AgriSORT: A Simple Online Real-time Tracking-by-Detection framework for robotics in precision agriculture

The problem of multi-object tracking (MOT) consists in detecting and tracking all the objects in a video sequence while keeping a unique identifier for each object. It is a challenging and fundamental problem for robotics. In precision agriculture the challenge of achieving a satisfactory solution is amplified by extreme camera motion, sudden illumination changes, and strong occlusions. Most modern trackers rely on the appearance of objects rather than motion for association, which can be ineffective when most targets are static objects with the same appearance, as in the agricultural case. To this end, on the trail of SORT [5], we propose AgriSORT, a simple, online, real-time tracking-by-detection pipeline for precision agriculture based only on motion information that allows for accurate and fast propagation of tracks between frames. The main focuses of AgriSORT are efficiency, flexibility, minimal dependencies, and ease of deployment on robotic platforms. We test the proposed pipeline on a novel MOT benchmark specifically tailored for the agricultural context, based on video sequences taken in a table grape vineyard, particularly challenging due to strong self-similarity and density of the instances. Both the code and the dataset are available for future comparisons.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2024. Code and dataset will be soon available on my github. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

Surgical treatment of severe epistaxis: an eleven-year experience

Epistaxis is one of the most prevalent emergencies in ENT practice, and its surgical treatment is part of the routine at services for emergency care, especially in cases refractory to clinical procedures. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the profile of patients and the results this service has had in the surgical treatment of epistaxis for the last 11 years. METHOD: Data from 98 patients submitted to surgery for epistaxis between 2000 and 2011 were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Most in the sample were males, and mean age was around 46 years. Hypertension was identified in 58% of patients, and most events occurred during fall and winter. The re-bleeding rate was 13.27%. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that the surgical treatment for epistaxis, when indicated, had good success rates and low incidence of complications. In our service, it remains as the gold-standard procedure for nosebleeds refractory to initial management measures.A epistaxe é uma das urgências otorrinolaringológicas de maior prevalência, cujas alternativas de tratamento cirúrgico cada vez mais fazem parte do dia-a-dia dos serviços de pronto-atendimento, principalmente naqueles casos refratários às condutas clínicas. OBJETIVO: Analisar o perfil dos pacientes e os resultados deste serviço no tratamento cirúrgico da epistaxe durante 11 anos. MÉTODO: Foram analisados dados retrospectivos de 98 pacientes, submetidos a tratamento cirúrgico para epistaxe entre 2000 e 2011. RESULTADOS: A maior parte da amostra foi de homens, com média de idade em torno de 46 anos. A hipertensão arterial sistêmica foi identificada em 58% dos pacientes e a época do ano em que os eventos mais ocorreram foi durante o outono e o inverno. A taxa de ressangramento foi de 13,27%. CONCLUSÃO: O presente estudo pôde concluir que o tratamento cirúrgico das epistaxes, quando indicado, tem bom índice de sucesso, com baixa incidência de complicações, e continua sendo, para este serviço, o tratamento padrão-ouro para as hemorragias nasais refratárias às medidas iniciais de manejo.UNIFESP-EPM Setor de RinologiaUNIFESP-EPM Departamento de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia de Cabeça e PescoçoUNIFESP-EPM Residência em OtorrinolaringologiaUNIFESP, EPM, Setor de RinologiaUNIFESP, EPM Depto. de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia de Cabeça e PescoçoUNIFESP, EPM Residência em OtorrinolaringologiaSciEL

Dataset from PPG wireless sensor for activity monitoring

We introduce a dataset to provide insights about the photoplethysmography (PPG) signal captured from the wrist in presence of motion artifacts and the accelerometer signal, simultaneously acquired from the same wrist. The data presented were collected by the electronics research team of the Department of Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy. This article describes data recorded from 7 subjects and includes 105 PPG signals (15 for each subject) and the corresponding 105 tri-axial accelerometer signals measured with a sampling frequency of 400 Hz. These data can be reused for testing machine learning algorithms for human activity recognition

Weakly and semi-supervised detection, segmentation and tracking of table grapes with limited and noisy data

