Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Extraction of Vectorized Buildings via Bidirectional Tracing of Keypoints From Remotely Sensed Imagery

Automatic extraction of vector polygons of buildings from remotely sensed images is an important but difficult task. Recent existing methods based on deep learning usually adopt a multistage solution of semantic segmentation, contour detection, and polygon simplification. Such a long processing chain may lead to unreliable results as the boundary regularization and optimization processes are ultimately completed using low-level features, which ignores the potential of deep features in polygon generation. In this article, we present an algorithm for directly extracting simplified polygons of buildings in remotely sensed images. The key of this task is the encoding of the polygon structure. PolyMapper uses a recurrent neural network (RNN) to produce vertices of a polygon sequentially. Due to the limitation of RNN, this approach is unstable and difficult to deal with objects with complex shapes. In this work, we encode the polygon into a tensor representation and use a nonrecurrent manner to recover the polygon structure. In our algorithm, two types of points are used, i.e., the corner point and the connecting point. Corner points are used to delineate the building outlines and form the vertices of the final polygon. Meanwhile, connecting points are sampled from the edges of the buildings for the assistance of the connection of the corner points. Furthermore, we predict the forward and backward directions of each keypoint in a polygon and propose a bidirectional tracing (BD-Tracing) strategy for the polygon structure recovery. Our approach is simple, effective, and robust. Experiments on public datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. The code is made publicly available at https://github.com/sz94/bldvec.
Inorganic nutrient and carbon controlled bacterioplankton growth in the Baltic Sea

Abstract Responses of natural bacterioplankton assemblages to additions of inorganic nutrients (NH 4 -N and PO 4 -P) and carbon (sucrose) were studied in seawater cultures. Cultures were obtained from surface water during different stages of phytoplankton succession and prepared by mixing 0·8 μm (Nuclepore filter) and 0·2 μm gravity filtered water (Nuclepore cartridge filter) in 1:10 proportion. Sucrose was taken up by bacteria at a rate up to 54% h -1 . The mean percent respiration was 43% in the control units and 57% in the manipulated units. The single sucrose addition markedly stimulated bacterioplankton growth only in the pre-bloom experiment and in the late autumn experiment. During spring bloom, late summer and autumn periods, stimulation of thymidine incorporation rate by inorganic N + P addition was recorded. In all experiments the combined manipulation had the greatest effect on bacterioplankton thymidine incorporation. We thus concluded that the Baltic Sea bacterioplankton is predominantly limited by inorganic nutrients in a proper C:N:P ratio. The C:N ratios > 10 in the dissolved organic matter in the Baltic Sea imply that net uptake rather than release of mineral nitrogen by bacteria occurs during the summer period, when regenerated production period prevails. Due to the large dissolved organic carbon pool in the Baltic Sea and due to the rising trend of inorganic nutrient loading to the Baltic Sea, secondary production via the microbial loop may considerably accelerate the ongoing eutrophication process.
Muscle synergies in joystick manipulation

Extracting muscle synergies from surface electromyographic signals (sEMGs) during exercises has been widely applied to evaluate motor control strategies. This study explores the relationship between upper-limb muscle synergies and the performance of joystick manipulation tasks. Seventy-seven subjects, divided into three classes according to their maneuvering experience, were recruited to perform the left and right reciprocation of the joystick. Based on the motion encoder data, their manipulation performance was evaluated by the mean error, standard deviation, and extreme range of position of the joystick. Meanwhile, sEMG and acceleration signals from the upper limbs corresponding to the entire trial were collected. Muscle synergies were extracted from each subject’s sEMG data by non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), based on which the synergy coordination index (SCI), which indicates the size of the synergy space and the variability of the center of activity (CoA), evaluated the temporal activation variability. The synergy pattern space and CoA of all participants were calculated within each class to analyze the correlation between the variability of muscle synergies and the manipulation performance metrics. The correlation level of each class was further compared. The experimental results evidenced a positive correlation between manipulation performance and maneuvering experience. Similar muscle synergy patterns were reflected between the three classes and the structure of the muscle synergies showed stability. In the class of rich maneuvering experience, the correlation between manipulation performance metrics and muscle synergy is more significant than in the classes of trainees and newbies, suggesting that long-term training and practicing can improve manipulation performance, stability of synergy compositions, and temporal activation variability but not alter the structure of muscle synergies determined by a specific task. Our approaches and findings could be applied to 1) reduce manipulation errors, 2) assist maneuvering training and evaluation to enhance transportation safety, and 3) design technical support for sports.
Patterns of Sedimentation and Paleogeography Across the Western Interior Seaway During Time of Deposition of Upper Cretaceous Eagle Sandstone and Equivalent Rocks, Northern Great Plains

