Project Component 2 - Conceptual Pedagogical Framework:Final Report Virtual Open-Access Network for Education and Training – Enhancing Interconnectivity between European and Asian Universities

This report has been produced under the VO@NET project, which is supported by the ASI@ IC&T programme held by the European Commission. The project participant’s wishes to extend their gratitude to the European Commission supporting this collaboration among the project partners and for the results obtained. The VO@NET project was launched 1. January 2003 and continued to the 31 December 2005 – 3 years of excellent collaboration. The full title of the project is as follows VO@NET: Virtual Open Access Network for Education and Training – Enhancing interconnectivity between European and Asian Universitie

Self-Supervised Deep Visual Odometry with Online Adaptation

Self-supervised VO methods have shown great success in jointly estimating camera pose and depth from videos. However, like most data-driven methods, existing VO networks suffer from a notable decrease in performance when confronted with scenes different from the training data, which makes them unsuitable for practical applications. In this paper, we propose an online meta-learning algorithm to enable VO networks to continuously adapt to new environments in a self-supervised manner. The proposed method utilizes convolutional long short-term memory (convLSTM) to aggregate rich spatial-temporal information in the past. The network is able to memorize and learn from its past experience for better estimation and fast adaptation to the current frame. When running VO in the open world, in order to deal with the changing environment, we propose an online feature alignment method by aligning feature distributions at different time. Our VO network is able to seamlessly adapt to different environments. Extensive experiments on unseen outdoor scenes, virtual to real world and outdoor to indoor environments demonstrate that our method consistently outperforms state-of-the-art self-supervised VO baselines considerably.Comment: Accepted by CVPR 2020 ora

Techniques utilized in the simulated altitude testing of a 2D-CD vectoring and reversing nozzle

Simulated altitude testing of a two-dimensional, convergent-divergent, thrust vectoring and reversing exhaust nozzle was accomplished. An important objective of this test was to develop test hardware and techniques to properly operate a vectoring and reversing nozzle within the confines of an altitude test facility. This report presents detailed information on the major test support systems utilized, the operational performance of the systems and the problems encountered, and test equipment improvements recommended for future tests. The most challenging support systems included the multi-axis thrust measurement system, vectored and reverse exhaust gas collection systems, and infrared temperature measurement systems used to evaluate and monitor the nozzle. The feasibility of testing a vectoring and reversing nozzle of this type in an altitude chamber was successfully demonstrated. Supporting systems performed as required. During reverser operation, engine exhaust gases were successfully captured and turned downstream. However, a small amount of exhaust gas spilled out the collector ducts' inlet openings when the reverser was opened more than 60 percent. The spillage did not affect engine or nozzle performance. The three infrared systems which viewed the nozzle through the exhaust collection system worked remarkably well considering the harsh environment

Comment on a recent sensitivity analysis of radial base function and multi-layer feed-forward neural network models - Response

Contains fulltext : 112420.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Shadow Economy, Rent-Seeking Activities and the Perils of Reinforcement of the Rule of Law

An economy is considered where a possibility to seek rents (a particular case of this activity is corruption) exists along with production. A producer is able to hide part of his output from both bribery and taxation. It is shown that the presence of a shadow sector has di?erent e?ects in economies with high and low rent-seeking. As expected, in the economy with low corruption the direct law enforcement is bene- ficial for growth, and reduces the shadow sector. However, in the highly corrupt economy, combating the shadow economy reduces output and increases corruption, while combating corruption reduces the shadow economy.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39964/3/wp578.pd

Shadow Economy, Rent-Seeking Activities and the Perils of Reinforcement of the Rule of Law

An economy is considered where a possibility to seek rents (a particular case of this activity is corruption) exists along with production. A producer is able to hide part of his output from both bribery and taxation. It is shown that the presence of a shadow sector has di?erent e?ects in economies with high and low rent-seeking. As expected, in the economy with low corruption the direct law enforcement is bene- ficial for growth, and reduces the shadow sector. However, in the highly corrupt economy, combating the shadow economy reduces output and increases corruption, while combating corruption reduces the shadow economy.corruption, rent-seeking, shadow economy, law enforcement, transition

Consum d'oxigen estimat i despesa energètica en competicions d'esgrima

Es realitza una estimació del consum d'oxigen i una anàlisi de les demandes energètiques de l'esgrima en competició. En assalts de competició, el consum d'oxigen estimat en dones ( x = 39,6 mL·kg-'·min-1) és inferior al dels homes (X = 53,9 mL·kg-'·min-1). La intensitat individual mitjana es troba entre el 56 % i el 74 % del Vo2max, amb màxims entre el 75 % i el 99 % del Vo2max, el que confirma la rellevància dels requeriments aeròbics en l'esgrima. Les demandes energètiques en la competició internacional són superiors a les registrades en una competició autonòmica i al de diferents situacions d'entrenament. La potència energètica mitjana es-timada al llarg de competicions de nivell internacional i autonòmic és, respectivament, de 15,4 kcal-min-1 (64,5 I<J·min-1) i 12,3 kcal·min-1 (51,6 kj·min-1). Entre tiradors del mateix gènere no s'aprecien diferències significatives en funció de l'arma. De l'anàlisi en competició destaca la variabilitat de la resposta funcional dels esgrimidors atesa la influència de factors com l'adaptació cardiocirculatòria individual, importància de la competició, eliminatòria registrada, nivell del rival, dinàmica competitiva, arma i gènere