenants dont le savoir-faire technique, s’éloignent grandement de la conception traditionnelle d’auteur posée par le Code de la propriété intellectuelle et la jurisprudence française. Dans l’hypothèse d’une protection par le droit d’auteur de ces créations, une réflexion sur la détermination des titulaires de ces dernières s’impose.The fashion sector, like many industrial sectors, is highly digitalized. New creative processes, such as 3D printing, are used to enable companies and designers to innovate by creating clothing or accessories that would not have been possible to do with traditional manufacturing methods. On the other hand, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence does not seem to spare the clothing industry, which tends to use this technology to improve its productivity. In view of these observations, the question must be asked whether the creations generated by these new technologies can be apprehended normally by copyright. Moreover, the use of such advanced technologies generally requires many participants, holders of technical know-how, whose role differs greatly from the traditional concept of author laid down by the Intellectual Property Code and French case law. If French copyright law protects the creations concerned, it is still necessary to determine the author on them
Geometrical exploration of a flux-optimised sodium receiver through multi-objective optimisation
No full textWriting science fiction as an inspiration for AI research and ethics dissemination
No full textIn this chapter we look at science fiction from a perspective that goes beyond pure entertainment. Such literary gender can play an important role in bringing science closer to society by helping to popularize scientific knowledge and discoveries while engaging the public in debates which, in turn, can help direct scientific development towards building a better future for all. Written based on a tutorial given by the first author at ACAI 2021, this chapter addresses, in its first part, how science and science fiction can inspire each other and, in its second part, how science fiction can be used as an educational tool in teaching ethics of AI and robotics. Each of the two parts is supplemented with sections containing the questions asked by the audience during the tutorial as well as the provided answers.Supported by the European Research Council (ERC) within the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement ERC–2016–ADG–741930 (CLOTHILDE: CLOTH manIpulation Learning from DEmonstrations)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Porto-Sinusoidal Vascular Disease: A Pediatric Study of 30 Patients
No full textInternational audienceObjectives: Porto-sinusoidal vascular disease (PSVD) refers to a broad spectrum of histological lesions and phenotypic expressions. There are only a few reported pediatric cases in the literature. The primary outcomes of this study were to describe the phenotype of children with PSVD, to specify their mode of presentation and their clinical, biological, histological, and radiological characteristics as well as to identify their underlying etiologies. Methods: This is a descriptive, retrospective, and monocentric study of children followed at our reference center for rare vascular liver diseases. Results: Our study included 30 children ages 2months to 17.4years at the time of diagnosis. in most cases, the diagnosis was made incidentally without manifestation of any clinical symptom but rather on the finding of splenomegaly on physical examination (n = 9) or biological abnormalities (n = 13). In the other cases, the main presenting symptom was an upper gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 6). At the first visit, liver laboratory values were either normal (37%) or slightly disturbed. Anemia and/or thrombocytopenia associated with hypersplenism were found in 60% of patients. Liver biopsy was necessary for diagnosis. A total of 80% of cases had no identified etiology. After a median follow-up of 4.5 years, 33% had not developed portal hypertension (PHT) and we reported the first pediatric case of hepatocellular carcinoma in PSVD children. Conclusions: PSVD is responsible for nonspecific symptomatology with variable evolution sometimes marked by serious complications requiring invasive treatments or even liver transplantation. Regular monitoring is essential to prevent, detect, and treat complications
Are preferences useful for better assistance? A physically assistive robotics user study
No full text© 2021 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).Assistive Robots have an inherent need of adapting to the user they are assisting. This is crucial for the correct development of the task, user safety, and comfort. However, adaptation can be performed in several manners. We believe user preferences are key to this adaptation. In this paper, we evaluate the use of preferences for Physically Assistive Robotics tasks in a Human-Robot Interaction user evaluation. Three assistive tasks have been implemented consisting of assisted feeding, shoe-fitting, and jacket dressing, where the robot performs each task in a different manner based on user preferences. We assess the ability of the users to determine which execution of the task used their chosen preferences (if any). The obtained results show that most of the users were able to successfully guess the cases where their preferences were used even when they had not seen the task before. We also observe that their satisfaction with the task increases when the chosen preferences are employed. Finally, we also analyze the user’s opinions regarding assistive tasks and preferences, showing promising expectations as to the benefits of adapting the robot behavior to the user through preferences.This work has been supported by the ERC project Clothilde (ERC-2016-ADG-741930), the HuMoUR project (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation TIN2017-90086-R) and by the Spanish State Research Agency through the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence to IRI (MDM-2016-0656). Gerard Canal has also been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education,
