Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UAV Navigation and Radar Odometry

UAV Navigation and Radar Odometry Eric Blaine Quist Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Prior to the wide deployment of robotic systems, they must be able to navigate autonomously. These systems cannot rely on good weather or daytime navigation and they must also be able to navigate in unknown environments. All of this must take place without human interaction. A majority of modern autonomous systems rely on GPS for position estimation. While GPS solutions are readily available, GPS is often lost and may even be jammed. To this end, a significant amount of research has focused on GPS-denied navigation. Many GPS-denied solutions rely on known environmental features for navigation. Others use vision sensors, which often perform poorly at high altitudes and are limited in poor weather. In contrast, radar systems accurately measure range at high and low altitudes. Additionally, these systems remain unaffected by inclimate weather. This dissertation develops the use of radar odometry for GPS-denied navigation. Using the range progression of unknown environmental features, the aircraft’s motion is estimated. Results are presented for both simulated and real radar data. In Chapter 2 a greedy radar odometry algorithm is presented. It uses the Hough transform to identify the range progression of ground point-scatterers. A global nearest neighbor approach is implemented to perform data association. Assuming a piece-wise constant heading assumption, as the aircraft passes pairs of scatterers, the location of the scatterers are triangulated, and the motion of the aircraft is estimated. Real flight data is used to validate the approach. Simulated flight data explores the robustness of the approach when the heading assumption is violated. Chapter 3 explores a more robust radar odometry technique, where the relatively constant heading assumption is removed. This chapter uses the recursive-random sample consensus (RRANSAC) Algorithm to identify, associate, and track the point scatterers. Using the measured ranges to the tracked scatterers, an extended Kalman filter (EKF) iteratively estimates the aircraft’s position in addition to the relative locations of each reflector. Real flight data is used to validate the accuracy of this approach. Chapter 4 performs observability analysis of a range-only sensor. An observable,radar odometry approach is proposed. It improves the previous approaches by adding a more robust RRANSAC above ground level (AGL) tracking algorithm to further improve the navigational accuracy. Real flight results are presented, comparing this approach to the techniques presented in previous chapters.
Group versus Individual Liability: a Field Experiment in the Philippines

Group liability is often portrayed as the key innovation that led to the explosion of the microcredit movement, which grew with the Grameen Bank in the 1970s and continues on today with hundreds of institutions around the world. Group liability claims to improve repayment rates and lower transaction costs when lending to the poor by providing incentives for peers to screen, monitor and enforce each other's loans. However, some argue that group liability creates excessive pressure and discourages good clients from borrowing, jeopardizing both growth and sustainability. Therefore, it remains unclear whether group liability improves the lender's overall profitability and the poor's access to financial markets. We worked with a bank in the Philippines to conduct a field experiment to examine these issues. Working with 169 previously formed group liability centers of approximately twenty women, we converted half to individual-liability centers (treatment) and kept the other half as-is with group liability (control). The weekly group meetings still occurred; only the group liability is removed. After one year, we find no increase in default and we find higher outreach due to more new clients joining the treatment groups. World Bank and Yale for comments. We thank John Owens and the USAID/Philippines Microenterprise Access to Banking Services Program team for helping us coordinate the project and the Office of Population Studies at University of San Carlos for collaborating on the field work. We also thank Tomoko Harigaya and Melissa Scudo for superb research assistance. We thank Omar Andaya, Gerald Guillen, Zaldy Mantilla, Monette Perez, and the field staff of Green Bank for implementing the experimental protocols.
Ecology of feral cats (Felis catus) at a refuse dump in coastal southern Victoria, Australia

The ecology and behaviour of a colony of feral cats was studied at a refuse dump at Anglesea, Victoria. Research found that the cats lived at the dump all year round, congregating on the exposed refuse at night. Here they fed mainly on meat scraps, supplementing their diet with local wildlife. Aggression between individual cats was rare, allowing them to live as a colony, rather than as solitary individuals. Although female cats were fecund, breeding success was low, preventing a steady increase in the population. No justification for controlling these cats could be found at this time.
Identifying the efficacy of central bank interventions : Evidence from Australia and Japan . 1

