Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sharable Motion Planning for Connected Automated Vehicles

A sharable motion planning method for connected automated vehicles is proposed. The motion planning comprises of three consecutive parts: path planning, collision checking, and velocity planning. The path planning utilizes a three clothoid-based Hermite interpolation, and it generates a G2 smooth, feasible path that can be shared via V2X communication. The collision checking is based on the swept volume, whose continuous boundary can computed be efficiently. The velocity planning generates a smooth velocity profile using a two-step approach: a piecewise-constant acceleration profile is designed first and then smoothed by taking into account the jerk limit. Urban local planning scenarios are used to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method compared to other planning methods.
Understanding the link between audience engagement metrics and the perceived quality of online news using machine learning

This article aims to explain the perceived quality of online news articles. Discovering which elements of a news story influence readers’ perceptions could drive online popularity, which is the paramount factor of digital news readership. This work explores an approach to use tree-based machine learning algorithms to address this problem based on selected characteristics, which measure engagement, drawn from prior research mostly developed by communication scientists. A proposed extended model is used to examine the association between the engagement features and perceived quality concerning all the articles depending mainly on their genre. To demonstrate the capacity of using predictive analytics to facilitate journalistic news writing the proposed methodology is applied on a novel data set with 200K articles in total constructed from a blog site. The results of phase A, indicate interesting correlations between the features and the perceived quality of the articles. In stage B, the paper seeks to extract a set of rules that can be used as guidelines for authors in the writing of their next articles, indicating the probability of popularity that their articles may gain if these rules are taken into consideration.
International Tourism: A Linkage of Developing and Developed Economies

This chapter will make use of existing theory to better analyze and discuss how international tourism can actually be a development source, or at least a link for development for economies in transition. Its first section faces the tourism as an exported item, linking it to the international trade theory, showing how a country might benefit from it. The second one, focus on international tourism as an investment both for governments and companies in the sector, with the special feature of international diversification, taking into account that foreign tourists bring foreign currency with them. The third section approaches the potential economic policy tool that can be seen in tourism, given its uniqueness as a market, and its contribution for the economy.
CHITOSAN / SILK FIBROIN / ZINC OXIDE NANOCOMPOSITE AS A SUSTAINABLE AND ANTIMICROBIAL BIOMATERIAL

In the current study, a chitosan/silk fibroin blend was developed as a sustainable, cost-effective and bioactive material for embedding zinc oxide nanoparticles. Zinc oxide nanoparticles with the diameter less than 10 nm and uniform size distribution were examined with different characterization tools. The chitosan/silk fibroin/zinc oxide nanocomposite exhibited the advantage of broad antibacterial activities against bacteria. The hydrophilicity and swellability were significantly improved after the blending of chitosan and zinc oxide. The results exhibited that the chitosan/silk fibroin/zinc oxide, a disinfection nanocomposite for effective inhibition of bacterial growth, holds great promise for biomedical applications, especially in wound dressing.
Paleoredox changes across the Paleocene‐Eocene thermal maximum, Walvis Ridge (ODP Sites 1262, 1263, and 1266): Evidence from Mn and U enrichment factors

An understanding of sediment redox conditions across the Paleocene? Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) (? 55 Ma) is essential for evaluating changes in processes that control deep? sea oxygenation, as well as identifying the mechanisms responsible for driving the benthic foraminifera extinction. Sites cored on the flanks of Walvis Ridge (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 208, Sites 1262, 1266, and 1263) allow us to examine changes in bottom and pore water redox conditions across a ? 2 km depth transect of deep? sea sediments of PETM age recovered from the South Atlantic. Here we present measurements of the concentrations of redox? sensitive trace metals manganese (Mn) and uranium (U) in bulk sediment as proxies for redox chemistry at the sediment? water interface and below. All three Walvis Ridge sites exhibit bulk Mn enrichment factors (EF) ranging between 4 and 12 prior to the warming, values at crustal averages (Mn EF = 1) during the warming interval, and a return to pre? event values during the recovery period. U enrichment factors across the PETM remains at crustal averages (U EF = 1) at Site 1262 (deep) and Site 1266 (intermediate depth). U enrichment factors at Site 1263 (shallow) peaked at 5 immediately prior to the PETM and dropped to values near crustal averages during and after the event. All sites were lower in dissolved oxygen content during the PETM. Before and after the PETM, the deep and intermediate sites were oxygenated, while the shallow site was suboxic. Our geochemical results indicate that oxygen concentrations did indeed drop during the PETM but not sufficiently to cause massive extinction of benthic foraminifera.
Rethinking the properties of the quark gluon plasma at T approximately T(c)

