Real-time Human Detection in Fire Scenarios using Infrared and Thermal Imaging Fusion

Fire is considered one of the most serious threats to human lives which results in a high probability of fatalities. Those severe consequences stem from the heavy smoke emitted from a fire that mostly restricts the visibility of escaping victims and rescuing squad. In such hazardous circumstances, the use of a vision-based human detection system is able to improve the ability to save more lives. To this end, a thermal and infrared imaging fusion strategy based on multiple cameras for human detection in low-visibility scenarios caused by smoke is proposed in this paper. By processing with multiple cameras, vital information can be gathered to generate more useful features for human detection. Firstly, the cameras are calibrated using a Light Heating Chessboard. Afterward, the features extracted from the input images are merged prior to being passed through a lightweight deep neural network to perform the human detection task. The experiments conducted on an NVIDIA Jetson Nano computer demonstrated that the proposed method can process with reasonable speed and can achieve favorable performance with a [email protected] of 95%.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Occipital GABA correlates with cognitive failures in daily life.

The brain has limited capacity, and so selective attention enhances relevant incoming information while suppressing irrelevant information. This process is not always successful, and the frequency of such cognitive failures varies to a large extent between individuals. Here we hypothesised that individual differences in cognitive failures might be reflected in inhibitory processing in the sensory cortex. To test this hypothesis, we measured GABA in human visual cortex using MR spectroscopy and found a negative correlation between occipital GABA (GABA+/Cr ratio) and cognitive failures as measured by an established cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ). For a second site in parietal cortex, no correlation between CFQ score and GABA+/Cr ratio was found, thus establishing the regional specificity of the link between occipital GABA and cognitive failures. We further found that grey matter volume in the left superior parietal lobule (SPL) correlated with cognitive failures independently from the impact of occipital GABA and together, occipital GABA and SPL grey matter volume statistically explained around 50% of the individual variability in daily cognitive failures. We speculate that the amount of GABA in sensory areas may reflect the potential capacity to selectively suppress irrelevant information already at the sensory level, or alternatively that GABA influences the specificity of neural representations in visual cortex thus improving the effectiveness of successful attentional modulation

Estimates for the elastic moduli of 2D aggregate of hexagonal-shape orthorhombic crystals with in-plane random crystalline orientations

Numerical finite element simulations on the homogenization problem for large samples of particular 2D hexagonal-shape-geometry random orientation aggregates from the base crystals of orthorhombic symmetry have been performed. At sufficiently large random-aggregate samples, the scatter intervals of the macroscopic 2D bulk and shear elastic moduli converge toward the Voigt-Reuss-Hill bounds, and then our recently constructed theoretical estimates, which have been specified for the aggregates

Forgetting what was where: the fragility of object-location binding.

Although we frequently take advantage of memory for objects locations in everyday life, understanding how an object's identity is bound correctly to its location remains unclear. Here we examine how information about object identity, location and crucially object-location associations are differentially susceptible to forgetting, over variable retention intervals and memory load. In our task, participants relocated objects to their remembered locations using a touchscreen. When participants mislocalized objects, their reports were clustered around the locations of other objects in the array, rather than occurring randomly. These 'swap' errors could not be attributed to simple failure to remember either the identity or location of the objects, but rather appeared to arise from failure to bind object identity and location in memory. Moreover, such binding failures significantly contributed to decline in localization performance over retention time. We conclude that when objects are forgotten they do not disappear completely from memory, but rather it is the links between identity and location that are prone to be broken over time

Improved estimates for the effective elastic bulk modulus of random tetragonal crystal aggregates

Particular expressions of upper and lower estimates for the macroscopic elastic bulk modulus of random cell tetragonal polycrystalline materials are derived and computed for a number of practical crystals. The cell-shape-unspecified bounds, based on minimum energy principles and generalized polarization trial fields, appear close to the simple bounds for specific spherical cell polycrystal

TECHNICAL NOTE ON THE INTRODUCTION OF PARTRIDGE COLOURED HUNGARIAN CHICKEN IN THE MEKONG DELTA OF VIETNAM

The paper aims to provide a brief agricultural profile of Tra Vinh province, informative adaptation results of Partridge coloured Hungarian chicken (PH) in Mekong Delta and describe the procedure to introduce PH into Tra Vinh province. During the introducing process, flexibility, consideration of the local condition (temperature, humidity, daily sunlight…), and availability of local resources such as bamboo blind, rice husk is essential for introducing a new chicken breed into Mekong Delta. For this, practical examples are given in the study. Regarding adaptation results, relatively high survival rate (89.6%) of PH was recorded at the end of 8th week. Although the recorded data of PH in Tra Vinh is limited, their performance is expected to be equally good or even better in comparison with that obtained in the sub-tropical climatic zone (North Vietnam). Further studies of PH adaptability in Mekong Delta for sustainable, traditional production and crossing purposes, as well as the involvement of chicken caravans to free range farming are recommended

