Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Water Body Extraction From Very High-Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery Using Deep U-Net and a Superpixel-Based Conditional Random Field Model

Water body extraction (WBE) has attracted considerable attention in the field of remote sensing image analysis. Herein, we present an enhanced deep convolutional encoder–decoder (DCED) network (or Deep U-Net) specifically tailored to WBE from remote sensing images by applying superpixel segmentation and conditional random fields (CRFs). First, we preclassify the entire remote sensing image into the water and nonwater areas via Deep U-Net, using the results of class membership probabilities as the unary potential in the CRF model. The pairwise potential of CRF is defined by a linear combination of Gaussian kernels, which forms a fully connected neighbor structure. Next, regional restriction is incorporated into the approach to enhance the consistency of the connected area. We use the simple linear iterative clustering algorithm to generate superpixels and correct the binary classification results by calculating their average posterior probabilities. Finally, a highly efficient approximate inference algorithm, mean-field inference, is generated for the final model. The results from the experimental application to GaoFen-2 images and WorldView-2 images demonstrate that the proposed approach exhibits competitive quantitative and qualitative performance, which effectively reduces salt-and-pepper noise and retains the edge structures of water bodies. Compared to existing state-of-the-art methods, our proposed method achieves superior final results.
Estimation of Leaf Inclination Angle in Three-Dimensional Plant Images Obtained from Lidar

The leaf inclination angle is a fundamental variable for determining the plant profile. In this study, the leaf inclination angle was estimated automatically from voxel-based three-dimensional (3D) images obtained from lidar (light detection and ranging). The distribution of the leaf inclination angle within a tree was then calculated. The 3D images were first converted into voxel coordinates. Then, a plane was fitted to some voxels surrounding the point (voxel) of interest. The inclination angle and azimuth angle were obtained from the normal. The measured leaf inclination angle and its actual value were correlated and indicated a high correlation (R2 = 0.95). The absolute error of the leaf inclination angle estimation was 2.5°. Furthermore, the leaf inclination angle can be estimated even when the distance between the lidar and leaves is about 20 m. This suggests that the inclination angle estimation of leaves in a top part is reliable. Then, the leaf inclination angle distribution within a tree was calculated. The difference in the leaf inclination angle distribution between different parts within a tree was observed, and a detailed tree structural analysis was conducted. We found that this method enables accurate and efficient leaf inclination angle distribution.
Detection and Validation of Tropical Peatland Flaming and Smouldering Using Landsat-8 SWIR and TIRS Bands

A Tropical Peatland Combustion Algorithm (ToPeCAl) was first established from Landsat-8 images acquired in 2015, which were used to detect peatland combustion in flaming and smouldering stages. Detection of smouldering combustion from space remains a challenge due to its low temperature and generally small spatial extent. The ToPeCAl consists of the Shortwave Infrared Combustion Index based on reflectance (SICIρ), and Top of Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance in Shortwave Infrared band-7 (SWIR-2), TOA brightness temperature of Thermal Infrared band-10 (TIR-1), and TOA reflectance of band-1, the Landsat-8 aerosol band. The implementation of ToPeCAl was then validated using terrestrial and aerial images (helicopter and drone) collected during fieldwork in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia in the 2018 fire season, on the same day as Landsat-8 overpasses. The overall accuracy of ToPeCAl was found to be 82% with omission errors in a small area (less than 30 m × 30 m) from mixtures of smouldering and vegetation pixels, and commission errors (with minimum area of 30 m x 30 m) on high reflective building rooftops in urban areas. These errors were further reduced by masking and removing urban areas prior to analysis using landuse Geographic Information System (GIS) data; improving the overall mapping accuracy to 93%. For comparison, the day and night-time VIIRS (375 m) active fire product (VNP14IMG) was utilised, obtaining a lower probability of fire detection of 71% compared to ground truth, and 57–72% agreement in a buffer distance of 375 m to 1500 m when compared to the Landsat-8 ToPeCAl results. The night-time data of VNP14IMG was found to have a better correspondence with ToPeCAl results from Landsat 8 than day-time data. This finding could lead to a potential merger of ToPeCAl with VNP14IMG to fill the temporal gaps of peatland fire information when using Landsat. However, the VNP14IMG product exhibited overestimation compared with the results of ToPeCAl applied to Landsat-8.
Affective Robot Movement Generation Using CycleGANs

Social robots use gestures to express internal and affective states, but their interactive capabilities are hindered by relying on preprogrammed or hand-animated behaviors, which can be repetitive and predictable. We propose a method for automatically synthesizing affective robot movements given manually-generated examples. Our approach is based on techniques adapted from deep learning, specifically generative adversarial neural networks (GANs).
Gain Enhancement Technique in Vivaldi Antenna For 5G Communication

