Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Target Detection in Remote Sensing Image Based on Object-and-Scene Context Constrained CNN

Convolutional neural network (CNN) model has made a great breakthrough in target detection in remote sensing image due to the excellent feature extraction capability. However, diverse scenes and complex contextual information of remote sensing image make these CNN models face big challenges. For example, the distinctiveness between the target and the context would be reduced greatly. This letter proposes an object-and-scene context constrained CNN method to detect target in remote sensing image. This method has two channels, namely, object context constrained channel and scene context constrained channel. The object context constrained channel uses recurrent neural network (RNN) to explore the contextual relationship between the target and the object, including feature relationship and position relationship. The scene context constrained channel adopts priori scene information and Bayesian criterion to infer the relationship between the scene and the target, and it make full use of the scene information to enhance the target detection performance. The experimental results on two datasets demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.
The aftereffects of the UK national lockdown – could the reduction in urgent referrals, diagnostic and surgical capacities result in increased cancer morbidity and mortality?

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has cause major disruption to daily life in the United Kingdom in 2020. The national lockdown and mobilization of healthcare resources to areas with increased demand has resulted in a historical shift in referral, diagnostic and surgical capabilities in most healthboards. This regional, retrospective study aimed to shed light on the potential consequences of the UK national lockdown, the resultant decrease in referrals and diagnostic capacity on surgical services and patients during the recovery phase. Methods: Urgent referrals for suspected (USC) prostate cancer (N =1430) from primary care in the north-east of Scotland and the number of diagnostic prostate biopsies performed in the region were reviewed to assess trends between January 2018 and December 2020. The data was anonymized and charted to highlight the differences between the period of national lockdown and other times. Results: The number of USC referrals for prostate cancer dropped significantly between March 2020 and June 2020 (a mean of 25 per month from 45 per month in the same period in 2018 and 2019). The number of diagnostic procedures also decreased significantly, with 74 fewer biopsies having been performed during the lockdown period compared with the same period in 2019. Conclusions: The shifts in USC referrals and diagnostics during the lockdown period have led to a backlog which may put patients at risk of cancer stage migration, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. This study indicates that reestablishment of surgical services should take priority during the recovery phase. Level of evidence: 3
Exploring adversity and the potential for growth among Iron[wo]man competitors

The Ironman triathlon is one of the most famous endurance races in the world. Consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run, it requires significant physical and mental fitness training (Atkinson, 2008) as well as substantial investments in equipment, time, and emotional energy. As opposed to more casual leisure pursuits, the Ironman triathlon can be considered a serious leisure pursuit (Stebbins, 1982). Like other serious athletic leisure pursuits, participation in triathlon can facilitate personal growth experiences, especially through overcoming sport-related adversity (e.g., Atkinson, 2008; Connaughton et al., 2010; Galli & Reel, 2012). In fact, researchers have reported self-discovery, empowerment, agency, and mental toughness as potential benefits of sport-related growth through adversity (Atkinson, 2008; Cronan & Scott, 2008; Galli & Vealey, 2008; Granskog, 1992, 2003; Howells & Fletcher, 2015; Howells et al., 2017; Sarkar et al., 2015).
Determination of Iron (III) Reducing Antioxidant Capacity for Manuka Honey and Comparison with ABTS and Other Methods

Aims: Applying multiple assays with trolox as the sole reference compound is a recent AOAC proposal to improve the reliability of total antioxidant capacity determinations. The aim of this study was to evaluate, iron (III) reducing antioxidant capacity (iRAC) for Manuka honey samples and comparisons with ABTS and other well-known assays. Original Research Article Yusof et al.; JABB, 18(1): 1-9, 2018; Article no.JABB. 42202 2 Study Design: In-vitro, laboratory-based study. Place and Duration of Study: School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, UK; September 2015-May 2016. Methodology: Manuka honey rated Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) 5+, 10+, 15+, 18+ and a nonrated (NR) sample were analysed using five assays for total antioxidant capacity namely, iRAC, ABTS, DPPH, FRAP, and Folin assays. Values for total antioxidant capacity were normalized as Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant capacity (TEAC) for comparison within and between assays. Results: The TAC were correlated for all methods (R = 0.83-0.99) and also correlated with the total phenols content. Actual TEAC value for a given honey ranged by 21-70-fold depending on the assay method with the following general order of increase; DPPH < FRAP (pH 3.6) < iRAC (pH 7.0) < ABTS (pH7) < Folin (pH ~11). The trends in TAC values are discussed alongside of TEAC values for 50 food items and some challenges for comparing different antioxidant methods are highlighted. Conclusion: Total antioxidant capacity of Manuka honey changes in a regular manner probably affected by assay pH. The findings are important for attempts to standardize antioxidant methods as currently applied to foods, beverages and dietary supplements. Further research is recommended to examine the effect of normalizing antioxidant methods for solvent composition and pH.
Optomechanically Induced Transparency and Slow–Fast Light Effect in Hybrid Cavity Optomechanical Systems