The endogeneity of exchange rates and intervention has long plagued studies of the effectiveness of central banks’ actions in foreign exchange markets. Researchers have either excluded contemporaneous intervention, so that their explanators are predetermined, or obtained a small, and typically incorrectly signed, coefficient on contemporaneous intervention. Failing to account for the endogeneity, when central banks lean against the wind and trade strategically, will likely result in a downward bias to the coefficient on contemporaneous intervention. We use an alternative identification assumption, a change in central bank intervention policy, that allows us to estimate, using simulated GMM, a model that includes the contemporaneous impact of intervention. We apply our method using intervention data from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of Japan. There are three main results. Our point estimates suggest that central bank intervention potentially has an economically and statistically significant contemporaneous effect. For Australia we find a $US100m purchase of the domestic currency will appreciate the exchange rate by 1.3 to 1.8 per cent. This estimate is similar to that from Dominguez and Frankel (1993c), but larger than previous empirical findings. Our point estimate for Japan is smaller with a $US100m purchase appreciating the yen by just 0.2 per cent, but interpretation must consider the substantially larger size of interventions conducted by the Bank of Japan. Secondly, the vast majority of the effect of an intervention on the exchange rate is found to occur during the day in which it is conducted, with only a smaller impact on subsequent days. Finally, we confirm that central bank intervention policy can typically be characterized as leaning against the wind. JEL Classification Numbers: F30
Whatever happened to the Egyptians? : changes in Egyptian society from 1950 to the present

Based on academic research and the author's own personal experiences and impressions, this study examines the underlying causes of some of the more disturbing social, political, economic, and cultural phemonena that characterize Egyptian society today. Through an examination of issues ranging from the middle class, religious fanaticism, and attitudes to the West and western culture, to the Egyptian institution of the summer holiday by the sea, the author posits that social mobility has changed the customs and habits, moral and material values and patterns of consumption and investment of Egypt's aspiring classes, and has furthermore, induced the Egyptian people to ignore national and ideological issues of grave importance.
Buy Big or Buy Small? Procurement Policies, Firms’ Financing, and the Macroeconomy

This paper provides a framework to study how different allocation systems of public procurement contracts affect firm dynamics and long-run macroeconomic outcomes. We build a novel panel data set for Spain that merges public procurement data, credit register loan data, and quasi-census firm-level data. We provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that procurement contracts act as collateral for firms and help them grow out of their financial constraints. We then build a model of firm dynamics with assetand earnings-based borrowing constraints and a government that buys goods and services from private sector firms and use it to quantify the long-run macroeconomic consequences of alternative procurement allocation systems. We find that policies that promote the participation of small firms have sizeable macroeconomic effects, but the net impact on aggregate output is ambiguous. While these policies help small firms grow and overcome financial constraints, which increases output in the long run, these policies also increase the cost of government purchases and reduce saving incentives for large firms, decreasing the effective provision of public goods and output in the private sector, respectively. The relative importance of these forces depends on how the policy is implemented and the type and strength of financial frictions.
Supplemental Document : An Adaptive Generalized Interpolation Material Point Method for Simulating Elastoplastic Materials

Since the introduction of the material point method to the graphics community, researchers tend to focus on defining the weighting function as a direct relation between a particle and the grid nodes in its immediate vicinity, e.g. a quadratic B-spline function, as shown in Figure 1a. GIMP is another alternative which downgrades the C requirement to C and then uses a convolution to resume the C continuity. We assign an axis aligned range to each particle as in Figure 1b and the general form for the weight is
SIGNIFICANCE OF PARTICLE CRUSHING IN GRANULAR MATERIALS. DISCUSSIONS AND CLOSURE

Two discussions of a paper with the aforementioned title by P.V. Lade, J.A. Yamamuro, and P.A. Bopp, published in this journal (Volume 122, Number 4, April 1996), are presented. In the first discussion, Mr. Day presents test data indicating correlations between the unconfined compressive strength of sedimentary rock and the percent passing either the No. 4 or 19-mm sieve sizes after specimens have been compacted in the standard Proctor compaction test. In the second discussion, Mr. Vitton and Mr. Lindly suggest additional areas in which the original authors' work may be useful: the resilient modulus test used in quantifying the dynamic response of roadway materials and the consolidation of deep layers of highly angular mine spoil. The discussions are followed by closure from the authors.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Whose side are you on ? Explaining the Extent to which National Interest Groups Support States in Global Politics

This article builds on the growing literature on lobbying in a multilevel context. Whereas previous studies have sought to explain why national groups start lobbying at the transnational level, this articles examines the policy positions of interest groups once they are active at this level. The main argument is that group type is a key factor for explaining the level of interest group support for states, yet the effect of group type is conditional on the institutional and issue contexts. The data for analysis are derived from 198 interviews conducted with representatives from businesses and NGOs at the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization and the UN Climate Summit negotiations in 2011 and 2012. The results confirm that business groups support states much more often than NGOs do. Yet, the amount of support varies substantially across a country’s level of development and democracy, and the salience of issues.
High prevalence of P. falciparum K13 mutations in Rwanda is associated with slow parasite clearance after treatment with artemether-lumefantrine

