Coconut trees detection and segmentation in aerial imagery using mask region-based convolution neural network

Food resources face severe damages under extraordinary situations of catastrophes such as earthquakes, cyclones, and tsunamis. Under such scenarios, speedy assessment of food resources from agricultural land is critical as it supports aid activity in the disaster-hit areas. In this article, a deep learning approach was presented for the detection and segmentation of coconut trees in aerial imagery provided through the AI competition organised by the World Bank in collaboration with OpenAerialMap and WeRobotics. Masked Region-based Convolution Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) approach was used for identification and segmentation of coconut trees. For the segmentation task, Mask R-CNN model with ResNet50 and ResNet101 based architectures was used. Several experiments with different configuration parameters were performed and the best configuration for the detection of coconut trees with more than 90% confidence factor was reported. For the purpose of evaluation, Microsoft COCO dataset evaluation metric namely mean average precision (mAP) was used.An overall 91% mean average precision for coconut trees’ detection was achieved

Changes in synergy of transtibial amputee during gait: A pilot study

The number of lower limb amputations is increasing significantly in developed countries. The knowledge of muscle synergy in subjects with loss of muscles could help to understand the general neural strategy underlying muscle coordination in walking. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in healthy subject's dominant leg, amputee's intact leg (IL) and the amputee's prosthetic leg (PL) muscles using synergy analysis. Concatenated non-negative matrix factorization (CNMF) was performed to divide the surface electromyography (sEMG) data obtained from 6 upper knee and 4 shank muscles into muscle synergy (S) and activation coefficient profile (C) during walking. The difference in S showed low to high correlations inter-subjectively. The high correlation suggests that the central nervous system (CNS) activates the same groups of muscles synergistically. Amputee's muscle alterations due to inadequate proprioceptive feedback, weight bearing deficiency in PL and prosthesis type could lead to a low correlation in S between groups. The C showed to be statistically significantly different in some regions of the gait cycle (GC). These findings could provide valuable information for rehabilitation purposes and development of a synergy-based controller from sEMG for future generations of prostheses

Clustering Based on the Node Health Status in Wireless Sensor Networks

One of the applications of wireless sensor network is the forest fire monitoring which has different characteristics from others. In this application, the connectivity of nodes should not be destroyed just because of nodes lose their energy or burnt in the fire. Since the wide area of monitoring, the clustering method is considered as the efficient routing to increase its scalability as well as reduce energy consumed of nodes. Many clustering methods which are mostly based on Leach protocol are proposed without considering the node’s failure. Here, we proposed the node health status as a parameter to select a Cluster Head and compared its performance with Leach, MTE and the direct algorithm. Results show that the number of packets received and the alive nodes of the proposed method are higher than others. Identically, it has the lowest average end to end delay which is suitable for forest fire application

PENDIDIKAN PADA MASA NABI (ANALISIS HISTORISTERCIPTANYA CIVIL SOCIETY DI MADINAH)

