Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The supplementary material for 4 D Spatio-Temporal ConvNets : Minkowski Convolutional Neural Networks 1

First, we provide line-by-line comments for the sparse quantization algorithm. Overall, the algorithm finds unique voxels and creates labels associated with them. If there are different labels within the same voxel, we assign the IGNORE_LABEL. This allows the network to ignore the cross-entropy loss for those voxels during training. The Alg. 1 starts by converting all coordinates to hash keys and generating a sequence i, which is used to identify the original indices. Next, we sort the sequence, label pairs by the hash key (L5). This will place indices and labels that fall into the same cell to be adjacent in the GPU memory. Next, we reduce the index sequence with the key-label pair (L6). This step will collapse all points with the same labels. However, if there are different labels within the same cell, we will have at least two key-label pairs in the same cell. Thus, in L7, we use the reduction function f((lx, ix), (ly, iy)) => (IGNORE_LABEL, ix) will simply assign IGNORE_LABEL to the cell. Finally, we use the reduced unique indices i to return unique coordinates, features, and transformed labels.
Hierarchical Opponent Models for Real-Time Strategy Games

Real-time strategy games compose a large part of modern game industry. Simulating human behavior is a crucial aspect for the artificial opponents of these games, in order to provide a good experience for the user. To achieve this, the AI should ideally be able to recognize the strategy of the human player and adapt to it. This concept is known as opponent modeling. This paper describes an approach of opponent modeling using hierarchical structured models. As classifiers, two different approaches have been used for the different hierarchical levels, in order to test the effectiveness of this approach. The first classifier uses fuzzy models whereas the second classifier is a modification of the concept of discounted rewards from game theory. It is observed that the fuzzy classifier shows a stable convergence to a correct classification with high confidence rating. The experiments regarding the discounted reward approach revealed, that for some sub-models this approach showed a similar well conversion as the fuzzy classifier. However, for other sub-models only mediocre results were achieved with a late and unstable convergence. We conclude that this approach is suitable for real-time strategy games and can be reliable for each submodel with further research.
Air Quality and Life Satisfaction : The Role of Perceived Health Status

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causal relationships between objective indicators of air quality, health status, and individual subjective well-being. The data of 2010 Taiwan Social Change Survey, combined with the monthly air quality data for June 2010 is employed in this study. The methodology employed to examine the mediating effect is proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986). The results show that air quality (NO2) was significantly related to perceived health status and perceived health status was significantly related to LS. Furthermore, air quality (NO2) was significantly and negatively related to life satisfaction. When perceived health status was added to the regression equation, the coefficient for the relationship between air quality and life satisfactions became insignificant. According to Baron and Kenny (1986), the results show that there exists a mediating effect of perceived health status.
Diversity of Cropping Patterns and Factors Affecting Homegarden Cultivation in Kiboguwa on the Eastern Slopes of the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania

This study investigated what kind of diversities of cropping patterns observed in home gardens distributed on the eastern slopes of the Uluguru Mountains in central Tanzania, and how the diversity come into occurred. The major focus included the differences in ecological environment due to elevation, the impacts of the Ujamaa policy, and the characteristics of household members. Participatory observation with a one year stay in the study village was conducted to collect comprehensive information and to detect specific factors about formation of diversity cropping patterns of homegardens. The features of cropping patterns of the homegardens were assessed in an area distributed at altitudes of 650–1200 m. Many of the tree crops in this village originated from outside regions around the period of Tanzanian independence, and their cultivation spread throughout the village after the implementation of the Ujamaa policy. At present, village districts with many distributed homegardens with numerous tree crops are those that were confiscated from clans by the village government at the time of the Ujamaa policy and then redistributed to individuals. Cultivation of trees crops was very few at altitude of 900 m or more, because of cultivation characteristics of tree crops in this village were suitable for low altitude. In addition, since homegardens are considered to be abandoned for one generation only, their cropping patterns tended to easily reflect the ages and preferences of the members of the households living on them. The cropping patterns of the homegardens differed remarkably even between neighboring households owing to the cumulative effects of these multiple factors. Analysis using an inductive method—considering the background against which the phenomenon becomes evident after collecting the information from the target area in this manner—is thought to lead to an essential understanding.
EPIC-RoofNet : An Experimental Testbed for Solar-powered Wireless Sensor Networks

We describe an experimental wireless sensor network (WSN) that was developed for conducting experimental studies of adaptive network protocols and algorithms for rechargeable sensor networks. The network is deployed on the roof of an academic building at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and comprises of wireless sensor nodes that periodically sample environmental parameters such as solar irradiance and temperature and transmit them to a centralized base station. Additional node-specific and network performance parameters are also determined in real time and recorded. All sensor information collected at the base station are available online through a shared folder.
A Customized Camera Imaging Pipeline for Dermatological Imaging