Detection, segmentation and tracking of fruits and vegetables are three fundamental tasks for precision agriculture, enabling robotic harvesting and yield estimation applications. However, modern algorithms are data hungry and it is not always possible to gather enough data to apply the best performing supervised approaches. Since data collection is an expensive and cumbersome task, the enabling technologies for using computer vision in agriculture are often out of reach for small businesses. Following previous work in this context (Ciarfuglia et al., 2022), where we proposed an initial weakly supervised solution to reduce the data needed to get state-of-the-art detection and segmentation in precision agriculture applications, here we improve that system and explore the problem of tracking fruits in orchards. We present the case of vineyards of table grapes in southern Lazio (Italy) since grapes are a difficult fruit to segment due to occlusion, colour and general illumination conditions. We consider the case in which there is some initial labelled data that could work as source data (e.g. wine grape data), but it is considerably different from the target data (e.g. table grape data). To improve detection and segmentation on the target data, we propose to train the segmentation algorithm with a weak bounding box label, while for tracking we leverage 3D Structure from Motion algorithms to generate new labels from already labelled samples. Finally, the two systems are combined in a full semi-supervised approach. Comparisons with state-of-the-art supervised solutions show how our methods are able to train new models that achieve high performances with few labelled images and with very simple labelling

Tratamento cirúrgico da epistaxe grave: experiência de 11 anos Surgical treatment of severe epistaxis: an eleven-year experience

A epistaxe é uma das urgências otorrinolaringológicas de maior prevalência, cujas alternativas de tratamento cirúrgico cada vez mais fazem parte do dia-a-dia dos serviços de pronto-atendimento, principalmente naqueles casos refratários às condutas clínicas. OBJETIVO: Analisar o perfil dos pacientes e os resultados deste serviço no tratamento cirúrgico da epistaxe durante 11 anos. MÉTODO: Foram analisados dados retrospectivos de 98 pacientes, submetidos a tratamento cirúrgico para epistaxe entre 2000 e 2011. RESULTADOS: A maior parte da amostra foi de homens, com média de idade em torno de 46 anos. A hipertensão arterial sistêmica foi identificada em 58% dos pacientes e a época do ano em que os eventos mais ocorreram foi durante o outono e o inverno. A taxa de ressangramento foi de 13,27%. CONCLUSÃO: O presente estudo pôde concluir que o tratamento cirúrgico das epistaxes, quando indicado, tem bom índice de sucesso, com baixa incidência de complicações, e continua sendo, para este serviço, o tratamento padrão-ouro para as hemorragias nasais refratárias às medidas iniciais de manejo.<br>Epistaxis is one of the most prevalent emergencies in ENT practice, and its surgical treatment is part of the routine at services for emergency care, especially in cases refractory to clinical procedures. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the profile of patients and the results this service has had in the surgical treatment of epistaxis for the last 11 years. METHOD: Data from 98 patients submitted to surgery for epistaxis between 2000 and 2011 were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Most in the sample were males, and mean age was around 46 years. Hypertension was identified in 58% of patients, and most events occurred during fall and winter. The re-bleeding rate was 13.27%. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that the surgical treatment for epistaxis, when indicated, had good success rates and low incidence of complications. In our service, it remains as the gold-standard procedure for nosebleeds refractory to initial management measures

Higher incidence of Zika in adult women than adult men in Rio de Janeiro suggests a significant contribution of sexual transmission from men to women

Submitted by Éder Freyre ([email protected]) on 2016-11-30T12:34:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 va_Flavio_Coelho_etal_Presidencia_2016.pdf: 1480880 bytes, checksum: 04ec4b8aeec2a13453bf8bcfbaf57da6 (MD5)Submitted by Éder Freyre ([email protected]) on 2016-11-30T12:37:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 va_Flavio_Coelho_etal_Presidencia_2016.pdf: 1480880 bytes, checksum: 04ec4b8aeec2a13453bf8bcfbaf57da6 (MD5)Submitted by Éder Freyre ([email protected]) on 2016-11-30T12:41:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 va_Flavio_Coelho_etal_Presidencia_2016.pdf: 1480880 bytes, checksum: 04ec4b8aeec2a13453bf8bcfbaf57da6 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Claudete Fernandes ([email protected]) on 2016-11-30T12:44:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 va_Flavio_Coelho_etal_Presidencia_2016.pdf: 1480880 bytes, checksum: 04ec4b8aeec2a13453bf8bcfbaf57da6 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-30T12:44:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 va_Flavio_Coelho_etal_Presidencia_2016.pdf: 1480880 bytes, checksum: 04ec4b8aeec2a13453bf8bcfbaf57da6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro. Secretaria Municipal de Saúde. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro. Secretaria Municipal de Saúde. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro. Secretaria Municipal de Saúde. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Presidência. Programa de Computação Científica. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Presidência. Programa de Computação Científica. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Presidência. Programa de Computação Científica. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil / University of Edinburgh. Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Edinburgh, UK.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Presidência. Programa de Computação Científica. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro. Secretaria Municipal de Saúde. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Presidência. Programa de Computação Científica. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil / MINES Paristech. PSL Research University. CERNA Centre for Industrial Economy. Paris, France.The recent emergence of Zika in Brazil and its association with an increased rate of congenital malformations has raised concerns over its impact on the birth rate in the country. Using data on the incidence of Zika in 2015-2016 and dengue in 2013 and 2015-2016 for the city of Rio de Janeiro (population 6.4 million), a massive increase of Zika in women compared to men was documented.Objectives: The recent emergence of Zika in Brazil and its association with an increased rate of congenital malformations has raised concerns over its impact on the birth rate in the country. Using data on the incidence of Zika in 2015–2016 and dengue in 2013 and 2015–2016 for the city of Rio de Janeiro (population 6.4 million), a massive increase of Zika in women compared to men was documented. Methods: The age-adjusted incidence was compared between men and women. A negative binomial Poisson generalized linear model was fitted to the Zika incidence data to determine the significance of sexual transmission statistically. Results: Even after correcting for the bias due to the systematic testing of pregnant women for Zika, there were found to be 90% more registered cases per 100 000 women than men in the sexually active age group (15–65 years); this was not the case for age groups 65 years. Assuming that infected men transmit the disease to women in their semen, but that the converse is not true, some extra incidence in women is to be expected. An alternate hypothesis would be that women visit doctors more often than men. To test this, the incidence of dengue fever was compared in men and women in 2015 and in 2013 (before Zika reached Rio de Janeiro): in both years, women were 30% more likely to be reported with dengue. Conclusion: Women in the sexually active age group are far more likely to get Zika than men (+90% increase); sexual transmission is the most probable cause. Women in the 15–65 years age group are also 30% more likely to be reported with dengue than men, which is probably due to women being more careful with their health

Modulation of MMP-9 pathway by lycopene in macrophages and fibroblasts exposed to cigarette smoke

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) has been implicated in both inflammation and fibrosis. It has been reported that cigarette smoke induced MMP-9 expression and that lycopene may act as an anti-inflammatory agent and may counteract several signal pathways affected by cigarette smoke exposure. However, at the moment, it is unknown if lycopene may inhibit cigarette smoke-induced MMP-9 expression. Presently, we examined the inhibitory mechanism of lycopene on MMP-9 induction in cultured human macrophages (THP-1 cells), in isolated rat alveolar macrophages (AMs) and in cultured RAT-1 fibroblasts, all cellular sources of MMP-9, exposed to cigarette smoke extract (CSE). CSE induced a marked increase in MMP-9 expression in cultured as well as in isolated cells. A 8 h-lycopene pre-treatment (0.5-2 \u3bcM) reduced CSE-mediated MMP-9 induction in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Lycopene attenuated CSE-mediated activation of Ras, enhancing the levels of this protein in the cytosolic fraction. Moreover, lycopene inhibited CSE-induced ERK1/2 and NF-kB activation in a dose-dependent manner. Lycopene-mediated inhibition of MMP-9 was reversed by mevalonate and associated with a reduced expression of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. Taken together, these results suggest that lycopene may inhibit CSE-mediated MMP-9 induction, primarily by blocking prenylation of Ras in a signaling pathway, in which MEK1/2-ERK1/2 and NF-kB are involved