Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trajectory decentralized fuzzy control of multiple UAVs

This paper considers a complete position and heading rate control system for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with constant altitude. A decentralized trajectory planning algorithm is proposed, where the UAVs will avoid collisions while moving. In order to stabilize the UAVs in the reference planned trajectories and ensure the boundedness of the control velocities, a fuzzy control law is proposed with Lyapunov's stability proof. Simulation experiments developed in Matlab environment confirm the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed control algorithm with respect to possible turbulence disturbances perturbing the nominal motion of the UAVs.
The action of light on the eye

IN Part I of this series(l) we gave a general account of the discharge of impulses in the optic nerve of the conger eel when the eye is exposed to light. In the present paper we are concerned more particularly with the initial stages of the process, i.e. with the excitation of the retinal elements, and we shall have little to say about the subsequent nervous changes. The latter have shown themselves to be of great interest from the neurological point of view, but before we dealt with them at length it seemed worth while to try and gain a little more information about the action of light as a stimulus to the retina. We have attempted to do this by studying the effect of flashes of light of short duration. In Part I we were mainly concerned with relatively long exposures and it was possible that some of the phenomena we found might be considerably modified with flashes. In any case a study of the response to flashes ought to give us data bearing on retinal excitation and it ought, in particular, to show how far we can liken the mechanism of the vertebrate eye to that of the much simpler organs investigated with the same method by Hecht(2).
The adoption of the internet by export firms in transitional markets

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the intention to adopt the internet by export firms in transitional markets.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 144 export firms in Vietnam was surveyed to test the model. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.Findings – It was found that perceived usefulness, but not perceived ease of use, of the internet is a potential predictor of the intention to adopt the internet by firms for their export activities. It was also found that market orientation has both direct and indirect (mediated by perceived usefulness) impacts on intention to adopt the internet, and that learning orientation has a direct effect on both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the internet.Research limitations/implications – A major limitation of this study is the use of a sample drawn from one transitional market. Cross‐national samples will be a direction for further research.Practical implications – The findings of this study sug.
Stable Scatterers detection and tracking in heterogeneous clutter by repeat-pass SAR interferometry

This paper presents a new estimation scheme for optimally deriving clutter parameters with high resolution repeat-pass SAR interferometry. The heterogeneous clutter in InSAR data is described by the Spherically Invariant Random Vectors model. Three parameters are introduced for the high resolution InSAR data clutter: the span, the normalized texture and the speckle normalized covariance matrix. The asymptotic distribution of the novel span estimator is investigated.
Back to square one? comparing experts' perceptions of venture growth and profitability with financial facts

Studies concentrating on the relationship between firm growth and performance have been conducted for decades. The common belief in society seems to be that high growth will eventually lead to financial success. Three recent studies (Brännback et al, 2009; Davidsson et al 2009, and Steffens et al, 2009) suggest the opposite; that it is the high profitability firms that are by far most likely to eventually end up in a high-growth and high-profitability position. With these results in mind we chose to take an individual level approach, and conducted 23 interviews with venture capitalists, public investors, policy makers, entrepreneurs and industry experts to understand how they look at the relationship between growth and profitability. Results concur with earlier quantitative studies, and show a clear variance in the individuals’ perceptions in which one is the prerequisite for the other.
Use models for extending IEEE 1687 to analog test

Through four use cases with examples, we describe how IEEE 1687 can be extended to include analog and mixed-signal chips, including linkage to circuit simulators on one end of the ecosystem and ATE on the other. The role of instrumentation, whether on the tester or on the device itself, is central to analog testing, and conveniently also the focal point of IEEE 1687. We identify enhancements to the modular netlist and test languages (ICL and PDL) to facilitate the description of the components involved in analog tests as well as the content of the tests themselves.
Impact of Advertising on Brand Awareness and Commitment in Female Apparel Industry

The aim of this study is to explore the effectiveness of advertisement on brand commitment with the moderating role of quality between brand awareness and commitment. While the role of brand awareness as a mediator will be explored with respect to the female apparel industry in Abbottabad. The study is quantitative in nature as 150 questionnaires were handout to females that belongs to the upper middle and the upper class. The empirical result indicates that how consumer’s present and future commitment is affected by brand awareness. This research work is done in female apparel industry in Abbottabad which can help others or marketers to make the most worthy strategy in this sector. The research is carried out with minimum resources and not many respondents which were not enough to observe the inclination of the whole population towards brands.
Health-related behaviours and sickness absence from work