This paper describes the customization of the camera processing pipeline of a machine vision camera that has been integrated into a hand-held dermatological imaging device. The device uses a combination of visible and non-visible spectral LEDs to allow capture of visible RGB imagery as well as selected non-visible wavelengths. Our customization involves two components. The first component is a color calibration procedure that ensures the captured images are colorimetrically more accurate than those obtained through the machine vision camera's native API. The need for color calibration is a critical component that is often overlooked or poorly understood by computer vision engineers. Our second component is a fast method to integrate the narrow band spectral images (some of which are outside the visible range) into the visible RGB image for enhanced visualization. This component of our pipeline involves evaluating several algorithms capable of multiple image fusion to determine the most suitable one for our application. Quantitative and subject results, including feedback from clinicians, demonstrate the effectiveness of our customization procedure.
Degradation Characteristics of A Novel Multi-Enzyme-Possessing Bacillus licheniformis TK 3Y Strain for the Treatment of High-Salinity Fisheries Waste Containing Green Seaweed

To reutilize fisheries waste, a bacterial strain was isolated from a coastal area located in Busan. It was identified as Bacillus licheniformis TK3-Y. Using plate assay and 500-mL flask experiments, we found that the isolate simultaneously possessed cellulolytic, proteolytic, and lipolytic activities with salt tolerance. 10% (v/v) inoculums, were used to examine the biodegradation characteristics of the TK3-Y strain on carboxymethylcellulose, skim milk, and olive oil media. The optimum conditions for pH, temperature, agitation speed, and NaCl concentration on each 1% substrate were 6, 50°C, 180 rpm, and 17.5%, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the TK3-Y strain showed 1.07 U/mL cellulolytic, 1,426 U/mL proteolytic, and 6.45 U/mL lipolytic activities. Each enzyme was stable within a range of 17.5 –35% NaCl. Therefore, the salt tolerance ability of strain TK3-Y was superior to other related strains. In degradation of a mixed medium containing all three substrates, both the cellulolytic and proteolytic activities were somewhat lower than those on each single substrate, while the lipolytic activity was somewhat higher. From the above results, the TK3-Y strain appears to be a good candidate for use in the efficient treatment of fisheries waste in which components are not collected separately.
Where am I ? Operating System and Virtualization Identification Without System Calls

Operating systems provide a wealth of versioning information via system calls, but suppose one is given control of the instruction pointer and allowed to jump to a provided block of code. Is it possible to identify the operating system and other key conguration details (bit width, virtualization environment, etc.) without resorting to system calls? We show that a host can be ngerprinted without tripping over the easiest and most commonly monitored behavioral characteristics of applications (system calls) and provide methods by which some the methods may be prevented.
A Game Theoretic Approach to Energy Trading in Multi-Microgrid Systems

Microgrid (MG) cooperation, which allows information and energy exchange among multiple MGs, can improve the reliability of MGs and thus becomes a promising technique for multi-microgrid (MMG) systems. Since MG is generally selfish in nature, how to motivate MGs to participate in MG cooperation becomes an important issue. To do this, a Stackelberg game theoretic framework to MG cooperation, called the MG energy trading game (MGETG), is proposed. In the MGETG, an MMG center as the leader motivates and regulates the MG cooperation by setting the energy trading prices. Then, MGs as the followers determine their energy trading strategies so as to maximize their utilities. Nikaido-Isoda relaxation algorithm is applied to find the Nash equilibrium of MGs actions and a pricing algorithm is devised to find the energy trading price based on the golden section search. Our simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can improve the renewable utilization by 25.9% and reduce the total operation cost by 35.5% through MG energy trading.
An Agent-based model to assess the impacts of introducing a shared-taxi system in Lisbon ( Portugal )

This paper presents a simulation procedure to assess the market potential for the implementation of a new shared taxi service in Lisbon (Portugal). The proposed shared taxi service has a new organisational design and pricing scheme which aims to use the capacity in traditional taxi services in a more efficient way. In this system a taxi acting in “sharing” mode offers lower prices to its clients, in exchange for them to accept sharing the vehicle with other persons who have compatible trips, (time and space) while also increasing the revenue for the operator. The paper proposes and tests an agent based simulation model in which a set of rules for space and time matching between the shared taxis and passengers is identified considering a maximum deviation from the original route and then presents an algorithm that considers the following different objectives: minimum cost per passenger.km, maximum revenue per vehicle.km, minimum passenger in-vehicle time, minimum vehicle idle time. An experiment for the city of Lisbon is presented with the objective of testing the proposed simulation conceptual model and to show the potential of sharing taxis for improving mobility management in urban areas. General Terms: Algorithms; Design; Performance
A Stochastic Belief Management Architecture for Agent Control