ABSTRAKTerciptanya civil society di Madinah tidak terlepas dari kerja keras dan pengorbanan Nabi Muhammad sewaktu berada di Madinah. Sejak pertama sekali berada di Madinah, Nabi Muhammad telah menggagendakan 3 program pokok, yaitu pembangunan masjid sebagai pusat kegiatan pendidikan dan pengembangan dakwah islamiah, kemudian pembangunan pasar sebagai pusat pertumbuhan ekonomi ummat, serta pembuatan MOU (Perjanjian Hudaibiyah) sebagai wujud penegakan daulah Islamiah dalam hal politik. Melalui ketiga program pokok tersebut, sehingga hanya dalam waktu kurang dari 10 tahun, Rasulullah dapat mereformasi sistem kebudayaan dan sosio kultural komunitas Madinah menjadi masyarakat madani, yaitu masyarakat yang bertuhan, bermoral mulia, taat dan tertib terhadap hukum, bersatu dan saling tolong-menolong, berilmu pengetahuan dan berperadaban tinggi. Bagaimana sistem dan strategi pendidikan Nabi sehingga mampu menciptakan tatanan masyarakat yang madani. Menjawab pertanyaan tersebut, penulis mengadakan kajian metodologis dengan pendekatan historis.Kata Kunci: Pendidikan di masa Nabi, Civil Society di Madinah PENDAHULUANKondisi Sosio Historis kota Madinah Pra Islam Kota Madinah pada saat hijrah nabi berada di wilayah kekuasaan pemerintahan Kerajaan Arab Saudi, terletak sekitar 160 km dari Laut Merah dan pada jarak lebih kurang 350 km sebelah utara dari kota Mekah. Kondisi tanah kota Madinah dikenal subur dimana terdapat oase-oase untuk tanah pertanian, sehingga penduduk memiliki usaha pertanian, selain berdagang dan bertenak. Usaha pertanian menghasilkan sayur-sayuran dan buah-buahan. Sebelum Nabi hijrah, kota Madinah disebut dengan Yasrib, sedangkan penamaan Madinah itu sendiri secara bahasa mempunyai akar kata yang sama dengan “tamaddun” yang berarti peradaban. Kondisi masyarakat Yasrib sebelum Islam datang terdiri atas dua suku bangsa, yaitu bangsa Arab dan Yahudi. Bangsa Arab yang tinggal di Yasrib terdiri atas penduduk setempat dan pendatang dari Arab Selatan,yang pindah ke Yasrib karena pecahnya bendungan Ma’arib. Persoalan yang dihadapi masyarakat Yasrib pada saat itu adalah tidak adanya kepemimpinan yang membawahi semua penduduk Yasrib. Yang ada hanyalah pemimpin-pemimpin suku yang saling berebut pengaruh. Akibatnya perang antar suku pun sering terjadi

KEBIJAKAN REDAKSIONAL RADAR SULBAR TENTANG BERITA PENDIDIKAN DALAM MENDUKUNG MAJENE SEBAGAI PUSAT PENDIDIKAN DI PROVINSI SULBAR

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui: (1) porsi pemberitaan seputar pendidikan di Majene lebih sedikit dibanding isu lain. (2) kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar dalam mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan di Sulbar. (3) faktor – faktor yang mempengaruhi kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar tentang berita pendidikan. (4) kelemahan dan kelebihan kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar dalam mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan di Sulbar. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif dengan menggabungkan analisis gatekeeping model Pamela J Shomaker dan Stephen D Reese. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Radar Sulbar Kabupaten Mamuju dan Majene. Jenis sumber data yang digunakan adalah data primer dan data sekunder. Data primer adalah hasil wawancara para redaktur dan berita – berita di Radar Sulbar edisi Januari – Maret 2016. Data sekunder berupa buku, tesis, skripsi, jurnal dan internet. Informan sebanyak delapan orang. Data analisis menggunakan beberapa teori. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa (1) Pemberitaan pendidikan Majene secara kuantitas di bawah dibading isu lain dipengaruhi kurangnya wartawan lapangan dan juga tidak adanya penekanan memunculkan berita pendidikan setiap hari. (2) Kebijakan Redaksional Radar Subar mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan dengan memberi penguatan kepada beberapa isu pendidikan saja. (3) Faktor – faktor yang dominan mempengaruhi kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar terkait berita pendidikan diantaranya ideologi dan organisasi. (4) Kelebihan kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar dalam mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan di Sulbar terlihat dari rubrik pendidikan Go madrasah dan konsistensi pemberitaan yang meski memiliki kerjasama iklan di lintas sektoral tidak mengurangi fungsi kontrolnya. Kelemahan : Rubrik Health and Education masih di dominasi berita nasional dan sebagian kecil berita lokal di Sulbar

