Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biologically Inspired Intelligence with Applications on Robot Navigation

Biologically inspired intelligence technique, an important embranchment of series on computational intelligence, plays a crucial role for robotics. The autonomous robot and vehicle industry has had an immense impact on our economy and society and this trend will continue with biologically inspired neural network techniques. In this chapter, multiple robots cooperate to achieve a common coverage goal efficiently, which can improve the work capacity, share the coverage tasks, and reduce the completion time by a biologically inspired intelligence technique, is addressed. In many real-world applications, the coverage task has to be completed without any prior knowledge of the environment. In this chapter, a neural dynamics approach is proposed for complete area coverage by multiple robots. A bio-inspired neural network is designed to model the dynamic environment and to guide a team of robots for the coverage task. The dynamics of each neuron in the topologically organized neural network is characterized by a shunting neural equation. Each mobile robot treats the other robots as moving obstacles. Each robot path is autonomously generated from the dynamic activity landscape of the neural network and the previous robot position. The proposed model algorithm is computationally simple. The feasibility is validated by four simulation studies.
Twice forgotten: assessing the scale and nature of foster care coverage in Australian historical newspapers

ABSTRACT This article uses a combination of discursive and quantitative big data analysis of digitised historical newspapers to present new findings about the representation of foster care in the Australian press from 1865 through 1954. It argues that despite child welfare more broadly rating as a significant social issue in Australian historical newspapers of this period, the topic of foster care itself was much neglected. This is particularly important to understand at a time when historians are being called upon to create histories that respond to the questions and experiences of survivors of out-of-home care, because it helps explain why foster care has been underrepresented in these histories as compared to children’s institutions – that is, the discursive muting of foster care has a long history. The article engages with some of the practical and theoretical challenges of doing digital history, and concludes that for studies which seek to trace the usage and evolution of a concept over time, an approach which combines close and distant reading can produce useful results. In this case, the big data analysis reveals the low profile of foster care in the press, and a closer reading of a sample of these articles demonstrates that the nature of this coverage was largely negative – another important factor in understanding how public perceptions of foster care have been shaped over time.
Dynamic Asset Allocation Strategies Basedon Unexpected Volatility

The author documents that at the aggregate stock market level, unexpected volatility is negatively related to expected future returns, and positively related to future volatility. The author demonstrates how the predictive ability of unexpected volatility can be utilized in dynamic asset allocation strategies that deliver a substantial improvement in terms of risk-adjusted performance as compared to traditional buy-and-hold strategies. In addition, the author shows that active strategies based on unexpected volatility outperform the popular active strategy with a volatility target mechanism, and have some edge over the popular market timing strategy with a 10-month simple moving average rule.
Financial development and economic growth in Indonesia: An ARDL-Bounds testing approach

The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of financial development on economic growth in Indonesia using quarterly time series data for the period of 2005 to 2016. It uses an Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL-bounds) testing approach to cointegration to estimate the relationships among the variables. The financial development indicators used in this paper are financial credit, financial asset, and third-party funding. Findings/Originality: The results of the ARDL model estimates indicate that the variable is cointegrated and there is a long-run relationship between the variables, and therefore, there is a long-term causal relationship. The long-run estimation results disclose a significant positive relationship between economic growth and financial development, where economic growth is found to be significantly influenced by financial development indicators. Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:. 0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
Evaluating the Efficiency of “Smart Beta” Indexes

The past several years have witnessed the introduction of hundreds of so-called “smart beta” equity indices. These indices provide exposure to risk factors, such as value or low volatility, in order to seek excess return and/or risk reduction compared to cap-weighted indices. Although the set of risk factors that these indices target is relatively small, construction methodologies and historical performance have varied significantly, even among those indices seeking exposure to exactly the same factors. In this article, we introduce a simple metric we call the factor efficiency ratio that gauges the amount of active risk an index product derives from intentional, desired factor exposure versus active risk stemming from unintended or undesired bets. This ratio is a measure of how efficiently an index targets a group of intended factors and we demonstrate the strong relationship between efficiency and risk-adjusted returns. In doing so, we also highlight several potential problems with the design of existing smart beta indices.
Lucid Data Dreaming for Multiple Object Tracking

