Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-navigation of multi-robot system using artificial bee colony algorithm

Based on the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, this paper proposes a novel design approach for self-navigation of a multi-robot system. To treat the self-navigation (or on-line path planning) of multi-robot system, the hybrid objective functions for target, obstacles, and robots collision avoidance are selected. By the ABC algorithm, the next positions of each robot are designed and then, the tracking control to the planned neighborhood target is done by the PID controllers. Thus, the mobiles robots can travel to the target without collision. Finally, simulation results are introduced to show the effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach.
Wavelet-based algorithm for attenuation of spatially correlated noise

This paper presents a wavelet-based algorithm to attenuate spatially correlated noise represented by a fractional Brownian motion. It generalizes the usual independence assumption by making the spatial relationship depend not only on the variance, but also on a long-memory parameter associated with the decay of autocorrelations. Wiener filtering in the wavelet domain obtains estimates of gray levels of the original signal. This provides a simple, fast and feasible solution for a denoising problem involving uncorrelated or spatially correlated noise.
Analytical description of a nocturnal low‐level jet

An exact analytical solution of the equations of motion is presented for the Blackadar conceptual model of the nocturnal low‐level jet as an inertial oscillation arising from the sudden release of frictional constraint (near‐cessation of dry‐convective turbulent mixing) near sunset. The jet is modelled as a transient one‐dimensional boundary‐layer phenomenon, with the release of frictional constraint emulated by an impulsively reduced mixing coefficient (eddy viscosity). Prior to the reduction, the flow is in an equilibrium state described by the classical steady‐state Ekman solution. The dimensional parameters of the transient problem are the Coriolis parameter, the post‐ and pre‐sunset eddy viscosities, and an imposed pressure gradient force. The corresponding non‐dimensional problem is governed by a single parameter, the ratio of the post‐ and pre‐sunset mixing coefficients. The solution is obtained by the method of Laplace transforms. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society
Fast Filtering and Tone Mapping using Importance sampling

This paper examines the process of tone mapping and blooming, and then discusses its real-time implementation on current graphics hardware (GPU). The main contribution of this paper is a fast Gaussian ﬁltering algorithm that signiﬁcantly reduces the number of texture fetches and thus runs at interactive frame rates on the GPU. The reduction of the number of texture fetches is made possible by the rewriting of the ﬁltering integral according to the concept of importance sampling. The proposed method can be used not only in tone mapping but also in other screen space camera effects as well, like bloom, glow or depth of ﬁeld.
Confirming Distortional Behaviors in Software Cost Estimation Practice

Cost estimation of software projects is an important management activity. Despite research efforts the accuracy of estimates does not seem to improve. In this paper we confirm intentional distortions of estimates reported in a previous study. This study is based on questionnaire responses from 48 software practitioners from eight different companies. The results of the questionnaire suggest that prevalence of intentional distortions is affected by the organizational type and the development process in use. Further, we extend the results with information about three companies' estimation practices and related distortions collected in interviews with three managers. Lastly, based on these results and additional organizational politics theory we describe organizational politics tactics that affect cost estimates.
Some Observations about the Loanable Funds Theory

The loanable funds theory (hereinafter: LFT) has met a paradoxical fate. Although the fundamental elements of this theory have been accepted by the mainstream monetary theory, few contemporary economists quote it explicitly.1 An important exception can be found in the text of Woodford (2003) who, starting with the very title, makes an explicit link with Wicksell’s work. Woodford (2003, p.25) points out that Wicksell’s theory constitutes the theoretical foundation of the strategy adopted in recent years by the central banks of western countries, i.e. pursuing the objective of price stability through a monetary policy rule based on interest rate manoeuvre.2 Wicksell defines this rule by introducing the distinction between the rate of interest on money and the natural rate of interest, a distinction which has been accepted by the mainstream monetary theory that has supplanted Keynesian theory. Friedman (1968), for example, uses the distinction between natural rate of interest and market rate of interest to explain what monetary policy can and cannot do. Central banks use the wicksellian distinction to affirm that monetary policy can only influence the short term interest rates while in the long run the interest rates are determined by real factors.3 An explicit reference to the LFT can, moreover, be found in the works of the New Keynesians, who set out to re-elaborate the keynesian monetary theory by focusing on the credit market rather than the money market (see for example: Stiglitz and Greenwald 2003). The objective of this paper is to highlight the limits of the LFT based on the arguments used by Keynes to respond to the criticism levelled by Ohlin and Robertson at the keynesian interest rate theory. I believe that these arguments make it possible to elaborate a keynesian theory of credit that is capable of highlighting aspects of the non-neutrality of money that do not emerge from the General Theory, which is focused on the liquidity preference theory. The work is divided into five parts. In the first part the most important aspects of the LFT are described, while in the second one Keynes’s criticism of the LFT is set out. The third part critically analyses Tsiang’s view that supports the validity of Robertson’s position over that of Keynes; the last two sections contain a description of the characteristics of a monetary economy elaborated on the basis of Keynes’s critique of the LFT.
An intuitive multimodal haptic interface for teleoperation of aerial robots

This paper presents a novel intuitive multi-modal force feedback interface for teleoperation of mobile robotic vehicles. Two different force feedback interfaces are considered: a force feedback joystick and a novel force feedback trackball. The joystick considered is based on the admittance user interface developed by the authors in earlier work and is configured to servo velocity of the vehicle. The force feedback trackball is configured to map vehicle velocity directly to trackball velocity, exploiting the effectively infinite workspace of the trackball to overcome the classical challenge of servo controlling a slave with infinite workspace using a master device with finite workspace. A key contribution of the paper is to provide a modeling framework, based on the bond graph formalism, that allows the energy consistent modeling of input from an admittance joystick as reference to an internal velocity regulation loop for the vehicle. Once this is implemented it is straightforward to interconnect multiple input devices, and in particular the trackball device, using standard interconnection rules in bond graphs. Experiments were performed, and the outcomes verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed interface.
Recent Advances in Measurement and Dietary Mitigation of Enteric Methane Emissions in Ruminants

Methane (CH4) emission, which is mainly produced during normal fermentation of feeds by the rumen microorganisms, represents a major contributor to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Several enteric CH4 mitigation technologies have been explored recently. A number of new techniques have also been developed and existing techniques have been improved in order to evaluate CH4 mitigation technologies and prepare an inventory of GHG emissions precisely. The aim of this review is to discuss different CH4 measuring and mitigation technologies, which have been recently developed. Respiration chamber technique is still considered as a gold standard technique due to its greater precision and reproducibility in CH4 measurements. With the adoption of recent recommendations for improving the technique, the SF6 method can be used with a high level of precision similar to the chamber technique. Short-term measurement techniques of CH4 measurements generally invite considerable within- and between-animal variations. Among the short-term measuring techniques, Greenfeed and methane hood systems are likely more suitable for evaluation of CH4 mitigation studies, if measurements could be obtained at different times of the day relative to the diurnal cycle of the CH4 production. Carbon dioxide and CH4 ratio, sniffer, and other short-term breath analysis techniques are more suitable for on farm screening of large number of animals to generate the data of low CH4-producing animals for genetic selection purposes. Different indirect measuring techniques are also investigated in recent years. Several new dietary CH4 mitigation technologies have been explored, but only a few of them are practical and cost-effective. Future research should be directed toward both the medium- and long-term mitigation strategies, which could be utilized on farms to accomplish substantial reductions of CH4 emissions and to profitably reduce carbon footprint of livestock production systems. This review presents recent developments and critical analysis on different measurements and dietary mitigation of enteric CH4 emissions technologies.
Education briefing: Calibrating RBC models - a simple example illustrating the method of successive approximations

Introduction Since the seminal contribution of Kydland and Prescott (1982), dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models have become the main framework for studying real business cycles (RBC) in advanced economies. The methodological contribution of Kydland and Prescott’s approach has had profound implications for the evaluation of macroeconomic models. A ‘‘good’’ model is one that generates data that are consistent with a set of facts that the model is trying to explain. Macroeconomists now take the goodness of fit criterion very seriously when thinking about the accuracy of quantitative models. It is widely recognized, however, that it is not generally possible to compute equilibria of business cycle models analytically. This led Kydland and Prescott (1982) to consider a structure in which equilibria can be computed. Their insight was that a structure with a quadratic objective function (generated by taking a second-order Taylor approximation of the objective function of the representative agent), linear constraints, and a technology shock following a first-order linear vector auto-regressive process can lead to the computation of equilibria even when there are many state variables. Chapter 2 in Cooley (1995), by Gary Hansen and Edward Prescott, outlines how this method works. For economies in which the second welfare theorem holds (a competitive equilibrium allocation can be attained by a social planner), the social planning problem can be converted into a standard linear quadratic dynamic programming problem and then solved using the method of successive approximations[1]. My experience suggests that a simple analytical example which shows how future state variables and decision variables are eliminated using the method of successive approximations greatly helps students understand the general procedure outlined by Hansen and Prescott. Using a 3 3 version of their procedure, I work out the mechanism behind: (1) the elimination of a future state variable (such as the future capital stock, k 0 Þ and (2) the elimination of a decision variable (such as hours worked, h) using the method of successive approximations. The value addition to performe this exercise is that students can clearly see how the mechanism behind the procedure works which is quite intricate. In what follows, I assume that the matrix, R1⁄2 ðxÞ , where ðxÞ denotes the dimension of R, has dimension 3 3. Hence, ðxÞ 1⁄4 3[2]. I use identical notation as in Cooley (1995, chapter 2). My discussion of quadratic forms is identical to Simon and Blume (1994, pp. 289-91). I first discuss some preliminaries[3].
A novel technique for TCP based congestion control

Network performance increase does not have to be associated only with the upgrade of existing infrastructure and devices. More effective and less expensive increase of network performance can be achieved via sophisticated improvement of existing protocols, mainly at network and transport layer. The aim of this paper is to introduce our new approach for solving network performance issues which occur mostly due to congestion. New approach called Advanced Notification Congestion System (ACNS) allows TCP flows prioritization based on the TCP flow age and carried priority in the header of the network layer protocol. The main aim is to provide more bandwidth for young and high prioritized TCP flows by means of penalizing old greedy flows with a low priority. Using ACNS, substantial network performance increase can be achieved.
Use of the ROC Curve and the Bootstrap in Comparing Weighted Logistic Regression Models

In analyzing data from a survey, researchers often need to compare the effectiveness of several logistic regression models. The receiver operating characteristic curve offers one way to measure effectiveness of prediction, by calculating the area under the curve (AUC). We present a SAS macro for calculating AUC that takes the survey weights into account. For comparing logistic regression models, one needs to assess differences in AUC against the variation in the data. We demonstrate the use of the SAS SURVEYSELECT procedure to create a set of 1,000 bootstrap samples and give some background on the calculation of separate weights for each bootstrap sample. For each sample, the AUC macro is then used to calculate the AUC for each model. We show how to use the bootstrap results to assess the significance of the difference in predictive ability of the two models.
Os Impactos do Salário Mínimo sobre Emprego e Salários no Brasil: Evidências a partir de Dados Longitudinais e Séries Temporais

1 INTRODUÇÃO . 1 2 CONSIDERAÇÕES TEÓRICAS . 3 3 ANÁLISE LONGITUDINAL DOS IMPACTOS DO MÍNIMO SOBRE OS SALÁRIOS. 4 3.1 Os Dados Utilizados e suas Limitações . 4 3.2 A Metodologia para Estimar os Efeitos na Distribuição de Salários . 5 3.3 Análise dos Resultados . 6 3.4 Os Impactos do Mínimo sobre o Emprego.12 4 -EVIDÊNCIAS DE SÉRIES TEMPORAIS SOBRE OS EFEITOS DO SALÁRIO MÍNIMO. 18 4.1 Descrição dos Dados Utilizados.18 4.2 Análise de Co-integração . 18 5 CONCLUSÕES. 25 BIBLIOGRAFIA . 26
Exchange rate regimes and macroeconomic stability: the case of Sweden

In this paper I investigate the relevance of the exchange rate regime for macroeconomic stability. I simulate hypothetical macroeconomic developments under different hypothetical regimes in Sweden during the period 1974--1994. The main question is how stable output would have been if Sweden had had a floating exchange rate regime. Would it have been better with a floating exchange rate than the actual quasi-fixed regimeq Also the development with an irrevocably fixed exchange rate is investigated. The results show that the choice of exchange rate regime does influence macroeconomic stability. More precisely, output volatility under the actual exchange rate regime is about the same as under the hypothetical floating exchange rate regime, but output is substantially more volatile under the hypothetical fixed exchange rate regimes. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.
XSLT streamability analysis with recursive schemas

We present an algorithm which checks whether a restricted XSLT stylesheet can be applied to documents conforming to a given schema using the Simple Streaming XML Transducer algorithm of Dvořáková et al. [1], [2]. Our contribution consists in extending the set of admissible schemas by allowing the choice constructor and recursive element definitions. We thoroughly analyze every part of the algorithm, prove its correctness and determine the worst case complexity bounds.
Optical Properties of faint FIRST Variable Radio Sources

A sample of 123 radio sources that exhibit significant variations at 1.4 GHz on a 7 year baseline has been created using FIRST VLA B-configuration data from 1995 and 2002 on a strip at δ = 0 near the south Galactic cap. This sample spans the range of radio flux densities from ∼2 to 1000 mJy. It presents both in size and radio flux density range a unique starting point for variability studies of galaxies and quasars harboring lower luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We find, by comparing our variable and nonvariable control samples with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the following: (1) The quasar fraction of both the variable and nonvariable samples declines as a function of declining radio flux density levels; (2) our variable sample contains a consistently higher fraction of quasars than the nonvariable control sample, irrespective of radio flux; (3) the variable sources are almost twice as likely to be retrieved from the optical SDSS data than the nonvariable ones; (4) based on relative numbers, we estimate that quasars are about 5 times more likely to harbor a variable radio source than are galaxies; and (5) there does not appear to be any significant optical color offset between the two samples, even though the suggestive trend for sources to be bluer when a variable has been detected before and may be real. This leads us to conclude that both radio variability and radio flux density levels, in combination with accurate optical information, are important discriminators in the study of (radio) variability of galaxies. The latter start to dominate the source counts below ∼20 mJy. In any case, variability appears to be an intrinsic property of radio sources and is not limited to quasars. Radio variability at low flux density levels may offer a unique tool in AGN unification studies.
Wpływ nastrojów gospodarczych przedsiębiorców i konsumentów na decyzje dywidendowe spółek kapitałowych

