Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Algorithms for vision-based path following along previously taught paths

This thesis focusses on the task of navigating an autonomous vehicle along a previously driven path using feedback obtained from a camera system. The desired path is stored in the form of a “visual memory”, essentially a collection of images, captured when the vehicle was first driven along the path. Algorithms of this form find applications in many semi-autonomous inspection/exploration tasks, where the vehicle is initially navigated by an operator, using the visual data for other purposes. On completion of the task, the operator has provided the autonomous vehicle with all the information it needs to find its way back to the starting location, and potentially repeat the entire trip. By using reference images recorded along the initial path, the system is afforded a form of global localisation using only local sensing, by providing relative information to specific key-points within the environment. The work presented in this thesis uses, as a base, two well established path following controllers, and extends these control algorithms into the visual domain, by deriving the required parameters of each of the controllers from information gathered in the images. One of the key focus points of this work is the use of only the bearing (yaw) information from the images.
Board Characteristics and Financial Reporting Quality among Jordanian Listed Companies: Proposing Conceptual Framework

The East Asian financial crises in 1997/1998 as well as the worldwide collapses exposed the considerable need of firms in different countries to progress the corporate governance perform in order to recuperate the investors’ confidence of financial reporting quality (FRQ). To achieve this, the present research examines the relationship between board characteristics and earning management (EM). It is argued that effective board can reduce EM and in turn increase FRQ.
Study of the Effects of Alcohol on Drivers and Driving Performance on Straight Road

Drinking driving is responsible for a high proportion of traffic accidents. To study the effects of alcohol on drivers and driving performance, 25 drivers’ subjective feelings and driving performance data in different blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels were collected with simulated driving experiment. The investigation results revealed that alcohol affected drivers in many aspects, including attitude, judgment, vigilance, perception, reaction, and controlling. The analysis of accident rate showed that higher BAC level would lead to higher accident rate. The statistical analysis results of driving performance indicated that average speed, speed standard deviation, and lane position standard deviation were significantly higher under the influence of alcohol. They also had a statistically significant linear trend as the function of BAC level. The discrimination of drinking driving based on driving performance was performed with Fisher discrimination method. The results showed that drinking driving with higher BAC level was easier to discriminate from normal driving. Also, the results indicated that the three significant indicators on straight roadway could be used in the discrimination of drinking driving state. The conclusions can provide references for the study of drinking driving and the identification of driving state and then contribute to traffic safety.
Explicit versus Implicit Contracts: Evidence from CEO Employment Agreements

We report evidence on the determinants of whether the relationship between a firm and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is governed by an explicit (written) or an implicit agreement. We find that fewer than half of the CEOs of S&P 500 firms have comprehensive explicit employment agreements. Consistent with contracting theory, explicit agreements are more likely to be observed and are likely to have a longer duration in situations in which the sustainability of the relationship is less certain and where the expected loss to the CEO is greater if the firm fails to honor the agreement. Copyright (c) 2009 the American Finance Association.
Evaluation of alternative drive systems based on driving patterns comparing Germany, China and Malaysia