Getting the best of both worlds: a framework for combining disaggregate travel survey data and aggregate mobile phone data for trip generation modelling

Traditional approaches to travel behaviour modelling primarily rely on household travel survey data, which is expensive to collect, resulting in small sample sizes and infrequent updates. Furthermore, such data is prone to reporting errors which can lead to biased parameter estimates and subsequently incorrect predictions. On the other hand, mobile phone call detail records (CDRs), which report the timestamped locations of mobile communication events, have been successfully used in the context of generating travel patterns. However, due to their anonymous nature, such records have not been widely used in developing mathematical models establishing the relationship between the observed travel behaviour and influencing factors such as the attributes of the alternatives and the decision makers. In this paper, we propose a joint modelling framework that utilises the advantages offered by both travel survey data and low-cost CDR data to optimise the prediction capacity of traditional trip generation models. In this regard, we develop a model that jointly explains the reported trips for each individual in the household survey data and ensures that the aggregated zonal trip productions are close to those derived from CDR data. This framework is tested using data from Dhaka. Bangladesh consisting of household survey data (65,419 persons in 16,750 households), mobile phone CDR data (over 600 million records generated by 6.9 million users), and aggregate census data. The model results show that the proposed framework improves the spatial and temporal transferability of the joint models over the base model which relies on household travel survey data alone. This serves as a proof-of-concept that augmenting travel survey data with mobile phone data holds significant promise for the travel behaviour modelling community, not only by saving the cost of data collection, but also improving the prediction capability of the models

Is famine exposure during developmental life in rural Bangladesh associated with a metabolic and epigenetic signature in young adulthood? A historical cohort study

Objectives Famine exposure in utero can ‘programme’ an individual towards type 2 diabetes and obesity in later life. We sought to identify, (1) whether Bangladeshis exposed to famine during developmental life are programmed towards diabetes and obesity, (2) whether this programming was specific to gestational or postnatal exposure windows and (3) whether epigenetic differences were associated with famine exposure. Design A historical cohort study was performed as part of a wider cross-sectional survey. Exposure to famine was defined through birth date and historical records and participants were selected according to: (A) exposure to famine in postnatal life, (B) exposure to famine during gestation and (C) unexposed. Setting Matlab, a rural area in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh. Participants Young adult men and women (n=190) recruited to a historical cohort study with a randomised subsample included in an epigenetic study (n=143). Outcome measures Primary outcome measures of weight, body mass index and oral glucose tolerance tests (0 and 120 min glucose). Secondary outcome measures included DNA methylation using genome-wide and targeted analysis of metastable epialleles sensitive to maternal nutrition. Results More young adults exposed to famine in gestation were underweight than those postnatally exposed or unexposed. In contrast, more young adults exposed to famine postnatally were overweight compared to those gestationally exposed or unexposed. Underweight adults exposed to famine in gestation in utero were hyperglycaemic following a glucose tolerance test, and those exposed postnatally had elevated fasting glucose, compared to those unexposed. Significant differences in DNA methylation at seven metastable epialleles (VTRNA2-1, PAX8, PRDM-9, near ZFP57, near BOLA, EXD3) known to vary with gestational famine exposure were identified. Conclusions Famine exposure in developmental life programmed Bangladeshi offspring towards diabetes and obesity in adulthood but gestational and postnatal windows of exposure had variable effects on phenotype. DNA methylation differences were replicated at previously identified metastable epialleles sensitive to periconceptual famine exposure

Identification of leaf rust resistant gene Lr10 in Pakistani wheat germplasm

Leaf (brown) rust is the major disease of wheat in Pakistan and other countries. The disease is more effectively controlled when several rust resistance genes are pyramided into a single line. Molecular survey was conducted to screen 25 Pakistan wheat germplasm for the presence of leaf rust resistance gene Lr10 using specific STS primer. The survey revealed that out of the 25 germplasm/lines grown in Hazara University Botanic garden, 18 genotypes were observed with Lr10 gene, while seven genotypes did not show the presence of Lr10 gene. The identification of Lr10 in Pakistan wheat germplasm will help in accelerating the breeding program in future, including the pyramiding of different resistant genes in wheat varieties.Key words: Wheat, leaf rust, Lr10, molecular markers

