Skeleton-Based Human Action Recognition with Global Context-Aware Attention LSTM Networks

Human action recognition in 3D skeleton sequences has attracted a lot of research attention. Recently, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks have shown promising performance in this task due to their strengths in modeling the dependencies and dynamics in sequential data. As not all skeletal joints are informative for action recognition, and the irrelevant joints often bring noise which can degrade the performance, we need to pay more attention to the informative ones. However, the original LSTM network does not have explicit attention ability. In this paper, we propose a new class of LSTM network, Global Context-Aware Attention LSTM (GCA-LSTM), for skeleton based action recognition. This network is capable of selectively focusing on the informative joints in each frame of each skeleton sequence by using a global context memory cell. To further improve the attention capability of our network, we also introduce a recurrent attention mechanism, with which the attention performance of the network can be enhanced progressively. Moreover, we propose a stepwise training scheme in order to train our network effectively. Our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on five challenging benchmark datasets for skeleton based action recognition

The influence of four-month exercises during lessons on body posture in children in younger school age

The aim of the study was to check the impact of the school environment on the child's body posture and assessment of the influence of four-month physical exercises on school children's lessons on the results of measurements of spine mobility, physiological spinal curvature and attitude of the body Material and methods: the study group consisted of 23 children (including 10 boys), a control group of 15 children (including 10 boys), pupils of the 1st and 2nd grade Sports Primary School in Sosnowiec. The body posture was assessed 2 times at a 4-month interval in both groups (test and control). Spine mobility was examined by a finger-floor test and left and right using a centimeter, the physiological curvature of the spine was examined at the top of the sacrum using a goniometer , shoulder settings and thoracic kyphosis were examined by the Kasperczyk method. Conclusion: The conducted observational study indicates a positive clinical effect of the, introduced during, lesson exercises with children in order to promote the correct posture

Terapia dziecka z samoistnym opóźnionym rozwojem mowy : studium przypadku

The following paper discusses the problem of idiopathic speech delays among children. The authors present the story of a four‑year‑old Wojtek who suffers from an idiopathic speech delay. The story allows us to reflect upon both the causes and symptoms of this particular speech disorder, as well as the methods of working with these children who need constant support, understanding and engagement from their parents, pedagogues and speech therapists. The presented case study has been enriched with the information gathered through the data analysis of a parental survey, an expert examination and child observation records which were made available to the authors by Wojtek’s SLP and carers. The paper also contains some suggestions for parents who want to stimulate their children’s optimal development

Occurrence of Dirofilaria repens in wild carnivores in Poland.

Dirofilaria repens is an expanding vector-borne zoonotic parasite of canines and other carnivores. Sub-clinically infected dogs constitute the most important reservoir of the parasite and the source of infection for its mosquito vectors. However, occurrence of D. repens infection in wild animals may contribute to the transmission of the parasite to humans and may explain the endemicity of filariae in newly invaded regions. The aim of the current study was to determine the occurrence of D. repens in 511 blood and spleen samples from seven species of wild carnivores (wolves, red foxes, Eurasian badgers, raccoons, raccoon dogs, stone martens, and pine martens) from different regions of Poland by means of a PCR protocol targeting the 12S rDNA gene. Dirofilaria repens–positive hosts were identified in seven of fourteen voivodeships in four of the seven regions of Poland: Masovia, Lesser Poland, Pomerania and Warmia-Masuria. The highest prevalence was found in Masovia region (8%), coinciding with the highest previously recorded prevalence in dogs in Central Poland. The DNA of Dirofilaria was detected in 16 samples of three species (total prevalence 3.13%). A low and similar percentage of positive samples (1.9%, 4.2% and 4.8%) was recorded among badgers, red foxes, and wolves, respectively. Dirofilaria repens–positive hosts were identified in seven of fourteen voivodships. Based on detection in different voivodeships, D. repens–positive animals were recorded in four out of the seven regions of Poland: in Masovia, Lesser Poland, Pomerania, and Warmia-Masuria. The highest prevalence of filariae was found in Masovia region (8%), reflecting the highest previously recorded prevalence in dogs (12–50%) in Central Poland. In summary, we conducted the first comprehensive study on the epidemiology of D. repens in seven species of wild hosts in all seven regions of Poland and identified the first case of D. repens infection in Eurasian badgers in Poland and the second in Europe

Counteracting the economic consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic in companies from the automotive and industrial sectors

