252 research outputs found
Robust Component-based Network Localization with Noisy Range Measurements
Accurate and robust localization is crucial for wireless ad-hoc and sensor
networks. Among the localization techniques, component-based methods advance
themselves for conquering network sparseness and anchor sparseness. But
component-based methods are sensitive to ranging noises, which may cause a huge
accumulated error either in component realization or merging process. This
paper presents three results for robust component-based localization under
ranging noises. (1) For a rigid graph component, a novel method is proposed to
evaluate the graph's possible number of flip ambiguities under noises. In
particular, graph's \emph{MInimal sepaRators that are neaRly cOllineaR
(MIRROR)} is presented as the cause of flip ambiguity, and the number of
MIRRORs indicates the possible number of flip ambiguities under noise. (2) Then
the sensitivity of a graph's local deforming regarding ranging noises is
investigated by perturbation analysis. A novel Ranging Sensitivity Matrix (RSM)
is proposed to estimate the node location perturbations due to ranging noises.
(3) By evaluating component robustness via the flipping and the local deforming
risks, a Robust Component Generation and Realization (RCGR) algorithm is
developed, which generates components based on the robustness metrics. RCGR was
evaluated by simulations, which showed much better noise resistance and
locating accuracy improvements than state-of-the-art of component-based
localization algorithms.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures, ICCCN 2018, Hangzhou, Chin
Competition for two sulphur containing amino acids (cysteine and methionine) by soil microbes and maize roots in the rhizosphere
The factors regulating potential acquisition of sulphur (S)-containing amino acids by plant roots from the rhizosphere remain poorly understood. Using radio tracer (14C and 35S), we studied the competition for two S-containing amino acids (i.e., cysteine (Cys) and methionine (Met)) within 24 hours (h), by the rhizosphere microbial community and maize plants (Zea mays L.). Our results showed that the capture of Cys and Met by the maize plants was much lower, with only <10% of the added amino acid-14C or 35S captured by the plant, compared to the rhizosphere microbial community (76.9%) on average. We suggest that this could be a result of relatively high availability of inorganic N and S in soil solution, the lack of transmembrane for amino acids on maize root cells, as well as the rapid turnover of Cys and Met by soil microbes in the rhizosphere. The addition of inorganic S, significantly reduced plant capture of Cys and Met-14C by maize plants in the rhizosphere but had little effect on the capture of Cys and Met-35S (p<0.05). Overall, our results imply that (1) Cys and Met are available carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and S sources for maize plants, potentially contributing to total plant N and S demand under certain conditions; (2) Utilization of Cys and Met by maize roots in the rhizosphere is independent of inorganic S availability; (3) Increased amino acid concentration led to higher capture by both plants and soil microbes, but had little effect on the competition success on either side
Reliability and External Validity of AMSTAR in Assessing Quality of TCM Systematic Reviews
Objective. The aim of this study is to measure the reliability and external validity of AMSTAR by applying it to a sample of TCM systematic reviews. Study Design and Methods. We tested the agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility of AMSTAR through comparisons with OQAQ. Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS 13.0. Results. A random of sample with 41 TCM systematic reviews was selected from a database. The interrater agreement of the individual items of AMSTAR was moderate with a mean kappa of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.73). The ICC for AMSTAR against OQAQ (total score of 9 items, excluding item 10) was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.76, 0.93). Conclusions. Although there is room for improvement on few items, the new tool is reliable, valid, and easy to use for methodological quality assessment of systematic reviews on TCM
Solution of Air Conditioning Cooling Load Temperature for New Energy-Saving Walls
With the development of wall reforms, the production scale and engineering applications of energy savings are increasing daily. It is inevitable to aggressively extend production of new energy-saving walls. Based on the thermal instantaneous response factors method, this paper compiles calculation programs, analyzes the datasheets of air conditioning cooling load temperatures of new energy-saving walls that can be the same with engineering, and consequently promotes the application of wall reformation production in the calculation of air conditioning load. The study will provide a scientific foundation for further research on thermal particularity and general particularity evaluation for new energysaving wall construction
Thaw Settlement Monitoring and Active Layer Thickness Retrieval Using Time Series COSMO-SkyMed Imagery in Iqaluit Airport
Thaw consolidation of degrading permafrost is a serious hazard to the safety and operation of infrastructure. Monitoring thermal changes in the active layer (AL), the proportion of the soil above permafrost that thaws and freezes periodically, is critical to understanding the conditions of the top layer above the permafrost and regulating the construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities. However, this is a very challenging task using ground-based methods such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR) or temperature sensors. This study explores the integration of interferometric measurements from high-resolution X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images and volumetric water content (VWC) data from SoilGrids to quantify detailed spatial variations in active layer thickness (ALT) in Iqaluit, the territorial capital of Nunavut in Canada. A total of 21 SAR images from COSMO Sky-Med (CSK) were first analyzed using the freely connected network interferometric synthetic aperture radar (FCNInSAR) method to map spatial and temporal variations in ground surface subsidence in the study area. Subsequently, we built an ALT retrieval model by introducing the thaw settlement coefficient, which takes soil properties and saturation state into account. The subsidence measurements from InSAR were then integrated with VWC extracted from the SoilGrids database to estimate changes in ALT. For validation, we conducted a comparison between estimated ALTs and in situ measurements in the airport sector. The InSAR survey identifies several sites of ground deformation at Iqaluit, subsiding at rates exceeding 80 mm/year. The subsidence rate changes along the runway coincide with frost cracks and ice-wedge furrows. The obtained ALTs, ranging from 0 to 5 m, vary significantly in different sediments. Maximum ALTs are found for rock areas, while shallow ALTs are distributed in the till blanket (Tb), the intertidal (Mi) sediments, and the alluvial flood plain (Afp) sediment units. The intersection of taxiway and runway has an AL thicker than other parts in the glaciomarine deltaic (GMd) sediments. Our study suggests that combining high-resolution SAR imagery with VWC data can provide more comprehensive ALT knowledge for hazard prevention and infrastructure operation in the permafrost zone
Influencing factors of suicidal ideation in lung cancer patients in Midland China: A mixed-method study
IntroductionThe suicide risk of lung cancer patients is higher than that of patients with other cancers. However, as China is a large country for lung cancer, there are no relevant reports on lung cancer suicides. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and explore its influencing factors in lung cancer patients.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, between July to November 2019, 366 lung cancer patients from the oncology department of a general hospital in Wuhan were chosen as participants. Of these, eight with lung cancer and suicidal ideation were selected for in-depth interviews.ResultsA total of 22.68% of lung cancer patients reported suicidal ideation. Sex, cancer stage, number of uncomfortable symptoms, and satisfaction with treatment were independently associated with suicidal ideation. This qualitative study found that the experience of suicidal ideation in lung cancer patients includes physiological (heavy burden of symptoms),psychological (bad mood, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and stigma), and social factors (high economic pressure and negative life events).DiscussionThese findings suggest that the incidence of suicidal ideation in lung cancer patients is higher than that of other cancers and is affected by many factors. Therefore, there should be routine screening and assessment of suicidal ideation among lung cancer patients, and related mental health and suicide prevention education should be provided
PPT: token-Pruned Pose Transformer for monocular and multi-view human pose estimation
Recently, the vision transformer and its variants have played an increasingly
important role in both monocular and multi-view human pose estimation.
Considering image patches as tokens, transformers can model the global
dependencies within the entire image or across images from other views.
However, global attention is computationally expensive. As a consequence, it is
difficult to scale up these transformer-based methods to high-resolution
features and many views.
In this paper, we propose the token-Pruned Pose Transformer (PPT) for 2D
human pose estimation, which can locate a rough human mask and performs
self-attention only within selected tokens. Furthermore, we extend our PPT to
multi-view human pose estimation. Built upon PPT, we propose a new cross-view
fusion strategy, called human area fusion, which considers all human foreground
pixels as corresponding candidates. Experimental results on COCO and MPII
demonstrate that our PPT can match the accuracy of previous pose transformer
methods while reducing the computation. Moreover, experiments on Human 3.6M and
Ski-Pose demonstrate that our Multi-view PPT can efficiently fuse cues from
multiple views and achieve new state-of-the-art results.Comment: ECCV 2022. Code is available at https://github.com/HowieMa/PP
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