Character Time-series Matching For Robust License Plate Recognition

Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) is becoming a popular study area and is applied in many fields such as transportation or smart city. However, there are still several limitations when applying many current methods to practical problems due to the variation in real-world situations such as light changes, unclear License Plate (LP) characters, and image quality. Almost recent ALPR algorithms process on a single frame, which reduces accuracy in case of worse image quality. This paper presents methods to improve license plate recognition accuracy by tracking the license plate in multiple frames. First, the Adaptive License Plate Rotation algorithm is applied to correctly align the detected license plate. Second, we propose a method called Character Time-series Matching to recognize license plate characters from many consequence frames. The proposed method archives high performance in the UFPR-ALPR dataset which is \boldmath$96.7\%$ accuracy in real-time on RTX A5000 GPU card. We also deploy the algorithm for the Vietnamese ALPR system. The accuracy for license plate detection and character recognition are 0.881 and 0.979 $mAP^{test}$@.5 respectively. The source code is available at https://github.com/chequanghuy/Character-Time-series-Matching.gi

THE DIVERSITY OF YELLOW CAMELLIAS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, VIETNAM

The Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) is a center of yellow camellia diversity in Vietnam and the world. The Central Highlands contains 18 of Vietnam’s yellow camellia species, accounting for 37% of yellow camellia species in Vietnam and 28% of yellow camellia species worldwide. Moreover, all 18 yellow camellia species in the Central Highlands are endemic to Vietnam. The camellias of the Central Highlands belong to nine sections, accounting for 75% of the world. The yellow colors occur in three groups: pale yellow, yellow, and yellow with compound colors. The yellow camellia distribution is dispersed at 500–1600 m elevation in evergreen broadleaf forests and mixed wood-bamboo forests

CAMELLIA SPHAMII (THEACEAE, SECT. PIQUETIA), A NEW TAXON OF YELLOW FLOWER FROM LANGBIANG BIOSPHERE RESERVE, VIETNAM

Camellia sphamii is described and illustrated as a new species of section Piquetia from Hamasin village, D’ran town, Don Duong district, Lam Dong province, Vietnam. C. sphamii is similar to C. proensis (Quach, Luong et al., 2021) but differs from it in several morphological features: mature leaves cordate at base, young leaves purple; pericarp 7–8 mm thick with dense hair on the outer surface, flower buds ovate, ferruginous; sepals 5, hemisphere, concave, finely hairy on the outer surface, sparsely hairy on the inside, petals 7, finely hairy on the outer surface, with translucent margin, concave; style 5, ½ basally united; capsule 5 locular. Information on its phenology, distribution, ecology, and conservation status is also provided

Sound-Dr: Reliable Sound Dataset and Baseline Artificial Intelligence System for Respiratory Illnesses

As the burden of respiratory diseases continues to fall on society worldwide, this paper proposes a high-quality and reliable dataset of human sounds for studying respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia and COVID-19. It consists of coughing, mouth breathing, and nose breathing sounds together with metadata on related clinical characteristics. We also develop a proof-of-concept system for establishing baselines and benchmarking against multiple datasets, such as Coswara and COUGHVID. Our comprehensive experiments show that the Sound-Dr dataset has richer features, better performance, and is more robust to dataset shifts in various machine learning tasks. It is promising for a wide range of real-time applications on mobile devices. The proposed dataset and system will serve as practical tools to support healthcare professionals in diagnosing respiratory disorders. The dataset and code are publicly available here: https://github.com/ReML-AI/Sound-Dr/.Comment: 9 pages, PHMAP2023, PH

Hidden in the jungle of Vietnam: a new species of Quasipaa (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae) from Ngoc Linh Mountain

A new species of Quasipaa is described from Ngoc Linh Mountain of the Kon Tum Massif in central Vietnam. The new species is morphologically distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: SVL 79.6–84.3 mm in males and 64.6–69.9 mm in females; head broader than long; vomerine teeth present; external vocal sacs absent; tympanum slightly visible; dorsum with lines of thick ridges and small round tubercles; flanks covered by oval and round tubercles; supratympanic fold present; dorsolateral fold absent; ventrolateral sides, ventral surface of arms, and all fingers with spines in males; the absence of spines on chest and belly in males; toes fully webbed to distal portion of terminal phalanx; in life, dorsum dark brown, chest and belly immaculate white. Phylogenetic analyses found that the genetic divergence of the new species and its congeners ranged from 4.2–5.1% (compared with Quasipaa boulengeri) to 7.6–8.1% (compared with Q. shini) in the 16S gene

