Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recovering from failure by asking for help Citation

Robots inevitably fail, often without the ability to recover autonomously. We demonstrate an approach for enabling a robot to recover from failures by communicating its need for specific help to a human partner using natural language. Our approach automatically detects failures, then generates targeted spoken-language requests for help such as “Please give me the white table leg that is on the black table. ” Once the human partner has repaired the failure condition, the system resumes full autonomy. We present a novel inverse semantics algorithm for generating effective help requests. In contrast to forward semantic models that interpret natural language in terms of robot actions and perception, our inverse semantics algorithm generates requests by emulating the human’s ability to interpret a request using theGeneralizedGroundingGraph (G3) framework. To assess the effectiveness of our approach, we present a corpusbased online evaluation, as well as an end-to-end user study, demonstrating that our approach increases the effectiveness of human interventions compared to static requests for help. Ross A. Knepper and Stefanie Tellex have contributed equally to this paper. This is one of several papers published in Autonomous Robots comprising the “Special Issue on Robotics Science and Systems”. B Ross A. Knepper rak@cs.cornell. edu 1 Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA 2 Computer Science Department, Brown University, Providence, USA 3 Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 4 Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
Life cycle(s) of sediment physical properties, Ceara Rise

Sediments recovered during Leg 154 exhibit an unusually wide variation of interbedded lithologies down to the deepest layers recovered (900-m burial depth). We report here on relations of properties as a function of lithology and burial depth. Lithologies have been characterized by a large number of carbonate determinations on samples used for discrete physical properties measurements. Carbonate determinations have been supplemented by quartz determinations using infrared spectroscopy, and by shipboard determinations of biogenic opal content. Physical properties show coherent patterns with carbonate content over discrete zones that average several hundred meters of thickness. The relation between seismic velocities and carbonate content is strong enough to detect a velocity calibration problem for an interval of Site 925 shipboard measurements. The shallowest Ceara Rise sediments show a weak positive dependency of bulk density and a more pronounced positive relationship of seismic velocities on carbonate content. The difference between bulk-density and carbonate relations on Ceara Rise and well-known relations established in siliceous settings can be explained by the high quartz contents (15% - 16% on a carbonate-free basis) of the Pleistocene section. For each type of physical property, inversions are encountered, where the sense of the correlation between property and lithology changes. For example, both bulk densities and seismic velocities become negatively correlated to carbonate content at depths of 100 - 250 meters below seasoor on the Ceara Rise, but then become positively correlated on further burial. These inversions are interpreted to result from the competition between mechanical and chemical compaction in pelagic sediments. Bulk density, in particular, shows a complex evolution with depth that often results in a parabolic relation of density to carbonate content in more deeply buried Ceara Rise sediments. Nevertheless, the relations between physical properties and carbonate content on Ceara Rise are sufÞciently systematic that predictive models can be generated to relate lithology to signals sensed by borehole logging tools and by seismic imaging.
Demographic change, pension reform and redistribution in Spain

Recent demographic changes have spurred pension reforms aimed at restoring the financial sustainability of PAYG systems. In Spain, the most significant reforms were undertaken in 1997 and in 2002, entailing an increase in the length of the averaging period in the pension formula, an increase in the penalties for early retirement and for retirement with short contributive records, a bonus for retirement after the age of 65, and a change in the eligibility conditions. In this paper we use an Applied General Equilibrium model populated by two-earners households to evaluate the redistributive impact of the pension system and the financial and welfare consequences of these reforms on households that differ in their education, region of residence and year of birth. The initial redistribution is assessed by comparing the internal rate of return provided to different households. We find that they vary considerable depending on education and cohort. Regarding the reforms, we find an increase in the implicit debt of the pension system after the reforms, and important changes in welfare. Households up to secondary education born between 1935 and 1975 are predicted to benefit from the reform, while the welfare of younger cohorts will be hit by higher taxes and unfavorable macroeconomic changes.
Courtship effort is a better predictor of mating success than ornamentation for male wolf spiders

Female mate choice decisions are often based on a variety of male characteristics, some of which may reflect male quality via condition-dependent trait expression. Here, we explore the condition dependence of a male secondary sexual trait in a wolf spider and examine its influence on female mate choice. In the wolf spider Schizocosa uetzi, mature males possess a multimodal courtship display (visual p seismic) in which they slowly raise and lower their dark colored forelegs. Foreleg color is highly variable among S. uetzi males with respect to both total amount and darkness. Using diet manipulations in conjunction with color quantifications, we demonstrate condition-dependent foreleg color. High-nutrient diet males had significantly higher body condition indices and possessed more and darker foreleg color than low-nutrient diet males. However, using multiple mate choice designs, we were unable to demonstrate a female preference for male foreleg color. Using both single and 2-choice mating designs as well as using females from a range of ages, we found that copulation success was consistently independent of male foreleg color. Instead, we found courtship intensity to be the only aspect of male courtship that influenced copulation success--males that copulated displayed more leg raises per second than those that did not copulate. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.
A General Resource Portfolio Planning Model for SMEs under Deterministic Demand Assumptions

