Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFICIENT UAV FLIGHT PLANNING FOR LOD2 CITY MODEL IMPROVEMENT

Abstract. Geometric errors in LoD2 building models can be caused by the modeling algorithm but are often related to the quality of input data. One approach to tackling the modeling errors caused by the quality of input data is to collect additional data with a UAV and remodel the buildings. However, no flight planning approach exists specifically designed for efficient data recollection for model improvement. In this paper, we propose an innovative flight planning approach for this purpose. Contrary to the conventional method that recollects the data covering the entire building roof, our approach only collects the data over the erroneous region and uses it to improve the erroneous model part later. Our algorithm utilizes the existing LiDAR survey data to automatically detect model errors and design the camera networks by considering the roof geometry. We optimize the trajectory that connects the viewpoints with a genetic algorithm and develops an obstacle avoidance function with ray-casting to ensure a collision-free path. The proposed flight plan is implemented in a real-world scene. Our result shows an improved point cloud created through dense image matching with the collected UAV image data. The generated point cloud is successfully used for creating partial building models for improving the original models.
Early Detection of Botrytis cinerea Infection in Cut Roses Using Thermal Imaging

Botrytis cinerea (B. cinerea) causes gray mold disease (GMD), which results in physiological disorders in plants that decrease the longevity and economic value of horticultural crops. To prevent the spread of GMD during distribution, a rapid, early detection technique is necessary. Thermal imaging has been used for GMD detection in various plants, including potted roses; however, its application to cut roses, which have a high global demand, has not been established. In this study, we investigated the utility of thermal imaging for the early detection of B. cinerea infection in cut roses by monitoring changes in petal temperature after fungal inoculation. We examined the effects of GMD on the postharvest quality and petal temperature of cut roses treated with different concentrations of fungal conidial suspensions and chemicals. B. cinerea infection decreased the flower opening, disrupted the water balance, and decreased the vase life of cut roses. Additionally, the average temperature of rose petals was higher for infected flowers than for non-inoculated flowers. One day before the appearance of necrotic symptoms (day 1 of the vase period), the petal temperature in infected flowers was significantly higher, by 1.1 °C, than that of non-inoculated flowers. The GMD-induced increase in petal temperature was associated with the mRNA levels of genes related to ethylene, reactive oxygen species, and water transport. Furthermore, the increase in temperature caused by GMD was strongly correlated with symptom severity and fungal biomass. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the disease incidence in the petals was positively related to the petal temperature one day before the appearance of necrotic symptoms. These results show that thermography is an effective technique for evaluating changes in petal temperature and a possible method for early GMD detection in the cut flower industry.
Design of Melodi Nusantara Rhythm Game to Introduce Traditional Indonesians Song

At The culture of traditional music and songs in Indonesia is one of the results of intellectual and cultural richness, which plays an important role in the lives of traditional communities. In addition, traditional music and songs are also national assets that embody strategic values for both Indonesia and foreign parties. Therefore, there is a need to protect traditional music and songs in Indonesia. "Melodi Nusantara" is the name of a game developed to support and introduce traditional music and songs of Indonesia. The game "Melodi Nusantara" is a rhythm game genre. The rhythm game genre is very popular and loved by all, and this game requires players to follow the rhythm of a song. This game is very suitable for listening to music while playing. With the existence of the "Melodi Nusantara" game, it is hoped that players will be able to recognize the music culture of each region in Indonesia. And researchers can also see if the "Melodi Nusantara" game will continue to be useful for players and if they would want play the "Melodi Nusantara" game in the future.
Interaction between Aerosols and Clouds: Current Understanding

This article reviews our current understanding of the interactive processes between aerosols and clouds pertaining to the issues of climate change and the hydrological cycle. We first introduce the aerosol effects on clouds by the classification of hygroscopic aerosols, carbonaceous aerosols and mineral dust according to the aerosol chemical contents. Following that are discussions on how clouds influence aerosols via microphysical and chemical mechanisms, scavenging by precipitation, and vertical transport of cloud venting, as well as some indirect effects. The main topics covered here include cloud microphysics, cloud chemistry, photochemistry and gas-to-particle conversion, radiation and climate impact, and interactions with the biosphere. The examples given focus more on the work conducted by the Cloud and Aerosol Research Group in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University.
Dengue Serotypes in Bangladesh: Whole Genome Sequencing and Comparative Genomics Facilitates Pathogenesis and Epidemiology Studies and Informs Improved Disease Control

Dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most extensive arthropod-borne (arbo)viruses worldwide, especially prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries, and which is responsible for causing an array of clinical disease manifestations in humans. The increasing frequency of dengue outbreaks and the expanding range over which both the virus and its vector of transmission, female Aedes mosquitoes, are endemic, are pressing global public health concerns. The ongoing lack of either an efficacious vaccine or antiviral drug has contributed to the escalating problem. Inadequate knowledge of DENV genomic architecture and pathogenesis has proven to be a major drawback when designing effective prevention and treatment options. Mounting case numbers of dengue infection are reported each year in Bangladesh, yet no full-length genome sequence data are available for DENV isolates from this densely populated, developing South Asian nation. Sequencing and characterization of the whole genome of Bangladeshi DENV isolates of different virus serotypes is therefore an important priority in order to identify therapeutic target determinants against which to develop effective measures to combat the disease.
Reframing national image: A methodological framework

The article addresses the role of national images in international relations and develops a methodological framework for its study. It concludes that national image study should comprise private frames associated with perceived images of other nations, and public frames referring to projected media images of other nations by drawing on framing theory. It suggests that in-depth interview with intermediate elites can be employed to explore private frames, and the inductive or the deductive approaches to public frames. There is recognition that inquiry is conducted in the shadow of a dynamic world politics and within a historical context, and public diplomacy can be used to build national reputation. To examine the associations between public and private frames of a given country will prepare the ways for the identification of alternative frames and framing devices that may result in variation in public opinion, contributing to national image building in the state under study, and promote understanding and relationships between countries.
Improving Text-Independent Forced Alignment to Support Speech-Language Pathologists with Phonetic Transcription

Problem: Phonetic transcription is crucial in diagnosing speech sound disorders (SSDs) but is susceptible to transcriber experience and perceptual bias. Current forced alignment (FA) tools, which annotate audio files to determine spoken content and its placement, often require manual transcription, limiting their effectiveness. Method: We introduce a novel, text-independent forced alignment model that autonomously recognises individual phonemes and their boundaries, addressing these limitations. Our approach leverages an advanced, pre-trained wav2vec 2.0 model to segment speech into tokens and recognise them automatically. To accurately identify phoneme boundaries, we utilise an unsupervised segmentation tool, UnsupSeg. Labelling of segments employs nearest-neighbour classification with wav2vec 2.0 labels, before connectionist temporal classification (CTC) collapse, determining class labels based on maximum overlap. Additional post-processing, including overfitting cleaning and voice activity detection, is implemented to enhance segmentation. Results: We benchmarked our model against existing methods using the TIMIT dataset for normal speakers and, for the first time, evaluated its performance on the TORGO dataset containing SSD speakers. Our model demonstrated competitive performance, achieving a harmonic mean score of 76.88% on TIMIT and 70.31% on TORGO. Implications: This research presents a significant advancement in the assessment and diagnosis of SSDs, offering a more objective and less biased approach than traditional methods. Our model’s effectiveness, particularly with SSD speakers, opens new avenues for research and clinical application in speech pathology.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) When and how assessment matters: An update on the Treatment Utility of Clinical Assessment (TUCA)

