General Optimal Trajectory Planning:Enabling Autonomous Vehicles with the Principle of Least Action

This study presents a general optimal trajectory planning(GOTP)framework for autonomous vehicles(AVs)that can effectively avoid obstacles and guide AVs to complete driving tasks safely and efficiently.Firstly,we employ the fifth-order Bezier curve to generate and smooth the reference path along the road centerline.Cartesian coordinates are then transformed to achieve the curvature continuity of the generated curve.Considering the road constraints and vehicle dynamics,limited polynomial candidate trajectories are generated and smoothed in a curvilinear coordinate system.Furthermore,in selecting the optimal trajectory,we develop a unified and auto-tune objective function based on the principle of least action by employing AVs to simulate drivers’behavior and summarizing their manipulation characteristics of“seeking benefits and avoiding losses.”Finally,by integrating the idea of receding-horizon optimization,the proposed framework is achieved by considering dynamic multi-performance objectives and selecting trajectories that satisfy feasibility,optimality,and adaptability.Extensive simulations and experiments are performed,and the results demonstrate the framework’s feasibility and effectiveness,which avoids both dynamic and static obstacles and applies to various scenarios with multi-source interactive traffic participants.Moreover,we prove that the proposed method can guarantee real-time planning and safety requirements compared to drivers’manipulation.

Abbreviated Report of the WHO Western Pacific Region Workshop on National Plans of Action for Nutrition: Key Elements for Success, Constraints and Future Plans

A workshop on National Plans of Action for Nutrition: Constraints, Key Elements for Success, and Future Plans was convened and organized by the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific in collaboration with the Institute for Medical Research Malaysia and co sponsored with FAO and UNICEF from 25—29 October 1999. It was attended by representatives of 25 countries in the region and resource persons, representatives from WHO and other international agencies. The objectives of the workshop were to review the progress of countries in developing, implementing and monitoring national plans of action for nutrition (NPANs) in the Western Pacific Region and to identify constraints and key elements of success in these efforts. Most of the countries have NPANs, either approved and implemented or awaiting official endorsement. The Plan formulation is usually multisectoral, involving several government ministries, non governmental organizations, and international agencies. Often official adoption or endorsement of the Plan comes from the head of state and cabinet or the minister of health, one to six years from the start of its formulation. The NPAN has stimulated support for the development and implementation of nutrition projects and activities, with comparatively greater involvement of and more support from government ministries, UN agencies and non-governmental agencies compared to local communities, bilateral and private sectors and research and academic institutions. Monitoring and evaluation are important components of NPANs. They are, however, not given high priority and often not built into the plan. The role of an intersectoral coordinating body is considered crucial to a country's nutrition program. Most countries have an intersectoral structure or coordinating body to ensure the proper implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their NPANs. The workshop identified the constraints and key elements of success in each of the four stages of the NPAN process: development, operationalization, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Constraints to the NPAN process relate to the political and socioeconomic environment, resource scarcity, control and management processes, and factors related to sustainability. The group's review of NPAN identified successful NPANs as those based on recent, adequate and good quality information on the nutritional situation of the country, and on the selection of strategies, priorities and interventions that are relevant to the country and backed up by adequate resources. Continued high level political commitment, a multisectoral approach, and adequate participation of local communities are other key elements for success. The participants agreed on future actions and support needed from various sources for the further development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their NPANs. The recommendations for future actions were categorized into actions pertaining to countries with working NPAN, actions for countries without working NPAN and actions relevant to all countries. There was also a set of suggested actions at the regional level, such as holding of regular regional NPAN evaluation meetings, inclusion of NPAN on the agenda of regional fora by the regional organizations, and strengthening of regional nutrition networks.

Noise Action Plans for the Acoustic Protection of Urban Areas around the Athens International Airport （A.I.A.） Strategic Noise Maps 2006 ＆ 2011

Athens International Airport ＂Eleftherios Venizelos＂ （AIA） is considered a pioneer international Public-Private Partnership, being the first major int. airport constructed with the participation of the private sector with the BOOT method （Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer）. AIA＇s 1st day of operation was in March 2001 and the aircraft traffic on 2006 reached 191.000 movements ＆ 15.1 million passengers. According to the European Directive 49/2002 and the Joint Ministerial Decision 13586/724-28/3/06, Athens International Airport （AIA） is included in the category of＂large airports＂ and it consequently comes under the authority of the above mentioned legislation on the evaluation and management of environmental noise. A complete Study on Aircraft Noise [1], according to the European Directive 49/2002 [2] and Joint Ministerial Decision 13586/724-28/3/06 was undertaken under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Energy ＆ Climate Change, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, and AIA S.A. In this article the following results are presented： （1） The 2006 Strategic Noise Map （SNM） of both indicators Lden and Lnight based on the ECAC.CEAC Doc 29 methodology ＂Report on Standard Method of Computing Noise Contours around Civil Airports＂, 1997 [3], （2） A statistical analysis of predicted vs measured noise levels based on the existing Noise Monitoring System, （3） Effects from the removal of marginally accepted chapter 3 aircraft, （4） A complete evaluation of results regarding calculation of area/land uses and number of individuals living in residences inside blocks exposed in various levels of noise, and （5） A full evaluation of Noise Action Plans （NAP） regrouping existing and foreseen actions FOR 2006 ＆ 2011 scenarios, especially regarding among others, noise abatement procedures, a comprehensive noise insulation legal framework.

Connection Between Policies and Laws on Human Rights Protection:Case Study of the National Human Rights Action Plans

China’s National Human Rights Action Plans connect policies and laws on human rights protection in terms of ideas,procedures,and contents.The functions of the connections are the guidance to local policymaking,the promise of state commitment,and the linkage to international human rights goals.At the practical level,the enhancement of the connection between policies and laws will promote the effectiveness of human rights protection.In order to improve the rationality of human rights policies,there should be more researches on National Human Rights Action Plans,and more public participation in the process of the Plan drafting.

Three Categories of International Comments on National Human Rights Action Plans and Their Implications——An Analysis Based on UPR Reports

At least 57 countries have formulated and implemented 78 national human rights action plans, and the international assessment of them has had direct influence on their international human rights images of their issuers and the focuses of future planning According to related reports from the universal periodic review by the united nations Human rights Council, three categories of comments in a rough quantitative proportion of 1:4:2 have been made by the international community on these plans, which can be categorized as: Attention, Laudatory and expectation, representing objective attention, appreciation or encouragement and anticipation of further implementation or improvement, respectively In terms of regions, Asian countries have received the most Attention Comments, europe and Africa fewer, and America the least The marked achievements in the formulation and implementation of human rights action plans in China have attracted widespread attention and recognition, and further efforts should be made to implement steady and consistent human rights policies, improve the implementation mechanisms and integrate the external and internal functions of human rights action plans so as to promote the sustainable development of China’s human rights cause.

Pursuit of Excellence:The Past Development and New Progress of the Human Rights Action Plans of China

Since the Vienna Declaration and programme of Action in 1993 recommended that countries formulate national human rights action plans,many countries have carried out relevant explorations.Since 2009,China has formulated four series of Human Rights Action plan of China,which is significant for promoting the development of human rights,enhancing the say in international human rights,reducing social risks and protecting individual rights.The formulation of the plan adheres to the principles of being laws and policies-based and human rights-oriented,and taking into account both the country and society.The first three series of the Action plans have undergone such evolution as upgrade of guiding principles and goals,refinement of rights content and measures,diversification of responsible subjects,increasingly reasonable framework structure,and more human rights consideration in discourse expression.The fourth series of the Action plan pays more attention to expanding public participation and the content,improving the supervision mechanism,and further promoting the formulation and implementation of the Action plan.

Predicting Fintech Innovation Adoption:the Mediator Role of Social Norms and Attitudes

Digital innovation is challenging the traditional way of offering financial services to companies;the so-called Fintech phenomenon refers to startups that use the latest technologies to offer innovative financial services.Within the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior(TPB)and the Theory of Reasoned Action(TRA),the primary purpose of this paper is to develop a causal-predictive analysis of the relationship between Subjective Norms,Attitudes,and Perceived Behavioral Control with the Intention to Use and Behavioral Use of the Fintech services by companies.Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling methodology was used with data collected from a survey of 300 companies.Our findings support the TRA and TPB models and confirm their robustness in predicting companies’intention and use of Fintech services.Financial technology innovators must understand the processes involved in users’adoption to design sound strategies that increase the viability of their services.Studying the antecedents of behavioral intention to adopt Fintech services can greatly help understand the pace of adoption,allowing these players to attract and retain customers better.This study contributes to the literature by formulating and validating TPB to predict Fintech adoption,and its findings provide useful information for banks and Fintech companies and lead to an improvement in organizational performance management in formulating marketing strategies.