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account a high percentage of the total industrial establishments and bring essential contribution to national economic development. However, SMEs have suffered from some problems associated with highly cost of resource investment, backorder cost and inventory cost. This study takes into account in term of resource planning and capacity allocation that can effectively deal with these problems. A new model with five constraints related to resource planning and capacity allocation to maximize profit for SMEs is developed. In this paper, genetic algorithm is employed to find the optimal solution. Through an example illustrated, the proposed model can effectively apply for SME model.
Energy reserves and metabolism as indicators of coral recovery from bleaching

With reduced zooxanthellae, chlorophyll a (Chl a), or both, concentrations, bleached corals rely on some combination of energy reserves (i.e., lipid, carbohydrate, protein) and heterotrophy to survive and recover. To understand the dynamics of energy reserves and metabolism during long‐term recovery, Porites compressa and Montipora capitata corals were experimentally bleached in outdoor tanks for 1 month (treatment corals). Additional corals were maintained in separate tanks at ambient temperatures (control corals). Recovery occurred on the reef for 0, 1.5, 4, or 8 months. At 0 months all treatment corals were white in color, with lower Chl a, lipid, carbohydrate, protein, tissue biomass, and photosynthesis than control corals. During recovery, P. compressa replenished energy reserves and tissue biomass at 8 mo, long after photosynthesis and Chl a had recovered at 1.5 and 4 months, respectively. M. capitata replenished energy reserves at 1.5 months, despite decreased Chl a and photosynthesis levels. P. compressa depends on photosynthetically fixed carbon for recovery from bleaching, whereas M. capitata does not. Overall, M. capitata had a faster recovery rate than P. compressa for all measured variables except Chl a concentration. With intensifying bleaching, coral diversity on future reefs may favor species with faster recovery rates.
Theory of Conservatism and Value Relevance of Accounting Information

This paper is centered on theory of conservatism and value relevance of accounting information in the Nigeria stock ex-change (NSE) and other related literatures. It reviews the relevance of conservatism and value relevance of accounting information and their comparisons. While there have been a number of studies on this topic in the developed countries not much has been explored in Nigeria. Value relevance has been criticized by extant literature and also that conservatism in accounting as one reason for the observed decrease in value relevance. One of such recommendation was that the financial reporting council and other allied bodies should ensure clarity and provide rules with probably less discretionary tendencies for management to manipulate. The overall aim is to improve credibility of financial information. In order to ascertain the impact of conservatism on value relevance of accounting information, secondary source of data collection, statistical instruments like regression and correlation were used in the analysis of data collected. It was discovered among others that there is the existence of a significant inverse relationship between Market-based conservatism (BMCONA) and Earnings per share (EPS) used as a proxy for stock returns for the pooled OLS, fixed and random effects model. The results suggest that higher conservative practices by companies will affect the informativeness of financial estimates and declines in stock returns may be seen as an outcome of the markets assessment of disclosure credibility. In concluding this study, some recommendations were made. One of such recommendation was that the financial reporting council and other allied bodies should ensure clarity and provide rules with probably less discretionary tendencies for management to manipulate. The overall aim is to improve credibility of financial information.
Hand Gesture Recognition System

— Most of the human computer interaction interfaces that are designed today require explicit instructions from the user in the form of keyboard taps or mouse clicks. As the complexity of these devices increase, the sheer amount of such instructions can easily disrupt, distract and overwhelm users. A novel method to recognize hand gestures for human computer interaction, using computer vision and image processing techniques, is proposed in this paper. The proposed method can successfully replace such devices (e.g. keyboard or mouse) needed for interacting with a personal computer. In this we use a depth camera along with markers to recognize hand gestures for various mouse functions like scroll, swipe, zoom etc. and different gestures which represent words that would facilitate searching for common subjects on the internet without typing the entire word. This results in real time performance and a more intuitive and natural interaction between the user and the computer.
Realistic Behavioral Model for Hierarchical Coordinated Movement and Formation Conservation for Real-Time Strategy and War Games