Mechanical and thermal properties of montmorillonite-reinforced polypropylene/rice husk hybrid nanocomposites

© 2019 by the authors. In recent years, there has been considerable interest in the use of natural fibers as potential reinforcing fillers in polymer composites despite their hydrophilicity, which limits their widespread commercial application. The present study explored the fabrication of nanocomposites by melt mixing, using an internal mixer followed by a compression molding technique, and incorporating rice husk (RH) as a renewable natural filler, montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclay as water-resistant reinforcing nanoparticles, and polypropylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MAH) as a compatibilizing agent. To correlate the effect ofMMTdelamination andMMT/RHdispersion in the composites, the mechanical and thermal properties of the composites were studied. XRD analysis revealed delamination of MMT platelets due to an increase in their interlayer spacing, and SEM micrographs indicated improved dispersion of the filler(s) from the use of compatibilizers. The mechanical properties were improved by the incorporation of MMT into the PP/RH system and the reinforcing effect was remarkable as a result of the use of compatibilizing agent. Prolonged water exposure of the prepared samples decreased their tensile and flexural properties. Interestingly, the maximum decrease was observed for PP/RH composites and the minimum was for MMT-reinforced and PP-g-MAH-compatibilized PP/RH composites. DSC results revealed an increase in crystallinity with the addition of filler(s), while the melting and crystallization temperatures remained unaltered. TGA revealed that MMT addition and its delamination in the composite systems improved the thermal stability of the developed nanocomposites. Overall, we conclude that MMT nanoclay is an effective water-resistant reinforcing nanoparticle that enhances the durability, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of composites

Clinicopathological Profile and Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Tuberculosis: A Single Centre Experience in Northwestern Tanzania.

Abdominal tuberculosis continues to be a major public health problem worldwide and poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to general surgeons practicing in resource-limited countries. This study was conducted to describe the clinicopathological profile and outcome of surgical treatment of abdominal tuberculosis in our setting and compare with what is described in literature. A prospective descriptive study of patients who presented with abdominal tuberculosis was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in northwestern Tanzania from January 2006 to February 2012. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from relevant authorities. Statistical data analysis was performed using SPSS version 17.0. Out of 256 patients enrolled in the study, males outnumbered females. The median age was 28 years (range = 16-68 years). The majority of patients (77.3%) had primary abdominal tuberculosis. A total of 127 (49.6%) patients presented with intestinal obstruction, 106 (41.4%) with peritonitis, 17 (6.6%) with abdominal masses and 6 (2.3%) patients with multiple fistulae in ano. Forty-eight (18.8%) patients were HIV positive. A total of 212 (82.8%) patients underwent surgical treatment for abdominal tuberculosis. Bands /adhesions (58.5%) were the most common operative findings. Ileo-caecal region was the most common bowel involved in 122 (57.5%) patients. Release of adhesions and bands was the most frequent surgical procedure performed in 58.5% of cases. Complication and mortality rates were 29.7% and 18.8% respectively. The overall median length of hospital stay was 32 days and was significantly longer in patients with complications (p < 0.001). Advanced age (age ≥ 65 years), co-morbid illness, late presentation, HIV positivity and CD4+ count < 200 cells/μl were statistically significantly associated with mortality (p < 0.0001). The follow up of patients were generally poor as only 37.5% of patients were available for follow up at twelve months after discharge. Abdominal tuberculosis constitutes a major public health problem in our environment and presents a diagnostic challenge requiring a high index of clinical suspicion. Early diagnosis, early anti-tuberculous therapy and surgical treatment of the associated complications are essential for survival