The notion of cause, as formalized by Halpern and Pearl, has been recently applied to relational databases, to characterize and compute causal explanations for query answers. In this work we consider the alternative notion of sufficient explanation. We investigate its connections with database repairs as used for dealing with inconsistent databases, and with causality-based necessary explanations. We also obtain some computational results.

This is known as missing not at random (MNAR) data.

Robotic spacecraft have helped expand our reach for many planetary exploration missions. Most ground mobile planetary exploration robots use wheeled or modified wheeled platforms. Although extraordinarily successful at completing intended mission goals, because of the limitations of wheeled locomotion, they have been largely limited to benign, solid terrain and avoided extreme terrain with loose soil/sand and large rocks. Unfortunately, such challenging terrain is often scientifically interesting for planetary geology. Although many animals traverse such terrain at ease, robots have not matched their performance and robustness. This is in major part due to a lack of fundamental understanding of how effective locomotion can be generated from controlled interaction with complex terrain on the same level of flight aerodynamics and underwater vehicle hydrodynamics. Early fundamental understanding of legged and limbless locomotor-ground interaction has already enabled stable and efficient bio-inspired robot locomotion on relatively flat ground with small obstacles. Recent progress in the new field of terradynamics of locomotor-terrain interaction begins to reveal the principles of bio-inspired locomotion on loose soil/sand and over large obstacles. Multi-legged and limbless platforms using terradynamics insights hold the promise for serving as robust alternative platforms for traversing extreme extraterrestrial terrain and expanding our reach in planetary exploration.

Autonomously controlling quadrotors in large-scale subterranean environments is applicable to many areas such as environmental surveying, mining operations, and search and rescue. Learning-based controllers represent an appealing approach to autonomy, but are known to not generalize well to `out-of-distribution' environments not encountered during training. In this work, we train a normalizing flow-based prior over the environment, which provides a measure of how far out-of-distribution the quadrotor is at any given time. We use this measure as a runtime monitor, allowing us to switch between a learning-based controller and a safe controller when we are sufficiently out-of-distribution. Our methods are benchmarked on a point-to-point navigation task in a simulated 3D cave environment based on real-world point cloud data from the DARPA Subterranean Challenge Final Event Dataset. Our experimental results show that our combined controller simultaneously possesses the liveness of the learning-based controller (completing the task quickly) and the safety of the safety controller (avoiding collision).

Recent advancements in spaceborne GNSS missions have produced extensive global datasets, providing a robust basis for deep learning-based significant wave height (SWH) retrieval. While existing deep learning models predominantly utilize CYGNSS data with four-channel information, they often adopt single-channel inputs or simple channel concatenation without leveraging the benefits of cross-channel information interaction during training. To address this limitation, a novel spatial-channel attention-based network, namely SCAWaveNet, is proposed for SWH retrieval. Specifically, features from each channel of the DDMs are modeled as independent attention heads, enabling the fusion of spatial and channel-wise information. For auxiliary parameters, a lightweight attention mechanism is designed to assign weights along the spatial and channel dimensions. The final feature integrates both spatial and channel-level characteristics. Model performance is evaluated using four-channel CYGNSS data. When ERA5 is used as a reference, SCAWaveNet achieves an average RMSE of 0.438 m. When using buoy data from NDBC, the average RMSE reaches 0.432 m. Compared to state-of-the-art models, SCAWaveNet reduces the average RMSE by at least 3.52% on the ERA5 dataset and by 5.68% on the NDBC buoy observations. The code is available at https://github.com/Clifx9908/SCAWaveNet.

Different attribution-scores have been proposed to quantify the relevance of database tuples for a query answer from a database. Among them, we find Causal Responsibility, the Shapley Value, the Banzhaf Power-Index, and the Causal Effect. They have been analyzed in isolation, mainly in terms of computational properties. In this work, we start an investigation into the alignment of these scores on the basis of the queries at hand; that is, on whether they induce compatible rankings of tuples. We are able to identify vast classes of queries for which some pairs of scores are always aligned, and others for which they are not. It turns out that the presence of exogenous tuples makes a crucial difference in this regard.

Caves and lava tubes on the Moon and Mars are sites of geological and astrobiological interest but consist of terrain that is inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion. To support the exploration of these sites, we present ReachBot, a robot that uses extendable booms as appendages to manipulate itself with respect to irregular rock surfaces. The booms terminate in grippers equipped with microspines and provide ReachBot with a large workspace, allowing it to achieve force closure in enclosed spaces such as the walls of a lava tube. To propel ReachBot, we present a contact-before-motion planner for non-gaited legged locomotion that utilizes internal force control, similar to a multi-fingered hand, to keep its long, slender booms in tension. Motion planning also depends on finding and executing secure grips on rock features. We use a Monte Carlo simulation to inform gripper design and predict grasp strength and variability. Additionally, we use a two-step perception system to identify possible grasp locations. To validate our approach and mechanisms under realistic conditions, we deployed a single ReachBot arm and gripper in a lava tube in the Mojave Desert. The field test confirmed that ReachBot will find many targets for secure grasps with the proposed kinematic design.

ReachBot is a robot concept for the planetary exploration of caves and lava tubes, which are often inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion methods. It uses extendable booms as appendages, with grippers mounted at the end, to grasp irregular rock surfaces and traverse these difficult terrains. We have built a partial ReachBot prototype consisting of a single boom and gripper, mounted on a tripod. We present the details on the design and field test of this partial ReachBot prototype in a lava tube in the Mojave Desert. The technical requirements of the field testing, implementation details, and grasp performance results are discussed. The planning and preparation of the field test and lessons learned are also given.

Dynamic Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) combine temporal information with GNNs to capture structural, temporal, and contextual relationships in dynamic graphs simultaneously, leading to enhanced performance in various applications. As the demand for dynamic GNNs continues to grow, numerous models and frameworks have emerged to cater to different application needs. There is a pressing need for a comprehensive survey that evaluates the performance, strengths, and limitations of various approaches in this domain. This paper aims to fill this gap by offering a thorough comparative analysis and experimental evaluation of dynamic GNNs. It covers 81 dynamic GNN models with a novel taxonomy, 12 dynamic GNN training frameworks, and commonly used benchmarks. We also conduct experimental results from testing representative nine dynamic GNN models and three frameworks on six standard graph datasets. Evaluation metrics focus on convergence accuracy, training efficiency, and GPU memory usage, enabling a thorough comparison of performance across various models and frameworks. From the analysis and evaluation results, we identify key challenges and offer principles for future research to enhance the design of models and frameworks in the dynamic GNNs field.