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703 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2015

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Optimal Length of Low Reynolds Number Nanopropellers

Walker (Schamel), D., Kuebler, M., Morozov, K. I., Fischer, P., Leshansky, A. M.

Nano Letters, 15(7):4412-4416, June 2015 (article)

Abstract
Locomotion in fluids at the nanoscale is dominated by viscous drag. One efficient propulsion scheme is to use a weak rotating magnetic field that drives a chiral object. Froth bacterial flagella to artificial drills, the corkscrew is a universally useful chiral shape for propulsion in viscous environments. Externally powered magnetic micro- and nanomotors have been recently developed that allow for precise fuel-free propulsion in complex media. Here, we combine analytical and numerical theory with experiments on nanostructured screw-propellers to show that the optimal length is surprisingly short only about one helical turn, which is shorter than most of the structures in use to date. The results have important implications for the design of artificial actuated nano- and micropropellers and can dramatically reduce fabrication times, while ensuring optimal performance.

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DOI [BibTex]

2015

pf Walker (Schamel), D., Kuebler, M., Morozov, K. I., Fischer, P., Leshansky, A. M. Optimal Length of Low Reynolds Number Nanopropellers Nano Letters, 15(7):4412-4416, June 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Object Detection Using Deep Learning - Learning where to search using visual attention

Kloss, A.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, May 2015 (mastersthesis)

Abstract
Detecting and identifying the different objects in an image fast and reliably is an important skill for interacting with one’s environment. The main problem is that in theory, all parts of an image have to be searched for objects on many different scales to make sure that no object instance is missed. It however takes considerable time and effort to actually classify the content of a given image region and both time and computational capacities that an agent can spend on classification are limited. Humans use a process called visual attention to quickly decide which locations of an image need to be processed in detail and which can be ignored. This allows us to deal with the huge amount of visual information and to employ the capacities of our visual system efficiently. For computer vision, researchers have to deal with exactly the same problems, so learning from the behaviour of humans provides a promising way to improve existing algorithms. In the presented master’s thesis, a model is trained with eye tracking data recorded from 15 participants that were asked to search images for objects from three different categories. It uses a deep convolutional neural network to extract features from the input image that are then combined to form a saliency map. This map provides information about which image regions are interesting when searching for the given target object and can thus be used to reduce the parts of the image that have to be processed in detail. The method is based on a recent publication of Kümmerer et al., but in contrast to the original method that computes general, task independent saliency, the presented model is supposed to respond differently when searching for different target categories.

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PDF Project Page [BibTex]

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Structural optimization for flexure-based parallel mechanisms–Towards achieving optimal dynamic and stiffness properties

Lum, G. Z., Teo, T. J., Yeo, S. H., Yang, G., Sitti, M.

Precision Engineering, 42, pages: 195-207, Elsevier, May 2015 (article)

Abstract
Flexure-based parallel mechanisms (FPMs) are a type of compliant mechanisms that consist of a rigid end-effector that is articulated by several parallel, flexible limbs (a.k.a. sub-chains). Existing design methods can enhance the FPMs’ dynamic and stiffness properties by conducting a size optimization on their sub-chains. A similar optimization process, however, was not performed for their sub-chains’ topology, and this may severely limit the benefits of a size optimization. Thus, this paper proposes to use a structural optimization approach to synthesize and optimize the topology, shape and size of the FPMs’ sub-chains. The benefits of this approach are demonstrated via the design and development of a planar X − Y − θz FPM. A prototype of this FPM was evaluated experimentally to have a large workspace of 1.2 mm × 1.2 mm × 6°, a fundamental natural frequency of 102 Hz, and stiffness ratios that are greater than 120. The achieved properties show significant improvement over existing 3-degrees-of-freedom compliant mechanisms that can deflect more than 0.5 mm and 0.5°. These compliant mechanisms typically have stiffness ratios that are less than 60 and a fundamental natural frequency that is less than 45 Hz.

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DOI [BibTex]

pi Lum, G. Z., Teo, T. J., Yeo, S. H., Yang, G., Sitti, M. Structural optimization for flexure-based parallel mechanisms–Towards achieving optimal dynamic and stiffness properties Precision Engineering, 42, pages: 195-207, Elsevier, May 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Blind Retrospective Motion Correction of MR Images

Loktyushin, A.

University of Tübingen, Germany, May 2015 (phdthesis)

ei

[BibTex]

ei Loktyushin, A. Blind Retrospective Motion Correction of MR Images University of Tübingen, Germany, May 2015 (phdthesis)

[BibTex]

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Robot Arm Tracking with Random Decision Forests

Widmaier, F.

Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, May 2015 (mastersthesis)

Abstract
For grasping and manipulation with robot arms, knowing the current pose of the arm is crucial for successful controlling its motion. Often, pose estimations can be acquired from encoders inside the arm, but they can have significant inaccuracy which makes the use of additional techniques necessary. In this master thesis, a novel approach of robot arm pose estimation is presented, that works on single depth images without the need of prior foreground segmentation or other preprocessing steps. A random regression forest is used, which is trained only on synthetically generated data. The approach improves former work by Bohg et al. by considerably reducing the computational effort both at training and test time. The forest in the new method directly estimates the desired joint angles while in the former approach, the forest casts 3D position votes for the joints, which then have to be clustered and fed into an iterative inverse kinematic process to finally get the joint angles. To improve the estimation accuracy, the standard training objective of the forest training is replaced by a specialized function that makes use of a model-dependent distance metric, called DISP. Experimental results show that the specialized objective indeed improves pose estimation and it is shown that the method, despite of being trained on synthetic data only, is able to provide reasonable estimations for real data at test time.

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PDF Project Page [BibTex]

am Widmaier, F. Robot Arm Tracking with Random Decision Forests Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, May 2015 (mastersthesis)

PDF Project Page [BibTex]

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A theoretical study of potentially observable chirality-sensitive NMR effects in molecules

Garbacz, P., Cukras, J., Jaszunski, M.

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 17(35):22642-22651, May 2015 (article)

Abstract
Two recently predicted nuclear magnetic resonance effects, the chirality-induced rotating electric polarization and the oscillating magnetization, are examined for several experimentally available chiral molecules. We discuss in detail the requirements for experimental detection of chirality-sensitive NMR effects of the studied molecules. These requirements are related to two parameters: the shielding polarizability and the antisymmetric part of the nuclear magnetic shielding tensor. The dominant second contribution has been computed for small molecules at the coupled cluster and density functional theory levels. It was found that DFT calculations using the KT2 functional and the aug-cc-pCVTZ basis set adequately reproduce the CCSD(T) values obtained with the same basis set. The largest values of parameters, thus most promising from the experimental point of view, were obtained for the fluorine nuclei in 1,3-difluorocyclopropene and 1,3-diphenyl-2-fluoro-3-trifluoromethylcyclopropene.

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DOI [BibTex]

pf Garbacz, P., Cukras, J., Jaszunski, M. A theoretical study of potentially observable chirality-sensitive NMR effects in molecules Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 17(35):22642-22651, May 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Dynamic Inclusion Complexes of Metal Nanoparticles Inside Nanocups

Alarcon-Correa, M., Lee, T. C., Fischer, P.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 54(23):6730-6734, May 2015, Featured cover article. (article)

Abstract
Host-guest inclusion complexes are abundant in molecular systems and of fundamental importance in living organisms. Realizing a colloidal analogue of a molecular dynamic inclusion complex is challenging because inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) with a well-defined cavity and portal are difficult to synthesize in high yield and with good structural fidelity. Herein, a generic strategy towards the fabrication of dynamic 1: 1 inclusion complexes of metal nanoparticles inside oxide nanocups with high yield (> 70%) and regiospecificity (> 90%) by means of a reactive double Janus nanoparticle intermediate is reported. Experimental evidence confirms that the inclusion complexes are formed by a kinetically controlled mechanism involving a delicate interplay between bipolar galvanic corrosion and alloying-dealloying oxidation. Release of the NP guest from the nanocups can be efficiently triggered by an external stimulus. Featured cover article.

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DOI [BibTex]

pf Alarcon-Correa, M., Lee, T. C., Fischer, P. Dynamic Inclusion Complexes of Metal Nanoparticles Inside Nanocups Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 54(23):6730-6734, May 2015, Featured cover article. (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Shape Models of the Human Body for Distributed Inference

Zuffi, S.

Brown University, May 2015 (phdthesis)

Abstract
In this thesis we address the problem of building shape models of the human body, in 2D and 3D, which are realistic and efficient to use. We focus our efforts on the human body, which is highly articulated and has interesting shape variations, but the approaches we present here can be applied to generic deformable and articulated objects. To address efficiency, we constrain our models to be part-based and have a tree-structured representation with pairwise relationships between connected parts. This allows the application of methods for distributed inference based on message passing. To address realism, we exploit recent advances in computer graphics that represent the human body with statistical shape models learned from 3D scans. We introduce two articulated body models, a 2D model, named Deformable Structures (DS), which is a contour-based model parameterized for 2D pose and projected shape, and a 3D model, named Stitchable Puppet (SP), which is a mesh-based model parameterized for 3D pose, pose-dependent deformations and intrinsic body shape. We have successfully applied the models to interesting and challenging problems in computer vision and computer graphics, namely pose estimation from static images, pose estimation from video sequences, pose and shape estimation from 3D scan data. This advances the state of the art in human pose and shape estimation and suggests that carefully de ned realistic models can be important for computer vision. More work at the intersection of vision and graphics is thus encouraged.

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PDF [BibTex]

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Controlled surface topography regulates collective 3D migration by epithelial–mesenchymal composite embryonic tissues

Song, J., Shawky, J. H., Kim, Y., Hazar, M., LeDuc, P. R., Sitti, M., Davidson, L. A.

Biomaterials, 58, pages: 1-9, Elsevier, April 2015 (article)

Abstract
Cells in tissues encounter a range of physical cues as they migrate. Probing single cell and collective migratory responses to physically defined three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments and the factors that modulate those responses are critical to understanding how tissue migration is regulated during development, regeneration, and cancer. One key physical factor that regulates cell migration is topography. Most studies on surface topography and cell mechanics have been carried out with single migratory cells, yet little is known about the spreading and motility response of 3D complex multi-cellular tissues to topographical cues. Here, we examine the response to complex topographical cues of microsurgically isolated tissue explants composed of epithelial and mesenchymal cell layers from naturally 3D organized embryos of the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis. We control topography using fabricated micropost arrays (MPAs) and investigate the collective 3D migration of these multi-cellular systems in these MPAs. We find that the topography regulates both collective and individual cell migration and that dense MPAs reduce but do not eliminate tissue spreading. By modulating cell size through the cell cycle inhibitor Mitomycin C or the spacing of the MPAs we uncover how 3D topographical cues disrupt collective cell migration. We find surface topography can direct both single cell motility and tissue spreading, altering tissue-scale processes that enable efficient conversion of single cell motility into collective movement.

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DOI [BibTex]

pi Song, J., Shawky, J. H., Kim, Y., Hazar, M., LeDuc, P. R., Sitti, M., Davidson, L. A. Controlled surface topography regulates collective 3D migration by epithelial–mesenchymal composite embryonic tissues Biomaterials, 58, pages: 1-9, Elsevier, April 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Transfer Printing of Metallic Microstructures on Adhesion-Promoting Hydrogel Substrates

Wu, H., Sariola, V., Zhu, C., Zhao, J., Sitti, M., Bettinger, C. J.

Advanced Materials, 27(22):3398-3404, April 2015 (article)

Abstract
Fabrication schemes that integrate inorganic microstructures with hydrogel substrates are essential for advancing flexible electronics. A transfer printing process that is made possible through the design and synthesis of adhesion-promoting hydrogels as target substrates is reported. This fabrication technique may advance ultracompliant electronics by melding microfabricated structures with swollen hydrogel substrates.

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DOI [BibTex]

pi Wu, H., Sariola, V., Zhu, C., Zhao, J., Sitti, M., Bettinger, C. J. Transfer Printing of Metallic Microstructures on Adhesion-Promoting Hydrogel Substrates Advanced Materials, 27(22):3398-3404, April 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Blind multirigid retrospective motion correction of MR images

Loktyushin, A., Nickisch, H., Pohmann, R., Schölkopf, B.

Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 73(4):1457-1468, April 2015 (article)

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DOI [BibTex]

ei Loktyushin, A., Nickisch, H., Pohmann, R., Schölkopf, B. Blind multirigid retrospective motion correction of MR images Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 73(4):1457-1468, April 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Surface roughness-induced speed increase for active Janus micromotors

Choudhury, U., Soler, L., Gibbs, J. G., Sanchez, S., Fischer, P.

Chem. Comm., 51(41):8660-8663, April 2015 (article)

Abstract
We demonstrate a simple physical fabrication method to control surface roughness of Janus micromotors and fabricate self-propelled active Janus microparticles with rough catalytic platinum surfaces that show a four-fold increase in their propulsion speed compared to conventional Janus particles coated with a smooth Pt layer.

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DOI [BibTex]

pf Choudhury, U., Soler, L., Gibbs, J. G., Sanchez, S., Fischer, P. Surface roughness-induced speed increase for active Janus micromotors Chem. Comm., 51(41):8660-8663, April 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Biomedical applications of untethered mobile milli/microrobots

Sitti, M., Ceylan, H., Hu, W., Giltinan, J., Turan, M., Yim, S., Diller, E.

Proceedings of the IEEE, 103(2):205-224, IEEE, March 2015 (article)

Abstract
Untethered robots miniaturized to the length scale of millimeter and below attract growing attention for the prospect of transforming many aspects of health care and bioengineering. As the robot size goes down to the order of a single cell, previously inaccessible body sites would become available for high-resolution in situ and in vivo manipulations. This unprecedented direct access would enable an extensive range of minimally invasive medical operations. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the current advances in biomedical untethered mobile milli/microrobots. We put a special emphasis on the potential impacts of biomedical microrobots in the near future. Finally, we discuss the existing challenges and emerging concepts associated with designing such a miniaturized robot for operation inside a biological environment for biomedical applications.

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DOI [BibTex]

pi Sitti, M., Ceylan, H., Hu, W., Giltinan, J., Turan, M., Yim, S., Diller, E. Biomedical applications of untethered mobile milli/microrobots Proceedings of the IEEE, 103(2):205-224, IEEE, March 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Multi-view and 3D Deformable Part Models

Pepik, B., Stark, M., Gehler, P., Schiele, B.

Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 37(11):14, IEEE, March 2015 (article)

Abstract
As objects are inherently 3-dimensional, they have been modeled in 3D in the early days of computer vision. Due to the ambiguities arising from mapping 2D features to 3D models, 3D object representations have been neglected and 2D feature-based models are the predominant paradigm in object detection nowadays. While such models have achieved outstanding bounding box detection performance, they come with limited expressiveness, as they are clearly limited in their capability of reasoning about 3D shape or viewpoints. In this work, we bring the worlds of 3D and 2D object representations closer, by building an object detector which leverages the expressive power of 3D object representations while at the same time can be robustly matched to image evidence. To that end, we gradually extend the successful deformable part model [1] to include viewpoint information and part-level 3D geometry information, resulting in several different models with different level of expressiveness. We end up with a 3D object model, consisting of multiple object parts represented in 3D and a continuous appearance model. We experimentally verify that our models, while providing richer object hypotheses than the 2D object models, provide consistently better joint object localization and viewpoint estimation than the state-of-the-art multi-view and 3D object detectors on various benchmarks (KITTI [2], 3D object classes [3], Pascal3D+ [4], Pascal VOC 2007 [5], EPFL multi-view cars [6]).

