Gravity-Aware Monocular {3D} Human-Object Reconstruction

This paper proposes GraviCap, i.e., a new approach for joint markerless 3D human motion capture and object trajectory estimation from monocular RGB videos. We focus on scenes with objects partially observed during a free flight. In contrast to existing monocular methods, we can recover scale, object trajectories as well as human bone lengths in meters and the ground plane's orientation, thanks to the awareness of the gravity constraining object motions. Our objective function is parametrised by the object's initial velocity and position, gravity direction and focal length, and jointly optimised for one or several free flight episodes. The proposed human-object interaction constraints ensure geometric consistency of the 3D reconstructions and improved physical plausibility of human poses compared to the unconstrained case. We evaluate GraviCap on a new dataset with ground-truth annotations for persons and different objects undergoing free flights. In the experiments, our approach achieves state-of-the-art accuracy in 3D human motion capture on various metrics. We urge the reader to watch our supplementary video. Both the source code and the dataset are released; see http://4dqv.mpi-inf.mpg.de/GraviCap/

Psycho-Social Behavioural Problems In Urban Primary School Children

Research Problem: What is the magnitude and correlates of psychosocial behavioural problems in primary school children of an urban area. Objectives:     i)    To  know  the  prevalence of psychosocial behavioural problems in primary school children of Agra Corporation.  ii) To see the impact of various biosocial factors on the prevalence of above problems. Design: Cross sectional study by questionnaire method and observation. Setting: Primary schools run by Agra Corporation. Participants: All the children studying in 7 primary schools selected from 108 schools run by Agra Corporation. Sample Size: 520 primary school children. Study Variables: Age, sex, socio-economic class and family size. Statistical Analysis: By percentage, Z - test and Chi-square test. Result: A majority of the study children (63.7%) were having some psychosocial behavioural problem or the other, the most common problem being educational difficulties (59.8%), The average number of problems per child was 2.9. The prevalence was highest in children from middle-sized families of low socio­economic class and in age group above 13 years

Heterogeneously catalyzed lignin depolymerization

Biomass offers a unique resource for the sustainable production of bio-derived chemical and fuels as drop-in replacements for the current fossil fuel products. Lignin represents a major component of lignocellulosic biomass, but is particularly recalcitrant for valorization by existing chemical technologies due to its complex cross-linking polymeric network. Here, we highlight a range of catalytic approaches to lignin depolymerisation for the production of aromatic bio-oil and monomeric oxygenates

Atomic Layer Deposition of 2D Metal Dichalcogenides for Electronics, Catalysis, Energy Storage, and Beyond

2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are among the most exciting materials of today. Their layered crystal structures result in unique and useful electronic, optical, catalytic, and quantum properties. To realize the technological potential of TMDCs, methods depositing uniform films of controlled thickness at low temperatures in a highly controllable, scalable, and repeatable manner are needed. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a chemical gas-phase thin film deposition method capable of meeting these challenges. In this review, the applications evaluated for ALD TMDCs are systematically examined, including electronics and optoelectonics, electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, energy storage, lubrication, plasmonics, solar cells, and photonics. This review focuses on understanding the interplay between ALD precursors and deposition conditions, the resulting film characteristics such as thickness, crystallinity, and morphology, and ultimately device performance. Through rational choice of precursors and conditions, ALD is observed to exhibit potential to meet the varying requirements of widely different applications. Beyond the current state of ALD TMDCs, the future prospects, opportunities, and challenges in different applications are discussed. The authors hope that the review aids in bringing together experts in the fields of ALD, TMDCs, and various applications to eventually realize industrial applications of ALD TMDCs.Peer reviewe

Differences in Practitioner Experience, Practice Type, and Profession in Attitudes Toward Growing Contact Lens Practice

OBJECTIVE: To investigate eye care practitioners' attitudes and perceptions toward potential interventions that can enhance contact lens (CL) practice across the world, and how this is influenced by their practice setting. METHODS: A self-administered, anonymized survey was constructed in English and then forward and backward translated into six more languages. The survey was distributed online via social media platforms and mailing lists involving reputed international professional bodies. RESULTS: In total, 2,222 responses from 27 countries with sufficient responses were analyzed (53% females, median age- 37 years). Most of the respondents were optometrists (81.9%) and 47.6% were from stand-alone/independent practices. Median working experience in CL prescribing was 11.0 years (IQR: 18.0, 4-22 years). Over two-third of them declared themselves to be very hopeful (22.9%) or hopeful (45.1%) about the future of their CL practice. Among the potential interventions proposed, continuous update of knowledge and skills and competently managing CL-related complications were rated the most important (median score: 9/10 for each). Practitioners working in national/regional retail chains expressed higher proactivity in recommending CLs (9/10) than those in local chains, hospitals, and universities (for all 8/10, P <0.05). National differences were also identified in eye care practitioner attitudes and perceptions ( P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study provided important information to delineate a variety of elements characterizing CL practice across the world. These insights can serve as a basis to design strategies at national and international levels

Study Of Diet And Nutritional Status Of School Going Rural Adolescent Boys In Allahabad

Research question: What is the prevalence of malnutrition among school going rural adolescent boys? Objective: To assess the diet and nutritional status of school going rural adolescent boys. Study design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Rural Intermediate Colleges. Participants: 660 study subjects (adolescents boys. 10-19 years), of classes 6th to 12th from 8 rural intermediate colleges in two blocks of Allahabad. Study period: One year (From April 2002 to May 2003). Statistical Analysis: Chi square lest Results: Overall mean height. BM1 and Haemoglobin level of adolescents were 1 56.97+9.84cm. 18.59+2.20 kg/m2 and 12.12+1.31 gm/dl respectively. Prevalence of malnutrition in terms of Stunting (24.1 %) Thinness (10.5%) and Overweight (1.4%) was observ ed. Maximum calorie deficit was seen in thirteen-year-old boys, it was 42.5% below the RDA and minimum deficit (25.7%) was observed among nineteen-year-old boys. Overall mean caloric deficit among 10 to 19 years’ adolescents was 839.57 Kcal/day. Prevalence of anaemia was observed in 371(56.3%) adolescent boys. Prevalence of Vit. A deficiency. Vitamin B - complex and Vitamin C deficiency were found to be 3.5%. 25.3% and 6.8% respectively. Conclusion: Nutritional status of school going adolescent boys in rural areas of Allahabad is not satisfactory and there is a strong need for a programme especially for adolescent boys to fulfill their nutritional needs

A community based interventional approach to intranatal And neonatal health care

Objective : To assess the contribution of the interventions through the local change agent (Bal Parivar Mitra) towards achievement of health awareness among rural women regarding maternal child health through improvement and change in health practices. Study design: Stratified multistage random sampling technique. Study unit : Within the selected households lactating mothers were selected as study units. Study area : The study was conducted in Jasra and Saidabad blocks of Allahabad district wherein MCHN Project is going on since July 2000. Study variable : Maternal care. Intervention, Impact. Statistical analysis : Ztesl for testing significance of differences between two proportions (Z - test). Results: Deliveries assisted by trained persons increased from 22.4%to 36.7%. Follow-up of'5-cleans’ during pregnancy was among 43.3%. Birth registration increased from 19.2% in baseline to 35%. feeding of colostrum from 27,4% to 40.0%. Breastfeeding within half an hour after birth was among 23.3% followed by 16.7% within 1/2-12 hours. Proper warmth was given to 68.3% newborns and 58.3% babies were bathed after one day of birth. Conclusions : The suggested intervention package through BPM seems to be a sustainable effort and several parameters of intranatal and neonatal health care arc expected to be attained as long-term achievements