Youchen Fan,
Youchen Fan
Institution: School of Space Information, Space Engineering University
Email: love193777@sina.com
Mingyu Qin,
Mingyu Qin
Institution: Graduate School, Space Engineering University
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Huichao Guo
Huichao Guo
Institution: Department of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Space Engineering University
Email: info@rnfinity.com
The range-gated laser imaging instrument can capture face images in a dark environment, which provides a new idea for long-distance face recognition at night. However, the laser image has low contrast, low SNR and no color information, which affects observation and recognition. Therefore, it becomes...
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The range-gated laser imaging instrument can capture face images in a dark environment, which provides a new idea for long-distance face recognition at night. However, the laser image has low contrast, low SNR and no color information, which affects observation and recognition. Therefore, it becomes important to convert laser images into visible images and then identify them. For image translation, we propose a laser-visible face image translation model combined with spectral normalization (SN-CycleGAN). We add spectral normalization layers to the discriminator to solve the problem of low image translation quality caused by the difficulty of training the generative adversarial network. The content reconstruction loss function based on the Y channel is added to reduce the error mapping. The face generated by the improved model on the self-built laser-visible face image dataset has better visual quality, which reduces the error mapping and basically retains the structural features of the target compared with other models. The FID value of evaluation index is 36.845, which is 16.902, 13.781, 10.056, 57.722, 62.598 and 0.761 lower than the CycleGAN, Pix2Pix, UNIT, UGATIT, StarGAN and DCLGAN models, respectively. For the face recognition of translated images, we propose a laser-visible face recognition model based on feature retention. The shallow feature maps with identity information are directly connected to the decoder to solve the problem of identity information loss in network transmission. The domain loss function based on triplet loss is added to constrain the style between domains. We use pre-trained FaceNet to recognize generated visible face images and obtain the recognition accuracy of Rank-1. The recognition accuracy of the images generated by the improved model reaches 76.9%, which is greatly improved compared with the above models and 19.2% higher than that of laser face recognition.
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Posted 1 year ago
Ilias Gialampoukidis,
Ilias Gialampoukidis
Institution: Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas,
Email: heliasgj@iti.gr
Thomas Papadimos,
Thomas Papadimos
Institution: Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Stelios Andreadis,
Stelios Andreadis
Institution: Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Stefanos Vrochidis
Stefanos Vrochidis
Institution: Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
Email: info@rnfinity.com
This paper discusses the importance of detecting breaking events in real time to help emergency response workers, and how social media can be used to process large amounts of data quickly. Most event detection techniques have focused on either images or text, but combining the two can improve perfor...
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This paper discusses the importance of detecting breaking events in real time to help emergency response workers, and how social media can be used to process large amounts of data quickly. Most event detection techniques have focused on either images or text, but combining the two can improve performance. The authors present lessons learned from the Flood-related multimedia task in MediaEval2020, provide a dataset for reproducibility, and propose a new multimodal fusion method that uses Graph Neural Networks to combine image, text, and time information. Their method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches and can handle low-sample labelled data.
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Posted 1 year ago
Michael Krump
Michael Krump
Institution: Institute of Flight Systems, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, 85579 Neubiberg, Germany
Email: michael.krump@unibw.de
The performance of deep learning based algorithms is significantly influenced by the quantity and quality of the available training and test datasets. Since data acquisition is complex and expensive, especially in the field of airborne sensor data evaluation, the use of virtual simulation environmen...
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The performance of deep learning based algorithms is significantly influenced by the quantity and quality of the available training and test datasets. Since data acquisition is complex and expensive, especially in the field of airborne sensor data evaluation, the use of virtual simulation environments for generating synthetic data are increasingly sought. In this article, the complete process chain is evaluated regarding the use of synthetic data based on vehicle detection. Among other things, content-equivalent real and synthetic aerial images are used in the process. This includes, in the first step, the learning of models with different training data configurations and the evaluation of the resulting detection performance. Subsequently, a statistical evaluation procedure based on a classification chain with image descriptors as features is used to identify important influencing factors in this respect. The resulting findings are finally incorporated into the synthetic training data generation and in the last step, it is investigated to what extent an increase of the detection performance is possible. The overall objective of the experiments is to derive design guidelines for the generation and use of synthetic data.
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Posted 1 year ago
Nan Xia
Nan Xia
Institution: Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Email: n.xia@hdr.qut.edu.au
This article is an examination of the extent to which traditional medical knowledge in China can be protected by intellectual property laws. The analysis begins by providing a global picture with regard to the historic origin of intellectual property, exploring the reasons why China does not have in...