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DOI Project Page [BibTex]

ps Pepik, B., Stark, M., Gehler, P., Schiele, B. Multi-view and 3D Deformable Part Models Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 37(11):14, IEEE, March 2015 (article)

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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From Scans to Models: Registration of 3D Human Shapes Exploiting Texture Information

Bogo, F.

University of Padova, March 2015 (phdthesis)

Abstract
New scanning technologies are increasing the importance of 3D mesh data, and of algorithms that can reliably register meshes obtained from multiple scans. Surface registration is important e.g. for building full 3D models from partial scans, identifying and tracking objects in a 3D scene, creating statistical shape models. Human body registration is particularly important for many applications, ranging from biomedicine and robotics to the production of movies and video games; but obtaining accurate and reliable registrations is challenging, given the articulated, non-rigidly deformable structure of the human body. In this thesis, we tackle the problem of 3D human body registration. We start by analyzing the current state of the art, and find that: a) most registration techniques rely only on geometric information, which is ambiguous on flat surface areas; b) there is a lack of adequate datasets and benchmarks in the field. We address both issues. Our contribution is threefold. First, we present a model-based registration technique for human meshes that combines geometry and surface texture information to provide highly accurate mesh-to-mesh correspondences. Our approach estimates scene lighting and surface albedo, and uses the albedo to construct a high-resolution textured 3D body model that is brought into registration with multi-camera image data using a robust matching term. Second, by leveraging our technique, we present FAUST (Fine Alignment Using Scan Texture), a novel dataset collecting 300 high-resolution scans of 10 people in a wide range of poses. FAUST is the first dataset providing both real scans and automatically computed, reliable "ground-truth" correspondences between them. Third, we explore possible uses of our approach in dermatology. By combining our registration technique with a melanocytic lesion segmentation algorithm, we propose a system that automatically detects new or evolving lesions over almost the entire body surface, thus helping dermatologists identify potential melanomas. We conclude this thesis investigating the benefits of using texture information to establish frame-to-frame correspondences in dynamic monocular sequences captured with consumer depth cameras. We outline a novel approach to reconstruct realistic body shape and appearance models from dynamic human performances, and show preliminary results on challenging sequences captured with a Kinect.

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[BibTex]

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A quantum advantage for inferring causal structure

Ried, K., Agnew, M., Vermeyden, L., Janzing, D., Spekkens, R. W., Resch, K. J.

Nature Physics, 11(5):414-420, March 2015 (article)

Abstract
The problem of inferring causal relations from observed correlations is relevant to a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Yet given the correlations between just two classical variables, it is impossible to determine whether they arose from a causal influence of one on the other or a common cause influencing both. Only a randomized trial can settle the issue. Here we consider the problem of causal inference for quantum variables. We show that the analogue of a randomized trial, causal tomography, yields a complete solution. We also show that, in contrast to the classical case, one can sometimes infer the causal structure from observations alone. We implement a quantum-optical experiment wherein we control the causal relation between two optical modes, and two measurement schemes—with and without randomization—that extract this relation from the observed correlations. Our results show that entanglement and quantum coherence provide an advantage for causal inference.

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Ried, K., Agnew, M., Vermeyden, L., Janzing, D., Spekkens, R. W., Resch, K. J. A quantum advantage for inferring causal structure Nature Physics, 11(5):414-420, March 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications

Sevilla-Lara, L.

Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Febuary 2015 (phdthesis)

Abstract
Finding correspondences between images underlies many computer vision problems, such as optical flow, tracking, stereovision and alignment. Finding these correspondences involves formulating a matching function and optimizing it. This optimization process is often gradient descent, which avoids exhaustive search, but relies on the assumption of being in the basin of attraction of the right local minimum. This is often the case when the displacement is small, and current methods obtain very accurate results for small motions. However, when the motion is large and the matching function is bumpy this assumption is less likely to be true. One traditional way of avoiding this abruptness is to smooth the matching function spatially by blurring the images. As the displacement becomes larger, the amount of blur required to smooth the matching function becomes also larger. This averaging of pixels leads to a loss of detail in the image. Therefore, there is a trade-off between the size of the objects that can be tracked and the displacement that can be captured. In this thesis we address the basic problem of increasing the size of the basin of attraction in a matching function. We use an image descriptor called distribution fields (DFs). By blurring the images in DF space instead of in pixel space, we in- crease the size of the basin attraction with respect to traditional methods. We show competitive results using DFs both in object tracking and optical flow. Finally we demonstrate an application of capturing large motions for temporal video stitching.

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[BibTex]

ps Sevilla-Lara, L. Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications Long Range Motion Estimation and Applications, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Febuary 2015 (phdthesis)

[BibTex]

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Active colloidal microdrills

Gibbs, J. G., Fischer, P.

Chem. Comm., 51(20):4192-4195, Febuary 2015 (article)

Abstract
We demonstrate a chemically driven, autonomous catalytic microdrill. An asymmetric distribution of catalyst causes the helical swimmer to twist while it undergoes directed propulsion. A driving torque and hydrodynamic coupling between translation and rotation at low Reynolds number leads to drill-like swimming behaviour.

