Cross-modal Contrastive Learning with Asymmetric Co-attention Network for Video Moment Retrieval

Video moment retrieval is a challenging task requiring fine-grained interactions between video and text modalities. Recent work in image-text pretraining has demonstrated that most existing pretrained models suffer from information asymmetry due to the difference in length between visual and textual sequences. We question whether the same problem also exists in the video-text domain with an auxiliary need to preserve both spatial and temporal information. Thus, we evaluate a recently proposed solution involving the addition of an asymmetric co-attention network for video grounding tasks. Additionally, we incorporate momentum contrastive loss for robust, discriminative representation learning in both modalities. We note that the integration of these supplementary modules yields better performance compared to state-of-the-art models on the TACoS dataset and comparable results on ActivityNet Captions, all while utilizing significantly fewer parameters with respect to baseline

Migration governance and agrarian and rural development: Comparative lessons from China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand

The purpose of this policy brief is to draw together key comparative lessons on different types of migration governance interventions in the AGRUMIG project research regions and examine how they support positive feedback loops between migration and agrarian and rural development. This exploration offers stories of success and omission. Moving beyond the elusive triple-win situation on the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries, migrants themselves and the highly politicized domain of the migration-development nexus, our point of departure is that there are vital prospects for augmenting the positive impacts of migration for societies globally. This brief focuses on how migration governance interventions are potentially useful in maximizing the gains between migration and agrarian development in the sending communities in China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand

The influence of different mulching materials on Tomato's vegetative, reproductive, and yield in Dhankuta, Nepal

Dhankuta is considered a high-tomato production area in Nepal. The types of mulch recommended by government bodies and research stations are based on blanket recommendations. Research is carried out to identify the effect of different mulching materials like rice husk and silver on black plastic, straw, sawdust, and control on performance of tomatoes. It was investigated in a one-factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 4 replications and 5 treatments in a farmer's field, Patlekhola, Dhankuta. This study focused on plant growth and yield characteristics. The data were analyzed with R stat software at a 5% level of significance. Mulch application did not affect the number of leaves, stem diameter at 30, 45, or 60 days after planting, height to first truss initiation or reproductive characteristics. Mulch treatments had an effect on plant height and the number of leaves between two trusses at 60 DAT, fruit diameter, number of fruits per plant, and total fruit yield (Mt/ha) when compared to the control. The result revealed that a plot mulched with rice husk generated the most fruits per plant around 20 and the highest fruit output (45.69 Mt/ha) with a 5.46 cm fruit diameter. This study will provide the farmer with a cost-effective selection of mulching practices and commercial cultivation of tomatoes in the upcoming days. Highlight: • Mulching had a considerable impact on the growth and yields of tomatoes. • The selection of mulching material is economic Point of decision. • The efficiency of mulched might have a different result on Different Farm. • Rice husk mulching produced the maximum tomato productivity. • The highest net return from rice husk is (1261240.5a) and the B:C ratio is (3.22a)

Virtual Town Hall Meetings to Convey Emergency Medicine Residency Program Information to Students

Background: Applying to emergency medicine (EM) residency programs as a medical student is challenging and complicated in a normal year, but the 2020/2021 application cycle was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the decrease of in-person opportunities for students to connect with residency programs, virtual “town-hall” meetings were developed. In this study our primary objective was to determine whether attendance at a virtual residency program information session improved the perceived knowledge of curriculum information and program exposure to medical students applying to an EM residency.Methods: Four study sites hosted a total of 12 virtual events consisting of residents, faculty, or both. Standardized pre-event/post-event surveys were conducted to capture medical student perceptions before/after each of the virtual sessions. Apart from measuring the improvement in students’ perceived knowledge of a program by gauging their responses to each question, we used a 10-question composite score to compare pre- vs post-event improvement among the participants.Results: The pre-event survey was completed by 195 attendees, and the post-event survey was completed by 123 attendees. The median and mean composite score to this 10-question survey improved from 32.19 to 45, and 31.45 to 44.2, respectively, in the pre- to post-event survey.Conclusion: This study showed improvement of medical students’ perceived knowledge of residency programs (reflected as increased agreement from pre- to post-event survey). The data demonstrates through question responses that students not only obtained information about the programs but also were able to gain exposure to the culture and “feel” of a program. In a non-traditional application season in which students are unable to pursue their interest in a program through audition rotations, virtual town hall events, along with other asynchronous events, may be a reasonable approach to increasing medical student understanding and awareness of a program and its culture