We theoretically investigate the optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT) phenomenon and the fast and slow light effects of a four-mode optomechanical system with the Kerr medium. The optomechanical system is composed of an array of three single-mode cavities and a mechanical oscillator. The three cavities are a passive cavity, a no-loss-gain cavity and a gain optical cavity, respectively. A Kerr medium is inserted in the passive cavity. We study the influence of the Kerr medium on the stability of the optomechanical system, and find that the stable regime of the optomechanical system can be adjusted by changing the Kerr coefficient. We demonstrate that the phenomenon of optomechanically induced transparency will appear when the Kerr medium exists in the optomechanical system and find that the frequency position of the absorption peak on the left increases linearly with the Kerr coefficient. In addition, we also investigate the fast and slow light effects in this system. The results show that we can control the fast and slow light by adjusting the Kerr coefficient, tunneling strength, and driving field strength. This study has potential application prospects in the fields of quantum optical devices and quantum information processing.
New Insights into the Verwey Transition in Magnetite

Magnetite (Fe3O4) is the first magnetic material discovered by mankind. Despite thousands of years of applications, from the magnetic compass to data storage, and decades of basic research, it remains among the most fascinating materials for physicists. The most important reason for the continuous interest in magnetite is the occurrence of discontinuous changes in its ground state around 120 K, the so-called Verwey transition, characterized by profound modifications in the electronic structure, mutually related to atomic displacements. The remarkable complexity of the transformation process still leaves open fundamental problems in the understanding of themicroscopicmechanism of the Verwey transition. Further research efforts are needed to better describe the nature of the elementary excitations at the origin of the initial instability, how it propagates in different degrees of freedom and its relationship to precursor phenomena. This Thesis combines together the potentials of steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy to study the critical dynamics of the lattice vibrations, and the fluctuations of electronic and structural order across the Verwey transition. Their signatures are identified in the coherent response of the optical functions to ultrashort laser pulses, and the inelastic scattering of light and neutrons, which provide complementary information, with selective sensitivity to different types of elementary excitations. Among the most important results, we manage to observe in the energy and time domain critical modes with different interplay of charge distribution and atomic displacements, and diffusive dynamics, typical of an order-disorder process.
Motion behind occluder: Amodal perception and visual motion extrapolation

ABSTRACT One of the main challenges that our visual system must resolve is to judge the current position of an occluded moving object. This computation is known as motion extrapolation (ME), and it is required to perform several tasks: for example, judging when an occluded moving target collides with a given cue or whether it reappeared in time. These tasks may easily be encountered in more ecological settings, highlighting the importance of ME in our daily life. The goal of the current review is to synthesize the existing literature that investigated targets during occluded motion, in order to provide a general overview of the topic. To this aim, different aspects are discussed: occluded motion as a true perceptual phenomenon, the commonly used tasks in the literature, how perceptual and cognitive factors may affect individual performance, which mechanisms are supposed to be involved during ME and, finally, the neural correlates of occluded motion perception.
Review of islanding detection schemes for utility interactive solar photovoltaic systems

ABSTRACT The shift to renewable energy sources has proved to be a feasible alternative to satisfy the increasing energy needs of the developing world, significantly reducing the dependence on conventional energy sources without degrading the environment. Solar energy, in particular, remains one of the best available renewable energy source choices because it is abundant, clean and efficient. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology directly converts solar energy into electric power. However, owing to intermittent nature of solar energy, electric energy storage or utility interaction is an indispensable component of solar PV systems. Utility interconnection calls for many issues like synchronization, power quality, reactive power management, and islanding. Among these issues, islanding detection is one of the most critical aspects of interconnecting distributed generation (DG) such as PV system to the utility. Islanding detection schemes may usually be categorized as remote schemes associated with utility-side islanding detection, local schemes associated with DG-side islanding detection, or the new advanced signal processing-based schemes. This paper presents an analysis of different islanding detection schemes and their benefits and limitations. A summary table that compares and contrasts the existing schemes is also presented.
Theoretical Study on Thermoelectric Properties and Doping Regulation of Mg3X2 (X = As, Sb, Bi)