We argue that although at asymptotically high temperatures the QGP in bulk behaves as a gas of weakly interacting quasiparticles (modulo long-range magnetism), at temperatures up to few times the critical temperature $T_c$ it displays different properties. If the running of the QCD coupling constant continues in the Coulomb phase till the screening length scale, it reaches the strong coupling treshold $\alpha_s(m_D)\sim 1$. As a result, the Coulomb phase supports weakly bound Coulombic s-wave $\bar c c$, light quark and even $gg$ states. The existence of shallow bound states dramatically increases the quasiparticle rescattering at low energies, reducing the viscosity and thereby explaining why heavy ion collisions at RHIC exhibit robust collective phenomena. In conformal gauge theories at finite temperature the Coulomb binding persists further in the strong coupling regime, as found for ${\cal N}=4$ SUSY YM in the Maldacena regime.
Mirror Symmetry of K3 and Torus

We discuss a K3 and torus from view point of ”mirror symmetry”. We calculate the periods of the K3 surface and obtain the mirror map, the two-point correlation function, and the prepotential. Then we ﬁnd there is no instanton correction on K3 (also torus), which is expected from view point of Algebraic geometry.
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3

Quantitative risk assessment is a procedure that can be applied to infectious foodborne diseases to develop effective and efficient risk-based food safety programs. It consists of four steps: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Once hazards have been identified and their risks characterized, this information must be clearly disseminated to the public to facilitate productive policy debate. Increased use of this process in the formulation of food safety policy would help create solid, scientifically justifiable programs offering the greatest public health protection at the
K3 Surfaces and String Duality

The primary purpose of these lecture notes is to explore the moduli space of type IIA, type IIB, and heterotic string compactified on a K3 surface. The main tool which is invoked is that of string duality. K3 surfaces provide a fascinating arena for string compactification as they are not trivial spaces but are sufficiently simple for one to be able to analyze most of their properties in detail. They also make an almost ubiquitous appearance in the common statements concerning string duality. We review the necessary facts concerning the classical geometry of K3 surfaces that will be needed and then we review "old string theory" on K3 surfaces in terms of conformal field theory. The type IIA string, the type IIB string, the E8 x E8 heterotic string, and Spin(32)/Z2 heterotic string on a K3 surface are then each analyzed in turn. The discussion is biased in favour of purely geometric notions concerning the K3 surface itself. These are an extended form of the notes from lectures given at TASI 96.
A Council of Giants

Distances and near-infrared luminosities of the brightest galaxies in the Local Volume have been re-evaluated in order to gain a fully homogeneous collection of data for elucidating the framework of the Local Sheet and its relevance to Local Group evolution. It is demonstrated that the Local Sheet is both geometrically and dynamically distinct from the Local Supercluster and that the evolution of the Sheet and Local Group were probably interconnected. The Sheet is inclined by 8° with respect to the Local Supercluster, and the dispersion of giant members about the mid-plane is only 230 kpc. A ‘Council of Giants’ with a radius of 3.75 Mpc encompasses the Local Group, demarcating a clear upper limit to the realm of influence of the Local Group. The only two giant elliptical galaxies in the Sheet sit on opposite sides of the Council, raising the possibility that they have somehow shepherded the evolution of the Local Group. The position vector of the Andromeda galaxy with respect to the Milky Way deviates only 11° from the Sheet plane and only 11° from the projected axis of the ellipticals. The Local Group appears to be moving away from a ridge in the potential surface of the Council on a path parallel to the elliptical axis. Spin directions of the giants in the Council are distributed over the sky in a pattern which is very different from that of giants beyond, possibly in reaction to the central mass asymmetry that developed into the Local Group. By matching matter densities of Group and Council giants, the edge of the volume of space most likely to have contributed to the development of the Local Group is shown to be very close to where gravitational forces from the Local Group and the Council balance. The boundary specification reveals that the Local Sheet formed out of a density perturbation of very low amplitude (∼10 per cent), but that normal matter was incorporated into galaxies with relatively high efficiency (∼40 per cent). It appears that the development of the giants of the Local Sheet was guided by a pre-existing flattened framework of matter.
Comparison of ship wake detectability on C-band and X-band SAR

ABSTRACT This article describes how a detectability model can be trained in the form of a binary classifier from a data set of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of ship wakes, augmented by automatic identification system data. While detectability models for ship signatures exist, ship wake detectability models are only available for simulated data. In order to improve existing ship wake detection algorithms on SAR imagery, there is a need for building a data-driven detectability model which may provide useful a-priori information. A binary L2-regularized logistic regression classifier is trained for each investigated data subset. The dependency on the SAR working frequency is evaluated by analysing a large number of X- and C-band images. In the X-band, the probability of detecting a wake shows dependencies on vessel size and velocity as well as prevailing wind speed. In the C-band, these dependencies are maintained, but with a general reduction in the correlation. This fact led us to the conclusion that, for our data set, ship wakes are more easily imaged in the X-band rather than in the C-band. This is an important outcome, which is supported by a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a large data set of TerraSAR-X and two independent C-band sensors, specifically RADARSAT-2 and Sentinel-1.
Antifungal activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of some seaweeds against common soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi.

