Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pavement crack detection through a deep-learned asymmetric encoder-decoder convolutional neural network

ABSTRACT Crack detection on roads’ surfaces is an important issue in pavement management, as it provides an indication of the quality of the road and its deterioration over time. Pavement cracks are one of the most common types of damage observed on roads, and they can be seen visually. Despite the fact that it does not provide immediate resolution to the issue, understanding the extent of crack damage is essential for the upkeep of roads. This paper presents a novel approach to automatically detecting pavement cracks using the orthoimage generated by a consumer-grade photogrammetric Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and a deep learning algorithm. We used an autoencoder Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to train a dataset full of challenging factors such as road lines and marks, oil and colour spots, and water stains. The model was tested on a dataset of RGB patches of different patterns of cracks and achieved an overall accuracy (OA) and F1 score of about 0.98. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in accurately detecting pavement cracks in challenging real-world conditions. This approach provides an efficient and cost-effective solution for pavement crack detection, that can be used for measuring the road's quality and monitoring it.
Investigating the influence of surface meltwater on the ice dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet

This thesis explains the annual ice velocity cycle of the Sermeq (Glacier) Avannarleq flowline, in West Greenland, using a longitudinally coupled 2D (vertical cross-section) ice flow model coupled to a 1D (depth-integrated) hydrology model via a novel basal sliding rule. Within a reasonable parameter space, the coupled model produces mean annual solutions of both the ice geometry and velocity that are validated by both in situ and remotely sensed observations. The modeled annual velocity cycle reproduces the broad features of the annual basal sliding cycle observed along this flowline, namely a summer speedup event followed by a fall slowdown. The summer speedup event corresponds to conditions of increasing hydraulic head during inefficient subglacial drainage, while the fall slowdown event corresponds to conditions of decreasing hydraulic head during efficient subglacial drainage. Calculated coupling stresses diminish to less than 10 % of total driving stress within 6 km upstream of the Sermeq Avannarleq terminus. This suggests that the annual ice velocity cycle observed at CU/ETH ("Swiss") Camp (46 km upstream) is unlikely to be the result of velocity perturbations being propagated upstream via longitudinal coupling, but instead reflects local surface meltwater induced ice acceleration. This thesis also compares high-resolution 1985 and 2009 imagery of the Sermeq Avannarleq ablation zone to assess changes in crevasse extent and supraglacial hydrology. The area occupied by crevasses > 2 m wide significantly increased (13 ± 4 %) over the 24-year period. This increase consists of an expansion of existing crevasse fields, and is accompanied by
Winter site testing at Dome C, Antarctica: first results Proceedings of the European Interferometry Initiative Workshop organized in the context of the 20005 Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting "Distant Worlds"

We present site testing results obtained in night-time during the polar winter at Dome C. These results were collected during the first Concordia winterover by A. Agabi. They are based upon seeing and isoplanatic angle monitoring, as well as in-situ balloon measurements of the refractive index structure constant profiles C n (h). Atmosphere is divided into two regions: (i) a 36 m high surface layer responsible of 87% of the turbulence and (ii) a very stable free atmosphere above with a median seeing of 0.36±0.19 arcsec at an elevation of h = 30 m. The median seeing measured with a DIMM placed on top of a 8.5 m high tower is 1.3±0.8 arcsec.
Synthesis and optical properties of pyrrolidinyl peptide nucleic acid carrying a clicked Nile red label

Summary DNA or its analogues with an environment-sensitive fluorescent label are potentially useful as a probe for studying the structure and dynamics of nucleic acids. In this work, pyrrolidinyl peptide nucleic acid (acpcPNA) was labeled at its backbone with Nile red, a solvatochromic benzophenoxazine dye, by means of click chemistry. The optical properties of the Nile red-labeled acpcPNA were investigated by UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy in the absence and in the presence of DNA. In contrast to the usual quenching observed in Nile red-labeled DNA, the hybridization with DNA resulted in blue shifting and an enhanced fluorescence regardless of the neighboring bases. More pronounced blue shifts and fluorescence enhancements were observed when the DNA target carried a base insertion in close proximity to the Nile red label. The results indicate that the Nile red label is located in a more hydrophobic environment in acpcPNA–DNA duplexes than in the single-stranded acpcPNA. The different fluorescence properties of the acpcPNA hybrids of complementary DNA and DNA carrying a base insertion are suggestive of different interactions between the Nile red label and the duplexes.
Comparison of heart rates between deep water running, treadmill running, and cycling

Comparison of Heart Rates Between Deep Water Running, Treadmill Running, and Cycling By Jennifer Nicole Padilla Dr. Lawrence Golding, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Kinesiology University of Nevada, Las Vegas Deep water running (DWR) has become an alternate training technique among injured runners. DWR uses similar movements as running and can be a training modality for injured runners. It has not been well established whether the heart rate (HR) in water exercise and land exercise is the same when the workloads in the water and on land are identical. Using runners and swimmers, this study determined if the HR during treadmill running (TR), cycling, and DWR at 60% and 75% of MaxV02 were different. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) between runners and swimmers during TR and DWR were also compared. Analysis of the data showed that runners, at both intensities, had no difference in HR between TR, DWR, and cycling. At 75% of MaxV02, swimmers had lower HR’s during DWR than TR and cycling. There was a difference in RPE between runners and swimmers during TR and DWR.
Depleting pathways of self-sacrificial and laissez-faire leadership: The roles of leader gender and perceived organizational support.

Recent findings suggest that certain leadership behaviors may be depleting for both leaders and employees, or beneficial for employees but detrimental for leaders. However, factors that raise burnout risks for leaders when acting in a certain way have received less attention. Two potentially relevant factors are leaders’ gender and their perceptions of organizational support (POS). Thus, in this paper we examine the potentially gendered associations between leader burnout and two contrasting leadership styles: laissez-faire and self-sacrificial. We also explore the potential modulation of these association by leaders’ POS. Using structural equational modeling, we analyze self-reported data collected at two time points (6 months apart) from a panel sample of 767 leaders. The results show that both laissez-faire leadership and self-sacrificial leadership are associated with leaders’ burnout, and a laissez-faire style particularly raises the risks for female leaders. Moreover, high POS exacerbates the association between laissez-faire leadership and burnout for female leaders, but not male leaders. We discuss both theoretical and practical implications of these findings, hoping to raise awareness among scholars and organizations of possible approaches to prevent or mitigate leader burnout.
An evolutionary computing model based on Parallel architecture

we propose a Parallel evolutionary computing model, called CLA-EC, in this paper. In this new model, each genome is assigned to a cell of cellular learning automata to each of which a set of learning automata is assigned. The set of actions selected by the set of automata associated to a cell determines the genome's string for that cell. Based on a local rule, a reinforcement signal vector is generated and given to the set learning automata residing in the cell. Based on the received signal, each learning automaton updates its internal structure according to a learning algorithm. The process of action selection and updating the internal structure is repeated until a predetermined criterion is met. This model can be used to solve optimization problems. To show the effectiveness of the proposed model it has been used to solve several optimization problems such as real valued function optimization and clustering problems. Computer simulations have shown the effectiveness of this model.
Iris recognition based on Kaiser filter and whole phase analysis

Kaiser function is used to establish clear edge Kaiser filter channel which has selectivity in the frequency and direction with the characteristic of high adaptability and adjustable performance to feature the iris frequency, which is to modify the filter channel edge faintness due to the spectrum leakage when Gabor filter does the data truncation. Then complete classification of the weighted phase correlation algorithm is used to classify the characteristic of iris phase extracted from Kaiser filter which can reflect subtle difference among the iris characteristics better. Experiment shows that: The accuracy of iris recognition is 99.58% by using the algorithm in this article, while the FAR is 0.12% and the FFR is 0.16%. Thus, the algorithm is good at feature extraction, classification and recognition.
Therapeutic role of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in pancreatic diseases: mendelian randomization study

Background The interleukin-1 pathway has been linked to pancreatic diseases. We applied the Mendelian randomization approach to explore whether higher interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) levels reduce the risk of acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Methods Genetic variants associated with blood IL-1RA levels at the genome-wide significance level and located 5MB downstream or upstream of the IL1RN gene were extracted from a genome-wide meta-analysis of 21,758 participants. After pruning, genetic variants without linkage disequilibrium were used as genetic instrument for IL-1RA. Summary-level data on acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer were obtained from the UK Biobank and FinnGen studies. The associations were meta-analyzed for one outcome from two sources. Results Genetically predicted higher levels of IL-1RA were associated with a lower risk of acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. In the meta-analysis of UK Biobank and FinnGen, the combined odds ratio was 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.77-0.97, P=0.003) for acute pancreatitis, 0.73 (95% CI 0.65-0.82, P=2.93×10-8) for chronic pancreatitis, and 0.86 (95% CI 0.77-0.96, P=0.009) for pancreatic cancer per one standard deviation increment in genetically predicted levels of IL-1RA. Conclusion This study suggests a protective role of IL-1RA in three major pancreatic diseases, which hints the therapeutic potentials of IL-1RA in pancreatic diseases.
Is the Longitudinal Profile of Storglaciaren, Northern Sweden, in Balance with the Present Climate?

