Weakly supervised human skin segmentation using guidance attention mechanisms

Human skin segmentation is a crucial task in computer vision and biometric systems, yet it poses several challenges such as variability in skin colour, pose, and illumination. This paper presents a robust data-driven skin segmentation method for a single image that addresses these challenges through the integration of contextual information and efficient network design. In addition to robustness and accuracy, the integration into real-time systems requires a careful balance between computational power, speed, and performance. The proposed method incorporates two attention modules, Body Attention and Skin Attention, that utilize contextual information to improve segmentation results. These modules draw attention to the desired areas, focusing on the body boundaries and skin pixels, respectively. Additionally, an efficient network architecture is employed in the encoder part to minimize computational power while retaining high performance. To handle the issue of noisy labels in skin datasets, the proposed method uses a weakly supervised training strategy, relying on the Skin Attention module. The results of this study demonstrate that the proposed method is comparable to, or outperforms, state-of-the-art methods on benchmark datasets.This work is part of the visuAAL project on Privacy-Aware and Acceptable Video-Based Technologies and Services for Active and Assisted Living (https://www.visuaal-itn.eu/). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 861091

A Fallen Person Detector with a Privacy-Preserving Edge-AI Camera

As the population ages, Ambient-Assisted Living (AAL) environments are increasingly used to support older individuals’ safety and autonomy. In this study, we propose a low-cost, privacy-preserving sensor system integrated with mobile robots to enhance fall detection in AAL environments. We utilized the Luxonis OAKD Edge-AI camera mounted on a mobile robot to detect fallen individuals. The system was trained using YOLOv6 network on the E-FPDS dataset and optimized with a knowledge distillation approach onto the more compact YOLOv5 network, which was deployed on the camera. We evaluated the system’s performance using a custom dataset captured with a robot-mounted camera. We achieved a precision of 96.52%, a recall of 95.10%, and a recognition rate of 15 frames per second. The proposed system enhances the safety and autonomy of older individuals by enabling the rapid detection and response to falls.This work has been part supported by the visuAAL project on Privacy-Aware and Acceptable Video-Based Technologies and Services for Active and Assisted Living (https://www.visuaal-itn.eu/) funded by the EU H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 861091. The project has also been part supported by the SFI Future Innovator Award SFI/21/FIP/DO/9955 project Smart Hangar

The Impacts of Naked Short Selling Ban on the Stock Market of Singapore

The purpose of this dissertation is to study the impacts of naked short selling ban on the stock market of Singapore. The paper is based on the directive issued by Monetary Authority of Singapore on 22nd of September inclining the investors to refrain from practicing naked short selling. This event provides a distinctive prospect to analyze the stock market’s reaction to the new regulation. The majority of existing literature about short selling is based on two differing theories: upward bias and market completeness. Upward bias theory indicates that stock prices will bias upward in presence of short selling restrictions, whereas market completeness suggests that share prices will stay at the same level or decline due to the perceived lower efficiency of the market by investors. The study contributes to the existing literature of short selling and is particularly unique since it is the sole paper evaluating the effects of naked short selling constraints on stock market of Singapore. The research employs the event study method introduced by Brown and Warner (1985) to observe the abnormal returns during the event window. The naked short selling restrictions caused the stock prices to increase during the days close to event date and stocks observed positive abnormal return. As a result, the finding is consistent with upward bias theory. However, cumulative abnormal return of the event window is found to be substantially negative. The reason for the negative cumulative abnormal return is the contaminated period of the event. The contaminated problem can be resolved by applying Aktas et al. (2007) method to control the unrelated news

Selvregulering i kroppsøving - En kvantitativ studie om hvorvidt elever utvikler selvregulering over tid

Kroppsøvingsfaget blir ofte omtalt som et fag uten klar struktur (Crum, 2017; Kirk, 2010), med elever som anser faget som en arena der de kan få en pause fra det faglige skolelivet. For å styrke fagets legitimering som et læringsfag og elevenes mestring er det nødvendig å ha kunnskap om strategier for læring og utvikling. Få studier har undersøkt om elever utvikler selvregulering i kroppsøvingsfaget. Studiens hensikt var derfor å undersøke hvorvidt elever utvikler selvregulering over tid i kroppsøvingsfaget. Kjønn, idrettsdeltakelse og interesse for faget ble i tillegg ansett som nødvendige variabler å undersøke. Utvalget bestod av totalt 696 kroppsøvingselever fordelt på 10. trinn, VG1, VG2 og VG3 i Sør- og Sørvest-Norge. Kjønnsfordelingen for utvalget utgjorde 317 gutter og 377 jenter. Datainnsamlingen baserte seg på en tverrsnittsundersøkelse, der kvantitative data ble samlet inn ved bruk av et elektronisk spørreskjema som baserte seg på Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990), en tilpasset underskala for måling av selvregulering i en kroppsøvingskontekst. Analysene som ble gjennomført innebærer parametriske tester som independent samples t-test og One-Way Analysis of variance. Funnene indikerte at elevenes grad av selvregulering ikke utvikler seg fra 10.trinn til tredje år på videregående. Likevel tydet resultatene på at elevene selvregulerer sin læring til en viss grad. Det ble funnet forskjell i grad av selvregulering mellom de som driver med idrett og de som ikke driver med idrett, der idrettsdeltakelse ser ut til å ha en positiv sammenheng med selvregulering. Samtidig ble det funnet positiv sammenheng mellom tilfredsstillelse av kroppsøvingsfaget og selvregulering. Videre viste resultatene at gutter selvregulerte i større grad enn jentene. Ingen forskjell ble funnet i grad av utvikling av selvregulering mellom de ulike aldersgruppene hverken hos guttene eller hos jentene. Ettersom studiens funn indikerer at elevene utvikler selvregulering til en neglisjerbar grad i kroppsøving, kan funnene belyse den allerede kjente oppfattelsen av faget som en arena med mangelfull forekomst av læring og utvikling, og forsterker argumentasjoner om at selvregulering bør fasiliteres og fremmes i større grad. Nøkkelord: kroppsøving, selvregulering, utvikling

Selvregulering i kroppsøving - En kvantitativ studie om hvorvidt elever utvikler selvregulering over tid

Kroppsøvingsfaget blir ofte omtalt som et fag uten klar struktur (Crum, 2017; Kirk, 2010), med elever som anser faget som en arena der de kan få en pause fra det faglige skolelivet. For å styrke fagets legitimering som et læringsfag og elevenes mestring er det nødvendig å ha kunnskap om strategier for læring og utvikling. Få studier har undersøkt om elever utvikler selvregulering i kroppsøvingsfaget. Studiens hensikt var derfor å undersøke hvorvidt elever utvikler selvregulering over tid i kroppsøvingsfaget. Kjønn, idrettsdeltakelse og interesse for faget ble i tillegg ansett som nødvendige variabler å undersøke. Utvalget bestod av totalt 696 kroppsøvingselever fordelt på 10. trinn, VG1, VG2 og VG3 i Sør- og Sørvest-Norge. Kjønnsfordelingen for utvalget utgjorde 317 gutter og 377 jenter. Datainnsamlingen baserte seg på en tverrsnittsundersøkelse, der kvantitative data ble samlet inn ved bruk av et elektronisk spørreskjema som baserte seg på Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990), en tilpasset underskala for måling av selvregulering i en kroppsøvingskontekst. Analysene som ble gjennomført innebærer parametriske tester som independent samples t-test og One-Way Analysis of variance. Funnene indikerte at elevenes grad av selvregulering ikke utvikler seg fra 10.trinn til tredje år på videregående. Likevel tydet resultatene på at elevene selvregulerer sin læring til en viss grad. Det ble funnet forskjell i grad av selvregulering mellom de som driver med idrett og de som ikke driver med idrett, der idrettsdeltakelse ser ut til å ha en positiv sammenheng med selvregulering. Samtidig ble det funnet positiv sammenheng mellom tilfredsstillelse av kroppsøvingsfaget og selvregulering. Videre viste resultatene at gutter selvregulerte i større grad enn jentene. Ingen forskjell ble funnet i grad av utvikling av selvregulering mellom de ulike aldersgruppene hverken hos guttene eller hos jentene. Ettersom studiens funn indikerer at elevene utvikler selvregulering til en neglisjerbar grad i kroppsøving, kan funnene belyse den allerede kjente oppfattelsen av faget som en arena med mangelfull forekomst av læring og utvikling, og forsterker argumentasjoner om at selvregulering bør fasiliteres og fremmes i større grad. Nøkkelord: kroppsøving, selvregulering, utvikling

“I Don’t Want to Become a Number’’: Examining Different Stakeholder Perspectives on a Video-Based Monitoring System for Senior Care with Inherent Privacy Protection (by Design)

Active and Assisted Living (AAL) technologies aim to enhance the quality of life of older adults and promote successful aging. While video-based AAL solutions offer rich capabilities for better healthcare management in older age, they pose significant privacy risks. To mitigate the risks, we developed a video-based monitoring system that incorporates different privacy-preserving filters. We deployed the system in one assistive technology center and conducted a qualitative study with older adults and other stakeholders involved in care provision. Our study demonstrates diverse users’ perceptions and experiences with video-monitoring technology and offers valuable insights for the system’s further development. The findings unpack the privacy-versus-safety trade-off inherent in video-based technologies and discuss how the privacy-preserving mechanisms within the system mitigate privacy-related concerns. The study also identifies varying stakeholder perspectives towards the system in general and highlights potential avenues for developing video-based monitoring technologies in the AAL context.This work was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 861091 for the visuAAL project. This publication is based upon work from COST Action GoodBrother—Network on Privacy-Aware Audio- and Video-Based Applications for Active and Assisted Living (CA19121), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)

Video-monitorización ética de personas mayores

Objetivo principal. La creciente demanda de cuidado de personas mayores debido al envejecimiento de la población plantea desafíos significativos en el ámbito de la atención y el cuidado. Los sistemas basados en vídeo se han vuelto más inteligentes, lo que los hace ideales para ofrecer soluciones que requieren la monitorización remota de personas mayores. Estas soluciones pueden mejorar la calidad de vida y brindar apoyo para una vida independiente y saludable. Sin embargo, el uso de cámaras en espacios privados plantea desafíos éticos, legales y de privacidad. Metodología. La solución propuesta en este trabajo busca facilitar los cuidados de personas mayores mediante el empleo ético de cámaras para su continua monitorización remota, preservando su privacidad. Para ello, se han desarrollado algoritmos basados en inteligencia artificial que transforman las imágenes en tiempo real, pixelando o emborronando a las personas en la imagen o sustituyéndolas por avatares, preservando su privacidad al mismo tiempo que se mantiene la inteligibilidad, lo que permite evaluar situaciones que pudieran estar ocurriendo de manera similar a si se dispusiera de las imágenes originales. Resultados. Se ha pilotado el sistema en un centro de tecnología asistencial, realizando un estudio cualitativo con personas mayores y otros actores implicados en la provisión de cuidados. Nuestro estudio muestra las percepciones y experiencias de diversos usuarios con la tecnología de videovigilancia y ofrece información valiosa para el desarrollo futuro del sistema. Conclusión. Los resultados desvelan la disyuntiva entre privacidad y seguridad inherente a las tecnologías basadas en vídeo y analizan cómo los mecanismos de preservación de la privacidad del sistema mitigan los problemas relacionados con la privacidad. El estudio también identifica las distintas perspectivas de las partes interesadas respecto al sistema y destaca las posibles vías de desarrollo de tecnologías de monitorización basada en vídeo en el contexto de AAL

Multi-hazard socio-physical resilience assessment of hurricane-induced hazards on coastal communities

Hurricane-induced hazards can result in significant damage to the built environment cascading into major impacts to the households, social institutions, and local economy. Although quantifying physical impacts of hurricane-induced hazards is essential for risk analysis, it is necessary but not sufficient for community resilience planning. While there have been several studies on hurricane risk and recovery assessment at the building- and community-level, few studies have focused on the nexus of coupled physical and social disruptions, particularly when characterizing recovery in the face of coastal multi-hazards. Therefore, this study presents an integrated approach to quantify the socio-physical disruption following hurricane-induced multi-hazards (e.g., wind, storm surge, wave) by considering the physical damage and functionality of the built environment along with the population dynamics over time. Specifically, high-resolution fragility models of buildings, and power and transportation infrastructures capture the combined impacts of hurricane loading on the built environment. Beyond simulating recovery by tracking infrastructure network performance metrics, such as access to essential facilities, this coupled socio-physical approach affords projection of post-hazard population dislocation and temporal evolution of housing and household recovery constrained by the building and infrastructure recovery. The results reveal the relative importance of multi-hazard consideration in the damage and recovery assessment of communities, along with the role of interdependent socio-physical system modeling when evaluating metrics such as housing recovery or the need for emergency shelter. Furthermore, the methodology presented here provides a foundation for resilience-informed decisions for coastal communities

Molecular and biochemical characterization of phosphate-solubilizing Pseudomonas sp. isolated from oil palm soil

Phosphorous (P) is one of the most essential macronutrients required for plant growth and development. The objectives of the present study were to select Pseudomonas from soils of oil palm capable of solubilizing phosphate under tropical environment by various biochemical and genotypical method have been used. The study carried out to determine the population distribution of phosphate solubilizing Pseudomonas in oil palm soil by Standard Plate Count. The results showed that the distribution of phosphate solubilizing bacteria and phosphate solubilizing Pseudomonas population in UPM were higher than the rest. Twenty five isolates were able to grow and form clearing zone in NBRIP (National Botanical Research Institute’s Phosphate) medium, PVK (Pikovskayas) and other different carbon and nitrogen sources. The best isolates were 43Dengkil, 9Dengkil, 10Dengkil and 15Dengkil which solubilized phosphate on NBRIP better than other isolates. Meanwhile, the best isolate on PVK was 15Dengkil. The result of culturing the isolates in NBRIP indicated that among all carbon sources glucose was the best carbon sources for phosphate solubilization and KNO3 was less effective compared to (NH4)NO3 when it was used as a source of nitrogen. All the isolates were acid producers and among them, 633UPM and 144UPM, after 5 days of culture, 555UPM and 23Dengkil after 8 days of culture respectively, showed the lowest pH. The effective phosphate solubilizer isolates after 5 days were 48Semenyih and 45Dengkil, 5Semenyih, and after 8 days were 45Dengkil, 5Semenyih, followed by 48Semenyih respectively. Initial confirmation of their genus level identity as Pseudomonas was arrived by amplification of 16S rDNA sequence. The result of a BLAST search of 16S rDNA sequences of Pseudomonas compared with the available 16S rDNA sequences in the GenBnak database indicated that all of the Pseudomonas isolates belonged to gamma proteobacteria subdivision. Isolates 59Semenyih, 62Dengkil, 555UPM, 43Dengkil, 69Semenyih and 103Semenyih had more than 80% similarity to Pseudomonas species. The diversity among isolates was determined by REP-PCR (Repetitive Extragentic Palindromic Elements). Based on REP-PCR pattern isolates were classified into seven groups (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G). The cluster showed that in group A, isolates 9Dengkil, 10Dengkil, 15Dengkil, 23Dengkil and 45Dengkil were totally similar to each other. Cluster B included 43Dengkil, 62Dengkil isolates. Clusters C and D included isolates 103UPM and 59Semenyih respectively. Four isolates fell into cluster E and these isolates were totally similar to each other. Cluster F contained isolates 144UPM and 625UPM. Cluster G consisted of 4 isolates and also cluster H included 5 isolates. Also, this study concluded that the cluster analysis of Pseudomonas based on REP-PCR identified clusters A, B, C, D, E and F approximately with genetic distance=0.34. The results presented here clearly establish that REP sequences (elements) are present in genome of phosphate solubilizing Pseudomonas isolated from oil palm soils

Nanoparticle assisted small molecule delivery to target prostate cancer metabolism

Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed and cause of cancer-related death in Australian men. Resistance to treatment and non-specificity of the drugs is a major bottleneck for prostate cancer. Recently, nano-formulated drugs are being developed for targeted drug delivery into the cancer cells. Prostate cancer cells use aerobic glycolysis promoted by the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase-1 (PDK1) gene for energy production. We targeted PDK1 using nano-formulations selective for prostate cancer cells and tested these using in vitro and in vivo models. Nano-conjugated Radicicol was identified as most promising drug and potential useful co-therapy agent with inhibitory effect on tumour development