Total 32 species of different seaweeds belonging to Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta were collected from the coast of Karachi, Pakistan to investigate their antifungal activity. Most of the seaweeds inhibited growth of Fusarium oxypsorum, Macrophomina phaseolina and Rhizoctonia solani. The highest antifungal activities were observed in Sargasssum tenerrimum in both aqueous and methanolic extracts as compared to other seaweeds.
Graphene, its Homologues and Their Classification

Using tight binding model, lattice QFT and group theory methods, we study a class of lattice QFT models that are cousins of graphene; and which are classified by finite dimensional ADE Lie groups containing the usual crystallographic symmetries as discrete subgroups. We show in particular that the electronic properties of the 1D lattice poly-acetylene chain are given by a SU(2) model and those of the well known 2D graphene by SU(3). We also give two other models classified by SU(4) and SO(6) symmetries; they respectively describe 3D diamond and 3D lattice with octahedral sites. It is shown as well that the dispersion energies of this set of models are completely characterized by the roots of the Lie algebras underlying the symmetry groups. Other features, such as SO(5) lattice involving sp^{3}d hybridization as well as the relation between the 4D hyperdiamond, having a SU(5) symmetry and the 4D lattice QCD, are also discussed.
New numerical method for constructing quasiequilibrium sequences of irrotational binary neutron stars in general relativity

We propose a new numerical method to compute quasi-equilibrium sequences of general relativistic irrotational binary neutron star systems. It is a good approximation to assume that (1) the binary star system is irrotational, i.e. the vorticity of the flow field inside component stars vanishes everywhere (irrotational flow), and (2) the binary star system is in quasi-equilibrium, for an inspiraling binary neutron star system just before the coalescence as a result of gravitational wave emission. We can introduce the velocity potential for such an irrotational flow field, which satisfies an elliptic partial differential equation (PDE) with a Neumann type boundary condition at the stellar surface. For a treatment of general relativistic gravity, we use the Wilson--Mathews formulation, which assumes conformal flatness for spatial components of metric. In this formulation, the basic equations are expressed by a system of elliptic PDEs. We have developed a method to solve these PDEs with appropriate boundary conditions. The method is based on the established prescription for computing equilibrium states of rapidly rotating axisymmetric neutron stars or Newtonian binary systems. We have checked the reliability of our new code by comparing our results with those of other computations available. We have also performed several convergence tests. By using this code, we have obtained quasi-equilibrium sequences of irrotational binary star systems with strong gravity as models for final states of real evolution of binary neutron star systems just before coalescence. Analysis of our quasi-equilibrium sequences of binary star systems shows that the systems may not suffer from dynamical instability of the orbital motion and that the maximum density does not increase as the binary separation decreases.
Collaborative Optimization of Yard Crane Deployment and Inbound Truck Arrivals with Vessel-Dependent Time Windows

Due to mega-ships, increasing container throughput, and nonuniform truck arrivals, many container terminals face challenges of unbalanced workloads of yard equipment, shortage of equipment resources in peak hours, and congestion problem. To solve such issues, we propose a mixed-integer bilevel programming model to optimize the vessel-dependent time windows for inbound trucks and yard crane deployment simultaneously. In the proposed bilevel model, the upper level aims to minimize the total truck waiting time at the container terminal gate and yard, while the lower level is formulated to minimize the total workload overflow to next shift in the whole container yard. The optimal yard crane deployment obtained in the lower level will transfer to the upper level problem to determine the waiting time of trucks in the yard and then affect the truck arrivals pattern. To solve the model, a hybrid algorithm—called hybrid genetic algorithm, based on collective decision optimization—is put forward by combining the genetic algorithm and the collective decision optimization algorithm. Numerical experiments are conducted to validate the proposed approach is effective to simultaneously flatten truck arrivals and improve the efficiency of yard cranes. The proposed approach can significantly reduce container terminals’ truck waiting time.
Examination of the temporal characteristics of the electric field in a Hall Effect thruster using a photon-counting technique

Discharge current oscillations influence strongly the Hall effect thruster efficiency. In order to grasp the physic of the mechanisms that create the low-frequency oscillations of the plasma, we recorded the Xe ion velocity distribution function in the discharge of a PPS100 Hall thruster using a time-resolved fluorescence technique. Numerical treatment of the acquired data reveals that the electric field and the ionization zone oscillate without variation in phase, with a very weak spatial but strong amplitude variation. Measurements also show the crucial impact of the neutral speed that seem to govern the whole physics of the low-frequency oscillations.
Flow equation, conformal symmetry, and anti-de Sitter geometry