For searching both high-performances and better fits for near-room temperature thermoelectric materials, we here carried out a theoretical study on thermoelectric properties and doping regulation of Mg3X2 (X = As, Sb, Bi) by the combined method of first principle calculations and semi-classical Boltzmann theory. The thermoelectric properties of n-type Mg3As2, Mg3Sb2, and Mg3Bi2 were studied, and it was found that the dimensionless figures of merit, zT, are 2.58, 1.38, 0.34, and the p-type ones are 1.39, 0.64, 0.32, respectively. Furthermore, we calculated the lattice thermal conductivity of doped structures and screened out the structures with a relatively low formation energy to study the phonon dispersion and thermal conductivity in Mg3X2 (X = As, Sb, Bi). Finally, high thermoelectric zT and ultralow thermal conductivity of these doped structures was discussed.
Thermal inactivation of spores of Bacillus atrophaeus, Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus, and Clostridium difficile

There are inadequate evidence on the sporicidal effect of hot water. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of hot water against spores of Bacillus atrophaeus , Bacillus anthracis , Bacillus cereus , and Clostridium difficile . A portion (0.05 ml) of the spore suspension was used to inoculate 4.95 ml of sterilized distilled hot water. After standing for 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 min, 0.5 ml was added to 4.5 ml of physiological saline at room temperature (20°C–22°C). The spores of B. atrophaeus were the most resistant to hot water, followed by those of B. anthracis , B. cereus , and C. difficile . Disinfection of spores using hot water required contact at 100°C for 30 min for B. atrophaeus and B. anthracis , at 90°C for 30 min or at 100°C for 5 min for B. cereus , and at 90°C for 10 min or at 100°C for 2 min for C. difficile . All tested spores cannot be killed under the general conditions of use of hot-water washing machines (70°C–80°C, 10 min), but the spores of C. difficile can be killed under the general conditions of use of washer disinfectors (90°C–93°C, 10 min).
Economic burden of pain in back and extremities in the adult population: a community-based estimate in rural Gadchiroli, India

# Background Population-based estimates of economic burden due to pain in the back and extremities (PBE) are lacking from rural India. We aimed to estimate the burden by measuring the annual cost of: (i) medical consultation, (ii) purchasing medications, and (iii) work-days lost due to PBE in a rural adult population in Gadchiroli, India. # Methods This population-based recall study was conducted in two villages randomly selected from a cluster of 7 eligible villages in Gadchiroli district in India. All adults ≥20 years in these villages were surveyed by trained community health workers in January 2010 by making household visits. The data were collected using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire on the history of PBE and the consequent economic cost of pain during the previous 12 months. # Results Out of the 2535 eligible adults in two villages, 2259 (89%) were surveyed. Among these, 1876 (83%) had an episode of PBE in the preceding 12 months, 617 (27%) sought medical consultation and 1535 (68%) purchased medicines. Total expenditure in the study population (2259) over 12 months for PBE was 62,880 Indian Rupees, INR ($1298.6 at the annual mean currency conversion rate of $1 = 48.422 INR for the study year of 2009) on medical consultation and 855,203 INR ($17661.45) for purchasing medicines. Total 833 participants lost 24,205 work-days due to PBE. The mean work-days lost per adult participant were 11 days. The total estimated wages lost at the rate of 100 INR ($2.09) per day were 24,20,500 INR ($49987.6). The total cost of PBE in these two villages over 12 months was 33,38,583 INR ($68947.6) or 1317 INR ($27.19) per adult in the population. The mean annual economic loss due to PBE per symptomatic adult was 1789 INR ($36.94) which was 4.9% of the annual per capita income of 36286 INR ($725.72) for Gadchiroli in 2009-10. Women and the higher age groups were more likely to lose days at work due to PBE as well as experience higher out-of-pocket expenditure on treatment of PBE. # Conclusions This study showed substantial economic burden due to PBE in rural Gadchiroli. There is need to develop interventions to reduce the pain, loss of work-days and the out-of-pocket expenditure on medical consultation and purchasing medicines.
The effect of a sibling on the first-born child’s health: evidence from two-child families in China

Abstract The first-born child's quality may be affected by a younger sibling in a family based on the quantity-quality trade-off theory. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we examine the causal effect of having a younger sibling on the health of the first-born child aged 2–12 in China. We use instrumental variables to address the potential endogeneity of having a younger sibling in the extended regression model. We found that having a sibling significantly decreases the height-for-age z-scores of the first-born child, and the greater age gap may alleviate the effect. Further analysis shows that the effect is particularly strong for the pre-school child under 6 years old and the child in a low-income family or the rural area. A sibling influences the first-born child's health by dietary pattern, physical activities, and medical services utilization. The robustness checks, based on individual fixed-effects model and propensity score matching approach, validate our findings, which suggest that future preventive intervention on the deterioration of first-born child’s health during the implementation of the universal two-child policy.
Factors Driving Openness in China Trade: Corruption, Exchange Rate Volatility, and Macro Determinants