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This article is an examination of the extent to which traditional medical knowledge in China can be protected by intellectual property laws. The analysis begins by providing a global picture with regard to the historic origin of intellectual property, exploring the reasons why China does not have indigenous counterparts to the western system of intellectual property rights protecting its traditional knowledge (including traditional medical knowledge) and stating the problems of transplanting western intellectual property standards in China. A discussion follows on how China, under foreign pressure, has made efforts to comply with the changing standards mandated by various international, regional, and bilateral arrangements related to intellectual property, with examples of the development of China's patent law. China's approach towards the protection of traditional medical knowledge in various international fora related to intellectual property is explored. Finally, there is a specific examination of the compatibilities between the western system of intellectual property rights and traditional medical knowledge in China, at the national and community levels. This article argues that the system of intellectual property rights does not easily fit with China's traditional medical knowledge because of China's unique cultural traits, distinctive historical context and wide ethnic, religious, and local community diversity.
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Posted 1 year ago
Robert Burns,
Robert Burns
Institution: School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Email: robert.burns@mail.wvu.edu
Marieke Lemmen,
Marieke Lemmen
Institution: School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Ross G. Andrew,
Ross G. Andrew
Institution: School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Jasmine Cardozo Moreira
Jasmine Cardozo Moreira
Institution: Tourism Department, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa 84010-330, PR, Brazil
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Marine sanctuaries serve as popular destinations for ecotourism, natural resource exploration, and recreation across the US. While often positive, visitation in marine and coastal areas can cause ecological threats to these ecosystems. Increased visitation in marine environments has led to the need ...
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Marine sanctuaries serve as popular destinations for ecotourism, natural resource exploration, and recreation across the US. While often positive, visitation in marine and coastal areas can cause ecological threats to these ecosystems. Increased visitation in marine environments has led to the need for management due to negative ecological and social impacts. Understanding environmental values, attitudes, and perceptions is important to the success of environmental protection. Using online surveys sent via Qualtrics asking questions regarding the users’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of ocean resources, goods and services, this research focused on identifying user profiles and understanding their environmental perception associated with Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, an offshore marine protected area, and surrounding coastal Georgia. The results show that across multiple types of threats or phenomena, respondents are most concerned about threats to resources related to pollution. Furthermore, they support marine protection and are willing to adjust their consumption habits, such as recycling and energy use, to ensure the sustainable use of ocean resources. The inclusion of insights achieved through research about visitor perceptions into management decision making and planning can positively contribute to the success of environmental protection.
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Posted 1 year ago
Shary Tamara Schneider,
Shary Tamara Schneider
Institution: Institute for Food Safety and Food Hygiene, Working Group Meat Hygiene, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Email: shary.schneider@gmail.com
Diana Meemken,
Diana Meemken
Institution: Institute for Food Safety and Food Hygiene, Working Group Meat Hygiene, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Heidrun Gehlen,
Heidrun Gehlen
Institution: Division for Internal Medicine, Equine Clinic, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Roswitha Merle,
Roswitha Merle
Institution: Institute for Veterinary Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Nina Langkabel
Nina Langkabel
Institution: Institute for Food Safety and Food Hygiene, Working Group Meat Hygiene, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Email: info@rnfinity.com
In Europe, equines destined for human consumption (hereafter called slaughter equines) are subject to the same restrictions of usage of veterinary drugs as other food-producing animals, with amendments regulated in the so-called 'positive list', Regulation (EC) No. 1950/2006. Due to the complex lega...
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In Europe, equines destined for human consumption (hereafter called slaughter equines) are subject to the same restrictions of usage of veterinary drugs as other food-producing animals, with amendments regulated in the so-called 'positive list', Regulation (EC) No. 1950/2006. Due to the complex legal requirements for drug administration in slaughter equines, it might be that specific knowledge regarding the legislation of slaughter equines may be insufficient among veterinarians, equine owners, and equine keepers. To study this assumption, three target group-specific surveys were conducted in 2021. Answers from 153 equine treating veterinarians, 170 equine owners, and 70 equine keepers were included in the analysis. In total 68.4% (91/133) of the participating veterinarians, the regulations of the 'positive list', Regulation (EC) No. 1950/2006, were 'rather complicated' to 'complicated'. Among the participating veterinarians, 38.4% (58/151) did not or could not answer correctly how to proceed if a slaughter equine is scheduled to receive phenylbutazone, usage of which is prohibited in all livestock by Regulation (EU) No. 37/2010. Simultaneously, 56.2% (86/153) of the participating veterinarians named phenylbutazone as the, or one of the, most often used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Altogether, 41.2% (70/170) of participating equine owners and 42.9% (30/70) of equine keepers did not know under which circumstances an equine can legally be slaughtered for human consumption. In total, 34.3% (24/70) of the equine keepers classified their knowledge of national regulations for animal keepers regarding the documentation of drug usage in equines as 'poor' to 'nonexistent'. This lack of knowledge in all three surveyed groups, combined with the complex legal regulations regarding the usage and documentation of drugs in slaughter equines, could result in missing and false documentation, treatment of slaughter equines with prohibited substances and therefore pose a risk factor for drug residues in equine meat.