Requirements to mobility are changing worldwide due to a focus on environment and resource protection and a simultaneous increase of mobility needs. Accordingly, the focus in automotive development shifts to the use of alternative energies for vehicle propulsions in order to reduce emissions. The amount of emission reduction by using alternative drive systems depends on marginal conditions, such as the energy mix structure, climate conditions and the vehicle’s usage profile. The individual usage profile contains characteristic values such as the number of trips, trip duration and length, as well as the velocity distribution. These characteristic data are individual for each user and differ from the values derived through test cycles such as e.g. the NEDC or the JC08. Accordingly, for the current market analysis and future trends prediction, different user profiles have to be considered and analysed. Within this paper, real world driving data recorded within the German project RuhrautoE will be analysed. The focus lies on evaluation criteria that differentiate between countries due to local framework conditions. In this context, the costs and emissions of different propulsion systems are compared between Germany and China. Afterwards an outlook on Malaysia is given for these criteria. Hitherto, such an approach is rarely considered for Malaysia. Conventional and alternative fuel vehicles as well as electrified vehicles (EV) are compared within this paper. All car models considered are based on real vehicle series to ensure a valid common basis. As expected, the consumptions of all analysed propulsion systems are higher for real driving data than for the NEDC. Then the consumption costs of the electric vehicle are the lowest in Germany and China, but not in Malaysia, where a gas driven vehicle (LPG) achieves the best results. Though, while electric cars can reduce well-to-wheel emissions by 82 % in Germany, there is no reduction possible in China as long as the fossil proportion during the generation of electricity is not reduced. However, EV can reduce the local emission in high traffic areas. According to our estimation, EV are not profitable in all considered countries due to the Total Cost of Ownership.
Woody Species Composition, Diversity and Structure of Kumuli Dry Evergreen Afromontane Forest in Yem District, Southern Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Kumuli forest to investigate woody species diversity and structure of the forest. Woody vegetation data were taken from 32 (20 m x 20 m) systematically laid quadrats in three transects. Shannon-Wiener diversity and evenness index was applied to quantify species diversity and richness. MS excel spreadsheet was used for the data analysis. About 133 woody plant species representing 107 genera and 53 families were recorded in this study. Shrubs have the highest proportion (44.3%) followed by trees (26.3%), trees/shrubs (19%), woody climbers (6%) and lianas (3%). Asteraceae was the dominant family comprising 10% of the total woody species followed by Fabaceae (6%) and Celastraceae, Rosaceae and Rubiaceae (each 5%). The density of the woody species was 7791 stems ha-1. The total basal area of the forest was found to be 30.16 m2 ha-1. The trends in dbh structure showed an inverted J-type with highest densities falling in the lower dbh classes indicating good structure. Most tree species had low IVIs that is attributed to density-dependent and density-independent factors. Height structure analysis also showed a similar pattern with highest densities falling in lower classes, except that less density was observed in the 1st height class. Acanthus eminens, Myrsine africana, Olea capensis, Podocarpus falcatus and Syzigium guineense were species which showed good reproduction and good recruitment while Prunus africana showed both bad reproduction and bad recruitment. Keywords : woody species, dbh classes, Importance Value Index, Olea capensis, Myrsine africana
The effect of mating experience, age and territoriality on the male mating competition in Phytoseiulus persimilis and Neoseiulus californicus (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Male competition to fertilize the eggs of females would result in conflicts between the members of one sex and evolution of secondary behavioral and morphological characters. Here, we investigated the effect of previous mating experience, territoriality and age on the male mating combat and precedence in two phytoseiid species; Phytoseiulus persimilis and Neoseiulus californicus . Our results showed that naive P. persimilis males, which had not experienced mating before the experiment, were mostly the ones who were able to mate with the females first. In N. californicus, previous experience did not have any significant effect on the male behavior. Both naive and experienced males were able to mate females equally. Territoriality had no significant effect on male mating competition, in either P. persimilis , or N. californicus . We suggested that phytoseiid predatory mites might differ in phenotypical mating behave-iors, so that although they actively defended their mating territory, the consequences of their variation in phenotypical mating strategies led to a non-significant territoriality. The effect of age on male competing behavior was remarkable both in P. persimilis and N. californicus . P. persimilis younger males precede the elders in mating with females while in N. californicus , the older males were the ones who mated with the females first. The effects of female re-mating opportunity, the male phenotypical behavior, and spermatophore storage on male competing behavior are discussed.
Escherichia coli detection using thermal images

Hahn, F. , Hernandez, E. , Echeverria, E. and Romanchick, E. 2006. Escherichia coli detection using thermal images. Canadian Biosystems Engineering/Le genie des biosystemes au Canada 48: 4.7 4.13. Microbiological contamination detection can require a lengthy process. In the present work, a quick and easy methodology was developed to detect Escherichia coli, using thermal imaging. Escherichia. coli grown on classical LEVINE agar were imaged using a thermal IR camera. A prototype was developed to avoid temperature changes on the surface due to air movement. The prototype which injected heat from the bottom was analyzed thermally to detect relative humidity and temperature changes. The images had to be taken 15 s after taking the Petri dish from the incubator. The thermal images were processed by counting the pixels per color. A RGB processing algorithm worked better than the grey scale algorithm as yellow and rose could not be discriminated properly. The value was introduced in three equations and a detection success rate of 100% was achieved. The minimum time required for detecting microbial contamination was 5 h.
Core Competence on Real Estate Industry in Globalization Phenomenon: A Contemporary Approach

This article aims to review and integrate the strategic management and empirical literature on core competence, dynamic capabilities approach and real estate industry practices in order to pave the road for dissertation research. The article integrates the insights from strategic management perspective. Strategic management literatures and empirical studies are collected and reviewed. The findings from these studies are phenomenon and research problem, theorical foundations, literature map, the model and hypotheses to build core competence on real estate industry theory. The paper provides the new model for building core competence on real estate industry in globalisation phenomenon based on dynamic capabilities approach. It generates insights that may help firms to establish a strategic real estate development process and it may help to develop a more mature body of research on core competence. Keywords: Environment Risk, Dynamic Capability, Core Competence, Organizational Performance, Real Estate Industry JEL Classification: M
Productive features of broiler chickens in hot weather: Effects of strain and sex