Celem niniejszej pracy jest przeanalizowanie sposobów przeciwdziałania ekonomicznym następstwom pandemii COVID-19 w branżach motoryzacyjnej i przemysłowej oraz ich skuteczności. W części teoretycznej przedstawiona została historia rozwoju badanych branż, a także historia wybuchu i rozwoju pandemii koronawirusa. W części empirycznej natomiast przedstawiono wyniki badań, których głównym celem była analiza i ocena działań podejmowanych przez wybrane przedsiębiorstwa z branży motoryzacyjnej i przemysłowej w odpowiedzi na ekonomiczne następstwa globalnej pandemii COVID-19 na różnych etapach jej rozwoju. Podmiotami wybranymi do badań zostały dwie firmy z branży motoryzacyjnej, Volvo Group i McLaren Group Limited oraz z branży przemysłowej, Przedsiębiorstwo X zajmujące się produkcją form wtryskowych, maszyn i linii produkcyjnych do przemysłu motoryzacyjnego. Proces badawczy zrealizowano przy zastosowaniu następujących metod i narzędzi badawczych – case study, analiza porównawcza, analiza dokumentacji badanych przedsiębiorstw, wywiad oraz elementy analizy finansowej. Jako główne źródła danych empirycznych wykorzystano wyniki finansowe badanych przedsiębiorstw dostępne na czas pisania pracy. Na podstawie wyników przeprowadzonych badań stwierdzono, że badane przedsiębiorstwa podejmowały działania, które pozwoliły im przetrwać okres pandemii COVID-19 pomimo jej negatywnego wpływu na ich wyniki finansowe.This paper aims to analyze ways of countering the economics consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in the automotive and industrial sectors, and their effectiveness. The theoretical part presents the history of the analyzed industries, as well as the history of the outbreak and development of the coronavirus pandemic. The empirical part presents the financial situation of the analyzed companies from the automotive and industrial sectors during the pandemic at various stages of its development. The enterprises selected for research were two companies from the automotive industry, The Volvo Group and McLaren Group Limited, and from industrial sector, Enterprise X, dealing in the production of injection molds, machines and production lines for the automotive industry. The research process was carried out using the following research methods and tools - case study, comparative analysis, analysis of documentation of the surveyed companies, interview and elements of financial analysis. The financial results of the surveyed enterprises available at the time of writing this paper were used as the main sources of empirical data. Based on the results of the research, it was found that the surveyed companies took actions that allowed them to survive the COVID-19 pandemic despite its negative impact on their financial results

The effects of selected phytochemicals on biofilm formed by five methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

<p>The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of 0.1% thyme oil (TO), <i>trans</i>-cinnamaldehyde (TC), ferulic acid (FA), <i>p</i>-coumaric acid (<i>p</i>-CA), caffeic acid (CA), lavender essential oil (LO), geranium essential oil (GO) and tee tree oil (TTO) to control biofilms formed by methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) strains. Depending on the strains, TO reduced 59.7–85% of biofilm mass, while TC 52.9–82.4% after 48 h of treatment. Reduction of metabolic activity of biofilms in ranges 79.3–86% and 85.9–88.7% was observed after 48 h of TC and TO of treatment, respectively. In the case of some strains, reduction of biofilm mass in the presence of FA, CA, GO, LO and TTO was not observed. This study showed that TO and TC might have therapeutic potential as an inhibitory agents for use in MRSA biofilm-related infections.</p

Antimicrobial activity of five essential oils from lamiaceae against multidrug-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

<p>Analysis of Lamiaceae essential oils (EOs) by GC-FID-MS revealed the presence as the major constituents of linalool (16.8%), linalyl acetate (15.7%) in <i>Lavandula angustifolia</i>, menthol (29.0%), menthone (22.7%), menthyl acetate (19.2%) in <i>Mentha x piperita</i>, terpinen-4-ol (27.1%), (E)-sabinene hydrate (12.1%), <i>γ</i>-terpinene (10.0%) in <i>Origanum majorana</i>, <i>α</i>-thujone (19.5%), camphor (19.0%), viridiflorol (13.5%) in <i>Salvia officinalis</i>, thymol (61.9%), <i>p</i>-cymene (10.0%), <i>γ</i>-terpinene (10.0%) in <i>Thymus vulgaris</i>. Based on the MIC and MBC values (0.09–0.78 mg/mL) and ratio MBC/MIC showed that EO from <i>T. vulgaris</i> (TO) had the strong inhibitory and bactericidal effect against multidrug-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. The bacterial cells were total killed by TO at 2MIC concentration after 6 h. The higher concentrations of other EOs were needed to achieve bactericidal effects. The strong bactericidal effect of TO against these bacteria indicates the possibility of topical use of TO but it requires research under clinical conditions.</p