Feature Map Filtering: Improving Visual Place Recognition with Convolutional Calibration

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have recently been shown to excel at performing visual place recognition under changing appearance and viewpoint. Previously, place recognition has been improved by intelligently selecting relevant spatial keypoints within a convolutional layer and also by selecting the optimal layer to use. Rather than extracting features out of a particular layer, or a particular set of spatial keypoints within a layer, we propose the extraction of features using a subset of the channel dimensionality within a layer. Each feature map learns to encode a different set of weights that activate for different visual features within the set of training images. We propose a method of calibrating a CNN-based visual place recognition system, which selects the subset of feature maps that best encodes the visual features that are consistent between two different appearances of the same location. Using just 50 calibration images, all collected at the beginning of the current environment, we demonstrate a significant and consistent recognition improvement across multiple layers for two different neural networks. We evaluate our proposal on three datasets with different types of appearance changes - afternoon to morning, winter to summer and night to day. Additionally, the dimensionality reduction approach improves the computational processing speed of the recognition system.Comment: Accepted to the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation 201

The Pelvic Pain Puzzle: A Case Report on a Physical Therapist’s Role in the Treatment of Dyspareunia

Background: Dyspareunia affects two-thirds of women throughout their lifetime and can be caused by a multitude of diagnoses or musculoskeletal problems including but not limited to chronic pelvic pain, lichen sclerosis, interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, depression, and anxiety. The purpose of this case report is to demonstrate the complexity of dyspareunia and explore the role of physical therapy in a multifaceted, pelvic health case. It will also show an evidence-based relationship between pelvic diagnoses and dyspareunia as well as pelvic floor physical therapy’s efficacy in treating an area previously managed exclusively by medical interventions. Case Description: A 30-year-old female presenting with chief complaint of dyspareunia as well as bladder dysfunction including pain with storage, high frequency, and urge incontinence. Due to pelvic floor symptoms, patient is struggling to participate in work duties. The patient’s main goal is to become pregnant with her current partner. Intervention: The therapist focused the treatment on internal pelvic floor manual therapy following the Thiele Technique with focus on left obturator internus to reduce pain and urinary symptoms. Additional treatments included neuromuscular re-education, therapeutic activity, and therapeutic exercise. Discussion: Internal pelvic floor manual therapy is among the leading interventions for many of the patient’s pelvic diagnosis. The patient had a significant improvement in symptoms after therapy intervention and home exercise prescription. More pelvic floor research is required to ensure a “gold standard” practice for pelvic floor rehabilitation

Assessment of the hydrological effect of drought and fire events on evapotranspiration at a regional scale

Doutoramento em Engenharia Florestal e dos Recursos Naturais - Instituto Superior de Agronomia / ULUntil today, there is only little knowledge about the behavior of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) before and after wildfires in Portugal, which can be estimated from remote sensing techniques. In this thesis, an existing Simplified Two-Source Energy Balance model (STSEB) was adapted, based on moderate resolution imagery to estimate ETa and its contributing parts of transpiration and evaporation. The study served to test the model and its precision. A bias of about 1 mm d1 for the estimated ETa was observed, where evaporation was regularly overestimated and transpiration underestimated. This error is acceptable for two-layer models based on satellite imagery, but estimates cannot be used for irrigation management. The evolution of the estimated ETa after wildfires (up to four years) was analyzed at eucalypt stands at the Caramulo mountain range in Portugal. By investigating the recovery of ETa after wildfire, the difference between burnt and unburnt stands was mainly related to fire severity and stand characteristics. Two to three years after the fire events, the difference between burnt and unburnt stands became nonsignificant for all severity classes. At the same region, the prediction of soil moisture deficit from drought indices was tested. The drought indices empirically estimate the dryness of an area and are directly related to fire danger. They are based on a simple water balance equation where effective rainfall and ETa are the only input and output, respectively. In this work the empirical equation of (ETa) was substituted by the estimated ETa from STSEB, which enhanced the spatial resolution of the drought indices, being regularly interpolated from point estimates. Spatial patterns of soil moisture deficit were predicted, which indicated a relationship to fire occurrences. To conclude, the ETa estimated by the remote sensing based STSEB model, was used to make observations of the water cycle on a regional scale. In contrast to other post-fire studies, eucalypt stands in Portugal were found to be subject to a smaller hydrological impact after wildfires. This implies a fast recovery and a smaller influence on streamflow and groundwater resources. Furthermore, the drought indices, using the ETa from STSEB, identified areas with higher proneness to drought, by improving the spatial resolution, using satellite imagery compared to traditional interpolation techniques. The results support fire danger rating and might help to improve fire regime and forest managementN/

Photo of President Edward Hammond Addressing Dedication Ceremony Crowd

A photocopy of a clipping form theHhays Daily News showing President Hammond addressing the dedication ceremony audience.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/2577/thumbnail.jp

Leaf-Atmosphere NH3 Exchange in Barley Mutants with Reduced Activities of Glutamine Synthetase

Mutants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Maris Mink) with 47 or 66% of the glutamine synthetase (GS) activity of the wild type were used for studies of NH3 exchange with the atmosphere. Under normal light and temperature conditions, tissue NH4+ concentrations were higher in the two mutants compared with wild-type plants, and this was accompanied by higher NH3 emission from the leaves. The emission of NH3 increased with increasing leaf temperatures in both wild-type and mutant plants, but the increase was much more pronounced in the mutants. Similar results were found when the light intensity (photosynthetic photon flux density) was increased. Compensation points for NH3 were estimated by exposing intact shoots to 10 nmol NH3 mol-1 air under conditions with increasing temperatures until the plants started to emit NH3. Referenced to 25[deg]C, the compensation points were 5.0 nmol mol-1 for wild-type plants, 8.3 nmol mol-1 for 47% GS mutants, and 11.8 nmol mol-1 for 66% GS mutants. Compensation points for NH3 in single, nonsenescent leaves were estimated on the basis of apoplastic pH and NH4+ concentrations. These values were 0.75, 3.46, and 7.72 nmol mol-1 for wild type, 47% GS mutants, and 66% GS mutants, respectively. The 66% GS mutant always showed higher tissue NH4+ concentrations, NH3 emission rates, and NH3 compensation points compared with the 47% GS mutant, indicating that NH4+ release was curtailed by some kind of compensatory mechanism in plants with only 47% GS activit

The Right to Appointment of Counsel for the Indigent Civil Contemnor Facing Incarceration for Failure to Pay Child Support - McBride v. McBride

This Note will provide a history of a civil contemnor\u27s right to appointed counsel in North Carolina by reviewing the statutory and judicial history prior to McBride v. McBride, primarily through a study of the North Carolina Supreme Court holding in Jolly v. Wright. Next, this Note will look at the law outside of North Carolina which effected the holding in McBride. Next, this Note will examine the court\u27s ruling in McBride, and discuss the altered judicial reasoning which led to the court\u27s holding. Finally, this Note will address the ramifications of McBride, and conclude with a discussion of the decision\u27s effects and the questions it left unanswered