In real-time strategy games, a large number of units are continuously trying to reach their strategic goal while following a long chain of commands, and trying to keep on with strict multi-level hierarchies and adapting to changing formation topology orders in accordance to situation state and local environmental features. In this paper we present a realtime model, capable of simulating the propagation of orders through a long chain of command, starting at a brigade level, down through 5 levels to individual units. Each unit, while trying to satisfy the overall brigade goals, autonomously must design its local optimum path, avoiding obstacles and impassable terrain, through dynamic path refinement and realistic steering behavior, while preserving minimal safety distances and formations guidelines, according to tactical and safety regulations, and staying in coherence with its local formation and coordinated with whole hierarchy.
Acoustic analysis of Korean trisyllabic words produced by English and
 Korean speakers

The current study aimed to investigate the transfer of English word stress rules to the production of Korean trisyllabic words by L1 English learners of Korean. It compared English and Korean speakers’ productions of seven Korean words from the corpus L2KSC (Rhee et al ., 2005). To this end, it analyzed the syllable duration, intensity, and pitch. The results showed that English and Korean speakers’ pronunciations differed markedly in duration and intensity. English learners produced word-initial syllables of greater intensity than Korean speakers, while Korean speakers produced word-final syllables of longer duration than English learners. However, these differences between the two speaker groups were not related to the expected L1 transfer. The tonal patterns produced by English and Korean speakers were similar, reflecting L1 English speakers’ learning of the L2 Korean prosodic system.
OF STUDIES ABOUT SPACE WEATHER EFFECTS ON HEALTHY PERSONS

All living beings are inextricably bound up with the environment. Man has evolved and accommodated to the natural factors. Sudden and sharp changes in our surroundings are accompanied by respective adaptation reactions. It is well known that meteorological variations affect our functional status. Similar effects have been established for space weather using different parameters as solar activity (SA), geomagnetic activity (GMA) and cosmic rays (CR). Our team has performed several investigations in the field and participated in the analyses of such data and results at different geographical regions situated at middle latitudes. The purpose of this article is to compare and generalize the analyzed and published results obtained from the investigations of healthy subjects during different cycle phases of SA and GMA.
Business cycles, expectations and inflation in Brazil: A New-Keynesian Phillips curve analysis

This article analyses Brazil’s recent inflation dynamic, considering different expectations environments within the New-Keynesian Phillips curve framework, to observe how the potential for discretionary behaviour by the monetary authority can interfere in economic agents’ forward-looking expectations, and how that interference can affect the way inflation responds to its inertial component and to business-cycle fluctuations. To that end, the study estimates the New-Keynesian Phillips curve and its hybrid version, using the heteroscedasticity-and-autocorrelation-consistent (HAC) estimator of the generalized method of moments (GMM). The results suggest that, when economic agents possess lower degrees of foresight, inflation will be more sensitive to business-cycle fluctuations the larger is its inertial component.
Detecting Foggy Images and Estimating the Haze Degree Factor

Limited visibility in haze weather strongly influences the accuracy and the general functions of almost outdoor video surveillance or driver assistance systems. Actual weather condition is valuable information to invoke corresponding approaches. Based on the atmospheric scattering model analysis and the statistics of various outdoor images, for most foggy images, we find that the lowest and highest value in color channels tends to be the same value of atmospheric light. A function for estimating the haze degree is developed for the automatic detection of the foggy image with different haze degrees. Experimental results show that our haze classification method achieves high performance.
Does automatic game difficulty level adjustment improve acrophobia therapy?: differences from baseline.

This paper presents the design and development of a Virtual Reality game for treating acrophobia, as well as a comparative study between the players' performance in the game, under two different conditions - one in which the difficulty levels are adjusted according to the subjects' biophysical data and one in which they are not. The results showed an improvement of the parameters correlated with fear level in the first experiment.
Absence of Rabies and Rabies-Related Lyssaviruses in Some Wild Animal Species in Enugu State, Nigeria