Culture and Sport by the FPU15/00504 doctoral grant and the CHIST-ERA project COHERENT (EPSRC EP/V062506/1).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Gendered human–robot Interactions in services
No full text© The Author(s) 2023The outbreak of Covid-19 precipitated the use of service robots in customer-facing services as a replacement for employ- ees to avoid human-to-human contact. However, this development has not resolved the debate as to whether robots should be characterized with gender attributes or simply be genderless. This study explores whether endowing a robot with gender attributes makes it more acceptable as a service provider among stated men and women. To this end, an experiment was conducted at a public fair in which a gendered robot simulated the provision of a service to customers, which consisted of offering them advice, hints, and messages of encouragement to help complete a eudaemonic puzzle. A parsimonious version of the Almere model was used to estimate acceptance of the technology. The findings reveal that for both stated men and women, the main drivers for accepting the female-coded robot are perceived usefulness and social influence, although women attach greater importance to social influence. For the male-coded robot, perceived usefulness and social influence are the main arguments for women, while for men they are enjoyment, perceived usefulness and, negatively, ease of use. In addition, different indirect effects between stated sexes are also identified. In summary, men and women consider different factors when accepting robots of each gender.This work was partially funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under ERC Advanced Grant CLOTHILDE (no. 741930) and under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (no. 712949) (TECNIOspring PLUS); by MCIN/ AEI /https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR” under the project ROB-IN (PLEC2021-007859); by the Research Council of Norway under the project SECUROPS (INT-NO/0875); and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR” through CSIC’s Thematic Platforms (PTI + Neuro-Aging).Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Kurt Kersten Collection 1939-1994
No full textPart I contains personal documents.Part II contains correspondence with newspapers, journals, publishers, and individuals, including Jakob Altmaier, Julius Bab, C.F.W. Behl, Eduard Benes, Joseph Bornstein, Elisabeth Castonier, Julius Deutsch, Alfred Doeblin, John Dos Passos, Lion Feuchtwanger, Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster, Leonhard Frank, Claire Goll, Oscar Maria Graf, Babette L. Gross, Georg Grosz, Emil J. Gumbel, Willy Haas, Theodor Heuss, Kurt Hiller, Heinrich Eduard Jacob, Erich Kaestner, Alfred Kerr, Hermann Kesten, Gustav Kiepenheuer, Emil Ludwig, Erika Mann, Monika Mann, Thomas Mann, Ludwig Marcuse, Walter Mehring, H. L. Mencken, Martin Niemoeller, Franz Pfemfert, Jacob Picard, Kurt Pinthus, Erwin Piscator, Ernst Reuter, Ernst Rowohlt, Anna Seghers, Upton Sinclair, Dorothy Thompson, Fritz von Unruh, Veit Valentin, Bruno Weil, Thornton Wilder, and Duke Odo of Wuerttemberg. About half of the senders are Jewish and nearly all the senders are writers or politicians, refugees from Hitler persecution. The correspondence contains many reports about the years of persecution.Part III contains published and unpublished manuscripts. Manuscripts in this collection contain the following titles: Die Alte Deutsche ; Beloved Josephine ; Die Berghexe ; Black Antisemitism ; Encounter with Benjamin Franklin ; Das Ende von Willi Mienzenberger ; Die Ermordung Leo Trotskys ; Flucht aus Frankreich ; Jean Gallatin ; George Mandel ; Die Geschichte von Clothilde ; Die Geschwister ; Goethe und amerikanische Schriftsteller ; Der gute Priester von St.Pierre ; Helpers in Hell ; Höhepunkte der amerikanischen Literatur ; Der Kampf mit dem Tisch ; Lessing und die Freimaurer ; The Negropress in the U.S. ; Oskar Wildes Hotelwirt ; Der Tod auf der Insel, ein westindisches Tagebuch, 139p. There is also a manuscript with notes and supplementary correspondence concerning the last years of Rudolf Breitscheid and Rudolf Hilferding in Vichy France: Das Ende Rudolf Breitscheid und Rudolf Hilferdings (1957)Part IV contains material concerning the eighteenth-century naturalist and revolutionary Johann Georg Forster and on the author Robert Breuer, a close friend of Kersten who died in Martinique.Part V is a large collection of newspaper essays by Kurt Kersten from 1937 to 1961.Born in Weldheiden bei Kassel on April 19, 1891, Kurt Kersten studied in Munich and Berlin and served in World War I. From 1919 to 1933 he worked as a freelance journalist in close association with left-wing expressionists. He made several trips to the USSR and contributed to the German Communist press. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1934, Czechoslovakia the same year, France in 1937, and the United States via Morocco and Martinique, 1940-1945. He was active in exile affairs and continued to work as an author and publicist. Kersten occasionally used the pseudonym Georg Forster. He died in New York City on May 18, 1962.digitize
Pre-Analytical Considerations in the simultaneous quantification of Ketone Bodies, Lactate, pyruvate and TCA cycle intermediates
No full textAccurate quantification of small metabolites such as ketone bodies (KB: β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), acetoacetate (AcAc)), pyruvate (Pyr), lactate (Lac) and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates is essential for diagnostics, therapy monitoring and metabolic research. These metabolites serve as energy substrates and signaling molecules, with their interpretation often relying on physiologically meaningful ratios (Lac/Pyr, BHB/AcAc). However, their chemical instability and susceptibility to rapid post-collection metabolism pose significant pre-analytical challenges.