Larval development and breeding ecology of Ziegler's crocodile newt, Tylototriton ziegleri Nishikawa, Matsui and Nguyen, 2013 (Caudata: Salamandridae), compared to other Tylototriton representatives

We describe for the first time the larval development and stages of the recently described Ziegler's Crocodile Newt (Tylototriton ziegleri), an endemic species to northern Vietnam. Diagnostic morphological characters are provided for Grosse (1997, 2013) stages 27-32, 35-36, and 44-45, as well as comparisons with larval stages of other Tylototriton representatives. In addition, natural history data and an ecological assessment of the breeding niche are presented for T. ziegleri as well as for T. vietnamensis, from whom the former species was only recently taxonomically separated. We provide data extending the known breeding season of these two cryptic species in the North of Vietnam, which in fact lasts from April until July. On average, the clutches of T. ziegleri consisted of 67 +/- 32 eggs, were found on rock and soil substrates with a distance of 50 +/- 28 cm from water, whereas the clutches of T. vietnamensis were significantly smaller (43 +/- 19 eggs), found only on soil and were further distant from water (80 +/- 41 cm). The known maximum altitudinal distribution of T. vietnamensis is herein increased to 980 m above sea level. Based on the examples of T. ziegleri and T. vietnamensis, this study highlights how important it is to uncover cryptic species, define their exact distribution range, and investigate potential differences in ecological adaptations in order to assess the conservation status, develop proper conservation planning and provide suitable conditions for potential ex situ breeding programs

Mobile colistin resistance: Prevalence, mechanisms, and current detection methods

Colistin is considered the last-line antibiotic against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections. The global dissemination of Mobile colistin resistance mcr-harboring bacteria is threatening public health. Such isolates have been detected in various reservoirs including animals, food products, the environment, and humans. From these reservoirs, the isolates are approximate: 53% from animals; 39% from humans; 5% from the environment; and 3% from food. Bacterial distributions were: E.coli 91%; Salmonella 7%; and Klebsiella 2%. Among the 10 mcr variants, mcr-1 and mcr-9 are the most prevalent (up to 95% and 64.53%, respectively, in different studies) while other variants account for 5%. The coexistence of mcr and other antibiotic resistance genes in single isolates is a significant concern; mcr variants carried by different plasmid types increase antibiotic resistance and transfer of mcr genes to other bacteria. The hypothesis that the food chain is intimately involved in mcr gene transfer is supported by the presence of mcr-harboring isolates in animals and foods relative to humans. Cheaper, quicker, and more effective diagnostic tools for detecting colistin-resistant bacterial phenotypes and genotypes are essential and urgent. Currently, high quality tests include RPNP (99.3% specificity, 96.7% sensitivity) and MRPNP (95.4% specificity, ~100% sensitivity). LBJMR, CHROM agar, COL-APSE, and Super Polymyxin are now the best media to screen the bacteria, with near 100% selectivity. Multiplex PCR is a suitable method to quickly and accurately detect mcr genes in E. coli and Salmonella . Multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria remain a global burden and need to have continuous and effective surveillance

Contrasting physiological traits of shade tolerance in Pinus and Podocarpaceae native to a tropical Vietnamese forest: insight from an aberrant flat-leaved pine