Community Action Plan for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention: The First Step to Creating a Community Participatory Action

Background: The study was designed to explore and catalyze the development of action plan for adolescent substance use prevention in a rural community in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Methodology: This study adopted a two-phase multi-method design. The first phase was a quantitative assessment that determined the real-life situation of adolescents’ substance use in the community using 417 respondents. Contemporaneously, the second qualitative phase focused on the development of an action plan by community stakeholders for adolescent substance use prevention using thirty (30) participants selected through purposive sampling. The reliability of the instrument for quantitative data was established using a test re-test method and computed using Pearson moment correlation. A coefficient of 0.8 was obtained. Validity was established for both quantitative and qualitative instruments. The generated data were subjected to descriptive statistics whereas the qualitative data from respondents’ narratives were analysed thematically. Result: The data revealed that participants who have ever used substances consisted of 128 (59.5%) males and 87 (40.5%) females. The findings on the opinion of 30 participants interviewed about the consequences of substance use brought out majorly four consequences of substance use. The result of catalysing the involvement of community residents towards developing community action for adolescent substance use showed that the challenges associated with adolescents’ substance use as identified by the participants were discussed under one theme—living with the cause and three elements. Conclusion: Substance use prevention policies and plans in the local community have strong potential for stimulating local adolescent substance use prevention actions.

The National Action Plan： An Approach to Prioritise Acts Related to the Conservation of Marine Turtles at Jordan＇s Gulf of Aqaba

The Jordan＇s NAP （national action plan） provides a set of priority actions for the conservation of marine turtles and their habitats in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. The main threats to the maintenance of stable turtle populations in Jordan range from opportunistic capture to global threats such fishing mortality and from pollution incidents. Jordan＇s NAP addresses the primary causes of turtle mortality with a series of proposed actions. It includes reducing threats from commercial fisheries, development operations, promoting turtle rescue and rehabilitation along with public awareness activities. It considered also a set of recommendations to reflect the importance of protecting marine turtles in Jordan＇s Gulf of Aqaba. It includes community participation in conservation, capacity of national agencies to carry out management activities and to enforce legislations. To each priority actions identified in NAP, expected results and performance indicators were defined. Hence, the designation of a level of urgency to each specific priority action allowed a phased approach for implementation, subject to budget and available national capacity. Currently, NAP is performing effectively through an integrated network of national working groups including government and non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders.

Assessment of Human Rights Action Plans and Use of Its Results from a Global Perspective

Since the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993,more than a quarter of the participating countries have developed National Human Rights Action Plans(NHRAPs)to promote human rights.An assessment of the NHRAPs can help to understand the realities of the implementation,improve the quality of the follow-up plan,and improve the effectiveness of the plan in the implementation process.From the texts and practices of the NHRAPs,such an assessment includes the 'self-assessments' of the plans’ implementers,comprehensive assessments of inter-departmental committees(groups),and evaluations of policy objects,social organizations and human rights experts.The assessment methods include field research,qualitative evaluation,indicator measurement and process monitoring,among other things.The results of the assessment can promote the cohesion between the NHRAPs in different periods,promote the accumulation and transmission of the implementation experience of the plan,and promote the optimization and adjustment of related matters during the implementation period.

Four Mechanisms for Safeguarding the Effectiveness of the Human Rights Action Plan: Based on African Experience

Since the 1993 World Conference on human Rights, nine African countries have implemented ten human rights action plans. An analysis of the texts and related implementation of these plans reveals that there are four mechanisms that play a key role in improving the effectiveness of the implementation of the national human Rights Action Plan, namely, the positioning and focusing mechanism for the country’s core human rights issues, the integration mechanism between the action plans and the countries’ development strategies, domestic economic growth and related resources utilization mechanism, and effective governance of domestic public conflicts and public order guarantee mechanism. defining and coordinating these mechanisms is of great practical significance for improving the effectiveness of human rights action plans in developing countries.

CAS Action Plan for the Development of Western China Progressing Smoothly

Since CAS is charged with the key task of carrying out strategic, fundamental and forward-looking studies for this country, it is incumbent upon CAS scientists to take an active part in the National Program for the Development of Western China. This is also an important part of the national Knowledge Innovation Program (KIP) spearheaded by CAS. Over the past two years, CAS has made a series of remarkable advances in Western China with regard to the development of research bases, exploration of crucial scientific problems, the training of talented people, and providing consultation services for decision makers.With the furtherance of the national drive to develop the country's western region, CAS will step up its efforts and increase its funding, to make more and greater contributions to the overall development of the region.

