Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online terrain parameter estimation for wheeled mobile robots with application to planetary rovers

Future planetary exploration missions will require wheeled mobile robots ("rovers") to traverse very rough terrain with limited human supervision. Wheel-terrain interaction plays a critical role in rough-terrain mobility. In this paper, an online estimation method that identifies key terrain parameters using on-board robot sensors is presented. These parameters can be used for traversability prediction or in a traction control algorithm to improve robot mobility and to plan safe action plans for autonomous systems. Terrain parameters are also valuable indicators of planetary surface soil composition. The algorithm relies on a simplified form of classical terramechanics equations and uses a linear-least squares method to compute terrain parameters in real time. Simulation and experimental results show that the terrain estimation algorithm can accurately and efficiently identify key terrain parameters for various soil types.
Language education policy in Portuguese public universities: the voices of institutional stakeholders

ABSTRACT Acknowledging the importance of the ideological language component in language policy and planning within a micro-level language-planning framework, this paper sets out to identify and discuss the social representations of Portuguese higher education institution (HEI) stakeholders concerning: (i) language teaching and learning in HEIs and (ii) the development of language education policies in this particular context. Based on a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders responsible for the pedagogical strategy, specifically five Vice-Rectors for Education at their respective Portuguese public universities, their common perspective points to tension between, on one hand, the value they attribute to a diversified language teaching and learning in terms of the quantity of languages offered and to the strategic development of multilingual language education policies and, on the other hand, the prominence of institutional initiatives and actions relying primarily on English.
Directed Evolution of Aminoglycoside Phosphotransferase (3′) Type IIIa Variants That Inactivate Amikacin but Impose Significant Fitness Costs

The rules that govern adaptive protein evolution remain incompletely understood. Aminoglycoside aminotransferase (3′) type IIIa (hereafter abbreviated APH(3′)-IIIa) is a good model enzyme because it inactivates kanamycin efficiently; it recognizes other aminoglycoside antibiotics, including amikacin, but not nearly as well. Here we direct the evolution of APH(3′)-IIIa variants with increased activity against amikacin. After four rounds of random mutation and selection in Escherichia coli, the minimum inhibitory concentration of amikacin rose from 18 micrograms/mL (wild-type enzyme) to over 1200 micrograms/mL (clone 4.1). The artificially evolved 4.1 APH(3′)-IIIa variant exhibited 19-fold greater catalytic efficiency (k cat/K M) than did the wild-type enzyme in reactions with amikacin. E. coli expressing the evolved 4.1 APH(3′)-IIIa also exhibited a four-fold decrease in fitness (as measured by counting colony forming units in liquid cultures with the same optical density) compared with isogenic cells expressing the wild-type protein under non-selective conditions. We speculate that these fitness costs, in combination with the prevalence of other amikacin-modifying enzymes, hinder the evolution of APH(3′)-IIIa in clinical settings.
Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce Perceived Barriers of Innovative Banking among Malaysian Retail Banking Customers

Technology and very much earlier he was attached with Bank Rakyat School of Entrepreneurship at University Tun Abdul Razak as an Assistant Professor. Before joining the academic world, he had worked with Johnson Controls Malaysia as a Six Sigma Manager and also worked with Ikeda Malaysia as an Industrial Marketing Manager. Dr. Shankar Chelliah is currently affiliated with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), based in Penang, Malaysia. Currently, he is responsible for teaching International Business, international new venture, international human resources management, and international business management. Apart from supervising students at postgraduate level, he is actively involved in consultancy services and social responsibility initiatives to key clients from the industry. His current research interests includes: (a) internationalization – medical tourism, strategies in international trade, born global firms etc, (b) green management as competitive capabilities in organizations and (c) international entrepreneurship Abstract This study aims to identify perceptual barriers of Internet banking adoption among Malaysian retail banking customers. The perceptual barrier factors that analyzed were difficulty to operate, hassle to use, unreliable, perceived risk and high connection fees. This study employs a quantitative approach using questionnaire survey at selected banks in Malaysia. The results indicate that there are significant barriers exist in the perception of Internet banking adoption among Malaysian retail banking customers. The results indicate several implications for bank managers to change the perceptions of retail internet banking customers. INTRODUCTION Banking industry engaged technology (IT) to acquire, process, and deliver the information to all relevant users. IT is not only critical in the processing of information but also serves a way for the banks to differentiate their products and services in order to gain competitive edge. Customers are becoming value-sensitive and banks need to constantly innovate and update to match customers' expectation and to provide convenient, reliable, and expedient services. Driven by the competition to capture a larger share of the banking market, banks have started introducing its distribution channel via a new media which is the Internet. Internet banking has been in usage for a couple of years. In fact, it was introduced in the 1980's and has been growing profusely starting from mid nineties. Main attraction of internet banking to customers is round the clock availability of the services and ease of transactions.
An investigation of the determinants of dialogue navigation in joint activities