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DOI [BibTex]

pf Gibbs, J. G., Fischer, P. Active colloidal microdrills Chem. Comm., 51(20):4192-4195, Febuary 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Collective 3D Migration of Embryonic Epithelial Mesenchymal Composite Tissues are Regulated by Surface Topology

Song, J., Shawky, J., Kim, Y. T., Hazar, M., Sitti, M., LeDuc, P. R., Davidson, L. A.

Biophysical Journal, 108(2):455a, Elsevier, January 2015 (article)

Abstract
Cells in tissues encounter a range of physical cues as they migrate. Probing single cell and collective migratory responses to physically defined three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments and the factors that modulate those responses are critical to understanding how tissue migration is regulated during development, regeneration, and cancer. One key physical factor that regulates cell migration is topology. Most studies on surface topology and cell mechanics have been carried out with single migratory cells, yet little is known about the spreading and motility response of 3D complex multicellular tissues to topological cues. Here, we examine the behaviors of microsurgically isolated tissue explants composed of epithelial and mesenchymal cell layers from naturally 3D organized embryos of the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis to complex topological cues. We control topology using fabricated micropost arrays (MPAs) with different diameters (e.g., different spacing gaps) and investigate the collective 3D migration of these multicellular systems in these MPAs. Our topographical controlled approach for cellular application enables us to achieve a high degree of control over micropost positioning and geometry via simple, accurate, and repeatable microfabrication processes. We find that the topology regulates both collective and individual cell migration and that dense MPAs reduce but do not eliminate tissue spreading. By modulating cell size through the cell cycle inhibitor Mitomycin C or the spacing within MPAs we discover a role for topology in disrupting collective enhancement of cell migration. We find 3D topological cues can direct both single cell motility and tissue spreading, altering tissue-scale processes that enable efficient conversion of single cell motility into collective movement.

pi

DOI [BibTex]

pi Song, J., Shawky, J., Kim, Y. T., Hazar, M., Sitti, M., LeDuc, P. R., Davidson, L. A. Collective 3D Migration of Embryonic Epithelial Mesenchymal Composite Tissues are Regulated by Surface Topology Biophysical Journal, 108(2):455a, Elsevier, January 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Three-dimensional heterogeneous assembly of coded microgels using an untethered mobile microgripper

Chung, S. E., Dong, X., Sitti, M.

Lab on a Chip, 15(7):1667-1676, Royal Society of Chemistry, January 2015 (article)

Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous assembly of coded microgels in enclosed aquatic environments is demonstrated using a remotely actuated and controlled magnetic microgripper by a customized electromagnetic coil system. The microgripper uses different ‘stick–slip’ and ‘rolling’ locomotion in 2D and also levitation in 3D by magnetic gradient-based pulling force. This enables the microrobot to precisely manipulate each microgel by controlling its position and orientation in all x–y–z directions. Our microrobotic assembly method broke the barrier of limitation on the number of assembled microgel layers, because it enabled precise 3D levitation of the microgripper. We used the gripper to assemble microgels that had been coded with different colours and shapes onto prefabricated polymeric microposts. This eliminates the need for extra secondary cross-linking to fix the final construct. We demonstrated assembly of microgels on a single micropost up to ten layers. By increasing the number and changing the distribution of the posts, complex heterogeneous microsystems were possible to construct in 3D.

pi

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

pi Chung, S. E., Dong, X., Sitti, M. Three-dimensional heterogeneous assembly of coded microgels using an untethered mobile microgripper Lab on a Chip, 15(7):1667-1676, Royal Society of Chemistry, January 2015 (article)

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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Integrating mechanism synthesis and topological optimization technique for stiffness-oriented design of a three degrees-of-freedom flexure-based parallel mechanism

Lum, G. Z., Teo, T. J., Yang, G., Yeo, S. H., Sitti, M.

Precision Engineering, 39, pages: 125-133, Elsevier, January 2015 (article)

Abstract
This paper introduces a new design approach to synthesize multiple degrees-of-freedom (DOF) flexure-based parallel mechanism (FPM). Termed as an integrated design approach, it is a systematic design methodology, which integrates both classical mechanism synthesis and modern topology optimization technique, to deliver an optimized multi-DOF FPM. This design approach is separated into two levels. At sub-chain level, a novel topology optimization technique, which uses the classical linkage mechanisms as DNA seeds, is used to synthesize the compliant joints or limbs. At configuration level, the optimal compliant joints are used to form the parallel limbs of the multi-DOF FPM and another stage of optimization was conducted to determine the optimal space distribution between these compliant joints so as to generate a multi-DOF FPM with optimized stiffness characteristic. In this paper, the design of a 3-DOF planar motion FPM was used to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of this proposed design approach.

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DOI [BibTex]

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Actively controlled fibrillar friction surfaces

Marvi, H, Han, Y, Sitti, M

Applied Physics Letters, 106(5):051602, AIP Publishing, January 2015 (article)

Abstract
In this letter, we propose a technique by which we can actively adjust frictional properties of elastic fibrillar structures in different directions. Using a mesh attached to a two degree-of-freedom linear stage, we controlled the active length and the tilt angle of fibers, independently. Thus, we were able to achieve desired levels of friction forces in different directions and significantly improve passive friction anisotropies observed in the same fiber arrays. The proposed technique would allow us to readily control the friction anisotropy and the friction magnitude of fibrillar structures in any planar direction.