Abstract The Eagle Sandstone of central Montana was deposited during general eastward progradation of the shoreline in a narrow, north-south trending epicontinental seaway that extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Cordilleran highlands along the western margin were episodically uplifted and were the main source for terrigenous clastic sediments. Along the fluctuating western shoreline, the Eagle consists of a series of thick, blanketlike sandstones that were deposited in wave-dominated deltaic and interdeltaic environments. Farther seaward on the inner shelf, the Eagle consists of elongated sand ridges reworked by storm waves and sandstone units that resulted from rapid influx of sediment by seaward-directed, storm-generated rip currents. Coastal sandstone of the Eagle grades eastward into offshore-marine siltstone and shale which are included in the Gammon Shale in eastern Montana. This fine-grained offshore sequence is considerably thicker than the time-equivalent, coarser-grained, coastal deposits due to increased rates of subsidence. In the subsurface in the vicinity of the Black Hills, coarsening-upward sandstone sequences, assigned to the Shannon Sandstone Member, are present in the upper part of the Gammon. The units form elongate bodies that trend northwest-southeast and are interpreted as sand ridges deposited on the outer shelf by south flowing, geostrophic currents induced by wind forcing. East of the Black Hills, the lower part of the Gammon grades into the upper part of Niobrara Formation which contains widespread chalk tongues. The chalk tongues were probably deposited on a northwest sloping carbonate ramp which was essentially free of western-derived detritus. In central South Dakota, an unconformity, developed at the stratigraphic position of Shannon and younger Gammon rocks, occurs along a northeast-southwest trend and represents submarine erosion along the Transcontinental Arch. In southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota, the unconformity is present on a flat surface cut into the Precambrian basement on the Sioux Ridge which was an island near the eastern shoreline.
Endogenous Hormones and Amino Acids Contents Influence Somatic Embryogenic Potential of Phoenix dactylifera L.

