Sound-Dr: Reliable Sound Dataset and Baseline Artificial Intelligence System for Respiratory Illnesses

As the burden of respiratory diseases continues to fall on society worldwide, this paper proposes a high-quality and reliable dataset of human sounds for studying respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia and COVID-19. It consists of coughing, mouth breathing, and nose breathing sounds together with metadata on related clinical characteristics. We also develop a proof-of-concept system for establishing baselines and benchmarking against multiple datasets, such as Coswara and COUGHVID. Our comprehensive experiments show that the Sound-Dr dataset has richer features, better performance, and is more robust to dataset shifts in various machine learning tasks. It is promising for a wide range of real-time applications on mobile devices. The proposed dataset and system will serve as practical tools to support healthcare professionals in diagnosing respiratory disorders. The dataset and code are publicly available here: https://github.com/ReML-AI/Sound-Dr/.Comment: 9 pages, PHMAP2023, PH

Leveraging the Learnable Vertex-Vertex Relationship to Generalize Human Pose and Mesh Reconstruction for In-the-Wild Scenes

We present MeshLeTemp, a powerful method for 3D human pose and mesh reconstruction from a single image. In terms of human body priors encoding, we propose using a learnable template human mesh instead of a constant template as utilized by previous state-of-the-art methods. The proposed learnable template reflects not only vertex-vertex interactions but also the human pose and body shape, being able to adapt to diverse images. We conduct extensive experiments to show the generalizability of our method on unseen scenarios

CAMELLIA SPHAMII (THEACEAE, SECT. PIQUETIA), A NEW TAXON OF YELLOW FLOWER FROM LANGBIANG BIOSPHERE RESERVE, VIETNAM

Camellia sphamii is described and illustrated as a new species of section Piquetia from Hamasin village, D’ran town, Don Duong district, Lam Dong province, Vietnam. C. sphamii is similar to C. proensis (Quach, Luong et al., 2021) but differs from it in several morphological features: mature leaves cordate at base, young leaves purple; pericarp 7–8 mm thick with dense hair on the outer surface, flower buds ovate, ferruginous; sepals 5, hemisphere, concave, finely hairy on the outer surface, sparsely hairy on the inside, petals 7, finely hairy on the outer surface, with translucent margin, concave; style 5, ½ basally united; capsule 5 locular. Information on its phenology, distribution, ecology, and conservation status is also provided

THE DIVERSITY OF YELLOW CAMELLIAS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, VIETNAM

The Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) is a center of yellow camellia diversity in Vietnam and the world. The Central Highlands contains 18 of Vietnam’s yellow camellia species, accounting for 37% of yellow camellia species in Vietnam and 28% of yellow camellia species worldwide. Moreover, all 18 yellow camellia species in the Central Highlands are endemic to Vietnam. The camellias of the Central Highlands belong to nine sections, accounting for 75% of the world. The yellow colors occur in three groups: pale yellow, yellow, and yellow with compound colors. The yellow camellia distribution is dispersed at 500–1600 m elevation in evergreen broadleaf forests and mixed wood-bamboo forests

A propensity score matching analysis of the relationship between forest resources and household welfare in Vietnam

Using secondary data from a socio-economic quantitative household survey in of the North Central region of Vietnam, the main aim of our study is to analyze the causal effect of forest resources on household income and poverty. Based on the observed characteristics of a forest-based livelihood and forest-related activities, we use a propensity score matching (PSM) method to control for potential bias arising from self-selection. The PSM results indicate that households with a forest livelihood had a higher level of income and lower level of poverty than did those without. Interestingly, our findings confirm that a forest-based livelihood offers much higher income than any other type of livelihood adopted by local households. Also, the poverty rate among households with a forest livelihood is lower than those earning non-labor income or engaged in wage/crop and crop livelihoods. Moreover, households whose livelihoods depend on timber forest products (TFPs) and animals (non-TFPs) also had higher income and lower levels of poverty than did those lacking these resources. Among households and provinces, we find differing opportunities deriving from forest resources, suggesting that there are potential barriers hindering local households from pursuing a forest livelihood or participating in some forest activities. Therefore, government policy and regulations on forest management should focus on improving the access of households to forest resources, at the same time enhancing the sustainability of these resources

A propensity score matching analysis of the relationship between forest resources and household welfare in Vietnam

Using secondary data from a socio-economic quantitative household survey in of the North Central region of Vietnam, the main aim of our study is to analyze the causal effect of forest resources on household income and poverty. Based on the observed characteristics of a forest-based livelihood and forest-related activities, we use a propensity score matching (PSM) method to control for potential bias arising from self-selection. The PSM results indicate that households with a forest livelihood had a higher level of income and lower level of poverty than did those without. Interestingly, our findings confirm that a forest-based livelihood offers much higher income than any other type of livelihood adopted by local households. Also, the poverty rate among households with a forest livelihood is lower than those earning non-labor income or engaged in wage/crop and crop livelihoods. Moreover, households whose livelihoods depend on timber forest products (TFPs) and animals (non-TFPs) also had higher income and lower levels of poverty than did those lacking these resources. Among households and provinces, we find differing opportunities deriving from forest resources, suggesting that there are potential barriers hindering local households from pursuing a forest livelihood or participating in some forest activities. Therefore, government policy and regulations on forest management should focus on improving the access of households to forest resources, at the same time enhancing the sustainability of these resources

КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТНАЯ МОДЕЛЬ ПРОЕКТИРОВЩИКА ПЕЧАТНЫХ ПЛАТ ДЛЯ СУДОВЫХ ИНТЕГРИРОВАННЫХ СИСТЕМ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ

The article discusses the life cycle of printed circuit boards of ship Integrated Ship Management System (PCB ISMS), which describes the design and manufacturing features of PCB ISMS. A general design route and a design decision making schemes in the design process of the PCB ISMS presented which allow to reduce the cost of design work and increase engineering work are considered. The research is interested as an overview and is suitable for the preparation of methodological provision for teaching computer-aided design (CAD) PCB ISMS. The competencies of the designer described in the article will make possible to specialty the requirements for the designers’ qualifications at shipbuilding enterprises and graduates of maritime technical universities. The developed competence model of the designer allows to determine the content of training and can be used to develop an adaptive learning system for designing printed circuit boards. В статье рассмотрен жизненный цикл печатных плат судовых интегрированных систем управляения (СИСУ), в котором описаны особенности проектирования и изготовления печатных плат СИСУ. Представлены обобщенный маршрут проектирования печатных плат СИСУ и схема принятия проектных решений в процессе проектирования печатных плат СИСУ, которые позволяют уменьшать затраты на конструкторские работы и повышать качество инженерных работ.Исследование носит обзорный характер и подойдет для подготовки методического обеспечения обучения автоматизированному проектированию (АПР) печатных плат СИСУ. Описанные в статье компетенции проектировщика позволяют сформулировать требования к квалификации проектировщиков на судовых предприятиях и выпускникам морских технических вузов.Разработанная компетентностная модель проектировщика позволяет определить содержание обучения и может использоваться для разработки адаптивной системы обучения проектированию печатных плат СИСУ.

Hidden in the jungle of Vietnam: a new species of Quasipaa (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae) from Ngoc Linh Mountain

A new species of Quasipaa is described from Ngoc Linh Mountain of the Kon Tum Massif in central Vietnam. The new species is morphologically distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: SVL 79.6–84.3 mm in males and 64.6–69.9 mm in females; head broader than long; vomerine teeth present; external vocal sacs absent; tympanum slightly visible; dorsum with lines of thick ridges and small round tubercles; flanks covered by oval and round tubercles; supratympanic fold present; dorsolateral fold absent; ventrolateral sides, ventral surface of arms, and all fingers with spines in males; the absence of spines on chest and belly in males; toes fully webbed to distal portion of terminal phalanx; in life, dorsum dark brown, chest and belly immaculate white. Phylogenetic analyses found that the genetic divergence of the new species and its congeners ranged from 4.2–5.1% (compared with Quasipaa boulengeri) to 7.6–8.1% (compared with Q. shini) in the 16S gene

Synthesis of para-menthane 3,8 - diol from Eucalyptus citriodora essential oil for application in mosquito repellent products

To repel mosquitoes, there have been many highly effective chemical repellent products, but they carry the potential risk of being unsafe for humans and harmful to the environment. Insect repellent products derived from natural sources that are safe for humans and environmentally friendly are becoming increasingly popular. PMD is a broad-spectrum and effective insect repellent but is present in small amounts in the Eucalyptus citriodora essential oil (EO). In this study, we investigated and evaluated the conditions for synthesizing PMD from EO raw materials in an acidic environment to achieve the highest synthesis efficiency of 76.3%, and the PMD product was 96.4% pure after being converted for 5 hours at 50°C in a 0.25% H2SO4 solution. Additionally, the study also separated the two cis and trans isomers of PMD by column chromatography and determined their structures using infrared spectroscopy (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

Conservation, Exploitation And Use Of The Ginger Family (Zingiberaceae) At The National Genebank In Vietnam

There are 741 accessions in the ginger family such as turmeric, ginger, galangal, and pinecone ginger collections conserved at Plant Resources Center, Vietnam. These collections were highly diverse in the number of accessions and species composition. The results of the Zingiberaceae exploitation shown the G10 ginger variety plants reached around 63.7 - 77.5 cm in height, 400 - 500 g/clumps in fresh weight, 25 - 27 tonnes/ha in fresh yield. The G10 ginger variety contained 4.37% oil, 1.2 mg/kg Zn and 9.31 mg/100g Vitamin C. This G10 ginger variety resistance to leaf spot and green aphids. In addition, the N8 turmeric variety plants reached 130 - 170 cm in height; 880 - 1000 g/clumps in fresh weight and 35 tonnes/ha in yield, curcumin content 6.2 - 6.6%, essential oil contents 2.5 - 2.7%. This turmeric resistance to heat stress, leaf spot, and green aphids. The conserved root and tuber crops at PRC are very diverse both of the amount of sample in collections and species. Conservation and evaluation on root and tuber crops reviewed the promising G10 ginger and N8 turmeric varieties had high yield, good oil content to release for production