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DOI [BibTex]

pi Marvi, H, Han, Y, Sitti, M Actively controlled fibrillar friction surfaces Applied Physics Letters, 106(5):051602, AIP Publishing, January 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Policy Search for Imitation Learning

Doerr, A.

University of Stuttgart, January 2015 (thesis)

am ics

link (url) Project Page [BibTex]

am ics Doerr, A. Policy Search for Imitation Learning University of Stuttgart, January 2015 (thesis)

link (url) Project Page [BibTex]

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Spike train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS): A framework for single neuron and ensemble data analysis

Vargas-Irwin, C. E., Brandman, D. M., Zimmermann, J. B., Donoghue, J. P., Black, M. J.

Neural Computation, 27(1):1-31, MIT Press, January 2015 (article)

Abstract
We present a method to evaluate the relative similarity of neural spiking patterns by combining spike train distance metrics with dimensionality reduction. Spike train distance metrics provide an estimate of similarity between activity patterns at multiple temporal resolutions. Vectors of pair-wise distances are used to represent the intrinsic relationships between multiple activity patterns at the level of single units or neuronal ensembles. Dimensionality reduction is then used to project the data into concise representations suitable for clustering analysis as well as exploratory visualization. Algorithm performance and robustness are evaluated using multielectrode ensemble activity data recorded in behaving primates. We demonstrate how Spike train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS) analysis captures the relationship between goal directions for an 8-directional reaching task and successfully segregates grasp types in a 3D grasping task in the absence of kinematic information. The algorithm enables exploration of virtually any type of neural spiking (time series) data, providing similarity-based clustering of neural activity states with minimal assumptions about potential information encoding models.

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pdf: publisher site pdf: author's proof DOI Project Page [BibTex]

ps Vargas-Irwin, C. E., Brandman, D. M., Zimmermann, J. B., Donoghue, J. P., Black, M. J. Spike train SIMilarity Space (SSIMS): A framework for single neuron and ensemble data analysis Neural Computation, 27(1):1-31, MIT Press, January 2015 (article)

pdf: publisher site pdf: author's proof DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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Positive definite matrices and the S-divergence

Sra, S.

Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 2015, Published electronically: October 22, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Sra, S. Positive definite matrices and the S-divergence Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 2015, Published electronically: October 22, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Structural Intervention Distance (SID) for Evaluating Causal Graphs

Peters, J., Bühlmann, P.

Neural Computation , 27(3):771-799, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Peters, J., Bühlmann, P. Structural Intervention Distance (SID) for Evaluating Causal Graphs Neural Computation , 27(3):771-799, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Likelihood and Consilience: On Forster’s Counterexamples to the Likelihood Theory of Evidence

Zhang, J., Zhang, K.

Philosophy of Science, Supplementary Volume 2015, 82(5):930-940, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Zhang, J., Zhang, K. Likelihood and Consilience: On Forster’s Counterexamples to the Likelihood Theory of Evidence Philosophy of Science, Supplementary Volume 2015, 82(5):930-940, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Crowdsourced analysis of clinical trial data to predict amyotrophic lateral sclerosis progression

Küffner, R., Zach, N., Norel, R., Hawe, J., Schoenfeld, D., Wang, L., Li, G., Fang, L., Mackey, L., Hardiman, O., Cudkowicz, M., Sherman, A., Ertaylan, G., Grosse-Wentrup, M., Hothorn, T., van Ligtenberg, J., Macke, J., Meyer, T., Schölkopf, B., Tran, L., Vaughan, R., Stolovitzky, G., Leitner, M.

Nature Biotechnology, 33, pages: 51-57, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Küffner, R., Zach, N., Norel, R., Hawe, J., Schoenfeld, D., Wang, L., Li, G., Fang, L., Mackey, L., Hardiman, O., Cudkowicz, M., Sherman, A., Ertaylan, G., Grosse-Wentrup, M., Hothorn, T., van Ligtenberg, J., Macke, J., Meyer, T., Schölkopf, B., Tran, L., Vaughan, R., Stolovitzky, G., Leitner, M. Crowdsourced analysis of clinical trial data to predict amyotrophic lateral sclerosis progression Nature Biotechnology, 33, pages: 51-57, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Probabilistic Interpretation of Linear Solvers

Hennig, P.

SIAM Journal on Optimization, 25(1):234-260, 2015 (article)

ei pn

Web PDF link (url) DOI [BibTex]

ei pn Hennig, P. Probabilistic Interpretation of Linear Solvers SIAM Journal on Optimization, 25(1):234-260, 2015 (article)

Web PDF link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Developing biorobotics for veterinary research into cat movements

Mariti, C., Muscolo, G., Peters, J., Puig, D., Recchiuto, C., Sighieri, C., Solanas, A., von Stryk, O.

Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 10(3):248-254, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Mariti, C., Muscolo, G., Peters, J., Puig, D., Recchiuto, C., Sighieri, C., Solanas, A., von Stryk, O. Developing biorobotics for veterinary research into cat movements Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 10(3):248-254, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Spatial statistics and attentional dynamics in scene viewing

Engbert, R., Trukenbrod, H., Barthelmé, S., Wichmann, F.