Convolutional networks reach top quality in pixel-level object tracking but require a large amount of training data (1k~10k) to deliver such results. We propose a new training strategy which achieves state-of-the-art results across three evaluation datasets while using 20x~100x less annotated data than competing methods. Our approach is suitable for both single and multiple object tracking. Instead of using large training sets hoping to generalize across domains, we generate in-domain training data using the provided annotation on the first frame of each video to synthesize ("lucid dream") plausible future video frames. In-domain per-video training data allows us to train high quality appearance- and motion-based models, as well as tune the post-processing stage. This approach allows to reach competitive results even when training from only a single annotated frame, without ImageNet pre-training. Our results indicate that using a larger training set is not automatically better, and that for the tracking task a smaller training set that is closer to the target domain is more effective. This changes the mindset regarding how many training samples and general"objectness"knowledge are required for the object tracking task.
Investigating the Components of Body Image Disturbance Within Eating Disorders

Body image disturbance has been highlighted as a common characteristic within the development and maintenance of clinical eating disorders (EDs), represented by alterations in an individual’s bodily experience. However, whilst the perceptual stability of the sense of body ownership has been investigated in ED patients, the stability of the sense of body agency in those with ED is yet to be examined. Therefore, body ownership and body agency were investigated using the moving rubber hand illusion, alongside measures of explicit and implicit body satisfaction. Furthermore, with evidence demonstrating a direct link between perceptual and cognitive-affective components of body image in the healthy population, the relationship between measures of body perception and body satisfaction was investigated. Results showed that both ED and healthy individuals displayed a similar subjective experience of illusory ownership and agency towards the fake hand, following voluntary movement. However, whilst both groups initially overestimated their own hand width prior to the illusion, the ED group displayed a significant reduction in hand size estimation following the illusion, which was not matched to the same degree in healthy individuals. In addition, ED individuals displayed a significantly lower body satisfaction compared with healthy females, on both an explicit and implicit level. Such implicit outcomes were shown to be driven specifically by a weaker association between the self and attractiveness. Finally, a significant relationship was observed between specific perceptual measures and implicit body satisfaction, which highlights the important link between perceptual and cognitive-affective components of one’s body image. Together, such findings provide a useful foundation for further research to study the conditions in which these two components relate with regard to body image and its disturbance, particularly in relation to the prognosis and treatment of EDs.
Modelling Interest Rate Pass-Through in Rwanda: Is the Interest Rate Adjustment Dynamics Symmetric or Asymmetric?

The influence of monetary policy depends on the effectiveness of the interest rate pass-through, that is the size and the speed to which changes in the central bank policy actions are transmitted to bank retail interest rates. The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the policy-controlled interest rates (Repo and Treasury bill rates) and the bank interest rates (interbank, deposit and lending rates) in Rwanda with the view to empirically examine the size and speed of the interest rate pass-through in the long run and short run and determine whether the pass-through process is symmetric or asymmetric. The empirical results of the paper, using monthly data covering the period from January 2008 to December 2017 indicate that the interbank, deposit and policy rates are cointegrated, hence a non-linear error correction model has been used to assess the asymmetric adjustment dynamics to long-run equilibrium. By contrast, the lending rates were found to be cointegrated with none of the selected policy rates; hence the interest rate pass-through has been estimated by means of a transformed autoregressive distributed lag model. The empirical results of the study show that the estimated long-run as well as the short run interest rate pass-through of the selected policy rates to deposit and lending rates is weak and sluggish. Regarding the asymmetric adjustment process of the bank rates, empirical results show that depending on the policy rate, the interbank and deposit rates react differently following a negative and a positive shock in the policy rates; but no evidence was provided for asymmetric adjustment of the lending rates. Keywords: Interest rate pass-through, monetary transmission mechanism, asymmetric adjustment. JEL: E430, E520 DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-14-13 Publication date :July 31 st 2019
PHP and MySQL by Example