W dotychczasowych badaniach czynników determinujących decyzje dywidendowe spółek kapitałowych znacznie większą rangę nadawano czynnikom mikroekonomicznym opisującym sytuację ekonomiczno-finansową przedsiębiorstwa a znacznie mniejszą czynnikom makroekonomicznych przy czym brak jest analiz wpływu nastrojów gospodarczych (economic sentiment) na politykę dywidendową spółek. A przedsiębiorstwa nie funkcjonują "w próżni". Na ich działalność i decyzje znaczący wpływ ma sytuacja gospodarcza (koniunktura) w danym kraju a nawet koniunktura światowa i jej postrzeganie przez przedsiębiorców. Do weryfikacji hipotezy o wpływie nastrojów gospodarczych na decyzje dywidendowe spółek notowanych w latach 1996–2009 na Giełdzie Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie zastosowano modele logitowe w których zmienną objaśnianą był logit udziału spółek wypłacających dywidendy w ogólnej liczbie notowanych na giełdzie spółek w końcu bieżącego roku a zmiennymi objaśniającymi tempo zmian PKB w roku poprzednim oraz barometr nastrojów gospodarczych w roku bieżącym. Oszacowane modele pozwoliły wyciągnąć wnioski, że oprócz sytuacji ekonomiczno–finansowej w roku t–1 na podejmowane w roku t decyzje dywidendowe wpływ mają nastroje gospodarcze występujące w polskiej gospodarce w maju roku t. Jest to o tyle zrozumiałe, że zgodnie z polskim kodeksem spółek prawa handlowego firma powinna podjąć decyzję o podziale zysku w ciągu 6 miesięcy od zakończenia roku gospodarczego. Tak więc zarządy spółek i akcjonariusze przy podejmowaniu decyzji dywidendowych biorą pod uwagę nie tylko sytuację gospodarczą w poprzednim roku ale również własne oceny bieżącej koniunktury gospodarczej. Może to być dodatkowe wyjaśnienie ograniczenia wypłat dywidend podczas ostatniej recesji.
A Novel FPGA-based Hand Gesture Recognition System

There are many applications using hand gesture as a nature control interface, such as humanmachine interaction and interactive entertainment. With the advancement of computer vision and machine learning, the development of vision-based hand gesture recognition systems has received more and more attention in recent years. However, much previous research was focused on software algorithms running on a PC-based platform, which makes it inapplicable to real-time applications. In this study, a hardware implemented gesture recognition system based on improved optical flow was proposed to accelerate the execution and achieve real-time operation. Experimental results showed that the proposed framework is feasible and can reach the speed of 30 frames per second.
Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Mechanisms, Targets, and Treatment

Patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), who progress after docetaxel therapy, had until very recently, only a few therapeutic options. Recent advances in this field brought about new perspectives in the treatment of this disease. Molecular, basic, and translational research has given us a better understanding on the mechanisms of CRPC. This great investment has turned into a more rational approach to the development of new drugs. Some of the new treatments are already available to our patients outside clinical trials and may include inhibitors of androgen biosynthesis; new chemotherapy agents; bone-targeted therapy; and immunotherapy. This paper aims to review the mechanisms of prostate cancer resistance, possible therapeutic targets, as well as new options to treat CRPC.
Vibration Analysis and Mitigation of Dead-Zone on Systems Using Two-Impulse Zero-Vibration Input Shaping

Input shaping is an effective method for reducing oscillatory motion in linear systems. Many physical systems, however, exhibit discontinuous dynamics, such as saturation, rate limiting, backlash, and dead-zone. These hard nonlinearities can degrade the vibration reducing properties of shaped signals. This paper investigates the detrimental effects of dead-zone on a class of input-shaped commands. A mitigation strategy is proposed for reducing these detrimental effects when the value of the dead-zone can be estimated. The robustness of this mitigation approach to uncertainties in the dead-zone width is also determined. Theoretical developments are experimentally verified using an industrial 10 ton bridge crane. DOI: 10.1115/1.4001818