An Outline of the CAS Action Plan for the Development of West China

1. It is a historic commitment for CAS staff tomake fundamental, strategic and forward-lookingcontributions to the development of west China. The large-scale development strategy for westChina is an essential component of Comrade DengXiaoping’s strategic thinking on China’s moderni-zation drive. which encompasses the developmentof both the coastal areas and the interior. Accordingto his thinking, the coastal areas in east China wouldtake the initiative in development through

Action Plan to Promote All-Round Progress in China's Human Rights Cause——An Interview with Wang Chen,director of the State Council Information Office

EDITOR＇S NOTE： The National Human Rights Action Plan of China （2009-2010） has won favorable comments in China and abroad since its publication by the Information Office of the State Council on April 13, 2009. Here is a transcript of an interview given to our reporters by Wang Chen, director of the Office, on the Action Plan, which we hope will help our readers gain a better understanding of China＇s human rights cause and its development.

System security of hybrid AC-HVDC-systems challenges and new approaches for combined security assessment,preventive optimization and curative actions

The intense application of Voltage Source Converter based HVDC interconnections and grids will result in a hybrid AC-HVDC-system. The operation of such a system becomes complex regarding system security and system operation. This paper describes major challenges and proposes potential solutions, including a combined security assessment, preventive optimization and curative actions. A coordination of both systems enables an efficient application of existing transport capacity.

Particulate matter trends and quantification of the spring sand-dust contribution in Hohhot,Inner Mongolia,from 2013 to 2017

On 10 September 2013,the State Council promulgated the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution(hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan).To study the variations in the air pollutant concentrations in Hohhot during the implementation of the Action Plan and the effects of various measures,the daily concentrations of air pollutants(fine particulate matter(PM_(2.5)),inhalable PM(PM 10),SO_(2),and NO_(2))in Hohhot published by the China Environmental Monitoring Station were obtained to analyze the general meteorological conditions in Inner Mongolia from 2013 to 2017.The variations and causes of the ambient PM concentration in Hohhot were examined,and the quantitative influence of sandstorms on the ambient PM concentration in Hohhot was analyzed by selecting the spring season with frequent sandstorms as an example.The results showed the following.(1)The air quality in Hohhot continuously improved,and compared with those in 2013,the PM_(2.5)and PM 10 concentrations decreased by 24.6%and 48.2%,respectively,in 2017.However,the air pollutant concentrations remained high,with the average PM_(2.5)and PM 10 concentrations exceeding the national secondary standards by 22.9%and 35.7%,respectively.(2)The reductions in the spring PM_(2.5)and PM 10 concentrations were 5.6%and 8.9%,respectively,and the annual decreases in the PM_(2.5)and PM 10 concentrations were 3.6 and 15.1μg m^(−3)yr−1,respectively,from 2013 to 2017.(3)The absolute contribution ranges of dust weather to the concentrations of PM_(2.5),PM 10,and TSP during 2013–17 were 0.6–5.2μg m^(−3),9.0–16.9μg m^(−3),and 14.7–30.0μg m^(−3),respectively,in Hohhot during the spring.

National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)

Introduction The realization of human rights in the broadest sense has been a long-cherished ideal of mankind and also a longpursued goal of the Chinese government and people.

National Human Rights Action Plan of China(2016-2020)

Introduction The period from 2016 to 2020 is a decisive stage for China in the building of a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way as well as a major stage for realizing the orderly,steady and sustainable development of human rights in China.

National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015)

The formulation of the National Human Rights Action Plan is an impor- tant measure taken by theChinese government to ensure the implementation of the constitutional principle of respecting and safeguarding human rights. It is of great significance to promoting scientific development and social harmony, and to achieving the great objective of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way.

Using Vector Representation of Propositions and Actions for STRIPS Action Model Learning

Action model learning has become a hot topic in knowledge engineering for automated planning.A key problem for learning action models is to analyze state changes before and after action executions from observed"plan traces".To support such an analysis,a new approach is proposed to partition propositions of plan traces into states.First,vector representations of propositions and actions are obtained by training a neural network called Skip-Gram borrowed from the area of natural language processing(NLP).Then,a type of semantic distance among propositions and actions is defined based on their similarity measures in the vector space.Finally,k-means and k-nearest neighbor(kNN)algorithms are exploited to map propositions to states.This approach is called state partition by word vector(SPWV),which is implemented on top of a recent action model learning framework by Rao et al.Experimental results on the benchmark domains show that SPWV leads to a lower error rate of the learnt action model,compared to the probability based approach for state partition that was developed by Rao et al.