Abstract The main perturbation in the mass balance of Storglaciären during the twentieth century was caused by a sudden 1°C increase in the summer mean temperature around 1910. Later perturbations of the climate have been of minor importance in relation to the mass balance. Annual field surveys suggest that the mass budget on Storglaciären has been in near balance for the last 15 years. Because of this major step-like change, we can establish the validity of theoretical models giving response times for Storglaciären of the order of 50 years. According to these models, Storglaciären could by now have reached a profile in balance with the present climate. To study this problem, the emergence velocity was calculated and compared with the net balance. The result shows that the emergence velocity either balances or exceeds the net balance for the entire tongue except for the lowermost part, where it decreases to about half of the net balance. A slight further recession of the front position would thus be expected with today’s climate. Calculated balance velocities also suggest that most of the present profile is close to a steady-state profile, if the mean annual sliding velocity is about 50% of the surface velocity. Lower sliding velocities would imply a thickening of the tongue and a thinning of the accumulation area during years of balanced mass budget.
Preparation of rigid polyurethane foams catalyzed by metal-alkanolamine complexes

In this research, the catalysts for preparation of rigid polyurethane (RPUR) foams were developed in order to reduce odor as compared with commercial catalyst as dimethyl-cyclohexylamime (DMCHA). The investigated catalysts were metal-alkanolamine complexes in ethylene glycol solution, namely Cu(OAc)? (EA)? and Zn(OAc)? (EA)? , where OAc = acetate and EA = ethanolamine. These complexes were further used as catalysts in the preparation of rigid polyurethane foams without purification. Characterization of metal-alkanolamine complexes were done using UV-visible spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Physical and mechanical properties of RPUR foams were studied. The reaction times of the foam formation were studied. The data were compared with those obtained from DMCHA. The experimental results showed that 43 wt% Cu(OAc)? (EA)? (1:4) and 48 wt% Zn(OAc)? (EA)? (1:1) were obtained as homogeneous solutions. RPUR foams catalyzed by 43 wt% Cu(OAc)? (EA)? (1:4) and 48 wt% Zn(OAc)? (EA)? (1:1) gave longer gel time, tack free time and rise time as compare with DMCHA. Therefore, Cu(OAc)? (EA)? and Zn(OAc)? (EA)? are suitable for RPUR foam applications which require longer gel time.
Unraveling the Significance of Draglines: Female Sexual Signalization in the Nursery-Web Spider, Pisaura mirabilis

Simple Summary Various signals are used in insects to identify mates. Signals based on visual, acoustic, or chemical communication play an important role in sexual selection. Frequently occurring chemical-based signals are the most important and understudied field of communication. Spiders use a wide variety of chemicals to find potential mates, but, until now, only a few spider-used pheromones have been identified. The nursery-web spider, Pisaura mirabilis, does not build a typical net, but leaves draglines on the ground. In our research, we investigated the role of chemical signals in female draglines influenced by factors such as spider ontogeny, nutritional status, and female mating status. Our findings indicate that the chemical signals of eggsac-carrying females were similarly sexually attractive to females not carrying eggsac. Draglines of adult and hungry females functioned, in contrast, as stimulation for male motivation to invest more silk in gift production. Chemical differences in female draglines were identified, but they did not always correspond with male behavior. We suggest the integration of behavioral and chemical approaches to better understand animal behavior in future research. Abstract Chemical signals used by animals to attract the opposite sex are well known in insects, but heavily understudied in spiders. We investigated the role of chemical signals in female draglines in a gift-giving spider, Pisaura mirabilis, using combined data from behavioral tests and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We also investigated whether the quality of sexual signalization is influenced by crucial factors, such as female spider ontogeny, nutritional status, and mating status. We found that draglines of adult (versus subadult) and hungry (versus fed) females stimulated male motivation to produce nuptial gift, and highly sexually excited males invested more silk in gift production than less sexually excited males. Unexpectedly, chemical signals of eggsac-carrying females were similarly sexually attractive to draglines of adult females not carrying eggsac. HPLC identified significant chemical differences in female draglines, but these differences did not always correspond to male behavior. The integration of behavioral and chemical approaches is required to better understand animal behavior in future research.
Effects of Continuous Security Monitoring on Security Controls of Electronic Health Records in Public Hospitals, Tanzania

This paper examines the effects of continuous security monitoring on the security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design and quantitative research approach using a sample of 300 respondents from the six public hospitals in Tanzania. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the main users of EHRs such as medical doctors, IT officers, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technologists, record officers and administrative officers. A multiple linear regression model was used to evaluate the effects of continuous security monitoring on the security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals. The findings revealed that continuous security monitoring is a significant predictor of the security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals, (B= .509, p< 0.001). This implies that, continuous security monitoring explains 50.9% of the variance in security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals. Based on this finding, is recommended that, to enhance effective security controls in electronic health records, public hospitals in Tanzanian should consider the adoption of continuous security monitoring by making security controls more automated
Electroencephalogram-Based Subject Matching Learning (ESML): A Deep Learning Framework on Electroencephalogram-Based Biometrics and Task Identification