We argue that the Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) geometry in d+1 dimensions naturally emerges from an arbitrary conformal field theory in d dimensions using the free flow equation. We first show that an induced metric defined from the flowed field generally corresponds to the quantum information metric, called the Bures or Helstrom metric, if the flowed field is normalized appropriately. We next verify that the induced metric computed explicitly with the free flow equation always becomes the AdS metric when the theory is conformal. We finally prove that the conformal symmetry in d dimensions converts to the AdS isometry in d+1 dimensions after d dimensional quantum averaging. This guarantees the emergence of AdS geometry without explicit calculation.
MCC’2017 – The Seventh Model Checking Contest & Marcie

The following text had been written in September 2017 for an invited section meant to appear as part of an invited paper, later published as [5] 1 . The invite came with the titles of the subsections and the constraints: ’TOTAL = 2 pages max + 4 refs max’. However, we hit - somehow - the ceiling of the leading authors, and our text didn’t make it into the published paper. For those who are interested anyway and want to form their own opinion, we provide here our originally submitted text, extended by three tables, which are also available at https://www-dssz.informatik. tu-cottbus.de/ DSSZ/Software/Marcie .
MULTIPLE OUTPUT SINGLE INDUCTOR BOOST CONVERTER WITH HIGH STEP-UP GAIN

: DC-DC boost converters with better performances, including improved voltage gain, efficiency and reliability, are urgently needed for wide range applications. In this project, a multiple output single-inductor boost converter (MSLBC) with ultrahigh voltage boosting capability with multiple output ports is designed and analysed. For the MSLBC, low-voltage-rating MOSFET with small on-resistance can be chosen and losses of switch can be reduced owing to the lower switch voltage stress and intrinsic small duty cycle, which are used to enhance the system efficiency. The single inductor of the MSLBC is in series with the input source, therefore, continuous input current is attainable. This converter can be used for the renewable energy applications especially battery charging. Moreover, the positive output and high gain of the converter is also beneficial for the renewable energy harvesting. The designed converter is analysed using the MATLAB/SIMULINK 2017.The converter has an efficiency of 90 % and lower voltage ripple. The switching pulses for the control circuit is generated using PIC16F877A micro– controller. The experimental results obtained from the converter prototype confirm the theoretical considerations and simulation results. the of converter.
Rosseland and Flux Mean Opacities for Compton Scattering

Rosseland mean opacity plays an important role in theories of stellar evolution and X-ray burst models. In the high-temperature regime, when most of the gas is completely ionized, the opacity is dominated by Compton scattering. Our aim here is to critically evaluate previous works on this subject and to compute the exact Rosseland mean opacity for Compton scattering over a broad range of temperature and electron degeneracy parameter. We use relativistic kinetic equations for Compton scattering and compute the photon mean free path as a function of photon energy by solving the corresponding integral equation in the diffusion limit. As a byproduct we also demonstrate the way to compute photon redistribution functions in the case of degenerate electrons. We then compute the Rosseland mean opacity as a function of temperature and electron degeneracy and present useful approximate expressions. We compare our results to previous calculations and find a significant difference in the low-temperature regime and strong degeneracy. We then proceed to compute the flux mean opacity in both free-streaming and diffusion approximations, and show that the latter is nearly identical to the Rosseland mean opacity. We also provide a simple way to account for the true absorption in evaluating the Rosseland and flux mean opacities.
The emergence of green infrastructure as promoting the centralisation of a landscape perspective in spatial planning—the case of Ireland

Abstract The ‘landscape’ approach to planning and design has long since advanced a social–ecological perspective that conceives ecosystems health and human well-being as mutually constitutive. However, conventional public sector organisational arrangements segregate and discretely administer development issues, thereby militating against the holistic viewpoint necessary to redress the entwined nature of complex planning issues. The emergence and continuing evolution of green infrastructure (GI) thinking seeks to redress this problem by promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to deliver connected and functionally integrated environments. This paper reflects upon the ongoing development and institutionalisation of GI in Ireland as a means to critically evaluate ‘if’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ GI thinking promotes the centralisation of landscape principles in public sector planning. Drawing on a review of local authority practices and interviews with local authority officials, the paper traces and explains the concept’s growth from the ‘rebranding’ of ecological networks to its current manifestation as a new mode of collaborative planning for multifunctional environments. This material is then employed to discuss the potential benefits and barriers encountered by GI planning more generally. Lessons are subsequently extrapolated for the advancement of landscape principles through innovative GI planning practices in other jurisdictions.