MoBYv2AL: Self-supervised Active Learning for Image Classification

Active learning(AL) has recently gained popularity for deep learning(DL) models. This is due to efficient and informative sampling, especially when the learner requires large-scale labelled datasets. Commonly, the sampling and training happen in stages while more batches are added. One main bottleneck in this strategy is the narrow representation learned by the model that affects the overall AL selection. We present MoBYv2AL, a novel self-supervised active learning framework for image classification. Our contribution lies in lifting MoBY - one of the most successful self-supervised learning algorithms to the AL pipeline. Thus, we add the downstream task-aware objective function and optimize it jointly with contrastive loss. Further, we derive a data-distribution selection function from labelling the new examples. Finally, we test and study our pipeline robustness and performance for image classification tasks. We successfully achieved state-of-the-art results when compared to recent AL methods

Bacteraemia during transurethral resection of the prostate: what are the risk factors and is it more common than we think?

The aim of this work was to investigate the microbial causes, incidence, duration, risk factors and clinical implications of bacteraemia occurring during transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) surgery to better inform prophylaxis strategies. An ethically approved, prospective, cohort study of patients undergoing TURP was conducted. Clinical information and follow-up details were collected using standardized data collection sheets. Blood was obtained for culture at 6 different time points peri-procedure. Standard of care antibiotic prophylaxis was given prior to surgery. Bacteriuria was assessed in a pre-procedure urine sample. Histopathology from all prostate chips was assessed for inflammation and malignancy. 73 patients were consented and 276 blood samples obtained. No patients developed symptomatic bacteraemia during the procedure, 17 patients developed asymptomatic bacteraemia (23.2%). Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most common organisms cultured. 10 minutes after the start of the TURP, the odds ratio (OR) of developing bacteraemia was 5.38 (CI 0.97-29.87 p=0.05), and 20 minutes after the start of the procedure, the OR was 6.46 (CI 1.12-37.24, p=0.03), compared to before the procedure. We also found an association between the development of intra-operative bacteraemia and recent antibiotic use (OR 4.34, CI 1.14-16.62, p=0.032), the presence of a urinary catheter (OR 4.92, CI 1.13-21.51, p=0.034) and a malignant histology (OR 4.90, CI 1.30-18.46, p=0.019). There was no statistical relationship between pre-operative urine culture results and blood culture results. This study shows that asymptomatic bacteraemia is commonly caused by TURP and occurs in spite of antibiotic prophylaxis. Our findings challenge the commonly held view that urine is the primary source of bacteraemia in TURP-associated sepsis and raise the possibility of occult prostatic infection as a cause of bacteraemia. More work will be needed to determine the significance of transient bacteraemia in relation to more serious complications like infective endocarditis and malignancy

Comparative Analysis of V-Akt Murine Thymoma Viral Oncogene Homolog 3 (AKT3) Gene between Cow and Buffalo Reveals Substantial Differences for Mastitis

AKT3 gene is a constituent of the serine/threonine protein kinase family and plays a crucial role in synthesis of milk fats and cholesterol by regulating activity of the sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP). AKT3 is highly conserved in mammals and its expression levels during the lactation periods of cattle are markedly increased. AKT3 is highly expressed in the intestine followed by mammary gland and it is also expressed in immune cells. It is involved in the TLR pathways as effectively as proinflammatory cytokines. The aims of this study were to investigate the sequences differences between buffalo and cow. Our results showed that there were substantial differences between buffalo and cow in some exons and noteworthy differences of the gene size in different regions. We also identified the important consensus sequence motifs, variation in 2000 upstream of ATG, substantial difference in the “3′UTR” region, and miRNA association in the buffalo sequences compared with the cow. In addition, genetic analyses, such as gene structure, phylogenetic tree, position of different motifs, and functional domains, were performed to establish their correlation with other species. This may indicate that a buffalo breed has potential resistance to disease, environment changes, and airborne microorganisms and some good production and reproductive traits

Nitrous oxide emissions from a commercial cornfield (Zea mays) measured using the eddy covariance technique

Increases in observed atmospheric concentrations of the long-lived greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) have been well documented. However, information on event-related instantaneous emissions during fertilizer applications is lacking. With the development of fast-response N2O analyzers, the eddy covariance (EC) technique can be used to gather instantaneous measurements of N2O concentrations to quantify the exchange of nitrogen between the soil and atmosphere. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance of a new EC system, to measure the N2O flux with the system, and finally to examine relationships of the N2O flux with soil temperature, soil moisture, precipitation, and fertilization events. An EC system was assembled with a sonic anemometer and a fast-response N2O analyzer (quantum cascade laser spectrometer) and applied in a cornfield in Nolensville, Tennessee during the 2012 corn growing season (4 April–8 August). Fertilizer amounts totaling 217 kg N ha−1 were applied to the experimental site. Results showed that this N2O EC system provided reliable N2O flux measurements. The cumulative emitted N2O amount for the entire growing season was 6.87 kg N2O-N ha−1. Seasonal fluxes were highly dependent on soil moisture rather than soil temperature. This study was one of the few experiments that continuously measured instantaneous, high-frequency N2O emissions in crop fields over a growing season of more than 100 days