In Southeast Asia, mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum k13 gene have led to delayed parasite clearance and treatment failures in malaria patients receiving artemisinin combination therapies. Until recently, relevant k13 mutations had been mostly absent from Africa. Between 2018 and 2019 a phase 2 clinical study with 186 patients was conducted in Mali, Gabon, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda. Patients with malaria were randomized and treated with artemether-lumefantrine or cipargamin. Here we report an allele frequency of 22% for R561H in Rwanda and associated delayed parasite clearance. Notwithstanding, efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine remained high in Rwanda with a 94.4% PCR-corrected cure rate. artemether-lumefantrine as rescue medication. Blood samples were taken for parasite counts (Giemsa-stained thick and thin films) at baseline, then at 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 hours, then days 4, 7, 10, 14, 21 and 28 after starting treatment, and at unscheduled visits. At least 200 thick film fields were examined. Parasite counts were made per 200 leukocytes (or if the count was <100 parasites, counting was continued for up to 500 leukocytes). Slides were read by two trained microscopists and average values were used to calculate parasitemia levels. Samples for PCR genotyping of P. falciparum , to assess recrudescence versus reinfection and identify specific resistance markers in PfATP4 (PF3D7_1211900) and K13 (PF3D7_1343700) genes, were taken at baseline and days 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28, and at the time of treatment failure. Parasite clearance slope half-life for parasite clearance were calculated for each subject using the R programs developed by WWARN (World Wide Antimalarial Resistance Network 2015) with modification to lower the initial parasitemia from 1000 parasites/µl to 500 parasites/µl as the 500 parasites/µl is the minimal inclusion criterion in this study.
Exploring COVID‐19 education to support vaccine confidence amongst the general adult population with special considerations for healthcare and long‐term care staff: A scoping review

Abstract Background Despite the demonstrated efficacy of approved COVID‐19 vaccines, high levels of hesitancy were observed in the first few months of the COVID‐19 vaccines' rollout. Factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy are well‐described in the literature. Among the various strategies for promoting vaccine confidence, educational interventions provide a foundationally and widely implemented set of approaches for supporting individuals in their vaccine decisions. However, the evidence around the measurable impact of various educational strategies to improve vaccine confidence is limited. We conducted a scoping review with the aim of exploring and characterizing educational interventions delivered during the pandemic to support COVID‐19 vaccine confidence in adults. Methods We developed a search strategy with a medical information scientist and searched five databases, including Ovid MEDLINE and Web of Science, as well as grey literature. We considered all study designs and reports. Interventions delivered to children or adolescents, interventions on non‐COVID‐19 vaccines, as well as national or mass vaccination campaigns without documented interaction(s) between facilitator(s) and a specific audience were excluded. Articles were independently screened by three reviewers. After screening 4602 titles and abstracts and 174 full‐text articles across two rounds of searches, 22 articles met our inclusion criteria. Ten additional studies were identified through hand searching. Data from included studies were charted and results were described narratively. Results We included 32 studies and synthesized their educational delivery structure, participants (i.e., facilitators and priority audience), and content. Formal, group‐based presentations were the most common type of educational intervention in the included studies (75%). A third of studies (34%) used multiple strategies, with many formal group‐based presentations being coupled with additional individual‐based interventions (29%). Given the novelty of the COVID‐19 vaccines and the unique current context, studies reported personalized conversations, question periods, and addressing misinformation as important components of the educational approaches reviewed. Conclusions Various educational interventions were delivered during the COVID‐19 pandemic, with many initiatives involving multifaceted interventions utilizing both formal and informal approaches that leveraged community (cultural, religious) partnerships when developing and facilitating COVID‐19 vaccine education. Train‐the‐trainer approaches with recognized community members could be of value as trust and personal connections were identified as strong enablers throughout the review.
Methotrexate induces Dna damage and inhibits homologous recombination repair in choriocarcinoma cells