Somatic embryogenesis is a means by which plants can regenerate bipolar structures from somatic cells. Furthermore, a high frequency and synchronous embryogenic system is necessary to obtain the complete advantages of somatic embryogenesis. Additionally, examining the regenerability of embryogenic callus (EC) and its ability to develop further into advanced stages of somatic embryos (SEs) could therefore help in the mass production of date palm SEs. For that reason; the embryogenic callus (EC), non-embryogenic callus (NEC) and the other developing SEs phases [pro-embryos (PE) and fully developed SEs (FDSEs)] were undergone to determine the endogenous plant growth regulators (PGRs) as well as different amino acids levels. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA 3 ), zeatin (Z) and 2-isopentenyladenine (2iP) concentrations reached their lowest levels in EC in comparing with the other developing SEs phases (PE and FDSEs). However, NEC had the greatest level of ABA. Furthermore, FDSEs had high levels of GA 3 and total cytokinins (CKs). In contrast to FDSEs and NEC, which had high 2iP/zeatin ratios, EC and PE had elevated IAA/CKs ratio. IAA/ABA ratio increased significantly in PE. On either hand, EC had the highest significant quantities of aspartic, alanine, histidine and lysine than PE and FDSEs. Whereas, NEC had the highest significant levels of glycine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine, but no proline was detected in NEC or PE. Serine, glutamic, and arginine levels were high in FDSEs. In PE, the level of threonine increased considerably. These determined biochemical components are highly of importance since the discovery that the induction and expression of somatic embryogenesis are totally dependent on their endogenous levels from PGRs and free amino acids.
Differences between demersal fisheries discards: high and low productivity zones of the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Differences in fishery demersal discards in low and high productive marine ecosystems in the North-western Mediterranean were studied. Analyses were carried in three common fishing tactics carried out in different habitats from coastal to slope bottoms. Though clearly out of date (1996-2000 years), data remain useful when formulating comparisons, and simultaneously establishing a temporal reference values of trawling fishing impact. Results revealed discards were strongly positively correlated with the biomass harvested. In the higher productive zone, in Northern Catalonia, discards varied significantly with the season of the year, whereas in the low productive zone, in the Balearic Islands, discards depend on the characteristics of the biocenosis of the bottom substratum. In the coastal and shelf fisheries, the highest average biomass for retained and discards catches were recorded in spring and summer in Northern Catalonia and autumn and winter in the Balearic Islands. In the slope fishery the maximums were recorded in spring in Northern Catalonia and autumn in the Balearic Islands. By fishing tactic and zone, in the Northern Catalonia discards for coastal and shelf were mainly of fish (44 ± 25 % and 25 ± 12% respectively). This concurs with the fact that in northern Catalonia bigger quantities of pelagic and epi-benthopelagic species with seasonal fluctuations increase in spring and summer. In contrast, in the coastal Balearic fishery discards are more balanced and mainly composed by flora and invertebrate fauna. In the shelf fishery of Balearic Islands, fish represented the higher proportion of discards (49 ± 13%). For slope fishery (28± 17% Balearic Islands and 22± 14% Northern Catalonia) discards were foremost due to species without commercial value and by-catch fish species of small size. Differences between biotic and abiotic factors have demonstrate importance in discards impacts and are key factors to understand how can be reduced discards. By delimiting areas of complex biocenoses structures and fish recruitment zones, as well sensitive seasons in what discards increases, as accuracy as possible, may allow a new management scenario adapted to each zone of reduced discards.
Assessing the Mpox and Infection Prevention and Control Knowledge of Personal Service Establishments' Operators in Metro Vancouver Regional District of British Columbia

Mpox virus, formerly known as the Monkeypox virus, is a re-emerging pathogen that causes the infectious disease Mpox. Mpox was designated as a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization due to its rapid spread outside West and Central Africa. Personal service establishments (PSEs) could be a setting for exposure to Mpox because some of their services involve direct contact with their patrons. The aim of this research was to investigate the infection prevention and control (IPAC) and Mpox knowledge levels among PSE operators and to determine the associations between IPAC knowledge, Mpox knowledge, years of experience, and point-of-service risk assessment
Development of a Functional Food Based on the Fermentation Broth of Jiegeng for the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The traditional treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is often limited by its poor efficacy and high costs. Malnutrition has been closely linked to the occurrence of IBD. Clinical data have revealed that medicinal food ingredients may be more effective and safer, and thus, they can be used as an important part of functional foods. As a high-quality drug-food homologous ingredient, Jiegeng (JG) provides a wide range of pharmacological effects in addition to basic nutrition. In the present study, a functional food (FF) was developed based on the fermentation broth of JG, combined with four nutritional ingredients: Yimi (YM), Chixiaodou (CXD), Baibiandou (BBD), and Shanyao (SY). Subsequently, a 3% Dextran Sulfate Sodium Salt (DSS) water-induced mouse ulcerative colitis (UC) model was established, and the functional validation of the FF was carried out by gavaging the mice with low and high doses of functional foods (250 mg LFF and 500 mg HFF). The results showed that FF restored the body weight of UC model mice by 4.250 ± 0.250 g, reduced the DAI score by 0.255 ± 0.025, restored the colon length by 1.064 ± 0.087 cm, and reduced the spleen index by 0.102 ± 0.019. Furthermore, FF decreased the serum concentrations of the inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1βh, and IL-6, while increasing the concentration of the anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 and alleviating the inflammatory response in mice. Pathological analysis of the colonic tissue showed that FF restored the structure of the mouse intestine and reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells. FF has good stability and is favoured by most people.
Interleukin-34 level in Gingivitis Patients; Clinical and Biochemical Study

Objective: The objective of this clinical trial was to compare changes in IL-34 level in Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) before and after nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) in individuals with biofilm-induced gingivitis in relation to periodontal clinical signs. Methods and materials: Twenty patients, both genders, aged 20 to 50, have been diagnosed with biofilm-induced gingivitis. The following parameters were considered clinically at baseline and three months after NSPT: probing depth (PD), gingival index (GI), and plaque index (PI). Results: 3 months postoperatively, substantial reduction in the level of IL-34 in GCF was detected along with better improvement in all clinical parameters compared to preoperative level in addition to positive correlation among changes in level of GCF IL-34 along with changes in all clinical parameters. Conclusion: IL-34 can be regarded as one of the pro-inflammatory markers of periodontal disease and may be investigated in the future as a potential target for periodontal disease therapy.
Camel Trypanosomiasis “Dhukaan” in Lower Juba Region of Somalia: Importance and Microscopic Survey

Camel trypanosomiasis is the most significant animal disease in the camel zone of Somalia. The Somali camel is also found in the southern areas of Somalia, which have a high density of vectors, including Glossina. The economic importance of camels in Somalia is well recognized; however, little is known about camel trypanosomiasis, especially in the southern part of the country. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from November 2022 to July 2023 to discuss the importance and prevalence of camel trypanosomiasis in the Lower Juba Region using interviews and blood films, respectively. A total of 126 blood samples from seven herds from three sites in Kismayo district were conveniently collected and microscopically screened for trypanosomes. The seven herders were interviewed for their awareness and the importance of the disease in the area. The overall prevalence was 4/7 (57.1%) and 13/126 (10.3%) at herd and individual levels, respectively. The mean PCV% of the infected camels was (24.85±5.87%) lower than the others (26.64±2.68) with a p-value of 0.053. Significant differences in the prevalence were reported between herds (p-value = 0.005), sites (p-value = 0.005), PCV% (p-value = 0.001), body conditions (p-value = 0.032), and mix-infection with other erythrocytic parasites (p-value = 0.019). Adopting a nomadic system, all the respondents were owners and men, and only one of them was unmarried. The Holy Qur’an was the level of education for all of them. Their knowledge about trypanosomiasis and its importance among other camel diseases, as well as their local names, was discussed. In conclusion, ranking third, camel trypanosomiasis is highly prevalent and moderately important in the region. Molecular studies on trypanosomes and tick-borne pathogens, as well as their socioeconomic importance, are recommended. ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
The Role of Heterocysts in Cyanotoxin Production during Nitrogen Limitation

Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) can have impacts on human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy. Nutrient management is an important mitigation and even remediation strategy. In this work, the paralytic shellfish toxin (PST)-producing Aphanizomenon (Aphan.) flos-aquae (Linnaeus) Ralfs ex Bornet & Flahault (now identified as Aphan. sp.) single filament isolate NH-5 was grown in P-depleted media, N-depleted media, and complete BG-11 media. Growth and heterocyst and vegetative cells were monitored using dry weight and cell counts. Ultrasonication was used to separate heterocysts from vegetative cells. HPLC-FLD with post-column derivatization was used to determine the saxitoxin (STX) and neosaxitoxin (NEOSTX) concentration per cell. Aphan. sp. NH-5 biomass was lower in the P-depleted media than in the N-depleted media and the control, though higher heterocyst counts were detected in the N-depleted media. The heterocyst toxin concentration was significantly higher compared to the vegetative cells for the N-depleted media, control, and P-depleted media. However, no significant differences were found among all preparations with regard to the STX-to-NEOSTX ratio. We conclude that N limitation induced higher heterocyst numbers and that N fixation activity is a factor behind the increase in the STX and NEOSTX production of Aphan. sp. NH-5.
Lateral Behavior of Vertical Pile Group Embedded in Stabilized Earth Slope