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Posted 1 year ago
Stefan Blomqvist
Stefan Blomqvist
Institution: Linköping University Department of Management and Engineering SE-581 83 Linköping Sweden
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Increased energy efficiency is a prerequisite for achieving the national energy and climate goals, the goals set by the European Union, and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the member states of the United Nations. Close to 40% of Sweden’s total energy use and approximately 20% of domes...
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Increased energy efficiency is a prerequisite for achieving the national energy and climate goals, the goals set by the European Union, and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the member states of the United Nations. Close to 40% of Sweden’s total energy use and approximately 20% of domestic greenhouse gas emissions are allocated to the residential and service sector. There is great potential for increased energy efficiency within the sector. Almost half of Swedish households are situated in multifamily buildings, where district heating is the predominant heating solution with a market share of almost 90%, while the market share of district heating for service buildings is approximately 80%. By bringing together actors from the supply side in the energy sector and the user side in the residential and service sector, opportunities for efficient energy systems and efficient energy use can be studied.
This thesis uses a system perspective to explore energy efficiency work and end-use measures in an energy system, focusing on district heated regions that include combined heat and power production, and the residential and service sector, focusing on multifamily buildings and non-residential buildings. The research explores energy and climate goals in relation to the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and potential barriers between organizations’ different objectives. In addition, the research focuses on barriers and drivers for energy efficiency. How type of ownership, size of the organization, and degree of urbanization can differentiate this work is also studied. Finally, the research explores potential conflicting objectives by studying energy enduse measures based on different system boundaries. This research contributes knowledge about how increased energy efficiency affects greenhouse gas emissions from the energy system.
The integration of the Sustainable Development Goals into the Swedish residential and service sector has been studied in a survey, demonstrating that around 70% of organizations had integrated the Sustainable Development Goals. However, depending on ownership, the integration rate ranges from 60% in public organizations with predominantly rental properties to 77% in private organizations, and 84% in cooperative organizations with predominantly tenant-owned properties. Only 48% of the small organizations had integrated the goals, compared to 73% of medium-sized organizations and 90% of large organizations. Furthermore, 49% of organizations in rural areas had integrated the goals, compared to 63% in towns and suburbs, and 80% in cities. The integration of climate and energy goals are analyzed by studying barriers and conducting a qualitative content analysis and goal conflict evaluation among a small group of energy utilities and housing companies. The integration of climate and energy targets results in the use of different terminology and timelines, and conflicting objectives are seen when different system boundaries are applied. This may inhibit understanding and communication, and hinder the achievement of this integration.
Despite the need for increased energy efficiency in the residential and service sector, cost-efficient energy conservation measures are not always implemented. This is explained by the existence of barriers to energy efficiency. By using surveys, the perception of barriers and drivers for energy efficiency in the Swedish residential and service sector is studied, together with changes in the perception of barriers and drivers during the 2010s. The perception of a lack of time or other priorities is the most hindering factor for implementing energy efficiency measures, along with the experience of a slim organization. On the other hand, the major drivers are reducing costs, followed by drivers of an organizational or behavioral nature. The results illustrate a challenging situation among publicly owned organizations, small organizations, and those in rural areas, as – relative to other groups – they experience barriers to a greater degree and drivers to a lesser extent. Positive factors that emerge between 2010 and 2020 are that energy strategies are integrated, and energy efficiency is given high priority throughout the organizations’ working methods.
Lastly, by using simulation and optimization model, energy end-use measures of (1) large-scale renovation of a multifamily building stock and (2) the use a hydronic pavement system for snow and ice clearance are studied. These are analyzed in terms of energy performance and GHG emissions based on different system boundaries. The results regarding the large-scale renovation of multifamily buildings reveal a potential conflict. The measure resulting in the best energy performance of the building, which may be the most desirable measure from a building owner’s perspective, risks leading to larger greenhouse gas emissions. The conflict arises due to different use of system boundaries. A hydronic pavement system – a rarely used application in present-day district heating systems – proves to be a possible sustainable solution and a suitable application for the future generation of a low-temperature district heating system. The results underline the importance of understanding system boundaries in general, but also when considering energy efficiency improvements. An overly narrow system perspective and boundaries can lead to unwanted sub-optimizations, with higher greenhouse gas emissions as a consequence.