From Rags to Riches: Assessing poverty and vulnerability in urban Nepal

Urbanisation brings with it rapid socio-economic change with volatile livelihoods and unstable ownership of assets. Yet, current measures of wealth are based predominantly on static livelihoods found in rural areas. We sought to assess the extent to which seven common measures of wealth appropriately capture vulnerability to poverty in urban areas. We then sought to develop a measure that captures the characteristics of one urban area in Nepal. We collected and analysed data from 1,180 households collected during a survey conducted between November 2017 and January 2018 and designed to be representative of the Kathmandu valley. A separate survey of a sub set of households was conducted using participatory qualitative methods in slum and non-slum neighbourhoods. A series of currently used indices of deprivation were calculated from questionnaire data. We used bivariate statistical methods to examine the association between each index and identify characteristics of poor and non-poor. Qualitative data was used to identify characteristics of poverty from the perspective of urban poor communities which were used to construct an Urban Poverty Index that combined asset and consumption focused context specific measures of poverty that could be proxied by easily measured indicators as assessed through multivariate modelling. We found a strong but not perfect association between each measure of poverty. There was disagreement when comparing the consumption and deprivation index on the classification of 19% of the sample. Choice of short-term monetary and longer-term capital approaches accounted for much of the difference. Those who reported migrating due to economic necessity were most likely to be categorised as poor. A combined index was developed to capture these dimension of poverty and understand urban vulnerability. A second version of the index was constructed that can be computed using a smaller range of variables to identify those in poverty. Current measures may hide important aspects of urban poverty. Those who migrate out of economic necessity are particularly vulnerable. A composite index of socioeconomic status helps to capture the complex nature of economic vulnerability

How Might Recharge Change Under Projected Climate Change in the Western U.S.?

Although groundwater is a major water resource in the western U.S., little research has been done on the impacts of climate change on groundwater storage and recharge in the West. Here we assess the impact of projected changes in climate on groundwater recharge in the near (2021–2050) and far (2071–2100) future across the western U.S. Variable Infiltration Capacity model was run with RCP 6.0 forcing from 11 global climate models and “subsurface runoff” output was considered as recharge. Recharge is expected to decrease in the West (−5.8 ± 14.3%) and Southwest (−4.0 ± 6.7%) regions in the near future and in the South region (−9.5 ± 24.3%) in the far future. The Northern Rockies region is expected to get more recharge in the near (+5.3 ± 9.2%) and far (+11.8 ± 12.3%) future. Overall, southern portions of the western U.S. are expected to get less recharge in the future and northern portions will get more. Climate change interacts with land surface properties to affect the amount of recharge that occurs in the future. Effects on recharge due to change in vegetation response from projected changes in climate and CO2 concentration, though important, are not considered in this study.Key PointsClimate change interacts with land surface properties to affect the amount of recharge that occurs in the futureSouthern portions of the western U.S. are expected to get less and northern portions more recharge in the futureThe large variability in projected recharge across the GCMs is associated with variability in projected precipitationPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139906/1/grl56569.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139906/2/grl56569_am.pd

Targeting and Diffusion of Groundnut improved cultivars in Tamil Nadu state of India

India is a major grower and producer of oilseeds as well as a major importer of vegetable oils, ranks fourth among the countries in oilseed economy, next to USA, China and Brazil spending USD 10 billion in 2012-13. Nearly 14 million farmers are involved in oilseed production, mostly in arid and semi-arid regions of the country, whose capacity to adopt modern technology are constrained by poor resource base. This is coupled with aberration in monsoon and market economy presents a formidable challenge to make oilseed production sustainable in the long run. In order to curtail the growing vegetable oil import bills and increase the production and productivity of oilseeds, the Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) was initiated in 1986 with the following objectives; (i) self-reliance in edible oils (ii) reduce imports almost to zero (iii) raise oilseeds production to 18 million tonnes (mt) by 1989-90 and 26 mt of oilseeds and produce 8 mt of vegetable oil by 2000 AD. However, the TMO had unable to create a sustained growth in area under groundnut and the trend was reversed. Before the initiation of TMO (TE 1986-87), the area, production and productivity of groundnut was 7.08 million ha (m ha), 5.81 mt and 795 kg per ha of which, almost 85 per cent as rainfed crop. Implementation of TMO created marked improvement in the first decade and shifted the area, production and productivity to 7.80 ha, 7.84 mt and 993 kg per acre in TE 1995-96 which recorded an increase of 11, 35 and 21 per cent, respectively. Though the irrigated cropped area has increased to 19 per cent, the country production decreased to 6.33 mt from lesser area (5.33 m ha) by shifting its productivity to 1.3 t/ha in 2011-12..