We developed an LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous quantification of KB, Pyr, Lac and TCA cycle intermediates, and systematically evaluated pre-analytical factors affecting their stability and accuracy. We compared lithium-heparin (LH), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), sodium fluoride/EDTA (NaF/EDTA) and sodium citrate (NaCit) collection tubes and deproteinized whole blood (depWB) using perchloric acid. Stability was assessed in whole blood at RT over 24 h, as well as in LH and depWB at various temperatures (RT, 4 °C, -20 °C) over 7 days.
Pyr, Lac, AcAc and fumarate were most labile, while BHB and citrate were stable across matrices. LH-plasma with prompt centrifugation showed minimal metabolic alterations, while NaF/EDTA effectively stabilized Lac but compromised Pyr and TCA cycle intermediates. DepWB improved Lac/Pyr ratio reliability but introduced higher variability and matrix effects. NaCit induced unexpected metabolic shifts, suggesting in-vitro TCA cycle activity.
Our findings highlight the critical impact of anticoagulants and processing conditions on metabolite stability. LH-plasma provides the best compromise for quantifying KB, Pyr and TCA cycle intermediates when processed rapidly, while depWB remains preferable for accurate Lac/Pyr ratio determination despite its higher variability.
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Rôle de PPARα hépatocytaire dans le contrôle transcriptionnel de l’adaptation à un régime cétogène
No full textInternational audienceLes récepteurs activés par les proliférateurs de péroxysomes (PPAR) sont des facteurs de transcription dont il existe 3 isotypes PPARα, PPARβ et PPARγ. L’isotype α est très exprimé dans le foie et particulièrement actif lors du jeûne. Dans les hépatocytes, PPARα régule la transcription de gènes impliqués dans le catabolisme des acides gras, la biosynthèse de corps cétoniques et de FGF21, une hormone clé de l’adaptation au jeûne exerçant des effets systémiques. Nous avons récemment démontré que l’activité de PPARα dans les hépatocytes requiert la lipolyse du tissu adipeux durant le jeûne. Nous avons utilisé un modèle de souris transgéniques avec une délétion hépatocytaire de PPARα afin d’évaluer le rôle de ce récepteur nucléaire en réponse à un régime cétogène pauvre en glucides et riche en graisses. Nos résultats confirment que PPARα hépatocytaire est activé et contrôle la cétogénèse et la production de FGF21 lors d’un régime cétogène de courte durée. Nous montrons que cette absence de PPARα dans les hépatocytes conduit à une accélération de la perte de poids et induit une stéatohépatite sévère. Paradoxalement, l’absence de PPARα dans les hépatocytes n’altère pas la production de corps cétoniques ni de FGF21 en réponse à un régime cétogène de longue durée. Nous avons réalisé une délétion hépatique des 3 isotypes de PPARs et mis en évidence une voie alternative de contrôle de FGF21 par un second isotype du récepteur. En revanche, l’absence des 3 isotypes de PPARs dans les hépatocytes n’altère pas la production de corps cétoniques suggérant l’existence de voies alternatives pour la formation de ces substrats énergétiques et un découplage entre la production de corps cétoniques et de FGF21.Nos travaux montrent que PPARα hépatocytaire est nécessaire pour l’adaptation à un régime cétogène et indiquent l’existence de nouveaux mécanismes de régulation permettant de maintenir deux fonctions hépatiques majeures