ABSTRACT When people engage in joint activities together, they use dialogue, and more specifically project markers such as yeah, okay, or uh-huh, to coordinate entrances and exits of projects and subprojects. The purpose of the current study was to examine how two features of the dialogue situation, namely, mental load and face visibility, affect project marker production. Pairs of participants performed a collaborative puzzle game together. Mental load was manipulated through time pressure; visibility was manipulated by allowing the participants to see each other’s face during the task, or not. Dialogues were transcribed and coded for project marker production. Project marker production was found to increase under mental load; this also depended on the role of the speaker in the dyad (Director or Matcher) and on face visibility. This sheds light on the idea that dialogue partners may behave more collaboratively when experiencing high levels of mental load, contributing to a better understanding of mental resource allocation in dialogue-based joint activities.
It ’ s the Season of Giving Gifts : Share Acquisition by VCs at the Time of the IPO

This paper examines the neglected but important topic of large shareholders including VC firms acquiring shares at the time of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Using gift exchange theory, we develop arguments to explain the motivation and outcome for VC purchases in IPO firms at time of IPO. Using a unique set of hand-collected IPO data, we find higher underpricing in IPOs where VC firms acquire shares at the offer price than a comparable set of matched VC-backed IPOs selected based on firm size, SIC, and IPO year without share acquisition. We also find that VCs are likely to acquire shares in underpriced firms with a higher IPO premium and a subsequent higher long-run aftermarket performance, thus indicating the higher quality of acquired IPO firms. Further, although IPO firms where acquiring VCs have a former business relationship with the underwriter are more underpriced, they have a higher IPO premium and long-run performance. This suggests that prior relationships tend to imbue stronger future gift giving as VCs benefit from loyalty to their underwriters’ network and also are able to use their expertise in the post-IPO period to profit.
Mitigating the impact of faults in unreliable memories for error-resilient applications

Inherently error-resilient applications in areas such as signal processing, machine learning and data analytics provide opportunities for relaxing reliability requirements, and thereby reducing the overhead incurred by conventional error correction schemes. In this paper, we exploit the tolerable imprecision of such applications by designing an energy-efficient fault-mitigation scheme for unreliable data memories to meet target yield. The proposed approach uses a bit-shuffling mechanism to isolate faults into bit locations with lower significance. This skews the bit-error distribution towards the low order bits, substantially limiting the output error magnitude. By controlling the granularity of the shuffling, the proposed technique enables trading-off quality for power, area, and timing overhead. Compared to error-correction codes, this can reduce the overhead by as much as 83% in read power, 77% in read access time, and 89% in area, when applied to various data mining applications in 28nm process technology.
Genetic relatedness between Japanese and European isolates of Clostridium difficile originating from piglets and their risk associated with human health

Clostridium difficile colonization in pig intestine has been a public health concern. We analyzed C. difficile prevalence among piglets in Japan to clarify their origin and extent of the associated risk by using molecular and microbiological methods for both swine and human clinical isolates and foreign isolates. C. difficile was isolated from 120 neonatal piglet fecal samples. Toxin gene profile, antimicrobial susceptibilities, PCR ribotype, and multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) type of swine isolates were determined and compared with those of human clinical and foreign isolates. One-hundred C. difficile strains were isolated from 69 (57.5%) samples, and 61 isolates (61%) were toxin gene-positive. Some isolates were resistant to antimicrobials, contributing to antibiotic-associated diarrhea by C. difficile. These results suggest that C. difficile, prevalent among Japanese pigs, is a potential risk for antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Furthermore, PCR ribotype 078 (12 isolates), which has been linked to multiple outbreaks worldwide, was the third-most frequently isolated of the 14 PCR ribotypes identified. Moreover, MLVA revealed that all 12 PCR ribotype 078 isolates were genetically related to European PCR ribotype 078 strains found in both humans and pigs. To date, in Japan, many breeding pigs have been imported from European countries. The genetic relatedness of C. difficile isolates of Japanese swine origin to those of European origin suggests that they were introduced into Japan via imported pigs.
Prevalence of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. in Ticks Collected from Korean Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus)

