Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient Context-Guided Stacked Refinement Network for RGB-T Salient Object Detection

RGB-T salient object detection (SOD) aims at utilizing the complementary cues of RGB and Thermal (T) modalities to detect and segment the common objects. However, on one hand, existing methods simply fuse the features of two modalities without fully considering the characters of RGB and T. On the other hand, the high computational cost of existing methods prevents them from real-world applications (e.g., automatic driving, abnormal detection, person re-ID). To this end, we proposed an efficient encoder-decoder network named Context-guided Stacked Refinement Network (CSRNet). Specifically, we utilize a lightweight backbone and design efficient decoder parts, which greatly reduce the computational cost. To fuse RGB and T modalities, we proposed an efficient Context-guided Cross Modality Fusion (CCMF) module to filter the noise and explore the complementation of two modalities. Besides, Stacked Refinement Network (SRN) progressively refines the features from top to down via the interaction of semantic and spatial information. Extensive experiments show that our method performs favorably against state-of-the-art algorithms on RGB-T SOD task while with small model size (4.6M), few FLOPs (4.2G), and real-time speed (38 fps). Our codes is available at: https://github.com/huofushuo/CSRNet.
A multi-objective model for fleet allocation schedule in open-pit mines considering the impact of prioritising objectives on transportation system performance

ABSTRACT This paper deals with optimal decisions regarding truck and shovel scheduling problem in open-pit mines. A mixed-integer linear goal programming model (MILGP) is formulated for solving the problem, aiming at four major goals: (1) maximise production, (b) minimise deviations in head grade, (c) minimise deviations in tonnage to the ore destinations, and (d) minimise fuel consumption of mining trucks. This paper also examines the extent to which the priority of objectives can affect the results and efficiency of the mining operation. Implementation of the model with a copper mine case study demonstrated that the proposed model is effective and efficient.
Place Attachment and Alienation from Place: Cultural Displacement in Gentrifying Ethnic Enclaves

Commercial gentrification often accompanies residential gentrification. Both processes contribute to the real or perceived threat of displacement for longtime residents of ethnic enclaves experiencing gentrification. Cultural displacement is a related concern among residents who may experience a declining sense of ownership, control, or belonging as newer residents and commercial establishments move into their communities. Yet, other longtime residents experience an increased sense of safety as their neighborhoods gentrify and they may appreciate the new amenities gentrification brings. I highlight the symbolic significance of local businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods and identify two different patterns of longtime residents experiencing their communities as something alien to them—a phenomenon I call alienation from place. Alienation from place may be a product of social and cultural displacement or may be alleviated by changes to a neighborhood accompanying gentrification processes, a posteriori alienation from place and a priori alienation from place, respectively.
Direct Numerical Simulation of Flow Over a WallMounted Cube with the Nek5000 Spectral Element Code: DNS at Reh = 3900

The direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the canonical wall-mounted unit cube subjected to two distinct incident velocity profiles is performed at a Reynolds number where the bulk flow characteristics are known to become relatively Reynolds number insensitive. The aim of this work is to highlight the sensitivity of such bluff-body flows to mean shear and to provide a representative set of data for such flow scenarios where common turbulence modeling techniques often fail. Simple boundary conditions and a small domain are selected to allow for cost-effective and easy comparisons for model development purposes. In addition to mean velocity profiles, select turbulence statistics are presented in detail. Further, the basic efficacy of eddy viscosity models is evaluated and found to be adequate only for the shear stress components for the bluff-body flows examined here. Other failure mechanisms for RANS are proposed.
A 4.29nJ/pixel Stereo Depth Coprocessor With Pixel Level Pipeline and Region Optimized Semi-Global Matching for IoT Application

