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In this article, we consider the problem of planar graph-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) that involves both poses of the autonomous agent and positions of observed landmarks. We present complex (CPL)-SLAM, an efficient and certifiably correct algorithm to solve planar graph-based SLAM using the complex number representation. We formulate and simplify planar graph-based SLAM as the maximum likelihood estimation on the product of unit complex numbers, and relax this nonconvex quadratic complex optimization problem to convex complex semidefinite programming (SDP). Furthermore, we simplify the corresponding complex SDP to Riemannian staircase optimization (RSO) on the complex oblique manifold that can be solved with the Riemannian trust region method. In addition, we prove that the SDP relaxation and RSO simplification are tight as long as the noise magnitude is below a certain threshold. The efficacy of this work is validated through applications of CPL-SLAM and comparisons with existing state-of-the-art methods on planar graph-based SLAM, which indicates that our proposed algorithm is capable of solving planar graph-based SLAM certifiably, and is more efficient in numerical computation and more robust to measurement noise than existing state-of-the-art methods. The C++ code for CPL-SLAM is available at https://github.com/MurpheyLab/CPL-SLAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The task of shape formation in robot swarms can often be reduced to two tasks—assigning goal locations to each robot and creating a collision-free path to that goal. In this article, we present a distributed algorithm that solves these tasks concurrently, enabling a swarm of robots to move and form a shape quickly and without collision. A user can specify a desired shape as an image, send that to a swarm of identically programmed robots, and the swarm will move all robots to goal locations within the desired shape. This algorithm was executed on a swarm of up to 1024 simulated robots and a swarm of 100 real robots, showing that it reliably converges to all robots forming the shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telomerase consists of at least two essential elements, an RNA component hTR or TERC that contains the template for telomere DNA addition and a catalytic reverse transcriptase (TERT). While expression of TERT has been considered the key rate-limiting component for telomerase activity, increasing evidence suggests an important role for the regulation of TERC in telomere maintenance and perhaps other functions in human cancer. By using three orthogonal methods including RNAseq, RT-qPCR, and an analytically validated chromogenic RNA in situ hybridization assay, we report consistent overexpression of TERC in prostate cancer. This overexpression occurs at the precursor stage (e.g. high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia or PIN) and persists throughout all stages of disease progression. Levels of TERC correlate with levels of MYC (a known driver of prostate cancer) in clinical samples and we also show the following: forced reductions of MYC result in decreased TERC levels in eight cancer cell lines (prostate, lung, breast, and colorectal); forced overexpression of MYC in PCa cell lines, and in the mouse prostate, results in increased TERC levels; human TERC promoter activity is decreased after MYC silencing; and MYC occupies the TERC locus as assessed by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). Finally, we show that knockdown of TERC by siRNA results in reduced proliferation of prostate cancer cell lines. These studies indicate that TERC is consistently overexpressed in all stages of prostatic adenocarcinoma and that its expression is regulated by MYC. These findings nominate TERC as a novel prostate cancer biomarker and therapeutic target. Copyright © 2017 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various essays within the issue on topics including technological mediation, agricultural innovations and proliferation of data networks.

This essay argues that the public utility, particularly electricity supply, signifies powerfully as a form of social recognition, a basic human right, and a model of civic inclusion and citizenship in the modern and postcolonial Bildungsroman. James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Henry Roth's Call It Sleep, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and centrally, Patrick Chamoiseau's Texaco all connect with one another through a preoccupation with electricity as an akasic medium for the creation of urban imagined communities. The essay further deals with public utilities as a terrain of political struggle from the megacities of the global south (what Mike Davis calls the "planet of slums") to the banlieues of Paris. That struggle is embodied in the emergent practice of parkour, whose expressions this essay analyzes via their popular dissemination in films such as Distrcit B13 and Casino Royale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an essay that focuses on civic finance in response to the challenge issued by Marjorie Howes and Derek Attridge, editors of the novel "Semicolonial Joyce". Problems of post colonial theory; Description of the terms boredom and normalcy; Reasons for taking the word flow metaphorically as a stand-in for the social whole.

Sexual harassment in the workplace has a significant effect on women's employment and women's psychological health in employment. The costs are considerable both in terms of individual suffering and also in terms of the economic cost to the workplace. Although primarily affecting women, it is not simply a ‘women’s issue', and must be seen to concern and be unacceptable to men and women who work alongside the victims of sexual harassment and are responsible for their protection and safety within the workplace This paper describes three cases of sexual harassment at work, all of whom developed psychiatric disorder suggestive of major psychological trauma [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines the nature, extent and consequences of sexual harassment at work. Definition, occurrence and repercussions of sexual harassment; Argument for a European Commission Directive on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Work; Operation and limitations of existing legal provisions.