Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic detection of standing dead trees based on improved YOLOv7 from airborne remote sensing imagery

Detecting and localizing standing dead trees (SDTs) is crucial for effective forest management and conservation. Due to challenges posed by mountainous terrain and road conditions, conducting a swift and comprehensive survey of SDTs through traditional manual inventory methods is considerably difficult. In recent years, advancements in deep learning and remote sensing technology have facilitated real-time and efficient detection of dead trees. Nevertheless, challenges persist in identifying individual dead trees in airborne remote sensing images, attributed to factors such as small target size, mutual occlusion and complex backgrounds. These aspects collectively contribute to the increased difficulty of detecting dead trees at a single-tree scale. To address this issue, the paper introduces an improved You Only Look Once version 7 (YOLOv7) model that incorporates the Simple Parameter-Free Attention Module (SimAM), an unparameterized attention mechanism. This improvement aims to enhance the network’s feature extraction capabilities and increase the model’s sensitivity to small target dead trees. To validate the superiority of SimAM_YOLOv7, we compared it with four widely adopted attention mechanisms. Additionally, a method to enhance model robustness is presented, involving the replacement of the Complete Intersection over Union (CIoU) loss in the original YOLOv7 model with the Wise-IoU (WIoU) loss function. Following these, we evaluated detection accuracy using a self-developed dataset of SDTs in forests. The results indicate that the improved YOLOv7 model can effectively identify dead trees in airborne remote sensing images, achieving precision, recall and mAP@0.5 values of 94.31%, 93.13% and 98.03%, respectively. These values are 3.67%, 2.28% and 1.56% higher than those of the original YOLOv7 model. This improvement model provides a convenient solution for forest management.
Sediment Composition of periplatform sediments and calciturbidites around Pedro Bank, Southwestern Caribbean Sea

Spatial and temporal variations in the carbonate production and sediment export of the Pedro Bank carbonate platform were studied in response to the late Quaternary sea level fluctuations. A set of nine sediment cores were obtained from up- and downcurrent position to Pedro Bank to form a downcurrent offbank transect that covers the proximal toe-of-slope to a distal basinal setting. The sediments studied were deposited between 650 to 2520 meter below recent sea level, and reach back until oxygen isotope stage 9, i.e. until approximately 300-310 ky. The sediments recovered are rather uniform, and consist of foraminifer- and pteropod-bearing aragonite-rich mud- to wackstones. This typical periplatform lithology incorporates calciturbidites, which are of pelagic as well as neritic origin. The pelagic sourced turbidites are generally evident as fine tail-end turbidites, whereas the few neritic calciturbidites are present as coarse pack- to grainstones. The sediments were analysed on their ability to record the export patterns of neritic sediment from the shallow tops of Pedro Bank. Therefore mineralogical, sedimentological and geochemical analyses were performed. The aragonite and strontium content were found to be good indicators for variations in shallow-water sediment export. The geochemistry data, as well as the grainsize and component distribution patterns, were useful to differentiate between primary sediment input signals and secondary processes such as dissolution and preservation of metastable carbonates at the seafloor. This study shows that during the last 300 ky (1) sea-level fluctuations, but also the (2) ocean currents, (3) pelagic and neritic sediment production, (4) dissolution of metastable sediment constituents, and (5) input of non-carbonates have had a major control on the sediment dispersal, sediment deposition and composition, especially along the downcurrent margin, where main neritic export occurs. The mineralogical and grain-size composition documents this variability of periplatform sedimentation along the margins off Pedro Bank. In addition, it was found that also the seafloor morphology plays an important role for the spatial and temporal evolution of the periplatform sedimentation in the vicinity of Pedro Bank, which is situated in a tectonically active plate margin setting.
Tasting life and energy with the body: the biodynamic resonance of wine

Based on two long term research with natural and biodynamic winegrowers in France, this text returns to the principles of biodynamic agriculture in its desire to potentiate the living character of the vine and the soil; living supposed to translate into energy or vibrations in the glass. Why is wine attracted to biodynamics? The hypothesis put forward, which would partly explain the apparently happy marriage between wine and biodynamics, is that the latter helps to give more life and energy to wine and that this energy would be perceived through new way of tasting. Our aim here is not so much to study what this extra life or energy might be as a scientific object as these notions are in any case impossible to stabilise from a scientific point of view. The reason for our use of these unstable categories is that they emerge repeatedly on the subject of biodynamic wines from the discourses of winemakers, oenologists, sommeliers and tasters, whether beginners or advanced. These categories of energy or vibrations, still in gestation, refer to forms of wine tasting that go beyond organoleptic criteria alone to extend to the receptivity of the whole body involved in the act of drinking.
Analysis of factors affecting vehicle choice behavior in Hanoi city

Motorcycles are rapidly changing transportation in Vietnamese cities. Motorcycles are dominant in all sixty-three provinces/cities of Vietnam and accounted for nearly 80 percent of passenger transportation. The sharp rise in motorcycle ownership and usage has contributed to several unique motorcycle-related transportation challenges in Vietnam, which are different from those in developed countries where car usage is predominant. These challenges include a high frequency of motorcycle-related accidents and fatalities; and increasing motorcycle-related pollution and congestion. To address these challenges, policymakers in Vietnam have introduced policies that promote alternative transportation modes replacing motorcycles. This study adopts a vehicle user perspective to elucidate the factors influencing the choice of alternative means of transportation instead of motorbikes. The study was conducted through 800 sample surveys among individuals in Hanoi. In addition to the conventional factors included in the model, such as demographics and socio-economic characteristics, trip attributes, vehicle characteristics, subjective norms, awareness, and the appeal of alternative transport modes… This study introduces two additional factors: attitude to vehicles and health awareness. These additions are based on the cultural characteristics and transportation context unique to the capital. The research demonstrates that cultural factors influence the choice of transportation means. Specifically, family structure and attitudes towards vehicles emerge as major barriers to altering the preference for motorbikes in urban areas. Additionally, health awareness is shown to be a factor influencing transportation choices. The findings of this research will contribute to the theoretical foundation for shaping the vehicle management policies of Hanoi capital in the future.
Study of the impact of fighting cattle farms in the Spanish dehesa

El objetivo fue determinar la incidencia de las ganaderías de lidia en la dehesa española, precisando aquellas que se encuentran en este territorio, y cuantificando las hectáreas que ocupan, y algunos aspectos productivos, a fin de constatar la importancia que supone la crianza del toro de lidia en el mantenimiento y conservación de su biodiversidad. Para ello se consultaron diferentes fuentes documentales de asociaciones ganaderas y el Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentación; y se realizaron 304 encuestas a los ganaderos de bovino de lidia de las provincias españolas con dehesa. La superficie de la dehesa es de 3’515,846 ha repartidas en las Comunidades Autónomas de Andalucía, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha y Madrid, donde existen registradas 726 ganaderías de lidia, aunque solo 631 de ellas están activas en el Libro Genealógico de la Raza Bovina de Lidia (2022), siendo su tendencia descendente en los últimos años, y con un censo medio de 144 reproductoras y 9 sementales, una baja carga animal. El número estimado de fincas en la dehesa dedicadas exclusivamente a la ganadería de lidia es 581, presentan una superficie media de 534 ha y ocupan 315,301 ha, suponiendo el 8.97 % del total de la dehesa española, aunque ascendería a 347,744 ha (9.89 %) considerando la totalidad de finca con la presencia de otras actividades complementarias. Estas fincas están localizadas en 358 términos municipales, en los que el 72.61 % del censo es menor de 5,000 habitantes, lo que podría ayudar a la fijación de población rural.
Unlabeled Data Assistant: Improving Mask Robustness for Face Recognition

The existing masked face recognition algorithms almost tend to adopt synthetic masked face datasets for training. However, these models are limited as they rely on existing mask augmentation methods, which contain few mask patterns and cannot simulate shadows and textures in realistic scenes. To overcome this limitation, we propose a semi-supervised face recognition framework to fully exploit unlabeled real masked face samples, improving the mask robustness of the recognition model. More specifically, unlike the original face embedding network, we design a part-aware network to explore multi-region face representation based on the face structure. In this way, we obtain multiple face sub-embeddings, which correspond to different regions of the face, including the upper half, the lower half and the whole. Crucially, we use the norm of the sub-embedding to represent the activation state of the facial region features. For the input unlabeled masked face image, we restrict the sub-embedding norm of its lower half to weaken the face feature representation of the occluded area. For normal face samples, their partial features are kept activated by maintaining the sub-embedding norm, which guides the deep network does not ignore the available information. Moreover, we employ the margin-based recognition loss for normal samples to ensure that the model is sufficiently discriminative for normal facial features. Extensive experimental results on both normal and real masked face datasets show that our approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-arts. Code is available at https://github.com/Baojin-Huang/UFace.
Upscaling pore pressure‐dependent gas permeability in shales

Upscaling pore pressure dependence of shale gas permeability is of great importance and interest in the investigation of gas production in unconventional reservoirs. In this study, we apply the Effective Medium Approximation, an upscaling technique from statistical physics, and modify the Doyen model for unconventional rocks. We develop an upscaling model to estimate the pore pressure‐dependent gas permeability from pore throat size distribution, pore connectivity, tortuosity, porosity, and gas characteristics. We compare our adapted model with six data sets: three experiments, one pore‐network model, and two lattice‐Boltzmann simulations. Results showed that the proposed model estimated the gas permeability within a factor of 3 of the measurements/simulations in all data sets except the Eagle Ford experiment for which we discuss plausible sources of discrepancies.
Analyzing the Paraphrasing Techniques in Academic Writing Skills and the Paraphrasing Challenges Across Gender