This study investigated the presence of rabies and rabies-related lyssaviruses in the brain, liver and spleen of some wild animal species (rodents, shrews and civet cats) slaughtered for human consumption in Enugu State, Southeastern Nigeria. Attempts were made to establish possible exposure potential of humans to rabies and rabies-related lyssaviruses through handling, processing, selling, buying and consumption of these wild animals and establish the species of the viral isolates if any. A total of four hundred and eighty four 329) wild animals were sampled for rabies and rabies-related lyssaviruses using florescent antibody technique (FAT), cell culture test for the isolation and Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) for detection of lyssavirus nucleic acid. The animals sampled include eighty nine land squirrels (Xerus erythropus), seventy African giant rats (Cricetomysgambians), one hundred and one black rats eighty bush rats (Rattus fuscipes), seventy two shrews and seventy civet cats (Civetticitis civetta). The animals were collected fresh from hunters or markets, restaurants and bars where they are slaughtered and consumed as delicacy in the study area. There was no lyssavirus isolated from the three hundred and forty rodent samples (brain, liver, spleen) examined. Similarly, there was no lyssavirus isolated from the seventy civet cat samples (liver, spleen, brain). And samples (liver, spleen, brain) from seventy two shrews. The results of this study suggest that rodents and civet cats slaughtered for human consumption in Enugu State, Nigeria are free of rabies and rabies-related lyssaviruses. Therefore, there is no exposure potential to rabies or rabies-related lyssaviruses in those involved in the hunting, handling, processing, selling, buying and consumption of bush meat of these animal species. Also, the shrews and some other rodents such as black rats (Rattus rattus) were noted to be free of rabies and rabies-related lyssaviruses in the study area.
Hinge-Minimax Learner for the Ensemble of Hyperplanes

In this work we consider non-linear classifiers that comprise intersections of hyperplanes. We learn these classifiers by minimizing the “minimax” bound over the negative training examples and the hinge type loss of the positive training examples. These classifiers fit typical real-life datasets that consist of a small number of positive data points and a large number of negative data points. Such an approach is computationally appealing since the majority of training examples (belonging to the negative class) are represented by the statistics of their distribution, which is used in a single constraint on the empirical risk, as opposed to SVM, in which the number of variables is equal to the size of the training set. We first focus on intersection of K hyperplanes, for which we provide empirical risk bounds. We show that these bounds are dimensionally independent and decay as K/ √ m for m samples. We then extend the K-hyperplane mixed risk to the latent mixed risk for training a union of C K-hyperplane models, which can form an arbitrary complex, piecewise linear boundaries. We propose efficient algorithms for training the proposed models. Finally, we show how to combine hinge-minimax training with deep architectures and extend it to multi-class settings using transfer learning. The empirical evaluation of the proposed models shows their advantage over the existing methods in a small training labeled data regime.
On farm partial budget analysis of pepper (Capsicum Annuum L.) to the application of NP fertilizer and farmyard manure in Raya Azebo District, Northern Ethiopia

This research was conducted to assess the economic feasibility of inorganic fertilizer application and farmyard manure on Marako Fana pepper variety in Raya Azebo district, Northern Ethiopia. The combination of 25, 50, 75 and 100% of nationally recommended inorganic fertilizers and 10 t ha-1 farmyard manure as well as four control treatments (unfertilized, 100% farmyard manure, 100% and blended fertilizer/NPS) were used in this study. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The application of half rate recommended inorganic fertilizer in combination with 5 t ha-1 farmyard manure produced significantly, the maximum total and marketable dry fruit yield of 2.495 and 2.375 t ha-1. Moreover, this treatment was also better than other treatments and generated above the minimum acceptable marginal rate of return. Therefore, it could be concluded that this fertilizer rate could be used in the study area for the production of the variety under irrigation. Hence, to obtain optimum economic return from the production of pepper at the study area, it is recommended to apply an integrated fertilizer management approach. Key words: Blender fertilizer, marginal rate of return, NP, partial budget.
Market integration for Chilean wheat prices using Vector Error Correction Models (VECM), a cointegration analysis

R. Valdes, S. von Cramon-Taubadel, and J. Diaz. 2011. Market integration for Chilean wheat prices using vector error correction models (VECM), a cointegration analysis. Cien. Inv. Agr. 38(1): 5-14. Historically Chile has been a wheat net importer country. This situation, added to the small size of its economy, causes that the domestic price of this cereal is highly influenced by import prices of substitute wheat. This research analyzed the integration level of the Chilean wheat market with respect to the USA and Argentinean markets using a vector error correction model (VECM), the impact of the band prices (D-BAND) and the change of the band mechanism introduced in 2004 (D-MECH) by the inclusion of two binary variables in the VECM. The results showed strong market integration among Argentina, Chile and USA, with USA leading the market. Additionally, the price of the Chilean wheat was influenced by the USA and Argentina prices. The binary variables, included in the models, showed that this system had been useful to protect the domestic market by reducing the fluctuations of the wheat prices (D-BAND), and the new mechanism performs as a protection over the international fluctuations (D-MECH). Both coefficients presented non-significative values, probably due to the difference among the input cost and the domestic price support mechanism, the sub-valuated commodities markets, increment on cereal price levels, inflationary scenarios and low number of observations.