The semi-global matching (SGM) algorithm in stereo vision is a well-known depth-estimation method since it can generate dense and robust disparity maps. However, the real-time processing and low power dissipation, the specifications of the Internet-of-Thing (IoT) applications, are challenging for their computational complexity. In this paper, we propose a hardware-oriented SGM algorithm with pixel-level pipeline and region-optimized cost aggregation for high-speed processing and low hardware-resource usage. Firstly, the matching costs in a region are integrated with an optimization strategy to significantly reduce memory usage and improve the processing speed of the cost aggregation. Then, a two-layer parallel two-stage pipeline (TPTP) architecture, which enables pixel-level processing, is designed to calculate two directions (0° and 135°) aggregation to further solve the crucial computational bottleneck of the SGM algorithm. Finally, the architecture is demonstrated on a low-cost XILINX Spartan-7 device and an advanced Stratix-V FPGA device for VGA ( $640\times 480$ ) depth estimation. The experimental results show that the proposed architecture with compact hardware architecture also ensures accuracy. The pixel-level pipeline architecture enables a processing speed of 355 frames per second (fps) at 109MHz on the Spartan-7 FPGA device and 508 fps at 156MHz on the Stratix-V FPGA. Besides, the coprocessor respectively achieves an energy efficiency of 4.74 nJ/pixel with a power dissipation of 517mW and 4.29nJ/pixel with a power dissipation of 669mW on these two FPGAs.
Willingness-to-pay for robot-delivered tourism and hospitality services – an exploratory study

Purpose This paper aims to investigate potential consumers’ willingness to pay for robot-delivered services in travel, tourism and hospitality, and the factors that shape their willingness to pay. Design/methodology/approach An online survey yielded a sample of 1,573 respondents from 99 countries. Independent samples t-test, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), cluster, factor and regression analyses were used. Findings Respondents expected to pay less for robot-delivered services than human-delivered services. Two clusters were identified: one cluster willing to pay nearly the same price for robotic services as for human-delivered services, whilst the other expected deep discounts for robotic services. The willingness-to-pay was positively associated with the attitudes towards robots in tourism, robotic service experience expectations, men and household size. It was negatively associated to travel frequency, age and education. Research limitations/implications The paper’s main limitation is its exploratory nature and the use of a hypothetical scenario in measuring respondents’ willingness to pay. The data were gathered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and do not reflect the potential changes in perceptions of robots due to the pandemic. Practical implications Practitioners need to focus on improving the attitudes towards robots in tourism because they are strongly and positively related to the willingness to pay. The marketing messages need to form positive expectations about robotic services. Originality/value This is one of the first papers to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay for robot-delivered services in travel, tourism and hospitality and factors that shape their willingness to pay.
Simulating maize yield at county scale in southern Ontario using the decision support system for agrotechnology transfer model

Abstract: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the ability of the decision support system for agrotechnology transfer (DSSAT) CERES-Maize model to simulate the response to applied nitrogen and soil water storage for maize (Zea mays L.) yields in Woodslee, Ontario. A second objective was to evaluate the CERES-Maize module for maize yield in five southern Ontario counties. The calibrated CERES-Maize module was used in 117 maize yield simulations involving combinations of 45 regional soil datasets and 35 weather datasets covering the five counties. The model evaluation showed a good agreement between the simulated and measured grain yields (i.e., index of agreement, d ≥ 0.96; modeling efficiency, EF ≥ 0.83; normalized root-mean-square error, nRMSE ≤ 15%). The model showed a large deviation using the default soil parameters from 0 to 0.4 m. A sensitivity analysis was made for three soil water parameters, and the calibrated soil parameters showed moderate to good agreements for total soil water storage in the 0–1.1 m soil profile. The model resulted in moderate to good agreement between the simulated and the measured above-ground biomass across growing seasons. There were significant yield differences across the soil types. Drought periods in August 2010 resulted in lower yields in 2010 compared with 2011 and 2012. The simulated average maize yields at each county matched well with the measured data for 2010–2012 except for lower estimated yields in Lambton county in 2010. We concluded that DSSAT CERES-Maize can adequately simulate regional maize yields using the CERES-Maize module calibrated to regional soil and daily weather databases.
Can Emotion Be Transferred?—A Review on Transfer Learning for EEG-Based Emotion Recognition