Journal of Vision, 15(1):1-17, 2015 (article)

ei

Web PDF link (url) DOI [BibTex]

ei Engbert, R., Trukenbrod, H., Barthelmé, S., Wichmann, F. Spatial statistics and attentional dynamics in scene viewing Journal of Vision, 15(1):1-17, 2015 (article)

Web PDF link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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The Randomized Causation Coefficient

Lopez-Paz, D., Muandet, K., Recht, B.

Journal of Machine Learning, 16, pages: 2901-2907, 2015 (article)

ei

link (url) [BibTex]

ei Lopez-Paz, D., Muandet, K., Recht, B. The Randomized Causation Coefficient Journal of Machine Learning, 16, pages: 2901-2907, 2015 (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Towards denoising XMCD movies of fast magnetization dynamics using extended Kalman filter

Kopp, M., Harmeling, S., Schütz, G., Schölkopf, B., Fähnle, M.

Ultramicroscopy, 148, pages: 115-122, 2015 (article)

Abstract
The Kalman filter is a well-established approach to get information on the time-dependent state of a system from noisy observations. It was developed in the context of the Apollo project to see the deviation of the true trajectory of a rocket from the desired trajectory. Afterwards it was applied to many different systems with small numbers of components of the respective state vector (typically about 10). In all cases the equation of motion for the state vector was known exactly. The fast dissipative magnetization dynamics is often investigated by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism movies (XMCD movies), which are often very noisy. In this situation the number of components of the state vector is extremely large (about 105), and the equation of motion for the dissipative magnetization dynamics (especially the values of the material parameters of this equation) is not well known. In the present paper it is shown by theoretical considerations that – nevertheless – there is no principle problem for the use of the Kalman filter to denoise XMCD movies of fast dissipative magnetization dynamics.

ei

Web DOI [BibTex]

ei Kopp, M., Harmeling, S., Schütz, G., Schölkopf, B., Fähnle, M. Towards denoising XMCD movies of fast magnetization dynamics using extended Kalman filter Ultramicroscopy, 148, pages: 115-122, 2015 (article)

Web DOI [BibTex]

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Artificial intelligence: Learning to see and act

Schölkopf, B.

Nature, News & Views, 518(7540):486-487, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Schölkopf, B. Artificial intelligence: Learning to see and act Nature, News & Views, 518(7540):486-487, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Context affects lightness at the level of surfaces

Maertens, M., Wichmann, F., Shapley, R.

Journal of Vision, 15(1):1-15, 2015 (article)

ei

Web PDF link (url) DOI [BibTex]

ei Maertens, M., Wichmann, F., Shapley, R. Context affects lightness at the level of surfaces Journal of Vision, 15(1):1-15, 2015 (article)

Web PDF link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Genome-wide analysis of local chromatin packing in Arabidopsis thaliana

Wang, C., Liu, C., Roqueiro, D., Grimm, D., Schwab, R., Becker, C., Lanz, C., Weigel, D.

Genome Research, 25(2):246-256, 2015 (article)

ei

PDF DOI [BibTex]

ei Wang, C., Liu, C., Roqueiro, D., Grimm, D., Schwab, R., Becker, C., Lanz, C., Weigel, D. Genome-wide analysis of local chromatin packing in Arabidopsis thaliana Genome Research, 25(2):246-256, 2015 (article)

PDF DOI [BibTex]

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A Cognitive Brain-Computer Interface for Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Hohmann, M.

Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Germany, 2015 (mastersthesis)

ei

[BibTex]

ei Hohmann, M. A Cognitive Brain-Computer Interface for Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Germany, 2015 (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

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Segmentation-based attenuation correction in positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance: erroneous tissue identification and its impact on positron emission tomography interpretation

Brendle, C., Schmidt, H., Oergel, A., Bezrukov, I., Mueller, M., Schraml, C., Pfannenberg, C., la Fougère, C., Nikolaou, K., Schwenzer, N.

Investigative Radiology, 50(5):339-346, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Brendle, C., Schmidt, H., Oergel, A., Bezrukov, I., Mueller, M., Schraml, C., Pfannenberg, C., la Fougère, C., Nikolaou, K., Schwenzer, N. Segmentation-based attenuation correction in positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance: erroneous tissue identification and its impact on positron emission tomography interpretation Investigative Radiology, 50(5):339-346, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Isosteric heat of hydrogen adsorption on MOFs: comparison between adsorption calorimetry, sorption isosteric metod, and analytical models

Kloutse, A. F., Zacharia, R., Cossement, D., Chahine, R., Balderas-Xicohténcatl, R., Oh, H., Streppel, B., Schlichtenmayer, M., Hirscher, M.

{Applied Physics A}, 121(4):1417-1424, Springer-Verlag Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 2015 (article)

mms

DOI [BibTex]

mms Kloutse, A. F., Zacharia, R., Cossement, D., Chahine, R., Balderas-Xicohténcatl, R., Oh, H., Streppel, B., Schlichtenmayer, M., Hirscher, M. Isosteric heat of hydrogen adsorption on MOFs: comparison between adsorption calorimetry, sorption isosteric metod, and analytical models {Applied Physics A}, 121(4):1417-1424, Springer-Verlag Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Active Reward Learning with a Novel Acquisition Function

Daniel, C., Kroemer, O., Viering, M., Metz, J., Peters, J.