This paper proposes an optimized design of Vivaldi antenna for 12 -18 GHz band for 5th Generation (5G) technologies. The antenna is designed on a Rogers-5880 substrate with dielectric constant (εr) = 2.2 and dielectric thickness of 0.787 mm. In addition, the comparative study has been done with simple Vivaldi antenna design. The results show a significant improvement with Gain = 10.33 dBi, Bandwidth = 6 GHz, and side lobe levels (SLL) = −19.9 dB which meets the 5G standards. The antenna is designed and simulated using CST MW Studio which is based on of Finite Integration Technique (FIT).
Refactoring OpenMP Code Based on MapReduce Model

In multi-core era, much software has been developed using parallel programming technology, such as OpenMP. However, with the rise of the Internet, the data is growing dramatically. Due to the limitation of computing power and memory capacity, OpenMP applications cannot satisfy the needs of user efficiently. The flexibility and scalability of the cloud provide a new way to solve this problem. MapReduce, a parallel programming model in cloud computing, provides a solution for massive data processing. So, it needs to be considered that how to refactor the legacy OpenMP code to MapReduce model. A related refactoring approach was proposed, and a prototype tool, O2MR, was developed for the above-mentioned problem in this paper. Through experiment validation, the approach is effective, and the tool is helpful in the process of refactoring.
A Multiband Folded Loop Antenna for Metal-Rimmed Smartphones

A folded loop antenna for mobile phones surrounded by a metal rim is presented in this paper. The loop antenna has four resonant modes at working bands. By taking advantage of the metal rim, the antenna can cover GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900, UMTS2100, LTE2300 and LTE2500 operating bands. The antenna is studied using simulation method.
A Proposed Wireless Intrusion Detection Prevention and Attack System

This electronic document is a “live” template and already defines the components of your paper [title, text, heads, etc.] in its style sheet With the rapid deployment of wireless networks, the concept of network security has faced a lot of risks so it must provide security solutions. The classical methods of protecting networks from attacks are no longer adequate. For example, the intrusion detection system that works with wired networks has become useless with wireless networks. The Wireless technologies have opened a new field for network users. Because of its ease of use and setup, this technology has become popular and changing rapidly. However, the fear of the wireless world and the first threat is security. This is due to the nature of this network. With this increasing concern, it is necessary to start thinking about a security solution. This paper intends to propose a new wireless intrusion detection prevention and attack system to enhance the network security. Therefore, the paper will discuss the development of an intrusion detection system on wireless networks which is Wireless Intrusion Detection Prevention and Attack System “WIDPAS”. It is based on three main tasks: monitoring, analysis and defense. Through which it monitors denial of service attacks or false networks and then analyzes the attack and identifies the attacker and then protects the network users.
A Self-Activated Band-pass FSS with Field Intensity Dependent Electromagnetic Scattering Ability

In this paper, a novel design of a band-pass frequency selective surface (FSS) with adjustable electromagnetic (EM) scattering characteristics is presented. The unit cell of the FSS consists of both linear and nonlinear lumped elements. The embedded nonlinear elements can be excited by a strong incident wave and hence the FSS can be self-activated. According to different field intensity of an incident wave, the scattering field of the FSS can be coded. For demonstration, a band-pass FSS with both PIN diodes and capacitors is simulated and analyzed by using a commercial full-wave solver in time domain. The results show the field intensity dependent EM scattering characteristic of the FSS with flexible beam control.
Acculturation and Dietary Acculturation among Arab Muslim Immigrants in Canada.

PURPOSE The purpose of this work was to assess Arab Muslim immigrant mothers' acculturation level, to explore apparent links between acculturation level and experiences of dietary changes, and to gather information on factors affecting dietary acculturation. METHODS Semi-structured individual interviews focusing on food choices were conducted with 24 mothers who had been in Canada 5 years or more. An adapted version of an existing acculturation scale was used to assess participants' perception of their own acculturation. RESULTS Arab Muslim mothers retain traditional food preparation. However, several factors led to changes in their daily food consumption such as children's preferences, time concerns, and availability of Arabic food. No significant relation was found between measured levels of acculturation and the adoption of Canadian food behaviour or the retention of preparation and consumption of traditional foods (dietary acculturation); however, a greater length of stay in Canada was somewhat associated with limitations on preparing traditional food. The findings indicated that many of the Arab Muslim mothers interviewed retain important aspects of their traditional cuisine. CONCLUSIONS Dietary acculturation for Arab Muslim immigrants to Canada involved a balance between carrying forward food-related traditions and adapting to Canadian culture, including Canada's food culture.
Accelerating Blockchain Transfer System Using FPGA-Based NIC