We propose an architecture for agent control, where the agent stores its beliefs and environment models as logical sentences. Given successive observations, the agent’s current state (of beliefs) is maintained by a combination of probability, POMDP and belief change theory. Two existing logics are employed for knowledge representation and reasoning: the stochastic decision logic of Rens et al. (2015) and p-logic of Zhuang et al. (2017) (a restricted version of a logic designed by Fagin et al. (1990)). The proposed architecture assumes two streams of observations: active, which correspond to agent intentions and passive, which is received without the agent’s direct involvement. Stochastic uncertainty, and ignorance due to lack of information are both dealt with in the architecture. Planning, and learning of environment models are assumed present but are not covered in this proposal.
Pruning Methods For Optimal Delete-free Planning Using Domination-Free Reachability

Delete-free planning (DFPlan) underlies many popular relaxation (h) based heuristics used in state-of-the-art planners, and a number of recent planning domains are naturally deletefree. This has led to increased interest in efficient methods for cost-optimal DFPlan. To aid in the solution of DFPlan problems, we introduce a new analysis technique, called domination-free reachability (DFR). DFR is an improved version of the well known notion of reachability in graphs that filters out nodes that are not useful for optimal planning. We explain how to compute DFR, and present three new pruning techniques that use it. Combined with a recent decomposition technique these pruning methods lead to effective pruning in delete-free planning.
Simulation of a Bio-Inspired Swimming Mechanism

Remotely actuated synthetic micro-swimmers have many medical applications such as targeted drug delivery and non-invasive surgery. This paper investigates the influence of structural resonances on the propulsion of bio-inspired micro-swimmer designs in a traveling wave acoustic field. A second-order perturbation approach was used to model and solve for the first order time-harmonic and second order acoustic streaming fields and to evaluate propulsive forces on the swimmer. Actuation of the swimmer at its resonance frequencies is found to influence these propulsive forces in a direction dependent on the excited swimmer mode shape. This suggests a possibility for controlling the direction of movement of micro-swimmers remotely based on actuation frequency.
Bidirectional Deep Residual learning for Haze Removal

Recently, low-level vision problems has been addressed using residual learning that can learn a discrepancy between hazy and haze-free images. Following this approach, in this paper, we present a new dehazing method based on the proposed bidirectional residual learning. Our method is implemented by generative adversarial networks (GANs), consisting of two components, namely, haze-removal and haze-reconstruction passes. The method alternates between removal and reconstruction of hazy regions using the residual to produce more accurate haze-free images. For efficient training, we adopt a feature fusion strategy based on extended tree-structures to include more spatial information and apply spectral normalization techniques to GANs. The effectiveness of our method is empirically demonstrated by quantitative and qualitative experiments, indicating that our method outperforms recent state-of-the-art dehazing algorithms. In particular, our approach can be easily used to solve other low-level vision problems such as deraining.
CORPORATE RAIDERS , PERFORMANCE AND GOVERNANCE IN EUROPE Forthcoming European Financial Management

I analyze 136 block purchases made by corporate raiders in Europe between 1990 and 2001. Contrary to the hypothesis that these investors expropriate the target companies, there is a positive market reaction to the first public announcement of these purchases. In the long-run, raiders earn an abnormal profit when they sell their stakes. When they still held their positions at the end of the sample period, abnormal returns were insignificant. Raiders’ activities do not improve operating performance. The findings are consistent with superior stock picking ability among these investors, but do not support the hypothesis that raiders are governance champions.
The Diffusion of IP-Telephony and the Vendors Commercialisation

IP-telephony has been widely characterised as a disruptive innovation that has the potential to radically change the telecommunications industry. It has been presented as a technology that can replace existing fixed-line services by offering a new convenient and lower priced service. This paper explores diffusion of IP-telephony in Denmark, focusing on vendors’ commercialization strategies. Insights from the theory of disruptive innovation are introduced to investigate vendors’ perceptions and reveal their tendency to follow disruptive strategies, which in turn affects the diffusion process. The findings suggest that IP-telephony is promoted as a sustaining innovation which goes beyond the typical voice transmission and offers advanced features such as video telephony.
LS-TaSC 4: Designing for the combination of impact, statics, and NVH

The projected subgradient method is major new methodology development for the topology optimization of huge, multi-disciplinary structural problems; for example, the combined impact, statics, and NVH design of a whole body in white. This paper accordingly discusses the projected subgradient method in LS-TaSC 4, with specific reference to the basic theory, the ability to combined impact and NVH load cases, and the performance for huge models. Also mentioned is how the method has been enhanced to handle generalized constraints using the multi-tensor numerical scheme.
NESTING ECOLOGY AND HATCHING SUCCESS OF THE WOOD TURTLE , GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA , IN QUÉBEC