The Treatment Utility of Clinical Assessment (TUCA) has long been a controversial topic, with arguably more (strong) opinions than relevant, well-designed empirical research. We argue that this question has been tackled too broadly and that a more contextualized approach would likely be more informative. Instead of asking “what is the treatment utility of assessment,” we suggest specifying and examining more closely the conditions by which assessment can—or cannot—contribute to treatment process and ultimately patient benefit. To this end, we present a heuristic model for conceptualizing the conditions under which clinical assessment may have treatment utility and illustrate its use by distinguishing four specific classes of assessment-driven interventions. We distinguish direct benefits from assessment from indirect TUCA as two principal pathways, emphasize the importance of having some a priori theory regarding working mechanisms, and stress the requirements of ensuring adequate variability of the presumed mediating variables. These considerations in turn argue for a broader view of pertinent outcome measures, the use of more powerful designs in TUCA research, and the implementation of some form of stepped assessment in clinical practice.
Amelioration of Motor Performance and Nigrostriatal Dopamine Cell Volume Using a Novel Far-Infrared Ceramic Blanket in an A53T Alpha-Synuclein Transgenic Parkinson’s Disease Mouse Model

We had attended a Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patient for a non-healing wound who reported a marked decrease in his hand tremor and freezing of gait when his wound was exposed to a ceramic far-field infrared (cFIR) blanket. PD is the most frequent motor disorder and the second most frequent neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The tremor, rigidity, and slowness of movement associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) affect up to 10 million people throughout the world, and the major contributing factor to the pathogenesis of PD is the accumulation and propagation of pathological α-synuclein (α-Syn) and the death of dopaminergic cells in the Nigrostriatal system. Efforts to slow or stop its spreading have resulted in the development and use of dopaminergic drug replacement therapy. Unfortunately, there is a loss of about 70–80% of substantia nigral dopaminergic neurons in patients by the time they are diagnosed with PD, and various dopaminergic drugs provide only temporary relief of their motor symptoms. There are limitations in treating PD with many conventional medications, necessitating a combination of pharmaceutical and non-pharmacological therapy as an essential adjunct to better address the health and welfare of PD patients. We used male adult A53T alpha-synuclein transgenic mice exposed to a ceramic far-infrared blanket. Motor activity was assessed using the rotarod apparatus, and mouse brains were examined to quantify the fluorescence intensities of the immunostained samples. A53T alpha-synuclein transgenic mice had a significantly shorter time stay on the rotating bar than the wild-type mice (B6C3H). The rotarod performance was significantly improved in A53T alpha-synuclein transgenic mice exposed to cFIR as well as B6C3H healthy wild mice exposed to cFIR. There was a significant statistical and substantive increase in the cellular composition of the Striatum and substantia nigra of cFIR-treated mice. Improvement in motor performance is seen in PD mice and wild mice and is associated with increases in cell volume in the substantia nigra and striatum after treatment.
Land cover mapping in Latvia using hyperspectral airborne and simulated Sentinel-2 data