Blockchain is core technology for cryptocurrency and it is possible to become fundamental platform for industry and business. Especially, a blockchain-based digital asset transfer system using Internet of Things (IoT) products has recently been considered as a new practical platform, but the protocol limits performance. Previous research has improved performance by proposing new protocols, but further improvement is necessary for dealing with increasing transactions via IoT products. Therefore, we propose an in-Network Interface Card (in-NIC) processing approach using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to improve performance of a blockchain-based transfer system. To be more concrete, we design and implement a prototype NIC with a key-value data store written in a P4 language on the FPGA that has four 10Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) network interfaces. The prototype system supports frequently-used commands (CREATE, ISSUE, TRANSFER and REFER) for transferring digital asset. It reduces time for processing a kernel network protocol stack and accessing the data store. In fact, we measured throughput and latency of our prototype system compared to those of a blockchain software application. As a result, we found that our solution is able to obtain throughput 6.04 times higher on average and latency 15.4 times lower on average for all typical blockchain operations.
Normalizing Moral Dilemmas: The Construction of True and False Experts in German Nuclear Technology

As the boundaries between science and technology became permeable in the course of the 20th century (Latour, 1987), the definitions of military and civil uses of technology also became an object of negotiation. The openness of science to economic, social and political purposes made it difficult to separate basic civil research from military applications. The debate in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s about nuclear armament reveals that warnings about nuclear bombs served as a source of support for the civil use of nuclear energy (Radkau, 1983). The memory of the military use of nuclear technology during the Second World War was mobilized as a reason to reinforce the notion of ‘peaceful’ nuclear power plants. In the 1970s, the anti-nuclear movement began to question this peacefulness and initiated a debate on the military use of civil atomic energy. Much has been written on the development of civil nuclear energy in the postwar era (Radkau, 1983; Kollert, 1994). Little has been published, however, on the individual perceptions of the atomic program. In contrast to this, my paper is based on an empirical study of West German nuclear technology that focused on individual natural scientists and engineers. The conflicting standpoints in the atomic debate required a great integration achievement of those experts that were involved. The study dealt with the question of how they conducted themselves in the face of the potential military use of nuclear energy. How did nuclear scientists produce their orientation? What structures of experience and action were relevant? What kind of professionality did they develop? Secondly, it is unclear if and how the National Socialist regime influenced Germany’s postwar scientists and their worldview. Many studies have analyzed the National Socialist employment of science and technology (for example, Proctor, 1999; Walker, 1990). Nevertheless, very few authors have elaborated on the regime’s impact on postwar experts (Krige, 2006; Radkau, 1983). To bridge this gap, the project also studied whether and, if so, how the experts’ family histories during National Socialism affected Science as Culture Vol. 16, No. 2, 187–205, June 2007
Compact Ultra-Wideband Antenna with Dual-Band Notch Characteristic

In this paper, a dual-band notched compact UWB antenna fed by CPW is presented. It is printed on FR4 substrate with a compact size of 20mm*29.5mm*1.5mm. It is designed to cover the band from 2.883 GHz to 20 GHz. This antenna is able to reduce the interference at IEEE 802.16 WiMAX (3.3-3.8GHz) band and IEEE 802.11 WLAN (5.15-5.825GHz) band, whose two frequency notches are realized by embedding split ring resonator (SRR) in the coplanar waveguides and an inverted U-shaped slot on the antenna. It has an omnidirectional radiation pattern and the gain is suppressed well at the two notched bands. This proposed work has wider bandwidth and good band rejection performance in comparison with the state of arts.
Widening the lens on family processes and the development of parent-child attachment relationships

ABSTRACT This commentary addresses the research conducted by McConnachie et al. (this issue) on attachment in gay father families, lesbian mother families, and heterosexual parent families. Strengths of the research included the inclusion of different family constellations, the focus on between-family and within-family differences, the longitudinal research design, and the age-appropriate assessment of attachment. Some limitations noted included the lack of control for age at adoption in analyses, the lack of information on parenting processes and parental mental health in the formation of attachment, and questions about information obtained from parent reports of children’s prior caregiving histories.
Dependable IoT Using Blockchain-Based Technology