The absence of pines from tropical forests is a puzzling biogeographical oddity potentially explained by traits of shade intolerance. Pinus krempfii (Lecomte), a flat-leaved pine endemic to the Central Highlands of Vietnam, provides a notable exception as it seems to compete successfully with shade-tolerant tropical species. Here, we test the hypothesis that successful conifer performance at the juvenile stage depends on physiological traits of shade tolerance by comparing the physiological characteristics of P. krempfii to coexisting species from two taxa: the genus Pinus, and a relatively abundant and shade-tolerant conifer family found in pantropical forests, the Podocarpaceae. We examined leaf photosynthetic, respiratory and biochemical traits. Additionally, we compiled attainable maximum photosynthesis, maximum RuBP carboxylation (Vcmax) and maximum electron transport (Jmax) values for Pinus and Podocarpaceae species from the literature. In our literature compilation, P. krempfii was intermediate between Pinus and Podocarpaceae in its maximum photosynthesis and its Vcmax. Pinus exhibited a higher Vcmax than Podocarpaceae, resulting in a less steep slope in the linear relationship between Jmax and Vcmax. These results suggest that Pinus may be more shade intolerant than Podocarpaceae, with P. krempfii falling between the two taxa. However, in contrast, Vietnamese conifers’ leaf mass per areas and biochemical traits did not highlight the same intermediate nature of P. krempfii. Furthermore, regardless of leaf morphology or family assignation, all species demonstrated a common and extremely high carbon gain efficiency. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of shade-tolerant photosynthetic traits for conifer survival in tropical forests. However, they also demonstrate a diversity of shade tolerance strategies, all of which lead to the persistence of Vietnamese juvenile conifers in low-light tropical understories

A new species of the Cyrtodactylus chauquangensis species group (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Lao Cai Province, Vietnam

We describe a new species of the genus Cyrtodactylus based on five adult specimens from Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Cyrtodactylus luci sp. nov. is distinguished from the remaining Indochinese bent-toed geckos by a combination of the following morphological characteristics: medium size (SVL up to 89.5 mm); dorsal tubercles in 17–19 irregular transverse rows; ventral scales in 32–34 longitudinal rows at midbody; precloacal pores present in both sexes, 9 or 10 in males, 8 or 9 in females; 12–15 enlarged femoral scales on each thigh; femoral pores 9–12 in males, 5–10 in females; postcloacal tubercles 2–4; lamellae under toe IV 21–23; dorsal pattern consisting of 5 or 6 irregular dark bands, a thin neckband without V-shape or triangle shape in the middle, top of head with dark brown blotches; subcaudal scales transversely enlarged. Molecular phylogenetic analyses recovered the new species as the sister taxon to C. gulinqingensis from Yunnan Province, China, with strong support from all analyses and the two taxa are separated by approximately 8.87–9.22% genetic divergence based on a fragment of the mitochondrial ND2 gene. This is the first representative of Cyrtodactylus known from Lao Cai Province

Respiratory temperature responses of tropical conifers differ with leaf morphology

1. Photosynthetic traits suggest that shade tolerance may explain the contrasting success of two conifer taxa, Podocarpaceae and Pinaceae, in tropical forests. Needle-leaved species from Pinus (Pinaceae) are generally absent from tropi- cal forests, whereas Pinus krempfii, a flat-leaved pine, and numerous flat-leaved Podocarpaceae are abundant. Respiration (R) traits may provide additional insight into the drivers of the contrasting success of needle- and flat-leaved conifers in tropical forests. 2. We measured the short-term respiratory temperature (RT) response between 10 and 50°C and foliar morphological traits of three needle- and seven flat-leaved conifer species coexisting in a tropical montane forest in the Central Highlands of Vietnam containing notable conifer diversity. We fit a lognormal polynomial model to each RT curve and extracted the following three parameters: a (basal R), and b and c (together describing the shape of the response). 3. Needle-leaved species (Pinus kesiya, Pinus dalatensis and Dacrydium elatum) had higher rates of area-based R at 25°C (R25-area) as well as higher area-based mod- elled basal respiration (a) than flat-leaved species (P. krempfii, Podocarpus neriifolius, Dacrycarpus imbricatus, Nageia nana, Taxus wallichiana, Keteeleria evelyniana and Fokienia hodginsii). No significant differences were found between needle- and flat-leaved species in mass-based R25 (R25-mass) or in the shape of the RT response (b and c); however, interspecific differences in R25-mass, R at nighttime temperature extremes (R4.1 and R20.6) and leaf traits were apparent. 4. Differences in R25-area and a suggest that needle-leaved foliage may be more en- ergetically costly to maintain than flat-leaved foliage, providing new insight and additional support for the hypothesis that shade tolerance is an important driver of Podocarpaceae success and Pinaceae absence in the majority of tropical forests. 5. Interspecific differences in R25-mass and leaf traits highlight that varying ecological strategies are employed by conifers to coexist and survive in the Central Highland