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism of sensitivity to methotrexate (MTX) in human choriocarcinoma cells regarding DNA damage response. Methods: Two choriocarcinoma cancer cell lines, JAR and JEG-3, were utilized in this study. An MTX-sensitive osteosarcoma cell line MG63, an MTX-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer cell line A2780 and an MTX-resistant cervical adenocarcinoma cell line Hela served as controls. Cell viability assay was carried out to assess MTX sensitivity of cell lines. MTX-induced DNA damage was evaluated by comet assay. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the mRNA levels of BRCA1, BRCA2, RAD51 and RAD52. The protein levels of γ H2AX, RAD 51 and p53 were analyzed by Western blot. Results: Remarkable DNA strand breaks were observed in MTX-sensitive cell lines (JAR, JEG-3 and MG63) but not in MTX-resistant cancer cells (A2780 and Hela) after 48 h of MTX treatment. Only in the choriocarcinoma cells, the expression of homologous recombination (HR) repair gene RAD51 was dramatically suppressed by MTX in a dose- and time-dependent manner, accompanied with the increase in p53. Conclusion: The MTX-induced DNA strand breaks accompanied by deficiencies in HR repair may contribute to the hypersensitivity to chemotherapy in choriocarcinoma.
Minimally Invasive Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at a Large Regional Health System: Assessing the Safety of Program Expansion

Background Complex, minimally invasive hepatopancreatobiliary surgery (MIS HPB) is safe at high-volume centers, yet outcomes during early implementation are unknown. We describe our experience during period of rapid growth in an MIS HPB program at a large regional health system. Methods During an increase in MIS HPB (60% greater from preceding year), hospital records of patients who underwent HPB surgery between 1/1/2019 and 12/31/2020 were reviewed. Operative time, estimated blood loss (EBL), conversion rates, length of stay (LOS), and perioperative outcomes were assessed. Results 267 patients’ cases were reviewed. The population was 62 ± 13 years, 50% female, 90% white. MIS was more frequently performed for hepatic than pancreatic resections (59% vs 21%, P < .001). Open cases were more frequently performed for invasive malignancy in both pancreatic (70% vs 40%, P < .018) and hepatic (87% vs 70%, P = .046) resections. There was no difference in operative time between MIS and open surgery (293[218-355]min vs 296[199-399]min, P = .893). When compared to open, there was a shorter LOS (4[2-6]d vs 7[6-10]d, P < .001) and lower readmission rate (21% vs 37%, P = .005) following MIS. Estimated blood loss was lower in MIS liver resections, particularly when performed for benign disease (200[63-500]mL vs 600[200-1200]mL, P = .041). Overall 30-day mortality was similar between MIS and open surgery (1.0% vs 1.8%, P = 1.000). Discussion During a surgical expansion phase within our regional health system, MIS HPB offered improved perioperative outcomes when compared to open surgery. These data support the safety of implementation even during intervals of rapid programmatic growth.
Maternal obesity and the risk of postpartum infections according to mode of delivery

Abstract Objective The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of different maternal Body Mass Index (BMI) classes on the risk of postpartum endometritis, wound infection, and breast abscess after different modes of delivery. Secondly to estimate how the risk of postpartum infection varies with different maternal BMI groups after induction of labor and after obstetric anal sphincter injuries. Methods A population-based observational study including women who gave birth during eight years (N = 841,780). Data were collected from three Swedish Medical Health Registers, the Swedish Medical Birth Register, the Swedish National Patient Register, and the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Outcomes were defined by ICD-10 codes given within eight weeks postpartum. The reference population was uninfected women. Odds ratios were determined using Mantel–Haenszel technique. Year of delivery, maternal age, parity and smoking in early pregnancy were considered as confounders. Results There was a dose-dependent relationship between an increasing maternal BMI and a higher risk for postpartum infections. Women in obesity class II and III had an increased risk for endometritis after normal vaginal delivery aOR 1.45 (95% CI: 1.29–1.63) and for wound infections after cesarean section aOR 3.83 (95% CI: 3.39–4.32). There was no difference in how maternal BMI affected the association between cesarean section and wound infection, regardless of whether it was planned or emergent. Women in obesity class II and III had a lower risk of breast abscess compared with normal-weight women, aOR 0.47 (95% CI: 0.38–0.58). The risk of endometritis after labor induction decreased with increasing maternal BMI. The risk of wound infection among women with an obstetrical sphincter injury decreased with increasing BMI. Conclusion This study provides new knowledge about the impact of maternal BMI on the risk of postpartum infections after different modes of delivery. There was no difference in how BMI affected the association between cesarean section and wound infections, regardless of whether it was a planned cesarean section or an emergency cesarean section.