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Posted 1 year ago
Nurul Isroiyah
Nurul Isroiyah
Institution: Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, Indonesia
Email: info@rnfinity.com
This study aims to find answer to the problem of workers who are laid off because of illness for less than 12 mounth, Article 81 No 40 of the job Creation Law “Termination of employment carried out for reasons as reffered to in paragraph (1) is null and void by law and the employer obliged to re-e...
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This study aims to find answer to the problem of workers who are laid off because of illness for less than 12 mounth, Article 81 No 40 of the job Creation Law “Termination of employment carried out for reasons as reffered to in paragraph (1) is null and void by law and the employer obliged to re-employ the worker concerned”. If the company continues to lay off workers, the workers can make demands which in the lawsuit contain alternative demands, namely: demanding that they be re-employed or demanding workers’ rights in accordance with Law No.13 of 2003. This research uses qualitative research methods that study the legislation and the principles contained in the legislation. The conclusion of the study is that laypffs carried out on the grounds that workers are exposed to Covid-19 are considered ineligible in the provisions of the law, because sick workers should receive protection from the company when carrying out obligations to the company and thecompany should fulfil responsibilities by providing protection and rights to workers tied to the company.
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Posted 1 year ago
Krista Harper,
Krista Harper
Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Alison Bates,
Alison Bates
Institution: Colby College, Waterville, ME, USA
Email: awbates@colby.edu
Ogechi Vivian Nwadiaru,
Ogechi Vivian Nwadiaru
Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Julia Cantor,
Julia Cantor
Institution: Colby College, Waterville, ME, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Makaylah Cowan,
Makaylah Cowan
Institution: Colby College, Waterville, ME, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Marina Pineda Shokooh
Marina Pineda Shokooh
Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
Email: info@rnfinity.com
In 2021, Massachusetts policymakers enacted a new climate law to cut carbon emissions by no less than 50% by 2030 on the way to a net zero energy system in 2050. Reaching this goal will require massive public investments in energy infrastructure, public and private efforts to make buildings and urba...
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In 2021, Massachusetts policymakers enacted a new climate law to cut carbon emissions by no less than 50% by 2030 on the way to a net zero energy system in 2050. Reaching this goal will require massive public investments in energy infrastructure, public and private efforts to make buildings and urban infrastructure more energy efficient, and shifts in personal energy consumption at the household level. We provide a case study of an environmental justice community in western Massachusetts–a mid-sized city that was an innovative industrial center fueled by hydropower and hydroelectricity from the 19th century onward, but which declined in the mid-20th century as industrial centers powered by fossil fuels drew manufacturing to regions with cheaper labor costs. Low- and middle-income and BIPOC residents of an environmental justice community have faced the challenges of deindustrialization while also organizing to protect their neighborhoods from pollution. Based on data from focus groups, informal interviews, and participant observation, we analyze community members' perspectives on energy access and use and how the transition to a low-carbon renewable energy system could affect their community in positive and negative ways.
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Posted 1 year ago
Jakob Skovgaard,
Jakob Skovgaard
Institution: Corresponding author at: Department of Political Science, Lund University, P.O. Box 52, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.
Email: Jakob.skovgaard@svet.lu.se
Guy Finkill,
Guy Finkill
Institution: Manchester University, United Kingdom
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Fredric Bauer,
Fredric Bauer
Institution: Lund University, Sweden
Email: info@rnfinity.com
Tobias Dan Nielsen
Tobias Dan Nielsen
Institution: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Sweden
Email: info@rnfinity.com
The petrochemicals industry (mainly plastics and fertilizer production) is expanding, despite increasing attention to the environmental impact of petrochemicals. In our paper, we explore the role public finance plays in the petrochemicals industry. We do so by mapping the public and private financia...
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The petrochemicals industry (mainly plastics and fertilizer production) is expanding, despite increasing attention to the environmental impact of petrochemicals. In our paper, we explore the role public finance plays in the petrochemicals industry. We do so by mapping the public and private financial flows into large-scale petrochemical projects for the decade 2010–20 and discuss the role of public financial institutions for the development of the industry globally. Secondly, we provide a detailed analysis of the roles international and national public finance has played in enabling two prominent petrochemical projects: namely the Sadara plant in Saudi Arabia and the Surgil plant in Uzbekistan. The cases are illustrative of the dynamics of state interest and involvement in fossil fuel producing countries as well as of lending and guarantees from foreign export credit agencies (ECAs) and development finance institutions, and how such public finance plays an important role in leveraging private finance. Our findings show how public finance for petrochemicals is highly globalized and to a large degree originates in developed countries. As petrochemical industrial infrastructures are designed to last decades, the public finance thus strongly contributes to the carbon lock-in of the sector and limits the possibilities for low-carbon investments needed to comply with the UN Paris Agreement.
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Posted 1 year ago
