Worcester Polytechnic Institute

About: Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a education organization based out in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Population. The organization has 6270 authors who have published 12704 publications receiving 332081 citations. The organization is also known as: WPI.

Fracture Toughness of Advanced Ceramics at Room Temperature.

Abstract: Results of round-robin fracture toughness tests on advanced ceramics are reported. A gas-pressure silicon nitride and a zirconia-toughened alumina were tested using three test methods: indentation fracture, indentation strength, and single-edge precracked beam. The latter two methods have produced consistent results. The interpretation of fracture toughness test results for the zirconia alumina composite is shown to be complicated by R-curve and environmentally assisted crack growth phenomena.

Interactive Hierarchical Task Learning from a Single Demonstration

Abstract: We have developed learning and interaction algorithms to support a human teaching hierarchical task models to a robot using a single demonstration in the context of a mixedinitiative interaction with bi-directional communication. In particular, we have identified and implemented two important heuristics for suggesting task groupings based on the physical structure of the manipulated artifact and on the data flow between tasks. We have evaluated our algorithms with users in a simulated environment and shown both that the overall approach is usable and that the grouping suggestions significantly improve the learning and interaction. Categories and Subject Descriptors I.2.9 [Artificial Intelligence]: Robotics

Selection of functional human sperm with higher DNA integrity and fewer reactive oxygen species.

Abstract: Fertilization and reproduction are central to the survival and propagation of a species. Couples who cannot reproduce naturally have to undergo in vitro clinical procedures. An integral part of these clinical procedures includes isolation of healthy sperm from raw semen. Existing sperm sorting methods are not efficient and isolate sperm having high DNA fragmentation and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and suffer from multiple manual steps and variations between operators. Inspired by in vivo natural sperm sorting mechanisms where vaginal mucus becomes less viscous to form microchannels to guide sperm towards egg, a chip is presented that efficiently sorts healthy, motile and morphologically normal sperm without centrifugation. Higher percentage of sorted sperm show significantly lesser ROS and DNA fragmentation than the conventional swim-up method. The presented chip is an easy-to-use high-throughput sperm sorter that provides standardized sperm sorting assay with less reliance on operators's skills, facilitating reliable operational steps.