Deer serve as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens that impact on medical and veterinary health worldwide. In the Republic of Korea, the population of Korean water deer (KWD, Hydropotes inermis argyropus) has greatly increased from 1982 to 2011, in part, as a result of reforestation programs established following the Korean War when much of the land was barren of trees. Eighty seven Haemaphysalis flava, 228 Haemaphysalis longicornis, 8 Ixodes nipponensis, and 40 Ixodes persulcatus (21 larvae, 114 nymphs, and 228 adults) were collected from 27 out of 70 KWD. A total of 89/363 ticks (266 pools, 24.5% minimum infection rate) and 5 (1.4%) fed ticks were positive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum using nested PCR targeting the 16S rRNA and groEL genes, respectively. The 16S rRNA gene fragment sequences of 88/89 (98.9%) of positive samples for A. phagocytophilum corresponded to previously described gene sequences from KWD spleen tissues. The 16S rRNA gene fragment sequences of 20/363 (5.5%) of the ticks were positive for A. bovis and were identical to previously reported sequences. Using the ITS specific nested PCR, 11/363 (3.0%) of the ticks were positive for Bartonella spp. This is the first report of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. detected in ticks collected from KWD, suggesting that ticks are vectors of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. between reservoir hosts in natural surroundings.
THAI HIERARCHICAL CULTURE INFLUENCES UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS’ LEARNING

Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 5(1): 9-21, 2016 - Low passing rates in the Thai licence test of graduating nurses from a nursing college programme raised a critical question as to why the students could not integrate theoretical knowledge into clinical nursing care. There are many studies about learning environments and strategies to improve the student nurses’ competence. However, which conditions and learning strategies should be used, and when they should be applied in the process of learning had not been fully investigated, and especially so within the Thai system. This study uses a Straussian grounded theory approach to explore the perspectives of 32 undergraduate nursing students on their learning in the clinical context. The findings relating to learning within the hierarchical culture of Thai nursing showed that inattentive supervision plays a crucial role in creating an inappropriate clinical learning environment for nursing students leading to a loss of learning opportunities and lack of motivation to learn. As the critical thinking skills of nursing students can be better developed when they have self-confidence and motivation to learn, supervisors should educate them through relationships that show acceptance of the students as individuals and learners and provide them with enough help and support. Keywords: Thai culture, grounded theory, learning motivation, learning strategies, academic outcomes
Optimal tax and debt policy with endogenously imperfect creditworthiness

This paper studies the patterns of optimal tax rates and borrowing in a developing country characterized by a costly tax collection. Its access to the international credit market is determined by the efficiency of the tax system, the relative bargaining power of creditors, and the outstanding debt. Country risk modifies considerably the pattern of taxes and borrowing in recessions. The tax rate exhibits strong counter-cyclical patterns in economies operating close to the credit ceiling, whereas the tax rate exhibits very few cyclical patterns in economies operating on the elastic portion of the supply of credit, where country risk factors are absent.
Orientation Selectivity and the Arrangement of Horizontal Connections in Tree Shrew Striate Cortex

Horizontal connections, formed primarily by the axon collaterals of pyramidal neurons in layer 2/3 of visual cortex, extend for millimeters parallel to the cortical surface and form patchy terminations. Previous studies have provided evidence that the patches formed by horizontal connections exhibit modular specificity, preferentially linking columns of neurons with similar response characteristics, such as preferred orientation. The issue of how these connections are distributed with respect to the topographic map of visual space, however, has not been resolved. Here we combine optical imaging of intrinsic signals with small extracellular injections of biocytin to assess quantitatively the specificity of horizontal connections with respect to both the map of orientation preference and the map of visual space in tree shrew V1. Our results indicate that horizontal connections outside a radius of 500 μm from the injection site exhibit not only modular specificity, but also specificity for axis of projection. Labeled axons extend for longer distances, and give off more terminal boutons, along an axis in the map of visual space that corresponds to the preferred orientation of the injection site. Inside of 500 μm, the pattern of connections is much less specific, with boutons found along every axis, contacting sites with a wide range of preferred orientations. The system of long-range horizontal connections can be summarized as preferentially linking neurons with co-oriented, co-axially aligned receptive fields. These observations suggest specific ways that horizontal circuits contribute to the response properties of layer 2/3 neurons and to mechanisms of visual perception.
Memory-augmented Attention Modelling for Videos

Recent works on neural architectures have demonstrated the utility of attention mechanisms for a wide variety of tasks. Attention models used for problems such as image captioning typically depend on the image under consideration, as well as the previous sequence of words that come before the word currently being generated. While these types of models have produced impressive results, they are not able to model the higher-order interactions involved in problems such as video description/captioning, where the relationship between parts of the video and the concepts being depicted is complex. Motivated by these observations, we propose a novel memory-based attention model for video description. Our model utilizes memories of past attention when reasoning about where to attend to in the current time step, similar to the central executive system proposed in human cognition. This allows the model to not only reason about local attention more effectively, it allows it to consider the entire sequence of video frames while generating each word. Evaluation on the challenging and popular MSVD and Charades datasets show that the proposed architecture outperforms all previously proposed methods and leads to a new state of the art results in the video description.
Knowledge-Based Semantic Embedding for Machine Translation

