Learning-on-the-Drive: Self-supervised Adaptation of Visual Offroad Traversability Models

Autonomous off-road driving requires understanding traversability, which refers to the suitability of a given terrain to drive over. When offroad vehicles travel at high speed ($>10m/s$), they need to reason at long-range ($50m$-$100m$) for safe and deliberate navigation. Moreover, vehicles often operate in new environments and under different weather conditions. LiDAR provides accurate estimates robust to visual appearances, however, it is often too noisy beyond 30m for fine-grained estimates due to sparse measurements. Conversely, visual-based models give dense predictions at further distances but perform poorly at all ranges when out of training distribution. To address these challenges, we present ALTER, an offroad perception module that adapts-on-the-drive to combine the best of both sensors. Our visual model continuously learns from new near-range LiDAR measurements. This self-supervised approach enables accurate long-range traversability prediction in novel environments without hand-labeling. Results on two distinct real-world offroad environments show up to 52.5% improvement in traversability estimation over LiDAR-only estimates and 38.1% improvement over non-adaptive visual baseline.Comment: 8 page

Sponsorship and advertising in sport: a study of consumers' attitude

Research question: Advertising has been considered a less efficient vehicle of marketing communication. One recent study refuted that unlike traditional adverting mediums, consumers' attitude towards advertising was rather favourable in sport. This study compared consumers’ attitudes between advertising and sponsorship in sport and examined the antecedents (beliefs) and consequence (purchase intentions) of attitude in advertising and sponsorship. Research methods: Data were collected from 324 consumers. For testing of psychometric properties of the measures, a confirmatory factor analysis and a multiple invariance test were employed. A paired t-test, structural equation modeling, and invariance tests were conducted to test the research hypotheses. Results and Findings: There was no significant difference in consumers’ attitudes between advertising and sponsorship which were both deemed favourable. The path analyses revealed two positive beliefs (product information and hedonism/pleasure) and one negative belief (falsity/no sense) as significant predictors of attitude in both models. Good for the economy was an additional significant predictor of attitude in advertising but it was not so in sponsorship. The strengths of the three path coefficients were statistically identical across the two models. Attitude was a significant indicator of purchase intentions in both models; however, the invariance test revealed that the path in adverting was statistically stronger than that in sponsorship. Implications: This study provides important knowledge about consumers’ cognitive structures that could explain their decision making processes. Sport marketers could develop their promotion strategies more successfully, conveying their intent in a manner consistent with positive beliefs and avoiding activating negative beliefs

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from Sub-Stoichiometric Colloidal WO3-xNanowires

We report direct photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from substoichiometric highly reduced tungsten oxide (WOx) nanowires (NWs) using sacrificial alcohol. WOx NWs are synthesized via nonaqueous colloidal synthesis with a diameter of about 4 nm and an average length of about 250 nm. As-synthesized WOx NWs exhibit a broad absorption across the visible to infrared regions attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancies. The optical band gap is increased in these WOx NWs compared to stoichiometric bulk tungsten oxide (WO3) powders as a result of the Burstein\u2013Moss shift. As a consequence of this increase, we demonstrate direct photocatalytic hydrogen production from WOx NWs through alcohol photoreforming. The stable H2 evolution on platinized WOx NWs is observed under conditions in which platinized bulk WO3 and bulk WO2.9 powders either do not show activity or show very low rates, suggesting that increased surface area and specific exposed facets are key for the improved performance of WOx NWs. This work demonstrates that control of size and composition can lead to unexpected and beneficial changes in the photocatalytic properties of semiconductor materials

Molecular layer-by-layer re-stacking of MoS2–In2Se3 by electrostatic means: assembly of a new layered photocatalyst