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of broiler strains (Cobb 500, Ross 308, and Hubbard Flex) in hot weather. Environmental temperatures above thermal comfort trigger responses of the animals to maintain homeothermia, which negatively affects productive performance. A total of 2,160 chicks of both sexes, were distributed in an experimental design that was completely randomized in a factorial arrangement of 3 × 2 (strains and sexes) with six replicates of 60 birds each. Feed intake (FI), live weight (LW), weight gain (WG), and feed conversion (FC) were analyzed at periods of 1–7, 1–21, 1–28, 1–42, and 1–49 days old. At 42 and 49 days old, the carcass weight (CW), carcass yield (CY), breast yield (BY), thigh yield (TY), and drumstick yield (DY) were analyzed. The strains differed in LW and WG in most periods, especially for Cobb broilers in the pre-start period (1–7 days) and Hubbard broilers in the last two periods (1–42 and 1–49 days). Except for the pre-initial stage, which there was no influence of the strains on FC, the Hubbard broilers showed the best FC, at 1–49 d, similarly to Cobb broilers. Regardless of strain, the males showed superior performance to that of females. At 42 d, the Cobb broilers showed a superior BY to that of the other strains, presenting better TY than did the Ross and Hubbard strains. At 49 d, the Cobb and Ross strains showed the best BY, with the Hubbard strain having the greatest DY. Males showed higher values in cut yields, except in the BY in which females showed better results.
Dark energy constraints from the thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich power spectrum

We constrain the dark energy equation of state parameter, $${w}$$, using the power spectrum of the thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. We improve upon previous analyses by taking into account the trispectrum in the covariance matrix and marginalizing over the foreground parameters, the correlated noise, the mass bias B in the Planck universal pressure profile, and all the relevant cosmological parameters (i.e. not just Ω_m and σ_8). We find that the amplitude of the tSZ power spectrum at l ≲ 10^3 depends primarily on F ≡ σ_8(Ω_m/B)^0.40h^−0.21, where B is related to more commonly used variable b by B = (1 − b)^−1. We measure this parameter with 2.6 per cent precision, F = 0.460 ± 0.012 (68 per cent CL). By fixing the bias to B = 1.25 and adding the local determination of the Hubble constant H_0 and the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum constrained by the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, we find $${w}$$ = −1.10 ± 0.12, σ_8 = 0.802 ± 0.037, and Ω_m = 0.265 ± 0.022 (68 per cent CL). Our limit on $${w}$$ is consistent with and is as tight as that from the distance-alone constraint from the CMB and H_0. Finally, by combining the tSZ power spectrum and the CMB data we find, in the Λ cold dark mattermodel, the mass bias of B = 1.71 ± 0.17, i.e. 1 − b = 0.58 ± 0.06 (68 per cent CL).
Determinants of Awareness on Islamic Financial Institution E-Banking among Malaysian SMEs

This paper explored the awareness of e-banking services offered by Islamic Financial Institution (IFI) among the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) in service sector. The study focused on three factors such as promotion, technology and service quality as independent variable. These are believed to be undertaking the premier role towards the awareness of this sector as measured by applications of e-banking in their daily transaction. It is further assumed that the application also will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency in managing their business. Using a sample of 358 respondents, questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Based on the analysis, 57 percent of the result are able to explain the role of all selected independent variables on their significant relationship with dependent variables while the remaining of 43 percent were unexplained. The finding further demonstrated that variables such as promotion, technology and service quality indicated almost similar moderate strength in terms of their relationship towards the creation of awareness among the SMEs. However variable concerning promotion shows it is relatively higher importance compared to the other two variables as indicated by the result of correlation coefficient.
The causes of Ireland's unemployment

We outline a small model of the Irish labour market and use it to explain what has happened over the last 10 years. We conclude that Irish unemployment problems in the 1980s were due to international demand-side factors, such supply-side factors as taxes and unemployment relief, and demographies, in the approximate proportion 4:2:3.
The MOSDEF Survey: No Significant Enhancement in Star Formation or Deficit in Metallicity in Merging Galaxy Pairs at 1.5 ≲ z ≲ 3.5