In this paper, with the help of knowledge base, we build and formulate a semantic space to connect the source and target languages, and apply it to the sequence-to-sequence framework to pro-pose a Knowledge-Based Semantic Em-bedding (KBSE) method. In our KB-SE method, the source sentence is ﬁrstly mapped into a knowledge based semantic space, and the target sentence is generated using a recurrent neural network with the internal meaning preserved. Experiments are conducted on two translation tasks, the electric business data and movie data, and the results show that our proposed method can achieve outstanding performance, compared with both the traditional SMT methods and the existing encoder-decoder models.
Artillery Shells over Circinus

The recently identified Circinus galaxy is the nearest (~4 Mpc) Seyfert 2 galaxy known, and we now demonstrate it to be one of the best laboratories for studying the effects of nuclear activity on the surrounding environment. Here we present new imaging Fabry-Perot observations of Circinus that confirm the existence of an ionization cone in this object but also show for the first time a complex of ionized filaments extending radially from the nucleus out to distances of 1 kpc. Arcs suggestive of bow shocks are observed at the terminus of some of these filamentary structures. Most spectacular of all, one of the structures appears to be a scaled-up version of a Herbig-Haro jet. The velocity field of the filaments confirms that they represent material expelled from the nucleus (possibly in the form of “bullets”) or entrained in a wide-angle wind roughly aligned with the polar axis of the galaxy. The motions observed across the ionization cone are highly supersonic, so high-velocity shocks are likely to contribute to the ionization of the line-emitting gas. However, it is not clear at present whether shock ionization dominates over photoionization by the Seyfert 2 nucleus. Extrapolation of the filaments to smaller radii comes to within 1'' (~20 pc) of the infrared nucleus, therefore suggesting an active galactic nucleus or nuclear starburst origin for these features. The complex of radial filaments detected in the Circinus galaxy is unique among active galaxies. The frequency of such events is unknown, since only a handful of galaxies have been observed at the sensitivity level of our present observations. The event in the Circinus galaxy may represent a relatively common evolutionary phase in the lives of gas-rich active galaxies during which the dusty cocoon surrounding the nucleus is expelled by the action of jet or wind phenomena.
Human Tumour Immune Evasion via TGF-β Blocks NK Cell Activation but Not Survival Allowing Therapeutic Restoration of Anti-Tumour Activity

Immune evasion is now recognized as a key feature of cancer progression. In animal models, the activity of cytotoxic lymphocytes is suppressed in the tumour microenvironment by the immunosuppressive cytokine, Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-β. Release from TGF-β-mediated inhibition restores anti-tumour immunity, suggesting a therapeutic strategy for human cancer. We demonstrate that human natural killer (NK) cells are inhibited in a TGF-β dependent manner following chronic contact-dependent interactions with tumour cells in vitro. In vivo, NK cell inhibition was localised to the human tumour microenvironment and primary ovarian tumours conferred TGF-β dependent inhibition upon autologous NK cells ex vivo. TGF-β antagonized the interleukin (IL)-15 induced proliferation and gene expression associated with NK cell activation, inhibiting the expression of both NK cell activation receptor molecules and components of the cytotoxic apparatus. Interleukin-15 also promotes NK cell survival and IL-15 excluded the pro-apoptotic transcription factor FOXO3 from the nucleus. However, this IL-15 mediated pathway was unaffected by TGF-β treatment, allowing NK cell survival. This suggested that NK cells in the tumour microenvironment might have their activity restored by TGF-β blockade and both anti-TGF-β antibodies and a small molecule inhibitor of TGF-β signalling restored the effector function of NK cells inhibited by autologous tumour cells. Thus, TGF-β blunts NK cell activation within the human tumour microenvironment but this evasion mechanism can be therapeutically targeted, boosting anti-tumour immunity.
Predictors of Threat and Error Management: Identification of Core Nontechnical Skills and Implications for Training Systems Design

In normal flight operations, crews are faced with a variety of external threats and commit a range of errors that have the potential to impact negatively on the safety of airline operations. The effective management of these threats and errors therefore forms an essential element of enhancing performance and minimizing risk. Recent research has reinforced the need to examine a range of nontechnical or crew resource management skills that form threat and error countermeasures. This article provides an analysis of the predictors of threat and error management in normal flight operations within the context of a Southeast Asian airline. Through the structured observation of crews' performance during normal flight operations, data were collected in relation to a set of contextual factors and nontechnical skills. Crews' threat and error management actions were then analyzed in relation to these factors, and predictive models of threat and error management at various phases of flight were developed. The results of this study demonstrate the ways in which this type of data analysis can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of operational performance and suggest that this type of performance evaluation can offer individual organizations invaluable information for enhanced training system design through the further development of scenario-based training.