Trade openness plays a critical role in the growth of China and its partners. Using a system generalized method of moments (system GMM) estimator and quantile regression, a new viewpoint is presented on trade openness in China for institutional and economic factors over 15 years with 192 economies. The empirical findings provide two contrasting views. Intriguingly, China is seeking to broaden this strategy to countries with less control over corruption and low political stability. By categorizing countries as advanced, emerging, and developing, the study provides the evidence that exchange rate volatility has a negative effect on trade openness, while investment, labor force, and broad money share a positive impact. This study suggests that Chinese policymakers should further boost financial reform to promote trade development. Other countries desirous of greater trade openness with China should have more efficient management of macroscopic economic factors. Finally, the study also examines the two main groups of international offshore financial center from econometric convergence test and club clustering for trade openness in China from the worldwide perspective.
Fault-tolerant Distribution Network Enabled by Series Soft Open Point

Reliability enhancement is always considered as the top priority of the power distribution network. It is highly expected that the power network faults can be locally addressed without spreading into the entire grid. To fulfill the requirement, this paper develops a smart power-electronics device named series soft open point (SSOP). The proposed SSOP connects two AC terminals and can suppress the surge current caused by a short-circuit fault. In addition, it also performs the grid-forming function during an islanding fault. The principle of SSOP will be elaborated and the effectiveness of this proposal is validated by experimental results.
Dietary glycine equivalent and standardized ileal digestible methionine + cysteine levels for male broiler chickens fed low-crude-protein diets

Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the optimum dietary glycine equivalent (Glyequi) level in low-crude-protein diets of 181 g·kg−1 containing varied concentrations of standardized ileal digestible (SID) methionine + cysteine (Met + Cys) for broiler chicks (1–21 d old). A total of 1275, 1-d-old Cobb-Vantress® male broilers were distributed in a 5 × 3 factorial arrangement with a completely randomized design of 15 treatments with five replicates of 17 birds each. Treatments consisted of five levels of dietary Glyequi (14.9, 16.4, 17.9, 19.4, and 20.6 g·kg−1) and three concentrations of SID Met + Cys (7.70, 9.0, and 10.3 g·kg−1). Interactions between Glyequi and SID Met + Cys levels were observed for feed:gain (P = 0.055) and breast meat yield (BMY) (P = 0.017). In 7.7 and 9.0 g SID Met + Cys·kg−1 diets, optimal feed:gain and increased BMY were observed at Glyequi levels not lower than 17.9 g·kg−1. In 10.3 g SID Met + Cys·kg−1 diet, a lower feed:gain was achieved at 19.4 g Glyequi·kg−1. Therefore, a minimum dietary level of 17.9 g Glyequi·kg−1 is needed to increase growth of broilers fed diets containing 7.7 or 9.0 g·kg−1 SID Met + Cys, whereas 19.4 g·kg−1 Glyequi is necessary in diets containing 10.3 g·kg−1 SID Met + Cys for optimum growth.
Handling Complex Queries Using Query Trees

Humans can easily parse and find answers to complex queries such as "What was the capital of the country of the discoverer of the element which has atomic number 1? " by breaking them up into small pieces, querying these appropriately, and assembling a final answer. However, contemporary search engines lack such capability and fail to handle even slightly complex queries. Search engines process queries by identifying keywords and searching against them in knowledge bases or indexed web pages. The results are, therefore, dependent on the keywords and how well the search engine handles them. In our work, we propose a three-step approach called parsing, tree generation, and querying (PTGQ) for effective searching of larger and more expressive queries of potentially unbounded complexity. PTGQ parses a complex query and constructs a query tree where each node represents a simple query. It then processes the complex query by recursively querying a back-end search engine, going over the corresponding query tree in postorder. Using PTGQ makes sure that the search engine always handles a simpler query containing very few keywords. Results demonstrate that PTGQ can handle queries of much higher complexity than standalone search engines.
The finite element method: A high‐performing approach for computing the probability of ruin and solving other ruin‐related problems

The finite element method (FEM), despite being a very powerful tool for solving partial differential equations, has never been used to compute the probability of ruin, nor it has been applied to other kinds of ruin‐related problems, at least to the best of our knowledge. In this paper, in order to explore possible applications of the FEM in insurance mathematics, a high‐order FEM is proposed to solve problems related to ruin. Specifically, a FEM based on either quadratic, cubic, or quartic polynomials is developed to compute the probability of ruin and the (discounted) expected value of the assets of a firm in two previously published ruin models. Moreover, when dealing with the calculation of the probability of ruin, a suitable operator splitting technique is employed, such that the FEM variational formulation is used to approximate only spatial derivatives. Numerical experiments are presented showing that the FEM performs extraordinarily well. In fact, the solutions of the two problems considered can be obtained with an error (in the maximum norm) of order 10−5 or even smaller in a time smaller than a second. Finally, in accordance with already established theoretical results, the FEM reveals to be superconvergent at the boundaries of the finite elements.