Land cover mapping in Latvia is performed as part of the Corine Land Cover (CLC) initiative every six years. The advantage of CLC is the creation of a standardized nomenclature and mapping protocol comparable across all European countries, thereby making it a valuable information source at the European level. However, low spatial resolution and accuracy, infrequent updates and expensive manual production has limited its use at the national level. As of now, there is no remote sensing based high resolution land cover and land use services designed specifically for Latvia which would account for the country’s natural and land use specifics and end-user interests. The European Space Agency launched the Sentinel-2 satellite in 2015 aiming to provide continuity of free high resolution multispectral satellite data thereby presenting an opportunity to develop and adapted land cover and land use algorithm which accounts for national enduser needs. In this study, land cover mapping scheme according to national end-user needs was developed and tested in two pilot territories (Cesis and Burtnieki). Hyperspectral airborne data covering spectral range 400-2500 nm was acquired in summer 2015 using Airborne Surveillance and Environmental Monitoring System (ARSENAL). The gathered data was tested for land cover classification of seven general classes (urban/artificial, bare, forest, shrubland, agricultural/grassland, wetlands, water) and sub-classes specific for Latvia as well as simulation of Sentinel-2 satellite data. Hyperspectral data sets consist of 122 spectral bands in visible to near infrared spectral range (356-950 nm) and 100 bands in short wave infrared (950-2500 nm). Classification of land cover was tested separately for each sensor data and fused cross-sensor data. The best overall classification accuracy 84.2% and satisfactory classification accuracy (more than 80%) for 9 of 13 classes was obtained using Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier with 109 band hyperspectral data. Grassland and agriculture land demonstrated lowest classification accuracy in pixel based approach, but result significantly improved by looking at agriculture polygons registered in Rural Support Service data as objects. The test of simulated Sentinel-2 bands for land cover mapping using SVM classifier showed 82.8% overall accuracy and satisfactory separation of 7 classes. SVM provided highest overall accuracy 84.2% in comparison to 75.9% for k-Nearest Neighbor and 79.2% Linear Discriminant Analysis classifiers.
Podocytes [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Podocytes are highly specialized cells of the kidney glomerulus that wrap around capillaries and that neighbor cells of the Bowman’s capsule. When it comes to glomerular filtration, podocytes play an active role in preventing plasma proteins from entering the urinary ultrafiltrate by providing a barrier comprising filtration slits between foot processes, which in aggregate represent a dynamic network of cellular extensions. Foot processes interdigitate with foot processes from adjacent podocytes and form a network of narrow and rather uniform gaps. The fenestrated endothelial cells retain blood cells but permit passage of small solutes and an overlying basement membrane less permeable to macromolecules, in particular to albumin. The cytoskeletal dynamics and structural plasticity of podocytes as well as the signaling between each of these distinct layers are essential for an efficient glomerular filtration and thus for proper renal function. The genetic or acquired impairment of podocytes may lead to foot process effacement (podocyte fusion or retraction), a morphological hallmark of proteinuric renal diseases. Here, we briefly discuss aspects of a contemporary view of podocytes in glomerular filtration, the patterns of structural changes in podocytes associated with common glomerular diseases, and the current state of basic and clinical research.
Analisis Performansi Codec G.711 Dan G.729 Berbasis Issabel Menggunakan Metode MOS E-Model

Komunikasi telah menjadi komponen penting dalam menjalankan bisnis, terutama dalam bisnis layanan terpadu (call center) di mana mungkin diperlukan untuk melakukan panggilan ke ribuan klien dalam satu hari karena kemajuan sistem telekomunikasi. Dalam kasus jaringan yang menangani transmisi VoIP, memastikan kualitas panggilan yang sesuai sangatlah penting. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mencari referensi codec audio terbaik untuk kebutuhan komunikasi suara sistem VoIP berbasis Issabel Server. Antara call codec G.729 dan G.711 dilakukan analisis mean opinion score dengan menggunakan teknik MOS E-MODEL (ITU-T G.107) menggunakan skenario call dengan durasi 30 detik, 60 detik, dan 120 detik dari ekstensi lokal ke jaringan PSTN. Codec G.729 dan G.711 memiliki nilai MOS 4.25061 pada waktu panggilan 30 detik. Codec G.711 bekerja lebih baik daripada codec G.729 dengan durasi panggilan 60 detik, dengan selisih persentase 0,153% (nilai MOS 4,24739) dibandingkan dengan nilai MOS codec G.729 sebesar 4,24087. Codec G.711 bekerja lebih baik daripada codec G.729 pada durasi panggilan 120 detik, dengan selisih persentase 0,018% (nilai MOS 4,24866) dibandingkan dengan nilai MOS codec G.729 sebesar 4,24787. Codec G.711 memiliki kualitas panggilan yang superior dibandingkan dengan codec G.729. Codec G.729 menggunakan sumber daya lebih efektif daripada codec G.711 meskipun kualitas panggilannya serupa dengan codec G.711. Kata kunci: MOS, G.711, G.729, Issabel, VoIP
La conectividad en las zonas rurales