Hypothalamic AMPK as a Regulator of Energy Homeostasis

Activated in energy depletion conditions, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) acts as a cellular energy sensor and regulator in both central nervous system and peripheral organs. Hypothalamic AMPK restores energy balance by promoting feeding behavior to increase energy intake, increasing glucose production, and reducing thermogenesis to decrease energy output. Besides energy state, many hormones have been shown to act in concert with AMPK to mediate their anorexigenic and orexigenic central effects as well as thermogenic influences. Here we explore the factors that affect hypothalamic AMPK activity and give the underlying mechanisms for the role of central AMPK in energy homeostasis together with the physiological effects of hypothalamic AMPK on energy balance restoration

STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF CALCIUM-ALGINATE AND WHEY PROTEIN ON THE SURVIVAL RATE OF Bifidobacterium bifidum IN MAYONNAISE

ABSTRACT – QMFS 2019The functional food development by adding probiotic bacteria is getting a lot of concern. In this study, Bifidobacterium bifidum AS 1.1886 was encapsulated in calcium-alginate 2% w/v (C sample) or the mix of calcium-alginate 2% (w/v) and whey protein 1% (w/v) (CW sample) or calcium-alginate 2% (w/v) coated by whey protein 1% (w/v) (CcW sample) by extrusion method, and added to mayonnaise product. The pH changes, the survival rate of probiotic bacteria, and total yeast and mold count during storage, as well as the probiotic survival in simulated gastric medium, were evaluated. The result showed that the pH changes were not significantly different in all mayonnaise samples in this test. The viability of the free probiotic cell was significant decrease about 5.85 log CFU/g compared to 0.26 ÷ 1.14 log CFU/g in encapsulated cell samples after four weeks of storage. None of the free cells survived after six weeks of storage. The total yeast and mold count in samples related to the probiotic count, the viability of probiotic cells higher 6 log CFU/g might be controlling the growth of yeast and molds in mayonnaise. Whey protein has been shown to significantly improve the survival rate of B.bifidum and calcium-alginate coated by whey protein, indicating the most effective protection. The result showed that the application potential of encapsulated probiotic in mayonnaise product

Resonances in J/ψ→ϕπ+π−J/\psi \to \phi \pi ^+\pi ^- and ϕK+K−\phi K^+K^-

A partial wave analysis is presented of $J/\psi \to \phi \pi ^+\pi ^-$ and $\phi K^+K^-$ from a sample of 58M $J/\psi$ events in the BES II detector. The $f_0(980)$ is observed clearly in both sets of data, and parameters of the Flatt\' e formula are determined accurately: $M = 965 \pm 8$ (stat) $\pm 6$ (syst) MeV/c$^2$, $g_1 = 165 \pm 10 \pm 15$ MeV/c$^2$, $g_2/g_1 = 4.21 \pm 0.25 \pm 0.21$. The $\phi \pi \pi$ data also exhibit a strong $\pi \pi$ peak centred at $M = 1335$ MeV/c$^2$. It may be fitted with $f_2(1270)$ and a dominant $0^+$ signal made from $f_0(1370)$ interfering with a smaller $f_0(1500)$ component. There is evidence that the $f_0(1370)$ signal is resonant, from interference with $f_2(1270)$. There is also a state in $\pi \pi$ with $M = 1790 ^{+40}_{-30}$ MeV/c$^2$ and $\Gamma = 270 ^{+60}_{-30}$ MeV/c$^2$; spin 0 is preferred over spin 2. This state, $f_0(1790)$, is distinct from $f_0(1710)$. The $\phi K\bar K$ data contain a strong peak due to $f_2'(1525)$. A shoulder on its upper side may be fitted by interference between $f_0(1500)$ and $f_0(1710)$.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Submitted to Phys. Lett.

First Measurements of eta_c Decaying into K^+K^-2(pi^+pi^-) and 3(pi^+pi^-)

The decays of eta_c to K^+K^-2(pi^+pi^-) and 3(pi^+pi^-) are observed for the first time using a sample of 5.8X10^7 J/\psi events collected by the BESII detector. The product branching fractions are determined to be B(J/\psi-->gamma eta_c)*B(eta_c-->K^+K^-pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-)=(1.21+-0.32+- 0.23)X10^{-4}$,B(J/\psi-->gamma eta_c)*B(eta_c-->K^{*0}\bar{K}^{*0}pi^+pi^-)= (1.29+-0.43+-0.32)X10^{-4}$, and (J/\psi-->gamma eta_c)* B(eta_c-->pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-)= (2.59+-0.32+-0.48)X10^{-4}. The upper limit for eta_c-->phi pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- is also obtained as B(J/\psi-->gamma eta_c)*B(eta_c--> phi pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-)< 6.03 X10^{-5} at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure