Deep convolutional neural network for damaged vegetation segmentation from RGB images based on virtual NIR-channel estimation

Performing accurate and automated semantic segmentation of vegetation is a first algorithmic step towards more complex models that can extract accurate biological information on crop health, weed presence and phenological state, among others. Traditionally, models based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), near infrared channel (NIR) or RGB have been a good indicator of vegetation presence. However, these methods are not suitable for accurately segmenting vegetation showing damage, which precludes their use for downstream phenotyping algorithms. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive method for robust vegetation segmentation in RGB images that can cope with damaged vegetation. The method consists of a first regression convolutional neural network to estimate a virtual NIR channel from an RGB image. Second, we compute two newly proposed vegetation indices from this estimated virtual NIR: the infrared-dark channel subtraction (IDCS) and infrared-dark channel ratio (IDCR) indices. Finally, both the RGB image and the estimated indices are fed into a semantic segmentation deep convolutional neural network to train a model to segment vegetation regardless of damage or condition. The model was tested on 84 plots containing thirteen vegetation species showing different degrees of damage and acquired over 28 days. The results show that the best segmentation is obtained when the input image is augmented with the proposed virtual NIR channel (F1=0.94) and with the proposed IDCR and IDCS vegetation indices (F1=0.95) derived from the estimated NIR channel, while the use of only the image or RGB indices lead to inferior performance (RGB(F1=0.90) NIR(F1=0.82) or NDVI(F1=0.89) channel). The proposed method provides an end-to-end land cover map segmentation method directly from simple RGB images and has been successfully validated in real field conditions

Indoor radon measurements in Ny-Ålesund, the northernmost civilian settlement in the world

Ny-Ålesund is situated at 78° 55´ N, 11° 56´ E on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago and is a centre for international Arctic scientific research and environmental monitoring. Since 1916 to 1963 was an old coal mining town. Exposure to indoor radon has been identified as the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking. In an indoor environment, there are many factors affecting indoor radon concentrations. Those factors could be different in the Arctic regions. [1] It is well known that the Council Directive 2013/59 / Euratom of 5 December 2013, article 74, says that "Member States shall establish national reference levels for indoor radon concentrations. The reference levels for the annual average activity concentration in air shall not be higher than 300 Bq m -3" so it is important to know the radon concentration in different places. Indoor radon activity measurements were carried out in different locations at Ny-Ålesund: Koldewey base (German base), KingsBay dining room, Marine Laboratory, and Gym facilities with five AlphaE devices from Saphymo GmbH. The AlphaE is an ultra small continuous radon monitor for professional use, based on a silicon diffusion chamber.The calculation of dose is possible due to a user-settable equilibrium factor. Indoor radon measurements were carried out from 3 to 27 September 2014. The values show low average level of indoor radon in the different analyzed buildings, with a geometrical mean of 60 Bq/m3 with a maximun value of 145 Bq/m3 in the Koldewey building. So the radiation exposure levels for workers and scientific personnel represents only a low percentage of the exposure guides for the general population.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Hospital Outcomes Among COVID-19 Hospitalizations With Myocarditis from the California State Inpatient Database

Many case reports have indicated that myocarditis could be a prognostic factor for predicting morbidity and mortality among patients with COVID-19. In this study, using a large database we examined the association between myocarditis among COVID-19 hospitalizations and in-hospital mortality and other adverse hospital outcomes. The present study was a retrospective analysis of data collected in the California State Inpatient Database during 2020. All hospitalizations for COVID-19 were included in the analysis and grouped into those with and without myocarditis. The outcomes were in-hospital mortality, cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, mechanical ventilation, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Propensity score matching, followed by conditional logistic regression, was performed to find the association between myocarditis and outcomes. Among 164,417 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 578 (0.4%) were with myocarditis. After propensity score matching, the rate of in-hospital mortality was significantly higher among COVID-19 hospitalizations with myocarditis (30.0% vs 17.5%, p \u3c0.001). Survival analysis with log-rank test showed that 30-day survival rates were significantly lower among those with myocarditis (39.5% vs 46.3%, p \u3c0.001). Conditional logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of cardiac arrest (odds ratio [OR] 1.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16 to 3.14), cardiogenic shock (OR 4.13, 95% CI 2.14 to 7.99), mechanical ventilation (OR 3.30, 95% CI 2.47 to 4.41), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.70 to 3.66) were significantly higher among those with myocarditis. Myocarditis was associated with greater rates of in-hospital mortality and adverse hospital outcomes among patients with COVID-19, and early suspicion is important for prompt diagnosis and management

Direct-acting Antivirals for the Treatment of Kidney Transplant Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Spain: A Long-term Prospective Observational Study

Background: Direct-acting antivirals (DAA) allow effective and safe eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in most patients. There are limited data on the long-term effects of all-oral, interferon-free DAA combination therapies in kidney transplant (KT) patients infected with HCV. Here we evaluated the long-term tolerability, efficacy, and safety of DAA combination therapies in KT patients with chronic HCV infection. Methods: Clinical data from KT patients treated with DAA were collected before, during, and after the treatment, including viral response, immunosuppression regimens, and kidney and liver function. Results: Patients (N = 226) were mostly male (65.9%) aged 56.1 +/- 10.9 years, with a median time from KT to initiation of DAA therapy of 12.7 years and HCV genotype 1b (64.6%). Most patients were treated with sofosbuvir-based therapies. Rapid virological response at 1 month was achieved by 89.4% of the patients and sustained virological response by week 12 by 98.1%. Liver function improved significantly after DAA treatment. Tacrolimus dosage increased 37% from the beginning of treatment (2.5 +/- 1.7 mg/d) to 1 year after the start of DAA treatment (3.4 +/- 1.9 mg/d, P < 0.001). Median follow-up was 37.0 months (interquartile range, 28.4-41.9) and death-censored graft survival was 91.1%. Adverse events resulting from DAA treatment, especially anemia, were reported for 31.0% of the patients. Conclusions: Chronic HCV infection can be treated efficiently and safely with DAA therapy in KT patients. Most patients retained stable kidney function and improved liver function. Tacrolimus dose had to be increased in most patients, potentially as a result of better liver function

Search for vector-boson resonances decaying to a top quark and bottom quark in the lepton plus jets final state in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for new charged massive gauge bosons, W, is performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data were collected in proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb. This analysis searches for W bosons in the W→tb¯ decay channel in final states with an electron or muon plus jets. The search covers resonance masses between 0.5 and 5.0 TeV and considers right-handed W bosons. No significant deviation from the Standard Model (SM) expectation is observed and upper limits are set on the W→tb¯ cross section times branching ratio and the W boson effective couplings as a function of the W boson mass. For right-handed W bosons with coupling to the SM particles equal to the SM weak coupling constant, masses below 3.15 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. This search is also combined with a previously published ATLAS result for W→tb¯ in the fully hadronic final state. Using the combined searches, right-handed W bosons with masses below 3.25 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level.Peer Reviewe

Search for heavy particles decaying into a top-quark pair in the fully hadronic final state in pp collisions at s =13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for new particles decaying into a pair of top quarks is performed using proton-proton collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb-1. Events consistent with top-quark pair production and the fully hadronic decay mode of the top quarks are selected by requiring multiple high transverse momentum jets including those containing b-hadrons. Two analysis techniques, exploiting dedicated top-quark pair reconstruction in different kinematic regimes, are used to optimize the search sensitivity to new hypothetical particles over a wide mass range. The invariant mass distribution of the two reconstructed top-quark candidates is examined for resonant production of new particles with various spins and decay widths. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed and limits are set on the production cross-section times branching fraction for new hypothetical Z′ bosons, dark-matter mediators, Kaluza-Klein gravitons and Kaluza-Klein gluons. By comparing with the predicted production cross sections, the Z′ boson in the topcolor-assisted-technicolor model is excluded for masses up to 3.1-3.6 TeV, the dark-matter mediators in a simplified framework are excluded in the mass ranges from 0.8 to 0.9 TeV and from 2.0 to 2.2 TeV, and the Kaluza-Klein gluon is excluded for masses up to 3.4 TeV, depending on the decay widths of the particles.Peer Reviewe

Search for pairs of highly collimated photon-jets in pp collisions at s =13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for the pair production of photon-jets - collimated groupings of photons - in the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. Highly collimated photon-jets can arise from the decay of new, highly boosted particles that can decay to multiple photons collimated enough to be identified in the electromagnetic calorimeter as a single, photonlike energy cluster. Data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.7 fb-1, were collected in 2015 and 2016. Candidate photon-jet pair production events are selected from those containing two reconstructed photons using a set of identification criteria much less stringent than that typically used for the selection of photons, with additional criteria applied to provide improved sensitivity to photon-jets. Narrow excesses in the reconstructed diphoton mass spectra are searched for. The observed mass spectra are consistent with the Standard Model background expectation. The results are interpreted in the context of a model containing a new, high-mass scalar particle with narrow width, X, that decays into pairs of photon-jets via new, light particles, a. Upper limits are placed on the cross section times the product of branching ratios σ×B(X→aa)×B(a→γγ)2 for 200 GeV<mX<2 TeV and for ranges of ma from a lower mass of 100 MeV up to between 2 and 10 GeV, depending upon mX. Upper limits are also placed on σ×B(X→aa)×B(a→3π0)2 for the same range of mX and for ranges of ma from a lower mass of 500 MeV up to between 2 and 10 GeV.Peer Reviewe