An experimental study of the lateral behavior of vertical pile groups embedded in reinforced and nonreinforced sandy earth slopes was carried out. The model tests include studies of group configurations, pile spacing, embedment length of pile, relative densities of sand, and location of pile groups relative to the slope crest. Several configurations of geogrid reinforcement with different lengths, widths, and number of layers were used to reinforce a sandy slope of 1 (V) : 1.5 (H) . Pile groups of 2×2 and 3×3 along with center-to-center pile spacing of 2D , 3D , and 4.5D and piles with embedment length to diameter ratios of L∕D=12 and 22 were considered. Based on test results, geogrid parameters that give the maximum lateral capacity improvement are presented and discussed.
Critical gradients and pressures in dense swelling clays

Uncertainties exist with regard to the applicability of Darcy's law to dense swelling clays. These clays may not allow water to pass through them when the hydraulic gradient is below a critical value. Preliminary results are presented from a series of constant-head permeability tests on dry, confined, densely compacted bentonite clays. The tests are intended to clarify the applicability of Darcy's law to dense bentonites: these materials may be used for isolation of nuclear fuel wastes in deep geologic disposal vaults. On wetting and with increasing hydraulic gradient, the clays develop swelling pressures, and some specimens appear to exhibit a critical hydraulic gradient or pressure. Below these gradients and pressures, water does not appear to flow through the materials. Once the apparent critical gradient is exceeded, water flux through the materials increases linearly and directly with gradient. Water continues to flow if the gradient is subsequently decreased to values below the original critical val.
Prediction of the diurnal warming of sea surface temperature using an atmosphere‐ocean mixed layer coupled model

[1] An atmosphere-ocean mixed layer coupled model is developed to predict the diurnal variability of sea surface temperature (SST). For this purpose, a new mixed layer model is developed, which is able to reproduce realistic temperature profiles under the various atmospheric conditions, ranging from the formation of a diurnal thermocline under strong wind to the appearance of strong near surface stratification under weak wind. The predicted diurnal warming of SST (ΔSST) from the model is compared with satellite and buoy data in various aspects, including scatterplots, time series, and probability density functions of ΔSST, in order to examine the predictability. The model performance is also compared with other model results. In addition the diurnal variation of temperature profiles below the sea surface, whose information is not available from satellite data, is investigated based on model output.
Dynamics of Brittle‐Viscous Accretionary Wedges as Revealed by Geophysical and Drilling Data and Analog Modeling of the Barbados Prism

Mega‐accretionary prisms do not exhibit the characteristics of the classical Coulomb wedge theory. In the example of the Barbados accretionary prism, a system of elongated extensional trenches (“basin‐&‐range” type) developed in the thickest zone of the tectonic wedge and this system has been active since at least Miocene times. Synchronously with this extension, compression occurred at the front of the accretionary prism (frontal accretion zone), and compression was also active at the inner edge of the prism (characterized by back‐thrusting). The interpretation proposed in this study invokes a spreading of the superficial part of the accretionary prism due to a viscous response associated to a tectonic thickening of the deepest parts of the prism. This interpretation is consistent with the fact that extension is limited to the axial part of the prism and coincides with the zone where the prism is the thickest. The deep zone of viscous behavior is interpreted as shale‐rich sedimentary domains intensively deformed by penetrative deformation. Analog sand‐silicone models monitored by X‐ray CT scanner have been used to simulate the distribution of the deformation in the Barbados accretionary prism as observed on available seismic reflection data. A bilayer model with an upper brittle zone and a lower ductile part is best suited to account for observed deformation. Compressive structures at the front and at the rear of the prism correlate with the zones of high concentration of maximum shear strain.