In the last few years, novel approaches for using blockchain to solve Internet of Things (IoT) security and dependability issues have been proposed. Currently, different solutions were applied to Smart Homes, Smart Cities, Smart Grids, Supply Chains, Industry, and Vehicular Networks scenarios. Despite of that, the main advantages on the adoption of different architectures, models and algorithms proposed in the state of art of blockchain in IoT scenarios are not yet clear. This paper presents some discussion about the usage of blockchain technology in IoT environments and proposes a layer model of blockchains for IoT. In addition, we present an overview of the latest research regarding network architectures, consensus algorithms, data management, and applications. Finally, this paper presents open issues and future trends about blockchain in IoT.
Recognizing F-Formations in the Open World

A key skill for social robots in the wild will be to understand the structure and dynamics of conversational groups in order to fluidly participate in them. Social scientists have long studied the rich complexity underlying such focused encounters, or $\pmb{F}$-formations. However, current state-of-the-art algorithms that robots might use to recognize F-formations are highly heuristic and quite brittle. In this report, we explore a data-driven approach to detect F-formations from sets of tracked human positions and orientations, trained and evaluated on two openly available human-only datasets and a small human-robot dataset that we collected. We also discuss the potential for further computational characterization of F-formations beyond simply detecting their occurrence.
Helicobacter pylori: molecular basis for colonization and survival in gastric environment and resistance to antibiotics. A short review

Abstract Helicobacter pylori is a human-specific pathogen with a strict tropism for the gastric mucosa. This bacterium infects around half of the world population and is the main responsible for gastritis, peptic ulcer and, in some cases, for the pathogenesis of gastric cancer. Nevertheless, disease development in infected subjects depends not only on the bacterium, but also on the host genetic predisposition and on environmental factors. The fascinating question of how the bacterium can survive in the gastric environment has stimulated research in this field. It is now clear that H. pylori is able to colonize and adhere to the gastric epithelium through several mechanisms, including the breakdown of urea with production of the cell-toxic ammonia. The resulting raise in pH neutralizes acidity of the stomach, thereby allowing the bacterium to safely cross the mucus layer to the epithelial surface. Current challenges regard understanding the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and how to overcome it. Lately, an increasing H. pylori resistance rate to antibiotics has been reported and several molecular bases for this phenomenon described. In this review, we highlight the current knowledge on mechanisms supporting H. pylori resistance to gastric environment and to therapy.
Towards Optimization Approaches in Smart Grid A Review*

Smart grid is the advancement of conventional grid with the help of computational intelligence and networking abilities of various communication networks to develop sustainable, robust, efcient and resilient power grid. It is considered to be the next future grid, using bidirectional stream of electricity through communication module that provides an environment to change the behavior of consumer to prosumer, who can independently generate and manage import/export electrical energy in the local community. Smart grid provides adaptive, procient, self-healing and secure power system which allows the various stakeholders to exchange power through grid. For effective operation of smart grid, it is necessary to have secure interoperable and efcient communication network among the electronic gadgets used in smart grid as well as in consumers premises. Efcient communication and optimization schemes is required for the data exchange among the communication modules to optimize the power system. Our contribution includes the comparative analysis on various optimization techniques that can be used in smart grid for energy management. To address the challenges for the successful deployment of smart grid, we have enlisted major hurdles that could hamper the smart grid operation and control. We believe that this research article will be a useful to early stage researchers working in the energy optimization of smart grid.
Flexible Data Acquisition System for Aerodynamics Applications

Aerodynamics Data Acquisition System (ADAS) acquires analog data from the sensors and converts it into digital signals by performing different operations such as signal conditioning, amplification, and digital conversion. With the increase in a number of processing cores, a shift from sequential to parallel ADAS has been observed recently. Therefore, in this work, we have proposed and developed a Flexible Aerodynamics Data Acquisition System (FADAS). The FADAS system aims to achieve the considerable increase in the performance, scalability, and programmability. To validate the performance of the FADAS we integrate it with Angle of Attack, Pressure Transducer Unit and environmental control system of aircraft and interfaced with of single board computers using parallel programming models.
A Pilot Study on Determining the Relation Between Gaze Aversion and Interaction Experience

Previous work in HHI and HRI demonstrates the impact of gaze on the human interaction experience (IE). In this paper, we discuss an experimental design that should enable measuring the influence of the gaze aversion ratio (GAR) on the users' IE with a social robot. We assume gaze behavior studied in HHI to be restrictive for autonomous social robots, limiting the time available to robots for perception tasks besides HRI. Our goal is to determine if a deviation from human gaze behavior is accepted by users in HRI. With an in-between experimental design we evaluate the effect of varied GAR on IE and behavioral measures. A pilot study with 9 participants suggests that averting the gaze for longer time spans is favorable.