Gender differences is assummed as the general individual’s differences that exists and catches an attention of many aspects in ELT. Writing techniques could have examined and yielded the potential facts in gender differences on the development of writing proficiency in English language learning. The study aims at identifying paraphrase techniques in gender differences and to explore the challenges the students encountered. A Mixed method research design was carried out. The participants of this study were 33 male students and 34 female students for writing test and 5 male students and 5 female students for interview. Data collection invloved the distribution of writing tests to the participants and doing interview. The findings showed that the frequency pertentages for male students NC 14%, Mi.R 27%, Mo.R 28%, SR 31% & for female students NC 31%, Mi.R 21%, Mo.R 29%, SR 37%. The most frequent paraphrase technique employed by male and female students is moderate revision (SR). Then, male students (57,73%) are more dominant than female students (41.32%) in using syntactical paraphrase, male students (37,65%) more frequent than female students (32,62%) in using semantic paraphrase, female students (26.06%) are more frequent than male students (4.62%) in using organizational paraphrase. The paraphrase challenges found on how to organize the ideas, problems of source text comprehension, problems of stylistic styles of writing, grammar or rules of sentences and vocabulary knowledge (Language Proficiency-Based Problems).
Epidemiological pattern of rape cases managed at a regional hospital in South Africa

Background South Africa has one of the highest incidences of rape globally. Understanding the epidemiological pattern of rape is needed to inform the design of effective intervention programmes for rape prevention and management of alleged rape cases. Aims To investigate important epidemiological patterns associated with rape in Kimberly, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Setting The Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH) forensic unit. Methods A descriptive, retrospective cross-sectional clinical audit of rape cases. Results The majority (93.3%) of the alleged rape victims were women, with a mean age (SD) of 21.6 years (11.3); the male population made up 6.7% of the cases, with a mean age (SD) of 10.5 years (6.9). The highest incidence of alleged rape in the male population was seen in the age group ≤ 16 years (81.8%) and for women 17–30 years (50.3%). Most of the incidents occurred at the perpetrators’ homes (42.7%); on the days Fridays (14.6%), Saturdays (29.9%) and Sundays (23.2%); at night up to midnight 20:00–23:59 (32.9%) (p = 0.01) and involved threats of violence (55.5%). The majority (56.0%) of the perpetrators were known to the victims. Conclusion Important information about the victims and circumstances in which rape occurs as reported herein can be used to inform the design of effective intervention programmes for sexual crime prevention and management in Kimberly, South Africa. Contribution This study helped to advance knowledge and understanding of the epidemiological pattern associated with rape in Kimberley, Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
A Study of PLA Thin Film on SS 316L Coronary Stents Using a Dip Coating Technique

The dip coating process is one of the recognized techniques used to generate polymeric coatings on stents in an easy and low-cost way. However, there is a lack of information about the influence of the process parameters of this technique on complex geometries such as stents. This paper studies the dip coating process parameters used to provide a uniform coating of PLA with a 4–10 µm thickness. A stainless-steel tube (AISI 316L) was laser-cut, electropolished, and dip-coated in a polylactic acid (PLA) solution whilst changing the process parameters. The samples were characterized to examine the coating’s uniformity, thickness, surface roughness, weight, and chemical composition. FTIR and Raman investigations indicated the presence of PLA on the stent’s surface, the chemical stability of PLA during the coating process, and the absence of residual chloroform in the coatings. Additionally, the water contact angle was measured to determine the hydrophilicity of the coating. Our results indicate that, when using entry and withdrawal speeds of 500 mm min−1 and a 15 s immersion time, a uniform coating thickness was achieved throughout the tube and in the stent with an average thickness of 7.8 µm.
Performance of dry direct seeded rice in relation to irrigation and nitrogen regimes

An alarming fall in groundwater table in Northwest India demands a major shift from traditional method of rice cultivation to direct seeding of rice. Dry direct-seeded rice has emerged as a viable option to save water, labour, energy and time. A field experiment was conducted at the research farm of the Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, during kharif 2015 to study the effect of irrigation and nitrogen regimes on performance of dry direct-seeded rice. The treatment included combination of five irrigation regimesrecommended 7.5 cm amount at 5 days interval (I1), drip irrigation of 2.5 cm at 10 kPa through soil matric tension (I2), drip irrigation of 2.5 cm at 20 kPa through soil matric tension (I3), drip irrigation of 2.5 cm at 30 kPa through soil matric tension (I4) and drip irrigation daily 1.5 times deficit Etc (I5) in main plots and nitrogen levels0 kg N/ ha (N0), 90 kg N/ha (N1), 120 kg N/ha (N2) and 150 kg N/ha (N3) in sub plots in split plot design. Drip irrigation saved 16.6, 54.1, 67.1 and 22.9 per cent irrigation water in I2, I3, I4 and I5 as compared to I1 respectively. Seasonal evapotranspiration was significantly higher by 2.2, 9.5, 15.5 and 16.5 percent in I5 as compared to I1, I2, I3 and I4. Soil moisture storage was significantly more in I5 compared to I1, I2, I3 and I4 by 19.2, 12.3, 24.6 and 48.5 percent. Seasonal drainage was significantly higher by 17.6, 63.0, 76.6 and 38.1 percent in I1 compared to I2, I3, I4 and I5. Application of high nitrogen levels significantly increased evapotranspiration. In N3 evapotranspiration was observed significantly higher by 16.3, 8.9 and 5.1 percent than N0, N1 and N2. Seasonal drainage was significantly lower by 49.9, 25.7 and 13.9 percent in N3 as compared to N0, N1 and N2. Soil moisture storage was significantly higher in N2 and N3 as compared to N0 and N1. The crop growth (leaf area index, plant height and dry matter accumulation), grain yield were significantly higher in I2 and I5 as compared to I1, I3 and I4. The crop growth and grain yield were significantly higher in N2 and N3 as compared to N0 and N1. Higher real evapotranspirational water use efficiency (kg/m) was observed in I2 as compared to I1, I3, I4 and I5.
Nano-level constitutive model for expansive clays

Expansive clayey soils, which are prevalent across the surface sediments of the earth, are considered problematic for the structures and infrastructure founded in them. These soils are also challenging for environmental engineers involved in the design and construction of municipal and nuclear waste liners, petroleum engineers dealing with shale oil and gas, and agricultural scientists. Because their overall behaviour is controlled by molecular-level processes and interactions, a behaviour model encompassing the contributions from these interactions is required to predict the behaviour of these soils. This interaction becomes increasingly complex for natural expansive clays where a complex composition of clay and non-clay minerals exists. Unfortunately, none of the existing constitutive models pertaining to expansive clays comprehensively incorporates all the factors contributing to volume change behaviour of naturally occurring expansive soils. This study led to the development of a nano-level constituti.
Assessing the quality of rangeland soils: Challenges and opportunities

Rangeland soils present unique challenges and opportunities for assessing soil quality. Three characteristics in particular distinguish rangeland soils from cropped soils: (1) spatial variability in rangelands tends to be higher than in cropped systems; (2) temporal variability is high because many biological and physical processes depend on a limited and frequently unpredictable supply of soil moisture; (3) the land often has many uses in addition to food production. While all three characteristics present obstacles to the development of reliable soil quality indicators, each also presents additional opportunities. Patterns of both spatial and temporal variability can be quantifiable attributes of the system that may provide additional information about soil processes. Conflicting definitions of soil quality are often implicitly, but not explicitly, based on a particular value or use. These conflicts may be resolved using an alternative paradigm in which soil quality is defined only with respect to the soil's capacity to fulfill clearly defined functions. Ratings for individual functions can then be compared for a variety of values and land uses. Spatial variability The spatial variability of many rangeland soil properties is extraordinarily high when compared with typical land under cultivation. This high level of variability occurs at a variety of scales, from regional to microsite. …
Hydroclimatic influences on peatland CO2 exchange following upland forest harvesting on the Boreal Plains

A comparative study of forest clear‐cut logging effects on daily growing season (May to October) net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) of adjacent peatlands was conducted in two neighbouring forest upland‐peatland complexes over 4 years (2005 to 2008) on the Boreal Plains (BP) of Alberta, Canada. Higher vapour pressure deficit at the harvested‐upland (H‐U) peatland, reflecting increased turbulent mixing after adjacent upland forest removal (2007 and 2008), resulted in increased peatland evapotranspiration rates that contributed to a seasonal decline in soil moisture (volumetric moisture content) influencing NEE. Overall, a significant change in mid‐season NEE occurred at the H‐U peatland 1 year post‐harvesting, greater than NEE changes at the neighbouring intact‐upland peatland. However, 2 years post‐harvesting, mid‐season NEE returned to within range of pre‐harvesting variability (−0.54 to 1.34 g CO2‐C m−2 day−1). Results of this study demonstrate that BP peatland NEE is largely regulated by site‐specific water availability, which, in turn, may be influenced in the short term by shifting microclimate and soil moisture patterns because of clear‐cut logging. As such, predicting long‐term carbon storage function of BP peatlands will require careful consideration of changing hydroclimatic conditions because of rapid expansion of BP deforestation, given that these ecosystems already exist in a state of hydrologic risk in this moisture deficit eco‐region. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.