We study the properties of 30 spectroscopically identified pairs of galaxies observed during the peak epoch of star formation in the universe. These systems are drawn from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) Survey at 1.4 ≤ z ≤ 3.8, and are interpreted as early-stage galaxy mergers. Galaxy pairs in our sample are identified as two objects whose spectra were collected on the same Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopic slit. Accordingly, all pairs in the sample have projected separations Rproj ≤ 60 kpc. The velocity separation for pairs was required to be Δv ≤ 500 km s−1, which is a standard threshold for defining interacting galaxy pairs at low redshift. Stellar mass ratios in our sample range from 1.1 to 550, with 12 ratios closer than or equal to 3:1, the common definition of a “major merger. ” Studies of merging pairs in the local universe indicate an enhancement in star formation activity and deficit in gas-phase oxygen abundance relative to isolated galaxies of the same mass. We compare the MOSDEF pairs sample to a control sample of isolated galaxies at the same redshift, finding no measurable SFR enhancement or metallicity deficit at fixed stellar mass for the pairs sample. The lack of significant difference between the average properties of pairs and control samples appears in contrast to results from low-redshift studies, although the small sample size and lower signal-to-noise of the high-redshift data limit definitive conclusions on redshift evolution. These results are consistent with some theoretical works, suggesting a reduced differential effect of precoalescence mergers on galaxy properties at high redshift—specifically that precoalescence mergers do not drive strong starbursts.
EVALUATION OF THE TERATOGENICITY OF MORPHINE SULFATE BY ORAL ADMINISTRATION IN BALB/C MICE

The teratogenic effects of morphine sulfate exposure, during pregnancy, were studied in Balb/C mice, in three different concentrations of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml, using oral administration. For addiction, the drug was provided in increasing concentrations for 3 weeks (n=26-63);one control and seven experimental groups, for every concentration were used, which included non-administered (untreated) and administered (treated) females mated with treated and untreated males. For the first time, cesarean sections were performed on the end of gestation; number of fetuses and resorption sites were recorded. Fetuses and placentas were examined externally and preserved for subsequent visceral and skeletal examinations. Fetal morphine sulfate exposure was associated with significant reduction in size of litters (P<0.05), fetal weight (P<0.001), length of crown-rump (P<0.001, P<0.005) and placenta weight (P<0.001), P<0.005) and diameter (P<0.001), in two doses of 0.01 and 0.05 mg/ml. With using 0.1 mg/ml, only some experimental groups showed significant decrease (P<0.05). All exposed-groups showed an increase in the percentage of abnormalities compared to control groups (P<0.001). Staining the skeletal structures showed an extra rib in fetuses. Results revealed that morphine posssess:1) teratogenic potential on developing mice fetuses, in doses of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml; 2) male - exposure to morphine has lower disruptive effects on embryos than female exposure, and 3) teratogenic effects of morphine increase with lower doses.
INTERACTION OF MEDICAL IMPLANTS WITH THE MRI ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

Medical implants in the form of linear conductive structures partially insulated along their length are especially prone to induced heating when subjected to the radiofrequency fleld used during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Leads or similar structures are often implanted near the skin and we have analyzed such implants when the implantation depth is varied in steps from 3mm to 9mm or more. Current, electric fleld, and induced temperature rise distributions in tissue have been obtained. The results have been validated by laboratory measurements.
Nonlocal intuition in entrepreneurs and nonentrepreneurs: an experimental comparison using both cognitive and electrophysiological measures

What explains the success of repeat entrepreneurs? A team of researchers from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) and the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) have been investigating the proposition that nonlocal intuition accounts for the repeat entrepreneur’s extraordinary ability to locate future business opportunities. Nonlocal intuition is the perception of energetically encoded information about a future event by the body’s psychophysiological systems, which informs entrepreneurial decision and action; this information is not based on reason or memories of prior experience (McCraty et al., 2004a). This paper reports the results of a study testing the measurement efficacy of improvements to an experimental protocol used in a pilot study reported at last year’s AGSE. The new study was conducted on a sample of non-entrepreneurs who have been practicing emotional management and coherence building techniques to increase intuition. The study employed both cognitive and electrophysiological measures (skin conductance response and heart rhythm patterns) in an 8 session repeated measures design. In addition to investigating the stability of intuitive ability over time, we also compared data from last year’s pilot study of repeat entrepreneurs to examine the degree to which the intuitive ability is comparable to the sample of non-entrepreneurs. The results are quite promising, as the evidence shows that the experimental protocol appears to function as a valid and reliable instrument for measuring nonlocal intuition in both entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. While preliminary, results from an aggregate analysis of the nonentrepreneurs show a consistent pattern of physiological detection of a nonlocal intuitive effect that is evident across the repeated sessions of the experiment. There is strong evidence, especially in the separation of the heart rhythm win/loss curves, of detection of a nonlocal intuitive pre-stimulus effect some 12-14 seconds before the betting outcome was presented to the participants. The results from the comparison of entrepreneurs with non-entrepreneurs showed similar evidence of the detection of a nonlocal intuitive effect in the recordings of heart rhythm patterns. While these are preliminary results, they are consistent with the findings of previous studies. AGSE 2008