Measurement of W±Z production cross sections and gauge boson polarisation in pp collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of WZ production cross sections in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1fb-1. The WZ candidate events are reconstructed using leptonic decay modes of the gauge bosons into electrons and muons. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region for a single leptonic decay mode is σW±Z→ℓ′νℓℓfid.=63.7±1.0(stat.)±2.3(syst.)±1.4(lumi.) fb, reproduced by the next-to-next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction of 61.5-1.3+1.4 fb. Cross sections for WZ and WZ production and their ratio are presented as well as differential cross sections for several kinematic observables. An analysis of angular distributions of leptons from decays of W and Z bosons is performed for the first time in pair-produced events in hadronic collisions, and integrated helicity fractions in the detector fiducial region are measured for the W and Z bosons separately. Of particular interest, the longitudinal helicity fraction of pair-produced vector bosons is also measured.We acknowledge the support of ANPCyT, Argentina; YerPhI, Armenia; ARC, Australia; BMWFW and FWF, Austria; ANAS, Azerbaijan; SSTC, Belarus; CNPq and FAPESP, Brazil; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; CERN; CONICYT, Chile; CAS, MOST and NSFC, China; COLCIENCIAS, Colombia; MSMT CR, MPO CR and VSC CR, Czech Republic; DNRF and DNSRC, Denmark; IN2P3-CNRS, CEA-DRF/IRFU, France; SRNSFG, Georgia; BMBF, HGF, and MPG, Germany; GSRT, Greece; RGC, Hong Kong SAR, China; ISF and Benoziyo Center, Israel; INFN, Italy; MEXT and JSPS, Japan; CNRST, Morocco; NWO, Netherlands; RCN, Norway; MNiSW and NCN, Poland; FCT, Portugal; MNE/IFA, Romania; MES of Russia and NRC KI, Russian Federation; JINR; MESTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS and MIZŠ, Slovenia; DST/NRF, South Africa; MINECO, Spain; SRC and Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; SERI, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, Switzerland; MOST, Taiwan; TAEK, Turkey; STFC, UK; DOE and NSF, USA. In addition, individual groups and members have received support from BCKDF, CANARIE, CRC and Compute Canada, Canada; COST, ERC, ERDF, Horizon 2020, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Union; Investissements d’ Avenir Labex and Idex, ANR, France; DFG and AvH Foundation, Germany; Herakleitos, Thales and Aristeia programmes co-financed by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF, Greece; BSF-NSF and GIF, Israel; CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; The Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust, UK. The crucial computing support from all WLCG partners is acknowledged gratefully, in particular from CERN, the ATLAS Tier-1 facilities at TRIUMF (Canada), NDGF (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), CC-IN2P3 (France), KIT/GridKA (Germany), INFN-CNAF (Italy), NL-T1 (Netherlands), PIC (Spain), ASGC (Taiwan), RAL (UK) and BNL (USA), the Tier-2 facilities worldwide and large non-WLCG resource providers. Major contributors of computing resources are listed in Ref. [106].Peer Reviewe

Search for invisible Higgs boson decays in vector boson fusion at s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

We report a search for Higgs bosons that are produced via vector boson fusion and subsequently decay into invisible particles. The experimental signature is an energetic jet pair with invariant mass of O(1)TeV and O(100)GeV missing transverse momentum. The analysis uses 36.1 fb of pp collision data at s=13TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. In the signal region the 2252 observed events are consistent with the background estimation. Assuming a 125GeV scalar particle with Standard Model cross sections, the upper limit on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson decay into invisible particles is 0.37 at 95% confidence level where 0.28 was expected. This limit is interpreted in Higgs portal models to set bounds on the WIMP–nucleon scattering cross section. We also consider invisible decays of additional scalar bosons with masses up to 3TeV for which the upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction are in the range of 0.3–1.7pb.Peer Reviewe

Search for the Higgs boson decays H → ee and H → eμ in pp collisions at s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for the Higgs boson decays H→ee and H→eμ are performed using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139fb collected with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at s=13 TeV at the LHC. No significant signals are observed, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, the observed (expected) upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the branching fraction B(H→ee) is 3.6×10 (3.5×10) and on B(H→eμ) is 6.2×10 (5.9×10). These results represent improvements by factors of about five and six on the previous best limits on B(H→ee) and B(H→eμ) respectively