The issue of electroencephalogram (EEG)-based emotion recognition has great academic and practical significance. Currently, there are numerous research trying to address this issue in the literature. Particularly, transfer learning has gradually become a new methodological trend for the issue in company with the popularity of deep learning. Motivated by capturing the research panorama, summarizing the technological essence, and forecasting the advancement tendency of transfer learning for EEG-based emotion recognition, this article contributes a review work. This work mainly includes five aspects: 1) introducing the issue of EEG-based emotion recognition and expounding the importance of transfer learning for it; 2) analyzing the transfer learning framework and comparing it with the traditional ones; 3) elucidating the issue difficulties and explaining the suitability and capability of transfer learning for this issue; 4) summarizing, categorizing, and exemplifying the typical transfer learning methods for this issue; and 5) clarifying the methodological merits, discussing the challenging problems, and predicting the prospective development of transfer learning for the issue. We expect these contributions can inspire innovation and reformation of the transfer learning methodology for EEG-based emotion recognition as well as other relevant topics in the not-so-far future.
Redox Properties of Peat Particulate Organic Matter: Quantification of Electron Accepting Capacities and Assessment of Electron Transfer Reversibility

Peat particulate organic matter (POM) has been hypothesized to act as a terminal electron acceptor (TEA) for anaerobic microbial respiration in northern peatlands, thereby lowering dissolved methane (CH4) concentrations in these systems. However, the redox properties of peat POM and an assessment of its redox state in situ remain missing, mainly due to the lack of an accurate analytical approach to quantify the number of electrons that are transferred to/from POM. Here, we first developed a new spectrophotometric method to quantify the number of electrons that are transferable to peat POM—denoted hereafter as electron accepting capacity (EAC)—by reacting POM with the reduced species of the probe compound 4,4’‐bipyridinium‐1,1'bis(2‐ethylsulfonate). Second, we used this analytical approach to quantify the EAC of an oxidized reference POM material (0.38 ± 0.039 mmol e−/g POM) and of redox‐preserved POM from three ombrotrophic bogs in Värmland, Sweden (0.17–0.24 mmol e−/g POM). These EAC values are substantially higher than previous estimates, likely reflecting kinetic artifacts in previous analytical methods. We further established reversible electron transfer to the oxic reference POM over a cycle of electrochemical reduction and O2 re‐oxidation. Finally, we determined that the EAC of two of the three bog POM samples that were collected anoxically (i.e., redox state‐preserved POM) increased by ∼0.09 mmol e−/g POM upon exposure to air for 8 days, demonstrating that the POM was indeed reduced in situ. Collectively, our results strongly support that POM acts as a sustainable TEA in northern peatlands, which may lower methane release from these systems.
Analysis of Nutritive Values of Selected Leafy Vegetables in Hong Adamawa State, Nigeria

The analysis of proximate compositions and mineral values of four commonly eaten leafy vegetables in Hong were carried out. The minerals in the leafy vegetables were analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, while the proximate composition was determined following standard analytical procedures. The vegetables were Balanites aegytiace, Moringa oleifera, Bitter leaf and Blood plum. The results of the analysis of the proximate composition showed that moisture content, ash content, crude lipid, crude fibre, crude protein and carbohydrate ranged 5.00% 6.50%, 7.50% 17.00%, 2.84% 9.33%, 4.15% 7.52%, 22.8 – 30.55%, 37.6 – 50.59% respectively. The result of the mineral analysis revealed that the leafy vegetables contained the following minerals Ca (53.921 ± 0.22mg/kg 203.542 ± 0.32mg/kg), Mg (28.921 ± 0.21mg/kg 124.156 ± 0.11mg/kg), Mn (2.817 ± 0.05mg/kg 13.085 ± 0.09mg/kg), Zn (0.851 ± 0.01mg/kg 3.015 ± 0.11mg/kg), Pb (0.001 ± 0.00mg/kg 0.007 ± 0.01mg/kg) and Cd (0.001 ± 0.00mg/kg 0.007±0.01mg/kg). The four leafy vegetables were found to contain appreciable amount of minerals and proximate composition indicating they are good sources of nutrients to human body .
Stress and Its Impact on Employee Performance

