Discriminatively Trained Latent Ordinal Model for Video Classification

We study the problem of video classification for facial analysis and human action recognition. We propose a novel weakly supervised learning method that models the video as a sequence of automatically mined, discriminative sub-events (eg. onset and offset phase for "smile", running and jumping for "highjump"). The proposed model is inspired by the recent works on Multiple Instance Learning and latent SVM/HCRF -- it extends such frameworks to model the ordinal aspect in the videos, approximately. We obtain consistent improvements over relevant competitive baselines on four challenging and publicly available video based facial analysis datasets for prediction of expression, clinical pain and intent in dyadic conversations and on three challenging human action datasets. We also validate the method with qualitative results and show that they largely support the intuitions behind the method.Comment: Paper accepted in IEEE TPAMI. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1604.0150

LOMo: Latent Ordinal Model for Facial Analysis in Videos

We study the problem of facial analysis in videos. We propose a novel weakly supervised learning method that models the video event (expression, pain etc.) as a sequence of automatically mined, discriminative sub-events (eg. onset and offset phase for smile, brow lower and cheek raise for pain). The proposed model is inspired by the recent works on Multiple Instance Learning and latent SVM/HCRF- it extends such frameworks to model the ordinal or temporal aspect in the videos, approximately. We obtain consistent improvements over relevant competitive baselines on four challenging and publicly available video based facial analysis datasets for prediction of expression, clinical pain and intent in dyadic conversations. In combination with complimentary features, we report state-of-the-art results on these datasets.Comment: 2016 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR

Bitter taste perception in BaYaka hunter-gatherers

Aversion towards bitter tastes evolved across vertebrate species to enable the recognition of harmful plant toxins. Most studies to date have investigated the variation in bitter taste sensitivity between human populations. However, there is a lack of research investigating phenotypic plasticity and the variation in bitter taste perception within the same population. Here we examined bitter taste perception among the Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers from Congo, a group of forest hunter-gatherers who exhibit a variation in their levels of market integration. We conducted an experiment using phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and thiourea infused paper strips and compared the prevalence of bitter tasting phenotypes between the BaYaka who grew up in town and forest camps. We found that 45.1% of BaYaka experience PTC as bitter, and 42.5% experience thiourea as bitter. There were no sex and age differences in bitter taste perception. Despite a shared genetic background, we found that BaYaka who grew up in town were more sensitive to bitter taste than those living in the forest, suggesting a developmental component in taste perception. We suggest that a decreased use of traditional plant medicine in town-born BaYaka may underlie this variation in bitter taste perception

Global WEIRDing:transitions in wild plant knowledge and treatment preferences in Congo hunter–gatherers

Cultures around the world are converging as populations become more connected. On the one hand this increased connectedness can promote the recombination of existing cultural practices to generate new ones, but on the other it may lead to the replacement of traditional practices and global WEIRDing. Here we examine the process and causes of changes in cultural traits concerning wild plant knowledge in Mbendjele BaYaka hunter–gatherers from Congo. Our results show that the BaYaka who were born in town reported knowing and using fewer plants than the BaYaka who were born in forest camps. Plant uses lost in the town-born BaYaka related to medicine. Unlike the forest-born participants, the town-born BaYaka preferred Western medicine over traditional practices, suggesting that the observed decline of plant knowledge and use is the result of replacement of cultural practices with the new products of cumulative culture

Quantifying patterns of alcohol consumption and its effects on health and wellbeing among BaYaka hunter-gatherers: A mixed-methods cross-sectional study.

Funder: UCL Grand ChallengesEthnographers frequently allude to alcoholism and related harms in Indigenous hunter-gatherer communities, but very few studies have quantified patterns of alcohol consumption or its health and social impacts. We present a case study of the Mbendjele BaYaka, a Congolese population undergoing socioeconomic transition. 83 adults answered questions about their frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, underwent biometric measurements and reported whether they were currently experiencing a cough or diarrhoea; 56 participated in structured interviews about their experiences with alcohol. Based on WHO standards, we found 44.3% of the full sample, and 51.5% of drinkers (excluding abstainers), had a hazardous volume of alcohol consumption; and 35.1% of the full sample, and 40.9% of drinkers, engaged in heavy episodic drinking; consumption habits varied with sex and age. Total weekly consumption was a positive predictor of blood pressure and the likelihood of experiencing diarrhoea; associations with other biometric variables were not statistically significant. Interview responses indicated numerous other economic, mental and physical health harms of alcohol use, the prevalence of which demonstrate some variability between forest camps and permanent village settlements. These include high rates of drinking during pregnancy and breastfeeding (~40%); frequent alcohol-induced violence; and considerable exchange of foraged foods and engagement in exploitative labour activities to acquire alcohol or repay associated debts. Our findings demonstrate the prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption among transitioning hunter-gatherers is higher than other segments of the Congolese population and indicate negative impacts on health and wellbeing, highlighting an urgent need for targeted public health interventions

