Training a Binary Weight Object Detector by Knowledge Transfer for Autonomous Driving

Autonomous driving has harsh requirements of small model size and energy efficiency, in order to enable the embedded system to achieve real-time on-board object detection. Recent deep convolutional neural network based object detectors have achieved state-of-the-art accuracy. However, such models are trained with numerous parameters and their high computational costs and large storage prohibit the deployment to memory and computation resource limited systems. Low-precision neural networks are popular techniques for reducing the computation requirements and memory footprint. Among them, binary weight neural network (BWN) is the extreme case which quantizes the float-point into just $1$ bit. BWNs are difficult to train and suffer from accuracy deprecation due to the extreme low-bit representation. To address this problem, we propose a knowledge transfer (KT) method to aid the training of BWN using a full-precision teacher network. We built DarkNet- and MobileNet-based binary weight YOLO-v2 detectors and conduct experiments on KITTI benchmark for car, pedestrian and cyclist detection. The experimental results show that the proposed method maintains high detection accuracy while reducing the model size of DarkNet-YOLO from 257 MB to 8.8 MB and MobileNet-YOLO from 193 MB to 7.9 MB.Comment: Accepted by ICRA 201

Down-regulation of Survivin enhances sensitivity to BPR0L075 in human cancer cells via caspase-independent mechanisms

Background: BPR0L075 [6-methoxy-3-(3',4',5'-trimethoxy-benzoyl)-1H-indole] is a novel anti-cancer compound. It inhibits tubulin polymerization and induces mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis in various human cancer cells with different multi-drug resistance (MDR) status. Over-expression of an anti-apoptotic molecule, survivin, causes drug-resistance in various cancers. Survivin inhibits apoptosis by interfering caspase-3 and promotes cell growth by stabilizing microtubule networks. Here, we determined the effects of down-regulation of survivin in BPR0L075 (L075) treatment. Methods: Western blot analysis was used to determine the expression level of survivin in L075-untreated/-treated human oral carcinoma KB and nasopharyngeal carcinoma HONE-1 cancer cells. siRNA was used to down-regulate endogenous survivin. MTT cell viability assay, real-time caspase-3 activity assay and immuno-fluorescence microscopy were used to analyze downstream effects. Results: Survivin expression was up-regulated in both KB and HONE-1 cells in response to L075 treatment. Down-regulation of survivin induced hyper-sensitivity to L075 in KB and re-stored sensitivity to L075 in KB-derived L075-resistant KB-L30 cancer cells. At the molecular level, down-regulation of survivin induced changes in microtubule dynamics in both KB and KB-L30 cells. Surprisingly, down-regulation of survivin did not enhance the activity of caspase-3 in L075 therapy. Instead, down-regulation of survivin induced translocation of the apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) from cytoplasm to nucleus. Conclusion: Down-regulation of survivin improved drug sensitivity to L075 in both KB and L075-resistant KB-L30 cancer cells, possibly through a tubulin-dependent and caspase-independent mechanism. We suggest that combining BPR0L075 and survivin inhibitor may give better clinical outcome than the use of BPR0L075 monotherapy in future clinical trials

The new rules of global society, flexibility and informality dealing with difficult issues and achieving good results

Economic and social relations, related to the movements of transnational corporations as an important sphere of globalization, have generated a strong impact on the positive law of the states and, as a result, in the international legal system itself. All this has led to studies that point to a new role of the national state, which comes to live with international actors that create rules applied in the internal system of these states. These new rules have proven the inability to discipline and create social relationships, allowing the emergence of private regulatory regimes and a diversity of sources of law describing current legal pluralism. As a private standard of relevant social regulation at a global level, the object of this study is transnational collective bargaining, highlighting its definition, reasoning, legal frameworks, main difficulties of implementation and effectiveness

Study on Dividend Policy and it’s Determinants Evidence from Chinese Companies

The present work conducts a study on dividend policy behavior from Chinese companies that are listed inNational Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock exchange. In this study Weuse ordinary least squares linear regression using panel data with random and fixed effects, using data of 75Chinese companies from 2010 to 2014 constructing a panel with 300 observations. Dividend payout is used as adependent variable while variables such leverage, profitability, liquidity, firm size, float, business risk, age, andasset structure is used as an independent variable. The result suggested that random effect model were moreappropriated. The results show an existence of positive relationship between dividend policy and age andnegative relationship between dividend policy and profitability. It suggests that Chinese firms that are larger tendto pay more dividends and firms that have higher profitability tend to pay lower dividends. Our findings providesupport for agency cost theory.Keywords: Dividend payout, panel data, Chinese companies and behavior