1 Laboratorio de Investigación en Técnicas Criptográficas y Seguridad Teleinformática. Escuela Superior Técnica, Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto Universitario del Ejército, C1426; 2 CISTIC/FCE Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1120; 3 Universidad Nacional de Chilecito, Chilecito, Provincia de La Rioja, F5360; 4 Universidad Nacional de 3 de Febrero, Sáenz Peña, Provincia de Buenos Aires, B1674 y 5 Universidad Nacional del Oeste, San Antonio de Padua, Provincia de Buenos Aires, B1718.
Origins of the Ediacaran Doushantuo High-Grade Primary Phosphorites at Kaiyang, Guizhou Province, China

The Ediacaran Doushantuo phosphate deposit in Kaiyang, Guizhou Province, China, contains thick phosphate ores. Most of the ores are reconstituted phosphorite, and there have been few studies of the primary phosphorites, which has led to controversy regarding the origins and nature of mineralization of these phosphate-rich deposits. We identified high-grade primary phosphorites in the Kaiyang area and undertook a stratigraphic, petrological, sedimentological, geochemical, and isotopic study of these rocks. Moving up-section, the Longshui phosphate ore deposit comprises granular, micritic, stromatolitic, honeycomb, and sandy phosphorites. The first four types of phosphorite contain abundant biological structures, such as spherical, lobe-like, and amorphous forms. These are mainly fossils of benthic multicellular red algae, along with other types of algae. These fossils comprise >70% of the phosphorites, indicating that these are protist phosphorites. The ores are massive, unstratified, and contain numerous layered cavity structures, indicating that the ore bed was originally a reef. The phosphorites have P2O5 contents of 38.6–40.2 wt %, with an average of 38.9 wt %. The Al2O3 + TiO2 values are 0.02–0.44 wt %. The δ18O values of the samples vary from 13.76 to 16.57‰, with an average of 14.60‰, and δ13C values range from −15.789 to −8.697‰, with an average of −13.133‰. The samples exhibit rare-earth element patterns that are enriched with middle rare-earth elements and have strongly negative Ce anomalies. The geochemical features show that the reef was deposited in clear and oxidized waters. The discovery of this high-grade protist phosphorite shows that the involvement of algae was key to the formation of the Kaiyang phosphate-rich deposit.
Investigating the influence of land use mix and built environment elements on travel time perception and subjective wellbeing

ABSTRACT Perceived travel time plays an important role in the subjective wellbeing of the commuters. Recent studies have focused on the relationship between spatial characteristics and wellbeing, and the relationship between transportation and mobility with subjective wellbeing of the people. However, few studies tackled the influence of the urban form and the elements of built environment on wellbeing during commuting in the city. This manuscript discusses the concept of urban form, and perceptual qualities of urban design. Afterwards, it proceeds with delineating the research variables (i.e., Spatial and Perceptual). The case study selected is South 90 Street, New Cairo, Egypt, which serves as an urban corridor that accommodates various transit modes, diverse land uses, and variety of urban facades. The analysis is carried out utilizing the built environment dataset and collected responses about users’ experience via a questionnaire. This manuscript attempts to answer two main questions: (1) What is the influence of urban form on commuters’ travel time perception? (2) How do the elements of the built environment impact the subjective wellbeing of commuters? Descriptive analysis is conducted to understand the relationship and influence of the built environment on the perceived travel time during mobility and individuals’ wellbeing. The manuscript further discusses the results, depicting which built environment elements are associated with either positive or negative effect on commuters’ subjective wellbeing. The manuscript concludes with highlighting the potentials for maintaining the overall wellbeing of individuals and their perception during urban mobility. Thus, facilitating the design of functional, efficient, and reliable cities.