—The nesting ecology of Wood Turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) was studied in Québec, Canada during 1996 and 1997. Females made long-distance migrations to nesting grounds, where they staged for up to nine days before nesting. Fifty-five percent of the estimated female population was observed at this staging area. Wood Turtles exhibited strong nest site fidelity, with 95% of females observed to nest in two consecutive years returning to the same nest site. Nesting occurred for approximately two weeks during mid-June. Turtles were observed nesting during all daylight hours, with morning and evening peaks in activity. Clutch size was positively correlated to female size with larger females having larger clutches. Mean clutch sizes were significantly different between years. Nest success was 74% in 1996 and 65% in 1997. Nests constructed during the first half of the nesting season had significantly greater success, suggesting that northern Wood Turtle populations may be delimited by insufficient degree days for the completion of incubation. Staging, nest-site fidelity, and a short nesting season make them vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances.
THE APPLICATION OF PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS : BENEFITS , CHALLENGES AND HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED

In fact, with the big data spread and continuous increase analytical systems get more important role and necessity in organizations. Thus, Predictive analytics in general are used to detect the relationships and patterns in data in order to predict the future by analyzing the past and taking better preventive decisions.But, their purpose of use is varied from an industry to another. This paper, describes the purpose of predictive analytics use in many industries and how the predictive analytics have been used as a solution to solve many problems in different industries.The predictive analytics have many benefits such as reduce and prevent risk, save time, cost and better management of resources in addition to the ability to take better strategic decisions based on fact not on intuition. Furthermore, the research in the area show challenges such as to get real, sufficient and clean data to test models developed. Moreover, it illustrates the weaknesses in the research area such as the focus on the development of models only, the wrong choice of models variables and algorithms which affect the final results of predictions, and what can be improved in the future research.
Innovative cockpit touch screen HMI design using Direct Manipulation

As a widely-used and proven technology, touchscreens are entering the cockpits of civil aircraft. As part of the project ACROSS (Advanced Cockpit for Reduction Of StreSs and workload), NLR designed an innovative cockpit display with touch interaction for Tactical Flight Control; changing the aircraft’s (vertical) speed, heading and/or altitude. In current cockpit configurations, the controls for this autopilot (AP) functionality are spatially separated from the visualization of the parameters they adjust, introducing aspects of physical and mental workload. In this paper, the Human Machine Interface (HMI) design process of eliminating this physical gap and creating an intuitive interaction by means of Direct Manipulation (DM) is described. DM is characterized by manipulating graphical objects directly on the position where they are visualized in a manner that at least loosely corresponds to manipulating physical objects. It has the potential to be highly intuitive, and less prone to error. Therefore, the HMI design was hypothesized to reduce pilot’s workload and simultaneously increase Situational Awareness (SA). The concept is evaluated using NLR’s flight simulators. Experiment results showed that the Tatical Flight Control design concept has great potential, but the interaction implementation needs further improvement, since it increased the pilot’s workload, especially under turbulent conditions.
Supplementary Material for : On Stabilizing Generative Adversarial Training with Noise 1 . Influence on the Generator Gradient Norm

We compare the norm of the generator gradient with and without DF for a GAN trained with the original minimax objective and a GAN trained with the alternative generator objective maxG log(D(z)) in Figure 1. The models were trained on CIFAR-10. We can observe the vanishing gradient phenomenon in Figure 1a when no distribution filtering is applied. With our proposed method the gradient norms are stable. In the case of the alternative loss in Figure 1b we can observe that the gradient norms are orders of magnitude higher when no distribution filtering is applied. This results in highly unstable weight updates due to the overconfident discriminator.
The CLS 01 Mean Sea Surface : A validation with the GSFC 00 . 1 surface

Mean Sea Surfaces (hereafter MSS) are essentially satellite altimetry by-products. They correspond to the geoid undulations and the mean dynamic topography (hereafter MDT) averaged over a selected period. A detailed description of MSS development and uses by oceanographers and geodesists is given by (Rapp, 1997 ; Cazenave and Royer, 2001 ; Tapley and Kim, 2001). MSS are necessary in satellite oceanography for correcting the cross-track geoid errors in the repeat orbit method (e.g., Brenner et al., 1990). They are also useful to reference the altimetric Sea Surface Height (hereafter SSH), and therefore to compute the Sea Level Anomalies (hereafter SLA) that are free of the geoid height and its uncertainties. In particular, to provide a common reference to distinct satellite dataset, like TOPEX/Poseidon (hereafter T/P), ERS-2 and GEOSAT Follow On (hereafter GFO), and in a near future Jason1 and EnviSat. Subsequently, the corresponding SLA can be combined to map the ocean circulation because the expected bias between these dataset would be reduced.