Objectives: To compare associations of health-related behaviours with self-certified and medically confirmed sickness absence, and to examine whether these associations can be explained by psychosocial and physical working conditions and occupational social class. Methods: The study included 5470 female and 1464 male employees of the City of Helsinki surveyed in 2000–2002. These data were linked to sickness absence records until the end of 2005, providing a mean follow-up time of 3.9 years. Poisson regression analysis was used to examine associations of smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, dietary habits and relative weight (body mass index) with self-certified (1–3 days) and medically confirmed (⩾4 days) absence spells. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated to quantify the sickness absence burden related to the behaviours. Results: Smoking and high relative weight were most strongly associated with sickness absence, while the associations of other studied health-related behaviours were weaker. The associations were stronger for medically confirmed sickness absence spells for which heavy smoking and obesity more than doubled the risk of sickness absence in men and nearly doubled it in women. Adjusting for psychosocial working conditions had little or no effect on the associations. Physical working conditions and social class somewhat attenuated the associations, especially for smoking and relative weight. In self-certified sickness absence the PAF for smoking (16.4 in men, 10.3 in women) was largest, while in medically confirmed absence relative weight had the largest PAF (23.5 in men, 15.0 in women). Conclusions: Health-related behaviours, smoking and high relative weight in particular, were associated with subsequent sickness absence independently of psychosocial and physical working conditions and social class. Decreasing smoking and relative weight is likely to provide important gains in work ability and reduce sickness absence.
Active power consensus in microgrids

The use of microgrids for the integration of renewable energy sources and for the electric supply of rural or isolated areas reveals a large number of problems to be solved for their efficient implementation. One of these is active power sharing. Here we propose a consensus based approach to extend the usual droop controller strategy to achieve power sharing and to numerically evaluate and design different controllers (or consensus algorithms) that might include communication between the inverters. For that we propose an affine approximation of the microgrid power dynamics and define performance indicators based on optimization problems with LMI (linear matrix inequalities) restrictions. The results are illustrated by means of a simulation example.
Combining Search with Structured Data to Create a More Engaging User Experience in Open Domain Dialogue

The greatest challenges in building sophisticated open-domain conversational agents arise directly from the potential for ongoing mixed-initiative multi-turn dialogues, which do not follow a particular plan or pursue a particular fixed information need. In order to make coherent conversational contributions in this context, a conversational agent must be able to track the types and attributes of the entities under discussion in the conversation and know how they are related. In some cases, the agent can rely on structured information sources to help identify the relevant semantic relations and produce a turn, but in other cases, the only content available comes from search, and it may be unclear which semantic relations hold between the search results and the discourse context. A further constraint is that the system must produce its contribution to the ongoing conversation in real-time. This paper describes our experience building SlugBot for the 2017 Alexa Prize, and discusses how we leveraged search and structured data from different sources to help SlugBot produce dialogic turns and carry on conversations whose length over the semi-finals user evaluation period averaged 8:17 minutes.
Adoption of online shopping by German grocery shoppers

This study investigates how perceived attributes of online shopping and the psychological characteristics of consumers such as market mavenism, time-stressed behaviour and familiarity with the Internet impact the acceptance and frequency of shopping for physical goods on the Internet. In the study, the traditional adoption paradigm is refined by specifying in a more differentiated manner the outcome of the adoption behaviour and by postulating a mediator and moderator structure which underlies the relation between psychological characteristics, innovation attributes and adoption outcome. Empirical results identify missing touch and feel experiences as the most influential negative obstacle, and the chance to make better deals, the convenience of a delivery service and the independence of opening hours as the most influential positive factors for the adoption of online shopping. Familiarity also favours adoption behaviour, leading to a uniformly better assessment of many online shopping attributes. The influence of time-stressed behaviour and market mavenism on adoption behaviour is ambiguous and their effects appear to be more complex.
Wavepacket scattering of Dirac and Schrödinger particles on potential and magnetic barriers

We investigate the dynamics of a charged particle moving in a graphene layer and in a two-dimensional electron gas, where it obeys the Dirac and the Schrödinger equations, respectively. The charge carriers are described as Gaussian wavepackets. The dynamics of the wavepackets is studied numerically by solving both quantum-mechanical and relativistic equations of motion. The scattering of such wavepackets by step-like magnetic and potential barriers is analysed for different values of wavepacket energy and width. We find: (1) that the average position of the wavepacket does not coincide with the classical trajectory, and (2) that, for slanted incidence, the path of the centre of mass of the wavepacket does not have to penetrate the barrier during the scattering process. Trembling motion of the charged particle in graphene is observed in the absence of an external magnetic field and can be enhanced by a substrate-induced mass term.
Forking Genetic Algorithms: GAs with Search Space Division Schemes