The purpose of this study was to determine The Effect of Job Stress on Employee Performance. The research uses quantitative methods. For data analysis and hypothesis testing, SPSS version 26 is used. The test results show that work stress has a significant and negative effect on employee performance. Based on the coefficient of determination test (R2), the contribution of work stress to employee work performance is 0.783, or 78.3%, the rest is explained by other variables that do not exist in this study.
Identifying Domestic Violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) presentations and referral pathways at John Hunter Hospital Emergency Department: comparative analysis of DV and SA cases

Background: There are a number of negative and often long-term mental and physical health consequences of Domestic violence (DV) and Sexual assault (SA). Women experiencing DV and SA visit their health care professional more frequently than women not experiencing these abuses. Health care professionals in any health care settings can play crucial roles in identifying, managing and preventing DV and SA. In particular, those who work in emergency departments (EDs) are in a unique position to identify patients and initiate early interventions as they are often the first point of contact to access help. Methods: This is a retrospective observational cross-sectional study. Data was extracted from the site ED electronic information system (ipm) for all eligible females (alleged assault) who presented within the study period. Statistical analyses were programmed using SAS v9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina, USA). All data were checked for completeness and discrepancies before analysis. Descriptive statistics are reported for all relevant variables. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test was used to determine the adequacy of fit between the final model and the data. Results: Study findings indicate the high level of mental health issues among women presenting with both DV and SA. More than half of the victims had recurrent presentations to ED. The majority of victims were referred to the related support services within hospital or external services. Most of injuries in the sample were sever physical injuries. Conclusions: As the first point of contact, ED health professionals have a crucial role to identify and respond to SA and DV cases. If identified early, the recurrent admissions can be prevented and any early intervention can have a positive benefit for the longer-term health of the DV and SA victims. It can also save health care system spending. The development of a DV/SA flowchart for identification of these cases in ED as well as a clear referral pathway and ideally mandatory DV routine screening at EDs in all hospitals would be some practical strategies for achieving early intervention. Keywords: Domestic Violence, Sexual assault, Emergency Department, Domestic Violence screening, recurrent presentations
Urbanization and CO2 emissions intensity in Africa

The pace of urbanization in the world will very quickly become a major problem for development in all its dimensions. This dynamic, also observed in Africa, could have serious consequences for macroeconomic and environmental balances. This paper examines the relationship between urbanization and the intensity of CO2 emissions on a panel of 48 African countries over the period 1980–2016. Using an augmented STIRPAT model, we found that if urbanization is a highly significant factor for pollution in Africa, the effect is heterogeneous for different levels of pollution. This effect is more pronounced in resource-rich countries; the difference in the quality of institutions helping to reinforce the heterogeneity. Additional tests reveal the existence of simultaneous threshold effects of pollution concerning urbanization and the level of development. Finally, the overall effect of urbanization on global warming is positive and significant. Based on these outcomes, we suggest a set of policies.
Musculoskeletal Pain in Medical Students Subject to Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Musculoskeletal pain is a consequence of repetitive strain, overuse, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In 2020, due to the new coronavirus pandemic, social isolation started, and so did online classes in a remote study strategy to replace classroom-based study routines. Thus, students adopted a different physical posture from the usual one for a longer time than usual, representing a possible risk factor for musculoskeletal pain. In this sense, this research aimed to identify the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain in medical students subject to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory study was applied through an online questionnaire, using the Google Forms application, to 154 students from the first to the fourth year of the medical course at a university in the countryside of the state of S? o Paulo. Among the participants, 99 (64.3%) were female, and 54 (35.7%) were male individuals with ages ranging from 18 and 34. In regards to the daily study time in sitting position, 83 (55.0%) reported staying more than 4 hours, 39 (25.8%) between 2 and 4 hours, and 29 (19.2%) less than 2 hours still. As for musculoskeletal pain before the pandemic; 98 (63.6%) reported not feeling it, while 56 (36.4%) reported being affected by this type of pain. However, after the pandemic, 51 respondents (33.1%) continued not to feel anything, whereas 103 (66.9%) kept on having some type of musculoskeletal pain. The results obtained suggest an increase in musculoskeletal pain during the pandemic however other studies may confirm these findings.
Molecular Characterization of Some Carbapenem-resistance Genes among Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Isolated from Wound And Burn Infections in Duhok City, Iraq

Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen causes severe nosocomial infections among burn and wound patients. Multi-drug resistant strains namely carbapenems antibiotics have mentioned worldwide. Objectives The aim of this study was to know the incidence, patterns of antibiotic susceptibility and molecular characterization of P . aeruginosa isolates among wound and burn hospitalized patients. Methods From September 2019 till September 2020, a total of 524 burn and wound swabs were collected from inpatients at Burn and Emergency Hospital, Duhok city, the Kurdistan region, Iraq. The swabs were cultured and bacterial isolates were identified manually through microbiological tests then by Vitek2 compound system. The isolates were checked for their antibiotic susceptibility patterns then subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction ( PCR) assay using a set of specific primers for detection of ( OprD , bla VIM , bla IMP ) carbapenem-resistance genes. Result About 60 (11.4%) isolates were identified as P . aeruginosa ; 33 (55%) from female and 27 (45%) from male. Wound isolates exhibited pretty higher resistance over burn against 24 tested antibiotics. Imipenem; meropenem resistance rates were as (33.3 %; 31.7%) and (32.6%; 26.1%) for burn and wound, respectively. High resistance to piperacillin & ticarcillin (75% for both), ticarcillin/clavulanic acid (66.7 %) and tobramycin (63.6 %) were noticed in burn isolates. Colistin and piperacillin/tazobactam exhibited very low resistance. PCR assay indicated that 48 (96%) isolates were contained either single or double genes. OprD was predominated 40 (80 %) isolates then bla VIM gene 8 (16 %) isolates, while no bla IMP gene was detected. About 8 isolates were harbored double resistance genes ( OprD , bla VIM ) simultaneously and unexpectedly 1 (12%) of these isolate was phenotypic carbapenem-susceptible. moreover, 5 phenotypic carbapenem-resistance isolates were not contained any target resistance genes by PCR assay. Conclusion Occurrence of P . aeruginosa as a harbor of multiple carbapenemase resistance genes is increasing over time limiting the treatment options to this serious infection. The data support basic mechanism of imipenem resistance could be mostly via the loss of OprD . Colistin and piperacillin/tazobactam have high efficacy.
An Investigation of the Pedagogical Content Knowledge across German Preservice (Physical Education) Teachers

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is of critical importance to Physical Education (PE), since teaching PE is fundamentally distinct from teaching other subjects in many significant ways. Despite the importance of PCK, research on PCK in German speaking countries is still at the beginning. Against this backdrop, the current study explores the extent to which PCK is a specific professional feature across German students aiming for a teaching degree in PE or not. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 762 students to explore potential differences in relation to teacher education (TE) programs (PETE students n = 431, TE students n = 331). Measurement invariance (MI) between the groups was carried out using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis models to ensure latent mean scores can be compared meaningfully. The progressive evaluation of MI confirms that it is possible to measure the PCK (scalar) equivalently across PETE and TE students. PETE students outperformed TE students in both PCK subdimensions, also in different stages of the study. The study provides evidence for the “professional knowledge” and “qualification hypothesis” within PETE programs.