Air pollution perception in ten countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

NTNU Norwegian University of Science and TechnologypublishedVersionPaid Open AccessUNIT agreemen

Moving Beyond Economic Analysis: Assessing The Socio-Cultural Impacts Of Displacement And Resettlement By Sardar Sarovar Project, India

The  large scale development  projects like dams have been  justified for a greater economic  benefit of the nation. However, the development projects have become synonymous with land acquisition leading to dispossession and forced migration of a large number of people and their involuntary resettlement. Unfortunately, too much focus on the economic benefits of such large scale projects has omitted many relevant tangible and intangible socio-cultural aspects and ignored the impacts of development policies that shape forced migrations. The present paper asserts to move beyond the ‘limited’ economic analysis of large projects and includes the critical social and cultural implications of forced migration and displacement. The  paper presents views of respondents  displaced from the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and were resettled inGujarat. Perhaps, it is the most unique aspect of this paper to understand the socio-cultural adjustment in context of the spatial origin. The resettlement caused by the Sardar Sarovar Project has led to a change in dress patterns and marriage customs, loss of tribal folk art, destroyed the existing social networks and hindered access to new ones. Increased violence against women, problem of drunkenness and bootlegging at the resettlement sites are also highlighted. The insights in the work are based upon the fieldwork in select resettlement sites inGujarat. The author adopted participant observation, focus group discussions and key informant interviews as a means for data collection and better comprehension of the study area

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mobility in ten countries and associated perceived risk for all transport modes

CITATION: Barbieri, D. M. et al. 2021. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mobility in ten countries and associated perceived risk for all transport modes. PLoS ONE, 16(2): e0245886, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245886.The original publication is available at https://journals.plos.orgThe restrictive measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered sudden massive changes to travel behaviors of people all around the world. This study examines the individual mobility patterns for all transport modes (walk, bicycle, motorcycle, car driven alone, car driven in company, bus, subway, tram, train, airplane) before and during the restrictions adopted in ten countries on six continents: Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa and the United States. This cross-country study also aims at understanding the predictors of protective behaviors related to the transport sector and COVID-19. Findings hinge upon an online survey conducted in May 2020 (N = 9,394). The empirical results quantify tremendous disruptions for both commuting and non-commuting travels, highlighting substantial reductions in the frequency of all types of trips and use of all modes. In terms of potential virus spread, airplanes and buses are perceived to be the riskiest transport modes, while avoidance of public transport is consistently found across the countries. According to the Protection Motivation Theory, the study sheds new light on the fact that two indicators, namely income inequality, expressed as Gini index, and the reported number of deaths due to COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, aggravate respondents’ perceptions. This research indicates that socio-economic inequality and morbidity are not only related to actual health risks, as well documented in the relevant literature, but also to the perceived risks. These findings document the global impact of the COVID-19 crisis as well as provide guidance for transportation practitioners in developing future strategies.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245886Publisher's versio

A survey dataset to evaluate the changes in mobility and transportation due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa, United States

COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted the global community. To curb the viral transmission, travel restrictions have been enforced across the world. The dataset documents the mobility disruptions and the modal shifts that have occurred as a consequence of the restrictive measures implemented in ten countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa and the United States. An online questionnaire was distributed during the period from the 11st to the 31st of May 2020, with a total of 9 394 respondents. The first part of the survey has characterized the frequency of use of all transport modes before and during the enforcement of the restrictions, while the second part of the survey has dealt with perceived risks of contracting COVID-19 from different transport modes and perceived effectiveness of travel mitigation measures. Overall, the dataset (stored in a repository publicly available) can be conveniently used to quantify and understand the modal shifts and people's cognitive behavior towards travel due to COVID-19. The collected responses can be further analysed by considering other demographic and socioeconomic covariates