An EEG signal (Electroencephalogram) is a bioelectric phenomenon reflecting human brain activities. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning framework ESML (EEG-based Subject Matching Learning) using raw EEG signals to learn latent representations for EEG-based user identification and tack classification. ESML consists of two parts: one is the ESML1 model via an LSTM-based method for EEG-user linking, and one is the ESML2 model via a CNN-based method for EEG-task linking. The new model ESML is simple, but effective and efficient. It does not require any restrictions for EEG data collection on motions and thinking for users, and it does not need any EEG preprocessing operations, such as EEG denoising and feature extraction. The experiments were conducted on three public datasets and the results show that ESML performs the best and achieves significant performance improvement when compared to baseline methods (i.e., SVM, LDA, NN, DTS, Bayesian, AdaBoost and MLP). The ESML1 model provided the best precision at 96% with 109 users and the ESML2 model achieved 99% precision at 3-Class task classification. These experimental results provide direct evidence that EEG signals can be used for user identification and task classification.
Diverse origins of hydrothermal ore fluids

Chemical, isotopic, and physical data from fluid inclusions, ore and gangue minerals, and active geothermal systems indicate the general characteristics and probable origins of the dominant ore-transporting waters of many systems. Evaluation of such data from a wide variety of mining districts and hot-spring systems indicate that five classes of waters, here called meteoric, ocean, "evolved connate," metamorphic, and magmatic, account in varying proportions for hydrothermal fluids. More than 40 localities are reviewed in this study, including: (1) 6 Hg systems involving metamorphic or "evolved-connate" waters; (2) 15 epithermal Au-Ag districts and 2 probably similar active hydrothermal systems involving meteoric water and perhaps as much as 5 or 10 percent of magmatic water; (3) 10 ore districts and 2 active systems with abundant base metals ±Ag, involving waters of diverse origins, including ocean, "evolved-connate," meteoric, and magmatic, usually with salinities above 4 percent; and (4) 5 copper-molybdenum deposits, generally involving early dominance by magmatic water but with increasing proportions of meteoric water during sulfide and postsulfide stages. Individual constituents, including the metals, CI, S, and CO2, may come from the same or different sources than the dominant water. Igneous intrusions frequently provide the energy and perhaps the Sand C of the ore deposits, but a magmatic origin of the metals, H 20, and other constituents is commonly assumed uncritically. Ore deposition may require favorable combinations of circumstances that differ from place to place, but with some combinations being especially favorable. No simple model of origin is likely to explain all or even most metalliferous ore deposits.
CSSAdet: Real-Time End-to-End Small Object Detection for Power Transmission Line Inspection

Ensuring power transmission line reliability is crucial for power system stability. Mechanical joints, critical components of transmission lines, are susceptible to pin defects, leading to severe consequences. We propose an end-to-end lightweight defect detection method, Cross-Scale Spatial Attention Detector (CSSAdet), for accurately identifying pin defects in mechanical joints. CSSAdet integrates spatial and cross-scale attention mechanisms, enhancing feature representation and improving detection accuracy and recall. Our detection pipeline involves two stages: detecting mechanical joints in UAV-acquired images and identifying pin statuses within detected joints, using a single CSSAdet model. We evaluated CSSAdet on a large dataset of transmission line images, comparing it with existing methods. CSSAdet-2 achieves an average precision (AP) of 77.1% and a recall of 91.4% for joint detection, and an AP of 77.2% and a recall of 92.1% for pin status recognition, with a processing speed of 116.8 FPS. CSSAdet demonstrates superior performance in detecting mechanical joint defects with high efficiency, providing a valuable tool for maintaining and monitoring transmission line integrity and improving power system reliability and safety.
Congenital syphilis in Switzerland: a marker of inequality? A mini-review

Syphilis remains a global public health problem, with growing incidence in most regions of the world, particularly among women of childbearing age. This alarming trend has led to an increase in cases of congenital syphilis, resulting in devastating consequences. While the implementation of measures by the World Health Organization (WHO) and various governments has contributed to a decline in the global incidence of congenital syphilis, many countries are facing an escalating crisis, as incidence continues to rise. This mini-review aims to provide an overview of the current state of this disease in different parts of the world, focusing on the most affected populations and highlighting congenital syphilis as a marker of vulnerability. It also focuses on Switzerland, a country with a robust economy, to identify shortcomings in the healthcare system that contribute to the persistence of congenital syphilis, even though the infection is easily detectable and treatable. In conclusion, this mini-review highlights the persistent risk of congenital syphilis worldwide, regardless of country prevalence or economic status, and underscores the need for sustained efforts to reach underserved women, emphasizing the vital role of comprehensive training for healthcare professionals.