A phase-field approach for portlandite carbonation and application to self-healing cementitious materials

open5A conceptual phase-field model is proposed for simulating complex microstructural evolutions during the self-healing process of cementitious materials. This model specifically considers carbonation healing mechanisms activated by means of dissolution of soluble Ca(OH) 2 mineral and precipitation of the CaCO 3 self-healing product. The system is described by a set of conservative and non-conservative field variables based on a thermodynamic analysis of the precipitation process and realised numerically using the finite element method (FEM). As a novel concept for modeling self-healing of cementitious materials, the evolution of multiple interfaces was investigated and demonstrated on a simple experimental test case of a self-healing mechanism consisting of carbonating calcium hydroxide. Parametric studies were performed to numerically investigate the effect of chemo-physical conditions. Two representative practical examples of cementitious materials were numerically implemented. It is demonstrated that the simulated evolution of the crack morphology is in good qualitative agreement with the experimental data.openYang S.; Yang Y.; Caggiano A.; Ukrainczyk N.; Koenders E.Yang, S.; Yang, Y.; Caggiano, A.; Ukrainczyk, N.; Koenders, E

THE BRAZILIAN CRISIS AND THE STRUCTURAL REFORMS, THE TURN OF THE LABOR REFORM

ABSTRACT The world has changed the practices and laws that govern labor relations. Emerging countries that do not keep up with these changes will not be likely to receive direct foreign investments from foreign investors. Brazil has tried to implement some reforms in the labor area, this is a dilemma that its legislators have to face according to society. Economy and work have always been linked. Since the Industrial Revolution, with the replacement of man by machine, the labor market is undergoing profound changes. The competitiveness in the international market, increasingly fierce, requires countries an attitude change regarding its legislation to adapt to these changes and can develop themselves economically and socially, ensuring quality of life for its citizens. The Brazilian State é neoliberal and, welfare policies need to review its labor laws, created in the era Vargas and fascist bias, extremely patronizing, so that it is an obstacle to the economic development of the country, before the new reality imposed by globalization. KEYWORDS: Human rights; International Labor Law; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic development. RESUMOO mundo mudou as práticas e leis que regem as relações de trabalho. Os países emergentes que não acompanham essas mudanças provavelmente não receberão investimentos estrangeiros diretos de investidores estrangeiros. O Brasil tentou implementar algumas reformas na área do trabalho, este é um dilema que seus legisladores devem enfrentar de acordo com a sociedade. Economia e trabalho sempre foram ligados. Desde a Revolução Industrial, com a substituição do homem pela máquina, o mercado de trabalho está passando por mudanças profundas. A competitividade no mercado internacional, cada vez mais feroz, exige aos países uma mudança de atitude em relação à sua legislação para se adaptar a essas mudanças e se desenvolver economicamente e socialmente, garantindo qualidade de vida para seus cidadãos. O Estado brasileiro é neoliberal e as políticas de bem-estar precisam rever suas leis trabalhistas, criadas na era Vargas e tendência fascista, extremamente condescendentes, de modo que é um obstáculo para o desenvolvimento econômico do país, diante da nova realidade imposta pela globalização.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Direitos Humanos; Direito Internacional do Trabalho; Investimento Externo Direito; Desenvolvimento Econômico

Vortex patterns in a superconducting-ferromagnetic rod

A superconducting rod with a magnetic moment on top develops vortices obtained here through 3D calculations of the Ginzburg-Landau theory. The inhomogeneity of the applied field brings new properties to the vortex patterns that vary according to the rod thickness. We find that for thin rods (disks) the vortex patterns are similar to those obtained in presence of a homogeneous magnetic field instead because they consist of giant vortex states. For thick rods novel patterns are obtained as vortices are curve lines in space that exit through the lateral surface.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figues, Proceeding of the Sixth International Conference in School Format on Vortex Matter in Nanostructured Superconductors (VORTEX VI