Autonomous Robots, 39(3):389-405, 2015 (article)

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am ei Daniel, C., Kroemer, O., Viering, M., Metz, J., Peters, J. Active Reward Learning with a Novel Acquisition Function Autonomous Robots, 39(3):389-405, 2015 (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Metric Regression Forests for Correspondence Estimation

Pons-Moll, G., Taylor, J., Shotton, J., Hertzmann, A., Fitzgibbon, A.

International Journal of Computer Vision, pages: 1-13, 2015 (article)

ps

springer PDF Project Page [BibTex]

ps Pons-Moll, G., Taylor, J., Shotton, J., Hertzmann, A., Fitzgibbon, A. Metric Regression Forests for Correspondence Estimation International Journal of Computer Vision, pages: 1-13, 2015 (article)

springer PDF Project Page [BibTex]

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A systematic search for transiting planets in the K2 data

Foreman-Mackey, D., Montet, B., Hogg, D., Morton, T., Wang, D., Schölkopf, B.

The Astrophysical Journal, 806(2), 2015 (article)

Abstract
Photometry of stars from the K2 extension of NASA’s Kepler mission is afflicted by systematic effects caused by small (few-pixel) drifts in the telescope pointing and other spacecraft issues. We present a method for searching K2 light curves for evidence of exoplanets by simultaneously fitting for these systematics and the transit signals of interest. This method is more computationally expensive than standard search algorithms but we demonstrate that it can be efficiently implemented and used to discover transit signals. We apply this method to the full Campaign 1 data set and report a list of 36 planet candidates transiting 31 stars, along with an analysis of the pipeline performance and detection efficiency based on artificial signal injections and recoveries. For all planet candidates, we present posterior distributions on the properties of each system based strictly on the transit observables.

ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

ei Foreman-Mackey, D., Montet, B., Hogg, D., Morton, T., Wang, D., Schölkopf, B. A systematic search for transiting planets in the K2 data The Astrophysical Journal, 806(2), 2015 (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Learning Movement Primitive Attractor Goals and Sequential Skills from Kinesthetic Demonstrations

Manschitz, S., Kober, J., Gienger, M., Peters, J.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 74, Part A, pages: 97-107, 2015 (article)

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am ei Manschitz, S., Kober, J., Gienger, M., Peters, J. Learning Movement Primitive Attractor Goals and Sequential Skills from Kinesthetic Demonstrations Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 74, Part A, pages: 97-107, 2015 (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Bayesian Optimization for Learning Gaits under Uncertainty

Calandra, R., Seyfarth, A., Peters, J., Deisenroth, M.

Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, pages: 1-19, 2015 (article)

am ei

DOI [BibTex]

am ei Calandra, R., Seyfarth, A., Peters, J., Deisenroth, M. Bayesian Optimization for Learning Gaits under Uncertainty Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, pages: 1-19, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Assessment of murine brain tissue shrinkage caused by different histological fixatives using magnetic resonance and computed tomography imaging

Wehrl, H. F., Bezrukov, I., Wiehr, S., Lehnhoff, M., Fuchs, K., Mannheim, J. G., Quintanilla-Martinez, L., Kneilling, M., Pichler, B. J., Sauter, A. W.

Histology and Histopathology, 30(5):601-613, 2015 (article)

ei

[BibTex]

ei Wehrl, H. F., Bezrukov, I., Wiehr, S., Lehnhoff, M., Fuchs, K., Mannheim, J. G., Quintanilla-Martinez, L., Kneilling, M., Pichler, B. J., Sauter, A. W. Assessment of murine brain tissue shrinkage caused by different histological fixatives using magnetic resonance and computed tomography imaging Histology and Histopathology, 30(5):601-613, 2015 (article)

[BibTex]

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Selectable Nanopattern Arrays for Nanolithographic Imprint and Etch-Mask Applications

Jeong, H. H., Mark, A. G., Lee, T., Son, K., Chen, W., Alarcon-Correa, M., Kim, I., Schütz, G., Fischer, P.

Adv. Science, 2(7):1500016, 2015, Featured cover article. (article)

Abstract
A parallel nanolithographic patterning method is presented that can be used to obtain arrays of multifunctional nanoparticles. These patterns can simply be converted into a variety of secondary nanopatterns that are useful for nanolithographic imprint, plasmonic, and etch-mask applications.

pf

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

pf Jeong, H. H., Mark, A. G., Lee, T., Son, K., Chen, W., Alarcon-Correa, M., Kim, I., Schütz, G., Fischer, P. Selectable Nanopattern Arrays for Nanolithographic Imprint and Etch-Mask Applications Adv. Science, 2(7):1500016, 2015, Featured cover article. (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Improved Bayesian Information Criterion for Mixture Model Selection

Mehrjou, A., Hosseini, R., Araabi, B.

Pattern Recognition Letters, 69, pages: 22-27, 2015 (article)

ei

DOI [BibTex]

ei Mehrjou, A., Hosseini, R., Araabi, B. Improved Bayesian Information Criterion for Mixture Model Selection Pattern Recognition Letters, 69, pages: 22-27, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]