Quickly master dynamic, database-driven Web development-no experience necessary! Even if you're completely new to PHP, MySQL, and Web database development, this book will guide you through every step of building powerful, database-driven, dynamic Web sites. Direct from the world's top scripting instructor, Ellie Quigley, PHP and MySQL by Example illuminates every concept with tested code examples, screen shots showing program output, and clear, line-by-line explanations.Classroom-tested in Ellie Quigley's Silicon Valley training courses and at Marko Gargenta's Marakana training company in San Francisco, this book takes you from the simplest PHP scripting and SQL querying techniques all the way to dynamic, database driven Web site construction with PHP and MySQL. From simple fill-in forms to program security and debugging, it's the only PHP/MySQL book you'll ever need! This book covers Complete PHP fundamentals, including operators, strings, conditionals, loops, arrays, functions, and more PHP QuickStart for more advanced readers-makes you productive with PHP in the space of just fifteen book pages Essential Web development techniques, from file handling to validating user input with regular expressions Powerful PHP features, including user-defined functions and self-processing PHP Forms Day-to-day MySQL administration A complete SQL tutorial for creating queries, retrieving data, and writing data with MySQL Session management and cookies Object Oriented PHP Best practices for using PHP and MySQL together Nearly 100,000 professionals and power users have relied on Ellie Quigley's books to master scripting languages. With PHP and MySQL by Example, you can, too. And once you've become an expert, you'll turn to this book constantly as your go-to source for reliable answers, solutions, and code.About the CD-ROMThe CD-ROM contains versions of PHP and MySQL for Windows and UNIX/Linux, plus a comprehensive code library for creating your own sites and database-enabled Web applications, including this book's powerful Art Gallery case study application.Lab SolutionsSolutions to the end-of-chapter labs are available at www.prenhallprofessional. com/title/0131875086.
‘To be understood as to understand’: A readability analysis of public library acceptable use policies

Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) are documents stating the limitations users must agree to when first accessing information and communications technologies (ICTs) in organisations, such as employers, educational institutions and public libraries. AUPs lay out the parameters of acceptable use expected of someone accessing the ICT services provided, and should state in clear and understandable terms what behaviours will attract sanctions, both legal and in terms of restricting future access. Utilising a range of standard readability tests used to measure how understandable documents are, the paper investigates how readable the AUPs presented to public library patrons in the UK are in practice. Of the 206 AUPs in use across the local government departments who manage public library services 200 were obtained and subjected to a range of readability testing procedures. Four readability tests were used for analysis: the Flesch Reading Ease, the Coleman-Liau Index, the Gunning Fog Index and the SMOG Grade. Results for all four readability tests administered on all AUPs raise significant questions. For the Flesch Reading Ease score only 5.5% of AUPs scored at the standard readability level or higher (60+), and 8% scored at a very high level of difficulty akin to a piece of scientific writing. Similarly, for SMOG, only 7.5% of the 200 AUPs scored at the recommended level of 10. Likewise, very few AUPs scored at levels recommended for a general audience with either the Gunning Fog Index (11.5%) or the Coleman-Liau Index (2%). With such variability in readability, the fitness for purpose of the average AUP as a contract patrons must agree to can be called into question. This paper presents the first ever analysis of the readability of library AUPs in the literature. Recommendations are made as to how public library services may improve this aspect of practice.
Implementation Research in Community Based Rehabilitation

Implementation research (IR) is a non-traditional methodology of research that enables the examination of application of multiple interventions within the complexities of the real-world, and the generation of solutions for emergent needs, especially in countries of low-moderate income. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is an evolving field of practice that lacks research traditions. Evidence guiding the practice of healthcare professionals in CBR and supporting its implementation is fragmented. A review of the literature was conducted to identify research studies pertinent to the employment of IR in CBR. This paper demonstrates that the principles of IR resonate with the principles of inclusion, equality, empowerment and partnership of CBR. It also posits that IR can serve as a research tradition to underpin and guide the conduction of research studies in CBR, and to provide the necessary evidence to support its accountability.
An Efficient Ensemble VTOPES Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model for Sustainable Sugarcane Farms

The role of Information Technology based decision models for sustainable agriculture has gained immense prominence in recent years. Ranking of agriculture farms based on their yield plays a vital role in sustainable agriculture. In this work, an ensemble decision-making model, namely VIKOR (Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje), TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution), entropy, and standard deviation (VTOPES), is proposed for ranking the sustainable sugarcane farms. VTOPES system model comprises of four significant steps: (i) determination of significance scores of the sub-parameters, (ii) transformation of sub-parameter sequences into main parameter values, (iii) computation of significant scores of main parameters, and (iv) generation of assessment values and deploying it for ranking the sugarcane farms. The ranking results of the proposed VTOPES model are compared with the ranking patterns obtained from five years average yield data acquired from the selected sugarcane farms. Moreover, the outcomes of the VTOPES model are also compared with other prevalent methods. Subsequently, Spearman’s rank correlation method is applied for evaluating the impact of correlation of VTOPES ranks in comparison with the average yield ranks. Thus, it can be noticed that the empirical results of the VTOPES model provide reliable and sustainable results. Therefore, it suffices to be a sustainable decision model for any problem where multiple parameters are involved.
Enhanced Multi Route Routing Protocol in MANET

Mobile Ad hoc network is also called as a mesh networks because of it consist of a large number of mobile nodes that communication with each other without any fix infrastructure or central coordinator. These mobile nodes operate with battery which is limited.Thus energy consumption becomes a crucial point in the design of routing protocol in ad hoc network.In this paper, we propose new protocol for Ad Hoc Network which Enhanced Multi route Routing protocol (EMR) which it select route which have higher RSSI value.
The Impact of Quality Public Service Delivery on Customer Satisfaction in Bahir Dar City Administration: The Case of Ginbot 20 Sub-city

ABSTRACT This study is conducted with the general objective of assessing the impact of quality public service delivery on customer satisfaction in Ginbot20 sub-city. To conduct the study correlational research design, and quantitative research approach have been employed. A total of 88 samples both from customers (68) and service providers (20) were selected using simple random sampling and systematic random sampling techniques respectively. Data were collected using questionnaires. Based on the data collected, the study comes up with certain findings. Among the major findings, the perception of customers and service providers on quality service delivery and customer satisfaction is different, responsiveness, tangibility, assurance, and reliability have positively associated with customer satisfaction. However, empathy has negatively associated with customer satisfaction. Generally, the likelihood of customers gets satisfied when there is quality service delivery is 0.84 (84%) while get satisfied with the probability value of 0.038948(3.8948%) in the absence of quality service delivery.
Multi-Edge Graph Visualizations for Fostering Software Comprehension

Typically software engineers implement their software according to the design of the software structure. Relations between classes and interfaces such as method-call relations and inheritance relations are essential parts of a software structure. Accordingly, analyzing several types of relations will benefit the static analysis process of the software structure. The tasks of this analysis include but not limited to: understanding of (legacy) software, checking guidelines, improving product lines, finding structure, or re-engineering of existing software. Graphs with multi-type edges are possible representation for these relations considering them as edges, while nodes represent classes and interfaces of software. Then, this multiple type edges graph can be mapped to visualizations. However, the visualizations should deal with the multiplicity of relations types and scalability, and they should enable the software engineers to recognize visual patterns at the same time. To advance the usage of visualizations for analyzing the static structure of software systems, I tracked difierent development phases of the interactive multi-matrix visualization (IMMV) showing an extended user study at the end. Visual structures were determined and classified systematically using IMMV compared to PNLV in the extended user study as four categories: High degree, Within-package edges, Cross-package edges, No edges. In addition to these structures that were found in these handy tools, other structures that look interesting for software engineers such as cycles and hierarchical structures need additional visualizations to display them and to investigate them. Therefore, an extended approach for graph layout was presented that improves the quality of the decomposition and the drawing of directed graphs according to their topology based on rigorous definitions. The extension involves describing and analyzing the algorithms for decomposition and drawing in detail giving polynomial time complexity and space complexity. Finally, I handled visualizing graphs with multi-type edges using small-multiples, where each tile is dedicated to one edge-type utilizing the topological graph layout to highlight non-trivial cycles, trees, and DAGs for showing and analyzing the static structure of software. Finally, I applied this approach to four software systems to show its usefulness.
DART: Fast and Efficient Distributed Stream Processing Framework for Internet of Things

With the advent of the Internet‐of‐Things paradigm, the amount of data production has grown exponentially and the user demand for responsive consumption of data has increased significantly. Herein, we present DART, a fast and lightweight stream processing framework for the IoT environment. Because the DART framework targets a geospatially distributed environment of heterogeneous devices, the framework provides (1) an end‐user tool for device registration and application authoring, (2) automatic worker node monitoring and task allocations, and (3) runtime management of user applications with fault tolerance. To maximize performance, the DART framework adopts an actor model in which applications are segmented into microtasks and assigned to an actor following a single responsibility. To prove the feasibility of the proposed framework, we implemented the DART system. We also conducted experiments to show that the system can significantly reduce computing burdens and alleviate network load by utilizing the idle resources of intermediate edge devices.