In this article, we propose a new type of genetic algorithm (GA), the forking GA (fGA), which divides the whole search space into subspaces, depending on the convergence status of the population and the solutions obtained so far. The fGA is intended to deal with multimodal problems that are difficult to solve using conventional GAs. We use a multi-population scheme that includes one parent population that explores one subspace and one or more child populations exploiting the other subspace. We consider two types of fGAs, depending on the method used to divide the search space. One is the genoqtypic fGA (g-fGA), which defines the search subspace for each subpopulation, depending on the salient schema within the genotypic search space. The other is the phenotypic fGA (p-fGA), which defines a search subspace by a neighborhood hypercube around the current best individual in the phenotypic feature space. Empirical results on complex function optimization problems show that both the g-fGA and the p-GA perform well compared to conventional GAs. Two additional utilities of the p-fGA are also studied briefly.
Lyapunov exponents in Hilbert geometry Mickaël Crampon

We study the behaviour of a Hilbert geometry when going to infinity along a geodesic line. We prove that all the information is contained in the shape of the boundary at the endpoint of this geodesic line and have to introduce a regularity property of convex functions to make this link precise. The point of view is a dynamical one and the main interest of this article is in Lyapunov exponents of the geodesic flow.
KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION AND INFORMAL CONTACTS IN AN ITALIAN WINE LOCAL SYSTEM

The aim of this paper is to address the issues of informal knowledge and information exchanges in a specific local system. More precisely, the research aims at understanding the content of industrial atmosphere: are firms exchanging information or knowledge? How relevant are those exchanges? How do they differ among different firms? The empirical evidence has been analysed with social network techniques to give account of interactions, such as knowledge and information exchanges, which escape market opportunistic behaviours and are mostly based on trust and social ties instead of price transactions. Findings suggest that the effectiveness of local industrial policies cannot avoid a scrupulous investigation of local relational capital.
The impact of data quality and analytical capabilities on planning performance: insights from the automotive industry

Conventional wisdom suggests that data quality plays a central role for compiling valid and reliable plans to make the right decisions. At the same time, it is acknowledged that planning processes are both data and knowledge intensive and characterized by the human-computer interface. However, there are limited academic investigations on how data quality and analytical capabilities simultaneously impact planning performance. Drawing on the conceptual approach of business analytics, we introduce the notion of analytical capabilities, which is operationalized through three distinct resources: ITusability, user competence, and analytical execution. To assess the impact of data quality and analytical capabilities on planning performance, we develop a structural equation model, which is then tested using data from the automotive industry. Our results suggest that analytical capabilities are a significant mediator for the effect of data quality on planning performance.
Benchmarking Facial Image Analysis Technologies (BeFIT)

Summary form only given. In the past several decades, facial image analysis has attracted continuous attention in computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning areas, owing to its scientific challenges in both psychological interpretation and computational simulation, as well as its huge potential in real-world applications. Much progress has been achieved in the last two decades; however, researchers in the field also meet bafflement and challenges on the comprehensive and unbiased evaluation of the related technologies, which may prevent them from discovering the actual state of the art. BeFIT - Benchmarking Facial Image Analysis Technologies- is an international collaborative effort on standardizing the evaluation of facial image analysis technologies. The objective is to bring together different face analysis evaluations and provide a medium for researchers to discuss about different aspects of face analysis. This interaction would also lead to new datasets or combination of existing datasets. The BeFIT webpage (URL: http://face.cs.kit.edu/befit) is planned to serve as a repository of facial image analysis technologies benchmarks and the regular workshops are intended to serve as a medium where the researchers can discuss about different aspects of face analysis. In this talk, the Benchmarking Facial Image Analysis Technologies -BeFIT initiative will be introduced and an overview of the proposed challenges, benchmarks, and the provided data sets within the BeFIT framework will be presented.
Design and Analysis of Single-Event Tolerant Slave Latches for Enhanced Scan Delay Testing

The last few years have seen the development and fabrication of nanoscale circuits at high density and low power. Following a single-event upset (SEU), so-called soft errors due to internal and externally induced phenomena (such as α-particles and cosmic rays in adverse environments) have been reported during system operation; this is especially deleterious for storage elements such as flip-flops. To reduce the impact of a soft error on flip-flops, hardening techniques have been utilized. This paper proposes two new slave latches for improving the SEU tolerance of a flip-flop in scan delay testing. The two proposed slave latches utilize additional circuitry to increase the critical charge of the flip-flop compared to designs found in the technical literature. When used in a flip-flop, the first (second) latch design achieves a 5.6 (2.4) times larger critical charge with 11% (4%) delay and 16% (9%) power consumption overhead at 32-nm feature size, as compared with the best design found in the technical literature. Moreover, it is shown that the proposed slave latches have also superior performance in the presence of a single event with a multiple-node upset.
The dynamics of film-induced affect and its effect on the interaction with tablet PCs

ABSTRACT Affective states have become a crucial part of human–computer interaction research. Many studies have analysed the impact of the technology on the users' affective states as a part of what is called user experience (UX). We consider the impact of antecedent affective states on interaction with a technological artefact. We induced positive and negative affective states using film clips. Then we analysed the impact of affects on the subsequent interaction with a tablet PC. Results show that positive and negative affective states have different emotional activation patterns. Positive affect was more sensitive for changes in tasks and experimental setting. In addition, these activation patterns affected behaviour for a short time only. These findings are discussed against the background of research into UX dynamics, dynamics of affect, and user-centred design research.
Effect of Self-Image Congruence, Clothing Preference and Reference Price on Payment Intention Price

Abstract In this study, the notion of payment intention price was introduced and examined in relation with self-image congruence, clothing preference and two types of reference price: expected price and fair price. Onehundred samples of female collegiate students participated in the group survey and responded to the ins-trument including variables of clothing image evaluation, clothing preference, reference price, payment in-tention price toward a one-piece dress as the stimulus, and ideal self-image perception. Descriptive statistics,correlations, and regressions were applied on data analysis. The results were as follow. Payment intentionprice was determined by clothing preference and fair price, and the explaining power of fair price wasgreater than clothing preference. One confirmatory path was observed that self-image congruence effectsclothing preference, and then clothing preference effects payment intention price. The other confirmatorypath was from expected price to fair price and fair price to payment intention price.Key words: Self-image congruence, Clothing preference, Expected price, Fair price, Payment intentionprice; 자기 이미지 일치성, 의복 선호, 예상 가격, 공정 가격, 지불의도 가격
Ex Vivo Analysis of Thymic CD4 T Cells in Nonobese Diabetic Mice with Tetramers Generated from I-Ag7/Class II-Associated Invariant Chain Peptide Precursors 1

The MHC determines susceptibility and resistance to type 1 diabetes in humans and nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. To investigate how a disease-associated MHC molecule shapes the T cell repertoire in NOD mice, we generated a series of tetramers from I-Ag7/class II-associated invariant chain peptide precursors by peptide exchange. No CD4 T cell populations could be identified for two glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 peptides, but tetramers with a peptide mimetic recognized by the BDC-2.5 and other islet-specific T cell clones labeled a distinct population in the thymus of young NOD mice. Tetramer-positive cells were identified in the immature CD4+CD8low population that arises during positive selection, and in larger numbers in the more mature CD4+CD8− population. Tetramer labeling was specific based on the use of multiple control tetramers, including one with a single amino acid analog peptide in which a critical TCR contact residue was substituted. The T cell population was already present in the thymus of 2-wk-old NOD mice before the typical onset of insulitis and was detected in B10 mice congenic for the NOD MHC locus, but not B10 control mice. These results demonstrate that a T cell population can expand in the thymus of NOD mice to levels that are at least two to three orders of magnitude higher than estimated for a given specificity in the naive T cell pool. Based on these data, we propose a model in which I-Ag7 confers susceptibility to type 1 diabetes by biasing positive selection in the thymus and later presenting peptides from islet autoantigens to such T cells in the periphery.
Cost-based droop scheme with lower generation costs for microgrids

In an autonomous microgrid where centralized management and communication links are not viable, droop control has been the preferred scheme for power sharing among distributed generators (DGs). At present, although many droop variations have been proposed to achieve proportional power sharing based on the DG kVA ratings. Other operating characteristics like generation costs, efficiencies and emission penalties at different loadings have not been considered. This makes existing droop schemes not too well-suited for standalone microgrids without central management system, where different types of DGs usually exist. As an alternative, this paper proposes a cost-based droop scheme, whose objective is to reduce a generation cost realized with various DG operating characteristics taken into consideration. The proposed droop scheme therefore retains all advantages of the traditional droop schemes, while at the same time keep its generation cost low. These findings have been validated through simulation and scaled down lab experiment.