2D-layered transition metal chalcogenides are useful semiconductors for a wide range of opto-electronic applications. Their similarity as layered structures offers exciting possibility to modify their electronic properties by creating new heterojunction assemblies from layer-by-layer restacking of individual monolayer sheets, however, the lack of specific interaction between these layers could induce phase segregation. Here, we employed a chemical method using n-BuLi to exfoliate MoS2 and In2Se3 into their monolayer-containing colloids in solution. The bulky Se atoms can be selectively leached from In2Se3 during Li treatment which gives positively charged surface monolayers in neutral pH whereas the strong polarization of Mo–S with moderate S leaching gives a negatively charged surface. Specific interlayer electrostatic attraction during their selective assembly gives a controllable atomic AB-type of layer stacking as supported by EXAFS, STEM with super-EDX mapping, TAS/TRPL and DFT calculations. Using this simple but inexpensive bottom-up solution method, a new photocatalyst assembled from layers for photo water splitting can be tailor-made with high activity

Analiza porównawcza czynników małżeńskich i rodzinnych w związkach mono- i międzykulturowych w Singapurze

The number of intercultural marriages in Singapore has recently been on the rise and research has found that these mixed marriages and relationships tend to have lower levels of marital satisfaction in comparison to monocultural marriages. To determine whether the level of marital satisfaction will be higher for monocultural couples as compared to intercultural couples, a 40-item questionnaire and an 8-item interview was developed based on 8 different factors of couple dynamics and family factors. 10 monocultural couples and 11 intercultural couples were recruited to complete the questionnaire and five monocultural couples, and five intercultural couples from this participant pool participated in an additional interview. It was hypothesized that the marital satisfaction scores, based on both couple dynamics and family factors, will be higher in monocultural couples as compared to intercultural couples. Contrary to that, results showed that intercultural couples demonstrated higher marital satisfaction scores as compared to monocultural couples. Arguably, it may be possible that Singapore and the other parts of the world might differ by having a strong foundation of interethnic ties, which may have made intercultural marriages more widely accepted.3124926614Studia Edukacyjn

Analiza czynników wpływających na funkcjonowanie związków międzykulturowych w Singapurze

The intercultural marriages in Singapore have been on the rise in recent years and there is a growing need to present an analysis of potentially vital factors, which may play a significant role in couple dynamics from the cross-cultural perspective. The body of research found that mixed marriages and relationships tend to encounter more obstacles affecting the level of marital satisfaction than monocultural marriages. Therefore a deeper understanding of the factors affecting intercultural couples in Singapore seems to be a crucial introduction to the local context due to the paucity of prior research.3026326815Studia Edukacyjn

Invasive Micropapillary Carcinoma of the Breast: MR Imaging Findings

ObjectiveTo analyze the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings of invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast.Materials and MethodsMR images were retrospectively evaluated in 14 patients (age range: 37-67, mean age: 49 years) with pathologically confirmed invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast. The enhancement type (mass/non-mass), shape, margin, contrast enhancement, and time-intensity curve pattern on the dynamic study were correlated with the histopathologic features. Associated findings, such as edema, nipple change, skin change and enlarged axillary lymph nodes were also studied.ResultsThe most common features of the masses were irregular shape (12 of 14 patients, 85.8%) and irregular or spiculated margin (11 of 14 patients, 78.7%). The contrast enhancement was heterogeneous in 11 patients (78.7%), rim enhancement in 2 cases (14.2%), and homogeneous in one patient (7.1%). The predominant kinetic pattern was rapid increase (14 of 14, 100%) in the initial phase and washout (11 of 14, 78.7%) in the delayed phase. Associated non-mass like enhancement was shown in 4 patients, representing ductal carcinoma in situ. MR imaging helped detect additional sites of cancer other than the index lesion in 3 patients (21.4%). Enlarged axillary lymphadenopathy was identified in 7 of the 14 patients (50%).ConclusionInvasive micropapillary carcinoma appears as a mass with an irregular shape, irregular or spiculated margin and heterogeneous enhancement on MR imaging. Though these findings are not specific and are also observed with other breast malignancies, invasive micropapillary carcinoma frequently showed multiple lesions, accompanying non-mass enhancement and axillary lymph node enlargement

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead